By Mike Drooger –

On Thursday night, February 10, the Red Rock Central boys’ basketball team ventured the 67 miles it takes to get from Lamberton to Edgerton. The RRC bus was sparsely populated thanks to a bug that had hit the team. The athletic directors of RRC and Edgerton Public School tried to reschedule the game when the Falcons would be at full strength, but an open date for both teams was unable to be found, forcing RRC and its depleted roster to take on the Dutchmen. The Falcons were so short of players, the “B” game was canceled and the two varsities tipped off at 7:00.

The Dutchmen would have preferred to take on RRC when the Falcons were in tip-top shape, but after a 53-32 win for Edgerton’s first victory of the season, the Dutchmen felt like they had just taken down an undefeated team.

Even under normal circumstances the score of the game likely would have been low based on the average points per game for each team. RRC entered the game averaging 43 points per contest while Edgerton scored at a 40-point clip.

It didn’t look good early for coach Doug Van Kley and his Dutchmen when the Falcons assumed a 7-0 lead. The Dutchmen finally got on the board at the 12:02 mark when Nolan Buckridge scored. Later, Aiden Bootsma, who was the KDWC radio player of the game, nailed the first of three treys he’d hit and Edgerton was within two, 5-7. Edgerton’s first lead came at the 7:14 mark when Blake Schultz scored to make it 10-9.

Jared Fischer hit brother Jacob for an assist and a 12-12 score then Edgerton got busy. Bootsma, who had earlier hit his head on the floor and was taken out of the game, returned to hit a two-pointer (assist Buckridge). After Buckridge hit a trey to put his team up 17-12, the Falcons called timeout.

The Dutchmen kept firing away once play resumed. Jacob attacked the bucket for two points. Buckridge hit another trey (assist Schultz), Jared contributed an old-fashioned three-point play, and it was 25-16, which turned out to be the halftime score.