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HARTINGTON - The Cedar Catholic Trojan basketball program will be looking for its 25th trip to the state tournament in March and its sixth consecutive journey south when they embark on the 2025-2026 season.
To get to 25, the Trojans and third-year head coach Nick Haselhorst will have to replace three starters from last year’s 21-7 team.
Haselhorst has a career record of 157-137 including a 40-14 record since grabbing the main seat on the Cedar Catholic bench.
“We had a strong year last year and graduated four seniors,” said Haselhorst. “We have a nice blend of experience returning along with some young kids who have been preparing and are ready to step up and play key roles. As we build our team depth and chemistry, I expect us to be very tough by year’s end.”
The two returning starters are Mason Baller and Aaron Wortmann and seven additional letterwinners from last season also return.
Seniors Kighter Wortmann, Breiton Whitmire and Jared Rutar are back along with juniors Gavin Klug and Will Steffen. Sophomores Micah Cattau and Grady Haberer round out the returning lettermen.
Additional sophomores Myles Baller, Jake Hoebelheinrich, Ryan Hoebelheinrich, Cooper Hochstein, Landyn Rutar and Toby Heine will all be vying to find the floor this winter.
“We have the potential to be a very good team,” the coach said. “We return two starters and plenty of experience with several returning letterwinners and a stable of newcomers prepared to step up and be key contributors. We will need to develop a rotation and team chemistry.
“We have athleticism and defenders throughout our team. We expect to be highly competitive and have a chance to win each game we play. Our season will hinge on our ability to dictate tempo with smart decision making, rebounding and execution on offense and defense.”
As is always the case, the Trojans will have a rugged schedule.
“Our schedule will be tough as usual with conference schools Boone Central, Norfolk Catholic, Wayne, O’Neill, Pierce, Ponca and Battle Creek. Outside of the conference we have Dakota Valley, Summerland, Wynot and St. Mary’s,” Haselhorst said. “And we’ll have the conference tournament, we’re playing in the always competitive Wayne Holiday Tournament and we will participate in the Knight Classic in Fremont.”
Haselhorst thinks the top teams in Class C2 should be Archbishop Bergan, Freeman, Johnson-Brock, Norfolk Catholic, Cross County and the Trojans and the top Mid State teams to be Wayne, Boone Central, Norfolk Catholic, Ponca and Cedar.
With a lot of hard work and little good fortune, Haselhorst and company just may be booking reservations for Lincoln in March.
