COLUMN: What did we miss? Recapping stories outside of the Christmas Tournament

Naturally, the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament took the entirety of the Southeast Missourian sports staff’s attention.

The feedback on our tournament coverage was heartfelt, well-received, and much appreciated. We emerged from that week of basketball feeling like the gang from the movie, “The Hangover.”

There were a lot of events involving our teams during that week and were nowhere to be seen on these pages or on our website, semoball.com. So what did we miss? Apparently plenty.

__Jackson grapplers continue to master the mats__

Among the three schools in our area with a wrestling program, Jackson is the only one that consistently sports a full lineup and has the best chance to bring in the most hardware.

It’s not just the boys who are successful, but also the girls.

Under the leadership of coach Cody Rouse, the Indians came within a point of winning the 4th Annual Lady Vikings Tournament on Dec. 28, in Springfield, Missouri.

Seniors Gracie (115) and Mallorie (120) Metzger took 1st place while freshman Mollie Metzger (125) finished in 5th place and junior Joey Collins (110) finished in 7th place.

The boys took part in a quad meet hosted by Cape Central on Dec. 29 and completely dominated the competition. The Indians won all but two matches, including shutting out Dexter 84-0. Cape Central, not to be outdone, also defeated Dexter and Owensville.

Jackson’s next wrestling event will be at the Lafayette “Fred Ross” Invitational on Saturday.

__St. Vincent boys won a Christmas Tournament__

Before the Jackson Indians tangled with the Tigers of Cape Central in the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, the St. Vincent Indians took the title at the Valle Christmas Tournament with a 78-57 win over Seckman on Dec. 29.

The senior trio of Simon Unterreiner, Grant Abernathy, and Blake Monier continues to carry the squad to success. Unterreiner led with 23 points in the final game and Abernathy scored 20 points including making four of St. Vincent’s six 3-pointers.

The trio combined to score 50 of St. Vincent’s 78 points in a win over Kingston the previous day, on Dec. 28. Dylan Dewilde also scored 14 points during that game.

St. Vincent’s run almost ended as it began during an opening round showdown with Saxony Lutheran on Dec. 27. Luke Eggenmeyer carried the Crusaders with 21 points, and Max Richey chipped in 11. The Crusaders led the Indians 43-37 going into the fourth quarter. St. Vincent outscored Saxony Lutheran 16-7 in the final period to win 53-50.

The Indians (8-4) had such a good time at Valle that they’re going back to take on the hosts on Tuesday.

__Perryville girls came close in a Christmas Tournament__

Perryville fell to West County 52-41 to finish in 2nd place in the FSCB Tournament on Dec. 29, at West County High School. Kyla Schnurbusch led the Pirates with 16 points and Brooklyn Moll also scored 13 points.

The Pirates reached the title game by avenging their previous loss to Hillsboro with a 58-49 win on Dec. 28. Rachel Riney joined Moll and Schnurbusch to score 48 total points.

Now that we’re all back from our holiday hibernation, let’s get back to work.