Comer Honored As GJ ‘Yard of the Month’

SUNSET DRIVE YARD HONORED  IN MONTHLY SHOWCASE

The yard of Sharon Comer of Sunset Drive in Grand Junction has been selected as “Yard of the Month” by the Grand Junction Horizons.

Yard of the Month is selected from a list of semifinalists each month that meet the criteria for the honor—proportionality and balance among ornamentals, shrubs, flowers and trees; perspective from various angles and frontage streets; not overly done or too “busy” looking; general upkeep and ongoing improvement; and overall aesthetic.

“The Comer property helps beautify the Sunset Drive neighborhood and makes for a great entryway into Grand Junction from the south on Highway 144 and for travelers along the Lincoln Highway as it comes into Grand Junction from the west and then heads north toward Main Street,” said a Grand Junction Horizons spokesperson. “This is truly an outstanding yard.”

The Yard of the Month sign created by students at East Greene High School art classes is on display at the Comer home throughout the month of September.

Going “Greene”?

NO WAY, JOSÉ, IT’S “LINCOLNWAY”!

Is there something that Tommy Birch down at the Des Moines Register knows that we don’t?

Tommy put together a nice recap of East Greene’s big Homecoming win over Charter Oak-Ute in a prep wrap-up in Sunday’s Register sports section Sept. 18 with a subhead entitled, “GOING GREENE.”

Earlier that weekend, some swag bags were handed out at the East Greene Homecoming Parade in GJ emblazoned with that awful beak-nosed bird they used for the [current] school logo and the words, “GO GREENE.” Hmmm? Twice in the same weekend with this mono-syllabic “GREENE” shows up. No longer “EAST,” cuz we’re headed west? Coincidence? I wonder. If this is someone’s idea for a new name for a possible reorganized East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton school district in the near future--something like Greene United or Greene County—I vote No . Without Paton-Churdan in a “reorg” it is only two-thirds to three-fourths or so of Greene County.

I suggest something that truly unites us across the board and helps this area stand out from the crowd: Lincolnway Community School District. Yes, the Lincoln (highway and president), with the statue of honest Abe on the courthouse square—on the county-owned side!—as our rallying point for all of Greene County, or at least all the towns and townships that would be inclusive of a reorg of the current J-S and EG districts.

Lincolnway cleanly ties together the three largest towns of the [proposed] district which are also the three largest towns of the county—Scranton, Jefferson and Grand Junction. The school district and the Lincoln served by the three towns also embrace these townships: Scranton and Kendrick Townships and the city of Scranton; Bristol, Jackson, Hardin and Grant Townships surrounding the city of Jefferson; and the super-size Junction Township and the city of Grand Junction, the second largest town in Greene County with Scranton being third, both trailing Jefferson, the county seat and proposed site of the high school.

Well, that will be then and this is now, so let’s give some applause to the EG Hawks for their showing in GJ at Homecoming on Sept. 16. Tommy Birch wrote:

“GOING GREENE: East Greene had a pair of strong performances in 66-28 victory over Charter Oak-Ute. Reed Ostrander hauled in five passes for 99 yards and three touchdowns. He also had two carries for 50 yards, including a 48-yard touchdown. He had a 51-yard punt return for a touchdown. Quarterback Tory Beger completed 20-of-29 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns. Beger also rushed for two more scores.”

The following Monday, Sept. 21, the “Little Hawks” of the EG Junior High School in GJ posted a big 44-6 win over Adair-Casey in a game suspended in the middle of the third quarter as AC ran out of players. They started with 10 but injuries whittled that down to 7 which is one less needed to play 8-man football.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: Take it or leave it Paton-Churdan, or be on your “way.” If you don’t want to be a part of a county-wide school system, then don’t. But don’t expect any panting, open door “we’ll give it a name you can use too” reality going forward. And since you rebuffed the outreach from EG for any sports sharing, don’t expect us to hold some gild-edged invitation for sports sharing along the likes of Lincolnway/Paton-Churdan. It will be Lincolnway and Lincolnway only. Period. You had your chance(s). You took a pass.

Come on, folks! We need to market that Lincolnway. Make it educational….President Lincoln, early day highway transportation, Floyd Mahany and his legacy with the tower, and our beautiful historic courthouse…. emblematic of our pioneer forebears. Hey! There’s a great team nickname….the Pioneers….Lincolnway Pioneers! Green and Black school colors….green of East Greene and the black of Scranton’s black and gold and Jefferson’s black and red. Honor the heritage….

Keeping It Grand

GJ REAL ESTATE MARKET IS SIZZLING!

The real estate market in Grand Junction is “hot” – not only have three of the largest homes in town—the former Slininger’s funeral home building on East Main Street, the Watts property on the end of East Main, and the former St. Brigid’s rectory on East Hager Street—just sold, but no less than 4 realtor signs have popped up on the lawn of 406 East Hager! Holy multiple listings—Polking, Peckumm, Iowa, and Town & Farm realty companies are looking for a piece of the action on this one! It’s testimony to the level of the ladies in Greene County real estate as the four signs bear contacts for Linda, Linda, Laura and Karen. Update! Now there is a fifth sign on the property—Midland Realty with contact information for realtor Al Rowedder. That’s five!.. Fresh off their successful runs at the Greene County Fair, two of the Gunn sisters—Brittany and Hannah—brightened up the GJ Laundromat with a nice mural on the upper west wall (above the bank of dryers) this summer. Their artwork depicts clothes hanging on the line. Very nice—fresh and breezy. …Marty and Linda Hoffman are building a family room addition to the back of their home on Herron Street….A new sidewalk is gracing the 12th Street side and a bit of the Hager Street corner of the Ross residence on the northeast corner of Hager and 12th… Dennhardt Construction of Jefferson finished up a pavement project for the driveway and parking area at the northeast corner of the high school/middle school just before school started on Aug. 25. The new paving begins at the entry to the school property at Kelley and 13th Streets and extends to the wing that houses the art and ICN rooms and adjacent parking areas.

EG Beats Paton-Churdan In Volleyball

WIN MOVES HAWKETTES’ LEAGUE MARK TO 2-1

East Greene picked up a big volleyball win over arch rival Paton-Churdan on Tuesday, Sept. 6, in Rippey, 27-25, 25-22, 19-25, 25-13.

EG was in top form at the service line with 91% accuracy and 11 aces. Chelsi Wilkens lead the serving corps with 23-24 for 96% and 3 aces. Bailey Godwin was perfect on 11 serves while Jolee Wessling was 12-14 with 3 aces; Brittany Gunn 11-12 with 2 aces; Hannah Onken 10-12 with 1 ace; and Emily Jacobsen 8-10 with 2 aces.

Paton-Churdan was 55 of 72 for 76% at the service line.

Wilkens was a formidable force at the net on offense with 27 kills on 47 attempts and 24 assists. She was good for two blocks on defense. Onken had one block.

The win over the Rockettes moved EG’s season record to 4-4 overall and 2-1 in the Rolling Hills Conference.

Rollings Hills Conference Standings
Adair-Casey 3-0
Iowa Christian 3-0
Walnut 3-0
East Greene 2-1
Glidden-Ralston 2-1
CAM 1-2
Exira/EHK 1-2
Ankeny Christian 0-3
Orient-Macksburg 0-3
Paton-Churdan 0-3

Rolling Hills Conference Scores, Tuesday, Sept. 6:
East Greene beat Paton-Churdan 27-25, 25-22, 19-25, 25-13
Iowa Christian Academy beat Orient-Macksburg 25-23, 25-20, 25-27, 25-22
Adair-Casey beat CAM (Anita) 25-17, 25-15, 25-22
Glidden-Ralston beat Ankeny Christian Academy 25-15, 25-19, 25-22
Walnut beat Elk Horn-Kimballton 26-24, 25-19, 25-20

EYE ON GJ: The Hawkettes have two key road matches next week, traveling to Anita to take on CAM, 1-2 in the conference, and then to league co-leader Adair-Casey (7-1), ranked No. 7 in the state, on Thursday in Adair. Iowa Christian Academy (5-1), which is tied with AC and Walnut for the Rolling Hills lead at 3-0, is also ranked in the Top 10 in Class 1A, coming in at No. 10 this week. Area rival Coon Rapids-Bayard (10-2) is ranked eighth just behind another area team, Ar-We-Va (6-3), which is seventh. Ar-We-Va beat CRB at the Perry Tournament on Wednesday 21-16, 21-19. Ar-We-Va went 2-1 in the tourney at Perry with CRB finishing 1-2. Perry beat Des Moines Christian for the tourney championship with Ar-We-Va beating Earlham in the consolation match for third place.

These matches should indicate just what kind of season EG will have as these are two solid competitors. A road win over CAM would really put the Hawkettes in good standing in the conference race and give them some momentum heading into the contest at Adair. It will be interesting to see how this year’s regional pairings go as EG would see tough competition from teams to the south and west (ICA, AC, CRB, AWV) whereas the teams to the north and east don’t seem to be as daunting.

EG Wins Home Opener, 36-34

BEAT TWIN CEDARS IN GAME THAT SPANS TWO DAYS

East Greene slipped past Twin Cedars (Bussey), 36-34, in a game that stretched over two days—Friday and Saturday, Sept. 2 and 3—to pick up its first win of the season.

The game got underway as scheduled Friday night with a bit of sprinkles and light rain. The two teams traded touchdowns with the Hawks holding the upper hand at the halftime break, 26-20. Twin Cedars came back in the third quarter to take the lead on a touchdown and a two-point conversion, 28-26. The Sabers had the momentum as the Hawks looked to be tiring and were whistled for some key penalties.

The rain had stopped by halftime but with 3:45 left in the third quarter, the officials suspended the game due to lighting to the north. What was hoped to be a mandatory 30-minute delay with the expectations that the lighting would stop, turned into a one-hour delay and still no letup from the lightning. At that point—9:45 p.m.—it was determined to suspend play and resume the game the next day at 2 p.m.

The delay worked to the Hawks’ advantage as the Twin Cedars players and fans would need to drive all the way back to southern Marion County Friday night, and then back up to Grand Junction on Saturday.

Some electrical problems had made the sound system inoperative at Karber Field on Friday but the system was working on Saturday, so the resumed game got underway with the playing of the national anthem. But a light rain began just as play started, so conditions were similar to the night before—just brighter and with no lightning.

Twin Cedars got out of the blocks fast as Jared Stephens scored on a 25-yard run on the first play of the resumed game, extending the Sabers’ lead to 34-26. The EG defense came to the fore, however, and stopped the two point conversion.

The defensive momentum carried forward into the fourth quarter as the Hawks punted down to the 1-yard-line and then stopped TC for a loss in the end zone to score a two-point safety, cutting the lead to 34-28.

Neither team mounted much of a threat rest of the fourth quarter, but in the late stages the Sabers were threatening in Hawk territory when EG intercepted the ball with enough time on the clock to mount one last drive.

EG moved downfield on a key Tory Beger-to-Reed Ostrander pass play with Beger running the ball in a few plays later to tie the game at 34-34. Beger connected with Harrison Johnston on a two-point conversion pass play to put EG in the lead, 36-34, with 40 seconds left in the game.

The Hawks kicked off with Twin Cedars running the ball back to midfield. The Sabers put together an all-out passing assault but the Hawks held them in check in four downs and took over with 17 seconds left on the clock. The Hawks downed the ball on the first snap and then just ran out the clock to pick up their first win of the season, evening their non-district record at 1-1. Twin Cedars fell to 1-1 in non-district play.

Beger passed was 22-38 in passing for a total of 253 yards with no interceptions. He connected for three touchdown passes—one a 56-yard strike to Ostrander. On the receiving end, Ostrander caught 10 passes for 179 total yards. T. J. Lint caught seven passes for 50 yards, Gathercoal caught two for 18 yards, and Broc Timm

Beger ran the ball 16 times for 32 yards and Ostrander gained 106 yards on six carries, most of that on a 63-yard touchdown run. Beger scored on an 8-yard jaunt. Lint had 1 carry for a -1 yard, giving the Hawks 390 total yards—137 on the ground and 253 in the air. Twin Cedars had 356 total yards—213 rushing and 143 passing.

Lint lead the defense with 15 total tackles (two solo and 13 assisted) with Beger right behind with 12 total tackles (2 solo and 10 assisted). Ostrander, Beger and Cody Hidelbaugh each had a sack.

Gathercoal has a big night on defense as he added a fumble recovery to his game-changing interception. Beger also recovered a fumble. The Hawks kicking game was in good form with Zach Hiller kicking off five times for 165 yards and Alex Gordon punting four times for 150 yards.

EG travels to Dunlap on Friday to face 2-1 Boyer Valley in the District 7 opener. This kicks off another season of the 8-Man Football “Lincoln League” as 5 of 7 teams in District 7 are located on the historic Lincoln Highway. The “Lincoln League” (8-Man District 7) is down to seven teams this season as Walnut has dropped its football program and is sharing football with Atlantic, a 3A school. Teams on the Lincoln are: East Greene, Glidden-Ralston, Ar-We-Va, Boyer Valley and Woodbine. The only non-Lincoln teams are within a dozen miles of the highway—Coon Rapids-Bayard and Charter Oak-Ute.

Towns that are on the Lincoln in the five school districts, heading westward, are Grand Junction, Ralston, Glidden, Arcadia, Westside, Vale, Arion, Dow City, Dunlap and Woodbine—a “Big 10” roster of Lincoln Highway/U.S. 30 towns.

Boyer Valley has had easy wins over Whiting and River Valley (Correctionville) and lost by one point on Friday in overtime to No. 6-ranked Kingsley-Pierson, 21-20. EG beat Boyer Valley last year in Grand Junction, 26-20. Both teams qualified for the playoffs last year with EG finishing third in District 7 and BV finishing fourth. Twin Cedars hosts Tri-County (Thornburgh) in a District 5 opener for both teams.

Season (Non-Districts) Records of Lincoln League Teams
Boyer Valley (Dunlap) 2-1
Coon Rapids-Bayard 1-1
East Greene 1-1
Glidden-Ralston 1-1
Woodbine 1-1
Charter Oak-Ute 0-2
Ar-We-Va (Westside) 0-3

District 7 Scores, Week 2 (Sept. 1):
EG 36, Twin Cedars (Bussey) 34
Woodbine 48, Whiting 8
Kingsley-Pierson 21, Boyer Valley 20 (OT), *KP ranked No. 6
CRB 42, Grandview Park Baptist 9
Newell-Fonda 45, GR 8
River Valley 64, Ar-We- 61
Remsen-Union 58, Charter Oak-Ute 8, *RU ranked No. 5

District 7 Scores, Week 1 (Aug. 26):
Melcher Dallas 44, EG 30
GR 62, Grandview Park Baptist 21
Boyer Valley (Dunlap) 61, Whiting 0
Kingsley-Pierson 47, Ar-We-Va 6
Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg) 56, CRB 20
River Valley (Correctionville) 70, COU 28

District 7 Scores, Week 0 (Aug. 19):
Boyer Valley 66, River Valley (Correctionville) 22
CAM (Anita) 39, Woodbine 0
Armstrong-Ringsted 51, Ar-We-Va 12, *AR ranked No. 1

EYE ON GJ SAYS: The Hawks will have their hands full with the Boyer Valley Bulldogs, who look to be one of the top teams in the “Lincoln League” at this stage of the season. BV took sixth-ranked Kingsley-Pierson, a District 1 team, to overtime before falling by one point while unranked Newell-Fonda, also in District 1, rolled over Glidden-Ralston 45-8. Glidden-Ralston, Kingsley-Pierson and Newell-Fonda all advanced to the playoffs last year. KP lost to state champion Armstrong-Ringsted in the first round while NF was eliminated by Armstrong-Ringsted in the second round. GR made it to the quarterfinal round, losing to Fremont-Mills (Tabor) which was, in turn, eliminated by AR in the semifinals in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

EG will need to stop the running game of Michael Hanigan, BV’s standout junior quarterback/defensive back. Hanigan ran the ball 41 times for 131 yards and two touchdowns against Kingsley-Pierson. He was 4-9 with one interception and 51 yards passing. He has ran the ball 91 times for 601 yards in three games—an impressive 200 yards per game average.

BV will need to shut down the EG aerial assault. Beger is now finding success with a range of receivers, while he and Ostrander are also a threat running the ball. Ostrander is still the go-to guy on the EG passing attack, so how the Hawks hold up against the Bulldogs’ pass defense will go a long way in determining who gets the upper hand in Dunlap.

In the 44-30 loss to Melcher-Dallas, Beger put up 195 total yards on 16-24 passing with one interception, giving him a total of 448 yards for both games combined—an impressive 224 yards per game average.

In other D7/Lincoln League games this week, Ar-We-Va (0-3) is at Coon Rapids-Bayard (1-1) and Woodbine (1-1) is at Glidden-Ralston.

Hawkettes Get By OM In Tight Match

TAKE DECIDING FIFTH GAME BY TWO POINTS

East Greene evened its Rolling Hills volleyball record at 1-1 with a squeaker over Orient-Macksburg on Thursday, Sept. 1, in Orient, 16-25, 25-23, 25-23, 7-25, 17-15.

It was a solid comeback for the Hawkettes after losing the first game but winning the next two, only to lose the momentum in a 25-7 drubbing in a fourth game that would have clinched the match. In matches that go to the fifth—and deciding—game in a best-of-five match, the scoring is only to 15 but the winning team must win by two points.

The Hawkettes were tested to the limit as OM forced them to “extra digits” but EG prevailed, getting the last two points of game five for the 17-15 win.

EG opened the conference season with a loss to Walnut 25-18, 25-22, 25-21 on Tuesday, Aug. 30, in Rippey. The previous week, EG fell to Southeast Webster on Tuesday and then went 2-2 in the Coon Rapids-Bayard Invitational on Saturday, beating Ankeny Christian and Paton-Churdan but losing to Adair-Casey and Coon Rapids-Bayard, both ranked teams. CRB beat Adair-Casey in the championship game to win the tournament.

EG, now 3-4 on the season, hosts Paton-Churdan tonight in Rippey in a conference match.

ROLING HILLS CONFERENCE
Adair-Casey 2-0
Iowa Christian 2-0
Walnut 2-0
East Greene 1-1
CAM 1-1
Glidden-Ralston 1-1
Exira/EHK 1-1
Ankeny Christian 0-2
Orient-Macksburg 0-2
Paton-Churdan 0-2

Thurs., Sept. 1:
East Greene 16-25-25-7-17, Orient-Macksburg 25-23-23-25-15
Exira-EHK 25-24-25-25, Paton-Churdan 22-26-23-22
Iowa Christian Academy 25-20-25-25, Glidden-Ralston 20-25-18-21
Adair-Casey 25-22-25-25, Ankeny Christian Academy 6-25-8-13
Walnut 20-25-25-26, CAM, Anita 25-18-17-24

Tues., Aug. 30:
Adair-Casey 25-25-24-25, Exira-EHK 17-20-26-18
CAM, Anita 25-25-25, Ankeny Christian Academy 17-14-18
Glidden-Ralston 20-25-25-25-16, Orient-Macksburg 25-14-16-27-14
Iowa Christian Academy 25-25-25, Paton-Churdan 11-16-13
Walnut 25-25-25, East Greene 18-22-21

EYE ON GJ SAYS: EG is playing among some of the best teams in Class 1A as two conference foes—Iowa Christian and Adair-Casey—are both ranked along with two non-conference teams in west central Iowa—Coon Rapids-Bayard and Ar-We-Va.

Through Thursday, Sept. 1, Ar-We-Va (3-0) is ranked sixth; Adair-Casey (5-1) is eighth; CRB (8-2), ninth; and Iowa Christian (3-1), 13th. AC and ICA are the pre-season favorites in the Rolling Hills with ICA winning the regular conference crown with a perfect 9-0 mark, just ahead of AC at 8-1, but AC came back to beat ICA in the conference tournament championship final. Walnut however is also off to a good start with wins over East Greene and CAM (Anita) putting the Warriors in a tie for first with AC and ICA at 2-0.

ICA, AC, Ar-We-Va and CRB are the only ranked teams in central and west central Iowa in Classes 1A, 2A and 3A with the exception of Bondurant-Farrar in Polk County, which moved in the 3A rankings last week in 13th place. BF was a member of the Heart of Iowa Conference as in Jefferson-Scranton but moved this season to the all 3A Raccoon River Valley Conference. Other teams in the 10-team league are ADM (Adel), Ballard (Huxley), Boone, Carlisle, Carroll, Dallas Center-Grimes, Perry, Saydel and Winterset.