Giltner's Ethan Kreutz launches the winning trey in the finals of last year's D-1 Title game.
Thursday will be a homecoming of sorts for this guy. It’s been 44 years since I’ve set foot in the York City Auditorium. It will be a great day to see the old girl again, having had a facelift since those ancient times. The semi finals of the Crossroads basketball tournament will be on tap and it will be a full day of basketball that features some hot teams and a hand full of very fine individuals.
The Crossroads Tourmanent, which incidentally is in it’s 70th season, has been contested at the York City Auditorium since 1951. There aren’t many off campus places like that beautiful old place that still host high school varsity basketball these days. The Beatrice City Auditorium is the only other venue I can think of outside of Omaha or Lincoln that is active. I used to play many of these majestic old buildings with my father’s Big Band years back, but most are gone with the wind. Not so for the York facility.
On the girls’ side, top seeded Exeter-Milligan (14-1) will take on BDS (9-7) in the 1st semi final game at 3:00. In the other girls’ semi, 12-5 Cross County meets 15-1 Shelby-Rising City at 6:00. Shelby/RC features Chatrice White, a tall sophomore whiz who already has had scholarship offers from Nebraska, Iowa, Iowa State and Drake.
The boys semi final action will get underway when defending Class D-1 state champion, and unbeaten Giltner meets defending Crossroads Tourney champion BDs at 4:30. Giltner features D-1 football (Iowa) recruit Drew Ott. Ott also just happens to be an all-state basketball player who has proven to be nearly unstoppable inside with his 240 pound frame. Bruning-Davenport-Shickley counters with one of the most well-rounded basketball players in the state in Ryan Tegtmeier. Tegtmeier took this tournament by storm a year ago when he led his team to a tournament title with monumental upsets of highly ranked Hampton and Giltner along the way. Both were ranked number one in their class prior to that. In the nightcap, Cross County (11-6) plays a young but talented High Plains team that has run and gunned their way to a 13-4 record thus far.
If this year’s semi finals are anything close to a year ago, it should be a day to remember for any high school basketball fan. I hope to see many of you there tomorrow………….I’ll save you a seat in the front row.