By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
METAMORA (December 16, 2025) – Christmas is the season of giving, and as it came to pass, Evergreen did just that…pass gifts in the way of baskets in a Christmas-like aura.
The unselfish Vikings recorded 20 assists on 27 field goals, as they ran off to a 68-41 win over Holgate.
“We had a little chat that we could be a very good team and fun to watch when the ball is moving, when everybody is getting a touch and keeping everybody involved,” Viking coach Kyle Bostater said.
“Will Ruetz did a nice job finding Quinn (Eisel) on a couple of dives, and we did a nice job finding people up court to finish at the end.”
Troy Manz was the Viking in the most donating type of mood as the senior point guard dished off five times in the first quarter to teammates for buckets.
Seven seconds into the game, he found George Allendorf for a deep triple, then after a steal, he fed Allendorf for a layup and did the same to Ruetz a short time later to put Evergreen up 7-0 just 90 seconds into the game.
Zack Boecker’s basket in tight was the first Tiger field goal with 4:49 left in the first, but Evergreen countered when Allendorf hit Bryce Bolger for a layup, and Manz found Ruetz for back-to-back triples that gave the Vikes a 21-7 lead at the horn.
Ruetz and Allendorf were Santa-like in the second with a festive display of feed that got Eisel a pair of baskets, including a thunderous dunk off an Allendorf bounce off the board, and a Chris Shrader triple that extended the Evergreen lead to 36-13 with 2:43 left in the half.
Matt Healy’s five points got Holgate back within 20 at 38-18 before Ruetz hit from long range late to push Evergreen up 41-18 at the half.
Shrader took over the gift giving in the third, scoring off an offensive rebound, then hitting Eisel, Ruetz, and Bolger for layups that got the Vikings to their biggest lead at 59-28 before Bostater pulled the plug.
Ruetz led the Vikings with 21, while Allendorf had 15 and Eisel 13. Manz took just four shots all night (6 points) but dished off nine assists.
“All of our guys stepped up tonight,” Bostater said of the balance in numbers. “Chris played another great game, he didn’t shoot it as well as he would want.
“Quinn did a great job finishing in contact. Will and George definitely had it going, but we also got good contributions from Bryce Bolger, who did some really nice things, played very good defense when I was begging the guys to get some stops and Alex Mossing came in and gave us some hustle plays and good rebounding.”
Evergreen shot 16-29 in the first half, before settling for 27-63 for the game. Holgate (0-5), who did not have a player score double figures, was 18-47.
Evergreen (4-1) had just seven turnovers on the night, while the Tigers had 21.
HOLGATE (41) – Giesige 2; Healy 9; Hartman 4; Distel 0; Ramos 4; McMillen 3; Rupright 6; Guelde 0; Gomez 0; Boecker 9; Medina 4; Martinez 0; Totals: 17-1-4 – 41
EVERGREEN (68) – Manz 6; Ruetz 21; Farley 0; Q. Eisel 13; Allendorf 15; B. Eisel 3; Bolger 4; Fisher 0; Mossing 0; Rafferty 0; Shrader 6; Schwartz 0; Totals: 21-6-8 – 68
HHS 7 11 12 11 – 41
EHS 21 20 18 9 – 68