Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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After winning its first dual match of the season and then taking fourth place among 15 teams in the Cozad Invite last week, the Sidney High wrestling team will carry momentum into the Gordon-Rushville Invite on Saturday. The first varsity match is slated for 12:30 p.m in Gordon. Head coach Ganser believes his team is prepared and will perform at a high level. "We can compete very well, as evidenced from what we did last week (in the Cozad Invite)," Ganser said. "There will be 14 total teams...
Coming off its loss to a tough Scottsbluff squad last Saturday, the Sidney High boys' basketball team will face two more tests this weekend. The Red Raiders (2-1) will travel to face another stacked team on Friday in Chase County (2-0). Tip time is 7:30 p.m. Then on Saturday, Sidney will host Sterling (Colo.) High at 7 p.m. The Tigers are off to a 3-0 start this winter. Chase County boasts a trio of big, senior guards in Travis Luhrs, Issac Sorensen and Jeff Dickey – all averaging more than 1...
Three games into the season, the Sidney High Lady Raiders have established a defense that is strong most of the time, but can be even suffocating on occasion. A unified defensive effort held a powerful Omaha Gross Catholic offense to just 42 points in the Western Conference Tournament final last Saturday. Fortunately for the Lady Raiders, their next opponent – the Chase County Longhorns don’t pose nearly the same offensive threat as Omaha Gross did. The Longhorns have one true scoring threat in sophomore 5-foot guard Destiny Reinke, who is ave...
“It is simply the nature of the journalism and news industry that requires one to always be prepared for change at any moment.” This is one of the best nuggets of advice my journalism professors always reminded me of when I was an undergrad at UT Austin, progressing my way toward a journalism degree from the Texas School of Journalism. The first time I heard that was three years ago when I first stepped foot inside a classroom at the Belo Center for New Media, on UT’s campus, as a sophomore. I heard it one final time as I crossed the stage with...
Opposing defenses are having an awfully difficult time slowing down Peetz guard Casey Barrett these days. He dropped 24 points in the Bulldogs' season opening win against Community Christian and 19 against a powerful Caliche squad. He improved his act on Tuesday night against Leyton, pouring in 28 points to lead Peetz (2-1) to a 66-53 road win over the Warriors. Leyton fell to 0-3. "They (Leyton) went to a zone in the second quarter," Barrett said. "So I just floated in that corner, key area...
The Leyton High girls' basketball team got the shots it wanted almost the entire game. They just didn't fall – or at least not as often as they did for the visiting Peetz' shooters on Tuesday night. Leyton isn't known as a great shooting team from the outside, but credit much of its poor night from the field to Peetz' hustle defense, which led the way to the Lady Bulldogs' 37-29 road win. Peetz improved to 2-1, while Leyton slipped to 1-2. "I expected them to shut down our inside game," L...
Most people would say that it's far too early to try to tell the fortune of a basketball team after just two games. In all actuality, it probably is. But over its first two games of the season – convincing wins against Sedgwick County and Banner County – the Potter-Dix Lady Coyotes have played about as well as a Class D-1 high school girls' team can play. The team is only 2-0 but there are quite a few things that are impressive about this squad--one of those being its play despite its you...
The Sidney High wrestling team put together a strong performance over the weekend, with a 46-27 victory over Gothenburg in a dual match on Friday night and a fourth-place finish out of 15 teams at the Cozad Invite on Saturday. Sidney head coach John Ganser was happy with his team's start to the season. "It was a great weekend for the kids," Ganser said. "We were very aggressive. In the dual, we got ourselves with over-aggressiveness at times, so we need to rein that in. We're always working to...
The first quarter of Thursday night's home opener against the Greeley West (Colo.) Spartans was a little rough for the Sidney High varsity boys' basketball team. But the Red Raiders got into an offensive groove and began to lock things down defensively early in the third quarter. They didn't look back as they carried that momentum all the way to a 60-37 victory over the Spartans in the opening round of the Western Conference Tournament. "I maybe had 10 different scores that went through my head...
A strong second half made the difference for the Sidney High girls' basketball team in its season-opening 44-25 win over Greeley West (Colo.) on Thursday night. The Lady Raiders held a two-point lead at halftime, but outscored Greeley West 26-9 in the second half to secure the win at home in the opening round of the Western Conference Tournament. Sidney keyed in all night on the Spartans' star player, senior forward Harper Sheets. Sidney senior forward Savanna Rosenbaum was tasked with guarding...
The Sidney High School wrestling program is set to kick off another season on Friday afternoon, as it ventures to Gothenburg for its opening match against the Swedes at 5 p.m. Then on Saturday morning, the Red Raiders will travel 11 miles east on Interstate 80 to Cozad, where they’ll compete in their first tournament of the season. One of the cornerstones of Sidney’s team is junior Dominic Beyer, who will be representing the Red Raiders in the 285-pound weight class this season. He seized the opportunity to step into the varsity lineup las...
In the last two years, college football has made tremendous progress by changing the way a national champion is decided. For 15 years, the notorious Bowl Championship Series system had produced several flawed champions – most notably in 2007, when two-loss LSU not only had a spot in the national title game, but beat Ohio State to win it. Or how about the 2012 National Championship game between the aforementioned Tigers and the seemingly incumbent – thanks to all that SEC bias – Alabama Crimson Tide? The final score was 21-0. Alabama beat LSU i...
The Sidney High School boys' varsity basketball team opens its new season on Thursday night at home with a challenge: Greeley West, a 5A team from Colorado. Greeley will be a test in the first round of the Western Conference Tournament for the Red Raiders, who will be searching to find some early season chemistry with a largely retooled roster. Don't let the Spartans' 7-16 record from last season fool you-this is a strong team that is used to playing with the big boys. "Greeley is a big...
The Sidney High girls' varsity basketball team will kick off its new season Thursday night, hosting Greeley West at the Cabela's Athletic Facility in the first round of the Western Conference Tournament. Tip off is set for 5:30 p.m. Greeley struggled last season, going 4-19 overall and 1-15 in league play, but that was against a schedule full of strong Colorado schools. This game will be a measuring stick for where Sidney is at as a team, even if it's early in the year. Sidney head coach Tyler...
In a typical offseason for Major League Baseball, the free agent market is the hot topic of discussion. After all, it’s usually said that wealthy pro franchises would rather dish out money to acquire star players rather than top tier prospects. This winter’s free agent market has already started to open up, with the Toronto Blue Jays making the biggest splash so far, reeling in catcher Russell Martin on a five-year, $82 million payday. The Detroit Tigers brought back DH Victor Martinez on a four-year, $68 million deal. The market is sta...
Here are my thoughts on and predicted destinations of three of the most prominent free agent position players on this winter’s MLB market.Like last week, I’ll refrain from giving any predictions on exact contract values, but I’m not afraid to give it my best guess. I’ll discuss three more next Thursday. Hanley Ramirez – SS, Los Angeles Dodgers The Dodgers are always looking to strengthen their rotation and they’ve done it noticeably in each of the last two seasons, adding Zack Greinke two offseasons ago and Dan Haren last offseason....
The Sidney High School football team has been riding an exciting wave of momentum for the last two seasons, making the Class B state tournament both years under head coach Todd Ekart. But if the Red Raiders are to make a third consecutive trip to the playoffs, they'll have to find their way under a new coach. The Sun-Telegraph has learned that Ekart told the school's administration on Tuesday that he would be stepping down. Ekart said that his wife, Tami, has taken a new job as a hotel manager...
Sidney High School junior Michael Banaszak has been running track since he was in fifth grade. "They had a little program, nothing big," Banaszak said. "There were only 10 people who did it. We only had one track meet for fifth and sixth grade and then I just picked it up in middle school." Some of those kids may have just run recreationally to stay active during a busy school year. But for Banaszak, it was the start of a journey that would eventually elevate him to new heights during his high...
The Peetz High football team took an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter on Saturday afternoon against the Eads Eagles, but couldn’t hold on as it lost 52-50 in the Colorado High School Activities Association six-man state semifinals. Eads (11-0) advanced to the state championship game against Arikcaree/Woodlin (11-0) – 75-22 winners over Fleming – on Saturday, Nov. 15. Kickoff time hasn’t been set yet. For the first time since 2002, the championship game will be held at Peetz High School – a particularly painful reality for the Bulldogs...
The Leyton High volleyball team (24-9) ended its season early for the second consecutive year, as it fell to the Crawford Rams (22-5) in four sets on Thursday night in the D2-6 district final in Alliance. The Rams won by scores of 25-17, 25-18, 18-25 and 25-10. With the win, Crawford has locked up a spot in the Class D2 state tournament in Lincoln beginning Thursday, Nov. 13. The Rams will square off against Giltner (24-4) - the team that ended Leyton’s 2013 season in the district final - in the first round. The Warriors’ star duo of out...
After thrashing previously undefeated Hanover, 60-14 last week in the first round of the CSHAA six-man tourmanent, the Peetz Bulldogs (9-1) football team looks to take down another undefeated squad in Eads (10-0) in the semi finals. Kickoff is set for Saturday, Nov. 8 at 1 p.m. at Eads High School. The winner will play in the CSHAA state championship game. Peetz head coach Scott Sorensen says his team is excited to be where it is, but has a little bit extra motivation for its game with Eads. “We need to win this game because the state c...
The Leyton High volleyball team (24-8) is all set for a rematch with rival Crawford (21-5) tonight at home in the Class D2 district final round. First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The winner will punch a ticket to the Class D-2 state tournament in Lincoln next week. This match will be a battle of two heavyweights who have seen each other before. On its home court, Craword dropped the Warriors back on October 23 in five thrilling sets. This time, Leyton gets the home court advantage, but...
This offseason’s MLB free agent class is one of the deepest in recent memory. There are household names galore and the opportunity to change the current landscape of the league is greater than it has been in a while. Several of the biggest names out there have already received qualifying offers from their 2014 clubs and now the chase is on. Since we all know that pitching wins championships, here are my thoughts on the top three starting pitchers available and my prediction as to which uniform they’ll be wearing by Opening Day 2015. I’ll previ...
The Sidney High volleyball team fought hard but ultimately fell to Gering in four sets in the Class B, District 8 tournament Tuesday night in Alliance. Sidney had hopes of making a return to the sub-state round, but the defeat dropped Sidney's record to 10-21 and ended its 2014 season. Gering won the match 25-22, 9-25, 25-20, 25-19. "This is one of those seasons where success is measured in more than just the final win-loss record," Sidney head coach Sarah Wilson said. "The 40 young ladies invol...
The Creek Valley Storm (20-5) and the Potter-Dix Coyotes will battle in the D1-12 subdistrict final game Tuesday at 6 p.m. MDT at the Ogallala Auditorium. The top-seeded Storm defeated No. 5 Sutherland (6-23) in the first round on Monday night by scores of 25-15, 22-25, 25-21, 25-11. Second-seeded Potter-Dix took down No. 3 Dundy County-Stratton (10-17) by scores of 25-21, 19-25, 26-24, 25-16. The winner of tonight's championship match will play the winner of the subdistrict D1-11 – either M...
