If Western Plains High School has two big rivals, they are probably the Ness City High School and the Palco High School Roosters.
The Bobcats had already faced one of their feathered foes on Tuesday when they lost to Ness City at home.
Then the Roosters came to town Friday for the 2010 Bobcat Basketball Homecoming game. The Cats were looking to make a meal of their opponents, but instead of full bellies, the Cats came away with their tails nearly pecked off.
The Roosters crushed the Bobcats, 64-29.
WPHS started off slow, only scoring five points to Palco’s 15 in the first quarter.
From then on, the boys struggled to find second gear. When they scored 11 points in the second quarter, it was the only time they broke into double-digit scoring, while the Roosters never scored less than 10 in any period of play.
Senior Shane Corsair was out sick for the game, but that still left other senior Eric Dysinger to lead the charge.
To his credit, he put up 15 points. He also pulled down seven defensive and two offensive rebounds.
Freshman Casey Kraus was the second-leading scorer with five points. Junior Chase Rein had four points. Freshmen Hugo Hernandez and Colton Rein each put in two, and sophomore Asael Rivera contributed a free throw.
The Bobcats turned the ball over 12 times, four of which were credited to Chase Rein; however, the Cats did steal the ball eight times in an attempt to balance things out.
The Bobcats travel to Healy on Tuesday.
Junior Varsity loses
Prior to all the homecoming and varsity action, the Bobcat Junior Varsity Boys squared off against their Palco counterparts.
Palco won, 37-19.
As if it were an omen for the varsity game, the JV Cats got off to a rocky start. They only scored two points in the first quarter.
The second quarter was a little better as the Cats put up 11, but the halftime score still left WPHS down, 22-13.
For the third quarter, the Bobcats scored the rest of the points they were going to get for the game. They were shut out in the fourth.
Kraus scored eight points, Hernandez scored four, Colton Rein scored three, and Rivera and senior Andy Patterson each put in two.