I’d long been thinking we needed to start a wrestling thread, and a poster pointed out just how lame basketball is so here it goes.

The major problem is that I have as much right to write about cricket or rugby as I do wrestling. Don’t get me wrong, I respect the heck out of wrestlers and the sacrifices they make for their sport (which is the toughest high school sport in South Dakota) but I really just don’t get it. I just don’t.

I know that Sturgis is the West Central or O’Gorman of wrestling (Keszler’s like the Dalai Lama of S.D. wrestling coaches) and I know that what Kris Klapprodt is doing as an 8th-grader at Stevens is pretty darn incredible, but that’s really as far as my wrestling knowledge goes.

How about some grapplers or their fans come out and educate me.

Let us know what you think of some of our area’s and state’s best wrestlers and teams.

Kyle Doerr (8) and Nate Jacobson (7) are leading St. Thomas More at the half as the Cavaliers lead 28-22 at the half over No. 1-ranked Madison at a jam-packed Corn Palace.

The Cavaliers are stifling the high-powered ‘Dogs in transition and executing well in the half-court. Madison’s Rob Schefer and Brady Wiebe have played strong halves but that’s about it for the much-ballyhooed Bulldogs.

 More to come …

The Mitchell Christian Eagles showed why they’re the No. 1-ranked Class B team in the state, dropping No. 2 White River 68-59 while holding Louie Krogman to 23 points.

While he scored 23 it was a very tough 23 with a lot of fadeaway jump shots.

Mitchell Christian is a very well-coached, athletic team with as solid a post player as you’ll find in South Dakota with junior Jared Odens. They have to be considered the favorite come March.

White River also got a nice lift from Wylie Tucker, who was making one of his first appearances of the season but in the end Mitchell Christian’s depth and skill was too much.

 

Mitchell Christian leads 36-31 at the half.

Louie Krogman has 14 points and at least three pretty assists but is having to work extremely hard against the Eagles’ Diamond-and-one defense. Sophomore Matthew Bartlett and junior Frankie Waln have made an impact in the first half, while Kayde Bryan has been in foul trouble (3 at the half).

If the Tigers don’t start to contain dribble penetration on the defensive end they could be in for a long second half.

The Longhorns are trailing 21-15 at the half. Some poor free throw shooting has hurt Faith in the first 16 minutes while Hanson — cold from the perimeter for most of the half — got some jumpers to fall late in the half to get the lead.

The Beaver defense is packed in tightly, giving Luke Enos very little room to operate. His guards are having a very difficult time getting a post entry pass anywhere close to the bucket. He has owned the paint on the defensive end, however, blocking seven Hanson shots.

The Faith-Hanson game is underway with White River-Mitchell Christian and St. Thomas More-Madison yet to come. The More game will be broadcast on www.myeaglecountry.com.

Faith is currently up on Hanson 7-6 and it looks like the Beavers are going to have a tough time coming up with an answer to Luke Enos’ size on both ends. Hanson’s quickness and athleticism is their advantage.

A couple of playoff thoughts … 

1. Sorry Adam Vinatieri, but I hope to see Peyton Manning doing his usual ‘I’m in the playoffs and I’m screaming at everybody on my team’-routine after he throws another interception. I hope he never wins a Super Bowl (Vinatieri’s got three, and is a solid choice as the greatest kicker ever, so I don’t feel bad in now cheering against him) as P. Manning is my least favorite NFL player (Terrell Owens doesn’t count because everybody hates him).

2. What happened in San Diego? I know, I know, Marty Schottenheimer’s cursed, but I mean after the game. LaDainian Tomlinson had to be restrained from going after an unidentified Patriot after a group of them allegedly did the Shawne Merriman ‘dance’ on the midfield logo. Tomlinson is one of my favorite NFL players, despite the fact that he routinely destroys my Chiefs, and that kind of behavior is completely out of character for him. Either way, somebody slipped up, and I don’t think it was LT. I can’t wait to see what he does the next time he runs into the Patriot defense.

3. Who thinks the Saints are going to the Super Bowl? Anybody make that bet at the beginning of the year in Vegas?  

4. Is Reggie Bush the fastest running back in the history of the NFL? I say yes.

You’ve got to feel bad for the Rapid City Central boys right now.

The basketball team is fighting through an injury bug that seemed to start this fall with the football team — or maybe it was this summer with Allan Schmaltz’s broken foot — as Brandon Gorsuch, Dustin McCabe, Andrew Johnson and Tyler Jacob were all hurt for some or most of the season. 

That has carried over into the basketball season with McCabe again, Schmaltz, Reggie Stanton, Matt Dolan and Nick Courchaine.

Coach Mike Purcell gets his kids to play very hard, but unfortunately for the Cobblers a lack of continuity in the rotation due to injury has kept them from building on a great opening weekend to the season (wins over S.F. Lincoln and Washington). They’ve been in scramble-mode for pretty much the entire season. 

Here’s to the Cobblers health. Hopefully they will be at full-strength sooner rather than later, build on some of the early-season excitement that injuries rudely interrupted and be the team they hoped they would be by the time the playoffs roll around.

- Padraic

This game belonged to Trevor Cook. He scored 24 of Custer’s 37 points and was far and away the best, most effective player on the floor.

Unfortunately for Custer it wasn’t enough as More’s depth was a little too much in a 44-37 win.

Still, this illustrates once again what More needs to do in physical, close games. Kyle Doerr needs to play better for the Cavaliers to be what they consider themselves to be — an elite high school basketball team.

Right now they simply aren’t.

Once again, great job by Mr. Cook (he was focused and tough all night long) and a typically solid job by the Custer coaching staff. This should give Custer some well-deserved confidence. If they get an effort like that from Cook there’s no reason in the world they shouldn’t be able to compete with any team on any night. They look like a team that’s just starting to hit its stride and should continue to improve and be much better by the time the end of February rolls around.

- Padraic

Custer’s 2-3 zone is frustrating STM and the Wildcat duo of Parsons and Cook is throughly outplaying More’s front line. The Cavaliers will lose this game if they don’t figure out some way to keep Cook and Parsons away from the front of the rim. Cook just scored his 20th point at 2:06 to make it a 30-29 Cavalier lead.