FORT SCOTT, Kan. – (WATCH) Labette County tops Fort Scott 25-8 Friday night for their first win of the season.
COPYRIGHT 2022 BY KOAM NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
FORT SCOTT, Ks. – Fort Scott is looking to rebound after a 1-8 record last season. The Tigers will once again be a young team, but they return a handful of players with game day experience.
For more on the Fort Scott Tigers, check out the 2022 Pigskin Preview.
COPYRIGHT 2022 BY KOAM NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
FORT SCOTT, Kan. – Former Parsons head coach Mike Krull has been named the boys basketball head coach at Fort Scott High School.
Krull has 28 years of coaching experience between Parsons, Frankfort, Louisburg and Yates Center.
He served as the head coach of both the boys and girls programs at Parsons at different times from 2002-2019.
After a couple years away from the game, he’s ready to jump back in at Fort Scott.
“People would ask me all the time if I missed it, and I would tell them if I missed it I would have never gotten out of it,” Krull says, “I talked to coach DeLaTorre when that job opened and the fire (to coach) sort of came back, and it came back even stronger over the summer. I never thought on May 20th that I would be sitting here talking about being the head basketball coach at Fort Scott High School, but I’m sort of anxious and really eager to get going.”
Krull has had a chance to be around his new players a few times already.
“It’s sort of a feeling out process. I told them when I first met them after coach DeLaTorre introduced me to them that we want to base everything we do off of trust and honesty. I was trying out for them and they’re basically still trying out for me,” Krull says, “I’m going to be changing some things I do just because of the kids I’m going to have. I’m anxious to get to work on it. I’m really excited for this job and excited to get going and to be a Tiger.”
COPYRIGHT 2022 BY KOAM NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
FORT SCOTT, Kan. – Fort Scott’s Pechone Stepps has been named the SEK girls basketball Coach of the Year.
After finishing 8-12 last season, Stepps led the Tigers to a 17-5 record this season. Fort Scott won a share of the SEK league championship – their first SEK title since 2014.
“It is an honor to get recognized by your peer coaches. It’s a little overwhelming,” Stepps says, “I’m not coach of the year without having a good group of girls who are selfless, worked hard, gave everything they had and left it all on the court for us this season.”
COPYRIGHT 2022 BY KOAM NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
WATCH: Labette County overcomes slow start to beat Fort Scott 49-41 and claim sub state championship. Madison Brannin drops a game-high 18 points. Anna Dean adds 11 and Karsyn Stewart finishes with 10 points. The Grizzlies advance to the 4A state tournament in Salina, Ks.
COPYRIGHT 2022 BY KOAM NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
WATCH: Fort Scott wins thriller over Labette 55-53 in double overtime. Abby Altic scores a team-high 13 points for the Tigers, while McKenzie Murphy adds 10 and Jescie Comstock finishes with nine. Ann Dean leads the Grizzlies with 17 and Madison Brannin gets 15. Fort Scott takes over 1st place in the SEK with tonight’s win.
COPYRIGHT 2022 BY KOAM NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
FORT SCOTT, Kan. – At this time last year, the Fort Scott girls basketball team was 2-11. In 2022, it’s a completely different story.
“We’ve grown so much from last year and we’ve grown so much even from the beginning of the year,” says head coach Pechone Stepps. “There were times last year when I thought we battled and we would get close, but we just couldn’t get over the hump. You have to learn how to win.”
The Tigers held a team meeting midseason last year and it proved to be a pivotal moment. They began to turn things around and even made it to the substate championship. Fort Scott is carrying that late-season momentum into this year.
“Knowing that every day in practice we started from the bottom, from day one. It’s paid off for sure,” says senior Abby Altic.
Fort Scott is learning how to win. They’re currently 10-3 and tied for first in the SEK. This week, they’ve landed in the state rankings. The Tigers are 10th in 4A.
“I don’t think many of us expected it,” Altic says. “It’s awesome to see the rankings. Finally people are recognizing what we’ve done this season. People are going to want to beat us, like we’ve wanted to beat other people.”
It’s taken a lot of hard work to get where they are now.
“Those tough times last year gave our girls a taste of what we needed to do this summer and how we needed to come together and build on that foundation coming into the season,” Stepps says. “That’s what we’ve done thus far.”
The Tigers have a young, small group: two seniors and only 13 girls. They choose to see it as a positive.
“That’s going to bode well for not only this year but for years to come,” Stepps says. “Those girls will understand what it takes to play at the varsity level.”
But first, the focus is on the rest of this season.
“At the end of the practice the other day we talked about how to handle success,” Stepps says. “We’re starting to get a little exposure. We’ll see how we respond the rest of the way. I think we have the right mindset. We’re going to have to raise our level of play and meet expectations.”
Fort Scott returns to play on Friday at Chanute.
COPYRIGHT 2022 BY KOAM NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.