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

Kimball junior high football teams fall to Mitchell

In Kimball Junior High football action to report, Kimball suffered losses to Mitchell with the 7th grade falling 24-0 and the 8th grade losing 40-26.

Coach Dane Wurdeman said the 7th grade team “Had a tough loss.”

“Mitchell has a really nice football team this year. Lots of size and numbers. Ethan Ratzlaff almost broke a long run for us in our first series and ran tough the entire game. Scott Hunsaker did a nice job playing the middle linebacker and quarterback positions for us. He likes to hit people. Javon Coyle is getting better at defensive end and running the ball. We just can’t seem to get the ball in the end zone. Our standout lineman for this game was Kyle Evans. His blocking has improved so much. He puts his pads on an opposing player every play.”

In the 8th grade game Wurdeman said Kimball came out strong once again with Braden Tyan scoring on the first play from scrimmage from 10 yards out and Jacob Withrow adding the conversion. Mitchell got on the board with their first series on a long pass.

“We didn’t have an answer to their speedy wide receivers and three of their touchdowns came off long passes when they got behind our defense. We played hard the entire game. Todd Hunsaker playing middle linebacker wouldn’t allow them to run the ball on us. Withrow scored off a 27 yard option and Brendan Walker scored on a 30 yard reception from Hunsaker. We only took 12 8th graders and didn’t have a full strength team. Our kids played hard and never gave up,” said coach Wurdeman.

Kimball hosts Bridgeport this coming Tuesday with game time at 4 p.m.

In junior high volleyball play Kimball was at the Scottsbluff Tournament this past week. The Kimball A team took 3rd out of 8 teams. They won over Bayard 15-9, 17-15 with Chelsea Malson scoring 9 points and Brooklin Golding 5. Kimball also won over Gering 15-10, 15-11 with Emma Martin high with 16 points and Megan Spicer with 5. Kimball lost to Scottsbluff 11-15, 9-15 with Emma Martin with 6 points and Alyson Holt with 5.

In the B portion of the tournament Kimball lost to Bayard 7-15, 14-16 with Reese Spradling high with 4 points. They fell to Bridgeport 13-15, 11-15 with Raven Johnson high with 7 points. In match 3 they lost to Gering 17-15, 9-15, 7-15, with Jaydin Paxton high with 4.

Kimball is hosting Gering this afternoon (Thursday) with match time 4 p.m. and Monday they are at Bayard.