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With the Hornets Feb. 22 win against Westfield, they earned their first conference title in 41 years along with keeping Ozzie the Goat. Pictured are Manager Mark Duran, Skyler Royston, Peter Idsvood, Joseph Ascher, Landon Kalata, Carson Armstrong, Logan Dunn, Landon Keller, Noah Fleischmann, Taylor Krueger, Ben Miller, and Kyler Reinke. (front) Managers Molli Keller and Kendall Gustke. -
Landon Keller manuevers past Pioneer defense for a chance to score in the second half. -
Senior Hornet Joseph Ascher takes a chance at 2-points while Pioneer’s Owen Hendee tries to block the shot. -
Senior Hornet Carson Armstrong releases a 3-pointer over Westfield defense. -
Senior Hornet Noah Fleschmann attempts to score 3-points as the clock wound down in the second half. -
The Wautoma Student Section was loud with excitement while cheering on the Hornets to a conference victory. -
Following the game, the Hornets cut the winning game net. Logan Dunn cuts his piece of the net. -
Head Coach Kyle Thompson celebrates with the team following their Feb. 22 conference win. -
Senior Peter Idsvoog celebrates the Hornets first conference championship title in 41 years.
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It had been 41 years since the Wautoma Boys Basketball program had been able to hang a conference championship banner, but on Thursday night, Feb. 22nd, on Senior Night, against conference rival Westfield, the Hornet Boys’ team did just that. Wautoma went 9-1 in conference this year and 19-5 overall. That 9-1 record in conference is good enough to be co-champions of the South Central Conference with Wisconsin Dells. It was a total team effort as the Hornets beat Westfield 76-33 to retain Ozzie the Goat and earn a share of the South Central Conference Championship.
Head Coach Kyle Thompson had this to say, “From the time the season ended last year I have been bombarded by these young men with the year 1983. It was their group chat name. They wrote it on my board in my classroom over and over again. They talked about it on the regular, they never shied away from it. We set up our schedule this year to play some of the best teams in the state to challenge us to make ourselves better, we played Omro, Berlin, Kiel, and Xavier to name a few.
Our record may have not been what we wanted it to be about 10 games in but we could tell we were getting better. Then we hit a roadblock at Wisconsin Dells, we lost 72-62, but I could tell in that locker room that these young men were done with making excuses for why things hadn’t gone our way and decided to take ownership for our mistakes and losses, and embrace adversity.
Since that loss on Jan. 5th in Wisconsin Dells, we have been playing playoff-like games especially in conference, we knew if we dropped one more game, our goal would be gone. Since then we have played 14 games and we have won every one of them. This is a remarkable group of young men who have bought into their roles, embracing what is best for the team and not themselves, being accountable for mistakes we have made. We play the winner of Adams-Friendship at Berlin (Feb. 27th) at home on Friday, March 1st and we hope to see and hear you all there. I am so proud of this group and what we have accomplished thus far.
Goal #1 has been met, but the job isn’t finished. Go Hornets!”
Head Coach Kyle Thompson had this to say, “From the time the season ended last year I have been bombarded by these young men with the year 1983. It was their group chat name. They wrote it on my board in my classroom over and over again. They talked about it on the regular, they never shied away from it. We set up our schedule this year to play some of the best teams in the state to challenge us to make ourselves better, we played Omro, Berlin, Kiel, and Xavier to name a few.
Our record may have not been what we wanted it to be about 10 games in but we could tell we were getting better. Then we hit a roadblock at Wisconsin Dells, we lost 72-62, but I could tell in that locker room that these young men were done with making excuses for why things hadn’t gone our way and decided to take ownership for our mistakes and losses, and embrace adversity.
Since that loss on Jan. 5th in Wisconsin Dells, we have been playing playoff-like games especially in conference, we knew if we dropped one more game, our goal would be gone. Since then we have played 14 games and we have won every one of them. This is a remarkable group of young men who have bought into their roles, embracing what is best for the team and not themselves, being accountable for mistakes we have made. We play the winner of Adams-Friendship at Berlin (Feb. 27th) at home on Friday, March 1st and we hope to see and hear you all there. I am so proud of this group and what we have accomplished thus far.
Goal #1 has been met, but the job isn’t finished. Go Hornets!”