The Tigers of Grant traveled to Fremont to take on the Packers in the first round of district play on Wednesday afternoon. Fremont outshot Grant 20-4 and won the game 4-1. Grant took an early lead on a Cesar Hernandez goal. However, Carter Moon answered just two minutes later on a ball from Lane Converse tying the score at 1-1. Riccardo Lapertosa, David Wachter, and Braiden McDonald also added goals for the Packers. Unus Opgard and Moon also added assists on the afternoon. Joe Kortge made 3 saves in net for the Packers while Logan Osborn made 16 saves for the Tigers. Fremont improved to 14-3-4 overall while Grant fell to 6-10-1. Tournament action returns to action Tuesday at Fremont Middle School with the second round of the Division 3 Soccer District 46. Round 2 Games: Tuesday, October 15, 2019. Orchard View at Tri County 4:30 pm Oakridge at Fremont 4:45 pm The winner advances to the Finals at Fremont Middle School on October 19 at 2:00 pm.
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By Ken DeLaat
CSAA-Gold Newaygo at Grant A storied history runs through this annual battle for pigskin pride. There was the 12 game Grant winning streak that ended in 1966 when the Lions stopped the bleeding before the Tigers ran off 4 more wins. Newaygo ruled the 90’s winning 9 in a row before the 2000 Grant team triumphed and since the century began the Lions have had a 10-8 edge. Overall? Since 1950 the Tigers have won 35 games and the Lions 34. They have twice met in the postseason and, of course, they split those games. Both teams come in with 4-2 marks so the playoff implications are huge. Grant has not allowed any team other than Central Montcalm to score more than once. Their defense is formidable and the offense that was stymied in the win over Reed City and the loss to Chip Hills has turned it around albeit against lesser defenses than the ones fielded by the ‘Yotes and Warriors. The Lions average just over 32 points a game and give up 20. The only time they failed to get into the endzone at least 4 times was in the opener against Kent City. In their 2 losses Newaygo was within one score of winning. So was Grant in their two setbacks This looks a lot like the old irresistible force meets immovable object type of game but there is no way to predict the outcome of any game between these two and this year it looks to be even more so. Both need this for a shot at game 10 but one thing is certain. The players on the field won’t be thinking about playoff aspirations or games that lie ahead of them. Because this is the big one. Central Montcalm at Reed City Whaddya got, Hornets? Central Montcalm has been a great story rising from the ashes of a winless season to run off 6 straight wins and punch a playoff ticket. But this one looms large. Since the CSAA Gold was formed Reed City has taken or shared the title and this year’s team does not want to be the one that finally yields the crown to another school. The Hornet team is filled with players who recall seeing Reed City run up the score on the CM home field last season posting 80 points and holding the Bees scoreless.They would love to grab a little revenge as well as their first outright title in football since 1999. But Reed City is an opportunistic and point scoring machine when they’re clicking, and they do some serious clicking at home. They can run away in a hurry if given the chance. I’m sure the Hornet staff has been giving more than a glance to some tape from the RC loss to Grant when the Tigers held the offense scoreless Fremont at Tri County The Vikes have shown they can move the ball, particularly if their opponent has some defensive holes.The Pack have yielded over 40 points a game and it seems most of those get lit up in the first quarter. Last season the Packers halted a 30 game losing streak before it reached the school record for futility, a 34 game skid in the late 80’s. But now they’ve lost another 10 in a row embarking on another streak .They wouldn’t need to play flawless to have a shot at the Vikes bit they would have to be real good and find a way to avoid yielding those early big play scores. They will have to keep it close and hope for a break or two. Last year at this point in the season, the Vikes won out, taking the last 3 games and getting into the postseason with 5 wins. The teams they played? Fremont Central Montcalm and Holton This season to have a shot at returning they would need to sweep the 3 games ahead of them. Those teams are Fremont, Central Montcalm and Holton. Chippewa Hills at Big Rapids The Cards do well against the lesser defenses.The Warriors aren’t one of those, despite getting waxed by a steamrolling Coyote squad. Their 2 wins were over two good teams in Tri County and Grant. The Cards have beaten one team. Fremont. CSAA SILVER Morley Stanwood at Hesperia The Mohawks are a good team getting better as the season progresses and that looks to spell trouble for the Panthers. Logan Balkema is back as of last week and having a week under his belt will help but the o-line might have to step it up a few notches to keep the Morley defenders out of the backfield. Coach Bolles’ team will need a few breaks to stay with an MS squad that has found their stride after dropping their first two. On the positive side it’s homecoming in Hesperia and this town turns out big time for their hometown football team. The Mohawks have to face two tough teams to end the season including the undefeated Beal City Aggies a program that has missed the playoffs just 5 times in 30 years. The Panthers might catch them looking past this one but they will need to capitalize on any opportunity they get. Kent City at Holton The Eagles need 2 to get in. Holton is carrying on with limited troops but they showed a lot of grit in the loss to Lakeview last week. Now they’re home for the first time since a month ago when they lost a game and several players. The Eagles aren’t who they were with that diamond studded backfield they put on display last year but they can still bring it offensively and the Devs will need a lot of homecoming magic to stay close enough to upset KC. But as we said last week, this team deserves the kind of support the tourney bound team got last year. They may not win with this shorthanded team held together by duct tape and wire but they will give it all they got. Lakeview idle Photos and Story by Alexis Mercer
Conklin Park, Newaygo In the inaugural race at Newaygo High School’s new home cross country course at Conklin Park, the teams of the CSAA Gold assembled on the start line on a beautiful fall day. This is the second of three jamborees the teams will have competed in to determine the conference championship and the individual all-conference awards. The final meet will be held on Tuesday, October 15 in Chippewa Hills. Fremont’s Nathan Walker took 1st place in the boys race, thereby setting the course record with a time of 16:38. Fremont took the top 6 spots in the meet with Calvin Rohde of Reed City in 7th place being the only runner to then separate Fremont’s 7th runner. The first finishers for each of the other Near North Now coverage teams are as follows: Grant - Aaron Zimmer (18:47) Newaygo - Mallaci Mayle (19:10) Tri-County - Caden Hoezee (18:34) For the girls, it was Chippewa Hills who took 3 out of the top 4 spots with Natalie Newcombe crossing the line first with a time of 19:42 for the girls course record. The first finishers for each of the other Near North Now coverage teams are as follows: Fremont - Leah Converse (21:36) Grant - Elizabeth Gates (21:50) Newaygo - Sophia Frisbie (22:12) Tri-County - Meghan McGiverin (24:19) Complete results can be found here: https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/163047/results From Coach Somers of Fremont: Another day of nice weather for running. This was the first time a race was held on this course. This was a true cross country course with a very hilly 1st mile and lots of turns in wooded trails. The girls got out to a better start than our last couple of meets. They also did a good job moving up through the race. I felt that this was a much better race for the girls than our 1st conference meet though the scores won’t show it as we were missing one of our top runners. Leah Converse (Jr) placed 8th, while Lauren Boerger (Sr) had a breakout race to finish as out 4th runner. I saw a lot of focused running by the girls. We wanted to get out faster and they executed and then moved up. The boys had a good day also claiming the top 6 finishers to win the meet. 1-Nathan Walker (Jr), 2-Conor Somers (So), 3-Josh Zerfas (Jr), 4-Adam Ward (Jr), 5-Mikko Vesma (Sr), 6-Colton Best (Jr), and Gavin Schuler (So) placing a close 8th. The boys ran with the leader through the 2 mile mark and then worked to pull away over the last mile. Seven LaRoue (Sr) and Sam Parks (Sr) turned in solid performances as well. TENNIS Tigers sweep past Spartans with an eye on the Regionals The Tigers finished off the regular season with a win vs Sparta Tuesday. The players swept all the flights winning 8-0. The team will be competing at North Point Christian Thursday in Regionals. Karlton Zerlaut will lead the team as the number 1 seed at #1 singles. All the doubles are seeded and the boys will look to advance to next week's state finals at Hope College. Pack falls to Cards; DeLong still undefeated Fremont Boys Tennis lost a close match to Big Rapids on a beautiful, Tuesday afternoon. Though the score was 1-7, singles players Blake Boerger and Parker Vandenberg and doubles team Jake DeLong/Jake Crowley fought for every point before losing in the 3rd set. #4 Singles player, Joey DeLong, won 6-1, 6-2 and remains undefeated at #4 singles. Grant finishes a close second; Zerlaut aces 3rd top player honors The Tigers played some of their best tennis Saturday at the conference tournament. The team put 5 of the 8 flights into the championship matches, winning 4. First year player, Eli Bradley at 4 singles won his first match on the day, then gave the #1 seed a battle in a competitive loss, and then finished the day beating Ludington 6-3 7-5. Kyle Bay and Isaac Higgins got the guys going in the first final of the day beating #1 seeded Ludington 6-1 6-2, avenging an early season 3 set loss. Next was the 3 doubles championship, where Trent Patton and Diego Krepps started out down a couple games, but came back to win 6-4 6-2 over Ludington. Grant's senior captain Dustin Slachter and partner Payton Swinehart beat North Muskegon 3 & 4 at the 2 doubles championship flight. Carter Chase, another senior and team captain, along with Jed VanderWeide squared off against Ludington at the final of #1 doubles. The Tigers played well, but couldn't overcome some great serving and net play by the top seed. Kalrton Zerlaut reached the finals of #1 singles for the 3rd straight year and was the last match playing. Zerlaut was ahead 4-3 on serve in the third set when rain stopped play on Saturday. The 2 competitors returned to Whitehall to finish the match in the late afternoon on Monday. Zerlaut put the pressure on with some good returns to go up a break and then closed out the championship with 4 first serves to become the top player in the tournament for the third consecutive year. TheTIgers finished with 34 points, 3 points behind #8 state ranked Ludington. VBALL Pack goes 5 to finally top Tigers: Pafford knocks down 20 kills. Fremont Packer Volleyball ended the victory drought with a 3-1 win over Grant last night. The scores were 25-23, 24-26, 25-18, and 25-19. Coach VanBoven: It has been a long time since the Packers won against Grant. This game has been on our radar all year. The girls were ready to battle and showed up big. Leading the Pack in kills was Rhi Pafford with 20 kills and Natalie Jamieson with 12 kills. Defensively Kennedy Christoffersen had 22 digs, Carle Bruggema had 12 digs, Kaitlynn Bennett and Rhi Pafford each had 11 digs, and Calla Miller 9. Kaitlynn Bennett led the team in service points with 13 points and 4 aces. Carle Bruggema handled the ball well and led with 33 assists. I am very proud of the senior leadership from this game. During one of the timeouts the seniors stepped up and said "Tonight we are playing not only for ourselves, but for those FPV'ers that came before us and after us." As an alumni of this program and now coach, I am so proud of this group of athlete's determination. This win was a full team effort including those in the stands cheering the girls on. Tuesday October 15th is our final home game of the season at 7pm against Tri-County. You won't want to miss the opportunity to watch these girls go to battle. With this win FPV is 4-1 in conference and 13-11-1 overall. Hesperia fights off Cloud; Romero, Bayle lead in kills The Lady Panthers beat the White Cloud Indians in 4 tonight at home with the scores 25-20, 13-25,25-22, and 25-22. Rachel Romero led the Panthers with 13 kills, Emily Bayle had 11 kills, Isabelle Rumsey and Delaney Yates each added 8 and 7 kills respectively. Rumsey had 1 block on the night. At the serving line, Romero had 3 aces and Rumsey 2 aces. Defensively, Bayle had 15 digs, Romero 10, and Aria Thomas 9 digs. Kyra Sayer had 21 assists and Thomas 18 assists for the panthers. Tonight's conference win, improves the Panther's record to 6-1 in conference play and 26-8-1 overall. SOCCER The West Michigan Christian Warriors traveled to Muskegon Catholic Tuesday and returned with an 8-0 win and the Lakes 8 Conference championship. WMC finishes the regular season with an overall record of 11-2-3 and 6-0-2 in conference play. “With the win we move into districts and, hopefully, deep into the tournament,” WMC coach David Hulings said. “The team continues to get better. We knew we would probably be able to dominate MCC tonight, but I liked what we learned. “In district games we are going to get teams that play like MCC and we need to be able to solve the puzzle. We have been talking about using the first part of the game to breakdown an opponent. I thought we did a great job of creating an attack based upon what the other team gives us." Katelynne Gerth shot a season best 44 to lead the way Monday at Moss Ridge Golf Course. Haley Zerlaut fired a 51 while Rhiannon Ziebke shot her best round of the season carding a 53 for the day. Sarah Redder did a great job for the team as she had to fill in for an ailing teammate to contribute to the victory. The Packers finished their dual season with a 4 and 1 record. Walker breaks 15 year old Packer XC mark Coach Somers: The girls had a solid race finishing 29th of 44 teams with 754 points. We got out a little slow which can be a problem in a race this big, as the course gets really crowded and it is hard to pass. The girls worked hard to move up and did improve their positions throughout the race. Morgon Best (So) moved up well in the middle part of the race, faltered slightly but then recovered and finished strong to lead the team in with a Pr of 21:16. Leah Converse (Jr) ran a steady race to record her best time of the season - 21:27. Taava Johnson had a great finish stretch run to run her Pr for 21:35. Erin Norton (Jr) continues her strong season with a SR 21:45. Annika Tuls (Sr) and Alyssa Gustman (Sr) also ran SR's at 22:11 and 24:59. Lauren Boerger (Sr) continues with steady improvement running a PR 22:53. We didn't have quite the team finish that we wanted, but I was proud of how the girls worked to move up through the crowd and their strong finishes. The boys ran a fantastic team race to win with 55 points. The boys were really looking forward to this race as they knew they would get to race against a great Otsego team that beat them at the MSU race and was ranked #1 in the state. The race had a fast start with a pack good size pack. Our boys got out quick and looked to be seizing control of the race. Just before the mile Evan Bishop of EGR (ran at Footlocker nationals last year) threw in a big surge. Nathan Walker (Jr) was the only runner to respond as they quickly gapped the rest of the field. Nathan ran with the leader for the next half mile then lost about 30-40 meters. He never gave up though, and over the last 600 meters fought his way back to get close, getting beat by 2 seconds running the fastest time in Fremont XC history at 15:07. Meanwhile Conor Somers (So) was working his way through the lead pack and into open space chasing down the remnants of the leaders surge. Josh Zerfas (Jr) and Ben Paige (Jr) did a great job battling at the skinny front of the crowd maintaining position and really giving us a firm grip on the race. 5th runner Adam Ward (Jr) had the breakout race we have been waiting for all season. After a great week of workouts for Adam it was great to see it happen today. Colton Best (Jr) and Gavin Schuler (So) rounded out our top 7. This was a great race for the boys. They showed a lot of focus and really ran with a purpose. Results have not yet been posted at Anet so for now you can find results here - https://results.flotrack.org/XC-PTT.html?mid=1786 Nathan Walker - 2nd 15:07 PR - fastest Fremont XC time ever. (Previous - 15:18 Riley Klingel 2004) Conor Somers - 4th 15:40 PR Josh Zerfas - 12th 16:06 PR Ben Paige - 17th 16:13 PR Adam Ward - 25th 16:24 PR Colton Best - 46th 16:55 SR Gavin Schuler - 86th 17:37 PR N3 Sports Team Photos from Newaygo v Tri County by Alexis Mercer Football Results-Week 6
Teams played early at most venues to try to sidestep those pesky marauding mosquitoes. Give the Red Devils team some love because as hard as it is to return individually after a layoff or injury it is way harder as a team to do so. Wow. Grant/Newaygo and CM/RC next week? Since 1950 Newaygo has won 35 and Grant 34. And they never tied-even in the pre overtime era because...well… because that just wouldn’t do, would it? The Hornets ice a share of the title with a win in Reed City, The ‘Yotes win and their path to a title runs through Newaygo. Newaygo 28 Tri County 14 To win a football game it requires 48 minutes of concentration, teamwork and physical toughness. Tri County was determined to make up the deficit from the first 24 of those minutes by the end, but fell short. Certainly not for lack of effort. Tri County’s Head Coach, Phil Butler, is familiar with Lion country having been a quarterback for the Vikings, his alma mater in the late 90s. After attending Hope College and setting records as quarterback, Butler returned to Newaygo County, but put in a few years coaching for the Lions before getting back to his home school to lead the Vikings squad. Coach VanEssen might have less on-field experience in Newaygo than Butler, but it was evident from the blow of the whistle that his team was well-prepared for the matchup. The first time senior David Gonzalez touched the football for the Lions he ran right up the center of the field for a touchdown thanks to some well executed blocks and his own lightning speed. Quickly after that, QB Brenden Brechting kept the ball for a long run and Gonzalez finished off the drive for 6 more. After a second made extra point by Angel Guevara, the Lions were up 14-0. Newaygo’s mission to score continued as Brechting ran in a third touchdown with 1:52 left in the 2nd quarter putting the Lions up 21-0 going into the locker room. Whatever Head Coach Phil Butler said to his Vikings at halftime lit a fire under them and Tri County came out ready to go. Tri County possessed the ball for more minutes the 3rd quarter and made the Lions work every down. But with TC pressuring for a touchdown on the 10 yard line, Gonzalez intercepted to interrupt their momentum. The Vikings first saw the scoreboard in the 4th quarter with a nice pass to Cameren Friend. After a made extra point, the Vikings were down 28-7 then very quickly recovered the ball with an onside kick. But the Lions’ Gavon Rake shut down the Vikings' hope for a quick score with yet another interception. Tri County scored one more time with a QB keep to go to 28-14 with 3:18 left on the clock, but the Lions held on to the lead as the seconds ticked off the clock. Grant 41 Fremont 6 Grant got on the board immediately with an explosive first play 72-yard touchdown run by Orion Evans. His electrifying sprint for six set the stage for a strong offensive showing by the Tigers led by Evans who had 14 carries for 191 yards and 3 touchdowns. Quarterback Brendan Keelean was 9 for 13 for 166 yards and 2 touchdowns. Wide receiver Brett Long scored a rushing touchdown of 27 yards, and Billy Ostyn caught five passes for 69 yards, including one for a touchdown. The Tiger defense continued to be stingy as they kept the Packer offense out of the endzone and a first quarter kick return put up the only Packer points on the night. The Grant defense was led by Jarret Railing with 9 tackles, including 5 tackles for a loss. Brady Jacobs added 8 tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and one interception. Brett Long contributed 8 tackles, four for a loss, and added a fumble recovery. Coach Geraghty was happy to come away with a win, but he believes there is still room for improvement moving forward. “We need to clean up the penalties and our ball control if we want to compete with the premier programs in the region. “I am very happy for our kids and coaches. We return to the drawing board tomorrow as we plan for a well-coached Newaygo team.” The Tigers take on the Newaygo Lions next Friday in the battle for the M-37 trophy and a year’s worth of bragging rights. The Packers (0-5, 0-6) will head east to face Tri County (1-4, 2-4) Kent City 42 Hesperia 0 The Eagles bounced back from last week’s loss to Morley in a big way with a convincing win over conference rival Hesperia. “Kent City was in control throughout the contest,” said Panther Coach Doug Bolles after the game. “ We played flat and uninspired football against a good opponent and you cannot do that against a Bill Crane coached team. They’re too well prepared.” Things won’t get any easier for the Panthers (2-2, 2-4) next week as the red hot Mohawks of Morley will be coming to town for Hesperia’s homecoming game. “A big challenge,” added Coach Bolles. Lakeview 38 Holton 19 The Red Devils may not have come away with a win Friday night but for the first time in three weeks they got the chance to play. A rash of injuries among the already thin corps that suits up for Holton caused them to forfeit a game and the following week was open due to a scheduling change. “All together we played ok,” said Coach Mike Jados. “ We definitely made some costly mistakes and turnovers. “Lakeview played a good game and had a good game plan against us. We threw the ball well with all 3 of our scores coming through the air. We spread the ball around well with Ricky Enders having 2 touchdowns and Austin Hawkins getting the other. Drew Trygsted spread the ball around well. On defense we were led by Joe Crowell who played a great game at linebacker. Injuries and turnovers got to us in the 2nd half as we tried to fight our way back into the game. An interception thrown by Trygsted was returned for a touchdown by Lakeview in the 4th quarter that made it tough to come back.” The Red Devils (0-3, 1-5) will welcome in Kent City next Friday Central Montcalm 27 Cip Hills 14 The Hornets are in! Central Montcalm (5-0, 6-0) held onto the top spot in the Gold but also secured their first playoff appearance since their current players were in middle school. Next week they will travel to Reed City for a showdown game with the Coyotes. Reed City 36 Big Rapids 8 The Coyotes are on a mission. In the 6 year history of the CSAA Gold Conference there has not been a football title trophy without the Reed City name on it and they ruled the combined CSAA league for 3 years before that. To keep that record intact as well as prevent them from missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade, they need to win out in conference play. The Cards were the latest to watch the Yotes pile up points and put up a win on the BR home turf. Reed City (3-1, 4-2) faces undefeated Central Montcalm at home while the Cardinals (1-4, 1-5) travel to Remus to face the CH Warriors (2-3, 2-4) Morley Stanwood 36 Hamady 12 The Mohawks (3-0, 4-2) made it 4 in a row with a win over the previously unbeaten Hawks of Hamady. The team will travel to Hesperia next week where a win would deliver them the Silver title and a step closer to a tenth game. N3 Sports Team
Photos by Alexis Mercer End of regulation score: 2-2 Final score: Fremont: 3, Newaygo: 2 The Packers traveled to Newaygo Thursday evening with the conference tournament up for grabs. Newaygo struck first on a Francisco Rios's goal 15 minutes into the match. The Packers answered 10 minutes later. Lane Converse sent a ball to the foot of Kasidy Wright for the finish. Fremont went up by one when Wright drove a ball to Carter Moon's head for the go ahead goal. The score was 2-1 in favor of Fremont at the half. The second half was full of back and forth action but Newaygo's Rios once again got free for the equalizer with just 11 minutes remaining in the half. The score remained 2-2 at the end of regulation. The match went to a penalty kick shootout. Fremont made 4 while Newaygo made 3. Joe Kortge, Kasidy Wright, David Wachter, and Grant Vissia finished their penalty kicks for Fremont. Newaygo's three made shots were by Angel Guevara, Francisco Rios and Noah Painter. Kortge made two saves in net during the shootout for Fremont. Fremont outshot Newaygo 12-6. Kortge ended with 4 saves while Newaygo's keeper Matthew Richardson made 10 saves. Fremont claimed a share of the conference title with the Newaygo with the victory. Newaygo won the conference regular season while Fremont won the conference tournament. Fremont moved to 13-3-4 overall and 8-0-2 in the conference while Newagyo fell to 14-2-1 overall and 8-1-1 in the conference. Golf
Zerlaut paces Pack, Mulder Gerth close behind Fremont 210 Manistee 212 The Girls' Golf Team improved their dual match record to 4 -1 with a victory over Manistee on Monday (30th). Haley Zerlaut led the team with by shooting 50 on the tough Manistee Country Club course. Right on her heels were both Katelynne Gerth and Taylor Mulder shooting a 51 while Rhi Ziebke shot a 56 to round out the scoring. Fremont plays next in the CSAA conference tournament held at The Falls of Barber Creek on Tuesday. Soccer Shootout goes to Packers The Packers battled the Cardinals from Big Rapids on Wednesday afternoon in the CSAA conference semi-final match. Fremont outshot the Cardinals 14-7 but neither team could manage a goal. The match went into a shootout where Big Rapids made 3 shots and Fremont made 4. Joe Kortge, Grant Vissia, Carter Moon, and Unus Opgard made the penalty kicks for Fremont. Joe Kortge made 7 saves in the match and 3 saves in the shootout for Fremont. Colin Morrissey made 14 saves in the match for Big Rapids and 1 save in the shootout. Fremont moves to 12-3-4 overall and 7-0-2 in the conference. Big Rapids falls to 10-8-4 and 6-2-1 in the conference. Fremont advances to play Newaygo in the finals while Big Rapids plays Tri-County in the consolation match. Volleyball Billings notches 8 kills in Panther win The Lady Panthers traveled to Holton to play the Red Devils tonight for the start of the second round of conference play. The Panthers started out strong with a 25-10 win over the Red Devils, then in Game 2, allowed Holton to lead the game 20-11, before Allison Homfeld served 9 straight to tie up the game. Game 2, ended 25-23 for the Panthers. In Game 3, Emily Bayle served up 10 straight serves helping the Panthers with the 25-11 win. Brooke Billings lead the offense tonight for the Panthers with 8 kills, Rachel Romero and Bayle each added 7 kills. Kyra Sayer had 10 assists, Aria Thomas 8 and Rylee Gleason 5 assists on the night. At the serving line, Bayle served up 8 aces, while Gleason, Sayer, and Homfeld each added 2 for the Panthers. Defensively, Romero had the only block while Thomas, Romero, and Bayle each had 6 digs. Panthers improve their league record to 5-1 and overall record to 20-8-1 at the halfway mark. The Lady Panthers will play in the Shelby Invitational this weekend October 5th, then host the White Cloud Indians on Tuesday, October 8th. Looks like another interesting week for football as the conference begins to separate the contenders for the crown from the also rans. In the Gold Newaygo and Reed City are chasing CM and Grant is waiting in the wings for a stumble or two from the teams in front of them. While next week will feature the showcase Grant/Newaygo annual battle for bragging rights and the much awaited Coyote/Hornet clash this weeks games provide some intriguing matchups. In the Silver Morley plays the game they filled in when the Cloud cancelled hosting the Hawks of Hamady. Hesperia’s qb status is still iffy and the Red Devils return to the field though not their own since they’re traveling to Lakeview. CSAA GOLD Tri County (1-3, 2-3) at Newaygo (3-1, 3-2) The last time the Vikings beat Newaygo Phil Butler was coach. Of the Lions. Since then Coach Butler moved on to his alma mater but his squads haven’t been able to solve the Lions since joining the CSAA 5 years ago. The Vikes can put up the points when the offense is clicking although both teams they have beaten tend to give up a boatload this season. Oh, and they were stuffed by Grant last week but the Tigers are not exactly easy to score on. Not every team gets better as the season progresses. Some don’t, some improve a little and some go backwards. Much like last year, the Lions have improved markedly since game one. Newaygo’s at home but they need to stop the Viking offense early and moreso, not look ahead at the two rivalry games ahead of them, one a time honored war between neighbors and one that’s been simmering since the Lions entered the league. Grant (2-2, 3-2) at Fremont (0-4, 0-5) It’s homecoming for the Packers so fans will enjoy floats and a big halftime show and a coronation and a dance….. But it’s highly unlikely they’ll enjoy a lot of points for the home team, The Tiger defense has some definite teeth to it. They’ve given up a single touchdown in four of their 5 games and only the undefeated and league leading Hornets got into the endzone more than once. Cody Andree can toss the ball and will likely need to. Question is whether he will get the time to do so. Fremont continues to be plagued with yielding points early and if it happens again on Friday the Grant defense will be licking their chops. The Tigers need to win 3 more to punch a playoff ticket. After Friday they want it down to 2. A whole lot would have to go the Packers way to stop it from happening. Reed City (3-1, 3-2) at Big Rapids (1-3. 1-4) The Coyotes are coming into their own and have put up 154 points in their three wins. They also scored a total of just 6 in their 2 losses but those were against 2 of the best defenses around and the Cards aren’t even close to either of those teams when it comes to shutting down opponents. Big Rapids is home and it’s a rivalry game but I doubt it will make much of a difference Friday. The Yotes want to defend their title they can do it by winning out. They cannot afford to let this one slip away and they likely won’t. Chippewa Hills (2-1, 2-3) at Central Montcalm (4-0, 5-0) The Hornets have squeaked by the better teams on their schedule thus far and have dominated the other teams they’ve faced. The Warriors? They beat the Tigers at their own game by putting out a prime defensive effort and holding them to a safety. The following week the floodgates opened and the Coyotes hung 52 on them. The Bees could stumble against an enigmatic CH team like this, particularly if they get too focused on that decisive road game in Reed City next week but I hope not. Any team that shakes off a 13 game losing streak by ripping off 5 straight to open the season deserves a shot at running the table. CSAA SILVER Hesperia (1-1, 2-3) at Kent City (1-1, 3-2) How Hesperia goes will depend on the health of their all everything guy who went down with an injury last week in a loss to previously winless Lakeview. Logan Balkema isn’t the only player on a gritty Panther squad but he is definitely the straw that stirs the drink and on a team with smaller numbers it matters. A lot. The Eagles got it handed to them at home by Morley. The loss hurt and likely diminished any shot at a conference crown but they need the next three to have a shot at continuing their 3 year streak of playoff participation.They will be fired up to make their fans forget about last week. Oh, and it’s homecoming. Holton (0-2, 1-4) at Lakeview (1-2, 1-4) The Devs have not taken the field since September 13th. With the lengthy sabbatical they have been able to get their players healthy and will be ready for the matchup with the Wildcats, but this will be a tough one. Coach Jados still has limited numbers to work with and Lakeview has shown they’re not a pushover despite their record. The Red Devils have missed 2 games between their own forfeit and the Cloud’s last week and while the layoff helps get players healthy teams can struggle to shake the rust off and find their rhythm Here’s hoping enough fans make the trip to cheer on the return of this gutsy group of gridders who decidedly deserve their support. Flint Hamady (5-0) Morley Stanwood (3-0, 3-2) The Hamady Hawks are undefeated and their 5-0 mark looks intimidating. Except their opponents have a combined record of 3-22. Still, the program has been a frequent participant in the postseason in recent years and have moved up a class to compete in B for the first time. The Mohawks are a good team and one that is getting better. They look to add another Silver crown to their trophy case after this non league matchup and they also look to be the team no one wants to face in game 10. Hard to get a read on this but being at home can’t hurt. By Ken DeLaat, N3 Sports |
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