THE HASTINGS
Thursday, August 24, 2023Joe Lyons & John Curtis, Owner/Operators
3305 West Quimby Road, Hastings, MI 49058269.945.
DEWEY’S AUTO BODY
1111 W. Green, Hastings
LITTLE CAESAR’S
Home of the Hot & Ready Pizza!216 N. Broadway, Hastings
269-948-
[email protected]269-953-
SAXON
PRIDE
HASTINGS NAPA
122 N. Jefferson Rd.
Hastings
269-948-
St.
269-945-
1699 W. M-43 Hwy., Hastings, MI 49058Good Luck
Teams
grangerwasteservices.com
888-947-
Hastings Area School System
232 W Grand St, Hastings, MI 49058
http://www.hassk12.org | 269-948-G O S A X O N S !G O S A X O N S!
(269) 948-2900 • http://www.tts.law
202 S. Broadway, Hastings, MI 49058(800) 547-
629 W. State St., Hastings MI
http://www.commercial-bank.com
2295 S. M-37 Hwy., Hastings
269-953-1239 • Hours: M-F 8-
[email protected]Owners
Chad & Jennifer
MillerBROWN’S
& CUSTOM INTERIORS
269-945-
221 N. Industrial Park Dr., Hastings Jason Larabee 269-838-312 E. Court, Hastings – 269-945-
Insurance for all of your needs.THANKS TO THE SPONSORS WHO SUPPORT LOCAL SPORTS
Saxons look to keep on
moving up I-8 standings
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The Saxons had their best Interstate-8 Ath-
letic Conference varsity volleyball finish ever
last spring, and a handful of girls back from
the team that went 24-17 overall last fall are
back to lead the way in 2023.
That group is headed by the senior trio of
Audrey Vertalka, Abby Beemer and Kimber
Fenstemaker.
Beemer returns at setter for the Saxons.
Head coach Erin Slaughter opened the season
running a 6-2 offense, with a pair of setters,
last fall and before long thanks to Beemer’s
skills the Saxons swapped out of that in favor
of a 5-1 with her putting up passes all the way
around.
Vertalka and Fenstemaker return at the net,
both likely spending time in the middle. One
thing about moving Beemer to a full-time
setting role is that the Saxons’ miss out on her
attack at the net a bit.
Size is one thing the Saxons do have
though, and some experience. Coach Slaugh-
ter will have five girls back who contributed
to the varsity a year ago. The group also
includes junior outside hitter Rachael HewittSaxons looking to grow defensively
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Matt Hokanson took over as head coach of
the Hastings varsity boys’ soccer team in
June and immediately got the Saxons’ sum-
mer program running – hosting a youth camp
and the regular high school camp while also
getting his guys some voluntary training ses-
sions in a couple times a week.
The Saxons need to get all the experience
they can whenever they can get it.
Hastings was senior heavy squad a year
ago and has just a few seniors on the roster
this season. The most experienced seniors
are midfielder Sergynho Arias and forward
Charlie Nickels.
They’re a couple of the top returnees for
the team along with junior midfielder Troy
Hokanson, the new coach’s son. Troy earned
All-Barry County second team honors and
was honorable mention all-conference in the
Interstate-8 Athletic Conference.
That trio will lead a solid attack along with
junior Mickey Jiles. Jiles has extensive club
experience despite not playing with the Sax-
ons a year ago. Sophomores Dan Jensen and
Bronson Elliott will look to boost the offense
at times too.
The defense opens the year as a work in
progress. The group is led by junior Alex
Flikkema.
“We lost pretty much our whole defense
[to graduation],” coach Hokanson said. “Were
having to replace that this year. It’s going to
be tough.”
Stepping into key roles on defense will be
sophomore AJ Komescher, senior Easton Tib-
ble, junior Keegan Sutfin and possibly Jensen.
Sutfin, Komescher and Jensen will open the
year rotating through goalkeeping duties too.
Those guys will keep working on improv-
ing the back line. The Saxons are 0-2 on the
season so far with a 7-2 loss to Hopkins in the
season opener last Wednesday and a 5-0 loss
at Lakewood Monday evening.
“We just need to get them time on the ball
and time on the field,” coach Hokanson said
of his guys. “Luckily, we have a lot of soph-
omores. It’ll be good for them to get up to
varsity and get good playing time against
good competition, and hopefully those guys
will grow into a strong role.”
While there is a good sophomore group,
numbers are down as bit in the program as awhole still. Coach Hokanson said the Saxons
will play 8-v-8 matches on the JV level while
having a regular varsity roster of 14-15 guys.
Hastings will be at home for its next three
matches taking on Thornapple Kellogg Fri-
day, Godwin Tuesday and Kenowa Hills next
Thursday, Aug. 31.
The Interstate-8 Athletic Conference sea-
son starts when the Saxons travel to Coldwa-
ter Sept.14.
“Coldwater is going to be tough,” coach
Hokanson said. “They’re always tough. It isalways a battle when we play Coldwater.
Last year, it was a good thing that we tied
with them. That was actually a big step for-
ward. Jackson Northwest will be tough again
too. They usually have a pretty good squad
on the field.”
He is hoping that his guys will be able to
make a push to finish in the top half of the
conference standings.
Beyond this Saxon season, coach Hokanson
said he is really looking forward to the chance
to grow the game of soccer in Hastings.Abby BeemerSee VOLLEYBALL, page 11
Sergynho Arias