SPORTSBEAT by Peter Jakey–Hurons take it up a notch
Rogers City High School basketball coach Karl Grambau believes one of the keys to a successful post-season run, when March Madness heats up March 8 in Onaway, will be his squad staying injury-free. That?ll be important, but equally important is the Hurons continuing to play well as a team. That?s what they?ve done during a very successful second half surge. Rogers City has won five straight, including a solid victory over Onaway Tuesday, and has come out the winner in eight of the last nine games. ?We are playing pretty well,? Grambau said.
Over the last couple of weeks, Rogers City has had two of the most satisfying victories of the 2003-04 campaign.
IT?S ALWAYS a sign of progress when a team loses the first time and picks up the wins in the second meeting, and that?s what happened against Rudyard and St. Ignace. The Strait Area Conference wins were not only important in the standings, but they were impressive victories. Against Rudyard January 30, after losing a close game way back in early December, the Hurons dug in their heels and defended the home court. It was the first loss in the conference for the visiting Bulldogs, who were honorable mentions in the polls going into the contest.
The game at St. Ignace a week ago Tuesday was almost too good to be true. If someone would have said Rogers City was going to win by 20 at St. Ignace, they would have been dubbed a nut case. I?m sure the Huron players were confident they were going to do better than the first game against the Saints, but to win by that much, was sweet. Rogers City is playing better defensively and has had balanced scoring.
While senior Kyle Greene ends up with his name in the headlines and his dunk pictures on the front page of sports, there are three or four other players scoring in double digits on any given night. Senior starters Tim Cercone (11.4 points) and Adam LaLonde (11.3 points) have scoring averages in double digits. Greene?s scoring is actually down slightly from a year ago.
THE SENIOR big man still attracts a lot of attention, though, with his many dunks, and dominating presence down low. One of his dunks could have made it on ESPN?s ?SportsCenter,? coach Grambau said. It was against St. Ignace at home, when he got the ball in the open court, double clutching the ball and slamming it through the rim. He?s also had a behind-the-back dunk in a game and a spectacular baseline dunk at St. Ignace.
And not surprisingly, colleges are looking at him. Grambau said tapes are going out. Greene is getting closer to the 1,
Grambau said Greene has been a ?true team player? and he has been ?lucky to coach him all four years? at RCHS.
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SOPHOMORE SENSATION Dylan Centala celebrated his 16th birthday with a pair of pins Tuesday on the home mat. In his final match of the evening, Dylan got Grayling?s Corey Metzer caught in a cradle and pinned him in 42 seconds. ??It?s all right — kind of neat, I guess,? he said of getting the pins on his sweet 16th. Huron wrestling fans will be able to see plenty of Dylan and the rest of the Rogers City wrestling squad over the next few weeks.
Other than individual districts and regionals, the Hurons will be wrestling at home. The excitement is building as Rogers City looks at qualifying for team regionals, February 25. The visiting schools for team districts this Wednesday (February 18), in the RCHS gym, will be Charlevoix and Onaway. The wrestlers will be looking for strong fan support as they try to move on to Battle Creek.