by Justin Gibson | Mar 11, 2019 | Sports, Vicksburg
Grant Deal and his family.
By Sue Moore
It was likely preordained that Grant Deal would be a standout athlete. His father, Brian, is the head coach for Vicksburg varsity baseball and assistant varsity football coach. The only query was in which game he’d excel.
The answer? “I like baseball but it’s too slow moving for me. Football appealed because I like to hit somebody on every play. Football is always a rush,” Deal said. Because he weighs in at 270 but is reasonably short for a tackle, he plays on the offensive line as a guard. He has a lineman’s body according to Tom Marchese, his football coach. He has been playing guard since his days in Rocket football.
After graduation in June, Deal will prepare for college life at Ashland University in Ohio. He will be red-shirted his freshman year as he prepares and learns the system of a team that plays Division II in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic conference.
“The coaching never ends,” Grant said, discussing his father’s input.
“I told Coach Marchese to treat Grant just like any other player,” Brian Deal said. “We were coaching together long before Grant was on the team. These last three years with Grant on the varsity we’ve been figuring it all out. Like when to be quiet and when to get after him. He would never hear from me in practice, but he might when we got home.”
It’s an honor to be recruited by Ashland, where he won’t be alone in the incoming freshman class, Deal said. A long-time buddy from Portage Central, running back Eli Potts, has also accepted an offer from Ashland. Lee Owens, Ashland’s head football coach, has been the recipient of many honors with his team’s playing for championships in a league that competes with Grand Valley State University and Ferris State University.
“I visited the school in July of 2018 and loved the environment. It’s not real big so I won’t get lost. It has top notch facilities,” Deal said. He plans to major in business as there are lots of things he feels he can do with a business degree after college. He declares that he doesn’t like to take center stage and get up in front of people, preferring to let his playing ability to speak for him.
His mom, Heather, is a nurse at Bronson Hospital. He has a sister, Anna, and a little brother, Luke.
by Justin Gibson | Mar 11, 2019 | Sports, Vicksburg
Kaytee Harvey and her family.
By Sue Moore
Vicksburg Volleyball Coach Katrina Miller calls Kaytee Harvey her most improved player in the 2018 season. Now Harvey is moving on to play volleyball at Albion College with a bundle of academic scholarships to help with expenses.
Chad Miller, the assistant coach with his wife for the Vicksburg team, said Harvey is one of the nicest girls he has ever coached. “She’s a hard worker. She took my input and just went to work to improve. She’s possibly the best middle player now in our league. She has good arm swing on the ball when she attacks.”
Head Coach Miller complimented Harvey on her leadership. “She has a passion for the game. She realized she needed to step up as a senior and make a difference for the team. Her maturity as a leader made a big difference in our season.” She was chosen by her classmates for the basketball Homecoming Court.
Harvey chose Albion because of its small class size, the small campus and the one-on-one opportunities she will have with teachers. “I can get help if I need it,” Harvey said. She sports a 4.0 in her high school courses and plans on being a pre-med major at Albion. That might come naturally to her; her mom, Kim, is an Interventional Radiology Technologist who is presently working in Clearwater, FL. That means the family will be uprooting from Fulton where they have lived since Harvey was in second grade. She has a grandmother who lives just around the corner, so she can stay with her when she’s home from college. Her dad, Tim, is a 1981 Vicksburg graduate and works online from his home base, whether it be in Fulton or Clearwater, he said.
by Justin Gibson | Mar 11, 2019 | Sports, Vicksburg
By Travis Smola
The Vicksburg varsity bowling teams had a better-than-average turnout of players this season.
“We had a couple of younger sophomores step up and bowl from the JV team to varsity this year,” Head Coach James Myers said. The boys’ team had 12 bowlers this year; the girls team fielded 11, which was dramatically up from the usual four or five.
The boys’ team was slightly better than the girls, finishing ninth in team regionals. In the individual portion, sophomore Regan Powell was the top finisher. He came in 17th place with a total of 1,091 pins. Fellow sophomore Tristan Bierema finished 39th with 1,003 pins. Senior Trenton VanderBor finished 43 with 974 pins.
For the Lady Bulldogs, senior Samantha Cox was the top finisher. She finished in 40th place with 847 pins. Sophomores Kassidee Root and Mykah Zehner were the next highest finishers at 45th and 56th with 822 and 773 pins respectively.
Although no one from either team earned a trip to state this year, Myers said the girls showed great improvement from the last and won several matches. He said probably the biggest overall highlight of the year was the boys getting a victory over Portage Northern in their Southwest Michigan Bowling Conference Saturday League, a league their opponent eventually won.
by Justin Gibson | Mar 10, 2019 | Sports, Vicksburg
Ben Johnson tries a layup in a hotly contested game against Dowagiac that the Bulldogs won.
By Travis Smola
Things have been a bit rough for the Vicksburg varsity boys’ basketball team this season after the resignation of Coach Jeff Lovell. The team finished the season with an 8-13 record.
Athletic Director Mike Roy stepped in to take over head coaching duties in January. The team picked up a big 55-34 win at home over 8-9 Comstock in one of the latest games.
“Tonight was a really good team win for us,” Roy said after that game. “We played good defense and made a lot of positive things happen. Got a lot of guys into the game and we had good flow.”
Senior Kyle Rose led the way in scoring, putting up 16 points against the Colts. Junior Chase Myers and sophomore Jacob Conklin each added 8 points. Junior Tyler Kienbaum had seven points while junior Ethan Buscher had six. Senior Tommy Loriso added four late points to help cement the lead and juniors Dillon Shook, Jared Gorsline and Lucas Hatridge rounded out the scoring with two points each.
The game was indicative of how well the team has handled a coach change and two games rescheduled due to weather. The Comstock game was a good bit of redemption since the Bulldogs lost to the same team in the first game of the year.
“It gave us a good measuring stick to see where we were at the beginning of the season and the end of the season,” Roy said. “The guys have handled the adversity really well.”
Since the coaching change, they had been feeling more on the winning side of things. In early February the team picked up a dramatic and emotional 60-54 win over Dowagiac that saw a big celebration by the team and fans alike on the court afterwards. The team got another win over Paw Paw, 65-62, a few weeks later.
It wasn’t just the team that had to learn on the fly. Roy said he faced some challenges too. “I had a lot of growing to do also as a coach to try and figure out rotations, who played well with who, and that’s always complex for a coach to do.”
The season ended with a 46-44 loss against Edwardsburg in the district tournament. Rose had a team-high 15 points. Conklin had 13, Kienbaum 10. Senior Shane Earl had four points and Myers added a couple of his own. The team had a lead through the first two quarters before the Eddies came charging back. The Bulldogs made a late charge, but ran out of possessions and time.
by Justin Gibson | Mar 10, 2019 | Sports, Vicksburg
Abbey Laffler does battle with the Chieftains as Allyson Naster, #10, looks on.
By Travis Smola
The Vicksburg varsity girls’ basketball team lost its second match-up of the year against rival Three Rivers 57-42 on its home court to bring its record to 9-9.
“The final was rough, but I think we played pretty hard against a pretty good team,” Head Coach Tim Kirby said. “They just made more shots down the stretch than we did.”
The game was marked by the Wildcats’ very physical style of play. That style is something the Lady Bulldogs have had trouble adjusting to all year. But Kirby felt they handled it better this second go-around with the Wildcats.
“I think Three Rivers intimidated us the first time that we played. It didn’t feel like we were intimidated tonight,” Kirby said.
The leading scorer of the night for the Lady Bulldogs was senior Madeleine Geiger, who put up 15 points. Sophomore Hannah Vallier wasn’t far behind with 11 of her own.
Fellow sophomore Chloe Hatridge had five. Junior Kelsey Diekman had four. Senior Abbey Laffler had three points. Sophomore Brady Brown and junior Sydney Finos each had two.
The game marked the end of a rough three-game stretch in which the team also lost games against Edwardsburg and Niles-Brandywine. Kirby noted that both of those teams are ranked high in the state. Overall, Kirby is pleased with how the season has progressed. He feels they just need to get over the hump of beating some of the more talented teams they face on the schedule.
“I’m proud of my girls for how hard they fought tonight,” Kirby said. “I think we’re taking steps in the right direction to get that way. We didn’t back down from them.”
by Justin Gibson | Mar 9, 2019 | Sports, Vicksburg
By Travis Smola
It was another long rebuilding year for the Vicksburg varsity wrestling program. But there was a definite improvement over the previous season.
“We had one more conference placer than last year so we’re improving a little bit,” Head Coach Jeff Mohney said.
In total, three wrestlers placed at the conference meet. This included a stellar performance from 112- pounder Collin Hassenger. At one point this season he was undefeated. At Conference he ended up taking second. In the 145-pound weight class, Griffin Day took fourth. And in the 171-pound class, Luke Becker also took fourth to round out the Bulldogs’ season.
“We thought a couple kids were going to make it through to Regionals,” Mohney said. “They didn’t quite make it, but it was a tough Regional this year and tough Districts.”
Mohney said he’ll be encouraging the boys to take part in wrestling camps this summer. The team will also mix in a few spring and summer workouts here and there before next season. Mohney said he is looking forward to some middle schoolers coming up next season, which should give the team more depth.
