The Heyworth boys’ basketball team took the long trip up North to Seneca and it was one of the better small school games in the state which unfortunately resulted in a Heyworth loss but it was a very controversial game. With 36 seconds to go, Alex Maas got called for a charge in a tie game, and Coach Mosely ended up getting called for a technical foul, changing the game completely and ultimately giving Seneca a 60-55 win. The Irish were a very talented team led by junior Paxton Giertz, who was an all-stater last year and will end up being Seneca’s all-time leading scorer. He finished with 28 with 21 of those points being within the first 10 minutes. Nick Feather led the Hornets in scoring with 19, followed by Alex Maas and Tyler Bartels with 13 and 12 respectively. Overall this was a very good effort by the Hornets to go up to a hostile environment in Seneca and to be able to compete, despite many things not going the Hornet's way. This includes injuries and controversial calls. Nick Rapson and Chase Ruppert were both out and Tyler Bartels suffered an injury in the 3rd quarter which led him to not being able to return until the middle of the 4th quarter. Overall, a good effort, and though the Hornets dropped to 2-4, the schedule they have faced so far is the toughest any team in 1A has faced so far.
Next up the boys will play a home game against last year's conference champions in the Fieldcrest Knights. Fieldcrest goes into this game at 6-0 and has beaten many respectable schools which include Princeton, Rock Falls, and LaSalle-Peru. They are coming into this game as the number 6 team in 2A and will be a very tough game for the Hornets. But they are seeking revenge from last year. Last year the Hornets had a chance at the HOIC traveling trophy but the Knights shut all of their hopes down, as they won 68-44 in front of the largest Heyworth crowd they have had since the installment of the new gym. The Hornets are coming into this game with some issues with the injury bug, but they have a chance to make a statement in the HOIC on Tuesday. By the time this article is published the game will have already happened, so hopefully the boys will have already won.
The boys then don’t have anything until the next week, which kicks off the 2nd Heyworth Holliday Tournament. The Hornets enter this as favorites to win their pool in the tournament, but it won’t be easy. First off the take on Peoria Quest, a charter school out of Peoria. They played last year in the tournament, where Heyworth won in a 57-48 game that was close the whole way. This year Quest is looking for revenge, but will go into this game 1-6. But they have played a tough schedule, and have looked impressive in some games including an 11-point loss to 1A-ranked New Berlin, and a halftime lead against one of the HOIC favorites in Eureka. They are currently 1-1 against HOIC teams and look to get their second win on Monday. The second game is against the Cornerstone Cyclones, who last year made it to state for 1A for the first time in school history. This year they lose almost everybody and this is sort of an experience year due to the team being inexperienced. The Hornets are looking to silence the loud student section of Cornerstone, which last year propelled them to a 50-35 win over Heyworth in a very sloppy game for the Hornets. The winner of this pool will either play Champaign St. Thomas More (last year’s champion), Olympia, or Horizon Southwest Academy out of Chicago. The dates and times for these games are December 18th at 7, December 19th at 5:30, and December 22nd for hopefully the championship.
This week we interviewed senior athlete Tyler Bartels, and to sum it up he is pretty confident going forward with the team. The interview was relatively short but he said some key things about how this team will be moving forward. “We just need to keep playing as a team and the results will come”. The results have yet to show in the win column but it doesn’t help with the schedule they have. Hopefully, by the time everyone gets back to school from winter break they will see a Hornet team with a winning record.
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