Sports

The Waukon girls basketball team faced the top two teams in the Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) this past week and had its early-season unblemished NEIC mark turned even, but not until after two close battles with those ranked league leaders. The Lady Indians first went toe-to-toe with Class 3A fifth-rated Crestwood before surrendering just a 57-56 defeat at home Tuesday, December 17 and then played Class 4A 11th-rated Waverly-Shell Rock nearly as close before falling by a 48-39 final result in Waverly Friday, December 20.

Falling to a 6-3 season record, including a 2-2 mark in Northeast Iowa Conference play, the Lady Indians are now on their holiday break. The Waukon girls will resume their schedule in the new year Friday, January 3 at Decorah.

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After opening its season with a loss, the Waukon boys basketball team bounced back this week with an undefeated stroll through its two home games that bookended the work week. The Indians opened this past week with a 59-50 home win over Sumner-Fredericksburg Monday, December 9 before starting their Northeast Iowa Conference schedule with a 73-52 home win over Oelwein Friday, December 13.

The Indians were next scheduled to hit the road to wrap up the pre-holiday portion of their schedule, traveling to Crestwood Tuesday, December 17 and then to Waverly-Shell Rock Friday, December 20. The bucket Tribe will then return to competition in the new year with back-to-back days of basketball, hosting Decorah Friday, January 3 before taking on Jesup Saturday, January 4 at Upper Iowa University in Fayette.

The Waukon wrestling team put on fewer miles in this past week’s competition schedule that included the mat Tribe’s first home dual meet of the season and another weekend tournament. That first home meet held the difficult task of hosting Class 3A sixth-rated Waverly-Shell Rock, who handed the Indians a 66-15 home defeat Thursday, December 12, before the Tribe competed at the South Winneshiek Invitational Saturday, December 14 and wrestled to an eighth-place team finish.

The wrestling Tribe will next host Decorah and Caledonia, MN Thursday, December 19 before wrestling in the Starmont Tournament Saturday, December 21 prior to the holiday break. The Indians will then return to action Friday, January 3 for a multi-team dual event at South Winneshiek.

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The Kee girls basketball team played another busy week of three games that included another consecutive pair of contests to wrap up the week, the Lady Hawks putting all three of those games in the win column. Kee’s bucket brigade opened the week with a 47-27 victory at a winless Clayton Ridge Tuesday, December 10 before sweeping back-to-back non-conference games, 43-35 at home over Mabel-Canton, MN Friday, December 13 and 49-35 at Seneca, WI Saturday, December 14.

Now holding a 6-1 season record that includes a 3-1 Upper Iowa Conference mark, the Kee girls were next scheduled to wrap up the pre-holiday portion of their schedule with a Tuesday, December 17 home date with Central Elkader before hosting MFL/MarMac Friday, December 20. The Lady Hawks will return to the court in the new year Friday, January 3 at home against North Fayette Valley.

The Waukon girls basketball team played to an undefeated week this past week, sandwiching some lopsided victories around its first real nail-biting finish of the season. The Lady Indians opened the week with a 57-18 triumph at winless Clayton Ridge Monday, December 9 before escaping with a 46-45 home win over Caledonia, MN the very next night, Tuesday, December 10. The basketball Tribe then rolled over another winless squad, 56-14, at Oelwein Friday, December 13.

Holding a 6-1 season record, including a 2-0 start to their Northeast Iowa Conference season, the Lady Indians were next scheduled to host Crestwood Tuesday, December 17 before wrapping up their pre-holiday schedule Friday, December 20 at Waverly-Shell Rock. The Waukon girls will resume their schedule in the new year Friday, January 3 at Decorah.

Back-to-back games within less than 24 hours of one another resulted in the Waukon girls basketball team’s first loss of the season, as the hoop Tribe played to a split of those two contests in its only competition on the schedule late this past week. The Lady Indians first opened their Northeast Iowa Conference and home schedules with a 47-32 handling of New Hampton at home Friday, December 6 before suffering this season’s first loss, 44-35, to Hudson in a day-long basketball showcase hosted by Upper Iowa University in Fayette Saturday, December 7.

The Kee girls basketball team worked through a busy three-game schedule this past week, putting two of those three games in the win column, one on each side of the Lady Hawks’ first loss of the young season. The Kee hoopsters began the week with a 60-28 home win over Postville Tuesday, December 3 before consecutive nights of weekend basketball saw the Hawks tripped up for the first time this season, 73-37 at home to undefeated Turkey Valley, but then bounce back with a 55-34 win over Leroy-Ostrander, MN in the annual Border Battle hosted by Luther College in Decorah Saturday, December 7.

The Kee boys basketball team got its 2019-2020 campaign underway with a very busy week, playing three games over the course of just five days. The Hawks saved their best for last in battling through that early-season barrage of competition, posting their first victory of the young season in a 55-52 triumph over Mabel-Canton, MN in the annual Border Battle hosted by Luther College in Decorah Saturday, December 7. Prior to that victory, Kee opened its season with a 54-40 loss at home to Postville Tuesday, December 3 before also falling to Turkey Valley at home, 58-29, Friday, December 6.

Opening the season with a 1-2 overall record, 0-2 in Upper Iowa Conference play, the Hawks were next scheduled to play at Clayton Ridge Tuesday, December 10 before hosting North Crawford, WI Thursday, December 12. They will then wrap up the pre-holiday portion of their schedule with two more home contests, hosting Central Elkader Tuesday, December 17 and then MFL/MarMac Friday, December 20.

The 2019 Waukon football season saw a golden opportunity end up with a silver lining as the grid Tribe was on course for a perfect championship season but ended up as Class 2A’s State Runner-Up with a 12-1 season record. Playing to the program’s first undefeated regular season since the 1950s, the Indians began their sixth Class 2A State Play-Off journey in the past eight seasons and made their way to the season-climactic State Championship game for the third time in the past seven seasons, but had their first-ever perfect season and two-time championship hopes dashed by a team from OABCIG (Odebolt-Arthur-Battle Creek-Ida Grove) that seemed to surprise everyone this season with its own perfect campaign that culminated in a successful outcome in the program’s first-ever State Championship game appearance.

The Waukon wrestling team will benefit from exactly half of this year’s crew returning as letterwinners from last season’s squad that compiled a 5-17 overall dual meet record but came up shy of a win in Northeast Iowa Conference competition. That collection of veterans will be complemented this year by a group of first-year varsity competitors who, although young, have a considerable amount of mat experience of their own.

“We return wrestlers that have varsity experience and we have a strong group of young wrestlers that bring in quite a bit of competitive wrestling time prior to entering high school,” Waukon wrestling coach Mason Berns said. “I look for our wrestlers to display a hard work ethic, showing up every day, bringing their best to every competition, and applying that mentality to everything that they do.”