Cass City at Kingston – – Boys Basketball – – The Bleacher Denizen – – December 22, 2025 – – by Chuck Krafft’

Tonight, your Bleacher Denizen has made the ride to Kingston to cover the “Battle for Deford” which features the host Kingston Cardinals facing the Red Hawks from Cass City in a basketball game. Here is a link to the girls’ game, which I covered earlier this evening. https://thebleacherdenizen.com/2025/12/23/cass-city-at-kingston-girls-basketball-the-bleacher-denizen-december-22-2025-by-chuck-krafft/

This is the fourth game of today’s “Battle for Deford” event. Deford is a town about halfway between Cass City and Kingston. The winner gets honorary possession of Deford and wins a commemorative street sign. In addition to the boys’ and girls’ varsity games, both JV teams also played.

Kingston won the JV game in the last few seconds of the game as Dante Combs hit a threeball from the side, was fouled an hit his free throw to give Kingston a 45-43 lead with 7.1 seconds left in the game. After Cass City missed a shot, he was fouled on the rebound and hit one more free throw. Kingston won the JV game by the final score of 46-43.

Cooper Luana led the Cass City scoring with 15 points. Braden Messing added 9 points and Xaviar Spence added 7 points. Tyler Reinke put in 4 points. Deighan Moyer and Landon Whetstone each added 3 points. Tyler Pergande tallied 2 points.

Travis Kaniszewski led the victorious Cardinal JVs with 18 points. Austin Flores supported him with 17 points. Dante Combs scored 5 big points, but they were all in the final 7.1 seconds to give Kingston the final five points of the game. Blake Bingaman scored 4 points and Colin Radabaugh had 2 points.

While we wait for this game to start, I hope you will enjoy this Christmas hit from the late 1960’s, Snoopy’s Christmas! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1pZCnDBHL0

Both these teams enter the game at 1-3. Each of the coaches provided me with background about their players.

Cass City Coach Steve Muska provided me with this information about his Red Hawk players.

Kenton Nicholas is a point guard who handles the ball and passes it well as he runs the Red Hawk offense. He is an excellent perimeter defender who is a threat to score from the three point line or on slashes to the basket. Griffin Weiler is a fine senior leader who can score from the three point line or on slashes to the basket. Ryker Wallace is a good scorer who defends well either on the perimeter or in the post.

ZyAire Oesterling is a tall guy who defends and rebounds well in the post. He is also able to defend on the perimeter. Brody Schefka is a strong perimeter defender with an excellent motor who can hit shots from the three point line. William Perry is a fine post defender who is excellent shooting mid-range shots. Blake Mackowiak is a tough perimeter defender who can hit the three point shot or slash to the basket.

Tony Curtis puts a lot of hustle into his perimeter defense. Joey Bean has a good motor and can hit the three point shot. Ethan Speirs is a solid post defender and rebounder who can hit mid-range shots. Preston Dorland plays solid perimeter defense and can run the point.

Kingston Coach Derek Flikkie gave me this information about his Cardinal players.

The Cardinals play the kind of positionless basketball common in the NBA today. The starting lineup consists of seniors Peyton Harrington, Nicholas Cummings, Tanner James, Colin Corlis and Nicholas Rayl. All five starters can defend in the post or on the perimeter and can score inside, on slashes to the basket or from the three point line. Thijs van Rijn comes in to play perimeter defense. Hudson Groner is a good rebounder and defender in the post.

It is now time to review the events of this game through the eyes of an Aging Bleacher Denizen who was never able to get past church league when he attempted to hoop in the days of yore. It seems that even though the Bleacher Denizen enjoyed driving to the basket, there was always this tall person who would send his layups to the Great Airball in the Sky. (Who asked for his input anyway?????)

The Bleacher Denizen set records for the numerous blocked shots and was only stopped when his coach invited him to sit on the bench for a spell. The spell ended only when the season ended, but the Bleacher Denizen at least got to rest while his teammates were working hard and sweating. (I always try to keep this blog positive – – – )

The opening tap goes out of bounds and the ball is awarded to Kingston. Peyton Harrington hits a three point shot from the wing to give his Cardinals the first three points of the game. Cass City misses an eighteen foot shot from the side. Kenton Nicholas steals the ball and hits a layup to trim the Kingston lead to 3-2.

Kingston misses a three point shot from the wing. They get the offensive rebound, but Ryker Wallace knocks the ball away from Kingston and Griffin Weiler picks it up for Cass City. Griffin Weiler drives and hits a layup to give the Red Hawks a 4-3 lead.

Kingston misses a threeball from the wing. Peyton Harrington pulls down the offensive rebound for the Cardinals and hits a putback to retake the lead for Kingston. Kenton Nicholas hits a sixteen foot shot from the wing to retake the lead for Cass City. Kingston travels on a drive to the basket. Cass City misses a ten foot shot from the side. William Perry and Blake Mackowiak double team Kingston and steals the ball. Kenton Nicholas drives and hits a layup to give the Red Hawks an 8-5 lead.

Griffin Weiler gets a hand on the ball and creates chaos. Eventually, the ball goes out of bounds and Kingston gets it back. Tanner James passes to Thijs van Rijn, who hits a three point shot for Kingston from the side to tie the game. Cass City misses a jump shot from the free throw elbow. William Perry knocks the ball away from Kingston and Kenton Nicholas picks it up for Cass City.

The Red Hawks miss a fast break layup. The missed shot ends up wedged between the backboard and the rim. Before the Bleacher Denizen can don his cape and tights and sprint to the court to free the wedged basketball from its prison, one of the players knocks it loose. This is frustrating. I’m always ready and able to help out and retrieve the stuck basketball, but no one ever asks me. Please don’t assume that because I am 69 with grey hair and a bit of a weight problem, that I can’t help! PUT ME IN COACH!!

While the Bleacher Denizen is expressing his frustration, the Possession Arrow decrees that Cass City shall get the ball. Nicholas Cummings plays some tough defense and a Cass City dribbler steps out of bounds. Peyton Harrington passes to Colin Corlis, who hits a reverse layup to give Kingston a two point lead. Blake Mackowiak drives and hits a layup for Cass City to tie the game at 10-10.

Brody Schefka steals the ball for Cass City. William Perry hits a fast break layup to give the Red Hawks a two point lead. Kenton Nicholas steals the ball for the Red Hawks. Tanner James gets his hand on the ball and a Red Hawk dribbler loses the ball out of bounds. Kingston misses a driving reverse layup. Nicholas Rayl knocks the ball away from Cass City and Nicholas Cummings picks it up for Kingston. Nicholas Cummings hits a fast break layup, is fouled and hits his free throw to give Kingston a 13-12 lead with 18.3 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.

Kenton Nicholas drives and hits a layup for Cass City to retake the lead. Blake Mackowiak steals the ball for Cass City. The Red Hawks miss a sixteen foot shot from the side as the attention-seeking first quarter buzzer makes its presence known.

After one quarter, Cass City has a 14-13 lead.

Kingston inbounds the ball to open the second quarter. The Cardinals miss a three pointer from the side. Nicholas Rayl picks up the offensive rebound for the Cardinals. Blake Mackowiak steals the ball for the Red Hawks. Cass City misses a three pointer from the wing. Blake Mackowiak steals a Cardinal pass. The Red Hawks go on a too fast break and throw the ball out of bounds. Kingston misses a three pointer from the wing. Griffin Weiler drives and hits a layup to give Cass City a 16-13 lead.

Peyton Harrington passes to Tanner James, who is cutting to the basket and hits a layup for Kingston. Cass City misses a twelve foot shot from the side of the lane. William Perry steals the ball for the Cardinals. Cass City misses a shot. William Perry dives and saves the offensive rebound for Cass City by knocking it to Kenton Nicholas. William Perry passes to Ryker Wallace, who hits a left handed layup to give Cass City an 18-15 lead.

William Perry steals the ball for Cass City. Nicholas Cummings steals the ball for Kingston. The Bleacher Denizen wonders if he is supposed to report this theft to the proper authorities. Ryker Wallace ignores the Bleacher Denizen’s angst and knocks the ball out of bounds to break up a Cardinal fast break. Kingston retains possession. The Cardinals miss a layup. Cass City misses a three pointer from the side. The rebound goes out of bounds and Kingston takes possession.

Preston Dorland knocks the ball away from Kingston and Zy’Aire Oesterling picks it up for Cass City. Nicholas Cummings steals the ball for Kingston. Tanner James picks up a loose ball and passes to Peyton Harrington, who throws in a threeball from the top of the key for Kingston to tie the game at 18-18.

Tanner James ties up the ball for Kingston. The Possession Arrow decrees that the ball shall be awarded to Kingston. Ryker Wallace catches the inbound pass and is fouled on a layup. He hits two free throws to give Cass City a 20-18 lead with 3:51 remaining in the second quarter.

Kingston misses a three point shot from the corner for Kingston. Blake Mackowiak is fouled on a fast break layup and hits one of his two free throws for Cass City. Kingston misses a layup. Cass City is whistled for a traveling violation. Griffin Weiler steals the ball and passes to Kenton Nicholas, who hits a fast break layup to give Cass City a 23-18 lead.

Brody Schefka knocks the ball out of bounds; the Cardinals retain possession. Kingston misses a ten foot shot off the dribble in the lane. Cass City misfires on a triple try from the side. William Perry grabs the offensive re bound for the Red Hawks. Griffin Weiler passes to Kenton Nicholas, who throws in a threeball from the side to give Cass City a 26-18 lead.

Kingston is fouled on a driving layup, but misses two free throws. Hudson Groner knocks the offensive rebound to Thijs van Rijn and Kingston has another possession. The Cardinals miss a driving layup. Cass City travels with the ball. (Basketball cliches can be interesting; generally traveling WITHOUT the ball is not terribly newsworthy.) Colin Corlis ignores the Bleacher Denizen’s semantic discourse and is fouled on a driving layup. He hits one of his two free throws to trim the Cass City lead to 26-19 with 36.8 seconds remaining in the half.

Nicholas Cummings steals the ball and hits a fast break layup for Kingston. Cass City misses a long heave as the second quarter buzzer announces it is time for a break.

Cass City has a 26-21 lead at halftime.

Peyton Harrington leads the Kingston scoring at halftime with 8 points and Nicholas Cummings has 5 points.

Kenton Nicholas has 11 points for Cass City and Griffin Weiler has 6 points.

While we wait for play to resume, I hope you will enjoy a couple Christmas videos from my You Tube Channel.

Here is “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15alGV17hKI

Here is “The Christmas Song” (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gwCTPg861g

Kingston inbounds the ball to get quarter number three undersay. Nicholas Cummings passes to a teammate who is fouled on a layup, but misses both his free throws. The rebound goes out of bounds and the Cardinals get another opportunity. Peyton Harrington passes to Nicholas Rayl, who hits a three point shot from the side to cut the Cass City lead to 26-24.

Cass City misfires on a threeball from the wing. Kingston misfires on a threeball from the corner. Cass City reciprocates and misfires on a threeball from the corner. Kingston watches as a threeball from the wing bounces in and out of the basket. Kingston briefly gets the offensive rebound, but Blake Mackowiak steals the ball for the Red Hawks. The Red Hawks miss a driving ten foot shot from the baseline.

Kingston misses a layup. Colin Corlis gets the offensive rebound for the Cardinals. Kingston misses a layup. Tanner James steals the ball and hits a fast break layup for Kingston to tie the game. William Perry passes to Griffin Weiler, who hits a three point shot from the corner to give Cass City a three point lead. Tanner James passes to Nicholas Cummings, who is fouled on a layup and hits two free throws to chop the Cass City lead to 29-28 with 4:15 remaining in quarter number three.

Nicholas Cummings and Colin Corlis double team Cass City and knock the ball out of bounds; the Red Hawks retain possession. Cass City misses a three point shot from the side. Kingston misses a layup. Cass City misses a three pointer from the corner. Preston Dorland gets the offensive rebound for the Red Hawks. Cass City misses a layup. Nicholas Cummings is fouled on a driving layup and hits one of his two free throws for Kingston to tie the game at 29-29 with 3:18 to play in quarter number three.

William Perry drives and hits a reverse layup for Cass City to retake the lead. Kingston throws a pass out of bounds. Nicholas Cummings steals the ball for the Cardinals. Griffin Weiler forces a tieup for the Cardinals. The Possession Arrow is watching a kitten video on You Tube and misses the play; it awards the ball back to Kingston. The Cardinals miss a driving, spinning layup. Kenton Nicholas is fouled on a fast break reverse layup and hits two free throws to give his Red Hawks a 33-29 lead with 1:17 to go in quarter number three.

Nicholas Rayl drives the baseline and is fouled on a layup. He hits one of his two free throws for Kingston. Cass City misses a layup. Nicholas Rayl drives and hits a layup to cut the Red Hawk lead to one point. Cass City misses a three point shot from the side. Kingston misses a buzzer heave.

With three quarters in the books, Cass City has a 33-32 lead.

Cass City inbounds the ball to get the fourth quarter started. The Red Hawks miss a three point shot from the side. Kenton Nicholas grabs the offensive rebound for the Red Hawks and hits a reverse layup. Kingston misses a driving layup. Nicholas Cummings knocks the ball out of bounds; Cass City gets the ball back. Cass City commits an over and back violation. Ryker Wallace gets his hand on the ball and knocks it out of bounds; Kingston retains possession. Peyton Harrington passes to Nicholas Rayl, who hits a three pointer from the side to tie the game at 35-35.

Colin Corlis steals the ball for the Cardinals. Kingston misses a three pointer from the side. Tanner James gets the offensive rebound for the Cardinals. Cass City misses a driving eight foot banked shot. Brody Schefka drives and is fouled on a layup. He hits one of his two free throws to give Cass City a 36-35 lead with 5:23 left in the game.

Kenton Nicholas steals the ball for Cass City. The Red Hawks miss a fast break layup. Nicholas Rayl passes to Peyton Harrington, who hits a layup for Kingston to give the Cardinals a 37-36 lead.

Cass City misfires on a triple try from the side. Kingston throws its outlet pass out of bounds. Peyton Harrington knocks the ball away from Cass City and Nicholas Cummings picks it up for Kingston. Kingston misses a three point shot from the side. William Perry passes to Griffin Weiler, who hits a six foot shot in the lane to give Cass City a 38-37 lead.

Kingston misses a threeball from the wing and fouls on the rebound. Blake Mackowiak passes to William Perry, who hits a jump shot from the free throw elbow to give Cass City a three point lead. Brody Schefka knocks the Cardinal inbound pass out of bounds; Kingston retains possession. Kingston misses a layup. Tanner James steals the ball for Kingston and is fouled on a layup. He hits one of his two free throws to trim the Red Hawk lead to 40-38 with 1:48 left on the clock.

Peyton Harrington hits a putback of the missed free throw for Kingston to tie the game at 40-40.

Cass City commits an offensive foul. Blake Mackowiak knocks the ball away from Kingston and Griffin Weiler picks it up for Cass City. Kenton Nicholas goes in and hits a layup for Cass City, but he was fouled before the play and the layup is negated. Kenton Nicholas hits one of his two free throws to give Cass City a 41-40 lead with 27.9 seconds remaining.

Kingston calls timeout with sixteen seconds left. The Cardinals miss a six foot shot from the baseline. Cass City gets the rebound and calls timeout with one second left. Cass City throws a long pass, that hits a player and causes the final second to run off the clock.

Cass City wins this exciting battle (and the Deford street sign) by the final score of 41-40.

Peyton Harrington had 12 points to lead the Kingston scoring. Nicholas Rayl supported him with nine points, all in the second half and Nicholas Cummings chipped in with 8 points. Tanner James scored 5 points. Colin Corlis and Thijs van Rijn each had 3 points.

Kenton Nicholas had 16 points for Cass City to lead all scorers. Griffin Weiler joined his teammate in double figures with 11 popints. William Perry scored 6 points. Ryker Wallace added 4 points. Blake Mackowiak put in 3 points and Brody Schefka tallied 1 point.