November 2018 Issue of Varsity Monthly Thumb Magazine

State Champs! 

Caro Boys Bring Home the Hardware 

Also Inside: 

Volleyball & Football Playoffs

2 • Varsity Monthly thumb edition • November 2018 • View FREE on-line at www.VarsityMonthlyThumb.com Contact us at 989 672 0604

Contact us at 989 672 0604 View FREE on-line at www.VarsityMonthlyThumb.com • November 2018 • varsity monthly thumb edition • 3


Publisher Gary Koelzer 

Editor Phoebe Moore 

Contact our Sales Department 

989-672-0604 

gary@varsitymonthlythumb.com 

Contributing Photographers 

Gary Koelzer 

Jason Parmenter • Kaitlin Gunsell 

www.VarsityMonthlyThumb.com 

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• Varsity Monthly Thumb Edition is published 

12 per year by Thumb Sports Magazine, LLC, 

251 N. State St., Caro, MI 48723 

Phone: 989 672 0604 

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Inside 

What’s 

6 VG's Players of the Month 

7 Advertiser of the Month 

8 Caro 

14 Cass City 

18 Reese 

22 Frankenmuth 

24 Sandusky 

26 Kingston 

27 Brown City 

28 Harbor Beach 

30 Millington 

32 Ubly 

34 North Huron 

35 Akron Fairgrove 

36 Lakers 

38 Bad Axe 

40 Deckerville 

41 Carsonville Port Sanilac 

42 Unionville Sebewaing 

46 Marlette 

Mission Statement 

Varsity Monthly Thumb Area (“VMTA”) is dedicated to the recognition and advancement of high 

school athletics in Michigan’s Thumb region. VMTA, created in 2014, is a monthly sports magazine, 

which displays achievements of local high school athletes, primarily through high quality photography. 

At the heart of the Varsity Monthly mission is the support of local students, and our high school athletic 

departments, in an effort to preserve physical health, competition through sport, and the development of 

strong, well-rounded future leaders. Our various professional photographers attend games and/or events 

in each of the 17 communities that we cover, each month. We then display these photographs of as many 

athletes as possible, through our monthly publication, website and facebook page. VTMA highlights a 

male and female standout athlete each month on our “Players of the Month” page. We are joined in this 

awesome mission by a wealth of local businesses who support our youth by advertising in our publication, 

on the page/s of their selected locality. The magazine would not be possible without these great 

supporters and ask that you keep our advertising customers in mind for your local business needs. We 

display the advertisements in the magazine, on our website and on our facebook page to provide them 

with maximum exposure. We also award a customer each month with our “Advertiser of the Month,” 

providing local business owners with an opportunity to reflect on the impact of high school athletics in 

their lives and businesses, and the reason they support youth athletics in the Thumb. Thanks for visiting 

varsitymonthlythumb.com and for your continued support of high school athletics. Go Thumb Teams! 

We are available FREE 


Players Of The Month 

Varsity Monthly Thumb is proud to announce our new sponsor for the Players 

of the Month, VG’s Grocery of Caro. Now, not only will the players of 

the month be featured in the magazine and recieve a stunning Player of the 

Month T-Shirt, VG’s will also provide each athlete with a $25 gift Card!! 

Senior Curt Vogel was a three-year starter for Deckerville, earning first-team all-state honors a year 

ago, and is likely to repeat the feat this year. The 5-foot-10, 225-pound linebacker/offensive lineman filled 

up the defensive stat sheet this year, racking up 108 tackles, four sacks and 15 tackles for a loss as the 

Eagles won the North Central Thumb League Blue Division title. 

Overall, Deckerville was 7-2 overall during the regular season and 5-0 in 

league play. The Eagles lost in the second round of the 8-player Division 1 playoffs 

to AuGres-Sims, which was its worst postseason performance since losing in the 

first round of the playoffs in 2013. The last two seasons, Vogel and the Eagles have 

played for a state championship, but finished as runner-up each time. 

Vogel was a first-team Thumb Sportswriters Association selection on both sides 

of the football a year ago. He has been named first-team all-conference on offense 

and defense this season. 

Curt plans on attending Ferris State and studying civil engineering. He would 

like to continue his football career as a Bulldog. His hobbies include playing basketball 

and football and spending time with family and friends. Curt thanks Bill 

and Dan Brown for all the time and effort they put into the program, along with Curt Vogel 

his friends, and most importantly, his family, “always standing behind” me. Go Curt! 

Our VG’s November Player of the Month is Carli Mark. She began her swimming career in Denmark at Durup 

Swim Club, to whom she owes many thanks to her coach, Carsten Veille, for teaching her all she knows about competitive 

swimming. During her foreign exchange, she made history on the Caro High School swimming team. Throughout 

the course of the year, Carli made 4 state qualifying times in the 100 free, 200 free, 

500 free, and 100 backstroke. She was a two-time winner at the ISC Conference Championship 

Meet in the 200 free and the 100 free and she anchored the 2nd place 200 free 

relay and the 4th place 400 free relay. 

Carli set new school records in the 200 free, 100 free, and the 500 free. She beat the 

previous 200 freestyle record by over 12 seconds, the 500 free by an amazing 27 seconds! 

The 100 free record was the oldest on the board, having been set by Sara Firebaugh 

in 1994. Carli traveled to Holland Michigan to compete in the State meet on 

November 16th, and was unfortunately unable to qualify for the finals. Carli’s amazing 

season was topped off by leading her team to beat the school record for most wins in a 

season; the Caro Swim Team had a record of 10-2, and secured 3rd place in the conference. 

Her future plans are to continue her studies in the medical field at a university 

Carli Mark 

and eventually become a doctor. Her hobbies include swimming, playing, or watching 

sports. Way to go Carli! 


Advertiser Of The Month 

Varsity Monthly is pleased to announce Sandusky & Lexington 

Dental Care as our Advertiser of the Month. Drs. Coombs & DeLacy 

and the staff at Sandusky & Lexington Dental Care (S&LDC) have been 

providing general, cosmetic and restorative dentistry to Sandusky, Lexington 

and the surrounding area since 1985. 

S&LDC offers a full array of dental services to help you maintain 

healthy teeth. You can read more about their services on their website, 

www.completelysmiles.com . At Sandusky & Lexington Dental Care, 

they pride themselves on delivering a brand of dentistry you may not 

have experienced before: dentistry that’s comfortable and state of the 

art. It is with that attention to detail that they also choose to support 

local high school athletics by advertising in Varsity Monthly Thumb 

Magazine. 

Thank you, S&DLC for being a long time, faithful advertiser. 

Please help us thank Sandusky & Lexington Dental Care by choosing 

them to help keep your smile healthy. 


For a long time, the Caro 

boys’ cross country team has prided 

itself on being one of the best 

in state. Now, the Tigers can delete 

the words “one of the” from that 

phrase. Caro senior Yami Albrecht 

crossed the finish line first in the 

Division 3 boys state final race Nov. 

3 at Michigan International Speedway, 

and his teammates weren’t far 

behind as the Tigers compiled a 

score of 61 to finish ahead of runner-up 

Pewamo-Westphalia (100). 

The championship was the 

end game of a natural progression 

for the Tigers, who placed fifth in 

the state in 2016 and runner-up last 

year. 

Caro 

State Champions!! 

Many Thanks to the Phillips Family 

for their Photography from MIS! 

Four out of Caro’s five runners, 

earned all-state honors by finishing 

in the top 30, and the other 

one just missed the cut. Albrecht, 

who recently made a verbal commitment 

to compete in cross country 

and track and field collegiately 

for Oakland University, finished 

the 5K course in a time of 15 minutes, 

40 seconds. He was followed 

across the finish line by teammates: 

Senior Caleb Cotton (12th, 16:38); 

sophomore Logan Brown (15th, 

16:42); senior Bryden Miller (28th, 

16:54); and senior Aaron Hulburt 

(33rd, 17:00). Sophomore Kevin 

Wilson didn’t figure in the scoring 

for Caro because he didn’t finish in 

the top-five, but did finish in 43rd 

place out of the 246 runners who 

competed 

Kristina M. Chapelo 

Ph: 989-553-2428 Fax: 989-672-6052 

Associate Broker, Real Estate One-Caro 

kristinachapelo@realestateone.net 

361 N State St, #4, Caro, MI 48723 


25 YEARS OF PROFESSIONAL, COURTEOUS SERVICE 


Yami Albrecht 3-Time State Champ 




Photography by Gary Koelzer 

Caro 

Your local agent insures your 

and more 

David Soper 

1701 W. Caro Road 

Caro 

989-673-5588 

dsoper@fbinsmi.com 

DavidWSoperAgency.com 


CASS CITY 

PLAYOFF VOLLEYBALL 



Hills And Dales General Hospital 

4675 Hill Street 

Cass City MI 48726 

989 872 2121 www.hdghmi.org 

Join Us In 

Supporting 

Local Athletics! 

Paramount Enterprises 

2647 E Caro Rd. 

Caro, MI 48723 


Photography by Tim Sheridan 


CASS CITY 

PLAYOFF FOOTBALL 



REESE 




REESE 




Frankenmuth 

Eagles 

Playoff Football 



Join Us In 

Supporting 


Computer Country 

989-652-8744 

146 S. Main St. Suite 5 

Frankenmuth MI 48734 

www.computercountry.us 


Sandusky 

Playoff Football 


Join Us In 

Supporting 


Campbell Associates Inc. 

Architects - Engineers - Planners 

(810) 648-5099 

Big enough to serve you, small enough to know you. 


Proudly Supporting 

Our Redskins! 

307 Sanilac Rd. 

(810) 648-3030 


Kingston 

Photography by Jason Parmenter 


Brown City 



H arbor Beach 

The Harbor Beach football 

team found itself in a familiar spot 

late this football season – just a win 

away from at trip to Ford Field. 

Following a dominating 35-0 win 

over Flint Beecher in the Division 8 

quarterfinals on Nov. 9, the Pirates 

matched up against undefeated 

Breckenridge for a spot in the state 

championship game, played annually 

at the home of the Detroit 

Lions. 

The semifinal game was 

played on Nov. 16, after this edition 

of Varsity Monthly went to print. 

The state semifinals seemed a long 

way out for Harbor Beach following 

a 20-16 Week 2 loss to Marlette. 

But that would be the lost time the 

Pirates found themselves in the loss 

column. Since the defeat, Harbor 

Beach has won 10 consecutive 

games, and in the process, tied for 

a Greater Thumb East Championship 

(with Sandusky). 

Photography by Kaitlin Gunsell 


After entering the playoffs 

with an 8-1 record, the Pirates beat 

Saginaw Nouvel 26-6 and Ubly 

28-26 in a triple overtime contest 

before stopping Beecher. Several 

on-field leaders have emerged for 

Harbor Beach this year, such as 

first-team all-league selections 

Devin Pfaff, Devin Finkel, Kendall 

Gentner, Mason Jahn, Jacob Kirsch 

and Evan Smaglinski. 

This is the eighth time the 

Pirates have advanced to the state 

semifinals. The most recent visit to 

the final four was 2014 for Harbor 

Beach, which one its lone state 

championship in 2012. 

Gary Koelzer Photography 

989-672-9980 garyphotos.com 



30 • Varsity Monthly thumb edition • November 2018 • View FREE on-line at www.VarsityMonthlyThumb.com Contact us at 989 672 0604 

Photography by Gary Koelzer

M i l l i n gto n 

P l a y o f f Volleyball 





North 

Huron 

Warriors 

Join Us In 

Supporting 


e-mail 

gary@varsitymonthlythumb.com 

The Corner Beverage 

8461 Lake Street Port Austin 

989-738-7511 


Finan & Schmidt Agency Inc 

8561 Lake Street Port Austin 

989-738-5202 



Akron 

Fairgrove 



Volleyball Playoffs 



Lakers 

Cross Country 



Bad Axe Schools 

Go Hatchets! 

200 North Barrie Rd 

Bad Axe • 989 269 9938 

Join Us In 

Supporting 


Bad Axe Orthodontics 

118 N Hanselman St. 

Bad Axe • 989 269 6811 

www.badaxeorthodontics.com 


Bad Axe 



Deckerville 



CPS 



USA 

Join Us In 

Supporting 


Sebewaing Ace Hardware 

8840 Unionville Rd, Sebewaing 

(989) 883-2740 

Your local agent insures your 

and more 

David Soper 

1701 W. Caro Road 

Caro 

989-673-5588 

dsoper@fbinsmi.com 

DavidWSoperAgency.com 



Go Patriots! 



USA 

Contact us us at at 989 672 0604 View View FREE FREE on-line on-line at www.VarsityMonthlyThumb.com at • November • FEB 2017 2018 • varsity • varsity monthly monthly thumb thumb edition edition • 45 • 45



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November 2018 Issue of Varsity Monthly Thumb Magazine

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