Student, fan safety leads to basketball cancellations

 Frigid temperatures led to cancellations late last week and into this week.
The Chase County boys’ basketball game at Wray, Colorado Feb. 12 was postponed, then officially canceled Tuesday. CCS’s game at Cambridge Feb. 13 was canceled straight away.
CCS Athletic Director Troy Hauxwell said safety is the school’s top priority, not just for its students, but also the drivers and fans traveling to the games.
“We would have loved to play the games, but it goes back to the unknown with the weather,” Hauxwell said.
Canceling the games will have no effect on the Longhorns’ post season prospects.
Even if CCS won the Wray and Cambridge games, Hershey is leading the C2-11 subdistrict and will host. Chase County would be the second or third seed with Dundy County-Stratton holding the other spot, no matter what, the teams will meet Feb. 23 in subdistricts. Hitchcock County and Sutherland will play Monday.
“We need to keep it in perspective, safety comes first,” Hauxwell said. He added that schools had a lot of unknowns this season because of COVID and he’s pleased CCS teams got 20+ games in.
Hauxwell said there are some worries about blackouts, but the school is excited to host the girls’ C1-11 subdistrict this week. First rounds were Tuesday with the finals on Thursday.
Sutherland is scheduled to play in Imperial for a boys’ only game Friday.
CCS Head Coach Chris Bartels said the Longhorns (12-8) have had kind of a long layoff between games since they didn’t get any games in last weekend, but CCS had a good week of practice last week and looked to have an even better week of practice this week.
“I don’t think it’s going to affect the team that much, because our main goal right now is to prepare for subdistricts by getting better every single day whether that’s in practice or a game,” Bartels said.