Haxtun enters Districts as 6th seed

Following an unexpected ending to the regular season, the Haxtun Bulldogs enter the 2A District boys bracket as the number six seed and kicked off post season action Tuesday night in Wiggins.

Haxtun hosted the Rams from Merino on Friday in what would have been a second-game match up of the two teams this season. The first ended in an over-time win for the Rams.

Friday night marked parents night for Bulldog players and after recognition at mid-court the boys took the court in a highly anticipated rematch of two Lower Platte league teams.

Following tip off, Haxtun put the ball in the hoop for the first and what would be the only basket of the game. With only 1:54 seconds off the clock, Merino senior Deacon Trenkle suffered an in-game medical emergency that left the entire gym in silence. First responders tended to Trenkle on the court and he was transferred by ambulance to Haxtun Hospital. Updates since the incident say Trenkle was air lifted to Swedish Hospital in Denver where he was later cleared and released to recover at home with his family.

The game was canceled after Trenkle was transported to the hospital and will go down as a no contest for each team.

"What happened Friday was a very scary situation. You never want to see anything like that happen on basketball court," Bulldog Head Coach Jayden Stieb said. "I was very proud of how the guys handled it. There is no way to prepare for something like that. We're very happy to hear that Deacon is doing better and we will continue to keep him, his family and the Merino community in our thoughts and prayers."

The no-contest finish on Friday leaves Haxtun 10-8 on the season and 3-5 in league play, according to MaxPreps. As the sixth seed, Haxtun faced off with number three Wiggins on the road Tuesday night. A win advances them to the second round later this week to face the winner of a contest between number two ranked Merino and seventh ranked Sedgwick County.

"Going into Districts we know that we need to step up our level of play. Post season basketball is usually more physical and gets more scrappy, so we will prepare for that," Stieb said. "We're just going take it one game at a time and focus on going 1-0 each night."

For a complete bracket of 2A District basketball action, see page 8 inside this week's edition of the Herald.

"The outcome of the District Tournament will have an impact on our seeding going into regionals. The better we perform in Districts, the better situation we put ourselves in going into Regionals," said Steib.