Gordon Hooks and his Warbirds of Wolsey-Wessington coming on strong
Jan 29, 2017
By Rich Winter
Just browsing around the SDHSAA basketball page this morning, trying to get a feel for how some of the Class B school across the state are doing, and came across ole Wolsey-Wessington sitting atop the District 6 standings with a 10-1 record.
Guess I knew they were ranked in the latest SD basketball polls, but I guess, west river guy, sitting out in Mission, South Dakota, and knowing this W/W crew more as a football school, I keep waiting for them to fade.
| Dec 13 |
6:00 p.m. CT |
Lake Preston |
Lake Preston |
80-51 |
W |
44 |
6-7 |
| Dec 20 |
6:30 p.m. CT |
Mitchell Christian |
Wolsey |
60-30 |
W |
44 |
5-7 |
| Dec 22 |
7:00 p.m. CT |
Faulkton Area |
Faulkton |
52-40 |
W |
50 |
10-3 |
| Dec 29 |
TBA |
Platte-Geddes |
Wolsey |
51-33 |
W |
44 |
4-6 |
| Jan 05 |
5:15 p.m. CT |
James Valley Christian |
Wolsey |
63-38 |
W |
47 |
6-5 |
| Jan 10 |
6:30 p.m. CT |
Iroquois |
Iroquois |
72-18 |
W |
41 |
2-11 |
| Jan 14 |
4:00 p.m. CT |
Sunshine Bible Academy |
Wolsey |
58-30 |
W |
41 |
0-11 |
| Jan 17 |
6:30 p.m. CT |
James Valley Christian |
Huron |
59-45 |
W |
47 |
6-5 |
| Jan 19 |
TBA |
Sanborn Central/Woonsocket |
Huron |
59-46 |
W |
47 |
8-3 |
| Jan 21 |
2:30 p.m. CT |
Chester Area |
Mitchell-Corn Palace |
56-66 |
L |
36 |
8-5 |
| Jan 24 |
8:00 p.m. CT |
Sunshine Bible Academy |
SBA |
|
|
|
|
| Jan 27 |
7:30 p.m. CT |
Kimball/White Lake |
White Lake |
65-43 |
W |
44 |
4-6 |
Nope, no fading her as the only loss of the season thus far was to Chester Area at the Hanson Classic in Mitchell last week.
Couple reasons why the Warbirds look like they're for real.
1. Good players - Bennett White, a 6-foot-2 senior averages 17.4 ppg and 11.8 rebounds. Darion Ogunjamalousi, the RB who went berserk in football, ain't bad at the forward position, averaging 11.1 points and 6 boards per game. All told, seven players on the roster averaged 4.9 or more points and said roster looks deep and senior laden.
2. Coach Gordon Hooks
Keep hearing great things about this guy and didn't realize until this morning that he's not only the football coach, he's the head man in hoops.
Had to know more, so I went fishing and a former Wessington alum came through....
"They have been really solid the last four years. Hooks (the football coach) is also the basketball coach. He's a coach with heart and the kids respond to him. He has built solid programs because he has developed work ethic & dedication in His boys. They are a brotherhood for sure. My nephew thinks a great deal of him. I think a lot of Hooks for how he treated Aaron once he could not okay anymore after his third concussion," they said.
"Those boys lift and workout in the summer. If you play football you play at least one other sport, if not two because he preaches staying in condition," they said.
Between you and me, this blogger loves coaches that wear their emotions on their sleeves and it appears that this Hooks fella genuinely cares about the youth he's mentoring, cuz on occasion, he'll get chocked up when talking about a player or a team. To me, an outsider from Mission, it's not hard to tell why the Wolsey-Wessington kids battle so hard...They love their coach and their coach loves them.
Good luck this season Warbirds....
