CKL battles prepared Hesston, Hillsboro boys to win high school state championships
Battles between the boys basketball teams in the Central Kansas League were on another level this season.
State championship Saturday bore that out, as Hesston defeated Galena 45-36 to win the Class 3A title in Hutchinson and Hillsboro won 59-50 over Wabaunsee in Manhattan to collect the Class 2A title.
It was a fitting ending for the two teams that shared the CKL championship this season with one loss each.
“It’s really special for our league,” Hillsboro coach Darrel Knoll said. “We had a lot of teams that were really tough this year and that prepared us a lot more for postseason play. It was a great year in the league. You had to bring it every single night. To have two state champions, that really speaks well for the league.”
By going through teams like Hoisington, Haven and Lyons every week, Hesston and Hillsboro felt like they had already played in state-caliber games during the regular season.
Hesston coach Greg Raleigh agreed with Knoll that the CKL deserved a lot of credit for shaping two state championship teams.
“We had five really, really good teams at the top of our league this year,” Raleigh said. “This year was one of the best years I’ve seen in the league. Unfortunately, a lot of us were in the same sub-state. But I was very impressed by the coaches in our league.”
Hesston grinded to a 23-1 record this season thanks to its defense, which once again played a pivotal role in the state title game against Galena. Even though the Swathers scored just 13 first-half points, they led 13-11 because of their defense.
Behind a defense that held Galena to 39% shooting and forced 10 turnovers, Hesston won its first state title since 2014.
“We were really good defensively this whole season,” Raleigh said. “We were very interchangeable. All nine of our kids can guard and we can switch screens and not really have any mismatches. If you would have told me we’d be in a championship game and only score 13 points in the first half and still be ahead, I wouldn’t have believed you. But that’s what we hang our hats on. We just got tremendous effort from all of them.”
Junior scoring sensation Cason Richardson, who scored 36 points in the semifinals, added a team-high 16 points against Galena. Hesston also had notable contributions from Brayden Schilling (nine points, seven rebounds), Nick Arnold (eight points) and Jake Proctor (seven points).
“You can work really hard for a lot of years and never get a state title,” Raleigh said. “It’s quite the reward for all of these kids’ hard work. They persevered through a lot this season and I’m really proud of these guys.”
Hesston was the only team to beat Hillsboro, a 44-30 win on Feb. 11, in the Trojans’ final 23 games, as they took care of business against a Cinderella team in Wabaunsee (13-12) in the 2A finals. Hillsboro made just enough plays in the fourth quarter to win its first state title since 1998.
“I’m so happy for the guys because of how hard they’ve worked for this and how hard they’ve played all year,” Knoll said. “We have a great team. We don’t really run sets for individual guys. All of these guys were so happy for each other and so excited to bring a championship back to Hillsboro.”
The same trio has been powering Hillsboro this whole season and they once again delivered in the state title game, as Matthew Potucek had 17 points, five rebounds and three assists, Brekyn Ratzlaff finished with 16 points and four assists and Grayson Ratzlaff chipped in with 14 points, 11 rebounds and three steals.
“We just have really good chemistry and we have a bunch of guys that just play really well together,” Knoll said. “This team has been resilient. And they’re also just really competitive.”
This story was originally published March 14, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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