The Nebraska High School All-State Basketball Project
Apr 10, 2018A pair of graduates from the same class were assistant coaches for State Championship teams. My son Rob Micek and Brett Zavala, both Grand Island high Class of ‘96 grads shared the spotlight. Rob was, and still is, an assistant coach for Grand Island Central Catholic, and Brett Zavala was an assistant for Lincoln Pius X in 2000.*Class D-2:*Tournament Qualifiers: Butte (Russ Lechtenberg); Chester-Hubbell-Byron (Jeff Vetter); Cody-Kilgore (Dennis Johnson); Ewing (Craig Appleby); Exeter (Bill Krejci); Hayes Center (Lonnie Neiderhouse); Lindsay Holy Family (Russ Schumacher); Litchfield (Joe Hoos).Quarterfinals:(21-3) Ewing 76, Exeter 49 (13-9)(19-4) Chester-Hubbell-Byron 54, Cody-Kilgore 39 (14-6)(12-9) Butte 58, Hayes Center 47 (20-2)(16-5) Lindsay Holy Family 52, Litchfield 35 (16-4)Semifinals:(20-4) Chester-Hubbell-Byron 55, Ewing 43 (22-3)(17-5) Lindsay Holy Family 57, Butte 37 (13-9)(21-4) Chester-Hubbell-Byron 50, Lindsay Holy Family 48 (18-5)D-2 Champion: Chester-Hubbell-Byron (22-4) - Head Coach: Jeff Vetter, Asst: None*The D-2 All-Tournament team: Matt Freitag-CHB (6-6, Sr.), Casey Helmer-Lindsay Holy Family (5-11, Sr.), Tony Kurtenbach-Lindsay Holy Family (6-1, Jr.), Adam Schueth-Ewing (6-3, Jr.), and Kyle Lechtenberg-Butte (5-10, Jr.)*The Class D-2 tournament scoring leader was no contest, as Chester-Hubbell-Byron’s 6-6 Matt Freitag dropped in 63 points (24, 30, 9) and was 21 points better than Holy Family senior Casey Helmer, who had games of 22, 10 and 10, to total 42 points for the D-2 tournament.*In the Class D-2 final it was 6-6 Matt Freitag’s basket with just 5 seconds left that lifted CHB to a 50-48 win over Lindsay Holy Family. Brandon Fraley dropped the dime to Freitag, who responded with the winning shot.It was an especially heartbreaking result for the Lindsay Holy Family duo of Tony Kurtenbach and Randy Preuss, who held CHB’s Matt Freitag to just 7 points until the winning basket, after the 6-6 senior had come off state tournament games of 24 and 30 points. But Freit... (Saluting 2000 - Grand Island Independent)