Sports – Page 326 – North Platte Post Archive

Huskers in Second Heading into Final Day of Southern Scuffle

Posted on January 1, 2015

Chattanooga, Tenn. – Six Husker wrestlers advanced to the quarterfinals of the Defense Soap & Flips Wrestling Southern Scuffle after Thursday’s action from McKenzie Arena.

Nebraska is second in the team standings with 48 points heading into the final day as the Huskers trail four-time defending national champion Penn State by four points. Missouri rounds out the top three of the loaded 32-team field, which includes over half of last season’s top 25 team finishers from the NCAA Championships.

No. 1 Robert Kokesh (174) pinned all three of his opponents on Thursday to earn a spot in the quarterfinals. Kokesh, who improves to 18-0 on the season, will face 18th-ranked Kyle Crutchmer of Oklahoma State on Friday.

At 157 pounds, No. 2 James Green, the top seed, pinned Campbell’s Daniel Luty before collecting a 12-4 major decision over Craig Eifert of Cornell in the round of 16. Green, a three-time All-American, battles No. 19 Anthony Collica of Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals.

Spencer Johnson (197) picked up the biggest upset of the day with his 5-3 decision over top-ranked Kyven Gadson of Iowa State in the round of 16. Prior to that match, Johnson won by fall and decision to open the Southern Scuffle. He is set to face No. 15 Elliott Riddick of Lehigh in Friday’s quarterfinals.

No. 17 Tim Lambert (125), No. 20 Anthony Abidin (141) and No. 14 Collin Jensen (HWT) also advanced to the quarterfinals following Thursday’s action from McKenzie Arena. Lambert earned a pair of major decisions and added a decision on his way to the quarterfinals. Abidin opened with a decision before adding a major decision after a first-round bye. Jensen also had a bye, but collected a technical fall and decision on Thursday.

Eric Montoya (133) and Aaron Studebaker (184) each won two matches for the Huskers before falling into the consolation bracket. Justin Arthur (149), Austin Wilson (165), TJ Dudley (184) and Micah Barnes (197) each won one match on Thursday, but will begin Friday in the consolation bracket.

Wrestling unattached, Tyler Berger (149) and Derek White (197) each remain alive in the wrestleback bracket. Dustin Williams went 0-2 at 165 pounds and was eliminated.

The Southern Scuffle continues on Friday at 8 a.m. (CT) with the championship quarterfinals. The championship finals and medal matches are set for 6 p.m., after the semifinals and consolation bouts.

Rose Bowl Rout! Oregon Crushes Florida State 59-20

Posted on January 1, 2015

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Marcus Mariota and Oregon turned an avalanche of Florida State mistakes into a mountain of points and the Ducks rolled past the defending national champions 59-20 Thursday to turn the first College Football Playoff semifinal into a Rose Bowl rout.

Mariota and the second-seeded Ducks (13-1) scored six straight times they touched the ball in the second half, with five of the touchdowns covering at least 21 yards and the last four coming after Florida State turnovers.

In the matchup of Heisman Trophy winners, Jameis Winston matched Mariota’s numbers, but the defending national champions were no match for the Ducks. The Pac-12 champions will play the winner of the Sugar Bowl semifinal between Alabama and Ohio State on Jan. 12 in Arlington, Texas.

Third-seeded Florida State’s winning streak ends at 29. In Winston’s first loss as a college starter, maybe his last game in college, he threw for 348 yards.

LeBron James, Steph Curry lead NBA All-Star Voting

Posted on January 1, 2015

NEW YORK (AP) — LeBron James and Stephen Curry remain the leading NBA All-Star vote-getters after the second tally of fan ballots.

Cleveland’s James leads all with 775,810 votes at the Eastern Conference frontcourt spot. Golden State’s Curry has 755,486, good for second in the league and tops among the Western Conference guards.

In the results released Thursday, Chicago’s Pau Gasol and the New York’s Carmelo Anthony follow in the East frontcourt. Washington’s John Wall remains the East’s leading vote-getter in the backcourt, followed by Miami’s Dwyane Wade.

Kobe Bryant is second to Curry in the West backcourt. The frontcourt is led by the New Orleans’ Anthony Davis, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin and Memphis center Marc Gasol.

Voting runs through Jan. 19, and starters for the Feb. 15 game in New York will be announced Jan. 22.

Coaches Selected for 2015 West Nebraska All-Star Football Game

Posted on January 1, 2015

SCOTTSBLUFF—The coaches have been selected for the 2015 West Nebraska All-Star Football Game. This marks the 37^th year for the West Nebraska All-Star Football Game. The 2015 West Nebraska All-Star Football game will be played Saturday, June 13^th at Bearcat Stadium in Scottsbluff. Game time is 7 p.m. MDT.

Ryan Smith from Hershey High School will lead the West team. This past season Smith helped the Panthers finish with a 5-4 record. This is Coach Smith’s second time serving as a coach in the game. He previously served as an assistant coach for the East team in 2005.

The West assistant coaches are; Randy Heimstra from Hemingford High School, Nick Kuxhausen from Kimball High School, and CJ Bach from Chadron High School.

Jeff Rowan from Lexington High School will lead the East team in 2015. This past season Rowan’s team posted a 3-6 record. This will be Coach Rowan’s second time coaching in the West Nebraska All Star Game. He served as an assistant coach for the East team in 2008.

The East assistant coaches are; Ryan Jones from Maxwell High School, Jayce Dueland from Elm Creek High School and Dru Young from Cozad High School.

A portion of the proceeds from the West Nebraska All-Star Games benefit local charities. From last year’s proceeds, $5,000 was donated to three local charities.

West Nebraska All-Stars Extend Boundaries, add New Schools

Posted on January 1, 2015

SCOTTSBLUFF—In an effort to obtain a balance between the schools making up the East and West teams for the West Nebraska All Star Games, West Nebraska All Star Sports, Inc. has adopted a new boundary format starting with the 2015 games.

Previously, 26 schools made up the West and 35 schools made up the East. As far as total enrollment numbers, West schools had 3,616 students, and the East had 4,212 students.

Starting in 2015, a total of nine schools will be added to the East. These schools are Holdrege, Elm Creek, Ansley-Litchfield, Twin Loup, Overton, Alma, Bertrand, Loomis and Sumner-Eddyville-Miller (SEM). Seven schools that were formerly East schools will be moved to the West. Those schools are; McCook, Hershey, Sutherland, Paxton, Valentine, Sandhills-Thedford and Stapleton.

The addition and changes will bring the total amount of schools on the West to 33 and the East will now have 37 schools. Of the 33 schools which will now make up the West, 15 are 11 man schools, 15 are 8 man schools and 4 are 6 man schools. For the East, there will be 10 11 man schools, 20 8 man schools, and 6 6 man schools.

The total enrollment of East schools will now be 3,996 students. The enrollment for the West schools now stands at 4,520 students.

A list of the schools now making up the East and West can be seen below.

West			East
School	Class	Enrollment	School	Class	Enrollment
Scottsbluff	B	613	North Platte	A	861
Gering	B	468	Lexington	B	583
Mc Cook	B	363	Holdrege	C-1	228
Alliance	B	352	Gothenburg	C-1	215
Sidney	B	255	Cozad	C-1	214
Ogallala	C-1	227	Broken Bow	C-1	177
Chadron	C-1	191	Ainsworth	C-2	120
Valentine	C-1	162	Southern Valley	C-2	108
Mitchell	C-1	147	Cambridge	C-2	86
Gordon-Rushville	C-1	135	No. Platte St. Pats	C-2	85
Chase County	C-1	124	Elm Creek	D-1	71
Bridgeport	C-2	116	Ansley-Litchfield	D-1	67
Kimball	C-2	115	Arapahoe	D-1	66
Hershey	C-2	115	South Loop	D-1	66
Bayard	C-2	97	Twin Loop	D-1	61
Hemingford	D-1	84	Brady	D-2	60
Perkins County	D-1	82	Medicine Valley	D-2	60
Dundy County	D-1	76	Southwest	D-2	59
Morrill	D-1	72	Overton	D-2	59
Sutherland	D-1	72	Maxwell	D-2	57
Creek Valley	D-1	68	Mullen	D-2	55
Potter-Dix	D-2	57	Alma	D-2	55
Crawford	D-2	53	Bertrand	D-2	54
Paxton	D-2	53	Anselmo-Merna	D-2	52
Sandhills-Thedford	D-2	53	Loomis	D-2	52
Stapleton	D-2	52	Hitchcock County	D-2	50
Leyton	D-2	50	Eustis-Farnam	D-2	50
Garden County	D-2	43	Elwood	D-2	48
Hay Springs	D-2	39	S-E-M	D-2	41
South Platte	D-2	38	Wallace	D-2	39
Minatare	6 Man	55	Cody-Kilgore	6 Man	44
Banner County	6 Man	37	Wauneta-Palisade	6 Man	38
Hyannis	6 Man	34	Maywood	6 Man	34
Sioux County	6 Man	22	Hayes Center	6 Man	30
			McPherson County	6 Man	26
			Arthur County	6 Man	25

Total Enrollments		4520			3996

Bold=Schools Moved			Bold=Schools Added

O’Reilly Scores in OT, lift Avalanche over Flyers

Posted on December 31, 2014January 1, 2015

DENVER (AP) — Ryan O’Reilly scored at 4:40 of overtime and the Colorado Avalanche rallied to beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 to end a two-game skid.

O’Reilly got a pass from defenseman Tyson Barrie and beat goalie Steve Mason with a shot just under the crossbar. It was O’Reilly’s seventh of the season.

Semyon Varlamov had 26 saves and Jarome Iginla also scored for the Avalanche.

Claude Giroux, Vincent Lecavalier and Jakub Voracek scored for Philadelphia. Mason finished with 29 saves for the Flyers, who have lost three in a row.

Colorado had a 2-1 lead after two periods but Lecavalier tied it with his sixth goal 2:52 into the third.

Stampede Hold Off Storm, 3-1

Posted on December 31, 2014January 1, 2015

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Tri-City Storm (14-8-5) ended the year on the short end of a 3-1 game at the hands of the Sioux Falls Stampede (14-12-2)on Wednesday night in their first ever game at the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

Chase Berger had the lone Storm goal of the game, while Tri-City netminder Jared Rutledge made 18 saves in his third start with the team.

Sioux Falls got on the board early with a goal from Kieffer Bellows at 3:50 of the opening period to take a 1-0 lead and after the first 20 minutes, controlled the game, leading Tri-City in shots on goal 10-4.

But the Storm got going in the second and tied the game on Berger’s fourth goal of the season. Tri-City forward Wade Allison picked up the only assist on the tally, which was his fourth point of the year.

Despite outshooting the Stampede 13-7 in the frame, two late goals got Sioux Falls ahead with a 3-1 lead heading to the third period.

In the final period the Storm once again had their chances, but couldn’t head Stampede netminder Stefanos Lekkas.

Lekkas finished with 27 saves on the night, including 11 in the third period, to earn his team the win.

The Storm will celebrate the beginning of 2015 in Sioux Falls, staying in town to take on the Stampede on Friday night at 7:05 p.m.

Tri-City returns home to face Omaha in Kearney at the Viaero Event Center this Saturday, also at 7:05.

Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Garrett Gamez, Conner Valesano and Kyle Eastman along with defenseman Tory Dello

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

Sioux Falls – Kieffer Bellows (Cooper Marody) 3:50

2nd Period

Tri-City – Chase Berger (Wade Allison) 3:45
Sioux Falls – Logan O’Connor (Troy Loggins, Aaron Herdt) 14:01
Sioux Falls – Dillon Eichstadt (Ryan Schwalbe, Jack Suter) 16:36

3rd Period
(no scoring)

PENALTIES

1st Period

Tri-City – Jared Rutledge – (Tripping), 2 min, 7:16
Tri-City – Chase Berger – (Tripping), 2 min, 12:28
Sioux Falls – Logan O’Connor – (Interference), 2 min, 13:02
Tri-City – Nick Master – (Tripping), 2 min, 14:19

2nd Period

Tri-City – Jake Wahlin – (Boarding), 2 min, 18:58
Sioux Falls – Cooper Marody – (Interference), 2 min, 19:49

3rd Period

Sioux Falls – Chaz Switzer – (Slashing), 2 min, 4:38
Sioux Falls – Joey Raats – (Roughing), 2 min, 17:08

Power Play

Tri-City – 0/3

Sioux Falls – 0/5

Shots

Tri-City: 4, 13, 11 = Total: 28
Sioux Falls: 10, 7, 4 = Total: 21

Saves
Tri-City – Jared Rutledge – 18/21
Sioux Falls – Stefanos Lekkas – 27/28

Providence tops Creighton 65-53, Wins 5th Straight

Posted on December 31, 2014January 1, 2015

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — LaDontae Henton scored 35 points to lead Providence to its fifth-consecutive win, beating Creighton 65-53 in the Big East opener for both teams on Wednesday night.

Henton made 12 of 21 field goals, including 3 of 7 from 3-point range, and grabbed eight rebounds. Kris Dunn had 12 assists, eight rebounds and two steals for Providence (11-3, 1-0).

The Friars led 32-28 at halftime and opened the second half with a 10-2 run, including eight by Henton, to make it 42-30 with 15 minutes to play.

A layup by Geoffrey Groselle pulled Creighton (9-5, 0-1) within five, 44-39, but Dunn assisted on 3’s by Henton and Jalen Lindsey during a 12-0 Providence spurt which gave the Friars their biggest lead of the game, 56-39, with 8:34 left.

Groselle led Creighton, which lost five games before Jan. 1 for the first time since the 2009-10 season, with 14 points.

Indiana holds off Nebraska 70-65 in Big Ten Opener

Posted on December 31, 2014January 1, 2015

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nick Zeisloft hit a pair of free throws with 33 seconds left and Collin Hartman added one 21 seconds later to seal the win for Indiana which held off Nebraska 70-65 in the Big Ten conference opener for both teams Wednesday.

The three free throws were the only points scored by Indiana (11-3, 1-0 Big Ten) in the final 4:50 of the run-filled game.

Nebraska (8-5, 0-1) came out of halftime strong, hitting five of its first seven shots, outscoring Indiana 14-2 and taking a 46-42 lead on Walter Pitchford’s shot-clock-beating 27-foot 3-pointer with 15:28 left.

Robert Johnson led Indiana with 14 points. Troy Williams had 13 points and Hanner Mosquera-Perea finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Terran Petteway led Nebraska with 23 points. Shavon Shields added 20 and Pitchford had 11 for Nebraska.

Lions’ Suh Pleased with Decision to Let Him Play

Posted on December 31, 2014January 1, 2015

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh says he is “pleased” that the NFL has decided not to suspend him for Sunday’s NFL playoff game at Dallas.

And that’s about all.

Suh spoke Wednesday, one day after a hearing officer reduced a one-game league suspension to a $70,000 fine.

Suh originally was suspended for stepping on Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ left leg twice last Sunday in a loss to Green Bay for the NFC North title. He stepped on Rodgers once with each foot, which violated unnecessary roughness rules, according to the league.

Suh declined to discuss the incident with reporters, and kept his answers short when asked about the suspension and fine.