Falcons Squeak by the Raiders for 5th Sectional Championship
Saturday night, Lapel High School was full of crazy fans, intense players, and almost everything in between. The Winchester Golden Falcons took on Wapahani Raiders in a nail biting sectional final game. The Falcons were able to claw their way to the top 35-34 over the Raiders.
In the first half, the game was controlled completely by Winchester. They played tougher defense, and Wapahani struggled to find a rhythm the entire first half. Wapahani was playing scared, especially underneath the basket. This partially due to the size of senior Falcon center Brandt Miller. At 6’8 Miller was able to swat away multiple blocks throughout the game, halting the Wapahani inside game.
Wapahani’s age and lack of experience worked for Winchester, the five time sectional champions. The Falcons came out of the gates on fire, especially junior Cody Woodbury. Woodbury had 10 points in the first half, taking advantage of the extra pressure the Raiders put on Miller. The Raiders struggled to make shots, and the Falcons easily manipulated the defense.
Things started to get interesting in the second half. The Raiders turned up the heat on the defense, slowing the Falcons enough to get themselves back into the game. Freshman guard Grant Evans scored 15 points in the second half for Wapahani. The Raiders held the momentum for a majority of the second half, but the Falcons kept them from gaining the lead. Brandt Miller’s play underneath the basket helped keep the Wapahani big men from maneuvering in the lane.
Winchester was ahead of the Raiders 35-34, and the Raiders had possession of the ball with ten seconds left. The ball was lobbed in to freshman center Jacob Foster and Miller was called for the foul. Miller then left the game, obtaining his fifth foul. Foster was at the line to shoot two. Both free throws were short, and the Falcons came up with the rebound. With six seconds left, the Falcons kept the ball and the lead to win the game.
The high scorer for the Falcons was Cody Woodbury with 14 points, and Evans led Wapahani with 19. The Falcons will advance to Regionals next Saturday.
Semi-State Heartbreak
The Lady Falcons fell Saturday in a tough semi-state game vs. the Brownstown Central Braves. The Falcons were slow to get started and were never able to catch up to a determined Braves team. The Falcons finished the evening with 58 points to the Brave’s 69.
Brownstown started out the game on fire. The Brave's started the game out with two 3’s on the first two Brave possessions. The Falcons struggled the entire first quarter. They were dominated on the boards and struggled to get anything to drop offensively. The Braves played and intense man-to-man defense, which limited the falcons to 6 points in the first quarter. The score at the end of the first quarter was 20-6 Brownstown.
The Falcons played a little better in the second quarter. Sophomore guard Jill Morrison scored about a minute in and drew a foul, completing the three-point play. About a minute later, senior guard Kaylie Fraze nails two 3’s and drew a charge in two minutes of play. Although the Falcons started to shake some of the jitters out, the Braves continued their systematic game. The Braves just didn’t seem to miss, which didn’t help the Falcons in their efforts to come back.
In the third quarter the Braves essentially put the game away. They easily broke the Falcon press and continued their offensive heroics. The Braves Coach was able to draw up an excellent game plan that was executed to a tee by her charges. She played many players and was able to get the results she wanted. The Falcons just could not contain this explosive team on defense, and struggled to find consistent offense all night. Except for a brief run at the end of the quarter that put the Falcons down ten, the Braves controlled the contest.
In the fourth, fatigue caught up to the still fighting Falcons as Coach Kirk Comer played only 6 players in the contest until the last minute of play. The battle weary Falcons could never catch up to the now state final bound Braves. Brownstown was led in scoring by senior Katelyn Shoemaker with 25 points and 13 rebounds. Fraze led the Falcons with 18 points. This marked a tough end to a great Falcon season.
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Lady Falcons Win the Lawrence Central Regional! The Winchester Lady Falcons, in pursuit of a state championship, were matched against the Indian Creek Braves in the Regional Finals. In a game full of passion and grit, the Falcons were able to take one step closer to the prize by defeating the Braves 70-57.
In the first 8 minutes of the game sophomore forward Allyson Lehman contributed 6 out of the 13 points for Indian Creek, while the Falcons trailed behind with 9, all of those coming on buckets from senior guard Kaylie Fraze. The Braves were able to play tough defense, shutting down sophomore star guard Jill Morrison in the first quarter and controlling the boards. The Falcons on the other hand, seemed slow to get into a rhythm.
In the second quarter, the Falcons lit it up, dictating the pace and taking control on the scoreboard. Senior forward Ashley Meinerding grabbed a steal with 5:42 left resulting in a breakaway layup. That play shifted the momentum to the Falcons and they didn’t look back. Meinerding notched 8 points in the quarter, while Morrison contributed 3. The leading scorer for the half was sharp shooter Fraze with 14 points.
The Falcons continued their dominance throughout the remainder of the game. The Falcons as a team were 26 of 27 at the free throw line, Morrison drained all fourteen 14 of her attempts. Fraze had 5 three’s drop to the bottom of the net She and Morrison lead the Falcons with an impressive 24 points each on the night.
The Falcons continue their trek to the State Finals next Saturday, taking on Brownstown Central in the Semi-State Finals. |
The Falcons Put Down the Bears
Tuesday night the Monroe Central Bears and the Winchester Golden Falcons squared off at the Winchester field house. In a game where defense dictated the game, the Falcons were victorious by a final score of score of 65 to 52.
In the first half the Monroe Central Bears played tenacious defense and were able to shut down the Falcon offense. Winchester was down 19 to 17 at the half, but Senior guard Noah Berry for the Falcons came up with a major steal and block with about a minute left in the half. Senior guard Logan Tomas for Monroe Central led the offensive campaign with 29 points, while Brandt Miller scored 26 for Winchester.
Winchester came out with a new plan of attack in the second half. The full court press shook up the Bears causing 12 turnovers on the evening. Thomas also went down in the second half, aggravating a previous knee injury, limiting his mobility. Junior guard Connor Detweiler grabbed two consecutive steals to shift the momentum towards the black and gold. The Falcons then lit up the score board to finish out the game
Winchester improved their record to 14 and 2 on the season. Monroe Central fell to 7 and 8 for the year. The Falcons next game will be at home on February 10th, and the Bears will take on Blue Rive at home on the same date.
Wrestling Semi State, Here We Come
On Saturday, February 5, six Falcons vied to compete in the Jay County Regional. Although Gavin Cox, Zach Boyd, and Travis Mayfield put up good performance throughout the year, they did not get an opportunity to advance. There were, however, three birds that did. Seniors Jordan Simmons, Eric Saucer, and Andrew Chalfant. All three of the boys placed second in their respective weight classes. Congrats to the boys, and we will all be rooting you on in Semi State action next Saturday!
  | Winchester Wrestlers Moving on to Regionals! A special congratulations goes out to all of those wrestlers who participated in the Delta Sectional. Winchester has 6 wrestlers moving on to the Jay County Regional. Weight Class Name Class Finished 112 Gavin Cox 10 3rd 152 Zach Boyd 12 3rd 160 Jordan Simmons 12 Champion 171 Eric Sauser 12 3rd 189 Travis Mayfield 11 3rd 215 Andrew Chalfant 12 Champion Great job to all of the wrestlers, and we wish the best of luck to those of you moving on to Regionals next weekend. |
Winchester Topples Union City
The Lady Falcons and Lady Indians matched up on Thursday night for a big county rivalry game in Union City. It was senior night for the Lady Indians as they recognized Kourtney Petry, Lindsey Bond, and Kegan Smith. The three girls were honored for their devotion to the team between the varsity and junior varsity games. Unfortunately for the seniors, neither of the Indian teams could pull out a victory. The JV suffered a major loss, only scoring 6 points all in the fourth quarter. The varsity also team fell 61 to 29.
The Lady Falcons varsity team came out on fire with senior Emily Sells scoring the first 2 points of the game. Jill Morrison, only a sophomore, was 3 for 3 behind the arc in the first quarter alone. Morrison didn’t slow down, as she went 5 for 6 behind the arc in the first half. The Falcon 2-3 zone collapsed on the Indians who had trouble keeping possession of the ball. The Indians struggled all night to keep up with the high paced game of the 2A 9th ranked Golden Falcons. Winchester also dominated the boards on both ends of the court, and there was little that Union City could do to hinder the Falcons domination in all areas of the court. Senior Kaylie Fraze hit a buzzer beater to end the half on an extremely high note for the Falcons.
In the second half Winchester’s Coach Comer took out his starters, and gave some JV players a chance to play on the big stage. They were able to maintain the Falcon lead to the end of the game. On a high note for the Indians, senior Lindsey Bond and junior Haylie Buckingham finished the game with 12 points.
The Falcons Looking Golden Against the Patriots
Although the weather was freezing outside, the WC Falcons looked to heat up the hardwood in Friday's contest against the Jay County Patriots. This match up is always a highly anticipated and tough for both teams. There was a large number of Patriots fans making the trek to Winchester for the big rivalry game only to see the Patriots fall to the Falcons 50-40.
The Falcons dominated from the get go starting off with a strong 9-0 lead; 6 of those points coming from Brandt Miller. Miller was nearly flawless as he finished the night raking 20 points, 2 assists on the evening. The Patriots did not seem to have an answer for Brandt, who was tearing up their 2-3 zone in the first half. Jay County Coach Teagle then turned to Scott Schwieterman and a man to man defense. Schwieterman at 6'5 matched up better with the Falcon 6'8 giant and slowed the offensive onslaught.
Miller might have been slowed down, but the rest of the Falcons were ready to pick up the pace. The scoring was evenly distributed amongst the rest of the Falcons throughout the game.
Jay County did not have their "A" game against Winchester. Turnovers played a huge factor in the demise of the Patriots. The Patriotss turned the ball over 7 times in the first quarter alone. The Falcons did a great job shutting down Kyle Comer, Jay County's leading scorer. Comer was held to 3 points until his first basket fell in the last 52 seconds of the ball game. Comer's frustration could be seen plainly on his face and in his actions, when he drew technical foul towards the close of the game. Comer wasn't the only Patriot that struggled, even though Garret Krieg knocked down some big shots late in the game to keep the score close.
The Falcons look to build on this huge win next week against Yorktown.
