Reed City

from 2020 Pioneer Football & Volleyball Preview

Evart

Reed City football hopes to be title contenders

By John Raffel affel@pionee g oup.com

REED CITY – Scott Shankel coached Reed City in his debut season last year and hopes to help the Coyotes have winning success.

“We finished with a 6-4 record in 2019, making it into the playoffs for the 10th straight year, before losing to Kingsley in the first round,” Shankel said. “We finished second in the CSAA Gold Division. We had a good season with lots of newcomers stepping into some big roles. Overall the team played really hard and gave tons of effort on the field.

“Some key athletes that we lost to graduation are: Austin Fowler, Jeffery Samuels, Auston Major-Kailing, Austin Whitehead, and Darrin Halladay. Each one of them had a role on the team and preferred to their best day in and day out.”

There’s three third-year players with seniors Payton Hansen at running back-linebacker and second-year

REED CITY – Veteran Reed City volleyball coach Don Patterson returns and will need to replace several standouts from last year.

Alison Duddles, Mckenzie Wein, Madelynn Morgan and Madalynn Brown graduated from last year.

“Alison and Madalyn Brown were four-year varsity players and provided a steady influence on our program that will be missed,” Patterson said.

Payton Hansen hopes to have another huge season for Reed City football. (Pioneer file photo)

seniors with Noah Jones and Landon Tomaski (running back/defensive back), Alex Wirgau at running back and linebacker; Teddy Cross on the lineup and Chaz Davis at offensive line/outside linebacker. “Madelynn Morgan was a fearless defender and had worked very hard to become an outstanding libero. Mckenzie was a two-year varsity player who improved each year and was named to the first team all conference team her senior year.

“Returning varsity players are KateLynn Holmes, Demi Lodholtz, Makena Hill, and Rylie Olds. We will rely on KateLynn, Demi and Makena to provide the bulk of our experience and offense, while Rylie will provide the steady leadership from her setter po

“All of the seniors have a ton of experience of playing and I am looking forward to them making big contributions to the team's efforts this season,” Shankel said.

Key juniors in their second sition. This team has a chance to develop into a very good team, and we should have a very good mix of offense and defense.”

Patterson indicated it will be a very deep team.

“We will need to develop our strengths on the defensive side of the ball as the season progresses,” Patterson said, adding the CSAA Gold “could be very tight this year. Many schools graduated some very talented athletes and it will be interesting to see which underclassmen step up.” varsity year are Isaac Williams (QB/DB), Dylan Schebil (OL/ DL), and Blake Vanalstine (OL/DL), plus sophomore Seth Jackson (WR/DB).

“My expectations for the team this season is to compete for a conference championship and make a run in the playoffs,” Shankel said. “I want the team's effort to be top notch and to never quit on and off the field.”

The team needs to work on learning the systems “with the shortened summer due to COVID,” Shankel said. “We had a great summer with all the restrictions, but still had to trim back a ton of stuff from a normal summer. The good thing is most of the players are familiar with the both sides of the ball and they will be back to speed in no time. Playing fast at a high level will be another point of emphasis this season.

“We have had a busy summer following all of the MHSAA guidelines for COVID. It was a challenge at first but the players got used to the screenings and the social distancing as the summer went on. We will continue to follow the guidelines our best, to help assure that we can start and finish the season without any

Reed City volleyball team will eye improvement

By John Raffel affel@pionee g oup.com

interruptions.”

Demi Lodholtz is a key returning player for Reed City volleyball.

Dr. Julie Hanson, Optometrist

140 North Pine St. • Evart, MI 231-734-6218 142 West Upton Ave • Reed City, MI 231-832-3218

gary b. bailey, sr. • broker/owner 780 S Chestnut St, Reed City, MI Reed City • 231-832-8322 230 W. Shaw Suite B Howard City • 231-937-2182 www.crrmi.com • gary@crrmi.com