Josh Rowan
C-H sports writer
OVERTON – The Overton Eagles’ basketball team punched its ticket to the state basketball tournament for the first time in seven years last week, winning the D1-5 district championship.
The Eagles will see a foe they have met before during the state tournament back in 2002 and it’s a team that Overton would like to send home packing.
The Randolph Cardinals are Overton’s opening game on Thursday at Lincoln Northeast High School.
The No. 7 seed Cardinals come into the state tournament with a 14-7 record.
The Cardinals met Overton once before in the state tournament back in 2002, when both teams met in the semi-finals. Randolph got the best of the Eagles that day 67-48 as the Cardinals went on to win the Class C-2 state championship.
Brian Regelin was the head coach at the time, but now is currently in Cozad as the school’s Athletic Director.
Jay Staehr, now the school’s Athletic Director, is making his first trip with the Eagles to the state tournament as head coach. When comparing it to the Eagles teams of the past, it’s a night and day comparison.
“Those teams from what I know were very good offensive basketball players,” Staehr. “But so is ours, they don’t give up and they try very hard.”
The Eagles go into Thursday’s contest with a 19-3 record, good for a No. 2 seed and a very good draw that could lead them into Saturday’s final at the Devaney Center in Lincoln.
However, Staehr knows that the teams that have qualified are there for a reason.
“We’re no different than anyone else,” Staehr said. “Teams have earned their way to the state tournament so we are just going to do what we’ve been doing.”
With the three losses coming to Axtell twice and Ravenna, both are teams that are ranked in the top 3 in Class C-2, the Eagles are a perfect 19-0 against Class D schools.
With the experience that the team has acquired over the summer and during the season, Staehr believes they can compete with the best of the best.
Randolph comes in with a much taller squad, with no player under six feet tall, with their tallest player, senior Adam Tunink, standing at 6-6. Shafer and Olmstead are the two tallest for the Eagles standing at six feet two.
“We’re not going to impress them doing fancy things,” Staehr said. “ They’ve found out what works for them and that’s what got them here. We can surely compete with teams that are at the state tournament every year, we just have to play our game.”
The Eagles come into the state tournament ranked No.1 according to the Omaha-World Herald while the Cardinals will come in ranked ninth.
The Eagles are scoring 63.2 points per game, which is the highest of the eight-team bracket. Overton’s defense is holding opponents to 49.4 points a game, which is the highest of the D-1 tournament teams. Seniors Jared Shafer and Jared Hodgson and sophomore Jacob Olmstead will be experiencing their first ever trip to the state tournament in a basketball uniform.
The boys are thrilled to finally put Overton back on the map where they belong.
“Not being down in a long time, it’s a great feeling,” Shafer said. “ Hopefully we can go down there and make some noise.”
Jacob Olmstead, along with Shafer, is among the top of the team’s leading scorers this season. Olmstead is the season leader with 17.8 per game with Shafer just behind him with 15.6 points a contest. Shafer leads the team with 10.4 boards per game.
 Olmstead is positive that the Eagles are at the peak of their talent going in to Thursday’s contest.
“I think right now, we’re pretty much at the top of our game,” Olmstead said. “This is where you want to be at this point and everyone is contributing.”
Hodgson is capping off a tremendous senior year of high school. Breaking the school’s rushing record, being tabbed All-State in football, and attending the state tournament in both football and basketball, in the same season.
“You don’t ever expect to have those kinds of opportunities come your way,” Hodgson said. “ You just have to take advantage of the chances you get in life.”
The Eagles-Cardinals match-up is set for 2 p.m. Thursday.
If the Eagles win, they will face the winner of Humphrey St. Francis (16-6)/Exeter-Milligan (18-6) in the semi-final game.

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