Road-weary Comet boys reaching homestretch part of the season

By Erik Hoefer, Press Correspondent

Does a Frequent School Bus Miles Frequent Flyer Miles program exist?

The more one flies, the more miles they collect. The more miles stockpiled, the more free flights are earned. What a great concept!

Charles City’s boys basketball team must be hoping so. After all, they’ve logged a lot of miles on the road this season.

Of the season’s first 14 games for the Comet boys, 10 have been on the road. Algona, Clear Lake, Dike, Oelwein, Independence, Decorah, and Cresco are just a few of the towns the Comets have traveled to so far.

Last Friday night, for just the third time in 2016, the Comet boys played a home game. It was a successful return to Comet Gym as Charles City defeated Oelwein 69-21.

It was another quick start for the Comets — except this time they built up speed as the game progressed.

Two Noah Schlader 3-point field goals from the left followed by a Shane Feller lay-up made it 8-0 Comets three minutes into the game.

One play in particular with a little over two minutes remaining demonstrated the Comet first quarter energy. Two offensive rebounds by Feller were followed by a pass to Jack Molstead and then one more to Schlader for another 3-pointer and a 13-5 lead.

Charles City scored 6 of the final 8 of the quarter to lead 19-7 after one.

Schlader added a4-point play and a traditional 3-point play in the second quarter. He scored 16 in the first half and the Comets 42-15 at intermission.

Once a lead hits 35 points for a team in a high school basketball game in the state of Iowa, the game clock runs for everything but free throws and time outs.

The Comets achieved this with a couple minutes left in the third when the lead ballooned to 55-20.

The Comets then scored the next eight points. Molstead continued the barrage from behind the 3-point arc. Two threes late in the third gave the Comets a 63-20 lead after three.

For the game, Charles City hit 11 threes, accounting for nearly half the team’s points.

With the clock running and Charles City taking the air out of the ball offensively, the Comets outscored Oelwein 6-1 in the fourth to reach the final score.

Schlader paced the Comets with 19 points. Molstead was next with 17. Feller had 10, Brandt Gebel, Cade Hemeseth, and Ian Dailey each scored six, Mike Cranshaw added four, and Brady Sickman tallied one point.

Weather permitting, Charles City (5-10, 4-5 Northern Iowa Conference) will have a couple days of practice before hosting North Fayette Valley in a non-conference game Thursday night. It’s the second in a nice long stretch of games at Comet Gym. Five of the final six games of the year are at home.

The one road trip remaining? Waukon! And we all know what that means…more

Frequent School Bus Miles!