Vestaburg High School - Wolverine Yearbook (Vestaburg, MI)

Page 27 text:

!! FUNDA- MENTAL- LY SOUND. Nathan Hull pushes the ball up court, and past sev- eral opposing players, on his way to an easy lay-up. The Massacre: In the game against Shepherd the 8th grade I bops sloped them in the aisles and left a path of destruction as thep routed the Bluejaps 38-9. The Squeaker: This term was given new meaning in the game against Beal dtp when it went down to the final seconds, and “fi- j nallp the 7th grade Wolverines edged the Aggies 20-19. One to remember: Four strenu- ous quarters and verp good shoot- ing made it tough, but the Wolver- ines were edged bp Carson dtp 32-33 in what was trulp a game to remember. — Ups and Downs — 7th GRADE — FRONT ROW: David Pumford. Bill Butler, Merv Dailey. BACK ROW: Ryan Hetherington, Jeff Janofski, Mike Ryckman. 8th GRADE BASKETBALL — FRONT ROW. Pete Scott, Karrie Otto. Scott Middleton. Robert Church. Chad Ryckman. BACK ROW: Nathan Hull. Jason Graham, Tim Throop. Jason Bigelow, Buster Ryckman. Chris Nickerson. Sports ! 23a

Page 26 text:

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.

Page 28 text:

VHS II 11 8 13 4 12 10 15 3 6 8 28 14 II 11 14 0 3 2 6 4 9 12 14 10 3 12 7 8 10 12 0 Varsity Softball J OPP. Trl County 0 Trl County 7 B«al City 9 Beal City 3 Coleman $ Coleman 11 Porland St. Pat 9 (.anting Catholic 1 Saranac 5 Saranac 13 Ashley 4 Ashley 4 Carson City 6 Carson City 1 Ann Arbor Green Hills 0 Britton Macon I Webber ville 0 Portland 2 Portland 12 Montabella 4 Montabella 3 Belding 1 Belding 11 Lakevlew ( Lakcvlew 5 Beal City 2 Sacred Heart 2 Central Montcalm 9 Central Montcalm 9 Fulton (Pre District) 0 Ashley (District) 3 Bay City All Saints 4 League: 9-5 Overall: 23-9 !! TIME OUT. First team all conference player Tammie Johnston, who batted over .400 in the league, pauses for a drink during her team’s 11-0 rout of Tri County. !! NOT ENOUGH. Even though right fielder Amy Frost hit a triple her first time at bat, it was not enough to take the league championship from Central Montcalm. T 2r UHLS’ HIGH HOPES kJ STOP AT DISTRICTS by Karen Hansel and Jenny; Bigelow When you make it to the semi-finals and no one thought you would, and almost every player returns the next season . . . the pressure is on. Starting the season ranked third in the state, Ken Bigelow’s varsity softball team felt that pressure and met the challenge, but not without several disappointments. The first blow came at the hands of the Beal City Aggies who defeated the girls 9- 8, with a controversial home run. Because there was no fence, the girls were told to raise their hands if the ball went into the tall grass. The umps would then decide whether to call it a homerun or a ground run double. As Karen Hansel stood in cen- ter field with her hands in the air, a Beal City player ran the bases, scoring a run. Due to the confusion, the raised hands rule was dropped; too late, however, for the Wolverines. The very next game, against Coleman, found the girls again on the losing end. This time, they were ahead by one run in the 7th inning. Coleman came up to bat and took advantage of two Vestaburg er- rors, winning the game, 54. One of the biggest downers of the sea- son came in a must-win double header against Central Montcalm. If the girls could win both, they would tie the Hornets for the league championship. Ahead 5-0 in the first game, the Wolverines were fired up, looking ahead to game two. However, before game one was over, Central rallied to win 9-7. Deflated, the girls entered the second game losing by one run, 8-9. With the regular season over, the girls entered tournaments with high hopes of a remake of last year. Fulton was an easy victory. Pre-Districts were out of the way. Ashley was another easy game. They were half way to a district championship. Then came 1 in the state, Bay City All-Saints, who scored two unearned runs before they really started hitting and took a hard- fought 4-0 game from the Wolverines. The season wasn’t without it’s bright spots. Besides the state ranking during the season, the girls picked up an impressive invitational tournament win at Portland. They defeated the first two teams in the Webberville tourney before losing in the final and taking third place honors. They also won two contests over Belding, giving them the chance to meet Central Mont- calm for the league championship. They ended up third in the TCAA. Ending the year with an admirable 23-9 record, the girls went on to pick up several post-season honors, including 7th in the state. Tammie Johnston made 1st team all- conference, and honorable mention all-dis- trict. Linda Marshall and Karen Hansel got 1st team all-district; Hansel was also 2nd team all-conference. Jenny Bigelow got 2nd team all-conference and honorable mention all district. Tammy Martin was honorable mention all-conference. 11 WHAT’S THE PITCH? In her team's vie- tory over TYi County, three year varsity pitcher Jenny Bigelow throws one of her two no hitter games. The team won by a “meager 11 runs. 24a ! Softball