The hometown Jefferson County North Chargers found a way to the state tourney for the third time in four years at the 3A substate in Winchester Saturday.
The top-seeded Oskaloosa Bears started the day’s action with a relatively easy 25-13, 25-14 win over eighth seed Horton and ACCHS followed by downing fifth seed McLouth, 25-17, 26-24. The Bulldogs led, 21-15, in the second game but the Tigers came back to win the game and end McLouth’s season at 14-22.
The Chargers defeated Maur Hill Mount Academy, 25-18, 25-13, to coast into the semifinals, which were set with Oskaloosa taking on ACCHS and JCN facing Sabetha.
Game one of the Oskaloosa-ACCHS matchup was tightly played as ACCHS squeaked out a 25-23 game win. Game two started out the same but ACCHS built a 20-13 lead only to see Oskaloosa come back to tie it at 20. ACCHS went back ahead but the game was tied at 22-22 when the Tigers got a late push to take a 25-23 game win and the match. The Bears finished the season 28-9.
JCN faced a foe in Sabetha that had previously beaten them this season but dug out a 25-23 game one win and then led, 22-14, before holding off the Blue Jays for a 25-19 match win.
In the championship versus ACCHS, JCN grabbed the early advantage in game one at 10-5 only to watch the Tigers come back and take the lead at 13-11. JCN came back to take a 20-18 lead before nailing down the 25-20 game win. Game two saw ACCHS grab the early momentum and hold on for a 25-15 win to force a third and deciding game in the match. Game three would play out completely different as the Chargers built a 7-1 lead and the Tigers couldn’t seem to get in synch. JCN's lead grew to 17-4 and the Chargers scored the final four points of the match to take a 25-7 win and set off a celebration of the school’s third state bid in the last four years.
The 28-11 Chargers will be the seventh seed at state in Salina this weekend. They enter pool play with second seed Hutchinson Trinity, third seed Silver Lake and sixth seed Jayhawk Linn Friday. Should JCN qualify for the semifinals, those matches and the championship and consolation matches would take place Saturday.
At the 4A substate in Tonganoxie, second seed Jefferson West knocked out Perry-Lecompton in the first round, 25-19, 25-20, to end the Kaws’ season at 4-27. West defeated Piper in the semifinals, 25-23, 25-15, to move into the finals versus the fourth seed hosts from Tonganoxie but lost to the Chieftains in the championship, 25-9, 25-11, to end the season at 29-10.
At the 2A substate in Lyndon, fourth seed Valley Falls lost to fifth seed Jackson Heights in the first round, 25-13, 25-12, to end the season at 20-15.
