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Midlakes Sports
by Ginny Konz
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The all-league selections for the fall sports were made public during the last week of December, and even though some have been already announced here I think they're worth repeating. These athletes are considered to be among the best in the league, and that puts them in pretty special company.
In the Finger Lakes Central division of the football league, Zack Brooks was named a first team guard. Several guys were named to the second team: Tackle Ryan Rockefeller, guard Seth Smith, tailback Tim Jopson, defensive linebacker Garrett Austin, and place-kicker Kevin Lowry. Bill Hanvey was named twice, as fullback on the offensive team and defensive end. Ryan Forshay, Randy Kuhlman, Alex Lee, and Torey Pieters received honorable mention.
In Division II of the Finger Lakes East boys' soccer league forward Travis Buttaccio and midfielder Jason Adams were named to the first team. Aaron Dorman was named to the second team as a forward, and Nate Parsons and Brett Adams received honorable mention.
Midfielders Whitney Dixon and Ashley Rooney were named to the first team in Division II of the Finger Lakes East girls' soccer league. Forward Whitney Stephenson,
and midfielder Taryn Millerd were named to the second team, and Maureen Cooley and Sarah Kumkey received honorable mention.
The wrestling team held their duel meet tournament on Saturday, January 8, with 9 teams in attendance. South Jefferson, undefeated, was 1st; Webster Thomas, who lost only in the finals to South Jefferson, was 2nd. Cicero-North Syracuse, with a 4-1 record, came in 3rd, followed by LeRoy. Marion was 5th. Midlakes, with wins over South Seneca and Wellsville and losses to Webster Thomas and Cicero-North Syracuse, lost to Marion in the final round and came in 6th. South Seneca was 7th and Batavia 8th. Jasper-Troupsburg cancelled because of the weather.
Seth Smith at 275lbs. and Enan Congdon at 215lbs. were both undefeated through five matches. Adam Orlopp, Jeremy Denisi, Josh Moracco, Adam Biesenbach, and Morgan Hoven "also wrestled very well for Midlakes," according to Coach VanGorden. The wrestling team will celebrate senior night this Thursday, Jan. 20, their final home meet of the season. The activities will begin around 6pm.
The freshmen played Wayne on Tuesday, Jan. 11 with only 7 players. Fortunately they were enough. Zack Hicks started the game hustling and hot; all 18 of his points were scored in the first half. Kyle Tillman was rebounding really well, also. The game was tied at 9 after one quarter, and while we continued to produce their output fell way off. We were ahead 21-13 at halftime.
Jared Schoonerman, who had only 3 points in the first half, got the ball inside in the second half and scored 8 more points. Also, Josh DeBoover, who had been shooting blanks in the first half, scored 9 points, 5 from the free throw line. We continued to outscore Wayne, putting us up 33-19 after three quarters. Wayne started the 4th with a press and more movement and energy that previously shown and cut into our lead slightly in the first 5 minutes. They came within 12 before we recovered to win by a 45-28 score. The next home game is Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 4:15; they will not be home again until Jan. 28.
The girls' teams hosted Wayne the following night, and one could wonder if a virus of some sort was affecting all Wayne's teams. The jv girls were up 11-2 after one quarter in spite of not performing like any sort of well-oiled machine, and though they outscored us 9-3 in the first 4 minutes of the 2nd period we rallied for a 27-13 lead at the half.
We had a poor 3rd quarter, scoring 4 points in the first five minutes and nothing after that, but they weren't scoring much more and we maintained our lead, 31-22. Both teams began the 4th period slowly, scoring 4 points a piece in the first 3 minutes. Then suddenly the score was 35-30; we couldn't score and our decision making was no better. The score was 35-34 with a minute to go, but thanks to some good inside play and drives that resulted in free throw opportunities we pulled out a 40-34 win.
In the varsity game the same problem plagued Wayne, they couldn't score. We were up 11-3 after 5 minutes, and 19-9 at the end of the quarter. Whitney Dixon was "on fire" to start, scoring 9 of her 13 points in the opening 8 minutes. Our defense continued to force turnovers, our rebounding was OK, but we did not make good decisions or shoot very well in the 2nd quarter, letting them bring down the deficit to 5 points, 27-22.
We came out with a bit more intensity in the second half and put up an 11-0 run over the first 4 minutes, sparked by Alex Oaks. Alex had been quiet in the first half but took 2 charges and scored 8 of her 10 points in the second half. We held them to 2 points in the 3rd period (these are the nights that give coaches gray hair or even baldness) for a 41-24 lead. Lengthy passing exhibitions, designed to take time off the clock, could have been disastrous since we tended to get sloppy and turn the ball over, by Hollie Rinaldo did well inside, with 3 lay ups and ¾ free throw shooting for 9 points, and Alex was still active inside also. We beat them by 20 points to avenge the earlier loss in our Tip Off Tournament. That was a much closer score, and neither team shot well. Our leading scorers last week were nearly invisible in the first meeting, with the exception of Marissa Bunce. She might be inspired by the idea of facing her father's team. Last week her 11 points were part of 3 players in double figures; in the first game her 9 points made her "high man" for us. The girls' teams are home next on Wednesday, Jan. 19, starting at 6pm.
Newark was the opponent for the boys' teams on Friday, Jan. 14. Our jvs started the game with a 7-0 run, then free throws, turnovers and a trey mad e the score 7-6 in less than 50 seconds. Rebounding was a problem, ditto their press, but we ended the quarter up one, 10-9. Newark was very aggressive and active and took a 24-20 lead to the locker room at the half.
Billy Hanvey was having a bad night, missing easy lay ups inside, but we hung close, thanks mostly to Ben Sheppard who had 8 points in the 3rd quarter. Finally, in the final period, Billy's inside shots started to click; Jake Michaels and Clay Hemminger each hit a trey, and we were ahead, 43-36, with 5 minutes to go. Billy and Ben each added 4 points in the final 90 seconds to ice a 57-46 victory. Ben, who was perfect from the charity stripe in the second half for 6 points and made 2 of 4 in the first half, also hit a three early in the game and made several lay ups for a 23 point game. Billy, despite his troubles, finished with 15 points, including 7/10 from the free throw line. Jake Michaels hit two threes and added 8 points to the total.
The Newark varsity got off to a great start, but we took the lead at 10-9 on two threes from Greg VanderBrook, and Kevin Lowry broke a 12-all tie with another three at the buzzer to end the first quarter. Unfortunately things got tough after that. Newark forced several turnovers and got to the free throw line to take a 23-17 lead with three minutes left in the half. We were missing most of our free throw opportunities and were behind, 34-27, at the half.
Caleb Frederick and Doug VanderBrook both struggled with their inside shots, and the rebounds were not coming their way either. "Follow your shot" was an admonition we forgot, but they were nearly always in to put back their own misses or to grab ours. Our second half shooting was ice cold from the floor (4 field goals) though perfect (13) from the free throw line. Newark had few difficulties and pulled away for a 63-48 win. The boys' teams will be at home again this Friday, Jan. 21, against Geneva who has been "kicking butt and taking names" in the league and sits atop Division I.
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