Tuscola County Sports

NORTH BRANCH – “It is a great hire,” explained North Branch Athletic Director Jim Fish on September 05, 2008 at halftime of the North Branch and Frankenmuth football game, on Mix 92.1. “The community loves him. The kids love playing for him. He (Steve Verburg) wants to win more than any other coach, but he wants championship people first.” Back in March of 2008, Verburg was hired away from Howell, where he served as the defensive coordinator, to become the head coach of North Branch’s varsity football program. Earlier this month (12/2008), just nine months into a rebuilding project, Verburg as replaced as coach of the Broncos with Pat Forster. The Broncos had a 27-65 record in the ten years previous to Verburg taking the reins. North Branch finished this season with a 2-7 record. “I was pretty shocked this happened after my first year,” stated Verburg after being informed of the termination. Verburg’s offensive and defensive philosophies were questioned by many through out the year inc

AUBURN HILLS - North Branch Coach Jim Marshall and his Bronco boy’s basketball team earned an early Christmas present Tuesday evening. The Broncos unwrapped from their cold winter gear to defeat the Yale Bulldogs 55-46 at The Palace of Auburn Hills, before the Pistons victory over the Chicago Bulls. “You come down here and want it to be a good experience for the kids,” stated Marshall of playing at The Palace. “You want to get them all in and probably sub more than you normally would. In general, you want to have fun, get everyone in the game and hopefully win the game.” “It was fun. The kids got to play on a bigger court and see a couple of NBA players,” said Yale Coach Brad Dykstra. North Branch started quick. The first quarter was there best offensive quarter of the night, and their man-to-man press was key to holding the Bulldogs to only one field goal in the first 4:21 of the game. The Broncos quick start was keyed by senior Mike Keith and junior Chris White. Keith scored four of

MILLINGTON – Defense and free-throws usually seem to win basketball games, especially close games. This was the case on Tuesday night in Millington. The Cardinals boy’s basketball team shot 75% from the free throw line and created 25 turnovers en route to a 53-43 victory over the Imlay City Spartans. “I was pleased that we played the style of game that we wanted to play, and force them to play at our tempo,” stated Millington Coach Walt Kujat. “We wanted to push the ball and get after it on defense. We have guys who just love to work on defense.” Millington’s up-tempo style of play set the tone for them in the first quarter. A balanced scoring attack gave them an 11-7 lead after one quarter. Senior Tyler Reinert and senior point guard Kyle Hemingway each scored four points in the quarter. Reinert finished the game with a team-high and season-high 19 points to go along with eight rebounds and three steals. Hemingway finished with eight points. “Tyler is our floor leader,” said Kujat of

I will again be co-hosting "The Male Room" with Doug Fisher on 1330 WTRX on Friday, December 19. The program airs from 10 am until 12 pm. For those of you who can not listen, I will try to post audio of the program in the player above.

MAYVILLE – The Mayville girl’s basketball team entered Friday night’s game averaging just 12.5 points in the first half of their games. The Wildcats needed a fast start to propel their team to victory. The fast start came from junior Chelsea Roehl who scored 12 first quarter points on her way to a game-high 21. She also contributed with 7 rebounds. Mayville defeated Cass City 58-31, while leading 29-15 at halftime. “That was a breakout game for Chelsea,” stated first-year Coach Tom Elenbaum. “We’ve been waiting for that for a long time. When she was a freshman, she averaged about 20 points per game, and she hasn’t done that since. This was her breakout game, so watch out now.” The game was actually very close early in the first quarter. Roehl hit two long range three-point field goals. Each three was followed by long three-pointers by Cass City’s Jennica Richards. Richards finished the game with a team-high 13 points. At the 3:14 mark of the first quarter, Red Hawk sophomore McKensie P

LAKEVILLE – After watching their female counterparts use defense to stop the Lakeville Falcons earlier in the night, the Millington Cardinal boys basketball team wanted to try to win the same way. The Cards did just that and more, holding the Falcons without a point for over two minutes on three separate occasions in their 65-52 victory on Tuesday night. Two of those stretches lasted over four minutes. “We just had too many turnovers and too much foul trouble,” said first-year Lakeville Coach Rob Robbins. Millington used a strong slashing offense in the first quarter. As a result of the offense, Lakeville got into early foul trouble. Millington shot 13 free throws in the first quarter on their way to a 14-6 lead. Tyler Reinert and Michael Tisdale led the early charge for the Cardinals as they each scored six points. Reinert finished the game with a game-high 16 points and a game-high seven steals. Tisdale finished with 14 points all coming in the first half. “We really had a few guys s

VASSAR – The Marlette Red Raiders girl’s basketball team ran into a taller team on Wednesday night that came to play defense. The Vassar Vulcans held the Lady Red Raiders to just one first half field goal on their way to a 59-33 victory. Vassar used their decisive height advantage to disrupt shots and not give very many second chance opportunities. Vassar starts four girls that are 5-9 or taller. “We are tall,” stated Vassar Coach Bob Nowotny. “It is difficult for other teams to see over us.” “We were outsized at the post,” said Marlette Coach Cathy Storm. “We knew we would struggle with that. We probably will all season.” The Lady Red Raiders did not get on the board until the 2:10 mark of the first quarter when senior Kasey Sauder connected on the back end of her two free throws. Sauder finished the evening with five points. Sauder’s free throw would be Marlette’s only point in the first quarter as they trailed 12-1. Things would not get much better for the Lady Red Raiders in the se

LAKEVILLE – Millington’s Kayla Doshier had another big game on Tuesday night. She scored 18 of her game-high 20 points in the final three quarters to help her team defeat the Lakeville Lady Falcons 45-26. Through three games this season Doshier is now averaging 20.7 points per game. “I thought Kayla did a good job tonight,” said Millington Coach Mike Gohsman. “Lakeville played her box-on-one a little bit. She did not get frustrated. She played within herself, and took her shots when they were there. She dished the ball well tonight and rebounded well also. Kayla had a good game all around tonight.” Lakeville’s box-on-one defense worked on Doshier in the first quarter limiting her to just two points. What Lakeville (0-3) did not count on is the hot first quarter shooting of senior forward Jamie Frahm and senior guard Rachel Lawe of Millington (2-1). Frahm scored seven of her 11 points in the quarter, and Lawe scored four of her eight points to help pace the Cardinals to a 16-6 lead afte

Millington's Ken Hoffman and North Branch's Jerome Sullivan were named to the Flint Journal 2008 All-Area team. Read the article here .

I just got back from North Branch where Willie Deshetsky's Lady Broncos defeated the Imlay City Lady Spartans 47-31. I was pleasantly surprised with North Branch. They play pretty good defense and are quite deep. They may surprise a few teams this year. I am looking forward to seeing them again on Friday night in Frankenmuth. Other area scores: Genesee Christian 60 - Kingston 52-OT Flint Hamady 81 - Millington 28 Midland Bullock Creek 52 - Frankenmuth 48 Ubly 53 - Cass City 32 Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port 54 - Brown City 45 USA 65 - Marlette 46 Arenac-Eastern 45 - Akron-Fairgrove 18 Vassar 34 - Caro 29 Peck 43 - Capac 36 Deckerville 48 - CPS 23 Sandusky 69 - Dryden 34 (12/01/2008)