Football
Compared to the last three years 1968 was quite a disappointment to the students and faculty at West Point High. The cadets finished with a record of only seven wins against two defeats. The longest winning streak in the state was snapped at thirty-two, and for the first time since Head Coach Cox had come to West Point, Pender gained a victory.
The season started with a 7-0 win over a tough Tekamah team, and this put the winning streak at 31 games. Next came Hooper-Uehling, and the Cadets played some of their best football of the season to win gong away, 39-0. With the win string at 32, the Cadets traveled to Scribner and came out on the short end by 25-14. The heartbreak of the loss was softened a bit when Scribner went on to capture the Husker Championship, and also by the fact that the Cadets were the only team to score more than two touchdowns against the Trojans.
The Cadets got back on the win track in their Homecoming game against Oakland, 21-7. At the dance afterward, Craig and JoEllyn were the royalty.
The next week brought the disaster at Pender. The score was 7-0, but it was clearly the low point of the season. The season could very well have been shot, but due to a good dose of Cox medicine and the determination of eight seniors to make a come-back, it was saved. The team traveled to Lyons and whipped the highly-touted Lions eleven, 19-0. The next opponent was Wakefield which fell by a 27-0 score. The last home game of the season brought a last-play field goal (the first in twelve years). The last game found the Cadets travelling to Wisner and beating the Bulldogs, 26-7.
The season ended with the Cadets finishing 7-2, second in both the Husker and Cornhusker Conference to Scribner.
Basketball
The 1968-69 basketball season was one of the most successful years that West Point has experienced for a long time. Coach Christensen brought his team to an amazing 15-6 record which included placing high in both conference playoffs and the district tournament. Highlights of the season were the 100 points scored against Oakland, the last second, one-point win over Howells, and the close, but losing, battles against Class B power, Scribner.
Craig, a starting player, will be the only member of the team missing next year as the others are all juniors and sophomores. Craig received honorable mention in the World Herald for Class C and also was a member of the Cornhusker Conference Second Team.
Track
Even lacking the high individual scoring of last year's seniors, the track team came a long way this year. Starting off with only even returning lettermen and no track to practice on, the team really did well.
Out of the seven lettermen, five of them qualified for the State Track Meet in Kearney including seniors: Bill, high and low hurdles; Vernon, 440 and mile relay team; and George, high jump.
Three records fell: one in the mile, one in the 880, and Vernon broke the 1958 record of :52.1 in the 440 with a time of :52.0 at district. Doug set a new record of 10:40.5 in the two-mile run, an event which had not been run before.
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