Page 12 — Thursday, September 30, 2021 — The Hastings Banner
DK/TK/Hastings girls neck and neck with Unity Christian
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The Delton Kellogg/Thornapple Kellogg/
Hastings varsity girls’ swimming and diving
team suffered its first defeat of the season
Thursday evening in a close dual with the
Hudsonville Unity Christian girls, but got a
smidge of revenge Saturday afternoon.
Holly Carpenter, Abigail Dummond,
Preslee Hall, Abby Marcukaitis and Sophia
Marcukaitis won events for the DK/TK/HHS
girls in the Crusaders’ home pool Thursday
evening, but it wasn’t enough for their team
to pull out the dual meet.
The two teams faced off again in the
Community Education and Recreation Center
along with six other teams at the 17th Annual
Delton Kellogg/Thornapple Kellogg/Hastings
Relays.
Neither team could chase down the cham-
pions from Ottawa Hills, but the DK/TK/HHS girls managed to finish the day eight
points ahead of the Crusaders in the run-
ner-up spot.
DK/TK/HHS took three of the day’s ten
events, including the first. The team of Abby
Marcukaitis, Sophia Marcukaitis, Hall and
Carpenter took the 200-yard medley relay in
1 minute 57.65 seconds. That same foursome
won the 200-yard butterfly relay in 1:156.
and the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:47.10.
In two of those races the DK/TK/HHS
team had two relay foursomes finish among
the top six scoring groups. The team of Bella
Morey, Erin Daniels, Kallie Leary and Abby
Gaskill was sixth in the 2000-yard medley
with a time of 2:23.98. In the 200-yard butter-
fly relay, the team of Lizzie Middleton,
Aubrey Hawks, Leary and Ellen Shults
placed sixth in 2:24.48. With first and sixth
place finishes, DK/TK/HHS scored a total of
132 points in those two races alone.
DK/TK/HHS also got a big boost in the
scoring from the divers as the program’s A dive
team placed second with 172.25 points and the
B dive team fourth with 153.10. A Calvin
Christian/West Catholic squad won the diving
competition with a total score of 173.25.
DKJ/TK/HHS had a pair of third-place
relay teams. Hawks, Lily Foy, Leary and
Cadence VanOoy placed third in the 200-yard
backstroke relay with a time of 2:23.21. The
team of Daniels, Middleton, Foy and Sophia
Marcukaitis was third in the 200-yard breast-
stroke relay with a time of 2:30.93.
Ottawa Hills compiled 552 points to win
the championship Saturday and the DK/TK/
HHS girls will continue to see a lot of the
Bengals. The two teams have a dual in Grand
Rapids tonight (Sept. 30) and then the DK/
TK/HHS girls will be at the Ottawa Hills
Invitational Saturday.
DK/TK/HHS was second with 516 points
Saturday, ahead of Unity Christian 508,
Wayland 434, Ionia 290, Calvin Christian/
West Catholic 264, Grand Rapids Union 184
and Fremont 108.
Ottawa Hills girls won three races Saturday.
The team of Thea Pazdernik, Danica
Sadowski, Jeasy Rodas and Lily Gloege tookthe 800-yard freestyle relay in 8:56.36. Meg
Strand, Naia Wainer, Sadowski and Pazdernik
won the 400-yard relay individual medley in
4:34.13. Strand, Rodas, Pazdernik and
Sadowski won the 200-yard backstroke relay
in 2:01.38.
Wayland girls won two relays, the 200-
yard breaststroke relay and the 500-yard
freestyle progressive relay, and Ionia took the
400-yard freestyle relay to conclude the day’s
events.Russell would cap off the drive with a two-
yard TD plunge with 5:33 to go that got
Hastings to within 26-22. The two-point try
was no good.
Lumen Christi put together a three-minute
touchdown drive that covered 72 yards, end-
ing in a 12-yard TD run by quarterback Teddy
Ahlers through the middle. The extra-point
had the Titans back up 33-22 with 2:34 to go.
“They do a really nice job running on the
edge, and we set up our defense and we
thought we were in a good position in terms
of changing our defense a little bit to help on
the edge without giving up the middle,”
Murphy said of the Titans’ offensive success.
“It is always a tricky balance when teams can
run outside. We have seen on some films that
their quarterback has run for some really long
runs. He is fast and he hides the ball well. We
had to stay home on the back side. We
couldn’t commit everything to the outside.”
Lumen Christi scored two first quarter
touchdowns, on powerful runs by Simpson,
and led throughout Friday’s contest. Hastings
pulled within 12-8 with 5:45 to play in the first
half on a 7-yard run by Slaughter, but the
Titans answered a touchdown in the final two
minutes of the first half and one in the first two
of the second half to extend their lead to 26-8.
“Robby Slaughter really had a nice job on
the inside, in terms of hitting a couple trap
plays which really opened up the run on the
edge,” coach Murphy said. “He did a really
nice job. He got a couple really nice blocks
by Glen McFarlan on the inside.”
Slaughter finished the night with 19 carries
for 92 yards. Denton helped keep the Saxons
in the game with five rushes for 79 yards
before leaving. Russell had 17 carries for 56
yards as well as a 17 yard reception from
back-up QB Owen Carroll.
The Lumen Christi quarterback Ahlers led
his offense with nine rushes for 77 yards.
Delton Kellogg 33,
Galesburg-Augusta 19
Delton Kellogg opened the Southwestern
Athletic Conference Valley Division season
with a 33-19 win over visiting Galesburg-
Augusta Friday evening.
The Panthers shared the load, offensively
and defensively, with newcomers filling in
and regulars stepping up.
“We have been dealing with injuries and
quarantines just as everyone has this season.
This week we had more than usual. We were
not sure how the younger kids were going to
hold up. We were pleasantly surprised,”
Delton Kellogg head coach Ryan Bates said.Ricky Ramsey scored a pair of first half
touchdowns to take the Panthers into the
break up 14-6. He got his team the game’s
initial points on a 1-yard TD run, and then
scored again on an 11-yard run after the Rams
had pulled within 7-6.
DK had its lead up to 27-6 early in the
fourth quarter. Mason Nabozny scored on a
1-yard run in the third and Corey Moore broke
loose on a 36-yard TD run early in the fourth.
The Rams pulled within 27-13 before
Torren Mapes shut the door on the Rams with
a 33-yard TD run.
The Panthers finished the night with 312
rushing yards. Quarterback Philip Halcomb
rushed seven times for 54 yards. Nabozny
had 15 rushes for 62 yards. Moore had nine
carries for 67 yards. Vincent Quick contribut-
ed eight rushes for 53 yards and Ramsey had
eight carries for 43 yards.
On the other side of the ball, coach Bates
was pleased with the job defensive linemen
Alex Whitmore, Jason Lundquist, and Frank
Rosado did denting Galesburg’-Augusta’s
offensive line and scraping to the play.
“It seemed in film that Whitmore and
Lundquist were in on almost every play,”
Bates said.
Ramsey, Quick and Adrian Deboer had
eight tackles apiece for the DK defense and
Alden Whitmore and Lundquist recorded
seven each.
“We had a coach on our staff with a very
serious health episode this week as well as
all of the other injuries and quarantines,”
Bates said. “I thought the kids did s tremen-
dous job with staying focused with so many
distractions.”
Thornapple Kellogg 34,
Kenowa Hills 14
TK got one on the road and now it’ll try
and get one on its home turf.
The Thornapple Kellogg varsity football
team scored its first victory of the season
Friday, besting Kenowa Hills 34-14 in an OK
Gold Conference contest on the north side of
Grand Rapids.
The Trojans didn’t get the start they want-
ed Friday night, but the finish was what they
were hoping for. Kenowa Hills led 7-0 early
in the second quarter as TK’s offense saw its
first three possessions end in an interception,
a punt and a fumble.
After the Trojan defense forced a turnover on
downs with 8:15 to play in the first half near
midfield, the Trojan offense finally saw a drive
through to the end. TK quarterback Carsen
Burbridge completed a 12-yard touchdown pass
to senior wide receiver Logan Westcott to get
their team with 7-6 at the end of the short drive.
TK got the ball in a good spot again less
than a minute later when junior defensive
lineman Noah Rosenberg gathered in a
Knight fumble. Burbridge fired a pass from
the Knights’ 46-yard line on the Trojans’ first
offensive snap after the turnover that sopho-
more Tyler Gavette took for a touchdown and
a TK lead. Burbridge ran in the two-point try
to put their team up by seven points.
Back to back Kenowa Hills drives ended
with the ball in Rosenberg’s hands. He
snagged another Knight fumble on their very
first snap. This time TK started at the Knight- Burbridge hit a pass to Zackary Gibson
for 18 yards and Gavette ran into the end
zone from nine yards out on the next play.
The extra-point kick by Bryce Lemmen
moved TK to a 21-7 edge.
The Trojan defense didn’t give up another
point after the Knights’ opening score.
Kenowa Hills’ Andrew Bradley returned an
interception for a touchdown that got his
team within 21-14 two and a half minutes
into the second half.
TK got a 20-yard TD run by Gavette two
minutes into the fourth quarter and a 48-yard
TD run by junior Jayden Garcia with five min-
utes to go in the game to salt the game away.
Garcia finished with six rushes for 68 yards.
Burbridge carried the ball 20 times himself for
56 yards. Gavette had nine rushes for 39 yards
and the two scores. Gavette had four recep-
tions for 81 yards and Westcott had four catch-
es too, covering 80 yards. Gibson finished with
three catches for 30 yards. Gavette also had an
interception on the defensive side.
Burbridge was 11-of-18 passing for 191
yards in the ballgame. The Knights intercept-
ed him three times.
Lakewood 18, Harbor Springs 0
Denny Sauers and Montreal Reid had short
touchdown runs for the Lakewood varsity
football team in the second quarter as the
Vikings finally got the knots worked out of
their legs from a four hour bus ride.
Sauers added a second short touchdown
run in the third quarter as the Vikings scored
an 18-0 non-conference win at Harbor
Springs Friday night.
“Then we just kind of did our thing to get
out of there,” Lakewood head coach Matt
Markwart said.
“We left at 10 o’clock this morning, stopped
at Ferris and ate and got here to play the game
and walked around town a little bit. I wanted to
see how we would react and play. The boys
came out and shut them out. It was better than
we expected at times. It was a good effort.”
Sauers finished the night with 24 carries
for 121 yards. Reid had 11 carries for 55 yards.
Nathan Willette was 2-of-8 for 16 yards
passing for the Vikings, and the Lakewood
quarterback also rushed eight times for 32
yards.
Markwart said his team’s defense played
really hard and hit well and executed.
“It was just a great team effort by them on
defense. Everybody played hard on defense,”
Markwart said.
“They were trying to run some counters
and reverses and our ends stayed home very
well and stopped the counters. They had a few
big plays on us, but that was more us missing
tackles than them really executing. A pass
went off our fingertips for a long run by them,
but other than that the kids really played hard
and hustled to the ball, ran to the ball and
made big plays when we needed them.”
The Harbor Springs offense worked the
ball inside the Vikings 30-yard-line on a cou-
ple of occasions. The Lakewood defense also
recovered a pair of Harbor Springs fumbles- one recovery each for Gavan Shong and
Walker Klifman.
NorthPointe Christian 35,
Maple Valley 0
NorthPointe Christian may be new to
eight-player football, but the Maple Valley
varsity football team still has a roster that is
mostly new to varsity football of any number
of players.
The Mustangs scored a 35-0 win over the
Lions in the final home game for the Maple
Valley team on Friday night in a Tri-River
8-man Football Conference contest.
Lion head coach Marty Martin summed the
contest up in two sentences.
“Our defense did a great job.” The first
series of the game we forced them to punt.
“It was a tough night offensively.”
The best part of the Lions’ defensive effort
came in coverage. Cornerback Tyler Rose
had a one-handed interception to end a
Mustang drive late in the first half. Coach
Martin was also pleased with the play against
the pass from defensive backs Callan Hoefler,
Cayden Scott and Andrew Shepard as well as
linebacker Nicholas Martin and Jesse Deppe.
Deppe had another fine defensive game,
finishing with a team-high seven tackles.
Scott had six tackles in the ballgame.
“We had really good coverage all night
long. They completed some passes against us,
but nothing that really hurt us,” Martin said.
NorthPointe Christian took a 20-0 lead in
the first half, getting touchdown runs from
DeDe Person, John Braam and Victor Valdez,.
Person scored a second TD o a 39-yard run
late in the third quarter and the Mustangs
tacked on their last TD with 3:11 to play on
an 87-yard fumble return by Bill DeLano.
The Mustangs only had 50 more yards of
offense than the Lions, out-gaining them
202 to 152.
Rose led the Lion offense with 20 rushes
for 87 yards. Scott added eight carries for 45
yards. Rose also completed 2-of-4 passes
for 22 yards and one interception. Person
led the Mustangs on the ground with five
rushes for 51 yards. Valdez had three carries
for 39 yards.FOOTBALL, continued from page 11 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Hastings junior fullback Robby Slaughter fights to shrug off a Lumen Christi tackler
as he gets through the line during the second quarter of their I-8 ballgame inside Bam
Stadium at Johnson Field Friday night. (Photo by Brett Bremer)
Hastings varsity football coach Jaime
Murphy looks on during his team's 33-
loss to Jackson Lumen Christi in Hastings
Friday night in what was a battle of two
previously unbeaten teams.(Photo by
Brett Bremer)Delton Kellogg/Thornapple Kellogg/Hastings sophomore Sophia Marcukaitis swims
the anchor leg of the 200-yard breaststroke relay during the DK/TK/Hastings Relays
Saturday at the CERC in Hastings. (Photo by Brett Bremer)
DK/TK/Hastings sophomore Holly Carpenter leads off the 200-yard freestyle relay for her team Saturday at the DK/TK/Hastings
Relays in Hastings. (Photo by Brett Bremer)
DK/TK/Hastings junior Cadence
VanOoy completes a turn and heads to
the finish during the final leg of the 200-
yard backstroke relay Saturday at the
DK/TK/Hastings Relays in Hastings.
(Photo by Brett Bremer)