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WYNOT — Wynot will be making its fifth consecutive trip to Lincoln this week and the 13th trek south in program history.
The Blue Devils placed third in last year’s tournament with a couple of big wins and a heartbreaking 3-overtime loss in the semifinals and finishing as the runner-up in 2023.
Coming into the season, Wynot seemed somewhat unlikely to be making a trip this year, unless you are familiar with Wynot.
“We made some huge strides this season,” Blue Devil head man Lee Heimes said. “We lost a lot from last year’s team, but everybody has found a role and these guys have worked very hard all year and just kept getting better and better.”
That is a bit of an understatement. Take into account, Wynot has won 13 of its last 14 games and they own two wins over Wausa, everyone’s No. 1 in Class D2, one in the Lewis & Clark Conference finals and one in the sub-district finals.
They defeated highly regarded Wayne High, a Class C1 school who made it to a district final.
They also defeated Cedar Catholic, a Class C2 state qualifier.
The Blue Devils will take a 19-7 record to Lincoln to take on Elgin Public/Pope John in the first round of the tournament.
Wynot brings balance, hard work and defense to the table every night they take the court.
The Blue Devils don’t have a double-digit scorer on the roster but have three players just under 10 points per game in Devin Brummer, Andrew Haberman and Kotner Koch.
Kasen Kock is the leading rebounder, averaging just over six boards per contest, Killian Steinhaus hauls in 4.2 rebounds per night and Kotner Koch just under four.
Steinhaus also hands out nearly four assists in a game and Kotner Koch delivers just under two handouts per contest.
EPPJ brings a 16-10 record into the first round contest after dropping a sub-district final game to O’Neill St. Mary’s before defeating Kenesaw in a district matchup 43-36.
The Wolfpack has three scorers in double figures lead by Jarek Erickson with 14.2 ppg, followed by Karson Kallhoff ppg and Kellan Hofer with 11.2 ppg.
Erickson also pulls down 8.9 missed shots per game, Dylan Kolm averages just under five. Erickson hands out just under four assists.
“EPPJ has three guards that can shoot the ball and when they’re on, they are very tough to beat,” Heimes said. “We’ll have to make sure we keep those three covered and rebound the ball.”
The coach looks for O’Neill St. Mary’s, Wausa and Archangels Catholic to be three of the better teams in the field.
Wynot is the No. 3 seed in the state tournament with the Wolfpack seeded sixth and are set to meet Thursday evening at the Bob Devaney Sports Center at 7:45 p.m.
The winner of that game will take on the winner between No. 2 Wausa and No. 7 Fullerton on Friday, again at Devaney and again at 7:45 p.m.
The other side of the bracket includes No. 1 O’Neill St. Mary’s against No. 8 Silver Lake and No. 4 Archangels Catholic versus No. 5 Stuart.
