by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — High school basketball and wrestling season is upon us. For the past couple of weeks the practices have been intense as area coaches determine who is going to start, who isn’t and who will be basketball’s next rising start. At Oxford High School the Wildcats have a unique tradition to Sumner County… “Late Night with the Cats.”

Last Saturday, the Wildcat boys and girls basketball teams hosted their Ninth Annual Late Night with the Cats to kick off basketball season. It is in the tradition of the college basketball Midnight Madness events hosted by teams like KU, K-State and Wichita State. At OHS, the high school version of the tradition was started by Coach Kyle Green in 2005.

OHS senior boys performing their Senior dance with the OHS cheerleaders.

“I was an assistant at Council Grove High School, where the Braves performed Late Show in the Grove each year,” Green said. “I give Council Grove Head Boys coach Bruce Hula a ton of credit. He started Late Show up there and when I came here I brought it with me and tagged it Late Night with the Cats.”

“We do it up as a big deal, we design and sell Late Night T-shirts and make this a big deal. The kids love it.”

This year’s Late Night started off with the alumni game featuring several former Wildcats. The night included interviews from the Late Night desk with Coach Green.

New Oxford head girls basketball coach Rick Totten and new girls assistant Kim Mitchell were the first to take their seat on the Late Night couch. Also interviewed were the parents of senior boys.

Coach Green interviewing new OHS head girls coach Rick Totten and new OHS assistant girls coach Kim Mitchell on the Late Night set.

The night included several skits performed by the members of the OHS boys and girls basketball teams and our cheerleaders. The always popular Mr. Wildcat Competition also took place, with Derek Williams dubbed the winner.

The girls team played a rousing game of Wildcat Feud (Family feud style). The mother vs. senior son hotshot competition was won again by the senior boys, but a few of the mom’s were able to beat their boys this year! The OHS boys defeated the OHS girls in a 3 point shootout, but it was close! The night ended with both teams conducting intra squad scrimmages, giving the crowd their first look at this years Wildcat basketball teams.

“I thought the night went well. It always does and it’s always a lot of fun for the kids,” Green said. “They put a lot of time into putting it on and really get into it. It’s one of those deals that’s fun and breaks up the brutal first week practice schedule.”

He also said it also serves a purpose for us as coaches in that it allows the coaches to evaluate the kids in the scrimmage at the end.

“It’s always good to get those kids playing in front of people before the first game, gets some of those nerves out!

“Next year will be the 10th anniversary of the birth of Late Night and we will try to really go all out next year!”

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