Lions host the ‘Cats in the postseason opener
By Ken DeLaat Photos by Alexis Mercer Of the 5 football teams N3 Sports covers, just one managed to play their way into the postseason, the Newaygo Lions. The last time Newaygo made the playoffs,(not including the COVID year when everyone got in) was 2019, also the last year the Lions posted a winning record. And while his players may not have any postseason experience, Coach Munger has been there a few times since his Rockford team qualified 25 consecutive times and those runs included 5 appearances in the State Final with 3 State Championships. Not a shabby resume. Coach Munger and his staff have brought a winning attitude to the school and built a team that plays their hearts out from opening kickoff to final gun. In their two losses to Reed City and Big Rapids his squad played the final minutes as if it was a tie game. Impressive. Now they not only have a ticket to the dance, they’re hosting it. Friday at 7pm they will be paid a visit by the Montague Wildcats (4-5) who fought their way in via a regular season finale beatdown of a pretty fair Ravenna team. The Cats can score a lot of points to be sure but their defense can be shaky at times. In their 5 games prior to the win over the Bulldogs they yielded an average of over 50 points a game. That includes a wild 70-64 win over the Packers a couple of weeks ago. The Lions have a lot of offensive weaponry with Blake Kerr calling the signals and tossing the ball to a bevy of quality receivers. Porter Slominski is a beast out of the backfield and if the Lions are inside the 5 he can smell the endzone. The o-line has been a huge factor in the team’s success and will be counted on Friday to win the war in the trenches. Should the Lions win they will host the winner of Central Montcalm and Kent City next week. This should be a good one. Montague has a legacy of success having made the postseason every year but one during this century and have made it to the Finals 4 times picking up 3 state titles along the way. But this is now and the Lions are hungry to show what they’ve got. It might be a close one but this team is not about to bow out on their home field. Read it here. Clear your schedule for next week because the Lions will be playing game 11.
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By Michael Paige The Fremont boys qualified as a team for the state finals on Friday at the Regional meet at Benzie Central. In a competitive race where only the top three teams move on, all of the Fremont runners responded to the pressure by either passing or holding off opposing runners at the finish to secure the third spot with 106 points. Gladwin won the meet with 91 points and Cedar Springs tallied 100 points. Fremont’s Carter Sherman led the Packer assault on the historically fast course, running a career best 15:47 and finishing 4th overall, just a half second behind Sparta’s Owen Metzger and a second ahead of Whitehall’s Stewart Waters, with whom he has competed tightly in many races this year. Blake Taylor finished 2nd for the Pack and 11th overallwith two runners on his heels, also posting a career best 16:11. Cole Lowery (19th – 16:36), Mossen Green (35th – 16:58) Chase Lowery (37th – 17:02), Isaac Romero (48th - 17:28) and Andreas Krapp (68th – 18:05) all ran at or near personal record times. Apart from the top three teams, individual runners also qualify for the state finals by finishing in the top 15. Fremont junior Linnea Paige ran a time of 19:09 and finished 9th in the girls’ race to qualify. This will be her third trip to MIS to compete in the big race. She finished 45th with a time of 19:40 as a freshman and 58th with a time of 19:26 as a sophomore. She is hoping to reach the podium this year with a top 30 finish. Junior Joelle Patten just missed qualifying for the big dance at 19th but ran a huge personal best of 19:37, a minute better than her previous best and 2-3 minutes better than her times earlier this month! Kira Manchip (41st – 21:13), Rachel Maddox (50th – 21:31), Rocquel Richards (63rd – 22:33), Jessie Kendziorski (81st – 24:04) and Riley Chase (86th – 24:31) all set PRs competing for the Pack.
The state finals are Saturday Nov. 2 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. Division 2 boys run at 1:30 and Division 2 girls at 2:50. The White Cloud Cross Country team competed at the D4 Region 31 meet on Saturday, October 26. The boys finished second, qualifying for the state meet next week in Brooklyn, MI. Coleson Cruzan was the Region 31 champion with a new personal best time of 16:28. Kaleb Canning was eighth with 17:14. Both Coleson and Kaleb were All-Region. Avery Bowman had a huge PR for the late season race of 18:27, finishing 20th. Joey Coon was 22nd and also posted a personal best time with 18:30. Wyatt Karnes was 25th (18:52), Angelo Hinson was 26th (18:53) and Caleb Leys was 45th (20:18.) Charlotte Karnes achieved a personal best time at her last race of the season. She finished 39th place at 27:53, over five minutes faster than her regional race last year! Will Lions win in Packerville? Can Panthers pull off Jack Pine sweep? Could Tigers spoil Eagle finale again? And what is happening in Holton?
Newaygo (6-2) at Fremont (2-6) The Lions are solidly in the postseason and while likely to have already earned a home game a win here puts that on ice. The Packers are just looking to post win #3. Historically Fremont holds a 14-13 edge in wins with Newaygo currently on a 6 game win streak in the series The Packers give up points. A lot of them. In games against teams not named Grant they have yielded over 40 points a game. And they can score as evidenced by their back to back point scoring records. The Lions gave up a lot of points in their losses to the Cards and Coyotes but so did nearly everyone else who faced these teams. They also know how to get the ball into the endzone and can grind it out when needed. Our Packer Prognosticator isn’t picking a winner but believes it will be a close one. It could be but mistakes have plagued the Pack and the Lions have been an opportunistic team that capitalizes on turnovers. Coach Munger’s teams have hung a lot of W’s on the board and I’d be hard pressed to bet against his squad right now. Grant (3-4) at Kent City (5-3) The Eagles are sitting in the 27th (of 32) slots in the postseason point total and should be in either way, but a win removes any question. The Tigers have steadied themselves a bit after a rocky first ⅔ of the season with a pair of wins sandwiching a Reed City romp. Their three wins are over teams with a 4-20 cumulative record and KC’s best win was against a 4-4 Hart team. It’s in Kent City and they have a lot to play for. The Tigers need to bring their A game and get a couple of breaks if they are to hang a 4th W on the season. To add a bit of history the ‘21 Eagles were kept out of the playoffs after getting shut out in the season finale. Against Grant. White Cloud (1-7) at Holton (0-6) After losing their first 2 by 113-0 the Red Devils forfeited the rest of their conference games. Since then they have played once, losing to Burton Atherton 46-6 in late September. If this one gets played the Cloud will get their second win of the season. St. Louis (2-6) at Hesperia (2-6) It’s Shark Week in Hesperia as St. Louis comes to call. They have one common opponent in Farwell and both teams clipped the Eagles. Would like to see the Panthers go out on a winning note and they will get points on the board but the defense needs to be better at stopping big plays and they haven’t shown a propensity to do so. There are some standout players on the Panther squad and with a little help this should be a happy night in Hespo. Cruzan (1st) and Canning (3rd) help haul home the hardware
Photos below by Joan Ludtke White Cloud Cross Country competed at the Late Season Chippewa Hills Invitational on Saturday and the boys brought home the first place trophy for the small school division. Coleson Cruzan was the small school champion, and Kaleb Canning finished third. Wyatt Karnes was 18th, Angelo Hinson 21st, Joey Coon 31st, Avery Bowman 35th, Tyler Higgins 55th, and Zeke Hensley 58th. There were 71 runners in the small school division. In the girls race, Charlotte Karnes finished 37th in the 48 runner field. Tyler Higgins had his personal best time, improving by 27 seconds. Story by Michael Paige Photos by Cari Taylor The Fremont Cross Country teams competed at the annual Late Season Warrior Invitational at Chippewa Hills on Saturday. The boys took the top spot out of 17 teams with a team score of 49. Carter Sherman was the top Fremont runner with a time of 16:40, good for 3rd overall. Cole Lowery (17:14 – 8th), Blake Taylor (17:19 – 11th), Mossen Green (17:26 – 15th) and Isaac Romero (17:43 – 19th) also scored for the Packers. According to Coach Cliff Somers, “Mossen Green had a PR today as he is coming on strong at the end of the season.” For the girls, Linnea Paige placed 5th overall with a time of 19:47. Per Coach Somers, “Joelle Patten had a strong race as our second runner.” She finished 15th with a time of 21:42. Rachel Maddox (22:34.10 – 28th), Kira Manchip (22:34.65 – 29th) and Rocquel Richards (23:48 – 51st) rounded out the scoring. The ladies finished 5th overall with 72 points. The Packer runners will compete at Regionals on Friday Oct. 25 at Benzie Central High School. Boys run at 3:35, girls at 4:45. Lions and Vikings Face Off at CMU Story and photos by Alexis Mercer Relative to a Saturday afternoon watching Central Michigan University’s football team, the stands were quite empty. But that didn’t dim the vibe in the stadium as the Newaygo Lions faced off against the Lake Odessa Lakewood Vikings. Lakewood started with the ball, but on that first drive, they fumbled on the 45 and the Lions recovered. Porter Slominski scored his first of many touchdowns with 3:26 left in the first quarter. In their next possession, the Vikings fumbled again but after having taken it all the way to the 10 yard line. The Lions returned the favor by passing and getting intercepted on the 50 shortly after. Lakewood took advantage of this turnover opportunity and found the endzone. The Lions were down 6-7. The Lions couldn’t find a way to progress the ball in their next possession, but then recovered another fumble and Slominski slammed the ball into the endzone to put the Lions up 13-7. Yet another fumble, and its recovery by Konner Bisel, led to Slominski’s third touchdown. Combine that with Kerr’s second made extra point and the Lions’ lead was 20-7. Lake Odessa added to their score starting the second half, keeping it a close game, but Newaygo continued to do what was working and gave Slominski the ball for the endzone. After this, the Lions switched up who would have the honors of scoring the points, and Ethan Reyburn sped in for another touchdown. Lions led 33-14. Another Lakewood score but then Sebastian Belanger had a solid play to score for the Lions yet again to end the 3rd quarter and the score was 40-22. Add to the stats another fumble by the Vikings, with a Nathan Watson recovery, who returned the ball for a defensive touchdown and a 47-22 lead. After this, Lakewood continued to try to even up the score, adding 7 to their side, but Ryan Pickerd’s touchdown with 5:52 left in the game sealed the deal. The final score was 53-36 in the Lions favor. Photos by Josie Lowry Grant 35 Chippewa Hills 12 The Tigers got on the board late in the first when Jayden Newton hit Sincere Hatch for a 13 yard scoring strike. Fern Montenegro knocked the conversion through and the hosts went up 7-0. Chip Hills answered with a TD but halfway through the second Eddie Beight broke loose and hit the end zone for a 32 yard TD. Another Montenegro boot made it 14-6 but the Tigers weren’t done. With time ticking down Newton found Hatch again and after a third conversion by Montenegro sent the teams to the lockers with Grant holding a 21-6 advantage. The Tigers scored twice more in the second half as Aiden Booth ran it in from 31 yards and Newton connected with Ethan Delong for a 31 yard TD. Montenegro continued to be perfect on the night and despite another CH score the hosts put this one in the W column. Coach Lowry: “Our kids came out and played 4 quarters of smash mouth football. We made our seniors’ last game on Rynberg Field memorable. Great team effort by our guys.” On defense, Booth finished with 8 solo tackles and a forced fumble.Gavin Kiliszewski and Ethan Dean recovered fumbles and Hatch collected an interception. Grant (3-5) will play their season finale Friday at Kent City (5-30. Whitehall 47 Fremont 6 The Vikings needed a win to sew up the conference title and improve their standing in the playoff race. They got it in a convincing fashion as they put a whipping on the Packers, scoring 3 times in the first quarter and twice more before halftime to build a 34-0 lead at intermission. The lone score for the hosts came just after midway through the fourth when Karter Frens took it in from 9 yards out to put the Pack on the board. Viking QB Camden Thompson ran for 2 long TDs and passed for 3 more as the visitors seemed to score at will. Frens finished with a team high 101 yards with Khai Noordyk adding another 67 Tritan Corrigan collected 7 tackles with Asa Barnhard and Norrdyk tallying 6 apiece, Fremont (2-6) finishes the season Friday when thy host Newaygo (6-2) Central Montcalm 62 White Cloud 6 A surging team with a potent offense on a 5 game winning streak seeking to complete a conference sweep for the title facing a team mired in a losing streak and unable to stop their opposition from scoring. And a predictable result as the Hornets claimed the CSAA White crown with a thorough takedown of their visitors from White Cloud. The lone score by the Cloud came on a Jayden Robinson to Jayden Graves TD toss. Reece Johnson led the team in tackles with 8 White Cloud (1-7) is scheduled to play Holton Friday. The Red Devils have forfeited their conference games and are 0-3 in games played. Hart 48 Hesperia 6 The Pirates evened their record on the season while delivering the Panthers their sixth straight loss. Skyler Stalbaum scored the lone TD for Hesperia while Blake Sayer hit on a dozen passes with Ian Fox pulling in 5 and Thor Klaus finishing with 3. Hesperie (2-6) wraps up their season when the Sharks of St. Louis (2-6) pay a visit on Friday. Fremont Cross Country teams place well at final WMC Lakes Jamboree
Story and photos by Michael Paige The Fremont cross country teams ran well with some outstanding individual performances on a chilly fall evening at Oakridge High School Tuesday night. The boys started things off, winning the meet with a team score of 41, ten points better than Whitehall. Senior Carter Sherman led the Fremont runners with a second-place finish behind Whitehall’s Stewart Waters. Sherman’s time of 16:26 is just 7 seconds off his career best. Sherman was followed by brothers Cole and Chase Lowery in 5th and 6th with outstanding times of 16:57 and 16:59, a PR for Chase. Next for the Pack were Mossen Green in 13th with a career best time of 17:30, 27 seconds faster than his previous best, and Isaac Romero in 15th at 17:42. Blake Taylor (18:12), Andreas Krapp (18:52 – PR), Brandson Rasmussen (19:31 – PR), Jacob Christoffersen (20:05 – PR) and Ethan Campbell (22:14 – PR) also ran for the Packers. On the girls’ side, Packer Junior Linnea Paige finished second behind Ludington’s Annabelle Lowman. Lowman won all three WMC Lakes conference meets this year. Along with Lowman, Paige (4th, 2nd and 2nd), Ludington’s Nadia Grierson (2nd, 3rd, 3rd) and Whitehall’s Cami Kraai (3rd, 4th, 4th) captured the top four spots in all three meets. In the final conference meet, Fremont finished second as a team with 62 points, one point ahead of Whitehall. Ludington won the meet with 28 points. After Paige at 19:27, Fremont’s Joelle Patten ran her career best time of 20:35, good for a 6th place finish. Patten’s time was a whopping 50 seconds better than her previous best just 10 days ago. Next for Fremont was Kira Manchip, coming in 11th with a time of 21:28, a PR of about 43 seconds. Rachel Maddox (19th at 22:31) and Rocquel Richards (24th, with a season best 23:24) finished out the Packer scoring. Riley Chase (25:02), Jessie Kendziorski (25:05), Madison Dunbar (27:05), Alayna Bukala (27:09), Margarita Romero (27:45) and Anne Kausch (35:07) also competed for Fremont, all running personal bests. Fremont competes again on Saturday, Oct. 19 at Chippewa Hills HS for the Late Season Warrior Invite. By Ken DeLaat, N3 Sports Newaygo (5-2) vs. Lake Odessa Lakewood (2-5) at Kelly Shorts Stadium, CMU NOTE: 5 PM KICKOFF! A great opportunity for these teams to compete on the home field of a Division 1 college program. Kudos to the Chips for stepping up when this game needed to be moved from its original site at Davenport. As for the game itself… The Vikings 2 wins came against teams with a cumulative 1-13 record this season. Granted, they play in the CAAC White, a tough conference in the Lansing area, but they haven’t come close in most of those 5 losses. The Lions are coming off a loss to a Big Rapids team that looks prepared to make a lengthy postseason run if they play like they have lately. The Lions can move the ball and should be able to put up points on Lake O. They need this one to stay in the hunt for a home game in week 10 so motivation won’t be an issue. Actually, motivation never seems to be an issue on Coach Munger’s squad. Whitehall (5-2) at Fremont (2-5) The Vikings are cruising after starting the season 1-2. Those losses came against highly ranked D3 and D4 powerhouses from the OK Gold, a grinder of a conference. Since surviving the Dux and Crusaders they have run off 4 straight against some of the best in the conference, sealing a title with a win here and muscling themselves into the playoff picture. And our Packer Prognosticator has gone silent this week. Of course there’s always a chance for the host Packers to pull off the upset of the year in h.s football, but if you recall the conversation between Lloyd and Mary about chances in Dumb and Dumber… Despite Fremont’s offensive explosion last week the Vikes are just too good on defense to allow the Pack to pile up the points they would need to pull out a W. Whitehall will likely score early and often in the first half and that lead will probably put this one on ice. Chippewa Hills (1-6) at Grant (2-5) With an away game at Kent City next week this is the best shot the Tigers have at posting a 3rd win. But despite their record, the Warriors have some quality athletes on both sides of the ball and they were competitive most of the game in losses to Newaygo and Tri County. Grant should be able to score on CH but turnovers could swing the game quickly. And interestingly enough, the only win for the Warriors was the only team they have faced with a losing record. Until this Friday. White Cloud (1-6) at Central Montcalm (6-1) The Hornets are the cream of the Red Division with title in hand and a more than likely home game in week 10. Since losing to Newaygo in week 2 they have beaten opponents by an average margin of 36 points. That’s a lot. And the Cloud has struggled keeping teams in check, a condition that has led to squeezing their offensive options. A win by the visiting Indians would be as big and upset as the aforementioned Packer/Viking matchup. Hesperia (2-5) at Hart (2-5) The Panthers will likely get strong games from Sayer, Stalbaum, and a couple others but they need help, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. The Pirates slapped over 40 on OV last week but so has everyone else so… Hespo will have to battle on defense and win the turnover war if they are to pull this one off. If they fall behind quickly those chances will slim down like a dieter on Ozempic. |
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