Exira/EHK Ends Hawkettes’ Season

EG TAKES 2-19 RECORD INTO REGIONAL PLAY

Conference champion Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton proved to be too much to handle for East Greene Tuesday night, rolling to an easy 62-15 win in Rippey. The game closed out the Hawkettes’ regular season at 2-19. EG finished last in the Rolling Hills Conference at 2-16 while Exira/EHK took top honors with a 17-1 mark. The Spartans are 18-3 overall.

Both teams enter regional play tonight. EEHK is a favorite in Region 7, which also features Adair-Casey from the Rolling Hills and Coon Rapids-Bayard from the West Central Conference. East Greene is in Region 2 which includes teams from west central, north central and northwest Iowa. Each region has 16 teams playing for a spot in the eight-team field in the Class 1A State Tournament.

The Hawkettes travel to Burnside to take on Southeast Webster-Grand (5-16), a team EG lost to by six points in the first game of the season, 32-26. The winner tonight at Burnside faces the winner of a game in Jewell tonight between Madrid (2-19) and Northeast Hamilton (10-11) in a quarterfinal tilt on Tuesday, Feb. 14, at Burnside.

Rolling Hills Conference foes Glidden-Ralston (5-15) and Paton-Churdan (3-17) face each other for the third time tonight in Glidden. The winner advances to play the winner of tonight’s St. Mary’s (Storm Lake) and Newell-Fonda game at Newell on Feb. 14 in Newell. St. Mary’s (10-12) and Newell-Fonda (16-5) are both members of the Twin Lakes Conference. Newell-Fonda took the league crown with a 9-1 record, besting two solid 2A teams, Manson-Northwest Webster and Sioux Central (Sioux Rapids).

The Newell quarterfinal winner will meet the Burnside quarterfinal winner in a semifinal game on Friday, Feb. 17 in Manson. (If Manson-Northwest Webster plays that night in the Class 2A semifinal round, the game will be moved to Fort Dodge St. Edmond).

The semifinal winner from the Manson bracket will go up against the winner of a semifinal game in Le Mars on Monday, Feb. 20. Teams in the Le Mars bracket are Whiting (6-15), Charter Oak-Ute (10-11), Siouxland Christian (6-15), River Valley (15-7), Remsen St. Mary’s (7-13), Kingsley-Pierson (2-18), Akron-Westfield (5-15) and West Sioux of Hawarden (19-1), the No.5 team in the state.

The favorite in Region 2 is Newell-Fonda, ranked No. 7 in the state. Newell-Fonda (16-5) has been to three of the last four Class 1A state tournaments. Last year the Mustangs were sidelined by eventual champion Martensdale-St. Mary’s in the first round. Two years ago, Newell-Fonda fell to Exira in the semifinal round. Exira went on to win the state championship over Mt. Ayr. In 2008, Newell-Fonda advanced to the final, losing to Springville.

Last year Exira began sharing sports with Elk Horn-Kimballton, creating a program with recent experience at the state tournament level on the Exira side and deep tradition in girls basketball success on the Elk Horn-Kimballton side. Exira had been to state in 2008 but was highly ranked in 2009, but was sidelined the next year by Coon Rapids-Bayard in a regional quarterfinal game.

Exira/EHK has been ranked in the Top 15 in Class 1A all season but fell from 11^th to 15^th after losing to Adair-Casey, 51-44, on Jan. 17, and then dropped out of the rankings altogether after losing 59-48 to Guthrie Center (8-14) on Jan. 21. EEHK then closed out the season with five straight wins, capped by the 48-point thrashing of EG on Tuesday.

EEHK’s exit in the rankings allowed CRB (16-5) to move into the No. 15 last week, a position it held in the final poll released today by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. CRB faces CAM (9-12) in Coon Rapids tonight with the winner to face the winner of the Guthrie-EEHK battle in quarterfinal game Tuesday in Elk Horn.

The Elk Horn winner will meet the Adair quarterfinal winner in a semifinal battle on Feb. 17 in Atlantic. Orient-Macksburg (13-8) hosts last year’s champ, Martsendale-St. Mary’s (11-11), in Orient while Adair-Casey takes (19-2) takes on Earlham (8-13) in Adair in the Adair sub-bracket.

No. 2 Bedford is the favorite in the lower half of the Region 7 bracket. Bedord (20-1) will host Lenox (3-19) tonight. Bedford lost its first game to Nodaway Valley (Greenfield) on Tuesday in the regular season finale, giving Nodaway Valley a tie with Bedford for the Pride of Iowa Conference title. Nodaway Valley, a 2A team, is 19-2 but not ranked. They are in the same 2A region as No. 8 Panorama, which won the West Central Conference with a perfect 18-0 mark, and area teams Jefferson-Scranton, Ogden and Des Moines Christian.

The Bedord-Lenox winner will take on the winner of East Union (5-16) and Diagonal (3-17). Also in that side of Region 7 are Mormon Trail (6-14), Murray (15-6), Lamoni (6-14) and Mount Ayr (11-10).

This is a power-packed region with last year’s state champion, Martensdale-St. Mary’s, and both the 2010 champion and runner-up—EEHK and Mount Ayr—plus Murray, a perennial southern Iowa power, and state-ranked teams Bedford, Adair-Casey and Coon Rapids-Bayard. The final is Monday, Feb. 20 in Greenfield.

Hawk Rally Comes Up Short

EG FALLS TO COLO-NESCO 55-53 IN SEMIFINAL ROUND

A torrid, last-minute comeback fueled by 3 three-point shots came up just short for East Greene Tuesday night, as the Hawks fell 55-53 to Colo-Nesco in the district semifinal rounds.

Colo-Nesco was ahead by 9 with less than a minute left in the game but EG started hitting its three-point shots while CN was having trouble at the foul line. According to the Ames Tribune, EG almost pulled off this foul-and-three strategy and had cut the lead to just 2 when Aaron Lyons hit a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left. But the Hawks were not able to foul again on the ensuing throw-in and CN got the win.

EG (18-5) closes out its best season in more than 25 years while Colo-Nesco (20-2) moves on to the district final in Story City tonight against Coon Rapids-Bayard, a 44-23 winner Tuesday over Van Meter.

The winner in Story City tonight will move on the substate game in Marshalltown on Monday against the winner of tonight’s game between Lynville-Sully and North Tama (Traer). The winner there advances on to the state tournament, which gets underway March 8 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Lynville-Sully, Colo-Nesco and North Tama are all ranked in the Top 10 Class 1A Associated Press rankings while Coon Rapids-Bayard is coming off an appearance in last year’s 1A state tourney.

Against EG tonight, Brandon Eley, who has earned a basketball scholarship to play on AIB’s first basketball team, scored 31 points for the Royals, and hit some key 3-pointers in the third quarter as CN started to pull away, leading by 12 at the break, 45-33.

EG then went into rally mode, just as they had in the first half. The Hawks opened the game slowly, falling behind in the first quarter 9-2 and were behind 14-9 at the end of the period. EG got some solid inside play from senior center Nic Nicolaisen in the second quarter to take the lead at 25-21 with two minutes left on the clock. Eley came back with two three-pointers to spur the Royals and go up 29-27 at the half.

In the third, it looked like the Royals might run away with the game with a 16-6 run but the Hawks hung in there and kept their cool and whittled away at the lead in the final stages of a pressure-packed game on the opponent’s home floor. Zach Dearborn paced the Hawks with 16 points and Nicolaisen had 15.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: Chalk this up under the “almost great glory moments” of EG hoop history, marked by the heart-wrenching loss in the 1961 girls district basketball championship, where the undefeated and highly-ranked Hawkettes, led by Hall of Famer Pam Slock, lost to Cedar Valley, coming up short of the vaunted “Sweet 16” state tourney that year by just 2 points; the EG loss to Jefferson in the 1966 district boys finals in the old one-class-for all era of tournament play which ended EG’s undefeated season and sent Jefferson to the substate against Ames, an even larger school (Ames won and went to state—just 1 of 8 teams); and the shock in 1983 when the Hawks, undefeated and ranked No. 2 for most of the season and coming off a state tourney appearance the year before, were downed by conference rival Glidden-Ralston in a barn-burner sectional final.

Plus there was last year’s substate 3-2 baseball loss to Ar-We-Va, along with other “almost there” moments to note, like EG’s loss in the baseball substate the fall of 1961 and the summer tournament substate loss in the summer of 1983. Those latter two tournaments each had just a four-team field, so EG was among the best 8 teams in baseball those two years (and the tourney fields were later increased to that number). And in 1949, behind the scoring of Jerry Doran, Grand Junction had advanced to the substate final which marks yet another “almost to state” boys basketball moment, and in 1955 Rippey made it through the “B” sectional, the “B” district, and the first round of a one-class-for-all substate before falling in the semifinal round to Ames, which went on to win the substate and eventually the 1955 state championship, the first ever played at Vet’s Auditorium, which had just opened.

Talk about hard luck. After Rippey’s run through a one-class tournament in ’55, it was the next year the Iowa High School Athletic Association divided the tournament into two classes at state (A and B from 1957 to 1960), and again when the Hawks were overpowered by a much larger school in ’66, well, again, the IAHSAA apparently realized there is a big difference in enrollment between Rippey and Ames and East Greene and Ames, and Jefferson, and again went to a two-class tournament the following year.

OK, at least maybe they felt our pain or something, but could they not have made those two-class tourneys the year we had those super-great teams?? Or did they do that just to rub it in our face or something (we’ll reward you small schools after taking our pleasure from watching the teams in eastern Greene County scale the mountain—and not make it, hahaha)? Makes you wonder doesn’t it?

Hawks Face Colo-Nesco in District Semifinal

EG ADVANCES WITH 68-17 THUMPING OF SWG

East Greene’s tuned up for tonight’s semifinal district game against state-ranked Colo-Nesco with a 68-17 romp over Southeast Webster-Grand on Thursday night in a district basketball opening round game in Rippey.

The Hawks dominated the game from start to finish, jumping out to a 27-6 first quarter lead. EG was up 53-10 at the half, and then held SWG scoreless in the third quarter, padding the lead to 62-10.

Zach Dearborn led the Hawk scoring brigade with 16 points. Nic Nicolaisen scored 14 points and snared 8 rebounds with Aaron Lyons also in double figures with 10 points. EG shot a blistering 56% from the field, connecting on 30 of 54 shots while holding the Eagles to just 7 of 34. The Hawks forced SWG into 31 turnovers and had a big edge in rebounding, 32-23.

EG went 3-11 from the 3-point line and hit half of their 10 free throw attempts. SWG was 0-5 on 3-point attempts and 3-12 from the free throw line for 25% accuracy.

SWG closed out the season with a 3-20 mark. EG advances to the semifinal round with an 18-4 record.

The Hawks face a big challenge tonight against in Colo against No. 9-ranked Colo-Nesco (19-2), co-champs of the Iowa Star-South Conference. Colo-Nesco beat Madrid 55-28 in a quarterfinal round game Thursday in Colo. One of CN’s two losses this season came to league co-champ North Tama, 57-51, the No. 10 team in the state. CN beat North Tama earlier in the season, 49-48. Its other loss was to Iowa Star-South conference foe Don Bosco (Gilbertville), 52-29, which was avenged later in the season with a 50-48 win.

CN has also handed Northeast Hamilton (20-2), winners of the Iowa Star-North crown, with just one of its two losses of the season.

The Royals are lead by 6-1 senior forward Brandon Eley, who averages 20 points and 11 rebounds a game. Against Madrid, Eley dropped in 24 points and pulled down 13 rebounds.

Should the Hawks get by Colo-Nesco they would face either Van Meter (5-17), a surprise winner over Ankeny Christian Academy, 48-45, or Coon Rapids-Bayard (14-6), which advanced with a 35-27 win over Glidden-Ralston. Those two teams square off tonight in Coon Rapids. The district finals are Thursday in Story City.

CRB, which was one of the eight teams in the 1A state tourney field last year, is peaking at the right time as the Crusaders won their sixth straight game at Glidden.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: On paper, it looks like Colo-Nesco is the hands-down favorite. The Royals appear to have everything in their favor—home-court advantage, a lofty state ranking, and a conference championship under their belt. But all those positives could work in East Greene’s favor as the Royals could easily dismiss the Hawks and ignore their 19 wins as mostly against inferior teams of the Rolling Hills Conference. But when you look at the participants in the last two Class 1A state tournaments, the Rolling Hills has been represented by Ankeny Christian (2010) and Adair-Casey (2009). And who made it to state those two years among the 12 Iowa Star teams (two more than the RH’s 10)? No one.

In fact, the Iowa Star has not had a representative at state since Dunkerton made it to state and won the crown in 2004. Since then, the West Central, where EG competed, sent four teams to state: Des Moines Christian in 2007, Guthrie Center in 2008, and both CRB in 1A and DMC in 2A in last year’s field while the Iowa State sent none.

But Colo-Nesco has a solid basketball tradition, having made it to the district finals five of the last seven years. The Royals won the district in 2004 and then lost to Dunkerton in the substate. CN also made it to substate in 2009 and 2008. Last year, the Royals were sidelined in Colo in the semifinal round by Grandview Park Baptist, a team that went on to the district crown but then lost to Ankeny Christian in the substate.

EG’s win over SWG was just the first time since 2003 that the Hawks have advanced past the quarterfinal round. That year, EG beat CRB in Coon Rapids, 53-46, but then fell to Hubbard-Radcliffe, 52-45, in a game also played at Coon Rapids. Hubbard-Radcliffe squeaked by Northeast Hamilton, 47-45, in the district final and then beat East Union (Afton) to win the substate and advance to the state tournament.

Look for CRB to get by Van Meter in the other semifinal round game. CRB and CN both play a hard-nosed brand of defense, much like Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton, a team EG battled with twice in the Rolling Hills this year, with the Spartans winning both games and taking the league crown.

The District 12 finals are on Thursday with the winner advancing to the Substate 6 game in Marshalltown to face the winner of District 11. Semifinal games in that district tonight have North Tama hosting HLV (Victor) and Melcher-Dallas at Lynville-Sully. The winners meet on Thursday at Meskwaki Settlement School near Tama. Lynville-Sully is the No. 6 ranked team in Class 1A.

Hopefully, the Royals will be a little too confident and have their eyes on a possible showdown with North Tama in the substate, thinking they can glide by their upcoming foes from the other side of Interstate 35 on their way to substate.

CRB Ends Hawkettes’ Season

LOSE IN REGIONAL FIRST ROUND, FINISH 9-15

Coon Rapids-Bayard swept East Greene in three games, 25-19, 25-16, 25-12, in first round regional volleyball action at Coon Rapids on Wednesday. CRB (23-6) advances to the quarterfinal round in Madrid where they will face the Madrid Tigers, winners over Earlham.

EG ends the 2010 season with a 9-15 record. The Hawkettes finished in eighth place in the Rolling Hills Conference with a 3-6 mark.

Only AC and ICA were winners among the 10 conference teams in regional action on Wednesday. Adair-Casey sidelined conference foe Walnut to advance to a Region 3 quarterfinal match against Riverside (Oakland) next Tuesday in Adair. Iowa Christian beat Southeast Warren Liberty Center and will take on Martensdale-St. Mary’s on Tuesday at Melcher in Region 5. Regional quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinal round on Friday, Oct. 29.

Paton-Churdan lost on Wednesday night to Southeast Webster in Burnside in Region 2, while Jefferson-Scranton got by Ogden in Class 2A first round regional action in Ogden. The Rams (16-21) move on to face Kuemper (21-10) next Tuesday in Carroll.

In the conference tournament at Elk Horn last week, EG took on Paton-Churdan in an opening round match, beating the Rockettes to advance to a second round match against Iowa Christian Academy, the No. 2 seed in the league tourney. ICA, ranked 12th in the state in Class 1A, beat the Hawkettes 21-9, 21-18 to advance to the semifinals. The Blazers won their semifinal match but fell to Adair-Casey in the championship. In a consolation round game, EG was edged out by CAM (Anita) 21-18, 18-21, 15-11.

FINAL CONFERENCE STANDINGS
(Conf. Record, Season Record Through 10-20-10)
Iowa Christian 9-0 18-8
Adair-Casey 8-1 23-6
Ankeny Christian 5-4 12-12
CAM (Anita) 5-4 9-15
Orient-Macksburg 5-4 8-17
Glidden-Ralston 4-5 10-15
Elk Horn Kimballton/Exira 4-5 6-17
East Greene 3-6 9-15
Paton-Churdan 1-8 2-30
Walnut 1-8 8-23

EYE GJ SAYS: It was an up and down season for the Hawkettes this year. After a strong start with a season-opening win over Southeast Webster-Grand and a good showing at an invitational tournament in Coon Rapids—and starting out 2-1 in the Rolling Hills—in looked like the Hawkettes could compete for an upper division finish in their first year in the RH. But key losses to teams like Orient-Macksburg and Ankeny Christian resulted in EG falling into the lower half of the conference which was dominated all season by Adair-Casey and Iowa Christian. EG did put some together some solid performances during the season, beating former league rival Guthrie Center, last year’s West Central Conference champion, and they pulled out some close matches which showed they could play well under pressure. After EG beat Guthrie, the Tigerettes turned around and upset Adair-Casey, but both EG and GC suffered from inconsistency throughout the season.

The West Central Conference fared much better in opening round regional action than the RH with the 9 teams posting a 6-3 mark. And two of those three losses were to other WC teams. Guthrie got by CAM (Anita), a Rolling Hills team, and will next face East Union (27-7). Madrid beat league foe Earlham to also advance in Class 1A. Woodward-Granger and Des Moines Christian, which has been ranked for part of the season, advanced in 2A as did Van Meter, which beat fellow conference member West Central Valley. The only 2A team to lose to a non-league for was Panorama.

The West Central will became a 10-team league again next year, as Ogden will leave the Heart of Iowa-Small after this season and fill the vacancy created by East Greene’s move to the Rolling Hills.

Five East Greene seniors played their last match in the regional loss: Katlynn Gannon, Molly Neese, Tia Lowe, Brittanee Heaning and Jasmine Kinney. Several younger players made significant contributions to the team this year, especially Chelsi Wilkens, who had a big impact on the front line as just a freshman starter, leading the team in blocks. Wilkens and sophomore reserves Tori Lowe and Brittany Gunn will serve as the nucleus for the varsity next year.

There were no juniors on the squad, so Coach Carly Tiffany will be fielding a young team next year in a somewhat of a rebuilding phase. EG also has a strong group of 8th graders moving up to the high school level for next year’s team—including Tiffany’s daughter Bailey Godwin— who could step in and play key roles. The team that takes the court next fall will essentially be in place for back-to-back seasons, so this year’s sophomores will be called upon to show leadership for the younger team members.

Hawks Bag Big Win Over CRB

ADVANCE TO DISTRICT FINALS AGAINST EHKE

A big 3-1 win over Coon Rapids-Bayard in the district baseball semifinals in Coon Rapids Thursday has sent East Greene to the district championship game tonight against fourth-ranked Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira. Game time is 7 p.m. in Coon Rapids.

The winner advances to Tuesday night’s substate championship game in Denison to play for a spot in the Class 1A State Tournament at Principal Park in Des Moines. The Hawks advanced to State last year winning the district in Ames and the substate in Ankeny.

EG was a solid underdog in the game as they had fallen to CRB—co-champs of the West Central Conference—by a 5-2 score earlier in the season and then 17-6 in a game shortened to 6 innings by the 10-run rule last Friday in Rippey. That win gave the Crusaders a share of the conference title with Woodward-Granger as both teams ended league play with glossy 17-1 marks.

EG had compiled a less than stellar 8-9 league mark for fifth place, so the home fans at Crusader Field on Thursday night most likely thought the semifinal game with EG was a just stepping stone to a big CRB showdown with undefeated EHKE two nights later.

The Hawks had other ideas.

They struck quickly in the top of the first frame as Tom Beger walked and Aaron Lyons singled. A single by the next Hawk batter, Tyler Cooklin, scored Beger putting the Hawks up 1-0. When CRB pitcher Brett Carstens then threw three straight balls to Wes Onken, veteran Crusader Coach John Waddle pulled Carstens and put Gage Reis on the mound. Reis, in turn, threw a ball and Onken was on his way to first, loading the bases for EG.

Onken was then picked off at first, but Jessie Priest walked to load the bases again. Josh Neese struck out and Zach Dearborn hit one to the 2nd baseman who threw him out at first, ending the inning. EG stranded three base runners and squandered some scoring opportunities--a situation that hampered both teams throughout the game.

CRB got on the board in the bottom of the inning to knot the score at one. Leadoff batter Jacob Esdohr rapped a single off Cooklin and then stole second. Cooklin walked Carstens, and then Esdohr stole third, putting runners at the corners. Schwartz struck out but Carstens stole second. Tyler Boeke struck out, but then Gage Reis singled to center field sending Esdohr across the plate to knot the score at 1-1. Carstens rounded third and was headed to home plate but a terrific throw from Lyons in center field to catcher Tory Beger nailed him at the plate, snuffing out the rally and ending the inning.

Both teams got on base in the second inning and each stranded two runners. In the third inning, a single by Zach Dearborn sent Neese to third base with two outs, but a short chopper to the shortstop by Zach Beyerink ended the threat. CRB advanced a runner to second with just one out, but two quick outs left the game tied at 1-1 after three innings. At that point, EG had 5 hits and stranded 7 runners, but had scored just the 1 run. CRB had left 4 runners on base.

Reis bore down in the top of the fourth and the Hawks went down in order. The Crusaders threatened in the bottom of the inning on a walk to Michael Schwenk followed by a single from Caylor Deeth with just one out. But a great catch of a popup near the first base line by second baseman Alex Gordon and then a shot hit right to Neese at third base ended the threat.

Cooklin got things going for the Hawks in the fifth with a leadoff single up the middle. Onken’s infield popup was the first out, but a balk on Reis sent Cooklin to second base. Jessie Priest struck out for the second out of the inning, but Neese then smashed a line drive to left field which turned into an RBI double as Cooklin scored putting the Hawks up 2-1. A dribbler by Dearborn to the first baseman ended the inning.

Cooklin was firing on all cylinders in the bottom of the inning, striking out Carstens and Boeke with Schwartz lining one to Neese sandwiched between the strikeouts, putting down the Crusaders 1-2-3.

EG threatened again in the sixth as Reis walked the first batter, Ostrander, and then was taken out by Waddle and replace by Boeke. CRB had now rolled out all three of its top pitchers and Waddle, who entered the game with 507 career victories—all earned in Coon Rapids—was looking for a way to contain the Hawks. The three pitchers had an accumulated record of 19-2 and Reis was credited with two saves and Boeke one as CRB had rolled up 26 victories coming into the semifinal game with EG. Gordon then got a bunt off of Boeke and the throw from third to first was wide, leaving Gordon safe at first and advancing Ostrander to third. Pinch runner T. J. Lint came in for Gordon but second baseman Brendan McAlister turned a short chopper by Tom Beger into a double play. Ostrander was still a threat on third, but Lyons struck out, leaving another runner stranded in scoring position.

Cooklin picked up right where he left off from the fifth inning, striking out Reis and Zach Imler to open the sixth, giving him three strikeouts in a row. A walk to Schwenk was followed by a pop up from Deeth—sending the Hawks into the 7th inning with a 1-run lead and the hint of a possible upset.

Again, Cooklin came to the fore, this time slamming a double down the right field line as the leadoff batter, giving him a hit off of each of the three Crusader pitchers. Onken’s sacrifice bunt moved Cooklin to third, and Priest walked to put runners on first and third. Neese was intentionally walked which loaded the bases. Dearborn then hit a line drive single into the outfield, sending Cooklin home and the Hawks were up 3-1 with just 1 out and the bases still loaded. Ostrander then struck out and Alex Gordon lined out to the shortstop, giving the Hawks a key run but stranding three runners.

The pressure was on Cooklin, who walked the first batter, McAlister. Esdohr hit into a fielder’s choice which put him on first with one out, but Cooklin got Carstens to strike out for CRB’s second out and their chances fading. Esdohr advanced to second on a passed ball and Schwartz walked so CRB’s fortunes were improving, and then Cooklin hit Boeke with a pitch that loaded the bases.

Gage Reis came to the plate and got ahead of the count 1-0. He took a strike but then another ball had him up 2-1. Another ball made things tense for the Hawks but Reis hit a foul behind the bleachers to make it a full count, 3-2. Cooklin then got one right across the plate with Reis looking as the called strike ended the game, and EG was on its way to the district finals.

Cooklin had an amazing game, going 3-4 with an RBI and scoring 2 runs. On the mound, he threw 11 strikeouts, walked seven and held the Crusaders to just 3 hits. Carstens, Boeke and Reis allowed the Hawks 9 hits, walked 7 and struck out 6.

Dearborn had two singles and a RBI, Neese had a double and a RBI, and Lyons, Tom Beger and Dearborn each hit key singles.

EG heads to the final with an 18-11 record to face EHKE, champions of the Rolling Hills Conference. The Spartans blasted CAM (Anita), another RH member, 15-0 in 5 innings in the other district semifinal game in Adair. The win ran up EHKE’s season record to 26-0. CAM ended the year at 4-15.

CRB’s loss ended its season at 26-7.

The EG vs. EHKE winner (District 15) will face the winner of District 16 in the Substate 8 championship. Ar-We-Va (Westside) takes on Woodbury Central (Moville) tonight in Moville in the District 16 title game. Both teams are in the Western Valley Conference. Ar-We-Va (11-13) finished sixth in the Western Valley South (nine teams) at 7-9 and Woodbury Central (10-10) went 7-9 for fifth place in the Western Valley North (eight teams).

EYE ON GJ SAYS: EHKE is indeed a formidable opponent. There is no arguing with a 26-0 record and in conference play the Spartans dispensed 8 of their 12 opponents in games shortened by the 10-run rule.

But what EG brought to the diamond on Thursday night, they can bring again. EG is a defending state tournament qualifier and this same team has faced down the pressures of a championship district game and a championship substate game. EG is very familiar with the CR diamond too, having faced off there against the Crusaders every year since first joining the West Central in 1997 and in many years facing competition in the districts held at Coon Rapids.

EHKE’s pitching chores have been handled all season by three senior pitchers: Carson Smith (11-0), Travis Stevens (8-0) and Nolan Himmelberg (7-0). Himmelberg picked up his seventh win against CAM on Thursday, throwing a one-hitter. Smith got things moving for the offense, blasting a three-run homer in the top of the first. EHEK had 15 hits on the night.

Those are lofty marks, but EG shut down all three of CRB’s pitchers on Thursday who brought a collective 19-2 mark into the game. CRB and EG each play a tougher conference schedule—18 games against 1A and 2A teams while EHKE plays 12 games against 1A teams.

EG and EHKE both faced the same six teams—two in the Rolling Hills and four in the West Central. EHKE beat Earlham 4-3 and EG beat them 5-3. The Spartans downed Panorama 12-2 while EG split with the Panthers, winning 9-4 and losing 12-8. EHKE beat Guthrie Center 10-0; EG beat Guthrie 6-0 and 8-7. As noted, EG earlier lost two games to CRB but on Thursday rectified that in a big way in the semifinal matchup, 3-1. EHKE beat CRB 6-3 on June 9.

The Spartans clearly took it to the second- and third-place finishers in the Rolling Hills, thumping Iowa Christian 10-5 and 18-0 and drubbing GR 9-2 and 18-0. EG also faced those two teams in non-conference action, beating ICA 4-2 on its home field in Waukee and posting a 13-7 win over GR in Rippey in early June.

It looks like coach Dana Fink has the Hawks peaking at just the right time, as noted by their solid play against CRB. The Hawks weren’t sharp against winless Southeast Webster-Grand on Tuesday, as that game was deadlocked at 1-1 well into the later innings, but they came back strong and picked up one of their biggest wins over the Crusaders two nights later.

HAWKETTE VB NOW 6-1

Netters Win CRB Tourney; Pick Up 2 League Wins

A three-game sweep of Van Meter last Tuesday (Sept. 8) in the home volleyball opener moved East Greene’s conference mark to 2-0, putting the Hawkettes in a tie for first place with Coon Rapid-Bayard and Woodward-Granger.

The Hawkettes rolled into the VM match after winning the Coon Rapids-Bayard Tournament on Saturday with a 25-21, 22-25, 15-12 win over the host school in the championship match.
EG had advanced to the semifinal round earlier in the day with a split in its two matches in the first round, beating Iowa Christian Academy 25-15, 15-25, 15-8 and dropping a close match to Woodbine, 25-19, 20-25, 15-13.

EG faced cross-county rival Paton-Churdan in the semifinals and beat the Rockettes two-zip, 25-21, 25-15.

The Hawkettes opened conference play on Thursday, Sept. 3 with a three-game sweep at Earlham, 25-12, 25-20, 25-20. EG is now 6-1 on the season and is the only team to beat CRB, which is ranked No. 11 in Class 1A with an 11-1 season mark.

The conference race heats up tonight (Tuesday, Sept. 15) as the top six teams face-off against each other. CRB and WG, both 2-0, are at Woodward; Guthrie Center (1-0) is at Earlham (1-1); and EG hosts Des Moines Christian (1-1).

West Central Conference Standings
East Greene 2-0
Coon Rapids-Bayard 2-0
Woodward-Granger 2-0
Guthrie Center 1-0
Des Moines Christian 1-1
Earlham 1-1
Van Meter 0-1
Madrid 0-2
Panorama 0-2
West Central Valley 0-2

REGIONAL SOFTBALL

Hawkette’s Season Ends at CRB

Coon Rapids-Bayard ended the Hawkettes’ season in the opening round of the regional softball tournament in Coon Rapids last night, 11-4.

CRB’s freshman pitcher Marissa Spoo picked up the win, giving up five hits and striking out five EG batters. The Hawkettes gave up 5 hits and 5 walks and allowed the Crusaders to steal base seven times. EG finished the year at 4-19.

CRB (17-12) advances to the quarterfinal round Friday night, taking on Glidden Ralston (22-7). In other Region 4 games, Earlham (27-8) eliminated CAM 12-0 in Anita and Exira (12-6) beat Adair Casey. Earlham and Exira square off Friday in Anita.

In the lower bracket of Region 4, Madrid (16-17) beat Colo-Nesco in Madrid, and Van Meter downed Grandview Park Baptist 3-0 in Van Meter. Madrid takes on Van Meter (10-19) in quarterfinal action Friday in Madrid.

TONIGHT’S CLASS 2A SCORES: Three of the four West Central Conference teams competing in Class 2A were sidelined in opening round regional action tonight (Thursday) with West Central Valley seeing its game at Nodaway Valley rained out until tomorrow. Two other area 2A teams, however, advanced on to the quarterfinal round. Jefferson-Scranton beat Prairie Valley and Ogden sidelined Gilbert.

Bondurant-Farrar 2, Des Moines Christian 0
North Polk 9, Panorama 0
Woodward-Granger 12, Guthrie Center 0
Jefferson-Scranton 5, Prairie Valley 1
Ogden 5, Gilbert 3

EYE ON GJ SAYS: No big surprises with the WC 2A teams, as they each faced formidable opponents. North Polk pitcher Sammy Snygg had 12 strikeouts in the win over Panorama, giving her a career record 2,178 strikeouts. Snygg, a senior, broke the old mark held by Jen Bice of Woodward-Granger who notched 2,175 strikeouts in her high school softball pitching career from 1995 to 1999.

J-S and Ogden got off to good starts. J-S will take on the winner of South Hamilton and Fort Dodge, which was postponed by rain from Thursday to Friday, in the quarterfinals, now scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m. at Rogers Complex in Fort Dodge, site of the state tournament. Ogden takes on South Hardin in Roland at 7 p.m. on Friday. The winner of that game advances to the regional semifinal in Fort Dodge on Monday to take on the winner of the J-S and South Hamilton or St. Ed’s game. The Fort Dodge semifinal winner will take on the Humboldt semifinal winner in the regional final on Wednesday, July 15, at 7:30 p.m., also in Fort Dodge. All Fort Dodge games will be at Rogers.

The 1A teams in the West Central had an excellent opening night, going 3-0 against competition from other leagues. The league went to 2-0 against the Heart of Iowa-Small and 1-0 against the Rolling Hills. With CRB’s win over EG and Glidden-Ralston’s bye, the league has five teams still in play after round one. However, four of them face off against each other in the quarterfinals