sports7
wingspan • october 28, 2010
Soccer team continues strong conference play
Cheap Seats Reggie Bush gives up Heisman
Sports Editor
n 2005 the University of Southern California’s star running back, Reggie Bush, stood on stage accepting the Heisman Trophy, college football’s most prestigious award. Four years later he gave it back. Bush’s entire life was turned upside down when the NCAA decided to begin an investigation of his Kevin eligibility Robinson to play football during the time he was at USC. After it was decided that he and USC had broken rules, the team’s wins were stripped away; the only thing left to take was the Heisman Trophy. Earlier this fall, Bush finally decided that enough was enough and gave up his award to end the investigation. Was this an admission of guilt? Probably. Should his award have been in question? No. The rules that Bush broke involved taking money for work he didn’t do and receiving other benefits that collegiate players are prohibited from accepting. This, however, doesn’t change the way he dominated the sport in 2005. What he received didn’t affect his ability to play football. Baseball players were breaking records while on steriods, but they remain eligible for the Hall of Fame. So why should something like Bush’s case even be up for debate? He won in the biggest landslide vote in the award’s history, yet the second place finisher, Texas quarterback Vince Young, said he would accept the award if it was offered to him. However, when Bush said he no longer wanted the award, the entire year was vacated, and no one received it, the best thing to do in this situation. If Young had received it, it would have turned the award into a joke. It speaks volumes about Bush’s character that he would give up the most sought-after trophy in football because it was affecting his family. If you want to say “character” is a factor in the award, then perhaps his latest actions need to be examined. Bush will go down in history as one of the greatest college football players of all time — award or no award.
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he men’s varsity soccer players recently found themselves down 2-0 at halftime to conference rival Smoky Mountain without much going in their favor. Then junior Grant Reeves came out in the second half firing and scored a goal to bring the Falcons within striking distance. Minutes later, senior Patrick Miller and junior Daniel Rodriguez each scored a goal to help give the Falcons a 4-3 win. “We got one goal when a Smoky Mountain player hit it off his chest into his own goal. At first we couldn’t help laughing at him, but then we realized the goal counted for us and we were tied. So we got refocused again and put them away,” Reeves said. The Falcons are currently 12-5-4, 10-2-2 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference. Their biggest margin of victory was a 9-1 win over AAC opponent Pisgah. “We knew we were going to beat them, but it was a shock to beat them so badly. Nine goals in soccer never happens, and our JV team did it against Pisgah, too,” Reeves said. With the end of the season looming, the Falcons are making preparations for a run in the state playoffs. “We have been working a lot harder lately. I know that we are even better than we have been playing, and we are still winning. If we can put everything together we will be a force,” Reeves said The team’s biggest win was against conference powerhouse Smoky Mountain. The Falcons beat them in the first meeting 4-3, but tied the second time, 2-2. “We beat them pretty well the first time. They got a lot better since the first game and were playing for revenge against us since we beat them at their home. I hated to tie with them, but it is better than a loss and still keeps us in the hunt for the conference title,” Miller said. Senior leadership has been a catalyst for the Falcons’ success. “We have a lot of seniors that have Record: stepped up this year and they are helping all of us,” Reeves said.
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Golf team eyes another state championship Kiersten Ellsworth Senior Editor
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he defending state champion Lady Falcons, led by indivudal state champion Kayla Sciupider, have their sights set on a repeat performance. Last week the team won the Appalachian Athletic Conference title by more than 100 strokes over secondplace Franklin. Scuipider set the women’s course record, shooting a 66 (6-under par) on the Etowah Valley Country Club course. “So far we’ve won all our matches,” freshman Chandler Danielson said. “Our team goal is to have all of us under par or close to it on a par 35 course so we can shoot under 100 as a team. That’s never been done, so it would be cool. We also want to have all of our scores in the 30s going to state.” Led by four all-conference players, Sciupider, Danielson, freshman Payton Culler and senior Amber Doyle, the team now heads to regionals for their next step toward a state title. “It was great to set a course record and win AAC player of the year. We have a really good team, and I think we can win state again. The freshmen have really stepped up,” Sciupider said. With the exception of Sciupider, the other Lady Falcons are all new to the team, including Danielson, Culler, Doyle, sophomore Lillie Christiano and freshman Stasia McMullen. “Last year I was sad that all the seniors had left, but I was optimistic about all the new talent we would have. The team works well together, and we all get along really well. We’ve actually become friends outside of golf team,” Sciupider said. Danielson had a similar response. “The make up of the team is pretty good. We didn’t all play together at Rugby, but we all played together in the summer league that Kayla’s dad (Coach Dave Scuipider) hosted. We have really good team chemistry, so having new freshmen didn’t Record: really mess with anything,” Danielson said.
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Photo used with permission of LifeTouch
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Kevin Robinson
Servin’ It Up
At a home game against North Henderson, senior Regan Macomson spikes the ball. The Falcons won the match, 3-0.
Volleyball team welcomes new coach Collin Armstrong Feature Writer
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enior Stephanie Watkins put her JV volleyball days behind her as she was pulled up to play varsity in one of the biggest games of her life, the state championship game two years ago. Fighting off her nerves, Watkins’ crucial block against Cardinal Gibbons helped them pull off the state championship win. “I was really nervous,” Watkins, now a senior, said. “We defeated Cardinal Gibbons in five games, and everybody was really excited. It was awesome.” This season is the last opportunity for Watkins to return to Reynolds Coliseum at N.C. State University for a state title game. Last season, the team went to the state championship game, but lost to Cardinal Gibbons. “We have gotten to state the past two years. This would be our third year in a row,” Watkins said. “There is a ton of pressure to get back because people expect us to win all the time. If we don’t, people get upset.” The team lost early games against Enka and Cardinal Gibbons. Since then, they have won 17 of their last 19 matches. This fall the team faced a major change, following Head Coach Jan Stanley’s retirement. Stanley’s daughter,
Tiffany Lowrance, took the position of head coach. “One of our biggest struggles has been our communication and energy level,” Lowrance said. “That is what we have worked on all season. After losing two early games, the main changes I made were showing that I have confidence in them and telling them that they have to have energy and communication to win ballgames.” Watkins played volleyball under Stanley for two years. “Whenever I found out Coach Stanley was leaving, I was distraught because she has been such a wonderful role model and a person I can turn to when I need to talk,” Watkins said, “When I found out that Tiffany was the coach, I was excited because I knew her pretty well and I knew she would be a good coach.” Lowrance is trying to pick up where Stanley left off as head coach. Stanley retired with 30 conference championships, five state titles, two national coach of the year awards and a career record of 698-119. Lowrance is only the second volleyball coach in the school’s history and, unlike Stanley, she has experience playing volleyball. “A lot of people were saying that I need to fill Stanley’s shoes,” Lowrance said. “That’s what I am here to do, but Record: since it’s my mom’s shoes I’m filling, there’s not much pressure.”
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Young tennis team looks forward to next season Meredith Cole Feature Editor
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ith a switch in the coaching staff and many new additions to the team, the Lady Falcons tennis team experienced plenty of change to start off the 2010 season. “The season started out well; we won our first match. As far as the team chemistry goes, we were very close,” senior Rachel Lund said. The team’s lone win came against Smoky Mountain and was the motivation for the team all year. “We knew we could win. We were so close every week, and if we could have just played like we did in our first match, our record would have been much better than it was. We were young, but we didn’t use that as an excuse because we played well — just not as good as we could have,” Lund said. The Lady Falcon tennis team had a large team consisting of a number of underclassmen. There was a total of 22 players on the team, which is double the team’s usual number. With more than half of them being freshmen, the future of West tennis looks promising. After losing four seniors from last year’s team, Chandler Coleman, Jessica Tobin, Amie Cloer and Elizabeth Huntley, every player had to perform at her best. “It was definitely a young team. There were only a few seniors, and there weren’t any juniors at all, but the
younger players stepped up,” Lund said. “ Most of our top six was made up of sophomores, and there are two or three freshmen in it as well.” One of the biggest changes this season was the hiring of two new coaches for the tennis team, Tyrone and Gina Fair. “I think our new coaches were great. Coach Fair really works with us to make us better,” sophomore Heather Waldrop said. “Everything was different from last year; it felt like the team was getting better as the season went on, and they had a lot to do with that.” The team’s final record was 1-14, with the one win coming in the first match of the year. “Our best match so far was when we played Smoky Mountain, which is when we got our first win. It gave us a lot of hope for this season, but it didn’t transfer over to other matches like we had hoped it would,” Lund said. With the season going a little differently as expected, team members have shifted their focus to getting better as a team and improving week to week. “It’s my senior year so it is hard to have it end like this, but I have faith in the girls for next year. I know that if they can take it one step at a time and just focus on improvement, not on winning the match, then they will be much better next season. The younger girls are really talented and the new Record: coaches will help them improve a lot,” Lund said.
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