Homecoming Court and Bulldog Basketball

by Krista Norton | February 3, 2022

Homecoming Court - Front Row: Nicolas Mendieta, Ke Hau Lani Davis Freshman: Lanee Owens, Freddy Vazquez Sophomore : Brooklynn Lawson, Kaidin Upson Juniors: Yadira “Yaya” Moreno, Hugo Leyva 

Top row - Seniors from left to right: Ruendy Portillo, Janika Pizarro, Miles Stum, Arely Reyes, Mario Perez, Jocelyn Leyva/photo by Tomas Gonzalez

Last Friday night at the Herndon Gym was an exciting place to be. The gymnasium was buzzing with fans and family coming to support their favorite Bulldog. The Syracuse Youth Activities Association recognized the Third through Sixth grade basketball players and coaches at half time of the Girls game. 

At halftime of the boy’s game, almost forty junior cheerleaders performed for the crowd a dance routine and cheers learned earlier in the day at the junior cheer camp. This is a fundraiser organized by the high school cheerleaders with the help from Alyssa Banning, junior high cheerleaders and sponsor, Candie Southern. 

The varsity girls defeated Stanton County 52-47. Head Coach Kendra Fyler was unable to practice with the team the week before the game after being in quarantine or five days. “My amazing assistants Amy Norton and Areia Bustillos stepped up and did a great job getting the girls prepared.”

 “We have faced a lot of adversity in the last few weeks and this week was no exception.  However, they showed up Friday ready to give everything they had.” 

“We had some girls step up and play in roles they were not used to, I was extremely proud of Ashlyn Finlay for not only being our leading scorer but also our top defender against Adyson Scott,” she said, “Yaya Moreno, Emily Pena, and Alex Housholder also contributed in double figures and helped with our overall energy.

Praising Emma Heglin, the team’s senior leader, Fyler said she was like the “quarterback” on the court and was Fyler’s voice for the other players. 

Ashlyn Finlay led the lady Bulldogs with 15 points. Yaya Moreno had 14 pts and Emily Pena added 11.  Alex Housholder had 10 points.  Emma Heglin added 2.  

Finlay 1, 4-9, 15   Moreno 1, 9-14, 14   Pena 1, 3-4, 11   Housholder 5, 0-1, 10   Heglin 1, 0-0, 2.

3 points goals - Finlay 3, Pena 2, Moreno 1.

Syracuse  11   15   16   10  = 52

St County 10 10 9  18  = 47 The varsity boys defeated the Stanton County Trojans in the high plains league tournament but fell short on Friday, 52-56. Head coach Jordan Wahlmeier felt the boys didn’t show up to compete. “We were lazy defensively and lazy on the boards, and offensively couldn’t find a rhythm, we had no movement offensively and execution was very poor, and you can’t expect to win games doing all those things.” He credits Stanton County for showing up and executing their game plan, and really getting all the looks they wanted.

The Bulldogs will face the Elkhart Wildcats on Friday for homecoming. They have met up with the Wildcats earlier in the season but have not come up with a win so far. 

The boys played a makeup game January 25, against Elkhart and Wahlmeier agreed it was a tough one and very high scoring. “Defensively we will have to fix a lot of things going into that game, keeping them off the free throw line will be a big focus, and rebounding early and often will be key,” he said. “We will have to execute at a high level in order to compete, but if we fine tune some things and tighten some screws on the defensive end, it should be a very competitive game.”  

Kyler Keller led the Bulldogs in scoring with 28 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 Deflection.  Hugo Leyva had 13 pts, 1 reb, 3 asst, 1 steal.  Roy Aguilar added 10 pts, 5 rebs, 3 asst, 1 defl.  Jay Gould had 7 pts, 2 rebs, 3 asst, 1 defl.  Bryson Luebbers added 7 pts, 5 rebs, 1 st.  Jose Martinez and Miles Stum each added 4 pts and 2 rebs.  Angel Moreno had 3 points and 1 reb.  

Keller 6, 10-12, 28   Leyva 6, 1-3, 13   Aguilar 4, 2-3, 10   Gould 3, 1-2, 7   Luebbers 2, 0-0, 7   Martinez 0, 1-2, 4   Stum 2, 0-0, 4   Moreno 0,0-0, 3.  

3 point goals - Keller 2, Luebbers 1, Martinez 1, Moreno 1.

Syracuse - 22  17  20  17 = 76

Elkhart  -    12  27  18  21 = 78

It has been a busy week for the Bulldogs, competing against Lakin on Monday, and Wiley, Colo. Tuesday, we will be anxious to see what they bring to the court on Friday.  

Games begin at 3:30 and 4:30 with varsity girls at 5:00 followed by the varsity boys. Coronation will be at the halftime of the boys game.