Tuscola County Sports

New Blog

2010-08-23T21:43:00.002-04:00

All blog posts will now be at our new blog site

http://www.mix921sports.com/

We will have morning sports reports from Derek and clips from Friday night broadcasts to go along with mp3s of Let's Talk Sports.

Celebrity Cagers - Playoff Style

2010-03-06T08:45:00.004-05:00

Owendale-Gagetown - Nick Zaleski's bark could be heard though out the night with 45 points as his Bulldogs lifted their leg on two opponets. Devin Prich clawed his way to 38 points, while fellow Dog Ryan Francis added 31 points.

Mayville - The Lady Wildcats were declawed in the district semi-final loss to Brown City, but Chelsea Roehl, Tessa Buhl, and Amy Elenbaum all pounced on the Green Devils with double figure points.

Millington - The Cardinals lost their joust with the Duke of Garber, but that did not stop Kyle Currie from trying to steal the Duchess away with his career-high 32 points. Matt Berlin and Cameron Wilson each added 12 points in the loss. Erica Babcock scored 13 points as the Lady Cards' wings were clipped for the final time this year in a season ending loss to Vassar in district play.

Cass City - The Red Hawks managed to fly on one wing this week, while the other wing was propped up by Cammer Dunnuck's 34 points and 17 rebounds. Alex Varney dropped 27 points in the win and loss. The Lady Red Hawks were grounded by Bad Axe in district play. Logan Rowell scored 12 points, while fellow predator Carley Hendrick added 10 points.

Akron-Fairgrove - Josh Repkie wore his horned helmet proudly as he scored 41 points in the Vikings two games. Even though Caseville sunk the Lady Viking ship, Sarah Crane (17 points, nine rebounds, two steals) and Theresa Burkey (10 points, four rebounds, two steals, three assists) each had well rounded games.

Kingston - Both Cardinal teals fell out of their nest and landed on the ground this week. Emily Chambers scored 11 points for the ladies in their defeat, as Taylor Nicol added 19 in the boys defeat.

Caro - The Tiger teams climbed into an abandoned DeLorian and went back in time to become Kittens on the court this week. Jared Vinson scored 13 points and Tommy Matuszak scored 10 points in their teams loss to Bridgeport. Madi Campbell added 14 points in the ladies loss in district play.

USA - The Patriots stood strong and yelled "No taxation without representation", but to no avail as they lost two of their three battles during the week. Josh Lakie's musket was firing straight with 33 points. Clint Krueger (34) and Jake Holland (31) was on target on well.

Vassar - Coach Chuck Fabbro was god-like this week in his coaching decision as his team won his first conference title in four years as Vulcan, and Vassar's first conference title since 1990. Garrett Troike played the role of Jupiter by scoring 37 points, including 20 in the title clinching win over Reese. Troy Hecht added 29 points in Vassar's three wins. The Lady Vulcans reached the district final and lost to North Branch. Kayla Verbeek carried the torch this week with 43 points and 27 rebounds.

Reese - Josh Pickell pulled his best Elton John imiitation by leaning to one side and the the other in a win and a loss. Pickell scored 26 points in the win and 13 in the loss. The Lady Rockets jettisoned to the district final only to lose altitude in a loss to New Lothrop. Jade Ackerman scored 43 points, while Amber Gotham fueled up with 40 points and 15 assists.

Frankenmuth - The Lady Eagles soared their way to their first district championship since 2001. McCauley Mossner was the largest bird of prey with 36 points and 24 rebounds. Kelsey Ritter and Jenny McCain each added 32 points. The men ended up like the younger baby eagle. Kent Redford and Jake Nuechterlein each scored 19 points in double over-time loss to North Branch

North Branch - Back in 1988, the Bad Boys were just starting to emerge. They have now been reincarnated as the Lady Broncos. Coach Willie Deshetsky led his team to their first district title since the '88 season in Bad Boy style. Rayenne Kaiser bucked her way all week with 41 points. Samantha Waterman added 39 points and 20 rebounds, while Kelsey Roloson added 35 points. The men kicked and bucked Frankenmuth through five periods, but the Eagles did not fall off until the second overtime. Kyle Cline led the way with 19 points. Ryan Kosko and Chris White each added 12 points.

The Tabloid Celebrities of the Week ....... Coach Chuck Fabbro and his Vassar Vulcans for their first conference title since Chuck was a senior at Vassar, and Coach Willie Deshetsky and his Lady Broncos for their first district title since 1988. Congrats and watch out for the paparazzi.

Boys District Info

2010-03-05T21:57:00.002-05:00

No. 57-B Croswell-Lexington
John Knuth, Athletic Director
A-Millington vs North Branch 3/8 5:30 pm
B-Croswell-Lexington vs Vassar 3/8 7:00 pm
Caro vs A 3/10 5:30 pm
B vs Yale 3/10 7:00 pm
Final 3/12 7:00 pm

No. 58-B Pinconning Area
Jennifer Thunberg, Athletic Director
Bay City-John Glenn vs A 3/10 6:00 pm
B-Bridgeport vs Pinconning Area 3/8 7:45 pm
A-Carrollton vs Frankenmuth 3/8 6:00 pm
B vs Essexville-Garber 3/10 7:45 pm
Final 3/12 7:00 pm

No. 81-C Memphis
Brad Gudme, Athletic Director
A-Marlette vs Memphis 3/8 5:00 pm
B-New Haven vs Sandusky 3/8 6:30 pm
C-Brown City vs Mayville 3/8 8:00 pm
Dryden vs A 3/10 6:00 pm
B vs C 3/10 7:30 pm
Final 3/12 6:00 pm

No. 89-C Montrose-Hill Mc Cloy
Linden Moore, Athletic Director
A-Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy vs New Lothrop 3/8 4:00 pm
B-Reese vs Genesee 3/8 5:30 pm
C-Montrose-Hill Mc Cloy vs Saginaw-Buena Vista 3/8 7:00 pm
Saginaw-Valley Lutheran vs A 3/10 5:30 pm
B vs C 3/10 7:00 pm
Final 3/12 7:00 pm

No. 90-C Bad Axe
Ron Johnston, Athletic Director
A-Harbor Beach Community vs Pigeon-Laker 3/8 6:00 pm
B-Unionville Sebewaing vs Bad Axe 3/8 7:30 pm
Cass City vs A 3/10 6:00 pm
B vs Ubly 3/10 7:30 pm
Final 3/12 7:00 pm

No. 114-D Kingston
Mike Rea, Athletic Director
A-Kimball-New Life Christian Academy vs Kingston 3/8 7:00 pm
Carsonville-Port Sanilac vs Peck Community 3/10 6:00 pm
A vs Deckerville Community 3/12 7:30 pm
Final 3/12 7:00 pm

No. 115-D Kinde-North Huron
Elizabeth Loegel, Athletic Director
A-Port Hope Community vs Kinde-North Huron 3/8 7:00 pm
Akron-Fairgrove vs Caseville 3/10 6:00 pm
A vs Owendale-Gagetown 3/10 8:00 pm
Final 3/12 7:00 pm

Girls District Info

2010-02-28T16:10:00.002-05:00

No. 57-B Caro
Beth Striffler, Athletic Director
A-Yale vs Vassar 3/1 6:00 pm
B-C aro vs North Branch 3/1 7:30 pm
Millington vs A 3/3 6:00 pm
B vs Croswell-Lexington 3/3 7:30 pm
Final 3/5 7:00 pm

No. 58-B Pinconning Area
Jennifer Thunberg, Athletic Director
A-Frankenmuth vs Carrollton 3/1 6:00 pm
B-Pinconning Area vs Essexville-Garber 3/1 7:45 pm
Bridgeport vs A 3/3 6:00 pm
Bay City-John Glenn vs B 3/3 7:45 pm
Final 3/5 7:00 pm

No. 81-C Brown City
Tony Burton, Athletic Director
A-B rown City vs Memphis 3/1 4:30 pm
B-New Haven vs Dryden 3/1 6:00 pm
C-Marlette vs Sandusky 3/1 7:30 pm
Mayville vs A 3/3 6:00 pm
B vs C 3/3 7:30 pm
Final 3/5 7:00 pm

No. 89-C Reese
Dave Derocher, Athletic Director
A-Montrose-Hill Mc Cloy vs New Lothrop 3/1 4:30 pm
B-Reese vs Saginaw-B uena Vista 3/1 6:00 pm
C-Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy vs Genesee 3/1 7:30 pm
Saginaw-Valley Lutheran vs A 3/3 6:00 pm
B vs C 3/3 7:30 pm
Final 3/5 7:00 pm

No. 90-C Cass City
Donald Markel, Athletic Director
A-B ad Axe vs Cass City 3/1 6:00 pm
B-Ubly vs Harbor Beach Community 3/1 7:30 pm
Pigeon-Laker vs A 3/3 6:00 pm
B vs Unionville Sebewaing 3/3 7:30 pm
Final 3/5 7:00 pm

No. 114-D Carsonville-Port Sanilac
Ann Binienda, Athletic Director
A-C arsonville-Port Sanilac vs Peck Community 3/1 6:00 pm
Kingston vs Deckerville Community 3/3 6:00 pm
A vs Kimball-New Life Christian Academy 3/3 7:30 pm
Final 3/5 7:00 pm

No. 115-D Caseville
Joseph Nicholl, Athletic Director
A-Akron-Fairgrove vs Caseville 3/1 7:00 pm
Owendale-Gagetown vs Port Hope Community 3/3 6:00 pm
A vs Kinde-North Huron 3/3 7:30 pm
Final 3/5 7;00 pm

Friday Freezing Rain Scores

2010-02-26T21:57:00.012-05:00

Frankenmuth 61 - Caro 40 - The TVC-East winner finished the season on a roll winning six straight and 13 of 14 games. McCauley Mossner led the way for the Lady Eagles with 14 points, while Jenny McCain added 10 points. Frankenmuth finishes 16-4 and 12-0. Caro was led by Madi Campbell's 14 points. The Lady Tigers drop to 6-14 and 4-8.

North Branch 35 - Millington 17 - North Branch handed Millington their fifth staight loss to end the season. Rayenne Kaiser led the Lady Broncos with nine points and six rebounds, while Morgan Vauter added five points and 12 rebounds. North Branch finished the season 12-8 overall and 9-3 in the TVC-East. Millington finishes 4-16 and 3-9 while averaging a county worst 33.8 points per game.

Vassar 49 - BCAS 48 - Vassar takes the lead in the GTC-West by a 1/2 game over BCAS with the win on the road. Troy Hecht led all scorers with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Madison Harper added 11 points. Vassar improves to 14-3 and 9-2.

Reese 69 - Lakers 62 - Reese handed Laker High their fourth straight conference defeat. Ethan Stockmeyer and Josh Pickell both had big games for the Rockets. Stockmeyer recorded a double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Pickell added 13 points and 13 assists. Adam Lefler (13), Caleb Gnatkowski (12), and Jared Bender (12) all contributed double digit points. Reese improves to 10-8 overall and 6-5 in the GTC-West.

USA 76 - Garber 51 - USA picked up a big non-conference victory. Clint Krueger scored a game-high 23 points. Jake Holland added 17 points, while Andrew Botello added 10.

Mayville - Marlette xcl

Kingston - Owendale-Gagetown xcl until 03/06

Peck - Akron-Fairgrove xcl until 02/27

Millington 68 - North Brach 64 - Millington avenges an earlier overtime loss in Millington by beating North Branch on their home floor. Kyle Currie had his second 20 points performance of the week with 22 points. Josh Williams scored 17 points, while Cameron Wilson added 13 points. The Cardinals are now 11-8 overall and 6-5 in the TVC-East. Ryan Kosko led North Branch with 20 points. Andy Peplinski added 11 points. The Broncos fall to 11-7 and 6-4.

Frankenmuth 49 - Caro 46 - Frankenmuth got 18 points for Kent Redford in the victory. Luke Bade scored 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Tim Faris added 10 points. The Eagles improve to 5-14 and 2-9 in the TVC-East. Both conference wins have come at the expense of Caro. The Tigers were led by Pat Bishop's 16 points. Jared added 12 points and Tommy Matuszak added 10. Caro drops to 7-12 and 1-10.

Ladies Conference Title Thursday

2010-02-26T08:14:00.003-05:00

Reese 61 - Lakers 41 - Reese clinched the GTC-West title with a win over Laker High on Thursday. Amber Gotham led her team with a double-double (18 points and 10 assists). Jade Ackerman finished with 18 points. Reese finished the regular season on a six game winning streak.

Vassar 45 - BCAS 40 - The Vulcans finshed their season on a nine game winning streak and in second place in the GTC-West. Kayla Verbeek scored a game-high 16 points, while Hilary MacKay added 10 points.

Marlette 56 - Mayville 45 - Marlette defeated Mayville for the second time this season. Amara Wilson had a game-high 26 points, while Jenna Hirsch added 13. Marlette finishes the season with a 10-10 overall record and 5-7 in the GTC-East. Mayville was led by Tessa Buhl's 14 points and seven rebounds, and Chelsea Roehl's 13 points and 13 rebounds. The Lady Wildcats finished the season 8-12 and 4-8.

Garber 69 - USA 67 2OT - USA finished the season losing nine of their last ten games. Jenny Williamson led the way with a team-high 15 points. Sami Eisenburger and Chelsey Ewald each scored 14 points. The Patriots finish the year with a 5-15 overall record and 3-9 in the GTC-West.

Cass City 49 - Bad Axe 33 - Megan Parrish scored 17 points to lead the Red Hawks in victory. Logan Rowell added 13 points, while Carley Hendrick added 11 points. Cass City finishes with a 4-16 record and 4-8 in the GTC-West.

CPS 47 - Akron-Fairgrove 35

North Huron 29 - Kingston 27

Memphis 58 - Owendale-Gagetown 28

Congratulations to the following league chapions:

Frankenmuth - TVC-East
Reese - GTC-West
Brown City & Sandusky - GTC-East co-champs
Port Hope - NCTL-North
Memphis - NCTL-South

"I Need This" Basketball Wednesday

2010-02-24T22:05:00.006-05:00

Girls

SASA 50 - Owendale-Gagetown 45 - In a makeup game from Monday night, the Bulldogs Mandy Muntz scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds in a loss. Owendale-Gagetown drops to 6-13 in this the last week of the regular season for girls basketball.

Boys

Vassar 55 - Lakers 49 - The Vulcans used a 15-6 fourth quarter to hand the Lakers their third straight conference defeat. Garrett Troike's 17 points led Vassar to their sixth straight victory. Troy Hecht scored 13, while Ryan Amend added 11 points. Vassar travels to Bay City on Friday night to take on GTC-West leader All Saints. The second place Vulcans trail All Saints by just one game.

USA 72 - Bad Axe 43 - The Patriots improved their record to 8-8 overall and 4-5 in the GTC-West. Jake Holland led USA with 18 points. Clint Krueger scored 15, while Josh Lakie added 15 points.

Harbor Beach 59 - Mayville 39

Reese 83 - Cass City 52 - The Rockets scored the most points in a game this season. Reese improves to 9-8 overall and 5-5 in the GTC-West. The Rockets were led by Josh Pickell's 24 points and six assists. Ethan Stockmeyer has a double-double with 14 pionts and 10 rebounds. Caleb Gnatkowski (11) and Adam Lefler (10) also contributed points to the win. Cass City falls to 4-13 and 2-8. Jeff Mulrath led Cass City with 14 points, while Alex Varney added 13 points.

Celebrity Cagers

2010-02-20T08:57:00.003-05:00

Here are the best of the best on the Hardcourt in Tuscola County from last week.

Mayville - Even-though the boy's got their nails clipped twice this week, William Henderson's snarl was nasty with 21 points. The girl's won their only game this week over Deckerville. Amy Elenbaum led the way with 17 points and seven steals. Tessa Buhl added 16 points and eight steals, while Chelsea Roehl added 15 points, 13 rebounds, and four steals.

Millington - Kyle Currie scored 26 points for the Cardinals in a week which saw them win a game and lose a game. The ladies got their wings clipped twice, but Chelsey Parker got off the ground scoring 20 points and grabbing 18 rebounds.

Kingston - The male Cardinals were flying high this week scoring 154 points. They were led by Joe Stauel's 24 points and 14 assists. Nolan Kolacz added 21 points and 16 rebounds. The ladies squad was grounded twice. They were led by Abbey Brzezinski's 15 points and 23 rebounds.

Frankenmuth - The boy's team was put on the extinction list as Luke Bade scored 33 points. The girl's five soared all week with two victories. McCauley Mossner scored 30 points and Kelsey Ritter added 24 points.

Reese - Josh Pickell led the way in the Rocket's split this week with 38 points. Ethan Stockmeyer added 25 points and 18 rebounds. The girl's squad filled their boosters with extra jet fuel in their two blowout victories. Jillian Gerow scored 29 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Amber Gotham scored 15 points and dished out 21 assists.

North Branch - The Broncos ran wild in their only game this week - a win. Kyle Cline scored 19 points. Doug Griffin added 13 and Ryan Kosko scored 10 points.

Owendale-Gagetown - Nick Zaleski's bite was worse than his bark this week as he scored 50 points in the Bulldogs two victories. Zaleski also had a 35 point, nine rebound, and nine assist performance against Port Hope. Ryan Francis added 32 points on the week.

Marlette - Amara Wilson scored 30 points in the Red Raiders two losses.

Caro - Caro won the Battle of M-81 for the first time since 2000, but had a flat tire on the way home and lost the second game of the week. Tommy Matuszak scored 27 points and Pat Bishop added 26 points.

Vassar - The Vulcan's fire was blazing all week for both the boys and girls. Both teams won two games this week. Troy Hecht scored 36 points, while Keif Vickers added 22 points in his return to the court. Kayla Verbeek scored 29 points.

USA - Clint Krueger scored 27 points, and Miranda Fuerst scored 25 points.

The Tabloid Celebrities of the Week are ..... for the second this year Nick Zaleski is the male Tabloid Celebrity. Zaleski scored 50 points, and easily had weekly triple-double. The ladies Tabloid Celebrity contributed 57 points to her teams two victories. Amber Gotham scored 15 points and dished out 21 assists. Congrats Nick and Amber and watch out for the paparazzi.

Thursday is Ladies Night

2010-02-18T21:35:00.013-05:00

Essexville-Garber 58 - North Branch 45 - The Lady Broncos lose their second straight game in as many nights. Morgan Vauter led North Branch with 14, while Kelsey Roloson added 12 points.

Vassar 54 - Cass City 37 - Vassar remained the hottest team in the county with their win on Thursday night. The Vulcans have now won seven straight games and 10 out of 11. Kayla Verbeek led Vassar with 14 points. Hilary MacKay scored 12 points, as Jessica Ostrander added 11. Vassar improves to 15-3 overall and 8-2 in the GTC-West, as they prepare for their showdown with first place Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port on February 23. Cass City was led by McKensie Parrish's 12 points. The Lady Red Hawks drop to 3-15 and 3-7.

Reese 61 - USA 46 - Reese remained in second place in the GTC-West (1/2 game behind Laker High) with a win over USA. Jillian Gerow led Reese with 19 points and seven rebounds. Amber Gotham added eight points and 10 assists, while Jade Ackerman scored 12 points. The Lady Rockets will face Laker High next in the last game of the regular season for both teams. Reese is now 15-2 and 8-1. Miranda Fuerst led the Lady Patriots with 15 points, while Brittany Gruehn scored 12. The loss drops USA to 5-13 and 3-8.

Mayville 59 - Deckerville 51 - Mayville defeated Deckerville for the second time this year as they improve to 8-10 overall and 4-6 in the GTC-East. Amy Elenbaum scored a team-high 17 points and also added seven steals. Tessa Buhl added 16 points and eight rebounds, while Chelsea Roehl had a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

CPS 42 - Kingston 40 OT - The Lady Cards dropped their third straight game after winning the previous five. Kingston is now 12-7 overall and 11-6 in the NCTL-South.

Harbor Beach 39 - Marlette 38 - Marlette dropped their second straight game to fall to 9-9 overall and 4-6 in the GTC-East.

North Huron 59 - Akron-Fairgrove 39 - The Lady Vikings dropped their third straight game to fall to 7-11 overall and 7-10 in the NCTL-North. Sarah Crane scored 15 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and swiped three steals to lead Akron-Fairgrove.

The #1 team in the state in Class C - Sandusky falls tonight to Brown City 41-31. Both teams are now 10-1 in the GTC-East.

Holy Day of Basketball

2010-02-17T21:43:00.008-05:00

Boys

Marlette 74, Deckerville 35: The Red Raiders pulled away early to defeat the Eagles, improving to 7-8 (3-3 GTE) on the season.

Caro 56, Cass City 54: Caro outscored Cass City 21-15 in the fourth quarter to erase the Red Hawks' three-point lead. The Tigers were paced by Tommy Matuszak's 22 points and Jared Vinson's 14. Pat Bishop added 12 points for Caro (6-10). Trevor Phillips scored 13 points to lead Cass City. Justin Ketterer scored 12, while Cameron Dunnuck added 11 for the Red Hawks (4-11).

Vassar 56, Birch Run 43: Garrett Troike hit five three-pointers to pace Vassar with 17 points. Troike was also 2-4 from the charity stripe. Troy Hecht added 13 points, and Keif Vickers added 12 points in his return to the hardcourt for Vassar (11-3).

USA 53, Nouvel CC 37: USA ended its three-game losing streak with a win over the Panthers on Wednesday. The Patriots (7-7) were led by their Big Men - Jake Holland's 16 points and Clint Krueger with 15 points.

Girls

Yale 56, North Branch 52 OT

Here are your Mardi Gras Beads

2010-02-16T22:33:00.010-05:00

Girls

Vassar 57 - Caro 39 - The Lady Vulcans won their sixth straight game and nine of 10 on Fat Tuesday. Kayla Verbeek led the way 15 points and 10 rebounds. Vassar is now 14-3 on the season. Madi Campbell paced Caro with 11 points. The loss drops the Lady Tigers to 5-12.

Nouvel CC 47 - USA 26 - Miranda Fuerst scored 10 points in the Patriots loss. USA is now 5-12 on the season.

Frankenmuth 63 - Chesaning 55 - The Lady Eagles improve to 13-4 with the victory.

Montrose 43 - Millington 38 - Chelsey Parker paced the Lady Card with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Chelsea Luedtke added seven points and 10 rebounds. The loss drops Millington to 4-13 overall.

Brown City 58 - Marlette 42 - Amara Wilson scored 14 points in the Red Raiders loss. Marlette falls to 9-8 on the season and 4-5 in the GTC-East.

Boys

Millington 63 - Montrose 57 - Kyle Currie scored eight of his team-high 13 points in the fourth quarter to help Millington secure the victory. Currie also added nine rebounds. Matt Berlin collected a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds (six offensive), while Cameron Wilson added 10 points and nine rebounds. The win improves Millington to 9-7 on the season as they get ready to host state-ranked Bridgeport on Friday night. That game will be the Mix 92.1 Game of the Week.

Kingston 72 - Dryden 41 - The Cardinals picked up their fifth straight victory Tuesday night, while also avenging an earlier season loss at the hands of Dryden. Josh Wenzlaff paced the Cardinals with 16 points. Joe Strauel added 14 points and eight assists, while Nolan Kolacz scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Mt. Morris 55 - Frankenmuth 53 - The Eagles let a five point half-time lead slip away enroute to their fifth straight loss. Luke Bade scored 14 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, and dished out five assists. Tim Faris added 14 points, five rebounds, and three blocked shots.

Pinconning 55 - Reese 50 - The Rockets also let a half-time lead slip away as they have now lost four of the last five games. Josh Pickell led Reese with 25 points. The loss drops Reese's record to 7-7.

North Branch 65 - Bad Axe 51 - North Branch used an 18-5 run to finish the game to erase the two points half-time deficit. Kyle Cline scored 19 points to led North Branch. Doug Griffin added 13 points, while Ryan Kosko added 10. The Broncos have now won three straight games to improve their record to 11-5.

Owendale-Gagetown 71 - Port Hope 44 - The Bulldogs Nick Zaleski scored 22 points in the first half, and then added 13 more in the second half for a game-high 35 points. Ryan Francis added 18 points, while Hunter Champagne 10. The Bulldogs improve to 9-6 overall and 8-6 in the NCTL-North.

Olympic Monday in Tuscola County

2010-02-15T21:57:00.006-05:00

Only three games in the county tonight.

Boys

Brown City 54 - Mayville 37 - Brown City defeats Mayville for the second time this season. Mayville stays winless on the season (0-14).

Girls

Reese 75 - Pinconning 25 - The Lady Rockets jumped out to a 20 point first quarter lead, only to increase it by another 30 by the end of the game. Megan Solgat scored 14 points to led the way. Sarah Spiekerman and Jillian Gerow scored 10 points and added seven rebounds each. Amber Gotham scored seven points and dished out 11 assists, while Jordan Findlay added eight points and eight assists. Reese is now 14-2 on the season.

Deckerville 48 - Kingston 32 - Megan James led the way for the Lady Cardinals as they suffered their second straight defeat. James scored nine points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Kingston is now 12-6 on the season.

Celebrity Cagers

2010-02-13T08:55:00.004-05:00

Since I know have access back to this blog, I can cover some sports again on it. Oh by the way, I would like to thank the person who hacked it and disabled my access. Here we go with the best of the best from the past week.

Frankenmuth - Luke Bade soared high in three games this past week with 36 points, 18 rebounds, and four assists. Kent Redford added 30 points.

Owendale-Gagetown - Last week's male Tabloid Celebrity of the Week Nick Zaleski scored 27 points in two losses this week. Christy Schmidt was the Top Dog scoring 38 points this week while her team won two games to stop their seven game losing streak. In OG's win over Dryden Schmidt had a triple-double (21 points, 15 rebounds, 10 steals, three blocks).

Akron-Fairgrove - Tyler Crane scored 16 points and Josh Repkie scored 11 points in the Vikings loss to Kingston. Sarah Crane wore her horns proud as she scored 26 points and grabbed 22 rebounds in her teams two losses.

Millington - Kyle Currie (17), Tyler Sweers (14), and Cameron Wilson (10) all contributed to the Cardinals victory over Caro. Rachel Lawe scored 13 points for the Lady Cardinals.

Caro - Pat Bishop scored 36 points in the two losses for the Tigers. Madi Campbell scored 20 points in her teams two victories.

North Branch - Kyle Cline scored 18 points in the Broncos only game of the week. Ryan Kosko added 11 points. Rayenne Kaiser scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds in their only game this week. Morgan Vauter added 11 points and eight rebounds, and Sam Waterman scored 11 points and swiped seven passes.

Cass City - Even though the team's wings got clipped twice this week, that did not stop Jeff Mulrath from scoring 23 points. McKensie Parrish scored 25 points and Carley Hendrick scored 23 points in the ladies two games.

Mayville - The 'Cats' Jon Maddocks scored 12 points against Ubly.

Reese - Josh Pickell blasted off stopping his team's three game skid. Pickell scored 21 points, dished out seven assists, and swiped six steals. Ethan Stockmeyer went along for the ride as well with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Jade Ackerman scored 21 points in the their win over Nouvel.

USA - Josh Lakie scored 18 points in the loss to All Saints. Clint Krueger added 12 points, while Jake Holland added 10 points.

Vassar - Ryan Amend was the main "Roman God" this week with 19 points in the Vulcans victory. Garrett Troike scored 13 as did Troy Hecht. Hilary MacKay scored 22 points in the girl's two victories this week. Kayla Verbeek scored 17 points and grabbed 30 rebounds.

Marlette - Kyle Hall scored 16 points in the Red Raiders only game this week. Donnie Thomas added 10 points.

Kingston - Megan James scored 15 points as the Lady Cardinals loss to Port Hope. Kelsie Richmond added 10 points.

The Tabloid Celebrities of the Week are ...... Josh Pickell for the men and Christy Schmidt for the ladies. Congrats and watch out for the paparazzi.

Monday Night in Tuscola County

2010-02-08T22:28:00.004-05:00

Girls

Owendale-Gagetown 40 - Caseville 36 - The Lady Bulldogs erased a four point halftime deficit to put an end to their seven game losing streak. Christy Schmidt scored 17 points, while Mandy Muntz scored nine points, grabbed nine rebounds, and had three blocks. Owendale-Gagtown improves to 5-12 overall and 4-12 in the NCTL-North.

Port Hope 61 - Akron-Fairgrove 27 - Port Hope defeated the Lady Vikings for the second time this year. Sarah Crane scored 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Rebecca Timon added four points and 16 rebounds.

Boys From Saturday 02/06

New Lothrop 63 - Frankenmuth 56 - Luke Bade scored 16 points, grabbed five rebounds, and dished out four assists in the Eagles non-conference loss. Kent Redford added 10 points and three steals. Frankenmuth falls to 4-9 overall.

Celebrity Cagers

2010-02-06T08:54:00.003-05:00

Caro - Madi Campbell scored 20 points during the Tigers two losses in the week. Jared Vinson had some bite behind his snarl this week, which saw him score 26 points, including 20 in a win over St. Louis.

Frankenmuth - Jenny McCain scored 11 points in the Lady Eagles only game of the week. Luke Bade had an all around game for the boys scoring 18 points, grabbing 12 rebounds, and three assists.

North Branch - Rayenne Kaiser was bucking all week as she scored 26 points in a win and a loss, including 20 in a win against Caro. Ryan Kosko scored 32 points during the week, while teammate Kyle Cline was just as wild, scoring 29 points.

Millington - Chelsea Luedtke was the only Lady Cardinal that was flying high this week with 23 points, including scoring 14 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in a win over Birch Run. Kyle Currie scored 26 points in two losses for the male squad.

Owendale-Gagetown - Christy Schmidt scored 24 points in the Lady Bulldog dual losses. Nick Zaleski was the Top Dog with a weekly triple-double. Zaleski scored 52 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and dished out 13 assists.

Akron-Fairgrove - Sarah Crane led the Viking charge with 26 points, 17 rebounds, six steals, and seven assists. Josh Repkie scored 26 points and added 15 rebounds lead the charge for the boys squad.

Marlette - Amara Wilson scored 25 points in a win and a loss, while teammate Jenna Hirsch added 24 points.

Reese - Jade Ackerman scored 22 points in a win and a loss for the Lady Rockets. Josh Pickell scored 39 points in two losses.

Cass City - Megan Parrish scored 22 points, while sister McKensie scored 25 to help the Red Hawks to a win and a loss. Justin Ketterer soared above all other Red Hawks this week as he scored 46 points as his team swooped down to get two victories. Teammate Jeff Mulrath added 23 points in the week.

USA - Jenny Williamson stood strong this week with 27 points, while Chelsey Ewald added 25 points.

Vassar - Kayla Verbeek was on fire all week scoring 32 points, including a 14 point 10 rebound performance in a win over #7 Reese. Ryan Amend got the boys squad back on track with a 24 point performance, while teammate Troy Hecht added 18 points.

Mayville - Tessa Buehl and Chelsea Roehl eached scored 22 points in the Lady Wildcats two losses.

Kingston - Emily Chambers scored 15 points in the Lady Cardinals only game of the week. Joe Strauel scored 28 points in the week, as Taylor Nicol added 21 points.

Our Tabloid Celebrity of the week is .... Vassar's Kayla Verbeek who had a huge week, especially in their victory over #7 Reese. The boy's victor is Mr. Triple Double - Nick Zaleski. Zaleski had a triple-double this week in the Bulldogs two victories.

Friday Night Hardcourt Scores

2010-02-05T23:33:00.007-05:00

Girls

Millington 55 - Birch Run 42 - The Lady Cardinals avenge an earlier season loss to the Panthers while breaking a five game losing streak. Chelsea Luedtke led the way with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Chelsey Parker also had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Rachel Lawe added nine points and four assists, while Alexis Reinert added 1o points. Millington improves to 4-11 overall and 3-5 in the TVC-East.

North Branch 57 - Caro 44 - The Lady Broncos broke their three game winning streak in game one of the Mix 92.1 Game of the Week. Rayenne Kaiser scored 10 of her game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter. Kaiser also had five steals and six assists. Sam Waterman added a double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds (nine offensive). Kelsey Roloson added eight points and nine steals. North Branch improves to 9-6 and 6-2 in the TVC-East, good for second place. Emily Koehler led the Lady Tigers with 14 points. Caro had now lost five in a row and nine of 10 to drop to 3-11 and 2-6.

Boys

Birch Run 57 - Millington 55 - The Cardinals have now dropped three in a row and four of five. Kyle Currie led Millington with 12 points, while they drop to 7-7 overall and 3-4 in the TVC-East.

North Branch 52 - Caro 30 - Ryan Kosko scored six straight points to begin the second quarter to give his team the lead for good. Kosko finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Doug Griffin scored 11 points and added five rebounds, while Kyle Cline added 10 points and six rebounds. The Broncos stay in second place in the TVC-East with a 5-2 conference mark and 9-5 overall. Caro drops to 5-8 and 1-6.

Cass City 57 - Deckerville 35 - Cass City won their third straight game. Justin Ketterer scored 20 points for the second time this week. Jeff Mulrath added 14 points. The win improves the Red Hawks record to 4-8 and 2-4 in the GTC-West.

Lakers 41 - USA 25 - The Patroit's lowest offensive output of the season equaled their second straight loss. USA drops to 6-6 overall and 3-3 in the GTC-West.

Sandusky 57 - Mayville 22 - The Wildcats drop to 0-12 and 0-5 in the GTC-East, while averaging a Thumb-Area low of 28.5 points per game.

Vassar 65 - Reese 55 - Vassar ended their two game losing streak with a conference win over Reese. Ryan Amend scored 24 points to lead the Vulcans. Troy Hecht scored 18 points, while Garrett Troike added 13 points. Vassar improves to 9-3 and 4-2 in the GTC-West. Reese was led by Josh Pickell's 17 points and seven assists. Ethan Stockmeyer added 11 points and nine rebounds. Reese has now lost three in a row and four of five to drop to 6-6 and 2-4.

Kingston 80 - Caseville 63 - Kingston defeated Caseville for the second time this year as they improve to 6-8 and 5-7 in the NCTL-South. Joe Strauel scored 26 points to lead the way. Terry Edwards (12), Taylor Nicol (12), and Lucas Paz (11) also contributed points to the win.

Owendale-Gagetown 38 - Peck 26 - The Bulldogs improve to 8-4 overall and 7-4 in the NCTL-North, good for second place. Nick Zaleski scored 26 points to lead the Bulldogs.

Akron-Fairgrove 38 - Dryden 33 - The Vikings improve to 6-7 overall and 6-5 in the NCTL-North. Tyler Crane scored 11 points, while Josh Repkie added nine points and 11 rebounds.

Super Bowl (err I mean The Big Game) Wednesday Basketball Scores

2010-02-03T21:51:00.007-05:00

BCAS 71 - Reese 62 - The Cougars erased a six point deficit after three quarters with a 26-9 final stanza. Reese has now lost two in a row and three of four to drop to 6-5 overall and 2-3 in the GTC-West. Josh Pickell led the Rockets with 22 points, while Adam Lefler scored 16.

Cass City 61 - USA 47 - The Red Hawks outscored the Patriots by 14 points in the second-half to secure the victory. Justin Ketterer scored a game-high 26 points, while Alex Varney (13) and Jeff Mulrath (10) contributed to the victory. Cass City improves to 3-8 overall and 2-4 in the GTC-West with their second straight victory. Jake Holland led USA with 18 points while Josh Lakie scored 12. USA drops to 6-5 and 3-2.

Marlette - Sandusky

Monday is Ladies Night - $0 Cover

2010-02-01T22:25:00.011-05:00

Tri-Valley Crossovers

Michigan Lutheran Seminary 53 - Caro 40 - Caro lost a three point half-time lead and never recovered. Madi Campbell led the Lady Tigers with 16 points. The loss drops Caro's record to 3-10.

Valley Lutheran 56 - Frankenmuth 41 - The Lady Eagles fell behind 22-6 after the first eight minutes and never was in the game as their seven game win streak came to an end. Jenny McCain led Frakenmuth with 11 points. The loss drops the Lady Eagles record to 10-4.

Carrollton 68 - North Branch 33 - Carrollton scored early and often en route to a 44-16 half-time lead. The loss drops the Lady Broncos record to 8-6.

St. Charles 44 - Millington 33 - Millington has now lost five in a row and eight of nine, and is averaging just 33.4 points per game. The loss drops the Lady Cardinals record to 3-11.

The Tri-Valley East ladies finished the 2009-2010 season with 2-12 record in their annual cross-over games against the Tri-Valley West and Central.

NCTL

Akron-Fairgrove 55 - Owendale-Gagetown 48 - Thersea Burkey's game-high 21 points was the scoring burst that the Lady Vikings needed to pick up a second victory over the Lady Bulldogs this season. Sarah Crane contributed 16 points, 14 rebounds, five steals, and five assists. Rebecca Timon had 10 points and eight rebounds, while Alyssa Monchilov added seven points, three rebounds, and 10 steals. The win improves Akron-Fairgrove to 6-8 overall and 6-7 in the NCTL-North. Christy Schmidt scored 15 points for the Lady Bulldogs, who fall to 4-11 and 3-11.

Kingston 37 - Peck 34 - The Lady Cardinals let their seven points half-time lead hold up with a three point victory to secure their fourth straight victory. Emily Chambers scored 15 points, as Megan James added five points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Kingston improves to 11-4 overall and 10-4 in the NCTL-South.

Chris Ogryski

2010-01-31T16:21:00.001-05:00

reprinted from the Huron Daily Tribune

Christopher A. Ogryski

Mr. Christopher A. Ogryski, 34 of Ubly, passed away January 28, 2010.

He was born on March 14, 1975 in Royal Oak to Alan and Cathleen (Galek) Ogryski. He lived in Sterling Heights for 18 years. He married Jill Kubacki on July 4, 1998 at St. John Catholic Church in Ubly.

Chris graduated from Fillmore Elementary School and Sterling Heights High School. He attended Michigan State University. He was employed at Service Merchandise and Thumb Tool. He was a manager for the Port Huron area 7-11 stores. He was a parishioner of St. John Catholic Church in Ubly since 1998. Chris was a sports writer for the Huron County Press from 2002 to 2008 when he became editor. He belonged to the Thumb Sports Writers Association. He was a member of the Huron County Democratic Party. He enjoyed photography, writing, pizza, poker, playing euchre with James Peters "JP" and spending time with his family.

Chris is survived by his wife, Jill Ogryski of Ubly, two daughters, Kylie Virginia Ogryski and Hope Ann Ogryski, both of Ubly; his parents, Alan and Cathleen Ogryski of Sterling Heights; one sister, Heather Brockhaus and her husband, Andrew, of Macomb Township; Father-in-law and mother-in-law, Martin and Luci Kubacki of Ubly; one brother-in-law, Daniel Kubacki and his wife, Jennifer, of Canton; two nieces, Sarah Brockhaus of Macomb Township, Lauren Kubacki of Canton; two nephews, Michael Brockhaus of Macomb Township, Zachary Kubacki of Canton; aunt and uncle, Jon and Carol Chambers of Sterling Heights; numerous aunts, uncles and cousins; close friend, Paul Adams and his wife, Kelly, of Bad Axe.

He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Alexander and Virginia Galek, Mike and Evelyn Ogryski; Grandparents-in-law, Roy and Clara Peters, Cass and Virginia Kubacki.

The funeral Mass will be 11 a.m., Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at St. John Catholic Church in Ubly. Rev. Peter Gaspeny, pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Midland, will officiate. Burial will be in the church cemetery in the spring.

Visitation will be at the Zinger-Smigielski Funeral Home in Ubly on Sunday from 7-9 p.m., Monday from 1-9 p.m and Tuesday from 9-10 a.m. There will be a parish vigil service on Monday evening at 7 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are requested to the Family Discretionary Fund.

Celebrity Cagers

2010-01-30T08:52:00.003-05:00

Here is Tuscola County's best of the best from the hardcourt this past week.

Marlette - Dillon Howe and Alex Storm led the Red Raider charge as they defeated Mayville this past week. Howe and Storm each scored 12 points. Nick Armstrong added 10 points. Amara Wilson was the Captain of the Ship this week as she dropped 27 points in a win over Mayville. Jenna Hirsch scored 17 points.

USA - The Patriot Big Men proved too much for Bad Axe this week as Clint Krueger scored 19 points and Jake Holland added 12 points in the Patriot victory. Chelsey Ewald added 10 points in the Lady Patroit loss to Bad Axe.

Cass City - Justin Ketterer led the Red Hawk flight this week with 31 points, including 27 in a victory over Bad Axe. Alex Varney (27), Morgan Erla (24), and Cameron Dunnuck (22) also put some feathers in their wings.

Reese - Rocket Man Josh Pickell fueled Reese with 28 points in a victory and a loss this week. Ethan Stockmeyer scored 22 points in the week. Amber Gotham led the charge for the ladies with 21 points in Reese's two victories.

Vassar - Ryan Amend seemed to be the only Vulcan with any fire this week as he scored 41 points in Vassar's two losses.

Frankenmuth - Jenny McCain finally got her game off the ground as 25 points and 12 rebounds in the two victories. Kent Redford added 22 points in a win and a loss for the male Eagles.

North Branch - Ryan Kosko was the Wildest Bronco this week scoring 31 points in a win and a loss. Kyle Cline added 28 points and Doug Griffin scored 27 points.

Caro - Tommy Matuszak was the only Tiger with any bite this week as Caro won a game and lost a game. Matuszak scored 20 points and added 21 rebounds.

Owendale-Gagetown - Devin Prich (15), Ryan Francis (11), and Nick Zaleski (10) all contributed points to the Bulldog's victory over Memphis.

Millington - Matt Berlin led the way for the Cardinals with 34 points and 17 rebounds in a win and a loss. Chelsey Parker scored 17 points and added 25 rebounds in two losses.

This week's Tabloid Celebrities of the the Week are ..... Marlette's Amara Wilson with 27 points and Millington's Matt Berlin with 34 points and 17 rebounds. Congrats and beware of the of Thumb paparazzi.

All Male Hump Day Basketball

2010-01-27T21:33:00.005-05:00

Reese 53 - Cass City 46 - The Red Hawks scored half of their points in the fourth quarter to make the game close. Reese was led by Josh Pickell's 15 points. Ethan Stockmeyer scored 13 and Adam Lefler added 11 points. Reese improves to 6-3 overall and 2-1 in the GTC-West. Cass City was led by Alex Varney's game-high 19 points. Cameron Dunnuck added 10 points. The loss drops Cass City's record to 1-8 and 0-4.

Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port 46 - Vassar 37 - The Lakers figured out a way to beat Vassar. Keep Troy Hecht under 10 points. The Laker held Hecht to just four points and 12 rebounds and become the only team to hold Hecht to single-digit scoring this season. Ryan Amend led the team with 17 points. The loss drops Vassar to 8-2 overall and 3-1 in the GTC-West.

USA 68 - Bad Axe 42 - The Patriots won their third straight game and five out of six to improve to 6-4 overall and 3-1 in the GTC-West. USA was led by their Big Men. Clint Krueger (19) and Jake Holland (12) combined to score 31 points.

Harbor Beach 67 - Mayville 30 - Harbor Beach got out to a 30-0 lead before cruising to victory. The loss drops the Wildcats to 0-11 and 0-4 in the GTC-East.

Monday Night Cardinal Basketball

2010-01-25T22:53:00.004-05:00

Girls

Kingston 55 - Dryden 27 - Chelsea Ruggles led 11 Lady Cardinals who scored with eight points. Kingston improves to 9-4 overall and 8-4 in the NCTL-South.

Essexville-Garber 40 - Millington 28 - The Lady Cardinals scoring woes continued as they drop a conference game at home. Millington averages just 33.3 points per game, the lowest output by any team in the TVC-East. Rachel Lawe led Millington with seven points, seven rebounds, and four steals. Chelsey Parker added six points and 11 rebounds. Millington drops to 3-9 overall and 2-5 in the TVC-East.

Boys

Millington 76 - Essexville-Garber 49 - Millington ended Garber's five-game winning streak with a big conference victory. The Cardinals ended up with four people scoring in double figures, led by Big Man Matt Berlin led the way with 26 points and 12 rebounds. Josh Williams scored 17 points and dished out three assists. Mike Tisdale added 11 points, while Cameron Wilson scored 10 points. Millington improves to 7-4 overall and 3-3 in conference play.

Celebrity Cagers

2010-01-23T08:45:00.005-05:00

Here is the Best of the Best of the past week our - Celebrity Cagers.

Caro - Tommy Matuszak led the Tigers with 26 points in Caro's two losses. Emily Koehler scored 11 points the Lady Tigers only game of the week.

Owendale-Gagetown - Nick Zaleski was "The Big Dog" in three games this week, all victories. Zaleski scored 56 points, including two 20 point performances. Ryan Francis added 43 points.

Millington - Kyle Currie led the Cardinals with 27 points in a week which saw the Cardinals split their two games. Cameron Wilson scored 25 points for Millington.

North Branch - Kyle Cline had two 20 point performances in the two games. Cline scored 46 points in a win and a loss. Ryan Kosko scored 29 points, including the winning free-throws in an overtime win.

Vassar - Troy Hecht provided the fire for Vassar this week as he scored 31 points in two victories. Ryan Amend added 25 points. Kayla Verbeek scored 10 points in the Lady Vulcans single game of the week. Jessica Ostrander scored 10 points and had eight rebounds.

Akron-Fairgrove - Alyssa Monchilov scored 23 points, swiped 10 steals, dished out seven assists, and grabbed 17 rebounds in two games, a win and a loss.

Reese - Jade Ackerman provided fuel for her Lady Rockets with 30 points during her team's two victories this week. Amber Gotham scored 20 points and dished out 10 assists in the week. Josh Pickell added 35 points and 14 assists in his team's two games, a win and a loss.

Mayville - Chelsea Roehl led the Lady Wildcats with 15 points and 12 rebounds lead Mayville in their victory this week. Annie Richardson scored 15 points and added 10 rebounds. Amy Elenbaum scored 13 points and dished out four asssists.

Our Tabloid Celebity of the Week is ..... Nick Zaleski of Owendale-Gagetown and Alyssa Monchilov of Akron-Fairgrove. Congratulations and watch out for the those Thumb Paparazzi.

Frantic Friday Night Basketball

2010-01-22T22:57:00.007-05:00

Girls

Frankenmuth 64 - Caro 28 - The Lady Eagles stay undefeated and in first place in TVC-East play. Taylor Wood scored 11 points, while Sam Cormier added 10 points and five assists in the win. Emily Koehler led Caro with 11 points.

North Branch 42 - Millington 33 - North Branch outscored Millington by nine points in the second half for the victory. Samantha Waterman paced the Lady Broncos with 15 points. North Branch is now 5-1 in the TVC-East, 1/2 game behind Frankenmuth. Alexis Reinert paced Millington with 10 points, seven steals, and five rebounds.

Boys

Frankenmuth 51 - Caro 46 - The Eagles earned their first TVC-East victory of the season, while Caro stayed winless on the road. Kent Redford scored a game-high 16 points to lead the Eagles. Tim Faris scored 11 points, while Luke Bade added six points, three assists, and eight rebounds. Pat Bishop led the Tigers with 12 points, while Tommy Matuszak added 11 points.

North Branch 77 - Millington 76 - The Bronco's Ryan Kosko hit two free throws with five seconds remaining in overtime to seal the victory for North Branch. Kosko scored 19 points. Kyle Cline scored a game-high 21 for North Branch. Millington had five people score in double figures. Mike Tisdale led the way with 17 points, while Cameron Wilson and Kyle Currie scored 13 points apiece. Josh Williams added 12, and Zach Stewart scored 10 points.

USA 46 - Reese 44 - Josh Lakie drove the length of the floor for a layup with 10 seconds remaining to give the Patriots the victory. Clint Krueger finished with a team-high 18 points, as Lakie ended with 15 points. Josh Pickell paced the Rockets with 24 points, nine steals, and four assists.

Vassar 61 - Cass City 58 - The Redhawks gave the Vulcans a scare in the Mix 92.1 Game of the Week. Garrett Troike scored a game-high 17 points to pace Vassar. Troy Hecht added 16 points, four assists, and six rebounds, while Ryan Amend added 14 points. Cass City had four people score in double digits. Paul Rubey led the way with 15 points. Justin Ketterer scored 16 (10 in the first quarter), dished out three assists, and grabbed five rebounds. Alex Varney scored 14 points, while Cameron Dunnuck added 10 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists.

Deckerville 59 - Mayville 48

Harbor Beach 67 - Marlette 49

Owendale-Gagetown 55 - Kingston 50 - Nick Zaleski had his second 20 point performance of the week to pace the Bulldogs. Zaleski finished with a game-high 20 points, while Ryan Francis scored 19 points. Taylor Nicol scored 12 points to lead the Cardinals. Terry Edwards scored 11 points, and Joe Strauel added five points and nine assists.

Peck 54 - Akron-Fairgrove 35

Thursday Ladies Night

2010-01-21T21:26:00.006-05:00

Mayville 57 - Deckerville 49 - The Lady Wildcats improve to 6-5 overall and 2-2 in the GTC-East.

Peck 54 - Akron-Fairgrove 53 - Alyssa Monchilov led the way in the Lady Vikings loss. Monchilov scored 16 points, dished out five assists, and grabbed seven rebounds. Sarah Crane scored 16 points and grabbed six rebounds. The Lady Vikings drop to 5-7 overall and 5-6 in the NCTL-North.

#8 Reese 72 - USA 33 - The Lady Rockets picked up their second win of the week. Jade Ackerman scored a game-high 13 points. Amber Gotham added eight points and seven assists. Brittany Gruehn scored 11 points for the Lady Patriots. Reese improves to 9-1 and 4-0 in the GTC-West, while USA drops to 4-7 and 2-3.

Vassar 68 - Cass City 22 - Kayla Verbeek and Jessica Ostrander scored 10 points apiece to lead the Lady Vulcans to victory. Ostrander also grabbed eight rebounds. Chia Campbell had a complete game with six points, five steals, and eight assists. Vassar improves to 8-2 and 3-1 in the GTC-West, as Cass City drops to 1-10 and 1-3.

Kingston 53 - Owendale-Gagetown - Emily Chambers scored 16 points, had four steals , and four rebounds in the Lady Cards victory. Alison Lester added 10 points, while Quinn Daily added eight points and 10 rebounds. Kingston improves to 8-4 and 7-4 in the NCTL-South. Mandy Muntz scored 13 points, had three blocks and five rebounds for Owendale-Gagetown. The Lady Bulldogs fall to 4-8 and 3-8 in the NCTL-North.

Harbor Beach 44 - Marlette 33 - The Lady Red Raiders fall to 7-6 and 2-3 in the GTC-East.

Tuesday Night Slate

2010-01-19T21:50:00.010-05:00

Boys

Millington 45 - Frankenmuth 42 - Kyle Currie led all scorers with 14 points to help Millington defeat the Eagles. Cameron Wilson added 12 points, while Tyler Sweers scored 10. The victory improves Millington's overall record to 6-3 and 2-2 in the TVC-East. Frankenmuth drops to 2-6 and 0-4.

#4 Bridgeport 77 - North Branch 59 - The Broncos found themselves down by only five points at the beginning of the fourth quarter, only to be outscored by 13 in the final stanza. Kyle Cline paced the Broncos with 25 points. Chris White and Ryan Kosko each added 10 points. The loss drops North Branch to 6-3 overall and 2-2 in the TVC-East.

Vassar 63 - Mayville 20 - The Vulcans destroyed the Wildcats for their seventh win against one loss. Troy Hecht was the games leading scorer with 15 points. Nathan Greaves scored 12, and Ryan Amend added 11 points. The loss keeps Mayville winless, as they struggle to score points this season. The Wildcats only average 26.9 points per game.

Owendale-Gagetown 52 - Akron-Fairgrove 34 - Ryan Francis scored a game-high 20 points to help the Bulldogs defeat the Vikings. Devin Prich scored 17 points, while Nick Zaleski added 11 points. Tyler Crane scored 10 points for Akron-Fairgrove.

Girls

#8 Reese 78 - Ubly 26 - The Lady Rockets bounced back from their loss at #1 Sandusky last Friday by holding Ubly to just six first-half points. Jade Ackerman led the way with 17 points and four steals. Amber Gotham added 12 points and four steals, while Jordyn Kiser scored 11 points. The improves Reese's record to 8-1.

Frankenmuth 70 - Millington 24 - The Lady Eagles stayed undefeated in TVC-East play with their victory over rival Millington. McCauley Mossner had a complete game with 11 points, four steals, five assists, and eight rebounds. The Eagles improve to 7-3 and 5-0, while Millington drops to 3-7 and 2-3.

North Branch 72 - Bridgeport 45 - The Lady Broncos cruised to a victory after leading 22-0 after the first quarter. Kayla Snoblen led the way with 15 points. Alison Severins scored 12 opints and Kelsey Roloson added 11 points. North Branch improves to 7-3 and 4-1 in TVC-East play.

Monday Night High School Hoops

2010-01-18T22:16:00.006-05:00

Boys

Akron-Fairgrove 53 - Kingston 48 4OT - This score is from Saturday night. Neither team scored a point during the first three overtime periods. The Vikings finally pulled away in the fourth. Josh Repkie led all scorers with 21 points, while fellow Viking teammate Tyler Crane scored 10. The victory improves Akron-Fairgrove to 4-3 overall and 4-2 in the NCTL-North. Josh Wenzlaff scored 11 points for the Cardinals, while Josh Cloyd added 10. Kingston drops to 5-4, and 4-3 in the NCTL-South.

John Glenn 46 - Caro 39 - The Tigers never recovered after scoring only nine first-half points. Tommy Matuszak led the way with 15 points. Caro drops to 3-5 overall.

Girls

Memphis 60 - Kingston 52

North Huron 47 - Owendale-Gagetown 25 - The Bulldogs drop to 4-7 overall and 3-7 in the NCTL-North.

Akron-Fairgrove 34 - Caseville 25 - The Lady Vikings defeated Caseville for the second time this season. Thersea Burkey led the attack with 12 points, four steals, two blocks, two assists, and six rebounds. Alyssa Monchilov had seven points, seven steals, two assists and 10 rebounds. The win improves Akron-Fairgrove's record to 5-6 overall and 5-5 in the NCTL-North.

Celebrity Cagers

2010-01-16T08:42:00.004-05:00

The best of the best from this past week.

Marlette - Alex Storm paced his team to two victories this week, while scoring 26 points. Amara Wilson led the girl's squad with a 46 point week.

Vassar - Troy Hecht was "The Man in Vulcan Land" this week scoring 37 points. Hecht also added a 12 rebound game. Ryan Amend also scored 29 points in the team's two wins. Kayla Verbeek scored 23 points leading her team to two victories.

USA - Jake Holland scored 26 points as his team split their games this week. Jenny Williamson added 31 points in their games this week.

Reese - Josh Pickell was "The Main Rocket" as his team won both games this week. Pickell scored 33 points in the week to go along with double digit steals and assists. Ethan Stockmeyer added 25 points and 24 rebounds in the week. Jade Ackerman led the Lady Rockets with 34 points.

Cass City - Justin Ketterer scored 33 points in his team's two losses during the week.

North Branch - Kyle Cline scored 18 points and added 10 rebounds in the Broncos only game this week, a victory over Yale.

Frankenmuth - Tim Faris scored 30 points and added 16 rebounds during the week. Kelsey Ritter added 23 points for the Lady Eagles.

Caro - Jared Vinson scored 35 points and added 19 rebounds his team's two wins. Tommy Matuszak added 24 points. Madi Campbell was close to a triple-double in her team's only game. Campbell scored 12 points, dished out 10 assists, and grabbed seven rebounds.

Millington - Kyle Currie scored 33 points as the Cardinals split their games. Josh Williams added 27 points.

This week's Tabloid Celebrities of the Week are.........Jared Vinson of Caro and Josh Pickell of Reese for the men, and Amara Wilson for the ladies. Congrats athletes and watch out for the paparazzi.

Thursday Night Basketball

2010-01-15T08:19:00.002-05:00

Boys

Reese 51 - Sandusky 50 - The Rockets held off a fourth quarter run by Sandusky to pull out the victory. Josh Pickell led Reese with 18 points. Ethan Stockmeyer added 13 points, while Adam Lefler scored 10 points. The win improves the Rockets record to 4-2.

USA 57 - BCAS 45 - Andrew Botello scored 19 points to lead the Patroits. Jake Holland and Clint Krueger each scored 12 points. USA improves to 4-4 overall and 1-1 in GTC-West play.

Marlette 55 - Brown City 49 2OT - The Red Raiders improve to 5-5 overall and 2-0 in the GTC-East.

Vassar 62 - Bad Axe 47 - Troy Hecht led all scorers with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Ryan Amend added 16 points, while Jamison Knudsen added eight points and 11 rebounds. The Vulcans improve to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in GTC-West play.

Ubly 58 - Mayville 19 - The Wildcats drop to 0-8 and 0-2 in the GTC-East.

Laker High 48 - Cass City 42 - Justin Ketterer led Cass City with 21 points. The loss drops the Red Hawks to 1-6 overall and 0-2 in the GTC-West.

Girls

North Huron 61 - Kingston 45 - The loss drops the Lady Cards to 7-3 overall and 6-3 in the NCTL-South.

Memphis 58 - Owendale-Gagetown 23 - The Lady Bulldogs drop to 4-6 overall and 3-6 in the NCTL-North

Akron-Fairgrove 45 - CPS 44 - Sarah Crane led the way with 14 points, five steals, three assists, and eight rebounds. Thersea Burkey added 10 points, four steals, and three rebounds. The Lady Vikings improve to 4-6 overall and 4-5 in the NCTL-North.

Wednesday is Ladies Night

2010-01-13T22:04:00.005-05:00

Marlette 66 - Deckerville 44 - Amara Wilson led all scorers with 22 points. The win improves the Lady Red Raiders to 7-4 overall and 2-1 in the GTC-East.

#5 Reese 76 - Bad Axe 34 - Jade Ackerman paced the Lady Rockets with 17 points and six assists. Shelby Tafoya contributed 13 points, while Amber Gotham added eight points and six steals. The undefeated Rockets travel to #1 Sandusky on Friday night. You can head updates from this game on Mix 92.1.

Cass City 38 - Bay City All Saints 35 - McKensie Parrish and her Red Hawk teammates pick up their first victory of the year. Parrish scored 16 points. Cass City improves to 1-8 on the year and 1-1 in GTC-West play.

Vassar 62 - USA 40 - The Lady Vulcans improve to 6-2 overall and 1-1 in GTC-West play. Kayla Verbeek led the way with 14 points, while Emily Aranyos added 10 points. Jenny Williams scored 14 points for the Lady Patriots. The loss drops the Patriots record to 3-6 and 1-2 in league play.

Brown City 49 - Mayville 27 - The loss drops Mayville to 4-5 overall and 0-2 in GTC-East play.

Busy Tuesday Night Schedule

2010-01-12T10:42:00.007-05:00

I had some computer problems last week, and then I went to a conference over the weekend. Your Tuscola County daily basketball fix is back starting tonight. We will have all the scores and roundups as they come in. Here is tonights busy schedule:

Boys

Brown City 49 - Mayville 36 - The Wildcats stay winless as Brandon Harper scores 12 points.

Marlette 52 - Deckerville 41 - Marlette picked up their first conference victory while improving 4-5 overall. Brandon King led the way with 16, while Alex Storm added 11 points.

Vassar 46 - USA 35 - The Vulcans bounce back after suffering their first loss on Saturday night. Troy Hecht and Ryan Amend each scored 13 points. Vassar improved to 5-1 and 1-0 in the GTC-West. The loss drops USA to 3-4 and 0-1. Jake Holland scored 14 points for the Patroits.

Reese 57 - Bad Axe 50 - The Rockets improved to 3-2 and 1-0 in the GTC-West. Josh Pickell scored 15 points, grabbed six steals, and dished out eight assists. Ethan Stockmeyer had a double-double with 12 points and 19 rebounds.

BCAS 59 - Cass City 47 - The Redhawks dropped to 1-5 and 0-1 in the GTC-West play. Alex Varney led the way with 15 points. Justin Ketterer scored 12 points, while Jeff Mulrath added 11 points.

Dryden 27 - Kingston 24 - The Cardinals drop to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in NCTL-South play.

Owendale-Gagetown 66 - Port Hope 38

North Branch 64 - Yale 46 - The Broncos improved to 6-2. Kyle Cline scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Ryan Kosko had 16 points and seven rebounds, while Chris White scored 12 points and dished out five assists.

Frankenmuth 61 - Corunna 57 - The Eagles picked up their second victory of the season. Tim Faris led the way with 16 points and eight rebounds. Kent Redford scored 13 points. Luke Bade added 13 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.

Caro 58 - John Glenn 42 - Caro had three players with a double-double as they pick up their second victory this season. Jared Vinson led the way with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Tommy Matuszak had 16 points and 10 reounds, while Pat Bishop had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Millington 74 - Chesaning 60 - The Cardinals scored 30 points in the final quarter to secure their fifth victory on the year versus two defeats. Millington also had three players with a double-double. Matt Berlin led the way with 21 points and 16 rebounds (nine offensive). Kyle Currie scored 19 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and dished out two assists. Josh Williams scored all 14 of his points in the second half. He also grabbed 10 rebounds and had three assists.

Girls

Chesaning 52 - Millington 37 - Millington falls to 2-6 overall at the hands of Tri-Valley mate Chesaning. Alexis Reinert and Rachel Lawe each scored 11 points to pace the Lady Cards.

Frankenmuth 49 - Corunna 42 - The Lady Eagles improved their record to 5-3 with their victory over Corunna. McCauley Mossner led Frankenmuth with 15 points and seven rebounds. Kelsey Ritter contributed 13 points, while Jenny McCain added 12 points and seven rebounds.

All-Lady Wednesday Night

2010-01-07T10:02:00.003-05:00

Vassar 49 - Mayville 43 - The Lady Vulcans used a 15-8 run the fourth quarter to pick up the non-leauge victory. Emily Araynos led the way with 20 points and nine steals for Vassar. Hilary MacKay scored 13 points, while Kayla Verbeek added six points and 12 rebounds for the victors. Chelsea Roehl scrored 15 points and Tessa Buhl added 13 for Mayville. Vassar improves to 5-1 overall as they head to #6 Reese on Friday night to open GTC-West play, which will be the Mix 92.1 Game of the Week. The loss drops Mayville to 4-3 as they prepare to host #1 Sandusky on Friday night in their GTC-East opener.

#1 Sandusky 62 - Marlette 36 - Amara Wilson led the Lady Red Raiders with 13 points as they dropped their league opener. The loss drops Marlette to 5-4 on the year.

#6 Reese 54 - All Saints 34 - The Lady Rockets picked up their first league victory of the season. Amber Gotham led the way with 15 points and six assists. Sarah Spiekerman also contributed 10 points and eight rebounds. Reese improved to 5-0, as they get ready to host Vassar on Friday night.

USA 46 - Cass City 37 - In the GTC-West opener for both teams, USA's Brittany Gruehn and Miranda Fuerst each had a team-high 12 points. Chelsey Ewald was also in double figures with 11 points. Cass City's Megan led all scorers with 15 points, while Logan Rowell scored 11 points. USA improves to 2-4 on the year, while Cass City stays winless at 0-7.

Imlay City 41 - Millington 28 - The Lady Cardinals scoring woes continue as they drop to 2-5 on the season. Chelsey Parker led the way with seven points and eight rebounds.

1st Monday 2010

2010-01-04T21:01:00.013-05:00

Back from my two week sabbatical and looking forward to the rest of the basketball season. Here are the scores from Monday night. I would like to thank the Thumb Tailgater show for having me on the air tonight. If you missed the show I believe you can find an archive of the show on their website.

Girls

Port Hope 63 - Akron-Fairgrove 15 - The Lady Vikings fell to 3-4 overall and 3-3 in the NCTL-North. Sarah Crane scored seven points in the loss.

Kingston 40 - Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy 21 - Kingston improved to 6-1 on the season. Emily Chambers led the Lady Cards with 12 points and five steals. Abby Brzezinski added six points and 17 rebounds.

New Lothrop 68 - Millington 28 - The Lady Cards fall to 2-4 this season, while only averaging 34 points per game. Rachel Lawe led Millington with eight points.

Owendale-Gagetown 43 - Caseville 34 - The Lady Bulldogs improved to 3-5 overall and 2-5 in the NCTL-North. Christian Harris led the way with 13 points.

Boys

Kingston 70 - Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy 27 - Kingston won their third game in a row to improve to 3-2. Taylor Nicol led all scorers with 16 points. Josh Wenzlaff scored 14 points and added nine rebounds. Dustin Pennington added 14 points and seven rebounds, while Zach Campbell added two points and five assists.

Harry C. Moore Classic

2009-12-28T10:48:00.003-05:00

- For those of you looking to catch some local hoops over the holiday break, check out the Harry C. Moore Classic being played in North Branch and Capac. The Tournament starts Monday (Tonight), Dec. 28 with both finals being played on Dec. 30.

GIRLS TOURNAMENT
Monday Dec. 28
Marlette vs. Capac - 6:00 p.m.
Brown City 39 vs. North Branch 29 - 7:30 p.m. - Morgan Vauter led the Broncos with four points and nine rebounds. Kristen Green of Brown City led all scorers with 21 points.

Wednesday, Dec 30
North Branch vs. ? - Consolation Game - 12 Noon
Brown City vs. ? - Championship Game - 1:30 p.m.

BOYS TOURNAMENT
Tuesday, Dec. 29
Brown City 36 vs. North Branch 50 - 6:00 p.m. - Kyle Cline scored 13 points to lead the Broncos.
Marlette vs. Capac - 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec 30
Brown City vs. ? - Consolation Game - 6:00 p.m.
North Branch vs. ? - Championship Game - 7:30 p.m.

Celebrity Cagers

2009-12-19T09:09:00.006-05:00

Millington - Alexis Reinert had 12 points and eight rebounds in the Cardinal's only game this week. Rachel Lawe had 10 points and eight rebounds, while Chelsea Parker had 10 points and six rebounds. Kyle Currie led the way for the boy's squad this week. In the Cardinal's two victories Currie had 45 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and five steals. Cameron Wilson scored 28 points and grabbed 16 rebounds.

Frankenmuth - Jenny McCain scored 15 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the Lady Eagles only game this week.

Kingston - The Lady Cardinals won two game this week, while only allowing 52 points. Megan James, Alison Lester, Emily Chambers, Quinn Dailey, and Chelsea Leach all had a solid week. The boy's squad also had a perfect week, picking up two wins. Joe Stauel, Nolan Kolacz, Josh Wenzlaff, and Taylor Nicol led the way to perfection.

Caro - Jared Vinson, Jasen Rendon, and Pat Bishop all had 15 points for the Tigers in their only game.

USA - Sami Eisengruber scored 15 points for the Lady Patriots in their loss to Sandusky. Josh Lackie led the boy's squad with 37 points as his team lost a game and won a game this week. Peter Gacik added 23 points.

Vassar - Hilary MacKay scored 28 points this week as the Lady Vulcans split their two games this week. Troy Hecht scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the boy's only game this week - a victory. Ryan Amend and Jamison Knudsen each scored 10 points.

North Branch - Samantha Waterman scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Lady Broncos handed Essexville-Garber their first loss. Ryan Kosko scored 36 points on the week as the boys split their games.

Cass City - Alex Varney scored 22 points in the his teams two losses.

Reese - Josh Pickell scored 32 points and dished out 11 assists this week in a win and a loss.

Mayville - Chelsea Roehl scored 33 points in a week which saw the Lady Wildcats loss their first game of the season. Williams Henderson led the boy's squad with 15 points in their two losses.

This week's Tabloid Celebrities of the Week are ........... all Cardinals. Kyle Curre of Millington scored 45 points while leading his team to two victories, including their first conference victory in over one year. The girl's celebrity is the Kingston girl's squad for their great defensive week - allowing only 54 points during the week. Congrats Cardinals and watch out for the paprazzi.

Friday Finals

2009-12-18T22:57:00.008-05:00

Boys Scoreboard

Peck 69 - Owendale-Gagetown 41 - Owen-Gage only scored 13 second half points in their loss to Peck. Ryan Francis led Owen-Gage with 19 points.

Millington 64 - Caro 54 - The Cardinals used a 23-7 first quarter advantage to cruise to the 10 point victory. Kyle Currie led Millington with 16 points and three assists. Josh Williams had scored 15 points with four three-point baskets. Cam Wilson had 11 points and six rebounds. Jared Vinson led the Tigers with 16 points and three rebounds. Jasen Rendon scored 15 points, including three three-point baskets. Pat Bishop contributed 14 points, one assist, and one rebound.

North Branch 57 - Garber 39 - The Broncos used a 21-8 second quarter advantage to get the win. Ryan Kosko led North Branch with 20 points.

Birch Run 57 - Frankenmuth 50 - The Eagles only scored 10 combined points in the second and third quarters in their conference loss. Spencer Bell led Frankenmuth with nine points, while Kent Redford added seven points.

Kingston 62 - Caseville 31 - The Cardinals outscored Caseville every quarter en route to victory. Josh Wenzlaff scored 12 points and Taylor Nicol added 11 points in the victory.

Akron-Fairgrove 70 - Dryden 38 - The Vikings used a 20-2 first quarter advantage to cruise to victory. Joey Dybilas led the way with 22 points and five rebounds. Mike Sabo added 12 points and six rebounds, while Josh Repkie chipped in with double-double figures - 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Girls Scoreboard

Reese 64 - Mayville 28 - Reese used a 32-12 halftime lead to cruise to their fourth victory. Jade Ackerman led the Rockets with 10 points, while Amber Gotham scored eight points and swiped six steals. Sarah Spiekerman had four points and 11 rebounds.

Sandusky 59 - USA 32 - Sami Eisenburger led the Lady Patriots with 15 points.

Vassar 58 - Buena Vista 48 - Vassar needed a 16 point fourth quarter advantage to pull out the 10 point victory. Hilary MacKay scored 17 points, while Kayla Verbeek scored 12 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. Amberly Hauger also had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Millington 36 - Caro 27 - In the lowest scoring game of the night, the Lady Cardinals overcame a 9-2 first quarter deficit to pull out the victory. Millington was led by Alexis Reinert's 12 points and eight rebounds. Rachel Lawe added 10 points and eight rebounds, while Chelsea Parker scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds. Ericka Roe led Caro with nine points and four rebounds.

North Branch 44 - Garber 37 - The Lady Broncos handed Garber their first loss of the season. Samantha Waterman led the way with a double-double, 14 points and 10 rebounds. Kelsey Roloson scored 10 points and swiped four steals.

Frankenmuth 36 - Birch Run 26 - Jenny McCain scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while McCauley Mossner added 11 points and seven rebounds.

Thursday Night Hoops Scores

2009-12-17T21:16:00.009-05:00

Boys Scoreboard

Reese 72 - Mayville 21 - The Rockets flew all over the Wildcats on Thursday winning by 51 points. Josh Pickell led the way with 18 points. Jared Bender scored 12 points, while Brandon Dirker and Ethan Stockmeyer each scored 10 points. Reese improves to 2-1, while Mayville falls to 0-4.

Sandusky 53 - USA 46 - Josh Lackie scored a game-high 21 points for the Patriots. Peter Gacik added eight points.

Marlette 58 - Cass City 55 - Marlette withstood a second-half comeback by Cass City to pick up their first victory of the season. Mike Armstrong led the Red Raiders with a game-high 25 points, while Kyle Hall added 12. Cass City was led by Alex Varney's 15 points, Cameron Dunnuck's 11 points, and Justin Ketterer's 11 points.

Girls Scoreboard

Dryden 29 - Akron-Fairgrove 24

Owendale-Gagetown 47 - Peck 40

Kingston 65 - Caseville 25 - Emily Chambers and Chelsea each had 12 points to lead the Lady Cardinals to their fourth victory of the season. Quinn Daily scored 11 points, while grabbing 12 rebounds. Alison Lester had 10 points. Kingston is 4-1 overall and in the NCTL-South.

Hump Day Basketball Scores

2009-12-16T21:42:00.009-05:00

Girls Scoreboard

Sandusky 54 - Vassar 39 - Sandusky led 30-10 at the half and cruised to victory over Vassar. The loss drops the Vulcans to 3-1. Hilary MacKay led Vassar with 11 points.

Harbor Beach 43 - Cass City 24 - McKensie Parrish scored 12 points for Cass City, who drop to 0-5 with the loss.

Laker High 52 - Mayville 44 - Mayville held a 26-19 lead at the half only to see the Lakers roll past them in the second half. Chelsea Roehl led the Lady Wildcats with 16 points, while Amy Elenbaum scored 11. The loss drops Mayville to 3-1.

Marlette 57 - Bad Axe 40 - Marlette used a 19-5 advantage to pull away in an otherwise close game. The Red Raiders improve to 3-2 overall.

Akron-Fairgrove - Port Hope

Boys Scoreboard

Millington 68 - Imlay City 56 - Millington improved to 2-1 with their victory over Imlay City. Kyle Currie led all scorers with 29 points, seven rebounds, and three steals. Cameron Wilson scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Matt Berlin contributed eight points, eight rebounds, and two steals.

Tuesday Night Roundball Scoreboard

2009-12-15T21:34:00.013-05:00

Boys Scoreboard

Vassar 49 - Sandusky 47 - Vassar needed a 14-7 advantage in the fourth quarter to pull out the victory Tuesday night in Sandusky. Troy Hecht led the Vulcans with 14 points, and seven rebounds including two free throws with 25 seconds remaining to secure the win. Jamison Knudsen and Ryan Amend each scored 10 points. Vassar improves to 2-0 overall.

USA 64 - Deckerville 45 - USA earned their first victory of the season Tuesday night at Deckerville. Josh Lackie led the way with 16 points, while Peter Gacik had 15.

Harbor Beach 51 - Cass City 32

Laker High 72 - Mayville 40 - Mayville drops to 0-3 on the season with the Tuesday night loss to EPBP. William Henderson led the Wildcats with 11 points and six rebounds.

North Huron 56 - Akron-Fairgrove 46

Kingston 53 - CPS 52 OT - Kingston needed overtime to earn their first victory of the season in three attempts. Joe Strauel led the way for the Cardinals with 15 points and five assists. Nolan Kolacz added 10 points and seven rebounds. Kingston is now 1-1 in the NCTL-South.

Owendale-Gagetown - Caseville PPD

Ubly 56 - Reese 53 - Ubly outscored Reese by seven points in the fourth quarter for the victory. Reese was led by Josh Pickell's 14 points and nine assists. Travis Menapace scored 12 points, while Caleb Gnatkowski and Ethan Stockmeyer scored 10 points apiece. Reese is now 1-1 overall on the young season.

Armada 64 - North Branch 58 - The Broncos fourth quarter comeback attempt fell short as they suffered their first defeat of the season. Doug Griffin led North Branch with 18 points, while Ryan Kosko added 16 points. Kyle Cline contributed 10 points. The Broncos fall to 2-1 on the year with the loss.

Girls Scoreboard

Caro 58 - John Glenn 49 OT - Caro outscored John Glenn 11-2 in overtime to secure their second victory. Vanessa Taylor led all scorers with 16 points and also added six rebounds. Madi Campbell added 12 points, six assists, and six steals. The Lady Tigers improved their record to 2-2.

Monday Night Girl's Scores

2009-12-14T20:22:00.010-05:00

Only three Tuscola County Area games tonight and all girls games.

Mayville 51 - Bad Axe 40 - The Lady Wildcats improved to 3-0 on the season with their victory on Monday night. Chelsea Roehl led all scorers with 17 points, while Tessa Buhl added 13 points. Mayville will lay Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port on Wednesday evening.

Port Hope 55 - Owendale-Gagetown 31 - The Lady Bulldogs fell to 1-4 overall and 0-4 in the NCTL-North. Mandy Muntz scored 12 points, while Christy Schmidt added 11 points.

Kingston 56 - Dryden 27 - Kingston used a 32-7 first-half advantage to cruise to their third victory in four games. Megan James led the Lady Cardinals with 11 points, six rebounds, and six steals. Alison Lester contributed eight points and five rebounds.

Celebrity Cagers

2009-12-12T08:46:00.004-05:00

This week's Celebrity Cagers are as follows:

Millington - Rachel Lawe scored 24 points for the Lady Cardinals this week. Kyle Currie scored 29 points, including having six rebounds and six steals in their win versus Lakeville.

Akron-Fairgrove - Alyssa Monchilov scored 29 points, grabbed 19 rebounds, and had 10 steals as her team split their games this week.

Caro - Vanessa Taylor scored 19 points this week. Pat Bishop scored 30 points as the boy's squad split their games. Jared Vinson added 26 points.

USA - Miranda Fuerst scored 22 points in the week which saw her team pick up their first victory.

Vassar - Hilary MacKay scored 24 points in Vassar's only game this week - a victory over Marlette. Kayla Verbeek scored 15 points and grabbed 20 rebounds. Troy Hecht scored 10 points and 10 rebounds for the boys this week in their only game.

Marlette - Amara Wilson dropped a county-high 50 points this week as her Red Raiders lost two games. Nick Armstrong and Kolby Lange scored 20 points in their overtime loss to Reese.

North Branch - Rayenne Kaiser scored 25 points during two victories this week, while Kayla Snoblen added 24 points. Chris White scored 31 points for the boy's squad including six 3-points baskets in both victories. Ryan Kosko scored 20 in the victory over Caro.

Cass City - McKensie Parrish scored 21 points as the Cass City girls dropped both games. Justin Ketterer scored a county-high 43 points as the boys split their games. Ketterer scored 31 points in their victory over Mayville.

Reese - Amber Gotham scored 16 points, dished out seven assists, and grabbed four rebounds in their only game this week. Jordan Kiser added 12 points and two rebounds. Sarah Spiekerman contributed with eight points and 10 rebounds. Josh Pickell scored 26 points in the boys overtime victory over Marlette. Caleb Gnatkowski added 20 points.

Mayville - Chelsea Roehl scored 18 points in the girl's victory over Cass City. William Henderson scored 23 points in the boy's two losses.

This weeks Tabloid Celebrity of the week is ...... Amara Wilson for the girls. Even-though her team lost twice this week, it was not because of her performances - 26 points and 24 points respectively. The boys Tabloid Celebrity is North Branch's Chris White. His 31 points and six 3-point baskets led his team to 2-0 start on the season. Prepare for the paparazzi and congratulations.

Friday Night Scores...Roundball Style

2009-12-11T23:34:00.003-05:00

Girls Scoreboard

Birch Run 49 - Millington 37 - The Lady Cardinals had a two point lead going into the fourth quarter and were outscored 17-3 in the final quarter. Rachel Lawe scored a team-high 12 points for Millington. The Cardinals fall to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in the TVC-East.

Reese 67 - Marlette 41 - The Rockets took a commanding 16 point first quarter lead and never looked back. Amber Gotham led Reese with 16 points, four rebounds, and seven assists. Jordan Kiser had 12 points and two rebounds, while Sarah Spiekerman had eight points and 10 rebounds. Amara Wilson led all scorers with 24 points, including 15 in the third quarter. Freshman Jenna Hirsch contributed six points and eight rebounds for Marlette, who falls to 2-2. The win keeps Reese's record perfect at 3-0.

Mayville 50 - Cass City 38 - Having a week off did not hurt coach Tom Elenbaum's Mayville five as they improved their record to 2-0. Chelsea Roehl led the Wildcats with 18 points, while Amy Elenbaum scored 10 points. Megan Parrish scored 16 points for Cass City, while McKensie Parrish scored 11 points. The loss drops Cass City's record to 0-4.

North Branch 56 - Caro 24 - Caro went scoreless in the first quarter and never recovered. Kayla Snoblen and Morgan Vauter led all scorers with 14 points. Rayenne Kaiser contributed to the win as well with 12 points. Emily Koehler led Caro with seven points. North Branch improves to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the TVC-East, while Caro drops to 1-2 and 1-1.

USA 56 - Ubly 34 - USA picked up their first victory of the season in four attempts. Brittany Gruehn scored 15 points, while Miranda Fuerst scored 12 points. Jenny Williamson and Jessica Gremel each scored 10 points.

Boys Scoreboard

North Huron 66 - Kingston 42 - Joe Strauel scored 12 points for the 0-2 Cardinals. Nolan Kolacz chipped in with 11 points.

North Branch 66 - Caro 50 - The Broncos used a 21-8 advantage in the third quarter to pull away from the Tigers. Ryan Kosko led all scorers with 20 points, while Chris White added 15 points with three 3-point buckets. Doug Griffin added six points and 10 rebounds. Pat Bishop led Caro with 14 points, while Jared Vinson added 12 points. North Branch moved to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in TVC-East play, as Caro drops to 1-1 and 0-1.

Birch Run 64 - Millington 50 - Kyle Currie led Millington with 13 points as his team dropped to 1-1 overall and 0-1 in TVC-East play.

Buena Vista 75 - Frankenmuth 25 - Luke Bade led the Eagles with eight points, while Kent Redford scored six points. The loss drops from Frankenmuth to 1-1 overall.

Thursday Night Basketball

2009-12-10T21:35:00.008-05:00

Girls Scoreboard

Kingston 55 - Akron-Fairgrove 48 - The Lady Vikings were leading by two points after three quarters, but Kingston found their offense scoring 20 points in the last quarter to pull away with the victory. Emily Chambers led Kingston with 18 points. Akron-Fairgrove was led by Alyssa Monchilov's 17 points, five rebounds, and four steals. Sarah Crane contributed 14 points and seven rebounds. The win improves Kingston's record to 2-1 overall and in NCTL-South play. The loss drops the Vikings to 2-2 overall and 2-1 in the NCTL-North.

Frankenmuth 54 - Buena Vista 53 - Jenny McCain scored 19 points as the Lady Eagles evened their record at 2-2.

CPS 49 - Owendale-Gagetown 33

Boys Scoreboard

Cass City 56 - Mayville 41 - Justin Ketterer scored a game-high 31 points as the Red Hawks evened their record at 1-1. Mayville was led by William Henderson's 12 points, four rebounds, and three steals. Jordan Broadworth also contributed 10 points. Mayville falls to 0-2 on the season.

Reese 72 - Marlette 70 OT - Marlette tied the game up at the end of regulation after being down by seven at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Reese outscored Marlette 7-5 in the extra period to earn a victory in there first game of the year. Resse was led by senior Josh Pickell's 26 points, and Caleb Gnatkowski's 20 points. Ethan Stockmeyer contributed 11 points. Marlette's Nick Armstong and Kolby Lange each scored 20 points. Marlette falls to 0-2 on the year.

Harbor Beach 48 - USA 34 - The Patroits lost their first game of the year after only scoring 12 points in the second half. Dakota Gangler led USA with eight points.

Humpday Basketball Scores

2009-12-09T21:20:00.010-05:00

Girls Scoreboard

Bad Axe Mayville - PPD

Harbor Beach 61 - USA 36 - Miranda Fuerst scored 10 points as the Patroits dropped to 0-3 on the season.

Sandusky 62 - Cass City 25 - The Lady Red Hawks fell to 0-3 with their loss. McKensie Parrish scored 10 points in the loss.

Vassar 58 - Marlette 48 - Vassar improved to 3-0 with their victory over Marlette. The Lady Vulcans shot 12-16 from the free throw line in the 4th quarter to secure the victory. Hilary MacKay scored a game-high 24 points. Kayla Verbeek had a double-double with 15 points and 20 rebounds.

North Branch 47 - Lapeer West 45 OT - Rayene Kaiser scored North Branch's last seven points, including a three-point basket late in regulation to tie the game. Kaiser finished with a game-high 13 points. Kayla Snoblen also contributed 10 points for the Lady Broncos.

Tuesday Hardwood Haven

2009-12-08T22:22:00.009-05:00

Boys Scoreboard

Frankenmuth 65 - Michigan Lutheran Seminary 60 OT - Frankenmuth had to go to overtime to earn their first victory of the season. Jake Nuechterlein led the Eagles with 15 points. Luke Shepherd scored 14 points. Kent Redford (Brad's younger brother) scored 14 points and had four steals, including a game-tying three-point basket to tie the game at the end of regulation. Spencer Bell scored 10 points and had six rebounds.

Caro 60 - Croswell-Lexington 55 - Caro was down by eight points after the first quarter, but went 12-16 from the charity stripe to take a one point half-time lead en route to head coach Eddie Crosby's first varsity victory. Pat Bishop led the Tigers with 16 points, while Jared Vincent scored 14 points. Caleb Sundblad had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Vassar 44 - Marlette 25 - Senior Troy Hecht had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the season opening victory for the Vulcans.

Bad Axe 44 - Mayville 25 - William Henderson scored 11 points for the Wildcats in their loss.

Sandusky 53 - Cass City 41 - Justin Ketterer scored 12 points in the Red Hawks loss.

Arenac-Eastern 65 - Akron-Fairgrove 36 - Josh Repkie led the Vikings with 12 points.

Marine City Cardinal Mooney 78 - Kingston 45 - Garrison Glowniak led the Cardinals with 14 points.

Owendale-Gagetown 55 - SASA 47 - Ryan Francis led the Bulldogs in their opening win with 16 points. Eric Montreuill and Hunter Champagne each contributed 11 points.

North Branch 58 - Imlay City 46 - North Branch used a 15-3 second quarter to coast to victory. Chris White scored 16 points, including three three-point baskets. Kyle Cline also added 16 points in the victory.

Girls Scoreboard

Croswell-Lexington 47 - Caro 30 - Vanessa Taylor led the Tigers with 17 points.

Owendale-Gagetown 47 - SASA 29 - Christy Schmidt led the Lady Bulldogs with 12 points.

Monday Night Scores

2009-12-07T22:59:00.007-05:00

Girls Scoreboard

Tawas Area 64 Frankenmuth 49 - Frankenmuth falls to 1-2 overall with the loss to Tawas Area. Kelsey Ritter scored 15 points for the Lady Eagles. McCauley Mossner recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Akron-Fairgrove 49 - Caseville 35 - Akron-Fairgrove has now won two games this year under first-year head coach Jason Lemon. The Lady Vikings went winless in 2008-2009. Sarah Crane scored 19 points, had 12 rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Alyssa Monchilov had a double-double as well with 12 points, 14 rebounds, and also six steals. Theresa Burkey added 10 points, four steals, and two rebounds.

North Huron 57 - Owendale-Gagetown 28

Memphis 60 - Kingston 44 - The Lady Cardinals fell to 1-1 overall and in NCTL-South play. Chelsea Leach had 13 points, while Megan James added nine points.

Millington 52 - Lakeville 39 - Millington earned their first win of the season. Rachel Lawe led the way for the Lady Cardinals with 12 points, four rebounds, and two steals. Erica Babcock also contributed 10 points, three rebounds, a steal, and an assist.

Boys Scoreboard

Millington 64 - Lakeville 61 - Millington overcame a nine point half-time deficit by shooting 14-18 from the free-throw line in the second-half to give new coach Shane LeVan his first victory. Junior Kyle Currie scored 14 of his team-high 16 points in the second-half while also collecting six rebounds. Josh Williams scored 13 points and had five rebounds and three assists. Williams also went 5-6 from the charity stripe in the final quarter to help secure the victory. Michael Tisdale also added 11 points.

Celebrity Cagers

2009-12-05T06:15:00.003-05:00

Similar to our Friday's Freaks from football, I will select a Celebrity Cager each week. This male or female basketball player will then be given the great honor of being the Tabloid Celebrity of the Week. :)

Reese - Jade Ackerman scored 34 points in Reese's two wins this week, including 22 against Harbor Beach on Friday. Amber Gotham scored 22 points and had eight assists during the week.

Vassar - Hilary MacKay scored 28 points, while her team recorded two victories. Kayla Verbeek added 23 points, including a game-high 19 during Friday's victory over Birch Run.

Cass City - McKensie Parrish scored 23 points and Logan Rowell added 21 in Cass City's two defeats.

Frankenmuth - Kelsey Ritter scored 20 points, while he team split it's games this week. McCauley Mossner had a huge in Frankenmuth's win over North Branch, scoring 10 points and adding 15 rebounds and four assists.

Kingston - Megan James scored 18 and had seven rebounds in Kingston's only game this week - a victory over Owendale-Gagetown. Quinn Daily added seven points and 12 rebounds.

Caro - In Caro's only game of the week, Vanessa Taylor scored 16 points, while Brittney Quick added 14.

Mayville - Amy Elenbaum led the charge in Mayville's only game this week as she scored 18 points (all three pointers), had five assists, and seven rebounds. Tessa Buhl scored 14 points, had eight rebounds and two assists. Chelsea Roehl had eleven points, eight rebounds and two assists.

This week's Tabloid Celebrity is ..... Reese's Jade Ackerman who averaged 17 points in her team's two victories. Congrats, Jade and good luck with the paparazzi.

Christian's Cerebrations

2009-12-03T19:30:00.004-05:00

With the fall sports season complete and the winter season getting underway, it is time to take a quick look back at the back at the fall and opine a little about the girl's basketball season.

For the second season in a row, the Tuscola County area has been represented in Battle Creek for the volleyball semi-finals. Last year USA and North Branch lost their bid for a championship in the semi-finals. This year Marlette (after eight stright district crowns) made their way to the semi-finals before losing to Ravenna. North Branch completed the mission they started last year and won the Class B state championship by defeating Delton Kellogg. Thumb Player of the Year Jordan Fish led the charge all season for her squad. Look for Fish to show up on a lot of ballots for the 2010 Michigan Miss Volleyball.

What does all this tell us? Volleyball is alive and well in the Thumb. Most of this is because of North Branch and the program that Jim Fish has put in place, but that program only helps the rest of the Thumb as they try to be just like the best.

Tuscola County also had a football team reach the semi-finals - the Millington Cardinals. Even though the Cardinal faithful are disappointed with the loss to Clare, the result the following weekend would have been the same - a blowout loss to Jackson Lumen Christi. One of the most important things the Cardinal coaching staff can take from this playoff run was the fact that next year's varsity players received an additional four weeks of practice. Those four weeks are a crucial learning period for the sophomores from the junior varsity squad.

Speaking of the Cardinal coaching staff, there will not be any Brett Favresque actions by Tim Furno. Word for the Millington administration is that Furno bowed out very gracefully, announcing at the team's end of year banquet that he is done as the Millington coach, and retiring to Florida.

Furno's departure leaves the Tuscola County area with three varsity football vacancies. The Cass City adminstration chose not to bring Scott Cuthrell back for a tenth season. Cuthrell finished his tenure with a 38-48 (.442) record with three playoff appearances. According to the Cass City administration, it was time to go a different direction with the football program. The new coach will have a chance to choose all coaches in the program (junior high and up) as all coaches were not asked back.

One year after being elected to the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Al Boydston will not be back on the sideline for the Caro Tigers. Boydston was not asked back for his 21st season with Caro. Boydston finishes his Caro career with a 109-83 (.568) record and five playoff appearances (2002 semi-finalist), but finished 13-23 (.361) in his last four years on the sidelines.

Couple these two terminations with last year dismissal of North Branch's Steve VerBurg, and there have been three dismissals in this area in the past year. VerBurg only received on year in charge and finished 2-7. North Branch wanted to move away from mediocrity, and they did with a 6-4 finish and the playoffs in Pat Forester's first year. Cass City's and Caro's programs have been mediocore over the past few years and the administrations, I believe, are tired of it. Right or wrong, I believe the culture of high school football has changed, and we will see more of these dismissals in the years to come. We may have seen the end of the Reas and Furnos, coaches who spend over 30 years at a school.

Moving on to basketball, I am really looking forward to the girl's basketball season. The county has a few very good teams, which are led by some very solid basketball players.

In my opinion Reese should be the toast of the county. With seniors Amber Gotham (2008-2009 1st team All-Thumb) and Jade Ackerman (2008-2009 1st team All-GTC-West), and junior Sarah Spiekerman (2008-2009 2nd team All-GTC-West), the Lady Rockets have a solid core for coach Denny Gruber. As evidenced by Reese's 70 points in their opening season win over Linden, they do not have problem finding the basket. I look fot Reese to score a lot of points and win a lot of game this season.

Vassar should have very solid team this year as well, not to mention probably the best "Big Men" in the area. Kayla Verbeek (2008-2009 1st team All-GTC-West) and Amberly Hauger can score and rebound inside with anyone. Hilary MacKay has not played varsity basketball since her sophomore year, after missing last year due to injury. Her quickness and ball handling will bring much needed relief to coach Bob Nowotny's squad, which struggled from the guard position last year. Throw in players from last year's undefeated junior varsity squad and the Vulcans have a winning recipe for the 2009-2010 season. Mark January 08 and February 04 in your date books, they should be great games when Vassar and Reese play each other.

Frankenmuth should be the other county area team with a dominant season. The Eagles return two 1st team All-TVCE players in Jenny McCain and Kelsey Ritter. Look for them to challenge for the TVCE title again this year.

This weeks Mix 92.1 game of the week will be USA at Mayville. Pre-game will begin aroung 6:45 p.m. with tip-off around 7:00 p.m. The game will be Mayville's opener, while USA lost to Marlette earlier in the week.

Check out "Let's Talk Sports" on Saturday morning from 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. as Derek and I recap all of the weeks games, and give our final thoughts on the 2009 fall sports season.

Indispensable Chips: Bitzer and Harman are CMU's MVPs

2009-12-02T12:52:00.001-05:00

- Just a nice story posted on www.bankhoops.com about USA's Jordan Bitzer playing at CMU-
Written by Stephen Bell

Wednesday, 25 November 2009 06:29

A near constant in the tenure of fourth-year Central Michigan coach Ernie Zeigler has been the contribution of senior guards Jordan Bitzer and Robbie Harman. And even that, as recent teams saw their rosters in flux through a mix of transience and malfeasance, ended last year, when Bitzer was ineligible to play the first semester.

Back on the court for good, the Chippewas get their most out of Bitzer now. In a 69-53 loss Tuesday at Wright State, he played 38 minutes. Hard not to keep him out there, as in that game he was their best rebounder, post-up scorer, perimeter defender, overall transition player and three-point shooter. Against a talented Wright State backcourt, Bitzer was 6-for-9 from the floor, including 3-of-3 from downtown Dayton, for a team-high 16 points. He had a game-high 10 rebounds. If you go 10-deep from all the colleges in Michigan, Bitzer has a chance to make the mythical team, he's that good.

Bitzer was a three-sport star at Unionville-Sebewaing, a Class C school in the Thumb. CMU was his only D1 offer and he took it early, earning it not by AAU but after leading USA to the state final That was one of former Central coach Jay Smith's two recruiting gifts to the incoming staff. The next was Robbie Harman, originally a walk-on out of Traverse City Central who may have looked to the outside world like an undersized shooting guard from the sticks. What Harman was, a three-sport Class A all-stater who was the clear-cut best basketball player in the Big North Conference two years running. Not even Ben Simons can say that. TC Central had a talent lull when Harman was a senior, when too often he was reduced to a pale impersonation of Allen Iverson.

As a high schooler, Harman was known for his big-time ups. I once invited he and TC St. Francis scoring machine to a high school open gyn run at Muskegon Heights. Between games I'd call him out to impress the downstaters with his little-man dunking, and he obliged. Despite bruised ribs from a football game against Detroit Catholic Central less than 24 hours prior. That beating was probably nothing compared to what Harman now endures on the basketball court. He's 6-0, 180 pounds, and gets knocked around like a tailback. Tough as he is, size is what did in the sometimes CMU centerfielder on the defensive end against Wright State. For the Raiders, 6-3 junior Vaughn Duggins powered past Harman for 21 points, and 6-5 senior Todd Brown was 4-of-6 from three-point range en route to 20 points. On the other end, Wright State's perimeter was active, aggressive and deep with its defense. Harman had to work so hard for his shot, and ended up 3-of-11 for nine points. While playing 39 minutes. When 2-3 Central Michigan has won, or had a chance to win, Harman has shot well from deep, and he already has two 20-point games. He has a quick shot and the ability to get it off, but Wright State made it too hard to find that first spark. The Raiders certainly remember what happened last year, when Harman's overtime three-pointer completed a comeback win in Mount Pleasant. In the rematch, his best scoring play was in the second half, when he was patient on a high ball-screen and ended up in the lane for a three-point play.

More shots may have opened up for Harman had CMU been able to get anything going inside. They really tried early, but the plan imploded because 6-9 junior Marko Spica was a turnover in waiting (as in, his first three touches). He has happy feet, and plays small and soft. Even realizing he didn't play all of last year, it was bad news. Any of Central's fall big men signees -- Jevon Harden, Nate VanArendonk or Colin Voss -- might have been a safer starting center option for the Chips, right now. Finally Spica got out of the way for Bitzer, who was able to score inside with just natural ballplaying ability, as well as jump over Wright's bigs for offensive rebounds.

While he had more turnovers than assists, Bitzer is probably CMU's best passer in terms of vision and delivery. He'd have more assists if Central's frontcourt could convert his right-on entry passes, or catch cleanly dimes in traffic. The former all-state QB had a sweet delivery to a back-cutting Harman for a first-half layup. Bitzer isn't going to be a consistent one-on-one scorer, but he does a good job of finding his shot and mixing it up inside and outside. CMU ran a nice BLOB for him that was money. He only forced one shot, of the three misses, when he found himself stuck in the lane, and his team down 17 in the first half, and threw it up there.

CMU's other starters, 6-7 junior newcomer William McClure and 6-4 junior Jalen Thomas, another JC transfer, couldn't get in a rhythm because of fouls. But McClure showed glimpses of potential with his width and jumping on the glass.

In-state coaches from the GLIAC, MIAA and WHAC have proposed, yeah, Bitzer and Harman are good. They'd be all-conference players -- in our leagues. If that's a short-sell, it won't work. Both these guys are All-MAC candidates, and have had the kind of college careers many young players can look up to. These are the kind of post-season banquet awards are named after. MVPs by any other name.

Tuesday Hardcourt Scores

2009-12-01T22:25:00.006-05:00

Reese 70 Linden 43 - The Lady Rockets got the season started on the right foot with a win over Linden. Reese was led by 2008-2009 All-Thumb player Amber Gotham's 16 points and eight assists. Jade Ackerman also contributed 12 points. Reese will play Harbor Beach on Friday night in the opener for the Pirates.

Vassar 57 Millington 20 - Vassar picked up the season opening victory over their former conference foe on Tuesday. Hilary MacKay scored a game-high 17 points, while Alyssa Muntz scored 11 points. Emily Hauger added 10 rebounds. Rachel Lawe scored a team-high five points for the Lady Cardinals.

Bullock Creek 50 Frankenmuth 39 - Kelsey Ritter led the Lady Eagles with 13 points in their opening season loss.

Arenac-Eastern 58 Akron-Fairgrove 10

Ubly 50 Cass City 42 - Cass City dropped their opener to Greater Thumb crossover rival Ubly, but they had solid games from both McKensie Parrish and Logan Rowell. Parrish scored 15 points and Rowell 13 points.

Marlette 49 USA 46 - Marlette defeated the Lady Patriots on opening night. Chelsey Ewald led USA with 14 points.

North Branch 41 Imlay City 40 - North Branch used a strong defensive second quarter and held on at the end to beat Imlay City. The Lady Bronco defense held Imlay City to a five point second quarter. North Branch was led by Samantha Waterman's 12 points and four steals. Rayenne Kaiser contributed seven points and six steals, as Morgan Vauter had seven points, five rebounds and three steals.

Volleyball Semi-Finals

2009-11-20T22:34:00.002-05:00

North Branch advances and Marlette falls.

North Branch (75-5-2) beat Cadillac 25-14, 25-26, 25-16, and 25-19 to advance to tomorrow's championship versus Delton Kellogg (59-6-2). Click here for the box score of the match. Congratulations to the Lady Broncos and Coach Jim Fish. Good luck tomorrow.

Marlette finished their season losing to Ravenna in three straight games 25-13, 25-11, and 25-7. Click here for the box score.

Christian's Cerebrations

2009-11-17T08:45:00.004-05:00

North Branch Volleyball

This picture could very well represent North Branch this eveing as they venture to Pontiac Notre Dame Prep high school to take on the former Class B powerhouse Marysville. The Broncos which are the number one ranked team in Class B will take on ninth ranked Marysville at 7:00 p.m. Marysville won the Class B state title from 1997-2004 and again in 2006. This North Branch team is fun to watch, and dare I say may be a better all-around team then last year's semi-finalist.

Coach Jim Fish's team set a state record this year for their third consecutive year with 70+ wins. They are led by setter Jordan Fish and libero Catherine Bruise. Both girls are juniors, and will be back for more next year.

Millington Football

The Cardinal's will face another state-ranked team this Saturday taking on the fourth ranked Clare Pioneers. During this playoff season Millington has disposed of eigth ranked Carrollton and third ranked Ovid-Elsie.

Clare has never faced and Tri-Valley East school, and Millington has never faced a Jack Pine school. Clare has faced a few Tri-Valley schools. The Pioneers last to West member St. Charles in the 2006 playoffs, and they hold a 3-5 liftime record versus Central member Freeland. Clare is 0-3 in the playoffs against Tri-Valley teams.

Clare who has won the last three Jack Pine titles and eight out of ten, is led by senior south-paw quarterback Kris English. He has thrown for over 1,600 yards this year and 18 touchdowns. English is also a goal line threat on his feet, as is evidenced by his 13 rushing touchdowns. His favorite targets are cousin Matt English and Tyler Beatty. Matt English has caught 36 balls this year for 978 yards and 13 touchdowns. He has an impressive 27.2 yards per catch average. Beatty meanwhile has 32 receptions for 508 yards and 4 touchdowns. Clare is led defensively by senior defensive end Cameron Allen and his 140 tackles. Allen also has five sacks, two interceptions, and two fumble recoveries.

These teams did not have any common opponents this year, but Clare did defeat Pinconning who defeated Essexville-Garber who beat Millington. For a few pdf documents for a comparison of the two teams click here and here. The Pioneers will be the first primarily green team that Millington has faced since defeating Pinconning 44-20 in October of 1993.

Mix 92.1 will be broadcasting this game live from Midland High School with the pre-game starting at 12:30 p.m. and kickoff at 1:00 p.m. Let's Talk Sports will also be live from in front of the stadium at 10:00 a.m. We are planning to have an "ESPN College Game Day" type of show. So we are asking all fans to get to the game early and join us on the radio

Millington vs Clare - Opponent Matchup

2009-11-14T20:23:00.005-05:00

for a PDF version of this post, click the title above.

Click here for a PDF of the Tale of the Tape

This game will take place on Saturday November 21 at 1 pm at Midland High School.

#4 Clare Pioneers
Result	Points For	Points Against	Opponent	Opponent Wins	Opponent Losses	Class	Conference
Won	21	14	Freeland	6	4	B	Tri-Valley Central
Won	28	7	Beal City	11	1	D	Highland
Won	32	7	Gladwin	3	6	B	Jack Pine
Won	28	14	Sanford Meridian	9	2	C	Jack Pine
Won	55	0	Beaverton	0	9	C	Jack Pine
Won	42	8	Harrison	4	5	B	Jack Pine
Won	24	0	Houghton Lake	6	4	B	Jack Pine
Won	35	0	Farwell	5	4	C	Jack Pine
Won	56	0	Roscommon	1	8	B	Jack Pine
Won	25	20	Freeland	6	4	B	Tri-Valley Central
Won	28	18	Pinconning	7	4	B	NE Michigan
Won	20	7	Menominee	9	3	B	Great Northern UP
12-0	394	95		67	54
	32.8	7.9		0.554
Head Coach:			Kelly Luplow	13th trip to the Playoffs
			22nd Year	4th straight trip to the Playoffs
			156-64 .709	12-12 overall post-season record

Millington Cardinals
Result	Points For	Points Against	Opponent	Opponent Wins	Opponent Losses	Class	Conference
Won	35	0	Alma	3	6	B	Tri-Valley Central
Won	45	6	Macomb Lutheran North	4	5	B	Metro
Won	55	12	Bridgeport	0	9	B	Tri-Valley East
Won	34	14	Frankenmuth	3	6	B	Tri-Valley East
Lost	7	14	Essexville-Garber	7	3	B	Tri-Valley East
Won	26	14	Birch Run	5	4	B	Tri-Valley East
Won	24	22	Caro	5	4	B	Tri-Valley East
Won	40	8	North Branch	6	4	B	Tri-Valley East
Won	42	0	Otisville-Lakeville	1	8	B	Genesee Area-Red
Won	53	21	Carrollton	8	2	B	Tri-Valley West
Won	21	6	Vassar	7	4	B	Greater Thumb West
Won	22	21	Ovid-Elsie	11	1	B	Tri-Valley Central
11-1	404	138		60	56
	33.7	11.5		0.517
Head Coach:			Tim Furno	16th trip to the Playoffs
			32nd Year	6th straight trip to the Playoffs
			208-109 .656	15-15 overall post-season record

Millington vs Ovid-Elsie

2009-11-12T06:19:00.000-05:00

Millington's Justin Stutler ready to make a name for himself against third-ranked Ovid-Elsie

Greg Tunnicliff | The Flint Journal, November 11, 2009 5:23 p.m.

Carrollton sophomore Charlie Williams, left, tackles Millington senior Justin Stutler during their football game Friday night at Millington High School. Millington won the game 53-21. - (Jeffrey LaMonde | The Saginaw News)

FLINT, Michigan — Chris Robinson, understandably, has gotten a lot of hype this season.

The Ovid-Elsie superstar running back led the Marauders to the Division 5 state football finals in 2008.

This season, he has rushed for a whopping 2,486 yards and 33 scores on 281 carries while leading Ovid-Elsie, ranked No. 3, to an 11-0 record.

It’s a safe bet that Justin Stutler hasn’t been on the same amount of radar screens as Robinson, but the Millington senior has been just as impressive.

Stutler has rushed for 1,903 yards and 22 touchdowns on 236 carries while leading the Cardinals to a 10-1 mark.

He will get his opportunity to show the state what he can do when Millington enters Mr. Robinson’s neighborhood at 7 p.m. Friday for a regional championship game.

“It really doesn’t bother me,” Stutler said of all the attention given to Robinson. “I just go out to play football.”

Stutler has been battling injuries and illness the last two weeks. He missed some action in last Friday’s district championship victory over Vassar because of a helmet shot to his back.

He also missed some school this week due to a cold.

Stutler indicated Wednesday morning that he is feeling much better and he will be 100 percent for Friday’s contest.

“I feel a whole lot better,” Stutler said. “I’ll be fine for Friday night.”

Millington’s program has been widely recognized in past years for its passing game, but this fall, the Cardinals have relied on a strong rushing attack to lead them to victory.

With Stutler leading the way, the Cardinals are averaging 362.6 yards on the ground per game.

While Stutler has been the feature back, Millington is far from being a one-man show. The Cardinals have five backs with 200 or more yards rushing, seven with three or more rushing touchdowns.

Junior Cameron Wilson is second on the team with 674 yards rushing and four scores on 83 carries.

“Cam Wilson is more of an outside guy and I find holes and run people over,” Stutler said. “We can do whatever we want and switch it up every play. It throws them off.”

Stutler became the Cardinals’ main offensive weapon because of his ability to run with power and speed.

The 5-foot-8 150-pound Stutler has the strength to run over people, but he also has the speed to break a long run.

He has been clocked around 4.6 in the 40-yard dash and last spring he took runner-up honors at the Tri-Valley Conference East Division track meet in the 200.

“He’s hard to bring down,” Millington coach Tim Furno said. “He’ll make you miss or break a tackle on the first hit. You think you got him and he’s gone.”

Stutler has been at his best in big games. He amassed 262 yards against Carrollton, ranked No. 8, in a district first-round game before rushing for 245 last week against Vassar.

He is averaging 8.1 yards per carry and has a team-high 136 points, including two 2-point conversion runs.

“He’s a runner,” Furno said. “He shows a lot of poise, leadership and heart.”

He has 15 tackles and one interception. Stutler is quick to point that he would not be as successful as he has been without the help of his offensive line.

“The reason why I have done so well is my linemen are blocking so well and making holes so I can run,” Stutler said. “It’s a team sport.”

Besides playing offense, Stutler also is a fixture on the Cardinals’ defense where he starts at cornerback.

Final Football Stat Leaders

2009-11-11T22:25:00.001-05:00

Rushing

Thumb Rushing Leaders
Name	School	Att.	Yards	Avg.	TD
Justin Stutler	Millington	175	1,521	8.7	16
Mike Daniel	Caro	216	1,228	5.7	14
Clinton Northrop	Sandusky	207	1,128	5.4	15
Tyler Masse	USA	158	1,126	7.1	12
Justin Cleary	Ubly	140	1,112	7.9	10
John Schramski	North Huron	186	1,074	5.8	7
Keif Vickers	Vassar	163	1,034	6.3	11
Dillon Newell	Bad Axe	122	1,003	8.2	8
Austin Osentoski	Cass City	181	1,001	5.5	12
Chris Rowe	Laker	137	989	7.2	8

Receiving

Thumb Receiving Leaders
Name	School	Rec.	Yards	Avg.	TD
Taylor Nicol	Kingston	41	593	14.5	6
Kevin Rice	North Huron	36	546	15.2	8
Donnie Thomas	Marlette	19	444	23.4	8
Justin Heinlein	Reese	17	430	25.3	7
Shaun Clancy	North Huron	21	364	17.3	3
Troy Hecht	Vassar	19	359	18.9	7
Cody Leander	Sandusky	19	307	16.2	5
Paul Squires	Mayville	12	283	23.6	4
Madison Harper	Vassar	17	251	14.8	2
Brandon Gierman	Dryden	15	243	16.2	2

Passing

Thumb Passing Leaders
Name	School	Comp	Att	Pct	Yards	TD	INT
Erik Dhyse	North Huron	79	148	53.4%	1,169	17	10
Kyle Auernahmer	Vassar	55	104	52.9%	961	10	8
Aaron Mercer	Mayville	69	138	50.0%	911	10	8
Justin Shaver	Marlette	50	119	42.0%	780	10	8
Joe Strauel	Kingston	44	117	37.6%	750	5	8
Josh Pickell	Reese	30	52	57.7%	621	6	2
Jordan Katt	Sandusky	46	92	50.0%	610	5	9
Cody Paupert	Dryden	31	63	49.2%	482	6	5
Noah Moore	Millington	24	40	60.0%	481	6	2
Justin Ketterer	Cass City	29	45	64.4%	446	8	0

Scoring

Thumb Scoring Leaders
Name	School	TD	2 PAT	PAT	FG	Pts
Mike Daniel	Caro	17	6	0	0	114
Justin Stutler	Millington	16	2	0	0	100
Jordan Terrasi	Ubly	13	7	8	0	100
Clinton Northrop	Sandusky	15	4	0	0	98
Cory Soucie	Brown City	12	1	17	0	91
Tyler Masse	USA	14	3	0	0	90
Bryan Nash	Ubly	13	4	0	0	86
Cory Clark	Dryden	13	3	0	0	84
Doug Griffin	North Branch	12	2	7	0	83
Keif Vickers	Vassar	12	4	1	0	81

Christian's Cerebrations

2009-11-08T21:06:00.003-05:00

Vassar-Millington

When it boils right down to it, what an ugly game. This game featured 20 penalties and a player ejection. The worst part of the 20 penalties was the 7 personal fouls. This is just inexcusable. After the first personal foul, both coaches should have warned their teams about extra curricular activity. This game seemed to boil down to each team trying to smack each other around instead of trying to win the district championship.

With that being said, I was impressed with the Vassar squad. The intensity on that sideline was something I have never seen in a Vassar football team. They came to play and to hit. Jason Kiss has this program on the right track, and if he stays 20-30 years, he will have the same success that his counterpart on Friday night has had. Millington is just a better team, and they will move on to the regionals.

The Cardinals will face Ovid-Elise on Friday night November 13th at 7:00 p.m. The game will be heard locally on Mix 92.1.

Reese-St. Charles

I was quite surprised as the outcome of this game. I thought this game was going to be closer and probably a Reese win. Travis Menapace was still hurt, and Jimmy Hahn had the flu. So, Kyle Yaklin stepped in at quarterback. He is only the fifth person to take a snap for the Rocket this season. When you have that many quaterbacks in a season it is amazing that the team made it to the district finals. I think that is a testament to coach Bob Saylor. He proved this season that he is one of the best coaches in the Thumb, and possibly deserves Thumb Sportswriters Association coach of the year award.

Bill Khan

2009-11-06T10:51:00.002-05:00

Apparantly Bill Khan does not recall calling Vassar cupcakes. Qudos to whoever sent him the cupcakes.

A package from my 'friends' in Vassar; at least it wasn't ticking
By Bill Khan Flint Journal
November 03, 2009, 8:34AM

Bill Khan The Flint JournalThese goodies were left for Bill Khan after Vassar upset Beecher, contrary to his pick last week.
FLINT, Michigan — There was a package waiting for me when I arrived at work Monday morning, compliments of my “friends in Vassar.”
I was relieved to find out it wasn’t ticking.
Gee, I didn’t know I had any friends in Vassar — or many other places, for that matter.
Knowing that I and everyone else on the planet who predicts such things picked Beecher to beat Vassar in the first round of the state football playoffs, I was curious what I wrote that caused a Vulcans supporter to single me out with a package of small black-and-orange cupcakes.
Did I say something about Vassar playing a cupcake schedule? That would only seem logical (sorry, couldn’t resist a bad Vulcan pun).
Ryan Garza The Flint JournalVassar's Troy Hecht runs the ball past the Beecher defense Friday night. Nope. All I wrote in our online picks was this: Vassar hasn’t seen a team with Beecher’s speed. The Vulcans had better hope for a muddy field to neutralize things a bit. Even then, Beecher has proven it can win with its defense when the offense isn’t clicking. Pick: Buctown
My brief preview on the game was even more benign, simply giving stats of the top Vassar players and noting that fifth-ranked Beecher was 9-0 for the first time since 1952 (if you count a victory over Flint Northern’s JV) or since 1949 (if you don’t).
My experience in picking football games is that the school you picked against isn’t trying to be nice when you receive a CARE package from said school. So, needless to say, I didn’t eat any of the cupcakes. Hey, momma didn’t raise no dummy. I ain’t fallin’ for the old Ex-Lax in the dessert trick!
Assuming the cupcakes were harmless, may I make one request? The next time I pick against Vassar — like this week against Millington, for instance — could someone send me a bag full of Baby Ruths or put a box of Drumsticks with my nameon them in the freezer at The Flint Journal? I know I shouldn’t make demands when someone gives me a free gift, but it’s how I roll.
By the way, my name was spelled wrong on the message left on the cupcakes. It read: “To Bill Kahn, from your friends in Vassar. Go orange!”
Don’t sweat it, though. Everybody spells my last name wrong. I’ve thought about changing it to Jones, especially for e-mail purposes since e-mail servers aren’t as forgiving about misspellings as I am.

Flint Journal Picks

2009-11-05T09:31:00.001-05:00

VASSAR at MILLINGTON

Bill Khan: Vassar sprung one of the biggest upsets in the state last week by going to Buctown and putting a 28-0 whipping on unbeaten Beecher. Vassar adapted better that night to poor field and weather conditions than Beecher. It's too much to believe the Vulcans can pull off two upsets in a row and beat a Millington team that is playoff-tested. Pick: Millington

Dan Nilsen: Vassar’s Vulcans came out of outer space to torpedo fifth-ranked Beecher last week. Innovative offensive sets and strong blocking opened lanes for bruising Wildcat back Troy Hecht and warp-speed tailback Keif Vickers. And when the Vulcans are on defense, the shields are up. Eleventh-ranked Millington is the logical choice, but Vassar’s phasers are still set on stun. Pick: Vassar

Mark Spezia: Vassar just won its first playoff game last week, although it was a huge upset, knocking off unbeaten Beecher. However, Millington has tremendous edge in postseason experience, qualifying 16 of the past 19 years and the Cardinals have won 21 of the 23 meetings with the Vulcans. Pick: Millington

Greg Tunnicliff: Simple logic would dictate that I should take Vassar over Millington. The Vulcans upset fifth-ranked Beecher last week while the Cardinals downed eight-ranked Carrollton. Everything seems to point to Vassar except one thing — the intangibles. This is Tim Furno’s last season as Millington’s coach. Based on last week’s result, the Cardinals want to send him off with a long playoff ride. That said, Furno will live long and prosper. Pick: Millington

GENESEE at UBLY

Bill Khan: Genesee has an explosive offense, led by quarterback Garret Cook, that averages 41.2 points a game. Yet, the Wolves won't have the most prolific offense on the field in this game. Ubly averages 46.2 points. Oh, and there's the little matter of that 65-6 beat-down the Bearcats laid on Genesee last year. These teams are similar to the ones who met last year. It's hard to imagine Genesee closing a 59-point gap. Pick: Ubly

Dan Nilsen: Versatile Garret Cook gives Genesee a chance in any game, and the seventh-ranked Wolves beat Brown City (43-8) by almost the identical score that No. 3 Ubly did (44-8). But last year’s 65-6 loss to Ubly seems too large a gap for the Wolves to close. Pick: Ubly

Mark Spezia: Genesee to the place where it was stomped 65-6 in the first round of last year’s playoffs, but the Wolves are a much better team this season. The problem is, Ubly seems to have just as good of a team or better than last year’s squad which fell to Traverse City St. Francis in the Division 7 state title game. Ubly is a wing-T, run-first team that amassed 494 yards on the ground last week against Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest. Genesee might have a chance if its strikes quickly and builds a lead, but Ubly has the offense to keep the Wolves off the field and the Bearcats have outscored five playoff teams 233-64. Pick: Ubly

Greg Tunnicliff: Ubly is 23-1 the last two years with its only loss being a 41-13 setback to Traverse City St. Francis in last year’s Division 7 state championship game. Like Ubly, Genesee is also 10-0. The Wolves, however, have not played a team like Ubly, who has Ford Field experience. Who that say they gonna beat them Bearcats: Not Genesee. Pick: Ubly

Vassar at Millington

2009-11-03T21:56:00.004-05:00

The Vassar Vulcans (7-3) move into district final play this Friday as they travel seven miles south on M-15 to renew their rivalry with the Millington Cardinals (9-1). Vassar advanced to the final by defeating #5 Flint Beecher 28-0. The shutout was the Vulcans first since beating North Branch 39-0 on October 03, 2003 - the only other year the made the playoffs. Millington advances to distict final play by way of their 53-21 victory over #8 Carrollton.

The Vulcans and Cardinals have been playing each other since approximately 1911. Records are not very reliable before 1955. Since 1955, Millington holds a 29-20-4 advantage, including winning 24 of the last 27 games. Last year was the first year the two schools did not play since at least 1955.

One of the most memorable games of this long standing rivalry took place in September of 2002. Millington ended up winning this game by a score of 62-39. Each team's score is their most productive output in any game of this series. During this game, Vassar wide receiver Shannon Harper had the following statistics - three receptions, 305 receiving yards, and four receiving touchdowns! Harper had touchdown receptions of 85, 63, and 76 yards. His fourth touchdown reception came on an 81 yard hook and lateral play. Harper gets credit for the yardage and touchdown, but not the reception.

These two teams have also crossed paths on November 06 before. In 1981, Millington won the low scoring contest 6-0.

Millington enters this game averaging 36.1 points per game, while only giving up 11.1. Vassar is scoring 29.0 points per game and giving up 20.1. Millington and Vassar have two common opponents this year - Caro and Frankenmuth. Millington defeated Caro 24-22 on October 09, and Frankenmuth 34-14 on September 18. Vassar lost to Caro 26-12 on August 28, and beat Frankenmuth 48-23 on October 23. Millington has won the last four meetings, outscoring the Vulcans 127-31.

Reese at #5 St. Charles

2009-11-02T19:53:00.004-05:00

In a battle of the tri-champions, Reese (8-2) will travel to St. Charles to do battle with the Bulldogs (9-1). St. Charles is coached by Brady Lake, who is in his second season as the main "big dog". Lake has an 18-4 record, with two straight trips to the playoffs.

The Bulldogs compete in the Tri-Valley Conference West Division. They were Tri-Champs with Carrollton and Ithaca. St. Charles is in the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year and the 11th time overall. They won the 1999 Division 6 State Championship. The team's signature moment this season came when they defeated Saginaw Valley Lutheran 84-0. The Bulldogs scored 56 points in the first 12 minutes of the game.

The Bulldogs are led by senior Wingback Tyler Nieman and senior Running Back Travis Crane. Nieman has 764 rushing yards on 50 attempts. He has scored 12 touchdowns rushing, three receiving, and has even thrown for a touchdown. Crane has rushed for 549 yards on 74 carries, and has scored four touchdowns. Senior Quarterback Dugan Roosa has also scored seven touchdowns on the ground and thrown for three more.

St. Charles advanced to their third staight district final by defeating Sandusky 51-12. The Rockets advanced to the final by beating Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port 29-6. The Bulldogs are averaging 42.0 points per game while only giving up 12.4. Reese is scoring 31.8 points per game, while the defense allows 12.6. These two teams have met one other time. On October 28, 2005, Reese beat St. Charles 48-8 in the opening round of the playoffs.

Tuscola County Advertiser Sports Survey

2009-11-01T19:59:00.001-05:00

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Talkin' Playoffs and Playoff Freaks

2009-10-30T23:03:00.011-04:00

Cupca ke Vassar (read link) defeated Flint Beecher 28-0. Keif Vickers scored all four of Vassar's touchdowns. Vickers finished the night with 111 yards rushing on 12 carries. Troy Hecht rushed for 78 yards on 12 carries. Kyle Auernahamer ended the game 2-8 passing with 52 yards. He completed one pass to Kevin Pratt for four yards, and the other pass to Jeremy Schiefer for 48 yards. The Vulcan defense came up big in this game as they held the Bucs to just 60 total yards are offense. Tyler Best led the way with 11 tackles. Joe Harper had eight tackles.

Millington beat Carrollton 53-21. Justin Stutler scored four touchdowns, while rushing for 148 yards on 29 carries. Cameron Wilson rushed the ball 10 times for 73 yards and one touchdown. Wilson also had a defensive touchdown. Jesse Stewart had two carries for 71 yards and a touchdown. Noah Moore completed both pass attempts to Josh Williams for 37 yards. Matt Harrington scored the Cardinals other touchdown on a 15 yard run in the second quarter. Sophomore place kicker Mitch Wilkerson was 4-4 on PAT attempts. Millington will now host Vassar in the District Final. The game will be the Mix 92.1 Game of the Week.

Reese beat Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port 29-6. Andrew Mendyk scored two touchdowns to lead the Rockets. Mendyk rushed for 181 yards on 22 carries. Travis VanAlst rushed for 34 yards on seven carries and scored one touchdown. Jimmy Hahn was 1-7 passing for 46 yards and a touchdown. Kyle Yaklin hauled in that reception for the touchdown. Reese will travel to St. Charles to take on the #5 ranked Bulldogs in district final action.

Mt. Pleasant 47 - North Branch 12
St. Charles 51 - Sandusky 12
Flint Powers 7 - Croswell-Lexington 0
Stanton Central Montcalm 24 - Essexville-Garber 22
Ubly 52 - Rochester Hills Lutheran NW 0
Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes 30 - Deckerville 28
Genesee 43 - Brown City 8

More Playoff Stuff

2009-10-29T06:32:00.001-04:00

North Branch faces dominating Mount Pleasant

The Flint Journal, October 27, 2009 8:27 p.m.

Division 3

North Branch at Mount Pleasant

When: 7 p.m. Friday

Records: North Branch 6-3, Mount Pleasant 9-0

Playoff histories: North Branch 2^nd trip, 1-1; Mount Pleasant 10^th trip, 6-9

Scouting report: Mount Pleasant, ranked 22^nd overall in the state by Maxpreps.com and third in Division 3, has been far more dominant, outscoring foes 347-83 to North Branch’s 221-189 mark. The Oilers have also beaten three playoff teams and two others with winning records and finished 9-0 for the first time since 1992. Mount Pleasant is averaging 212 yards rushing per game and 6.1 yards per carry with 33 touchdowns on the ground. Jon McCann has 948 yards rushing, 8.5 yards per carry with 17 touchdowns. Alex Horton and Mark Lee have combined for 705 yards. McCann is also the top tackler with 95. Quarterback Josh Rathje has passed for 837 yards with 11 touchdowns and only one interception. He has completed 68% of his passes. Tyler Duke is averaging 37.4 yards per punt. Clayton McClintic has 69 tackles and 3.5 sacks and Cody Weisenberger 4 interceptions.The Oilers have picked off 10 passes. Quarterback Doug Griffin has led North Branch, rushing for 837 yards and passing for more than 500. Dennis Natzke has also rushed for more than 500 yards and Kyle Cline has been solid in the kicking game

Genesee faces Brown City in clash of potent offenses

The Flint Journal, October 27, 2009 8:26 p.m.

Division 7

Brown City at Genesee

When: 1 p.m. Saturday

Records: Brown City 7-2, Genesee 9-0

Playoff histories: Genesee 11^th trip, 4-10; Brown City 9^th trip, 6-8.

Scouting report: Genesee, ranked seventh in Division 7, is coming off a school-record 81-point performance against Baldwin and scored 369 points this season, the most in school history for a nine-game regular season. Brown City has also been potent with 341 points while giving up 105. The Wolves have surrendered 131 points and are 2-0 against playoff team while the Green Devils, back in the playoffs after 10 years, went 1-2. Brown City uses a well-rounded rushing attack led by Kevin Kalbfleisch, Cody Anderson and Cory Soucie. Genesee quarterback Garret Cook has passed for 1,412 yards with 24 touchdowns and has rushed for 835 with 13 scores. Tyler Peltonen has caught 35 passes for 492 yards and Carl Youry nine for 335 yards, a 37.2-yard average. Donovan Aleman has 24 catches for 300 yards. Caleb Quintanilla has 123 tackles and four sacks and Sean Kirley has 72 tackles. Youry also has five interceptions and Brice Blossom four sacks. The Wolves have 15 sacks and 12 interceptions.

Flint Journal Picks

2009-10-29T06:29:00.001-04:00

NORTH BRANCH at MT. PLEASANT

Bill Khan: North Branch is in for a case of playoff culture shock, leaving the cozy confines of the Tri-Valley Conference to face the unbeaten champion of the Saginaw Valley Conference. Who you’ve played and where you come from matters at this time of year. Pick: Mt. Pleasant

Dan Nilsen: North Branch is back in the playoffs after a two-year absence, but the Broncos get a rude welcome-back host. Mount Pleasant manhandled the Valley this year, and we’re not talking the Tri-Valley. Pick: Mt. Pleasant

Mark Spezia: Just making the playoffs thanks to an overtime win over Yale means North Branch has had a successful season. The Broncos struggled against the three top teams on their schedule, losing the three games by a combined 105-28 margin. Mt. Pleasant could be better than any of those teams. Pick: Mt. Pleasant

Greg Tunnicliff: The Oilers are 9-0 for a reason and North Branch will soon find out why. The Broncos needed a one-point overtime victory over Yale just to reach the postseason. North Branch should just feel lucky to still be playing. Pick: Mount Pleasant

POWERS CATHOLIC at CROSWELL-LEXINGTON

Bill Khan: This is another case in which yon can disregard the records. Would Croswell-Lexington have a 7-2 record and a first-round home game playing the likes of Saginaw Nouvel (OK, the Pioneers win that one this year), Carman-Ainsworth, Flushing, Davison, Detroit Country Day, Highland Park and Goodrich? Croswell-Lexington probably doesn’t get into the playoffs against that schedule; Powers did, albeit with a 5-4 record. Pick: Powers

Dan Nilsen: I’m still trying to figure out how Powers got in the playoffs, but obviously the Chargers’ schedule counted for a lot. That closing win over Goodrich was convincing, too. The schedule pays off now. Pick: Powers

Mark Spezia: Powers played one of the strongest schedules in the state and has really come on the second half of the season, beating some quality teams. Croswell-Lexington has been dominant, outscoring foes 301-95, but the consistently tough competition Powers has faced should spell the difference. Pick: Powers

Greg Tunnicliff: Powers was able to reach the state playoffs with a 5-4 record because of the strength of schedule it played. Croswell-Lexington is 7-2, but it hasn't played the schedule Powers has. The more battle-tested team will move on. Pick: Powers

VASSAR at BEECHER

Bill Khan: Vassar hasn’t seen a team with Beecher’s speed. The Vulcans had better hope for a muddy field to neutralize things a bit. Even then, Beecher has proven it can win with its defense when the offense isn’t clicking. Pick: Buctown

Dan Nilsen: The Vulcans are going to think they’ve landed on another planet when they run into Beecher’s speed and defense. The Bucs live long and prosper this year. Pick: Beecher

Mark Spezia: Beecher is one of the strongest teams on both sides of the ball in Division 5. Vassar squeaked into the playoffs: Pick: Beecher

Greg Tunnicliff: Courtney Hawkins has done an outstanding job of rebuilding Beecher's program and the Buccaneers' best season ever won't end here. Beecher has a nice combination of athleticism, speed and strength that will keep its season going for a few more weeks. Pick: Beecher

CARROLLTON at MILLINGTON

Bill Khan: The scoreboard could take a beating in this one, as Carrollton has scored 374 points and Millington has put up 308. Millington plays in a tougher division of the Tri-Valley Conference, so the Cardinals’ accomplishments are more impressive. Pick: Millington

Dan Nilsen: Carrollton scored a school-record 374 points this year, but Millington is allowing only 10 per game. The intangible here is, I don’t think the Cardinals want to see Tim Furno’s career end just yet. Pick: Millington

Mark Spezia: A close matchup, but Carrollton has been a little more dominant, outscoring opponents 374-121 to Millington’s 308-90 mark. The Cardinals have had more close wins. Pick: Carrollton

Greg Tunnicliff: The Tri Valley Conference West Division was a little tougher than the East this fall and that is what separates Carrollton from Millington. Both teams went 8-1, but Carrollton posted a 31-6 victory over an 8-1 St. Charles team in week No. 6. Millington did not have win over a team of St. Charles caliber. Congratulations go out to Tim Furno on an outstanding coaching career at Millington. Pick: Carrollton

BROWN CITY at GENESEE

Bill Khan: Give me the team with the best athlete on the field, especially at the small-school level where depth is an issue. Genesee’s Garret Cook is one of the best quarterbacks at a small school in Michigan. The sour taste of a first-round playoff whipping against Ubly will motivate Cook and the Wolves. Brown City may simply be happy to be here after going 4-23 the last three years. Pick: Genesee

Dan Nilsen: Finally, Genesee gets a Greater Thumb team that isn’t Ubly. The Wolves’ 9-0 record earned that first-round home game, and they’ll get a rematch with Ubly in round two. Pick: Genesee

Mark Spezia: Brown City has a strong offense as well, but don’t expect Garret Cook and Genesee to be stopped just yet. The Wolves have found ways to win close game and Cook is money is such situations. Pick: Genesee

Greg Tunnicliff: Genesee is 9-0, but it only beat two teams with winning records this fall. Brown City is 7-2 and it has beaten three teams with winning records, including Deckerville which is still playing. The Green Devils also have a three-point loss to Sandusky, which is alive and well. Strength of schedule is huge at this point in the season. Pick: Brown City

Carrollton vs. Millington

2009-10-29T06:21:00.000-04:00

Perennial power Millington faces a rising Carrollton program in the first round of the football playoffs

Hugh Bernreuter | The Saginaw News, October 28, 2009 9:14 p.m.

They are not strangers, just estranged.

Carrollton and Millington take each other on for the first time in 20 years to open the Division 5 football playoffs at 7 p.m. Friday at Millington.

The schools are original members of the Tri-Valley Conference, although Millington left briefly to join the Thumb B Association. When Millington returned, the TVC split into two divisions, with Millington in the East and Carrollton in the West.

They have not played since 1988, but that changes Friday with the first football playoff game between the two schools.

"We are similar teams," Carrollton coach Greg Wasmer said. "They may not be as big as they have been in the past, but they take on the personality of their coach (Tim Furno). They're tenacious. They keep coming at you."

Both teams are 8-1, with Carrollton's lone loss coming against Ithaca, 48-27, and Millington's defeat coming against Essexville Garber, 14-7.

"I watched that film and came away very impressed," Wasmer said. "They had four turnovers in that game, plus some questionable penalties. In my eyes, they should be 9-0."

And both teams rely on standout backs. Millington features senior Justin Stutler, who set a school record this season with 1,521 yards rushing.

The 5-foot-9 back has scored 16 touchdowns and averages 8.7 yards per carry behind an offensive line that includes two three-year starters in Matt Berlin and Cory Barbersek.

Carrollton counters with Robert Essex, who ran for 1,749 yards last season but has eclipsed that with 1,778 yards this season. He has run for 21 touchdowns and returned a punt for another.

"He's a tough kid," Furno said. "He's got a lot of speed.

"Our strength is in our line. We've got a nice back, plus a very good defense. We have turned the ball over a lot this season."

That's music to Wasmer's ears. Under Wasmer, the Cavaliers have specialized in causing turnovers and limiting their own.

"We're very opportunistic," Wasmer said. "We need to play well, force some turnovers, and score off them to have a chance because Millington is a very, very good team."

While both teams are 8-1, Millington hosts the game based on playoff points, a given because of the teams' schedules. Millington plays in the TVC East, a Class B league, while Carrollton is in the TVC West and faces Class C and Class D teams.

The winner advances to the district final against the winner of Friday's game between 6-3 Vassar and 9-0 Flint Beecher.

Tuscola County Playoff Talk

2009-10-26T09:12:00.018-04:00

Vassar (6-3) at #5 Flint Beecher (9-0)

In a match up of conference champions, Vassar will travel to Flint to take on the Bucs of Beecher High School. The Bucs are coached by former Michigan State University and Beecher stand-out Courtney Hawkins. This season is Hawkins fourth as coach. He has a 26-11 career record. Beecher just completed their first season in the Genesee Area Conference - Red Division. The Vulcans of the Greater Thumb Conference West Division are coached by Jason Kiss. In his third season at the helm, Kiss holds a 16-11 record.

The Bucs went 3-0 this year against playoff teams. They defeated Goodrich 33-13, Lake Fenton 26-0, and Durand 22-16. The Vulcans were 1-2 versus playoff teams in 2009. They defeated Reese 26-17, and lost to Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port 41-21 and Ubly 40-14. Beecher's opponents recorded a 36-45 record this year while Vassar's opponents had a 42-39 record.

Beecher finished their championship regular season by scoring 285 points, while only allowing 65. Vassar scored 262 points in the 2009 campaign, while allowing 201.

Beecher is led by senior running back Torrey Cordell. He has rushed for 1,738 yards on 334 carries. Cordell has also scored 19 touchdowns on the ground. Vassar is led by junior quarterback Kyle Auernhamer, and senior running back Keif Vickers.

The Bucs will be making their sixth trip to the playoffs, including three straight. Vassar will be making their second appearance, their first since the 2003 season.

North Branch (6-3) at #3 Mt. Pleasant (9-0)

North Branch will travel to the Saginaw Valley Association's champion Mt. Pleasant Oilers. The Oilers are coached by Jason McIntyre, who just finished his fourth season as head coach. McIntyre now has a 33-9 record. North Branch of the Tri-Valley Conference East Division is coached by Pat Forster. In his first season, Forster has a 6-3 record.

The Oilers went 3-0 versus playoff teams this year. They defeated St. Johns 49-14, Bay City Western 35-7, and Midland 28-13. The Broncos were 1-3 against playoff teams. They defeated Yale in overtime 21-20, while losing to Essexville-Garber 21-14, West Branch Ogemaw Heights 42-6, and Millington 40-8. Mt. Pleasant's opponent posted a 38-43 record on the year, while North Branch's posted a 42-39 record.

Mt. Pleasant finished their championship regular season scoring 347 points, while allowing only 83. North Branch scored 221 points, while allowing 189.

The Oilers are led by running back John McCann and quarterback Josh Rathje. McCann has rushed for 835 yards on 92 carries while scoring 15 touchdowns. Rathje has completed 48 of 72 passes for 793 yards. He has thrown nine touchdowns and one interception. The Broncos are led by senior quarterback Doug Griffin.

Mt. Pleasant will be making their tenth trip to the playoffs, including their fourth straight. North Branch will be making their second appearance in the post-season, the school's first since 2006.

#8 Carrollton (8-1) at Millington (8-1)

The Tri-Valley Conference West Division champion Carrollton will travel to Millington to take on the Tri-Valley Conference East Division runner-up. The Cavaliers are coached by Greg Wasmer, who is in his second season. Wasmer has a 17-3 record. Millington is coached by Hall of Fame coach Tim Furno. After 32 years of pacing the sideline for the Cardinals, Furno holds a 205-109 career record.

Millington holds a 7-4-1 advantage in this series with three shutouts. The last time these two teams played was in 1988. Yours truly scored the decisive touchdown mid-way through the fourth quarter in the Cardinals 6-0 win.

The Cavaliers are 3-1 in 2009 versus playoff teams. The defeated Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port 27-26, St. Charles 31-6, and Merrill 35-6, while losing to Ithaca 48-27. Millington is 1-1 against playoff teams this year. The Cardinals beat North Branch 40-8, and lost to Essexville-Garber 14-7. Carrollton's opponents posted a 42-39 record. Millington's opponents had a 34-47 record.

Carrollton finished their championship regular season scoring 374 points, while giving up 121 points. Millington has scored 308 points, while only allowing 90.

The Cavaliers are led by senior running back Robert Essex. He has rushed 231 times for 1,754 yards and 21 touchdowns. Millington is led by senior running back Justin Stutler, who has rushed for 1,521 yards on 175 carries. He also has scored 16 touchdowns.

Carrollton will be making their second trip to the post-season. This year will also mark their second straight. Millington will be making their 16th trip to the playoffs, and this year will be their sixth straight.

Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port (7-2) at Reese (7-2)

Two-thirds of the Greater Thumb Conference West Division champions will square off for the second time this season. Back on October 9, Reese won convincingly over Laker High 33-7. Laker High has revenge on their mind as they travel to Reese this Friday. Reese is coached by Bob Saylor, who has roamed the sidelines for 10 years. Saylor has an 82-26 record. Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port is coached by George Gardy.

Reese holds a 9-6 advantage in this series, while winning six of the last seven games. These two teams have met in the playoffs on one other occasion. On November 1, 2002, Laker High beat Reese 38-7 to move to the District Final. That win was the second time that year that Laker High defeated Reese.

Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port is 3-2 versus playoff teams in 2009. They beat Vassar 41-21, Deckerville 40-7, and Sandusky 22-0. They lost to Carrollton 27-26 and Reese 33-7. The Rockets are 2-1 against playoff teams, posting victories against Houghton Lake 12-6 and Laker High 33-7. They lost to Vassar 26-17. Laker High's opponents posted a 43-38 record, while Reese's posted a 38-43 record.

Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port scored 284 points this season, while surrendering 130 points. Reese scored 289 and gave up 120 points.

Laker High is led by senior quarterback Luke Voelker and senior running back Chris Rowe. Reese is led by a multitude of players including, Justin Heinlein, Codey Somerville, and Travis VanAlst. Heinlein has 12 receptions for 350 yards and seven touchdowns. Somerville has 420 yards rushing on 50 carries. He has rushed for six touchdowns. VanAlst has 334 yards rushing and four touchdowns.

Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port will be making their second straight trip to the post-season and 14th overall. They were the 1981 Class C state champions. Reese will be making their 12th trip to the playoffs.

Other Thumb Area Games

Sandusky (6-3) at #5 St. Charles (8-1)
Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest (7-2) at #3 Ubly (9-0)
Brown City (7-2) at #7 Genesee (9-0)
Deckerville (5-4) at Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes (7-2)
Flint Powers Catholic (5-4) at Croswell-Lexington (7-2)

Final Thumb Area Power Poll

2009-10-24T21:51:00.000-04:00

Team	Wins	Opp. Wins	Pt. Diff.	Conf. Str.	Power Points
Millington	8	34	23.111	1.984	67.629
Essexville-Garber	7	43	13.889	1.984	65.040
Ubly	9	36	28.667	1.984	64.851
Croswell-Lexington	7	38	22.889	-1.056	61.233
North Branch	6	42	3.556	1.984	59.006
Elkton-Pigeon Bay Port	7	43	17.778	-0.397	55.270
Brown City	7	38	26.222	1.984	54.606
Reese	7	38	18.778	-0.397	53.703
Birch Run	5	39	12.222	1.984	52.651
Caro	5	41	6.333	1.984	52.062
Sandusky	6	41	11.222	1.984	50.329
Vassar	6	42	6.889	-0.397	50.292
Deckerville	5	46	8.000	1.984	49.451
Marlette	5	41	-3.222	1.984	44.440
Frankenmuth	3	47	-7.889	1.984	42.862
Bay City All Saints	3	42	-16.333	-0.397	34.637
Cass City	3	40	-10.000	-0.397	34.159
Unionville-Sebeawing Area	2	46	-13.111	-0.397	32.737
Bad Axe	3	39	-11.111	-0.397	32.381
Memphis	5	33	0.667	-3.889	32.289
Peck	4	42	-11.667	-3.889	31.611
Kinde-North Huron	4	35	3.778	-3.889	30.378
Dryden	5	24	3.444	-3.889	28.678
Harbor Beach	1	41	-18.333	1.984	27.373
Mayville	1	42	-26.333	1.984	26.017
Bridgeport	0	50	-45.333	1.984	25.229
Kingston	1	34	-23.111	-3.889	16.022

Friday Night Scores and Friday's Freaks

2009-10-23T22:52:00.011-04:00

Scores

Caro 46 - Cass City 20
Millington 42 - Lakeville 0
Vassar 48 - Frankenmuth 22
North Branch 21 - Yale 20 OT
Mayville 20 - Kingston 7
Mt. Morris 14 - Reese 7
USA 33 - Harbor Beach 22
Arenac Eastern 70 - Akron-Farigrove 18 (11-man game)
Marlette 17 - Peck 6

Friday's Freaks for Week #9

Millington - Justin Stutler 15-255 rush 3 TD. Stutler is now Millington's single season rushing leader.

Frankenmuth - Jacob Frank 18-133 rush

Vassar - Kyler Auernahmer 9-15 pass 157 3TD INT, Troy Hecht 4-74 rec 3TD 9-141 rush 2TD 2PAT 10 tck, Keif Vickers 23-135 rush TD 2-2PAT

Caro - Mike Daniel 15-145 rush 3TD, Caleb Sundblad 3-5 pass 96 TD 4-66 rush 2-2PAT, Brant Miller 8-111 rush TD 2PAT, Tim Curtis 2-86 rec TD

Cass City - Austin Osentoski 21-142 rush TD, Alex Varney 17-117 rush 1-65 rec, Josh Jensen 10 tck, Justin Ketterer 5-14 pass 95 TD

North Branch - Doug Griffin 60 yds rush TD 7-13 pass 83 yds TD, Dennis Natke TD rush 2-44 rec TD, Kyle Cline 3-3 PAT, Mitch Bruise 11 tck

Mayville - Keith Whitaker 11 tck, Caleb Pritchard 10 tck 3-31 rec, Aaron Mercer 9-14 pass 85 TD 15-107 rush 2TD, Kyle Perkins 18-121 rush

Reese - Travis Menapace 2-4 pass 65 TD, Caleb Gnatkowski 3-37 rec TD, Kevin Kinasz 12 tck 7th game in a row with at least 12 tck, Cody Somerville 16-61 rush

USA - Tyler Masse 23-273 rush 3TD, Jon Slack 14-117 TD

Marlette - Dee Sanchez 20-42 rush 75 yard kickoff return for a TD on opening kick INT, Brent Speer 2-2 PAT 37 yard FG

Kington - Joe Strauel 17-105 rush TD pass, Taylor Nicol 7-97 rec TD, Dustin Pennington 23 tck

Week nine's Freak Nasty Player of the Week is........Vassar's Troy Hecht. In Vassar's playoff clinching victory over Frankenmuth, Hecht scored five touchdowns - three in the air and two on the ground. Congratulations Troy, and good luck in the playoffs.

Christian's Cerebrations

2009-10-20T22:03:00.003-04:00

Rumor Mill

Is Millington in line to be the next team to jump conferences? I have heard from multiple sources that Millington is waiting on the Greater Thumb West (GTW) to say yes, to the Cardinals joining the conference. A decision is supposed to made by November, and if the decision is yes, then Millington will begin play starting with the 2010-2011 school year.

If a move happens, the GTW would have eight schools. Deckerville is leaving the Greater Thumb East (GTE) which would make only six schools left. The Greater Thumb would most certainly be unbalanced, unless the GTE gets a replacement for Deckerville.

Adding football rich Millington to traditional powers Reese, USA, and Laker High would likely put the rest of the conference on the backburner for most falls. It is this reason that I do not see the GTW saying a resounding YES.

Playoff Talk

Tuscola County has only two schools with automatic bids for the playoffs - Millington and Reese. North Branch and Vassar can clinch births this Friday with victories over Yale and Frankenmuth respectively.

The Broncos will look to enter the playoffs for only the second time in school history with a victory at Yale. The Bulldogs hold a slight 7-6 margin over North Branch, but Yale has won the last three match-ups. The two schools have one common opponent this year - Imlay City. North Branch defeated Imlay City in week one by a score of 35-7, while Yale won in week five 55-14. The week four loss to Garber will come back to haunt Doug Griffin and his Bronco teammates, because I do not think they will win on Friday. Prediction - Yale 35 North Branch 21.

Vassar is hosting Frankenmuth this Friday with a chance to make the playoffs for the second time in school history. The task will uphill for the Vulcans, because Frankenmuth holds a 42-7 advantage since 1955, including the last four match-ups. Both schools have played Caro this season. Vassar losing the week one contest 26-12, and Frankenmuth winning the week three contest 29-22. Coach Jason Kiss has finished each of his first two seasons with a 5-4 record. This year he led Vulcans to their first GTW conference championship, and I think they will get by Frankenmuth for a trip to the playoffs. Prediction - Vassar 28 Frankenmuth 14.

Project

At the beginning the season, I started a project to put together a statistical record book for the Thumb area for football. I have a lot of work into this, but I know I am missing many, many stats. In the football link of this blog, I have a link to the stats that I have found. Please take a look and let me know what I have incorrect or what I have missed. Please excuse my HTML as it is not very good. Thanks.

Reese softball coach Andy Behmlander named Coach of the Year, selected for MHSCA Hall of Fame

2009-10-20T06:51:00.002-04:00

Thanks to Bill Petzold for alerting me about this article of his.

By Bill Petzold | The Bay City Times

October 16, 2009, 6:52PM

Reese softball coach Andy Behmlander didn’t get into coaching for personal accolades.

But when a coach spends 24 years building a small-town high school softball program into a state powerhouse, people are bound to notice.

Behmlander, who guided Reese to a 42-2 record and a state runner-up finish this spring, has two Michigan High School Coaches Association banquets to attend this offseason: One to accept the award for 2009 Coach of the Year and one for his induction into the MHSCA’s Hall of Fame.

“Coaches get the credit when things go well, and they get the blame when it goes bad,” Behmlander said. “I end up getting recognition, but it really comes down to the kids.”

Behmlander, a 1972 Bay City Central graduate, is nearing 600 wins coaching in a village with a population under 1,400.

Since the 2000 season, Behmlander’s teams have compiled a record of 307 wins to just 62 losses and two ties for an .827 winning percentage. During that time, the Rockets have celebrated six Greater Thumb West titles, seven district titles, two regional titles and last year’s state runner-up performance.

“When I started out, I had one goal and that was to make Reese a statewide program,” Behmlander said. “I think we’ve achieved that. And I think it’s evident that when we go to the coaching banquet, we pick who the top 10 teams in the state would be, and Reese always comes up, just because of our history. That’s what I wanted to accomplish.

“My goal was to have a program that was good every year. We pride ourselves on being consistent every year. Statewide, we have that recognition, that (teams know) if they schedule Reese, they’re going to get some good competition.”

Championship-caliber competition as it turns out. Last season the Rockets’ only two losses came against Division 4 state champion Unionville-Sebewaing in a doubleheader split and against Division 3 state champion Gladstone in the title game.

The doubleheader with the Patriots produced one of Behmlander’s career highlights. After dropping the first game, Reese trailed 1-0 heading into the final inning of Game 2. The Rockets rallied, and Amy Kaufman came around to score the winning run, securing a share of the Greater Thumb West title with a historically-loaded USA squad.

“I had tears in my eyes; I couldn’t even talk to the girls,” Behmlander said of the emotional victory. “Every year there’s something like that. We were down 1-0, weren’t really doing anything. The easiest thing would have been to give up, (but we hung in there) and things fell into place.”

Even the disappointing loss in the state championship game, while it stung at the time, couldn’t diminish what Behmlander’s team did together.

“It hurt a lot, but they all realized that they all did the best they could,” he said. “I told them after the game, ‘If this is the worst thing that has ever happened to you, you’ve lived a good life.’

“They put a plaque up in the gym, and I said ‘Someday you can bring your grandkids back here and it will still be here.’ I want that pride to be there for the girls.”

Behmlander said among the highlights of his career so far were the years he spent coaching his own daughters, Janelle, Stacey and Katy. His wife Nancy is a regular at Rockets games.

“She was probably happier about this than I was — not that I wasn’t happy, but because she knows how much time I put into it,” he said.

Soccer District Scores

2009-10-20T06:45:00.003-04:00

I am still waiting on information regarding these games, but here are a few scores from around the county the scores from last night.

Frankenmuth 1 - Caro 0
Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port 2 - Millington 0
Lakeville 3 - Cass City 2

Thumb Football Stat Leaders

2009-10-18T20:17:00.001-04:00

Rushing

Thumb Rushing Leaders
Name	School	Att.	Yards	Avg.	TD
Justin Stutler	Millington	160	1,266	7.9	13
Mike Daniel	Caro	211	1,142	5.4	11
Clinton Northrop	Sandusky	176	1,034	5.9	14
Keif Vickers	Vassar	143	922	6.4	9
John Schramski	North Huron	154	932	6.1	6
Tyler Masse	USA	135	853	6.3	9
Chris Rowe	Laker	110	839	7.6	5
Doug Griffin	North Branch	100	771	7.7	11
Donnell Hamilton	Peck	104	751	7.2	8
Austin Osentoski	Cass City	130	727	5.6	11

Passing

Thumb Passing Leaders
Name	School	Comp	Att	Pct	Yards	TD	INT	Rtg
Erik Dhyse	North Huron	78	147	53.1%	1,151	17	10	89.13
Aaron Mercer	Mayville	60	124	48.4%	826	9	8	67.47
Kyle Auernahmer	Vassar	49	92	53.3%	799	7	6	80.84
Justin Shaver	Marlette	44	109	40.4%	744	10	7	67.99
Joe Strauel	Kingston	40	109	36.7%	643	5	8	41.95
Josh Pickell	Reese	30	52	57.7%	642	11	2	156.09
Jordan Katt	Sandusky	41	75	54.7%	556	5	7	61.86
Luke Voelker	Laker	24	45	53.3%	531	5	7	67.92
Cole Anker	USA	17	41	41.5%	397	4	2	89.18
Noah Moore	Millington	22	38	57.9%	409	5	2	117.11

Receiving

Thumb Receiving Leaders
Name	School	Rec.	Yards	Avg.	TD
Taylor Nicol	Kingston	31	546	17.6	6
Kevin Rice	North Huron	36	546	15.2	8
Donnie Thomas	Marlette	18	448	24.9	8
Justin Heinlein	Reese	12	350	29.2	7
Shaun Clancy	North Huron	21	364	17.3	3
Paul Squires	Mayville	11	271	24.6	3
Cody Leander	Sandusky	17	272	16.0	5
Troy Hecht	Vassar	13	250	19.2	4
Brandon King	Marlette	11	228	20.7	2
Brandon Gierman	Dryden	15	243	16.2	2

Scoring

Thumb Scoring Leaders
Name	School	TD	2 PAT	PAT	FG	Pts
Mike Daniel	Caro	14	7	0	0	98
Luke Voelker	Laker	15	2	0	0	94
Clinton Northrop	Sandusky	14	4	0	0	92
Cory Soucie	Brown City	12	1	17	0	91
Justin Stutler	Millington	13	2	0	0	82
Jordan Terrasi	Ubly	12	2	4	0	80
Doug Griffin	North Branch	11	2	7	0	77
Austin Osentoski	Cass City	12	0	0	0	72
Cory Clark	Dryden	11	3	0	0	72
Tyler Masse	USA	11	3	0	0	72

Thumb Area Power Poll

2009-10-18T09:35:00.001-04:00

Team	Wins	Opp. Wins	Pt. Diff.	Conf. Str.	Power Points
Essexville-Garber	7	37	19.250	1.786	62.044
Millington	7	29	20.750	1.786	58.861
Ubly	8	30	27.375	0.893	55.853
Croswell-Lexington	6	36	25.125	-0.781	55.065
Reese	7	32	22.125	0.000	51.101
North Branch	5	38	3.875	1.786	51.062
Elkton-Pigeon Bay Port	6	39	17.250	0.000	48.947
Sandusky	6	35	15.375	0.893	46.319
Brown City	6	33	24.750	0.893	46.146
Caro	4	37	3.875	1.786	44.951
Birch Run	4	34	10.250	1.786	43.922
Vassar	5	38	4.500	0.000	42.672
Deckerville	4	39	6.250	0.893	39.851
Frankenmuth	3	41	-5.625	1.786	39.557
Marlette	4	37	-5.000	0.893	37.615
Memphis	5	32	5.500	-1.250	34.856
Bay City All Saints	3	38	-12.250	0.000	33.219
Cass City	3	36	-8.000	0.000	32.533
Kinde-North Huron	4	33	6.000	-1.250	32.128
Peck	4	38	-11.750	-1.250	32.019
Bad Axe	3	34	-7.625	0.000	30.349
Dryden	5	22	4.875	-1.250	30.349
Unionville-Sebeawing Area	1	42	-16.125	0.000	26.165
Harbor Beach	1	35	-19.250	0.893	22.857
Bridgeport	0	43	-44.125	1.786	21.262
Mayville	0	38	-31.250	0.893	18.879
Kingston	1	31	-24.375	-1.250	16.868

Friday Night Scores and Friday's Freaks

2009-10-16T22:48:00.005-04:00

Tuscola County Scores
Reese 48 USA 13
Millington 40 North Branch 8
Birch Run 52 Frankenmuth 18
Caro 48 Tawas Area 28
Vassar 35 Cass City 3
Brown City 41 Marlette 15
Harbor Beach 46 Mayville 12

Friday's Freaks
Mayville - Aaron Mercer 12-21 pass 97 yds TD 2 INT 54 yds rush, Jake Coutcher 4-35 rec TD

USA - Tyler Masse 22-107 rush 2 TD 1-34 rec

Reese - Jimmy Hahn 9-75 rush 3 TD, Kevin Kinasz 15 tck, Caleb Gnatkowski 2 of the hardest hits seen all year, Kyle Yaklin 62 yd punt return for a TD 65 yd INT return for a TD, Cody Somerville 54 yd fumble return for a TD, Chris Bauer 6-7 PAT

Caro - Mike Daniel 33-216 rush 2 TD 3 2PAT, Brant Miller 11-103 TD, Tim Curtis 2 TD rec, Caleb Sundblad 2TD pass TD rush

Millington - Justin Stutler 28-283 rush 3 TD, Jesse Stewart 12-98 rush

North Branch - Doug Griffin 2-15 pass 27 TD 13-44 rush, Kyle Cline 12 tck

Vassar - Tyler Best 14 tck, Kyle Auernhamer 10-14 pass 201 TD TD rush 3-4 PAT, Troy Hecht 11-128 rush TD, Keif Vickers 15-113 rush 2TD 2PAT

Cass City - Jalen Farris 25 yd FG

Frankenmuth - Cameron Lail 31 yd FG PAT

Week 8 Freak Nasty Player of the Week is .... Reese's Kyle Yaklin. Scoring on an interception return and a punt return, Yaklin led his team to victory in the 16th Annual Sugar Bowl. Yaklin also had another punt return for a touchdown called back because of a penalty.

Christian's Cerebrations

2009-10-15T21:40:00.004-04:00

Looking to the Future

If the high school football season were to suddenly end as of October 15, which teams in the Thumb would have the right to be named as the Team of the Thumb. Only four schools have a right to be mentioned - Croswell-Lexington, Millington, Reese, and Ubly. As of this time, these are the only four schools in the Thumb who have automatically qualified for a spot in the MHSAA post-season tournament. Clearly the team have the best season is the Ubly Bearcats. Ubly is currently in the midst of a 21-game regular season winning streak, and advanced to the Division 7 championship game last year. If they finish the regular season 9-0, they should be the Thumb Sportswriter's Association Team of the Year.

What player has stood head and shoulders above all others this year to be named the Thumb Player of the Year? Here are a few in no particular order - Erik Dhyse of Kinde-North Huron has 903 yards passing on the year to go along with 15 TD and 6 INT. Dhyse also has another 329 yards rushing with 8 TD. Mike Daniel of Caro has 926 yards rushing with 9 TD and another 147 yards and 2 TD receiving. Luke Voelker of Laker High has amassed 465 yards through the air to go along with 4 TD and 7 INT. He also has rushed for 632 yards and a Thumb leading 12 TD. Justin Stutler of Millington is the Thumb's leading rusher with 983 yards and 10 TD. Doug Griffin of North Branch has rushed for 727 yards and 11 TD, while throwing for for 333 yards and 3 TD. Corey Soucie of Brown City is the Thumb's leading scorer with 85 points. I am sure I have forgotten a few other players, but as you can see the Thumb Sports Writer's Association will have a much harder time picking the Player of the Year over the Team of the Year.

Which side of the Greater Thumb Conference is the best this year? The East has the best team in Ubly, but top-to-bottom I would say the West is the best so far. The West holds a 5-3 record versus the East and does not have any winless teams. The East has two winless teams (Harbor Beach and Mayville), even though each side owns a 25-24 won-loss record on the season.

Dig Pink

2009-10-15T06:56:00.003-04:00

Photos courtesy of Chad Wingert, Tuscola County Advertiser

North Branch knocks off Frankenmuth as Dig Pink game raises $9,758 to fight cancer

The Saginaw News, October 14, 2009 9:49 p.m.

Joanne Mahnke would have liked to have earned one win, one testament that the Frankenmuth Eagles could compete against the No. 1 team in Class B.

The Frankenmuth volleyball coach didn't quite get the win, but did receive some satisfaction in watching 45-4-2 North Branch sweat a little in earning a 25-20, 25-23, 25-14 Tri-Valley Conference East Division win Wednesday at Frankenmuth.

"When you're playing the No. 1 team in Class B, you'd like to pull out a set and we almost did," Mahnke said. "They have such a tradition of excellence. But when our girls are hot, we can play with anybody.

"I truly believe that, and I told the kids that before the match. We've got some good talent."

The Eagles fell to 15-14-5 for the season.

"If nothing else, we managed to scare them a little bit," Mahnke said. "You have to play near-perfect to beat North Branch, and we came pretty close in the second game.

"Our serving was good. Once I saw that our serving was going to be on, I knew we'd have a chance. Plus, our serve receive was very good. We had just two service receiving errors all night."

Nicole DeGrace led the Eagles with six kills, three aces and three assists.

The more important number came in the amount of money raised for cancer research during the game, dubbed "Dig Pink 2009".

Sales of the pink shirts worn by fans of both teams raised $4,100, with other donations totaling $5,658 for a total of $9,758.

North Branch volleyball sweeps Frankenmuth in battle of Tri-Valley East unbeatens

The Flint Journal, October 14, 2009 10:46 p.m.

North Branch volleyball swept Frankenmuth in a battle of Tri-Valley East unbeatens Wednesday (25-20, 25-23, 25-14).

North Branch, the No. 1 team in Class B, has won 38 straight Tri-Valley East mathces dating back to 2004 and is aiming for its sixth straight league title.

"If nothing else, we managed to scare them a little bit," Frankenmuth coach Joanne Mahnke said. "You have to play near-perfect to beat North Branch, and we came pretty close in the second game."

Katie Owens had 12 kills, 11 digs and three aces to lead North Branch (4-0 Tri-Valley East, 48-4-2 overall).

Hailey Smillie had 10 digs and two aces.

JordanFish had25 assists and five kills.

Danika Racknor had six kills and five digs.

Frankenmuth fell to 3-1 in league play and 15-14-5 overall.

The teams raised $9,758 for cancer research, in part by selling pink shirts to fans of both teams.

Rankings

2009-10-14T22:56:00.002-04:00

Football

DIVISION 6
1. Montague (7-0) 50
2. Manchester (7-0) 44
3. Ithaca (7-0) 41
4. Sanford Meridian (6-1) 32
5. Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central (6-1) 29
6. Schoolcraft (6-1) 20
7. Morley Stanwood (7-0) 18
8. Suttons Bay (6-1) 13
9. Reese (6-1) 9
10. St. Charles (6-1) 8
Others receiving votes: Clinton (6-1) 6, Constantine (5-2) 3, Bronson (6-1) 1, Olivet (5-2) 1.

Soccer

Division 3
1. Grand Rapids South Christian
2. Detroit Country Day
3. Macomb Luthern North
4. Madison Heights Bishop Foley
5. Charlevoix
6. Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard
7. Grand Rapids West Catholic
8. Frankenmuth
9. Flint Powers Catholic
10. Freeland
Honorable mention: South Haven, Jonesville, Birch Rich

Volleyball

Class B
1. North Branch 47-4-2
2. Delton Kellogg 41-6-2
3. East Grand Rapids 22-9
4. Plainwell 33-8-1
5. Notre Dame Prep 38-2-2
6. Livonia Ladywood 27-13
7. Whitehall 33-6-2
8. Richland Gull Lake 39-11-1
9. Fruitport 25-9
10. Lahser 33-8
Honorable mention: Cadillac, Lake Odessa Lakewood, Holland Christian, Grand Rapids South Christian, Byron Center, Battle Creek Pennfield, Marysville, Mt. Morris, Alma, Hudsonville Unity Christian, Grand Rapids Catholic Central

Girl's Cross Country

Division 3
1 Hanover-Horton 100
2 Leslie 93
3 Benzie Central 91
4 Allendale 86
5 Jackson Lumen Christi 80
6 Kent City 75
7 Schoolcraft 70
8 Caro 60
9 Macomb Lutheran North 48
10 Lansing Catholic Central 41
Honorable mention: Stockbridge 31

Flint Journal Football Rankings

1. Grand Blanc, 7-0
2. Linden, 7-0
3. Beecher, 7-0
4. Flushing, 4-3
5. Lapeer West, 6-1
6. Davison, 4-3
7. Carman-Ainsworth, 3-4
8. Millington, 6-1
9. Genesee, 7-0
10. Durand, 5-2
10. Powers, 4-3