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Sports

Boys Basketball

March 10, 2016

Oceana's Herald-Journal

North Muskegon 93, Hesperia 59 Shelby 60, Grant 51 Hart 60, MCE 39

Hesperia 40, Holton 38 Brethren 51, Pentwater 43 Mason Co. Central 50, Hart 35

Shelby 41, MCC 34 (OT) Brethren 54, Pentwater 48 (OT) Montague 53, Hart 32

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Hockey

B

Girls Basketball

Bay Reps 6, Manistee 1

Shelby 58, Montague 37 Kent City 48, Shelby 46

Wrestling

Shelby 7th @ State Finals

Hesperia: 3 runners-up, 4 placers at individual finals Hart: 2 placers at individual finals Shelby: 1 placer at individual finals

Last-second shot knocks Shelby out in regional semis Tigers drop 48-46 thriller to Kent City to end season

By Andy Roberts Herald-Journal Writer

MORLEY — With Kent City running the final minute off the clock in Tuesday’s regional semifinal game at MorleyStanwood, Shelby’s team had no doubt where the ball was going — Eagles’ star Kaitlyn Geers, who already had scored 24 points.

Geers, though, was too much.

She barreled into the lane in the closing seconds and made a wild scoop shot through three Tigers’ defenders with 1.5 seconds to go, eliminating Shelby in a 48-46 thriller.

Shelby’s Sarajane Fortier had tied the game with a threepoint play with 1:07 to go before the Eagles made the decision to run down the clock and take their chances with Geers.

“We knew she’d look to attack in the last couple of seconds and at least try to draw a foul,” Shelby coach Sarah Wolting said. “She’s a very good player. She took it hard at us and went at three girls and ended up scoring.”

The shot capped a wild game that early on looked as if it would be a rout. Despite the Eagles coming in with only three losses, it was Shelby that dominated the early going, racing out to a 26-15 secondAndy Roberts • Oceana’s Herald-Journal quarter lead. The usually potent Kent City offense was unable Shelby sophomore Jenny Beckman (in purple) is fouled while to get anything going early on. shooting during Tuesday’s regional semifinal game against Kent City. Meghan Boyd defends for the Eagles. Kent Ctiy won, 48-46.

“I was very surprised at how they started,” Wolting said. eye, the score was 28-28. Shel“I was hoping it was because their shooters well.”

Kent City, though, suddenly by got a late free throw and of our defense, which I think it was. We had people every- caught fire late in the half and LAST-SECOND LOSS where and talked and got to in what seemed a blink of an continued on 2b

7 county wrestlers place at state

By Andy Roberts Herald-Journal Writer

AUBURN HILLS — For the second year in a row, Oceana County did not have a state champion in wrestling, but if a couple of breaks had gone the other way, it might have had three.

Hesperia had three wrestlers take second place to highlight the seven total placers from the county, and all three Panthers to make the finals had third-period leads before they slipped away in the final moments.

Panther seniors Davian Gowens and Mark Workman, along with sophomore Gerrit Yates, were the county’s three finalists, at 125, 171 and 145 pounds respectively. Gowens and Workman both fell in overtime thrillers in the fi-

nal matches, while Yates was, heartbreakingly, pinned in the final minute to nullify a thirdperiod lead for the second year in a row in the finals.

“I’m very proud of the accomplishment of three guys in the final match,” Hesperia coach Doug Baird said. “We’d have liked to come out on top in those matches, but it wasn’t meant to be this year.

“What do you really say (to Yates), besides that you care about the kid a whole lot, and the sun’s gonna come up tomorrow. Luckily for him, he has a couple of years to atone for his misfortune in the finals.”

Yates fell to second-ranked Cole Hersch of New Lothrop in the finals and battled through a head injury that exhausted all of his allotted injury time be-

Gowens 2nd Place

Workman 2nd Place

Yates 2nd Place

Andrew Skinner • Oceana’s Herald-Journal

Shelby’s McKenna Peters (left) drives against Montague’s Sydney Stine during Friday’s district finals game at Mason County Central. The Tigers won, 58-37.

Tigers win district

By Andy Roberts Herald-Journal Writer

SCOTTVILLE — Shelby and Montague entered Friday’s district finals game preparing for their sixth meeting in two years. Four of the previous five had been close the whole way.

The sixth would not be.

The Tigers dominated right from the start and blew Mon-

Eaves 4th Place

Altland 7th Place

continued on 2b

SHELBY WINS TITLE continued on 3b

Cantu 8th Place

fore he returned to the mat to battle it out. Remarkably, he held a late lead before being pinned with just one second on the clock.

The sophomore wasn’t the only unfortunate Panthers’ finalist, however. Gowens appeared to have his finals match won against second-ranked Robert Rogers of Burton Bentley before Rogers was awarded a last-second reversal to send the bout into overtime, where Rogers won 8-6.

“I was skeptical of the lastsecond reversal call on Davian to put that match into overtime,” Baird, himself an official the past two years, said.

“It was unfortunate that the call didn’t go his way.”

STATE WRESTLING

tague out 58-37 to claim their third district championship in four seasons.

Shelby held Montague to only 27 percent shooting from the field and was relentless on defense, recording 11 steals as a team.

Jenny Beckman led the Ti-

Felt 8th Place

• Contributed photo by Kirstie Smith

Hesperia wrestler Gerrit Yates (top) goes for a takedown against New Lothrop’s Cole Hersch in the Division 4 145-pound finals match Saturday in Auburn Hills. Yates lost the match in the final seconds but was one of three Panthers to earn second-place finishes.

Mixed results for area teams in district openers Clutch free throws lift shorthanded Panthers

Pirates fall short against Spartans

By Andy Roberts Herald-Journal Writer

MONTAGUE — Offensive struggles again kept Hart from coming up with a victory Monday night in a pre-district game at Montague. The Pirates fell to Mason County Central, 50-35.

Hart put up a strong defensive effort, but a lengthy dry spell in the third quarter enabled MCC to pile up a 22-point lead, which was too much for the feisty Pirates to overcome.

“We just didn’t put the ball in the hole,” Hart coach Adam Jerry said. “That’s been our problem the whole year. We haven’t had anyone who can hit that big shot to get us over

By Andy Roberts Herald-Journal Writer

Andy Roberts • Oceana’s Herald-Journal

Hart’s Brett Bonstell (left) puts up a jump shot against defense from Mason County Central’s Travis Tyndall during Monday’s pre-district game at Montague. Bonstell had 12 points in MCC’s 50-35 win.

the hump.”

The Pirates struggled with turnovers, giving the ball away 12 times in the second half as MCC bothered them with its size and speed.

“We talked about that before

w

hat 2

atch 4

FRIDAY, MAR. 11

Boys Basketball

Hesperia/Shelby winner vs. Mason Co. Central/Montague winner, District Finals, Montague, 6 p.m.

Walkerville/Brethren winner vs. Baldwin/Manistee Catholic winner, District Finals, Manistee Catholic, 7 p.m.

MONDAY, MAR. 14

Boys Basketball

Hesperia/Shelby @ Regional Semifinals, NorthPointe Christian, 5:30 p.m. (if

the game and at halftime, that they were going to trap and jump that reverse pass, and they did it, and we never ball-

PIRATES FALL continued on 2b

necessary) Walkerville @ Regional Semifinals, Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart, 6 p.m. (if necessary)

WEDNESDAY, MAR. 16 Boys Basketball

Hesperia/Shelby @ Regional Finals, NorthPointe Christian, 7 p.m. (if necessary) Walkerville @ Regional Finals, Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart, 7 p.m. (if necessary)

MONTAGUE — Minus a coach and a star player, Hesperia had to gut out Monday’s pre-district game against Holton, but the Panthers did just that and escaped with a 4038 win.

Hesperia’s Dominick Varela was the hero, knocking down the winning free throws with seven seconds to play after rebounding a missed free throw by teammate Nate McKeown and getting fouled. The Panthers, who had only committed four team fouls to that point, not enough to get Holton into the bonus, wisely fouled with 1.4 seconds to play, and Holton couldn’t get a shot up in that time.

Panthers’ coach Randy Gordon and his star son Traxton were both absent from the game for undisclosed reasons.

Athletic director Joe Conkle coached the game and was announced as head coach over the public address. An e-mail to coach Gordon seeking comment was not returned.

Without Traxton, a career

Andy Roberts • Oceana’s Herald-Journal

Hesperia’s Mark Workman (with ball) rises to the basket for a layup as Holton’s Tristan Anderson tries to defend during Monday’s pre-district game at Montague. Hesperia won, 40-38.

1,000-point scorer, the Panthers had to go deeper into their bench than they’re accustomed to, and Conkle made no bones about what Hesperia would need to do to win in his absence.

“We addressed it head-on,” Conkle, who didn’t rule out Traxton returning for Wednesday’s semifinal game against Shelby, said. “That’s 15 or 20 points a game we’re going to miss, so we have to hold them

down defensively and keep those points off the table, or find other people to step up.

And we did both tonight.”

Neither team was able to do much offensively in the first half, and Hesperia held an 18-15 edge at the break. The Panthers weren’t particularly effective in the third quarter on offense either, but got unlikely three-pointers from McKeown

HESPERIA ADVANCES continued on 3b

2b

• March 10, 2016 • Oceana’s Herald-Journal

State wrestling Workman, too, held a late lead of 5-2 against topranked Erik Birchmeier of New Lothrop before it slipped away and Birchmeier won 7-5 in overtime. Workman had ripped off an impressive series of matches to get to the finals, earning a first-round technical fall followed by two firstperiod pins against top-eight ranked foes.

“All three of those boys are great champions for Hesperia,” Baird said. “We just came up on the unlucky side of things a little bit.”

Logan Eaves, Yates’ cousin, was Hesperia’s fourth allstater, taking fourth place at 140. Coming in ranked eighth, Eaves took a surprise 9-6 loss in the first round to White Pigeon’s 11th-ranked Braydon Steeb. However, the senior roared back, pinning four straight opponents in the consolation bracket to reach the third-place match.

Among Eaves’ victims were two top-10 wrestlers, including third-ranked Owen Gaffney of Webberville. Eaves lost a 3-2 squeaker to #2 Ethan May of Decatur in the third-place match. It was a solid ending to Eaves’ Hesperia career, with his consolation run mirroring a surprise second-place finish

in 2014.

“We talked afterwards about how that loss might not have been a bad thing,” Baird said of Eaves. “He had to wrestle with a sudden-death attitude, and he certainly did that. He had a terrific run. To keep knocking wins down was really impressive.”

Hart had two placers at the state tournament, in Robbie Altland and Noah Cantu. Altland took seventh at 103, while Cantu was eighth at 112.

Altland recorded an impressive 3-0 win over sixth-ranked Sam Sobeck of Rogers City in the blood round to earn allstate honors, then squeaked out a 2-1 win over Lawton’s Nick Baldwin, ranked eighth, in the seventh-place match.

Cantu, meanwhile, led off his tournament with a huge 5-2 upset of third-ranked Seth Harvey from Addison, a returning state champion. While the magic didn’t continue for Cantu, who dropped a 2-0 nailbiter to fourth-ranked Anthony Mack of Dansville in the quarterfinals before wrestling his way to all-state placement, his performance was impressive.

“It was a good weekend,” Hart coach Brad Altland said.

“We learned some things, and all the boys should be back

from Page 1b

next year to give it another try.”

Shelby’s Nick Felt was the county’s last placer, taking eighth place at 125 in Division 3. The freshman faced a tough tournament, with each of his first four matches coming down to close decisions. His 13-8 win over Alma’s Alex Rosas in the blood round clinched his all-state placement.

“Nick had a great weekend in making the podium,” Shelby coach Ed Felt, Nick’s dad, said.

“It is a great place to start with three more years ahead. It will help set some goals and focus for the future.”

The county had several wrestlers come just one match shy of all-state placement: Hesperia’s Trentyn Gleason and Josh Ehrke, Hart’s Jacob Bosley and Shelby’s Riley Peterson. Shelby’s Jon Hughey and Hart’s Carlos Garza also wrestled at state, though they were both eliminated after two matches.

The strong performances by county wrestlers sent a positive message about the quality of grapplers produced in Oceana.

“The Oceana area was well represented,” Baird said. “Each school produced all-staters, and it’s a testament to what a county we have for wrestling.”

Pirates fall faked,” Jerry said. “That led to easy baskets, which leads to momentum for them.”

Jerry said Hart’s defensive work was its best of the year, holding a potent Spartans’ team to 50 points, including zero three-pointers. It was that defense that briefly had Hart on the cusp of getting back into things in the final quarter.

MCC opened the second half scoring the first 10 points, grabbing a 35-13 lead, and it appeared the game would be a runaway. The pesky Pirates clawed back, scoring the next 11 points and getting the game to within 10, at 43-33, with a couple of minutes to go. However, the Spartans turned up their pressure defense at that point and were able to hold off Hart.

“I don’t know how many times we got down by double digits (this season) and actu-

ally fought back,” Jerry said.

“It was good to see, especially against a team of that caliber.”

In his final varsity game, Brett Bonstell had one of his best performances, leading the team in scoring with 12 points.

He hit a few big shots later in the game to keep the Pirates afloat. Garrett Eisenlohr and Alex Dodson weren’t their usual selves offensively, with six points each, but played hard nevertheless and combined for 21 rebounds. Jerry also complimented the work of freshman Alec Kempker, up from the JV team. Kempker provided size in the post and scored two points.

“He’s a big body and he’s skilled,” Jerry said of Kempker. “I think he was a little tentative, but he did a good job for not being in that setting very much.”

Jerry credited his departing

from Page 1b seniors with hard work and noted that they helped push Hart from one win last season to five this year.

“It’s sad to see the seniors go because they work their tails off and do everything I ask of them,” Jerry said. “The way their teammates talk about them says a lot about them as people. But we do have some new talent coming in and they work just as hard.”

MASON CO. CENTRAL (50) Mount 4 0-0 8, A. Tyndall 5 5-8 15, Asiala 0 1-4 1, Lange 2 4-6 8, T. Tyndall 3 0-3 6, Bladzik 5 0-6 10, Edwards 1 0-0 2.

HART (35) Eisenlohr 0 6-9 6, Dodson 3 0-0 6, VanderLaan 2 1-2 6, Bonstell 4 3-4 12, Boundy 0 3-4 3, Kempker 0 2-2 2. Totals 9 15-21 35.

Mason Co....11 14 10 15 — 50 Hart........ 8 5 7 15 — 35 Three-point goals — Hart 2 (VanderLaan, Bonstell). Total fouls — Mason Co. Central 16, Hart 19.

Technical fouls — Bladzik.

Last-second loss

went into halftime up a point and still confident.

The Tigers kept coming in the third quarter, getting some key baskets on the break. Several two-on-ones ended with Shelby buckets, just as Wolting had hoped prior to the game.

“We were ready to attack,” Wolting said. “We practiced it after watching some game tape. We knew they would press us a lot and we needed to capitalize on that and get some easy buckets.”

Even though Jenny Beckman, who scored 13 first-half points and was subsequently surrounded by defenders the rest of the game, went quiet, other players were able to step up and keep the Tigers ahead.

The Eagles were on the verge of pulling away when they went up 45-41 on a threepointer by Paige Mortensen, her only one of the game. But thanks to a 1-of-3 stretch at the free throw line by Kent City, Fortier was able to bring her team back to a tie.

Missed free throws were huge in the game, as Kent City

made a mere six of its 25 charity shots. However, the Eagles also shot over 50 percent from three-point land.

Beckman had 15 points to lead the Tigers, and Chloe Sillman scored 10 points wth Rachel Herin adding eight. Tori Mussell had a whopping 16 rebounds, many of them offensive boards. Shelby had a 57-35 rebounding advantage which was also key to staying in the game.

Shelby loses Fortier and Brooke James to graduation, along with Herin and Olivia Mussell, but the wealth of talent the Tigers will have next year, and the experience those players got in Tuesday’s thriller, has Shelby excited for the future.

“I’m looking at some of the other girls I had out there, and it looks like a promising future,” Wolting said. “I can’t wait. Maybe we’ll start tomorrow.”

SHELBY (46) Peters 1 0-0 2, Sillman 5 0-0 10, Smith 1 0-0 2, Herin 4 0-0 8, Beckman 6 3-4 15, Fortier 1 3-5 5, Mussell 2 0-2 4. To-

Andy Roberts • Oceana’s Herald-Journal

Shelby’s Chloe Sillman (right) heads to the basket against Kent City’s McKenna Carlson during Tuesday’s regional semifinal.

from Page 1b

tals 20 6-11 46.

KENT CITY (48) Harrison 0 0-2 0, Boyd 4 1-5 11, Carlson 2 0-1 6, Freeland 0 0-4 0, P. Mortensen 2 0-0 5, Geers 9 5-13 26. Totals 17 6-25 48.

Shelby.......12 17 10 7 — 46 Kent City.... 5 23 10 10 — 48 Three-point goals — Kent City 8 (Boyd 2, Carlson 2, Mortensen, Geers 3). Total fouls — Shelby 20, Kent City 8. Fouled out — Peters, Smith.

• Contrributed photos by Kirstie Smith & Kim Smith

Clockwise from top left: Hesperia’s Logan Eaves works against Decatur’s Ethan May in a third-place match Saturday at Auburn Hills; Mark Workman attempts a takedown against New Lothrop’s Erik Birchmeier in a finals match; Shelby’s Nick Felt tries for a hold against Alma’s Alex Rosas in the blood round; Hart’s Noah Cantu goes for the pin against Flint Beecher’s Khalil Moten in a seventh-place match; Hesperia’s Davian Gowens gains control of Fife Lake’s Landon Elliott in a quarterfinal match; Hart’s Robbie Altland (right) and Lawton’s Nick Baldwin battle in a seventh-place match. All six area wrestlers placed at the state meet.

Lady Falcons bow out to Brethren in overtime Shoreline Media reports WALKERVILLE — Pentwater’s girls basketball team took Brethren’s Taytum Myers away, but the Bobcats’ Moriah Pringle made up the difference to end the Falcons’ season in a Class D district semifinal last Wednesday in Walkerville, 5448, in overtime.

“That kind of came out of nowhere,” Pentwater coach Jeff McDonough said of Pringle’s production. “Looking back at the two previous games, Myers had 23 and 18 (points respectively). We ran a box-and-one on her because she’s kind of their offense. Pringle had seven in one game and nine in the other...Myers had her four free throws in the first quarter, but she composed herself pretty well. She did a good job even though we tried to shut her down.”

Pentwater had a chance to win the game in the waning seconds. The Falcons held the ball in the final 30 seconds, and when the clock got to 11 seconds, the Falcons called timeout. Pentwater executed its last-second play with Emily Gebhart getting a great look at the basket in the lane, but it didn’t go through.

“The girls played their hearts out,” McDonough said.

The Falcons (10-11) will lose a pair of seniors — Chyanne Smith and Gebhart. And they’re both girls McDonough

Andrew Skinner • Oceana’s Herald-Journal

Pentwater’s Julia Hall (left) tries to get away from the defense of Brethren’s Taytum Myers during last Wednesday’s district semifinal at Walkerville. The Falcons lost in overtime, 54-48.

has coached for a long time, and beyond basketball.

“Those two, I have coached them since probably fourth grade. Even in other sports and life in general, those two have been a big part of Pentwater,” he said. “Those two are part of what brought basketball back.

Both those two have been tremendous assets in the athletic program.”

Gebhart scored 10 points in her final game for the Falcons.

Pentwater was led by sophomore Taylor Wilkinson, who scored 19 points. She will be part of a nucleus that returns for Pentwater next season.

“I love watching these kids develop and grow. Each season

seems to be more rewarding to me. It was one of my favorite seasons,” he said. “I’m sure going to miss Chyanne and Emily.”

BRETHREN (54) Fi 2 1-2 6, C. Falls 0 1-2 1, Krizan 0 2-2 2, Wayward 4 2-4 10, M. Falls 1 3-6 5, Myers 0 4-4 4, Pringle 11 4-5 26. Totals 20 17-25 54.

PENTWATER (48) Hofmann 1 2-2 4, Wilkinson 9 1-3 19, Coronado 3 0-0 6, McDonough 2 0-0 5, Hall 2 0-4 6, Gebhart 3 1-2 10, Alvesteffer 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 2-9 48.

Brethren.....13 6 10 15 10 — 54 Pentwater.... 6 15 13 10 4 — 48 Three-point goals — Brethren 1 (Fi), Pentwater 2 (Gebhart, McDonough). Total fouls — Brethren 17, Pentwater 20. Fouled out — McDonough, Hall.

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