Sports

By PAUL STURMLCL Sports Editorpsturm@cherryroad.comBROOKFIELD — In addition to being among the limited number of county high school sports teams to beat Mother Nature during the week, both home squads dominated their matches as Brookfield High School’s wrestlers dispatched Chillicothe a week ago yesterday.Catching a small break between snows, as well as getting the jump on the arctic-like temperature drop, late that afternoon, what originally was to have been a 3-schools double-dual also involving Gallatin morphed into a single clash among the closer neighbors.The competition wasn’t close, though, as host Brookfield, a state team-trophy winner in each gender last year and a prospect for a similar showing this year, overwhelmed its guest in rapid fashion.The Lady Bulldogs set the tone by a 48-18 count and the Bulldogs followed suit with a 45-36 verdict which wasn’t anywhere near that close in action that wrapped up in a blink over one hour, even with an approximately 5-minutes delay while an ailing Chillicothe wrestler was tended to for an apparent diabetes-related episode.The girls’ match involved only four contested bouts out of a possible 14 and merely one of those four lasted over a minute.The boys’ competition then saw half of Chillicothe’s points total derived from the simple fact it had a full lineup and BHS didn’t.

By PAUL STURMLCL Sports Editorpsturm@cherryroad.comThe basketball teams from Linn County’s (or very nearby) four small high schools had a combined 18 games or more scrubbed without a single one being played last week and another few early this week might have temporarily gone by the wayside, meaning some accelerated playing timetables in the final month of the regular season.If they want, the coaches of the eight respective teams from Meadville, Linn County R-1, Bucklin/Macon County R-4, and Mendon: Northwestern can commiserate and compare notes in person this coming week, since all of their teams are entered in the Meadville Invitational tournament (bracket on next page).Against the odds, despite those four schools representing half of the tournament’s field, there will be only one first-round matchup between county clubs – Tuesday’s 4:30 p.m.

MARCELINE — The clash of north Missouri Class 1 high school wrestling titans a week ago Wednesday didn’t disappoint, even when delayed.Pushed back a day, due to the large snowstorm two days before, the Marceline and visiting Brookfield boys’ and girls’ varsity squads kept their respective fan bases geeked up throughout the evening’s action before the guests departed with two close victories, the boys’ by a single point – 34-33 – when BHS took the closing bout by a 1-point decision, and the girls’ 43-30.The competition was highlighted by not just two clashes of 2023 state medal-winners captured by the road team, including the first loss of the season by 2-times MHS state medalist Payton Weese, delivered by BHS’ own 2-times medal earner, Riley Howell, but also a dramatic, outcome-deciding final boys’ bout.With Marceline’s Tigers having come from behind to lead 33-31 with maximum-points triumphs in four of the preceding five mid- and upper-weight bouts – two of them forfeits, due to gaps in the Bulldogs’ lineup, two wrestlers without glistening season records found themselves squarely in the glare of the Linn County rivalry spotlight when the visitors’ Jackson Wattenbarger and the home squad’s Broc Cordray strode onto the black mat for the match-ending 285-pounds bout.With the tension level high and the air thick with emotion, the two did as two evenly-matched heaviest-weight division combatants often do – produce few or no points for a long time.Indeed, after neither get the other off his feet with control in the first two minutes, Cordray could not free himself from Wattenbarger’s control through the second period, sending the last bout to its last regulation period still scoreless.The Bulldog’s choice to be in the “bottom” position – under Cordray’s control – to start the third period finally produced a change from goose eggs on the scoreboard when the BHS wrestler not only freed himself from Cordray’s grip, but managed to segue that escape into a reversal and a 2-0 lead.Try though the Tiger might – including forcing his foe into an illegal maneuver that handed him a potentially-crucial penalty point, Cordray again could not get himself loose for a tying escape in the remaining time and, at the final horn, it was Wattenbarger physically on top and also on top on the scoreboard, 2-1.

By PAUL STURMLCL Sports Editorpsturm@cherryroad.comDenied the chance last week to compete in their final planned regular-season tournament when the Milan Invitational was wiped away by the weather, Brookfield’s and Marceline’s high school basketball teams began different tasks this week when, among other outings, they squared off against each other on the MHS floor on Thursday.The BHS girls, 5-6, were trying to avoid continuing to spin their wheels and get back over .500 after dropping their last three contests before their enforced shutdown.The 4-7 Bulldogs, on the other hand, were looking to extend their pre-snowbreak surge which included back-to-back wins on either side of the calendar change.Both Brookfield squads visited Salisbury on Tuesday before visiting Marceline to complete the non-conference portions of their schedules.

CHILLICOTHE — Nearly a dozen Marceline or Brookfield high school wrestlers came back east from last Saturday’s ultra-frosty Chillicothe Invitational tournament with personal championships.

CAMERON — Marceline High School’s wrestling Tigers debuted the 2024 portion of their season last Saturday by splitting six matches in the Crossroads Duals Tournament at Cameron.With nary a Tiger going undefeated on the day, MHS bested Chillicothe 52-27, Sullivan 42-36, and Lexington 72-6, while narrowly losing to the host Dragons 39-33, Odessa 39-30, and Savannah 39-33.With the even split, the Tigers’ dual-matches record for the season moved to 5-3 heading into Wednesday’s reset home dual against Brookfield, moved back a night by the early-week snowstorm.

Both Brookfield High School wrestling squads inaugurated 2024 last weekend with action in separate tournaments on separate days.Last Saturday, the boys had three individual champions as they placed second to Richmond in the Marshall Invitational.

By BILL WEHRLELCL Outdoors Sports EditorMissouri anglers haven’t caught as many state-record-sized fish in the last couple of years as they were reporting three or four years back, but are still putting some new records in the book each year.In 2022, they recorded only five new records, and just recently the fifth new record “booked” for 2023 was taken when Anthony Rozniak of St.

As 2024 high school basketball play began for Linn County’s smaller schools, the path to a second-straight regular season for the Meadville Lady Eagles turned more direct.After unexpectedly navigating two strong teams from larger classifications (Cairo and South Shelby) in the first week of 2023 to stamp themselves as highly-legitimate contenders for the Class 1 state championships they claimed two months later, the Lady Eagles last week again encountered and surmounted the challenge of South Shelby in the title contest of the Salisbury Invitational tournament to preserve their perfection thus far in the 2023-24 campaign.Having overwhelmed Marceline 78-33 a week ago Tuesday (reported in last week’s edition), Meadville’s top-seeded girls waxed the host Lady Panthers 64-30 in their all-purple semifinal a week ago last night, then recovered from a slow start to out-duel South Shelby’s Lady Cardinals 49-44 last Saturday for the crown.Although also labeling it as not “a very pretty game,” Meadville head coach Steve Carvajal also observes, “It was a great game between two good teams.”Meadville came out of the opening quarter of the championship contest trailing 13-5, yet – showing their championship pedigree – didn’t flinch.By halftime, the Lady Eagles (13-0) had moved to within a point, down 22-21, and, following a back-and-forth duel between respective standouts Korrie Holcer of Meadville and Callie McWilliams of South Shelby in the third period – each delivered 10 points in the segment, it was the defending tourney and state champs on top by one, 37-36.The game stayed close and within range of a Lady Cardinals rally that would end MHS’ 43-games winning streak, but the core trio of Holcer and coach Carvajal’s daughters Paige and Madison – with help from sophomore Kinlee Fletcher’s rebounding – would not let it happen.

BETHANY — One game into the 2024 portion of their season, the surging Brookfield High School’s basketball Bulldogs already have equaled their wins total of last season.