Fresh off a strong start to the season at the Cowboy Open in Laramie, Wyo., the Chadron State College wrestling team will square off against several Division II foes at the Colorado Mesa University Open Saturday in Grand Junction, Colo.

Chadron State interim head coach Brett Hunter said 20 grapplers will be competing Saturday.

“I don’t think the competition will be as steep as it was last week at Wyoming but we are going to see some colleges from the west that will pose some challenges,” Hunter said.

Following Saturday’s action at Mesa, the Eagles will travel to the University of Nebraska-Kearney Open Nov. 17.

The Eagles’ first home dual is scheduled for Dec. 5 against Dickinson State.

Alex Helmbrecht, Sports Information Director

Lincoln – Nebraska relied on a balanced attack in topping Midland University, 68-40 in an exhibition game Wednesday evening.

Senior Dylan Talley was the only Husker to finish in double figures, totaling 10 points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes of action, but six players had at least eight points and 11 of the 12 Huskers who saw action broke into the scoring column.

Wednesday’s game saw the return to action of senior Andre Almeida, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, as he finished with nine points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocks, while David Rivers came off the bench to add nine points and five rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench. Brandon Ubel, Sergej Vucetic and Ray Gallegos, who redshirted last season, all added eight points apiece for Nebraska.

After an up-and-down first 15 minutes, the Huskers asserted themselves down the stretch, using a 16-2 run in the final five minutes to build a 30-18 in the locker room. Nebraska trailed, 15-14, after a Dylan Travis 3-pointer, but responded with some nice shooting from long distance, as  3-pointers from Talley, Rivers and Gallegos highlighted the run for the Big Red. Nebraska went 5-of-13 from long range in the opening 20 minutes.

Nebraska had a seven-point lead at 38-31 with 14:48 remaining before taking control of the game with a 17-2 spurt. Baskets by Gallegos and Deverell Biggs and a dunk by Rivers got the run started, as the Huskers held Midland without a field goal for a stretch of 6:57 and took a 55-33 lead after a 3-pointer from Trevor Menke.

James Parrott led Midland with a game-high 15 points and seven rebounds.  Nebraska held Midland to just 28.3 percent shooting on the night and forced 24 turnovers in tuning up for Sunday’s season opener against Southern, slated for 6 p.m.

Tickets for Sunday’s season opener start at $5 and can purchased at Huskers.com or by calling 1-800-8-BIGRED, while Sunday’s ticket also provides free admission to the Husker women’s game against Temple, which is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Western Nebraska Community College volleyball coach Giovana Melo knows that if her team wants to be the best, they will have to play the best. Well, after the NJCAA released the seedings for next week’s national tournament, the Cougars will be facing some of the best teams in the nation.

WNCC, 37-2, received the No. 2 seed in next week’s national tournament in West Plains, Mo., and will face No. 15 Wallace State-Hanceville (33-6) on Thursday, Nov. 15 at 10 a.m. The Cougars also have No. 3 Iowa Western Community College (43-2) and No. 7 North Idaho College (22-5) on their side of the bracket. Iowa Western and North Idaho are the only teams to defeat the Cougars this season.

“Winning a national title is never easy no matter what kind of opponents you get,” Melo said. “That is why not many people can say they are national champions.”

College of Southern Idaho earned the top-seed at the national tournament with a 29-1 record. CSI’s only loss came at the hands of WNCC at the Salt Lake Invite on Aug. 31. The rest of the top five seeds include San Jacinto College at number four and Tyler Junior College at number five.

Casper College, the winner of the Region IX north title, received the No. 13 seed and will face San Jacinto. San Jacinto occupied the No. 1 spot in the polls for much of the season.

If WNCC wins its opening round contest, they will face the winner of North Idaho and No. 10 Hutchinson Community College (27-8) at 6:30 p.m. A loss will put the Cougars into a Friday, Nov. 16 contest against the loser of North Idaho and Hutchinson. WNCC could also meet up with Iowa Western in a semi-final match if both teams win their matches on Thursday.

Melo said it won’t be no easy chore to win a national title as all 16 teams will be fighting for the right to be national champs.

“Every single team who made to nationals is there because they have earned it,” she said. “They had to beat some other great teams in their region to be there so, yes, I believe this is the best 16 teams in the country and everybody will be battling out for the title.”

Complete first round pairings has Iowa Western taking on No. 14 Temple College (22-17) and No. 6 College of Central Florida (33-6) facing No. 11 Western Texas College (26-8) at 8 a.m. No. 1 College of Southern Idaho facing No. 16 Faulkner State Community College (27-7) and No. 8 Hillsborough Community College (27-12) taking on No. 9 Missouri State-West Plains (25-9) at noon. The final slate of first-round contests had No. 5 Tyler Junior College (29-5) facing No. 12 Redlands Community College (23-9) and No. 4 San Jacinto College (32-2) taking on No. 13 Casper College (23-17) at 2 p.m.

The winners of the first round advance to play in the quarterfinals later on Thursday while the losers fall into the consolation bracket and play on Friday. The finals are slated for Saturday, Nov. 17 at 5:30 p.m. All the matches can be watched on the Internet atwww.njcaavbd1.com.

There could be some interesting matches after the first round, including Tyler and San Jac, who faced each other in the regional championship game could play each other in the second round. Also, former teammates at WNCC back in the early 2001 could face each other in the semifinals as Melo and Flavia Siqueira, who is the coach at the College of Central Florida, could do battle.

Melo said if they end up playing North Idaho and Iowa Western, it will be interesting to see how they match up with them at the end of the season. North Idaho is the last team to beat the Cougars on Sept. 1. After that loss, the Cougars have reeled off 31 straight victories.

Melo said this team can win four straight and capture their third national title in six years, but it will take teamwork.

“We have to play our hearts out and play as a team,” she said. “We will need every single player in this team to be with the same mindset. We have to be striving for the same goal.”

 

First-round Pairings

Thursday, Nov. 15

8 a.m.

No. 3 Iowa Western (43-2) vs. No. 14 Temple College (22-17)

No. 6 Central Florida (33-6) vs. No.11 Western Texas College (26-8)

10 a.m.

No. 7 North Idaho (22-5) vs. No. 10 Hutchinson C.C. (27-8)

No. 2 Western Nebraska (37-2) vs. No. 15 Wallace State-Hanceville (27-8)

Noon

No. 1 College of Southern Idaho (29-1) vs. Faulkner State (27-7)

No. 8 Hillsborough C.C. (27-12) vs. Missouri State-West Plains (25-9)

2 p.m.

No. 5 Tyler Junior College (29-5) vs. Redlands C.C. (23-9)

No. 4 San Jacinto (32-2) vs. Casper College (23-17)

CHADRON – The Chadron State College football team will be trying to put the finishing touches on an outstanding regular season and also take the season into the playoffs on Saturday when it hosts Colorado Mines at Elliott Field. Kickoff will be at noon.

The Eagles began the season with considerable uncertainty. A coaching change had been made and the fact that seven of the 11 games were on the road was another potential stumbling block. However, things have worked out well.

The coaching staff made up of head coach Jay Long and defensive coordinator Jeff Larson, both new in those positions, along with holdovers Chris Stein, the offensive coordinator, and Craig Jersild, the secondary coach and special teams coordinator, has melded well and devised numerous ways to use the team’s outstanding talent.

The Eagles also have proven to be great road warriors. Their only losses through 10 games have been to NCAA Division I-AA Montana State, now 8-1, and Colorado State-Pueblo, which is 10-0 and ranked No. 1 in Division II.

The loss to Pueblo was 45-38 in overtime.

After winning eight of their last nine games, the Eagles finally broke into the American Football Coaches Association’s Top 25 this week at No. 21. More important, they held on to their No. 3 ranking in Super Region 4 which determines playoff pairings.

Pueblo and Ashland College of Ohio, also 10-0, have the top two regional slots, in that order, followed by CSC, Midwestern State of Texas, the University of Indianapolis and West Texas A&M.

The top six teams in each of the four regions advance to the playoffs with the No. 1 and 2 teams receiving first-round byes.

Missouri S&T is the No. 7 team on this week’s regional list.
Chadron State athletic director Brad Smith, who is a member of the regional selection committee, said if the Eagles win and the other five top teams in the region also are victorious Saturday, he anticipates CSC will host West Texas A&M, which is 8-2, on Saturday, Nov. 17.

Colorado Mines will be striving to dash the Eagles’ hopes, and the Orediggers’ pass-happy offense is dangerous.

Mines, which is 6-4 overall and 4-4 in the RMAC after losing to Adams State 36-25 on Saturday, leads the conference in scoring offense at 41.8 points a game and is averaging 473.4 yards a game.

Matt Brown, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound sophomore, is the Orediggers’ trigger man. He has averaged 56 passes a game, connecting on 333 of 567 for 3,741 yards and 31 touchdowns. He has thrown 13 interceptions.

Mines has rushed for just 825 yards while averaging 3.2 yards a carry. However, the Orediggers have scored 17 touchdowns on the ground.

The Orediggers’ top receiver is tight end David Pawelek, who has 81 catches for 1,007 yards and five touchdowns. Two weeks ago during a 45-6 win over Western State, Pawelek caught 16 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns.

Next on the Mines’ receiving list is Jerrod Doucet, a 6-1, 185-pound senior who has 78 catches for 851 yards and eight TDs.

Through eight games, the team’s top receiver was another senior, Cody Renken, an RMAC preseason all-star selection. He had 65 receptions for 777 yards to lead the RMAC. Renken was injured in the eighth game, a 34-7 win over Colorado Mesa, has not played the last two weeks and is not on the two-deep depth chart that coach Bob Stitt and his staff sent out this week.

Pawelek also was on the conference’s preseason all-star list.

Another Mines’ standout is senior punter Taylor Accardi. He led the nation in punting last season with a 48.5-yard average and is averaging 51.8 yards this year. Twenty-six of his punts have been at least 50 yards and 13 have been downed inside the opponents’ 20.

CSC’s Long notes that the Orediggers would like nothing better than to upset the Eagles.

“A win against us would validate their season,” he pointed out. “They’ll pull out all the stops. It could be quite a shootout. We’d better be ready.”

The last three games in the rivalry, which dates back to 1938, long before the Eagles were playing most of the Colorado schools now on their schedule, have been donnybrooks.

Mines won in overtime 30-27 in 2009, the Eagles won 38-31 two years ago when Glen Clinton returned a kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown with 63 seconds remaining and the Orediggers prevailed 31-24 last year by scoring the only touchdown in the fourth period.

Con Marshall, Information Services

RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Chadron State College volleyball team snapped its recent losing streak by upending South Dakota School of Mines in four sets 23-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-20 Tuesday at the King Center.

The Eagles, now 5-22 overall, will host Regis and Metro State this weekend as they close out the regular season. First serve with Regis is set for 7 p.m., while the Eagles and Roadrunners will meet at 6 p.m.

The Eagles’ offense was clicking in the final three sets Tuesday and as a team they hit .197, while limiting South Dakota Mines to .114.

Mallory Irvine led all attackers with 15 kills (.452 hitting percentage) and Jessica Jester added 12 more and hit .310.

Also for Chadron State, Mollie Jones had nine kills, Erika Roybal had six and Lexi Hoagland chipped in five.

Setter Justine Ackie led CSC with 26 set assists and the Eagles’ other setter, Alyssa Bauer, had 17. Both of them also had two kills and Kristina Harter had a match-high 26 digs.

The Eagles performed well at the net, finishing with 20 total blocks. South Dakota Mines had just four.

Irvine had a team-high six, Hoagland added five and Jester finished with four.

Arielle Boone, who played in the final two sets, finished with three blocks.

Alex Helmbrecht, Sports Information Director

NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS
Game: Exhibition Game 1
2012-13 Record: 0-0, 0-0 Big Ten
Head coach: Tim Miles
Record at Nebraska: 0-0 (1st year)
Career Record: 283-220 (18th year)

MIDLAND WARRIORS
Game: Exhibition Game 1
2012-13 Record: 0-1, 0-0 GPAC
Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC)
Head coach: Todd Eisner
Record at Midland: 19-13 (2nd year)
Career Record: 340-139 (15th year)

HUSKERS ON TV/RADIO/INTERNET
Live Video (subscription required):  BTN.com (Marc Zak and Ryan Swanigan)
Radio: IMG Husker Sports Radio Network (Internet only on Huskers.com and Huskers App)
Play-by-play: Kent Pavelka
Color: Matt Davison
Internet Radio/Stats: Free on Huskers.com
Satellite Radio: None

Huskers Host Midland in Exhibition Opener
The Nebraska basketball team takes the Devaney Center floor for the first time in 2012-13, as the Huskers host Midland University in an exhibition on Wednesday, Nov. 7.

Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center and will be produced by the IMG Husker Sports Radio Network with Kent Pavelka calling the action and Matt Davison adding color commentary.  The game can be heard for free on Huskers.com and available on the Huskers’ app on iOS or android devices.

Live video streaming of Wednesday’s game will be carried on the Big Ten Digital Network (video.btn.com)  with Marc Zak and Ryan Swanigan on the call, as the exhibition game is one of five Husker basketball games on BTDN in 2012-13.

Tickets for Wednesday’s contest can be purchased for as little as $5 by visiting Huskers.com, by calling 1-800-8-BIGRED or by visiting the Devaney Center Ticket Office beginning at 5:30 p.m.

All eyes will be on the Nebraska sideline, as Tim Miles begins his first season at the helm of the Nebraska program. Miles, who became the program’s 27th head coach on March 24, 2012, spent the last five seasons building the Colorado State program into one of the best programs in the Mountain West. The Rams went 20-11 in making their first NCAA Tournament appearance in nine seasons. The Rams, one of four Mountain West Conference teams to earn NCAA bids in 2012, played against the fourth-toughest schedule in the nation in 2011-12, while producing the school’s first 20-win campaign since 1997-98.

The 1998 season also marks the Huskers’ last NCAA Tournament team, as Miles looks to reshape the Husker program. Nebraska returns only one starter from a team that went 12-18 in its inaugural Big Ten campaign, and of the 13 players who could see action during the regular season, only six saw any playing time in 2011-12.

Nebraska will rely heavily on its three seniors – Andre Almeida, Dylan Talley and Brandon Ubel – to provide significant scoring and rebounding for the 2012-13 Huskers, whose only action was a closed scrimmage at Iowa State last month.

Ubel is the unquestioned leader for the Big Red, as the 6-foot-10 senior has played in a team-high 94 games in his tenure at Nebraska. As a junior, he started all 30 games and averaged 6.7 points on 52 percent shooting and a team-high 5.3 rebounds per game despite playing out of position for most of the year.

While Ubel mans the interior, Talley will be looked to as more of a scoring threat. The 6-foot-5 guard averaged 8.9 points per game in his first season at Nebraska, tying for the lead among all Big Ten reserves. Talley reached double figures 11 times in 2011-12 despite battling a thigh injury which limited his playing time for most of the season. He enters 2012-13 in the best shape of his playing career.

The third Husker senior makes his return to the court for the first time since March of 2011, as Almeida missed all of last season following a knee injury. As a junior, Almeida averaged 5.2 points on 56 percent shooting and 3.3 rebounds in just 15 minutes per game, while also ranking among the Big 12 leaders in blocked shots. The return of the Huskers’ 6-foot-11 center allows Ubel to move to his natural forward position.

Scouting Midland
Second-year coach Todd Eisner brings his Midland University squad to Lincoln following a 74-73 double overtime loss to Park University on Monday. The Warriors were led by James Parrott, who had 22 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Jerome Vaughn had 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and 14 rebounds.

Eisner guided the Warriors to 19 wins and a berth in the GPAC semifinals in 2011-12. Eisner, who had served two stints as an assistant at Creighton, also was the head coach at Benedictine (Kan.) College, Bellevue University and Viterbo University following a playing career at Creighton.

The Warriors bring back seven players, but only one starter from last year. Midland is a youthful team with nine freshmen and sophomores on the 16-player roster. It is a homegrown roster with 13 of 16 players coming from inside Nebraska.

Junior guard Ben Imig is Midland’s only returning starter, as he averaged 9.7 points and 3.2 assists per game while shooting 39 percent from 3-point range. Midland’s strength is in its wing players, as sophomore Jalen Hueser came off the bench to hit a team-high 57 3-pointers while shooting 42 percent from long range, while sophomore guard Galen Gullie hit 39 3-pointers, as the trio combined for 137 of the squad’s 189 3-pointers in 2011-12.

Huskers in Exhibitions
Nebraska is 50-6 all-time in exhibition games dating back to the 1966-67 season and have won their last eight exhibition games since a 54-50 loss to SIU-Edwardsville prior to the start of the 2006-07 season.

This is the ninth straight year Nebraska has played an exhibition game against an in-state foe, as the Huskers are a perfect 11-0 all-time. Wednesday is the Huskers’ only exhibition game, as NU traveled to Iowa State for a closed scrimmage on Oct. 28.

Last year, the Huskers downed Doane College, 76-54, as Dylan Talley and Brandon Ubel led Nebraska with 12 points apiece. Ubel led the Huskers with 12 points, hitting 6-of-9 shots from the floor, and grabbed eight rebounds, as the Huskers shot 53 percent and enjoyed a 48-24 advantage on the glass. Talley came off the bench for 12 points and had six rebounds in 18 minutes of action, as six players had at least eight points and 11 Huskers broke into the scoring column.

LEVELLAND, Texas — The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team shot just 27 percent from the field Tuesday night as the Cougars fell to No. 1-ranked South Plains College 102-49.

The Cougars, who came into the game averaging 101 points a contest, were ice cold from the field, connecting on just 4 of 23 from 3-point range and just 27 percent from the field overall.

“We are a little banged up with Sebastian (Suarez] out eight weeks and Tahir [Little] playing at 50 percent with a second degree shoulder separation,” WNCC coach Russ Beck said. “With those two on the mend, it leaves us with a bunch of new guys that need to get on the same page by looking at what they think that they can do and sacrificing it for what the team needs them to do.”

The Cougars trailed just 25-12 early and had plenty of chances to close the gap, but the Texans put on a late first-half run to increase their advantage to 48-24 at halftime.

The Cougars kept battling hard in the second half, but South Plains, which has five sophomores on its squad, stayed hot offensively. South Plains hit 12 3-pointers for the game, including five in the second half. South Plains outscored the Cougars 56-25 in the second half.

Three Cougars finished with eight points each. Willie Mangum, Charles Ward, and Cody Johnson each had eight points. Johnson led the team in rebounding with six boards.

Rich Williams, a Scottsbluff High School graduate, chipped in six points on two 3-pointers.

South Plains had four players score in double figures. Kendahl Amerson finished with 22 points, including connecting on six 3-pointers. Other Texans in double digits included Yanick Moreira with 19 points, Michael Karena with 12, and Roderick Lawrence with 11.

The Texans out-rebounded the Cougars 52-35. South Plains also outscored the Cougars from the bench, 43-20, and converted 12 second-chance points to WNCC’s two.

WNCC (1-2) will next be in action this weekend when it travels to Casper, Wyo., for the Region 18/9 challenge. WNCC will face College of Southern Idaho and Salt Lake Community College.

“We have a lot of work to do, and it starts with communication and having a passion for defense. We don’t have that yet,” Beck said. “And on the offensive side, we need to trust each other and the system.”
WNCC (1-2)                        24 25 – 49
South Plains (3-0)            46 56 – 102

WNCC
Tahir Little 4, Zach Clemens 3, Quante Cooley 4, Rich Williams 6, Willie Mangum 8, Trey Moore 5, Doudou Gueye 2, Charles Ward 8, Cody Johnson 8, Youssoupha Kane 1.
SOUTH PLAINS
Terrence Durham 2, Tanick Moreira 19, Jamaal Samuel 2, Darrel Lucky 4, Devonte Smith 6, Malik Nichols 1, Kendahl Amerson 22, Forrest Robinson 9, Roderick Larence 11, Brandon Neel 5, Ryan Martin 7, Michael Karena 12, Anthony Walker 2.

KCOW congratulates our part-time staff member Kyler Kaping of Alliance High School (left)

The Nebraska High School Tennis Coaches Association in cooperation with the Nebraska Coaches Association has announced the Class B All-State Boys Tennis Team for 2012.

Named as Honorable Mention were  Alliance High School Seniors Keegan Hill, Kyler Kaping and Keith Sanders.

Keegan Hill competed in #1 singles and compiled a 21-4 record this season, advancing to the quarterfinals of the State Tournament.

Kyler Kaping and Keith Sanders competed in #1 Doubles and compiled a 16-1 record, also advancing to the quarterfinals of the State Tournament.

PREP FOOTBALL – Nov. 6
Quarterfinal
Class C-1
Boone Central/Newman Grove 38, Gothenburg 20
Pierce 35, Wahoo 7
Class C-2
Lutheran High Northeast 42, Ponca 14
Sutton 48, Hershey 7
Class D-1
Exeter/Milligan 58, High Plains Community 24
Class D-2
Giltner 66, Medicine Valley 22
Lindsay Holy Family 35, Falls City Sacred Heart 18