APPLETON − Luke Oelhafen admits he wasn’t having one of his better nights shooting the ball in Xavier’s Bay Conference showdown with West De Pere on Thursday at Torchy Clark Gymnasium. Freedom improved to 20-1 overall on the season and also clinched the North Eastern Conference title with a 55-53 victory over visiting Fox Valley […]
APPLETON − Luke Oelhafen admits he wasn’t having one of his better nights shooting the ball in Xavier’s Bay Conference showdown with West De Pere on Thursday at Torchy Clark Gymnasium.
Freedom improved to 20-1 overall on the season and also clinched the North Eastern Conference title with a 55-53 victory over visiting Fox Valley Lutheran on Thursday. Freedom is 16-0 in the conference, while Little Chute lost to Waupaca on Thursday and fell to 12-3 in the league. Drew Kortz led Freedom with 20 points in the win over FVL.The 6-foot forward is averaging 13.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.7 steals a game for the Patriots (12-8). She will play in college at Division II Minnesota-Duluth.Logan Ramczyk’s 3-pointer with 35.3 seconds left pulled the Hawks, ranked eighth in Division 3, to within 63-62. West De Pere had possession but turned the ball over with just under 30 seconds remaining. Xavier then worked the time down to Oelhafen’s game-winning shot, which he took immediately after an inbound pass from Joe Gallucci.
Winneconne junior football player Brody Schaffer has received a scholarship offer from the University of Iowa, he announced Thursday on social media.The 6-1, 184-pound junior is a standout quarterback and defensive back. He finished with 1,800 yards passing on 153 of 216 attempts with 17 touchdowns for the Wolves but is expected to play receiver in college. He also rushed for 1,774 yards on 184 carries (9.6 average) with 31 touchdowns, and had 52 total tackles on defense with four interceptions.Freedom is more than just Davis and Kortz. The team also gets a lift from starters AJ Wesoloski, Cal Calhoon and Kaden Vandenberg along with reserves led by Sawyer Rueckl, Owen Henkel, Parker Jochimsen, Braeden Dayton and Jacob Garvey.Schaffer represented the Green Bay Packers at the Nike “The Next Ones” event in New Orleans as part of Super Bowl weekend.
“Definitely not,” he said.Xavier coach Matt Klarner said the play he drew up had a few options after the initial inbound, but Oelhafen’s heroics right away left those other options moot.”We were trying to isolate and do a little two-man game there,” Klarner said. “And it looked like (West De Pere) came out in zone and when Luke went to the corner, there was no one there to pick him up in their zone and I think they were coming out high. And he caught it and had the clean look. That was obviously what we wanted and that was the first read on the play.”We had two other things that we were going to do after that, but we didn’t need to do the other two things because he caught it. He’s a senior in his home gym and he’s going to make that shot.”
Freedom boys clinch North Eastern Conference title
West De Pere had time to tie or take the lead, but a 3-point attempt by Bryce Borowicz missed as time expired.
Freedom’s 59-45 win over Little Chute on Feb. 7 put the Irish in good position to win the conference title. Sophomore standout Donovan Davis had 18 points, 22 rebounds and six assists in that win.Vote for the top athlete:Choose from swimming, basketball and hockey athletes for Cellcom Post-Crescent high school athlete of the weekNeed a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.That could bode well in the upcoming WIAA postseason.
“I was getting guarded pretty heavily all night, so it felt really good to see the last one go through,” Oelhafen said.But the 6-foot-3 senior forward got hot when it mattered most, nailing a 3-pointer with 6.1 seconds left in regulation to lift Xavier to a 65-63 victory over the Phantoms.
Appleton East’s Neubauer clears 1,000 points
Schaffer also has received scholarship offers from North Dakota State, Lindenwood and Texas State.Appleton East senior guard Torie Neubauer went over 1,000 points for her career last week in a 63-22 win at Hortonville. Neubauer scored 11 points in the victory and added 12 points in a 63-46 victory over Oshkosh West on Tuesday. She has 1,022 points for her career.
Winneconne’s Schaffer gets offer from Iowa
The victory puts the Hawks in a tie with the Phantoms for the Bay Conference lead. Each team has two league games remaining: Xavier with Seymour on Feb. 21 and New London on Feb. 27, with West De Pere having Bay matchups against New London (Feb. 21) and Green Bay West (Feb. 27).Irish coach Andrew Gibbons knows the team is foundationally strong and has a generational player in Davis, who leads the team in all three major categories (23.1 points, 12.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists).
“I could go on and on about how good of a player he is,” Gibbons said of Davis. “I have to do more in getting him involved in a game like this (against Little Chute). I feel like he had a quiet night, which is weird to say when looking at the stats. But he’s a special player to coach and really just a game changer for us.”“Little Chute is a good team and a good program. It was a real dogfight out there with them,” Davis said following the win over Little Chute. “My teammates did a real good job of setting me with points and things like that. And with the defensive rebounds, I prioritize my game around that and I like playing defense. To have 22 rebounds is awesome.”
