Vestaburg High School - Wolverine Yearbook (Vestaburg, MI)

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!! ENTRAPMENT. A Central Montcalm player struggles to find the daylight through the tenacious defense of Amy Hodges and Rikki Steele in the home game against Central Montcalm. JV BOYS’ FOOTBALL — FRONT ROW: Duane Ryckman, Darin Carter. Terry Packer. Trevor McCormick. Shay Throop. Steve Lott. Billy Grover. Rob Hanes. Chris Humphrey. Troy Graham. Chris Haag. Jay Janofski. MIDDLE ROYV: Matt Mortensen. Don Topper. Bill Kolenda. Joe Struble. Monte Antes. Glenn DePue. Corey Ferguson. Troy Ferguson. Rich Fisk. Chad Palmer. Scott Clements. BACK ROW: Coach Dave Holsworth. Mike Preibe. Aaron Carr. Eric Jackson. Bill Swisher. Tim Parrish. Kim Johnson. David Freeman, Stacey Hull. Leroy Benavidez. Coach Brad Showers GIRLS’ BASKETBALL — FRONT ROW: Jeannie Bush, Faye DePue, Rhonda McQueen. Linette Stratton, Rachel Butler. Shawn Antes. BACK ROW: Shannon Jenkins, Shelly Johnson, Amy Hodges. Rikki Steele, Coach Doug Beemer The Mud Bogger: Eight inches of rotting mud and stagnat water on the Montabella field made players plug their noses and grit their teeth before making a diving tackle. The Blow Out: A short Beal City team suffered through a long game as the Wolverine girls cleared their bench and had a 61-28 heyday. The Foul Defeat: In the first tournament game four of the five starters fouled out and had to ride the pine watching their team lose by a narrow two point deficit. !! SHOOT TWO. In the game against Montabella, Rachel Butler drives in for the lay up as Jeannie Bush and Amy Hodges trail for the carom. The Nail Biter: Polished nails gave way to clenched knuckles and finally jumps for joy. as the Wolverine girls snatched league honors from Portland and avenged an earlier loss. The Helmet Breaker: Determined not to let the hard-hitting Dansville Aggies advanced beyond the three-yard line, the JV gridders put everything they had into crushing the offense. ------------------------------------ Ups and Downs ----- Sports t 13a

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 JV Basketball VHS OPPONENT 32 Clare 34 61 Beal City 28 40 Portland 28 56 Montabella 57 44 Lakeview 25 43 Sacred Heart 29 57 Carson City 38 47 Tri County 29 38 Saranac 29 51 Central Montcalm 35 40 Montabella 31 44 Belding 40 45 Portland 33 41 Central Montcalm 33 53 Lakeview 29 47 Carson City 34 47 Saranac 32 40 Beal City Overall: 17-2 League: 13-1 30 JV Football 6 Shepherd 6 12 Saranac 33 0 Baldwin 42 0 Montabella 33 6 Dansville 0 0 Carson City 46 22 Ithaca (Fresh) Overall: 2-4-1 0 !! LET’S PLAY LIKE MEN! Coach Showers and Coach Holsworth give the JV warriors a little encouragement at halftime of the 22-0 win over Ithaca. UDDLE TOGETHER WORK TOGETHER by Shay Throop and Amy Hodges All was silent except for the sounds of plastic hitting plastic. The odor of sweat- ing bodies filled the air. A countenance that combined grimaces, determination, rage, fear and anger was displayed by one and all. Suddenly it was over, and Vestaburg had recorded one of its biggest wins of the season over Ithaca, 22-0. Some considered the Wolverine’s other victory over Dansville even more exciting. It all went down October 9 at 6:30. No one had scored until the third quarter when the Wolverines put the ball in the end zone. In the fourth quarter with 1:30 left in the game, the Dansville Aggies were on the one-yard line, but the Wolverine’s de- fense held and the red and white went on to a 6-0 win. Although not a victory, the Montabella game, played shortly after the floods, will long be remembered. Because Montabel- la’s Webb field had been flooded with rot- 12a ! JV Basketball Football ten vegetation, there was a chance the players could get hepatitis. After the De- partment of Natural Resources came in, tested the water and came up with nega- tive results, there was a great relief on behalf of all the players. The football banquet at the end of the season was the beginning of an end. It was time to reminisce about last season and plan ahead to next. “Even though the Wolverines had a los- ing record, we had a winning season, said Coach Brad Showers. Picture if you will, the locker room on October 23. The JV girls had just clinched first place against Portland. Mr. Beemer, the coach, tried to begin his usual post- game speech, but found it difficult as wa- ter, squirted by his team, came flying at his face. Water sprayed everywhere. The girls let loose, drenching everyone. It wasn’t an easy road to the top. Early losses to Clare and Portland proved to be the only disappointments of the season. The JV girls only lost to them by a total of three points. At that point, the girls turned the season around, winning their last 15 games. Practice was a time for seriousness and improving on mistakes you made in the game before. But for the JV girls, practice wasn’t always so serious. Rikki Steele pro- vided some live entertainment by getting a rip in her shorts and at that moment the girls started laughing like nerds. After the second to the last game, the girls quickly sneaked out of the locker room and TP’d Mr. Beemer's car. The next day at practice the girls didn’t know what to expect. They went through practice knowing that Mr. Beemer had something for them. When the end finally came, he gave them buttons that said, “1986 JV Champs.” !! MUD BOGGING. An extremely muddy Tim Parrish strides off the field during halftime of the Montabella game, played in the worst of condiditons.

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Junior High Basketball 7th 8th VHS-OPP VHS-OPP 28- 12 Central Montcal m 33-13 21-14 Sacred Heart 28-25 24-13 Beal City 34-35 24- 7 Shepherd 41-14 9 26 Montabella 21-32 18-16 Beal City 13-42 38-19 Shepherd 17-28 23- 21 Sacred Heart 14-19 16-26 Montabella 30-40 18-19 Central Montcalm (T) 35-28 Montabella (T) 37-18 Saranac (T) 24-42 Overall: 7-3 Overall: 5-7 Lakeview Montabella Ashley !! COOL AS ICE. Coach Neff explains the situation to her attentive disciples during a short 4th period rest in the game against Central Mont- calm. ECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECTION by Garilee Janofski and Sharia Holmes The ball was heading for the basket. Seconds ticked off the clock as it sailed toward the hoop. The air was thick with anxiety; then swoosh, the ball had found its destiny. Beth Hassenzahl had just gained a point for her team by shooting the renowned “Granny shot” and this be- came an item for much teasing and ridi- cule. At that moment Beth hadn’t led her team to victory but she had shown them all there was more than one way to play the game. On and off the court, the 7th and 8th grade girls learned a lot about the game and themselves. For one thing they learned how cool a coach can be. Miss Neff, the 7th grade coach, was dif- ferent as a coach than as a teacher. For instance, out of the classroom she became “Lady Cool” as one player said in amaze- ment. “She has shades, those ones like mirrors!” The 8th graders affectionately dubbed their coach Cheryl McClellan as “Coach Roach.” Being on the basketball court during an 8th grade game could sometimes be more dangerous than walking into a herd of stampeding elephants. Bobby Scharaswak found out just how dangerous it could be when she was bit by a girl she was guard- ing. Holly Rotunno provided a little aggra- vation of her own to opposing players as she was known for burping while they tried to shoot. There were other casualties during the season. Christina Fleming discovered the importance of paying attention as she was rudely brought back to reality by a thun- dering basketball that had mistaken her head for the backboard. Luckily she wasn’t slamdunked. Probably the most exciting game all sea- son came in the 8th grade tournament game against Montabella when a despera- tion shot at the buzzer clinched a two-point victory. Holly Rotunno passed to Jenny Johnston, who pivoted, sent the ball to- ward the basket and watched it miracu- lously drop through as her teammates went wild. Even exciting events that happen at a junior high basketball game can be over- shadowed by the happenings afterward. The 7th grade girls found this out at their game in Shepherd. It was a rainy night and the moon was out, but it wasn’t in the sky. While taking a stroll around town, the girls ran into the moon of their lives — on the street in front of them. They quickly made their way back to the gym. What made these teams so special was that they were made up of more than just girls who wanted to play basketball. They were made up of friends who stuck togeth- er through bruises bites and bashes. Each of these girls gave more than just their effort to the game. They gave their spirit, and they took away with them some valu- able knowledge about the game. 14a t Junior High Basketball