Senior Alec Hanmer goes up for 2.

After suffering two losses the week of February 7, and finding out Andrew Klompstra was likely out for the season with an ankle injury, the Cedar Springs boys varsity basketball team needed a better week. On February 15, they traveled to Godwin Heights to take on the OK Silver Champion Wolverines. Godwin entered the game with a 13-2 record and had clinched a share of their league championship.
The Red Hawks kept the game close and trailed 24-21 at the half. In the third quarter, Cedar exploded with a 10-2 run with buckets by Jason Gingrich and Ryan Dines along with two Alec Hanmer 3-pointers and the Red Hawks took a 31-26 lead. Godwin fought back to take the lead. Derek Ash hit four straight free throws to keep the game close with Cedar trailing 38-35.
Kyle Chaney opened the 4th quarter with a 3-pointer from the corner to tie the game at 38. Then after a Wolverine bucket, Derek Ash tied it up again at 40 with a lay up. Godwin responded with a 5-0 run and Cedar could get no closer as the Wolverines came out with a slim 6 point victory 57-51.

Senior Tyler Baker scored 6 points and grabbed 6 rebounds for the Red Hawks.

Cedar Head Coach Andy Secor talked after the game. “To play a team as good as Godwin that close, on their home floor, showed our team and coaches just how far we have come,” he said. “Our starting three guards (Hanmer, Dines, and Gingrich) did a great job of handling the Godwin press for most of the game.  That, along with our solid team defense, gave us a chance to win.”
Hanmer led the Red Hawks with 13 points. Hank Porter had 10 points and led the team with 5 rebounds. Gingrich had 7 points and 7 assists. Ash had 8 points, Dines 5, Tyler Baker 4, Chaney 3, and Trey Reed 1.
On Friday, February 18, the Red Hawks traveled to Forest Hills Northern to take on the Huskies. After the Huskies took a quick 2-0 lead, Tyler Baker tied it up with two free throws. Then 7 points by Alec Hanmer and 5 by Ryan Dines, followed by a Hank Porter 3-pointer, gave the Red Hawks a 16-9 first quarter lead. In a low scoring 2nd quarter, Cedar maintained a 7-point lead with baskets by Hanmer, Porter and Trey Reed and led 22-15 at the half.
Cedar opened the second half with 5 points from Dines and a Derek Ash free throw. Huskies cut the Cedar lead to one point with a relentless pressing and trapping defense. Then Hank Porter drove the lane and made a strong left handed lay up, was fouled, and completed the 3-point play and the Red Hawks led 31-27 after 3 quarters. Tyler Baker made 3 free throws and Ryan Dines hit a driving lay up to build the Red Hawk lead to 9 with 6 minutes to go in the game. After the Huskies cut the lead to 4, a Derek Ash lay up put the Red Hawks up by 6. Then Cedar hit 12 free throws down the stretch as the Huskies were forced to foul. The final score was Cedar Springs 49, Forest Hills Northern 44.
“It was a big win for us,” said Coach Secor  “We have now knocked off the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place teams in our conference. It was all about team defense once again, holding them to 15 first half points.  Ryan Dines had the best game of his career, making great decisions vs. their multiple defenses and also scoring 15 points.  I really thought Tyler Baker and Trey Reed did a lot of little things on both ends of the court that don’t always show up in the stats,” he said.
Dines led the Red Hawks with 15 points and 6 rebounds. Hanmer had 11 points and Porter had 8. Tyler Baker had 6 points and 6 rebounds. Gingrich had 4 points, Ash had 3 and Reed 2.
Secor looked ahead to this week. “Now, a new challenge, 3 league games in one week. Something I have never been a part of. A player’s dream and coach’s nightmare.” The Red Hawks play at Comstock Park on February 22, home against West Catholic the next day, and at Belding on Friday the 25th at 6 p.m.

It just wasn’t in the cards for the Red Hawks to earn a wrestling team title, with a fourth-place finish overall at the OK Blue Conference on Saturday, February 5. Individually, the Hawks wrestled tough and sent over half the team into the final rounds of the conference meet.

It just wasn’t in the cards for the Red Hawks to earn a wrestling team title, with a fourth-place finish overall at the OK Blue Conference on Saturday, February 5. Individually, the Hawks wrestled tough and sent over half the team into the final rounds of the conference meet. Eight Cedar Springs wrestlers placed at the OK Blue Conference meet and three wrestlers earned first place championship titles.
Senior Joe Simon pinned Wade Schipper of Sparta in 2:00 in the 285-pound title; freshman Jared Vodry beat Kyle Hurley of Sparta in a 9-7 decision in the 125-pound championship bout; and Junior Austin Wamser (160 lb) earned a win by decision over his Belding opponent.
The consolation rounds earned third place wins by fall for Senior Nic Baird (119 lb) and freshman Baron Lenardson (103 lb) by a 7-6 decsion. Three other Hawk wrestlers medaled fourth, Cody Oehme (130 lb), Corey Wozniak (189 lb) and Conner Ackerman (215 lb).
The Red Hawks move into team districts on Wednesday at Sparta and then they travel to Gaylord for individual districts Valentine’s weekend.
Go Hawks!

Red Hawk Kyle Chaney (21) is fouled while Trey Reed looks on.

The Cedar Springs boys varsity basketball team traveled to Sparta last Friday to take on the Spartans. Sparta had defeated the Red Hawks earlier this season in overtime, in a game Cedar Springs let slip away. The Red Hawks were determined to avenge that loss, and prevent a Sparta sweep this season.
“Anytime you beat Sparta, it is a good feeling,” said head coach Andy Secor. “They haven’t swept us in a long, long, time, and this team didn’t want to allow that to happen this year.”
The first quarter saw no scoring by either team in the first two and a half minutes. Then a Spartan 3-pointer gave them the lead. A Jason Gingrich lay up opened the scoring for the Red Hawks, who had 6 different players score in the quarter. Alec Hanmer got on the board with a put back lay up. Field goals by Hank Porter and Derek Ash, followed by a Hanmer 3-pointer gave Cedar an 11-7 lead. Then after an Andrew Klompstra power lay up, Tyler Covell found an open Trey Reed at the top of the key in the closing seconds of the quarter. Reed hit the 3-pointer to give Cedar Springs a 16-10 lead after one quarter.

The Red Hawks listen as Coach Secor gives instructions during a time out.

Klompstra gave Cedar an 18-10 lead with an inside lay up to begin the second quarter. A Porter 3-pointer and a Ryan Dines lay up were all the Red Hawks could muster the rest of the quarter as Sparta finished with a 10-5 run, and Cedar led 23-20 at halftime.
In the third quarter, after a Gingrich 3-pointer, Sparta battled back to tie the game at 26 with 5:23 to go. Then the Red Hawk offense started hitting on all cylinders. Hank Porter went on a personal 7-0 run to give Cedar a 33-26 lead. Then a 3-point play by Klompstra, and 3-pointers by Porter and Gingrich gave Cedar a 10 point lead after 3 quarters.
The Red Hawks had to fight the most of the fourth quarter to keep their lead as Sparta was awarded 13 free throw attempts in the quarter. A Tyler Baker lay up and a Kyle Chaney free throw kept the Red Hawk lead at 8 with 6 minutes left, but the Spartans cut the Cedar lead to 4 at the 5:20 mark. A Klompstra free throw, a Gingrich 3-pointer, and a big three point play by Ryan Dines, built the Cedar lead back to nine points, 56-47. After a Sparta free throw, Andrew Klompstra scored on a lay up to give the Red Hawks a 10-point lead with under 2 minutes to go. But Klompstra was injured on the play, and left the game.
The Spartans were desperately pressing, and Cedar was able to break the press and score in the final 2 minutes to preserve their lead. Dines found a wide open Chaney, who converted the lay up to keep the lead at 9. Then Dines drove the lane and scored on another lay up. Chaney then hit 2 free throws in the final minute for the final points of the game and Cedar had a hard fought 64-53 victory.
The 64 points was the highest point total of the year for Cedar Springs, who shot 59.2 percent on 2-point shots and 44.4 percent from behind the arc for the game. The Red Hawks put 4 players in double figures for the first time since 2008. Porter led the Red Hawks with 16 points and also had 3 assists. Gingrich had 11 points and 5 assists. Ryan Dines had 10 points and a game high 6 assists. Andrew Klompstra had 10 points with a perfect 4-4 from the floor. Alec Hanmer had 5 points and a game high 7 rebounds for the Red Hawks, while Kyle Chaney had 5 points and 3 boards. Trey Reed had 3 points and 4 assists, while Tyler Baker and Derek Ash had 2 points each.
“I thought we played one of our best games of the year, against a team that was in 2nd place in the OK Blue,” Coach Secor commented after the game. “Our three starting guards all had very good games. We do feel a little snake-bit with Andrew Klompstra’s ankle injury, as we were just getting Hank Porter back to full strength.” Klompstra will miss at least 1 game with an ankle sprain.
Secor continued, “We have a very tough week this week, with a 9-4 Tri County team and a Coopersville team now in 2nd place in the Blue.”
The Red Hawks defeated Coopersville on the road earlier this year in a close game. The Red Hawks are home to take on the Coopersville Broncos on Friday, February 11, at 6 p.m. Then the Red Hawks travel to Godwin High School on Tuesday, February 15 to take on the Wolverines. Game time is 7:15 pm.

Sirena Johnson assisting on offense

Due to the wonderful winter weather in Michigan, the JV Red Hawks girls basketball team only played one basketball game last week. The West Catholic game that was scheduled for February 1 has been rescheduled.
Although there was no school for both teams on February 3, the Cedar Springs JV Red Hawk girls traveled to Sparta to battle the Spartans. Both teams started out slow with very little scoring and ended the first quarter with Cedar Springs leading 8-3. The slow pace continued through the second quarter, with the  Red Hawks scoring 3 points and Spartans scoring 8 points to end the half tied 11-11.
Sparta stepped it up in the third scoring 14 points to Cedar Springs’ 9 points and took the lead at the end of the quarter 25-20. The Red Hawks came back with determination in the fourth quarter and tied the score at 28 points early on. Key jump shots by Abby VanDusen and 3-point baskets by Shaelyn Fasel and Allie Veltkamp helped seal the Red Hawk victory 36-33.
Abby VanDusen led the JV Redhawks in scoring, and Allie Veltkamp. Shaelyn Fasel, Sommer VanDyke and Jeanette Sukstas also scored for the Red Hawks.
The JV Lady Red Hawks were scheduled to host Tri-County on Tuesday, February 8 and Coopersville on Thursday, February 10.

Trey Reed goes up for 2 as Kyle Chaney (21) and Andrew Klompstra (right) battle for position.

For the first time since game two of the season in early December, the Cedar Springs boys’ varsity basketball team is healthy. The team welcomed back Hank Porter last week. Porter had undergone knee surgery and missed almost a month of the season. Porter responded with his best game of the year, scoring 15 points, as Cedar Springs defeated Belding 53-32.
The game didn’t start off well for Cedar Springs as Belding got out to a quick 7-0 lead, scoring 3 field goals and a free throw in the first minute of the game. The Red Hawks got the offense going with a Jason Gingrich jumper followed by a Hank Porter three-pointer. Alec Hanmer hit a put back lay up, then Porter made a free throw to cut the Belding lead to 9-8. Hanmer canned a three-pointer to give Cedar the lead 11-9, but Belding responded with a 4-0 run to retake the lead. Kyle Chaney tied the game with a driving lay-up and the score was 13-13 after one quarter.
“Belding is very physical and really pressures you on defense,” said Cedar head coach Andy Secor. “I think they were very prepared and got off to a great start. I am just happy with how my guys responded.”
A Chaney put back lay up gave the Red Hawks the lead 15-13 early in the second. Belding tied it up again at 15. Then Chaney pulled in an offensive rebound, made a dribble move in the lane and hit a short fade away jumper to give Cedar a lead they would not lose. Then Hank Porter took over, scoring 7 straight points, including a mid-range jumper, a three-pointer, and a put pack lay up. Andrew Klompstra got in to the act with a strong inside move for an “and one” lay up. Klompstra made the free throw to complete the 3-point play and the Red Hawks led 27-20 at halftime.
Cedar extended its lead with an 8-1 run to start the second half. Hanmer hit a couple of free throws and a jump shot, Gingrich hit a jumper, Porter hit a jumper, and the Red Hawks led 35-21. After two Porter free throws, Gingrich scored another field goal. Then Trey Reed grabbed an offensive rebound in traffic, and hit a short jumper over the defense. A Klompstra lay up gave the Red Hawks a commanding 43-25 lead after 3 quarters.
In the fourth quarter, Ryan Dines made 3 free throws, Reed hit a baseline jumper, and Gingrich made 2 free throws to extend the Cedar lead. Then Brandon Slater scored on a nice reverse lay up and Tyler Hinton made a free throw and Cedar Springs had a 53-32 victory.
“It was a much-needed win.” said coach Secor. “We responded well from some early adversity and played 3 of our best quarters of the year.” The Red Hawk defense held Belding to only 32 points and held their star post player, Gil Corder, to only 8 points. “We really hang our hat on half-court defense, and our defense was great,” said Coach Secor. The Red Hawks have held their opponents to an average of only 40 points per game this season.
Porter shot 5-7 from the floor on the way to his game high 15 points. Hanmer scored 9 points, had 5 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Gingrich had 8 points and 4 assists. Chaney had 6 points and a game high 7 rebounds. Klompstra had 5 points and 6 rebounds. Trey Reed had 4 points, Dines 3, Slater 2 and Hinton 1 point.
The Red Hawks improve their record to 4-7 and 2-4 in the OK Blue. Comstock Park is threatening to run away with another league title with a 6-0 record, but all the other conference teams are either 3-3 or 2-4, so the Red Hawks are very much in the hunt for second place. Cedar Springs travels to Sparta Friday for another big rivalry game against the Spartans. Game time is 6 p.m. Then on Tuesday, February 8, they travel to Howard City to take on the Tri-County Vikings at 7 p.m.

Red Hawk Tamar Clark fights for a rebound. Photo by B. Sukstas

The JV Red Hawk girls traveled to Comstock Park on Tuesday January 25th. The Red Hawks came out scoring and took and early lead but the first quarter ended with the Red Hawks behind 7-10. The girls played hard in the second quarter trying to take the lead but went to the locker room behind 20-15.
Cedar Springs came out in the third quarter scoring 12 points to come within 2 points and end the quarter behind 29-27. Still playing hard, the Red Hawks tied the game at 31 points early in the fourth quarter but good free throw shooting by Comstock Park put the game out of reach and the JV Red Hawks lost 43-33.
Scoring for the Red Hawks were Allie Veltkamp, Jeanette Sukstas, Abby VanDusen, Sommer VanDyke, Tamar Clark and Shaelyn Fasel.
The girls next played a rare Friday night of basketball for the JV girls when they hosted the Belding Redskins on January 28th.
The lady Red Hawks started out strong and took the lead early outscoring Belding 11-6 at the end of the first quarter. The Red Hawks girls scored 12 points in the second to extend their lead and go into halftime leading 23-16.
The third quarter was slow for the Red Hawks as they only scored 6 points but held unto the lead with a score of 29-24. Belding came on strong in the fourth scoring 15 points and tying the game late in the fourth quarter 39-39. Allie Veltkamp was fouled with just seconds left in the game and hit two free throws to secure the victory for the JV Red Hawks 41-39.
Sommer VanDyke led the scoring for the lady Red Hawks with Jeanette Sukstas, Allie Veltkamp, Shaelyn Fasel and Tamar Clark also scoring for Cedar Springs.
Allie Veltkamp went 4 of 4 from the free throw line and Jeanette Sukstas had a double digit total of rebounds. Mercedes Gonzales, Sirena Johnson and Molly Caniff came off the bench with good playing time to help with the Red Hawk victory.
The JV Red Hawk girls will travel Sparta on Thursday February 3.

Last Thursday the Cedar Springs High School freshmen girls basketball team traveled to Comstock Park to take on the Panthers.  Cedar dominated the game from the start and got out to a 19-3 halftime lead. The Red Hawks cruised in the second half and secured a 39-22 victory.
Allison Hamilton led the Cedar Springs with 17 points and 18 rebounds. She also recorded 6 steals in the game. Hamilton has an incredible 38 rebounds in the last 2 games. Mary Monterusso had 10 points and shot 2-4 from behind the arc. Alysha Chaney scored 5 points and Jessica Kriekaard had 3. Sayge Wight had 2 points and Nikki Matzke had 2. Point guard Mikenzie Francis led Cedar with 4 assists. Taylor Baker pulled down 4 rebounds. Bre Burns and Alli Rohacz had 1 rebound each.
The victory improves the Red Hawk record to 6-4, and 3-2 in the OK Blue Conference. The next game for Cedar Springs is Thursday, February 3rd at 5:30 pm at Sparta High School.

Matt Patin (140 lb) with a quick pin in the first round against West Catholic Falcons.

The Red Hawk wrestlers enjoyed success on their home mats last week.
The week started out with a win over West Catholic 53-18, in the OK Blue conference match. Baron Lenardson (103 lb) put the first points on the board with a void win in favor of the Hawks. West Catholic countered with a fall at 112 lb, to tie the score 6-6. Jared Vodry (125 lb) came on strong with an 18-3 technical win over his Falcon opponent. Quick pins by Cody Oehme (130 lb), Matt Patin (140 lb) and Jake Marsman (152 lb) in the first period of their matches added to the Red Hawk Score.  Point wins by Dom Chong (145 lb) and Levi Whipple (171 lb), with additional void wins by Nic Baird (119 lb), Austin Wamser (160 lb) and Cory Wozniak (189 lb) brought victory for the Red Hawks.
The JV team had an impressive show. Senior, Aaron McLaughlin (285 lb) beat his opponent with an aggressive 14-1 major win. Nate Doerr (140 lb) conquered his Falcon foe. Danny Wier (125 lb) earned a fall early in the second period of the match and Kyle Rice (215 lb) battled hard earning a 5-4 score, to win by injury fall.

CSHS varsity wrestlers place first at home invitational.

The JV Red Hawk wrestlers went undefeated for the event.
On Saturday, Cedar Springs hosted five area teams at its home invitational and captured the first place win. The Hawks started the day with a bye in round one,  then went on to defeat Greenville 53-12 in round two. A 73-6 score over Plainwell in the third match led to a 63-17 win over Traverse City West. The championship round found Cedar Springs battling rival Rockford with a 54-9 score to go undefeated as a team and keep the first place trophy at home.
Undefeated Red Hawks for the day were freshmen Baron Lenardson, Brett Bouwens, Jared Vodry; sophomore Cody Oehme; juniors Matt Patin and Austin Wamser, and seniors Nic Baird, Jake Marsman, Levi Whipple and Joe Simon.
The Hawks stay close to home this week as they match up with rival Sparta on Wednesday, January 26 for the final in season OK Blue conference match and then to the Rockford Invitational on Saturday, January 29.

JV Red Hawk Shaelyn Fasel driving for the basket.

The Cedar Springs JV Red Hawk girls basketball team hosted Forest Hills Northern on Thursday, January 13.
Cedar Springs started out slow and fell behind early in the first quarter 10-4. Early foul trouble and turnovers really hurt the Red Hawks. They went to the locker room at half time behind 24-14.
The Red Hawks came back in the third quarter scoring 14 points to pull within 6 points and end the quarter 34-28. They worked hard in the fourth quarter but continued foul trouble hurt the comeback effort and the Red hawks fell to the Huskies 43-35.
Allie Veltkamp led the scoring for the Red Hawks. Also contributing to the scoring were Jeanette Sukstas, Sommer VanDyke and Abby VanDusen.
The JV Red Hawks game against Kent City on January 18 was canceled due to a snow day, but they will host Wayland on January 20..

Ryan Dines shoots a short jumper while Andrew Klompstra and Alec Hanmer go for the rebound.

The Cedar Springs boys varsity basketball team hosted Forest Hills Northern last Friday in an OK Blue showdown. Last year the teams faced off twice, with each team winning at home by 3 points.
The huskies got out to a quick 5-0 lead before the Red Hawks could get off a shot. Ryan Dines got things going for Cedar with a pull-up jumper to make it 5-2. An Alec Hanmer 3 pointer brought the Red Hawks to within two midway through the first quarter, but that was as close as Cedar would get. Tyler Covell drove down the baseline and made a lay up in traffic to finish the first quarter scoring for the Red Hawks and the Huskies led 17-7.
Hanmer began the second quarter with a jumper followed by an Andrew Klompstra free throw. Then Kyle Chaney drove the lane for a lay up. Later, Chaney entered the ball to Derek Ash who made a spin move from the post for two. Point guard Jason Gingrich got on the board late in the second quarter with a 3-pointer to make the halftime score 28-17 in favor of the Huskies.
In the third quarter, Gingrich stole the ball, was fouled and made his two free throws. Then a Klompstra lay up cut the Husky lead to 28-21 with 6:40 left in the third. Then the Red Hawks went scoreless for the next 7:48. During that time Cedar missed 8 straight shots from the floor and was 0-3 from the free throw line. The score was 36-21 Huskies when Hanmer hit a 3-pointer with 6:52 left in the game to end the scoring drought.
Trey Reed hit a short jumper to make the score to make the score 39-26 with 6 minutes left. Then the big Friday night crowd was thrilled when junior Justin Hanes canned a three pointer from the wing to score his first ever varsity points. Then after a Klompstra field goal, Hanes hit another three to cut the Husky lead to 11 points. After a Husky bucket, Gingrich scored the final points of the game with a pull up fade away jumper in the lane to make the final score Forest Hills Northern 47, Cedar Springs 36.
Hanmer led the Red Hawks with 8 points to go with 2 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Gingrich had 7 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals. Hanes ended with 6 points. Klompstra had 5 points and 7 rebounds. Ryan Dines had a nice all around game with 2 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and zero turnovers. Kyle Chaney had 2 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists. Trey Reed and Derek Ash both had 2 points and 2 rebounds, and Tyler Covell finished with 2 points.
The Red Hawks have this week off. Their next game is Tuesday, January 25 at home against the two-time defending league champion Comstock Park Panthers.  The freshmen game is at 4 p.m., followed by the JV at 5:30, and the Varsity at 7 p.m.