‘Railroad Rumble’: Brady Krebs leads Rogers boys comeback over Cheney; Unified athletes take center stage

The newest area rivalry game kicked off spirit week at the Arena on Tuesday, as Rogers hosted Cheney in the third edition of the Railroad Rumble.

The evening’s festivities featured the traditional boys and girls basketball games, as well as the spirit competition. But in a true example of sportsmanship, between the varsity games the schools participated in a “unified” game, which joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team, according to SpecialOlympics.com.

And it elicited the loudest cheers of the evening from the student bodies.

“This is our third year having unified, and we consider them a varsity sport,” Rogers Athletic Director Aaron Brecek said. “The unified kids, they’ve never really had an opportunity to do this. When we host unified games, we generally have 20 to 30 people in the stands. So, this is something they definitely look forward to.”

But amid the pageantry and fellowship, there were still a pair of games to decide as the teams gear up for holiday tournaments and the start of league play after the first of the year. While it was far from a masterpiece, the host Pirates showed resolve in picking up the win.

Senior Brady Krebs scored 13 points, fellow senior Treshon Green added 11 and Rogers used a 13-0 spurt between the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth to beat the Blackhawks 44-39 in the evening’s first game.

“We weren’t playing our greatest, but we weren’t down by a lot,” Krebs said. “So, we knew that we could come out with a lot of intensity and more energy than in the first half. The third quarter we really came out hot, making sure we found our teammates, trusting our teammates, and we got it done.”

“(Krebs) has been hard on himself the last couple games,” Rogers coach Karim Scott said. “He’s missed some shots, but he’s always gonna keep shooting. He wants to win so bad that he’s never gonna give up.”

Krebs made a pair at the free-throw line to put Rogers (2-1) up by two points with 1:07 left, then Green’s putback with 26 seconds to go made it 41-38.

Cheney’s Liam Carver hit 1 of 2 free throws with 16.1 seconds to go, but Rogers guard Malachi Ford did the same at the other end. Cheney turned it over with six seconds left, and Ford hit two free throws to ice it.

“It’s always tough playing in (the Arena),” Krebs said. “You know, the backdrop – it’s so different. The rim’s a little bit harder than usual rims. But once we got used to the rims, we got it to fall.”

“We just wanted a chance to have our seniors win a game in this atmosphere,” Scott said. “Who knows if it’s the last time or what? They battled, you know. They believe in themselves.”

There were turnovers and missed shots galore in the first few minutes, as both teams became accustomed to the spacious and loud environment of the Arena. Carver hit a late 3-pointer to give Cheney a 10-7 lead after one quarter.

It didn’t get much better in the second quarter, but Cheney’s Jake Swanson scored back-to-back putback buckets inside of two minutes and the Blackhawks (1-4) led 21-18 at halftime.

Carver scored four points at the start of the third quarter and Cheney opened up an eight-point lead, but Ford hit a running 3-pointer just inside halfcourt at the buzzer and Cheney led 31-25 entering the fourth.

Krebs opened the final quarter with a corner 3, then he hit a finger-roll layup to make it a one-point game. The next time down, Noah Vander Meer hit a corner 3 to give Rogers its first lead of the game.

“We just wanted to be aggressive, you know, put them in position (to win),” Scott said. “We put Brady at (point guard) and kind of let him get loose.”

“You don’t really get a lot of opportunities to do this,” Krebs said of playing at the Arena. “But when you do, you can’t take it for granted. It’s my last year doing this, and it was a good one – we won.”

Girls

Cheney 42, Rogers 24: Kayelee Kohlman scored 13 points, Allison Vold added 10 and the Blackhawks (3-2) beat the Pirates (0-4).

“This is my second time playing at the arena, and I will say it’s always a good time,” Vold, a senior, said. “The student atmosphere is great. I think this is the biggest student section we have at any one of our games. This is great to see that all the students that maybe won’t come to like an average basketball game at our school, but they come to support us here, and it’s great.”

LaDrea Gray led Rogers with 11 points.