LONGTON – The Altoona-Midway Middle School Jets not only had to battle the Elk Valley Lions here Monday afternoon but had to do so without their head coach once again and with a roster depleted by illness and other team members making the trip despite being under the weather.
Elk Valley posted a 48-13 victory in the Mineral Belt League matchup, the regular-season finale for both squads.
Altoona-Midway, 1-10 on the season, will now participate in the Mineral Belt League Tournament, which will be hosted by Chetopa.
The Jets are scheduled to play Thursday, Feb. 6, against Bartlett, with tip off slated for 5 p.m. In a regular-season matchup back in December, Bartlett squeezed past AMMS 32-27.
A win in the MBL tourney would propel Altoona-Midway into the bracket finals at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, where they would square off against the Mound Valley-Chetopa winner. A Jet loss against Bartlett will send them to the consolation game, also set for 7:30 p.m.
Against Elk Valley, assistant coach Bradi Swiler again filled in due to the absence of head coach David Batzer, who missed a second straight game recovering from the flu.
“We definitely felt the absence of many players being out due to illness,” Swiler said. “However, the players that were there stepped up and played hard. It is hard to make a switch this late in the season with offense and defense adding in the B-team players.”
Elk Valley jumped out early, holding a 17-6 lead after one period and 27-10 at halftime. The Lions extended their advantage to 40-13 after three quarters, then finished things off for the 48-13 triumph.
“I was very happy how everyone came together and played through the game knowing that we were down several of our key A-team players,” Swiler said. “But we had a hard time getting boards and overall putting up baskets for points.
“Foul trouble also was a struggle in our second half. We had to bench our bigs down under the basket and go small for a time during the third quarter,” she added.
Caden Sicka found the range for eight points to pace the Altoona-Midway attack. Eliot Ard and Broghan Douglas each collected two points, and Destiny Raymond added a free throw for one point.
Michael Best led Elk Valley with 13 points while Dallas Best chimed in with 12 for the Lions.
Due to roster numbers, there was no “B” game played Monday.