Warhawks advance to substate with upset of Algona Garrigan

CLARION -- The West Fork boys' basketball team advanced to the Class 1A substate final with a 72-68 win over Algona Garrigan on Friday, Feb. 23 at Clarion-Goldfield-Dows High School.

The Warhawks found themselves in an 8-0 hole but traded runs with the Golden Bears throughout.

At one point in the second half, coach Frank Schnoes' team trailed 40-29, but traded a counter-punch with a 12-0 run over the next 2 minutes, 19 seconds to take the lead.

"All of the coaches I've played for tell me that basketball is a game of runs," West Fork guard Ian Latham said. "So, of course, when we started off Bishop had a big run, I think it took us a while to realize we can play with these guys and so going back and forth, we hit our run in the second half.

"We had a big run in the first half, but they came back. Running in transition really contributed to that, we work on that a lot and contributes to our success."

The substate has been moved to Monday, Feb. 26 at Clear Lake against Don Bosco. It was originally scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 23 at Iowa Falls, but weather has altered the schedule.

The complete story will be available in the March 1 print editions of the Sheffield Press and Pioneer Enterprise.