NORFOLK — A fierce defense, crisp passing and accurate shooting all added up to sucess for the Cedar Catholic Lady Trojans Friday.

Cedar easily defeated Elgin/Elgin Pope John 55-37 in the District title game to advance to the Class C2 State Girls Basketball Tournament next week.

The Lady Trojans are expected to enter the State Tournament as the third seed. The third seed will face the sixth seed at 8:45 p.m. Thursday at Lincoln High School.

HARTINGTON — Two ranked teams will square off in Battle Creek at 7 p.m. Monday for the right to advance to the State Class C2 State Tournament.

Cedar Catholic, 18-3, and ranked fourth in the latest Lincoln Journal poll, will take on Burwell, 21-1, and ranked eighth in the Statewide poll.

Cedar had been ranked number one in the polls before  a loss to S.D. Class A powerhouse Wagner and two defeats to C1 Top Five Norfolk Catholic.

WAYNE — Cedar Catholic post player Andy Moser picked a good time to have a break-out game.

Moser’s inside play and the long-range shooting of Cody Klug and Kevin Wintz carried Cedar to a 66-52 SubDistrict C2-7 title game win over Laurel-Concord here Thursday.

The game stayed close through the first half, but the Cedar defense and strong third-quarter scoring put the game away for the 18-3 Trojans.

OMAHA — Chad Koch wrapped his high school wrestling career with a fifth-place medal at the State Class C wrestling meet.

Koch took control of his medal-round match right from the start, perfectly executing a single leg takedown to take a quick 2-0 lead against Central City’s Tyson  Sutton. Sutton managed an escape before the end of the opening period, but that’s all of the offense either wrestler could muster in the opening frame.

HARTINGTON — Cedar Catholic started Friday’s MidState Conference season finale with a vengeance.

Cedar and Norfolk Catholic tipped off Friday to see who would win the MidState Conference regular season title. The two teams squared off last week to settle the Conference tournment title with Norfolk claiming that title.

Cedar looked a totally different team against the Knights on Friday.

The Trojans took the early lead and stayed in control of the contest througout the entire first frame, racing out to a 17-13 advantage.

HARTINGTON —Wynot battled through a stingy Newcastle defense to earn a 45-35 SubDistrict D2-5 title game win here Thursday night.

The Lady Devils will now take on O’Neill St. Marys next Friday at Norfolk in the District title game. The winner of that contest will advance to the Class D2 state tournament in Lincoln. Wynot’s offense was led by the post play of Ashley Schmidt, who pounded in 16 points from the paint. Sarah Schulte added 10 points for the Lady Devils.

WAYNE – Cedar Catholic used all of its weapons in an SubDistrict semifinal game win over Ponca here Thursday.

The Cedar girls cruised to a 40-point win over Ponca thanks to solid play in all facets of the game and from everyone on the Lady Trojan bench.

Cedar did not allow the Ponca girls to score until 4:03 had elapsed in the first quarter, but that time the Lady Trojans had parlayed seven Ponca turnovers into 13 points. The Cedar girls continued to turn turnovers into points as they ended the first frame with a 22-4 advantage and by forcing 12 Ponca turnovers.

WAYNE  — Homer came from behind to earn a thrilling one-point victory here Thursday to end Laurel-Concord’s season with a 42-41 win in the C2-7 SubDistricts.

The Lady Bears took advantage of solid defense and some cold Homer shooting to earn the 11-8 first-quarter advantage. Homer came back in the second frame to outscore L-C 9-8 and whittle the halftime deficit to two points, 19-17.

OMAHA — Two matches. Two pins.

Cedar Catholic’s Chad Koch is tearing through the Class C state wrestling competition. He competed in two events Thursday, winning both by pins.

He turned Doniphan-Trumbell’s Jacob Merrill on his back in 3:32 to earn his first win of the tournament.

Koch then pinned Jesse Metzger of Gordon-Rushville in the second period to advance to third-round action.

Here is a look at the team scores after the first day of action

OMAHA — Chad Koch’s dream of a state championship are still alive.

The Cedar Catholic wrestler improved his season record to 25-2 on the year by pinning  Doniphan-Trumbell’s Jacob Merrill in first-round Class C State Tournament wrestling action here Thursday. Koch earned the pin 3:32 into the match.

Koch will now face Jesse Metzger of Gordon-Rushville in second-round action. Metzger, 28-15, upset Jeremy Detmer of Syracuse with an 8-6 decision to advance to the next round.

HARTINGTON — The Newcastle Red Raiders set the tempo Wednesday to make sure Wausa would not pull another upset.

The first time these two girls basketball teams met this season, Wausa hung a 36-24 setback on Newcastle. This time, Newcastle took control to earn the hard-fought 43-36 decision during Wednesday night D2-5 SubDistrict action here.

The loss ends Wausa’s season at 11-10, while Newcastle, 13-6, will go on to play Wynot Thursday in the SubDistrict title game. Those two teams opened the season against each other with Wynot earning the lopsided 59-36 decision.