Issue 1 (revised).pub - Greenwood School District

November
2008
The Paw Print –SPORTS-
Page 8
Football
by Trent Lesh
Going into the 2008 football season, the Newport Buffaloes seemed to have all the right pieces in place to produce a
solid, winning season. However, injuries, physical mismatches and other misfortunes plagued the already number depleted program.
The first big loss happened in the pre-season when senior defensive end and full back Dowell Graham went down with a
season ending knee injury in a scrimmage at Camp Hill. The team bounced back the following week to rally for a win, in a crazy
game that had many lead changes, at Susquenita. The win refueled the bitter rivalry between the two schools, who hadn’t played
against each other since the 80’s. It would be another 5 games before the Buffs recorded another win, dropping consecutive losses
to Millersburg, Tri-Valley, Line Mountain, Pine Grove and Juniata respectively. Through the losses however the Buffaloes established
a solid passing game, led by senior quarterback Ethan Pellman and wide receivers Matt Lehman and Kelby Ramp, that
quickly rose to one of the tops in the mid-state in passing yards per game. With the passing game working, Newport was competitive
throughout the losses, dropping two by a touchdown or less and seemed to be upset-minded in a week 6 showdown at Juniata
when something no one saw coming happened. Pellman who had been making a mockery of the Juniata defense in the first quarter
drove the Newport offense down to the goal line. With the score still 0-0, he took the ball on a quarterback keeper across the
goal line and put Newport up 6-0. Unfortunately the touchdown was taken away because of a holding call on the Buffalo line. As
was Pellman who was rushed to the hospital after suffering a severe concussion on a late, illegal hit on his touchdown run. After
Pellman left the game, Newport couldn’t put the pieces together and lost the game. The following week however the team came
together and battled back to a homecoming win over East Juniata to put them at 2-5 for the season. The Buffs then dropped consecutive
losses to Williams Valley and Upper Dauphin. Williams Valley has already locked up the Conference Championship and
are 9-0 going into the final week of the regular season. A comparison of the Newport offensive linemen to their offensive linemen
showed that on average they outweighed the Buffaloes by over 100 pounds which is tough to compete with. Upper Dauphin was
one that slipped away. Newport fell 22-21 in a game that they should have won. In that loss they also lost another player to injury.
Junior corner back David Corkle had to be life lined off the field after suffering a serious neck and back injury; he is home
now and recovering.
The Buffaloes are now 2-7 going into the final week with a Halloween showdown against Halifax in Newport. Halifax is
1-8 but the Buffaloes will have to play tough to get a win and reach 3-7 which was last year’s record. Throughout this rocky, up
and down season the Buffaloes have never given up and have always played together as a team.
Golf
by Daniel Harrison
History did not repeat itself for the Newport
golf team in the 2008 season. The team beat Millersburg
twice during match play and showed promise
for future years. Members Daniel Harrison, Kylar
Forgie, and Taylor Jones of Newport finished with
averages under 100 strokes, which is respectable in
the Tri-Valley League. Allison Wray, Nick Allison,
and Spencer Culwell played on the JV team in hopes
to start on the Varsity team next year.
Throughout the season, the team played at various courses,
which included Lewistown Country Club, Lykens Valley Golf Course,
Lost Creek Golf Course, and The American Legion Country Club. The
team has high hopes for next season. Kylar Forgie reported, “With the
help of Daniel Harrison’s raw talent, my LPGA fairway wood, and
Coach Keller’s expert advice, we could win the league next year.” The
Newport Golf team will continue to practice during the off season in
hopes to improve even more next year.