Thursday, December 12, 2013
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Florence leaves mark on NW Sporting Park awarded Division II national title game for 2014-17 JASON LAWRENCE Daily Forum Sports Editor Florence, Ala., might as well be the Northwest football team’s home away from home. The Bearcats have played for seven national titles, winning three, in the 28 years that Braly Municipal Stadium has hosted the Division II national championship game. “Honestly, I think the best memory of Florence is the people there,” said Mel Tjeerdsma, former Northwest head football coach and current athletic director. “They just made us feel so much at home and took so much pride in being our hosts and making the kids feel welcome. The way that Florence embraced that part of it was really something special.” With seven appearances come a lot of memories, from players, coaches and administrators past and present. Some of those memories are good, some not so good, but all of them defining moments. Tjeerdsma coached in all seven of those title games and only one of them, 1998, had
a final margin greater than seven points. N o r t h w e s t defeated CarsonNewman 24-6 in 1998 and 58-52 in four overtimes in 1999, then lost four straight from 200508 by four, three, five and seven points, Bob Boerigter respectively, before prevailing 30-23 over Grand Valley in 2009 with a fourth down touchdown catch by Jake Soy serving as the deciding margin. “Other than the first game, every one was decided by a touchdown or less,” Tjeerdsma said. “You can look at everyone of those games and think of things that go either way. The games you won, you think of things like Soy’s catch, the four-overtime game where Ryan George drags his toe in the corner of the end zone. And you can go to the ones we lost __ the Duluth game (2008) we onside kicked and came out with the ball and the
official’s signaling the other way. You can just go through each one of those and there’s lots of great moments in each one of those that were defining moments in who won and who lost.” Outside of the Mel Tjeerdsma game, Tjeerdsma and MIAA Commissioner and former Northwest Athletic Director Dr. Bob Boerigter said it was the people of Florence who really made it a special experience. “The thing that was the most fun for me was what all happened prior to the game,” Boerigter said. “What all they had the student athletes involved in, how hospitable the people were and how welcoming they were and those kinds of things.” Boerigter said that hospitality is something the MIAA and the Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation want to
emulate, as they were selected Wednesday afternoon to host the title game at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan. “I’ve been to Florence many times and the people in Florence are so hospitable and are so high in terms of providing a positive experience for the student-athlete and the fan. We want to do our best to emulate that and build on that.” Boerigter said he couldn’t be happier for the MIAA and Kansas City to be able to host an event like this right in the backyard of so many MIAA teams, especially since the MIAA has been represented in the championship game 12 times since 1990 and seven times in the last decade. “Of course, we know we have great MIAA fans in football in this area, so we just thought being able to play a game in a facility such as that, in our community, right in the backyard of all these MIAA schools would just be a win-win-win for everybody,” Boerigter said. “I don’t know how I can express it more
See FLORENCE, pg. 8
Spoofhounds still learning to play fast JASON LAWRENCE Daily Forum Sports Editor It’s hard to play fast. It takes time, but when it works, playing at a fast pace can be an advantage. That is what Maryville girls basketball coach Grant Hageman is preaching to his team this season, even though the Lady Hounds have gotten off to a rough start. “We’ve just got so many girls that can get out and run,” Hageman said. “It’s still a work in progress. It’s hard to play fast. It takes some getting used to. “That’s a style that I think fits this group. And they’ll get there, it’s just a matter of time. It takes practice to play that fast, but when you can do it and other teams can’t, it gives you a huge advantage.” The nerves and competitive schedule early on haven’t played to the Spoofhounds’ hands either. In the opening tournament of the season, Maryville went 1-2, losing twice to Chillicothe with a 45-39 victory over Platte County sandwiched in between the two lopsided losses. “The girls are approaching each game as a learning opportunity,”
Hageman said. “We have three seniors that have a lot of experience and after that, we really don’t have any experience. It’s a young team, I guess you could say, but we’re really excited about our older girls as far as their leadership. They know exactly what we’re trying to accomplish and there’s a lot of younger girls that are going to be able to contribute and help us have success this year. “It’s a matter of when they develop and come together and figure out what we’re trying to do.” That learning curve was evident Tuesday night against Clarinda (Iowa) as the Spoofhounds fell 52-32 in their home opener to drop to 1-3 on the season. Maryville established an 11-9 lead after the first quarter, but went through a five-minute drought offensively to open the second quarter, which allowed the Cardinals to gain a 23-17 halftime lead. “We were really doing a good job in the first half,” Hageman said. “This is one of the better Clarinda teams I’ve seen __ that’s why I was so encouraged in the first half because we did a lot of good things. Then we hit a spot where we went from playing good to
playing bad. We’re just not consistent enough.” In the second half, Clarinda’s size really set in as the Cardinals got to several lose balls and got second chance opportunities on the glass as the lead swelled to 42-28 despite nine third-quarter points from Chelsea Byland. “Physically, I thought we got pushed around,” Hageman said. “We didn’t do a good job boxing out.” Byland finished with a team-high 18 points and hit five three-pointers in the contest. “I think Chelsea is one of the purest shooters I’ve had in the program in a long time and we’ve had some really good shooters,” Hageman said. The Spoofhounds hit the court again Dec. 16 at East Buchanan to open a busy week filled with three games, also including matchups with South Harrison and Jefferson before winter break begins. “Our motto this year is ‘Drop The Hammer,’” Hageman said. “If they keep working hard and dropping the hammer, eventually they’ll split that (JASON LAWRENCE/DAILY FORUM) rock. That’s what we keep telling Spoofhounds senior guard Cassie Holtman gets into the them. And that could happen next lane against Clarinda during the Lady Hounds’ 52-32 loss week.” to the Cardinals Tuesday night at Maryville High School.
Rockets unable to defend home court against visiting Cardinals KEVIN BIRDSELL Maryville Daily Forum
(KEVIN BIRDSELL/DAILY FORUM) West Nodaway sophomore Jakob Cordell (34) posts up on a Cardinal defender as junior Trevor Meyer looks to pass in. The Rockets fell to the Cardinals after a strong fourth-quarter let the Cardinals pull away.
The North Andrew Cardinals made the trip up to Burlington Junction Tuesday night hoping to come home with two wins and weren’t disappointed. The Lady Rockets came into the game with an 0-2 record, dropping both of their games in the Mound City Tournament. This was the season opener for the Lady Cardinals, coming off of their impressive 20-4 year last year, losing in the State Playoffs to Mercer. From the opening tip of the game, the Lady Cardinals seemed to run away with the game. They opened the game with a quick run and outscored the Lady Rockets 26-4 in the first-quarter. The Lady Cardinals never
seemed to let up on the attack, running away with an 81-14 victory. Seniors Danielle Chambers and Autumn Hughes led the Cardinals in scoring with 23 and 15 points apiece, respectively. Freshman Cheyenne Herzberg led the Lady Rockets scoring with five points and junior Melody McGinness chipped in four points. The Lady Cardinals improved to 1-0 on the season while the Lady Rockets fell to 0-3. The Rockets came into the game after a close victory over Nodaway-Holt in the Mound City Tournament with a 2-1 record. This game served as the season opener for the North Andrew’s boys team. The two teams traded blows for the first three quarters with neither team asserting any dominance.
The Cardinals held a 4442 lead going into the fourth quarter and used strong offensive rebounding and free-throw shooting in the fourth quarter to outscore the Rockets 18-3 in the period, pulling away for a 62-45 victory. Senior Quayde Bauman put 17 points on the board to lead the Cardinals. Fellow senior Bryar Moppin scored 13 points to help the Cardinals pull away. Junior Trevor Meyer played strong in the loss for the Rockets, putting up 16 points. Sophomore Jaden Gillenwater also had a strong game with 12 points. The Rockets fell to .500 on the season at 2-2, and the Cardinals notched their first win of the year. Both Rocket teams will travel to Grant City tonight to take on the Worth County Tigers.