When the dust had settled Saturday on the Jefferson County North girls’ 50-30 win over KC Christian in the championship game of the Delaware Valley League Preseason Basketball Tournament in Oskaloosa, head coach Steve Noll didn’t focus on the fact the win marked his 100th varsity victory.
He was happy to focus on his team’s second straight DVL Tourney title instead.
The Chargers used a mix of strong pressure defense and tenacious rebounding to rack up a 12-2 second quarter that gave them all the room they needed for the 20-point win.
North dominated the Panthers on the boards, with a 27-10 advantage in rebounds in the first half and a 47-23 advantage overall. The Chargers also forced 25 turnovers while committing only 15 themselves.
The win capped a tournament run that saw the Chargers rout Immaculata and come back from a double-digit deficit to beat the host Oskaloosa Bears in the semifinals.
The Panthers stayed close in the first quarter and led midway through on a 3-pointer by senior Sarah Hawthorne. JCN regained the lead on a turnaround jumper by junior Mallory GrandPre and, after a steal by senior Devin Gigstad, junior Sara Navinskey drilled a 3-pointer to make it 12-8 North. After a jumpball gave the ball back to North, GrandPre scored on a lay-in to make it 14-8 and force a KCC timeout. North stretched the lead to 16-9 but Hawthorne hit another 3-pointer and North settled for a 17-12 lead entering the second quarter.
JCN cranked up the full-court pressure defense in the second quarter and it paid off, as 3 points by senior Amelia Noll stretched the Charger lead to 8. The Panthers didn’t get their first point of the quarter until the 5:01 mark and they wouldn’t hit a field goal attempt in the quarter. JCN ended the quarter on a 7-2 run to take a 29-14 lead into the locker room at halftime.
JCN’s 17-rebound advantage in the first half continued to hold true in the third quarter as North grabbed two offensive rebounds on its first possession of the half. On the Chargers’ next possession, senior Lisa Weishaar hit a 3-pointer that made the score 33-14 JCN. A Gigstad lay-in off an Amelia Noll pass pushed the lead to 21 and reached 22 at its peak before a late KCC score cut it to 40-20 entering the fourth quarter.
North held the line in the fourth quarter as Steve Noll cleared the bench with his team up 20 and about 5 minutes left in the game. The bench extended the lead to 23 but Hawthorne hit a final 3-pointer to make the final score 50-30 JCN.
Gigstad led the way for JCN with 13 points and finished just shy of a double-double with 9 rebounds. Amelia Noll and GrandPre finished with 7 points each and grabbed 7 and 8 rebounds, respectively. Freshman Jordan Kramer also had 7 rebounds for North. KCC was led by Hawthorne’s 9 points and 6 rebounds from junior Danielle Trott.
Noll said the only person who knew the game would be his 100th varsity win was his wife, and he said with a laugh he was hoping she would have kept the fact under her hat.
“That other stuff doesn’t really matter,” he said. North moved to 4-0 with the win. “I was really wanting to win two tournaments in a row, though. We expected them to come out a lot more aggressively than they did. We got down a bit coming out of the chute versus Oskaloosa but we need to start coming out at the start like we did today. We had three goals coming in – contest every shot, keep the pressure on them and control the boards – and I thought we did all of those things. Devin hit the boards really well for us. For the most part I’m pleased with everybody today. We’ll enjoy tonight and tomorrow and come back Monday ready to practice. It was a whole team effort today.”
In other county action, Oskaloosa defeated Horton, 42-41, for third place and McLouth defeated Jackson Heights, 62-56, for fifth place. Valley Falls placed 10th with a 40-35 loss to Troy in the ninth place game.
Oskaloosa boys defeat Valley Falls for fifth
On the boys’ side, the top county game came down to the fifth-place matchup between the host Bears and the Valley Falls Dragons, which Oskaloosa took by a 47-44 count.
Both teams entered with a 2-2 record on the season. Oskaloosa fell to Wathena in the first round while Valley Falls lost to eventual tourney champion KC Christian in the quarterfinals. Oskaloosa bounced back to win a tight game over JCN in the consolation semifinals while Valley Falls outlasted Horton by 4 points to set up the intracounty rivalry game for fifth.
The first half was nip-and-tuck as the teams traded scores throughout the first quarter to enter the second quarter tied at 12. Valley Falls got a 3-pointer from sophomore Alex Nottingham to open the scoring in the second quarter but the teams continued to stay close. The Bears took a 4-point lead with about 3 minutes left in the half but Dragons junior Riley Bunde hit a hook shot and senior Josh Kearney scored off a Bunde defensive rebound to tie the game. Nottingham hit a jumper to give the Dragons a 2-point lead with 1:20 left in the half but Bears sophomore Adam Bowser hit a 3-pointer with time dwindling to give Oskaloosa a 24-23 halftime lead.
Oskaloosa got some breathing room in the third quarter as the Bears started the half on a 6-point run to open up a 7-point lead. Dragons senior Ray Cook scored off a steal by junior Mitchell Streeter to get Valley Falls on the scoreboard with 4:34 to go in the quarter. The Dragons would have multiple chances to cut into the Bears’ lead, which held at 7 and became 9 on two free throws by senior post player Chase Tenpeny. The lead held there as the Bears took a 38-29 advantage into the fourth quarter.
The Dragons wouldn’t go away, though, as senior T.J. Breese hit a 3-pointer to start the scoring in the fourth quarter and a Cook short jumper cut the lead to 6 with about 4:30 to go in the game. Nottingham scored off a steal and then hit two free throws on the Dragons’ next possession to cut it to 43-41 Bears with 2:28 left. Dragons senior Dylan McKnight scored off a Cook steal to tie the game with about a minute to play but Bears senior guard J.T. Thurston hit two free throws with 53 seconds left to give the lead back to Oskaloosa.
Kearney hit one of two free throws with 33 seconds left to cut the lead to 1 but Tenpenny hit two free throws on the other end with 16 seconds left to make it 47-44 Oskaloosa. The Bears had a chance to put the game away but Thurston missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw situation and Bunde pulled down the rebound with 4 seconds left and the Dragons called a quick timeout.
With 2.9 seconds left and the ball at three-quarter court, Nottingham inbounded the ball and Tenpenny knocked it out of bounds with 1.5 seconds left. Nottingham got the ball to Cook for a game-tying 3-point attempt at the buzzer but two Bears got over on defense and blocked the shot to secure the 47-44 win.
Oskaloosa was led by 18 points and 6 rebounds from Tenpenny and 10 points and 5 rebounds from Thurston. Valley Falls was led by 15 points and 8 rebounds from Bunde and 11 points from Nottingham. Cook added 7 points and 5 rebounds.
The game proved to be a tight one even in the stats as both teams grabbed 17 rebounds and Valley Falls had 14 turnovers compared to 11 for the Bears.
Bears coach Rod Stottlemire said his team had its hopes set on better than fifth place but he was happy overall with his team’s performance.
“We only have three kids that played varsity last year,” Stottlemire said. “We’re still trying to find ourselves a little bit out there. I’ve been a lot happier with our defense the last couple games. I think the tournament showed the league this year is really even. We got a little crazy with the ball there in the fourth quarter but we play too fast sometimes. If I can get them to play 90 percent fast rather than 110 percent fast, we do a lot better.”
In other county action, Horton routed JCN for seventh place, 76-42, and, in the 11th place game, Jackson Heights defeated McLouth, 59-46.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
County boys hit hardwoods
Two weeks into the season, there are already no unbeaten county high school boys’ varsity basketball teams but the six county coaches have hopes to piece together a postseason run once next February rolls around.
One new coach joins the lineup of coaches as Matt Tinsley moves east from the post at St. Marys to take over the Jefferson West boys from David Overstreet. Other than that, no county boys coach is in less than his third year at his school.
Perry-Lecompton was the best team in the county a season ago in finishing with a 19-3 record but dropped a tight substate semifinal game to Holton. After that the records get much closer to the .500 winning mark as JCN finished 11-10, Oskaloosa finished 11-11, Valley Falls and McLouth were 7-15 and West finished 6-15.
The six teams have gotten off to up-and-down starts as Perry-Lecompton has dropped games to Bishop Ward and Hayden while beating West to start 1-2; JCN started 2-0 but lost three straight in the Delaware Valley League Preseason Tourney to drop to 2-3; Oskaloosa led all county teams with a fifth-place finish in the DVL Tourney to move to 3-2; Valley Falls fell to Oskaloosa in the fifth-place game at the tourney to drop to 2-3; McLouth has stumbled to an 0-4 start; and West has dropped its first 3 games. All records are as of Monday, with Tuesday games pending at press time.
Following is a capsule review of each team entering the season in order of finish last season.
Perry-Lecompton
Coach: Jeff Dickson, fourth year
Last season: 19-3
This year’s athletic group of Kaw seniors were freshmen when Dickson came to Perry-Lecompton and the team has its sights set on advancing further into the postseason this season.
One early factor that works both positively for the players and somewhat against the team’s early chances was the run of the Kaw football team to the state football title game. The season wrapped up Thanksgiving weekend with the basketball players on the football team getting only a week to ready for action when the season started Dec. 5. The Kaws’ early record may reflect some rustiness, in part for that reason.
“These guys put a lot of work in and it paid off for them,” said Dickson of the football team’s efforts this season. “It’s a partnership here, 100 percent, between (football) coach Mike Paramore and I, so I don’t look at it like it cost me something here. If we got the chance to be in the football state championship every year, I can live with that. It’s one of those things where the kids see all their work come to fruition, and it’s fun to see them go against what has been the norm at this place.”
Dickson has good numbers in the program with 30 players out but said he would like to see even more out for the team. The squad includes eight seniors, including “twin towers” Andy Bowman and Joel Gantz. Other key returnees include senior guard Kyle Morgison and senior guard Shane Gimzo. Dickson said he is looking to junior Brad Phillips, junior guard Riley Shafer, senior forward Caleb Wege, junior guard Kameron Hurd, and senior guard Eric Hastert to also fill roles on the varsity.
“Andy Bowman has stepped up big time for us so far,” Dickson said. “He had a stat line versus Jeff West of 25 points, 13 rebounds, 4 steals and 6 blocks and he’s capable of doing that every night. Losing Caleb Denton to graduation was a big loss for us, because what he did for us leaves a void. We’ve got a lot of other great kids though. Brad Phillips is Mr. Fundamentals and plays hard, Riley handles the ball great to give us the ability to slide Kyle Morgison over to give him more opportunities to shoot, Caleb Wege is a really hard worker, one of those blue collar hard hat types of player, and Kameron has a great shot and has been a JV all star for us.”
Dickson said the team is sticking to his tenet of aggressive defense.
“We’re all about defense and getting it done with our pressure defense and doing that the right way,” Dickson said. “I’d like for us to get up and down the floor a little more. I think we have the most depth we’ve had since I came here.”
As the Kaws enter one of their last couple seasons in the Kaw Valley League before a move to the Big Seven, Dickson points to Mill Valley, Lansing, Piper and Basehor-Linwood as the front runners in this season’s KVL.
“I think we’ll be in the mix, too,” Dickson said. The team made the move from the midseason McLouth Tournament to the Baldwin Tournament in order to face more comparable sized schools to help prepare for substate. “It should be an extremely competitive league, but if we play like we’re capable, we can and should win it.”
Dickson said his squad still isn’t playing up to capability but will hopefully be in prime shape when the games really start to count.
“We’re not where we need to be but we’re getting there,” he said. “We’ve played pretty poorly as a team so far but we’ve had a couple good individual performances. The guys have proven that if we’re willing to put in the same amount of work kids in other districts do, including in the offseason, we can create a lot of excitement.”
Jefferson County North
Coach: Jim Brickell, 23nd year
Last season: 11-10
Brickell returns for his 23rd year as coach at North with only three seniors lost from last year’s squad that scratched out a winning record at 11-10.
Those seniors were key players for the Chargers but some underclassmen did make somewhat of a name for themselves last season and return to key this year’s team.
North’s 32 players include six seniors led by guard Riley Noll, guard/forward Dalton Speer and guard Matt Perry, who is bouncing back from an early injury. The varsity rotation also includes sophomore guard Jeff Hale, who saw quite a bit of varsity time as a freshman last season, junior guard Austin Gaspard, junior forward Nick Clark, who missed last season with an injury, junior post player Tyler Noll, senior forward Brendan Stevens, and sophomore forward Spencer Wentz.
“We’re still a work in progress,” Brickell said. “Riley has stepped his game up for us already and hit some big shots in games. Defensively we’ve been very good, but we haven’t been scoring very well. Some of that has to do with our deliberate style we play and some of it comes down to us not making shots.”
Despite their scoring problems the Chargers started the season by winning their first two games and then lost their third game in double overtime to Pleasant Ridge, who Brickell points to as one of the top teams in the Delaware Valley League along with Troy, Oskaloosa, Wathena and, potentially, Valley Falls.
“We had a couple opportunities to beat Pleasant Ridge there and couldn’t get the shot knocked down,” he said. The loss came in the quarterfinals of the DVL Preseason Tournament. “I think Valley Falls will be much improved, and Jackson Heights also looks improved from last season.”
Brickell said the team has impressed him with its mentality and thinks good things can happen if the offensive wrinkles are ironed out in the Chargers.
“We’re working a lot on man defense and we haven’t played it very much, if at all, so far but we’ve got to be able to play it. We need to start working on shooting. We’re not shooting well outside and that’s a big part of our game. Actually, I thought we might really struggle early but the guys have really impressed me. They play so darn hard. We talk about doing what it takes to win and they really want to win. They aren’t concerned with points, and who’s getting what, they want to win, and I like that.”
Oskaloosa
Coach: Rod Stottlemire, fourth year
Last season: 11-11
Stottlemire has some rebuilding to do with the Bears after losing a group of nine seniors, but a couple solid varsity players return to help this season’s cause.
The Bears have 21 players out for basketball, including seven seniors. Varsity leaders include senior guard J.T. Thurston, senior post players Chase Tenpenny and Adam Paavola and senior guard Lakota Coffman. Stottlemire said he is also looking to sophomore guards Adam Bowser and Levi Wade, and junior forward Brandon Barnes to step up as the season moves along.
“A lot of our success comes down to our ‘other’ guys stepping up,” Stottlemire said. “I think Levi and Brandon will improve quite a bit as the season moves along. We’re a young team, somewhat, so we look like a million bucks one night and not the next. Most times I want to play fast but with this group I’m trying to temper that speed a bit and keep it reined in.”
Stottlemire pointed to Wathena and KC Christian to lead the DVL this season, although he said it should be competitive all-around.
Stottlemire said the key for the Bears will likely be developing some on-court chemistry with the mix of a small amount of returning varsity experience and a batch of players new to the varsity level.
“We’ve gotta get more familiar with one another and learn what all of our roles are,” Stottlemire said. “There are times we’ve looked good and times we haven’t, but we’ve had a couple days in a row with some good practices. I’m hoping as they play together more that happens more and more.”
Valley Falls
Coach: Caleb Gatzemeyer, fourth year
Last season: 7-15
Gatzemeyer and the Dragons recovered well from a 0-win season in 2006-07 by winning 7 games last season, and Gatzemeyer has the sights set on taking that next step with an athletic group of players this season.
Gatzemeyer paces all county teams with 37 players out for basketball this year in Valley Falls, including a solid group of eight seniors. Perhaps his top two returnees are senior guard Ray Cook and junior post player Riley Bunde, who already has a 31-point game this season, but Gatzemeyer also mentions junior guard Mitchell Streeter, senior forward Josh Kearney, junior guard Logan Wynkoop, sophomore guard/forward Alex Nottingham, senior Ridge Glassel, senior Dylan McKnight, senior T.J. Breese, senior Cole Edwards, junior Blane Brosa, and sophomore Brooks Glassel as other parts of a deep Dragon varsity.
“I’m looking to the upperclassmen for the leadership this season,” Gatzemeyer said. “Riley had a good scoring game that first game and has been good at consistency in rebounding but has struggled a little bit scoring lately. Our last game (a loss to KC Christian) I thought we took a couple steps back but we’ve had some good practices the last couple days and are feeling pretty confident.”
Gatzemeyer also pointed to Wathena and KCC as the teams to beat in the DVL along with Pleasant Ridge. Overall he said the league is pretty level, however.
Gatzemeyer said he has solid expectations but is focusing on a game-to-game basis with a busy schedule before the Christmas break.
“I’ve seen good signs in terms of our athleticism and effort,” he said. “We’ve established a good run of classes of kids coming through that look sound, so hopefully we can get a good season under our belt here and move on. When you think about it, you don’t get a whole lot of practice time until you hit that break. We’ve got some big tests coming up over the next couple weeks. We’ll try to keep things rolling our way.”
McLouth
Coach: Jason Schroeder, third year
Last season: 7-15
The Bulldogs had their ups and downs last season and lost a good group of seniors from that squad as Schroeder enters his third season as head coach at McLouth.
Gone are graduated scoring leaders Mike Rome, Mark Stewart and Ryan Smith from last year’s squad, so Schroeder is looking to senior forward Derrick Crouse, senior forward Jarrod Bechard and junior guard Cole Batman to take up the slack this season. McLouth has 24 players out for the squad, including only three seniors. The other senior, guard Vinny Gonzalez, is another role player Schroeder is expecting production from along with freshman post player Gavin Swearngin, junior guard Tyler Drinnon, freshman guard Alex Courtney and freshman forward Alen Kramer.
“We’ve got some young players in the mix,” Schroeder said. “We’ve had a couple tough games early, but the last game we played (a loss to Immaculata), I felt we let one get away. I feel a bit better about how the team is going.”
Schroeder echoed Stottlemire’s and Gatzemeyer’s assessments of the DVL in naming Pleasant Ridge, KC Christian and Wathena the top teams of the DVL. He said a group of Troy, Horton, Valley Falls, Oskaloosa and JCN could also step up.
“I think the league is in three or four little tiers this season,” he said.
Schroeder said time may be the team’s friend this season as he feels some experience for the younger players with the core of upperclassmen leadership may help the season play out favorably for the Bulldogs.
“We keep working on individual skills. We may try a little bit more pressure defense this season,” Schroeder said. “I put in a new offense this season and the guys are still getting used to that, so I’m being patient there. The guys are working hard, and as long as we keep doing that, I think good things will start to happen. All they can do is their best and that’s what I ask for.”
Jefferson West
Coach: Matt Tinsley, first year
Last season: 6-15
The Tigers lost one of the best players in the county in post player Tom Shirley to graduation, but Tinsley’s first squad of Tigers gives him some ingredients to work with as he makes the transition to the job.
Tinsley spent the last two years as boys’ coach at St. Marys after some time as a graduate assistant coach on the Washburn University men’s basketball team. He has 25 players out for basketball at West, including only three seniors.
Tinsley said he is looking to those seniors – guard Willie Barnett, forward Cole Buckman and guard Briar Ploude – as the team leaders. The rest of the varsity squad is fleshed out by junior forward Alex Baker, junior forward Aaron Starr, junior point guard Sam DeMaranville, sophomore forward Dillon Roy, junior guard Bryce Miller and junior guard Tim Rhodd and junior guard Adam Fechter.
“We have quite a bit of injuries early but I thought it was a complete 180-degree turnaround from our first to our second game,” Tinsley said. The Tigers were routed by Silver Lake in the first game but bounced back to give Perry-Lecompton all it could handle. “We led Perry-Lecompton with two minutes left, so I was pleased with our effort in that game. If we play with that effort every game, we have good things ahead of us.”
Tinsley mentioned Nemaha Valley and Sabetha as two of the teams to beat in the Big Seven this season.
“I’d like to think we have a shot,” Tinsley said. “We’ve got some good tests early to show where we’ll be but I expect us to be near the top.”
Tinsley said he favors an up-tempo style of play.
“I want us to be tough on the defensive end and get after it from a team aspect. I want the guys to know what it takes to play hard all the time. Once they get that figured out I think we’ll be looking for better things.I was very pleased with how we bounced back from that first game. I think they’re understanding what we’re teaching them in practice. Hopefully we get all that together and can do some good things this season.”
One new coach joins the lineup of coaches as Matt Tinsley moves east from the post at St. Marys to take over the Jefferson West boys from David Overstreet. Other than that, no county boys coach is in less than his third year at his school.
Perry-Lecompton was the best team in the county a season ago in finishing with a 19-3 record but dropped a tight substate semifinal game to Holton. After that the records get much closer to the .500 winning mark as JCN finished 11-10, Oskaloosa finished 11-11, Valley Falls and McLouth were 7-15 and West finished 6-15.
The six teams have gotten off to up-and-down starts as Perry-Lecompton has dropped games to Bishop Ward and Hayden while beating West to start 1-2; JCN started 2-0 but lost three straight in the Delaware Valley League Preseason Tourney to drop to 2-3; Oskaloosa led all county teams with a fifth-place finish in the DVL Tourney to move to 3-2; Valley Falls fell to Oskaloosa in the fifth-place game at the tourney to drop to 2-3; McLouth has stumbled to an 0-4 start; and West has dropped its first 3 games. All records are as of Monday, with Tuesday games pending at press time.
Following is a capsule review of each team entering the season in order of finish last season.
Perry-Lecompton
Coach: Jeff Dickson, fourth year
Last season: 19-3
This year’s athletic group of Kaw seniors were freshmen when Dickson came to Perry-Lecompton and the team has its sights set on advancing further into the postseason this season.
One early factor that works both positively for the players and somewhat against the team’s early chances was the run of the Kaw football team to the state football title game. The season wrapped up Thanksgiving weekend with the basketball players on the football team getting only a week to ready for action when the season started Dec. 5. The Kaws’ early record may reflect some rustiness, in part for that reason.
“These guys put a lot of work in and it paid off for them,” said Dickson of the football team’s efforts this season. “It’s a partnership here, 100 percent, between (football) coach Mike Paramore and I, so I don’t look at it like it cost me something here. If we got the chance to be in the football state championship every year, I can live with that. It’s one of those things where the kids see all their work come to fruition, and it’s fun to see them go against what has been the norm at this place.”
Dickson has good numbers in the program with 30 players out but said he would like to see even more out for the team. The squad includes eight seniors, including “twin towers” Andy Bowman and Joel Gantz. Other key returnees include senior guard Kyle Morgison and senior guard Shane Gimzo. Dickson said he is looking to junior Brad Phillips, junior guard Riley Shafer, senior forward Caleb Wege, junior guard Kameron Hurd, and senior guard Eric Hastert to also fill roles on the varsity.
“Andy Bowman has stepped up big time for us so far,” Dickson said. “He had a stat line versus Jeff West of 25 points, 13 rebounds, 4 steals and 6 blocks and he’s capable of doing that every night. Losing Caleb Denton to graduation was a big loss for us, because what he did for us leaves a void. We’ve got a lot of other great kids though. Brad Phillips is Mr. Fundamentals and plays hard, Riley handles the ball great to give us the ability to slide Kyle Morgison over to give him more opportunities to shoot, Caleb Wege is a really hard worker, one of those blue collar hard hat types of player, and Kameron has a great shot and has been a JV all star for us.”
Dickson said the team is sticking to his tenet of aggressive defense.
“We’re all about defense and getting it done with our pressure defense and doing that the right way,” Dickson said. “I’d like for us to get up and down the floor a little more. I think we have the most depth we’ve had since I came here.”
As the Kaws enter one of their last couple seasons in the Kaw Valley League before a move to the Big Seven, Dickson points to Mill Valley, Lansing, Piper and Basehor-Linwood as the front runners in this season’s KVL.
“I think we’ll be in the mix, too,” Dickson said. The team made the move from the midseason McLouth Tournament to the Baldwin Tournament in order to face more comparable sized schools to help prepare for substate. “It should be an extremely competitive league, but if we play like we’re capable, we can and should win it.”
Dickson said his squad still isn’t playing up to capability but will hopefully be in prime shape when the games really start to count.
“We’re not where we need to be but we’re getting there,” he said. “We’ve played pretty poorly as a team so far but we’ve had a couple good individual performances. The guys have proven that if we’re willing to put in the same amount of work kids in other districts do, including in the offseason, we can create a lot of excitement.”
Jefferson County North
Coach: Jim Brickell, 23nd year
Last season: 11-10
Brickell returns for his 23rd year as coach at North with only three seniors lost from last year’s squad that scratched out a winning record at 11-10.
Those seniors were key players for the Chargers but some underclassmen did make somewhat of a name for themselves last season and return to key this year’s team.
North’s 32 players include six seniors led by guard Riley Noll, guard/forward Dalton Speer and guard Matt Perry, who is bouncing back from an early injury. The varsity rotation also includes sophomore guard Jeff Hale, who saw quite a bit of varsity time as a freshman last season, junior guard Austin Gaspard, junior forward Nick Clark, who missed last season with an injury, junior post player Tyler Noll, senior forward Brendan Stevens, and sophomore forward Spencer Wentz.
“We’re still a work in progress,” Brickell said. “Riley has stepped his game up for us already and hit some big shots in games. Defensively we’ve been very good, but we haven’t been scoring very well. Some of that has to do with our deliberate style we play and some of it comes down to us not making shots.”
Despite their scoring problems the Chargers started the season by winning their first two games and then lost their third game in double overtime to Pleasant Ridge, who Brickell points to as one of the top teams in the Delaware Valley League along with Troy, Oskaloosa, Wathena and, potentially, Valley Falls.
“We had a couple opportunities to beat Pleasant Ridge there and couldn’t get the shot knocked down,” he said. The loss came in the quarterfinals of the DVL Preseason Tournament. “I think Valley Falls will be much improved, and Jackson Heights also looks improved from last season.”
Brickell said the team has impressed him with its mentality and thinks good things can happen if the offensive wrinkles are ironed out in the Chargers.
“We’re working a lot on man defense and we haven’t played it very much, if at all, so far but we’ve got to be able to play it. We need to start working on shooting. We’re not shooting well outside and that’s a big part of our game. Actually, I thought we might really struggle early but the guys have really impressed me. They play so darn hard. We talk about doing what it takes to win and they really want to win. They aren’t concerned with points, and who’s getting what, they want to win, and I like that.”
Oskaloosa
Coach: Rod Stottlemire, fourth year
Last season: 11-11
Stottlemire has some rebuilding to do with the Bears after losing a group of nine seniors, but a couple solid varsity players return to help this season’s cause.
The Bears have 21 players out for basketball, including seven seniors. Varsity leaders include senior guard J.T. Thurston, senior post players Chase Tenpenny and Adam Paavola and senior guard Lakota Coffman. Stottlemire said he is also looking to sophomore guards Adam Bowser and Levi Wade, and junior forward Brandon Barnes to step up as the season moves along.
“A lot of our success comes down to our ‘other’ guys stepping up,” Stottlemire said. “I think Levi and Brandon will improve quite a bit as the season moves along. We’re a young team, somewhat, so we look like a million bucks one night and not the next. Most times I want to play fast but with this group I’m trying to temper that speed a bit and keep it reined in.”
Stottlemire pointed to Wathena and KC Christian to lead the DVL this season, although he said it should be competitive all-around.
Stottlemire said the key for the Bears will likely be developing some on-court chemistry with the mix of a small amount of returning varsity experience and a batch of players new to the varsity level.
“We’ve gotta get more familiar with one another and learn what all of our roles are,” Stottlemire said. “There are times we’ve looked good and times we haven’t, but we’ve had a couple days in a row with some good practices. I’m hoping as they play together more that happens more and more.”
Valley Falls
Coach: Caleb Gatzemeyer, fourth year
Last season: 7-15
Gatzemeyer and the Dragons recovered well from a 0-win season in 2006-07 by winning 7 games last season, and Gatzemeyer has the sights set on taking that next step with an athletic group of players this season.
Gatzemeyer paces all county teams with 37 players out for basketball this year in Valley Falls, including a solid group of eight seniors. Perhaps his top two returnees are senior guard Ray Cook and junior post player Riley Bunde, who already has a 31-point game this season, but Gatzemeyer also mentions junior guard Mitchell Streeter, senior forward Josh Kearney, junior guard Logan Wynkoop, sophomore guard/forward Alex Nottingham, senior Ridge Glassel, senior Dylan McKnight, senior T.J. Breese, senior Cole Edwards, junior Blane Brosa, and sophomore Brooks Glassel as other parts of a deep Dragon varsity.
“I’m looking to the upperclassmen for the leadership this season,” Gatzemeyer said. “Riley had a good scoring game that first game and has been good at consistency in rebounding but has struggled a little bit scoring lately. Our last game (a loss to KC Christian) I thought we took a couple steps back but we’ve had some good practices the last couple days and are feeling pretty confident.”
Gatzemeyer also pointed to Wathena and KCC as the teams to beat in the DVL along with Pleasant Ridge. Overall he said the league is pretty level, however.
Gatzemeyer said he has solid expectations but is focusing on a game-to-game basis with a busy schedule before the Christmas break.
“I’ve seen good signs in terms of our athleticism and effort,” he said. “We’ve established a good run of classes of kids coming through that look sound, so hopefully we can get a good season under our belt here and move on. When you think about it, you don’t get a whole lot of practice time until you hit that break. We’ve got some big tests coming up over the next couple weeks. We’ll try to keep things rolling our way.”
McLouth
Coach: Jason Schroeder, third year
Last season: 7-15
The Bulldogs had their ups and downs last season and lost a good group of seniors from that squad as Schroeder enters his third season as head coach at McLouth.
Gone are graduated scoring leaders Mike Rome, Mark Stewart and Ryan Smith from last year’s squad, so Schroeder is looking to senior forward Derrick Crouse, senior forward Jarrod Bechard and junior guard Cole Batman to take up the slack this season. McLouth has 24 players out for the squad, including only three seniors. The other senior, guard Vinny Gonzalez, is another role player Schroeder is expecting production from along with freshman post player Gavin Swearngin, junior guard Tyler Drinnon, freshman guard Alex Courtney and freshman forward Alen Kramer.
“We’ve got some young players in the mix,” Schroeder said. “We’ve had a couple tough games early, but the last game we played (a loss to Immaculata), I felt we let one get away. I feel a bit better about how the team is going.”
Schroeder echoed Stottlemire’s and Gatzemeyer’s assessments of the DVL in naming Pleasant Ridge, KC Christian and Wathena the top teams of the DVL. He said a group of Troy, Horton, Valley Falls, Oskaloosa and JCN could also step up.
“I think the league is in three or four little tiers this season,” he said.
Schroeder said time may be the team’s friend this season as he feels some experience for the younger players with the core of upperclassmen leadership may help the season play out favorably for the Bulldogs.
“We keep working on individual skills. We may try a little bit more pressure defense this season,” Schroeder said. “I put in a new offense this season and the guys are still getting used to that, so I’m being patient there. The guys are working hard, and as long as we keep doing that, I think good things will start to happen. All they can do is their best and that’s what I ask for.”
Jefferson West
Coach: Matt Tinsley, first year
Last season: 6-15
The Tigers lost one of the best players in the county in post player Tom Shirley to graduation, but Tinsley’s first squad of Tigers gives him some ingredients to work with as he makes the transition to the job.
Tinsley spent the last two years as boys’ coach at St. Marys after some time as a graduate assistant coach on the Washburn University men’s basketball team. He has 25 players out for basketball at West, including only three seniors.
Tinsley said he is looking to those seniors – guard Willie Barnett, forward Cole Buckman and guard Briar Ploude – as the team leaders. The rest of the varsity squad is fleshed out by junior forward Alex Baker, junior forward Aaron Starr, junior point guard Sam DeMaranville, sophomore forward Dillon Roy, junior guard Bryce Miller and junior guard Tim Rhodd and junior guard Adam Fechter.
“We have quite a bit of injuries early but I thought it was a complete 180-degree turnaround from our first to our second game,” Tinsley said. The Tigers were routed by Silver Lake in the first game but bounced back to give Perry-Lecompton all it could handle. “We led Perry-Lecompton with two minutes left, so I was pleased with our effort in that game. If we play with that effort every game, we have good things ahead of us.”
Tinsley mentioned Nemaha Valley and Sabetha as two of the teams to beat in the Big Seven this season.
“I’d like to think we have a shot,” Tinsley said. “We’ve got some good tests early to show where we’ll be but I expect us to be near the top.”
Tinsley said he favors an up-tempo style of play.
“I want us to be tough on the defensive end and get after it from a team aspect. I want the guys to know what it takes to play hard all the time. Once they get that figured out I think we’ll be looking for better things.I was very pleased with how we bounced back from that first game. I think they’re understanding what we’re teaching them in practice. Hopefully we get all that together and can do some good things this season.”
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
New coach joins HS girls' hoops ranks
One new coach joins the group of county high school girls’ basketball coaches this season as the five returnees try to build on winning or near-winning seasons.
Justin Mayer is the new coach of the Perry-Lecompton Kaws as he succeeds Mark Armstrong, who coached the team for four seasons. Mayer teaches at Eudora High School and has spent the last six years as an assistant coach for the Eudora girls’ squad.
Following a 2006-07 season in which no team won 10 games, all but Perry-Lecompton had double-digit wins in 2007-08. Jefferson County North, Oskaloosa and McLouth fought down to the wire in the Delaware Valley League race with Oskaloosa coming out on top. JCN finished with the best overall record at 18-6 while Oskaloosa was right there at 17-6 and McLouth was 13-8. Jefferson West matched that 13-8 record and Valley Falls finished 11-11 last season. Perry-Lecompton finished with a 4-17 record.
All six teams started play last week, as Oskaloosa started off with a win over Nemaha Valley while JCN did the same with a win over Maur Hill Mt. Academy. McLouth fell to St. Mary’s Academy, Jefferson West lost to Silver Lake, Valley Falls lost to ACCHS following a Dec. 4 loss to Immaculata, and Perry-Lecompton lost to Bishop Ward.
The teams continue play this week with Oskaloosa, JCN, McLouth and Valley Falls competing at the Delaware Valley League Preseason Tournament, which will be held in Oskaloosa this year. West and the Kaws were set to face off Tuesday before West returns to action Friday to play host to Sabetha.
Following is a capsule review of each team entering the season in order of last season’s record.
JCN
Coach: Steve Noll, fourth year
Last season: 18-6
The turnaround Steve Noll had been waiting for happened last season as North’s underclassmen-laden team got the farthest of any county team before falling to ACCHS in the 3A substate title game.
The best news out of that loss was that North’s only loss to graduation was one senior. Noll also has some strength in numbers this season as he ties West for the most players out with 23. That group includes a core of four seniors plus some talented juniors that were key to last season’s run. The seniors are guard/forward Amelia Noll, forward Devin Gigstad, guard Lisa Weishaar and forward Haley Hoffman, and junior guard Sara Navinskey and junior forward Mallory GrandPre are two other returning leaders for the Chargers.
Junior guard Beth Anne Brickell is slated to return from a knee injury after Christmas while sophomore forward Katie Noll also returns after seeing ample varsity playing time last season. Noll said he has a couple new weapons in stow in the form of freshmen Kate Brickell and Jordan Kramer, who he says he plans to work into the varsity rotation over the season.
“The girls have been working hard,” Noll said. He said some nagging injuries are taking their toll early on but he hopes to have everyone in full health by the return from Christmas break. “They had good volleyball and cross-country seasons so it’s good to be able to build on that a little bit. We don’t have a lot of size, but I think all the girls play a little bigger than what they are.”
Noll said several teams could be in the running for the DVL title after a season in which North fell short to county rival Oskaloosa by a slim margin.
“I think the league is gonna be tough,” Noll said. “We return a lot but so do Oskaloosa and McLouth. I think Valley Falls might surprise a lot of people. Then you’ve got teams like KC Christian and Horton that are always up there. It should be a fun race.”
After coming so close to a state bid last season, Noll said he hopes the team can take the next step this time around.
“The girls have been with me since they were in seventh and eighth grade, and they’ve been competitive every year (at the middle school level),” he said. “I guess it’s all kinda fallen into place. We’ve got some pretty high goals this season. I think we’re ready to go, we’ve just gotta go out there and play our game.”
Oskaloosa
Coach: LeeAnn Tufte, fourth year
Last season: 17-6
Tufte’s Bears also took a step forward last season and return quite a bit of the scoring punch from that team.
The Bears won the DVL title and went into substate as one of the frontrunners but stumbled versus ACCHS in the semifinals to finish a great season on a sour note.
It’s not often that a coach with 15 players out for a sport, seniors to freshmen, can point to depth as a strong point but Tufte said she feels that’s the case with this year’s team. Senior standout guard Nicole Rockhold and sophomore guard Hailey Kelly are the two top returnees for the Bears, whose roster includes two other seniors – forwards Jordan Cross and Rachell Hicks.
The Bears lost the inside presence of seniors Emily Heston and Myla Heston to graduation, and junior Kyra Coffman will miss the season with a knee injury, but Tufte has some players with some returning experience, plus a couple freshmen ready to do their part. Junior Mallory Schmidt, junior Audrey Trowbridge and sophomore Kristin Brey all got solid playing time last season and Tufte plans to work freshman forward Haley Pfau and freshman forward Rachel Schmanke into the mix. Sophomore guard Abby Thurston and sophomore forward Katie Barnes also saw some varsity time in the team’s opening win over Nemaha Valley Friday.
“I was very, very pleased with last season,” Tufte said. “We’ve picked up some freshmen and our numbers are pretty thin, but I really think you could field two varsities with our top 11. This early part of the season we’ll be figuring out rotation questions and see how everybody fits. We might be having to play some starters on varsity in junior varsity this year.”
Staying healthy will be a key, but Tufte said she also focused more on shooting going into games this year. A poor offensive effort was a main reason behind the season-ending loss to ACCHS last season so, looking at another tough schedule this season, Tufte said she wanted to see improvement in that area.
“Our shooting percentage and ability to shoot from outside was key last year, and that last loss really showed us how important that is,” Tufte said. “I’ve been really pleased with how that has come along. The other big thing is defense. We’ve got to play strong defense. If we can use that to transition into offense that will take a lot of the scoring stress off Nicole and Hailey.
“I think the DVL race is gonna be close. JCN and McLouth have most of their players back, and teams like KCC and Horton are always strong.”
Tufte said she thinks her squad is ready to get into games and leave scrimmaging behind.
“I think we’ll be able to put people in this year and, really, not skip a beat,” Tufte said. “I’m excited about this season. I know the girls are anxious to get going and see how they match up.”
McLouth
Coach: Todd Cossman, second year
Last season: 13-8
Cossman had few to no complaints about his first year as head coach at McLouth as his team was in the thick of the DVL hunt throughout the season before also losing to ACCHS in substate play.
Numbers are still low for the Bulldogs as Cossman has 14 players out, but only one senior. The main returnees are junior standout guard Missy Rome, junior post presence Kylie Shufflebarger and junior post player Cassidy Bristol. Cossman also pointed out returnees sophomore guard Logan Terry and sophomore Jessie Troupe, and said freshmen Terri Stewart and Morgan Drinnon will also see varsity playing time. The lone senior on the team is forward Haley Holwick.
“The girls have been playing well in practice,” Cossman said. “We’re keeping it pretty much the same this season. We want to build some continuity, and move forward in what we started last season – take that next step.”
The Bulldogs got started on the wrong foot with the season opening loss to a solid St. Mary’s Academy team Friday but Cossman is hoping his team is in the hunt once more for a DVL title.
“The league looks pretty solid. Oskaloosa is right up there, JCN is up there. I think Immaculata and Horton could be good,” Cossman said.
Cossman lost two solid seniors in Abby Annis and Sam Farris from last year’s team. He said he expects some learning is still left to be done but he likes his chances with his squad.
“Missy can play with just about any guard in the state,” Cossman said, “and we’ve got two really good inside players in Kylie and Cassidy. We’ve got some questions to answer and we may have some growing pains early on, but I’m pretty happy so far. Hopefully we can get going full swing by Christmas break.”
Jefferson West
Coach: Dan Hypse, third year
Last season: 13-8
Returning players are also a strength at West as Hypse returns quite a bit of experience from a team that lost to Hayden in 4A substate play to finish last season.
Hypse has a little strength in his numbers as a squad of 23 includes nine freshmen and 14 junior varsity and varsity players. Seniors and juniors form the core of the team, as Hypse has four seniors on the squad. Daughter guard/forward Hayley Hypse is joined by fellow seniors forward Audrey Mullins, forward Katie Bigham and guard/forward Michelle Bowen, who transferred to West last season from Oskaloosa. Hypse and Mullins have extensive varsity experience while Bigham had a standout season as a freshman but has seen her last two basketball seasons derailed by injuries. Joining those four will be junior guard Taylor Jaimes, junior forward Morgan Scott, junior guard and forward BriAnna Ploude, junior post player Jessica Martin, sophomore post player Jessica Wells and sophomore guard Monica Sanders.
“Hayley, Audrey and Katie have all played at the varsity level for a while now,” Hypse said. “We know what style we want to play – aggressive man-to-man defense. We want to get after people and create turnovers and turn those into baskets on the other end.”
West finished among the top three in the Big Seven League last year and said, after the frontrunner Holton, the league is a good race.
“Hopefully we can move up after finishing third last year,” Hypse said. “Holton is the top team, but we’re gonna have to play well every night or get beaten.”
West lost a narrow contest to Silver Lake to start the season 0-1, but Hypse said he hopes his team will be tested and improved by the time the games really count in February.
“I feel like we play a good schedule,” Hypse said. “I’d like us to be farther along offensively going into games. We’ve been really stressing defense in practice. Hopefully by the time we get to Christmas break the offense is starting to click.”
Valley Falls
Coach: Todd Gish, fourth year
Last season: 11-11
Gish’s team improved to a .500 record last season but had troubles with consistency before getting bounced from the 2A substate semifinals by Valley Heights.
The biggest loss for the Dragons from that team is graduated post player Rebekah Bunde, but Gish is hoping a group of other players can step up to fill the inside void left by Bunde’s departure. Gish has 22 players out for basketball, which includes four seniors. All four have seen significant playing time the last couple seasons, led by guards and forwards Tess Robinson and Chelsy Lassiter. Senior Chelsey Correll will be looked to for more production in the post this season and senior guard Shelbie Glissman returns to try and give Valley Falls an offensive boost. Other key returnees include sophomore guards Abbey Kearney, who had a standout freshman season, and Morgan Streeter, who also saw plenty of playing time as a freshman. Gish said junior guard Brenna Lane, junior forward Bethany Myers, junior guard and forward Bailey Sherretts, junior Courtnie Watson and sophomore Kaitlyn Speer would also likely see varsity time.
“Abbey was big for us last year, so we’ll lean on her quite a bit,” Gish said. “Really we’ve got about eight more girls that are fairly interchangeable. I’m hoping Chelsey (Correll) can step up a little on the offensive end, and Chelsy (Lassiter) had games in spurts last year where she was in double figures, too, so hopefully she can be a little more consistent with that.”
The changes add up to a drive for more aggression defensively from Gish.
“We played a little more soft zone defense last year so I’d like to work more man-to-man in. We’re challenged in size but we’ll have to make up for that,” Gish said.
Gish pointed out last year’s DVL top three – JCN, Oskaloosa and McLouth – as the main three to watch again this season.
“Oskaloosa will be tough, and JCN has everybody back, and McLouth maybe has the best player in the league in Rome,” Gish said. “Some things will have to go our way, but part of the challenge is changing the mindset here. The girls aren’t used to seeing a lot of success.”
The season is off to a rough start as the Dragons have dropped single-digit-deficit games to Immaculata and ACCHS to start 0-2. Gish said he’s hoping the good feelings he has had about the team entering play pan out.
“Practices have been going pretty well early on,” Gish said. “I think overall they’re quite a bit better at this point than they were last year at this point. We’ll know a lot more after a few games.”
Perry-Lecompton
Coach: Justin Mayer, first year
Last season: 4-17
The Kaws have struggled in recent years but Mayer is hoping he can get the outlook turned around for the Kaw girls.
Mayer’s wife, the former Chrissy McClure, is a mid-1990s graduate of Perry-Lecompton so, when he heard of the job’s availability, he looked at it as a challenge.
“I had wanted to be a head coach and, since my wife is a graduate of Perry-Lecompton and her family is still close, I figured this was a good place to start,” Mayer said. He has spent the last six years as an assistant at Eudora, and also teaches there.
Mayer has only 15 girls out for basketball but only two are seniors. He said he is looking to junior guard Emma Gantz, junior post player Katie Volle, senior post player Megan Elder, junior guard Katie Hirsch, senior guard Sydney Allen, sophomore guard Taylor Akagi to lead the way on varsity. He pointed out junior post player Jessica Christman, sophomore guard/forward Kerry Neil and junior guard Abby Bays as other players who will see varsity time.
“It’s kind of an unsolved mystery, why more girls aren’t coming out for the team,” Mayer said. “We had situations where some girls who hadn’t been out went out for the team and others who had, didn’t. We’re taking the time to figure out what works best with this group.”
Mayer said this is very much a transition year as he settles into his first head coaching job, which is also a building project in turning around the Kaw girls.
“We’re gonna have to outwork teams on the defensive end. That’ll be our staple,” Mayer said. “We’re getting to know each other and that’s gonna take some time.”
Mayer said Lansing, Tonganoxie and Basehor-Linwood should be the top teams in the perennially tough Kaw Valley League. He said he hopes this year is a chance for him to lay the foundation for years to come.
“We’re suiting up everybody,” Mayer said of varsity games. “We’re working on getting to know my philosophy and relaxing and making good decisions on the offensive end. You’ve got to be able to handle defensive pressure. Hopefully we can get better as the year goes on. I think the girls have the tools, it’s just a matter of putting them together.”
Justin Mayer is the new coach of the Perry-Lecompton Kaws as he succeeds Mark Armstrong, who coached the team for four seasons. Mayer teaches at Eudora High School and has spent the last six years as an assistant coach for the Eudora girls’ squad.
Following a 2006-07 season in which no team won 10 games, all but Perry-Lecompton had double-digit wins in 2007-08. Jefferson County North, Oskaloosa and McLouth fought down to the wire in the Delaware Valley League race with Oskaloosa coming out on top. JCN finished with the best overall record at 18-6 while Oskaloosa was right there at 17-6 and McLouth was 13-8. Jefferson West matched that 13-8 record and Valley Falls finished 11-11 last season. Perry-Lecompton finished with a 4-17 record.
All six teams started play last week, as Oskaloosa started off with a win over Nemaha Valley while JCN did the same with a win over Maur Hill Mt. Academy. McLouth fell to St. Mary’s Academy, Jefferson West lost to Silver Lake, Valley Falls lost to ACCHS following a Dec. 4 loss to Immaculata, and Perry-Lecompton lost to Bishop Ward.
The teams continue play this week with Oskaloosa, JCN, McLouth and Valley Falls competing at the Delaware Valley League Preseason Tournament, which will be held in Oskaloosa this year. West and the Kaws were set to face off Tuesday before West returns to action Friday to play host to Sabetha.
Following is a capsule review of each team entering the season in order of last season’s record.
JCN
Coach: Steve Noll, fourth year
Last season: 18-6
The turnaround Steve Noll had been waiting for happened last season as North’s underclassmen-laden team got the farthest of any county team before falling to ACCHS in the 3A substate title game.
The best news out of that loss was that North’s only loss to graduation was one senior. Noll also has some strength in numbers this season as he ties West for the most players out with 23. That group includes a core of four seniors plus some talented juniors that were key to last season’s run. The seniors are guard/forward Amelia Noll, forward Devin Gigstad, guard Lisa Weishaar and forward Haley Hoffman, and junior guard Sara Navinskey and junior forward Mallory GrandPre are two other returning leaders for the Chargers.
Junior guard Beth Anne Brickell is slated to return from a knee injury after Christmas while sophomore forward Katie Noll also returns after seeing ample varsity playing time last season. Noll said he has a couple new weapons in stow in the form of freshmen Kate Brickell and Jordan Kramer, who he says he plans to work into the varsity rotation over the season.
“The girls have been working hard,” Noll said. He said some nagging injuries are taking their toll early on but he hopes to have everyone in full health by the return from Christmas break. “They had good volleyball and cross-country seasons so it’s good to be able to build on that a little bit. We don’t have a lot of size, but I think all the girls play a little bigger than what they are.”
Noll said several teams could be in the running for the DVL title after a season in which North fell short to county rival Oskaloosa by a slim margin.
“I think the league is gonna be tough,” Noll said. “We return a lot but so do Oskaloosa and McLouth. I think Valley Falls might surprise a lot of people. Then you’ve got teams like KC Christian and Horton that are always up there. It should be a fun race.”
After coming so close to a state bid last season, Noll said he hopes the team can take the next step this time around.
“The girls have been with me since they were in seventh and eighth grade, and they’ve been competitive every year (at the middle school level),” he said. “I guess it’s all kinda fallen into place. We’ve got some pretty high goals this season. I think we’re ready to go, we’ve just gotta go out there and play our game.”
Oskaloosa
Coach: LeeAnn Tufte, fourth year
Last season: 17-6
Tufte’s Bears also took a step forward last season and return quite a bit of the scoring punch from that team.
The Bears won the DVL title and went into substate as one of the frontrunners but stumbled versus ACCHS in the semifinals to finish a great season on a sour note.
It’s not often that a coach with 15 players out for a sport, seniors to freshmen, can point to depth as a strong point but Tufte said she feels that’s the case with this year’s team. Senior standout guard Nicole Rockhold and sophomore guard Hailey Kelly are the two top returnees for the Bears, whose roster includes two other seniors – forwards Jordan Cross and Rachell Hicks.
The Bears lost the inside presence of seniors Emily Heston and Myla Heston to graduation, and junior Kyra Coffman will miss the season with a knee injury, but Tufte has some players with some returning experience, plus a couple freshmen ready to do their part. Junior Mallory Schmidt, junior Audrey Trowbridge and sophomore Kristin Brey all got solid playing time last season and Tufte plans to work freshman forward Haley Pfau and freshman forward Rachel Schmanke into the mix. Sophomore guard Abby Thurston and sophomore forward Katie Barnes also saw some varsity time in the team’s opening win over Nemaha Valley Friday.
“I was very, very pleased with last season,” Tufte said. “We’ve picked up some freshmen and our numbers are pretty thin, but I really think you could field two varsities with our top 11. This early part of the season we’ll be figuring out rotation questions and see how everybody fits. We might be having to play some starters on varsity in junior varsity this year.”
Staying healthy will be a key, but Tufte said she also focused more on shooting going into games this year. A poor offensive effort was a main reason behind the season-ending loss to ACCHS last season so, looking at another tough schedule this season, Tufte said she wanted to see improvement in that area.
“Our shooting percentage and ability to shoot from outside was key last year, and that last loss really showed us how important that is,” Tufte said. “I’ve been really pleased with how that has come along. The other big thing is defense. We’ve got to play strong defense. If we can use that to transition into offense that will take a lot of the scoring stress off Nicole and Hailey.
“I think the DVL race is gonna be close. JCN and McLouth have most of their players back, and teams like KCC and Horton are always strong.”
Tufte said she thinks her squad is ready to get into games and leave scrimmaging behind.
“I think we’ll be able to put people in this year and, really, not skip a beat,” Tufte said. “I’m excited about this season. I know the girls are anxious to get going and see how they match up.”
McLouth
Coach: Todd Cossman, second year
Last season: 13-8
Cossman had few to no complaints about his first year as head coach at McLouth as his team was in the thick of the DVL hunt throughout the season before also losing to ACCHS in substate play.
Numbers are still low for the Bulldogs as Cossman has 14 players out, but only one senior. The main returnees are junior standout guard Missy Rome, junior post presence Kylie Shufflebarger and junior post player Cassidy Bristol. Cossman also pointed out returnees sophomore guard Logan Terry and sophomore Jessie Troupe, and said freshmen Terri Stewart and Morgan Drinnon will also see varsity playing time. The lone senior on the team is forward Haley Holwick.
“The girls have been playing well in practice,” Cossman said. “We’re keeping it pretty much the same this season. We want to build some continuity, and move forward in what we started last season – take that next step.”
The Bulldogs got started on the wrong foot with the season opening loss to a solid St. Mary’s Academy team Friday but Cossman is hoping his team is in the hunt once more for a DVL title.
“The league looks pretty solid. Oskaloosa is right up there, JCN is up there. I think Immaculata and Horton could be good,” Cossman said.
Cossman lost two solid seniors in Abby Annis and Sam Farris from last year’s team. He said he expects some learning is still left to be done but he likes his chances with his squad.
“Missy can play with just about any guard in the state,” Cossman said, “and we’ve got two really good inside players in Kylie and Cassidy. We’ve got some questions to answer and we may have some growing pains early on, but I’m pretty happy so far. Hopefully we can get going full swing by Christmas break.”
Jefferson West
Coach: Dan Hypse, third year
Last season: 13-8
Returning players are also a strength at West as Hypse returns quite a bit of experience from a team that lost to Hayden in 4A substate play to finish last season.
Hypse has a little strength in his numbers as a squad of 23 includes nine freshmen and 14 junior varsity and varsity players. Seniors and juniors form the core of the team, as Hypse has four seniors on the squad. Daughter guard/forward Hayley Hypse is joined by fellow seniors forward Audrey Mullins, forward Katie Bigham and guard/forward Michelle Bowen, who transferred to West last season from Oskaloosa. Hypse and Mullins have extensive varsity experience while Bigham had a standout season as a freshman but has seen her last two basketball seasons derailed by injuries. Joining those four will be junior guard Taylor Jaimes, junior forward Morgan Scott, junior guard and forward BriAnna Ploude, junior post player Jessica Martin, sophomore post player Jessica Wells and sophomore guard Monica Sanders.
“Hayley, Audrey and Katie have all played at the varsity level for a while now,” Hypse said. “We know what style we want to play – aggressive man-to-man defense. We want to get after people and create turnovers and turn those into baskets on the other end.”
West finished among the top three in the Big Seven League last year and said, after the frontrunner Holton, the league is a good race.
“Hopefully we can move up after finishing third last year,” Hypse said. “Holton is the top team, but we’re gonna have to play well every night or get beaten.”
West lost a narrow contest to Silver Lake to start the season 0-1, but Hypse said he hopes his team will be tested and improved by the time the games really count in February.
“I feel like we play a good schedule,” Hypse said. “I’d like us to be farther along offensively going into games. We’ve been really stressing defense in practice. Hopefully by the time we get to Christmas break the offense is starting to click.”
Valley Falls
Coach: Todd Gish, fourth year
Last season: 11-11
Gish’s team improved to a .500 record last season but had troubles with consistency before getting bounced from the 2A substate semifinals by Valley Heights.
The biggest loss for the Dragons from that team is graduated post player Rebekah Bunde, but Gish is hoping a group of other players can step up to fill the inside void left by Bunde’s departure. Gish has 22 players out for basketball, which includes four seniors. All four have seen significant playing time the last couple seasons, led by guards and forwards Tess Robinson and Chelsy Lassiter. Senior Chelsey Correll will be looked to for more production in the post this season and senior guard Shelbie Glissman returns to try and give Valley Falls an offensive boost. Other key returnees include sophomore guards Abbey Kearney, who had a standout freshman season, and Morgan Streeter, who also saw plenty of playing time as a freshman. Gish said junior guard Brenna Lane, junior forward Bethany Myers, junior guard and forward Bailey Sherretts, junior Courtnie Watson and sophomore Kaitlyn Speer would also likely see varsity time.
“Abbey was big for us last year, so we’ll lean on her quite a bit,” Gish said. “Really we’ve got about eight more girls that are fairly interchangeable. I’m hoping Chelsey (Correll) can step up a little on the offensive end, and Chelsy (Lassiter) had games in spurts last year where she was in double figures, too, so hopefully she can be a little more consistent with that.”
The changes add up to a drive for more aggression defensively from Gish.
“We played a little more soft zone defense last year so I’d like to work more man-to-man in. We’re challenged in size but we’ll have to make up for that,” Gish said.
Gish pointed out last year’s DVL top three – JCN, Oskaloosa and McLouth – as the main three to watch again this season.
“Oskaloosa will be tough, and JCN has everybody back, and McLouth maybe has the best player in the league in Rome,” Gish said. “Some things will have to go our way, but part of the challenge is changing the mindset here. The girls aren’t used to seeing a lot of success.”
The season is off to a rough start as the Dragons have dropped single-digit-deficit games to Immaculata and ACCHS to start 0-2. Gish said he’s hoping the good feelings he has had about the team entering play pan out.
“Practices have been going pretty well early on,” Gish said. “I think overall they’re quite a bit better at this point than they were last year at this point. We’ll know a lot more after a few games.”
Perry-Lecompton
Coach: Justin Mayer, first year
Last season: 4-17
The Kaws have struggled in recent years but Mayer is hoping he can get the outlook turned around for the Kaw girls.
Mayer’s wife, the former Chrissy McClure, is a mid-1990s graduate of Perry-Lecompton so, when he heard of the job’s availability, he looked at it as a challenge.
“I had wanted to be a head coach and, since my wife is a graduate of Perry-Lecompton and her family is still close, I figured this was a good place to start,” Mayer said. He has spent the last six years as an assistant at Eudora, and also teaches there.
Mayer has only 15 girls out for basketball but only two are seniors. He said he is looking to junior guard Emma Gantz, junior post player Katie Volle, senior post player Megan Elder, junior guard Katie Hirsch, senior guard Sydney Allen, sophomore guard Taylor Akagi to lead the way on varsity. He pointed out junior post player Jessica Christman, sophomore guard/forward Kerry Neil and junior guard Abby Bays as other players who will see varsity time.
“It’s kind of an unsolved mystery, why more girls aren’t coming out for the team,” Mayer said. “We had situations where some girls who hadn’t been out went out for the team and others who had, didn’t. We’re taking the time to figure out what works best with this group.”
Mayer said this is very much a transition year as he settles into his first head coaching job, which is also a building project in turning around the Kaw girls.
“We’re gonna have to outwork teams on the defensive end. That’ll be our staple,” Mayer said. “We’re getting to know each other and that’s gonna take some time.”
Mayer said Lansing, Tonganoxie and Basehor-Linwood should be the top teams in the perennially tough Kaw Valley League. He said he hopes this year is a chance for him to lay the foundation for years to come.
“We’re suiting up everybody,” Mayer said of varsity games. “We’re working on getting to know my philosophy and relaxing and making good decisions on the offensive end. You’ve got to be able to handle defensive pressure. Hopefully we can get better as the year goes on. I think the girls have the tools, it’s just a matter of putting them together.”
Monday, November 10, 2008
JCN settles for fourth at state volleyball
The line between tears of joy and tears of frustration was thin at times for the Jefferson County North Chargers volleyball team as the squad slipped through pool play only to have a frustrating Saturday for a fourth-place finish Nov. 1 at the 3A state tournament in Salina.
The Chargers entered play on Halloween afternoon at the Bicentennial Center as the fifth seed in a pool with top-seeded Phillipsburg, fourth-seeded Osage City and eighth-seeded Hoisington. Hoisington knocked off Phillipsburg in an upset in the first match of the day and the Chargers got started versus Osage City.
The Indians, who entered the tourney at 35-5, jumped out to a 14-6 game 1 lead but saw North fight back to whittle the lead to 21-17 and, eventually, 23-21, on a kill by North senior Lisa Weishaar. After Osage City’s second timeout of the game, a North player made contact with the net to give Osage City game point and an illegal hit call on North gave Osage City a 25-21 win in the first game of the best-of-three match. North took the early lead in game two by surging to a 14-3 advantage and rolling to a 25-13 win to force a deciding game 3.
The game would be close as North took a 6-3 lead but Osage City came back to take a 15-9 lead. JCN responded to tie the game at 18 on a kill by senior Devin Gigstad and force an Indians timeout. JCN made it a 6-point run to make the lead 21-18 but the Indians tied the game at 22. The Indians had a match point at 24-23 but JCN junior Sara Navinskey came through with a kill. At a 24-all tie, JCN sophomore Jordyne Seichepine scored a kill to give North a match point but Osage City retied the game. A Seichepine block gave North a second chance and an Osage City kill attempt hit the net and fell on the Indians’ side to give North the match.
North stayed on the court to face top seed Phillipsburg and found the Panthers focused after their opening loss to Hoisington. The Panthers led most of the way as they pulled away to a 4- or 5-point lead most of game 1 to take the game by a score of 25-20. JCN established the early lead in game 2 and was ahead, 14-9, before the Panthers started to creep back into the game. They got the game tied at 16 before moving ahead with a run of 4 straight points to make it 21-17. A Weishaar kill cut it to 22-20 and the Chargers got within a point before the Panthers scored the next 3 points to take the game and the match, 25-21, and drop JCN to 1-1 in pool play.
Hoisington and Phillipsburg both defeated Osage City to knock the Indians out of contention at 0-3 and set up a pivotal match between North and 2-0 Hoisington with a shot at advancing to Saturday’s Final Four on the line. North pulled out its best match of the day to dispatch the Cardinals, 25-21, 25-18. On the tiebreaker, Phillipsburg came through as the pool’s top seed while North came out ahead of Hoisington based on the amount of games needed to win its 2 matches.
The Chargers were then slated to face Rock Creek as the top qualifier in the other pool in Saturday’s semifinal match. North would play a tough game 1 but wouldn’t recover from a close loss in that game in game 2.
The Mustangs jumped out to a 5-2 lead and forced a North timeout at 9-4. The Chargers responded to tie the game at 11, 12 and 13. Rock Creek would creep ahead again only to see North tie the game at 16. Rock Creek again took a 3-point lead at 19-16 but North wouldn’t go away to cut the lead back to 20-19. Again Rock Creek tried to put the game away at 23-19 and 24-21 but a Mustang serve sailed long and a good serve by North junior Molly Lyon wasn’t returned by Rock Creek to keep North in the game.
After a Mustang timeout, a Gigstad tip fell in to tie the game at 24. Rock Creek had another chance to win the game but North scored two straight points including a Weishaar kill that forced a Mustang illegal hit to give North a game point. After another Mustang timeout, Rock Creek survived to tie the game but North fought off another game point before Rock Creek eventually won the game, 29-27, as a Seichepine kill fell just long.
JCN held an early 8-5 lead in game 2 and led, 9-6, when Rock Creek rolled off 9 straight points to take a 15-9 lead. The Mustangs extended the lead to 7 points before North was able to make a run to cut the lead to 21-18. Rock Creek would score the final 2 points of the match to move into the state title game with a 29-27, 25-19 victory.
With dreams of a state title dashed, the Chargers were forced to refocus on a rematch with Phillipsburg, which fell to Garden Plain in the other semifinal. The second match with the Panthers would play out much like the first one as a tight game 1 saw Philipsburg pull ahead in the teens to take a 19-14 lead. North cut the lead back to 20-19 but the Panthers rattled off 5 straight points to take game 1 by a 25-19 count.
In game 2, Phillipsburg took a 6-1 lead and extended it to 11-5. JCN got as close as 13-10 before the Panthers went on another run to make it 19-10. The Panthers got match point at 24-12 and North fought off three points before the Panthers were able to take home a 25-16 game 2 victory for third place in the tournament.
With the season in the books at 35-10, North coach Jeremy Gish huddled his players as they emotionally dealt with a tough end to another successful season. The team waited and watched as Garden Plain defeated Rock Creek in two games for the state title and then the Chargers got their fourth-place medals and took time for some team photos by the cadre of parents, students and supporters that made the trek west on I-70 to Salina.
Gish said despite the unfavorable outcome of Saturday’s matches, he and his team wouldn’t second-guess themselves.
“We don’t have any regrets,” Gish said. “The girls played extremely hard and they left all they had on the court. Against Rock Creek, we probably got our best defensive match of the year. The girls just refused to let the ball hit the floor at times. Rock Creek is a good team but, really, we don’t match up well. With Phillipsburg, we knew what they liked to do, we just couldn’t get it going. I think the girls were extremely motivated. I didn’t feel like we were getting too many breaks today, and there’s not much you can do about that.”
Navinskey was later named to the Kansas Volleyball Association’s all-tournament team for the 3A tourney.
The Chargers entered play on Halloween afternoon at the Bicentennial Center as the fifth seed in a pool with top-seeded Phillipsburg, fourth-seeded Osage City and eighth-seeded Hoisington. Hoisington knocked off Phillipsburg in an upset in the first match of the day and the Chargers got started versus Osage City.
The Indians, who entered the tourney at 35-5, jumped out to a 14-6 game 1 lead but saw North fight back to whittle the lead to 21-17 and, eventually, 23-21, on a kill by North senior Lisa Weishaar. After Osage City’s second timeout of the game, a North player made contact with the net to give Osage City game point and an illegal hit call on North gave Osage City a 25-21 win in the first game of the best-of-three match. North took the early lead in game two by surging to a 14-3 advantage and rolling to a 25-13 win to force a deciding game 3.
The game would be close as North took a 6-3 lead but Osage City came back to take a 15-9 lead. JCN responded to tie the game at 18 on a kill by senior Devin Gigstad and force an Indians timeout. JCN made it a 6-point run to make the lead 21-18 but the Indians tied the game at 22. The Indians had a match point at 24-23 but JCN junior Sara Navinskey came through with a kill. At a 24-all tie, JCN sophomore Jordyne Seichepine scored a kill to give North a match point but Osage City retied the game. A Seichepine block gave North a second chance and an Osage City kill attempt hit the net and fell on the Indians’ side to give North the match.
North stayed on the court to face top seed Phillipsburg and found the Panthers focused after their opening loss to Hoisington. The Panthers led most of the way as they pulled away to a 4- or 5-point lead most of game 1 to take the game by a score of 25-20. JCN established the early lead in game 2 and was ahead, 14-9, before the Panthers started to creep back into the game. They got the game tied at 16 before moving ahead with a run of 4 straight points to make it 21-17. A Weishaar kill cut it to 22-20 and the Chargers got within a point before the Panthers scored the next 3 points to take the game and the match, 25-21, and drop JCN to 1-1 in pool play.
Hoisington and Phillipsburg both defeated Osage City to knock the Indians out of contention at 0-3 and set up a pivotal match between North and 2-0 Hoisington with a shot at advancing to Saturday’s Final Four on the line. North pulled out its best match of the day to dispatch the Cardinals, 25-21, 25-18. On the tiebreaker, Phillipsburg came through as the pool’s top seed while North came out ahead of Hoisington based on the amount of games needed to win its 2 matches.
The Chargers were then slated to face Rock Creek as the top qualifier in the other pool in Saturday’s semifinal match. North would play a tough game 1 but wouldn’t recover from a close loss in that game in game 2.
The Mustangs jumped out to a 5-2 lead and forced a North timeout at 9-4. The Chargers responded to tie the game at 11, 12 and 13. Rock Creek would creep ahead again only to see North tie the game at 16. Rock Creek again took a 3-point lead at 19-16 but North wouldn’t go away to cut the lead back to 20-19. Again Rock Creek tried to put the game away at 23-19 and 24-21 but a Mustang serve sailed long and a good serve by North junior Molly Lyon wasn’t returned by Rock Creek to keep North in the game.
After a Mustang timeout, a Gigstad tip fell in to tie the game at 24. Rock Creek had another chance to win the game but North scored two straight points including a Weishaar kill that forced a Mustang illegal hit to give North a game point. After another Mustang timeout, Rock Creek survived to tie the game but North fought off another game point before Rock Creek eventually won the game, 29-27, as a Seichepine kill fell just long.
JCN held an early 8-5 lead in game 2 and led, 9-6, when Rock Creek rolled off 9 straight points to take a 15-9 lead. The Mustangs extended the lead to 7 points before North was able to make a run to cut the lead to 21-18. Rock Creek would score the final 2 points of the match to move into the state title game with a 29-27, 25-19 victory.
With dreams of a state title dashed, the Chargers were forced to refocus on a rematch with Phillipsburg, which fell to Garden Plain in the other semifinal. The second match with the Panthers would play out much like the first one as a tight game 1 saw Philipsburg pull ahead in the teens to take a 19-14 lead. North cut the lead back to 20-19 but the Panthers rattled off 5 straight points to take game 1 by a 25-19 count.
In game 2, Phillipsburg took a 6-1 lead and extended it to 11-5. JCN got as close as 13-10 before the Panthers went on another run to make it 19-10. The Panthers got match point at 24-12 and North fought off three points before the Panthers were able to take home a 25-16 game 2 victory for third place in the tournament.
With the season in the books at 35-10, North coach Jeremy Gish huddled his players as they emotionally dealt with a tough end to another successful season. The team waited and watched as Garden Plain defeated Rock Creek in two games for the state title and then the Chargers got their fourth-place medals and took time for some team photos by the cadre of parents, students and supporters that made the trek west on I-70 to Salina.
Gish said despite the unfavorable outcome of Saturday’s matches, he and his team wouldn’t second-guess themselves.
“We don’t have any regrets,” Gish said. “The girls played extremely hard and they left all they had on the court. Against Rock Creek, we probably got our best defensive match of the year. The girls just refused to let the ball hit the floor at times. Rock Creek is a good team but, really, we don’t match up well. With Phillipsburg, we knew what they liked to do, we just couldn’t get it going. I think the girls were extremely motivated. I didn’t feel like we were getting too many breaks today, and there’s not much you can do about that.”
Navinskey was later named to the Kansas Volleyball Association’s all-tournament team for the 3A tourney.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
County football scores from Oct. 24, 2008
Oskaloosa, 41, vs. Jefferson County North, 0
Pleasant Ridge, 48, vs. McLouth, 6
Atchison, 35, vs. Jefferson West, 14
Baldwin, 35, vs. Perry-Lecompton, 28
Valley Falls, 54, vs. Immaculata, 6
Pleasant Ridge, 48, vs. McLouth, 6
Atchison, 35, vs. Jefferson West, 14
Baldwin, 35, vs. Perry-Lecompton, 28
Valley Falls, 54, vs. Immaculata, 6
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Valley Falls blanks McLouth, 33-0
When one player on a team outgains the opposing team as a whole by more than three times, that’s a pretty good sign of which team came out on top of a matchup.
Such was the case Friday in Valley Falls as Dragons senior Josh Kearney ran over, around and through the McLouth defense for more than 250 rushing yards and three touchdowns in a 33-0 Valley Falls victory on homecoming night.
To top it off, Kearney was even crowned homecoming king at halftime.
The Dragons defense also played well in holding McLouth to seven first downs in the game. McLouth finished with 101 yards before taking into account three bad snaps for a total loss of 32 yards to leave the Bulldogs with total offensive yardage of 67 on the night.
The game was scoreless through four possessions until Kearney picked up two first downs and scored on a 34-yard run with 1:26 left in the first quarter to make it 6-0 Dragons. After McLouth’s third three-plays-and-out on their first three possessions, Kearney scored on a 60-yard run on the Dragons’ next play from scrimmage and junior quarterback Mitchell Streeter booted the extra point for a 13-0 Dragons lead with 11:39 to go in the first half.
The Bulldogs picked up two first downs on their fourth possession of the game but stalled at their own 42. Kearney rushing gains and a 19-yard pass from Streeter to senior Ridge Glassel took the ball to the McLouth 17, and three plays later, Kearney scored from 7 yards out to make it 20-0 with Streeter’s extra point. That would hold as the halftime score.
McLouth picked up a first down on its first possession of the second half but turned the ball over on downs at the Valley Falls 40. The Dragons’ offense went back to work as four different rushers took the ball to the McLouth 26. Kearney ran the ball 25 yards to the Bulldogs 1 and scored on the next play to make it 27-0 with Streeter’s extra-point kick.
Dragons sophomore Alex Lederer cut the Bulldogs’ next possession short with an interception. The Dragons had another Kearney touchdown run called back by a holding penalty before turning the ball over on downs at the McLouth 21 early in the fourth quarter.
A Kearney 43-yard run set the Dragons up again on their next possession and Streeter finished the drive with a 14-yard touchdown run to make it 33-0 with 5:54 left in the game. From there, it was only a matter of time. Two more McLouth drives stalled, and Lederer came in at quarterback and had a long touchdown run called back on an illegal block penalty with time dwindling. He followed that play with a 20-yard run that ended up being the final play of the game.
Kearney finished with 23 rushes for 258 yards and 3 TDs while Streeter had 10 runs for 39 yards and a score and was 2-for-4 passing for 41 yards and an interception. Three other rushers combined for 71 yards for the Dragons as they racked up 409 yards in offense.
McLouth was led by 14 rushes for 37 yards from senior Jake Hullinger and 10 rushes for 18 yards from senior quarterback Derrick Crouse. Crouse was 7-for-17 passing for 42 yards and an interception.
Dragons coach Rod Bunde said his team played well but he still saw a couple areas of improvement as district play begins this week.
“We’ve had a lot of kids hurt but the guys stepped up and played a good game tonight,” Bunde said. “We had a couple touchdowns called back because of penalties, but the kids played hard. We’re hoping to get healthy and get a couple kids back from ineligibility going into district play.”
The win improved Valley Falls to 4-2. McLouth fell to 2-4 with the loss. The Dragons play host to Lyndon in the first game of their 2A district play Friday. McLouth plays host to JCN in the first game of those teams’ 3A district schedule.
Such was the case Friday in Valley Falls as Dragons senior Josh Kearney ran over, around and through the McLouth defense for more than 250 rushing yards and three touchdowns in a 33-0 Valley Falls victory on homecoming night.
To top it off, Kearney was even crowned homecoming king at halftime.
The Dragons defense also played well in holding McLouth to seven first downs in the game. McLouth finished with 101 yards before taking into account three bad snaps for a total loss of 32 yards to leave the Bulldogs with total offensive yardage of 67 on the night.
The game was scoreless through four possessions until Kearney picked up two first downs and scored on a 34-yard run with 1:26 left in the first quarter to make it 6-0 Dragons. After McLouth’s third three-plays-and-out on their first three possessions, Kearney scored on a 60-yard run on the Dragons’ next play from scrimmage and junior quarterback Mitchell Streeter booted the extra point for a 13-0 Dragons lead with 11:39 to go in the first half.
The Bulldogs picked up two first downs on their fourth possession of the game but stalled at their own 42. Kearney rushing gains and a 19-yard pass from Streeter to senior Ridge Glassel took the ball to the McLouth 17, and three plays later, Kearney scored from 7 yards out to make it 20-0 with Streeter’s extra point. That would hold as the halftime score.
McLouth picked up a first down on its first possession of the second half but turned the ball over on downs at the Valley Falls 40. The Dragons’ offense went back to work as four different rushers took the ball to the McLouth 26. Kearney ran the ball 25 yards to the Bulldogs 1 and scored on the next play to make it 27-0 with Streeter’s extra-point kick.
Dragons sophomore Alex Lederer cut the Bulldogs’ next possession short with an interception. The Dragons had another Kearney touchdown run called back by a holding penalty before turning the ball over on downs at the McLouth 21 early in the fourth quarter.
A Kearney 43-yard run set the Dragons up again on their next possession and Streeter finished the drive with a 14-yard touchdown run to make it 33-0 with 5:54 left in the game. From there, it was only a matter of time. Two more McLouth drives stalled, and Lederer came in at quarterback and had a long touchdown run called back on an illegal block penalty with time dwindling. He followed that play with a 20-yard run that ended up being the final play of the game.
Kearney finished with 23 rushes for 258 yards and 3 TDs while Streeter had 10 runs for 39 yards and a score and was 2-for-4 passing for 41 yards and an interception. Three other rushers combined for 71 yards for the Dragons as they racked up 409 yards in offense.
McLouth was led by 14 rushes for 37 yards from senior Jake Hullinger and 10 rushes for 18 yards from senior quarterback Derrick Crouse. Crouse was 7-for-17 passing for 42 yards and an interception.
Dragons coach Rod Bunde said his team played well but he still saw a couple areas of improvement as district play begins this week.
“We’ve had a lot of kids hurt but the guys stepped up and played a good game tonight,” Bunde said. “We had a couple touchdowns called back because of penalties, but the kids played hard. We’re hoping to get healthy and get a couple kids back from ineligibility going into district play.”
The win improved Valley Falls to 4-2. McLouth fell to 2-4 with the loss. The Dragons play host to Lyndon in the first game of their 2A district play Friday. McLouth plays host to JCN in the first game of those teams’ 3A district schedule.
Video of Tenpenny catch from Bears win
This week's submission from Vance Massey features a one-handed catch from Oskaloosa senior Chase Tenpenny that set up a Bears touchdown during their win over Doniphan West on the road Friday night. This one comes complete with slo-mo instant replay, in case the action is too fast the first time to catch the catch.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Jefferson County High School football scores for Friday, Oct. 10
Perry-Lecompton, 28, vs. Piper High School, 13
Oskaloosa, 22, vs. Doniphan West, 13
Jefferson County North, 19, vs. Troy, 50
Valley Falls, 33, vs. McLouth, 0
Jefferson West, 49, vs. Maur Hill Prep-Mount Academy, 0
Oskaloosa, 22, vs. Doniphan West, 13
Jefferson County North, 19, vs. Troy, 50
Valley Falls, 33, vs. McLouth, 0
Jefferson West, 49, vs. Maur Hill Prep-Mount Academy, 0
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Football scores for Jefferson County teams Friday, Oct. 3
McLouth, 10, vs. Doniphan West, 52
Perry-Lecompton, 28, vs. Lansing, 36
Wathena, 21, vs. Oskaloosa, 14
Nemaha Valley, 35, vs. Jefferson West, 22
Jackson Heights, 29, vs. Jefferson County North, 28
Valley Falls, 18, vs. Horton, 6.
Perry-Lecompton, 28, vs. Lansing, 36
Wathena, 21, vs. Oskaloosa, 14
Nemaha Valley, 35, vs. Jefferson West, 22
Jackson Heights, 29, vs. Jefferson County North, 28
Valley Falls, 18, vs. Horton, 6.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
'Cats drub 'Dogs, 48-8
McLouth senior Jake Hullinger tries to evade the grasp of a Wathena defender during the Bulldogs' 48-8 loss to the Wildcats Friday. Hullinger had 64 rushing yards and scored the team's only touchdown on a 46-yard run.
Photo by Brad Roudybush
Jefferson West destroys ACCHS, 53-0
Jefferson West senior Garrett Stewart cuts upfield during the early going of West’s 53-0 win over Atchison County Community High School Friday in Meriden. Stewart ran for scores of 4 and 11 yards as West improved to 2-2 on the season.
Photo by Ken Locke
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Double shot of videos from Oskaloosa-Troy
This week's contribution from Vance Massey includes two highlights from the Oskaloosa Bears' 44-20 loss to Troy Friday night. The top video shows sophomore Levi Wade making an interception, while the bottom video shows a touchdown run by senior J.T. Thurston. The Bears were down, 22-12, after one quarter and didn't get on the board in the second half as Troy handed them their first loss of the season to fall to 3-1.
Football and volleyball updates for Oct. 2 edition
Friday’s football games (Sept. 26)
Perry-Lecompton 21, Atchison 7
• The Kaws got three 4-yard touchdown runs from senior quarterback Shane Gimzo and three extra-point kicks from Neng Artwichai to defeat the Redmen and improve to 3-1.
Jefferson West 53, ACCHS 0
• West improved to 2-2 as a 26-point second quarter helped the Tigers cruise to the win. Senior Garrett Stewart ran for scores of 4 and 11 yards, senior Kyle Sanders connected with senior Cole Buckman on a 33-yard TD pass and scored on a 27-yard run, sophomore Ethan Mumaw scored on a 10-yard run, junior Steven Skaggs scored on a 5-yard run and junior Austin Siess scored on a 35-yard interception return.
JCN 21, Immaculata 7
• North got its first win of the season to move to 1-3. Senior Riley Noll scored on runs of 63 and 75 yards and senior Matt Perry threw a 10-yard TD pass to junior Austin Gaspard. Noll added an extra point and threw a 2-point conversion pass to junior Breck McMillan.
Troy 44, Oskaloosa 20
• Troy took a 22-12 lead after one quarter and rolled to the 44-20 win to deal Oskaloosa its first loss of the season at 3-1. Bears senior J.T. Thurston scored on runs of 22 and 11 yards and also threw a touchdown to senior Chase Tenpenny on a 4-yard pass play. Thurston added a 2-point conversion run. Junior Brandon Barnes had 12 rushes for 89 yards in the loss.
Pleasant Ridge 48, Valley Falls 18
• The Dragons were down, 28-6, at halftime en route to the loss to fall to 2-2. Senior Garrett Jennings scored on runs of 19 and 3 yards and junior Chance Gier scored on a 20-yard run in the loss. Gier had 13 carries for 96 yards and senior Josh Kearney rushed 18 times for 69 yards in the loss.
Wathena 48, McLouth 8
• Wathena had a shutout going in the fourth quarter before McLouth scored on a 46-yard run by senior Jake Hullinger. Senior Derrick Crouse connected with senior Jarrod Bechard on a 2-point conversion pass. Hullinger rushed for 64 yards on 6 carries in the loss.
Volleyball update
Recent Jefferson West results
Sept. 25
West def. Immaculata, 25-9, 25-18
West def. Tonganoxie, 25-19, 25-23
Pleasant Ridge def. West, 26-24, 22-25, 25-23
• West suffered its first loss of the season but improved to 15-1.
Sept. 27
Wamego Tournament
West def. Wabaunsee, 25-19, 25-13
West def. Riley County, 25-15, 25-19
West def. Nemaha Valley, 25-19, 25-13
Rock Creek def. West, 25-17, 22-25, 25-17
West def. Riley County, 25-23, 26-28, 25-22
• West placed third and improved to 19-2 at Wamego.
JCN results
Sept. 23
JCN def. Valley Falls, 28-26, 25-11
JCN def. Doniphan West, 25-20, 25-15
• The Chargers improved to 8-0 in the Delaware Valley League and 12-1 overall.
Perry-Lecompton 21, Atchison 7
• The Kaws got three 4-yard touchdown runs from senior quarterback Shane Gimzo and three extra-point kicks from Neng Artwichai to defeat the Redmen and improve to 3-1.
Jefferson West 53, ACCHS 0
• West improved to 2-2 as a 26-point second quarter helped the Tigers cruise to the win. Senior Garrett Stewart ran for scores of 4 and 11 yards, senior Kyle Sanders connected with senior Cole Buckman on a 33-yard TD pass and scored on a 27-yard run, sophomore Ethan Mumaw scored on a 10-yard run, junior Steven Skaggs scored on a 5-yard run and junior Austin Siess scored on a 35-yard interception return.
JCN 21, Immaculata 7
• North got its first win of the season to move to 1-3. Senior Riley Noll scored on runs of 63 and 75 yards and senior Matt Perry threw a 10-yard TD pass to junior Austin Gaspard. Noll added an extra point and threw a 2-point conversion pass to junior Breck McMillan.
Troy 44, Oskaloosa 20
• Troy took a 22-12 lead after one quarter and rolled to the 44-20 win to deal Oskaloosa its first loss of the season at 3-1. Bears senior J.T. Thurston scored on runs of 22 and 11 yards and also threw a touchdown to senior Chase Tenpenny on a 4-yard pass play. Thurston added a 2-point conversion run. Junior Brandon Barnes had 12 rushes for 89 yards in the loss.
Pleasant Ridge 48, Valley Falls 18
• The Dragons were down, 28-6, at halftime en route to the loss to fall to 2-2. Senior Garrett Jennings scored on runs of 19 and 3 yards and junior Chance Gier scored on a 20-yard run in the loss. Gier had 13 carries for 96 yards and senior Josh Kearney rushed 18 times for 69 yards in the loss.
Wathena 48, McLouth 8
• Wathena had a shutout going in the fourth quarter before McLouth scored on a 46-yard run by senior Jake Hullinger. Senior Derrick Crouse connected with senior Jarrod Bechard on a 2-point conversion pass. Hullinger rushed for 64 yards on 6 carries in the loss.
Volleyball update
Recent Jefferson West results
Sept. 25
West def. Immaculata, 25-9, 25-18
West def. Tonganoxie, 25-19, 25-23
Pleasant Ridge def. West, 26-24, 22-25, 25-23
• West suffered its first loss of the season but improved to 15-1.
Sept. 27
Wamego Tournament
West def. Wabaunsee, 25-19, 25-13
West def. Riley County, 25-15, 25-19
West def. Nemaha Valley, 25-19, 25-13
Rock Creek def. West, 25-17, 22-25, 25-17
West def. Riley County, 25-23, 26-28, 25-22
• West placed third and improved to 19-2 at Wamego.
JCN results
Sept. 23
JCN def. Valley Falls, 28-26, 25-11
JCN def. Doniphan West, 25-20, 25-15
• The Chargers improved to 8-0 in the Delaware Valley League and 12-1 overall.
'Cats drub 'Dogs, 48-8
McLouth’s homecoming game Friday against Wathena was a case of Murphy’s Law for the Bulldogs. Pretty much whatever could go wrong, did, as Wathena went home with a 48-8 win.
The Bulldogs lost two fumbles, saw an interception returned for a touchdown and incurred nearly 100 yards in penalties during the game as Wathena had a shutout going until the Bulldog offense got a late score on the second-string defense.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats ran heavily on McLouth as senior running back Colton Bauman scored four times and junior quarterback Bryce Paden threw for two more scores.
Both teams struggled on their first possession but Wathena scored on the first play of its second possession as Bauman broke free for a 41-yard touchdown run to make it 6-0 with 8:41 left in the first quarter. The teams traded punts before Bauman added his second TD on a 23-yard tuchdown run and added the extra-point kick to make it 13-0 Wildcats with 47 seconds left in the quarter.
McLouth picked up its first first down on a 10-yard run by senior quarterback Derrick Crouse just before the end of the quarter but was forced to punt. The Bulldogs got a break when Wathena senior Blake Haynes muffed the punt and McLouth junior Cody Winborn was in the right place at the right time to recover the ball at the Wathena 15. A holding call crippled McLouth’s chances, however, and the Bulldogs ended up turning the ball over on downs at the Wildcats 28.
The teams traded bad snap fumbles midway through the quarter and McLouth was set up again in Wildcat territory. A personal foul call on Wathena gave McLouth first down at the Wathena 15 with 5:07 left in the half but, again, the Bulldogs went backwards and turned the ball over on downs at the Wildcats 26.
Wathena responded by driving 74 yards in eight plays and were helped by a pass interference call on McLouth. Bauman finished the drive with a 5-yard TD run and Paden connected with senior Aron Sharp on the 2-point conversion play to make it 21-0 Bulldogs, which held as the halftime score.
The score remained 21-0 through most of the third quarter until a 29-yard Bauman run was followed by two Paden passes to get the Wildcats the rest of the way to the end zone. Paden found senior Matt Koelliker for a 16-yard pass play to score and the Bauman extra-point kick made it 28-0 Wathena.
The Wildcats recovered a fumble at the Bulldogs 19 on the next McLouth possession and, four plays later, Paden connected with Haynes on a 4-yard TD pass to make it 34-0 Wildcats.
The fourth quarter started with another stalled Bulldog drive and Bauman scored on a 55-yard TD run before junior Collin Schultz returned an interception of Crouse for 43 yards for the final Wildcat score to make it 48-0 with Bauman’s extra point.
Wathena put the second string defense in after the ensuing kickoff and McLouth drove 58 yards on six plays as senior Jake Hullinger scored on a 46-yard run and Crouse threw to senior Jarrod Bechard for the 2-point conversion to make it 48-8 with 6:11 to play. Wathena’s second-string offense ran out the clock to preserve the win.
McLouth was led by Hullinger’s 64 rushing yards on 6 carries and 17 carries for 44 yards by Crouse. Crouse was 3-for-15 passing for 5 yards and an interception in the loss as McLouth fell to 2-2.
Wathena was led by 12 carries for 164 yards and 4 TDs by Bauman. Paden was 5-for-11 passing for 75 yards and 2 TDs.
The Bulldogs lost two fumbles, saw an interception returned for a touchdown and incurred nearly 100 yards in penalties during the game as Wathena had a shutout going until the Bulldog offense got a late score on the second-string defense.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats ran heavily on McLouth as senior running back Colton Bauman scored four times and junior quarterback Bryce Paden threw for two more scores.
Both teams struggled on their first possession but Wathena scored on the first play of its second possession as Bauman broke free for a 41-yard touchdown run to make it 6-0 with 8:41 left in the first quarter. The teams traded punts before Bauman added his second TD on a 23-yard tuchdown run and added the extra-point kick to make it 13-0 Wildcats with 47 seconds left in the quarter.
McLouth picked up its first first down on a 10-yard run by senior quarterback Derrick Crouse just before the end of the quarter but was forced to punt. The Bulldogs got a break when Wathena senior Blake Haynes muffed the punt and McLouth junior Cody Winborn was in the right place at the right time to recover the ball at the Wathena 15. A holding call crippled McLouth’s chances, however, and the Bulldogs ended up turning the ball over on downs at the Wildcats 28.
The teams traded bad snap fumbles midway through the quarter and McLouth was set up again in Wildcat territory. A personal foul call on Wathena gave McLouth first down at the Wathena 15 with 5:07 left in the half but, again, the Bulldogs went backwards and turned the ball over on downs at the Wildcats 26.
Wathena responded by driving 74 yards in eight plays and were helped by a pass interference call on McLouth. Bauman finished the drive with a 5-yard TD run and Paden connected with senior Aron Sharp on the 2-point conversion play to make it 21-0 Bulldogs, which held as the halftime score.
The score remained 21-0 through most of the third quarter until a 29-yard Bauman run was followed by two Paden passes to get the Wildcats the rest of the way to the end zone. Paden found senior Matt Koelliker for a 16-yard pass play to score and the Bauman extra-point kick made it 28-0 Wathena.
The Wildcats recovered a fumble at the Bulldogs 19 on the next McLouth possession and, four plays later, Paden connected with Haynes on a 4-yard TD pass to make it 34-0 Wildcats.
The fourth quarter started with another stalled Bulldog drive and Bauman scored on a 55-yard TD run before junior Collin Schultz returned an interception of Crouse for 43 yards for the final Wildcat score to make it 48-0 with Bauman’s extra point.
Wathena put the second string defense in after the ensuing kickoff and McLouth drove 58 yards on six plays as senior Jake Hullinger scored on a 46-yard run and Crouse threw to senior Jarrod Bechard for the 2-point conversion to make it 48-8 with 6:11 to play. Wathena’s second-string offense ran out the clock to preserve the win.
McLouth was led by Hullinger’s 64 rushing yards on 6 carries and 17 carries for 44 yards by Crouse. Crouse was 3-for-15 passing for 5 yards and an interception in the loss as McLouth fell to 2-2.
Wathena was led by 12 carries for 164 yards and 4 TDs by Bauman. Paden was 5-for-11 passing for 75 yards and 2 TDs.
Dragons steamroll JCN, 42-6
Valley Falls made plays early and often to all but put the game away Sept. 19 with county rival Jefferson County North and senior Josh Kearney took care of the rest in a 42-6 Dragons home victory.
When the dust settled on the rout, Kearney had more than 300 all-purpose yards thanks to 142 rushing yards and two 82-yard kickoff returns for touchdowns. He added three rushing scores to finish with 5 TDs on the night.
JCN’s first possession saw junior quarterback Austin Gaspard throw an interception on third-and-9 with Kearney making the play but fumbling the ball back to North while trying to return it for a score. A North player fell on the ball at the Chargers 12. On the next play, the Chargers fumbled the ball back to Valley Falls, however, and the Dragons were set up at the Charger 14.
Three plays later, Dragons junior running back Chance Gier took the ball in from 1 yard out to make it 6-0 Valley Falls with 9:36 left in the opening quarter. Valley Falls forced North to go three-and-out on their next possession and junior Riley Bunde blocked the ensuing punt and recovered it at the JCN 4. Kearney took the ball into the end zone on the next play and Gier added a 2-point conversion run to make it 14-0 Valley Falls.
Another Charger three-and-out gave the Dragons their next possession at the JCN 44 and, two plays later, Kearney broke free for a 39-yard TD run with junior quarterback Mitchell Streeter booting the extra-point kick to make it 21-0 Valley Falls.
From there the teams went into neutral offensively as they traded punts. JCN got the ball back with 8:32 left in the first half and the Chargers mounted their first extended drive of the game. A key play came on third-and-18 at the Dragons 46 when Gaspard threw a long pass to senior Matt Perry, who made a diving fingertip catch to give the Chargers a first down at the Valley Falls 13. The Dragons held the Chargers to a fourth-down play at the 10 and Gaspard found senior tight end Matt Noll in the end zone for the score to cut the Dragons’ lead to 21-6 with 3:16 left in the half.
The momentum was about as short-lived as possible, however, as Kearney fielded the ensuing kickoff at the Dragons 18 and weaved through the Chargers kickoff squad for an 82-yard touchdown return to make it 27-6 Valley Falls.
The Chargers’ next drive stalled just across midfield and, after a JCN punt, Kearney took a second-down handoff and rambled 85 yards for a touchdown to make it 35-6 Dragons with a 2-point conversion run by senior Garrett Jennings.
That was the score entering halftime and Kearney put the game further in the bag when he ran the opening kick in the second half back 82 yards again for a touchdown with Streeter’s extra-point kick making it 42-6. With the deficit at 36, the coaches put the running clock into effect and Valley Falls wouldn’t have an offensive play in the third quarter.
That was mainly because JCN drove from its own 18 to the Dragons 23 on 13 plays that ran the rest of the clock out in the period. A bad snap over Gaspard’s head in shotgun formation on second down gave the Chargers third-and-30 at the Dragons 43 and the remaining two downs only resulted in the Dragons taking over possesion at their own 32. The Dragons chewed up clock with eight rushing plays and turned the ball over on downs at the JCN 31 with 4:03 left in the game. North made it to the Valley Falls 28 before time expired on the 42-6 Dragons win.
The bulk of the offensive threat for Valley Falls other than Kearney was 11 rushes for 28 yards by Gier.
North was led by 33 rushing yards from both senior Riley Noll and junior Breck McMillan on 6 carries each. Junior Lance Leakey added 23 yards rushing on 16 carries. Gaspard finished the game 10-for-20 passing for 99 yards with a touchdown and interception. Perry had 4 catches for 46 yards in the game.
Dragons coach Rod Bunde said despite the relatively easy win he still saw some things his team needs to work on. The Dragons moved to 2-1 while JCN fell to 0-3.
“There are a lot of little things we need to work on. We had some stupid penalties,” Bunde said. The Dragons had 6 penalties for a total of 45 yards in the game. “Any of our backs have big scoring potential. Tonight, when Josh touched the ball, he made some things happen. I think the thing is we finally have some experienced upperclassmen and the boys fought hard tonight.”
When the dust settled on the rout, Kearney had more than 300 all-purpose yards thanks to 142 rushing yards and two 82-yard kickoff returns for touchdowns. He added three rushing scores to finish with 5 TDs on the night.
JCN’s first possession saw junior quarterback Austin Gaspard throw an interception on third-and-9 with Kearney making the play but fumbling the ball back to North while trying to return it for a score. A North player fell on the ball at the Chargers 12. On the next play, the Chargers fumbled the ball back to Valley Falls, however, and the Dragons were set up at the Charger 14.
Three plays later, Dragons junior running back Chance Gier took the ball in from 1 yard out to make it 6-0 Valley Falls with 9:36 left in the opening quarter. Valley Falls forced North to go three-and-out on their next possession and junior Riley Bunde blocked the ensuing punt and recovered it at the JCN 4. Kearney took the ball into the end zone on the next play and Gier added a 2-point conversion run to make it 14-0 Valley Falls.
Another Charger three-and-out gave the Dragons their next possession at the JCN 44 and, two plays later, Kearney broke free for a 39-yard TD run with junior quarterback Mitchell Streeter booting the extra-point kick to make it 21-0 Valley Falls.
From there the teams went into neutral offensively as they traded punts. JCN got the ball back with 8:32 left in the first half and the Chargers mounted their first extended drive of the game. A key play came on third-and-18 at the Dragons 46 when Gaspard threw a long pass to senior Matt Perry, who made a diving fingertip catch to give the Chargers a first down at the Valley Falls 13. The Dragons held the Chargers to a fourth-down play at the 10 and Gaspard found senior tight end Matt Noll in the end zone for the score to cut the Dragons’ lead to 21-6 with 3:16 left in the half.
The momentum was about as short-lived as possible, however, as Kearney fielded the ensuing kickoff at the Dragons 18 and weaved through the Chargers kickoff squad for an 82-yard touchdown return to make it 27-6 Valley Falls.
The Chargers’ next drive stalled just across midfield and, after a JCN punt, Kearney took a second-down handoff and rambled 85 yards for a touchdown to make it 35-6 Dragons with a 2-point conversion run by senior Garrett Jennings.
That was the score entering halftime and Kearney put the game further in the bag when he ran the opening kick in the second half back 82 yards again for a touchdown with Streeter’s extra-point kick making it 42-6. With the deficit at 36, the coaches put the running clock into effect and Valley Falls wouldn’t have an offensive play in the third quarter.
That was mainly because JCN drove from its own 18 to the Dragons 23 on 13 plays that ran the rest of the clock out in the period. A bad snap over Gaspard’s head in shotgun formation on second down gave the Chargers third-and-30 at the Dragons 43 and the remaining two downs only resulted in the Dragons taking over possesion at their own 32. The Dragons chewed up clock with eight rushing plays and turned the ball over on downs at the JCN 31 with 4:03 left in the game. North made it to the Valley Falls 28 before time expired on the 42-6 Dragons win.
The bulk of the offensive threat for Valley Falls other than Kearney was 11 rushes for 28 yards by Gier.
North was led by 33 rushing yards from both senior Riley Noll and junior Breck McMillan on 6 carries each. Junior Lance Leakey added 23 yards rushing on 16 carries. Gaspard finished the game 10-for-20 passing for 99 yards with a touchdown and interception. Perry had 4 catches for 46 yards in the game.
Dragons coach Rod Bunde said despite the relatively easy win he still saw some things his team needs to work on. The Dragons moved to 2-1 while JCN fell to 0-3.
“There are a lot of little things we need to work on. We had some stupid penalties,” Bunde said. The Dragons had 6 penalties for a total of 45 yards in the game. “Any of our backs have big scoring potential. Tonight, when Josh touched the ball, he made some things happen. I think the thing is we finally have some experienced upperclassmen and the boys fought hard tonight.”
Sunday, September 28, 2008
County football scores from Friday, Sept. 26
Jefferson West, 53, vs. Atchison County, 0
Jefferson County North, 21, vs. Immaculata, 7
Pleasant Ridge, 48, vs. Valley Falls, 18
Wathena, 48, vs. McLouth, 8
Troy, 44, vs. Oskaloosa, 20
Perry-Lecompton, 21, vs. Atchison, 7
Jefferson County North, 21, vs. Immaculata, 7
Pleasant Ridge, 48, vs. Valley Falls, 18
Wathena, 48, vs. McLouth, 8
Troy, 44, vs. Oskaloosa, 20
Perry-Lecompton, 21, vs. Atchison, 7
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Video of Brandon Barnes punt return for TD
This week's Oskaloosa highlight from Vance Massey is a 70-yard punt return for touchdown by junior running back Brandon Barnes in the Bears' 28-6 win over Jackson Heights Friday. The score gave the Bears a 14-6 halftime lead en route to the victory to improve to 3-0.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
High School Football Scores Sept. 19, 2008
Oskaloosa, 28, vs. Jackson Heights, 6
McLouth, 19, vs. Troy, 61
Perry-Lecompton, 56, vs. Tonganoxie, 7
Valley Falls, 42, vs. Jefferson County North, 6
Jefferson West, 33, vs. Royal Valley, 28
McLouth, 19, vs. Troy, 61
Perry-Lecompton, 56, vs. Tonganoxie, 7
Valley Falls, 42, vs. Jefferson County North, 6
Jefferson West, 33, vs. Royal Valley, 28
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Video of Oskaloosa botched punt TD in win over Immac
Vance Massey, who tapes the Oskaloosa football games, was kind enough to pass on a clip of a botched punt that turned into an OHS touchdown during the Bears' 44-8 win over Immaculata. Senior Chase Tenpenny got to the punter and senior Lakota Coffman picked up the loose ball and took it into the end zone for the score.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
West drops tough 6-0 overtime loss to Sabetha
Jefferson West senior Garrett Stewart cuts through a hole while getting a block from sophomore Ethan Mumaw (25) during West’s 6-0 overtime loss to Sabetha Friday in Meriden. Stewart rushed 20 times for 67 yards in the loss. Photo by Brad Roudybush
In a game of missed opportunities by Jefferson West, Sabetha needed only one play to go home with a 6-0 overtime win Sept. 12 in Meriden.
Sloppy conditions on the field were aggravated by rainfall that ranged from slight mist to a heavy drizzle throughout the game. The teams combined for 11 fumbles, with four lost to the other team, and West defenders picked off one Sabetha pass.
West garnered one first down on its first offensive possession and Sabetha drove into Tigers territory on its first possesion before turning the ball over on downs at the West 36. The first big play of the game came late in the quarter on West’s third possession when senior quarterback Kyle Sanders connected with senior receiver Cole Buckman on a 27-yard play to take the ball to the Sabetha 31.
The quarter expired with West driving and the Tigers kept it going on a key fourth-and-7 play early in the second quarter as Sanders completed a pass to junior back Austin Siess for a 13-yard gain to the Bluejays 15. Two plays later, senior running back Garrett Stewart ran for 9 yards to the Sabetha 6. On first down at the 4, the wet conditions made themselves known as Sanders fumbled but recovered the ball at the 3 for a 1-yard gain. Stewart took a handoff on the next play and the ball squirted free before Sabetha recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchback to escape the tight situation with 7:49 left in the half.
Three plays into the next Bluejay possession, Sabetha fumbled the ball away at its own 29. West faced fourth-and-6 at the 25 when Sanders and Buckman couldn’t connect on a pass down the middle and Sabetha took over on downs with 5:10 left in the half.
Sabetha mounted its best drive of the first half to take the ball to the West 27 on nine plays. On third-and-2 at the 27, junior Travis Snyder took a handoff but fumbled and the Tigers recovered the ball at their own 24 with the clock running under a minute in the half. The momentum swung back and forth as West fumbled the ball away on the next play and, after Sabetha senior quarterback Mitch Allen recovered his own fumble on the ensuing play, Allen threw an interception right to West junior linebacker Capp Wood with 28 seconds left in the half. The Tigers were content to run out the clock as the game went to half still scoreless.
The Tigers got the ball first in the second half and drove into Sabetha territory on eight plays before failing on fourth-and-2 at the Sabetha 36. After a Sabetha punt and 33-yard return by Stewart to the Sabetha 22, West was back in business. A holding call gave West third-and-12 at the 24 but Stewart broke off an 11-yard run to make it fourth-and-1 at the 13 as the third quarter expired. Sanders tried to sneak the ball past the first-down marker on the first play of the fourth quarter but came up just short to give Sabetha the ball at the Bluejay 13.
The West defense forced another Sabetha punt and West took over at the Sabetha 45. A personal foul helped give West the ball at the Sabetha 13 and, on the next play, Sanders ran to the right and found his way to the end zone, but a holding call negated the score and backed the Tigers to the 20. Sabetha recovered from the close call to hold West and, on fourth-and-long at the 22, Sanders was pulled down at the line of scrimmage to give Sabetha the ball with 6:14 left in the game.
West started its next possession in Sabetha territory again but went four plays and out. Sabetha took over with 2:23 left and ran the clock out to end regulation at a 0-0 stalemate.
West got the ball first in overtime, with both teams getting a possession starting at the opponent’s 10-yard-line, and three running plays gave West fourth down at the 2. Stewart got close on a run but a group of Sabetha defenders wrapped him up just short of the goal line to stymie yet another West scoring chance.
It appeared to be more of the same frustration for Sabetha as Allen slipped down for a 6-yard loss on the Bluejays’ first overtime play but Snyder ended the game abruptly with Sabetha’s longest run of the night as he scored from 16 yards out to end the game at 6-0.
West outgained the Bluejays, 158-117, and had six less penalty yards than Sabetha in the loss. Sabetha was led by 12 rushes for 48 yards and a score by Snyder and 9 rushes for 41 yards by senior Clinton Bruning. Allen was 2-for-3 passing for 20 yards and an interception.
West was led by 20 rushes for 67 yards by Stewart. Sanders was 4-for-12 passing for 53 yards.
West coach Steve Johnson said the loss was a tough one to take and said his team just needs to learn to finish. Despite the narrow loss, Johnson was optimistic about the direction he sees the team headed.
“I think we took a step in the right direction tonight,” Johnson said. West fell to 0-2 with the loss. “It’s tough, though, when you play that hard and still come up short. I thought we outplayed them offensively and defensively, and we had a couple opportunities inside the 10 but just weren’t able to finish it off. We talk about how good teams make plays when they need to, and we need to learn to make the breaks for ourselves. I think the kids are starting to get it.”
Sloppy conditions on the field were aggravated by rainfall that ranged from slight mist to a heavy drizzle throughout the game. The teams combined for 11 fumbles, with four lost to the other team, and West defenders picked off one Sabetha pass.
West garnered one first down on its first offensive possession and Sabetha drove into Tigers territory on its first possesion before turning the ball over on downs at the West 36. The first big play of the game came late in the quarter on West’s third possession when senior quarterback Kyle Sanders connected with senior receiver Cole Buckman on a 27-yard play to take the ball to the Sabetha 31.
The quarter expired with West driving and the Tigers kept it going on a key fourth-and-7 play early in the second quarter as Sanders completed a pass to junior back Austin Siess for a 13-yard gain to the Bluejays 15. Two plays later, senior running back Garrett Stewart ran for 9 yards to the Sabetha 6. On first down at the 4, the wet conditions made themselves known as Sanders fumbled but recovered the ball at the 3 for a 1-yard gain. Stewart took a handoff on the next play and the ball squirted free before Sabetha recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchback to escape the tight situation with 7:49 left in the half.
Three plays into the next Bluejay possession, Sabetha fumbled the ball away at its own 29. West faced fourth-and-6 at the 25 when Sanders and Buckman couldn’t connect on a pass down the middle and Sabetha took over on downs with 5:10 left in the half.
Sabetha mounted its best drive of the first half to take the ball to the West 27 on nine plays. On third-and-2 at the 27, junior Travis Snyder took a handoff but fumbled and the Tigers recovered the ball at their own 24 with the clock running under a minute in the half. The momentum swung back and forth as West fumbled the ball away on the next play and, after Sabetha senior quarterback Mitch Allen recovered his own fumble on the ensuing play, Allen threw an interception right to West junior linebacker Capp Wood with 28 seconds left in the half. The Tigers were content to run out the clock as the game went to half still scoreless.
The Tigers got the ball first in the second half and drove into Sabetha territory on eight plays before failing on fourth-and-2 at the Sabetha 36. After a Sabetha punt and 33-yard return by Stewart to the Sabetha 22, West was back in business. A holding call gave West third-and-12 at the 24 but Stewart broke off an 11-yard run to make it fourth-and-1 at the 13 as the third quarter expired. Sanders tried to sneak the ball past the first-down marker on the first play of the fourth quarter but came up just short to give Sabetha the ball at the Bluejay 13.
The West defense forced another Sabetha punt and West took over at the Sabetha 45. A personal foul helped give West the ball at the Sabetha 13 and, on the next play, Sanders ran to the right and found his way to the end zone, but a holding call negated the score and backed the Tigers to the 20. Sabetha recovered from the close call to hold West and, on fourth-and-long at the 22, Sanders was pulled down at the line of scrimmage to give Sabetha the ball with 6:14 left in the game.
West started its next possession in Sabetha territory again but went four plays and out. Sabetha took over with 2:23 left and ran the clock out to end regulation at a 0-0 stalemate.
West got the ball first in overtime, with both teams getting a possession starting at the opponent’s 10-yard-line, and three running plays gave West fourth down at the 2. Stewart got close on a run but a group of Sabetha defenders wrapped him up just short of the goal line to stymie yet another West scoring chance.
It appeared to be more of the same frustration for Sabetha as Allen slipped down for a 6-yard loss on the Bluejays’ first overtime play but Snyder ended the game abruptly with Sabetha’s longest run of the night as he scored from 16 yards out to end the game at 6-0.
West outgained the Bluejays, 158-117, and had six less penalty yards than Sabetha in the loss. Sabetha was led by 12 rushes for 48 yards and a score by Snyder and 9 rushes for 41 yards by senior Clinton Bruning. Allen was 2-for-3 passing for 20 yards and an interception.
West was led by 20 rushes for 67 yards by Stewart. Sanders was 4-for-12 passing for 53 yards.
West coach Steve Johnson said the loss was a tough one to take and said his team just needs to learn to finish. Despite the narrow loss, Johnson was optimistic about the direction he sees the team headed.
“I think we took a step in the right direction tonight,” Johnson said. West fell to 0-2 with the loss. “It’s tough, though, when you play that hard and still come up short. I thought we outplayed them offensively and defensively, and we had a couple opportunities inside the 10 but just weren’t able to finish it off. We talk about how good teams make plays when they need to, and we need to learn to make the breaks for ourselves. I think the kids are starting to get it.”
Sunday, September 14, 2008
High School football scores from Friday, Sept. 12
Doniphon West, 39, vs. Jefferson County North, 0
Perry-Lecompton, 18, vs. KC Ward, 3
Jackson Heights vs. McLouth, Postponed
Immaculata, 8, vs. Oskaloosa, 44
Jefferson West, 0, vs. Sabetha, 6
Atchison County, 12, vs. Valley Falls, 14
Perry-Lecompton, 18, vs. KC Ward, 3
Jackson Heights vs. McLouth, Postponed
Immaculata, 8, vs. Oskaloosa, 44
Jefferson West, 0, vs. Sabetha, 6
Atchison County, 12, vs. Valley Falls, 14
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Jefferson West Invitational Tournament Action
Top Photo: Jefferson County North senior libero Amelia Noll receives a serve while fellow senior Devin Gigstad sets up in the background during North’s win over Maur Hill Mount Academy at the Jefferson West Invitational Saturday in Meriden. North finished second in the tournament.Bottom Photo: Valley Falls senior libero Chelsey Horney receives a serve during the Dragons’ win over McLouth in the Jefferson West Tournament Saturday in Meriden.
Photos by Kenneth Lassiter
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
High school volleyball season in full swing in county
The 2007 high school volleyball season was an exciting one in the county as four teams hit the 20-win plateau with three of those nearing 30 wins. Those three teams return many core players with coaches hoping for another postseason run in 2008.
Jefferson County North finished with the county’s third-best record at 29-13 but was the only county team to survive substate play before falling in pool play at the 3A state tournament. The trip to Salina for state marked the Chargers’ third state berth in four seasons.
The team with the best 2007 record was Oskaloosa at 28-9, but the Bears were upset by ACCHS in the substate semifinals in Winchester to fall short of their goal of a state tourney appearance. Jefferson West also compiled a 29-10 record but fell to Tonganoxie in a 4A substate championship match to fall one win short of a state berth. McLouth improved under new coach Erika Houk in 2007 but finished with a 14-22 record, and Perry-Lecompton posted its second straight 4-27 mark under coach Jill Bradney, who was returning from a 13-year hiatus as high school head coach for the Kaws.
The same lineup of coaches returns in the county as JCN’s Jeremy Gish is the longest-tenured at eight years. No other county school has had its coach for longer than three years.
All six county schools got into action last week. Oskaloosa plays next at the Baldwin Invitational Tournament Saturday, Jefferson West will travel to Holton tonight (Thursday) for a triangular with Holton and Royal Valley, JCN plays next in a triangular at Jackson Heights Sept. 16, Valley Falls plays next at Kansas City Christian Sept. 16, McLouth plays tonight at Bishop Seabury in Lawrence in a triangular with Seabury and Elwood, and Perry-Lecompton travels to play Eudora and Bishop Ward in a triangular tonight.
Following are capsule previews of each team entering this season in order of their finish last season.
Oskaloosa Bears
Coach: Tosha Landau, third year
2007 record: 28-9
Coach: Tosha Landau, third year
2007 record: 28-9
Landau lost only two seniors from a team that entered its 3A substate as a top seed and should be in the hunt for more postseason hardware in 2008.
The Bears’ team includes four seniors but the bulk of the roster is made up of underclassmen. Returning leaders are senior hitter Nicole Rockhold, senior hitter Whitney Artman, junior hitter Kyra Coffman, sophomore hitter Kristen Brey, sophomore libero Hailey Kelly and senior hitter Keri Heston. The other senior is libero Cassie Allen. Junior Allison Lloyd saw some varsity time last season and sophomore Jessie Beach is also on the team roster. Five freshmen fill out the roster, including Brooke Beach, Rachel Schmanke, Haley Pfau, Jordan Kampfer and Jordan Miller.
The Bears started the season with wins at Valley Falls Sept. 2.
Efforts to reach Landau for comment on the team were unsuccessful.
Jefferson West Tigers
Coach: Sara Becker, third year
2007 record: 29-10
It’s a case of new name, same coach and all the same players at West as Sara Canseco married over the offseason to become Sara Becker and the Tigers return all the key contributors from a team that came within a win of the 4A state tourney in 2007.Coach: Sara Becker, third year
2007 record: 29-10
The West squad of 31 players includes seven seniors this year, all of whom will be in the core of the varsity rotation. The varsity group includes senior setter and outside hitter Audrey Mullins, senior setter Jenna Grimmett, senior middle hitter Katie Bigham, senior middle hitter Hilary Mumaw, junior libero Morgan Scott, senior outside hitters Britni Harvey, Whisper Livingston, Hayley Hypse and Michelle Bowen and sophomore Jessica Wells, who Becker said has pushed for playing time in the early going.
“We’ve had a couple younger players challenging for time, which I think is good in that it pushes the older players,” Becker said. West defeated Perry-Lecompton and Piper in its first matches of the season Sept. 4. “We’ve got higher expectations this year. We also finished with the best overall record in school history last year, so that adds some pressure. Overall, we’re pretty similar to last season in terms of rotation.”
Becker said offensive quickness is a key to success for the Tigers this season in a Big Seven League race she looks at as pretty balanced.
“We played summer league and saw a couple teams there,” Becker said. “We ended up winning the league but you don’t really know how good of a gauge that is on the other teams. I think the league will still be pretty tough. You can’t really underestimate anyone.
“We’re really still working even going into our first matches on making the offense much quicker. We want to do a lot of things to push the points and earn our points. We’re getting better at earning them rather than relying on the other team making unforced errors.”
Becker said so far the consensus among West’s coaching staff is that the Tigers are ahead of where they were at this point a year ago.
“You kind of have to think, ‘If this isn’t the year for our volleyball team, when is the year?’ The girls really have understood the importance of role players on the team and everybody filling their role. Last year some girls struggled with that, but this year they’ve been able to accept it.”
JCN Chargers
Coach: Jeremy Gish, eighth year
2007 record: 29-13
Coach: Jeremy Gish, eighth year
2007 record: 29-13
The standard is set high for the Chargers as Gish has built a program that has gotten teams expecting to go to state, and with some firepower returning from the 2007 team, the expectations for this Chargers’ squad is no different.
JCN has 26 players out for volleyball, including five seniors. A couple core players graduated from last season’s team but Gish returns an experienced group led by senior hitter and defensive standout Amelia Noll and junior setter Sara Navinskey. Others in the varsity mix include senior setter Devin Gigstad, tall sophomore hitter Jordyne Seichepine, senior hitter Lisa Weishaar, junior hitter Molly Lyon, sophomore hitter Katie Noll, junior defensive specialist Sara Peres and senior Emily McFarland, who Gish said he can use at several different positions on the court.
“We have more than a few girls we can really count on,” Gish said. The Chargers started their season with a 25-19, 25-20 win over KC Christian and a 25-9, 25-18 win over Horton at a triangular Sept. 2 in Horton. “Amelia is an excellent defender and we rely on her to do a lot of things for us. Sara Navinskey has two years of varsity experience already and is one of our leaders. Lisa isn’t tall but can really jump and run – she makes up for height in a lot of other ways. I can’t say we’re tall (as a team) but our attitude is a strength.”
That attitude has been forged by being in the serious hunt for a state berth year after year under Gish’s direction.
“That’s the kind of standard we’ve tried to set,” Gish said of going to state. “That’s our goal each year.The girls are pretty strong mentally, and confident. We’re a scrappy team – the girls like to get after it on the court. I think the biggest difference here is that the girls know its possible to make it to state. They get into a tough situation and can draw on that previous experience and realize there’s no reason why we can’t do it again.”
Gish said he expects another tough road in the DVL, as he has found DVL titles scarcer than state bids.
“It’s always tough. I think we’ve only won the DVL once, maybe twice in the time I’ve been here,” Gish said. “Sometimes you look at it and see its harder to win the league than it is to win substate.
“We’ve got good leadership on the team. Sara (Navinskey) and Amelia Noll are our captains and have a kind of calming influence. They’re both high volleyball IQ players. We started off well and got more transition swings on returns. It was mainly nice to see how cohesive they were immediately. It looks like they get along really well out there. The earlier you can get into midseason form, the easier it is to progress down the stretch.”
Valley Falls Dragons
Coach: Seth Cooper, third year
2007 record: 20-15
Coach: Seth Cooper, third year
2007 record: 20-15
Cooper has strength in numbers at Valley Falls as he has 31 girls out for volleyball including a core group of six returning juniors who are now seniors for the Dragons.
Cooper lost three seniors from last year’s team that fell in the opening round of substate play but still managed to win 20 matches. Several players who saw varsity playing time return for the Dragons, including senior hitter Shelbie Glissman, senior setter Kelsey Wessel, junior setter Brenna Lane, sophomore hitter Abbey Kearney, senior hitters Whitney Lindteigen and Chelsy Lassiter, and senior libero Chelsey Horney. Cooper said he also looks to senior Emily Schneider and juniors Hannah Navinskey and Bethany Myers to contribute for the Dragon varsity.
“One thing I wanted to work on this season was our ability to dig balls and keep rallies going,” Cooper said. The Dragons started the season by defeating Jackson Heights, 25-14, 20-25, 25-18, but falling to Oskaloosa, 25-22, 25-23, in a home triangular Sept. 2. “In those first matches there were a couple times where we were able to keep the rally going and get the point, so the girls are buying into it. That’s mainly what we’ve been focusing on over the last 2 1/2 weeks.”
Cooper agreed that the DVL should be competitive this year, and he said he thinks Valley Falls should be in the league race this season.
“I think the top four or five teams in the league – JCN, Oskaloosa, Pleasant Ridge, us, maybe Jackson Heights – any of those five could come away with the title, “ he said. “Our outside hitting is our strength. I thought we came out and played well together starting out.The more experience the girls get together, the better they’ll get. I’ve been very happy so far. The girls have worked very hard in practice. After our first matches they talked about certain drills we did and how they helped so they’re really starting to buy into what we’re doing.”
McLouth Bulldogs
Coach: Erika Houk, second year
2007 record: 14-22
Coach: Erika Houk, second year
2007 record: 14-22
Houk’s first year saw the Bulldogs improve to 14 wins on a team including some contributing underclassmen that Houk hopes will take a step forward in 2008.
The Bulldogs have 20 girls out for the sport with four seniors. Only two of the seniors see varsity playing time, however, so Houk has some youth on her side. Senior hitters Haley Holwick and Kasey Campbell lead a Bulldog varsity that also includes tall junior hitter Kylie Shufflebarger as well as sophomore libero Logan Terry, junior hitters Cassidy Bristol, Courtney Chilcoat and Taylor Rush, sophomore setter Jeri Holwick, sophomore Jessie Troupe and sophomore back row specialist Katy Perry.
“We’re a pretty young squad,” said Houk, who played at Oskaloosa and Allen County Community College and coached club teams before getting the MHS job. “The girls have been working really hard. I think the main thing for us is having confidence in ourselves, because that’s something the girls have struggled with. It makes a difference going out there thinking you’re gonna win than going out and worrying about losing.”
Houk said the Delaware Valley League should be tough with Oskaloosa and JCN returning so many key players and also Pleasant Ridge having a good squad. She said she has seen some of the winning attitude that helped the MHS softball team to a third-place state finish in the spring carry over to her team.
“Attitude is a big factor,” she said. The Bulldogs got started 2-0 on the season with a 25-10, 25-12 win over Wathena and a 25-23, 25-12 win over new DVL member Immaculata Sept. 2 in Leavenworth. “Kylie is definitely a big strength on the squad. She’s dependable and the girls trust her. She’s our go-to girl. She and Courtney are our captains. Hitting is a strength of ours, and Logan has stepped in and filled the libero shoes well so far. The girls played well (in the first matches). You could tell they had a bond there. You can have six all-Americans out there but if they don’t play together and communicate, it’s gonna show.”
Perry-Lecompton Kaws
Coach: Jill Bradney, second year
2007 record: 4-27
Coach: Jill Bradney, second year
2007 record: 4-27
A solid core of returnees is back to lead the Kaws in work to improve from a 4-win 2007 under coach Bradney, who came back to the high school level last year after a year off and 12 years before that at the middle school level. Prior to her move to middle school coaching, Bradney was high school volleyball head coach for the Kaws for seven years.
This year’s squad of Kaws includes 32 players and only four seniors in that group. Bradney said she is looking to three of the senior returnees – middle hitter Courtney Kasson, outside hitter Andrea Phillips and setter Chelsea Williams – to lead the team. She said junior setter Katie Volle and junior libero Shelby Erickson would also play key roles, with sophomore Jordan Madorin and freshman Sierra Morgison gaining experience to chip in as the year progresses.
“I think the girls know more what I expect this season,” Bradney said. The Kaws lost to Piper and Jefferson West in their first matches of the season Sept. 4. “We showed some improvement as the year progressed last season, and a lot of these girls played softball for me last spring so they know what kind of work ethic I’m looking for. We’re still getting rid of some bad habits.”
As part of a tough Kaw Valley League, Bradney said the Kaws have been working on being more aggressive but still playing smart.
“We’re wanting to be a little more aggressive and a little better in our passing and serving,” she said. “The girls have been hitting the ball harder but we’re trying to get them to hit it smarter at the same time. We’re taking little things at a time and correcting them.”
The mental part of the game is something Bradney said she is also working on cultivating with the Kaws.
“We need to work on our general confidence on the court,” Bradney said. “We did see a lot of positives in our first matches and saw some things we need to still work on. The girls know there are things they should have done, so they know what needs to be worked on.
“It feels like I’m finally getting my system in there.”
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