Axtell Eagles Basketball Team

Wins have been hard to come by for a while at Axtell on the basketball court as the last winning season was in 1996 well all that change this season as the Eagles soared to a great season behind Head Coach, Lucus Dalinghaus in his second season at the helm and a great all around team performance all season.

You couldn’t have scripted a more memorable season than the one the Axtell Eagles put together accomplishing a multitude, from the first winning season at Axtell since 1996 to capping off their 19-8 season capturing the Class 1A-Division II state championship.

Tournament action seemed to trigger another level for the Eagles as they turned things up a notch to go a perfect 12-0 in tournament games this season, ending the year winning sub-state and then going 3-0 in Hays to win the state title.

Head to Hays the confidence was riding high in the Eagles as they went into the tourney as the seven seed, but the seed was only a formality as Axtell already won the TVL tournament earlier in the season as the seven seed.

Opening up the first round of state Axtell took on the two seeded, Central Christian Cougars and got off to a furious start leading 21-11 after the first quarter, behind early three-pointers by senior, Taylor Platt and then the Eagles worked to a 32-18 lead at the half. Eagles held on in the second half to grab the win behind a trio in double figures and seven three-pointers in the game, too win 63-58. Senior, Aaron Schmelzle lead the way with 24 points, while junior, Payton Heinen added a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds and junior, Christian Buessing chipped in 11 points, hitting three three-pointers on the night.

Moving on to the state semifinals Axtell faced off with the three seeded, White City Huskies and it was another fast start that propelled the Eagles as they got off to a 15-2 lead after the first quarter and cruised to a 56-29 win. Schmelzle lead the way again this time with 16 points, Heinen added 15 points and junior Derek Porting chipped in 11 points, including three-pointers. But perhaps the biggest story of the game was the Eagles defensive performance and the defensive prowess of Christian Buessing who held White Cities best scorer to two points, as he normally averages 16 points per game.

With the two wins the Eagles set themselves up to capture their first ever state title and give Head Coach, Dalinghaus a great birthday present, as well. After dispatching the number two and three seeds the Eagles faced off with the number one seeded unbeaten Fowler Goldbugs. Axtell got off to another fast start but Fowler responded to lead it 18-14 after the first period. Eagles then pushed ahead by one at the half and went on to outscore Fowler by eight in the second half for a 65-56 state championship win.

Eagles with the win capped off their season as Class 1A-Division II state champs and giving coach, Dalinghaus one of the best birthday presents he could’ve asked for.

Eagles came from a five win team last year to finish 19-8 this season and accomplished quite a bit this season. Axtell started the season 3-0 with before going 2-5 in the next seven then winning the TVL tournament in thrilling fashion for the first time in school history. Eagles followed that up by going 1-3 before closing the season with three regular season wins and then five more wins in sub-state and state to end the season on a eight game winning streak and Class 1A-Division II state champs.

Axtell displayed a true team performance all season with guys off the bench like juniors, Zach Heinen, Dylan Heiman and Lester Darrah and sophomores, Shane Talbot and Andrew Feldkamp providing key plays all season in certain moments, to go with their starting five of Schmelzle, Porting, Platt, Payton Heinen and Christian Buessing. While freshman, Colton Buessing, Brice Koch, Mitch Kuckelman, Adam Kuckelman and Caleb Heiman helped the team get better throughout the season, also.

Axtell etched themselves in the history with a storybook season going out on top as Class 1A-Division II state champs.