December 2023

By PAUL STURMLCL Sports Editorpsturm@cherryroad.comAll but two county high school basketball teams will wrap up the 2023 portion early this coming week.Two will be involved in special holiday-break cage events around the region, but only Meadville will see any game action between Christmas and New Year’s.Both Meadville and Brookfield have their girls’ and boys’ teams entered in the nearing-two-decades-old North Central Missouri College Foundation-hosted “High School Holiday Hoops” event at the college in Trenton.Meadville will follow that with back-to-back appearances by its teams in the wide-ranging, 3-years-old “Twelve Courts of Christmas” extravaganza at Kansas City’s Hy-Vee Arena that will bring in teams from about a half-dozen states.Linn County R-1, Marceline and Bucklin/Macon County R-4 conclude 2023 action this coming Tuesday, while Mendon: Northwestern will finish its tonight when it hosts Hardin-Central.While Brookfield’s teams will participate in the “Holiday Hoops” shootout-format event at Trenton, they’ll actually be the second-earliest finisher of ’23 competition.

MARCELINE — Capping a busy week last week, three Marceline High School wrestling Tigers – Reece Stufflebean, Scout Gooch and Conner Quinn – earned top finishes in the Versailles Invitational tournament last Saturday.Having defeated Carrollton and Macon in dual matches a week ago Tuesday and losing to Kearney the following night, most Tigers who went to the tournament had solid days or better.At 106 pounds, Stufflebean (9-3) won all five of his bouts by fall, the longest lasting only 2:17.

By PAUL STURMLCL Sports Editorpsturm@cherryroad.comThe Brookfield High School varsity basketball teams nearly both carried winning streaks into tonight’s home games against Gallatin, but, despite a major comeback, the boys couldn’t hold up their end of that bargain Tuesday night at Hamilton.After the Lady ’Dogs won for a third-straight time, closing the game on a 9-2 run to prevail 44-37 over host Penney High, the Bulldogs plunged into a 15-points hole halfway through the second period, filled that up to level ground late in the third, and then cratered again over the next five minutes of what ended as a 57-46 loss to the Hornets.The Brookfield girls elevated their mark to 6-3 at the expense of the 1-5 Lady Hornets.

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By BILL WEHRLELCL Outdoors Sports EditorWe’ve had so many firearms deer seasons this fall that it’s hard to keep track of what’s still open or soon will be and which season{s) are left.It’s getting a lot simpler now, with the closing of the late antlerless season Dec.