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www.cadillacnews.com | wednesday, january 14, 2015

Evart girls
beat Manton
cadillac news

kathleen vanalst | for the cadillac news

Cadillac senior Marissa VanAlst competes in a Big North Conference meet Tuesday at Caberfae Peaks.

Cadillac 2nd, 4th at BNC meet

and Kurtzman 16th at 46.11.

Cooper took second in
slalom at 43.38 seconds
CADILLAC With all
the pieces back together, it while Houk was fourth at
was a solid day on the hill. 44.25. Cataldo took 13th at
47.68 and Kurtzman was
Cadillac opened Big
North Conference ski com- 16th at 49.19.
Traverse City West won
petition by hosting the first
the girls' race with 52
league meet Tuesday at
points while Petoskey was
Caberfae Peaks.
second at 67, TC Central
Traverse City Central
third at 72, Cadillac fourth
took first on the boys' side
at 105 and Gaylord fifth at
with 53 points while the
Vikings were second at 68, 201.
"The girls were led by
Petoskey third at 73 and
a strong performance by
Traverse City West fourth
Marissa (VanAlst) in both
at 115.
events," Host said. "Abby
"We went a full strength
(Divozzo) had a very nice
today and both teams had
GS result, too.
good results," Cadillac
"Overall, we are very
coach Joe Host said.
happy with today's re"The boys were lead by
sults."
Nate (Houk) and Keenan
VanAlst took sixth in sla(Cooper) with very solid
lom at 48.34 seconds while
performances.
"Both Dominic (Cataldo) Paige Sharp was 19th at
and Paul (Kurtzman) came 55.15. Jessica Netzley took
20th at 55.50 and Katie Canthrough with good results
to help push us into second field was 21st at 56.68.
VanAlst took first in
place."
kathleen vanalst | for the cadillac news
GS at 45.23 seconds while
In giant slalom, Cooper
Cadillac senior Keenan Cooper competes in a Big North
Divozzo was third at 45.71, Conference meet Tuesday at Caberfae Peaks.
took first in 43.25 seconds,
Canfield 14th at 46.99 and
Houk seventh in 44.47 secCadillac hosts an invitational on Jan. 22.
onds, Cataldo ninth at 44.87 Netzley 21st at 48.31.
cadillac news

Pine River storms back to beat St. Francis

struggles shooting from the Glads,
the Bucks kept things reasonably
close, trailing just 15-10 after the
TRAVERSE CITY At this point,
opening quarter, then using a late
they know their identity.
It's just a matter of relentless effort run to overcome a St. Francis burst
and cut the margin to 37-35 at the
and dedication to purpose.
break.
Pine River overcame a terrible
That's when the Bucks applied a
start to storm back and roll past Traverse City St. Francis in a boys non- bit of pressure themselves.
Pine River would hold the Gladiaconference basketball contest, 66-52
tors to just three free throws through
Tuesday night.
The Bucks (4-2) couldn't have start- 7:30 of the third quarter before a
flurry of exchanged baskets in the
ed much worse, falling behind 8-0 in
final moments of the stanza.
the opening minutes as the bigger
The 19-7 run in the quarter would
Gladiators used full-court pressure
give the visitors a 54-44 lead, and the
to force early turnovers and domiGlads would never get closer.
nated the glass.
The Bucks after struggling from
"I was surprised we had trouble
the field in losses to Manton and
with that," Pine River coach Brian
McBain last week attacked the
Goodenow said of the pressure aprim to open up passing lanes and
plied by St. Francis. "It was just a
shot 51 percent from the field. They
matter of settling down."
notched 14 assists on 25 field goals.
Thanks to six first quarter points
"We talked a lot this week about not
from Marcus Washington and some
cadillac news

settling for that first shot," Goodenow said. "We said, let's attack and if
you've got the open shot take it and if
not, then dish to our bigs to finish.
"We have to be relentless rebounders and we have to be relentless in our
defensive pressure," he added. "That's
the only way we can succeed."
Pine River got the line early and often, making 13 of 21 attempts in the
first half, though they would make
just 60 percent on the night.
Mitch McDonald paced a balanced
scoring attack with 13 points and
added 11 rebounds, seven assists and
five steals. Greg Parks hit 5 of 6 shots
from the floor for 12 points, while
Mason Powell added 12 points and
three assists.
Brandon Fulks had seven points
and three steals while Lucas Sizemore and Conner Hoaglund added
six points each.
Pine River is at Marion Thursday.

Reed City girls, boys fall to Grant

Koopman said. "We're getting better. We're a young
team. We just have to keep
plugging."
Brenna Westhoff led
Reed City with 12 pionts,
while Hanna Price added
10. Emily Libey and Keylee
Aemisseger chipped in six
points each.

ketball action Tuesday.

Trailing 18-14 at the
break, the Coyotes used a
REED CITY They're
13-7 third quarter run to
definitely getting closer.
take a 27-25 lead into the
Reed City put together
final quarter, but couldn't
one of its best efforts of
finish it off.
the year, but came up just
"I thought we played the
short in falling 40-38 to
Grant in girls Central State best game we've played all
Activities Association bas- year," Coyotes coach Brian
cadillac news

The Coyotes are at Big

Rapids Friday.

BOYS BASKETBALL
Grant 61, Reed City 47

Mykel Dillard paced the

Coyotes with 15 points,
while Andre Jones added
12.

Thank you for reading the Cadillac News.

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Sports Editor: Marc Vieau | sports@cadillacnews.com

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On Deck

19, 2013
www.cadillacnews.com | Thursday, december

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WRESTLING
SUPER BOWL

QBs woes lead

to Lions slide.

Vikings beat
Big Rapids at
Comerica Park
marc vieau
cadillac news

DETROIT They walked

in wide-eyed and smiling.
They walked out smiling
even more.
Twenty-one hockey players
and a contingent of coaches
took part in something more
than a year in the making but
it's something they'll never

2nd Place

Flame(s)
on!:

Howard and
the Wings
take on
Calgary. Get
the details.
FRIDAY
Sports History
1917 - The first regular season games of
the new National
Hockey League
(NHL) were played.
Five teams made
up the league Toronto Arenas, Ottawa Senators,
Quebec Bulldogs,
the Montreal Canadiens and the
Montreal Wanderers. Quebec did not
actually begin operations until two
years later.

forget.
Cadillac beat non-conference rival Big Rapids 3-1
as part of the Hockeytown
Winter Festival Wednesday
evening at Comerica Park.
Yes, hockey in a big, big, big
baseball stadium.
On a specially-made rink
that will host a number of
high school, college, professional, and NHL-type events
over the next two weeks.
In a word, the reaction was

Members of the Cadillac hockey team celebrate

david cook | for The cadillac news

after beating Big Rapids at Comerica Park.

Sports
Writing

"wow."
"One of the coolest parts
was actually walking out
and taking your skate guards
off because that's where the
NHL guys are going to do that
when they're getting ready
for the Winter Classic," Cadillac senior Patrick Briggs
said. "All through warm-ups,
you're looking around at how
big it is down there and then
at faceoff, you know there's a

thought they flipped it up

he said.
game to be played.
high but it was still on the
Cadillac head coach Scott
"Between periods, you start
ice. The pucks down low were
Graham has worked on getlooking around again but
pretty easy to track."
ting Cadillac involved in this
once the game clock was goPatrick Briggs got Cadilevent once it was announced
ing, it was all about hockey."
the huge Comerica
invitations had been ex- lac on
The view senior goaltender that
Park scoreboard first when
tended for high school teams
Connor Kassuba got was even
he scored off an assist from
to take part in the Winter
better than he had imagined.
Mikey Gussert with 2:04 to go
Festival.
"You get there and you're
in the first period.
All that time and effort
looking around but once you
Big Rapids tied the game
went by in a breeze on a cold
walk up the stairs from the
the first period,
in
late
December night.
dugout to the field and see
though, after some sloppy
"The whole process has
the rink, it really hits you,"
play in the Cadillac end.
been surreal," he said. "It's
"The shots on goal were 6-1
such a unique experience
at one point and they were 6-5
that to put it into words is
by the end of the period," Grakind of hard.
"This is the second
said.
ham
of
out
walked
"When you
game in the last three that
that tunnel for the first time,
we've allowed a goal in the fiyou really can't be prepared
nal moments of a period.
for the emotion and over"We started the game out
whelming flavor of the whole
strong but we've got to finish.
thing. It's so different from
That's something we will be
what we're all used to betalking a lot about."
cause it's so vast and so large.
The Vikings went back up
It's amazing, too, all of the
2-1 when senior Spencer Graenergy and preparation that
ham scored off an assist from
goes into something like this
Briggs at the 6:03 mark of the
and it's over in a short period
second period and then went
of time."
up 3-1 when Ryan Pendrick
With that in mind, it was
scored his first varsity goal
important for each team to
off assists from Max Stebbins
adapt to how the ice changed
and Sam Denman a couple of
through the game, how the
minutes later.
stadium lights produced dark
"In the middle of the second
spots, and how to handle the
period, we were still allowing
flow of the game.
them to hang around," Gra"When the puck got up
ham said.
high, it was dark and really
"That third goal was a huge
to track it," Kassuba
marc vieau | The cadillac news hard
one because it diffused a lot of
I
said. "A couple of times,

Cadillacs Spencer Graham eludes a Big

Rapids defender.

Jennings leads Pistons in

r Celtics

MANTON One solid

part one night.
Another the next night.
Evart carried over its
solid play from Monday
against Big Rapids Crossroads to Tuesday's game
against Manton and beat
the Rangers 46-36 in a
Highland Conference
girls basketball contest.
"I thought we carried
over what we did Monday
into tonight," Evart coach
Paul Higgins said. "We
came out with some fire
in the first half especially.
"We attacked the rim really well and we got their
big girls in foul trouble
which was big for us. My
guards did a great job,
too, on their ballhandlers,
taking them out of their
comfort zone."
Evart led 13-10 after the
first quarter and 28-22
at halftime. It was 35-27
going into the fourth

Wildcats beat
Manistee in OT

we've gone down to the

wire," Evart coach Kris
EVART Twice before, Morgan said.
"Against Montabella
late-game issues derailed
and McBain NMC, we
their chances.
This time, however, they turned the ball over and
didn't get a shot.
got it right.
"We were able to get
Evart got a late free
a shot tonight and got
throw and then pulled
fouled, so that's progress."
away to beat Manistee
Manistee led 16-15 after
84-81 in overtime in a
non-conference boys bas- the first quarter and it
was 39-35 at halftime.
ketball contest Tuesday
Evart led 58-55 after
night.
three quarter and it was
Noah Drake hit a free
throw with around 10 sec- 75-75 after regulation.
Danny Griffin paced
onds remaining to send
the game into overtime
Evart with 21 points while
where the Wildcats hit
Cody Fournier added 19
their free throws again to and Rob Tapling had 16.
secure the victory.
Evart (2-4 overall) hosts
"This is the third time
Lake City on Thursday.
cadillac news

Buckley boys take

care of Kingsley

tian got balanced scoring

in producing its biggest
BUCKLEY So far, still output of the season in a
52-38 win over Immanuel
good.
Christian in boys basketBuckley ran its league
ball Tuesday night.
record to 3-0 as it beat
Were really excited
Kingsley 82-66 in a Northabout the win, and espewest Conference boys'
cially the balanced scorbasketball contest Tuesing, Patriots coach Bill
day night.
Goodwill said. Were
"It's still one game at
showing improvement in
a time for these guys,"
Buckley coach Blair Moss our overall ability to play
the game.
said.
Heritage led 16-12 after
"We're young but we're
the opening quarter and
maturing fast and that's
29-17 at the break before
great to see."
Denver Cade paced
taking a 41-28 lead into the
the Bears with 27 points,
final stanza.
including a perfect 12 of
Nick Potgeter paced the
12 performance from the
Patriots with 14 points,
line while Austin Harris
while Curtis Reitz added 12.
had 19 points and went 6
Victor Vredenburg chipped
for 6 from the stripe.
in with 11 points, while JorJoey Weber added 14
dan Valk added eight.
points and Bryce Guernsey scored 11.
Benzie Central 74,
Buckley (4-1 overall, 3-0
Mesick 31
Northwest) hosts Leland
on Thursday.
MESICK Mesick
dropped a 74-31 decision
to Benzie Central.
Heritage Chr. 52,
Mario Cabanting paced
Immanuel Chr. 38
the Bulldogs with 13
points.
ROSCOMMON This
ones a confidence builder.
Mesick (0-5 overall) is at
Cadillac Heritage Chris- Suttons Bay on Thursday.

marc vieau | The cadillac news

their energy."
Neither team scored the
rest of the way and Cadillac
got to walk off the ice with
huge smiles.
"We didn't want to say we
played hockey at Comerica
Park and lost," Briggs said.
"This is something we'll always remember and we
won the game."

cadillac news

Something special

special
Wonderful job of capturing a
and the
moment. The piece flowed nicely
c quotes.
rifi
ter
writer made judicious use of
event.
Made the reader feel part of the
Judges comments, 2014

Michigan Press Association Better Newspaper Contest

Cadillac goalie Connor Kassuba

celebrates with Spencer Graham
following the win.

quarter.
"Coach Higgins had a
good game plan tonight
against us," Manton coach
Jon Paul Katona said. "We
got in early foul trouble
and we were off our plan.
"We were never able to
get it back."
Kristin Kullman paced
the Wildcats with 22
points and three rebounds
while Mara VanOrder
had nine points and 12
rebounds. Tabitha Turley
added five points and
three steals.
Karrah Baker paced
Manton with 10 points
and eight rebounds while
Allison Dunn had six
points and Kristen Reid
added five.
Evart hosts Marion on
Friday while Manton is at
Beal City.
Manton won the JV
game 40-17. Haley Taylor
paced the Rangers with
10 points and seven rebounds.

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Marc Vieau,
Cadillac News
Sports Editor

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