September 16, 2005 Vol. 34 Issue 1
| Lady Cubs shoot for better record | ||
Cubs’ dedication
brings success
By Melany Megenity, Sophomore, Reporter
Haley Huffman, Sophomore, Cartoonist
Kick off for the 2005 football season has allowed excitement
and high hopes to reach full gear as they work their way to their main goal,
to win the Tri Valley League Championship and make the playoffs.
“
These boys are a fun group to work with. They are hard workers, and I am
really happy with the seniors and juniors,” said head coach, K.B. Criss.
Summer preparations consisted of the team traveling to Colorado for training
in August, and black shirts practices during the weeks leading up to the
season.
“
I feel like we have prepared more this year than last year. All of the students
are committed and had a great camp in Colorado,” said Travis Burk,
defensive coordinator.
Along with the new season, the football team has changed their offense to
a single-back offense.
“
It better suits our personnel for this year,” said lineman coach, Jason
Feeback.
Although beneficial to the team, many players feel that this change has been
difficult.
“
It is very complicated, but once you get it down, it’s effective,” said
Garrett Fitzmaurice, sr.
Photos
by Melanie Weilert and Jesse Lundine
Let's
get ready to rumble.
(left) Drue Barton, jr., prepares for kickoff during
the Yates Center game.
(right) Quarterback Tory Thomas, jr., scrambles for a few more yards against
Wildcat Defense.
The Cub defense is progressing this season, as well, in order
to fill the empty spaces left by last year’s seniors. The extra work
needed for defense coordination has placed the players in a position where
they need
to concentrate more on their jobs and responsibilities to perform efficiently.
“
Everyone is faster, covered, and has their own job,” said Stephen Nickell,
sr. “The defense showcases our speed more than our power.”
Cub rival, the Cherryvale Chargers, just recently lost to the Eureka Tornadoes,
a team that the Cubs beat in the opening game of this season with a score
of 28-16.
“
It would be rewarding to beat Cherryvale, because we haven’t defeated
them in a few years,” said Jason Kaufman, jr.
Both winning the Tri Valley League Championship and making the bi-district
playoffs, which the Cubs have not done since 1968, is the main goal for the
team this year.
With strong efforts on both offense and defense, the Cubs are looking to
make this a reality.
“
I want to be able to turn around and say that ‘I did something while
I was in high school,’” said Duane Hibbs, sr. “And this
is it.”
Season opener a success
By Melanie Weilert, Senior, Editor-in-Chief
Derrick Onnen, Senior, Reporter
In their first game of the season against the Eureka Tornadoes, the Cubs
came away successfully with a score of 26-18.
Tory Thomas, jr., lead the team in rushing with 144 yards on 19 attempts
followed by his brother, Tyler Thomas, sr., who had 127 yards on 27 attempts.
The Cubs brought in a total of 265 rushing yards during game play against
Eureka.
“
Our defense was good for the first half of the game, as well as our offense,” said
Tory Thomas. “We had some penalties that caused Eureka to get back
into the game, but in the end we came out on top.
Also leading with three touchdowns was Tory followed again by Tyler Thomas
with one.
“
Penalties, turnovers, and the issue of not executing key blocks were a huge
disappointment,” said Josh Poovey, jr.
Trey Zartman, jr., led all receivers with 21 yards on a single attempt followed
by Derrick Onnen, sr., with 18 yards also on one attempt.
“
We made some good plays against Eureka,” said Onnen. “There were
some places where we really messed up, but we are probably really going to
be working on that.”
Bringing in the most tackles for the Cubs was Josh Honas, jr., with 14, followed
by Drue Barton, jr., with nine, and Robbie Ball, jr., with seven. Both Honas
and Garrett Fitzmaurice, sr., made fumble recoveries during the game.
However, the team still felt the need to improve their performance and recognized
that they had some faults throughout the game.
“
At times we were really good, but we expect to make some changes,” said
Ball. “Our performance levels will continue to improve.”
Cubs dominate first battle on home turf
By Derrick Onnen, Senior, Reporter
Katie Hauser, Junior, Opinion Editor
Humboldt, Sept. 9- Humboldt dominated the Yates Center Wildcats 52-0
and holding them to only nine total offensive yards.
Quaterback Tory Thomas, jr., spearheaded the offensive attack with 43 rushing
yards on nine attempts and throwing for 74 yards on 12 passes.
Stephan Nickell, sr., led all rushers with 49 yards on six carries. Trey Zartman,
jr., was also a major contributor with 38 yards on two catches.
Tyler Thomas, sr., helped out with the scoring by starting the second half
off with a kickoff return for a touchdown.
“
Our offense didn’t execute like we should have, although we did get the
job done,” said Zartman.
“
We could have done better on offense but we will continue to improve,” said,
Josh Honas, jr.
Defense did its part in the game, too, holding the Wildcats to minimum levels
of offense and this season’s first shut out. Yates Center had only
one first down throughout the entire game.
Yates Center rushed 16 times and lost a total of 17 yards. Only 26 passing
yards were allowed, leaving Yates Center with only nine yards of offense.
“
It felt really good to keep the Wildcats with such small yardage, because that’s
what we needed to do to prove our capabilities that we didn’t show in
week one,” said Nickell.
Zartman and Sam Norris, so., each intercepted Wildcat passes. Defense forced
and recovered three fumbles. Four of Humboldt’s points came from the
defense as Zartman had two assisted safeties.
Humboldt, 2-0, will host Neodesha, 0-2, tonight.
Lady Cubs shoot for better record
By Shawna Dawson, Senior, Reporter
Haley Terflinger, Senior, Reporter
Despite the Lady Cubs 5-20 record last year, the team is looking
forward to a more productive season. This year’s team is led by a new
coaching staff and six seniors, all of which hope to bring a sense of leadership
and teamwork.
“
I am a senior now, and it is my last year to prove that we can win games.
I believe we will come out on top with a winning season,” said Whitney
Piley, sr., “We have had hard practices and conditioning, but we are
going to put the best six players out there no matter what grade they’re
in.”
The Lady Cubs have begun practicing more in game type situations.
“
We are putting the girls in game situations in practice so that they have
the ability to succeed in any situation; teaching them how to ‘think
the game’,” said Kim Jones, assistant coach.
In order to improve their skills on the court, practices have had more variety.
“
We are doing diving drills, hitting the floor, serving, hitting, passing,
and other team stuff. Everything to get us to the best of our abilities and
to show our utmost performances every time,” said Katie Manbeck, so. “125%
every time.”
The team has already bounced back with wins following a couple of early losses,
but they are learning from their mistakes and working even harder to strive
for perfection.
“
Our biggest weakness is our speed. We’re very slow, which hinders our
defense,” said Teri Welch, head coach.
The girls are also working on their communication skills and developing their
coordination on the court.
“
There needs to be more communication, and I think we have all the talent
in the world to be successful,” said Kristin North, sr.
So far the records stand at 4-3 for varsity and 5-1 for junior varsity. Although
they got off to a slow start, the Lady Cubs know what their faults are and
plan to work together as a team to be even more prepared in the future.
Photos
By Emily Schomaker
Bring it on!
(left) Seniors Kristin North, Kayla Owens, and Cara Tilman wait to
receive
a serve from Neodesha. (right) Whitney Piley, sr., tries for a kill against
the
bluestreaks while Tilman positions herself for assistance.
“ Our
loss to Neodesha allowed us to see what areas we needed improvement in,” said
Welch.
This loss has given the girls an opportunity to reflect on their attitudes
and how they affect overall performance.
“
When we mess up (mentally), we get down and it’s hard to get back up,” said
Hali Dawson, so.
Uniting the team has been no small task, but the girls are putting forth extra
effort to get the job done.
“
Last year, we only had one senior, but this year we have six. It’s good
that we have more players with experience. They really help the underclassmen,
plus we have five new freshman who are awesome,” said Dawson.
Everyone on the team understands the importance of working together.
“
We are working well as a team, and that’s what it takes to win games,” said
Kayla Owens, sr..
Many of the girls are looking forward to the season and hope to possibly compete
at State level.
“
I think that if we keep working hard, then we can make it,” said Cara
Tilman, sr.
Although they are remaining optimistic, the girls realize the amounts of effort
they are going to have to put forward this year.
“
We just have to take one step at a time,” said Maegan Wall, sr.
Volleyball splits
results at Iola Tourney
By By Shawna Dawson, Senior, Reporter
Haley Terflinger, Senior. Reporter
Iola, Sept. 10- Taking over the Cherryvale Chargers and the Caney Valley Bullpups
during Iola Tournament play, the varsity Lady Cubs won two out of three games
with each of the teams. Scores for the games were 25/20, 18/25, and 25/15
against the Chargers, while the scores against the Bullpups were 25/19, 22/25,
and 25/18.
Against the Chargers, Whitney Piley, sr., led with 22 points, two aces, and
three kills, while Mallory Mueller, sr., pulled off seven kills and one ace.
Kelci Owens, fr., managed five assists and Michelle Rickner, jr., secured two
blocks and four kills.
In the matches against Caney, Cara Tilman sr., stood out with 15 points, four
aces, and four kills. Mueller cracked down leading with six kills and four
aces, while Kelci Owens pulled off another 4 assists and one ace.
The Lady Cubs faltered against Labette County and Anderson County. The final
scores were 25/17 and 25/22 against Labette, and 25/11 and 25/19 against the
Bulldogs.
In the Labette match, Kayla Owens, sr., led the team with ten points and one
ace. Tilman, Piley, and Mueller held up with three kills each. Piley also led
with two aces. Kelci Owens attained seven assists and five aces, while Rickner,
pulled off three blocks and one kill.
Against the Bulldogs, Kristin North, sr., led with eight points, Mueller carried
out three kills, and Kelci Owens succeeded in four assists.
“
The girls showed much more confidence in themselves. They now know they’re
capable of playing and beating some good volleyball teams. It’s coming
together,” said Teri Welch, head coach.
Ladies leave Altoona victorious
By Shawna Dawson, Senior, Reporter
Haley Terflinger, Senior, Reporter
Altoona, Sept. 13- The Lady Cubs pulled away with two wins, against Cherryvale
and Altoona, Tuesday evening. The final scores against the Chargers were
25/19, 27/29, and 25/21, while they blew away the Midway Jets, beating them
at 25/11 and 25/19.
In their match against Cherryvale, Kayla Owens, sr., led with 17 points and
one ace. Pulling off two aces each were Kristin North, sr., Katie Manbeck,
so., and Kelci Owens, fr. Mallory Mueller, sr., secured nine kills, while Kelci
Owens succeeded in 18 assists. Whitney Piley, sr., also managed two blocks.
“
It was disappointing that we could not get a win after two games, but I was
pleased we won the last one,” said North.
In the following match against Altoona, North scored 12 points and had one
ace. Coming out with two aces each were Kayla Owens and Manbeck, while Mueller
procured another eight kills. Kelci Owens came out on top with another14 assists
and one ace. Piley pulled off two more blocks.
“
We had a good night at the net and the girls are passing better with every
game. The girls should feel good about these wins, but not at all satisfied.
We’re going to have to work on not giving the other team a break and
turn up the heat a bit more next week,” said Teri Welch, head coach.
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