2019: Wildcat basketball teams that made State are remembered

March 6, 2019

HARTINGTON — Since the Hartington and Newcastle school districts merged together five years ago, the school has not qualified for the boys’ or girls’ state basketball tournament.

That all changed last week when the Hartington-Newcastle Wildcats boys’ basketball team upset Kenesaw in the District Finals to earn the #7 seed in the Class D1 State Tournament starting on Thursday.

It marks the ten-year anniversary since Hartington High School last qualified for State.

That year ended with the Wildcats losing, 37-35, to Humphrey St. Francis in the opening round.

This year, HNS faces a similar opponent, but not quite the same. Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family.

Both the ‘09 and ‘19 teams opened the season against Ponca. Phil Wiebelhaus was a senior on the 2009 team and felt the seasonopening win against the Indians signified the team’s potential that season.

“I think our first game of the year against Ponca kind of set our tone for the rest of the year as we won in the last few seconds of the game,” said Wiebelhaus. “That was a huge win to start the year out with.”

Hartington won that game, 55-52, and it opened the gates for a season where the team went 19-4.

A loss to Coleridge in the third game launched an 11-game winning streak before a loss to Emerson-Hubbard gave the Wildcats the second setback of their season.

HNS would not lose again until Districts against Humphrey St. Francis.

In 2009, the playoff format was different than now. A decade ago, a team could lose in the District Finals and still earn a trip to State with a wildcard slot.

Now, four wildcard seeds are selected to play in the District Finals game, with the champion of the eight District games going to State.

Hartington lost, 68-47, in the District Finals to Humphrey St. Francis before facing the team again in the first round of the state tournament.

“We had a rough going in our district game against Humphrey, if I remember, one of their players [scored] 45 I think on us,” said Nathan McPhillips. “It was kind of an eye opener for us and we realized when we had to play them again in the first round of state that we had to be much more focused on job responsibility and locking down good shooters.”

McPhillips was a sophomore on the 2009 team, and has a unique interest in this year’s team considering his younger brother, Lincoln, is a senior on the Wildcats squad.

“I followed every game this year,” said McPhillips. “With my brother being a senior, it’s fun to be at the game yelling and cheering. (I’m) going to miss that feeling of having someone personal to cheer for.”