Page 12 — Thursday, November 4, 2021 — The Hastings Banner
MCC too much for Delton Kellogg in district football
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Delton Kellogg’s varsity football team
wasn’t at its best Friday as it opened the
MHSAA Division 7 postseason at Muskegon
Catholic Central.
The Crusaders improved to 9-1 on the sea-
son with a 54-6 win over the Panthers in their
Division 7 Pre-District ballgame.
Delton Kellogg ends the season with a 5-
record. The Crusader defense held the Delton
Kellogg offense to just 138 total yards. A
third-quarter touchdown run by Torren Mapes
accounted for the Panthers only points, pull-
ing his team to within 34-6 at the time.
“We had a number of younger players in
the game due to injury and Covid issues,” DK
head coach Ryan Bates said. “We had sopho-
mores Torren Mapes, Adrian Debor, Cole
Lane and Luke Watson as well as freshman
Copper Sandusky playing huge minutes
against a very talented MCC team.
“We will truly miss our seniors next year,
however, our next years senior class along
with these younger guys show us that the
future is bright for Delton Kellogg.”
Muskegon Catholic for a 27-yard touch-
down run by quarterback Elliot Riegler on its
first possession of the ballgame, after the
Panthers turned the ball over on downs in
their own end of the field. The Crusaders then
moved a short field again following a DK
fumble for a 20-yard TD run by running back
Joe Waller.
DK moved the ball into Muskegon Catholic
territory for the first time late in the first quar-
ter. The Panther drive eventually found its way
to the Crusader 15 early in the second quarter,
but a fourth-and-15 pass from the Muskegon
Catholic 20-yard-line fell incomplete.
Five plays later, Crusader Riegler hit
David Hill for a 40-yard td deep down theleft side. Muskegon Catholic tacked on a
one-yard TD run by Waller before the first
half was through.
The Crusaders changed things up in the
second half, letting Bryan Convertini get
some time at quarterback. Convertini ran for
two touchdowns in the second half and fin-
ished the evening with six rushes for 73
yards.
The Crusaders got their final points when
Tramel Cainess picked up a Delton fumbleat the one-yard-line and stepped into the end
zone.
Muskegon Catholic finished the night with
277 yards on the ground and 85 with the pass-
ing game.
Mapes ran the ball nine times for 63 yards
and Mason Nabozny added 16 carries for 37
yards for Delton.
Muskegon Catholic will now host 7-
Ravenna in a Division 7 District Final Friday
at 7 p.m.myself. To be able to find that mentally is a
big moment for me.”
She said in the end, being close enough to
see Durkee cross the finish line really helped
pull her across as well.
No one was in sight of Mason sophomore
Meghan Ford, who won the D2 girls’ race in
Portage Saturday with a time of 18:42.74.
Marshall sophomore Camille DeCola led
her team to a second consecutive regional
championship with her runner-up time of
19:30.41. Crews came in next at 19:42.72.
Durkee was 12th with a time of 20:36.17.
The Trojan team as a whole was one spot
shy of qualifying for the state finals, finishing
42 points behind third-place South Christian.
Marshall won the regional title with 56
points. Mason was second with 63 and South
Christian third with 75 points. TK finished
with 117 points, ahead of Vicksburg 134,
Eaton Rapids 154, Parma Western 94,
Wayland 249, Harper Creek 268, Gull Lake
299, Coldwater 311, Charlotte 313, Parchment
352, Jackson Northwest 389, Hastings 416,
Olivet 426 and Pennfield 491.
“The girls ran hard, they competed well,
they stayed engaged, and they gave maxi-mum effort on the day,” TK girls’ coach Sam
Wilkinson said. “I could not ask for more
than this. However, as a coach with high
expectations for myself, I can’t help but to
feel disappointed. I’m not disappointed in the
girls – not at all. They gave their best on the
day and three other teams happened to run
faster.
“It’s ok to be both happy, proud, and disap-
pointed all at the same time, and that’s where
I am. The last two seasons we have been
fourth in the region, and to qualify as a team,
we need to be in the top three. On the one
hand, yes, I should be and I am proud of our
fourth place finish, but ask any Olympian who
just missed the bronze medal how they feel,
and although we are not competing on the
same scale, I think the feelings are relatable.
“Just missed.”
Like TK, Marshall and Mason both had
three girls among the 15 medalists. South
Christian had two, led by sophomore Mallory
Huttenga who was fifth in 19:52.35 – a per-
sonal record time. Her teammate, senior
Abby Winkle set a PR with her ninth-place
time of 20:13.25.
The OK Gold Conference also saw
Wayland junior Olivia Barbas earn a state
finals spot with her seventh-place time of
20:05.19.
For the most part, the TK girls were just off
their personal records for the season. JuniorLindsey Velting and freshman Lydia
Schilthroat were both about a minute faster
on the course at Portage than they were three
weeks prior.
Sophomore Holly Velting was about 16
seconds faster than in early October, and was
the fourth Trojan across the finish line. She
placed 37th in 21:49.78. Lindsey came in
50th at 22:23.71. Schilthroat was 59th in
22:49.19. TK also had junior Lucy VanDemark
78th in 24:05.04.
Most of the TK boys took good chunks of
time off their times from the Portage
Invitational at the regional race, none more so
than sophomore Lucas VanMeter who placed
39th in 17:57.1 to lead the TK team. He was
50 seconds faster than he had been three
weeks previous.
Trojan senior Benjamin Trudell ran his
fastest varsity race ever to place 84th in
19:24.61. He was about half a minute faster
than he had been at the Portage Invitational,
and cut more than 14 seconds off his previ-
ous PR.
Trudell was one of four TK senior boys
running in their final regional race. Camden
Reynolds placed 64th, the second Trojan
across the finish line, in a time of 18:45.22.
Matthew Smith placed 75th in 19:04.07.
Michael Blair tallied a 108th-place time of
21:04.54.
TK also had sophomore Kaden Hamming98th in 20:06.93 and junior Aidan Buist 99th
in 20:07.70.
Mason took the boys’ regional champion-
ship Saturday with 91 points, edging Harper
Creek’s 95-point performance for the top
spot. South Christian won a three-team battle
for the third and final state qualifying spot.
The Sailors’ 147 points bested Coldwater’s
151 and Wayland’s 152.
Vicksburg placed sixth with 185 points, ahead
of Eaton Rapids 205, Gull Lake 205, Olivet 214,
Marshall 220, Parchment 258, Hastings 260,
Parma Western 273, Charlotte 355, Thornapple
Kellogg 358 and Pennfield 495.
Parchment senior Garrett Winter was the
individual regional champion with a time of
15:52.20. Harper Creek senior Owen Gilbert
was second in 16:16.63 and Coldwater senior
John Aerts third in 16:20.75.
Parchment junior William Winter earned
the fourth-place spot with a time of 16:26.96.
South Christian’s leader was junior Caleb
Boes who placed fifth in 16:27.63.
South Christian, Harper Creek and Mason,
the three state qualifying, each had two guys
among the 15 medalists. Mason was led by
the duo of senior Landon Buskirk and fresh-
man Alex Doneth. Buskirk was sixth in
16:41.86 and Doneth seventh in 16:43.62.
The seven state qualifiers not on those
three teams were all also among the top 15
medalists in the boys’ race.Thornapple Kellogg senior Matthew Smith (583) runs with the pack soon after the start of the MHSAA Division 2 Regional at
Portage West Middle School Saturday. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Thornapple Kellogg sophomore Lucas
Van Meter races the final mile of the
Division 2 Regional race at Portage West
Middle School Saturday. Van Meter led
the TK boys' team with a 39th-place fin-
ish. (Photo by Brett Bremer)
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MKT-PTROJAN XC, continued from page 11 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Delton Kellogg's Jason Lundquist (71) wraps up Crusader running back David Hill
(20) to bring him down for a short gain during their Division 7 Pre-District game in
Muskegon Friday. (Photo by Perry Hardin)
Delton Kellogg quarterback Torren
Mapes(19) gets the next play from offen-
sive coach Mark Nabozny near the side-
line during their Division 7 Pre-District
contest at Muskegon Catholic Central
Friday. (Photo by Perry Hardin)Delton Kellogg running back Mason
Nabozny (21) finds a seam for a posi-
tive gain during his team's Division 7
Pre-District contest at Muskegon
Catholic Central Friday. (Photo by Perry
Hardin)