GREAT WEEK TO BE A TIGER
In their first week of the winter season, the Tiger girls’ basketball team has already tripled their win total of the last two seasons. The boys’ basketball team won their home opener in a 58-27 romping of rival Shenandoah. Both girls’ and boys’ bowling teams tore through Thomas Jefferson and the wrestling team is undefeated in duals while taking the Treynor Tournament title for the first time this decade.
The girls’ basketball team started their week off in Council Bluffs playing St. Albert Tuesday.
Ingvild Skorpen led all players with 25 points in the Tigers’ 54-42 win their second of the season.
Amber Thomas led the Falcons with her double-double effort, scoring 10 points and collecting 12 rebounds.
Friday night, the Tigers started their home opener with the presentation of the 1923 state qualifier banner to the Red Oak senior players and family members of that playoff team.
After the pre-game ceremonies, the Tigers’ took care of the business at hand, out muscling the Shenandoah Fillies in a 45-36 win.
The boys’ basketball team started the week with a completely different experience against St. Albert as they trailed 41-13 at the half and finished the game with a 62-34 loss.
Jake Waters, Andrew Brown, and Steve O’Neill led the Falcons, all scoring in the double digits, while the Tigers’ leading four scorers had only seven points each.
The boys stepped up in their home opener, crushing Shenandoah, 58-27.
Cody Walford, Dakota White, Matt Goracke, and Tanner Johnson led Red Oak in a team-effort, all scoring in the double digits.
The Tigers also welcomed back senior power forward Jackson Miller from a nagging shoulder injury as he and Johnson led the team with seven rebounds each.
“We came out with a lot of emotion on both sides of the court,” Red Oak Head Coach Brad Schlieman said. “After the game, I challenged the guys to come out next week against Clarinda and Creston with that same kind of intensity.”
The boys’ bowling team squeaked past Denison 2,756-2,725 in their season opener, Tuesday.
Brian Wade and John Mertz led the way for the Tigers, both topping 200 in their individual games.
The girls struggled against Denison, as they have in recent years, losing their season opener 2,433-2,119. Brianna Nowels led the Tigers with her 180-pin game.
The girls bounced back in their home opener Wednesday, against Thomas Jefferson, behind consistent play.
Nowels and Kelsey Myers led the girls in their first individual games scoring 199 and 180.
The Tigers were only ahead by two pins after the first of two individual games, but pulled ahead only losing their first of five Baker games.
In a Baker game, all five bowlers play two frames of a ten-frame game against the opposing team. In Iowa varsity bowling, each player bowls two complete games followed by five Baker games, adding all scores for a final team total.
The boys continued their hot hand against Denison as Curtis Hilding and Taylor Mellott were the Tigers’ top performers scoring 265 and 268 in their second individual games.
The boys tallied up more than 150 strikes in their 2,903-2,481 win over Denison.
“We’re trying to improve our scored every time we go out there,” Red Oak Head Coach Pam Schoening said. “I’m excited to see we were able to do that in our first week. Hopefully we’ll keep it going in the next couple of weeks.”\
The wrestling team started up their season hosting a double-dual against Denison and Missouri Valley.
In the first match-up against Missouri Valley, the Tigers gained big points from pins by Seth Esaias (171 pounds), Lucas Orme (215 pounds), and Dixon Nelson (285 pounds) to go on to a 42-36 victory.
In their dual against Denison, Esaias, Geoff Sellers (112 pounds), and Tanner Allensworth (130 pounds) all won with pins to push the Tigers past the Monarchs, 40-36, for Red Oak’s second dual victory.
Saturday, Red Oak had to fight off Griswold through the final round of the 11-team Cardinal Invitational for their first overall win in Treynor in Head Coach Tom Van Dyke’s seven-year tenure at Red Oak.
“The older guys did what we expected them to do and some of the younger guys really stepped up and got us points we really needed,” Van Dyke said. “It’s exciting to win our first tournament of the season. They’re only going to get tougher from here.”
The Tigers finished with three tournament champions as Esaias beat a two-time state qualifier, Gabe Fell of A-H-S-T, for the 171-pound title, Sellers won his first tournament champion as a freshman, and Cole Meek stayed undefeated (5-0) winning the 145-pound class.
Red Oak pulled away in the Championship round finishing with 163.5 points. Griswold finished second with 145.5, squeaking past Woodbine who had a late push, scoring 142.