The year in sports...before there were no sports

The 2020 year in sports can almost be referred to as “the year that wasn’t” in sports.

The usual flurry that was January and February in basketball and wrestling carried over into the first week of March.

Then COVID.

Then the world - slowly at first, then more rapidly began to shut down.

School and sports were not spared in the wrath of the pandemic.

State tournaments were abandoned in some winter sports and then entire spring seasons were lost.

Closure for so many teams and athletes never happened.

However, before and after the shutdown, we did have some sports.

This installment is a first glimpse at some of the headline and headline makers in the first month of 2020, also known as pre-COVID.

January

Bijan Cortes scored 35 points and was named the tournament MVP as Kingfisher beat Perry 66-47 in the finals of the Wheat Capital Tournament in Chisholm. Matthew Stone and Jarret Birdwell also earned all-tournament honors as the Jackets won the championship for the sixth straight year...well, sort of. KHS won the title every year from 2014-2018, but didn’t send its varsity in 2019 in order to play in the Tournament of Champions. The KHS girls finished runner-up to Alva.

The Three Rivers Conference locally includes Cashion, Okarche, Hennessey and Crescent. Its annual conference tournament held at Kingfisher saw Okarche defeat Cashion 46-42 in overtime in the girls championship, ending a run of five straight titles for Cashion. The Cashion boys repeated as conference champs with a 47-46 victo-ry over Hennessey.

Adysen Wilson was named MVP as she helped Lomega win the Warrior Classic in Hammon. That included a 21-point performance in the 88-45 title game victory. Emma Duffy, who had just returned to the team after a previous-summer ACL tear, also made the all-tournament team.

Green Bay was defeated 37-20 by San Francisco in the NFC Championship Game in Santa Clara, Calif., but there was still a huge moment for a local young man. Kingfisher’s Jace Sternberger caught his first career NFL touchdown in the game. He caught the pass from Aaron Rodgers with 8:13 to play. Sternberger graduated from KHS in 2015 and ultimately had an All-American season at tight end for Texas A&M in 2018 before declaring for the NFL Draft

Matthew Stone scored a career-high 32 points (in just three quarters) as KHS beat Guthrie 85-42 in the Buckle of the Wheatbelt title game. It was Kingfisher’s fourth straight Buckle title. The Lady Jackets lost to Weatherford in the girls’ title game.

In other area tournaments, the Lomega girls won their fifth straight Cherokee Strip Conference Tournament title with a 75-43 victory over Cherokee in the finals. Adysen Wilson made nine 3-pointers and scored 30 points in the championship en route to earning tournament MVP. Okarche’s girls beat Crescent 42-30 to win the Coyle Invitational championship, their third tournament win of the season. Cashion’s boys went 2-1 in the STACKED Cashion County Line Tournament, beating 2A No. 1 Dale 5342 in the third place game.

Kingfisher’s Bijan Cortes made a Sunday afternoon announcement that made a lot of University of Oklahoma fans happy. The Kingfisher junior committed to play basketball for the Sooners after high school. “I wasn’t like ‘I’m ready to get it over with,’” Cortes told the KT&FP about his recruitment. “But I also knew for sure this was my favorite school and staff, so why wait?”

Cashion’s Ryan Baker and Kingfi sher’s Wes Hine and Riley Myers were selections on the 2019 Oklahoma Coaches Association All-State football team.