NFV girls season ends against CP-U

By Zakary Kriener

     It was a spectacular season for the North Fayette Valley girls’ basketball team, but as we all know, all good things must come to an end. On Saturday night, the TigerHawks fell to a strong Center Point-Urbana squad, 67-29, to close out the season.

     “CP-U’s record did not indicate the type of team they are, but we knew that. They play in the very tough WaMac conference and are playing 3A and 4A schools every night out with a lot of those opponents being ranked,” said coach Jared Tilleraas of the Stormin’ Pointers, which had a record of 8-13 going into Saturday night’s postseason game. “The difference in the game was CP-U’s pressure and speed. We turned the ball over 20 times in the first half and many of those turnovers led to easy layups.”

Late free throw propels NFV girls to win 

By Zakary Kriener

     The TigerHawk girls’ basketball team hit the court for the final time in the 2023-2024 regular season on Monday night (Feb. 2) as they etched out a 32-31 win.

     “Going into Regional playoffs, a win is huge, especially after coming off a close loss to Central last week,” said coach Jared Tilleraas after the game. “We played without Kaelyn (Elsbernd) and the other girls stepped up and we did enough to get the win!”

Warriors advance five to State 

By Zakary Kriener

     When the 2024 State Wrestling Tournament gets underway this week, there will be five wrestlers representing a Warrior singlet. On Saturday’s District Tournament in Denver, Aiden Feickert (113), Collin Holm (144), Landen Schnuelle (150), Kyle Kuboushek (165), and Parker Timp (215) each punched their tickets to State with runner-up finishes.

     “This was arguably the toughest district in Class 1A,” said coach Jacob Elsbernd after the tournament. “As it is every year, it was a day full of emotions and a roller coaster ride for our team. We had some incredible battles, some we managed to win and others we came out on the losing end. The hardest part of the day is watching our kids have their seasons ended by not advancing, especially our seniors who competed for the last time.”

Warrior girls win in OT to advance 

By Zakary Kriener

     It was a big night for the Warrior girls’ basketball team on Saturday as South Winn earned an overtime win over Wapsie Valley to advance in the Class 2A Region 1 playoffs.

     “That was a fun playoff atmosphere last night,” said coach Justin Izer on Sunday. “We played extremely hard and our efforts on the defensive side of the ball were phenomenal!”

SW girls fall in regular season finale

By Zakary Kriener

     The South Winn girls’ basketball team wrapped up its regular season on Monday night, Feb. 5, taking on rival Turkey Valley in Jackson Junction.

     The Warriors kept it close throughout but fell by a score of 46-38 in the end.

SW boys topple CR to close out regular season

By Zakary Kriener

     The Warrior boys kept the momentum going for the week with a Tuesday night (Feb. 6) win over Clayton Ridge to close out the regular season with a 13-8 overall mark, which includes a 9-7 record in Upper Iowa Conference play (tied for fourth). The win came decisively as the Warriors defeated the Eagles 61-36.

SW boys get out of slump with win over Trojans

By Zakary Kriener

     Following a tough stretch of games where the South Winn boys’ basketball game had lost its previous four games, the Warriors got a much-needed win on Monday night (Feb. 5) after defeating rival Turkey Valley, 64-55.

     “We had been in a slump lately, so this was a nice win to break out with,” said coach Derek Taylor after the victory. “We played with better energy on both ends of the floor.”

Kuhn’s runner-up finish leads TigerHawk girls 

By Zakary Kriener

     The NFV girls’ wrestling team was back on the mats Friday evening at the 6^th Annual Central Girls’ Invitational in Elkader as the squad took seventh out of the over 20 teams in attendance.

     Leading the way was 140-pounder Gracie Kuhn who took second place with a pair of wins via fall. Kuhn fell to Jolee Strohmeyer of Dubuque Senior in the finals but scored a team-high 22 points.

NFV girls dominant over West Central 

By Zakary Kriener

     The NFV girls’ basketball team returned to the hardwood on Friday night as the TigerHawks took town conference rival West Central, 67-22, in West Union.

     “I thought our girls played really well. We had some good practices over break and I thought our scrimmage with Independence over break really helped us prepare for our first game back,” said coach Jared Tilleraas after NFV notched its 10^th win of the season. “Our full court pressure in the first quarter was the difference. We were able to turn West Central over and those turnovers led to transition baskets.”

     In that first quarter, the TigerHawks got out to a 20-0 lead, which led to a 32-7 advantage at halftime.

NFV boys take fourth at Flanagan Invite

By Zakary Kriener

     The NFV boys’ wrestling team competed in the Flanagan 24 Wrestling Tournament on Saturday in Cresco, taking fourth out of seven solid squads. The effort was led by a first-place finish by Kenny Kerr at 175 pounds as four additional TigerHawks went on to secure runner-up finishes.