It's a Big Week

In the prep sports coverage business, most weeks during the school year are the same. You pore through the week's schedule of events and find events to cover that are a) the most newsworthy; b) the most convenient (i.e. it's at a local school); and/or c) contains a local team you haven't given enough coverage to yet. (At our particular papers, I do my best to get a picture of each local team in action into the paper during their season if at all possible, while still trying to make sure the most newsworthy sporting events get coverage.)

This is not a complaint, by the way - it adds a layer of simplicity to a decidedly not-simple job to be able to find the schedule and pick the events to cover.

But the first week of playoff action is not the same. It's not even close.

This is especially the case in the springtime. In the fall and winter, the district rounds of playoff action are generally spread out. Football's playoffs start later than volleyball's, boys basketball playoffs start later than girls, and on and on. But in the spring, girls soccer, baseball and softball all play postseason games in the same week, most of them on the same days. So this means simplicity is out the window.

That day has arrived, as of next Tuesday at least, for me. Our eight schools will begin playoff action Tuesday with the pre-district rounds of baseball, softball and soccer. Thursday will be the girls soccer semifinal games, and Saturday will have the finals of all the events.

I'll utilize this blog to provide some extra updates. My coverage schedule so far is as follows:

Tuesday: I'll be at Hesperia vs. Oakridge baseball/softball pre-districts, while Andrew Skinner, the OHJ editor, will be at Walkerville vs. Pentwater baseball/softball. Greg Means, the Beacon editor, will be covering Mason Co. Eastern vs. Montague soccer.

Wednesday, I will most likely head down to Reeths-Puffer to cover their baseball game against Whitehall. The two teams added that game after both drew pre-district byes as a tune-up.

Thursday will have no local events, but Friday will have the MCE baseball district semifinals and finals, which David Bossick, the LDN sports editor, will cover. Saturday, I will be at the Orchard View district baseball/softball tournament to catch Whitehall, while Andrew Skinner will be at the Manistee district and the Hart soccer district final.

It's going to be fun, guys. Stay tuned.

More Leftovers!

I should really publicize this thing to Beacon readers, because this week I have to put THREE different sports' results in here due to lack of space. We had a bunch more ads this week (yay ads!), and on top of that Cy Berg, our weekly fishing writer, wrote his longest column of my tenure here at the Beacon. So since I had to ax tennis last week, this week I cut golf, lacrosse and track. The results for those are as follows. Sorry to all who wanted them in the hard copy...

GOLF

Rockets 2nd, Whitehall 3rd at GMAA

MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer was tops among area teams at the GMAA golf meet Wednesday, at Chase Hammond Golf Course in Muskegon.

The Rockets came in second with a score of 326, while Whitehall placed third with a score of 355. Montague came in ninth place with a total score of 390.

Mona Shores easily won the city title with a score of 289.

Reeths-Puffer’s best score, and the area’s top mark, was an 80 by Ryan Kooiman. Collin Kolbe shot an 81, Noah Carter had an 82 and Trevor Fowler shot an 83 for the Rockets.

Whitehall’s Logan Irey led the Vikings with a score of 82 and Tyler Carr added an 84. Tell Sutton’s 94 and Chris Lopez’s 95 rounded out the Whitehall scoresheet.

Montague had a rough afternoon compared to its strong performance throughout the season. Dylan Lohman’s 92 led the Wildcats and Tracy Lawrence shot a 96. Three Montague golfers — Riley Lohman, Nate VanGeison and Matt Visger — each fired a 101 for the team.

Vikes 2nd, Montague 4th at WMC Jamboree

WHITEHALL — The Whitehall Vikings placed second Tuesday at the third West Michigan Conference jamboree of the season, held at the White Lake Golf Course. Montague placed fourth.

The Vikings and Wildcats are now second and third respectively in the league standings overall.

Whitehall shot a total of 354, 13 shots behind North Muskegon, which has won all the jamborees so far. Chris Lopez’s 87 led Whitehall, while Logan Irey shot an 88 and Tell Sutton added an 89. Tyler Carr shot a 90, giving the Vikes four scores of 90 or better. Lopez’s mark of 87 ranked seventh in the league individually for the week.

Montague’s best score came from Dylan Lohman, who shot an 89. Tracy Lawrence and Riley Lohman each added a 90, and Nate VanGeison was the Wildcats’ fourth scorer, with a 96.

Through three weeks, Irey is the area’s top scorer, third overall in the conference, with a score of 265. He is two shots behind North Muskegon’s Jacob Chovaz and 20 behind WMC leader Paul Johnson.

Lawrence ranks second in the area and tied for fourth in the league with a cumulative score of 268.

LACROSSE

Rockets upset Zeeland
MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer scored an upset win, its second straight victory, knocking off O-K Conference leader Zeeland at Rocket Stadium Wednesday, 12-11 in double overtime.

The Rockets erased a 9-5 fourth-quarter deficit to force the sudden-death overtime, and it took until the second OT for Curtis Pek to find the back of the net and give the Rockets the win. It was Pek’s third goal of the night to go with three assists.

“Curtis Pek was a major factor in the game,” Reeths-Puffer coach Paul Pek said.

Dean Griffin had four goals and an assist for R-P and Alex Dinger added two goals and three assists. Casey Trautner notched two goals and an assist.

R-P concluded the conference season with a 2-3 league record. The Rockets are 4-6 overall.

R-P beats G.R. South Christian

GRAND RAPIDS — The Reeths-Puffer lacrosse team picked up a O-K Conference win Monday night at Grand Rapids South Christian, riding good defense to an 11-2 win.

The game was originally scheduled for Apr. 11, but was moved to Monday due to weather, replacing a previously-scheduled game with Forest Hills Northern.

The Rockets (3-6, 1-3 O-K) took control of the game in the second quarter, scoring seven goals to the Eagles’ one to take a 10-1 halftime lead.

Alex Dinger had a big night for the Rockets, scoring three goals and assisting on three others. Casey Trautner had three goals and two assists, and Kyle Kolbe had a goal and an assist.

Rockets fall to Holland

MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer dropped an O-K Conference contest Saturday afternoon against Holland, as the Dutch rolled to a 15-8 win.

The Rockets held an 8-4 lead at the halftime break but were shut out in the second half of the defeat.

Casey Trautner led the R-P offense with three goals and an assist, while Curtis Pek added two goals and two assists. Kyle Kolbe had two goals.

The Rockets dropped to 2-6, 0-3 in league play, with the loss.

TRACK

Whitehall track beats Montague

WHITEHALL — Both Whitehall track teams completed an undefeated dual-meet season Tuesday with victories over Montague at a meet in Whitehall.

The Whitehall girls took first place in each event except for three in their 91-35 win — the long jump, won by Montague’s Abby Christmas, the high jump, which Liz Moak won, and the 400-meter relay.

Wins for Whitehall came from Autumn Sherman in the discus; Autumn Christenson in the 100 and 300-meter hurdles; Angela White in the 100-meter dash; Elise Shaffer in the shot put; Jessica Harris in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter run; Leah Deuling in the 400-meter dash; Kallan Sawyer in the 800-meter run; and Star Woods in the 200-meter dash.  The Vikings also won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200-meter relays.

The Whitehall boys recorded an 82-50 win over Montague.

Wildcats’ winners were Max Martin in the 800-meter run; Wyatt Ford in the 200-meter run; and Brennan Zuniga in the 3,200-meter run. The Wildcats also took first in the 400 and 800-meter relay.

The victorious Vikings won the other events. Winners were Isaac Love in the high jump; Tyler Goerbig in the shot put; Devin Schweigert in the pole vault; Matt Russell in the 110-meter hurdles; Antwan Burcks in the 100-meter dash and the discus; Alex Dennis in the 1,600-meter run; Tyler Grove in the 400-meter dash; Sky Christenson in the 300-meter hurdles; and Nick DeCouto in the long jump. The Vikings also recorded wins in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter relay.

Montague's Veronica Charles takes
off on the long jump during last Friday's
Optimist Invitational at Mason Co.
Central. (Photo by David Bossick)

“Both teams lost, but not without a fight,” Montague coach Terry Fick said.

“There was finally some nice weather to compete in,” Whitehall boys’ coach Kirk Mikkelson said. “The kids responded with some great performances.

“First year coaches Isaac Kopec and Leti Longoria-Rudolph have done a fantastic job leading the Lady Vikes to a great season.”

Vikes and ‘Cats compete at Optimist Invite

SCOTTVILLE — A loaded field of 13 track teams competed last Friday at Mason County Central’s Optimist Invitational, including Whitehall and Montague.

Whitehall’s boys team had the best finish of area teams at the meet, placing second to Ludington.

Individual winners for the Vikings included Isaac Love in the high jump and Antwan Burks in the 100 and 200-meter dash. Whitehall also got second-place finishes from Nick DeCouto in the long jump and Tyler Goerbig in the shot put. The Vikings were able to place in most of the events to help provide a team finish of second.

The Montague boys placed 10th, less than a point behind ninth-place Fruitport. Their best finish came in the 400-meter relay, where the team of Luis Aguilar, Brandon Moore, Joe Peterson and Wyatt Ford came in second.

Moore and Ford were third and fourth, respectively, in the 100-meter dash, and Ford placed fourth in the 200.

In the girls’ meet, Whitehall came in eighth place, just behind Hart. Autumn Christenson provided Whitehall’s top finish, placing second in the 100-meter hurdles. The Vikings placed fourth in the 400 and 800-meter relays, and Allison Donahue was fourth in the high jump.

Montague was tied for ninth along with Fruitport in the girls’ meet.

Robbie Berg contributed to both of Montague’s top finishes, placing third in the 100-meter hurdles and also as a member of the Wildcats’ 400-meter relay team that came in third. Sierra Armstrong, Liz Moak and Alex Hennrick were Montague’s other runners in the 400 relay.