The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

While the last week saw the beginning of Season B for athletics, it also included the culmination of the speech and debate season, with the 2021 festival. Due to the COVID restrictions, this year's event was conducted via virtual format, with schools from across the region participating.

Fort Morgan and Limon each had multiple students bring home honors over the weekend. Elizabeth Gross from Fort Morgan had a very successful outing, claiming second place in Program Oral Interpretation and 12th place in Value Debate. Nalleli Flores-Robles also brought home a fourth place finish in Poetry Interpretation for Fort Morgan.

Limon's top finish came in Duo Interpretation, where Abbygayle Peeters and Morgan Ashcraft claimed fourth place. Ashton Turecek took home fifth place in Creative Storytelling.

Snow and unsafe driving conditions caused a spate of postponements to the sports calendar early last week. The rescheduling of those contests will make an already tightly packed calendar even moreso. A number of teams are now slated to play four games in five days in some cases. Wrestlers will see limited recovery time as well, leading many who follow sports to be worried about an increase in injuries from fatigue and overwork.

An early upset sent shock waves throughout the Class 1A girls' field, as Haxtun used an 18-6 fourth quarter to bump off preseason #2 Fleming, 52-48, last Saturday. Four Haxtun players finished in double figures, led by K'lyn Bornhoft with 13 points, Bella Tori turned in her first double-double of the season, posting 11 points and 10 boards. After receiving seven votes in the first round of voting, the Lady Fightin' Bulldogs will be garnering more attention from opposing coaches in the coming weeks. They had a shot at #1 Briggsdale on Tuesday. The Lady Falcons cruised to two wins in the first week.

As for Fleming, the Lady Wildcats, who routed Caliche 69-27 in their opener, face an upcoming schedule that includes road games this weekend at Weldon Valley and Genoa-Hugo. Plus, next Tuesday will see them hosting Merino.

The preseason CHSAANow.com polls predicted a high volume of quality teams in the southeast portion of the State and week one bore that out. McClave, Kim/Branson, Kit Carson and Eads all opened with two wins and Granada earned a victory in its only outing of the week. Most of those teams will clash later in the season, so there will be no shortage of drama in the next few weeks.

In Class 2A, top-ranked Rye picked up impressive wins over Manitou Springs (48-30) and preseason #8 Del Norte (61-30). Sophie Adamson nearly registered a double-double in the win over Del Norte, leading the Lady Thunderbolts with 15 points and nine rebounds. Jolee Ortiz added 14 points, seven assists and seven steals. The busy weekend ahead includes home games with John Mall on Thursday, Holly on Friday and a huge clash with 3A #2 Centauri on Saturday.

Limon was second in the first batch of rankings and did little in the opening weekend to lose that spot. The Lady Badgers beat in-county foe Genoa-Hugo 45-25 and then rallied for a 42-35 win at Yuma last Saturday. Their game with Kit Carson on Tuesday was one of the highlights of the week in the region. They also host one of the early surprise teams on Saturday, as Burlington visits. After only winning four games last season, the Lady Cougars were halfway to that total in week one. Trinity Perry scored 16 points in each victory, 61-58 at Idalia and 48-30 over Merino. Burlington is at Akron on Thursday.

The 2A LPAA looks to be a slobber knocker to the finish. Holyoke, Wray, Sedgwick County, and Wiggins are all undefeated entering this week. When you add in Akron and Yuma, plus 1A Merino, Haxtun and Caliche, the remaining schedule is filled with important contests that will boost the RPI of all of those teams.

Lamar was very dominant in getting out of the gates at 2-0. The Lady Savages outscored Dolores Huerta Prep (65-13) and Atlas Prep (68-2) by a combined tally of 133-15. They allowed two points in the first quarter against Atlas Prep and then shut them out the rest of the way. Ten players scored in the first win and 11 did so in the second. The Lady Savages were a heavy favorite on Wednesday against Banning Lewis, but will see their first big test next Thursday when they host St. Mary's.

On the boys' side of the ledger, the first week in 1A went almost as one would expect. Only three of the local teams that were ranked suffered losses. One of those came against the #1 team in 2A. Through the first week of play, Eads, Kit Carson, Merino, Haxtun, Briggsdale, Granada, Cheraw and Cheyenne Wells all remain unbeaten. Haxtun and Briggsdale met on Tuesday, so that field will be reduced by at least one this week. Kit Carson was also on the road against Limon on Tuesday and will host Cheraw on Friday.

Limon, who cruised past Genoa-Hugo last Friday, was pushed to the limit by Yuma on Saturday. The Badgers pulled out a 54-47 victory to improve to 2-0. They're the overwhelming favorite to win the Union Pacific, which would earn the Badgers an automatic spot in the State bracket.

Fowler began the season #3 in the rankings, but the Grizzlies were tripped up by Colorado Springs Christian, 73-67 in overtime, in their opener. They needed a 22-10 fourth quarter to force the extra session. Unfazed, they responded by beating La Junta 58-42 last Saturday. Four players were in double figures in the win, with Val Leone (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Scott Mobbley (11 points, 10 rebounds) each collecting a double-double. Trent Johnston had one of his own for the Tigers, posting 16 points and 13 rebounds.

In wrestling, the highlight from last week was the anticipated dual matchup of top ranked teams Wray (2A) and Pomona (5A). The big school Panthers dominated the match 67-9 but the Eagles did collect a victory over 3A power Eaton 48-27 in the same event.

Sedgwick County/Fleming won their own dual last Saturday; topping Highland, Holyoke and Peyton and Yuma grabbed a triangular crown with wins over Burlington (48-24) and County Line (45-18).