Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First

Articles written by Tom Southard


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  • Winter Sports Get Going, Carefully

    Tom Southard, The Observer|Nov 26, 2020

    Despite COVID-19, local winter sports are ongoing with the Kimball Junior High wrestling and girls basketball underway, and the Nebraska High Schools were allowed to start winter sports practices this past Monday as well. Kimball Junior High Wrestling Kimball hosted its junior high wrestling tournament that we told you about in last week's Observer with a much smaller turnout, and as also reported, I have some individual results from that tournament for you readers this week. Tig Woolington had...

  • Kimball Junior High Wrestling Held With Restrictions

    Tom Southard, Jock Talk|Nov 19, 2020

    The Kimball Junior High Invitational Wrestling Tournament went off as scheduled this past Monday although the numbers were down considerably, according to Kimball Activities Director Ken Smith. Smith said that due to the COVID-19 situation, none of the Wyoming schools who usually attend, and at least four more Nebraska schools, did not attend because of the same reason.It ended up with 7 schools and a total of 85 wrestlers competing. "This is about half of our usual participation," Smith said....

  • THE BUCKS STOP HERE

    Tom Southard, The Observer|Nov 19, 2020

    The Nebraska rifle season for deer hunters opened this past Saturday and will run through this Sunday with one big change this season. There will be no check-in locations this year, and hunters will report their kills via the internet! The Nebraska Game Department has reported this season should be good with a lot of deer in almost every area and including a good report on 3-year-old bucks with size and show antlers. I went looking for pictures from our area hunters who filled their permits the...

  • Six Longhorns Gain Postseason Honors

    Tom Southard, The Observer|Nov 12, 2020

    The Western Trails Conference has announced their All Conference selections for volleyball and football and Kimball has six athletes to receive recognition from all conference coaches. In volleyball, senior Megan Spicer was named All Conference and senior Sydney Biesecker and sophomore Jayden Paxton were given honorable mention. Bridgeport had 4 players on the all conference team plus 2 honorable mentions and the Lady Bulldogs were the conference champions. Mitchell and Gordon-Rushville both had 3 all conference selections plus 2 HMs, Morrill...

  • Winter Arrives ... For Junior High Sports

    Tom Southard, Jock Talk|Nov 5, 2020

    The Winter Sports season is underway, at least for the Kimball Junior High. They participated in a junior high wrestling tournament at Harrisburg this past Saturday and I will hopefully have some results from that event by next week. Kimball was scheduled to host their own junior high wrestling tournament this past Tuesday but that got postponed to November 16th. The Shorthorn wrestlers will be at Hemingford on November 12th. Kimball Junior High Girls Basketball will also tip off today (Thursday) with the Kimball girls going to Bridgeport and...

  • Kimball's Malson Runs 77th In Third State Meet

    Tom Southard, Jock Talk|Oct 29, 2020

    We can close the door on one more Fall Sport for Kimball High School with the completion of the 2020 Nebraska State Cross Country races held at the Kearney Country Club Golf Course this past week. As reported last week, Kimball had two state qualifiers in sophomore Matt Johnson and junior Chantel Malson, but Malson ended up being the Longhorns' only participant at state due to a health issue that prevented Johnson from competing. Matt was unable to compete due to being informed his blood sugar...

  • Kimball JH Football Wins 2 Of 3

    Tom Southard, The Observer|Oct 29, 2020

    The Kimball Junior High football season came to a close this past week with a win over Morrill. Here we’ll look back to cover the final 3 games on the schedule. Kimball 32, Bayard 6 The Shorthorns won 32-6 over Bayard on the road. Kimball led 24-0 at halftime with the line doing a great job of pushing the young Tigers around and the Kimball backs running Tough, according to coach Dane Wurdeman. “The best part of this game was seeing all of our young players get quality experience. This was a game in which the inside run was working well. It is...

  • Outstanding Year For Kimball Golf

    Tom Southard, The Observer|Oct 22, 2020

    A year to remember for the 2020 Kimball High Girls Golf Team as they qualified as a team for the State Tournament and Payton Wise earned her third consecutive state medal, and also lowered her own school record when she shot a new career personal best round of 76! This year's team was made up of 2 seniors, 2 juniors and 2 sophomores and the pair of seniors who will graduate will be missed for certain. Maddie Cook was a four year contributor who saw her Kimball High career end on a sad note when...

  • Fall Sports Winding Down

    Tom Southard, The Observer|Oct 22, 2020

    The fall Sports season is fast drawing to a close as the girls state golf was completed last week, along with the football season for Kimball. District cross country was held at Bridgeport last Thursday and Chantel Malson and Matt Johnson both qualified for the state meet being held tomorrow (Friday) at Kearney. The only thing remaining for Kimball is volleyball subdistricts. Subdistrict play for the Lady Longhorns is set for Monday (October 26) at Big Springs where South Platte is the number 1 seed and will play number 4 seed, and number 2...

  • Malson, Johnson Qualify For State

    Tom Southard, The Observer|Oct 22, 2020

    The Kimball High Cross Country Team will be represented at the Nebraska State Cross Country Meet in Kearney tomorrow (Friday) in both the Class D girls and boys race as Chantel Malson and Matthew Johnson emerged as individual qualifiers from the District race in Bridgeport. For junior Malson, this will be her 3rd time to run in the state meet and for Johnson, a sophomore, this will be his first state meet. The Kimball boys finished 5th out of 11 teams at District led by Johnson's 14th...

  • Wise Finishes Sixth At State

    Tom Southard, The Observer|Oct 15, 2020

    Another outstanding finish for Kimball junior Payton Wise as she wound up 6th in the final standings of the 2020 Class C Nebraska State Golf Tournament at Elks Country Club in Columbus. Payton slipped a bit on Day 2, shooting a round of 82 to finish overall with a two-day total of 166. Brodersen of Boone Central won individual honors at 155, followed by Becker of Cozad at 157, Colby of Minden at 159, Lovegrove of Lincoln Christian at 162 and Mesti of Heartland at 164 – the only five girls to f...

  • Jock Talk

    Tom Southard|Oct 15, 2020

    The feature spotlight on Kimball High athletic events this week is of course the girls state golf tournament of which Kimball qualified for by placing 3rd at the District Tournament reported last week. The Kimball team departed from Kimball High School at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, headed for Columbus, the site of the Class C Tournament. On Sunday they got in a practice round, battling some wind, like what’s new? By the way, they got a nice sendoff with the Kimball Fire Department escorting them out to the interstate with a string of well wishers...

  • Kimball Boys Third At SPVA Meet

    Tom Southard, The Observer|Oct 15, 2020

    A tough test for the Kimball High Cross Country Teams this past week as they competed in conference competitions on back-to-back days. The Longhorns were at Grant on Thursday to run in the SPVA Conference event, and the very next day they ran at Bridgeport in the WTC Conference race. The Horns fared the best at the SPVA meet where the boys finished 3rd led by Matthew Johnson's 7th place individual finish with a season personal best time of 19:59. Freshman Joseph Bremer also ran an all time...

  • Wise Shoots New Low Round

    Tom Southard, The Observer|Oct 8, 2020

    Payton Wise Shot a new personal best 18 holes of golf to better her own Kimball High School record and the Kimball girls finished 3rd at the District Tournament held at Crandell Creek Golf Course in Ogallala Monday to qualify for the State Tournament in Columbus to be played this Monday-Tuesday. Coach Katie Culek said, "I am so proud of the girls as they came together to shoot their best team score of the season, and they got the job done. Payton had an all-time best round to better her own...

  • Jock Talk

    Tom Southard, The Observer|Oct 8, 2020

    The most exciting thing to happen this week, or month, year, or maybe the past decade, is the Kimball High Girls Golf Team qualifying for the State Tournament! Be sure and read the complete story concerning how they did this, but as I write my column this week it is really all I can think of. I did not make the trip down to Ogallala to cover it in person as things are so restricted with the COVID-19 situation that I didn’t know they would allow me to be to the players and coaches anyway, but I was in contact with the right people who kept me i...

  • Longhorn Golfers Off To District

    Tom Southard, The Observer|Oct 1, 2020

    The Kimball High Girl's Golf Team closeout out the regular season this past week with tournaments at Ogallala and Bridgeport and moved into District Tournament play this past Monday back at Ogallala. The Kimball girls finished 4th at Ogallala in a field of large schools and took runner-up team honors at the Bridgeport tournament. OGALLALA TOURNAMENT The Lady Horns had to battle the big schools at Ogallala with North Platte taking top team honors with their 317 score leaving The talented...

  • Junior High Football Offers Hope

    Tom Southard, Jock Talk|Oct 1, 2020

    The Kimball High football program is suffering right now with a low number of athletes checked out which in turn results and not being able to match up with their opponents and the losses keep piling up. The Horns had to drop to the 8-man game because of the lack of numbers, and at their last game I noted they had only 14 players suited. I talked with Dane Wurdeman who coaches the Kimball Junior High football program this week and he has a positive attitude that things are going to get better in this department as he has 21 young men checked...

  • LOWER NUMBERS FOR FARMERS DAY FUN RUN

    Tom Southard, The Observer|Oct 1, 2020

    In this crazy year of the COVID-19 Pandemic, as might be expected, the number of Runners for the annual Farmer's Day Fun Run were way down, according to the organizer Tiffany Johnson. There were only 53 runners who participated this year and only 1 runner who went the 5 mile distance. That hardy soul was Steve Knigge who runs events all over the United States. Steve's time in the 5 mile run was 40 minutes and 5 seconds, and although his exact age was not listed, he runs in the 60 and over age...

  • Lady Longhorns Second At Gering

    Tom Southard, The Observer|Sep 24, 2020

    The Kimball Lady Longhorn golf team finished second at the Gering Invitational Tournament this past week with a good showing against a field of big schools including the talent loaded Scottsbluff team who won top team honors with a score of 317, with all five of their golfers in the top 10 medal group, including medalist Emily Krzwyzanowski with her round of 76. The Bearcat ladies also placed 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 10th in a display of team strength. Kimball had a good day finishing runnerup with 408, Gering was next with 416 followed by Chadron wi...

  • Longhorn Golfers WTC Champs

    Tom Southard, The Observer|Sep 17, 2020

    The Kimball Lady Longhorn golf team racked up another win in capturing the championship of the Western Trails Conference Tournament held at Mitchell this past Thursday shooting the low team score of 401! Kimball's Payton Wise was the individual champion with her best round of the season to date shooting 41-40=81 and Kimball's top four varsity golfers all made the top ten medal group with Katie Heeg finishing 5th with her round of 50-53=103, Maddie Cook was 8th with a round of 52-54=106, and...

  • 2 More Tourney Titles For Kimball Golf

    Tom Southard|Sep 10, 2020

    The Kimball girls golf team picked up a pair of team championships this past week and Payton Wise added a pair of medalist honors to her season as well. The Kimball girls won their own Invitational Tournament and captured top honors at the Creek Valley Tournament in Chappell. KIMBALL INVITATIONAL With 3 of their golfers finishing in the top ten medal group, the Kimball girls wrapped up the team victory with a score of 446 while Gordon/Rushville finished runner-up with 492, followed by Bridgeport...

  • Kimball Golfers Off To Promising Start

    Tom Southard, The Observer|Sep 3, 2020

    The Kimball High girls golf team is off to a promising start after placing 3rd at the Sidney Tournament and 2nd at the Bayard tournament! The Lady Longhorns opened the season at Sidney competing with several of the large school including Scottsbluff, who won the team title with 328 strokes and placed all of their girls in the top 10 metal group. Alliance was runnerup with 404 and Kimball shot a very good scorer of 412 for 3rd place edging out Gering with 414 and Chadron with 416. Ogallala was...

  • High School Sports Are Back This Fall! Enjoy!

    Tom Southard, Jock Talk|Sep 3, 2020

    I hope you sports fans have enjoyed getting to take in some area high school events? I know I have! Although the Kimball High football team was beaten soundly by a good Hitchcock County team in the season opener for both teams Friday night, I thought the way things were set up and handled in regards to the coronavirus situation were very good. The volleyball team and cross country team also got their seasons underway, and this week is Homecoming week for Kimball. The volleyball team is at Bridgeport this evening (Thursday). The girls golf team...

  • It's Opening Week For Longhorns

    Tom Southard, Jock Talk|Aug 27, 2020

    The Fall Sports schedule is underway for Kimball High athletes as the girls golf team got things going by competing in the Sidney Tournament on Tuesday this week, and today (Thursday), they are back in action at the Bayard Tournament. This coming Tuesday (September 1) they will host their own tournament with a 9 a.m. start time. You fans are welcome to turn out to watch and cheer the girls on. There will be open golf that day also, but call the Four Winds Pro Shop for tee times. The Lady...

  • Good News? Yes, There Is Some Good Fall Sports News

    Tom Southard, Jock Talk|Aug 20, 2020

    The word from the Big 10 people in charge is no Fall Sports, so it looks like no University of Nebraska sports, including of course, Husker football! That is the bad news, at least as far as I am concerned, along with many others. The good news is we are going to have area High School Fall sports including of course our Kimball High sports this fall. And it starts as soon as next Tuesday, August 25th, when the Kimball High girls golf team opens up at the Sidney Invite with Tee time at 9 a.m. Then the girls go to Bayard on August 27th, and host...

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