 Mystery Ref wearing much needed glasses Pandemically influenced standings? Should COVID related forfeits even count? If a school is closed due to the virus concerns and is scheduled to play a school equally hit with COVID but one team decides that despite the school closure they’re going to play football… Can you call that a win? As we enter the halfway point of the season it is hoped no conference crown ends up being decided by such circumstances. Just saying… And what’s up with the rumors of a bit of a player rebellion within one of our local teams after a member of the coaching staff got sacked the day before last Friday’s game? Word has it the players weren’t thrilled with the decision and less thrilled about how it was handled. Coincidentally the team’s defense yielded a boatload of points in the first half. This week’s games Tri County (2-1, 3-1) at Newaygo (1-2, 1-3) The Lions ran up a 28 point lead over the Packers then, as they have been prone to do, let the Packers back in the game in the second half. They held on for the win last week but if the Lions are to hold home court they can’t afford to not have four well played quarters. TC’s offense can light up the scoreboard quickly and combined with their rather stingy defense the Vikings are going to be a tough opponent. Fremont (0-3, 0-4) at Grant (1-2, 1-3) Neither team has won on the field though the Tigers are in the W column courtesy of a forfeit. The Pack showed some life in the second half last week. While the comeback was a total team effort we were impressed by the way Dirheimer seemed to will his team back into the game on both sides of the line. The Tigers have struggled on defense and if the Packer offense gets into the rhythm they found in the second half last week the hosts could be in trouble. Holton (1-1, 2-2) at Lakeview (1-1, 1-3) The Red Devils knocked White Cloud from the unbeatens on the road last week. Fowler will be getting a lot of attention from the Wildcat defense but he has some soft handed receivers to toss to and with a bit of o-line protection could do some damage. The Cats went on a scoring spree against Hesperia last week. They likely won’t pile up those numbers against the RD’s but Holton doesn’t want to fall behind early here. A win would be a big step toward a possible trip to the dance. White Cloud (1-1, 3-1) at Morley Stanwood (2-0, 2-2) Can the Cloud shake off that loss to the Red Devils and pull off a road win against Morley? It would surely be a sweet one since the last time a White Cloud team defeated MS most of the current players were just learning to walk. It would keep playoff hopes going with some tough games ahead on the schedule while certainly scrambling the race to the top in the Silver. Silverthorn has done well in guiding the Cloud offense and the Morley D has given up plentiful points, but the visitors can’t afford a slow start and will need to win the turnover battle to pluck this victory from the ‘Hawks. Reed City (3-0, 3-1) at Big Rapids (3-0, 3-1) The battle for the top spot in the Gold features Strickler to Strickland vs. the vaunted Coyote defense. It’s on BR’s new field where they are undefeated thus far. Well, 1-0 but undefeated nonetheless. This is a rivalry game, albeit a one sided rivalry in the past decade-plus. The Cards haven’t beaten RC since 2009 and haven’t come within 4 touchdowns since 2015. Tough game. Edge to the hosts to snap the string and bring a bit of parity to the rivalry. Chippewa Hills (0-3, 0-4) at Central Montcalm (2-1, 3-1) Hornets have been mad as...well...Hornets since their narrow loss to BR last week. They should buzz through a rather porous CH defense. Kent City (1-1, 2-2) vs. Hesperia (0-2. 0-4) Cancelled, not forfeited. -By Ken DeLaat
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 Photo by Brent Foondle Coach Strait:
Last night the Lady Indians dropped a conference match to a tough Kent City team with scores of 12-25, 4-25, 20-25. We had a hard time getting momentum. Leaders on the night were Abby Derks with 6 points and 1 ace. Abby also contributed with 6 kills, assisted by Carsyn Scarlavai, who led with 11 assists. Defensively, Kiara Edwards and Ceara Bode each had 2 blocks. Elizabeth Compeau earned 5 digs, while Krystianna Faltinowski, Kiara, and Jaden Gomez each had 4. We continue play tonight Thursday) in Hart.  The White Cloud Cross Country team competed at Baker Woods in Hesperia for the second CSAA meet of the year. The boys came out on top with 28 points, eight points ahead of second place Kent City. The pack was back and our first five runners finished with a 1:38 spread. Finishing in 2nd place was Nathan Ciolk, first for the Indians. Kobe Canning, Coleson Cruzan, and Carson Foondle were 4th, 5th, and 6th, with Kaleb Canning rounding out the top five in 11th place. Malachi Graves was 13th, Christian Ringler 15th, Ashton Byle 17th, Avery Bowman 18th, Nik Parks 20th, Keagan Kailing 22nd, Wyatt Karnes 28th, Jarret Warlick 32nd and Zane Keith 34th. Setting a personal best time was Jarret Warlick. Excellent racing, boys! The girls team finished third to Kent City and Morley Stanwood. Annie Feldpausch was 10th overall, buf first for the Lady Indians. She was followed by Kiara Edwards 14th, Courtney LaClair 15th, Ryleigh Balke 20th, CeCe Rodriguez 24th, Lillie Keith 26th, and Sydnee Ochs 27th. Good job, ladies! CSAA Gold Jamboree 1 @ Newaygo Overcast and mid 60s Fremont: The girls placed 6th with 167 points. Of the 8 girls who ran, all posted a season record or personal record. Taava Johnson (sr) led the way with a SR in 7th place. Elise Pfeiffer placed 30th as our second finisher, with Rachel Maddox (fr), Gina Naes (sr) and Shyann Callison (fr) rounding out our top 5. The squad continues to improve each meet. The boys placed 1st with 29 points. Henrik Quist (jr), Carter Sherman (fr), and Luke Bradley (fr) all scored PR’s in today’s. The boys executed a good race plan and moved up well throughout the race, and we had a pretty tight pack in 4-6. We also had some shuffling of our top seven, which was good to see the guy pushing each other. Full results can be found here - https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/198082/results Coach Somers  Newaygo's Remington Arney leaning for the finish and a top 3 spot Newaygo:
The girls placed 5th as a team with 102 points. 13 Newaygo girls ran season bests or personal records on this hilly, difficult course. The ladies were led by sophomore Remington Arney, who was nudged out of 2nd place by a mere .05 seconds to take 3rd with a time of 20:26. Rounding out the top five runners in scoring position were Eliza Chaffee (24:03), Olivia DeJohn (24:08), Zoey Walerczyk (24:40), and Lyda Lathrop (25:57). Five boys ran for Newaygo this afternoon. They were led by senior Michael Murray with a time of 20:19, bettering his time on the same course from just over a week ago by more than a minute. Mallaci Mayle ran in a season best time of 20:50 followed by Jadon Ryman (21:53), Bryce Grugett (22:02 SR) and Luke Acton (24:33). The Lions next run at Allendale on October 2. Full results can be found here - https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/198082/results Coach Mercer  Coach Atwood: The White Cloud Cross Country team traveled to Scottville to bring home the hardware for the small school division of the Ludington Invitational. The meet, held on the campus of West Shore Community College and hosted 11 teams in two divisions. The boys finished first with 27 points while Frankfort placed second with 34. Nathan Ciolk was the small school champion for the second year in a row. He ran his season best time of 18:19.8. He was followed by Kobe Canning (3rd), Coleson Cruzan (7th), Carson Foondle (9th), Christian Ringler (14th), Kaleb Canning (15th), Avery Bowman (18th), and Keagan Kailing (19th). Coleson (18:59) and Carson (19:35.30) had personal best times. Kobe (18:50.10) also had a season best time. All the boys brought home medals for their efforts! The Lady Indians finished second by scoring 46 points to Frankfort's 18 points. Scoring for White Cloud were Annie Feldpausch (8th), Kiara Edwards (10th), Courtney LaClair (14th), Ryleigh Balke (17th), and Cecelia Rodriguez (19th). Allie Rodriguez, Lillie Keith, and Sydnee Ochs finished 22nd, 24th and 25th, respectively. Ryleigh (30:04.10) had a personal best time while Annie (24:28.90), Lillie (40:25.10), Courtney (28:02.30) and Cecelia (33:32.20) all had season best times. Each of the girls also brought home medals. Congratulations to all the runners. This week we will be in action at Hesperia on Tuesday, September 21st and at the Cadillac Invitational on Saturday, September 25th.   Story by Joseph Mclean Photos by Cassie Rickert Holton 36 White Cloud 20 The game began with opening score drives from both teams. The opening onside kick for Holton mixed with the passing attack torched the defense for White Cloud. White Cloud’s rushing attack gave Holton some trouble, but they tried to mix the passing game in and it didn’t work. The Red Devils made a stand and othe ball back to start the 2nd quarter. They put together a drive combining their ground game and the passing of Austin Fowler who hit Rice Robins for another score. The Indians held possession for most of the quarter, but the defense for Holton bending but not breaking kept the hosts off the board. The Red Devils got the ball back at the end of the quarter and a pass from Fowler to Cameron Edgerton added another 6. The two point run from Kevin Erickson makes it 30-6 at the half. The Red Devils opened the second half with a lengthy drive that looked to be stopped after a sack, but a costly penalty extended the drive that would ultimately lead to a Fowler to Erickson touchdown. The Indians rushing attack nearly ran out the clock in the quarter, and couldn’t be stopped. White Cloud’s runner broke for the goalline and fumbled the ball but a WC player recovered in the endzone for their second score of the night. The Devils opened up the final frame with the ball and the Fowler to Robins connection carried the drive, but the Indians stopped them in the red zone. The Indians made the passing game look easy as they struck early with a Reuther touchdown pass. Two point conversion puts them down 16, and on the following kickoff they pinned the Devs deep in their territory. The rushing attack for Holton milked a lot of clock late and the strong runs of QB Fowler gave the Devils the win. Holton (2-2, 1-1) will travel to Lakeview next Friday to take on the Wildcats while White Cloud (3-1, 1-1), and the Indians go to Morley to face the Mohawks.    Tri County 40 Grant 14 The Tigers have struggled to put points on the board thus far this season. Nonetheless, when they opened with a well executed 71 yard drive culminating in a short yardage TD by QB Brady Jacobs to take a 6-0 lead the visitors were given a little shot of momentum in what looked to be a tough road game. How tough? The Vikings peeled off the next 40 points running their offense behind some dominating line play to get back into the win column. A late Tiger TD by Chase Kazemeier gave the Tigers a second score for the first time this season but by then the Viking homecoming crowd was already celebrating the team’s 3rd win in four outings. Jacobs led the Tigers offense with 134 yards rushing against the stingy Viking defense. The defense was led by Sawyer Carr with 6 tackles, Angel Tello and Treyton Railling with 5 each. Grant (1-3, 1-2) travels to Fremont next week and TC (3-1, 2-1) will be welcomed in at Newaygo Lakeview 49 Hesperia 8 The Wildcat team that had managed just 13 points in their 3 previous games while yielding 139 to opponents found their game Friday night as they pounded the Panthers to snap the school’s 10 game losing streak. Things don’t look to get any easier for Hesperia (0-4, 0-2) who will travel to Kent City to face the Eagles next week while Lakeview ((1-3, 1-1) will host Holton. Other Games: Reed City 58 Chip Hills 7 The Coyotes took a 40-0 halftime lead and hung on for the win. Big Rapids 25 Central Montcalm 21 In a battle of title contenders the Cards ended up on top as Wil Strickler tossed for three TDs and ran for another. Morley Stanwood 1 Kent City 0 (Forfeit)     Packer comeback falls short and Newaygo gets win #1 Photos By Alexis Mercer Story by Ken DeLaat Newaygo 45 Fremont 28 In what has become a weekly ritual for Newaygo fans this battle between these two long time rivals turned out to be 2 different games separated by intermission. The Lions played their game plan to perfection in the first half as they ran up points while the defense kept the Packers in check. Grant Harkness tossed a couple of timely passes to Nick Ruehmeier, called his own number twice and after Jayden Joseph ran it to the one Harkness finished the job and after Josiah Long’s conversion it was a quick 7-0 lead for the hosts. The Pack went 3 and out and the punt attempt was tipped to give Newaygo the ball on the Fremont 32. The first play saw Daniel Romero deliver a big hit to Remy Wells and the next play the defense seemed to have Harkness in trouble but he scrambled away for a first down and 3 plays later he chucked a pass to Wells and with another Long conversion it was 14-0. The Packers moved the ball on the next possession. Kyler DeKuiper found Justin Dirheimer for a long game that could have been 6 if not for an open field tackle by Ethan Reyburn. DeKuiper hit Wei Chen for another 1st down but the drive stalled when a bad snap resulted in a 14 yard loss and 2 plays later the punt team returned the ball to the Lions. After a Packer penalty, a pass to Amaree James and a keeper by Harkness the qb faded back, faked a toss to the right and hit a wide open James who sprinted 52 yards and the Lions went up 21-0. The Packers were getting beat at the line and yielded the ball again but Dirheimer came up with a huge interception to halt the Newaygo drive then on DeKuiper slid a pass to Chen who dodged tackles and fired down the sidelines to put the Pack on the board. David Wachter made the PAT and the score was 21-7. But the Lions weren’t done. Two more TD tosses to Wells and the teams hit the break with Newaygo holding a commanding 35-7 lead. Then came the second half. And while a 28 point lead seems pretty safe the Lion faithful have seen a series of second half letdowns already this young season. And when the Packers put together a scoring drive in their first possession capped by a 28 yard run by a determined Dirheimer there was a bit of angst settling in some spots. An angst that wasn’t helped by a defensive stop and change of possession. Wells came through with an interception and the Lions were on the move again, working the ball inside the Fremont 10 before Dirheimer stripped the ball from Joseph and the Pack were back in business. DeKuiper found Chen for a 30 yarder and on the next play Dirheimer busted loose tossing off tacklers and running it to the 10 yard line before taking it downtown on the next play and suddenly it was a 2 score game at 35-21. The Lions regrouped and put together a scoring drive to go up 42-21 but Fremont answered again in the 4th with Dirheimer taking it in for a 1 yard plunge and a 42-28 game. But that was a s close as they would come and after Long booted a 30 yard field goal later in the fourth there seemed to be an audible sigh of relief from Lions fans with a 3 score lead and minutes remaining. Dirheimer had a huge night on both sides of the ball finishing with 173 yards and 3 TD’s while collecting 5 solo tackles and an interception. DeKuiper tossed for 184 yards and Chen accounted for 240 of them. Michael Romero led the Pack in tackles with 11. For Newaygo Harkness merely tossed 4 TD passes and ran another in for good measure as he amassed 179 yards by land and another 251 yards by air. James (107 yds) Wells (66 yds) Dyllan Bazzett (49 yards) and Ruehmeier (21 yds) were the recipients of those passes. Joseph also eclipsed the century mark rushing as he finished with 107. Joseph, Cam Goodin and Kody Bazzett led the Lion defense in tackles. One of the more impressive showings of the night was in the kicking game of both teams. Long converted 7 extra points and split the uprights with his only field goal attempt and on the Fremont side Wachter went a perfect 4-4. Newaygo (1-3, 1-2) will host a red hot Tri County team next week while the Packers (0-4, 0-3) will welcome in the Tigers of Grant      Photos by Brent Foondle White Cloud 3 Lakeview 1 Coach Strait: Wednesday, the Lady Indians came out of Lakeview with a win. After 2 great first games, we struggled to maintain momentum the 3rd game. At the end of the night, we bounced back to take control of the 4th game. Scores were 25-16, 25-17, 13-25, 25-13. Leading in serving were Abby Derks with 6 aces, followed by Carsyn Scarlavai and Ceara Bode each with 4. Abby had a huge night on offense with 11 kills, while Kiara Edwards and Carsyn chipped in 5. Defensively, we had a great night with Carsyn, Jaden Gomez and Elizabeth Compeau each digging up 10. We will continue our conference play when we head to Kent City on Wednesday. Morley Stanwood 3 Hesperia 0 The Panthers suffered a tough 0-3 loss against the always tough Morley Stanwood Mohawks on the road last night with the scores 10-25, 8-25, and 7-25. The Panthers were led offensively by Alex Glenn and Kayla Rumsey each with 3 kills and Caitlyn Frees, Elli McAree, and Emmet Tinkham all added 2 kills for the Panther offense. Lacey McCallum had 10 assists and McAree had an ace on the night. On the defense, McCallum led with 10 digs, Emma Joppich and Glenn each added 9 digs. The Panthers will play again tonight (Thursday) at home against Muskegon Catholic, Mason County Central, and Onekema in a home quad beginning at 5:00 pm.   Mystery Ref has been on the field for decades. By Ken DeLaat Holton (1-2,0-1) at White Cloud (3-0, 1-0) Whaddya got, White Cloud? The last team in school history to go 4-0? 1972. Nixon was about to be elected president for a second term that would end, uh, badly for him. And the last WC team to beat the RD’s? 2003, also the last team to earn a playoff berth since everyone got in last year. The Devs have shown they can put up the points having tallied 76 points in their 3 games. They have also yielded 88 points hence the 1-2 mark thus far. The Holton team put on an impressive showing last week that nearly saw them snatch one from Morley on the ‘Hawks home turf. The Cloud is feeling pretty good these days with a team that is off to the best start of any squad since back in the late 80’s. The early traction has energized a fan base that will be turning out in droves Friday to see how good their current cadre might be. This will be the toughest game yet for Coach Gorman’s team. The Red Devils can be explosive and their early schedule has been tougher than the teams faced by the Cloud who are winless thus far. There was some serious momentum resulting from that OT win last week, but the hosts will need to find a way to keep that rolling against the visitors from Holton. As we said this one will test the home team, but they showed a lot of grit last week and if their offense can keep pace with the scoring capabilities of this RD squad there should be plenty of action on both sides of the scoreboard. Fremont (0-3, 0-2) at Newaygo (0-3, 0-2) Who is going to make the fewest mistakes? Both teams are looking for win number 1 on the season and what better way to savor that first win than to have it come against a cross county rival in what could be their last conference tilt on the gridiron? The Lions and Packers each lost games to Big Rapids and Central Montcalm by eerily similar scores. Both teams possess pretty good passing games and combined with a pair of strong receiving corps they each have the ability to strike quickly. Interceptions, the fly in the ointment when it comes to high school passing games, have brought drives to a halt for these teams as have the type of penalties that make coaches testy and prematurely grey. It’s on Newaygo’s home turf and Friday marks one year since the last win notched by the Lions on the field.The chaotic season that was 2020 made this matchup the season opener last year and the Lions went into Fremont and posted a 42-14 win providing a rude welcome to Coach Carpenter.The Packers left from that squad would like to return the favor over in Lion country. This one is likely to be a close one and, as we said, whoever minimizes mistakes by paring down penalties and turnovers should emerge with that elusive #1. Grant (1-2, 1-1) at Tri County (2-1, 1-1) The Tigers opened with a pair of losses then missed a game last week when COVID issues forced Chip Hills to forfeit. Those losses came against a CP team that puts up and gives up a lot of points and a Reed City squad anchored by their always rugged defensive play. The Tigers managed just 6 points against Park and were held scoreless by the Coyotes. The Vikings were stung by that close loss to Reed City last week but the game showed that they are indeed one of the better teams to inhabit the Gold Division. And while the offense has been a lively watch the Viking defense has sparkled in the early season as well. Game is at TC and Grant will need to find some ways to get on the board because their hosts will likely be putting up some points Possibly a lot of them. Hesperia (0-3, 0-1) at Lakeview (0-3, 0-1) The Panthers lost a heartbreaker to the Cloud last week at home. An emotional overtime game between two Silver rivals fell to the visitors and win #1 eluded Hesperia and their new Head Coach Dave Smith. This one’s on the road but I like Hesperia’s chances here. The Wildcats can’t score and they haven’t been able to stop other teams from getting into the endzone. Granted their schedule hasn’t been the easiest and they are a scrappy group who will play until the final gun so this won’t be easy for the Panthers. The Hespo team seems to have improved each week and grabbing this road win would be a big step forward. Other games: Morley Stanwood (1-2, 1-0) at Kent City (2-1, 1-0) The “Hawks got beat up by a couple of undefeated teams in their first 2 games then pulled out a squeaker against the Red Devils. The Eagles shookoff an unexpected loss to Hart to ramble past an outmanned Wildcat team. Eagles at home gives them an edge but this one could be closer than some might expect. Chip Hills at Reed City With all due respect to the Warrior squad, if the Coyotes don’t win this one, bet on the Lions making the Super Bowl because it will be that kind of year. Big Rapids at Central Montcalm Two of the top tier teams in the Gold go at it. Kaelb Crooks to Fisher Wells and Jamal Strickler to Wil Strickland. Four names worth the price of admission.  |
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