Steighorst Invite starts with Windsor battling Central, Hillsboro vs DeSoto on KJFF

(Hillsboro) The annual Gene Steighorst Invitational gets underway Monday on KJFF with a quarterfinal doubleheader.

It all starts when the seventh-seeded Windsor Owls take on number-two-seed Central of Park Hills.

Windsor is off to a 2-1 start after they went 13-13 last year but is also looking to replace most of its starting lineup.

Owls head coach Ryan McArthy says his team is just trying to get better one game at a time.

Central is 2-0 in the early going with new head coach, although the Rebels are looking to find new faces to fill the void of all-state senior Breven McMullen.

But new head coach Brad Gross thinks that won’t end up being a problem.

In game number two, the host Hillsboro Hawks face their conference rivals, the DeSoto Dragons.

Sixth-seeded DeSoto leans on senior stars Jordan Mertens and Nick Krodinger.

Dragons head coach Zeb Hammond says, for all the scoring they do, his veterans contribute to every part of the game.

Third-seeded Hillsboro has already earned a win over DeSoto, knocking off the Dragons 61-53 in the Raider Round Robin last week in Bonne Terre.

Hawks head coach Dan Johnson says, with so many missing pieces from last year’s conference-title-winning team, his 1-2 squad is still trying to figure things out, particularly on offense.

The winners will face each other Wednesday in the semifinals, while the losers drop into consolation play.

Coverage of the first day of the Steighorst Invitational starts with KJFF Sports Talk live from Hillsboro just after 4 Monday afternoon, followed by the Flieg’s Equipment Pregame Show at 4:45 on AM 1400.