Dorchester Times: Lady Longhorns Featured In Journal Star

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Lady Longhorns Featured In Journal Star

Today's edition of the Lincoln Journal Star recognizes the surging Lady Longhorns basketball team, currently ranked No. 4 in the Nebraska School Activities Association Class D1 point standings and by the Omaha World-Herald. The Journal Star ranks Dorchester at No. 9.

In his article, longtime LJS reporter and girls' ratings guru Ron Powell writes: "Until Tuesday, Dorchester’s Molly Pracheil had never shot free throws late with the game on the line. The once-in-lifetime occurrence happened twice to Pracheil in the Longhorns’ 55-54 overtime girls basketball win at Friend. The 5-foot-8 senior hit one of two foul shots with two seconds left to send the game to overtime. With four seconds remaining in the extra session, Pracheil sank two free throws for the win to improve Dorchester’s record to 8-1."

Molly, who finished the game against Friend with 11 points, told the Journal Star: "It was pretty nerve-racking knowing if I didn’t hit at least one of the two, it would be over."

Powell's article continues: "Pracheil’s late free throws climaxed a Dorchester comeback that wiped out a 16-point first-quarter deficit, according to coach Steve Fusco. With an experienced team that includes four returning starters and five seniors, the Longhorns have learned how to handle those challenges. 'No matter what the score is, they keep playing hard because you never know what can happen,' Fusco said. 'In the game we lost to (Class D1's third-ranked) Deshler (66-60), we were down by 14, cut it to three in the fourth quarter and just ran of out gas at the end. These girls don’t quit.'"

Powell noted that the five seniors and four juniors on the Dorchester roster have played together since grade school, and "the chemistry that familiarity has produced sparks a balanced attack."

"Five players average between eight and 10 points per game. Karmen Lawver averages 10 points per contest, while Pracheil, Amy Havlat and Charity Springer score nine an outing. Last year’s leading scorer, Wendy Boller, averages 8.1 points, but she had 19 Tuesday against Friend.

Boller told the Journal Star that the team's goal this season is to qualify for the state tournament, something the DHS girls have done only once before (in 2004).

“We’ve played together so long and that’s always been our ultimate goal, to get to Lincoln,’’ Boller said. “We’re willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen.’’

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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."