USA sweeps Bad Axe

USA swept a double-header against Bad Axe, with both teams winning in conviincing fashion. Bad Axe coach Bob Breault felt this effort was a step back from how his team performed earlier in the week a near win against Cass City. All three of the other coaches came out of the game seeing some sort of progress from their teams.
Here is a look at some pictures from the game... and Merry Christmas to everyone who visits this sight.

Chris Paganani, Tim Holland
Mercy Martinez

Martinez drives past Jennifer Morneau.

Kiersten McBrayer splits a pair of defenders.

McBrayer makes a save.

Kelson Gettel (center) fights with Lance VanHoost (left) and Chris Smith (right) for a rebound.

Kelson Gettel

Erik Kuhl

Samantha Breault, Dani Gremel

Brandon Bitzer

Connor Morrish (45) gets a pass off to Taylor Breault (44) despite being shadowed by a pair of USA defenders.

Taylor Breault blocks Jillian Williamson.

Dani Gremel, Samantha Breault

Samantha Breault

Morneau, McBrayer, Elayna Wichert

Morneau, Estay Ruppal

Connor Morrish

Morrish

Paganini

Brandon Bitzer, Paganani

Brad Iskow

Iskow

Iskow

Nikki Braun, McBrayer

Lindsey Yaroch

Yaroch

Wichert, Jillian Williamson

EPBP 66, Ubly 57

EPBP's Beth Ritter
EPBP's Stephanie Maxwell

Coach Todd Comment & Megan Schafer

Ubly's Gena Briolat

Laker Megan Schaper

Bearcat Erin Yarbrough

Ubly's Beth Weber

Shannon Weber

Weber and Schaper

Ubly's Alicia Leipprandt

THE LIST

Here are the names I pulled out of the Mitchell Report. Got these from the report, not from any list anywhere. Might have missed one or two, but I think this is everyone.
Steve Woodward
Rick Ankiel
Matt Williams
Ismael Valdez
John Rocker
Scott Schoenweis
Gary Matthews Jr.
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Darren Holmes
Jason Grimsley
Jose Guillen
Troy Glaus
Jay Gibbons
Jose Canseco
Paul Byrd
David Bell
Nook Logan
Howie Clark
Jeff Williams
Chad Allen
Brendan Donnelly
Jim Parque
Gary Bennett Jr.
Matt Herges
Mike Bell
Eric Gagne
Kevin Brown
Fernando Vina
Bart Mindich
Adam Riggs
Paul Lo Duca
Stephen Randolph
Mike Stanton
Jason Christiansen
Miguel Tejada
Adam Piatt
Kent Merker
Cody McKay
Mike Lansing
Todd Williams
Phil Hiatt
Todd Pratt
Kevin Young
Chris Donnels
Ryan Franklin
RonVillone
Denny Neagle
Mo Vaughn
Glenn Allen Hill
FP Santangelo
Dave Justice
Greg Zaun
Jason Grimsley
Chuck Knoblock
Roger Clemens
Any Pettite
Rondell White
Matt Franco
Hal Morris
Mark Carreon
Todd Hundley
Josias Manzillo
Jack Cust
Tim Laker
Brian Roberts
Larry Bigbie
David Segui
Lenny Dykstra
Randy Velarde
Gary Sheffield
Benito Sanitago
Jason Giambi
Jeremy Giambi
Bobby Estabella
Marvin Bernard
Jose Canseco
Barry Bonds

Pirates open with a win

You never would have known it was Harbor Beach's first game of the year, as they picked up a solid 67-58 win over Cass City last night. The Red Hawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the Pirates scored 17 straight.
Cass City rallied and kept it close the rest of the way until HB pulled away in the fourth.
Tom Sorenson had a team-high 21, but the performance people will be talking about was from Alex Talaski who scored 20, including six triples.
Coach Ron Wruble said Talaski did no go out for the basketball team last year, which makes the effort that much more impressive.

Jason Volmering
Tom Sorenson

Sorenson drives to the basket.

Coach Wruble and the HB bench.

Volmering tries to make the save.

Travis Schock

Sorenson fights for a rebound.

Schock looks for an open teammate.

HCP Holiday Tournament

I just finished watching Glory Road and it is an awesome movie. I recommend it to all. So even though we are bogged down with sports, work and the holidays, I thought I would share my favorite eight basketball movies ever:
1) Hoosiers
2) Glory Road
3) Finding Forrester
4) Blue Chips
5) Hoop Dreams
6) Teen Wolf
7) Pistol: The Story of a Legend
8) White Men Can't Jump
But you know, me I couldn't leave it at that, so let's consider this the HCP Holiday Tournament to determine the best basketball movie ever. Perhaps in other seasons we will do other season specific contests (like best football movie during NFL Playoffs).
So here are the round one match-ups:
Hoosiers vs. White Men Can't Jump
Blue Chips vs. Hoop Dreams
Glory Road vs. Pistol: The Story of a Legend
Finding Forrester vs. Teen Wolf

Hoops season in full swing

It has been a little while since I last updated tis, but with Thanksgiving, All-Thumb and our sports preview... let's just say it has been a crazy few weeks.

So I was at the USA-Ubly game and to truly appreciate the game you have to look beyond the score. Even a quick glance at the quarter scores and you would see that the Bearcats trailed by 19 at the half and lost 70-55. By those numbrs, it looked like more of the same in the second half and the Patriots cruised to an easy win.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Ubly came out in the second half and started pressing, which threw the Patriots for a loop. The added pressure caused USA to make mistakes and turn he ball over, which for the most part the Bearcats capatilized on.

In fact, at one point Ubly cut the lead to four points. In the end, the Patriots held on, made their shots and free throws at the end, while the Bearcats ran out of gas.

The true standout for USA was Brandon Bitzer, who has taken over point guard duties this season after Isaiah Jackon graduated (he is a redshirt freshman at SVSU). Bitzer had 23 points including 21 in the second half.

Coach Mark Gainforth complimented Bitzer, saying that he did exactly what a point guard should do. In the first half he tried to get his teammates involved in the offense, but when things got hairy, he took the game over.

I totally agree with that, as I was totally impressed with how Brandon performed last night. In fact at one point I turned to another area sports writer and made a comment along the lines of us seeing Bitzer become a man in front of our eyes.

Not that he hasn't played well in the past, but in this game he went to a whole new level.

Gainforth knows the team still has a lot of work to do, but was happy to win such a competitive game in the opener.

As for the Bearcats, after getting shalacked by Reese earier in the week and in the first half yesterday, the team turned up its intensity and showed what they are capable of.

In my opinion, if Ubly can be competitive against the team that I consider to be the best in the GTW, they will definitely be a contender in the East this season, which I feel will be even this season.

I didn't forget...

My schedule has been pretty unforgiving lately, but here it is... the winner of Outpick Ogryski... oh, wait was there a winner at all?
Christian Selich had the best regular season pick % of .849 (45-8), getting past twocentsworth .807 (42-10) and coachestake .800 (48-12).
But did he Outpick Ogryski? Yes, as I put a respectable .734 with a 47-17 recrod, tkaing far too many chances on a couple of hunches late in the year. Overall five of 11 participants outpicked Ogryski, although I will be back with another contest and better than ever soon.
Christian contact me through the blog and we'll get you your $20.
Congratulations.

It was a truly great season

Here is part of a story that will run in all three of our papers tomorrow. Be sure to also check out the 11/28 edition as the All-Thumb football team will be announced in that issue and you can see how your favorite players and team did.
Historic season comes to an end
BY CHRIS OGRYSKI
Sports Editor
They just ran out of gas.
After three consecutive playoff games, all of which went down to the wire (they were decided by a total of 13 points), Harbor Beach didn’t appear to have much left physically, as they lost 42-0 to Traverse City St. Francis in state semifinal action at Grayling last Saturday.
“It definitely creates mixed emotions,” coach Troy Schelke said about the disappointing end, to what was otherwise an amazing season.
“These guys are real competitors and really like playing football. I think we were all down with the way we performed, but we also realized that we had a really good year,” he explained. “It was a fun season all the way around.”
Against TCSF, the Pirates got behind 7-0 in the first quarter when the Gladiator’s Jacob Schell scored on a three yard run. Schell rushed for 51 yards and a pair of scores, including a 64 yard fumble recovery returned for a TD later in the game.
Harbor Beach had several chances to tie the game in the first half, but was unable to get into a flow on offense. “Offensively we had a hard time getting much going at all. We had a few running plays that got us some yards early on, but they are very quick (defensively) and their holes would close really quickly,” Schelke explained.
The Pirates were held to just 71 yards of total offense, including 58 on the ground. Brion Gornowich, who saw his first action since breaking his leg against Mayville, led the team with 39 yards on 12 caries, while Shane Ginther added 22 yards on eight totes. Overall, Harbor Beach had eight different runners carry the ball, with three players having negative rushing yards.
Despite the struggles, the Pirates were still in the game until late in the second when TCSF scored twice late to take a 21-0 edge. The first score was set up by a 42 yard punt return by the Gladiators, which led to a score on the next play on an 18 yard scamper from Andrew Rushlow (122 yards and two TDs).

Simply amazing...

Here is part of a story that will appear in tomorrow's paper. I encourage you all to pick it up as it will be part of a special four-page special section recognizing the efforts of the Lady Bearcats.
The full-color section includes this story as well as over 20 pictures, including many shots of the action, the celebration, some tears and a bunch of excited fans.
One heckuva run
Lady Bearcats fall in Class C volleyball finals
BY CHRIS OGRYSKI
Sports Editor
No one expected them to get there.
In end, that was the sentiment after the Ubly volleyball team lost to Morley Stanwood (25-10, 25-22, 25-17) in the Class C finals at Kellogg Center in Battle Creek this past Saturday. The team advanced to the finals by beating Calumet (19-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-18) in the semis.
The Bearcats were thrown out of sync early on in game one against the Morley Stanwood when they were called for lifting on multiple set attempts. Those calls, which each cost Ubly points, put the Bearcats behind 8-1 and eventually 23-7.
“(During) the rest of the tournament, we didn’t get those (lifting) calls,” coach Andy Gusa said. “It took us out of our rhythm for awhile.”
He added, “We couldn’t get the ball (in the right spot) to get an easy shot on them, so we were scrambling the first game.”
It wasn’t until late in game two that Ubly finally got back on track as they rallied from down 22-15 to get as close as 22-20, before eventually falling by three points. “We got back in our rhythm in the second game, but they were a really good team,” he said.
“We weren’t able to get blocks on them; they were hitting them hard and around our blocks,” Gusa added. “They had a real quick set, so if they didn’t go to their main hitters we had a hard time reacting.”
Despite the disappointment of finishing as runners-up, Gusa will always look fondly upon the most successful volleyball season in school history. “We had a great season; it was fun all the way through,” he said. “They girls were happy to be here, they held their heads up high no matter how they did.”
Weber added, “No one expected us to get this far, so we are really proud of ourselves.”
Individually in the finals, Lyndsay White had five digs and one ace; Gwen Pionk 16 assists and six digs; Gena Briolat one kill and two digs; Kayla Kubacki eight kills, two assists and eight digs; Shannon Weber 10 kills, one assist and 11 digs; Tricia Heleski two kills; Rebecca Gentner one dig and Erin Yarbrough two digs.
In trying to keep the loss in perspective, Gusa realized that had it not been for a great play against USA in pre-districts, the team might have been eliminated from the post-season without any hardware. With the Bearcats leading 14-13 in the fifth game against the Patriots, Ubly and USA battled back-and-forth on a long volley, before Shannon Weber directed a hit near the line on a ball that barely went in.
“That was a scary start, but we had five girls who never played in a district before,” Gusa admitted. “They were a little nervous for that one.”
After eliminating the Pats, the Bearcats went on to beat Bad Axe and Cass City to win the district crown, but they had another close call against Saginaw Valley in the regional finals. “That was a team that really scared me. I was so glad that last girl hit that ball out of bounds,” Gusa said of his team’s 15-12 win in game five of their match against the Chargers.

Ubly is heading to the semis

The Lady Bearcats play Calumet in the semifinals this Friday at 2 p.m. in Battle Creek at the Kellogg Center. Ubly actually cancelled school in order to allow teachers andstudents to attend the game to support the team. Shannon Weber Kayla Kubacki

Lyndsay White

Coach Andy Gusa celebrates.

Gwen Pionk

Erin Yarbrough & Weber

Tricia Helewski & Kubacki

Kubacki

The team rallies during a timeout.