ADVANCE NEWSPAPERS SPORTS

The Latest News, Updates and Opinions

GRAND RAPIDS - The Forest Hills Central hockey team got off to a flying start to the new year last Friday night, defeating rival Forest Hills Northern/Eastern 5-2 in front of a near capacity throng of fans at the Patterson Ice Center.

The victory completed a regular-season sweep of FHN/E by the Rangers and lifted their overall record to 6-4 and their O-K Tier 2 conference mark to 2-2.

ROCKFORD - It may not have been the prettiest game ever, but the Rams still gave themselves a nice New Years gift on Saturday.

Playing their first game in nearly three weeks, the Rockford girls basketball team dealt with some early jitters and a determined late effort from visiting Forest Hills Northern. But the Rams' solid second-quarter run proved to be enough to stave off the Huskies 45-39 in the non-conference tilt.

HUDSONVILLE - Although the Hudsonville girls basketball team has been struggling to start the season, the Eagles got their all-important first win of the season at their hometown Salad City Classic. They defeated Unity Christian 47-28 on Saturday night.

"That was a lot of fun tonight," said Hudsonville coach Jodi Meyer. "I thought the girls played extremely well as a team tonight. They passed the ball very well. They were offensive minded, so it was nice to see the scoring get spread out."

FRUITPORT - Like pioneers on the trail heading west, the Fruitport girl's basketball knows when it's time to circle the wagons.

With just nine players on the team, the Trojans have had to circle the wagons and stay together so far this season. Due to injuries and some unexpected player losses prior to the season, the Trojans have just nine players on this year's squad.

HUDSONVILLE -- With the Salad Bowl City bragging rights on the line, the undefeated Unity Christian boys basketball team opened up a 22-9 first quarter lead over host Hudsonville. The Crusaders maintained their lead to walk away with a 73-60 Salad Bowl Classic win.

"(Unity assistant coach) Bruce Capel really had them ready to play tonight," said Crusaders head coach Scott Soodsma. "Over a long Christmas break that was one of our concerns coming into this game. It's been a long time since we've played.

ROCKFORD - Steve Majerle was speechless following Saturday night's game against Forest Hills Northern. After all, his Rams had just put him through quite the scare.

The longtime Rockford boys basketball mentor didn't quite know how to describe the wild last two minutes in which the Rams nearly lost an eight-point lead only to somehow cling to a 60-55 victory in the closing seconds. For the Huskies, who had trailed by 17 points during the third quarter, the ending was a matter of so close yet so far.

WYOMING -- For 24 minutes, Wyoming Park used its vice-grip-like trapping defense that created a 43-34 lead before the visiting Grandville Bulldogs rallied in heroic proportions by an unlikely performer in the final eight minutes to pull out a 60-57 non-conference victory Tuesday night.

Sophomore guard Jake Blauwkamp ignited a 9-0 run in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, scoring a pair of layups and a deep right corner 3-pointer before Grandville senior forward Zach Johnson converted a rebounded layup to tie the game at 43.

GRAND RAPIDS - At times in recent years, Zeeland East has been thought of in some circles as a one-man team. With each passing game this season, the Chix are proving that is not the case.

With all-state senior guard Korey Vandussen struggling at times against a lightning-quick East Kentwood defense last Monday evening, Zeeland East (6-0) got contributions from all over the court in a 78-54 win in the Cornerstone Holiday Tournament finals.

GRAND RAPIDS -- Last Tuesday's finals of the Aquinas College holiday basketball tournament resembled an NBA game. Two teams that seemed somewhat evenly matched hooked up, but only one - Catholic Central - had a star.

That standout player, Duke Mondy, poured in 30 points to propel the Cougars to a 61-48 win over Hudsonville. That outburst came just one day after Mondy was held to four points in a Cougar win over Cedar Springs.

The Wyoming Park wrestling team opened 2009 in a strong way as it had eight wrestlers place at the Spring Lake Invitational. Those placers helped the Vikings to a fifth-place finish at the event that was won by Spring Lake.

"In general I think we did a good job," said Wyoming Park coach John Tuffs. "I was pleased. We had eight guys medal."

The Kenowa Hills wrestling team rung in the new year with a third-place performance at the Spring Lake Invitational. Host Spring Lake won the tournament while Fremont placed second.

"It's always tough coming off Christmas break," said Kenowa coach Richard Elliott. "It takes a while to shake the rust off. I thought the guys did pretty good, we usually end up in third place at this tournament."

It was a busy winter break for the Grandville wrestling team.

The Bulldogs started their ‘vacation' with a second place finish at the Marquette Invitational. This past week, they followed up with a second place finish at their own invitational. On Saturday, the Bulldogs finished third at Eaton Rapids.

The Coopersville wrestling team continued their fast start to the wrestling season by capturing the championship at the Martin Invitational December 30.

The Broncos won all five duals at the team tournament highlighted by a 37-36 win against Wayland in what proved to be the determining match. The Broncos also defeated Maple Valley (57-24), Martin (42-34), Centreville (72-6) and Hopkins (45-24).

The first-year Calvin Christian wrestling team continued its learning process as it placed ninth overall at the Spring Lake Invitational.

The Squares had one wrestler medal and three others who were a match away from the medal round at the tournament that was won by host Spring Lake.

The Grand Haven boys ski team is anxious to get back out on the slopes this winter. After taking first place in the Greater Grand Rapids High School Ski Conference and qualifying for the state finals as a team last winter, the senior-laden boys are ready to repeat that performance.

"We are loaded with seniors that ski really well," said Tim Graham, who was the girls' varsity coach last season and is now the new boys' varsity coach. "We are really excited for the season. We only lost one senior, so our goal is to get back to the state competition. Last year, the guys were really excited to go as a team."

In a close Tuesday night contest, the Zeeland East girls basketball team outscored Jenison 12-4 in overtime to earn its sixth win and stay undefeated on the season.

"It was an exciting win. It took til overtime for that to happen, but it was a close game all the way through," said Zeeland East coach Bob Rilley. "We were behind in the third quarter 34-33 and we had to fight back to make it to overtime. In overtime we were fortunate to get a couple of quick baskets that put us up by four. Once that happened, it kind of alleviated the pressure."

FOREST HILLS CENTRAL 73, UNION 35: After suffering their first loss of the season by six to undefeated Tri-unity Christian in the first round of the Cornerstone Invite, the Rangers boys basketball team bounced back in the consolation game with a 73-35 win over Grand Rapids Union.

"Tri-unity was a good battle for us," said FHC coach Ken George. "That was the first time that we had really faced any adversity, so it was good for the guys to try to fight back. The Union game was good because it was nice to get back into the winning way.

BIG RAPIDS 55, SPARTA 51: The Sparta varsity boys basketball team lost a tough game, Dec. 30. The Spartans came out to a first-quarter lead 18-14, but Big Rapids had a big second stanza, outscoring Sparta 29-9 for a 16-point halftime lead.

Colton Cnossen had 12 points and three steals in the third quarter, directing Sparta back into the game. Sparta even managed to gain a brief fourth-quarter lead, but could not hold on.

SAN DIEGO - Becca Addison has accomplished an awful lot in her first three-and-a-half years as a Grand Haven Buccaneer.

But earlier this month the senior cross country runner did something that no Buc, and in fact no Ottawa County runner, had ever done before: she competed in the prestigious Footlocker National cross country meet.

HUDSONVILLE -- The O-K Red wrestling season kicked off Wednesday and after posting a number of impressive non-conference wins, the Jenison Wildcats opened the conference season in strong fashion with a 47-21 win against Hudsonville.

Jenison won 10 of the 14 matches against Hudsonville with five of the wins coming via pins.

SPARTA - Sometimes it's the young, energetic grapplers who catch the eye of coaches as well as the fans in attendance.

Such was the case last Wednesday night in Sparta, as several freshmen paved the way for the Spartans' wrestling team, as they dominated action on the mat and then took down Cedar Springs for the second time this season.

CALEDONIA - Although three voids went a long way toward deciding the outcome of Wednesday's O-K Gold Conference wrestling dual between Caledonia and Forest Hills Eastern, the meet was anything but void of excitement.

Caledonia took advantage of the three uncontested matches for a 48-32 victory over the Hawks.

WYOMING -- Like any varsity wrestling coach, Byron Center's Art Ward would prefer a lineup dotted with seniors and juniors. But given he only three senior starters on hand, Ward is pleased with where the Bulldogs' program is currently situated.

Byron Center (1-0, 9-3) could wrestle as many as five freshmen in varsity matches later this season, and that has Ward excited about the future.