Kearney Youth Basketball Registration Open Through Nov. 15

Registration is open for Kearney Parks & Rec’s youth basketball season, with divisions for students in first through sixth grades. Families have until Sunday, Nov. 15, to register at a cost of $100 per player.

Regular registration began Oct. 5. The program runs from Nov. 30, 2026, through Feb. 20, 2027, with separate divisions for first and second grades, third and fourth grades, and fifth and sixth grades.

Games will be played on Saturdays at Hawthorne Elementary School beginning after the Kearney School District’s winter break. Practices are tentatively scheduled to begin in early December, depending on registration numbers.

Teams will practice on weekday evenings at various Kearney elementary schools. Practice schedules will depend on gym and coach availability and may include Wednesdays.

All teams are coed, and players will be assigned randomly by computer. Each player may request one buddy as a teammate, but both players must request each other for the pairing to be honored. No team transfers will be granted.

Players can register for youth basketball at KearneyParks.com.

KPGZ News – Brian Watts contributed to this story.

Kearney Falls to Smithville Despite Strong Lueken Performance

Kearney out-hits Smithville 6-5, but the Warriors hold on for a 3-1 win

Reghan Lueken struck out 12 Warriors, and didn't walk a single batter. Photo: KAle Davis, BackRoads Designs.

Sometimes you do almost everything right and still come up short. That was the story Saturday, October 17, as the Kearney Bulldogs dropped a tough 3-1 decision to the Smithville Warriors despite one of the best all-around performances  from pitcher Reghan Lueken.

Lueken was simply dealing in the circle. She went the full seven innings, struck out 12 Warriors, and didn't walk a single batter. She gave up just five hits and three runs all day, which during most games is more than enough to get a win.

Smithville got on the board first in the top of the first inning. A passed ball allowed a run to score, giving the Warriors an early 1-0 lead.

Kearney's bats finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth, and fittingly, it was Lueken who did it herself. The cleanup hitter launched a solo home run to center field to put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard and fired up the home crowd.

Reese narron. Photo: KAle Davis, BackRoads Designs.

Smithville answered right back in the top of the seventh. Marleigh McDonald hit a solo shot to right field to add an insurance run, and the Bulldogs couldn't put together a rally in their final at-bats.

Kearney out-hit Smithville six to five. Reese Narron led the way with two hits, and Lueken went 1-for-3 with the team's only RBI.

It stings to lose a game like this, especially with Lueken putting the team on her back in the circle and at the plate. But if the Bulldogs keep getting pitchers like Reghan Lueken and keep making solid contact like Reese Narron, Ellie Switzer, and Kate Stumpenhaus, the wins are will keep coming.

Bulldogs Softball. Photo: KAle Davis, BackRoads Designs.

The Bulldogs finish their season at 21-11. An amazing season for some amazing players.

KPGZ News – Brian Watts contributed to this story.

Bulldogs Kickoff Senior Night with 44 Unanswered Points

Kale Tucking scored three touchdowns on two punt returns and a kickoff return. Photo: Kale Davis, Backroads Designs.

The Kearney Bulldogs (8-0) scored 44 points in the first quarter, in a lopsided 58-8 victory over the Grandview Bulldogs (3-5).

Kearney senior Kale Tucking scored twice early in the first quarter, returning back-to-back 65- and 45-yard punts for touchdowns, tying the Missouri state record for single game punt returns for touchdown.

Tucking’s two punt returns for touchdown tied former Kearney Bulldog and Mizzou safety, Tommy Saunders’ record from 2003.

Kearney’s Cruise Emmons hauled in a Carter Temple pass and ran eight yards to the endzone for six points. Landon Carkeek was a perfect 8-for-8 on point after kicks.

Kearney senior quarterback Carter Temple tucked the ball and easily slipped past the Grandview defense 26 yards for his first touchdown of the night. His second was through the air, dropping a lofted spiral directly into the hands of Luke Denston, with no defenders in sight, for the 34-yard catch and score.

Grandview was backed inside their 1-yard line with 1:12 to play in the first quarter. Kearney’s defense forced a safety, and the resulting kickoff was returned 60 yards by Kale Tucking for his third touchdown in Kearney’s 44-0 opening quarter.

Kearney Head Coach Logan Minnick pulled the starters, giving two second-team seniors opportunities to make big plays on Senior Night.

“I've never coached in a game where the same kid ran three kicks back,” said Minnick. “I’m so proud of the kids’ effort tonight, and so cool for our seniors to be honored.”

“This has been a special senior class here. And to get so many seniors in the end zone, with two punt returns and a kick return was awesome. Atlas Owen with a big pick six, excited for him and then we got Graham Davis in the end zone there as well,” Minnick added.

Senior Graham Davis scored on an 8-yard touchdown run, completing a clock-controlling drive by the second unit offense. “Coach Minnick was looking down the sideline (at practice) and he said, ‘Graham Davis, you want to score a touchdown this week?’ and I was like, oh yeah, you know it,” Davis said.

Atlas Owen heard the home crowd roar as he returned a 72-yard interception for a touchdown. “I saw the quarterback throw, and I’m thinking, I gotta get that,” Owen said. “So I just watched (the ball) into my hands, catch it, start running, and I'm just hoping no one catches me. It was amazing, that's gonna keep playing and playing the rest of my life.”

Grandview’s last-minute touchdown and 2-point conversion will remain a footnote in the minds of Kearney’s junior varsity defense, some of whom are seniors, still contributing, always learning, and stacking up unfinished memories of a Kearney Bulldog football season that is far from over.

Kearney will play their last regular season game next week at Ruskin (2-6) on Thursday, October 22.

KPGZ News – Mike Davis contributed to this story.

Halloween Blast returns to downtown Kearney Oct. 30

Costumed trick-or-treaters will take over Downtown Kearney later this month when the annual Halloween Blast returns Friday, Oct. 30.

The Kearney Enrichment Council is hosting the event and is inviting families, neighborhood trick-or-treaters and area organizations to join in.

The free event runs from 4 to 6 p.m. and is open to the public. Families can make the rounds of downtown storefronts, stop by decorated trunks handing out candy and enjoy entertainment along the way.

The Halloween Blast began as a downtown business trick-or-treat started by local citizens, community activists and UPS Store owners Bob and Sharon Tate. Since then, it has grown into a citywide fall celebration that many in town look forward to each year.

The Kearney Enrichment Council now carries on that tradition, bringing downtown storefronts together with local businesses, civic groups, neighborhood organizations and individual families from across the community.

Along with traditional storefront trick-or-treating, organizers are encouraging businesses outside downtown, civic groups and residents of neighborhoods that don't see much foot traffic on Halloween to get involved by registering a decorated trunk space to hand out candy.

To sign up for a trunk space, review event guidelines or learn more about the Kearney Enrichment Council, visit www.kearneyenrichmentcouncil.org/halloween-blast.

KPGZ News – Brian Watts contributed to this story.

Slow-Speed Chase Through Kearney Ends in Felony DWI Arrest

A Kansas City man is facing a felony DWI charge after leading Kearney police on a slow-moving chase down 92 Highway this afternoon, a pursuit that ended only when his car broke down in the middle of an intersection.

It started with a call from a concerned community member. Kearney Police were sent to the area of 92 Highway and Nation Road on a report of a dangerous driver in an orange Dodge Charger. According to police, the car had been swerving across the road and had already gone off the roadway and hit a tree.

An officer caught up with the Charger near 92 Highway and North Country Avenue, just in time to see the driver run a red light and nearly hit another vehicle. The officer tried to pull the car over, but the driver kept going.

What followed was hardly a high-speed chase. Police say the driver continued east on 92 Highway through town at about 30 miles per hour, still weaving from one side of the road to the other. The pursuit came to an end when the Charger became disabled and rolled to a stop in the intersection of 92 Highway and Platte Clay Way, near Sonic.

With help from a Clay County Sheriff's Office traffic deputy, officers safely took the driver into custody.

Because he has two previous DWI convictions, he was arrested for felony DWI as a persistent offender. He also faces charges of resisting arrest and careless driving, along with several other traffic violations. His name has not been released.

Kearney Police credited the person who called in the report, saying the tip helped officers get another impaired driver off the road.

KPGZ News – Brian Watts contributed to this story.