Kroger clears major hurdle - Canton Public Library

C.J. RlSAK, EDITOR
313-953-2108
THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1996
OBSERVER
SPORTS
SCENE
Wildcats come close
The Western Wayne Wildcats, a team of all
Plymouth Salem basketball players, came up
just short at last weekend's University of Michigan-Dearborn
Spring Classic Shootout.
The second-place Wildcat team consists of
Tony Jancevski. Alan Hodge, Mike Korduba,
Matt Mair, Chris Mason, Jeff McKian, Bhaven
Patel, Andy Power and Adam Wilson. The team
is coached by Dan McKian, Bill Mair and Gray
Mason.
Top Charger
Hillsdale College's men's golf team competed
at the Saginaw Valley State Bay Valley Invitational
last Friday and Saturday, finishing well
back in the 13-team pack.
Leading the Chargers was Josh Edgar, a Plymouth
native, with two-day total of 169.
Hillsdale next plays at Wayne State's Motor
City Invitational Friday.
Controversy on stage
Indy Car driver Adrian Fernandez and Rena
Shanaman, general manager of the U.S. 500,
the new race to be held at Michigan International
Speedway the same day as the Indy 500, will
be the featured speakers for the Motors ports
Hall of Fame's Speaker Series May 15.
Fernandez will talk about his new ride with
Tasman Motorsports, the state of Indy Car racing.
and his view of the future. Shanaman will
give a status report on The inaugral U.S. 500,
with unique insight into the challenges of organizing
a major first-time event surrounded by
controversy.
The presentation will be at 7 p.m. May 15.
Admission is $6. which includes admission to the
museum. The Motorsports Hall of Fame is located
inside the Novi Expo Center, on the southwest
corner of 1-96 and Novi Road. For more
information, call (810) 349-RACE.
Correction
In last Thursday's Observer sports sections, it
was reported that Redford Catholic Central's
Justin Hoener had signed to attend and play
basketball at Schoolcraft College. It further stated
that Hoener's roll at CC this past season was
as a sixth man.
That is inaccurate. Hoener started 20 of 24
games and led the team in assists (4.0 a game).
He was also second among the Shamrocks in
scoring (14.1 points) and rebounding (nearly five
per game).
CC finished 19-5. Hoener was a three-year
varsity player for the Shamrocks, although he
missed most of his junior season after breaking
his leg.
Fishing Derby
The ninth-annual Kids Fishing Derby is slated
for 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, May 11 at Heritage
Park ponds.
The ponds will be stocked with rainbow trout,
with awards presented fo r largest fish caught.
First prize is a $100 savings bond.
The derby is open to Canton-area boys and
girls 15 years old and younger. Advanced registration,
in person or by phone, is required. Registration
cost is $1.
Registration ends May 9. Again, this competition
is for Canton residents only. For more information,
call 397-5110.
Baseball tournament
Canton Softball Center will be the site of the
Washtenaw Amateur Baseball Association
Youth Tournament June 28-30.
The entry fee is $200, which includes umpires.
Competition will be conducted in the following
age groups: 9-10, 11, 12, 13 and 14.
There is a three-game guarantee. Division
winners go to the playoff round. Out-of-state
teama'will compete this year, too.
For more information or to enter call Mike
Dupuit at (313) 485-3753 or (810) 617-8428.
SC golf outing
The Schoolcraft College Foundation's 13th
'annual golf tournament, to support student
scholarships, will be Monday, June 10 at Washtenaw
Country Club.
Golfers can opt for a morning package, an
afternoon package, hole sponsorship or a President's
Club level participation, each including a
pro clink. \
Auction items ijnclude autographed jerseys
from Detroit Red Wings Steve Yrerman, Paul
Coffey and Sergei Fedorov, along with golf package
weekends for two at Grand Traverse Resort
and. Shanty Creek. ~ -
' Also, a set of custom-made clubs and culinary
arts dinner prepared by SC graduating senior
Gary Ellis, Gov.-John Engler's summer cook at
the Govenor*s Mansion on Mackinac Island, will
also be auctioned.
For ftore information, rail the SC Office of
1 Marketing and Development at (313) 462-4417.
Anyone interested .n submitting items to Sport» Scene
may send tMm to sports editor CJr Risafc. 3C251 9choo»-
crpft. Livonia. Ml. 48130, or may FA* them to (313) 591
Tt7f-
' I ' M
jhe dDbgeruer
SPORTS
INSIDE
& Baseball, track, page 2C
Outdoors, page 4C
Aggressive .Rocks stun Chiefs, 3-0
BY C J . RISAK
SPORTS EDITOR
Expect the unexpected? Always, but more
so when Canton tangles with Salem. And
Wednesday's result, between two of the
state's premier teams, was certainly
unexpected.
Taking "em to school.
That's what Plymouth Salem's
soccer team did to its greatest rival,
Plymouth Canton, last night -
taught them a lesson.
No other way to put it when one
team dominates play like the Rocks
did in posting their 3-0 victory.
Canton never truly had a chance.
The Chiefs, coming off their biggest
win of the season - a 1-0 triumph
over Livonia Churchill Monday - had
few good scoring chances until the.
final 10'minutes, when most of
Salem's regulars were on the bench.
But the Rocks got their shots in, a
lesson they probably learned themselves
just a few days earlier. Last
Saturday, Troy Athens put on a ferocious-attack
from the start, scoring
twice in the first 15 minutes and
cruising to a 2-0 victory over Salem.
The Rocks were only too happy to
pass the lesson along to Canton.
After all, the Chiefs hadn't dealt
much with goal-scoring - going into
Wednesday's game, they had posted
eight-straight shutouts.
That streak came quickly to an
end with a pair of "hustle goals," as
Salem coach Doug Landefeld
referred to them.
Jodi Coyle figured on both. Coyle,
a junior, scored the first with an
assist from Jenny Storm, squeezing
the ball past Canton keeper Sarah
Warnke.
Mia Sarkesian made it 2-0 in
Salem's favor befopeTfte-half was
half over, with an assist from Coyle.
The hard-charging, aggressive
style was a bit different for Salem -
actually, it looked more like a Can-
Ton~iactic. But it was something
Landefeld wanted to see.
"We talked before the game," he
said, referring to a conversation he
had with his offensive players, "and
I told them, 'When you're in the
final third (of the field), you've just
got to go hard to goal.'
"Today, all three goals were hustle
C
goals. It's nice to see that."
Janel Davis concluded the scoring
eight minutes into the second hilf,
powering_a cross from Mari Hbff
over Warnke.
"We never got out of our defensive
mode," said Canton coach Don
Smith. "They played well. I don't
know if they wanted it more than we
did, but we just didn't have enough
to take it away from them."
Canton fell to 8-2, while Salem
improved to 9-2.
The result may nullify the gains
Canton made in the Western Lakes
Activities Association title race with
Monday's win over Churchill. If the
Western Division ends in a threeway
tie - Canton, Churchill and
Northville each have a lose -
Churchill would have the upper
hand in the tiebreaker.
Canton still in title hunt
BY CJ. RLSAK
SPORTS EDITOR
What's that adage about
turnaround and fair play?
Livonia Churchill's girls soccer
team should know it by now. The
Chargers received a lesson in it
Monday at Plymouth Canton,
when the Chiefs scored the game's
only goal with 10:47 remaining to
hand Churchill its first Western
Division loss.
A year ago, it was the Chargers
who clipped the Chiefs by the same
1-0 margin. That win all but_
assured them of the divisional
crown and a berth in the Western
Lakes Activities Association's
championship match. Two years
ago it was Canton that beat
Churchill 1-0 to advance to the i
WLAA final. '
On Monday the stakes were the
same, with Churchill in a commanding
position. A win or a tie
would have made the Chargers
almost uncatchable in the division.
They had already beaten
Northville, the team that had
defeated Canton in the Chiefs' season-opener.
\
A win or a tie over Canton would
make Churchill either 3-0 or 2-0-1
in divisional play, with Northville
and Canton both having one loss.
With only Walled Lake Western
and Farmington Harrison, two of
the league's weakest teams, left on
their divisional schedule, the
Chargers would be in.
But it was not to be. Canton's
constant pressing finally forced
mistakes by the Charger defense
and presented the Chiefs with
some scoring opportunities.
The initial opening came with
just under 12 minutes left in the
match on a pass misjudged by the
Churchill defenders. Jenny Parviainen
broke toward the ball, but
Charger keeper Crystal Wright
beat her to it and with a sliding
kick save cleared it out of danger.
• However, the Chiefs were relentless.
They quickly reformed their
! See SOCCER , 3C
-^Tourney test
Crusaders start NAIA title quest
BY C-J. RlSAK
SPORTS EDITOR
The snow hasn't even stopped
falling and it's playoff time
already. \
Tip not talking Red Wings hockey
here. I mean college sbftball - in
particular Madonna University,
which opens the defense of its
NAIA Sectional Tournament title
this afternoon. «
The Crusaders, 26-12 through
Tuesday, will host the College of
Mount St. Joseph's (from Cincinnati)
in a best-of-three series,
starting today with the first game
at 2 p.m. at Masftey Field in Plymouth.
The two teams havent met this
season - Mount St. Joseph's, had a
17-6 record through Monday - but
last year, Madonna eliminated St.
Joseph's in the Sectional final.
The Lady Crusaders are in the
proper form for a tournament run.
Since a 2-0 loas to North wood University
April 13, they have won 10
Picking it up: Canton's Jenny Porviainen outmanueuers the Churchill defense, not an
easy task. But the Chiefs did it well enough to gain a major regular-season victory.
NAIA SECTIONAL
SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT
kusstr Fiat) IN PLYMOUTH
Thursday, 2 p.m. end 4 pjn.
Friday, 2 p.m. (H naeaaaary)
Madonna (26-12) vs. College of
Mount St. Joseph's (17-6)
• Best of three games
Winoer advances to the NAIA
Regional (si* teams) at Cortege
of St.Trancia, Jortet. III.. May 8-
10
of 12 games.
An obvious reason for the sue-
Madonna offense. Four times in
the last eight games, the Crusaders
have surpaased 11 runs
scored in a game. They had managed
that just three times in the
previous 30 games.
i i Mimmt. if
Salem, Harrison and CC should
contend for Observerland honors
BY STEVE KOWAL8KJ
STAFF WRITER
The running-event finals for the
Observerland Boys Track Relays among the 17 teams competing.
start at 7 p.m. Saturday, but fans The field events start at 3&0 p.m.
might want to arrive four hours ear- followed by the running preliminarlier
to truly appreciate the 26th ies at 6:30 and the finals at 7.
annual tevent.
Admission is $3.
That's when the day begins for Terek has already cleared an eye-
two of the meet's more versatile perpopping 15-feet in the pole vault, by
formers - Livonia Franklin junior far the best in Observerland, and
Paul Terek and Westland John ranks second in the long jump