 Story and photos by Mike Gesler Grant 54 Chippewa Hills 29 The Lady Tigers have been looking at turning the tide having won only one game since January 14. They put a halt to their six game losing streak last week against Reed City, and tonight hoped that their matchup against Chippewa Hills would continue to put notches in the win column. The first quarter of play saw both teams pressing hard, fighting at the boards, and shutting down looks. Kassidy Doornbos would get the Tigers on the board first. Another two points from Sara Arends, and a point from Kirstyn Throop would have the Tigers up five nothing before Addison Fate of Chippewa Hills would find the bucket twice and bring the game within one. When the buzzer sounded on the first, Grant would only lead by three. The second quarter started with Chippewa Hills and Grant trading buckets, but then the Tigers started to find the chinks in the Warriors’ armor. The Tigers put together their best quarter of the game with six different players hitting the net, and never looked back. In fact, by the time this game finished, nine of the ten players on Grant’s roster would contribute points. Coach Paulsen rotated his players continuously giving each player plenty of time and experience on the floor. Everyone on the Tigers’ roster made significant contributions to the game as Grant easily defeated Chippewa Hills 54 to 29. “We tried really hard to focus on a few things in practice and translate them onto the court, and we certainly did tonight,” stated Grant’s coach, Paige Paulsen. “I thought the girls started to believe a little bit more, and we’re certainly gaining some momentum into the district push here and the last few conference games.” Three Tigers put up double digits tonight. Kirstyn Throop and Jaycee Rider, which included a three pointer on the buzzer to end the first half, each put up eleven points, followed with ten points from Kassidy Doornbos. Ashley Longcore (6), Trinity Swanson (5), Sara Arends (4), Savannah Passage (3), and Samantha Wolff and Makenzie Ritz each with two also contributed to the Tiger win. The Lady Tigers move to 5-5 in the CSAA Gold Conference, and will next face Tri County on Tuesday evening in Grant.
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 Story and photos by Mike Gesler Grant 68 Chippewa Hills 43 Grant knows that if they want to win the CSAA Gold Conference title, or at least a share of the title, they cannot afford a conference loss. They also know that if they are going to make in sort of run in the upcoming district play, they will need support from deep within their bench. Tonight was a perfect opportunity to keep their starting five honed in while giving their bench plenty of game experience. As many teams are learning this year, if you focus on shutting down Carter Chase, you then have Seth Schuitema to deal with. Schuitema would dominate the first half with sixteen points while Chase’s only five would all come from the line. Adjust to Schuitema, and now you leave Elliot Butchart, Diesel Rose, and Brett Long open for damage around the boards. Readjust to close in around the boards and shut down Schuitema, and now Chase will tear you apart. That’s what happened tonight in Grant. The Tigers thoroughly dominated three quarters of play that saw Chippewa Hills’ coach, Zach Ingles, receive a technical moments before the end of the third. Honestly, who could blame his frustration? There was no answer as Grant led by thirty-four, ruled on the boards, and basically decimated the Warriors through three quarters. The fourth quarter would allow Chippewa Hills to regain some ground on Grant as Coach Schuitema rested his starters, and gave his bench some much needed game time experience. But it would be a quarter of frustrated, fast-paced, physical play from Chippewa Hills. Of the thirty-one combined points of the quarter, thirteen would come from the line. “Real proud with the guys in the way they executed,” stated Grant’s coach, Joel Schuitema. “It was kind of a physical game and kind of an awkward game at times, and I thought we handled that real well. Everybody got to play and contribute. I think it shows too that we are pretty deep, and can do a lot of things.” The Tigers move to 8-2 in the conference in a three way tie for the top along with Fremont and Central Montcalm. Both Seth Schuitema and Carter Chase had double digits tonight at nineteen and fourteen respectively. Gage Burrows came off the bench and put up seven. Diesel Rose and Elliot Butchart each had six. Cole Lesley and Brett Long each had five. Jed Vanderweide (3), Orion Evans (2), and Eli Bradley (1) also contributed to Grant’s scoring effort. The Tigers will next face Tri County on Tuesday evening in Grant. Friday Girls Basketball: Cardinals Nip Lions; Packers Survive Hornets; Cloud Gets 4th in a Row2/15/2020  Gold: The Cardinals escaped with a win over the Lions but it was anything but easy. Had a few more shots gone in for the Lions during a couple of cold streaks the Packers would be sitting alone atop the conference, but they didn't and BR continued their winning ways. A lot will likely shake out Tuesday when Fremont goes into Newaygo to face a Lion team much improved since their loss in Packerland last month and the Cards head into the Hive to face the Hornets. Silver: There has been little doubt who owns the conference this year. The talent laden Eagles have a single loss on their record a 3 point defeat at the hands of the D1 Big Reds on Muskegon’s home court. They are a team looking to go farther in post season play than last season when they fell 2 points short in the Regional opener against the eventual State Champion Pirates of Pewamo Westphalia but in the meantime will undoubtedly claim the Silver crown. The Cloud is one back of MS for second and the teams play at WC next Friday. Big Rapids 30 Newaygo 29 It was a defensive war from the start. Two quality teams went to the trenches in a physical battle with the Cardinals emerging with the victory to hang onto a share of first place in the Gold and the Lions left thinking about what might have been. “We just couldn’t hit the shots we needed,” said Coach Thomasma after the fray. “Close game throughout. Give credit to Big Rapids, they made the winning plays tonight." True enough, but the shots were never easy to come by for either team. The visitors got on the board first with a three pointer and halfway through the first Lily Ruuehmeier got the Lions on the board with a bucket. Ariana Costie answered with another triple and Jaxi Long knocked one down for the hosts but that was all the scoring in the opening frame and the score sat at 6-4 after one. Kayla Fisk split from the line to start the second and answered a BR basket with one of her own then after the Cards Holly McKenna wet 1-2 at the stripe a Kendall Mathis shot pulled the Lions even. Jaxi Long scored again to answer another Cardinal 2 before Rylee Haist the BR freshman phenom drew a foul and converted both shots as the team hit the break with the Lions down 13-11. The second half saw the Cards break out to a 6 point lead but the Lions battled back. Jaylee Long hit from distance then drew a 3 point foul and drained each of them to forge a tie. Jaxi Long drove inside twice to get to the line and hit 4-4 and Newaygo grabbed a 25-21 lead entering the 4th, Then the shots went cold. Outside of a pair of scores by Emmerson Goodin the Lions could not find the nets while a Joslin Prince three, a pair of baskets by Haist and 2 splits at the stripe allowed BR to escape with the win. Coach Thomasma: "Proud of my team. They played hard and executed what we wanted. It was just one of those nights where the ball would not go through the hoop.” Jaxi Long led the Lions with 10 points while Goodin and Jaylee Long hit for a half dozen apiece with Goodin adding a team high 8 rebounds. Haist paced the Cards with 11 points with Costie adding 7 and Prince 4. Newaygo (6-4, 11-5) will host the other leader in the gols when Fremont comes to town on Tuesday. Big Rapids (9-1, 15-1) heads for Central Montcalm. Fremont 43 Central Montcalm 38 Fremont jumped out to a 10-4 lead after one quarter, but a 12-6 advantage for Central Montcalm in the second quarter tied the score at 16-16 at the half. Scoring picked up in the third quarter, but the Hornets outscored the Packers 16-14 to take a 32-30 lead into the fourth quarter. The Packers also got into foul trouble in the third, with both Calla Miller and Paige Vandenberg sitting the final few minutes of the third and much of the fourth after picking up their 4th fouls. Chloe Shriver led the scoring attack for the Packers in the third quarter, scoring 7 points in that period. The Packers trailed for much of the fourth before Shriver scored off a Miller assist to bring the score to 38-37. A five second call gave the Packers the ball back, and on the next possession, Miller scored on her own to put the Packers ahead 39-38. Central Montcalm had to foul three times before the Packers headed to the line, with Haley Zerlaut and Vandenberg each hitting one of two free throws to extend the lead to 41-38. Central Montcalm still had the ball with a chance to tie, but a Shriver steal and layup set the final score at 43-38. Shriver led the Packers with 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 steals. She also keyed the defensive effort against the Hornets' Bailey Vissman, who ended with 9 points, with one basket and going 7-8 from the free throw line. Miller had 10 points for the Packers, while Zerlaut andVandenberg each had 8. Courtney Guelzo led the Hornets scoring attack with 14 points. The win improves the Packers record to 11-5, 9-1 in the conference. The Packers travel to Newaygo on Tuesday to play the Lions. White Cloud 50 Holton 22 Alexis Strait fired in 19 points and grabbed 4 steals as the Cloud ran their winning streak to 4 to move within a game of second place in the Silver.Layna Yeiter and Cassi Watson pulled down 10 rebounds apiece and Naomi Thompson knocked in 8 points. White Cloud (5-3, 11-6) will face Morley Stanwood Friday. Awesome effort, great defense. Kent City 42 Morley Stanwood 30 The ‘Hawks defense kept theEagle scoring machine from running wild but it wasn’t enough as Kent City clinched a share of the Silver title with the win giving them a season sweep over MS. Kalee Ramsey led the hosts in scoring with 11 points and Breanna Berry added 6. Kenzie Bowers fired in 19 points for KC and Jenna Harrison knocked down 17. Thursday Hesperia 65 Lakeview 34 The Panthers took control early grabbing a 32-12 led at the break and cruising to the win. Coach Grodus: “We got off to a fast start with Emily Bayle scoring 12 points in the first quarter. Rachel Romero and Emily Bayle combined for 14 points in the third quarter. Defensively, we had 23 steals and 9 deflections. Bayle finished with 24, Becci Castillo knocked down 17 and Romero finished with 13. Katie Frees grabbed 8 steals and Emily Tinkham took down a team high 7 boards. Hesperia (4-4, 7-8) hists Oakridge on Tuesday.  Kent City/ Morley Stanwood- Photo by Sue Harrison   Gold: With the Packer loss to CM and the Tiger win over CH the Gold has knotted up into a 3 way tie for the top spot. With four games left you can’t count out the Cardinals of BR who loom a couple games behind but have shaken off some early season stumbles to win 6 in a row. The Packers play just one of the teams in the top half of the division and it is a big one since Tuesday they are taking on a Tiger team who are on a tear. Grant has a tougher task ahead facing both Fremont and the resurgent BR squad while the Hornets will look to keep their buzz going on the Cardinal court Tuesday. Silver: The ‘Hawks avenged their loss to the Eagles and in doing so grabbed a share of first place. With 2 games left MS faces White Cloud and Hesperia two teams they handled easily the first time around while Kent City also takes on the winless Panthers before their conference finale against the Red Devils who they bested by 25 points on the road. The Silver might just end in a tie. Central Montcalm 65 Fremont 59 The Hornets muscled their way into a share of first pace in the Gold shutting down the Packer offense as they took a 5 point lead at the break and held on to send Fremont to their 3rd loss in the past 4 games. “Cold shooting plagued us, saaid Coach Zerfas. “ We were not able to make many shots shooting 7-35 from the 3pt line and only 32% overall. Tristan Campbell led the Packers with 15 points and 16 rebounds, Brandon McDonald and Chris Kennedy hit for 12 points. Fremont (8-2, 12-4) goes to Newaygo Tuesday to try to keep pace with their co-leaders. Big Rapids 66 Newaygo 35 The Lions scored the first four points before a 12 point run gave the Cards a lead they would hold the rest of the contest. By halftime the visitors had built a 25-12 advantage. The Lions battled but the size and depth of BR wore them down in a physical battle that featured three technical fouls and saw 10 different Cardinals find their way into the scoring column. The Lions were led by Wyatt Mortensen who fired in 13 points and Ashton Stephens who finished with 10 including a prefect 8-8 from the line. Jarrod Wismar added 6 points. Newaygo (3-7, 4-10) will host Fremont on Tuesday. Holton 65 White Cloud 49 Holton built a 33-24 by the break and kept the Cloud at bay to capture the win. Aidan Poling led the Red Devils in scoring with 23 points while Nathan Slowik dropped in a dozen and Drew Trygstad and Wyatt Monette each hit for 9. Lukas Ramaekers scored 6 and Austin Fowler, Chip Wright and Anthony Crabtree each added 2. Sam Venema finished with a game high 31 points for WC while Dexter Cox and Steven Holt each added 6. Holton (5-3, 10-6) wil visit Lakeview on Friday while White Cloud (3-5, 6-9) hosts Morley Stanwood. . Morley Stanwood 59 Kent City 51 Axel Woolwotth paced the ‘Hawks with 19 points and McLaughlin added 13 as MS survived a couple of Kent City runs to take the rematch and forge a tie for first in the Silver Conference. Will Wright paced the Eagles with 19 points and Shawn Anderson scored 14. Thursday Lakeview 62 Hesperia 31 The Panthers trailed by just 6 at the half but the Wildcats went on a 14-4 run in the 3rd and ran away with the conference win. Coach Worcester: “Lakeview out played us in the second half. Our 1st half was played under control and with discipline. However, the second half was plagued with fouls and turnovers. There was evidence of improvement despite the score, but also evidence of fatigue induced decision making and turnovers. I hold my young team to high standards because I know their potential, so we will continue to work hard and improve. Logan Balkema hit for 16 points. Hesperia (0-9, 0-16) will face Silver co-leader Kent City on Friday.  KC/MS Photo by Sue Harrison  Girls Big Rapids 8-1, 14-1 at Newaygo 6-3, 11-4 This game is huge. The Cards are tied atop the Gold with Fremont and Newaygo is surging. First time around in BR the Lions kept it close but the size of the Cardinals was a factor and they play a physical game.Mackall and Haist can fill it up but there is talent up and down their bench with several role players who help out the scorers. The Lions added Kayla Fisk to the roster a player who will provide some needed inside strength and should help contain the Cardinal game in the paint. The Long sisters, Frisbie, Goodin and co. need to hit some buckets early and often. BR has only allowed over 40 points twice, their opener against a strong McBain team and a shootout win over TC a couple of weeks ago. Newaygo needs to pile on some points and hope their defense contains a relentless Cardinal squad. Should the Lions get to 50 I believe they are likely to win. I’ll be the old guy sitting underneath the basket for this one. Fremont 8-1,10-5 at Central Montcalm 5-4, 9-6 Don’t pay attention to the four losses the Hornets have on their league record. They’re not last years version who rolled over everyone in their path but they are still a dangerous team who are capable of taking control of a game and face consecutive games against the conference co-leaders with a chip on their shoulders. When Newaygo beat them Tuesday it was their first loss at home since two weeks before Christmas. Shriver, Miller and Jamieson put on a defensive clinic the last time they faced off to contain Vissman and Eldridge while Vandenberg and Bennett spurred a second half comeback. That comeback happened in front of a raucous Fremont home crowd. Should the Packers fall behind again the Hornets have home court this time and they don’t yield many leads in the Nest. Chippewa Hills 0-9, 3-12 at Grant 4-5, 4-11 The Tigers snapped a 6 game skid with a win over the Coyotes. This one should make it two in a row since the Warriors are having a hard time on defense and Throop, Arends, Passage, Rider, and Doornbos should be able to outscore the visitors. White Cloud 4-3, 10-6 at Holton 0-7, 3-12 Not even close I fear. Coach Mason is building a program but there are not near the horses available to him to keep up with Bowman, Strait, and the ever present Scarlavai. Lakeview 1-6, 1-15 at Hesperia 3-4, 6-8 The Panthers have Tinkham in the middle, Castillo dishing out assists and Bayle who could drop a couple dozen on the Wildcats if she gets hot. Panthers bench should get some play. Boys Big Rapids 5-4, 8-5 at Newaygo 3-6, 4-9 Tha Cards are one of those enigmatis teams. Their loss to Grant last month dropped them to 4-5 and in all likelihood removed then from the conference race. Since then they have peeled off 4 in a row including victories over Fremont and OV who beat Fremont earlier that week. The Lions aren’t a powerhouse by any means but they have a lot of grit and their coach as we have said before is perhaps one of the best bench coaches around and gets all he can out of his players. All things equal the Cards have more talent and are on a roll but the Lions have gone 3-1 at home and will not back down. The home team may not win this one but the Cards are going to know they were in a game. Fremont 8-1,12-3 at Central Montcalm 7-2, 9-4 All things considered the Packers should make some room between them and the Hornets here but they are in Stanton where the Hornets are 6-1 and their fan base, like that of their girls team, is pretty inspiring. The Pack took them out early at home but since then the only CM losses since have been to a Tiger team beginning to peak and a really tough Alma team...both on the road. The Pack will need all the scoring Kennedy, Campbell, Moon,McDonald,and the rest can give them because they are likely to require 70+ in this one. Chippewa Hills 1-8, 3-10 at Grant 7-2, 7-7 The Warriors will likely get taken out early. They simply cannot score enough to keep up with a Tiger team that has more weapons than CH can defend. Not saying an upset couldn’t happen but the likelihood is right up there with a Lion appearance in next years Super Bowl. White Cloud 3-4, 6-8 at Holton 4-3, 9-6 The Red Devils are the best team in the Silver not named Morley Stanwood or Kent City. The Cloud has improved dramatically from last year but they still lose games they shouldn’t and let teams they should beat hang around too long. The Devs took this one with a second half of significant bench play first time around. Not much has changed. Holton and WC are heading for a brutal district come tournament time and they will likely be a first round matchup should all things remain consistent. Lakeview 1-6, 4-11 at Hesperia 0-7, 0-16 I love the attitude of Coach Worcester who despite a season of futility realizes the effort his team is putting on the floor each game. This might be their best shot at a win this season and if not the season ending game with Shelby might be another but kudos to this team and their coach. Its not easy to win any basketball game even with a great deal of talent and it’s tough to coach any team but when you have a season like this the challenge is to stay upbeat and recognize the efforts put out game after game by these young athletes. To his credit and with all my respect, Coach W. has done so. Go Panthers! By Ken DeLaat  Jaylee Long Jaylee Long drops 21 on MS
Newaygo 54 Morley Stanwood 39 The Lions roared to their 7th straight win Tuesday with a decisive win over a Morley squad who entered the game with but one loss on their record. Jaylee Long led the Lions with 21 points and 9 rebounds including draining 8-9 from the charity stripe while Jaxi Long hit for 11 points. Emmerson Goodin continues her excellent work in the paint grabbing 8 rebounds to go with her 8 points. Newaygo was up 29-17 at the half and was able to maintain the lead. Morley Stanwood cut it to four points on a couple of occasions but the Lions responded well and held off the MS runs. Coach Thomasma:"Good win tonight. The girls competed against a physical Morley Stanwood team and held their own. Happy with the effort and execution that we showed. We played great team basketball tonight." Newaygo (6-3,11-4) will host conference co-leader Big Rapids on Friday.  103 Pound CSAA Champion RJ Thome, Fremont Packers 2nd Joe Perez of Lakeview 3rd Zane Kik of Kent City 4th Robert Van Vleet Chippewa Hills  160 Pound CSAA Conference Champion Trey Breuker, Fremont Packers 2nd Kellen Haney - Reed City 3rd John Pennington - Tri County 4th Nolan Corvers - Grant  Fremont 81 Kent City 68 Chris Kennedy sparked a red hot first quarter for the Pack by firing in a four-pack of triples to help stake the visitors to a 26-12 lead. In the second it was Joshua Zerfas who caught fire sticking inn 10 points and when the dust settled the Packers hit the locker room with a 43-30 advantage. Coming out of the break Braiden McDonald took center stage with 11 points as Fremont built the lead to 65-49 heading into the final frame. The Eagles battled back trimming the lead to 9 points halfway through the fourth but Zerfs nailed a clutch 3 pointer to cool off the Eagles run and the Packers went on to capture the cross conference win. “We were able to break out of a week long slump by beating a very good Kent City team on the road,” said Coach Zerfas. “Our energy and effort were better right from the start tonight than it had been the last two games. Kennedy paced the scoring with 19 points while adding 5 rebounds and Zerfas had his best game this season with a career high 18 points to go with 6 assists and 5 steals. McDonald hit for 17 points and took down 6 rebounds while Tristan Campbell finished with a double-double with 14 points and a team leading 11 rebounds. Lane Converse gave the Packers some key defense and scoring off the bench with 6 points and 3 steals and Martin Curiel also contributed with 5 points off the bench. Jaxx Miller was a key component of the defense helping to shut down a prolific Eagle offense. Fremont (8-1, 12-3) returns to conference play with a trip to Stanton Friday to face the Hornets of Central Montcalm who sit in second place a game behind the Packers. Holton 63 Tri County 45 The Devs snapped a 2 game skid with a convincing win over the Vikings with all their players able to gain some significant playing time Nathan Slowik dropped in 21 points to pace the Red Devil scoring while Aidan Poling hit for 17 Other Holton players getting on the board were Drew Trygstad and Lukas Ramaekers with 8 apiece, Chip Wright (4), Wyatt Monette (3) and Austin Fowler (2). Holton (4-3, 8-6) will host White Cloud Friday. Wyoming Lee 56 White Cloud 44 The Cloud had an opportunity to reach their first 3 game win streak of the season but they fell short against the Rebels at home. Sam Venema led WC 18 points, Jake Foster hit for 10 and Steven Holt added 8. White Cloud (3-4, 6-8) will visit Holton on Friday. Mason County Central 54 Hesperia 8 Coach Worcester: “Mason County Central was very competitive and tough. Jeffery Carrier though not the high scorer was tough to contain. Our guys played hard throughout the whole game despite only scoring 8 points. We get opportunities to score but fall short of finishing. I am proud of our guy’s effort. One thing you can’t coach is heart and these guys bring it every night.” Logan Balkema led the Panthers with 6 points. Monday Girls Holton 62 Libertas Christian 26 The Red Devils snapped an 8 game skid with a convincing win over the Phoenix. Ally Seiber paced the scoring column for the Devs dropping in a game high 24 points and Alissa Armstrong rattled the nets for 16. Madi Bosset, Jasmine Vriesman, Gianna Reed and Jillian Underwood each hit for 4. Coach Mason:”Great team effort tonight from our girls. They communicated well on defense, and our transition ball really came together well. I was very proud of the team accomplishing all of our goals we made for this game. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction to getting the season back on track.” White Cloud 42 Reed City 32 Coach Brown: "The Indian Girls Varsity continued their winning ways beating Reed City Monday night. The defense again proved to be too much for Coyotes to handle. The Indians were led by Olivia Bowman With 19 points, 4 rebounds, and two assists. Alexis Strait continued her hot shooting knocking down 4 triples to add 14 points and 4 rebounds. Cassie Watson controlled the boards with 9.  Story and photos by Mike Gesler On Monday evening, the Grant High School Varsity Competitive Cheer played host to a CSAA Conference meet. In attendance were four other varsity teams from Big Rapids, Ludington, Tri County, and West Michigan Christian. Also in attendance were two middle school teams representing Big Rapids and Tri County. The meet was the second in four years for Grant to host. Varsity Competitive Cheer is composed of three rounds with each round adding more difficult elements. During the first round, the team is required to have two jumping elements. Scoring is based on technique, level of difficulty, and togetherness and ease of those two jumps as well as vocals, floor mobility, team coordination, execution, general impression, and difficulty and variety. The middle schools do not compete in this round. At the end of round one, Tri County scored 224.10, Grant scored 208.50, West Michigan Christian scored 202.50, Ludington scored 186.90, and Big Rapids scored 169.30. The second round adds five different gymnastic skills which include elements like rolls, cartwheels, handsprings, and walkovers. Scoring is much like the same as round one. The middle schools do compete in this round. Tri County middle school scored a 72.50, and Big Rapids middle school scored a 43.94. For the varsity teams, Tri County scores 210.66, West Michigan Christian scored 189.16, Grant scored 185.42, Ludington scored 152.00, and Big Rapids scored 112.90. The third and final round adds stunts and choreography to the mix. This round is where the fan sees the teams lift team members in the air adding an element of height. Again, scoring is similar to the first two rounds, and the middle schools compete in this round. Tri County middle school scored a 200.80. Big Rapids middle school did not compete in this round. For the varsity teams, Tri County scored 283.30, West Michigan Christian scored 268.30, Grant scored 257.20, Ludington scored 242.30, and Big Rapids scored 209.60. Placing is then the combined score of each round. First place went to Tri County with a combined score of 718.06. In second place was West Michigan Christian with a score of 659.96. Grant received third place with a score of 651.12. Ludington went home with fourth place and a score of 581.20. And Big Rapids with a score of 491.80 placed fifth. “I think they did really good,” stated Grant’s coach, Ashley Chesebro. “We actually had our best round one score and best round two score of the whole season so far so I think they really gave great performances today.” The CSAA Conference rankings now see Tri County on top, followed by a tie between Grant and West Michigan Christian for the number two spot. Ludington sits in the third slot, with Big Rapids in fourth, and Chippewa Hills in fifth. “It’s a big deal for the girls,” added Chesebro. “They’ve grown a lot in the program. I started four years ago as a small program, and they have really climbed the rankings every year since then.”  A short schedule on tap for Tuesday with one girls game and a quartet of boys games on the courts and no conference matchups The most intriguing game of the night is likely to be the cross conference matchup between Morley Stanwood and the Lions of Newaygo. The Lions seem to have hit their stride peeling off 6 wins in a row since dropping a pair of close ones to Fremont and BR. This is a solid team with a number of weapons and a strong bench. When teams try to shut down the Long sisters,Frisbie and Goodin and Reuhmeier can step it up on the offensive end and the defense is formidable. But the ‘Hawks have been on a tear as well. They ran odd 8 in a row to start the season before being taken apart by the force of nature known as the Eagles of Kent City. Since then they have dismantled the teams on their schedule by an average of over 30 points. Both teams have huge games on Friday as MS will get their rematch with the Eagles at home and the Lions get their second chance against conference co-leader Big Rapids also at home. Should be a good one tonight. Boys Fremont at Kent City The Eagles have beaten upon some teams as they have taken their customary spot atop the Silver but they haven’t played a team like the Packers since taking a pair of losses during a holiday tournament. There are two issues here though. Fremont hasn’t beaten a team with a winning record in a month and have shown some vulnerability dropping 3 of their last 4. And the Eagles play real well at home with a crowd that rivals the Packer home fans. The Pack should prevail but if they do, it won’t be a cakewalk. Lee at White Cloud The White Cloud boys have a chance to even their mark with a home win over Wyoming Lee. The Rebels haven’t won since just after Christmas and while the Cloud has been inconsistent at times they have the talent to capture this one and should come away with win number 7 Tri County atHolton The Red Devils are wanting to put an end to a 2 game losing streak and this is a good chance to build some confidence as they head forward and look toward tournament time. Mason County Central at Hesperia The Panther are improving but they simply don’t score enough to stay with opponents,. Remember, last year's squad didn’t win a game until the tournament when they won twice before falling to the eventual district champs. By Ken DeLaat |
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