Over the past few years, the Bancroft-Rosalie/Lyons-Decatur Wolverines have made noise at volleyball, football and basketball games around Nebraska.
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Bancroft-Rosalie and Lyons-Decatur Northeast High Schools will dissolve their "BRLD" sports cooperative following the 2021-22 school year.
A decision was made back in December to split the Bancroft-Rosalie/Lyons-Decatur athletics -- a decision that was made after the Bancroft-Rosalie School Board realized that kids would be better off competing in Class D rather than Class C.
"It was a difficult choice by our Bancroft-Rosalie community. Our board looked at where our kids could compete best and felt going back to Class D was a better opportunity for our students to be successful," Bancroft-Rosalie Superintendent Jon Cerny said. "Enrollment came out and our board realized that we will move up to C1 for girls and boys basketball and volleyball.
They had asked the Lyons-Decatur Northeast board if they would approve the resolution to split up in those sports specifically so would could go back to D1. Their board came back and said we're going to be together in all sports or no sports."
The BRLD cooperative has had plenty of success on the hardwood as the Wolverines boys basketball team won back-to-back Class C2 state championships in 2019 and 2020. They also had a third-place finish in 2018 and 2021 while the girls basketball team took third in 2021.
With all of the winning they had in basketball, there was more that went into the decision than just for volleyball, football and basketball.
The decision has had more positive than negative feedback from the Bancroft-Rosalie community, Cerny said.
“It wasn't just about the sports — Lyons-Decatur Northeast had a shortage of numbers in girls sports, where they would not have been able to have their own teams. At the same time, we also considered academic sharing. After five years, it did not take place. There were several academic programs that we were looking at sharing, and it never happened,” Cerny said. “There was also a feasibility study to look at, either unifying or merging the two school districts, and that never went anywhere, either. It was a combination of all of those things; it wasn't just one issue.”
On the other side, this was something Lyons-Decatur Northeast didn't see coming, officials there said.
“We were surprised. We wanted to continue our athletics with Bancroft-Rosalie,” Lyons-Decatur Northeast Superintendent Fred Hansen said.
This decision affects not just the football and basketball teams, but it also affects other athletics.
In the 2022-23 school year, Bancroft-Rosalie will go back to being the Panthers and in Class D1 while Lyons-Decatur Northeast will return to be the Cougars and compete in either Class D1 or Class D2.