Shooting woes hurt Wildcats in loss to Spring Hill
Louisburg sophomore Ben Guetterman tries to drive to the basket Friday during the Wildcats’ home game against Spring Hill.
The opportunity to get a big home win for the Louisburg boys basketball team was laid out for the Wildcats to take.
Louisburg had just gone on a run
to take a five-point lead going into the fourth quarter Friday against Spring
Hill. The momentum was all the side of the Wildcats, but unfortunately for
Louisburg, the final period was all Spring Hill.
The Wildcats struggled offensively
in the fourth quarter and the Broncos took advantage as they handed Louisburg a
50-43 loss.
For much of the game, the Wildcat
defense was the difference as they forced 16 Spring Hill turnovers, including
several that came off a full-court press. Offensively, however, Louisburg managed
just six points in the final eight minutes and Spring Hill mounted the
comeback.
“Spring Hill turned the ball over
quite a bit and I think we had a lot to do with that,” Louisburg coach Ty
Pfannenstiel said. “Our slow-down press kind of caused them some problems and
we made them uncomfortable. We have to be able to execute off that. We had the
lead going into the fourth and we always tend to have one of those bad quarters
where we score in the single digits and you are not going to win many games
when you have quarters like that.”
Louisburg struggled shooting the
ball for much of the night as it shot just 29 percent from the field, and
outside of senior Kohl Vogel, who finished with a game-high 18 points, the
Wildcats didn’t have anyone else score in double figures.
Junior Michael Waldron and sophomore
Ben Guetterman each finished with eight points, and both connected on 3-pointers
at big moments in the game.
“I thought Waldron and Ben shot
the ball well for us, but overall we were like 4-20 from 3-point range,”
Pfannenstiel said. “If we are going to shoot that many, then we better start
hitting some and we need to figure out if we are shooters or not. If not, then
we have to find other ways to put the ball in the basket. You have to step up
and make plays in games like this and they just made more than we did,
especially in the fourth.”
Junior Michael Waldron passes the ball ahead to teammate Kohl Vogel for a fast break opportunity Friday against Spring Hill.
Spring Hill took a 17-10 lead at
the end of the first quarter, but the Wildcats battled back to trim the Bronco
lead just one at halftime. Louisburg then went on a 7-1 run to end the third to
grab a 37-32 advantage.
Vogel scored a basket and two free
throws during that run, while Guetterman hit a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats
some momentum.
The Wildcats, however, had a hard
time containing Spring Hill’s Brennan Feeback. The Bronco senior hit several
big shots as he scored a game-high 20 points and also had 15 rebounds.
“Feeback made some great plays for
them as well and we needed to take away his opportunities and eliminate their
best players,” Pfannenstiel said. “We took care of the ball well. We had some
bad turnovers, but 10 turnovers is by far our least of the season and I thought
that was a positive. We were patient on offense, but we have to find ways to
score and shoot the ball better from the outside.”
Louisburg will try and bounce back
today when it travels to Paola in what is the first of three games this week.
The Wildcats will also to travel to Baldwin on Wednesday before hosting Ottawa
on Friday for homecoming.
“The good thing about basketball
is you don’t have to wait long to get right back on the court,” Pfannenstiel
said. “We have a busy week coming with three games this week and playing Paola
is always a big game for our players and we played them well there last year.
Hopefully we can turn things around.”
Louisburg senior Dylan DeShazer puts up a shot during the Baldwin Invitational last week at Baldwin High School.
BALDWIN CITY – For three of the
four quarters, the Louisburg boys basketball team actually bested Wellsville on
Friday during the fifth-place game of the Baldwin Invitational.
It was the third quarter, however,
that helped send the Wildcats home with a loss.
Louisburg scored just four points
in the third quarter, and despite a furious rally in the fourth, the Wildcats
couldn’t make the comeback in the 64-53 loss to the Eagles at Baldwin High
School.
“We knew Wellsville was going to be a
tough test for us,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “They are a very
patient and disciplined team. They shot the ball really well coming out after
halftime and only missed three shots in the third quarter. We were really bad
offensively.”
Wellsville outscored Louisburg 21-4 in
the third period after the Wildcats trailed by just one point at halftime.
Louisburg outscored Wellsville 24-17 in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t
enough.
Kohl Vogel had another big game for the
Wildcats with a team-high 14 points, while fellow senior Brayden Gage added 12
points and senior Dylan DeShazer added nine.
The Wildcats (5-6) had a tough time
containing the Wellsville dynamic duo of Jackson Dwyer and Zach Vance. The two
players each finished with 22 points and combined for 44 of the Eagles’ 64
points.
“I was proud of how we fought back in the
fourth quarter,” Pfannenstiel said. “We were able to cut their lead to seven
points in the fourth, but they hit a couple more big shots that proved too much
to overcome. If you take away the third quarter, we played pretty
well. But obviously you have to play well for all four quarters and we
just didn’t do that I think there is a lot to be learned from this game
and hopefully we can come back and be more consistent.”
Louisburg will try and get back on track
Friday when it hosts Spring Hill. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
Big quarter not enough for Lady Cats in loss to Spring Hill
Louisburg sophomore Alyse Moore drives to the basket Friday during the Lady Cats’ game with Spring Hill on Friday at Louisburg High School.
The Louisburg girls basketball
team put together its best quarter of the season Friday against Spring Hill and
the Lady Cats staked themselves a big lead going into halftime.
Unfortunately for Louisburg,
Spring Hill came out of halftime and turned the tables on the Lady Cats.
The Lady Cats saw an 18-point lead
slowly whittle away and Spring Hill recorded a big comeback as it handed
Louisburg a 63-59 loss at Louisburg High School.
“This is the type of game that
shows the potential that this team is capable of being,” Louisburg coach Shawn
Lowry said. “We are by far what we are going to be by the end of February, which
I am excited about. I know how hard the girls are going to work from here on
out and they get an opportunity to show how they will respond. They are
disappointed, but at the same time they are not going to let this get them
down.”
Louisburg (5-5) trailed by five
points going into the second quarter, which is where the Lady Cats created a
lot of distance between themselves and the Broncos. They outscored Spring Hill
27-4 in the period and ended up taking a 34-16 halftime lead.
Defense keyed the Lady Cats in the
second quarter as they used a full-court press to frustrate Spring Hill and
forced nine turnovers in the frame. That defense turned into instant offense as
Spring Hill battled foul problems.
Those foul problems sent the Lady
Cats to the free-throw line – a lot – and they converted. Louisburg made 30 of
47 free throws for the game and they attacked the basket on the Bronco defense.
The Lady Cats made more free throws than they had points (19) in their last
loss to Baldwin.
“Whether we were up 18 or up 2, I
just loved how our kids battled and how they are together in this,” Lowry said.
“We can learn a lot from this game and we are going to get better from it. Just
look at how big a jump we made from our last game from a shooting perspective,
from a free-throw shooting perspective and it is just because they were focused
and ready to go. We just have to make sure that our defensive effort and
discipline is for an entire game and not just the first part.”
The second half was a different
story for Louisburg. The Broncos outscored the Lady Cats 25-9 in the third
period to cut the Louisburg lead to just two, before taking the lead back for
good with four-and-a-half minutes left in the game.
Louisburg sophomore Megan Foote gets on the floor for a loose ball Friday against Spring Hill.
Louisburg also had some foul
trouble of its own as the team’s leading scorer, Madilyn Melton, fouled out
midway through the fourth quarter.
The Lady Cats made several runs at
the Broncos as Megan Foote cut the Spring Hill lead to one on a 3-pointer with
just over a minute left. Louisburg also got a basket from Carson Buffington and
a free throw from freshman Delaney Wright with 42 seconds remaining, but still
trailed the Broncos by one.
Spring Hill made a free throw with
under 30 seconds left to make it a two-point game, but Buffington missed a
3-pointer with under 10 seconds left and Spring Hill was able to ice the game
at the free-throw line.
Buffington led Louisburg in
scoring with 18 points and also tied for a team-high with six steals and had
five rebounds. Melton was next with 17 points, while Foote also finished in
double figures with 10. Foote and sophomore Alyse Moore had six and five
steals, respectively.
Louisburg will try and bounce back
this week in a challenging Top Gun Tournament at Wellsville High School. The
Lady Cats, the No. 6 seed, will face Wellsville at 6:45 p.m., today.
“It is loaded and it is a good
one,” Lowry said “We are excited to go play and we will get to play the host
team to kick it off. There are some great teams like Baldwin, Spring Hill and
Nemaha Central is an undefeated No. 1-ranked team in 3A. Then you have a team
like Hayden there, whose record isn’t great, but they play in a tough league
and are a solid team. It will be a lot of fun.”
Wildcats bounce back to beat Bishop Ward at Baldwin Invite
Louisburg senior Brayden Gage gets to the basket for two points Thursday during the consolation semifinal game of the Baldwin Invitational against Bishop Ward. The Wildcats won 58-40.
BALDWIN CITY – Coming off a
difficult loss to begin the Baldwin Invitational, the Louisburg boys basketball
team needed to make amends quickly.
The Wildcats were on a three-game
losing skid going into Thursday’s consolation semifinal against Bishop Ward and
they wanted get things back on track in this tournament before heading back
into Frontier League play.
Louisburg got the win it was looking for as the Wildcats downed Bishop Ward, 58-40, behind a big second half in which they outscored the Cyclones 37-23.
“We were just more patient on
offense and we were getting better shots,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel
said. “I thought we worked the offense a lot better than we did in our first
game here. The first half wasn’t pretty because shots just weren’t falling, but
we were taking good shots. The second half our defense really sparked our
offense and I thought we were a lot better defensively and it got us going.”
It was a balanced effort from the
Wildcats as two players scored in double figures and eight different players
found the scoring column.
Senior Noah Hill had a big night
with a team-high 12 points before having to leave the game in the second half
due to an injury. Senior guard Brayden Gage also picked it up as he finished
with 11.
Louisburg senior Noah Hill gets on the floor for a loose ball Thursday against Bishop Ward.
Sophomore guard Weston Guetterman
added eight points in the win, while senior Kohl Vogel finished with seven.
Junior Michael Waldron added a pair of 3-pointers to the cause and freshman
Julian Margrave came off the bench to score his first varsity points as he
finished with six.
“It was good to see a bunch a
different guys contribute and not just rely on one or two guys,” Pfannenstiel
said. “I thought we moved the ball around well, especially in the second half,
and more guys were able to contribute for us. We were able to play a few extra
guys as well, which I think will allow us to play even harder moving forward.”
The Wildcats (5-5) found themselves
in close battle with the Cyclones in the first half as they led just 21-17 at
halftime. Louisburg was able to overcome some turnovers problems in the second half
as it got key baskets down the stretch to pull away.
Louisburg will try and finish the
Baldwin tournament with a two straight wins tonight when it faces off with Wellsville
at 7 p.m., in the fifth-place game.
“We want to get a on a roll here
and it was nice to be able to break that three-game losing streak we were on,”
Pfannenstiel said. “Hopefully we can get some momentum going heading back into
league play. Wellsville is a very disciplined team and a very patient team.
They play incredibly hard and they play smart, so we are going to have to play
a very good game if we want to be able to win.”
Louisburg couldn’t have asked for
a better start to the Baldwin Invitational on Tuesday as it opened with Harmon.
The Wildcats went on a run to
start the first quarter and jumped out to a double-digit lead. Unfortunately,
Louisburg wasn’t able to keep its momentum as it fell to Harmon, 51-45.
Louisburg jumped out to a 16-2 lead in the first quarter, but took a step back in the second quarter to allow Harmon to get back into the game. Despite a back-and-forth third quarter, Harmon used a 15-8 run in the fourth to seal the win.
“It was a tough loss,” Louisburg
coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “I thought we played pretty well for three
quarters, but got a little bit out of sorts offensively in the fourth quarter.
We just turned the ball over way too many times and that has been our Achilles heel.”
Senior Kohl Vogel tried to keep
the Wildcats in the game as he finished with a team-high 22 points and had six
rebounds. Senior Dylan DeShazer just missed double figures with nine points,
but also had a team-high seven rebounds.
Louisburg guard Megan Foote tries to dribble past a Baldwin defender Wednesday during the Lady Cats’ road contest at Baldwin. Louisburg fell 49-19.
BALDWIN CITY – Going on the road
against a state-ranked team is usually a difficult task and it was just that
Wednesday for the Louisburg girls basketball team.
The Lady Cats ventured to No. 5-ranked Baldwin for a makeup of game that was postponed last week. Louisburg fell 49-19 to move its record to 5-4 on the season.
It was close game early as both
teams struggled to find their footing in the first quarter and the Lady Cats
trailed just 6-3 going into the second quarter.
Baldwin eventually got into a rhythm and pulled away as it knocked down several outside shots to score 20 points in the second period and took a 26-7 halftime lead. From there, the Bulldogs were able to pull away and not look back.
Louisburg had just three players
score in the contest. Sophomore Madilyn Melton led the way with seven points
and nine rebounds, while fellow sophomore Megan Foote had seven points and six
rebounds.
Senior Carson Buffington finished
with five points and seven rebounds. Junior Haley Cain was second on the team
in rebounding with eight.
The Lady Cats will compete in the Top Gun Tournament in Wellsville beginning Tuesday. Louisburg is the No. 6 seed and will play No. 3 Wellsville at 6:45 p.m.
Tonight, the Lady Cats will play at home for the first time in 2019 as it hosts Spring Hill for a Frontier League matchup. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.
Offense comes alive for Lady Cats in win at Bonner Springs
Louisburg sophomore Madilyn Melton fights past two Bonner Springs defenders to get to the basket Tuesday at Bonner Springs High School.
BONNER SPRINGS – Coming off a road
loss to Eudora where the Louisburg girls basketball team managed just 28
points, the Lady Cats knew they were going to have to pick things up
offensively.
Louisburg did just that as the
Lady Cats nearly eclipsed their previous point total in the first quarter alone
Tuesday in Bonner Springs. The Lady Cats opened with a 24-point first quarter
and never looked back in a 56-44 win over the Braves.
It was a big victory for the Lady
Cats as they are in the middle of a three-game road swing to open 2019 and head
coach Shawn Lowry was pleased with the way his team responded in all phases of
the game.
“I am never proud or disappointed
after a win or a loss, I am just proud of how our kids respond to all different
kinds of things, whether that is in practice or a game,” Lowry said. “I am
proud of our character, our toughness and our togetherness. Ever since I have
been here, I have talked about togetherness and this group embraces it as good
as any that I have had here. That is what I am most proud of.”
The Lady Cats got offensive
production from several different players and also found success from the
outside. Louisburg hit nine 3-pointers on the night and was able to score both
inside and out.
It started with sophomore Madilyn
Melton as she had a team-high 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists to
lead Louisburg. Junior Haley Cain also stepped up inside with 11 points and
five rebounds.
Sophomore guard Megan Foote, who
got her first start of the season, also finished in double figures with 10
points, four rebounds and three assists. Sophomore Brooklyn Diederich came off the
bench to score eight points and senior Carson Buffington also had a team-high
seven rebounds.
Senior Carson Buffington leaps into the air to pressure a Bonner Springs player Tuesday.
“After the last game we talked
about having to find someone who can score the ball and it is just kids
stepping up and saying that they get it and I will look to be more aggressive
and be a scorer,” Lowry said. “I thought we did a good job of that. Haley,
Megan, Diederich and (Kennia) Hankinson all did a good job of looking for
opportunities. Teams are going to play Madilyn a little tougher inside and will
start to pack it in a little bit, and that means we have to look to be scorers
from the outside when we need to.”
Louisburg (5-3) took a 30-22 halftime lead after slowing down a little offensively in the second quarter. Bonner Springs chipped away at the Lady Cat lead in the third as Braves’ forward Kim Whetstone scored eight straight points to cut the Louisburg lead to three. Whetstone led Bonner Springs with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
“She is a nice player and is very
athletic and very tough,” Lowry said. “We tried to do some different things
against her, and when we tried some of those things she really started to
score. She is a nice player and we will have to play them again at our place.
Melton, Foote and Cain scored the
next 12 points for Louisburg to help build the lead back to double digits and
the Lady Cats were able to keep it there.
Louisburg will try and make it two
wins in a row tonight when it travels to Baldwin. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.
“They have a great program and
they are obviously the state champions from last year,” Lowry said. “They have
so many great players back from last year, but our girls won’t back down from
the challenge and we are going to work our butts off and get ready for them.
Louisburg junior Michael Waldron drives to the basket Tuesday during the Wildcats’ road contest against Bonner Springs.
BONNER SPRINGS – The Louisburg
boys basketball team knew it was going to be a difficult challenge Tuesday when
it faced off with one of the better teams in the state.
The Wildcats traveled to Bonner
Springs for a Frontier League matchup and the Braves, who are ranked No. 10 in
Class 5A, handed Louisburg a 72-46 loss.
“It was a tough matchup,”
Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “They are really quick and we knew we
were going to have to play zone and keep them in front of us. We struggled to
do the little things early on and they exposed us on that and that is what good
teams do. There is a lot to be learned from the game. We will move on and keep
grinding.”
Bonner Springs used its quickness
and athleticism to pressure the Wildcats on defense and the Braves scored 19
points off Louisburg turnovers.
Louisburg (4-4) was unable to get much traction as Bonner Springs jumped out to a 22-12 lead in the first quarter and the Braves scored 26 more points in the second quarter to get out to a big lead.
Wildcat senior Dylan DeShazer led
Louisburg in scoring with 11 points and added six rebounds. Fellow senior Kohl
Vogel also finished in double figures with 10 points and six rebounds, while
junior Madden Rutherford led the Wildcats with eight rebounds.
Louisburg will try and get back on
track today when it travels to Baldwin. The Wildcats will travel to Baldwin
against next week for the Baldwin Invitational where Louisburg is the No. 6 seed
and will meet Harmon.
“We will see what kind of team we
are, whether we will feel sorry for ourselves or get in there and work to get
better,” Pfannenstiel said. “Hopefully we can play well on Friday and get a
little momentum going for a well-balanced tournament. There is eight really
good teams in that tournament, but we have to take care of business against
Baldwin and continue to get better.”
Louisburg senior Kohl Vogel goes up to try and block a Eudora shot Friday at Eudora High School. The Wildcats fell to the Cardinals, 59-31.
EUDORA – After one quarter, the
Louisburg boys basketball team was right there with Eudora, the No. 6-ranked
team in Class 4A.
It was the second quarter where the Wildcats weren’t able recover.
In its first action following the holiday break, Louisburg had its worst shooting night of the season in a 59-31 loss to the Cardinals at Eudora High School. The Cardinals were part of the reason for that as they forced 15 Wildcat turnovers and scored 17 points off those mistakes.
“It was obviously wasn’t one of
our better shootings nights, and it wasn’t necessarily shooting, but more
execution offensively,” Louisburg coach Ty Pfannenstiel said. “We were really
poor in the second quarter with our execution and Eudora was really hot there
for a while and they are a really good team and well-coached.
“They played as well as I have
seen them play this year. That will happen sometimes when you have an off night
and the other team is on fire and that is what the score was as lopsided as it
was.”
The two teams were on the opposite sides of the shooting spectrums as Louisburg shot just 28 percent for the game, while Eudora connected on 56 percent of its shots. The Cardinals also combined for 41 points in the second and third quarters to pull away.
“Eudora shot it well and even
their coach told me after it was over that they hadn’t even shot that well in
an open gym before, much less a game,” Pfannenstiel said. “We just have to
shoot the ball better and that was an emphasis over the summer. So far we have
done a lot better with that, but we just have to bounce back.”
Senior Kohl Vogel led the Wildcat
offense with eight points on the night and fellow senior Dylan DeShazer
finished with six. Junior Madden Rutherford had five rebounds to lead the
Wildcats.
Louisburg will try and get back on
track Tuesday when it travels to Bonner Springs, which is ranked No. 10 in
Class 5A. The Wildcats will live on the road the next couple of weeks as they
won’t have a home game until Jan. 25.
“We have some difficult games
coming up so we can’t feel sorry for ourselves after this,” Pfannenstiel said. “We
have a very good Bonner Springs team on Tuesday and we have to come back and
get ready to go.”
Rough third quarter sinks Lady Cats against Eudora
Louisburg junior Haley Cain gets on the floor for a loose ball Friday at Eudora High School. The Lady Cats fell 51-28 in their first game back from the holiday break.
EUDORA – There are times during a
season where most teams will have games where the offense just wasn’t there.
Friday was one of those nights for
the Louisburg girls basketball team.
Eudora built on its 10-point
halftime lead with a big third quarter and handed the Lady Cats a 51-28 defeat at
Eudora High School. The Cardinals went on a 20-3 run in the third quarter to
pull away and the Lady Cats didn’t have an answer.
“We just have to find a way to
score the basketball,” Louisburg coach Shawn Lowry said. “Whether it is with
different looks, different sets, different personnel – we just have to find a
way to get better at scoring the ball. Maybe it is something simple like
getting to the rim, making our free throws or hitting some shots from the
outside. It needs to get better.”
The Cardinals employed a zone defense
for much of the game and wanted to make Louisburg beat them from the outside.
That defense took away the Lady Cats’ strength, which is driving to the basket
and getting the ball down low.
“If I was on the other side
coaching, I would probably zone us quite a bit too,” Lowry said. “They forced
us to shoot from the outside and we couldn’t take advantage of that. Our
driving ability and inside game can be pretty strong, but we have to find a way
to score the basketball in addition to those two things.”
The Lady Cats trailed by just six
points at the end of the first quarter and had a 27-17 halftime deficit before
the Cardinals caught fire.
Along with the rough night
shooting, the Lady Cats had a tough time containing Eudora sisters Riley and
Reagan Hiebert. The Cardinal twins combined for 29 of the team’s 51 points as
they knocked down several shots from the outside against the Louisburg zone.
“They are tough to guard and they
are athletic,” Lowry said of the Eudora guards. “That is what speed does. They
are great track athletes and it shows on the basketball floor as well. Add to
that, they can really shoot the ball.
“Eudora is a really good team. We
knew they were going to be a solid team and they got a really nice freshman
class coming up too. They were what we expected. They are a talented group of
kids and they are well-coached and he has done a nice job for a long time.”
Louisburg sophomore Madilyn Melton
nearly had a double-double to lead the Lady Cats. Melton finished with 10
points and eight rebounds and was the lone Lady Cat to score in double figures.
Sophomore Alyse Moore was next
with six points, while sophomore guard Brooklyn Diederich added five. Seniors
Carson Buffington and Kennia Hankinson were second on the team with five
rebounds.
The Lady Cats will try and get back on track Tuesday when it travels to Bonner Springs. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m., as Louisburg is in the middle of a three-game road trip.
“We had a really good work over
the break,” Lowry said. “Our attendance was fantastic and our work ethic was
great. Our energy was really good, but now we have to come back and play three
games on the road. We just have to pick ourselves from this and rebound at
Bonner Springs.”
It was a successful, and eventful, 2018 for Louisburg High School athletics and for those who are connected to the Wildcat program. This past year created a lot of school history for LHS and several programs brought back state hardware to Louisburg.
Below are the Top 10 stories from 2018, along with a brief explanation of each. Included in the explanation is the link to the actual story from the event.
This year was a blast to cover and I was blessed to have the opportunity to go along for the ride with many of these. As much fun as it was, I can’t wait for 2019 to begin. Looking forward to it!
10. Dillon medals at state golf for second straight year
EMPORIA – All season,
Calvin Dillon had been atop or near the front of leaderboard and that didn’t
change in what was his biggest tournament of the season.
It was the second consecutive state medal for Dillon
after he finished 10th overall last season at
Wamego as a freshman.
“It is a real honor
to earn another state medal, especially with the quality players that were at
the state tournament,” Dillon said. “There were lots of good players and lots
of good teams.”
It
was another notch on Dillon’s list of accomplishments that included a Frontier
League title and six straight tournament victories during the 2018 season.
Louisburg football coach Robert Ebenstein
Louisburg girls soccer coach Kyle Conley
9. Conley, Ebenstein named Class 4A Coach of the Year
Louisburg
girls soccer coach Kyle Conley and Wildcat football coach Robert Ebenstein both
led their respective teams to special seasons.
Those seasons were special enough for both coaches to earn two big awards.
He guided the Wildcats to a 14-7 record and a spot in the
state championship match, where the Lady Cats finished second overall. The
finish was something to remember for Wildcat fans as that was accomplished in
just the program’s third year of existence.
He has posted a
41-18-2 record during his time as the Wildcat girls head coach and also guided
the Louisburg boys soccer team to its best finish in program history in 2017
with a fourth place finish at state.
As for Ebenstein, he
guided the Wildcats to 10 straight victories and a regional championship to
start the 2018 season, before getting knocked out in the sectional round
against eventual state champion, Bishop Miege.
8.
Holtzen finishes Louisburg career with 12 varsity letters
Once Isabelle Holtzen
received her diploma and walked out of Louisburg High School for the last time
as a student, she officially became one of the most decorated female athletes
in school history.
No, she doesn’t have any individual state championships, or even
one as part of a team. Holtzen’s decorations aren’t ones in the form of
trophies or all-state honors, but instead, they can be found on the front of
her letter jacket.
In research done by Louisburg Sports Zone, it was unable to find
the last athlete to accomplish the feat, which could mean Holtzen could be the
first Lady Cat to do so. She competed in cross country, basketball and track
and field
The last athlete to come close was in 2001 when Krystal Bowes
earned 10 varsity letters before moving on to a collegiate track career at
Wichita State.
“The biggest thing that it means to me is to just have an
opportunity to participate in three sports at a school like Louisburg,” Holtzen
said. “The bigger the school that you go to, the harder it is to play multiple
sports at the varsity level and I think Louisburg is unique in that fact. The
best part of this whole journey was I think my freshman year because there was
no pressure and no one was expecting anything from me. It was surprising and
exciting to be able to letter in all three sports.”
Holtzen is currently at
Northern Iowa, where she received a scholarship to pole vault for the Panther
Track and Field Team.
7.
Dixon earns All-American, Player of the Year honors, signs with Kansas State
Louisburg
senior Anna Dixon led the Lady Cat volleyball program all season and she was recognized
for her play on the court.
Dixon, the 6-foot-3 outside hitter, was recently named the Class 4A Player of the Year by the Kansas Volleyball Association, and along with that was also selected to the all-state first team.
It was the second year in a row Dixon was named player of the
year, as she had to share the honor last season with Rose Hill’s Gracie Van
Driel.
The honors certainly didn’t stop there as Dixon was
all named to the All-Frontier League first team as she helped guide the Lady
Cats to an undefeated league season.
Dixon led the Lady Cats in kills with 584 in 105 sets
played. She also finished with 325 digs, as she played all six rotations and
also had 50 aces and 42 blocks.
In her four years with the program, Dixon finished
with 2,003 kills, which would place that total among the best the school has
ever seen.
“I have always known Kansas State was going to be my
home,” Dixon said. “Even since I committed as a sophomore, I always wanted to
go up to Manhattan and see the girls and spend time with the team. K-State is where
I need to be.”
6. Louisburg wrestling sends six to state, Holtzen
earns first state medal
SALINA – As the final
whistle sounded in his blood round match, Cade Holtzen looked up into the
rafters of the Tony’s Pizza Events Center and smiled.
“It is one of the best
feelings that I have had in my life,” Holtzen said. “Just knowing that I’m
going to place – you just can’t match that with anything else.”
It certainly wasn’t
easy for the Louisburg freshman as he faced a win or go home with nothing
scenario heading into his match with Porter. Holtzen pulled out the victory and
eventually finished sixth overall at 113 pounds to give Louisburg a state
medalist for the third consecutive season.
“It is pretty cool,”
he said. “I have been working for this all season, so to get a state medal is
great. It may not have been as high as I wanted, but any state medal is pretty
amazing.”
Holtzen had a special
year for the Wildcats as he finished with a 45-6 record and broke the school
record for most wins in a single season. He won four different tournaments and
was a Frontier League and regional tournament runner-up.
To add to his resume,
he became only the second freshman in school history to earn state medal –
second to only Austin Hood, who would go on to with three state titles.
Austin Moore finished
one victory shy of earning his first state medal, while Ryan Adams, Thad
Hendrix and Blue Caplinger also picked up wins at the state tournament.
5. Moore, Johnson
finished in top 10 at state cross country, girls qualify for second straight
year
WAMEGO – It was going
to be hard for the Louisburg High School girls cross country team to duplicate
its magical season of 2017.
Not only did the Lady Cats qualify their team for state for the
first time in program history, but they also had a top five finisher in Trinity
Moore.
Fast forward to 2018, Louisburg wasn’t able to match that successful
run – the Lady Cats took it a step further.
Moore, along with freshman Reese Johnson, each had a top 10 finish during the Class 4A Kansas State Cross Country Championships at Wamego Country Club, and it is the first time in school history that two female runners had medaled at a state meet. Louisburg added on to that as the girls finished fifth in the team standings with 154 points, which is also the highest finish in school history.
Moore, who finished
fifth at state a year ago, bested her performance by one place as she took
fourth with one of her better performances of the season. Johnson was right
behind her as she crossed the finish line in sixth.
Shaylor Whitham, Carlee Gassman, Kaitlyn Lewer, Delaney Wright and Kennady Wilkerson were also members of the Lady Cats’ team to run at state. Emily Williams was a member of the regional team that finished second overall.
4. Louisburg track
earns six state medals, Gassman state runner-up in 300 hurdles
WICHITA – Carlee Gassman had broken the Louisburg High School 300-meter hurdle record three different times in 2018 prior to the state track meet.
She picked the perfect time to make it a fourth.
Gassman broke her own school record in the 300 hurdles in May at the Class 4A Kansas State Track and Field Championships in Wichita as she ran a time of 45.68 seconds to earn a silver medal as she was the Wildcats’ top performer on the weekend. Andale’s Abby Smarsh, who is a senior, won the event in 44.73.
It was the Louisburg sophomore’s first time competing at the
Kansas meet as she transferred in from Iowa last year, where she qualified for
the state meet there in the 400 hurdles.
Gassman’s medal in the 300 hurdles was just one of six the
Wildcats were able to bring home following the two-day meet. Those six medals
were the most Louisburg has earned since 2011, when the Wildcats combined to
medal in 10 events and the boys won their first team state title.
The 300 hurdles wasn’t the only event Gassman found success in
as she also medaled in the long jump. Gassman, who hadn’t competed in the event
prior to this year, finished fifth with a mark of 17 feet, 0.25 inches.
Isabelle Holtzen
would go on to finish sixth in the pole vault, the boys 4×400 team of Chris
Williams, Blue Caplinger, Ben Wiedenmann and Justin Collins went on to take
seventh. Williams finished eighth in the 400-meter run and Trent Martin medaled
eighth in the boys pole vault.
3. Louisburg
volleyball takes runner-up at state for second straight season
HUTCHINSON – The
feeling was much of the same.
The pride of finishing as a state-runner up was a popular one
among the members of the Louisburg volleyball team. At the same time, the
frustration of taking second in state in back-to-back seasons was just as
prevalent.
Louisburg wasn’t quite sure what to feel following its 25-13 and 25-14 loss to Bishop Miege in the championship game of the Class 4A state tournament Saturday at Hutchinson Sports Arena.
In 2017, the Lady
Cats fell to Rose Hill by two points in the championship match, and fast
forward to the present, they were in the same spot – holding the state
runner-up trophy. It was the 15th time in
program history that Louisburg finished in the top four at state.
The Lady Cats rattled off four straight wins to start
the tournament, including knocking off No. 1 seed Independence, and defending
state champions Rose Hill and Topeka Hayden. Louisburg then battled back to
defeat Andale in the state semifinals.
“The loss was tough,”
Louisburg coach Jessica Compliment said. “To come so close to a state title two
years in a row, only to come up short is tough. But with that being said, it is
a huge accomplishment for this team to get back to the state championship and
make it two years in a row. Finishing second is nothing to hang our heads on.
Last year’s finish fueled the fire for the team this year, and I challenged the
returning players to use this loss and feeling to fuel them for next year.”
Louisburg has been
one of the more dominant teams in Class 4A in the last decade as the Lady Cats
have made the state tournament seven out of the last nine years and have
finished as a state runner-up on three different occasions, along with several
third and fourth place finishes. They finished 2018 with a 36-9 record.
2. Louisburg girls
soccer advances to title game, has best finish in program history
NORTH NEWTON – The obstacle
seemed insurmountable – and it was.
The Louisburg High School girls soccer team found itself in the
Class 4-1A state championship match in the program’s third year of existence,
but if they wanted to take it another step further, the Wildcats were going to
have to knock the defending state champion of its perch.
Unfortunately, Bishop Miege wasn’t about to be moved.
In a state title game that was played in the sweltering heat in late May at Bethel College, the Wildcats couldn’t stay with the Stags in a 5-0 defeat. It was the third consecutive title for Bishop Miege, while Louisburg earned a state plaque for the first time in its short history.
It was special season for the Wildcats as the night before they knocked off Topeka Hayden, 1-0, in the state semifinals to secure the program’s first state plaque. In 2017, Louisburg both games in its state tournament appearance and finished fourth.
The road to this state
championship appearance has been an interesting one for the Wildcats. More than
three years ago, a group of Louisburg parents and citizens raised enough money
to begin the girls soccer program and fund it for three years.
Louisburg was in the final year of that funding, and while the
program isn’t going away, the team realized they needed to play for more than
themselves.
“We played for the community tonight,” Louisburg senior Bailey Belcher
said after the Hayden win. “We have to remember that when they raised money for
this program, it was just through this year, so I think we owed it to them to
play well. I really think it might have helped with how we played and I think
it was one of the best games we played all season.”
“It is a third-year program
with 41 wins, three regional championships, two state final fours and now a
state runner-up,” Louisburg coach Kyle Conley said after the title game. “We
just have kids who come in and work their butt off. They are not soft, they
aren’t weak and from top to bottom they are going to work hard.
“We worked hard, but we just played Miege. That is one of the
best teams in the state, and that stinks, but our kids played hard, worked
their tail off and it was a great year. We had people criticize us for how we
got there, but we won games and that really motivated the kids. It got them
fired up to go do something bigger than themselves. I couldn’t be more proud of
they stuck together and what they accomplished.”
1. Football wins 10 straight, takes Frontier League title and regional championship
It had been almost two
months since Louisburg and Piper squared off on the football field in what was
one of the more entertaining games on the Wildcats’ schedule.
Back in early
September, Louisburg left Piper High School with a seven-point win – a victory
that would help propel them to a Frontier League championship and a perfect
regular season.
The two teams squared
off again and the stakes were a bit higher. The game, at least for Louisburg
anyway, was even more exciting.
The Wildcats dominated action from the opening kickoff and never looked back in a 48-0 win over the Pirates. In the process, Louisburg won the school’s first regional championship since 2016 and are off to a 10-0 start for the first time since 2010.
It was as season
marked with special moments, including a 28-7 victory over then-undefeated
Paola late in the year to secure a league title.
“Being 10-0 and then having
that first loss of the season was very disappointing,” Louisburg coach Robert
Ebenstein said. “Losing always sucks, but losing in the playoffs and having to
wait until next August is the worst. At the end of the day, Miege is a
very good team and we did some good things. We got them to fourth down on
multiple drives in the first quarter, we just couldn’t make the plays on
those big downs. Then we got behind a little and started pressing.
“Overall it was a great year.
I am very proud of our guys and excited for them that they were able to get
double digit wins for only the third time since 2000, and there was a
lot of really good football played during that time period. It was a lot
fun to be a part of.”
Austin Moore was named to the Kansas Shrine Bowl and was a first-team all-state player for the Wildcats. Moore was also named as the Kansas Small-Class Player of the Year by 810 Varsity.
With all that success, honors
started to roll in for its players as running backs Austin Moore and Blue
Caplinger, along with linemen Brayden White and Kiefer Tucker all earned
all-state honors.
Moore and White went on to be
semifinalists for the Simone Awards and Moore was also selected to participate
in the Kansas Shrine Bowl in the summer of 2019. Ebenstein was also named as
coach of the year by the football coaches association.
Most recently, Moore was
named the Kansas Small-Class Player of the Year and Running Back of the Year by
810varsity.com, while White was named the Small-Class Lineman of the Year.
Ebenstein was also named Kansas Small-Class Coach of the Year by 810 Varsity.
