Boys Basketball

      The Aitkin "JH" Gobblers split two games with Pine City at Aitkin Friday. The 7th grade lost 25-19 with Colbe Rude leading the way with 6 points while Tommy Rono had 5 and Earl Rehwinkle had 4 points. The 8th grade beat the Tigers 37-24. Cole Kaiser had 13 and Luke Jacobson had 12 to lead the Gobblers.

        Noah Moss scored 31 points, 29 of them in a monster first half as the Gobblers pinned a 77-39 loss on the visiting C-I Rangers Thursday night. The win moved the Gobblers to 9-6 on the season while the Rangers fell to 7-10. Aitkin led by 26 at the break and pushed the game to running time in the second half. Isaac Asmus scored 20 points while Bo Sanford had 7, Isaiah Baker and Andy Hanson each had 6, Jack Jacobson had 4 and Caleb Smith added 3 for the Gobblers.

      Aitkin jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead on a bucket and a three by Moss and a hoop from Asmus. Moss hit another three and a duece for a 12-2 lead and later when Baker stole the ball and went in to score it was an 18-6 lead. It was 29-17 when Sanford buried a three followed by a three-point play by Asmus, a bucket by Jack Jacobson and a free throw from Sanford and it was 38-17. Moss scored ten more points before the half was out and the Gobblers were running free. The second half saw a lot of reserves for both teams in the game and highlights were another three from Sanford, a three by Smith, another bucket from Jacobson and three buckets underneath from Andy Hanson. Moss talked about his big first half, "I had a ton of opportunities and took advantage of them, I've never really had a good game against Crosby so that was a big motivator for me as well. We just needed to come out and take care of business, this was a big Section game for us, so we had to get it done." The Rangers had beaten the Gobblers 74-73 in the opening game of the season, but this one belonged to Aitkin from the get-go. Coach Landon Janzen said his team ran the game plan to perfection, "We wanted to do some things different this time around, we wanted to limit their three-point chances, challenge every shot, block out on the boards and get good shots. We did that, Noah had a great first half and Isaac dominated the boards. This was a nice win for us with three games coming up next week."

Asmus, who is approaching 1,000 rebounds liked how his team got the game going, "It was a good start to the game for us. We set the tone early. It was a big game that we needed to win. It's always fun to beat the Rangers, especially at home. I'm hoping to get some rebounds next week and get to 1,000."

Rangers    23 16 39

Gobblers  43 28 77

        The Gobbler JV also posted a win over C-I 54-19. Tyce Jorgensen led with 14, Jayden Janzen had 12, Aydin Franzen had a big night with 10, Max Hagel added 6, and Lenny Hughes, Andy Hanson and Isaiah Fowlds each had 4 points. 

Rangers       6 13  19

Gobblers   25 29 54

      Senior Isaac Asmus moved into the top 5 in career scoring Tuesday night with 32 points against Ogilvie. He is the number 2 boys' scorer in Gobbler history and number 4 all-time boys and girls at AHS. His 32 points Tuesday moves him to 1,312 total. Here's a look at the top five.

1)  1,619-Nathan Ehnstrom

2) 1,564-Emily Mehr

3) 1,538-Meredith Chaput

4) 1,314-Isaac Asmus

5) 1,292-Nick Sundholm

     Asmus is having a great final season. He has scored over 20 points in a game nine of the fourteen games and has hit 30 or better three times, all in the past five games. He is averaging 22.6 points per game and has a high game of 39 points earlier this season. He is also approaching 1,000 career rebounds.

      The Aitkin Gobblers got off to a big start in each half Tuesday and rolled to an 83-28 victory at Ogilvie. Isaac Asmus scored 32 points to lead the Gobblers while Noah Moss added 14. Thirteen Gobblers hit the scorebook in this one as Aitkin moved to 8-6 on the season. Caleb Smith added 8, Jayden Janzen came off the bench for 5, Isaiah Baker, Tyler Boyd and Isaiah Fowlds each had 4 and Jack Jacobson, Tyce Jorgensen, Max Hagel, Andy Hanson, Lenny Hughes and Wyatt Winter each had 2 points. 

     The Gobblers opened the game on a 17-0 run. Smith scored and then hit a three, Asmus scored six straight, Moss hit six straight all before the Lions got on the board. Following that basket Asmus hit two buckets and Boyd added another for a 23-4 lead. It was 29-10 when Hagel scored and Asmus and Moss added hoops for a 35-10 lead. It was 37-15 when Asmus hit two gifters, and a bucket, Baker and Boyd scored and Asmus finished the half with three buckets in a row. The second half started with a 13-0 Gobbler run. Asmus scored, Moss hit twice, then Asmus scored, Smith buried a three and Winter scored for a 64-17 lead. The rest of the game was highlighted by a pair of dueces from Fowlds, a bucket by Hughes and a hoop from Jorgensen.

Gobblers    51 32 83

Lions            17  11  28

     The Aitkin "JH" Gobblers split a pair at Mora Tuesday. The 7th grade lost 35-26. Tommy Rono led the Gobblers with 14 while John Roslin had 7 and Colby Rude had 2 points. The 8th grade scored a 48-17 win over the Mustangs. Luke Jacobson and Cole Kaiser each had 12 to lead Aitkin. Madden Dotzler and Bennett Christy each added 6, Parker Espeseth had 5, Dawson Weimer had 3 and Wyatt Sicard and Logan Henke each had 2 points. 

      Isaac Asmus scored with :04 left to give the Aitkin Gobblers a hard-earned 75-74 victory at Pillager Thursday night. The win gives the Gobblers a 7-6 record heading into next week while the Huskies fall to 9-3 on the season. Asmus finished with 35 points while Noah Moss added 18, Tyler Boyd and Caleb Smith each had 6, Bo Sanford added 5, Isaiah Baker had 3 and Jack Jacobson had 2 points.

     Aitkin led the entire first half jumping off to a 9-2 lead with Asmus hitting a pair of baskets, Smith hitting a 3 and Baker scoring on a lay-in. It was 15-14 when Sanford and Jacobson each scored for a 19-14 lead. It was 25-19 when Moss hit a three, then Sanford buried a three, Moss scored and then scored again after a Huskie basket. Smith hit another three, Asmus scored and Moss hit a trey for a 43-29 lead at the break. The second half started with a 12-2 Huskie run to get them right back in the game. Asmus continued to keep the Gobblers in the lead, and it was 62-54 with 8:51 to go in the game. The Huskies clawed back though, and took their first lead with 2:22 remaining at 69-68. Moss hit a three, but the Huskies tied it at 71-71. That brought a Gobbler timeout with 1:19 left. A three-point play by Pillager put them in front 74-73 with :47 left. The teams missed shots and the Gobblers got the ball back with :20 to go and after a timeout they got the ball down court and set up Asmus for the eventual game-winner. The Huskies took the ball down court and fired up a three, but it bounced off and the Gobblers had a big win. Coach Landon Janzen after the win, "Man that was fun! Boys were gritty, fought some hard adversity. Time to get back to work on Monday."

Gobblers 43 32 75

Huskies    29 45 74

       The Gobbler JV beat the Huskies 38-28 in a low-scoring game between two very good JV teams. Jayden Janzen led Aitkin with 14 while Jordan Goeritz had 12, Andy Hanson and Isaiah Fowlds each had 4 and Lenny Hughes and Tyce Jorgenson each finished with 2 points.

Gobblers   26 12 38

 Huskies      10 18 28

      The Gobbler "C" Squad lost to the Huskies 49-19. Nolan Aspelin led Aitkin with 10, Alex Martinson had 3 and Josh Maciel, Logan Wilhelm and Noah Hughes each had 2 points.

      The Aitkin Gobblers squared their record at 6-6 Tuesday night with an 86-26 win over the visiting Hinckley-Finlayson Jaguars. Isaac Asmus led the locals with 21 points while Noah Moss had 14, Bo Sanford had 11 and Caleb Smith added 9 points. Thirteen players hit the scoring column including Tyce Jorgensen and Andy Hanson each had 5, Jack Jacobson and Tyler Boyd each with 4, Owen Foday, Wyatt Winter and Jordan Goeritz each with 3 and Jayden Janzen and Isaiah Baker each finished with 2 points. Coach Landon Janzen after the win, "The boys came out and executed the game plan. We did just what we wanted to do and it was fun getting everyone on the bench into play as well."

Jaguars      16  10  26

Gobblers    43 43 86

     The Gobbler JV also won, 50-26 over H-F. Jayden Janzen led the way with 14, Jordan Goeritz had 11, Tyce Jorgensen had 9, Isaiah Franzen added 8 and Lenny Hughes and Max Hagel each had 4 points.

    The Gobbler "C" Squad beat the Jaguars 47-35. Logan Wilhelm led Aitkin with 18 points followed by Alex Martinson with 13, Drew Proctor with 7, Noah Hughes with 5 and Josh Maciel with 4 points.