By Riley Funk A 25-year-old mural is taking on special meaning in one St. Joseph household as two brothers look to this weekend’s Super Bowl to settle a longtime family feud. For Jeanette Watson’s two sons, Dave and Paul Helfery, this game will be more than an ordinary Super Bowl. Dave is a die-hard fan
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By Jacob Meikel Another second half deficit on Saturday didn’t cause Missouri Western women’s basketball to hit the panic button, as they were able to rally and defeat Nebraska Kearney 73-61. A 15-point hole in the third quarter on Thursday against #15 Fort Hays State wasn’t too much to overcome for the Griffon women, and
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By Calvin Silvers The Kansas City Chiefs were back on the practice field on Thursday, as preparations for Super Bowl LVIII continue. Being back on the practice field meant the team was also back at the podium answering questions from the media. “You dream of this as a kid, you want to play in this
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By Harry Loomis Many fans show up to Kansas City Chiefs training camp hoping to interact with their favorite players, but few make the impression St. Joseph resident Erica Leivan did. A diehard Chiefs fan and an avid crocheter, Leivan decided to put her two passions together to make her favorite player, Isiah Pacheco, a
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By Chris Fortune Whether it’s something to wear in the office or a T-shirt featuring the NFL’s favorite celebrity couple, Chiefs fans will find a way to express themselves. The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 on Sunday and advanced to the 2024 Super Bowl, their fourth Super Bowl appearance in five years.
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By Riley Funk While the Kansas City Chiefs are no strangers to championships in recent years, fans aren’t getting tired of repping the team with new merchandise after big wins. The Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 on Sunday to win the AFC Championship and bring home the Lamar Hunt Trophy. In the wake of
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By Jacob Meikel It was a block party in Warrensburg, Missouri, as Missouri Western women’s basketball posted a season-high seven blocks in its win over No. 16 Central Missouri 77-69 on Saturday. The Griffon’s current win streak is now up to five games with the victory, and five straight wins over the Jennies dating back
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By Kendra Simpson River Bluff Brewing and Chiefs’ fans all gathered Sunday afternoon to celebrate the team winning the AFC Championship against the Baltimore Ravens and making their way to the Super Bowl LVIII. The brewery had every television set to the Chiefs’ game, which was much appreciated by guests. The Chiefs’ defense kept the
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By Calvin Silvers High school basketball is a staple here in the St. Joseph community, with multiple teams in the area, both on the boys and girls side, having success in recent seasons. As the 2023-24 season rolls on, and we’ve passed the half-way point, the Benton Cardinals already matched their last year’s win total.
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By Riley Funk St. Joseph is set to host two NCAA Division II golf championships in 2025 and 2026. Missouri Western State University made the announcement on its website Thursday morning. Hosting the tournament was made possible through Missouri Western’s partnership with the St. Joseph Sports Commission. The competition will commence at the St. Joseph
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By Calvin Silvers The Benton Cardinals boys basketball team has been busy on the hardwood as of late, and that schedule didn’t change Tuesday as the Cardinals welcomed St. Michael the Archangel Guardians to Springer Gymnasium for some Class 4 action. In a roller coaster game, the Cardinals would overcome a scare from St. Michael
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By Jacob Meikel Missouri Western men’s basketball’s leading scorer on the year was named MIAA Men’s Basketball Athlete of the Week on Monday. JaRon Thames’s 18 point performance last Saturday in a close win over Central Oklahoma helped him earn the honors. Thames has scored in double figures in each game this season and has
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By Jacob Meikel Missouri Western men’s basketball extended their win streak to six after a gutsy 57-56 victory over Central Oklahoma on Saturday. In a game that saw 10 lead changes, the Griffons used the final 10 minutes to prove their resiliency. Faced with an eight-point deficit with 9:31 left to play, Western was able
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By Calvin Silvers It was the first Saturday spent in Bearcat Arena since Dec. 30, 2023, for the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats, and a crowd of over a 1,000 fans were in attendance to see some MIAA action against the Newman Jets. The women (13-4, 7-4 MIAA) took the court first, and were able to
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By Calvin Silvers After a couple of postponements due to weather last week, the 6th Annual Cardinal Classic out at Springer Gymnasium finally hosted its championship match between the East-Buchanan Bulldogs and the Benton Cardinals. Benton would dominate in the second quarter after being tied, but the Bulldogs kept fighting until the end, as the
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By Jacob Meikel Following signature wins last Saturday, Missouri Western women and men’s programs take care of business against Newman on Thursday night. With no Johnni Gonzalez in the starting lineup due to illness on Thursday, junior Alyssa Bonilla stepped right into the starting lineup and the Griffon offense would not skip a beat. Bonilla
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By Calvin Silvers This previous weekend, MWSU Fieldhouse inside the Looney Complex was rocking as the Northwest Missouri state Bearcats came into town, and both the Missouri Western Griffon men and women came away with victories. Besides beating the Bearcats for the first time since 2013, there was more celebration to be had on Tuesday
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By Jacob Meikel Freshman Tiani Ellison is getting more and more comfortable playing at the college level and saved her best performance to date for one of the biggest games of the season. On Saturday, Ellison posted a career-high 18 points on 8-13 shooting from the field goal against the top team in the MIAA
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By Jacob Meikel Missouri Western men’s basketball got a hold of a lead and never let it slip, ending a 24-game losing streak to Northwest Missouri State on Saturday by winning 76-70. Fouls became a problem for the Griffons early and late. Juniors Taye Fields, Justin Bubak and Zion Swader each picked up two fouls
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By Calvin Silvers After careful consideration on who would lead the Savannah Savage Volleyball team in 2024, a name has been selected after the Jan. 11 Savannah Board of Education meeting. The meeting saw the approval of the hire of former Northwest Missouri State volleyball standout and graduate assistant, Miranda Mizera. During her collegiate career,
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By Calvin Silvers It was the second day of the 6th Annual Benton Cardinal Classic on Thursday, with eight teams taking the court looking to end the final day with a victory. The first local school to take the hardwood was the Savannah Savages, who were placed against the Winnetonka Griffins. In the first quarter,
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By Jacob Meikel Saturday will be the newest chapter of the Highway 71 rivalry, with Missouri Western and Northwest men as evenly matched in terms of record as they’ve been in some time. In the Griffons corner of the ring heading into the highly anticipated matchup, it’s nothing but respect for the Bearcats, especially given
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By Jacob Meikel It was a party in the locker room after Benton boys basketball secured its third straight victory with a 61-51 win over Smithville on Saturday in the Steve Vertin Classic. “From day one when I took this job, I established to celebrate the wins and learn from the losses because, in this
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By Calvin Silvers We’re officially back to high school basketball being played consistently throughout the week, meaning many local teams were back in action on Thursday night. One of those teams, the Benton Cardinals, had both the boys and girls out on the hardwood, as they hosted St. Pius X. The girls were up first
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By Jacob Meikel For the first time in program history, Central girls wrestling saw its hard work translate into hardware. Last week at the Kansas City Center Tournament, the team secured its first-ever first place trophy to put in the trophy case. The success was several years in the making, even dating back to the
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By Calvin Silvers The Missouri Western women’s basketball team was on a three game win streak before it was gifted a short break before returning to the court on Saturday. After a two and a half week break from the MIAA, the Griffons will find themselves back in conference play this Thursday and Saturday on
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By Jacob Meikel Saturday afternoon at Looney Arena turned out to be a memorable day in MIAA women’s basketball history. Missouri Western women’s basketball’s 147-16 victory over Kansas Christian out of the Christmas break went down as the most points scored in a single game by an MIAA program ever. Not only did the Griffon
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By Phil Ervin Special to the News-Press High school basketball fans from the St. Joseph area that may not be as familiar with Kansas City’s Lincoln Prep squad, but certainly won’t forget the Blue Tigers any time soon. Lincoln blazed through the Bishop LeBlond Holiday Tournament, providing the exclamation point with 60-45 victory against Mid-Buchanan,
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By Phil Ervin Special to the News-Press Molly Stiens penned the latest chapter in a storied girls high school basketball series, giving Maryville its second straight Bishop LeBlond Holiday Tournament championship in the process. With her team trailing by two, the Spoofhounds’ senior guard took an in-bound pass with 1.1 second left, turned 180 degrees
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By Cody Thorn St. Joseph News-Press The branches of the Mel Tjeerdsma coaching tree stretch far and wide. Former assistant coaches serving as head coaches include Central Missouri’s Jim Svoboda, Missouri Southern’s Bart Tatum, Angelo State’s Will Wagner and Northern Colorado’s Earnest Collins Jr. This season, Tjeerdsma went head-to-head against former assistant coaches Svoboda and
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