Sports

IDA GROVE - Cherokee let an eight point third quarter lead slip away and dropped a tough to swallow 54-50 battle to OABCIG's Falcons here Monday night. The loss puts the Braves at 7-6, while the Falcons improve to 9-4 on the season. Cherokee will host Storm Lake on Friday in an attempt to avenge and earlier season 48-44 loss to the Tornadoes on their home floor...

For Cherokee's basketball Braves, there was both good and bad news here last Thursday in a non-conference match-up with East Sac County. First the bad news. Poor shooting and lack of intensity saw Cherokee fall behind a 3-8 East Sac club early, trailing 16-8 at the end of the first quarter and down 30-18 at halftime...

MEMORY LANE History was always a favorite subject of mine in high school. History and art. Not so much math of any kind. That being said, I can count to 50 and I'm aware that's a long time ago. So, let's revisit "Memory Lane" once again. Join me with a quick glance back at this time 50, 25 and 10 years ago...

SERGEANT BLUFF - Seniors Trey Benson, Jacob Hodgdon and Joe Benson drained first quarter three pointers as Cherokee raced ahead 11-0 and logged 16-10 and 28-22 first quarter and halftime leads over Sergeant Bluff-Luton here Saturday afternoon. That was the first half...

SPENCER - Cherokee's wrestling Braves collected five wins here Thursday night in double dual team losses to Estherville-Lincoln Central (48-30), and host Spencer (72-4). Of those five individual wins, Cherokee 145 pounder Colin Pick had two victories with a pin over EL-C's Bringham Vermeys in 1:40, and a major 12-1 decision over Spencer's Jackson Schultz...

Spencer outplayed Cherokee in all facets of the game here Thursday night, defeating the host Braves convincingly, 74-48. "We had our butts thoroughly kicked," said a candid Mark Hurd, Cherokee coach. "Spencer out-played us in every facet of the game, but what was most disappointing to me was that they out-hustled us on our own court," he said...

Many may hesitate to write glowingly of an athletic opponent who embarrassed the crap out of you every time you competed against him in two sports for four years of high school, but that’s what I’m about today in remembering Larry “Butch” (Double i, Double t) Biittner...

STORM LAKE - Cherokee couldn't buy a three-point bucket with a handful of thousand dollar bills. Piddle poor 2 for 23 shooting from three point range coupled with 21 fouls were key factors in a 48-44 loss to Storm Lake's tall and long Tornadoes here Thursday...

STORM LAKE - Ten Cherokee girls entered the scoring column here Thursday night in a 72-50 win over an improved Storm Lake club. "We played our bench a lot tonight and had good balanced scoring from our starters," said Brandon Slaughter, Cherokee coach. "I thought Lexi (Pingel) shot better and with more confidence tonight, and playing our bench gave our starters a needed break as we play so hard and fast," he added...

"This night belongs to the Midgets," said a smiling Estherville-Lincoln Central head coach Don Martindale after witnessing his team whiz by Cherokee 61-45 here Tuesday night. Cherokee head coach Brandon Slaughter agreed. "They (ELC) played good defense and shot exceptionally well in the second half," said Slaughter. "Make no mistake, ELC is a very good basketball team. They shot well and we didn't."...

HOLSTEIN - Cherokee junior Kenna Mongan launched and drained a bomb from near Cushing midway in the final period for three of her 32 game high points, fueling a decisive 68-45 win over a previously unbeaten Ridge View club here Saturday night. The game, played in spiffy, brand new and beautiful Raptor gymnasium, went Cherokee's way early with the Braves busting out to a 13-0 lead right out of the chute. ...

Cherokee wrestlers split a double dual, defeating Alta-Aurelia 36-27 and losing to tradition wrestling rich powerhouse Emmetsburg 70-0 on 'Senior Night' here Thursday. Overall on the night, Cherokee featured three winners, all via pins, in 126 pounder Wyatt Johnson, 145 pounder Colin Pick and 170 pounder Connor Mahnke...

CLARIFICATION Sometimes we need to clear the air and bit and perhaps do a better job of keeping our readers informed. Recently, I have been chastised for not covering our wrestlers and other area sporting activities. The thing is folks, I'm simply a "stringer" for the Chronicle-Times and cover games I attend, which happens to be Cherokee's basketball Braves...

Cherokee's junior varsity girls hammered LeMars Gehlen 66-31, while the Cherokee boys dropped a 54-44 contest to the visiting Jays here Thursday. In the girls' game, sophomore Ava Anderson highlighted Cherokee scoring with 11 points, followed by soph teammate Harper Benson and freshman Addy Pigott with nine points each, while soph Carly Fuhrman finished with eight...

EMMETSBURG - He glides almost effortlessly, dunking the basketball and leading his team to its season opening 77-46 win over Emmetsburg's E-Hawks here Tuesday. He is Will Lugar, a gifted senior cager who put up 29 points to pace the Braves in a lopsided 31-point margin win over the host E-Hawks...

GET OFF THE COUCH Attention all high school athletes: If you're sitting on the couch playing video games because your too lazy to participate in your school's athletic programs, we recommend you get off your duff and get involved. It's never too late...

Three returning starters, including six seniors and a plethora of seasoned and young talent return to bolster a tradition rich Cherokee girls' basketball program this season as practice sessions officially got underway Monday. Cherokee will christen the 2021-22 season with three non-conference games at Sioux City West on Monday, Nov. 22, followed by home games against Sioux City Heelan the next night on the 23rd and then LeMars Gehlen on Thursday, Dec. 2...

Great news! The 1972 Cherokee Braves' football team will be recognized at the halftime of the Class 2A championship football game at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls on Friday, Nov. 19. We first got wind of the well-deserved honor from good friend and member of the '72 squad, Kim Aduddell. Kim's a humble guy and it's tough getting him to talk about the memorable season the Braves enjoyed 50 years ago...

Cherokee's football Braves had a different look in defeating Westwood 22-14 here last Friday in a final game that was added to the schedule when the Braves didn't make the state playoffs. "The state allowed teams to find a ninth game if they didn't make the playoffs," explained third-year Cherokee head coach Tony Gunter. "It was there way of trying to hide the fact that they shortened our season by a game," he added...

Cherokee's Braves wrapped up a successful 1965 football season by landing five players on the coaches' All-Lakes Conference selections. Actually, the Braves (5-2-1) of Tom Beckham placed players in six different offensive and defensive positions and one player, Marv Gerstandt, was named on both units...