The Cruiser - Feb 2019

the

CRUISER 2018

VOLUME 54 ISSUE 3

LAFAYETTE HIGH SCHOOL

OXFORD, MS

twitter: @LafCo_Cruiser

COMMODOREPRESS.WORDPRESS.COM

Photo by: @LafCo_Athletics

Girls’ soccer team brings home state championship

BY KYLE TRAYLOR TIMOTHY.TRAYLOR18@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

The girls’ soccer season is over and it ended with them coming out on top as champions. They worked hard for this chance and made the best of it.

The championship game started out with a goal in the 22’ minute by Lucy Wilson, assisted by Lillie Grace. Long Beach striked back with a goal in the 27’ minute. Lucy would not stop scoring and got another one in the 37’ minute, giving the Commodores the lead again at 2-1. Then, she did it again and scored, giving her a hat trick, in the 47’ minute. Katt Moss would strike in the 49’ minute making the lead 4-1. The game would end with a 5-1 score and they would be crowned champions.Their final record was 24-2 and 5-1 in the district.

Coach Scruggs won’t be slowing down and says they will be getting right back into it after a short break.

“The spring starts our next year so, hopefully we can start training and focus on what we need for the season starting next October,” Scruggs said.

Moss feels great being a champion and is still joyful that they are finally at that point. Hard work was a key aspect to becoming champions.

“Honestly it feels really good because you put all the hard work in there this whole entire season and we are finally here,” Moss said.

Teamwork was a huge part of this season and not being selfish is a big part of why this team was

successful this season, according to Caitlyn Rhea.

“I feel like we all put our teammates above ourselves,” Rhea said. “We aren’t selfish at all.”

Rhea believes that if they keep putting the team above themselves then they can get back to being champions again next year.

“Probably just keep putting each other over ourselves. Like our we over me slogan that we had. If we keep with that then we should be fine.”

Moss was in awe and was worried about the big game before they played.

“It was kind of just like in awe basically. You have worked your whole entire season to get to that

point and it’s your last game so you better give it your all. You don’t know when the next you play.”

The girls’ season may be over but that doesn’t stop them from enjoying their accomplishments. The girls hope to have another season like this next year as they push on through the offseason.

FCCLA and FBLA join forces to host first Winter Formal

BY MURPHY SMITH MURPHY.SMITH34@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

On February 8th, FBLA and FCCLA held the first ever Winter Formal in the commons. Students in grades 9-12 got the opportunity to dress up with a date or a group of friends to dance the night away.

Students in both clubs made the decorations, baked the cookies, and decorated the commons. FCCLA sponsor, Mrs. Raspo, loved the support the LHS administration showed the day of the dance.

“I also thought it was awesome to have a team of teachers show up to help Saturday morning with decorating. It was a true LHS

show of family!”

There were 85 tickets sold, and 67 people showed up. Raspo contributes the difference to our Lady Dores playing in the Girls’ State Soccer game that was going on in Jackson the same night.

The only thing Raspo says that could have gone better was the timing.

“When selling tickets, money was tight for students because of Christmas. After the holidays, students were buying/saving up for prom.”

The timing issue will hope-

Page 4 has all the answers to the tax questions you’ve been asking

fully be remedied next year with a Homecoming Dance next fall instead.

The idea for an all-school dance started in the Prom Committee meetings.

The committee wanted to through a Homecoming Dance, but there was not enough time. Raspo agreed to sponsor a dance in the winter or spring and if successful, they would go through with a Homecoming Dance in 2019.

Many students have been requesting a Homecoming Dance for a while, so we’ll see if they’ll put their money where there mouths are in the fall.

Boys’ bowling won a state championship; page 2 has all the details

Shown: Hai Hai Fisher and Calvin Oaks

Tennis season starts soon. Turn to page 3 for a preview

2

/ SPORTS

Lady Dores fall to Olive Branch

BY MEIA VAUGHN

Lafayette girls’ basketball ended their season on Monday night in their home gym, losing to Olive Branch 62-37. The Lady Commodores could not handle the defense that the Conquistadors had.

Olive Branch started the game with a full-court press. They

Shown: Kimaya Dixon

KESHONA.VAUGHN101@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

opened the game with a quick 11-4 lead prior to Lafayette coming back up to tie the game at 11. Despite that, Olive Branch ended the opening quarter 19-11 with a big shot from just inside of half-court. The Conquistadors would go on and lead the Commodores 36-18 at the half.

Both the Commodores and the Conquistadors started to show down after the half. Olive branch went from a full-court press in the first half to a half-court trap in the second. They later changed to a 2-3 zone defense. Without a shot clock in high school basketball, Olive Branch was able to hold the ball a little longer. Lafayette was unable to ever put any pressure on Olive Branch.

The Conquistadors would go on and win the game with a lead of 25 by the final.

Olive Branch put a lot of pressure on the Commodores defensively.

For a team that was averaging 57.8 points per game was held to only 37 points. This was the second low-point game that they have had. Turnovers was also a big part of the game.

Lafayette had over 20 of them . They also made many reckless passes.

These turnovers and passes committed by Lafayette, led to Olive Branch scoring.

Azariah Buford led Lafayette with 16 points and Kimaya Dixon followed with 11.

The Lady Commodores finished their season 27-4, falling one game shy of a return trip to Jackson.

LHS Boys’ Bowling wins state championship

BY ZYA KELLY ZYA.KELLY116@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

Photo via: @bowling_lhs

After the boys’ bowling team walked away from regionals with a win, they moved on to their state bowling meet which took place on Feb. 15.

In the first game of the match, the team was off to a good start. The team as a whole was averaging over 200 a game before the second round. Eighth grader Jacob Robertson bowled a 266 in the first, setting the team up for a great success in the first game.

In the second round of the

match, the team did not bowl as well.

Although Robertson scored a 267 in the second game, coach Kelle Sumrall says the team lost their focus after the first game.

“After the second game I feel like we had to make some minor adjustments, but going into the third game we regrouped and refocused.”

Sumrall says that she never had a doubt that the team would come in at least second place, even after their struggles throughout their second game, as they beat the other

teams in the first game with high enough scores to be able to place second or higher.

As the team went into their third game, they were headstrong and focused, ready to come back from their faults in the second game.

The team came second in total pins, not being able to catch up after the second game.

After the team finished and placed with the first three games, they entered the Baker playoff. In this part of the match they bowled

against Itawamba, who they played in regionals. Lafayette took the first three games of the Playoff round, leaving them with a win in their State Championship bowling match.

Sumrall says winning was not that much of a shock to her.

“I knew we could do it. We have some of the best talent overall in the state of Mississippi as a whole team.”

Baseball prepares for beginning of season

BY KYLE TRAYLOR TIMOTHY.TRAYLOR18@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

Photo via: @LafCo_Baseball

Baseball will start their season back soon. They are in the full swing of practice and are hoping to have a successful season this year.

Last year the baseball team finished with an 11-12 record and 2-7 district record. This year they will be going in with a completely different

look, including astroturf and some nice gold uniforms. They are hoping to go all out and win some important games with their first one on Feb. 16th.

Coach John Walker believes that we can look forward to many wins this year. He wants to be better

than they were last year, and his goal is to compete and try to win a division championship. The team has an opportunity to win state, but Walker knows that a lot goes into getting the title.

“You got to catch some breaks, got to stay healthy, and I think if we are able to do that we can have that kind of success,” Walker said.

The pitching staff is the team’s main strength this year, as they have several guys that work well in high leverage situations. Learning how to score runs will make the team complete.

“I think our defense is much improved from last years team and I think we will be a little better off offensively,” Walker said.

“Taylor Tarvor and Wilson Varner will have to continue to progress and build on the success they had last year. Hunter Coleman and Foster Westbrook are two pitchers that were limited by injures last year that if their 100% healthy will really help the pitching staff as well,” Walker said.

With a large group of seniors and guys that have been improving

in the last 2 years you can look up to them as the big guys on the team this year.

“Ben Harper, Braxton Mccord, Zack Megro, and Will Larson just to name a few,” said Walker.

He has high hopes for Tyrus Williams the Freshman as he takes up an important role in the in team this year.

He will move to shortstop and play a pretty big role in the team. He played most of the the games last year in 8th grade also.

“That’s a pretty important role for a young player but, he is extremely gifted and extremely talented. We are pretty confident and can handle that,” Walker said.

Will Larson will be coming back from his injury last year and will also be playing first base as well.

Other than that there aren’t any big moves.

“Braxton Mccord will move in from the outfield and into second base. That’s the biggest move,” Walker said.

The season is about underway so look forward to seeing what they can pull off this year.

SPORTS \ Coach Swindell reflects on coming tennis season

3

BY ZYA KELLY ZYA.KELLY116@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

Tennis coach Debbie Swindell has been a part of the tennis community since 1985 and the Lafayette Tennis coach for the past 9 years.

As the tennis team prepares for their season, Swindell says the biggest thing that helps her players prepare for the real season is for them to get a lot of court time at practices.

Swindell says there is no better practice than getting out and hitting balls.

Swindell says that as they compete in matches she is always trying to focus on the positives when her players are in a tough match. She says she’s looking for players that have a lot of fight and determination

when they play.

“I’m not only looking for results. Winning is a great result but I’m looking for competitors.”

The team’s practice and determination going into the season has prepared them for their season, the games they have played so far, and the games they will play further into their season.

The tennis team has played in a handful of matches this season, playing against South Pontotoc, Hernando, West Point and Pontotoc, remaining undefeated against all teams.

Shown: Ally Bowen

Lafayette vs. Vicksburg: Lady Dores survive to advance

BY MEIA VAUGHN KESHONA.VAUGHN101@GOCOMMODORES.ORG with 20 points.

Lafayette played an incredible first half. Lafayette started on a 8-0 run in the first quarter and a 6-0 run to begin the second quarter. That start got the Commodores up to 3017 at the half.

After protecting the ball well in the first half, Vicksburg came out of halftime ready to play. They came out shooting threes and making many steals on Lafayette, that cut the lead to six ending the third. The Lady Dores would hold out to beat Vicksburg by four points with a final score of 66-71.

The win improved their record to 27-3 and 8-0 in Division. With the win, Lafayette will advance and host Olive Branch in the third round of the playoffs on Monday.

At 26-3 on the year, they are coming off a 62-45 victory over West Point. Lafayette took the court Friday night in the second round of the Class 5A State Playoffs. After a regional tournament championship win last Friday against West Point, it will be the first home game for the Commodores in over two weeks; when they had their Senior Night.

Lafayette has not lost a game all month and they no longer can afford to lose. The do-or-die playoffs start this Friday and they will play against Vicksburg.

Vicksburg hardly made it into the playoffs. Despite the losses, they appear to be winning when it really counts. At 18-12 on the year, they are coming off a 58-45 victory over Canton in the first round of the playoffs.

The Lafayette Commodores advance to the third round of playoffs Friday night, winning against Vicksburg with a 71-66 win.

Lafayette had a great lead in the game, but lost control late in the third quarter.

Senior Mariah Holland led the team in scoring with 22 points and junior Azariah Buford followed Shown: Azariah Buford, Credit: Commodore Media Group

Girls’ powerlifting places second in regional meet

BY ZYA KELLY ZYA.KELLY116@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

Photo via: Lafayette High School Girls Powerlifting on Facebook

The girls’ powerlifting team had their regional meet January 31st and placed 2nd as a team while having the majority of the girls place in their weight classes.

Addison Johnson, 8th grade,

placed 1st in her weight class, leading with about 400 pounds as her total weight. Damanda Malone, junior, lifted a total of 540 pounds placing second in her weight class. Sontee Lee, sophomore, placed 3rd in her

weight class lifting a total of 475 lbs in the meet. Yazmine Norphlet, junior, placed first in lifting a total of 585 lbs. Kyla Cole, senior, took third place lifting a total of 585. Alicia Harris, senior, lifted a total of 735 pounds

placing first in her weight class. Zya Kelly, sophomore, placed second in her weight class lifting a total of 755 lbs.

The girls that placed at Regionals moved on to the North Half meet March 2nd to determine whether or not they will move on to the Girls Powerlifting State Championship.

Damanda Malone placed 2nd in her weight class lifting a total of 565. Norphlet placed third in the North Half meet, lifting a total of 615 lbs. Kyla Cole placed 2nd lifting a total of 670. Alicia Harris lifted a total of 755 pounds placing 2nd. Zya Kelly, while also infected by the influenza virus at this time, placed second lifting a total of 735.

The girls placing in this meet will move on to the State Championship April 14 in Jackson, MS.

4

/ NEWS

Anchor Club hosts donation drive for new animal shelter

BY KATIE SHOFFNER KAITLIN.SHOFFNER1013@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

After the Oxford Lafayette Humane Society decided to not renew their contract with the city in August of last year, a new shelter was approved only two months later. Mississippi Critterz is a no-kill, nonprofit shelter that was established just last year that aims to improve the lives of homeless animals in LOU community.

Gail Brown, president of the board of directors at the shelter, has been there since the beginning.

Before they even moved into the shelter, MS Critterz took animals in starting June 2018 and put them in foster homes throughout the Oxford-Lafayette community.

“At that time, our goal was to work towards raising funds to build

a shelter,” Brown said, “but then OLHS didn’t renew their contract and we took it.”

Jenn Petermann is a recent addition to the team, as just was only volunteering back in December. Now, she is the shelter director and wants the community to get involved and support them. Spaying and neutering is on the front page, according to her, in order to decrease the number of strays.

“We want to see the no kill shelter move forward,” Petermann said, “and we believe it can be done.”

Petermann says that they welcome any donation drive with open arms, as they need things from basics like Clorox to dog food to office paper. She is grateful to the

Anchor Club for thinking of them and the animals. All donations are appreciated and helpful.

“We would encourage a lot of students to come on out if they want to be involved with the shelter,” Petermann said. “We always love to see volunteers to come help us out.”

Senior Morgan Wethington is president of the Anchor Club and is spearheading the operation.

She came up with the idea because the club volunteered at the animal shelter last year, but she and Mrs. Dempsey, adviser of Anchor Club, decided to do a supply drive to mix things up.

“I volunteered there a few times,” Wethington said, “and that’s been the real reason, because I love

animals.”

The shelter is really in need of various supplies, including dog food, beds, leashes, and blankets. Students had two weeks to bring in the items, as it started Feb. 4th and ran to the 18th.

Wethington had a goal to bring in a lot of items to make the shelter a better place.

“We would love if the entire school would come together as a community and help out the society,” Wethington said.

from paying directly from a savings account or using a debit or credit card.

Now for the important part: the tax bracket system. Depending

is capped at $10,000 but your income is higher than that. That $10,000 would be taxed at a different rate than the money that goes into the next bracket. Any money that you

Money made from selling stocks is considered capital gains and not income, so it is not taxed. Depending on what companies you buy stocks in, the risk can vary. Purchasing stock in a large company like Walmart is relatively low risk as it is already a large and stable company, however the reward is low. The way you make money playing the stock market is by investing in new companies. For example, the people who invested early in Snapchat made a considerable amount because of Snapchat’s quick boom in popularity.

There you have it; all the important bits and pieces you need to know about taxes. While giving away your hard earned guape will never feel very good, it’s unfortunately something you’ll just have to live with. Might as well get in touch with reality now, right?

on your income, the amount you will be taxed will vary. As your income grows, you are placed into a progressive bracket system where filling a bracket moves you into a higher one.

For example, say the first tax bracket

make is considered income, whether it be a quarter you found on the ground or the lucky lottery ticket you bought at a gas station.

The only exception to this rule is purchasing and selling stocks.

Tackling taxes as a teenager

BY SEAN BONEY SEAN.BONEY99@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

Many students often complain about the seemingly useless information teachers cram our brains with every year. A common phrase used among high schoolers is “When will I actually use this in the real world?” Since highschool students are so eager to learn something actually useful, let's talk about taxes.

There are many different kinds of taxes, but the ones that will affect you most as an adult are income taxes, sales tax, and, farther down the line, property tax. They are all pretty self-explanatory. Income taxes are the amount of money the government takes out of your paycheck on a federal and state level, sales tax is the tax on goods bought from any store, and property tax is a tax levied on purchased property.

In the state of Mississippi, property tax is ten percent of what you paid for the property and thirty percent for automobiles. Sales tax is seven percent, but your income tax will vary based off what tax bracket your income puts you in and what state you are currently living in. These taxes can be paid in a variety of ways

Lafayette attends Betacon ‘19 Lafayette High School 160 Commodore Drive Oxford, MS 38655 Phone: 662. 234. 3416 Fax: 662. 234. 3614 Associate Editor Katie Shoffner Editors Sean Boney Zya Kelly Staff Writers Katie Shoffner Sean Boney Zya Kelly Murphy Smith Kyle Traylor Meia Vaughn Adviser Loidha Bautista loidha.bautista@gocommodores.org The Cruiser is distributed free of charge to all students and community members. On average, 800 copies of each issue are printed and distributed.

BY SEAN BONEY SEAN.BONEY99@GOCOMMODORES.ORG

A handful of the BETA members traveled down to Biloxi on February 16th and spent the weekend competing in academic tests at Betacon 2019.

The categories included school subjects such as Math, English, and Science. While LHS competed in every category, they came home champions in Social Studies, as both Nate Leary and Murphy Smith placed first in their respective age categories. This was the first BETA convention for junior Murphy Smith, so claiming first place wasn’t even a thought in her mind going into the test.

“I was surprised. I thought the test was relatively easy, but I didn’t expect to get first having never taken it before,” Smith said.

While this year’s BETA group was relatively small compared to other schools, Mrs. Pugh hopes that next year Lafayette can make a real presence at the conference and come home with even more accolades.

The Cruiser is currently a member of the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association.

The Cruiser reserves the right to refuse to print any ad because of inappropriate content.

Shown: Murphy Smith, Nate Leary Photo credit: Mrs. Pugh

ADS \

5

T HE ANCH R TEACHER: Mr. G

FRESHMAN: Michael Ruiz

SOPHOMORE: Caitlyn Rhea

SENIOR: Eve Kelly

JUNIOR: Amya Buford

Marvel or DC?

Oh, Marvel

DC

Marvel

Marvel

Marvel

Name the original avengers.

Captain America, Thor, Incredible Hulk, Ant-Man, and the Wasp

Hawk-eye, Captain America, Hulk, Thor,and Ironman

No.

Cap, Hulk, Ironman...How many are there?

No.

What’s Superman’s weakness?

Kryptonite

Kryptonite

Kryptonite

Kryptonite

Kryptonite

What was the name of Captain America’s love interest?

Agent Carter

Peggy Carter

I don’t know

Peggy

I don’t know

Who’s your favorite superhero?

Spiderman

The Flash Barry Allen

Spiderman

Captain America

Superman

FEATURED STUDENT ART

Art by: Caitlyn Rhea

If you would like your art work featured in The Cruiser, please contact submit any work to our editor at kaitlin.shoffner1013@gocommodores.org