Weekend offers plenty of action

High school sports fans will have plenty of top-notch options to choose from this weekend.

For wrestling fanatics, Central hosts the Tiger Classic today and Saturday at the Central Junior High. For boys basketball fans, the Heartland Hoopfest tournament at the Perry Park Center in Perryville runs all day Saturday.

The Tiger Classic features 20 teams from Missouri and surrounding states, and gets started at 5 p.m. today. Central coach James Brake is ready for the action to begin.

"I've had a ton of help from all the administrators and the athletic director," he said. "Coach [Josh] Crowell is still in the building, so he's been a really big help for me as well.

"Really, I've been allowed this year to pretty much just focus on getting my kids ready for the most part. I've done a few other things to contribute to the tournament, but it really hasn't been very stressful on me at all this year because of all the help."

The top four teams from last year, including two-time defending champion Northwest of House Springs, return. Jackson, which has been in the top four every year since 1990, also returns. Central hopes to improve on its 13th-place finish last year.

"We've just been focused all week," Brake said. "... We're really disciplined right now with the way we wrestle."

The finals are scheduled to begin Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

The Saxony Lutheran vs. Bell City game, which is scheduled to start at 4:50 p.m., highlights the day's docket at the Hoopfest tournament. The Crusaders creamed Christ Our Savior Lutheran, 73-29, while Bell City lost to Scott County Central, 85-82, in last year's tournament.

Other games of local interest are: St. Vincent vs. Valle Catholic at 10:30 a.m., Perryville vs. Ste. Genevieve at 12:05 p.m. and Central vs. Whitfield at 3:15 p.m.