31M43-5577 - Local History Archives

4C. Sports January 13, 2005
Grosse Pointe News
Photo by Dr. J. Richard Dunlap
Norths
Fitzgerald
Jake Bloomhuff puts up a shot against
North's defensive pressure causes
headaches for opposing point guards
By Chuck Klonke
Sports Editor
Point guards around the
Red Division of the Macomb
Area Conference are in for
some tough times when they
play Grosse Pointe North's
basketball team.
"We're going to pressure
the other team's guards as
much as possible," coach
Matt Trombley said after
the Norsemen opened the
MAC Red season last Friday
with a 61-55 victory over
Chippewa Valley.
That's what North did to
the Big Reds.
"I liked our defense. They
don't have a real good ball
handler, so we tried to take
advantage of that,"
Trombley said. "We had 22
steals and we caused a lot of
other turnovers."
North went ahead to stay
with a 9-0 run that started
at the end of the first quarter
and continued through
the beginning of the second
when Jordan Savage hit a
three-point basket to give
the Norsemen a 21-17 lead.
Seven of the nine points in
R I I fhnnL Vli»L> 11.. J. ii /< T i T->I l CC J +U« fViiwl nnnrtpr"
the spurt came as a result of
turnovers by the Big Reds.
North's depth showed in
the second quarter when
Michael Bramos picked up
his second foul and sat out
most of the quarter. Despite
the absence of their best allaround
player, the
Norsemen added to their
lead.
North led 35-26 at halftime
and stretched the margin
to 48-29 with nine seconds
left in the third quarter
after David Klein converted
a three-point play.
Chippewa Valley closed to
within four points in the
final minute against North's
reserves, but Trombley sent
his starters back into the
contest with less than a
minute to play and Bramos,
Alex Sultan and Marcell
Maxwell each hit key free
throws in the last 30 seconds
to preserve the lead.
Bramos finished with 19
points and nine rebounds.
Maxwell led North with 11
rebounds and five steals,
and he and Klein finished
with 11 points apiece.
Faceoffs are a key in South's victory
against Divine Child hockey team
By Chuck Klonke
Sports Editor
Winning faceoffs can win
hockey games.
All Grosse Pointe South's
players have to do is look at
the films of recent games
with Dearborn Divine Child
to understand just how
important the faceoffs are.
"It seems every year
against DC it comes down to
South needing to win some
big faceoffs in our end late in
the game, and every year
Joey Parke wins them," Blue
Devils coach Bob Bopp said
after ttrs team sp\H its two
Michigan Metro High School
Hockey League games last
week.
"We don't practice winning
faceoffs but we practice
what to do after the faceoff.
We practice being in position
wherever the puck goes."
South held on to beat
Divine Child 5-4, but lost 4-
3 to Warren De La Salle a
few days later.
The Blue Devils were
leading Divine Child 5-2
when disaster struck for
South. The Falcons scored
two shorthanded goals 32
seconds apart midway
Clinic
From page 3C
The baseball hitting and
pitching clinic will be held
Saturday, Jan. 29 from 9
a.m. until noon.
Michigan State's baseball
coaches will be the guest
instructors. They will be
assisted by former Detroit
Tiger Dave Bergman, the
founder of the Grosse Pointe
Redbirds baseball program,
and other professional baseball
players.
Both clinics are designed
to teach the proper mechanics
for pitching and hitting.
The clinics also give students
the opportunity to be
seen by trained eyes in evaluating
their talents.
The cost for each clinic is
$75 if students pre- register.
The cost is $100 on the day
of the clinic.
To pre-register, call (586)
469-1700. If the call goes to
the answering machine,
leave a message and the call
will be returned.
GPHA house
highlights
PEE WEE
Rangers 4. Chill 1
Goals: Rory I)oam\ Christian
VcrVaok, Miles Knight, Mitchell
Makos (Rangers); Albert Ford
(Chill).
Assists: Matthew Slavik, Alex
Atsalakis, Dan Carrnn, David
Guahee (Rangers); Izaac
Piepszowski (Chill).
Comments: Ford's goal came on a
third-period breakaway. Alex Dane
h*d a fine game defensively and
Ptoptzowski was outstanding on
i for the Chill.
through the third period to
cut the lead to one.
To make matters worse,
the Blue Devils picked up a
couple of penalties and
played four of the last six
minutes shorthanded.
"On defense, Taylor Ryan
and Anthony Swancoat
logged a lot of ice time in the
last six minutes, and along
with Joey Parke, Tom
Porter, Ryan Abraham and
Timmy Shield, our penaltykilling
was at its best," Bopp
said. "It was a good win
against a good team."
South appeared tentative
in a scoreless first period,
but the Blue Devils came
out much stronger in the
second period.
Parke scored the first goal
of the game at 4:25 of the
second period, assisted by
Porter. Divine Child tied the
game at 6:18, but South's
Alex Alvarez broke the tie at
7:07. Frankie DeLaura and
Jimmy Marshall assisted.
DeLaura carried the puck
over the blue line. Alvarez
broke to the net and, despite
being tied up by a Falcons
player, he tipped the puck
past the goalie.
"That was a very heads-up
pass from Frankie but the
effort from Alex to fight off
the check and get a stick on
the puck was really great to
see," Bopp said.
Less than a minute later,
South scored again when
Shield took a pass from D.J.
Rentz and scored on a back
door play.
Alvarez and Rentz, who
have been victims of South's
depth this season, got more
ice time than normal
because South's coaches
shuffled the lineup, and
both players made the most
of their opportunity.
"D.J. is a really talented
player, too," Bopp said. "He
hasn't had much ice time so
far this season but he certainly
made the most of his
chance to get a regular shift
in this game and played
really well." •
South led 3-1 after two
periods, but Divine Child
took advantage of some sloppy
puck handling by the
Blue Devils in their end and
scored a goal 41 seconds into
the third period.
Once again, South
answered quickly with a
goal of its own. Abraham
intercepted a pass and went
in alone on the Falcons'
goalie.
"He made no mistake on
his shot. We have some finishers
this year," Bopp said.
Porter made it 5-2 with a
power-play goal, assisted by
Parke and Mackenzie
Brookes, at 6:19.
Brad Allemon turned
away 15 shots to post the
victory in goal for South.
In the De La Salle game,
the Blue Devils got off to a
blazing start but then the
Pilots' alarm clock went off.
"The first three minutes
almost the entire play was
in De La Salle's end," Bopp
said. "Then (the Pilots) really
started to play well. They
were all over us and we were
having problems breaking
the puck out of our end.
"They scored on a back
door goal that Brad Allemon
had no chance on. They
scored again and after one
period I was thinking we
were lucky the score was
only 2-0."
South regrouped between
periods and at 3:01, Anthony
Swancoat took a breakout
pass from Ryan on a Blue
Devils power play and went
end-to-end for South's first
goal.
The Blue Devils then ran
into penalty trouble. They
were shorthanded for seven
minutes, including nearly
two minutes of being two
men short. South did a good
job of killing off the penalties,
but the Pilots scored a
power-play goal with 45 seconds
left in the advantage
and 4:14 left in the period.
South, which has been
able to answer quickly after
an opponent's goal most of
the season, did it again,
scoring twice in the final
2:52 of the second period to
tie the game at 3-3.
DeLaura, assisted by
Marshall and Bryan
Mansfield, made it 3-2, and
BrooWea "got the equalizer
with 41 seconds left in the
period. Swancoat got the
only assist on Brookes's
goal.
"It was a really good period
for us, considering the
amount of time we had to
play shorthanded," Bopp
said. "In the third, both
teams played well, but De
La Salle got a big break
when one of our defensemen
fell down and their player
went in alone to score the
winning goal. We played
well in the period but couldn't
get our chances to go into
the net."
De La Salle's power-play
goal at 4:29 of the third period
stood up as the game winner.
Allemon made 20 saves
for South, which is 8-3 overall
and 3-2 in the league.
"We're still in good shape
in our division where we're
3-1," Bopp said. "We just
need to get off to quicker
starts and then maintain it
throughout the game. We
also have to play stronger at
the end of periods. We've
given up some late goals.
There are a few things we
have to work on, but I still
like our team."
South hosts Grosse Pointe
North on Saturday at City
Sports Center.
Jake Bloomhuff and
Henry McCain each had
four steals, while McCain
also had four assists.
"Henry has the ability to
do a lot of things for us,"
Trombley said. "I hope he
continues to unleash that
ability."
Josh Voss led Chippewa
Valley with 17 points and
Jordan Kwiatkowski had 14
points and nine rebounds.
Earlier, North had littletrouble
disposing of an
undermanned Fitzgerald
squad 61-29 in a MAC
crossover game.
"Our defense frustrated
them," Trombley said.
"They're a young team and
.they had trouble getting the
ball over the half-court line.
We held them to only 12
points in the first half."
North, which led 29-12 at
halftime, got everybody into
the game and 10 Norsemen
broke into the scoring column.
"We had a good spurt in
the third quarter," Trombley
said. "We did a good job of
running our zone press."
The Norsemen also
thrilled the home crowd
with a couple of dunks.
McCain scored on a breakaway
dunk after a turnover,
and Maxwell fed Bramos an
alley-oop pass for another
one.
"That seems to get everybody
excited," Trombley
said.
North had 26 team steals
and 18 assists. Andy
Bennett led the way in both
categories with six steals
and six assists. Savage and
McCain each had five steals.
Trombley also said that
Sultan played a good allaround
game.
Bramos led the Norsemen
with 15 points and McCain
finished with 12.
North, 5-2 overall, plays
at Utica on Friday and
returns home to meet
Eisenhower on Tuesday.
Photo by i'lr. ') Richard Dunlap
Michael Bramos goes through a sea of Chippewa
Valley players to score a basket for Grosse Pointe
North.
South grad helps college
finish fifth in nation
Former Grosse Pointe
South runner Liz Petit
helped her Colby College
cross country team to a fifthplace
finish in the NCAA
Division III championships
in Colfax, Wise.
Petit, a June 2004 graduate
of South, had a time of
23:24.6 in the six-kilometer
race.
Twenty-four colleges and
universities competed in the
Division III championships.
Petit ran on the cross
country and track teams at
North rusty in loss to Catholic Central
By Chuck Klonke
Sports Editor
Redford Catholic Central
came up at the wrong time
on Grosse Pointe North's
hockey schedule.
Last Saturday the
Norsemen played their first
game since Dec. 22, and
there were signs of rust as
Catholic Central skated to a
7-3 victory in the Michigan
Interscholastic Hockey
League game.
"We hadn't played in three
weeks and they played last
Wednesday and beat U-D
10-0," said North coach
Scott Lock.
"They got to play everybody
in that game and they
all had enough ice time to
get rid of the rustiness.
They're a good team and
they're well-coached, but I
think we can go 5-on-5 with
them. It's ju3t that when we
make one mistake, they capitalize
on it."
North's biggest problems
against the Shamrocks came
on defense.
"I expect a lot more from
our defensemen," Lock said.
"W T e dressed seven defensemen
and Drew Davis was
the only one who played
well. We have a lot of experience
on defense, and I look
at that as one of our
strengths, but it wasn't
against CC. As a group, they
looked more like a bunch of
freshmen."
The first period started
fast and furious from an
offensive standpoint.
North scored a goal on its
first shift, but the
Shamrocks came back to tie
the game with a power-play
goal. The Norsemen
regained the lead, but CC
scored the last two goals of
the period to lead 3-2.
"You couldn't blink in that
first period or you'd miss a
goal," Lock said. "I think
both goalies were shaking
off the cobwebs."
North continued to play
well offensively in the second
period.
"We were all over them,
but their goalie got rid of his
cobwebs and made some key
saves," Lock said.
The Shamrocks made it 4-
2, but North closed the gap
back to one before CC scored
the final goal of the second
period to take a 5-3 lead into
the third period.
The Shamrocks scored
their last two goals late in
South and was an All-State
runner.
She is majoring in biology
at Colby College, which is
located in Waterville, Maine.
The Division III meet was
run at the Whitetail Golf
Course in Colfax, and was
hosted by the University of
Wisconsin -Eau Claire.
the third period.
"The third period wasn't
our best," Lock said.
North got all of its scoring
from the line of Jon Tibaudo,
Mike Rourke and Colin
Brown. Each of them had a
goal and two assists.
"They were outstanding,"
Lock said. "The line of Jeff
Rohrkemper, Michael
Cartwright and Doug
Rahaim also played well.
They didn't score, but they
put on a lot of pressure."
North visits Grosse Pointe
South on Saturday at City
Sports Center.
"We're getting into a routine
where we're playing
twice a week for the rest of
the season," Lock said. "But
we have some really tough
games, starting with
Saturday." Liz Petit