Decatur County Community High School
605 E Commercial St, Oberlin, KS 67749
February 23, 2025 (Schedule at the bottom, Skip What You Want)
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Decatur community,
As football has now officially been left behind for the year, it's that time once again to return to the memories of my youth and reshare wrestling as I knew it. Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant , Jimmy the Superfly Snuka, King Kong Bundy, The Nature Boy Rick Flair, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jesse the Body Ventura, Randy the Macho Man Savage, the Von Erich brothers, and, my personal favorite, Bulldog Bob Brown, were a bit more than a few of the many wrestlers, most of whom were in the WWF. The pinnacle of it all was "Wrestlemania," in 1985. The best wrestlers from throughout the whole WWF would square off in a "Pay Per View" event to determine who was the best. That was back in the day when some thought wrestling was real, and I remember the rabid fans on TV rooting on their favorites. It was a site to behold.
As time went on, I grew out of wrestling, and would later discover "wrestling," The real kind. Gone was the makeup and fancy nicknames. No more chairs, pile drivers, and jumping off the ropes onto the opponent. No more intense interviews with grandiose challenges laid down. The square and ropes replaced with a circle. This past weekend, our boys once again went to a weekend wrestling tournament, this time Regionals in Cimarron. Our boys did a great job. In a weekend filled with a lot of emotion and a lot of highs and lows, we saw four of our boys punch their tickets to State. Sophomore Josiah Pattangall walked out Regional Champ, and along with freshman Kaden Sowers (4th) and junior Sage Bryan (4th) will be competing in his first State competition. Senior Garrett Emigh qualified once again (3rd) and looks to punctuate an outstanding DCHS wrestling career with one last hurrah!
Though there are a lot of differences, there are still some similarities. There is nothing quite like wrestling. It is a one-on-one contact sport. There are tons of fans. Parents, grandparents, siblings, family friends, aunts and uncles, and a whole lot of others show up to watch their young wrestlers perform. Once a match begins, you will hear their supporters from somewhere in the stands. Normally passive people are now sprung into action to cheer on their wrestler.
There is something altogether unique about a "Wrestling Mom." When you scan the audience, you can definitely tell when a mom is watching her wrestler. The intensity, the stress, the fear, the excitement right out of the gate, and, ultimately, the relief when it is over. And though there are plenty of dads that can get loud, the loudest voices in wrestling tournaments are reserved for Mom!
Whereas football, basketball, volleyball, and even individual sports like tennis and golf are spread out, wrestling is full out intensity, everything squashed into a manic match that can last a few seconds to 6 minutes. If you are down by 14 points with 30 seconds to go in a basketball game, you are going to lose. In wrestling, you can be down 14 and flip the script in a matter of seconds. A mania if you will. Wrestling is a mania.
Now we are on to State. Much like 1985, the best from all over are coming together.
Best of luck to of our State qualifiers at Wrestlemania 2025!
Shoutout to FFA sponsor Jason Ketterl and his FFA students. This past week was FFA week. This is what the schedule looked like from Mr. Ketterl:
Monday: Bake off
Make either rice crispy treats or chocolate chip cookies
Make at least 2 dozen and put in the teachers' lounge
(These were almost all gone by the time I got to the lounge, very popular)
Tuesday: Drive your tractor/mower to school
It will be very very cold!
(School was canceled, so no tractors this year. I can't imagine how cold it would have been)
Wednesday: Jackets & Jeans (FFA MEETING)
homeroom where we will take a group picture and talk about upcoming events!
Thursday: Wear FFA Shirts
Friday: Gratitude Day
Shoutout to Mrs. Brenda Breth, former teacher, counselor and principal here at DCHS. As most know, Mrs. Breth now works at the museum, and just like earlier this year when she put together a great writeup for Halloween Clean-Up, she is back with some great articles on the history of FFA. Take a look. There are some fascinating facts, and you may recognize a few people in the pictures:
Advisers in 94 years - https://secure.smore.com/n/x85eb
"More than Farmers" - https://secure.smore.com/n/fe5d3
FFA Jacket and Emblem - https://secure.smore.com/n/0enjx
FFA creed - https://secure.smore.com/n/0enjx
Girls in FFA - https://secure.smore.com/n/pz3yv
Saturday - Walter May, State and American Farmers - https://secure.smore.com/n/0enjx
https://secure.smore.com/n/u7zdnc
Shoutout to our JH wrestlers on their League performance. Several of our wrestlers went out with a bang. Here are our League results:
Isaac Pattangall 2nd
Aurora Allen 5th
Wrangler Allen 3rd
Grant Anderson Champion (Second Year in a Row)
Coulter Coryell 3rd
Brody Fortin 3rd
Jenna Fuentes Champion
Justin Glass Champion
CJaye Harris 2nd
Arely Mandujano Champion
Brayden Lantz 2nd
Braden Ostmeyer 2nd
Isaac Pattangall 2nd
Landon Shaw Champion
Graham Spivey 2nd
DCJHS ended up 2nd place as a team.
Shoutout to the JH and high school cheerleaders for putting on solid Pep Rallys for our athletes. The JH had worked very hard on the routine they performed and Coach Fortin gave a great speech. The HS Pep Rally had senior videos, an intense game of musical chairs, and solid cheering from our girls.
Shoutout to English teacher Jacinta Carter. I was in her class this past week, and you could see how bought in the students were to the book they were reading. Students were actively discussing the book, recalling past books in comparison, and anxiously looking forward to moving forward a few more chapters. They hit some tearjerker type moments while I was in there while reading The Serpent King. I love how excited Mrs. Carter has been able to get these seniors about the novels they are reading.
Shoutout to Coach Kyle Breth and the boys' basketball team. This past Friday night, the boys lost at Quinter against a team that we will most likely be seeing again in a week on the exact same court. The boys got down early by almost 10 to a tough team on their home court. Coach Breth called a timeout, and it was a different game from that moment on. Without a 3 pointer at the buzzer to send the game to OT, the boys would have won. It was a composed team that played with confidence and within their emotions. They have come a long way this year, and Coach Breth had a lot of answers in difficult positions.
Shoutout to teacher Tamera Rice, Teresa Saul, and Gina Witt for planning our YEC (Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge) event coming up on March 5th. I will put more in the message next week, and we will have more announcements on Facebook, but we have several students that will each be presenting products based off of designed Business Plans. I am looking forward to seeing what our students come up with, and the event will be open to the public to stop by.
Shoutout to Sharee Dempewolf. Sharee is an asset to our schools and involves herself in any way possible. The YEC event mentioned above began in the fall with discussions between her and Ms. Saul. She is an integral part of the event and a consistent participant in school and community involvement. We are lucky to have her.
Junior ACT Tuesday
ThisTuesday, several junior students will be taking the ACT.
In 1959, the first American College Test (ACT) was given. Created by Everett Franklin Lindquist (pictured ) a college professor from the University of Iowa, it was a test created to challenge the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) which had been around approximately 20 years longer. The biggest difference was that the ACT had the goal of trying to test students on the direct competencies that they were studying in schools.
Today, there are over 2 million high school graduates that take the ACT each year, and Wednesday, several of our students will take the ACT, most for the first time. I have included the standard overview of the ACT, and what it looks like. I also included some sites with tips. For most of our students, they will take the ACT multiple times as they try to improve their scores..
OVERVIEW OF ACT TEST SECTIONS
English
- 75 multiple–choice questions
- 45 minutes
- Tests grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and rhetorical skills
- Learn more about the ACT English Test
Math
- 60 multiple–choice questions
- 60 minutes
- Algebra I and II, geometry, and some trigonometry
- Learn more about the ACT Math Test
Reading
- 40 multiple–choice questions
- 35 minutes
- Four passages (prose fiction, social studies, humanities, and natural sciences) with 10 questions per passage
- Learn more about the ACT Reading Test
Science
- 40 multiple–choice questions
- 35 minutes
- Questions on science-based passages presented with graphs, charts, tables and research summaries
- Learn more about the ACT Science Test
Second Semester Conferences Coming up Next Week
Spring Conferences are this week. Conferences are on Wednesday and Thursday with no school on Friday.
1. The timeframe is listed below:
Wednesday, February 26: 4:00-8:00 PM
Thursday, February 27: 4:00-7:30
2. Teachers will be in the cafeteria. Parents should sign in to claim a progress report and other information before getting started. After that, feel free to wander around to the teachers you need to see in the cafeteria.
3. Grades will be up to date. You should be able to look online through PowerSchool to check your student's progress before conferences.
4. Please reach out to your teachers if you have concerns about your child, and feel free to reach out to myself if you need any clarification about conferences.
BOYS BASKETBALL Record 9-10
1-0 W 67-33 home vs Atwood
2-0 W 62-43 vs Hitchcock County (McCook Invitational First Round)
2-1 L 33-59 vs Danbury (McCook Invitational Semifinals)
3-1 W 55-42 vs Southwest (McCook Invitational 3rd Place Game)
4-1 W 50-48 home vs Hill City
4-2 L 48-54 home vs WaKeeney
4-3 L 40-25 @ Logan/Palco
4-4 L 46-53 @ Oakley
5-4 W vs Northern Valley
5-5 L 46-73 @ Hoxie
5-6 L 57-60 vs Wallace County (NWKL League Tournament)
6-6 W 56-36 vs St. Francis (NWKL League Tournament)
7-6 W 60-53 vs Ness City (NWKL League Tournament)
8-6 W 55-29 vs St. Francis
9-6 W 53-47vs Wallace County
9-7 L 33-66 @ Dighton
9-8 L 34-@ Greeley County
9-9 L 47-62 vs Norton
9-10 L 46-50 OT @ Quinter
home vs St. Francis
Girls Basketball Record 10-9
0-1 L 45-54 home vs Atwood
1-1 W VS Hitchcock County (McCook Invitational First Round)
2-1 W 35-25 vs Maywood (McCook Invitational Semifinals)
2-2 L 44-51 vs Southwest (McCook Invitational Championship game)
3-1 W 59-15 home vs Hill City
4-2 W 50-20 home vs WaKeeney
5-2 W 68-20 @ Logan/Palco
5-3 L 41-48 @ Oakley
6-3 W home vs Northern Valley
6-4 L 38-45 @ Hoxie
6-5 L 38-48vs Tribune (NWKL League Tournament)
7-5 W 51-33 vs St. Francis (NWKL League Tournament)
8-5 W 47-25 vs Dighton (NWKL League Tournament)
9-5 W 53-42 vs St. Francis
9-6 L 25-50 vs Wallace County
9-7 L 30-44 @ Dighton
10-7 W 40-35 @ Greeley County
10-8 L 26--28 vs Norton
10-9 L 45-65@ Quinter
home vs Lakeside
Decatur County Community Junior/Senior High School
Email: jholloway@usd294.org
Website: https://www.usd294.org/vnews/display.v/SEC/DCHS
Location: 605 East Commercial Street, Oberlin, KS, USA
Phone: 785-475-2231
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Decatur-Community-JrSr-High/372347636275932
Twitter: @DCHSREDDEVILS