Fall sports #1 2015

LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS |WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015 | inside: mason co. eastern, PENTWATER & MANISTEE CATHOLIC

SPORTS20152015201520152015Fall

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Will stay on asjunior varsity

coach, tooBy DAVID BOSSICKDaily NeWs sports eDitor

CUSTER — Mason County East-ern will have a vastly different lineup this year from last year, and that includes the coach on the bench.

Sara LaPrad takes over for Pam Bentley as the varsity volleyball coach after being the junior varsi-ty coach for the Cardinals a season ago.

“We have a pretty awesome re-lationship. A lot of the girls have been working out all summer long,” she said. “I have a good rela-tionship with a lot of the parents. I have a lot of girls who are used to my coaching technique.”

LaPrad grew up playing through-out the calendar as a youth near Bay City in Bangor Township. She attended Bay City John Glenn and graduated from high school in 2009. She went on to coach at the middle school and junior varsity level in the Comstock school sys-tem before getting married and moving to Ludington.

That led to last season where she worked with the junior varsi-ty team. Many of those players are making the move up to the varsity team this season. Others, such as Lauren McCumber, Tammy Camp-bell and Dejna Babcock are holders from last season.

“Lauren is going to be awesome out there. She’s our setter. She’s the rock,” LaPrad said. “She’s our captain. The whole nine yards. She sets a great example for the girls and she’s very enthusiastic.”

The Cardinals moved up Erin Wittlieff, Frances Knizacky, Kait-lyn Maciag, Brooke Lee and Zeressa

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Mason County Eastern volleyball

LaPrad moves up to varsity job

DAVID BOSSICK | Daily NeWsMembers of the Mason County Eastern varsity volleyball team are, front row, from left, Erin Wittlieff, Tammy Campbell, Lauren McCumber and Frances Knizacky; back row, Kaitlyn Maciag, Brooke Lee, Dejna Babcock and Zeressa Cregg.

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Cregg to the varsity team. The varsity numbers are at seven for the season, with the junior varsity having just six.

LaPrad will be coaching both the varsity and junior varsity teams this fall for Mason County Eastern. It’s a tall order, but she relates it to coaching a pair of middle school teams in Comstock at the same time.

“It’ll be all right. There will be some days where they’ll practice together and there will be some day sphere they practice (apart),” she said. “It’ll work.”

Because LaPrad was there to see her junior varsity team play against most of the Western Michigan D League, she’s not going into the sea-son completely blind to the capabilities of the teams in the conference.

“There’s a few teams we were really close with last year, and we came home with a loss,” she said, re-ferring to a handful of five-game losses the Cardinals suffered.

LaPrad was unsure about

defending league champi-on Pentwater — the Falcons didn’t have a junior varsity last year — but felt her Car-dinals could get past teams like Manistee Catholic and Walkerville.

The Cardinals’ varsity team opened the season at McBain Northern Michigan Christian with a tournament and they followed it up with the Frankfort Tournament on Tuesday. Western Michi-gan D League play starts at Walkerville Sept. 17.

voLLeybaLL: LaPrad takes over for Bentley

DAVID BOSSICK | Daily NeWsMembers of the Mason County Eastern junior varsity volleyball team are, front row, from left, Mckenna Lake, Harley Smakal and Emma Howell; second row, Chelsea Gage, Jenny Appledorn and Taylor Dykman.

‘It’ll be all right. there will be some days where they’ll practice together and there will be some day sphere they practice (apart). it’ll work.’

Sara lapradMason County eastern

volleyball coach

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WeDNesDay august 26, 2015 | luDiNgtoN Daily NeWs/Fall sports | 3www.ludingtondailynews.com

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By DAVID BOSSICKDaily NeWs sports eDitor

CUSTER — As with any team getting the season going, the Ma-son County Eastern cross country teams have designs of reaching the state meet at Michigan Internation-al Speedway in November.

The Cardinals, though, very well could have a large contingent of red-and-yellow clad competitors there.

Both the boys and girls cross country teams return several key runners for the season, and that bodes well for those plans. The girls cross country team returns two state qualifiers: Jordan Good-man, now a junior, and Cammie Shoup, a sophomore, who got there last year. Shoup was 33rd, just outside of All-State honors as the top 30 get it. Goodman was 109th in the 237-girl field.

Then throw in a healthy Megan McCormick, and the prospects look pretty good not just individu-ally, but potentially as a team.

“The top three are studs,” East-ern coach Ben Knizacky said. “We’re hoping for Liz (Sing-er) to get here and help us out. Sam (Goodman) will help us out some.”

The Cardinals do have a com-plete team, with Lauren Golem-biewski coming along, too. Golembiewski attends Manistee Catholic, and runs through the co-operative agreement between the two schools.

“She’s run through the summer. And, she’s already finished ahead of the pace she was at last year,” Knizacky said.

Having two state qualifiers, though, will be a huge help.

“Cammie will lead us, but the other two girls will be right there tight. Megan and Jordan have been running some (5-kilometer races) over the summer. They’ve been 30 seconds of each other,” Knizacky said. “That first three is going to be strong.”

see CrOSS, pAge 5

Mason County Eastern cross country

Cardinals could soar to state meet

DAVID BOSSICK | Daily NeWsMembers of the Mason County Eastern cross country teams are, front row, from left, Lauren Golembiewski, Cammie Shoup, Samantha Goodman, Megan Mc-Cormick and Jordan Goodman; back row, Daniel J. Busch, Joey Mickevich, Mason Callesen, Ben Cossette, Abe Shoup and Preston Kelley.

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Knizacky figures Bear Lake’s co-op with Onekama will continue to be strong. The Lakers are dominant within the Western Michi-gan D League and won the regional championship a season ago. But, they also graduated several of their top runners.

“If the three can finish in the top five in the league, it can help. I think on both sides, it can be really close,” he said, of both the boys and girls teams.

The boys cross coun-try team should be in good shape, too. Preston Kelley qualified for the state meet two seasons ago, but this team isn’t driven by one breakout star.

“I don’t think there’s an established top guy, yet,” Knizacky said. “I’m not too sure that Mason Callesen,

might not challenge those boys. He’s been working hard this summer and he’s been developing the body strength.”

Beyond Kelley and Cal-lesen, Abe Shoup, Joey Mickevich, Daniel Busch, Ben Cossette and Mason Saya all return to the team from last year. The team may add Calvin Grant.

“Previously, Preston, Joe, Abe and Mason Callesen, I’m not sure that it couldn’t happen to any one of those that they become the front-runner,” Knizacky said. “I’m not too sure that it could be a different one could be the front runner.

“My top five, I suspect by the end of the season, might be inside a minute tight.”

Having a grouping that close together could pave the way for some great things for the entire group, Knizacky said.

“That’s what it takes. We’ve got to be tight,” he said. “We just don’t have a Zac (Benham, from Mason County Central). I remem-ber three years ago, Benzie (Central) won state without any All-Staters… They were all 30 and above.

“We can accomplish things, just so long as we keep it tight.”

And like the girls, the boys team will aim to chal-lenge the Bear Lake/Oneka-ma powerhouse for the Western Michigan D League. However, Knizacky has his eyes set on another poten-tial spoiler to their plans.

“I’m not downplaying Walkerville. They had some young kids last year, and they ran pretty good,” he said. “They’re pretty hun-gry.”

Beyond the league, Knizacky said the boys team should take one of the

top three slots at the region-al and qualify for the state meet.

“We’re going to have Bear Lake there. We’re going to have Frankfort there. Frank-fort is going to have a de-cent squad back,” he said. “I think we can certainly chal-lenge for that other spot. They feel they can, and that’s half the battle.”

What helps the team is they get along very well. The team went to Rapid River in the Upper Peninsula to do some preseason training. And part of that training took them to Paradise to jog back and forth between the upper and lower Tahquame-non Falls.

“They know they’re ju-niors now, and they’re pulling for each other,” Knizacky said. “It’s time to prove it. It’s time for them to produce, and I think they know it.”

2015 Mason County Eastern fall schedules

CrOSS COuntry(CO-Op wIth mAnIStee CAthOlIC)

Mon., Aug. 24, at Orchard View Invitational, 5 p.m.Sat., Aug. 29, at Benzie Invitational, 9 a.m.Sat., Sept. 5, at Buckley Invitational, 9 a.m.Wed., Sept. 9, at Western Michigan D League jamboree at

Walkerville, 4:15 p.m.Sat., Sept. 12, at Briggs Invitational at West Shore Community

College, 9 a.m.Wed., Sept. 16, at Western Michigan D League jamboree at

Bear Lake, 4:15 p.m.Wed., Sept. 23, at Western Michigan D League jamboree at Big

Rapids Crossroads, 4:15 p.m.Sat., Sept. 26, at Oakridge Invitational, 8:30 a.m.Tue., Sept. 29, at Kelder Invitational at Scottville, 4 p.m.Sat., Oct. 3, at LeRoy Pine River Invitational, 9 a.m.Wed., Oct. 7, WMD championshipWed., Oct. 14, Cardinal Classic

VArSIty VOlleyBAllSat., Aug. 22, at McBain Northern Michigan Christian Invita-

tional, 9 a.m.Tue., Aug. 26, at Frankfort Invitational, 9 a.m.Thur., Aug. 27, at Bear Lake Invitational, 9 a.m.Thur., Sept. 10, Manistee, 6 p.m.Thur., Sept. 17, at Walkerville, 6 p.m.Tue., Sept. 22, at Bear Lake, 6 p.m.Thur., Sept. 24, at Brethren, 6 p.m.Sat., Sept. 26, at Pentwater Invitational, 9 a.m.Tue., Sept. 29, Manistee Catholic, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 1, at Baldwin, 6 p.m.Sat., Oct. 3, at Brethren InvitationalThur., Oct. 8, Pentwater, 6 p.m.Tue., Oct. 13, Big Rapids Crossroads, Manistee, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 15, Onekama, 6 p.m.Sat., Oct. 17, at Western Michigan D League Tournament at

Walkerville, 6 p.m.Mon., Oct. 26, at Buckley, 5:30 p.m.Tue., Oct. 27, Kent City Algoma Christian, 6 p.m.

JunIOr VArSIty VOlleyBAllThur., Sept. 10, Manistee, 6 p.m.Sat., Sept. 12, at Brethren Invitational, 9 a.m.Thur., Sept. 17, at Walkerville, 6 p.m.Tue., Sept. 22, at Bear Lake, 6 p.m.Thur., Sept. 24, at Brethren, 6 p.m.Sat., Sept. 26, at Bear Lake Invitational, 9 a.m.Tue., Sept. 29, Manistee Catholic, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 1, at Baldwin, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 8, Pentwater, 6 p.m.Tue., Oct. 13, Big Rapids Crossroads, Manistee, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 15, Onekama, 6 p.m.Sat., Oct. 17, West Shore Community College Invitational, 9

a.m.Mon., Oct. 26, at Buckley, 5:30 p.m.Tue., Oct. 27, Kent City Algoma Christian, 6 p.m.

Cross: MCE aiming to qualify both boys, girls teams

DAVID BOSSICK | Daily NeWs FileMason County Eastern’s Preston Kelley (bib 779), Mason Saya and Mason Callesen are in a pack of runners during the MHSAA Div. 4 regional at Grand Traverse Resort, October 2014, in Acme. All three runners return for the 2015 season.

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By greg gIelCZyKDaily NeWs sports Writer

MANISTEE — Heading into the pre-season scrimmage at Webberville, Aug. 19, the Manistee Catholic Central football team boasted 12 players on the roster with the possibility of one or two more coming on board prior to the season opener.

The Sabers are embark-ing on a new adventure this season because of their low numbers and will be playing 8-man football rather than

the 11-on-11 as they have since their inaugural season back in the 1960s, and they are being led by a new coach in alumnus Phil Kroll.

Kroll, the boys’ basketball coach last winter, played on the Sabers’ state champi-onship team back in 1969 when Manistee Catholic was a Class C school and there were no post-season playoffs with the four state champions (one in each class) decided by a vote of the United Press Internation-al sports writers.

Considering his football pedigree, and coaching ex-perience in the Grand Rapids area before retiring and mov-ing back to Manistee a couple of years ago, Kroll appears to be a perfect fit to lead the Sa-bers into a new era.

Although he’d prefer to have 16 players which would give the team a lot more depth, Kroll will settle for 12. It still allows for some substitution, if only mini-mally, and a chance to rest some of his offensive play-ers when the team is on de-

fense.With such small numbers,

any injuries will create prob-lems.

“I’m optimistic,” Kroll said after the first week of prac-tice. “We have some people that I can plug into the right spots. Like we always say, in-juries will be the death of us. But, the guys I have plugged into the spots I’m very opti-mistic that they’ll be able to play their positions.

“We’ve got to keep contact to a minimum, because (of) so few guys. We’re going to

be a very fit team because we do a lot of running. The heavy contact we do once, maybe twice a week. By rule it’s only twice a week any-way, but we may only be able to do it once a week. We can’t take a chance.

“The first two days of con-tact I had two guys go down, and they’re still not 100 per-cent. This is such unchart-ed water. We’ll see if we can do what we hope, or are we going to have to come back (after the pre-season scrim-mage at Webberville that

was scheduled for Wednes-day, Aug. 19) and revamp ev-erything? I’m hoping that’s not the case.”

Manistee Catholic’s roster:

SENIORS: Jordan Kuenzer, Greg Bender, Chad Robke and Blake Robke.JUNIORS: Chris Chesebro, Jacob

McComb and Juan Hernandez; SOPHOMORES: Nicholas

Hansen; FRESHMEN: Preston Picardat

and Justen Kuenzer.

see FOOtBAll, pAge 8

Manistee Catholic football

sabers adjusts to 8-player game

greg gIelCZyK | Daily NeWsMembers of the Manistee Catholic Central football team, front row, from left, Nicholas Hansen, Jordan Kuenzer, Chad Robke, Preston Picardat and Greg Bender; back row, from left, coach Phil Kroll, Blake Robke, Jacob McComb, Juan Hernandez and Justen Kuenzer. Not pictured: John Slivka, Chris Chesebro and Ashton Solus.

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By greg gIelCZyKDaily NeWs sports Writer

MANISTEE — Starting from scratch with only three girls re-turning from last year and a team comprised of players moving up from the junior varsity, second-year Manistee Catholic Central vol-leyball coach Taylor Ozimac finds herself faced with yet another chal-lenge.

But, she does have one advan-tage over last year when she came on board only a few days before practice started, and just one year of coaching experience. Not only does she have a better handle on things from a coaching perspec-tive, but she’s had more time to become familiar with the players which is especially important this season with so much turnover.

With such a young and inexperi-enced squad, Ozimac is naturally going to rely on the leadership of seniors Katylin Heck, Shelby Papes and Meghan Miller to help bring the younger players up to speed.

Ozimac faces a tall order making things work despite a small num-ber of girls, the majority of whom are making the difficult adjust-ment from junior varsity to varsi-ty where the speed of the game is considerably more challenging.

The low numbers has forced the Sabers to bring up a large number of eighth graders to fill the junior varsity roster. Everett McLinden is coaching the junior varsity this season, with Ozimac serving as his assistant and then two will switch roles on the varsity.

Manistee Catholic’s roster:

SENIORS: Meghan Miller, Kaytlin Heck and Shelby Papes;JUNIORS: Juia Borucki, Kyria Rowe,

Molly McLinden and Elizabeth Slivka;SOPHOMORES: Emma Smart, Sarah Bi-

alik, Elizabeth Nelson, Johnna Hansen and Ali Stocki.

Instead of practices separately, the varsity and junior varsity will

see SABerS, pAge 8

Manistee Catholic volleyball

ozimac works with inexperience

greg gIelCZyK | Daily NeWsMembers of the Manistee Catholic Central girls volleyball team are, front row, from left, Elizabeth Nelson, Kaytlin Heck, Shelby Papes and Molly McLinden; middle row, Elizabeth Slivka, Johnna Hansen and Kyria Rowe, Ali Stocki; back row, head coach Tyalor Ozimac and assistant Everett McLinden. Not pictured: Meghan Miller, Sarah Bialik, Julia Borucki and Emma Smart.

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Kroll admits he’s “old-school stubborn.” He’d rather exe-cute the play, run it right and let people know what the Sa-bers are going to do, and use the philosophy that the other team has to stop the play from succeeding.

Chad Robke, one of four se-niors on the team, will start at quarterback although he hasn’t played the position since Pop Warner but is ex-cited for the chance. Behind him is freshman Preston Picar-dat, who Kroll hopes can be brought along gradually so he’s ready to take Robke’s place next season.

One of the linemen from last year, junior Juan Hernandez, has been moved to running back. Kroll says he’s strong and runs hard, making him a challenge to tackle. He would be designated as a fullback if the Sabers run out of the ‘I’.

Another senior, Blake Robke, and senior Greg Bender (Ma-son County Eastern) will be the starting receivers. Nicholas Hansen, a sophomore, is expect-ed to catch some passes com-ing out of the backfield and also serve as a running back.

Up front junior Chris Che-sebro will anchor the offen-

sive line at center, with junior Jacob McComb and freshman John Slivka at the guards.

Everyone is coming around to the new system, Kroll says.

“It’s a couple less guys, but everybody knows where they’re going,” Kroll said. “We’re trying to be as sim-ple as we can on our blocking schemes, so there’s no guess work. When they get to the line, if the defense keeps shift-

ing they’ve got a basic rule.“(Defense) is where I’m still

looking at some guys. I’ve got a freshman, Justen Kuenzer, (that) I’m probably going to use at nose tackle. He’s a big boy, and I think he’s going to be able to cover it very well for us.”

Kroll added that Bender and Chesebro will probably start at the defensive ends, with Slivka and Hernandez at the

linebacker spots. The defen-sive backs will either be Blake Robke, Chad Robke and Jor-dan Kuenzer playing the cor-ners with Hansen at safety.

“We’ll probably start out in a 3-2-3,” Kroll said. “Hopeful-ly, we’re tough enough to cov-er the outside. With a 40-yard wide field, it’s going to be a little easier. Nick is a fast kid, and if we can keep him at safe-ty (we’ll be okay).”

FrOm pAge 7

work out together, which Ozimac hopes will help aid in the learning process as she continues to run a more complex rotation system which she instituted last year.

“They handled it pretty well, and it worked well for us,” Ozimac said of the rotation system. “We had a lot of close games. They like it, they enjoy it, so we’re going to stick with that and sort of perfect it.

“We’ve got our setters setting from the back row now, where they were running kind of a very simple rotation before where whoever was in that position on the floor was the setter. Now, we have designated setters and they have to move around more. It takes a lot of the guess work out of it.”

After only three days of practice — since the Sa-bers don’t open the season until Sept. 15, Ozimac took the opportunity to let the girls enjoy more of their summer — Heck and Papes have locked up the setting positions, which isn’t surprising, since they were the main setters a year ago.

Defense is still under construction, and just who will be the front row attackers is also being evaluated with so many new players. The seniors will be rotating all over the court to help strength-en all of those positions, Ozimac said.

“Even the setters are going to be playing back row and up in the front row,” Ozimac added. “I’m really counting on them for a lot of stuff. We have some height, which certainly is useful in the front row.

“I was just telling them yesterday, it doesn’t matter how tall you are. If you can jump, you can make it work. I want them to bring back the same drive and fight that they had last year. Honest-ly, that’s really my only strategy right now is to make sure they fight hard. I’ll take a well fought loss over an easy win each and every day. You don’t really get anything out of an easy win.

“It’s kind of like a blank slate again. We’re still gauging everything out right now, and seeing how it’s going to work.”

The Sabers didn’t run with a libero last year, and Ozimac doesn’t expect to have anyone play-ing the position this season.

“It’s a small team, a small school, and everyone is pretty well versed in all the positions and all the skills,” Ozimac said. “So, there’s no reason they can’t handle it. I want them to be well-round-ed players. If they’re strong all around, the whole team is going to be strong.

“Everybody is going to be playing every posi-tion with this kind of rotation, so they need to do know. The only position they might not be play-ing is the setter, but if need be I should be able to pull them into the position and they should know how to do it.”

Ozimac expects Brethren to be one of the ma-jor contenders in the Western Michigan D League this season after making great strides a year ago, and she’s anxious to see how the Sabers compete against the Bobcats.

sabers: Young team

FOOtBAll(CO-Op wIth mASOn COunty eAStern)

Fri., Aug. 28, Big Rapids Crossroads, 7 p.m.Fri. Sept. 4, at Marion, 7 p.m.Fri., Sept. 11, at Bellaire, 7 p.m.Fri., Sept. 25, at Big Rapids Crossroads, 7

p.m.Fri., Oct. 2, at Lawrence, 6 p.m.Fri., Oct. 9, Marion, 7 p.m.Fri., Oct. 23, at Mesick junior varsity, 8 a.m.

mAnIStee CAthOlIC JV/VArSIty VOlleyBAllTue., Sept. 15, Traverse City Christian, 6

p.m.Thur., Sept. 17, at Big Rapids Crossroads,

6 p.m.Tue., Sept. 22, Walkerville, 6 p.m.Thur., Sept. 24, Pentwater, 6 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 26, at Onekama tournament, 9 a.m.

Tue., Sept. 29, at Mason County Eastern, 6 p.m.

Thur., Oct. 1, Brethren, 6 p.m.Tue., Oct. 6, at Onekama, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 8, at Baldwin, 6 p.m.Tue., Oct. 13, Big Rapids Crossroads, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 15, at Buckley, 6 p.m.Sat., Oct. 17, at Western Michigan D

League tournament at Walkerville, 9 a.m.

CrOSS COuntry(CO-Op hOSteD By mASOn CO. eAStern)

Mon., Aug. 24, at Orchard View Invitational, 5 p.m.

Sat., Aug. 29, at Benzie Invitational, 9 a.m.Sat., Sept. 5, at Buckley Invitational, 9 a.m.

Wed., Sept. 9, at Western Michigan D League jamboree at Walkerville, 4:15 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 12, at Briggs Invitational at West Shore Community College, 9 a.m.

Wed., Sept. 16, at Western Michigan D League jamboree at Bear Lake, 4:15 p.m.

Wed., Sept. 23, at Western Michigan D League jamboree at Big Rapids Crossroads, 4:15 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 26, at Oakridge Invitational, 8:30 a.m.

Tue., Sept. 29, at Kelder Invitational at Scot-tville, 4 p.m.

Sat., Oct. 3, at LeRoy Pine River Invitational, 9 a.m.

Wed., Oct. 7, WMD championshipWed., Oct. 14, Cardinal Classic

footbaLL: Switching to 8-player with new coach in 2015

2015 Manistee Catholic fall schedules

JeFF KIeSSel | Daily NeWs FileManistee Catholic’s Jordan Kuenzer chases down a Mesick player during last season. Kuenzer and his Sabers teammates played 11-player football last season and are transitioning to the 8-player game for this fall.

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By AnDy rOBertSshoreliNe MeDia

Pentwater brings back a solid core of talent from last season’s team, which took its lumps at times. With a new coach, Miguel Quinter-os, the Falcons hope that ex-perience pays off in 2015.

Quinteros hasn’t coached at the varsity level before, but has a wealth of playing experience from his days in El Salvador. He’s also coached at youth levels in the past.

Quinteros is excited for his new opportunity and senses similar excitement from his Falcons.

“They are really working hard, and I can tell it’s going to be a good season,” Quin-teros said. “I’m really getting the impression that they have a love for the sport. Soccer is a newer sport in this country, and they seem more in tune with the sport than previous generations. They’re soccer fans.”

Among the Falcons back are Iain Stewart, who had a four-goal game last year against Heritage Christian. Experienced keeper Da-mon Martz also returns, and several other players with

see SOCCer, pAge 12

Pentwater boys soccer

Quinteros takes on falcons soccer

AnDy rOBertS | shoreliNe MeDiaMembers of the Pentwater boys soccer team are, first row, from left: Jacob Emick, Stephen Boyko, Travis Franklin, William Sproul, Nate Combs, Jacob Veine and Dayton Gibson; second row, Connor Lipski, Wyatt Collins, Logan Smith, Semaj Collier, Damon Martz, Jacob Whitford, Max Stoneman, Austin Hofmann, Iain Stewart and coach Miguel Quinteros. Not pictured: Owen Knudsen and Aus-tin Jubb.

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By AnDy rOBertSshoreliNe MeDia

The Pentwater cross country team brings back almost its entire roster from last season, and with the ability to score in meets now on the table, coach Erika Fatura is ex-cited for the possibilities this sea-son brings.

Fatura took the job shortly be-fore last season began on an inter-im basis, but enjoyed the experi-ence and said she is now “in it for the long haul.”

Freshman Madi Wagner will lead the Falcons’ girls after qualifying for the Division 4 state meet last fall as an eighth-grader. Senior Sophia Ny-berg is a cross country veteran and will provide needed leadership to a young team. Other runners back for the Pentwater girls include Madeline Reitsma and Brianna Adams. New to the girls team this year is Payton Pat-terson-Skuse.

On the boys’ side, the Falcons lose Dayton Gibson, who decided to concentrate on soccer this fall, but do bring back Julien Nyberg, Jake Quinn and Jackson Sheets. Pentwater also brings in the Brom-ley twins, Dean and Justus, as well as Max Stoneman, the Falcons’ lone runner that’s also playing soccer, and Gannon McDonough.

“He is a very talented athlete, but has never ran cross country before,” Fatura said of Stoneman. “His determination and work ethic are going to be a force to be reck-oned with. It is important for the longevity of the program to contin-ue to have new, young athletes be a part of the team.”

Fatura said her team will contin-ue to work on making personal im-provements each week, with hopes that the combined efforts put forth by the young Falcons will result in team gains.

“I want every athlete to feel suc-cess throughout the season and strive to meet their goals,” Fatu-ra said. “To do this, it is important that we all support one another as a team. I am really looking forward to

building the program. It’s really im-portant for me to have a balance be-tween challenging the athletes and making sure they are having fun.”

With that in mind, Fatura had her runners do something new to start the year that she hopes will evolve

into a new tradition.“The team participated in a Mid-

night Madness run to the beach and back to kick off the season,” Fatura said. “We all wore glow attire and lit sparklers back at the school. We are predicting a very ‘bright’ season.”

The Falcons’ ability to score, pro-vided it continues into the season, will put the teams in position to compete for the second spot in the West Michigan D League. The Bear Lake/Onekama co-op arrangement makes their annual WMD title a for-

mality, but the remainder of the standings are generally up for grabs.

In addition to the Falcons’ four scheduled league meets, they will also compete at the Manistee Na-tional Invitational one week prior to the regional meet.

Pentwater cross country

falcons wealthy in experience

AnDy rOBertS | shoreliNe MeDiaMembers of the Pentwater cross country teams are, front row, from left: Payton Patterson-Skuse, Gannon McDonough, Julien Nyberg and coach Erika Fatura; second row, Madi Wagner, Max Stoneman, Sophia Nyberg, Justus Bromley and Dean Bromley. Not pictured: Madeline Reitsma, Brianna Adams, Jake Quinn and Jackson Sheets.

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By DAVID BOSSICKDaily NeWs sports eDitor

PENTWATER — Pentwa-ter’s volleyball team got a taste of success in 2014.

The Falcons want more.The co-defending Western

Michigan D League champi-ons return essentially every

player from last year’s team that also won its second straight district champion-ship. The Falcons, the past two seasons, have lost in the MHSAA Class D regional semifinals, and both times, it was to Mount Pleasant Sa-cred Heart.

Those goals remain the

same for the 2015 Falcons coach Kerry Newberg said.

“We’ve been very lucky to have the same core group of girls over the last couple of years,” Newberg said. “Now, I’m going to have a couple of seniors.”

The Falcons return setter Chyanne Smith and outside

hitter Emily Gebhart, both now in their senior year.

“I have to start training another setter because Chy-anne is going to be leav-ing us,” Newberg said. “I’m working through some of the younger players. Emily is a big, outside hitter. So, we’re going to use her expe-

rience hitting and her experi-ence passing.”

Gebhart was named to the first team of the Western Michigan D League’s all-con-ference honors. She also was named to the Daily News’ All-Area team last fall.

The Falcons also bring back Taylor Wilkinson, Linnea Mc-

Donough, Kylee Patterson-Skuse, Anna Hofmann and Jill Miller. McDonough, like Geb-hart, was named to the first team all-WMD for the second consecutive year and all-area by the Daily News. Wilkinson was a second team all-confer-ence player.

see FAlCOnS, 12

Pentwater volleyball

big goals for volleyball squad

DAVID BOSSICK | Daily NeWsMembers of the varsity and junior varsity Pentwater volleyball teams are, front row, manager Glenn Miller; second row, from left, Kylee Patterson-Skuse, Taylor Ruggles, Emily Gebhart, Terra Cluchey and Chyanne Smith; back row, Anna Hofmann, Krista Coronado, Julia Hall, Linnea McDonough, Desirae Coronado, Jill Miller, Taylor Wilkinson and coach Kerry Newberg.

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FrOm pAge 9

seasoning, like William Sproul, Jacob Emick and Dayton Gib-son, return as well. The Falcons lost key scorer and leader Sam Wagner to graduation, but with significant talent back, they will hopefully be able to fill that gap.

Quinteros said he wants to

bring a team-oriented philoso-phy to Pentwater, encouraging his players to not rely on any one person but play together.

“I gave them the example of Germany,” Quinteros said. “Germany won the (2014) World Cup, not because they had (Lionel) Messi or (Cristia-no) Ronaldo, but because they

played as a team. That’s what we’re going to work on this year. We want to build a team spirit rather than rely on this key player or that key player.”

The new coach said he is un-familiar with the teams the Fal-cons will be going up against. The schedule includes several of the usual sights, including

two games each against Man-istee, Mason County Central, Big Rapids Crossroads, Heri-tage Christian and intra-county rival Walkerville. The Falcons will also battle against larger schools such as Grant, Shelby and Montague, and will face fel-low Oceana school Hart, which is in the Falcons’ district.

FrOm pAge 11

“Even some of my younger players, like Linnea is in her third year on varsity and Tay-lor is in her second year… With Anna Hofmann, it’ll be her fourth year on varsity and she’s only a junior. I really consider them veterans.”

The team is going to see some improvement as a cou-ple of incoming freshmen will help. Newberg said, though, that the team will dip into the eighth grade.

The success of the varsity team the past two seasons also has helped to attract more girls to the program. For the first time under Newberg, there will be a junior varsity team as well as a varsity team. There will be eight girls on each team.

“That’s going to help our younger players. That way when they come up to my team, they know the offense and how to run the defense,” she said. “That’s a good thing.”

The depth, though, is already tested, as it was at the end of last season. McDonough was injured toward the tail end of the year, forcing some chang-es in the lineup as the Falcons were about to go down the tournament trail. This year, Miller is out, and she could be out for the season.

“I don’t know when she’s go-ing to come back. It could be a month. It could be a month and a half,” Newberg said. “Her kneecap is dislocated and it caused a bonechip.

“We hopefully won’t be fight-

ing off illnesses (and injuries) this year.”

Pentwater continued to seek

a tougher schedule for this fall for this group of experienced girls. The Falcons begin the sea-

son at the Bear Lake Invitation-al on Thursday, head to Shelby in October and host two tour-naments themselves in Sep-tember.

“Those Saturday tourna-ments are wonderful because you’re seeing teams you aren’t playing all the time,” Newberg said. “We get a lot of support from the community. They like to come out and watch the girls play. It’s nice to play at home or even just traveling to Shelby. That’s not far away.”

Because of where the Fal-cons have finished these last couple of seasons, Newberg knows there is a big target on her charges every night.

“The conference is shaken up a little bit. (Big Rapids) Cross-roads has lost a lot of seniors,” she said. “They still have their big hitter in Miranda (Carl-son). We have also Onekama and Brethren who were young last year and they’ve got some young kids. I’m interested to see, with those girls having one year of experience under their belt, I think it’s going to be us, Onekama and Brethren going 1-2-3.

“I think for the conference, we’re the team to beat this year.”

“We have our goals on region-als this year,” she said. “We’re going to be adding in some new things to get to that next level, and playing some higher com-petition.”

That Western Michigan D League race will get underway quickly as Pentwater’s first conference match is on the road Sept. 22 at Brethren.

2015Pentwater

fall schedulesBOyS SOCCer

Tue., Aug. 25, Walkerville, 4:30 p.m.Thur., Aug. 27, Grant, 3:30 p.m.Mon., Aug. 31, McBain Northern Michigan Chris-

tian, 4 p.m.Tue., Sept. 1, Manistee, 5 p.m.Thur., Sept. 3, at Shelby, 4:30 p.m.Thur., Sept. 10, Hart, 4:30 p.m.Fri., Sept. 11, Cadillac Heritage Christian, 5:30

p.m.Mon., Sept. 14, at Montague, 4:30 p.m.Thur., Sept. 17, Mason County Central, 4:30 p.m.Fri., Sept. 18, at Big Rapids Crossroads, 6:30 p.m.Thur., Sept. 24, at Mason County Central, 4:30

p.m.Sat., Sept. 26, at Hart tournament, 9:30 a.m.Mon., Sept. 28, Walkerville, 4:30 p.m.Tue., Sept. 29, at Manistee, 6 p.m.Fri., Oct. 2, Big Rapids Crossroads, 5:30 p.m.Mon., Oct. 5, at Cadillac Heritage Christian, 4:30

p.m.Fri. Oct. 9, Buckley, 5 p.m.Wed., Oct. 14, at Newaygo, 4:30 p.m.

CrOSS COuntryWed., Sept. 9, WMD jamboree at Walkerville, 4

p.m.Wed., Sept. 16, WMD jamboree at Bear Lake, 4

p.m.Wed., Sept. 23, WMD jamboree at Big Rapids

Crossroads, 4 p.m.Sat., Oct. 24, Manistee National Invite, 9 a.m.

VOlleyBAllThur., Aug. 27, at Bear Lake tournament, 9 a.m.Sat., Sept. 12, Falcon Tourney, 9 a.m.Thur., Sept. 17, at McBain Northern Michigan

Christian, 6 p.m.Tue., Sept. 22, at Brethren, 6 p.m.Thur., Sept. 24, at Manistee Catholic, 6 p.m.Sat., Sept. 26, Falcon Tourney, 9 a.m.Tue., Sept. 29, at Walkerville, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 1, Onekama, 6 p.m.Sat., Oct. 3, at Brethren tournament, 9 a.m.Tue., Oct. 6, Big Rapids Crossroads, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 8, at Mason County Eastern, 6 p.m.Sat., Oct. 10, at Shelby tournament, 9 a.m.Tue., Oct. 13, Baldwin, 6 p.m.Thur., Oct. 15, Bear Lake, 6 p.m.Sat., Oct. 17, at Western Michigan D League

tournament at Walkerville, 9 a.m.Tue., Oct. 20, at Manistee triangular, 5 p.m.Tue., Oct. 27, at Holton triangular, 5 p.m.

soCCer: Quinteros to guide Pentwater in first varsity position

faLCons: To have junior varsity volleyball this season also

DAVID BOSSICK | Daily NeWs FilePentwater’s Anna Hofmann receives a serve against Brethren during the MHSAA Class D district championship last season. Hofmann, a ju-nior, returns this season for the Falcons.

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Fall sports #1 2015