Hawks close 2025 with pair of wins
The Hawks, one of the area’s youngest teams, defeated the host Blue Devils and Wartburg Central, have endured an up-and-down season as their 9-8 overall record would indicate.
And despite earning a pair of victories to end the calendar year on a winning note, HVA coach Andy Arendt said the tournament was a microcosm of the 2025-26 campaign.
“We’re a young team and that’s why we decided to go down there and play in that tournament,” Arendt said. “We shot the ball well against Harriman and against Wartburg, we didn’t play well and we didn’t shoot it well.”
In the tournament opener against Harriman, the Hawks posted a dominant performance in an 81-45 victory on Monday, Dec. 29.
“We went down there knowing that we would probably get two wins,” Arendt said. “Those are good teams but they are smaller schools.
“Against Harriman, we shot it good against a team that is well-coached. We had 11 players score in that game.”
The Hawks had three players post double figures in the scoring column. Colin Dyreness led the way with 13 points. Hunter Ratcliff added 11 points, while Brad Medzo finished with 10.
Arendt was pleased following his team’s victory over the Blue Devils. This, however, wasn’t the case after the win against the Bulldogs on Tuesday, Dec. 30.
Despite seeing his squad capture a 57-39 win, the coach was anything but happy.
“Against Wartburg, we didn’t play well and we didn’t shoot well,” Arendt said. “They gave a better effort and they played harder than we did.”
Kymamni Smith led the Hawks’ scoring attack against Wartburg Central as he finished with 15 points. He was the only player to score 10-plus points against the Bulldogs.
Jax Sparks and Graham Collerado scored nine points each for Hardin Valley in its final game of 2024.
