CEDAR RAPIDS — Elgin Public-Pope John scorched the nets Thursday night, defeating Riverside 69 to 62 in the season opener for both teams.
The Wolfpack had an edge in practice time since the Chargers had only a limited number of practices due to reaching the finals of the Class D2 State Football Playoffs.
And it showed as Riverside fell behind early, and were unable to make up the difference in the game’s final moments.
EPPJ started out strong as Karson Kallhoff had 14 of the team’s first 15 points en route to a 17 to 16 lead after one quarter.
Wolfpack Coach Matt Euse said a decision by Riverside to switch to a ‘box & 1’ defense to try and shut down Kallhoff allowed other EPPJ players to find their shots. Both Jarek Erickson and Kellan Hoefer stood out in the second quarter as EPPJ took a 37 to 35 lead at intermission.
