Broncos improve to 6-0 with win over fighting Buckaroo squad
SPORTS SHORTS
by Scott Boyle
The San Juan Bronco basketball team, in the fifth year under head coach Ryan Nielson, are soaring in the 2007 pre-season with an undefeated 6-0 record and a number three ranking in one 2A poll.
The Broncos rank second in scoring average at 65 points per game and third in scoring defense, only allowing 51 points per game. Junior guard Kyle Johnson is fourth in 2A scoring, tossing in nearly 17 points a game, and is third in 3 point field goals, averaging over two a game.
The Broncos latest victory was an 83-60 home victory over the Monticello Buckaroos last Friday in Blanding. Four Broncos scored in double figures, led by senior Teddy Royer, who went wild, scoring a career high 29 points.
Junior Nate Einerson poured in 17 points and Johnson added 10 points and 13 assists. Senior postman Dane Lyman contributed 10 points as well.
Junior Daniel Torres had a great night for the Bucks, tossing in 21 points, with fellow juniors Joseph Weatherford, 10 points, and Ashton Whipple, nine, helping out the cause.
An interview with Bronco Coach Ryan Nielson:
Q: Tell us a little bit about your team this year.
A: This year’s team is a fun team to coach and watch play. We are really looking to up-tempo the game. Our motto this year is “Run, Gun, and Have Fun.”
Q: So far into the season at 6-0, what has been your team strength?
A: I feel our biggest strength is our experience coming back. Several of our kids have played since their freshman year. Another strength is our depth. I am not afraid to play anyone off the bench. And most of all, I love our team chemistry.
The full text of the lengthy interview with Coach Nielson can be found at the San Juan Record website at sjrnews.com .
In addition, the Lady Bronco basketball preview is available at sjrnews.com .
Wrestling Shutout
Recently, the Monticello Buckaroo wrestling squad accomplished an exceptional feat in dual wrestling.
Against Westside High School, twelve Buck wrestlers out of 14 weights pinned their opponents, with the other two awarded forfeits, thus earning the maximum team points possible while shutting out the team from Dayton, Idaho, 84-0.
I’m more or less confident the futility of the Westside Pirate wrestlers has nothing to do with the fact that I was once the head wrestling coach at Westside High, way back in 1979.
Back in those days, basketball was king at Westside –located just west of Preston, Idaho, barely above the Utah state line on the Idaho side of Cache Valley. Westside won two state basketball championships in a row and the coach was Kohn Smith, who would later become the head basketball coach at Utah State.
When it was time for home basketball games in Dayton, Idaho, homes were emptied, businesses were closed, cows were left unmilked, expectant babies were left unborn, and it was standing room only at West Side High while the passionate Pirate partisans swarmed the gym. The high-spirited clamor produced by the fans could be heard for miles across the fields of barley and beans.
On the other hand, it was quite the contrary for home wrestling contests. These had about as much attendance as a pedicure party for pirates. The silence in the gym made sighs seem like screeches.
Not only were there repeatedly few spectators at all including cheerleaders, often the parents of our wrestlers weren’t even in attendance. Once, we had to ask the parents of the wrestlers on the VISITING TEAM to run our clock.
Despite all of this, a small cadre of determined wrestlers did their best each week for good ole West Side High. I’m sure it is much the same now. 2007 found the Pirates placing second in the Idaho 2A state basketball tournament, and I could find no mention of the wrestling team or its exploits.
However unsuccessful those unwavering Westside wrestlers were then, and seem to be now, or despite whatever influence from me loiters on in Dayton, Idaho, for the Monticello Buckaroos, 84-0 is still one of the rarest team wrestling accomplishments around.