Ames, Coach Schnoes reach milestones

SHEFFIELD – West Fork long-time head coach Frank Schnoes knew that his senior shooting guard Kayden Ames was approaching career point No. 1,000, however, he was unaware that he would reach career win No. 600 on the same night.

The duo each achieved exclusive clubs in an 80-34 drubbing of St. Ansgar in the Class 1A District 4 quarterfinal at West Fork High School on Monday, Feb. 15.

Ames became only the fourth Warhawk to join the 1,000-point club while Schnoes is the 19th coach to achieve 600 career wins in Iowa history.

In typical Schnoes fashion, he deflected all of the honors toward Ames, who nearly got the watermark point on a fantastic full-court heave that was ruled just after the halftime buzzer.

“I knew it was in the neighborhood,” Schnoes said of his mark. “I thought we had to probably get to state. I kept tabs on Kayden this last month. I was just praying that he wouldn’t get hurt or something and miss his last month. You never know in tournaments how many games you are going to get. I was hoping he would get it regular season, but we didn’t play St. Ansgar (a second time) so we were short one game. It was more of a challenge.

“He is so deserving. I tell you what, in three years: A lot of them get 1,000 points over a four-year period, but Kayden only played three years. He played JV and broke his hand about three games into the season (his freshman year) and missed the rest of the year.”

Grabbing a rebound off of a miss on the other end of the court as time expired in the first half, Ames hurled the basketball toward the hoop and to everyone’s astonishment, it went in, but all three referees had waved it off with the buzzer sounding before he could release the ball.

“I just threw it up,” Ames said. “I didn’t plan on making it, it just went in. That would have been really cool.”

Schnoes added, “That was nuts. It was pretty darn close (to the buzzer), too. I asked the referees if they could go to the monitor and check. I was looking to see if it would escape the ceiling – it was that close.”

Instead, Ames got a layup in the third quarter to bring him within one and then splashed a three-pointer from the left side of the court with a little more than three minutes to play in the third quarter.

He joins Seth Tuttle, Peyton Plagge and Zach Martinek in the Warhawk most exclusive club of 1,000-point scorers.

“That’s really cool,” Ames said. “Growing up, watching Seth and Peyton at state and all of that. I always looked up to those guys, to be in the conversation is really cool. And then, Zach, I was friends and teammates with him my sophomore year. I always worked out with him. He taught me a lot. It is cool to be in the same conversation with those guys.”

Finishing the night with 25 points and the milestone firmly in hand, Schnoes took Ames out with 6:01 remaining in the contest and a continuous clock about to start. He could be seen taking a moment to talk with the senior starter.

“I just congratulated him and said, ‘thank you,’” Schnoes said. “It was an honor to have him do that and to do it in three years is quite an accomplishment. Says quite a bit.”

And both relish the fact that they will share the same game as a milestone.

“That’s really cool,” Ames said. “He’s been here the whole time and if it weren’t for him, this (milestone) wouldn’t have happened. It’s memorable for both of us when you look at it.”

Schnoes added, “I will always remember when I got my 600th was when Kayden got his 1000th point so it will be easy to remember. He’s in good company.”

West Fork 80

St. Ansgar 34

St. Ansgar (5-17, final) — Carter Salz 0 0-0 0, Justin Horgen 0 0-0 0, Brady Patterson 0 0-0 0, Ryan Cole 5 0-0 10, Griffin Carlson 0 0-0 0, Ryan Hackbart 0 0-0 0, Hunter Hillman 0 0-0 0, Taylor Hillman 3 2-4 8, Carson Sparrow 0 0-0 0, Kasey Hemann 0 0-0 0, Erick Gonzalez 0 0-0 0, Braden Powers 4 1-1 9, Will Knowlton 1 0-0 3, Logan Rysavy 0 0-0 0, Jex Schutjer 2 0-0 4. Totals 15 3-5 34.

West Fork (18-3)— Cail Weaver 5-7 0-0 11, Kayden Ames 9-17 2-2 25, Jakob Washington 4-9 3-4 11, Ren Heimer 3-5 0-0 7, Joe Ingham 5-8 1-2 11, Noah Maske 0-3 0-0 0, Colin Martinek 2-5 0-0 4, Cayde Eberling 1-1 0-0 2, Nate Hubka 1-2 0-0 2, Edison Caspers 1-2 1-2 3, Jason Meier 1-2 0-1 2, Casyn Guerrero 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Black 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 33-64 7-11 80.

St. Ansgar   4   16   11     3      -   34

W. Fork      15   26   20   19      -   80

Three-point goals— SA 1 (Knowlton); WF 7-19 (Ames 5-11, Heimer 1-1, Weaver 1-2, Washington 0-1, Maske 0-1, Meier 0-1, Black 0-2). Rebounds— SA, NA; WF 34 (Ingham 10, Ames 5, Weaver 4, Washington 4, Black 3, Heimer 2, Martinek 2, Maske, Hubka, Caspers, Meier). Assists— SA, NA; WF 21 (Weaver 7, Maske 4, Washington 3, Ames 2, Ingham 2, Heimer, Meier, Guerrero). Steals— SA, NA; WF 15 (Ames 3, Washington 3, Weaver 2, Heimer 2, Maske, Martinek, Eberling, Meier, Guerrero).Blocks— SA, NA; WF 5 (Caspers 2, Heimer, Ingham, Martinek). Total fouls— SA 7, WF 7. Fouled out— None.