Sports

by Megan Schmidt 

Tonight Seward was playing Lakeview and of course was hoping for a victory. Unfortunately Seward didn't bring their game faces and Lakeview did. In the first quarter Seward was outscored three to nine. In the Second quarter once again we were outscored two to eighteen. The Bluejay's left the half with only five points and spirits were low. Seward kept digging themselves a deeper and deeper hole in the third and fourth quarter. Things were looking nearly impossible for the Jay's. The time ran out and the score board revealed the unpleasant truth. Seward lost 68 to 29. Seward has only one regular season game left. It will be hosted at Seward against Crete.

Phil Friedrich led the team with nine points. He was three for ten from two's, and 60% from the freethrow line. Phil grabbed two rebounds and made one steal. Justin Grieser followed with six points. Justin was four for four from the line, and grabbed eight rebounds.

  As a team Seward shot 22% from the field, 58% from the line and grabbed a total of twenty rebounds. Seward struggled shooting and couldn't seem to make a run at any point of the game. Tonight was Lakeview's night and they played a hard fought game. 

by Megan Schmidt 

As Seward entered the court to play Crete things were looking good. In the first quarter Seward outscored Crete ten to seven. Once again Seward outscored Crete in the second quarter only this time it was only by one.  Seward was ready to go and looking for a victory. Unfortunately Seward battled the whole game but Crete pulled away in the end to get the win.  In both the third and fourth quarter Crete outscored Seward all together by 12. The final score was 45-37. For seniors Tyler Hackbart, Tanner Roth, and Justin Grieser, this would be their last regular season game for Seward High.  It was senior’s night and emotions were running high. Nobody fought harder then the senior’s playing on that court. Unfortunately they left the court defeated.

            Senior Tyler Hackbart led the team with 17 points. He was five for five from the line, and shot 40% from the field. Phil Friedrich followed right behind with 16 points. Phil was 50% from the line, and 43% from the field.

            As a team Seward shot 32% from the field, and was 78% from the line. They grabbed 16 rebounds, and made a total of 9 assists.

By Heather Post

On Friday February 15, the Lady Jays played their last regular season home game against the Crete Cardinals. The atmosphere was loud and the seats were full of fans. This was going to be a tough game and very sad one for the seniors. This was senior's night for five of the Lady Jay players. The seniors are Megan Schmidt, Mallory Suhr, Heather Post, Jessica Owens and Hailey Behlen. As a reward, all five seniors got to start the last home game of their career. It was emotional for the team before the game with the recognition of the five seniors.

   It was a close score throughout the whole game. Sophomore's Natasha Mueller and Laural Wagner hit a couple huge three pointers to put the Lady Jays ahead. Freshman Emily Cady fought hard in the post area and put up some big points. The Jays played together and in the end pulled out another victory, 35-31. The Lady Jays were led in scoring by Mueller and Cady with 10 points each. The Lady Jays record is 18-1, which is an extremely hard thing to accomplish. This season has been one of the best seasons for the girls. The Lady Jays will play in their first round of districts on Thursday February 21 at 5:15 against either Schuyler or Aurora. Good Luck Lady Jays!!!! 

   The Seward Lady Jays basketball team ended their season 12-2, the best record of the JV team in seven years.  The JV girls had a fantastic season just losing two games to Aurora and Pius X.  

   The last and final home game of the season was against Crete.  The Jays ended their season strong with a solid win, winning the game 51-46.  The Jays were down at half by 12 but battled back and won.  

   Zoie Smetter was the leading scorer with 21 points and her sister Grace Smetter added 14 points.  Brittany Telecky also chipped in 12.  Zoie also grabbed down eight rebounds, five offensive and three defensive.  Dakotah Duer also grabbed six rebounds, three offensive and three defensive.  As a team, the Jays had 19 steals.   The girls played a very good game to end their season and worked hard all year to become the great team that they were.   

The Seward fans were still recovering from the jaw dropping victory over York the night before, however, the Varsity team was ready to steal another victory. This time everyone was hoping for an easier win and a less tense game. Once again it went down to the last shot. Tyler Hackbart who was the savior of Friday night’s game had a chance to be the savior of the game against Fairbury. Seward played hard the whole time and knocked down some tuff shots. The First quarter the Jeffs outscored Seward 15 to 7.  However the Jay’s came back and outscored Fairbury 13 to 9. Once again it was a close game. Once halftime was over Seward came out ready to play. Both teams went neck and neck and played their hardest. Fairbury was knocking down some tuff shots but so was Seward. Fourth quarter rolled around and once again nothing comes easy for the Jay’s. With only twenty seconds remaining Fairbury makes a tuff shot to make the score 43 to 41. Seward was devastated but didn’t give up. Tyler Hackbart threw up a quick three to try to win the game. As the buzzer blared the shot didn’t fall. Everyone was overwhelmed with the hard loss.

            Once again Tyler was the high scorer with 20 points. He was 7 for 17 from the field and 2 for 2 from the line. Tyler grabbed two rebounds and made four assists. As a team Seward was about 38% from the field and 50% from the line. 

By Megan Schmidt 

It was a Friday night and the boys basketball team was desperately looking for a win. Seward was playing the Dukes and the odds were against them. Seward knew they must give it their all in order to win, and that’s exactly what they did. Seward had the lead throughout the whole game until the last final seconds. At the end of the half Seward was up 22 to 14. In the second half York outscored Seward in both quarters. York started to catch up and fans got nervous. With only seconds remaining it was a tie game and Seward had the ball. Tyler Hackbart made a buzzer shot to win the game. Fans went wild as the team celebrated the much needed victory. The final score was 36 to 34.

            Tyler Hackbart led the team with sixteen points, Phil Friedrich followed behind with 13. Overall Tyler was two for three from two’s, four for seven from three’s, and grabbed two rebounds.

            As a team Seward was a little over fifty percent from the field. They were two for nine from the line and grabbed a total of seventeen rebounds.

            Tomorrow Seward will play Fairbury at Fairbury.

By Heather Post

On February 8 the Lady Jays had there second to last home game against the York Dukes. Throughout the whole game the score was close, but at the start of the fourth quarter the Lady Jays kicked it up a notch. The Jays were working together as a team, which is what got them another win. They final score was 63-35. Senior Mallory Suhr led the team with 12 points. Senior Heather Post dished out five assists. Coach Tvrdy was very happy with another win and knew the next night was going to be another tough game against Fairbury on the road.

   The Lady Jays were more nervous about this game because they knew Fairbury would want revenge from their loss to the Lady Jays before. Last game senior Kilee Edson of Fairbury scored 37 points so the Jays goal was to keep her at 15. This would be a challenge for the Lady Jays, but if they played great help positioning they could pull off another win. At the final buzzer the Jays looked up at the scoreboard and saw another victory went to them. The score was 55-44 and the Lady Jays led the entire game except for two minutes. Coach Tvrdy couldn't believe they won again and for it to be a great win on the road was even better. There were a lot of Fairbury students to cheer and mess with the Lady Jays minds, but they focused on winning and that's what they did. Sophomore Alyssa Kamphaus gave a great effort, scoring 19 points. Senior Mallory Suhr followed with 8 points. The Lady Jays were very happy to be 17-1 going into their last regular season game. For the Lady Jay seniors February 15 will be a sad night because of it being their last home game ever, but it will just push all the girls to want to win more for them.  

   The Seward Lady Jays JV basketball team traveled to Pius X last Saturday.  The Jays played a hard game, but ended up losing 49-54.  This loss is only the second loss for the JV team this year.  

   The leading scorer for the game was Zoie Smetter with 16 points.   Brittany Telecky and Jordan Seaman also added 10 points.  On the boards, Zoie played a solid game.  She grabbed three offensive rebounds and nine defensive rebounds.  Brittany grabbed six rebounds and Jordan added five.  The Jays, however, could not handle the Bolts press.  The Jays committed 30 turnovers and could not handle the pressure.  The Jays next game is on Friday vs the York Dukes.    

By Heather Post   

On Saturday February 2, the Lady Jays headed off to Lincoln to face a tough opponent, the Pius Thunderbolts. This was the biggest game for the girls this year. Pius was a 12-0 team and the Lady Jays were ready to knock them off their undefeated record. Before the game, the girls and Coach Tvrdy had a great conversation to get the nerves out of the girls' system.  The fear was out of them and determination was in them.

   By the end of the first quarter the Lady Jays were up 18-11. So far this was a great game. The bleachers were full and the crowd wouldn't stop cheering. This was the game to be at and the excitement made the girls play even harder. Sophomore Alyssa Kamphaus had a huge scoring game with 17 points. Right behind her was sophomore Natasha Mueller with 12 points. By the end of the game the looks on the Lady Jays faces were priceless. The anticipation for the end of the game was finally here. The fans looked up at the scoreboard with the final score of 57-49 in favor of the Lady Jays. They beat an outstanding team because they played with heart. This was a game that the girls could never forget. This was definitely a memorable time for them. Coach Tvrdy couldn't believe the outcome and was proud of the girls. Heart is what it's all about and heart is what the Lady Jays brought.

By Megan Schmidt

            The Seward Bluejay's had their work cut out for them when they played Waverly. Senior Alex Lowther would not be playing due to injuries, and the other post John Wiemer would not be playing due to injuries. Waverly was a team full of great shooters and hard workers, and tonight Seward could not match up. The boys got off to a very slow start only scoring two points in the first quarter while Waverly scored fifteen. The second quarter was a little better when then scored seven points. At halftime the score was nine to twenty six. The fans were hoping Seward would come out with a better half and score some points, unfortunately things only got worse in the third quarter. Waverly was nailing threes while Seward couldn't get one to go in. Seward was outscored four to sixteen. The fourth quarter we were outscored nine to twenty two. The final score was 64-22. Seward left the court feeling sick about the game played.

            The Bluejay's shot 21% from the field, and only shot two freethrows the whole game. As a team they grabbed twenty two rebounds.  The leading scorer was Justin Grieser with five points. Justin was one for one from the line, grabbed five rebounds and made three assists.

By Heather Post

The Lady Jays played Fairbury in the first round of the district tournament. This was going to be a tough first game, but if they could pull it out they would advance to the semi-finals against Holdrege. The Lady Jays came out fighting. The game ended up going into overtime. The girls won there first conference game 67-57. Sophomore Alyssa Kamphaus led the team with 26 points. Senior Megan Schmidt led the team with six assists. The Lady Jays were happy to win, even when Fairbury’s best player scored her all-time high of 37 points.

            The next conference game was against Holdrege. This was going to be an even tougher game for the girls. Holdrege is known for there tough defense and press. The whole game was close until the end the Lady Jays couldn’t pull off another victory losing 60-49. This was the Lady Jays first loss of the season. The girls were disappointed, but knew they lost against an outstanding team. Freshman Emily Cady played like a warrior. She was the high scorer with 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists. This was the first time the Lady Jays couldn’t celebrate a win, but they knew they didn’t have time to pout. They had another game the next day for third place.

            On the last day of the conference tournament the Lady Jays were scheduled to play the Aurora Huskies. The girls knew the Huskies would come out fighting because of how bad the Lady Jays beat them the week before. It was a dogfight throughout the whole game until the Jays kicked it up in the fourth quarter. The Lady Jays brought home a third place plaque. They knew they fought hard and third place was not bad for how hard there conference was. They were proud to be 14-1.