Sports Beat
Rivalry game brings surprise
High school basketball fans got their monies worth when Posen and Rogers City met Monday in boys? basketball — and not just in the varsity contest — but the J.V. game as well. Both games were extremely competitive. The Posen varsity provided the biggest surprise of the night, as they gave Rogers City all they could handle.
The Vikings graduated all their starters including the North Star League?s most valuable player, Jordan Hincka. A Rogers City fan sitting within earshot of where I was perched in the stands, predicted a 20-point blowout in favor of Rogers City.
I had heard about some ?trash talk? being sent Posen?s way that the Hurons would roll to an easy win.
It would be easy to assume Rogers City had the advantage going in. They definitely have the taller players. At many points in the game, four of the five Hurons players on the floor were taller than all of Posen?s starting five.
I believe Rogers City has the talent, and as Posen coach Steve Hentkowski said after the game, once Rogers City gels they are going to be good. It was probably opening night jitters, but the Hurons players were rushing things on the floor and were out of sync. There was a bit of frustration in senior captain Justin Idalski?s voice when he barked at his fellow players to start playing some basketball. Not those words exactly, but pretty close.
There were flashes of explosiveness, especially at the very end of the game. The Hurons also built double digit leads, but Posen scraped and scrapped, scratched and clawed, and almost were rewarded with an upset victory.
Hentkowski hopes to win much the way Mio won a share of the NSL title last year, by playing aggressive defense, hustling for loose balls and contesting every rebound. Even though Hentkowski, who takes his fare share of heat from the fans, wished he could have had more practices before the big game against Rogers City, the Vikes looked to be in midseason form. For that, he deserves some credit. Rogers City ended up with the victory in the win column Monday night, with more to prove.
Posen came away with a moral victory and now will have to prove that opening night wasn?t a fluke. The next match up will between these tow rivals will be January 20.
It was a night of firs
He also got his first technical foul and didn?t say a word. He wrote the wrong number in the scorers book for Kevin Fairbanks and once the officials discovered it, called the foul. Adrian also took a little guff about his shoes.
Some of the female students from Rogers City wanted to know why the new coach wasn?t wearing black shoes. He was dressed from the neck down in Huron black — accept for the brown shoes he was wearing. That?s minor compared to the day he faces the question: ?Why didn?t you play my son more??
My Santa wish is that Lion coach Rod Marinelli gets his first win and doesn?t go down in history as being the coach on the first 0-16 team. I think Santa is going to have to pull some pretty big strings for that one to come true. I also would love to see the Tigers get reliever J.J. Putz from Seattle. What will they have to give up, though?