Year in Review – Sports – 2008

 

Two thousand andeight will go down in the history books as one of the most successful years forTecumseh High School’s sports programs, with a back-to-back state softballchampionship and a state girls bowling title, while both Clinton and Brittonreported many memorable moments turned in by their student athletes. From stateto regional, district and league, titles were earned by each of the threeschools covered by the Herald. We beginour look back with the month of January and close with sporting events thathappened only a few short weeks ago.

 

January

New TCC rivalsface off

Britton's varsitygirls basketball team traveled to Clinton and was shut down by a stiff Redskindefense that finished with a big 61-19 victory. It was the first time the twoteams have faced each other in the Tri-County Conference with Clinton joiningthe league this year.

THS beats Ida

Tecumseh'svarsity boys basketball team handed visiting Ida its first loss of the seasonwith the Indians taking a sound 64-55 non-league victory in front of a largeSaturday evening home crowd.

Tecumseh wins

Tecumseh’svarsity boys swim team, currently ranked third in Division III, turned in astrong team performance at the annual Kiwanis Invitational, winning 11-of-24events as host to teams from Adrian, Dundee, Milan, Plymouth and Ypsilanti.

Gymnasts third

Tecumseh'svarsity gymnastics team finished third at the Salem Invitational on Saturday,Jan 5, scoring 121.525 points. Farmington won the event with 144.475 points.

Mulesharnessed by Tecumseh

It took somedoing, but Tecumseh's varsity boys basketball team was able to harnessBedford's Kicking Mules on Friday, Jan 11, and pick up its first win in theSoutheastern Conference (1-5 SEC).

Indians placesecond

One of Tecumseh’stop competitive cheer team members was injured and unable to compete at Morencion Saturday but the Indians still managed to finish in second place behindNapoleon despite having two other team members sick with flu -like symptoms.

Tories holdoff Trojans

Britton’s varsitygirls basketball team held off visiting Whitmore Lake in the final quarter totake a 35-29 Tri-County Conference victory on Monday.

THS winsJaimes Invite

When it came downto crunch time for Tecumseh’s varsity wrestlers at the 10th Annual PhillipJaimes Memorial Wrestling Team Invitational on Saturday, Jan 26, the Indiansdelivered, giving coach Tim Connors an undefeated day of 5-0 to earn the title.

[175.TIFF -Back-to-back Division 2 state championships were won by Tecumseh’s varsitysoftball team to highlight the 2008 sports season. Photo by Mickey Alvarado]

{Hollie – thisis the rest of the year in review. Didn’t know how much you’d want.}

FEBURARY

Indians first at cheer Invite

A first place trophy was picked up by Tecumseh’s varsitycheer team at the Michigan Center Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 2, with theIndians totaling 667.245 points during the three rounds of competition.

Indians bowl past Chelsea

Tecumseh's varsity boys bowling team returned home fromChelsea on Thursday, Jan 31, after badly beating the Bulldogs 25-5.

Tecumseh wins SEC White title

Seven consecutive Southeastern Conference (SEC) WhiteDivision titles have been awarded to Tecumseh's varsity wrestling team with theIndians winning the championship at home this year.

Last-second shot lifts BHS

Britton’s varsity boys basketball team beat Summerfield55-53 on Friday with Austin Hyatt getting a put-back to win the game.

‘Skins take down TCC title

Clinton’s wrestling team (37-5), ranked third in Division 4,captured the Tri-County Conference title Saturday, in dominant fashion.

Indians win district title

Tecumseh's varsity wrestlers defended their crown by winning24-of-28 bouts to pick up their sixth consecutive title.

Redskins end with 38 wins

Clinton’s varsity wrestling team's season came to an endafter facing Manchester in the Division 4 district championship final onWednesday with the Flying Dutchmen closing the door on the Redskins with a48-14 victory.

Abrupt season ending for THS girls

Heading into the Class A district games at Ypsilanti LincolnHigh School on Monday Tecumseh’s varsity girls basketball team was on a rollwith a 51-33 confidence building win against Dexter to finish out its regularseason. However, once the Indians hit the postseason everything came crashingto a sudden halt. The Indians lost 58-34 to Monroe in the first round ofdistrict action.

Regional title won by Indians

After winning the Division 2, Region 11 championship lastFriday, Feb. 22, Tecumseh's varsity girls bowling team will travel to SterlingHeights this Friday to battle for the state championship trophy.

Tecumseh advances to Battle Creek

Tecumseh's varsity wrestling team will once again return toBattle Creek for another run at a state title after winning the Division 2,Region 116 championship at Gibraltar Carlson.

THS wins own cheer invitational

Tecumseh's varsity competitive cheer team picked up thetitle to its own Division 1-2 invitational on Saturday, Feb. 23, while MichiganCenter was the champion in the Division 3-4 competition.

Redskins win TCC title

Clinton’s final regular season girls basketball game againstWhiteford was rescheduled due to poor weather and it was made up after GabrielRichard beat the Redskins 51-38 in the second round of District play. CHSdefeated Whiteford 74-45 to end its season and clinch the TCC title.

MARCH

Tecumseh girls win state bowling title

The City of Tecumseh recently declared Sunday, March 9, 2008as Tecumseh High School Girls Varsity Bowling Team Day, after the Indiansdefeated Coldwater, the three time defending Division 2 champions, in the statefinals to bring another championship trophy back to Tecumseh.

Richard bowls pair of perfect games at state

Tecumseh’s Kara Richard had never bowled a perfect game butthat changed during the qualifying rounds of the state individual finals.Kara's qualifying block scores seeded her number one going into the final 16round, surpassing 200 in each of her six games with a high of a perfect 300.She was then eliminated from the final eight round.

Season over for Tecumseh

Taking down Oxford and advancing to the semifinals seemeddoable for Tecumseh's varsity wrestlers after the first four matches of theDivision 2 state quarterfinals at Battle Creek. However, the Blue and GoldWildcats quickly flipped things around to secure the victory, taking the nextfive straight matches and hanging on for a 36-21 victory.

Tecumseh swims third at state

Tecumseh sent nine swimmers and divers to the 2008 DivisionIII state championships, held at the Holland Aquatic Center, and after two daysof excellent competition finished third overall behind state champion EastGrand Rapids and second place Alma while capturing the 200-yard medley relayand 100-yard breaststroke (Scott Yarbrough) titles.

Bagby, Perry win state medals

Both Tecumseh and Clinton High Schools had varsity wrestlerspick up third place medals at the state finals at the Palace of Auburn Hilllast weekend. Sean Bagby placed third for the Indians while Ryan Perry wasthird for the Redskins.

Tecumseh opens track season

All in all, the spring season started on a high note forTecumseh's varsity girls track team on Saturday, March 15, with the Indiansexceeding coach David Greene's expectations on the indoor track at SienaHeights University.

Fifty-three teams compete

Fifty-three teams from the county and far beyond wereentered into the Britton Tory Boosters' Annual 3-on-3-basketball tournamentlast Saturday.

APRIL

Indians open season with quint win

Heading to the home fairways for the first time this seasonwith the sun shining was inspirational for Tecumseh’s varsity boys golf team.The Indians (152) finished first in front of four teams at the Raisin ValleyGolf Club.

B-D loses opening baseball contest

Britton-Deerfield varsity baseball pitcher Jason Case washanded an opening day 21-7 loss to Lenawee Christian.

Indians put bat to ball, mercy C.C.

Tecumseh’s varsity baseball team defeated Columbia Central17-1 in five innings to open its season with Louie Davitt pitching.

THS boys win first dual in five years

Tecumseh’s varsity boys track team picked up its first dualmeet win in the last five years with a 102-35 victory against Ida.

Indians sign with Division 1 schools

Tecumseh seniors, Scott Yarbrough (Oakland), Tori Merritt(MSU), Stayci Cook (Belmont) and Jackie Barley (UM) signed to play withDivision 1 universities.

Tecumseh wins Blissfield Invite

Tecumseh’s varsity baseball team returned home winners ofthe Blissfield Lena’s Pizza Invitational after going 2-1 during the day.

MAY

THS lacrosse girls edge Holt

Tecumseh’s varsity girls lacrosse team defeated visitingHolt 11-10 and followed with a 10-7 victory at Haslett and a 17-13 win at homeagainst Farmington Harrison.

THS boys have three honored

THS recently had three boys lacrosse players receiveall-state honors including Matt Felkey, Adam Snider and Kenny Thomas.

Tecumseh wins SEC White championship

Tecumseh's varsity baseball team earned the SEC Whitedivision title at Chelsea on Thursday, May 22, after winning 6-0 againstLincoln in the semifinal and 4-1 against the hosting Bulldogs in thechampionship final.

THS golfers fourth in districts

Tecumseh's varsity boys golf team placed fourth in statedistrict competition at Marshall Country Club on Friday, May 23.

Indians shake Maples at home

Rough and rugged play pushed Tecumseh's varsity girls soccerteam past visiting Adrian with the Indians recording a 3-1 win

THS girls place sixth at SEC finals

Tecumseh's varsity girls track team finished sixth at theSoutheastern Conference finals at Lincoln on Wednesday, May 21, to finish thirdoverall.

Tecumseh has three honored

Three Tecumseh girls lacrosse players, Heather Major, AutumnMcMillin and Jessie Manwaring, were honored with special league recognition bythe MLCC.

B-D boys win district crown

After recording only three wins during the regular season,Britton-Deerfield went undefeated at the district competition to win the title.

JUNE

Two place second at state

Britton’s Aaron Wielfaert and Clinton’s Spencer Krauss eachplaced second in track and field events at the state meet. Wielfaert finishedhis season with a second place effort in the high jump with a leap of 6’3”.Two-time defending state discus thrower Krauss finished second in the statewith a toss of 165’4”.

Redskins pick up Regional title

Clinton's varsity softball team went 12 innings to defeatNapoleon 2-1 for the regional title on Saturday, June 7, at Jackson butfinished its season on Tuesday with a 3-1 loss in the quarterfinals againstAllen Park Cabrini.

B-D ousted in regional semifinal

Britton-Deerfield's varsity baseball team was defeated 6-2by Grass Lake in the Division 3 regional semifinal at Jackson.

Tecumseh edged in regional final

After eliminating Battle Creek-Harper Creek 11-5 to startits day at the Division 2 Regional games at Chelsea on Saturday, June 7,Tecumseh's varsity baseball team lost 6-5 to Carleton Airport in the final andfinished its season.

THS girls defend state title

Tecumseh High School's varsity softball team picked up theschool's first ever back-to-back state championship in Battle Creek with theIndian girls defeating three-time Division 2 state champions Wyoming Rogers 4-3in extra innings.

JULY

Proclamation honors two-time state champions

A City of Tecumseh Proclamation was presented to the historymaking 2008 Tecumseh High School varsity softball team on Monday evening forwinning the Indians' second straight Michigan High School Athletic AssociationDivision 2 state championship.

Tecumseh football camps running

A hot afternoon in July seems an unusual time to be thinkingabout football but there is no bigger priority on Tecumseh varsity footballcoach Jason Mensing's mind with just two and a half weeks between the last dayof camp and the first official day of practice.

TCC names athletes

The Tri-County selected several Britton and Clinton trackand field athletes for its all-academic teams. Britton-Deerfield's boys teamfinished seventh in the final TCC standings while Clinton was at the bottom ofthe list in eighth place.

Underwood-Orr wins Connie Mac district title

Underwood-Orr won four straight games to defend its AABCConnie Mac 18U district title at Adrian College last Thursday and Friday, July18-19, with coach Randy Spark's well-rounded team giving its pitchers all thebreathing room needed to do the job on the mound.

Major girls win state title, advance to regional

Winning a state title and advancing to the regional levelfor a shot at the Little League World Series championship has Tecumseh's youthand parents crossing their fingers and pulling out their pocket books to payfor the unique opportunity of winning a national title. TALL's Majors defeatedhosting Milan 5-1 in the state final and left for the regional in Carthage,Missouri on Saturday.

Big League girls advance to Regional

Tecumseh Area Little League hosted the Big League statesoftball tournament and a local team won it all on Sunday, July 27, with a 2-1victory against Mattawan to advance to regional play on Friday.

AUGUST

TALL’s Major girls lose to Illinois, Big League loses toMichigan rival

Tecumseh Area Little League's (TALL) Major girls 12-year-oldAll-star softball team was one of six state champions to advance to the regionalcompetition in Carthage Missouri, but the team ended its dream season with aloss to the eventual regional winner, Illinois. TALL's Big League team advancedto the regional games in Kalamazoo on Saturday, Aug. 2, and exited pool playwith a 3-1 record. TALL beat Indiana 1-0 and Wisconsin 2-1 on Saturday, Aug. 2,and then defeated Illinois 16-7 before losing 5-2 against the hosting MichiganDistrict 9 team on Sunday.

McD’s wins Rec championship

A runaway game turned into a fight to the finish during theTecumseh Parks and Recreation Department's exciting 11-13-year-old softballchampionship, held at the Tecumseh Indians' varsity softball field on Monday,where the winning run was scored in the bottom of the final inning.

B-D slides past VFW for championship

Tecumseh Parks and Recreation Department held its10-12-year-old baseball championship at Aden Mead Park on Friday andBritton-Deerfield defeated Tecumseh VFW 9-3 for the title.

Indians lead at county preview

Both of Tecumseh High School's cross-country teams won theirrespective overall titles at the County Cross-country preview held at TecumsehFriends Church on Saturday, Aug. 16, to open the fall season.

Tecumseh golfers 10th at Bedford

Tecumseh's varsity girls golf team placed 10th to open theseason at Bedford's Invitational on Monday. Grosse Point South won the eventwith a score of 323 while the Indians scored 393 for a top ten finish.

Edwards flips twice at Michigan

Helmet on or helmet off, it made little difference to CarlEdwards when it came to landing his signature back flip at MichiganInternational Speedway. Edwards did one of each after sweeping both races atMIS over the weekend, winning NASCAR's Nationwide 250 on Saturday and theSprint Cup Series 3M Performance 400 on Sunday, Aug. 17. Dale Earnhardt Juniorwas the winner of the June race at MIS.

Tecumseh wins LCS Cougar Cup

Tecumseh opened its season with a 7-1 win against visitingLincoln on Thursday, Aug. 23, and followed with an outstanding outing in Adrianat Lenawee Christian School on Saturday to pick up this year's BronsonMansfield Cougar Cup championship.

Indians win Addison Invitational

Tecumseh's varsity girls volleyball team won the AddisonInvitational on Saturday, Aug. 25, as the defending champions.

SEPTEMBER

Railsplitters roast Indians

Lincoln flat out beat Tecumseh's varsity football team 38-22in the season opening Southeastern Conference game and dissolved a 30 gamelosing streak. The last time the 'Splitters won a game was back in 2004 whenthey defeated Bedford 22-19.

‘Dutchmen dig in, beat Redskins

Clinton lost 28-7 against Manchester's Flying Dutchmen inthe two teams’ traditional season opening varsity football contest on Thursday.

Warriors pound B-D Patriots 41-7

The Britton-Deerfield Patriots fell 41-7 at Grass Lake onThursday in its opening varsity football contest.

Clinton picks up soccer victory

Clinton’s varsity boys soccer team earned a big 5-1 victoryat home against Hillsdale on Wednesday.

Turnaround time for Tecumseh football

Things didn't look so good for Tecumseh's varsity footballteam on Friday, Sept. 5, after the Indians stumbled into halftime down 20-12against Ann Arbor Huron, but running back Zach Galloway redeemed the team fromits earlier mistakes and helped turn the Southeastern Conference game aroundfor a 42-34 overtime victory.

Patriots pick up first season win

Britton-Deerfield's varsity football team attacked SummitAcademy heavily from both land and air on Friday to take its first victory ofthe season.

Tribe wins double dual swim meet

The Tecumseh High School girls swim and dive team opened itsseason at home on Thursday in a double dual meet against both Plymouth HighSchool and Monroe St. Mary's Catholic Central and the Indians won bothcontests.

Equestrians compete in season opening meet

Tecumseh's equestrian team A had three first place finishesat the district 10 meet at the Lenawee County Fairgrounds on Saturday. Salinewon the A Division event with 284 points while Tecumseh scored 161 in the ADivision.

Tribe second at own invitational

After advancing to the final of its annual varsityvolleyball invitational on Saturday. Tecumseh lost 26-24, 25-12 to Ida andfinished the event in second place.

Clinton plows past Summerfield

Clinton's varsity football team plowed past Summerfield onFriday, winning 38-7 to pick up its first victory this season.

Tories win own volleyball tourney

The Britton-Macon lady Tories hosted Waldron, WashtenawChristian and Wyandotte Mount Carmel on Saturday, Sept. 13, for a four teamround robin tournament and finished the day 5-1 to win the event.

OCTOBER

Indians Stadium stands condemned

Tecumseh superintendent Mike McAran officially condemnedIndians Stadium's home stands for use after Testing Engineers &Consultants, Inc. provided new information about its current condition.

Season over for Tecumseh

Tecumseh's varsity football season closed with a 42-13 lossagainst Ann Arbor Pioneer at Eastern Michigan University's Rynearson Stadium onFriday, leaving the Indians at 3-6 overall and 3-5 in the SoutheasternConference.

B-D bows out at 1-8 overall

Britton-Deerfield's varsity football season concluded with a12-0 loss against Summerfield on Friday. The Patriots finished their season at1-8 overall and 0-7 in the Tri-County Conference.

Tecumseh boys win regional

Jim Brown couldn't remember the last time, if ever, thatTecumseh's varsity cross-country team won the state regional competition buthe'll remember forever his boys doing so this year.

Britton’s Smith third at regional

Britton-Deerfield's Rachel Smith placed third at theRegional meet, held at Brownstown on Saturday, Oct. 18, with a state qualifyingtime of 21:07. The Patriots beat out Whiteford to place seventh out of the 18competing teams.

CHS ends season with loss to Royals

After finishing the first half of its Division 6pre-district varsity football contest tied 7-7, Clinton had a poor second halfand lost 37-7 to the Blissfield Royals.

Redskins third, B-D last in conference

The Tri-County Conference has released its final standingsfor the varsity football season and Clinton finished third with a record of 5-2while Britton-Deerfield was last at 0-7.

Cross-country finals run at Speedway

In Tecumseh high school's return appearance to the Division2 state finals at Michigan International Speedway, the Indians finished 24th,led by sophomore Leon Miller's personal best run of 16:38.6 for 48th place as ateam runner and 71st overall as an individual.

Indians lose to Chelsea in final

Tecumseh's varsity volleyball team came out swinging at theDistrict 37-B tournament at Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard on Saturday, andadvanced to the title final against Chelsea but closed its season with a loss.

Britton drops from districts

Britton’s varsity volleyball team finished its season with aloss against Lenawee Christian School on Thursday.

Petition favors Redskins’ mascot

By a margin of 654-45 (93.6 percent), Clinton High Schoolalumni and village citizens have voted in favor of keeping their Redskinsnickname and mascot.

Indians second at SMISL championships

The Tecumseh Indians swim and dive team finished secondbehind Bedford as hosts of the Southern Michigan Independent Swim League onSaturday, Nov. 15.

Manwaring to play with Mastodons

Tecumseh’s Jessie Manwaring recently signed a nationalletter of intent with a Division 1 college, Indiana University-PurdueUniversity Fort Wayne, and will be playing volleyball with the Mastodons.

Schmidt takes reins of THS boys basketball

A team with good, hard work ethics was passed down toincoming Tecumseh varsity boys basketball coach Brandon Schmidt with GriffMills stepping down from the position after one year.

Tecumseh hits top 10 at state swim meet

After turning in a better than average performance during theDivision III state swim and dive preliminaries on Friday, Nov. 21, TecumsehHigh School's nine participants turned things up a notch the following day inthe finals and finished as one of the top ten teams in the state.

DECEMBER

Tecumseh coach begins new era

With coach Tim Connors stepping away from a varsitywrestling program that was created by his father, a new era in Tecumseh HighSchool wrestling is at hand with newcomer Casey Randolph taking over thesuccessful program.

Clinton girls pick up victory

It came down to the wire but Clinton's varsity girlsbasketball team opened its season with a 38-34 victory at Manchester onTuesday.

Indians go undefeated in opener

Tecumseh won both of its season opening matches on Thursday,first defeating Columbia Central 56-16 and then Sand Creek 53-21 despite havingto come from behind in both outings.

New coach leads swim team

Brian Thomas screamed, yelled and waived his arms at his newgroup of Tecumseh swimmers in the Indians' opening season dual meet and none ofthe boys seemed to mind at all. In fact, it looked as if they even enjoyedtheir new coach pushing them to their limits from the side of the CommunityPool last Thursday evening. The team defeated both Bedford and Lincoln and alsogave their coach the SMISL Relay championship.

Tecumseh third at own Invitational

Sturgis picked up another Tecumseh Gymnastics Invitationaltitle on Saturday, Dec. 13, while Northville finished second and Tecumsehthird.

Clinton unstoppable at Onsted

Clinton picked up two more varsity wrestling victories atEast Jackson on Tuesday, Dec. 9, and followed with a championship win at Onstedon Saturday, Dec. 13.

Below’s jersey being retired

Britton Macon Area School’s 2004 graduate Duane Below willbe in town to retire his old varsity baseball jersey, No. 32, on Friday, Jan.9, between the Tories' JV and varsity boys basketball games against visitingSand Creek.

Tecumseh girls come from behind

Tecumseh's varsity girls bowling team came from behind tobeat Saline's Hornets 18-12 to start the season.