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By Cort Reynolds

BLUFFTON__The Bluffton High School boys basketball team defeated visiting Cory-Rawson 73-51 in the semifinals of their annual McDonald’s Holiday tournament on Friday night, December 29.

The Pirates improved to 5-1 with the lopsided win, while C-R fell to 2-5 after the loss.

Bluffton will play Arlington (5-3) in the championship game Saturday night at approximately 6:30 p.m. The Red Devils crushed winless Continental 77-41 in the first semifinal on Friday.

Continental (0-8) will face Cory-Rawson in the consolation game at 5 p.m. Saturday evening.

The Pirates led Cory 19-6 after the opening stanza and were never threatened. C-R managed to edge within 34-23 at intermission.

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By Cort Reynolds

LIMA__The Bluffton High School swim teams finished a strong eighth in the combined standings at the annual, 29-team Lima Holiday Invitational Thursday, December 28, at the Lima YMCA.

The Pirate girls ended up seventh out of 24 teams with 132 points. Ottawa-Glandorf won the girls team crown with 270.5 points, followed by St. Marys (247) and Versailles (208).

Shawnee won the boys meet with 284.5 points. St. Marys was second (235) and O-G came in third (221). Bluffton ended up eighth among the 23 boys squads with 116 points.

O-G won the combined meet with 491.5 points, with St. Marys close behind in second at 482. Shawnee ended up third (451). 

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By Cort Reynolds

BLUFFTON__The Bluffton girls basketball team edged visiting Kenton 47-46 Thursday night, December 28, in a non-league battle.

Bluffton improved to 4-5 with the narrow win, while Kenton fell to an identical 4-5 mark after the close defeat.

The Pirate girls led 11-10 after the first period, and extended their lead to 24-16 at intermission as Macy Schaadt drained three triples. 

Bluffton saw its cushion sliced to 32-28 following the third quarter. Kenton won the high-scoring final stanza 19-15, but their rally came up a point short.  

Pirate junior post Ayla Grandey led all players with 18 points. She scored 10 points in the second half, and eight in the first half.

Schaadt contributed 14 points, while Blair Utendorf added six markers.

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NOTE: The ticket link has been corrected.

The Bluffton Schools have announced the following details for the 2023 boys basketball McDonald's Holiday Tournament at Bluffton High School.

Continental will play Arlington at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 29.

Bluffton will play Cory-Rawson at about 6:15 p.m. that evening.

The Consolation Game will be played at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 30.

The Championship Game will be played at about  6:15 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 30.

  1. Top team in the bracket is the home team and will wear light uniforms.
  2. Bottom team in the bracket is the visiting team and will wear dark uniforms.
  3. Locker room assignments and team benches will be designated each night.
  4. Pregame warmup clock will be set to for the game to start at the designated start time. With a minimum warm up of 15 minutes.
  5. The gym will be opend 1 hour prior to the start of the first game.
  6. Spectators may enter 45 minutes prior to the start of the first game.
  7. Tickets will be available online at www.blufftonschools.org/athletics/athletics-tickets/

Tickets will also be available at the gate.

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Video of the meet is available HERE.

By Cort Reynolds

Tournament host Bluffton High School finished a strong third at the 10-team Allen County Invitational wrestling tournament Friday, December 22.

Shawnee narrowly won the team title with 256 points to edge Allen East by a single point. 

The youthful Pirate wrestlers came in third with 179 points.

Mustang freshman wrestler Jordan Neal won the 144 lbs. weight class title and was named tournament MVP. He posted a 5-0 mark with three pins at the event.

Pirate senior Kyle Basil rose from the fourth seed to win the 175 lbs. crown. He pinned top seed Jameson Wicker of Lima Senior in the third round at 3:20 to win Pool A in preliminary action.

Basil pinned Allen East senior Nick Zellmann in the semifinals of the tournament to advance to the title match.

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By Cort Reynolds

VAN BUREN__The visiting Bluffton High School girls basketball team led Van Buren by a point heading to the final quarter Thursday night.

But Black Knight freshman Brooklyn Wilkin scored 12 of her 22 points in the fourth period to lead VB on a 14-9 run and to a 37-33 win.

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