Monday, December 20, 2010

T.E.A.M. Effort Sparks Royal Boys To Win Over Nevada

Thompson
angEll
lAwson
nieMeyer

It wasn't a perfect performance, but there were times during tonight's game against Nevada when you saw just how great this Royals team can be. Especially when players like Nathan Thompson, Bryan Angell, Anthony Lawson and Brandyn Niemeyer play as well as they did during key stretches of the ball game. All four players made important plays and baskets to help the Royals to a 10-point win at home against their Highway 30 rivals. Three of those four players came off the Colo-Nesco bench. Angell, Lawson and Niemeyer combined for 5 three-pointers; an aspect of the Royals' offense that has been sorely missing. The Royals improved to 8-1, with another game in Colo scheduled for Tuesday evening. It will be a special night for Brandon Eley, who will be honored for scoring his 1,000th career point. It's also Brandon's birthday, and he will be signing his letter to play college basketball at 3 pm.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Royal Boys Win In Double Overtime!

The two hour drive to Tripoli Friday evening was worth every second.

Each possession in the boys basketball game was also worth every second as
the Colo-Nesco boys won in double overtime, 65-56.

You'll have to read complete coverage in next Thursday's Nevada Journal
article, but to sum it up, there we're 19 lead changes in the fourth
quarter and overtimes and 4 Royals scored in double figures after a
lack-luster start offensively. And, there was a miracle three-pointer by Tripoli at the buzzer in the first OT to tie it (and miracle is no exaggeration) and send it to a 2nd OT.

The Royals finally pulled away in the second OT to win it. Brandon Eley
led the way with 21 points, but I'd have to say the most valuable players
in this one were Garrett Eley and Austin Larsen. Filling in for injured
Weston Neuendorf, Garrett had 10 points; many of those at critical moments
in the game. Larsen had 15 points, making big plays and big free throws
when needed most. Ethan Jamison's 10 points in the second half and
overtimes were equally critical. And Brandon Niemeyer's three-pointer off
the bench late in the fourth quarter gave Colo-Nesco its first lead of the
second half. That was a huge play. Brian Angell rounded out the scoring
with 6 points.

Both boys and girls teams play today, Saturday, in Colo against Collins
Maxwell-Baxter.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Like Father, Like Son






















As I was reading/critiquing this weeks Nevada Journal article I wrote, entitled “Royals roll to 4-0,” I had a major déjà vu moment.

When I was looking at the stats Brandon Eley put up in the game against Meskwaki last week, I remembered writing about his dad, Dwight, in my Royal Reign book, and seeing similar stats in a game in his senior season.

Just how similar is almost eerie. In case you missed it, Brandon scored 31 points on 15-19 shooting last Tuesday against Meskwaki. He also nearly had a triple-double with 18 rebounds and 9 assists. The Royals put up 76 points against Meskwaki. Nearly 26 years ago to the date, his dad Dwight scored 31 points on 13-17 shooting in a 74-52 victory over Radcliffe. Oddly enough, Dwight’s teammate, Ed Vaske DID put up a triple double in that very same game with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. That 1985 team started the season 12-0. Their first loss came at the hands of Northeast Hamilton, 63-52. Northeast Hamilton is currently rated in this year’s top ten in class 1a.

Weird stuff, huh?
Kinda makes me want to go see Fred Fredregill for some Mama’s Pizza and follow it up with a doughnut for dessert at the old Reece’s gas station for old times sake!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Showdown Week! Royal Boys and Girls Set To Face Top-Rated Teams

After a great start to the season, the Colo-Nesco boys and girls are set for big match ups the week of December 12th.

On Tuesday, the Colo-Nesco boys--ranked #5 in the latest Iowa Sports Connection poll, take on #2 Don Bosco in Colo. Colo-Nesco is off to a 5-0 start after three straight blowout victories this week. The Royals won games against East Marshall, Meskwaki Settlement and GMG, Garwin by an average of 37 points. Don Bosco is 3-0 after victories over GMG, Garwin (65-25), Waterloo Christian (39-24) and Meskwaki Settlement (55-37). Don Bosco was 23-2 last season and returned 4 of their top 6 scorers, led by Nate Springer’s 13 points per game. The Dons like the three-point shot: Eric Nie made 57 three-pointers last season, and Nick Rosauer made 37.

On Friday, the Colo-Nesco girls face #1 ranked Tripoli on the road. Colo-Nesco evened its record to 3-3 after a 44-37 victory over GMG, at Garwin Friday night. With the win, the Royal girls have won back-to-back games for the first time since February 2009. Tripoli finished 18-5 last season and lost only one starter from that squad. Megan Gilbert and Erica Ollendieck are the leading returnees; both averaged over 11 points and 6 rebounds in 2009-2010.

Highlights from this past week’s games include Brandon Eley’s near triple double for the boys and Jessica Johnson’s double-double for the girls. Eley had 31 points, 18 rebounds and 9 assists in a win over Meskwaki Settlement. Johnson had 13 points and 11 rebounds in the girls’ win over Meskwaki.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Barnburner!! Royal Boys Win Last Second Thriller

The Royals were on the road to play North Tama, state football champions last month, so they knew it could be a physical game. As expected, the game's intensity was as hot as a burning barn, with two of the Royals best players getting into foul trouble, but the Royal boys came out on top in the end, 49-48. The lead changed hands 6 times in the fourth quarter and was tied once. I have to save play-by-play and in-depth coverage for the Nevada Journal article, but essentially, it was a Brandon Eley lay-in with 7 seconds left that gave the Royals the 1-point victory. North Tama had 2 chances at the buzzer, but couldn't make them fall, and the large crowd that made the long road trip to Traer went bananas!

Several players really stepped up for the Royals. I thought Ethan Jamison's play inside was huge, especially with Neuendorf in foul trouble and with the size and athleticism of North Tama. Jamison took several charges and had 15 rebounds (unofficially). Also, some less experienced players came off the bench and gave really valuable minutes--Garrett Eley and Nathan Thompson, specifically--who gave the Royals some real timely defense and rebounds. Their physical play off the bench may have been the difference in this game.

In the girls game, the Colo-Nesco girls played a great first half, leading 23-19 at the break against a good North Tama squad, but couldn't stop the inside play of the Redhawks in the second half, losing 44-32.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Royal Boys and Girls Open New Conference Victoriously

Although they were accomplished in two distinctively different ways, both the Colo-Nesco boys’ and girls’ basketball teams came away with victories Tuesday night vs. Waterloo Christian. The girls had a record-breaking defensive performance—both as a school and in Coach Cafferty’s 25-year career, holding the Waterloo Christian team to just one basket the entire night. The other 4 Regents points came off of free throws. The final score was 68-6. The boys’ game was much tighter than expected, thanks in part to some shooting that was as cold as the single digit wind-chills in Colo that evening. Despite the difficult shooting effort, the boys held on for a 41-36 victory. You can view complete coverage on both games in next Thursday’s edition of the Nevada Journal. The boys and girls look to keep up their winning ways this Friday at North Tama. The North Tama girls are 2-0; the boys are 1-0.