Building improvement projects on tap this summer were described during the March 11 Vicksburg Board of Education meeting.
Assistant Superintendent Steve Goss explained the process starts with board approval to authorize the sale of bonds.
“This is the third and final series of the 2020 bonds that were approved by voters,” he said. “This bond issue would be for approximately $9,745,000.”
Board members approved the resolution, which Goss said is a small but necessary step to cover the cost of the impending work.
He explained the bond sale will occur May 2. Next, a resolution to ratify the bond sale would take place at the district’s May 13 meeting.
Goss said the district received bids Feb. 29 for a portion of the upcoming work. The job includes restroom renovations and a significant amount of flooring replacement. The bid from Frederick Construction for this portion of the work was more than $2.2 million, Goss said.
“We had some preliminary budget figures of what we expected those bids to come in at and they came in a little bit better than expected,” he said.
Some of the work to be done this summer includes significant mechanical upgrades at the middle school and high school. That job started last summer and will conclude this year, he said, noting a considerable amount of the work will center on installation of unit ventilators.
“And then we’ll be doing select bathrooms in the elementaries as well as a significant amount of flooring,” he said. “So, there’s going to be a lot going on, but that’s a good thing.”
In an unrelated matter, Superintendent Keevin O’Neill gave an update on financing matters at the state level. He said he spent a few days in early March in Lansing, giving him an opportunity to meet with legislators and policy makers.
“If you recall, Gov. Whitmer proposed a 2.5 percent increase to the foundation allowance. We feel like more funding needs to be applied to the base of the foundation,” he said. “Many districts are going to lose ground with inflation, salary increases, steps, operational costs, insurance costs … so we made it clear we think 2.5 percent should be the floor and certainly not the ceiling.”
O’Neill said another topic he and his peers around the state raised is the need to reduce the number of categorical grants.
“We appreciate grant funding but what we recommended is, can we roll some of these grants a little bit so we can reduce the number that are out there?” he said. “One of the other ones was we would appreciate it if they would roll up competitive grants and make it more discretionary … push for equity across all districts in this state so we’re not competing for that money, and just give discretionary funding to all of us and trust us to do the right things with those dollars.”
O’Neill said the fate of the state’s 2024-25 fiscal year budget, including funding for schools, remains in the hands of members of the state House and Senate.
42 Makayla Allen and 55 Hannah DeVries. Photo by Travis Smola.
By Travis Smola
The Vicksburg varsity girls’ basketball team didn’t forget the pain of last year’s early elimination from tournament play. The team carried that energy into this year’s postseason, helping secure a District title and punching the team’s ticket into the Regional round after a 69-57 victory over rival Paw Paw.
“We’ve been waiting for this game since last year’s District final,” Head Coach Tim Kirby said. “One year, we’ve been waiting for this specific game, and we knew all year long we were going to play Paw Paw tonight. It’s what we’ve been focused on for five months now. They beat us the first time, and I told my girls after that game, let’s go win games two and three. We did, we found a way.”
The Red Wolves didn’t make it easy for the Bulldogs. Momentum was constantly shifting. The two teams were tied after the first quarter and tied for most of the second. Eventually, Paw Paw had a 33-29 advantage at the half. Vicksburg was forced to make a defensive adjustment in the second half to counteract Paw Paw’s size advantage.
“We played man to man in the second half, and we don’t play much man, but it really kind of flustered them a bit,” Kirby said.
Makayla Allen led the Bulldogs with 24 points, hitting five three-pointers. Maddi Diekman had 14 points in the contest, six of which came at the free-throw line in the game’s waning minutes. Hannah DeVries had 11 points; Kendra Cooley had nine. Emma Steele added seven points, and Scarlett Hosner rounded out the scoring with four. Hosner had a key field goal at the end of the third that tied things up again 46-46.
In the fourth, Vicksburg built up a six-point lead with two minutes left in the game. The team used some excellent passing to burn up the clock. When Paw Paw tried intentional fouls, the Bulldogs sunk them to pull away for good.
Before the Paw Paw game, Vicksburg first had to contend with Three Rivers in the first game of tournament play. The Bulldogs took control of that game early and it was never really in question. Vicksburg had a 23-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“You’re always concerned about these games,” Kirby said after that contest. “You don’t want to look ahead.”
Against the Wildcats, Diekman led the scoring with 14 points. Allen and Hosner were right behind her with 13 points each. Steele had 10 points; Cooley had nine. DeVries had six points and Emily Zemitans had four. Sidney Jones and Alexis Bennett each had two points while Brooklynn Ringler added a free throw.
The team’s ability to spread the ball around and its deep depth chart allowed it to cycle girls in and out of the lineup, making them a hard matchup for opponents all season. Kirby credited his team’s desire to win for their success all year.
“It’s just a special group of girls,” Kirby said. They play so hard, and they just want to win—for each other and me, and I couldn’t be prouder.”
The Vicksburg girls’ basketball team came up a game short of its goal of a semi-final berth at the Breslin Center in Lansing. However, it’s safe to say it gave one of the best teams in the state a real scare during its final appearance of the season.
Vicksburg faced off with a 25-1 Grand Rapids West Catholic squad in the quarterfinal round. It ended up being a defensive dogfight for much of the evening, with West Catholic only pulling away in the game’s final moments for a 35-27 final. Vicksburg Head Coach Tim Kirby credited their opponents for being one of the best teams in the state. The Falcons had a clear size advantage over the Bulldogs in the contest.
“It’s one of those things where they’re an incredibly good team,” Kirby said. “They’re big, they’re much bigger than we are. Their length gave us a little trouble trying to score at the rim. Vicksburg had a distinct crowd advantage in the game, and both teams seemed a little rattled to start things out. Neither team scored in the first four minutes. When the Falcons finally did get the ball rolling, they went on a 12-0 run. Only a late three-pointer by Makayla Allen saved a first-quarter shutout. She went on to lead the team in scoring with 11 points.
Hannah Devries and Maddi Diekman both had five points in the contest, while Emma Steele had four. Scarlett Hosner had two to round out the scoring. It would have been easy for many teams to get discouraged by such a large deficit at the start of the second. However, Kirby wasn’t surprised when his team charged back to tie the score 14-14 at the half.
“That’s what we’ve done all season long, or the last several seasons,” Kirby said. “It’s what we hang our hat on. You know we’re going to keep on fighting, keep on playing.”
Vicksburg took the lead briefly with about three minutes left in the third quarter. However, it was short-lived. West Catholic carried a 27-21 lead into the final quarter. The Bulldogs managed to cut that lead down to 30-27 with about a minute left. Unfortunately, they couldn’t sink any more shots to get closer. The Falcons then converted free throws made during Vicksburg’s intentional foul attempts to pull away for good.
“Only one team can win at the end of the season, and unfortunately, it’s not going to be us this year,” Kirby said. “But I told my girls they’re (West Catholic) one of the very best teams in the state of Michigan, and they have nothing to hang their heads about.”
The game was held in Battle Creek, but thanks to the Bulldog faithfuls’ incredible and noisy turnout, it was hard to distinguish it from a regular home game. Kirby thanked the community for its support and mentioned the turnout in his post-game speech to the team. He said the team fed off their energy constantly through a postseason run that included victories over Stevensville Lakeshore and Grand Rapids South Christian.
“My girls should be proud of that, that they did that for our community and brought that together,” he said.
This year’s team is the best in the school’s history. No other squad has ventured this deep into tournament play before. The team will lose five seniors this year: Diekman, Steele, Sidney Jones, Brooklyn Ringler, and Alexis Bennett.
“There’s tears tonight, and that’s okay,” Kirby said. I don’t want them to be sad because they lost a basketball game. They can be sad because we’ll never be that group of 11 in the locker room again. It’s a special group of girls that I’ve had the opportunity to coach for the last couple of years.”
Vicksburg High freshman Sawyer Stephenson, who wrestles in the 106-pound weight division on the varsity team, took 4th place in a 16-player bracket at the MHSAA championships at Ford Field in Detroit in individual state championships on March 1 and 2.
He pinned his first opponent, De’Shine Logan of Pontiac. Next, in the quarterfinals, he had a decisive 7-0 win against Jorge Marvin from Lake Fenton. Sawyer’s semi-final match was against the eventual state champ from Lowell, Jarrett Smith, where Sawyer was pinned in a hard-fought match. In a consolation semi-final, he tangled with Cameron Block from Harper Creek and defeated him in a close 3-2 decision. In the consolation final, for 3rd or 4th place, he battled his final opponent from St. Joseph, Marcus Lowry and fell short in overtime by a 7-5 decision.
Overall, Sawyer had a great day and season as a varsity freshman wrestler: an overall record of 43-6, a Wolverine Conference Champion, District Runner-up, and Regional Runner-up. His dad, Eric Stephenson, a coach on the team, was proud of his son’s accomplishments as he is of all the wrestlers on the team. He looks with optimism to their future success.
Vicksburg High School Athletic Hall of Fame inductees Cheryl Northrop-Ryan, Kent DeBruin, and Jessica (Kuhlman) Scheffers.
Three Vicksburg High School graduates will be inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in an April 28 ceremony in the Angels Crossing Club House.
They’re 1969 graduate Cheryl Northrop-Ryan, 2004 graduate Kent DeBruin, and 2007 graduate Jessica (Kuhlman) Scheffers.
The public is invited to meet the honorees starting at 5:30 p.m. The ceremony begins at 6 p.m.
Cheryl Northrop-Ryan earned 9 varsity letters: tennis 4, basketball 4, and cheerleading 1. She was the Susan Little Best Female Athlete Award winner her senior year. Basketball recognitions include team captain 1969, Most Valuable Player, averaging 19 points per game, and scored 32 points in one varsity game. Tennis recognitions: team captain 1969, Most Valuable Player Award, set individual tennis singles record with 27 wins 0 losses 1965-1967. She graduated from Western Michigan University Magna Cum Laude honors. She coached Williamston High School varsity softball 1979-1992 with great success: Softball League Champions 1979, 1981, 1992, Softball District Champions 1980, 1982, 1992, Softball Regional Champions 1992, All-Area Softball Coach of the Year 1984, District and Regional Coach of the Year 1992, and career softball wins totaled 132. She served on the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness, Health and Sports Task Force 1993-1996 and was selected Michigan’s Physical Education Teacher of the Year in 1994.
Kent DeBruin earned 7 varsity letters: 4 in track and field, 2 in soccer, and 1 in cross country. Track and field honors: Wolverine All Conference Honors 2004, MHSAA Division 2 State Champion in the 800 Meters 2004, set the 800-meter and 400-meter school records in 2004, was a relay team member that set 3 school records in the 400m, 800m, and 200m, and was selected Most Valuable Player in 2004. He was soccer team captain 2003-2004 and earned Wolverine All-Conference in soccer and cross country in 2004.
Jessica (Kuhlman) Scheffers earned 10 varsity letters: 4 each in volleyball and softball, and 2 in basketball 2. She was the Susan Little Best Athlete Award winner her senior year. Volleyball recognitions: Wolverine All-Conference 2006-2007, selected to the MHSAA All-Regional Team 2007, team captain 2006-2007, Most Valuable Player 2007. Softball recognitions: team captain 2005, 2006, 2007, Wolverine All-Conference 2006-2007, MHSAA All-District Team 2005, 2006, 2007, MHSAA All-Regional Team 2006-2007, selected Most Valuable Player 2007. She was a letter winner at 3 universities: Carson Newman, Chattanooga, and Cornerstone. She was All-Conference Softball (WHAC) at Cornerstone and team captain in 2011. She was Cornerstone Assistant Softball Coach 2015-2017.
The Vicksburg boys’ basketball team won its third game of the year against rival Three Rivers on its home court in the first game of District play. The Bulldogs defeated the Wildcats 53-31 in a game that was never really in question.
“I thought we kind of set the tempo with our defense. I thought our defense played really well,” Head Coach Zach Wierenga said after the contest.
The only real frustration for the Bulldogs was free throws. Vicksburg left a lot of easy points on the court during the contest.
“It’s not like we don’t work on that, and usually, we’re a lot better on that,” Wierenga said. “That will be a point for us to work on tomorrow.”
Vicksburg took the lead early in the contest and carried a 26-18 lead into the half. The defense stepped up in the third quarter, only allowing three points. Carter Brown led the Bulldogs’ offense with 14 points. Gabriel Ryder had eight points, while Jordan Diekman and Andrew Gless each had seven. Jaxson Wilson and Anthony Marchese each had six. Mitchell Byer rounded out the scoring with five.
In the game’s final moments, Diekman scooped up a loose ball and drove it home for a dunk, which was the exclamation point of the victory – Vicksburg played better against Three Rivers in each subsequent game this season. The first game of the year was a 52-51 nailbiter that was won in the final 28 seconds of the game. Again, it was Diekman making the final score of that one. The Bulldogs then went on the road and dominated their rival 62-43 in the early part of February.
“I thought we made some really good adjustments at halftime,” Wierenga said.
The game brought the team to an 11-12 record on the year and set up a showdown with Battle Creek Pennfield for the following round of the tournament.
