Vestaburg High School - Wolverine Yearbook (Vestaburg, MI)

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!! TAKE IT UP STRONG. Freshman center Tim Parrish gets inside the de- fense and goes up strong in an attempt for two in a home game against Monte- bella. The Exhilarator: Good shooting and tremendous teamwork was the fuel as the Freshman sped past Cen- tral Montcalm, 63-57. The Downer: Four quarters of tough p ay was not quite enough for the JV’s in the game against Sacred Heart as the Irish edged them, 59-54. The Exciting Finish: The stage was set for battle, sneakers tied tight, socks pulled up. and what a battle it was! A seesaw game until the final seconds when Belding slipped bp 53- 57. — Ups and Downs — JUNIOR VARSITY — FRONT ROW: Stacey Hull. Brian Bowser. Dave Freeman. Leroy Benavidez. BACK ROW: Kevin VanBuskirk. Corey Ferguson. Sam Wrisley, Chad Palmer. FRESHMEN — FRONT ROW: Bill Kolenda, Tim Parrish. Jay Janofski. Matt Mortensen. BACK ROW: Chris Humphrey. Eric Vitz. Trevor McCormick, Dan Scott. Sports ! 21a

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 JV FRESHMAN BASKETBALL JV FRESHMAN VHS OPR VHS OPP. 44-47 Midland Christian 35- 62 Belding 52-58 Central Montcalm 37-47 44-77 Montabella 42- 51 48- 73 Saranac 48-64 Portland 55-61 Carson City 32- 42 45-71 Lakeview 63-74 Montabella 56-65 65-62 Ashley 52- 53 Belding 56-73 Central Montcalm 63- 57 74-94 Lakeview 57-66 69-87 Beal City 29-35 34-49 Saranac 60-57 44-55 Portland 54-59 Sacred Heart 61-53 49-63 Carson City 59-53 Sacred Heart 36-43 74-83 Beal City 44-45 Fulton 57-70 Shepherd 55-61 League: 0-14 Overall: 2-18 Overall: 3-10 !! BREAKING DOWN THE BASE- LINE. Dave Scott uses his body as well as his footwork to push past a Saranac player for an easy basket in the home loss to the Redskins. 73-48. OOKING FOR THE BRIGHTER SIDE bp Shay Throop Hey, throw me my shorts! Give me back my shirt! Hand me my jock. No way germ, get your own jock . . . These are the sounds of the Vestaburg High School freshman basketball team before a game. Even though 1986 was the first year Vestaburg had a freshman team, the ’86- ’87 season was not without good times and catchy trends such as knee braces. “A lot of us started wearing knee braces, just for looks I guess.” said Matt Mortensen. The freshman players really worked to- gether to form and play as a team. “The coach looked at our talent as a team and put us together so we could have the best possible combination of talent,” said Tim Parrish. Something that proved to be very inter- esting were the rides to away games. They would ride to the games in L. Jay Hum- phrey’s van and the school car. Tim Parrish said, “The rides to away games were alright because we all brought 20a ! JV and Freshman Basketball headphones and we had time to get psyched up. It was a lot better than riding the bus.” Good times yes, but when the tradition- al “Let’s go Red” pre-game cheers started the team was all business. Winning three of their 13 games was a good start for a team that had a new coach and had never played high school basketball. A team was that was just as fresh as the new freshman team was the JV team. Al- though the tenth graders had played high school basketball they had new offensive and defensive schemes. With the help of the two returning ju- niors Sam Wrisley and Dave Scott, the JV men set out to have a winning season. A new season brought new trends, per- sonalities and practices. Not just the prac- tices for honing game skill, but new prac- tices of behavior before, after and during the games. “Practice was pretty all messing around and not much work got done,” said Dave Freeman. There was a new season and a new coach — a fresh start brought new trends and fads. “After they had announced the starters name, we huddled up on the court and screamed some unprintable cheers,” said Dave Freeman. The ride to games proved to be most interesting with everybody messing around or listening to headphones or get- ting ready for the up-coming battle. The rides were nothing but goof-off sessions to and from games. Even if the team lost, they still found a way to have fun after a defeat on the long ride back to Vestaburg. With all the new trends and the way the season went, it proved to be a winning season in spite of the losing record.

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Jr. High Basketball 7th 8th VHS OPP. VHS OPP. 18- 28 Beal City 22-35 20-19 Sacred Heart 13-44 35-61 Sheperd 38-9 15-32 Montabella 27-59 25-35 C.C.C. 32-33 35-16 Sheperd 33-11 20-19 Beal City 28-54 22-27 Sacred Heart 37-38 Montabella 31-55 Overall: 3-5 Overall: 2-7 !! DRIVING INSIDE. Billy Butler drives past an opposing Shepherd player on the ba- seline in the 7th grade home win against the Bluejays. RIVING TOWARD THE FINISH LINE by Gary Keyes It was silent. Nothing was heard except for the far away murmur of the crowd. The look on the players’ faces was the intensity to win. Even with this intensity of the Jr. High boys did not get a lot of wins, but were fierce competitors. To start off the season, the two teams jumped into the ever-cruciating practice schedule. The seventh graders learned quickly that if they messed up they would be punished with a lot of running. “We had to run a lot,” said Mike Ryck- man. “Some people would constantly screw around in practice; that’s one reason why we ran a lot,” commented Bill Butler. The eighth graders didn’t run as much, but they still remembered their practices. “They were long and boring,” said Tim Throop. “All that I can remember is Pete Scott,” replied Buster Ryckman. The young Wolverines were ready and on a cold January night the two teams 22a ! Junior High Basketball burst onto the court ready for action. The 7th graders fought hard, but lost by 10 points to Beal City 28-18. The 8th graders fared no better while losing 35-22. The 7th grade team discovered a difference in the locker room after the very next game with their first win against Sacred Heart. “If we won it was noisy in the locker room, but if we lost all we could hear was referees and the slamming of locker doors,” said Chris McQueen. The 8th grade experienced the same feeling a game after the 7th graders with a win against Shepherd. “After the games we won we were very excited, but after the games we lost, ev- eryone just dragged around,” replied Bust- er Ryckman. Win or lose the games provided a lot of excitement and controversy. The contro- versy came in the 7th graders last game of the season. The scorekeepers hadn’t put 2 points up for the Wolverines, so when the game ended and the scoreboard showed the Wolverines losing by three, but in actu- ality they only lost by one. “The scorekeepers didn’t keep the right score. They said we lost by three, but the book showed that we lost by one,” said Merv Daily. “Excitement was the name of the game when the 8th grade team had two free-throws,” said Karry Otto. The season wound up with both teams losing in the tournaments. Although the two teams didn’t win a lot of games, they were charged up and ready to win. Vesta- burg High School looks to these young athletes as the future of Vestaburg sports. With the fighting spirit of Jr. high basket- ball team Vestaburg’s future looks brighter with ever dribble of the ball. 1! LEAP FOR THE SKY. Forward Jeff Jan- ofski elects to take the baby jumper instead of driving inside in the home win over Shepherd.