#22 Allie Veltkamp driving hard to the basket

#33 Tiffany Karger driving hard in for a layup

Cedar Springs girls’ varsity traveled to Coopersville Tuesday night to play the Broncos. Cedar pulled out the victory win 35 to 33.

The Red Hawks got off to a quick start taking an early lead 13 to 7 at the end of the first quarter. The Broncos stepped up their defensive pressure in the second quarter holding Cedar to only eight points and hitting a buzzer beater at the end of the half to trail 21 to 13.

The third quarter saw some outstanding shooting for the Broncos as they connected on two three pointers and went on a 7 to 1 point run to put themselves right back into the game. Coopersville out scored the Red Hawks 13 to 6 in the period leaving Cedar with only a one point advantage to begin the final stanza.

#34 Rachael Ludtke laying up between two opponents

The contest remained close for the entire fourth quarter, with Cedar Springs maintaining a slim 3 to 5 point margin for most of time. Coopersville continued their hot outside shooting finishing the game at 55 percent from three but Cedar managed some timely defensive stops to hold off the Broncos.

Coach Scott Taylor was pleased with the win, and noted that he knew that Coopersville was a good shooting team from scouting them earlier  this month. “We did contest their shots well but we need to work on the rebounding. At the end of the game we knew that they had fouls to give and would be coming after the ball hard and we take better care of the ball,” he said.

Tiffany Karger led the Red Hawks with 16 points and 8 rebounds. She got help from Rachael Ludtke, who finished with 11 points, Brittany Todd with five, Hannah Wight with two and Allie Veltkamp with one.

Cedar Springs improved their record to 5-­1 and Coopersville slipped to 3-­4.

The team is off until January 3, when they take on Kenowa Hills at home.

Aaron Dault boots the ball toward the net.

Goalkeeper Kyle Coutchie prepares to blast the ball down into Coopersville territory.

The Cedar Springs Red Hawks opened conference play on Tuesday, August 30, at Coopersville. The Red Hawks challenged the Broncos, moving the ball well around the field. Cedar Springs took an early lead minutes into the game (36:57) when Aaron Dault darted his way through the Bronco’s defense, sending a direct pass over to Kyle Szirovecz, who finished the run and pounded the ball into the net. Kyle Szirovecz scored again minutes into the second half (37:37), when he received a pass from Jon Shaw. Szirovecz used his speed and foot skills to break away from the defenders and blasted the ball past the charging goalie. The final score ended with Cedar Springs 2-Coopersville 0.

On Thursday, September 1, 2011 Forest Hills Eastern Hawks traveled to Cedar Springs to play the Red Hawks. The match proved to be a tight battle as there was no score during the first half. Seconds into the second half, Lee Tompkins sent a ball to Kyle Szirovecz, who broke away from the defense and finessed the ball past the keeper into the right upper 90. The battle continued as Forest Hills answered with a goal of their own. Cedar Springs fans cheered when Robert Klein drilled a penalty kick into the net putting Cedar Springs ahead 2-1. Tensions intensified as Forest Hills maintained constant pressure on the defensive unit of Aaron Dault, Lee Tompkins, Donate Ensley, Bryan Taylor and goalkeeper Kyle Coutchie, who was credited with multiple saves. With minutes left in the game, Forest Hills put in two quick goals that the Red Hawks were unable to answer. At the buzzer, Cedar Springs fell to Forest Hills 2-3. Following the game, Cedar Springs Coach Avink praised his team for their efforts this week. “The guys played well as we entered into conference play this week. As our schedule continues to get tougher, we are excited to see what the team can do on the field.”

Hope to see lots of community support for this year’s varsity soccer team. Come out and cheer on your Red Hawks!

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.