AUBURN – The Auburn Bulldogs' first-round game in the state basketball tournament Wednesday brought out fans like Pete Parker to the movie theater.

Parker: “I’ve followed them all year and several years. I normally would go up to the state tournament, but decided to stay home today and come down to the theater and watch it.”

Parker said he also enjoys the theater atmosphere for watching Husker football games.

Parker: “I think it’s awesome that they do this, you know. It really gets people together. At the Husker games they have cheers and they give away prizes and stuff. It’s really a cool deal.”

Theater manager Carla Mason said the theater was donated to the school in 2011 and is holding fundraisers now trying to survive the pandemic.

 

 

The 93-year-old theater was closed by health mandate from March to June. It re-opened temporarily in June, but closed again by the surge in COVID-19 cases in November.

Mason: “When we are showing movies, of course, we have to adhere to our movie schedule, so that kind of hinders what we call alternative content. This works out well today because we’re not showing movies and we obviously want to support our Bulldogs.”

It was Romana Biesterfeld’s first time watching games at the theater.

 

Biesterfeld: “I liked it. It was nice. I was very impressed with the way it played out. I could understand what was going on. I could actually see the size of the people.

Mason said the theater is anxious for a return to the full-release of movies, but is happy to take part in Auburn’s state championship runs.

Mason: “When we can we like to show Auburn sports and the area sports. Last year we showed the basketball championships. If you recall, they limited the audience in Lincoln last year to immediate family only.”

At Wednesday afternoon's showing, the Bulldogs raised applause and cheers among a crowd of 50 as they dominated the big screen with a victory over the Pierce Blue Jays.

Watch the Bulldogs on Friday at 9:00 a.m. CST when they take on Concordia in the Class C-1 semifinals. News Channel Nebraska will have all 12 semifinals on television. You can also stream the action through NFHSNetwork.com (subscription required).