Dragons ‘out’ and ‘running’ with three wins, one loss going into district time

Following some rough games, the Holyoke Dragons gathered more confidence on the court as they faced multiple opponents including the Wray Eagles, Perkins County Plainsmen, Haxtun Indians and Chappel, Nebraska’s Chase Valley Storms. 

Head Coach Colbey Stumpf renders Wray’s game as, “We struggle sometimes putting together a full game, and I think it showed against Wray.” 

The Wray Eagles’ varsity consisted of 11 boys, while the Holyoke Dragons had 12. Unlike the Dragons, the Eagles “[had] fresh legs coming in and we didn’t,” according to Stumpf. Some great shooters from Wray held the court; its shooters Chris Arambula, Rafael Trejo, Ben Harms and AB Ruiz made 56 points, concluding the game. Points were piled on by the Eagles’ Joey Uyemura, with a total of seven points, Brodie Riggleman with two and Rydge Peterson with six. A new varsity player, Peterson made these six points at the beginning of the game by dropping in two 3-pointers against Holyoke’s zone defense. 

For the Dragons, brothers Wyatt and Reid Sprague pulled the team together collectively, dropping in 34 points. Cash Weber was held back, only making a single point throughout the game with Wray’s zone defense, causing him to increase his share of turnovers. Cash made his point at the free-throw line.

The first-quarter score ended 14-19, with Wray ahead, though Stumpf noted the Dragons’ “first few minutes [went] really well.” 

Wray earned 23 points during the second quarter and held Holyoke back to only eight points. During the beginning of the second quarter, the ball bounced off of Arambula’s foot and into the hands of Holyoke’s No. 33, Chase Johnson. Johnson’s quick reflexes got the ball back on the Dragon’s side. However, leaving the court during halftime with the scoreboard reading 22-42, the Dragons barely reached half of the Eagles’ tally.

Coming back to the third quarter, Holyoke put up 11 points, with the majority coming from Reid. The third nearly dug a 30-point difference, 33-62, between the rival teams. In the fourth quarter, with one minute until the end of the battle, impressive joint layups were made by Johnson and another by Wyatt.  The Eagles’ Harms and Ruiz, however, maintained a consistent flow of layups. The final score of this competition was 48-73.

“Wray is a really good team,” Stumpf said, “so they deserve a lot of credit.”

He explained: “They had some really great shooters and we just kind of struggled defensively; our offense was kind of stagnant.” He was hopeful for improvement in the upcoming games, so the Dragons could get their spirits back into the hoop.

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