Article - High School Sports Scene

By John Raffel

The Millington boys and girls cross country teams competed at the first Tri-Valley Conference 10 Jamboree of the year. The boys’ team finished with 192 points to finish in 8th place.
Tyler Rude was Millington’s best runner on the day finishing in 26th place with a personal best time of 20:45.10. Ayden Laurin (20:45.42), Jake Rodammer (22:36.42), Connor Hoard (season-best 25:35.63), and Maddox Fabbro (26:53.12) all ran for the Cardinals.
The girls’ team does not have enough runners to compete on a team basis but four Cardinal athletes ran on the day. Erin Ertman paced the girls finishing in 17th place with a personal record time of 24:26.89. The other three Cardinal runners of Mariah Ellis (26:18.79), Naomi Williams (32:10.98), and Charlotte Ratza (34:12.70) all finished with personal best times.
The Cardinal harriers will next run on Tuesday, September 20 at the County Press Invitational in North Branch.

Back

By John Raffel

The Dow Varsity tennis team improved to 16-0-1 on the year after winning the Midweek Classic with 22 out of a possible 24 points. Dow dispatched regional opponent Flushing 8-0, #10 University of Detroit Jesuit 8-0, and #4 Forest Hills Central 6-2. Dow next plays at the Greater Michigan Tennis Center on Saturday in the Sunsational Saturday tournament featuring Grosse Pointe North, Portage Central, and #7 Okemos.

Coach Terry Schwartzkopf:”FHC always makes me uncomfortable…I guess you could say they are our arch rival for states…so any day we can pull out a decisive victory over them is a good day. Truth be told, our boys cannot ever take a single match for granted. There is a definite target on our back and EVERY team we play seems to play their best tennis against us. That is the curse of a top ranking, I guess. That being said, every tournament, every match won is one step closer to realizing our dream. And I feel we keep getting better. We still are not full strength but our reserves are up to the task, as evidenced by today. Austin lost a heartbreaker against FHC, but those first two sets were some of the best tennis I have seen him play. He is nowhere close to his ceiling and it has been a joy watching him get better and better. From top to bottom, these guys remain hungry and I believe will be satiated only with a title in October.”

Back

By John Raffel

Freeland had a 49-6 win over Bridgeport on Friday in football action.
Freeland was up 28-0 at halftime and 42-0 after the third quarter.
Nick Harrington had a 1-yard TD run. Daniel Dudley had a 15-yard touchdown catch from Sam Talaga who had a 4-yard TD run in the second. Dudley had a 1-yard fumble recovery for a score.
Evan Vasicek, Joe Jimkowski and Nathan Helmreich also had touchdowns for Freeland.
Johnathan Jackson caught a 13-yard pass for Bridgeport.
Brooke Riffel kicked PATs for Freeland.
Vasicek had six carries for 43 yards and a touchdown.
Harrington had 10 carries for 41 yards and a TD.
Twelve different running backs had at least one carry for Freeland.
The team had 54 carries for 246 yards.
Sam Talaga was 2-of-3 in passing for 35 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, Tommy Melzo had seven tackles; Gabe Blanchard 5 tackles 1 sack; Eli Murphy had 5 tackles and Daniel Duley and Andrew Purdy 1 fumble recovery apiece.
The defense held Bridgeport to 26 total yards.

Back

By John Raffel

Morrice beat Coleman 54-6 on Friday. Coleman trailed 8-6 after the first quarter and 32-8 at halftime. It was 38-6 after the third quarter.
For Coleman, Vance Sysak was 8-of-24 in passing for 111 yards and one touchdown, plus and interception. Sam Bovee caught three passes for 83 yards and one touchdown. Defensively Jared DeVrieze had eight tackles while Sam Bovee had five tackles and one interception. “This game wasn’t a 54-6 game,” coach Chad Klopf said. “We moved the ball well and we were in good positions defensively most of the game. However, we need to find out why and figure out how to play team football if we want to get things going in the right direction.”

Back

By John Raffel
Pewamo-Westphalia’s football team rolled over Dansville 51-8 in CMAC football action on Friday.
Troy Wertman passed for 134 yards and ran for 161 yards.
Trevor Smith caught two passes for 58 yards. Gavin Nurenberg and Blake Birchmeier had six tackles apiece.

Back

By John Raffel

The Montabella Lady Mustangs took on Coleman Wednesday Sept. 7 at Coleman. The Varsity team fell short losing the first set 14-25, winning the second 25-15 and losing the next two 9-25 and 23-25.
Leading the Mustangs was Kiana Nickerson with 14 assists, 3 kills and 2 aces, Kalia Adams with 6 kills and 3 aces, Lily Lobert with 4 kills and Maddie Jordan with 4 kills.
Montabella travels to St Charles Tuesday Sept. 13 to take on the Bulldogs.

Back

By John Raffel

Haslett shot a 349 to win the St. Johns Red Wing Invitational earlier this week.
Midland Dow was second at 357, followed by Okemos (359), DeWitt (360), Grand Ledge (362), Freeland (390), Williamston (392), Charlotte (393), Lansing Catholic (397), Mason (398), St. Johns (421), Mount Pleasant (427), Portland (434), East Lansing (475), Fowlerville (479) and Alma (520).
Medalist was Alena Li of Okemos (70), Sydney Dausman of Haslett (74), Averie Pumford of Freeland (74), Hannah Robinson of Charlotte (78), Sophie Lee of Midland HH Dow (79) and Isabel Kelly of Grand Ledge (81).
Lee got a hole-in-one on No. 12.

Back

John Raffel

Vestaburg fell to 0-2 with a 58-14 loss to Morrice on Thursday.
Waylon Leeuw had 68 rushing yards for the Wolverines. He also completed a pass for 51 yards.
Talon Schantz had two catches for 58 yards. Defensively, he had one three solo tackles and one assist.
On special teams, Brody Godnek had four returns for 41 yards.

Back

BUTCH HARMON
Sports Scene
It’s Labor Day weekend and week two of the high school football season and plenty of exciting action in on the schedule for Thursday and Friday. Here is a look at some of the matchups that stand out for area football fans in the greater Mid-Michigan area and beyond.
THURSDAY
Portland (1-0) at DeWitt (1-0): Last year Portland stunned DeWitt 21-14 in a thriller in Portland. Both teams opened the season with impressive wins last week setting up what should be the marquee matchup of the weekend in DeWitt.
Muskegon Mona Shore (1-0) at Rockford (1-0): Both perennial state heavyweights are coming off impressive opening week wins with Rockford defeating East Grand Rapids 48-7 and Mona Shores defeating Manitowoc (Wis.) Lincoln 48-20.
Montrose (1-0) at Durand (1-0): It’s an early-season showdown in the Mid-Michigan Activities Conference as both teams are coming off big opening-night wins.
Standish-Sterling (1-0) at Ithaca (1-0): Like points? If so, Ithaca will be the place to be Friday night as both teams scored exactly 60 points in their season openers.
Lansing Sexton (1-0) at Lansing Waverly (1-0): Waverly is 1-0 for the first time since 2006 after stunning Lansing Catholic last week. Sexton is 1-0 for the first time since 2017.
Birch Run (1-0) at Bay City John Glenn (1-0): The winner of this game will emerge as a contender in the Tri-Valley Central after each opened the season with strong performances.
Charlotte (1-0) at Owosso (1-0): Charlotte is coming off a solid win against a solid Olivet team in week one while Owosso scored 42 points against Wyoming Kelloggsville in its opener.
Williamston (1-0) at Lansing Catholic (0-1): A huge momentum game for these two teams before opening conference play next week.
Laingsburg (0-1) at Pewamo-Westphalia (0-1): CMAC action kicks off in a big way as these league powers tee it up.
FRIDAY
Midland (1-0) at Mt. Pleasant (1-0): Two tradition rivals get after it in the first league game of the season. This is one of the highlight games of the week.
Detroit Catholic Central (0-1) at Davison (1-0): Davison toppled D1 power Clarkston last week. Can they take down the tradition Detroit Catholic League powerhouse this week?
Lapeer (1-0) at Traverse City Central (1-0): The addition of the Traverse City schools makes the Saginaw Valley North as strong as any league in the state.
Muskegon (1-0) at Warren De La Salle (1-0): Worth the trip to Warren to see two of the state’s best collide. Some polls have De La Salle ranked No. 1 in the entire state.

Back

Millington runners take eighth place

Dow tennis team is 16-0-1

Freeland overpowers Bridgeport

Morrice overwhelms Coleman football team

Pewamo-Westphalia too much for Dansville

Coleman volleyball team beats Montabella

Coleman volleyball team beats Montabella

Haslett wins Red Wing Invitational, Grand Ledge golfer scores hole-one

Morrice football team too much for Vestaburg

Plenty of outstanding matchups on the slate for week 2 of high school football