25 Sports Pages

Photo by Matt Bristow/The Ottawa Herald

Ottawa University junior Kelsi Meier fights through the Bethany College defense Thursday at Wilson Field House.

By GREG MASTHerald Sports Editor

The Ottawa Universitywomen’s basketball teamhas not always been faststartersineitherhalf. TheLadyBravesshowedimprovement in that areaThursday in their 57-45victory over Bethany inWilson Field House. Ot-tawa jumped on Bethanywith a 9-2 spurt early inthegameanda9-0runtostartthesecondhalf. Shannon Carlin scoredthefirstninepointsofthegame for Ottawa. Ottawaled9-2withjust twomin-utesgoneinthegame. Paige Gibson buriedthreetreysinthefirstfourminutesofthesecondhalfas Ottawa extended a 12-

pointhalftimeleadto21. “Shannon got us go-ing early,” Ottawa coachBruce Tate said. “Paigecame out [hot] in the sec-ond half. The last thingI said coming out of thelocker room was the firstfiveminutes[ofthesecondhalf] are very important.We needed to bury themrightaway.Wedidthat.” But Ottawa did notsustain its level of play.Bethany’ssaggingdefensegoaded Ottawa into quickoutsideshots. “Wewerenotattackingin transition,” Tate said.“Weavoidedcontact.” Ottawa’s defense thenstartedtofoulandBetha-nywenttotheline. “Withtheshotclockgo-

ingdown,webailedthemout,” Tate said. “We al-lowed them to get backintothegame.” Bethany sliced the 21-point deficit to 14. TheSwedes finished 14 of 20from the line, shooting 14attemptsinthesecondhalf. Tatesaidthatwasabo-nusforBethany,whichhasa hard time scoring. TheSwedes average 52 pointsagame. “Wewereabletoweath-er the storm,” Tate said.“We got baskets at keytimes. We have to learnhow to manage the clockbetter.” Kiki Smith continuestopileuptheassists.Shefinishedwith10. “She is that coach on

thefloor,”Tatesaidoftheseniorpointguard. Thecoachlikedthede-fense for the most part.Bethany was limited to39 shots. Ottawa forced17 turnovers and turnedtheminto27points. Ottawa owned theboards with a 42-25 ad-vantage.AprilDowellhadninerebounds. Gibson paced the scor-ing with 14 points. Carlinfinished with nine. Shau-naMcClurenetted10. Ottawa (8-12, 6-5) plays2p.m.SaturdayatBethel. Bethany (45) — Wagoner 11, Ev-ans 9, Garner 2, Felker 5, Austin 9, Garner 5, Eddings 4. Ottawa (57) — Gibson 14, Ramsey 3, Carlin 9, Meier 2, Smith 4, McClure 10, Dowell 8, Buckles 5, Boore 2.

Ottawa tOps bethany, 57-45

By The Herald Staff

WELLSVILLE — St. Mary’s out-scored Wellsville by 10 points inthe second half to pull away for a60-48winoverthehostteamThurs-daynightintheWellsvilleTopGunGirls’BasketballTournament. JessicaPeacockscored12pointsand Shambre’ Koehn chipped in10 points to lead the Lady Eagles.AmandaDavisscored20pointsfortheLadyBearstoleadallscorers. St.Mary’stooka17-15leadafterthefirstperiodandmaintainedthatbucket advantage through the sec-ondquartertotakea29-27leadintohalftime. Wellsville will play Kansas CityChristian at 3:15 p.m. Saturday intheseventh-placegame.

Wellsville (48) J. Peacock 12, Koehn 10, Mc-Taggart 9, Hinman 5, Cunningham 5, Bonzo 4, Patton 1, Sparks 2. St. Mary’s (60) Thomas 13, Robbins 3, May-lan 15, Davis 20, Albright 2, White 4, Perry 1, Eakes 2.

ANDERSON COUNTY 45,KC CHRISTIAN 24

WELLSVILLE — AndersonCounty went on a 14-2 run in thethirdquarterandneverlookedbacktocoasttoa45-24winoverKansasCityChristianThursdayinthesec-ondroundoftheWellsvilleTopGunGirls’BasketballTournament. Macy Adams scored 12 points toleadtheLadyBulldogs,whileteam-mates Jessica Steele and MichaelaStevensoneachtossedinsixpoints.

Bothteamsstartedthegameflatandmanagedonlyonebucketinthefirstquarter.ButtheLadyBulldogsand Panthers started to find therange in the second quarter, withAnderson County out-scoring KCChristian15-13inthesecondframetotakea17-15leadathalf. The Lady Bulldogs scored 14points in each of the third andfourth quarters, while holding KCChristiantojustninepointsinthesecondhalf. Anderson County will play St.Mary’s in the fifth-place game at3:30p.m.Saturday. Anderson County (45) Porter 2, Stevenson 6, Adams 12, Steele 6, Porter 5, Ratliff 4, Moody 4, Mersman 4, Martin 2. KC Christian (24) Kuchera 3, MacGregor 3, Rogers 6, Hawthorne 6, Fields 2, Spencer 4.

Wellsville falls to St. Mary’s, 60-48, at tourney

LADY BRAVES

TOP GUN

BRAVES


LarryBarberdoesalotoflittlethings for theOttawaUniversitymen’sbasketballteam. Heistheonlyseniorthissea-son.Hehassacrificedhisoffenseto play both guard spots for theBraves. He is a leader with his playand attitude. Barber found him-

selfintherightspotasthebuzz-er sounded Thursday at WilsonFieldHouse. His tip-in beat the buzzer toliftOttawatoa72-71victoryoverBethany. “Larry has been so good forus,” Ottawa coach Andy Carriersaid.“Hehasbeenourmostcon-sistent player ... defender. Heplaysunselfishly.Heisathletic.

“It is always special whensomebodyhits thegamewinner.Itisspecialforhim.” Ottawa called a timeout with6.1 seconds left in regulation.Freshman guard Adam Hastytookithardtotheglass.HisbankshotcameofftherimandBarberleapedandtippeditin. “Wehaveworkingonthatplayfor three weeks,” Carrier said.

“Itisthefirsttimeweusedit.Wehavebeensavingitforthis[situ-ation]. Adam got it on the rim.We had everybody crashing theboards. “Itwasaniceteamwin.Wedidnotplayourbestbasketball.” Ottawa has lost several tightgamesthisseason,includingtwoovertimegamesthismonthtona-tionally-rankedteams.

“Itistimewegotoneofthese,”Carriersaid.“Wearestartingtowinclosegames.” Thewinwasnoteasy.Ottawahad breakdowns to end the halfandopenthesecondhalf. Bethany led 32-26 at halftimeand led 48-42 with 13:30 left inthegame.

Ottawa tips in win for buzzer-beater home victory

Local musicians offer songs for seniors at center. See Page 12.

AT THE MIC

Friday, January 27, 2012

Local SportsThe Ottawa Herald

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National Weather By The Associated Press

PartlyCloudy

Cloudy

Showers

Thunder-storms

Rain

Flurries

Snow

Ice

OKLA.

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© 2012 Wunderground.com

Today's ForecastFriday, Jan. 27

City/RegionHigh | Low tempsForecast for

Colby38° | 31° Kansas City

45° | 27°

Topeka49° | 27°

Ottawa49° | 21°

Pittsburg56° | 27°

Wichita52° | 31°

Liberal49° | 31°

Salina49° | 29°

KANSAS CONDITIONS HOTLINE

(800) 585-7623 or 511Available online at: http://511.ksdot.org

Provided by the Kansas Highway Patrol

partly sunny

Winds: SW at 14 mphGusts: 24 mph

TODAY

49

partly sunny

SATURDAY

42/21

Local Weather

partly cloudy

Winds: NNW at 14 mphGusts: 29 mph

TONIGHT

21

Mostly sunny

SUNDAY

47/24partly sunny

MONDAY

56/41

temperatures Wednesday’s high . . . . . . . . . . .53Wednesday’s low . . . . . . . . . . . .25Wednesday’s record high . . 92, 1907Wednesday’s record low ...... 11, 1912

precipitationPrecipitation 7 a.m. Thursday ....NoneWednesday’s record . . 0.80, 1941Month to date . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.15Monthly average . . . . . . . . . . 1.28Year to date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.15

National temperature extremes in the lower 48 states were -19 at West Yel-lowstone, Mon. and 88 at Harlingen, Texas.

Statisticssunrise/sunsetSunset Tonight . . . . . . . . . . . . 5:37Sunrise Saturday . . . . . . . . . . 7:30Sunset Saturday. . . . . . . . . . . 5:38

Reservoir levels Full Level (cu.ft./sec)Reservoir pool now OutflowClinton 876 873.57 7Hillsdale 917 915.22 3Melvern 1,036 1,033.55 20Pomona 974 973.07 15

Your local newspaper gives you news, features, sports and more that you can’t get anywhere else.

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See BRAVES, Page 8

The bench playerssparked Ottawa. Hastyknocked down threetreys. Michael Sandershadacoupleofbaskets.Chris Weston knockeddowntwojumpers.AlexLundryscored. Ottawa had taken a62-55 lead with just un-dersixminutesleft. “We had outstandingplayoffthebench,”Car-rier said. “We have un-selfishguys.” Hasty, the former Ot-tawa High School all-state guard, is startingtogethislegsunderhimafter joining theBraves

in mid-January. He fin-ished with nine pointsandthreeassists. Carrier said Hasty’sshotiscomingback. “He is a tough matchup,”Carriersaid. Chase Dippel pacedOttawa with 17 points.Corey Smith had anoth-erdouble-doublewith10pointsand12rebounds. Ottawa (9-12, 6-5)plays4p.m.SaturdayatBethel. Bethany(71)—Parks13,Cog-gins12,Jennings7,Beachum6,Dodson 8, Roybal 2, Purtle 21,Dean2. Ottawa (72) — Feighny 8,Smith 10, Lindsay 6, Barber 6,Dippel 17, Weston 4, Hasty 9,Sanders8,Lundry4.

Page 8 Friday, January 27, 2012 Sports The Ottawa Herald

The Ottawa Herald’s Newspapers in Education Program supports

Franklin County Children’s Literature Festivalsponsored by Franklin County Reading Council

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Featuring14 Authors, Illustrators and StorytellersMeeting with more than 1,500 Franklin

County elementary school children from9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Ottawa University.

HeraldTheOttawa

Community News. Community Connections.

For Literature Festival information or to make a financial gift of support please call Vickie Hall, Franklin County

Reading Council 785-242-3255.

To learn more visitwww.ottawaherald.com/litfest/

Today’s Festival Author is Jenny WhiteheadJenny is the author/illustrator of two children’s

poetry books, “Lunch Box Mail” and “Holiday Stew”. She also illustrated a poetry

collection by Elsa Knight Bruno called “Punctuation Celebration”.

She designed wallpaper before becoming an art director at Hallmark Cards. In 1994 she left Hallmark to pursue children’s book

writing & illustration full-time.

FridayHigh school basketball

Wellsville at Anderson County(B),7;30p.m. Jayhawk-LinnatCentralHeights,6p.m. WestFranklinatSantaFeTrail,6p.m.

SaturdayCollege basketball

OttawaatBethel,2/4p.m.Wrestling

AndersonCounty,CentralHeights,WellsvilleatOsawatomie,9a.m. OttawaatOlatheNorth,9a.m.

Schedules

Scoreboard

Horstick fits the Tabor mold

High school basketball Anderson County, Wellsville (G)atTopGun

TuesdayHigh school basketball

AndersonCountyatPrairieView,6p.m. OsawatomieatCentralHeights,6p.m. SpringHillatOttawa,6p.m. Wellsville at Jayhawk-Linn, 6p.m.

Wrestling Anderson County at Eudora, 5p.m.

ThursdayCollege basketball

OttawaatTabor,6/8p.m.Wrestling

PaolaatWellsville,5p.m.

ByTheAssociatedPress

RALEIGH,N.C.—There’sa free agent trend quietlydeveloping around collegebasketballandcoachesaretryingtofigureouthowtogetahandleonit. Graduate transfers canmarket their skills as ballhandlers, secondary scor-ers and bodies to bolsterdepletedfrontlines—andcoaches and players aretaking advantage of therule. These players havegraduated but still haveeligibility remaining, sothey transfer and play im-mediatelybyenrollinginagraduateprogramunavail-ableattheirformerschool. Fifteen players haveplayedrightawayasgradu-ate transfers this year, ac-cordingtoSTATSLLC.Theschools they play at rangefromBCSmembersIllinoisand North Carolina Stateto smaller programs likeHoustonBaptistandTexasSouthern. It has Michigan StatecoachTomIzzoconcerned. “I’mworrieditcouldbe-come a national problem,”Izzo said. “If your teamdoesn’t make the NCAAtournament this year ornext,whynotgraduatethatsummerandgotothebestteamyoucan?” Izzoworriesitcouldleadtoattemptstorecruitplay-ers already on campuses.Butthatdidn’tpreventhimfrom bringing in BrandonWood, an all-conferenceguardwhograduatedfromValparaisoandisnowstart-ingforMichiganState. Izzo — who said he hadtheblessingofformerVal-paraisocoachHomerDrew— knew Wood might’veplayedforanotherBigTenteam against the Spartansifhedidn’ttakehimon. “Idon’tthinkit’sagoodprecedentforustosetandI don’t think it’s good forwhat we’re looking to do,”Izzosaid.“Ithinkthenega-tivescouldfaroutweighthepositives.Ireally,reallydobelievethat.” Mostofthisyear’sgroupredshirtedaseasondue toinjury and completed un-dergraduatedegreesastheyclosed their juniorathleticyear. They represent a dif-ferent type of tweener: not

talentedenoughtobestarsorboltfortheNBA,yetgoodorexperiencedenoughthatacoachwantsthemevenforjustaseason. Some—includingWood,Chicago State’s Lee Fish-er, Fairleigh Dickinson’sGeorge Goode and Louisi-ana Tech’s Trevor Gaskins—averagearound10 to12points. Guys like Oregon’sOluAshaoluandSanDiegoState’s Garrett Green pro-vide scoring and rebound-ing up front in about 20minutes per game. Othersoffer little more than spotduty. While transfers typi-cally sit a year, the NCAAoffersaone-timeexceptionallowing graduate trans-fers to play right away ifthe former school doesn’trenew the scholarships.NCAA spokeswoman Em-ily Potter said requiringgraduation and graduate-school enrollment provide“anappropriatethreshold”forarulethatfitsalimitednumberofplayers. Nonetheless,playersareshoppingtheirservices. Players are on year-to-year contracts as schoolsrenew their athletic schol-arships on an annual ba-sis. In professional sports,players are often waivedbefore they can becomefreeagents; incollege, thefirstschoolmustnotrenewtheplayer’sscholarshipforthe player to be granted awaiver. It hasn’t worked out fortheplayerineverycase. Todd O’Brien, a 7-foot-er, graduated from St. Jo-seph’s and transferred toUABtoenrollinthepublicadministration graduateprogram. He’s practicingwiththeBlazersbuthasn’tplayed in his final year ofeligibility because St. Jo-seph’swouldn’tsupporthisrequest, while his appealstotheNCAAhavebeende-nied. AtindependentCalStateBakersfield, Alex Johnsonhadredshirtedayearwitha knee injury, wanted toplay in a conference andwasn’t particularly inter-estedintheschool’sgradu-ate programs. He choseN.C. State, which neededabackuppointguardafterthe transfer of freshman

Graduate transfers make quick impactsRyanHarrow toKentucky.Johnsonstudiesfamilylifeand youth developmentwith plans of mentoringtroubledyouth. “It’s got to be a 50-50balance,” Johnson said ofacademics and athletics.“Ifelt likeIdidn’twanttogo somewhere where thebasketballisgoodbuttheydon’thavewhatIwanttodofor the master’s degree. ...Makingmydecisionforac-ademics, I made sure thatIwantedtodosomethingIreallywantedtodo,some-thing that was interestingtome.” But Johnson admits theplaying opportunity waskey in choosing the Wolf-pack instead of FloridaState, which had a similargraduateprogrambutalsoseveral returning guards.He’s averaging about fivepointsin20minutesasN.C.State has its best start inAtlantic Coast Conferenceplayinsixyears. “I feel as though if bas-ketball doesn’t work out,”Johnsonsaid,“Ihavesome-thingtoshowforit:amas-ter’s program ... where Icanactuallyhelppeople.” Johnson could’ve lookeddowntheroadinChapelHillforasuccessfulexample. AftersophomoreEdDa-vis entered the NBA draftfollowed by the surprise

transfers of freshmen Da-vid and Travis Wear inMay 2010, North Carolinahad two big men left anditwastoolatetofindare-cruit capable of immedi-atehelp.Aroundthattime,Alabama’s Justin Knoxplanned to finish under-graduateworkandtransferafterthreeyears. The6-9forwardwantedto pursue playing profes-sionally, setting up a per-fect marriage with theshort-handed and high-profile Tar Heels. Heplayedeverygameasare-serve for a team that wonthe ACC regular seasonand nearly reached theFinalFour.Knoxfinishedhisacademicwork,thoughhe postponed the intern-ship required to completethe two-year program insports administration be-cause he’s playing profes-sionallyinBelarus. Coach Roy Williamswould be open to doing itagain,thoughhe’snotadd-ing graduate transfers torecruitinglists. “For me, it would havetobeaspecificneed,”Wil-liamssaid.“Wedon’talwayssit around, having a littlemeeting,putourhandsto-gether and have a séanceandtrytofigureoutwho’sgoing to leave and have ayear’seligibilityleft.”

BRAVES: Off the bench(Continued from Page 7)

ByTheAssociatedPress

INDIANAPOLIS —Colts owner Jim IrsayexpectsChuckPaganotobring more than toughtalktoIndianapolis. Hewantsresults. AdayafterhiringPa-gano as his new coach,Irsayintroducedthefor-mer Baltimore Ravens’defensivecoordinatorasthemanaskedtorebuildthefranchise. “IreallybelieveChuckisbringinga toughness,the leadership we needatthispointforthefran-chise,”Irsaysaid. The 51-year-old Pa-ganosaidthehiringhadbeen a “whirlwind,”sincetheRavenslostonlyafewdaysagointheAFCchampionshipgame. “Words can’t describetheemotionsthatI’mgo-ing through right nowandthefeelings,”hesaid.“ComingoffprobablythemostdevastatinglossthatI’veeverbeenapartofinthe AFC championshipgame and to go in thatlockerroomandseethosefaces and we all knowhow hard it is to get tothatstageandtoseethetears.It’sanall-timelow,and the last thing I everexpectedcameacrossmytableandnowIsithereatanall-timehigh.” Clearly, Pagano’s jobwon’tbeeasy. The first-time head

coach will be workingwithafirst-timegeneralmanager, Ryan Grigson,and the next big movewillbedecidingwhattodowithfour-timeleagueMVP Peyton Manning,who missed the entireseason after having hislatest neck surgery inSeptember. The Coltsmust pay Manning $28million by March 8 orrisklosinghimasanun-restrictedfreeagent. In an interview ear-lier this week, Man-ning explained that thebiggest overhaul of hiscareer had created anuncomfortable environ-mentat teamheadquar-ters -- and that he hadnotyetspokenwithIrsayabouthisfuture. Itisoneofmanyques-tions theColts face inatumultuous offseasonthathasalreadyclaimedthejobsofBillandChrisPolian,JimCaldwellandmostofCaldwell’scoach-ingstaff.

Pagano eager torebuild Indy Colts

IndylandedtheNo.1draftpickbynose-divingtoa2-14recordlastseason,itsworstrecordintwodecades.

By GREG MASTHeraldSportsEditor

Loveatfirstsightexistsforpeople.Sometimes those kind of emotionscan be felt during a recruiting pro-cessforhighschoolathletes. It worked that way for CentralHeights High School senior KatelinHorstickandTaborCollege. Horstick said Tabor was the onlychoice once she visited. Tabor Col-lege volleyball coach Amy Ratzlaffsaid Horstick was her No. 1 recruitthis year and it became even moresolidaftermeetingherinperson. Horstick made it official Wednes-day when she signed to play volley-ballforTabor. “This is where I wanted to be,”Horstick said. “I got to play withthem. They are close together. Theylookaftereachother. “They have been getting bettereachyear.Iamexcitedtoseewhatisinstore.” For Ratzlaff, it wasn’t Horstick’s6-footathleticframethatsoldheron

theVikingstar. “She has integrity,” Ratzlaff said.“She is everything we look for. Shehas[high]character. “Volleyballwasabonus.” The bonus part certainly put heroverthetop. “She has a lot of skills,” Ratzlaffsaid.“Shewillfitrightin.Shehasafunspiritandamaturity[abouther].She hits the ball well. She has thewholepackage.” The three-sport star for the Vi-kingsfirsthadtodecidewhichsportto play. It came down to volleyball,where she was an asset all over thefloorinhighschool. “Iwassetonvolleyball,”Horsticksaid. The Viking is looking forward tojust playing volleyball and expectsherskillstoriseonceshegetstoTa-bornextfall. “Itwillbedifferent,”Horsticksaid.“Itwilltakeupalotofmytime.” RatzlaffsaidtheonlymonthoffforTaborplayersisDecember.TheKan-

sas Collegiate Athletic Conferenceallowsspringpractices. “It will be fun for her,” Ratzlaffsaid. “It will help her improve herskills. “Onceshegetsusedtothespeedofthe[college]game,shemakesanim-pact.” Ratzlaff liked how the six-footermovedonthecourtduringhervisit. Thecoachsaidshehasexceptionalagilityforhersize. “Sheisagile,quickandgoodjump-ingability,”Ratzlaffsaid. Horstick expects to get her firstlookasamiddlehitter,apositionthatfitsherskills. Horstick said she will play what-everpositionbenefitstheteam. Ratzlaff said that kind of atti-tudeandleadershipiswhatsetsherapart. “People like Katelin win champi-onships,”Ratzlaffsaid.

Greg Mast can be reached at [email protected]

Eagles pull 9-7 victory over state opponents. See Page 10.

FIRST ROUND

Weekender, May 26-27, 2012

Local SportsThe Ottawa Herald

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Photos by Evert Nelson//Special to The Ottawa Herald

Catcher equipment from Ottawa High School lays in the dugout while the team is called out onto the field before their first round game of the 4A state tournament Friday against Jefferson West at Dean Evans Stadium in Salina. The game was de-layed about an hour after heavy rains at the tournament.

National Weather By The Associated Press

PartlyCloudy

Cloudy

Showers

Thunder-storms

Rain

Flurries

Snow

Ice

OKLA.

NEB. MO.

© 2012 Wunderground.com

Today's ForecastSaturday, May 26

City/RegionHigh | Low tempsForecast for

Colby97° | 58° Kansas City

94° | 74°Topeka95° | 73°

Ottawa91° | 68°

Pittsburg91° | 72°

Wichita94° | 73°

Liberal97° | 66°

Salina97° | 73°

Mostly sunny

Winds: SSW at 14 mphGusts: 22 mph

TODAY

91

Mostly sunny

SUNDAY

90/67

Local Weather

Mostly clear

Winds: S at 9 mphGusts: 21 mph

TONIGHT

68

Partly sunny

MONDAY

85/59Partly sunny

TUESDAY

85/60

TemperaturesThursday’s high . . . . . . . . . . . . .85Thursday’s low . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65Thursday’s record high. . .95, 1939Thursday’s record low.. . . 39, 1935

PrecipitationPrecipitation 7 a.m. Friday. . . . . 0.33Thursday’s record . . . . 1.49, 1972Month to date . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.59Monthly average . . . . . . . . . . 5.43Year to date . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.12

Temperature extremes in the lower 48 states ranged from 22 at Daniel Wyo., to 107 at Laredo, Texas.

StatisticsSunrise/SunsetSunset Tonight . . . . . . . . . . . . 8:36Sunrise Sunday . . . . . . . . . . . 6:00Sunset Sunday . . . . . . . . . . . . 8:37Sunrise Monday . . . . . . . . . . . 6:00Sunset Monday . . . . . . . . . . . 8:37 Sunrise Tuesday. . . . . . . . . . . 5:59

Reservoir levels Full Level (cu.ft./sec)Reservoir Pool Now OutflowClinton 876 876.16 21Hillsdale 917 917.12 24Melvern 1,036 1,036.87 20Pomona 974 975.79 15

OTTAWA HIGH SCHOOL


SALINA — The Ottawa HighSchoolbaseballteam’sdepthinitsbattingorderkeepsopposingpitch-ersfromeverfeelingcomfortable. The Cyclones kept the pressureon the Jeff West pitchers and de-fensefromstarttofinishFridayina first round 4A state tournamentgameinSalina. Ottawa ripped 13 hits in the 7-4 victory over the Tigers. The Cy-clones (20-4) advanced to today’s10 a.m. semifinal contest againsttop-seeded Concordia (21-1), whichnippedNickerson,2-1. The Cyclones can strike at anypointintheorder. “That is our strength,” Ottawacoach Shawn Herrmann said. “Wedon’t rely on one hitter. We playedoutstanding.” Ottawa all-state senior Con-nor Goedert, who was the winningpitcher, said the depth makes theCyclonestoughtobeat. “Itisallthroughoutthelineup,”hesaid.“Ifwehavetheproductionlikethat,wewillbejustfine.” Ottawa’s attack was well-bal-anced with the first three hittershaving five hits and the bottomthreeaccountingforfivehits. “We continued to put pressureon their pitchers,” Goedert said.“Whenweweredown4-2,Iknewwecouldcontinuehitting.” Goedert and Isaac Carter ledOttawa with three hits each. Bothcame through with big hits late inthegame. Carter’s RBI double in the fifthinningbrokea4-4tie.Goedert’ssolohomerunintheseventhgaveOttawabreathingroomanda6-4edge. Cartersaidhewas looking forapitchtohitwitha3-1count. “I was looking for something Icould[drive],”hesaid.“Itwasahighfastballovertheplate.” JamieSoderberg,runningforNa-thanRoth,whoreachedonanerror,spedaroundthebasestoscoreandsnapthetie. Herrmann said Carter’s play inthe second half of the season has

beenashotinthearm. “He does whatever is needed,”Herrmannsaid.“Hemakesplaysforus.Itwashuge[hit].” Thegamewentback-and-forth.Ot-tawascoredoneinthetopofthefirstinning.TaylorGraf,whohadtwohits,

singled to open the game. GraysonLaPlant’ssacrificebuntmovedGraftosecond.Goedert’ssingleadvancedGraftothirdandhescoredonKadenShaffer’sgroundout.

CyCLONeS CLiNCh wiN iN SOggy STaTe MaTChuP

Ottawa High School senior Connor Goedert pitches the ball toward a Jefferson West batter Friday during a first-round game of the 4A state tournament at Dean Evans Stadium in Salina.

See CYCLONES, Page 10

Page 10 Weekender, May 26-27, 2012 Sports The Ottawa Herald

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JeffWestansweredwithtwo runs on three hits inthebottomofthefirst. Ottawa tied it with arun in the third. Shafferwalked and scored whenNathanRoth’sflytocenterwasdroppedforanerror. JeffWestscoredtwiceinthefourthontwohitsfora4-2lead.Goedertwaspulledin the fifth after walkingthefirsthitter.Hegaveupfive hits on four runs andhadfivestrikeouts. “Connor gave us fourstronginnings,”Herrmannsaid. “Kaden has beenlightsoutthisyear.” Shaffer shut down theTigers,givinguponehitinthefinalthreeinnings. “He finished it,” Goed-

ertsaid. Cartersaid,“Kadenshutthedoor.” Goedert’s home run ig-nitedOttawa’stwo-runsev-enthinning. “He’sourleader,”Cartersaid. Goedert has a uniqueopportunitytoplayagainsthis former teammates to-day. The senior moved toOttawafollowinghisfresh-manseasonatConcordia. “He’sgottobeexcited,”Cartersaid. Goedert was more low-keywithhisapproachofitbeingjustanothergame. “Theyaregoingto[want]tobeatme,andIwillwanttobeatthem,”hesaid.

[email protected]

CYCLONES: First-round win(ContinuedfromPage9)

Photos by Steven Hausler/Special to The Ottawa Herald

Wellsville High School’s Trenton Smith celebrates Friday after tagging out Thomas More Prep-Marian High School’s Nick Ham-meke at second base during the first round of the Class 3A State Baseball Tournament at Tointon Family Stadium on the campus of Kansas State University in Manhattan. Wellsville defeated Thomas More Prep 9-7.

By The Herald Staff

MANHATTAN — Wells-villeHighSchoolpoundedout six runs in the top ofthefirstinningandheldontobeatThomasMorePrep-Marian High School 9-7 inthefirstroundoftheClass3A baseball tournamentFridayinManhattan. “Theguyscameoutandpounded the ball reallyhardandchased theiracepitcher out of the game inthefirstinning,”Wellsvillecoach Phil Pearson said.“Thatreallygaveusconfi-dencetoknowtheyweren’tgoing to be able to throwtheballpastus.” Shane Hillman, theEagles’ lead-off batter,openedthegamebyliningasingletocenterfield. “Shanegotusgoingwithasmashtocenter,andthatwas followed by a double,andasingle,andadoubleandawalk,”Pearsonsaid.“Any time you can buildmomentumlikethatatthestatetournament,youhavetotakeadvantageofit.” But theEagles’ 6-0 leadwasshort-lived. Thomas More Prep,Hays, rallied to score fiveruns, several unearned,in the bottom of the firstinning to close within onerunoftheEagles. Wellsville added twomorerunsinthetopofthesecond inning to widen itslead to 8-5. But the Mon-

archsansweredwitharuninthebottomofthesecond.Between the two clubs, 14runscrossedtheplateaftertwoinningsofplayinawildstarttothegame. ButWellsvilleacepitch-er Shane Pokorney buck-led down and didn’t giveupanotherrununtilthefi-nalframetoshutdowntheMonarchs. “Shanegotofftoarockystart in the first inning,but he really did a mar-velous job,” Pearson said.“Thestrikezonewasalit-tle tighter out here, so hehad to adjust. He got hisbreakingballgoing,andhepitchedhiswayoutofsometough innings. [ThomasMorePrep]strandedalotofbase runners. Shane wentthedistanceandpitchedareallygoodgame.” Wellsville added its fi-nal run in the top of thesixth inning to build a 9-6lead, with the Monarchsclosing thegapwitha runintheseventhtomakethefinalscore9-7. Wellsville scored itsninerunson12hits,whileThomas More Prep scoredseven runs on six hits. In-dividual statistics weren’timmediately available af-terthegame. TheEagleswillplaythewinner of the Rock Creekvs. Salina-Sacred Heartgameat12:30p.m.todayinManhattan.

Monarchs no Match for eagles

Thomas More Prep-Marian High School’s Dylan Lang tags out Wellsville’s Clifton Gardner Friday after Gardner got caught be-tween first and second base in the first round of the Class 3A State Baseball Tournament.

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By ANN WILLIAMSONThe Topeka Capital-Journal

TOPEKA — Valerie Bollig de-scribes her son, Matt, as someone who wanted to make his mark on the world — an individual re-membered for whom he was and how he touched lives. Matt was hoping his chance to be remembered would come on the football field. Slotted to be a starting offensive player on this year’s Ottawa University Braves football team, he was hoping to make history competing for a na-tional championship. Then July 18 came. Matt was in the weight room with his teammates working out for the upcoming season when he broke his back lifting weights. According to his mother, the lower half of Matt’s body went one way and his top half went an-other, making him a paraplegic. “It could have been so much worse,” Valerie said. “The neu-rosurgeon told us that if he hadn’t been in such good physi-cal health that it probably would have killed him.” Valerie, who is originally from Topeka and graduated from Sea-man High School and Washburn University, said Matt was quickly transferred to Overland Park Re-gional Medical Center and sur-gery was done to fuse his spine back together. “The doctors have said that if anything was going to go right it went right, other than the simple fact that he got hurt that was wrong,” she said. During the five- to six-hour surgery, the waiting room filled with family, friends, teammates and coaches. “Right before surgery, we talked and he wanted to under-stand why it happened to him. Of course, I couldn’t answer,” Valer-ie said. “I just told him that God wouldn’t have given it to him if he didn’t know that he could handle it. God would give him strength.” Later that night, Matt was jok-ing with his mom, asking if his situation would qualify as a med-ical redshirt year. “Yeah, Matt, I think this will do it,” Valerie said. “He knows now that he won’t play football again and has other things on his agenda now.” Matt was transferred July 24 from the Overland Park medi-cal center to Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., where he has been learning how to do every-thing without the use of his legs. He is participating in occupa-tional therapy, physical therapy and fitness classes. “They are teaching him how to live with his disability, all of the things that you don’t even real-ize that you are doing,” Valerie said. “You don’t realize how hard it is to sit up. The first thing they taught him was to sit up, and now he’s transferring himself.” Instead of focusing on the neg-atives of being paralyzed, Matt continues to look forward. “My injury has opened my eyes to what is still available to me,” he said. “It also let me know how much I miss playing football and sports.” Earlier this summer, Ottawa University Coach Kent Kessing-er said the Braves were going to

play for their injured teammate, even though he has never suited up against one of the team’s op-ponents. Matt played his high school football in Chanute and

as a freshman and sophomore at Fort Scott Community College. “The only game that he’s ac-tually suited up for Ottawa was the spring game,” Valerie said.

“Now, they are going to win the national championship. I have no doubt about it, and that’s what he believes and that’s what he’s told them. They are playing this year for Matty. He was No. 6 and their team shirts say, ‘We got you, 6.’” The plan right now is for Matt to be back on campus Sept. 15 for the conference opener against the University of St. Mary. He has taking online classes for a sports management and exercise sci-ence degree until he gets back to school. He has been talking to his team-mates and coaches every day. “I keep in touch with my team-mates and make sure that they know that I am doing OK and that they know that I am working hard,” Matt said. “I also make sure that they are working hard as well.” Valerie said she has been surprised by the outpouring of support, from people posting messages on the Facebook page “Pray for Matty” to those sending cards and letters. People also have organized fundraisers to pay for his treat-ment and things insurance won’t cover. One of the fundraising items is a T-shirt with a stick

figure holding another stick fig-ure’s back and the caption “Don’t worry, Matt, I got your back.” “It’s just been crazy — crazy good,” she said. “All he ever wanted to do was to make a dif-ference. He just wanted people to know how he was and how he touched people and hoped that he changed lives. “I told him that this is proba-bly not the way that you wanted to do it, but do you know how many people you’ve touched just by be-ing you? Not because you passed for the winning touchdown or made the winning tackle, just be-cause you are you. Not that many people can touch that many lives just by being them. He’s just like, ‘I know mom, it’s crazy isn’t it?’ It’s been great in a weird way.” Matt tweeted earlier this sum-mer that his new goal was to be an Olympian, adding he has found a hand bike he enjoys using and is learning as much as he can about sports in which he can compete. “My eyes are still open to ev-erything,” Matt said. “I’m trying to get exposed to all that I can.” Valerie has no doubt that her son will continue to be an ath-lete. With his drive, she believes he will.

MATT BOLLIG

SportsPage 8 Tuesday, September 4, 2012

If you have sports scores or other sports news, to report please call (785) 242-4700 or (800) 467-8383; or send email to [email protected]

Greg Mast, sports editoron the Web at http://www.ottawaherald.com

The Ottawa Herald

NFL

No huddle part of normal offenseBARRY WILNERAP Pro Football Writer

The days when the no-huddle offense was reserved for desperate times are long gone. Teams don’t have to be in rally mode to use the no-huddle these days. They simply need a quar-terback with the experi-ence, smarts and decisive-ness to run it, which is why fans might see Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Joe Flacco running it from the get-go this season. Baltimore’s fascina-tion with the no-huddle is, well, the most fascinat-ing. For much of his pre-vious four seasons as the

Ravens’ starting quarter-back, Flacco was consid-ered a developing player and not one to be trusted as a focal point of the of-fense. That began chang-ing last season when he stood out in leading Bal-timore within a dropped pass in the end zone of the AFC title. This year, even with the dynamic Ray Rice in the backfield, Flacco could be the Ravens’ spotlight play-er when they have the ball. “Last year, we were a pretty young offense. This year, we have those guys that we had that were first-year guys last year that are really comfortable,” Flac-

co said. “If you remember last year, we didn’t have our offensive line until Week 1 against Pittsburgh, and we’re still dealing with a little of that this year. “But we have guys that are more ready and more confident in them-selves, more confident in the playbook. You can have more freedom with those things, and every-body is going to grasp it and be able to be on the same page. This year, I think we are going to hit the ground running, and we are going to be real smooth at it.” As smooth as, say, the Patriots, who probably use

the no-huddle better than anybody? Perhaps not. But if the Ravens do reach that level of mastery, they should be the conference favorite because their de-fense and running game figure to be better than New England’s. Other teams expected to frequently turn to the no-huddle are the Bron-cos with Manning — no-body reads defenses bet-ter, so speeding up the tempo of a game plays right into Manning’s strengths — the Lions, Falcons, Chiefs, Jets, Car-dinals and Packers.

OU player tackles toughest challenge

File photos/The Ottawa Herald

ABOVE: Ottawa University linebacker Chris Magdalena holds up a ceremo-nial wooden axe as he leads the Braves onto the field Aug. 25 during the home opener at Peoples Bank Field, Ottawa. The axe was presented to Val-erie Bollig, mother of injured player Matt Bollig, before kickoff of the game against Baker University. Matt Bollig was injured in a weight lifting accident July 18 at the OU weight room. Bollig now is undergoing rehabilitation at a hospital outside Denver.

LEFT: Ottawa University junior quarterback Matt Bollig drops back to pass the ball April 14 during the spring scrimmage at Peoples Bank Field, Ottawa.

SchedulesTuesday

High school volleyball Metro/J-Linn at Central Heights, 4:30 p.m. Eudora at Ottawa, 6:30 p.m. West Franklin at Mission Valley, 5 p.m.

Golf Anderson County at Fort Scott, 3 p.m.

WednesdayHigh school cross-country

Ottawa at Olathe North, 4 p.m.High school tennis

Ottawa at Seaman, 3 p.m.College volleyball

Ottawa at Saint Mary, 7 p.m.Thursday

High school cross-country Anderson County, CH, WF at Santa Fe Trail, 4 p.m.

High school soccer Paola at Ottawa, 6 p.m.

High school volleyball Ottawa at Piper, 5 p.m. Wellsville at Fort Scott, 4:30 p.m.

High school golf West Franklin Inv., 1 p.m.

FridayHigh school football(all games at 7 p.m.)

Prairie View at Anderson County Burlington at Central Heights Ottawa at De Soto Olpe at Wellsville West Franklin at Chase County

College volleyball Ottawa vs. Park, Baldwin City, 11 a.m. Ottawa vs. Midland, Baldwin City, 7 p.m.

SaturdayCollege football

Ottawa at Kansas Wesleyan, 7 p.m.

High school volleyball Central Heights at Iola Inv., 8:30 a.m. Wellsville at Baldwin Inv., 8 a.m.

College volleyball Ottawa vs. William Woods, 1 p.m. Ottawa vs. Bellvue, 5 p.m.

College cross-country Ottawa alumni run, 8 a.m.

High school cross-country Wellsville at Wamego, 11 a.m. See NO HUDDLE, Page 9

Tuesday, September 4, 2012 Page 9SportsThe Ottawa Herald

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Athlete of the Week

Cyclones surge ahead

Photo by Matt Bristow/The Ottawa Herald

Ottawa High School sophomore Sam White leads the pack with teammate junior Daniel White in step for the two-mile during the season opener Thursday at the Eisenhower course. Sam White finished second with a time of 12 minutes, 2.95 seconds and Daniel White finished third with a time of 12:19.12. The Cyclones compete Wednesday at Olathe North.

Obviously, the Chiefs, Jets and Cardinals don’t have established stars at quarterback, so why use it? “You know if you can op-erate correctly, it’s a great change-up,” Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “Teams have to spend time preparing for that, which will help take away from their preparation in other areas. So it’s a good way to have another way of attack-ing teams. “You can’t live in it, be-cause if you stay in one thing, just like the run-and-shoot that was in the NFL for a while, people will defend it.” The Jets, whose offense couldn’t get out of its own way in the preseason — no touchdowns scored by the starters — toyed with it and Mark Sanchez looked more effective running the no-huddle than he did in the regular attack. But there’s an ulterior motive for Jets coach Rex Ryan, one that makes lots of sense for any defense-minded coach. “This is not just great for our offense, it’s great for our defense because so many teams now are no-huddle or they do all these types of things and our guys will be used to playing at that kind of tempo,” Ryan said. “I thought a lot of no-huddle teams were gaining advan-tage because, quite honestly, they’re not used to working at that level. I think we are.” So many teams use situ-ational players on defense that the no-huddle has be-

come a strategic weapon even between plays. If the offense isn’t huddling, even if it isn’t using a hur-ry-up scheme, getting the right — or the right num-ber — of defenders on the field becomes problematic. “I like it a lot. It’s tough on a defense, and they can’t substitute or get off the field,” Ravens receiver Torrey Smith said. “And for us, we know what we’re doing, so we have to think on the fly. It benefits us in games because we practice that way anyway.” The key to running the no-huddle is how well the quarterback can take charge of the offense. That, of course, is little problem for the likes of the Man-nings, Brady or 2011 MVP Aaron Rodgers. “’’I like the opportunity to have some input in plays,” Rodgers said, “but when you play in this offense long enough and with the same coaching staff, it’s the natu-ral progression to have a bigger role in the offense. Obviously in the meetings and the game-planning and the ideas and then being able to have a direct impact at times in those no-huddle (situations), it’s just kind of a seamless transition for us.” And, apparently, for a lot of other teams.

NO HUDDLE: Offense(Continued from Page 8)

Royals mowed down by Darvish in loss to RangersBy The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Yu Darvish did not throw a no-hitter, though there was some concern in the Kansas City dugout that he might. Darvish retired the first 17 batters, Texas hit five home runs and the Rangers beat the Royals 8-4 Monday in a game that turned testy. The Royals did not get a baserunner until John-ny Giavotella walked on a close pitch with two outs in the sixth. David Lough, the next batter, ended the no-hitter with a bloop single to center. “I turned to (bench coach) Chino (Cadahia) in about the fifth inning and said ‘Boy, this guy’s got a shot,’” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He had a 97-mile-an-hour fastball, a 95-mile-an-hour cutter, a 92 splitter and he’s throw-ing 68 to 64 on the curve. “The variation in speeds was tremendous. It was the first time we’ve seen him. It was our first time seeing him and he was fantastic.” Lough, playing in just his third major league game, hit it just out of the reach of Rangers shortstop

Elvis Andrus. “It takes one hit some-times and other guys can feed off it,” Lough said. “I saw him going back for it and I was hoping it would fall in. “He was definitely switch-ing it up on us. His off-speed stuff was working well, keep-ing us off balance.” The only opposing pitcher to throw a no-hit-ter against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium is Dar-vish’s boss, Rangers presi-dent Nolan Ryan on May 15, 1973. Adrian Beltre and Nel-son Cruz homered on con-secutive pitches in the sixth inning. Cruz watched his drive sail over the wall, then was hit by Louis Cole-man’s first pitch leading off the ninth. Cruz took a few steps to the mound, but was re-strained by catcher Bray-an Pena. The dugouts and bullpens emptied, but only words were exchanged. Both teams were issued a warning by plate umpire Mike Everitt. “We were trying to pitch in on him, to keep him from extending his arms,” Yost

said. “You saw what he did the last at-bat when he got his arms extended. We were just trying to pitch him in.” Michael Young an-swered that by homering on the next pitch. Josh Hamilton hit his 38th homer and Geovany Soto added a three-run shot as Texas won for the ninth time in 12 games. The AL West leaders moved a season-high 26 games over .500 with some more pop after they hit four homers Sunday in an 8-3 vic-tory at Cleveland. “They’ve got a big-time offense,” Royals designat-ed hitter Billy Butler said. “They’re a high-powered of-fense and got eight runs on us. Darvish was throwing strikes and mixing it well, pounding the strike zone, and definitely executing every pitch. We got to him and got some hits. We hit some balls well and didn’t get some hits on them, too.” A day after he homered and doubled in his first two big league at-bats, 19-year-old Jurickson Profar was not in the Texas lineup. Second baseman Ian Kinsler, who sat out Sunday with a stiff back, returned to the lineup.

Darvish (14-9), who re-tired the final seven bat-ters he faced in his previous start, tied Wade Miley of Ar-izona for the most victories by a rookie this season. Darvish gave up a two-run triple to Tony Abreu and a RBI double to Alex Gordon to cut the Texas lead to 6-3 before the in-

ning ended. Darvish was pulled after the seventh and struck out six, includ-ing five in the first three innings, and walked one. “He was really locked in,” said Lorenzo Cain, who went 0 for 4. “You could tell he wore down a little at the end. He was mixing it up and keeping it down.”

Soto homered in the sec-ond for a 3-0 lead. Bruce Chen (10-11) al-lowed six runs on six hits, four of them home runs. He lasted six innings as his career ERA against Texas climbed to 8.68. Abreu also singled in a run in the eighth, giving him six RBIs in two games.

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