COLUMNIST PETER JAKEY: Great effort by Vikings against UP pow
?My hat?s off to Cedarville,? Posen coach Tom Schellie said after the Vikings nearly upset the state-ranked squad from the UP. ?Hat?s off to Cedarville?? I stopped him. ?How about hat?s off to Posen, coach?? This is the same Cedarville team that beat the Vikes by 38 points on September 9. Schellie was being nice, and there?s no question he was proud.
Every season, Cedarville brings tough, well-coached teams to the court, and the Vikings almost sent them home with a loss on Tuesday evening. The victory was theirs to have. With the score 59-59, Megan Latz passed to Michelle Bednarski to the right of the basket who put up the shot, watched it roll around, and then fall in, to give Bednarski her sixth field goal of the game, and her team a two-point lead. Even with two girls already having fouled out, Cedarville is loaded with talent, and the Trojans literally stole the game away.
In typical Cedarville fashion, they retied the game, and in a blink of an eye stole the ball and scored again. I would say it was one of the most impressive performances of the season by the Posen girls. They played well as a team, passing the ball around, and stifling Cedarville at times with their defense. I?m really looking forward to seeing how the girls respond with an important league game at Mio tonight.
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ON A TEAM loaded with juniors, the Hurons girls? basketball team has struggled at times in the first half of the season. As a crop of young players continues to gain experience, they?ll improve, and no doubt turn around that record in the second half of the season and into next year. Unfortunately, when this team starts running over other schools, say next year, the two seniors on this squad won?t be around to enjoy it. One of the two seniors on this fall?s team is Heather LaLonde, our Sportsbeat profile subject this week. Here?s a little about the young lady who likes clothing websites and photo albums:
Heather LaLonde?s biggest fear: heights and spiders. Favorite beverage: chocolate milk. Favorite food: Chinese. Biggest influence on her life: my family. Dream car: Lexus 330. Favorite cereal: Kix. Favorite toy as a kid: Barbie. Favorite sport as a kid: softball. Most memorable athletic accomplishment: getting moved up to varsity her sophomore year for softball. Favorite website: www.ae.com, a clothing website. Favorite store: ?Wet Seal.? Person you would like to have dinner with: Brandon Boyd of the band Incubus. Most prized possession: my photo albums.
Favorite holiday: Christmas. Favorite ice cream: Superman. Nickname: Henry, Howard. Favorite actor: Adam Sandler. Favorite musician: Pink Floyd. Favorite comedian: Chris Farley.
Favorite superhero: Powder Puff Girls. Favorite cartoon: Sponge Bob Square Pants. Favorite TV show: ?Saved by the Bell.? (Say it ain?t so, Heather. Saved by the Bell?) Favorite book: ?Rose Red.? Favorite movie: ?Can?t Hardly Wait.?
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IT WAS THE third shutout of the season for Howard Madsen?s P-Town defense, earning his group four stars. They?ll try and make it four shutouts against a high-powered Mio offense Friday evening. Last year Madsen came up with a great game plan in holding the T-Bolts to eight points. Ron Kroll earns this week?s Kromel award with 14 tackles and two fumble recoveries. One of those fumbles was swiped from the arms of a Arenac player and returned for a 60-yard touchdown. Arenac Eastern had a number of turnovers in the contest. In fact every drive they had in the second half resulted on a turnover.
Andy Styma and Josh Krajniak each recovered one fumble, Matt Ponik had an interception, and Russ Kamyszek and Aaron Hincka both had quarterback sacks. All earn two stars each. I?ll also give James Sobek two stars for his nine tackles. For the Huron defense, it?s been a tough couple of weeks trying to contain a couple of potent running attacks at home against St. Ignace and last week at Benzonia, and there were a lot of tackles.
Kyle Greene was tops in tackles with 11. He had one assist and a fumble recovery and earns this week?s Stemcook award. Dustin Streich had eight tackles and five assists, while Randy Brege had seven tac
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I believe true Tigers fans like me, who are not afraid to show their bruised stripes, didn?t want the Detroiters to take over the modern day loss record of 120 losses from the 1962 Mets. I was extremely pleased when the Tigers pulled off a little late September magic and avoided the record. It was the first time since Comerica opened that I actually thought about going to a game. I think it would have been exciting to have been there Sunday and cheer them on.
I know they acted as if they had won the World Series, but how many teams have staved off records like that. I can?t think of any other. Now if they can play like they did in the last week of the season for six months. Now that would be a lot of fun.