Vikings to host Red Hawks in season opener

The Cedar Springs Red Hawks and the Howard City Tri County Vikings will kick off the 2013 high school football season tonight (Thursday) in a neighboring school rivalry that was renewed four years ago. Prior to that, they had not played each other since 1983.

To celebrate the game, the boys and girls cross country teams from both schools will run the ball from Cedar Springs to Tri County via the White Pine Trail. They will leave Red Hawk Stadium about 4:45 p.m.

The game against Tri County is a non-conference game. Tri County is a member of the Lake 8 Activities Conference, and this is Cedar Springs’ second year in the new OK Bronze Conference.

The Red Hawks have won against Tri County three straight years. Will they do it again this year? Or will Tri County surprise them? Head on out to the game tonight and find out! Game time is 7 p.m. at Tri County.

Next week, the Red Hawks host another longtime rival, the Sparta Spartans, on Friday, September 6, at Red Hawk Stadium at 7 p.m.

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.

Kyle Szirovecz challenges Tri-County for the ball.

The reigning 2010 Cedar Springs varsity soccer Conference Champs opened their 2011 season with two non-conference victories over Tri-County and Fremont. On Tuesday, August 23, excitement filled the air in the Red Hawk stadium as the boys varsity soccer team kicked off their opening game against Tri-County, which resulted in a 5-1 Cedar Springs victory. The Vikings opened the scoring, but the Red Hawks answered back with the next five goals. Goals were scored by junior forward Kyle Szirovecz, with an assist from junior Trevor Rose. Junior defender Aaron Dault ran up the side line and knocked in the second goal. Junior  midfielder Robert Klein scored the 3rd and 4th goals, with one assist from Kyle Szirovecz. And the final goal was pounded in by junior defender Dontae Ensley, with an assist from Trevor Rose.

Kyle Szirovecz challenges Fremont for the ball.

Closing out the week, on Friday, August 26, the Red Hawks traveled to Fremont to challenge the Packers. Fremont scored the first goal, but Kyle Szirovecz lit up the score board for Cedar with 14:40 remaining in the first half when he pounced on a Fremont goal kick and quickly shot the ball right back into the far side of the net. Coming out of the half, Cedar responded to a one goal deficit, with the clock down only by two minutes (38:02), when Kyle Szirovecz blasted his second goal into the upper 90, tying up the game. Kudos to freshman Jon Shaw for kicking in the winning goal with 26:20 remaining, when he received a pass from Kyle Szirovecz out in front of the net, whizzing the ball just past the keeper’s grasp. The final score ended with the Red Hawks 3, Packers 2.

Reflecting on this weeks games, coach Kyle Avink stated, “The guys have worked really hard the past couple of weeks and it really paid off as we entered into our first week of game play. This team has a lot of talent; I’m excited about what  this season has in store,” he said.

Come out and cheer them on during this soccer season.

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!