Banner 10-28-2021

Page 16 — Thursday, October 28, 2021 — The Hastings Banner

Delton Kellogg was scheduled to take on

Watervliet in the Division 3 Regional

Semifinals at Holland Christian High School

Wednesday evening (Oct. 27). Grand Rapids

Christian and Holland Christian were set to

meet in the other regional semifinal hosted

by the Maroons Wednesday. The regional

final is planned for Saturday at noon back at

Holland Christian Stadium. Holland

Christian entered the state postseason ranked

No. 1 in the state in Division 3 and South

Christian No. 3.

DK’s regional semifinal opponent

Watervliet scored a 6-2 win over the Delton

Kellogg boys in Watervliet Sept. 1, but coach

Mabie said he was expecting his boys to go

into the regional tournament with a lot of

confidence.

“It was a tight game back and forth,” Mabie

said of the district final. “The first half ended

0-0. We controlled more of the half than they

did, but we just couldn’t break through. The

last defender and their keeper were pretty

good. We controlled the game and it was down

on their end most of the time.”

Warner dribbled through a number of

Watervliet defenders to get the shot off that

finally found the net in the second half.

Mabie said his team had talked about mak-

ing a few small adjustments in the second

half, one of them being working the ball from

the outside in a bit better in the offensive end.

The play, and the eyes of the defense, had

been concentrated around Marshall, James

Blackburn and Hector Jimenez in the middle

of the DK attack.

The ball moved inside, out and then back

in during the lead up into Marshall’s charge

in to score.

“We had a few other [scoring chances],”

Mabie said, “a couple came from across the

side and we got a foot on it, but their keeper

was right there. A couple other corners he

was able to knock away. After that [goal] it

seemed like they must have gotten a little

more urgent with that. After we scored, we

spent a lot more time down in our end.

[Watervliet] had some corner kicks and long

throws. Between our defenders and our keep-

er they didn’t have any real, real solid shots

on goal though.”

Keeper Marcus Momenee and the DK

defense shut out all three of their district foes

• Comstock, Parchment and Watervliet.
  Momenee made nine saves in the district
  final.
  Momenee made a couple tough saves, but
  also got a lot of help.
  “Giovanni Stea and Martin Wachowski,
  they really stepped up,” Mabie said. “We
  were missing Caden Ferris, who normally
  plays a defensive mid for us. I moved Mel
  Baixis back there and he controlled the mid-
  dle above the defenders. He is usually at an
  outside midfielder position with more of an
  attacking role. He said he has never played
  organized soccer before. He is fast and knows
  what to do with the ball. He knows what to do
  in that middle there. He is an asset there.”
  Baixis is a foreign exchange student from
  Martin High School who plays on the Co-op
  team with the Panthers.
  Mabie was unsure that the program has
  ever played in a district final before. He has
  guided the Panthers for the past 12 years and
  he has not been a part of one. He just knew
  that the program had never won a title before,
  because of the empty spot on the banner in
  the gymnasium and the lack of soccer tro-
  phies in the trophy cases.
  Those spots won’t be empty any more.

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DISTRICT, continued from page 11 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Vikings win 20th

consecutive league

volleyball championship

Brett Bremer

Sports Editor

The Vikings took care of their final big

responsibility of the regular season Saturday.

The Lakewood varsity volleyball team,

ranked third in the state in Division 2, will

take on either Hastings or Central Montcalm

in the Division 2 District Semifinals at

Hastings High School Wednesday, Nov. 3.

Lakewood had finished as the state runner-up

in Division 2 each of the past two seasons.

Lakewood has captured a conference

championship in each of the past 20 seasons.

The string hit 20 Saturday as the Vikings

defeated Olivet and then Lansing Christian at

the Greater Lansing Activities Conference

Tournament at Lakewood High School.

The Vikings have still never dropped a

match in the GLAC.

Lakewood bested the Eagles 25-4, 25-

in their semifinal match and then knocked

off the Pilgrims 25-11, 25-13 in the champi-

onship. The Pilgrims are ranked fourth in

the state in Division 4.

It is the 32nd conference title in the history

of Lakewood volleyball.

Maradith O’Gorman, the Vikings’ senior

all-state hitter, helped keep the tradition alive

by leading the team in kills with 24, digs with

19 and blocks with two on the day.

Junior all-state setter/hitter Skylar Bump

had a team-high 24 assists to go with seven

aces, six digs and six kills.

Tori Wickerink chipped in six kills, Zayda

Kruger four and Liv Woodman four for the

Vikings. Freshman setter Abby Pickard had

21 assists as well as eight digs. All-state

sophomore libero Carley Piercefield had 18

digs and seven aces.

Alli Pickard and Paige Wolverton contrib-

uted two aces each for the Vikings, and Alli

also had 12 digs for the day.

Lakewood will look to prime itself for the

postseason playing in a quad at Caledonia

High School tonight (Oct. 28) and another at

Chelsea Saturday.

The Lakewood varsity volleyball team celebrates its 20th consecutive conference championship after finishing off an undefeated
Greater Lansing Activities Conference season by winning the conference tournament Saturday at Lakewood High School. Team
members are (front from left) Paige Wolverton, Alli Pickard, Carley Piercefield, Bailey Fifelski, Kenzie Wells, (back) head coach
Cameron Rowland, Tori Wickerink, Zayda Kruger, Abby Pickard, Ellie Possehn, Maradith O'Gorman, Alivia Everitt, Skylar Bump
and Liv Woodman.

Delton Kellogg's varsity boys' soccer team chomps on its district medals and celebrates with the district championship trophy

following a 1-0 victory over Hillsdale in the Division 3 District Final at DKHS Saturday. (Photo by Perry Hardin)

Delton Kellogg's John Sinclair goes up to head the ball during his team's victo-
ry over Hillsdale in the Division 3 District Final at DKHS Saturday. (Photo by Perry
Hardin)