Shooting For Districts

As winter took hold throughout the Midwest with snow flurries and regular school closures, Nixa’s boys basketball team continued to stay on the court. Finishing the regular season with a 23-3 record overall and a 9-0 record inside the COC to take first in the conference, the team is able to host the district tournament as the No. 1 seed.

Jay Osborne has coached at Nixa for 29 years, and he said this year’s team is on par with past teams.

“We’ve always had good players,” Osborne said. “This team has a chance to be one of the better ones, and we should be favorites to win our district.”

Winning districts and potentially state comes with great difficulty, and there is one team that stands out as being in Nixa’s way for a state title: Kickapoo.

“When you get into postseason play, a lot of strange things can happen,” Osborne said. “One thing we’re looking at is getting out of districts and playing Kickapoo for the third time.” Nixa and Kickapoo have met the past two years in the district championship, with Kickapoo winning both. They have met twice this season at Nixa, with Kickapoo also going victorious on Jan. 19 in overtime 62-64 and Jan. 30, 69-84.

So far, those are the only two losses Nixa has had at home this season, and the hope is that they’ll get a third opportunity to take down Kickapoo in postseason play.

Osborne’s team is led by two senior shooting guards, Kaleb Wofford and Thomas “T.J.” Sorgenfrei. Both Wofford and Sorgenfrei believe the program is headed in the right direction. “I think the program is in good hands for the future,” Sorgenfrei said. “We have some talented underclassmen that have already made an impact on our

team.”

Wofford credits the coaching for the success they’ve had, as well as the predicted success in the future.

“We have a lot of good players that are younger than I am,” Wofford said. “We have a great coaching staff that knows how to win games.”

Wofford was recently awarded the High School Player of the Week honor from KOLR10.

“I didn't even know I was selected until, like three days after the article had come out, but it was a pretty cool feeling,” Wofford said. “I feel like anyone on our team could've gotten it, but it was nice to be recognized.”

Wofford knows that individual achievements don’t measure up to banners hung in the gymnasium, and he looks forward to his last run with the team at making school history.

“I'm just looking forward to finishing out the regular season with my guys and soaking up every moment I can before it's all over,” Wofford said. “I think as long as we all lock-in and stay focused, we have a good chance at winning our district this year.”

In the four years that Wofford and Sorgenfrei have been on the team, they’ve made it to the district final, but haven’t punched their ticket as champions yet. Sorgenfrei looks to change that.

“I'm looking forward to winning a district title with my teammates because we haven’t won it in a couple of years,” Sorgenfrei said. “It should be exciting to change the narrative of the past few years.” Osborne said he hopes that the narrative can change, and is thankful for the sacrifice all of his players have shown during this difficult year.

“Getting them to sacrifice their individual glory over the betterment of our team has really made a difference,” Osborne said. “We’re highly successful because of their unselfishness.”