By Judy Reed

Tri County Middle School principal William Robert Cichewicz was arrested last week on embezzlement charges.

According to the Michigan State Police Lakeview Post, they began an investigation in February on money missing from the Booster Club Fund. Cichewicz turned himself in on June 20, and was arraigned on a five-year felony charge of embezzlement of over $1,000 but under $20,000.

Cichewicz, an employee at Tri County Schools for 13 years, was initially put on administrative leave, and then fired last week.

“As a school community, we are committed to excellence in all that we do,” stated Al Cumings, Superintendent. “This commitment means that we hold our students, staff, and, most of all, our leadership accountable for behaviors and choices that do not reflect our community values.”

Cumings noted that Cichewicz accepted the termination and had made full restitution. “I am pleased that in addition to owning his decisions and paying back the missing funds, Mr. Cichewicz also has released a public letter of apology to the community that is on the district web site (www.tricountyschools.com),” said Cumings. You can also view it here.

In his letter, Cichewicz acknowledged that he had made serious mistakes and violated the community’s trust over the last year. “In my role as principal, I had access to booster funds that were acquired from the school store. Over a period of months, as I collected and took those funds to the bank, I was tempted by the money that was available and I began to take some each time. Ultimately, I took $1,350 of booster money to benefit myself,” he wrote. He added that his family knew nothing about what he was doing, and that he planned to return the funds immediately. He also said he felt horrible about what he did.

Cichewicz served as a teacher, vice-principal, and principal while employed at Tri County.

He posted a $2,000 bond and has a pretrial date of July 2 and a preliminary exam on July 3.

Three Tri County AYSO teams placed in this year’s AYSO Section 8 Tournament held on June 22-24, 2012, at the Creal Soccer Complex & Heritage Park in Coldwater, Michigan.

Three Tri County teams all finished in third place: The U10 girls team, the U12 girls team, and the U14 boys team (which had both boys and girls on the team). Some 70-plus teams were scheduled for the tournament.

Congratulations to you all!

Tiffany Karger led in scoring for the Red Hawks last week, getting 21 points against West Catholic, and 19 against Tri County.

Cedar Springs girls varsity basketball team traveled to West Catholic High School on Friday, Jan. 27, to face the other undefeated team in the OK Blue, the Falcons. After an entertaining game, the ladies of West Catholic came out on top 43-42, in front a near capacity crowd.

The game was tight from the beginning, with West Catholic holding a one point lead after the first quarter but Cedar fought back to take a three point lead into the halftime break 18-15.

In the third quarter, West Catholic came out with a renewed aggressive offense that featured a two-player pick and roll game and attempted to run the ball up the court at every opportunity. West was able to open up a 9-point lead late in the third quarter. Cedar countered and picked up their defensive pressure and was able to close the gap to 34 to 27 at the end of the third quarter.

The fourth quarter was exciting as Cedar closed the gap and took the lead late in the fourth quarter. There were several lead changes late in the game with West scoring with about 20 seconds to go. Cedar had one more chance but could not connect on their last attempt at the horn.

Coach Scott Taylor was proud of his teams’ effort. “The girls fought hard and we competed to our best. A game like that always comes down to a few possessions.  Not the last one but different moments throughout the game.”

Tiffany Karger led the Red Hawks with 21 points, Chaya Coxon and Rachael Ludtke each contributed 7.  Molly Holtrop had 4, Brittany had 2, and Hannah Wight had 1 to round out the scoring.

The girls then hosted the Tri County Vikings on Saturday, Jan. 28, in a make up game. The Red Hawks came away with the win by a score of 47-34.

Cedar jumped out to an early lead by 8 points at the end of the first quarter and extended that lead to 25 to 8 at the halftime break. Cedar cruised home to the victory but looked a little tired having played on back to back nights.

Tiffany Karger again led the Red Hawk scoring with 19 points followed by Allie Veltkamp with 9, Chaya Coxon with 8, Hannah Wight had 6, Brittany and Rachael Ludtke with 2 each, and Shaelyn Fasel scored 1.

It was a very positive week for the Cedar Springs Girl’s Golf team. On Tuesday, September 6, at Whitefish Lake, the Red Hawks defeated Tri-County 206-235.  Conner White was match medalist with a 44, Nicole Shevock added a 51, Breanna White a 55, and Chelsea Hull a 56.
“We played a little better today even though it was tough because it was also the first day of the school year,” said Chelsea Hull.
On Thursday, September 8, the girls traveled to Egypt Valley for the OK-Blue Jamboree and finished in 5th, with a team score of 226. Conner White had a 54, Nicole Shevock a 55, Breanna White a 56 and Chelsea Hull a 61.
“I do not like Egypt Valley,” said Shevock.  “But we played well.”
Breanna White added, “I had never played here before, so it was a lot of fun.”
The girls had two more OK-Blue matches this week at Ironwood and Scott Lake Golf Courses. Watch next week’s Post for results.

Photo by R. Klompstra.

The Cedar Springs Red Hawk Varsity football team started their season with a 35-14 win last Friday over Tri-County on the Vikings’ home turf.  The offense came out strong, allowing the Red Hawks to beat the Vikings, and the defense held strong, only allowing two touchdowns throughout the night, and getting in an extra point block.

Quarterback Tyler Covell completed 6 of 9 passes for 102 yards and a touchdown pass, as well as ran for a touchdown. Brandon Slater caught the 38-yard touchdown pass.

Austin Wamser led the Red Hawks offense with 128 yards on 2 kick returns and a touchdown, rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown and added 24 yards on punt returns.

Hank Porter also helped Cedar Springs along with 72 yards on 10 carries.

The game was cut short by about three minutes due to lightning in the area.

“Our kids played hard and I was proud of the effort,” said Cedar Springs Coach Brian Busen. “However, we made a number of mental mistakes and some of our juniors weren’t ready for the speed of the game at this level.  I was also disappointed to get the lightning cancellation. We had some kids that we were getting into the game at that point and they missed out due to the weather.”

This Friday, Cedar Springs travels to Forest Hills Eastern, who is 0-1 after their 30-7 loss to Zeeland West last week.

Coopersville, Sparta, Comstock Park and Forest Hills Northern also won their games this week in the OK Blue. West Catholic and Belding lost.

It’s that time of year again—can’t you feel it? Time for some football!

Fans are looking forward to Friday night, August 26, when the Cedar Springs Red Hawks travel a short way north to take on neighboring rival the Howard City Tri County Vikings!

This year will mark the second year in a row the teams have met to renew a rivalry of years gone by. Before last year’s game, which the Red Hawks won 33-6, Cedar Springs had only played Howard City Tri County twice since Sand Lake and Howard City merged in the early 1960s. They played them in both 1982 and 1983, for the last game of the season, when they were part of the Tri River Conference. Cedar Springs lost 14-0 and 20-15, respectively. Prior to that Cedar Springs faced Howard City in 1954 and 1955, winning 60-0, and 64-0, respectively, when they were part of the Newaygo County conference. They did not face Sand Lake in the 1950s or 1960s, though they did play both Sand Lake and Howard City in earlier years.

Game time is 7 p.m. The Cedar Springs Cross Country team will run the game ball down the White Pine Trail to the Vikings’ football field, so be sure to get there early to see it happen!

Summer’s not yet over, and it’s time for the first high school football game of the season! You don’t want to miss the game on Friday, August 26, when the Cedar Springs Red Hawks travel to Tri County High School to take on the Vikings at 7 p.m. Get there early to see the Cedar Springs Cross Country team run the ball down the White Pine Trail! It’s a new tradition that was started last year, when the two teams met for the first time since the 1980s. Look for more info in next week’s Post!

Brittany Todd foes for the ball.

The Lady Red Hawks Varsity basketball team hosted both the Tri County Vikings and the Coopersville Broncos and grabbed wins from them both.
On Tuesday, February 8, the Red Hawks fell behind the Vikings in the first quarter 14-12, but they pulled ahead in the second 23-20 and never looked back. They scored 12 more in the third and held Tri County to 5, and both teams scored 9 in the last quarer to give the Red Hawks the win, 44-34.
“We [coaches] noticed something different about the girls’ energy tonight even coming out of the locker room before warm-ups. And it’s a good thing because Tri-County came ready to play,” said Chad Wight, assistant coach for the Red Hawks. “Tri-County was scrappy, had some good shooters, and wouldn’t go away. But our girls found a rhythm tonight and played a fun game to watch. Rachel Ludtke did some good work for us scoring and rebounding—another double-double. As a team, our shooting percentage was up. We shared the scoring when Tiffany Karger had 8 (and 7 rebounds), Chaya Coxon had 8, Hannah Wight had 6, and a few others hit shots at helpful times to keep us up.”
Coach Wight noted that the team’s defensive rebounding also grabbed their attention. “We began to dominate on the defensive boards in the second half, particularly late in the game, and that was great to see as coaches. Our defense did well keeping Tri-County out of sync on the offensive end. We forced turnovers and kept their shooting percentage down (28 percent).”
The Red Hawks then faced the Broncos on Friday, February 11. It was a slow start for both teams, with Cedar leading at the end of the first quarter 5 to 2, but from there on out, the lead remained with the Hawks, finishing the 4th quarter 32-20.
Leading scorer was Chaya Coxon with 10 points, followed by Tiffany Karger with 9 points, Rachel Ludtke with 8 points, Molly Holtrop with 3 points and Amber Milligan with 2 points.
On Tuseday 2/15 they traveled to West Ottawa for a non-conference game, but lost 42-34. Read about that game in next week’s Post!
The Red Hawks are now 6-2 in the OK Blue and 10-6 overall.  Their next conference game is at Forest Hills Northern on Friday February 18. The Huskies’ record is 6-3 in the OK Blue and the out come of the game could decide who will take 2nd place behind the undefeated West Catholic Falcons. The Red Hawks will return home on Tuesday, February 22, to face Comstock Park.

Allie Veltkamp was high scorer.

The JV Red Hawks basketball team hosted Tri County on Tuesday, February 8. Tri County came out in the first quarter scoring the first 2 points of the game. But after that the Red Hawks took control and scored 8 points before the Vikings could make another basket. Cedar held the lead at the end of the quarter 12-6. In the second quarter, the Red Hawks scored another 10 points and went to the halftime break leading 22-17.
The Vikings came back from the break and scored 16 points to the Red Hawks’ 10 points and took the lead 33-32 at the end of the third. But Cedar came back strong in the last quarter scoring 13 points to Tri County’s 7 points. The JV Cedar  took the victory 45-40.
Allie Veltkamp was high scorer, while Tamar Clark, Jeanette Sukstas, Abby VanDusen, Shaelyn Fasel and Sommer VanDyke also scored for the Red Hawks.
On Thursday February 10, the JV lady Red Hawks hosted Coopersville. The Red Hawks came ready to play scoring 13 points before the Broncos got on the scoreboard. Cedar led the game 13-4 at the end of the first. A slow second quarter for both teams only saw 12 total points scored, with the Red Hawks still leading 17-12 at the halftime buzzer.
Both teams came back in the third with stronger play and better scoring, with the Red Hawks scoring 11 points to the Broncos 9 points. Cedar held the lead 28 -21. Their tough defense held Coopersville to only 2 points in the fourth quarter, while Cedar Springs pushed hard and scored a total of 15 points. The JV Red Hawks girls took the victory with a final score of 43-23.
Balanced scoring saw Shaelyn Fasel, Abby VanDusen, Jeanette Sukstas, Sommer VanDyke, Allie Veltkamp and Tamar Clark all contributing to the total points for the Red Hawks.
The JV Lady Red Hawks were scheduled to travel to West Ottawa on Tuesday February 15, and to Forest Hills Northern on Thursday February 17. Read about those games in next week’s Post!

On Saturday, December 10th the Cedar Springs High School varsity wrestling team traveled to Howard City to participate with seven schools at the Tri-County Tournament.
The Hawks started the day with a 78-6 win over Forest Hills Eastern.  The near perfect streak continued into the second round again Grand Rapids Christian with the Hawks tallying 77 points and allowing the Eagles to earn only one pin.
Kent City started the third round on top but soon fell behind with the Red Hawks winning 57-24.
The finals brought the Red Hawks head to head with the hometown Vikings.  The duel started slow for Cedar Springs. The Hawks began to gain momentum mid to heavy weight classes. The most intense match of the finals was as Senior Joe Simon (285 lb) battled against his Viking opponent, each earning points to keep the match interesting.  At the end of the third period the score was tied 6-6.  The two remained tied at the end of the first overtime period.  Simon managed an escape point to bring the score 7-6 in the second period.  Tri-county countered with an escape early in the third overtime period.  In the closing seconds of the match, Simon executed a take down that found him victorious with a score of 9-7.   The low to mid weight classes helped to move the Red Hawks into first place with a 46-26 win over Tri-County.
Five Hawks went undefeated for the day – Scott Stockreef (112 lb), Cody Oehme (130 lb), Austin Wamser (160 lb), Levi Whipple (171 lb) Joe Simon (285 lb).
The Red Hawks will meet up with Forest Hills Northern on December 15 for a conference meet and then they will head to the Freeland Tournament on December 18.