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The Wakefield Trojans improved their season record to 4-6 after earning one win and one loss at the Shootout on the Elkhorn holiday tournament at Wisner-Pilger (W-P) High School on Thursday and Friday, Dec. 28 and 29.
After a solid showing in the Holiday Tournament, the Trojans now have a little break before returning to action on Thursday, Jan. 4 against Woodbury Central (IA), followed by a contest against Walthill the next night.
In the W-P tournament, Wakefield had the opportunity to take on the winless Gators of W-P followed by the Ponca Indians in the championship game on Friday.
In that game against the Indians, the Trojans and Ponca went back-and-forth nearly the entire game.
The contest started in heavy favor of the Indians, with Ponca getting out to a five-point lead at the end of the first quarter and growing that to a 12-point lead at the half.
With their backs against the wall, it seemed as if though Wakefield was going to easily fall to the Indians. That is until the lights-out performance by Wakefield in the third quarter brought them back to life.
The Trojans were able to outscore the Indians 18-5 in the third quarter, just enough to climb all the way back and retake the lead by one point heading into the fourth.
Unfortunately, however, the Indians were able to bounce back off of their embarrassing third quarter with a solid 23-point performance in the fourth. The Trojans didn’t go down without a fight, but were unable to keep up with the offensive performance of the Indians in the fourth. The Trojans went on to lose 62-53.
This loss gave the Trojans the title of tournament runners-up, and moved their season record to 4-6.
In their hard-fought loss against the Indians, the three sophomores led the way for the Trojans with Cael Johnson out in front with 17 points, followed by Jacob Borg with 12, and Jacob Birkley with nine.
Also finding the scoring column for the Trojans was Anthony Valenzuela with seven points, Jesse Lundahl with five, and Jonathan Birkley with three.
Prior to their loss against Ponca, the Trojans took on the W-P Gators in the first round of the Shootout. The Gators entered the contest with no wins on the season, giving Wakefield the apparent advantage.
The Gators fought hard, however, and didn’t play like a zero-win team. Halfway through the second quarter, the score was knotted-up at 17-17 until Lundahl nailed a three from the left wing, causing a spark to form in the hearts of Wakefield, and catapulted them to a lead they wouldn’t give up.
After the three from Lundahl, the Trojans were able to go on a run and hold onto their lead to secure a 58-42 victory over the Gators.
This time it was Borg leading the way for the Trojans with 22 points, followed by Johnson with 14, Lundahl with 11, Valenzuela with five, the duo of Jonathan Birkley and Tim Kaufman with two, and the duo of Jacob Birkley and Benny Palma each with one.