2b
• March 3, 2016 • Oceana’s Herald-Journal
Undermanned ‘Cats fall to Manistee Catholic By Andy Roberts Herald-Journal Writer
WALKERVILLE — Down to six players after a rash of injury and ineligibility hit the team in February, Walkerville’s boys basketball team is playing hard. Winning with six, though, is just plain hard. The Wildcats fell to Manistee Catholic Tuesday in their West Michigan D League finale, 6551, running out of gas late due to their short bench. Walkerville has lost several players to ineligibility this season, and guard Perrin Kirwin is out for the year with various leg injuries. “Playing with six guys is tough,” Walkerville coach Lee Oomen said. “We’ve had different rotations the last month. It’s hard to get used to. The guys played hard tonight. “We have to knock down some shots. I don’t know what we shot, probably 25 percent again. You won’t win many shooting like that.” A spurt of Sabers’ threepointers late in the third quarter and into the fourth sparked an 11-0 run and sent Catholic into a 51-37 lead. Walkerville battled back to get within five with 2:33 to go after Adrian Haligus hit the last of his three treys in the game, but the Sabers easily got to the rim the remainder of the game, in part due to the Wildcats’ lack of depth. “We had a good spurt there, but their threes at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth really killed us,” Oomen said. “I think they knocked down three of them in three trips.” Jared Talsma carried the load offensively for Walkerville, scoring 17 points, and Carson Chase added 12. Haligus and Carl Tanner each put in nine points. However, the Sabers’ duo of Chad Robke and Justin Feliczak were tough to deal with, and Robke scored 27 points
Andy Roberts • Oceana’s Herald-Journal
Above, Walkerville’s Jared Talsma (left) tries to get a shot past the defense of Manistee Catholic’s Austin Vanaelst during Tuesday’s game at Walkerville. Below, the Wildcats’ Kendall Sibley (left) has his shot blocked by Catholic’s Justin Feliczak. The Sabers won the game, 65-51.
while Feliczak compiled 23. The two also combined to hit all seven of Catholic’s triples in the game. “They beat us inside last time,” Oomen said of the Sabers’ first win over Walkerville. “They moved the ball better than they did last time. I think we got a little burned out in the second half.” Oomen said he was pleased with the six varsity players he has left after attrition hit the team. The Wildcats will be able to bring up JV players for the district tournament next week, although only six players remain on that team as well, so the options won’t be plentiful. “The guys I have left on
MANISTEE CATHOLIC (65) Feliczak 7 3-7 23, B. Robke 0 2-2 2, C. Robke 11 2-2 27, Deising 1 0-0 , Slivka 0 1-4 1, Vanaelst 4 2-3 10. Totals 24 10-18 65. WALKERVILLE (51) Sibley 2 0-1 4, Haligus 3 0-0 9, Talsma 6 3-4 17, Chase 5 2-2 12, Tanner 3 3-5 9. Totals 19 8-12 51. Manistee Cath..... 8 15 17 25 — 65 Walkerville.......12 8 15 16 — 51 Three-point goals — Manistee Catholic 7 (Feliczak 4, C. Robke 3), Walkerville 5 (Haligus 3, Talsma 2). Total fouls — Manistee Catholic 15, Walkerville 13.
By Andy Roberts Herald-Journal Writer
SHELBY (47) Peters 2 0-0 4, Sillman 2 0-0 4, Smith 2 0-1 4, O. Mussell 1 2-2 4, Beckman 5 13-14 23, Fortier 2 0-0 4, James 0 1-2 1, Love 1 1-4 3. Totals 15 17-23 47. HOLTON (25) Hutchison 2 0-0 5, Younts 0 3-4 3, Baker 0 0-2 0, Taylor 0 1-2 1, Cressman 4 0-0 12, Slater 1 2-4 4. Totals 7 6-12 25. Shelby....11 12 7 17 — 47 Holton.... 6 1 8 10 — 25 Three-point goals — Holton 5 (Cressman 4, Hutchison). Total fouls — Shelby 12, Holton 19. Fouled out — Taylor.
David Bossick • Shoreline Media
Above, Shelby’s McKenna Peters goes up for a layup against Holton’s Savannah Cressman during a pre-district game Monday at Mason County Central. Below, Hesperia’s Zoe Bancroft is defended by Montague’s Hannah Smith near half-court while the Wildcats’ Courteney Lohman keeps a close eye on the play. Shelby defeated Holton 47-25, but Hesperia fell 64-13.
Montague 64, Hesperia 13
SCOTTVILLE — Hesperia ended its season Monday night with a 64-13 loss to Montague in pre-district action. The Panthers were shut out in the first quarter and trailed 39-8 at halftime. Freshman Allison Bayle paced Hesperia (1-20) with seven points, and Mandy Purdy added five points. Purdy had four rebounds and concluded her season with a total of 115 boards to lead the team. Montague had all 13 players reach the score book, led by Claudia Rumsey with nine
points. HESPERIA (13) Witte 0 1-2 1, Purdy 2 1-1 5, Bayle 1 5-7 7. Totals 3 7-10 13. MONTAGUE (64) Bobian 0 0-1 0, Christmas 2 0-0 4, Meacham 3 1-3 7, Smith 1 6-8 8, C. Lohman 4 0-3 8, Rumsey 4 1-2 9, Jancek 2 0-0
• Photo courtesy of Aquinas College
Hesperia senior track star Nate McKeown, pictured with parents Mark and Amy, recently signed a letter of intent to continue his career at NAIA Aquinas College. McKeown won Hesperia’s first individual state title in boys track last June in the high jump and took second in 2014. He also finished fifth in the long jump last season. “I really like Aquinas’ strong background in the science departments and I really like how successful Aquinas’ track and field program has been,” McKeown told Aquinas. “I also like that they are a Christian-based college with followers of Jesus all over campus.” McKeown plans to major in pre-dentistry.
the team are there every day,” Oomen said. “They practice hard, they’re dedicated. We’re struggling for numbers. Hopefully it will get better next year.”
Shelby advances, Hesperia bounced in pre-districts SCOTTVILLE — Shelby sophomore Jenny Beckman nearly outscored Holton by herself Monday night, carrying the Tigers to a 47-25 predistrict victory over the Holton Red Devils. Beckman scored 23 points herself, relentlessly getting to the free throw line. She was 13-of-14 from the charity stripe. Beckman also tied with Brooke James and Jaelyn Love for the team lead in rebounds, with five. Five other Tigers had four points each. Tori Mussell passed out two assists for Shelby, and McKenna Peters and Jaren Smith each recorded three assists. Savannah Cressman had 12 points for Holton, all on threepointers. The Red Devils, stifled by Shelby’s tough defense, shot only 15 percent from the floor and were 3-of-40 inside the three-point line. Shelby advanced to face Mason County Central Wednesday in the district semifinals.
Panthers’ McKeown signs on for Aquinas track
4, M. Lohman 3 0-0 6, Pineda 1 0-0 2, Bentz 2 0-0 5, Flagstead 1 0-0 2, Rupert 3 1-2 7, Jager 1 0-0 2. Totals 27 9-16 64. Hesperia.... 0 8 2 3 — 13 Montague....16 23 16 9 — 64 Three-point goals — Montague 1 (Bentz). Total fouls — Hesperia 14, Montague 13. Technical fouls — Montague bench.
Andy Roberts • Oceana’s Herald-Journal
Hesperia’s Triston Rubin (left) works against Springport’s Luke Overweg during a 215-pound bout at Friday’s quarterfinal match at Central Michigan University. Rubin lost a tough match to Overweg, 6-4, and Springport won 32-30.
Panthers at CMU “I thought Josh wrestled very hard against him.” Still, Hesperia appeared in good shape when Connor Baird, the coach’s son, recorded a first-period pin against Trenton Grady at 103. “They had a senior in there and senior versus freshman doesn’t always work out well, but Connor took the match,” coach Baird said. “Being able to coach my own son is pretty special. I’m proud of what he’s done for our program this year, cutting quite a bit of weight to get to 103, and he did what we asked.” After dropping a match by pin at 112, the Panthers built a 24-15 lead, the largest for either team in the match, with a Kurtis Stitt pin of Abby Adams and a gutsy 5-3 win by Davian Gowens over Tyler Teague. The latter was a matchup of #1 (Gowens) vs. #5 at 125. Springport took the next three bouts, though, and scored bonus points in each of them to jump ahead 29-24, leading to the exciting finish. The loss ended the team wrestling careers of Hesperia’s four seniors: Workman, Ehrke, Gowens and Eaves. All four will wrestle at the individual state finals. The other 10 Panthers to wrestle Friday, Baird pointed out, were all underclassmen. “I don’t think that’s the last you’ll see of this group of guys,” Baird said. “This will only make them hungrier. I look forward to the young group we have coming. They are tremendously talented. “It’s not the way our seniors wanted to go out, but they went out at the state meet. There’s something to be said there. Not getting to state last year, and now here we are right in the thick of it. I couldn’t be more pleased with our Panthers.” The coach added that he was pleased with the support of the Panthers’ fan section, which
from Page 1b
Andy Roberts • Oceana’s Herald-Journal
Above, Hesperia coach Doug Baird (left) congratulates son Connor after Connor won a 103-pound bout by pin at Friday’s quarterfinal match. Below, the Panthers’ Davian Gowens (right) looks at the clock while battling Springport’s Tyler Teague in a 125-pound bout. Gowens beat Teague 5-3. At bottom, Hesperia wrestlers enter the arena during the March of Champions prior to the match.
was the largest of all eight Division 4 schools competing in the quarterfinals. “Our folks at home care about us a whole lot,” Baird said. “We brought a bunch of fans over and we had some diehard wrestling people. They’re certainly proud of where we’re at. Everybody would like to
take a few steps further. “We’re going to try to keep taking it to the next level. I think we have the underclassmen to make that happen. We just need to get a few more guys out of the hallway and keep growing as a wrestling family.”