This story is sponsored by Norm E Lane Farm
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
AUBURNDALE – The Auburndale boys basketball team showed no signs of a letdown Friday following its emotional win over unbeaten Marathon earlier this week. The prize was too great.
The Apaches finished off a 15-0 run by scoring the first 13 points of the second quarter and used that momentum to roll to a 71-37 victory over Stratford on Friday night at Auburndale High School. The win secures a share of the Marawood Conference South Division championship for Auburndale, its first since 2004.
“All those years of work have finally paid off,” senior point guard C.J. Castellano said. “All of our seniors couldn’t be happier. All of the younger guys, they are already wanting a conference championship next year. We are all looking forward to the next game.”
Auburndale’s hot shooting carried over from Tuesday’s win over Marathon as it made four of nine 3-pointers in the first half – including three from Cale Weiler – in building a 36-15 lead by halftime.
The Apaches started the third quarter with a 14-6 run and used another 13-0 run over the final 2:39 of the third quarter and first 2:11 of the fourth to push their lead to 38.
Ten different Apaches scored in the game, led by Jake Hansen’s 14 points and Weiler’s 12 points – the type of team effort that Auburndale has used all season to win a conference title.
“We’ve had a lot of tradition here, but since we moved back to the Marawood it’s been a little tougher road,” Auburndale coach Chad Weinfurter said. “Coming into the season, any team that has some talent, that’s their goal – to win a conference title. I thought the kids worked and worked, and they were getting better and better, and we seem to be peaking at the right time. It really does mean a lot.”
Derek Austin had 14 points to lead Stratford, which coach Curt Schmidt said was overmatched by the Apaches. He, however, is proud of the way his team has fought throughout the season and looks forward to the playoffs.
“They (Auburndale) can shoot real well, they have really nice inside players, and we don’t matchup physically at all. It’s one of those deals where they are way better than us,” Schmidt said.
“I told our guys that they are a dream team. They have all the other characteristics that coaches love. They work hard, they’ve got great work ethic, great character, they love one another, they love their coach and their coach loves them. We’ve got a game Monday in the crossover challenge and we have to regroup. I think we can compete Monday and we’ll see what happens when the pairings come out.
Stratford will compete in a Marawood South-North crossover game on Monday at home against Phillips, while Auburndale will play in the second-place game against either Rib Lake or Prentice on Friday at Edgar.
Apaches 71, Tigers 37
Stratford 7 8 10 12 – 37
Auburndale 16 20 23 12 – 71
STRATFORD (37): Nolan Bargender 2-4 1-3 5, Ben Kraus 0-1 0-0 0, John Rutherford 1-5 0-2 2, Derek Austin 6-13 1-2 14, Austin Shelley 1-6 1-2 3, Greg Belter 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Reif 0-3 0-1 0, Zach Hotchkiss 0-2 0-0 0, Travis Urlaub 3-5 0-0 7, Troy Mengel 1-5 4-6 6. FG: 14-44. FT: 7-16. 3-pointers: 2-6 (Austin 1-2, Urlaub 1-1, Shelley 0-1, Kraus 0-1, Bargender 0-1). Rebounds: 32 (Rutherford 8, Bargender 6). Turnovers: 20. Total fouls: 12. Fouled out: none. Record: 11-10, 6-8 Marawood South.
AUBURNDALE (71): Cale Weiler 4-6 0-0 12, Cole Swanson 1-3 0-0 2, Brian Hoffman 0-3 0-0 0, C.J. Castellano 2-7 2-4 6, Isaac Castellano 0-1 1-2 1, Tony Altmann 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Lang 1-6 1-2 3, Steve Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Greunke 4-5 0-0 11, Markus Kleifgen 3-5 2-2 8, Austin Hawkins 4-6 2-2 10, Tyler Hartle 2-3 0-1 4, Jake Hansen 7-11 0-0 14. FG: 28-56. FT: 8-13. 3-pointers: 7-18 (Weiler 4-6, Greunke 3-4, Lang 0-1, Swanson 0-2, Hoffman 0-2, C.J. Castellano 0-3). Rebounds: 33 (Kleifgen 6, Hawkins 5, Hansen 5). Turnovers: 7. Total fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Record: 19-2, 13-1 Marawood South.