DYERSVILLE — The first of two pressure-filled tournaments on the road to state was held in Dyersville Saturday, February 2, as the Anamosa wrestling team advanced three through the sectional round and on to districts.

“We get to go home and host the district meet and we have three of our wrestlers there to watch,” said Raider wrestling coach Ron Timp after Mitch Hewitt, Derek Young and Travis Keltner all made their way through the class 2A sectional winning tournament championships. “While I’m very happy for the three guys who made it through, I would have liked to have had a few more make it through with them, but it just didn’t work out for whatever reasons.”

Hewitt claimed the 130-pound sectional title while Young was champion at 140 pounds. Keltner won his first-ever tournament championship taking the 215-pound title.

“Each of those guys did what they had to do to win and keep their seasons, and in a couple of cases, their wrestling careers alive,” said Timp. “I like the chances Mitch, Derek and Travis have at making it through districts and on to state. It’ll take more quality wrestling. The kind we saw them do here at sectionals, but we all know they can get it done and they’ll have the home crowd behind them the whole way.”

Hewitt earned his way to the 130-pound sectional title tilt after defeating Maquoketa’s Maccaulley Breeden in an impressive 13-2 final.

“Mitch had a good tournament and really seemed to raise his level of wrestling to the competition,” said Timp. “The tougher things got, the better he got.”

Hewitt faced Dubuque Wahlert’s Quinn McCullough in the championship bout and quickly took a 4-2 lead after scoring a takedown and a reversal in the first period.

McCullough came back and scored two takedowns in the second period and led 6-5 entering the third and final period.

OLIN — Trailing by 23 points late in the third quarter and seemingly getting blown off their own gym floor hosting rival Midland Thursday, January 31, the Olin boys basketball team made a run for the ages.

One that almost resulted with a miraculous victory.
“In the fourth quarter we played the way I knew this team was always capable of playing,” said Lion boys basketball coach Kahm Sauer as his team rallied from the huge 23-point third quarter deficit and even trailing by as many as 21 points in the final frame, took a lead in the waning seconds against a stunned Eagle squad. “All of a sudden, shots that weren’t falling during the first three quarters, were falling in the fourth quarter and the shots Midland was making in the first three quarters, weren’t going down anymore, thanks in large part to the way we played defense.”

Olin (2-17, 0-10) trailed 17-6 after one quarter and were staring at a 30-15 halftime deficit. After three quarters Midland had built their lead to a commanding 51-32 score before the hosts began their march back.

“Midland kept shooting the ball in the fourth quarter with the same frequency they had for the first three quarters, but this time we weren’t giving them good looks and they finally started missing,” said Sauer. “We took those misses and started hitting baskets and gaining confidence and all of a sudden, it was a game again.”

The Lions went on an amazing 25-4 run and took a 57-55 lead with under a minute to play when Jake Cress drilled a clutch 3-pointer for the hosts.

After Zach Bonney hit 1-of-2 free throws for the Eagles to close the visitors within a point at 57-56.

Midland got the ball back again in the waning seconds and Bonney cut the hearts out of Olin fans and players drilling a fade-away jumper with just four seconds left to win it for the Eagles.

“We may have lost on the scoreboard, but with the way we played that fourth quarter, I don’t feel we are losers in this game,” said Sauer.

ANAMOSA — Leading for just about every second during the first three quarters of play hosting Maquoketa Thursday, January 31, the Anamosa boys basketball team may have lost their lead in the final frame, but never lost hope of being able to pull out a clutch WaMaC Conference victory.

“The first time we played Maquoketa, it was our worst effort of the season,” said Raider boys basketball coach Kevin Barnes as his team was humbled in a 59-46 final back on December 14. “I told the kids at practice the day before the game, it should never be about revenge, it should be about getting a second chance to prove yourselves. But what I wanted most was our best effort, no matter what else, give our best effort and I’ll have no complaints.”

Barnes got that and more as his team responded with a clutch 45-42 overtime victory over the Cardinals.

“We led from the opening tip until the fourth quarter,” said Barnes. “Then we trailed the entire fourth quarter.”

Anamosa (7-8, 6-6) held a precarious 10-8 lead after one frame and were up just 19-17 at the half before Maquoketa caught the hosts by the third quarter horn at 30-30.

In that final, very low scoring frame, the Cardinals led throughout until Josh English stepped to the free throw line with under a minute remaining and connected on 1-of-2 free throws, tying the score at 36-36.

Maquoketa held the ball for the final shot and launched a 3-pointer with just seconds remaining that missed everything. However, the Cardinals got the rebound and a good look from 10-feet that rimmed out forcing the game into overtime.

In the extra session, Tony Lueken got the hosts started with a basket, but Maquoketa responded scoring the next four points taking a 40-38 lead with two-minutes remaining.

“Then came the play of the game,” said Barnes. “Skyler got a steal out front and converted that into a lay-up at the other end.”

The play knotted the score with 1:32 to go and sparked the team to a 9-6 run in the overtime pulling out the three-point victory.

“I’m really proud of Skyler,” said Barnes. “After that shot, we never trailed again.”

Colten Kelly proved unstoppable pouring in 26 points against a Maquoketa defense designed to stop him.

“The kid I’m most proud of is Colten,” said Barnes. “He stepped up tonight in a way I’ve never seen before. It’s easy to take for granted Colten will score 25 points every night. We forget every night he gets special attention from whoever we are playing and tonight simply refused to be guarded.”