|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- January
- Record sports for Jan. 6, 2000
- Modoc wrestlers off to Anderson Invitational
- Area hoop teams start league play this week
Modoc wrestlers head to Anderson tourney
Modoc's wrestling team heads to the tough 35-school in vitational NorCal Championships in Anderson this weekend.
Modoc coach Shaun Wood said this event brings many of the top schools in the north state to the two-day event and will be one of the toughest tournaments his Braves will have this year.
He expects Blake Wilson, Ross Lundgren, Robert Cox, Jared McGrava, Richard Lutz and Robert Flournoy to place in the event and figures some other wrestlers will have a shot in tough weight classes.
Modoc will be without heavyweight Tony Willis, who injured his knee in practice and will be out at least a cou ple of weeks.
Modoc travels to the Burney Invitational January 14 and 15 where they should be favored.
Basketball teams start league season tomorrow night
After having December to get used to playing together, local high school bas ketball teams will now play for the games that really count. Modoc, Big Valley and Surprise Valley will begin the Shasta Cascade and Evergreen League seasons this weekend.
Below is a preview of both the SCL and EAL boys and girls leagues.
If there is one league that is hard to predict, this one is it. It appears to be a wide open race. Modoc coach Lane Bates has said that he doubts anyone will go through the SCL un defeated.
A likely scenario is for various teams to get hot for a little while, only to get knocked off by other teams that are suddenly finding their stride. The league champ could be the team that wins all of its home games and then man ages to steal two or three on the road to finish at 9-3 or 8-4.
Modoc, Weed and Mt. Shasta would appear to be the top teams based on December records, and the Braves will waste no time in finding out how they stack up against those two schools.
Modoc hosts Weed tomorrow night, with the varsity boys game beginning around 8:30 p.m. The very next day, the Braves will hop a bus to Mt. Shasta to play the Bears around 6:30. The heavy schedule continues until Tuesday, January 11, when Modoc plays at Burney. The Braves are then off until January 21.
What might set Modoc apart from the others down the stretch, is the depth of the Braves' roster. A well balanced offensive attack often has three or four different players scoring in double figures, while individual 20-point games are something of a rarity.
That depth includes a strong bench. Kaylon Benson, Josh Conner and Ramon Molina have all demonstrated an ability to come off the pine to make immediate contributions.
Modoc compiled the best record of the seven SCL teams in December, by going 7-1. The Braves also have the No. 2 ranking in Division V. However, Etna and Trinity went a combined 10-3, and coach Mike Martin thinks that Mt. Shasta might be the best team the Braves will play all year.
The Bears went 4-6 in December, but two of their losses came to Division II schools, and four were at the hands of Division IV schools. Mt. Shasta will play up in Division IV for the playoffs, giving Modoc an easier path to a fifth straight Section Title.
The key to Modoc's success is being able to beat teams from the inside or outside. Senior Andrea Knox can clearly beat teams inside if she is not double-teamed, or if teams don't play a tight zone that collapses on her when she gets the ball.
Should opponents gang up on Knox, the Braves will need to be able to knock down out side shots. Look for juniors Jessica Kern and Tatum Dunn to lead Modoc in shooting from downtown, along with contributions from sophomore guards Jodie Freeman and Kristen Clough.
The Braves will open against Weed tomor row night at 7:00 p.m. at Griswold Gym. On Saturday they face what will probably be their toughest test in the SCL - a trip to Mt. Shasta. Modoc will also play at Burney on Tuesday, January 11.
Juniors David House and Calvin Jackson have provided a strong inside presence for Big Valley while senior Mike McClain has been an outside threat. The Cardinals posted a 7-3 mark in December which included wins over larger schools.
The Cards have been named the No. 1 team in Division VI, but two other Evergreen teams also come into 2000 with strong records. Tulelake (a Division V team) went 8-2 in the pre-season and has a squad that can match-up with BV in terms of size. McCloud went 10-4 and could give the Cards a run for their money both in the EGL, and in the Division VI playoffs.
The Cardinals will be tested right away. They host Tulelake tomorrow night, with the boys varsity game beginning around 8:00 p.m. The next day they have to head out early for a long trip to Happy Camp. Next Tuesday, they host Surprise Valley.
A very young Surprise Valley team posted just one win during the non-league season. However, some of the Hornets' losses were very close and the team has shown improvement with each week. Look for them to be a spoiler, especially when teams have to come play them in Cedarville.
Junior Mike Carpenter is the leading scorer in the North State at 26.2 points per game, while sophomore Ryan Burresch has provided inside scoring for the Hornets.
SV begins the season Saturday night by hosting Butte Valley. They will be at Big Valley next Tuesday.
The Big Valley girls team has it all. The best pre-season record in their league, the No. 1 ranking in Division VI, and the top scorer in the North Section.
Sophomore Jamie Hawkins is averaging nearly 25 points per game, but the Cardinals have also been able to get solid scoring on the outside from senior Michelle Terry.
Hawkins isn't the only soph that contributes for the Cards either. Luena Harbert has been a strong rebounder while Ashley Oney has been solid at the point guard spot. It's scary to think what this team might accomplish in 2002.
The Cardinals host Tulelake Friday night at 6:30, before heading to Happy Camp on Saturday, and hosting Surprise Valley next Tuesday.
When Surprise Valley shows up in Bieber next week, they will bring a strong inside combo of Cassie Cockrell and Traci Reeves. The two juniors were the leading scorers as the Hornets went 4-4 in the pre-season. They will count on assists from Jessie Bietz and Meghan Darst.
The Hornets start the new year by hosting Butte Valley on Saturday night.
- Record Sports for January 13, 2000
- Modoc favored in Burney Rotary wrestling tour ney
Wilson earns top ranking in section
Modoc's Braves will go into the Burney Rotary Invitational wrestling tournament as the favorite, but coach Shaun Wood said his grapplers will not have a cakewalk.
Blake Wilson, Modoc's 215-pound wrestler beat the number one and three ranked wrestlers at Anderson last weekend and now holds down the number one rank in the North Section.
The Burney tourney is always a ren dezvous of the north state schools and gives the Braves a chance to see many of their league, small school and section opponents.
The Braves will be without heavyweight Tony Willis who is out with a knee injury and expected back next week and Robert Flournoy who will be at a music program.
Missing those two wrestlers will put a dent in Modoc's point totals, and Wood thinks Trinity will be the team nipping at the Braves heels this weekend.
"We'll be fine this week, but missing those two will cost us some points," said Wood. "I expect us to do very well in most weights and some kids will have to step up a little."
In the huge Anderson Tournament last weekend, Wilson won the title at 215 and ce mented his number one ranking by whipping former number one Kyle May of Corning in the semi-finals and then beating West Valley's Tanner Lovett, ranked third, in the finals.
"I knew if Blake wrestled aggressively, he could beat the Corning kid," said Wood. "And he came out and dominated the match."
Each weight division in Anderson had 32 wrestlers, from all size schools. It was one of the toughest tournaments of the year. Wood said all of his wrestlers won at least one match and many did much better.
Justin Semenko placed eighth in the 130-pound category. Several Modoc wrestlers did well in the "wrestle back" on Saturday. The event is for individuals who were eliminated on the first day.
Richard Lutz, 140 pounds and Jeremy Price, 112 pounds, won the wrestle back and placing second for the Braves were Jared McGarva, 152 pounds, and Collin Cook, 160 pounds.
In addition to Wilson's number one rank, Willis is ranked fourth in the section at heavyweight and Ross Lundgren is ranked fifth at 189.
Hoops Roundup: Both Modoc teams start 3-0 BV boys get big win over Tulelake
By Geoff Griffin
Special to the Record
The Modoc boys and girls teams, along with the Big Valley boys team, all posted 3-0 records in the opening week of play in the Shasta-Cascade and Evergreen Leagues.
The Modoc basketball program in general went 4-0 (boys JV and varsity, girls JV and varsity) at Mt. Shasta. Modoc boys coach Lane Bates said he could not remember Modoc sweeping the Bears on their home court in his 20 years of coaching the Braves.
The week featured some explosive scoring by members of all three boys teams. Blake Thorn (Modoc), Calvin Jackson (Big Valley) and Mike Carpenter (Surprise Valley) all scored 16 points in one quarter to lead their teams to victory.
Modoc Boys, 3-0
The Braves may have played their best of fensive game of the season in a 68-34 blowout of Weed on Friday night. A talented Cougars squad came to Alturas with an 8-2 pre-season record, but they were no match for a Modoc of fense that was executing its patterns to per fection.
The most amazing stat of the night, if not the season, was that of the 24 baskets the Braves scored in the first three quarters, 19 of them came off of assists. As a team, Modoc shot nearly 60 percent.
C.J. Straub was the leader in dropping dimes, with nine. Of course, it's easier to get assists when you're passing to Thorn when he's "in the zone." Thorn piled up 33 points by going 6-9 from three-point land and 12-18 from the field overall. Sixteen of his points came in the third quarter, when Modoc buried the Cougars once and for all.
The Braves held Weed to just two baskets in the first quarter and had built up a 20 point lead by half-time. Any hopes the Cougars might have had of mounting a come back in the second half were dashed when Modoc opened up the second half with an 11-0 run that made the score 50-19.
"As a team, that was our best effort of the season," Bates said. "It was nice to have ev erybody here."
That comment was in reference to the Braves getting Brett Hamilton and Glenn Christensen back from injury. Hamilton con trolled the inside for Modoc, posting a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Hamilton played an even bigger role in an important win at Mt. Shasta on Saturday night. He was the high scorer with 13 in an exciting 49-46 win.
The Bears had defeated Modoc in the first tournament of the year at Fall River, but this time the Braves' bench was too strong as nine different players scored.
On Tuesday night, Modoc got a scare down at Burney. The Braves had to go into overtime before coming away with a 62-61 win.
Modoc trailed most of the game. Hamilton made a basket with just three seconds left to send the game into overtime. In the OT pe riod, Thorn hit two free throws with five sec onds left to put the Braves up once and for all.
Hamilton led the scoring with 17 points while Thorn had 16. Kaylon Benson came off the bench to contribute 15.
After playing three games in five days, the Braves get a 10 day rest before their next game. The season resumes at home on Friday, January 21, against Etna.
Modoc Girls, 3-0
It's still early January, but the Modoc girls team may have already overcome the biggest obstacle to winning the Shasta-Cascade League. On Saturday, the Braves beat Mt. Shasta 45-34 in the Bears' very own gym.
Modoc coach Mike Martin had said from the beginning that Mt. Shasta would probably be the toughest team the Braves would face all season. However, the night before the game he also said of Mt. Shasta, "The pressure is all on them. It's on their floor. We're just going over there to do the best we can."
That "nothing to lose" attitude was com bined with Modoc's usual tough defense and a huge 22 point performance by Andrea Knox to give the Braves a convincing win. After posting a 20-16 half-time lead, Modoc outscored the Bears 15-7 in the third to put the game at a safe distance.
The night before the Mt. Shasta win, the Braves defeated Weed 47-14 in their SCL opener. The score at half-time was 30-1. No really, it was 30-1.
"I've had some good teams that have held teams scoreless for a quarter, but never a whole half," Martin noted.
The Cougars wouldn't sink a field goal until the third quarter thanks to Modoc's pressure defense, which produced 17 first-half turnovers and allowed just 12 shots.
Knox had 15 points on 6-10 shooting and pulled down 10 rebounds. Senior Jami Harris came off the bench to put in 11 points and make three steals.
The third win of Modoc's perfect start came on Tuesday night at Burney.
The Braves get this weekend off and come back to host Etna next Friday, January 21.
Big Valley Boys, 3-0
The Evergreen League schedule matched up arguably the two best teams, Big Valley and Tulelake, on opening night. The Cardinals proved that there is no argument that they are the No. 1 team - at least until the rematch on January 28 in Tulelake.
The Cards led just 41-40 heading into the fourth quarter, but Jackson got hot and scored 16 of his 24 points as Big Valley pulled away to a 66-56 win.
Jackson also got the job done on defense, holding Honkers hot shot Jimmy Havalina to just six points.
The Cardinals also got inside help form Jimmy Perez and David House, who combined for 25 points.
After such a big game, the Cards had to travel to Happy Camp the next day, but suf fered no letdown in a 77-19 win. All 10 play ers on the team scored, led by Jackson and House with 14 each.
On Tuesday night, BV got a 67-32 win over Surprise Valley. Jackson and Michael Lemke were top scorers with 13 each.
Jackson once again drew the tough defen sive assignment and came through for the Cardinals. This time he was on SV's Carpenter, the top scorer in the North State coming into the New Year. Carpenter had seven in the first half and 14 for the game.
The Cards host Dunsmuir tomorrow night, with the boys varsity game scheduled to begin around 8:00 p.m. On Saturday they travel to McCloud.
Big Valley Girls, 2-1
After a stellar 7-1 pre-season record, the Cardinals got a surprise on the opening night of league play when Tulelake came to Bieber and stole one by a score of 49-48. Free throw shooting killed the Cards. They went 2-16 on the night, and 0-4 in the final five seconds.
Still, Jamie Hawkins, Michelle Terry and Luena Harbert all posted strong all-around performances for Big Valley. Hawkins had 15 points, 14 rebounds and five steals before having to leave the game with a leg cramp. Terry had 19 points, five steals and two as sists. Harbert tossed in 12 and grabbed 11 rebounds.
The Cards took out their frustrations the next day at Happy Camp, stomping the Indians 72-21. Hawkins had 24 followed by Terry with 16 and Harbert with 15.
Big Valley also defeated Surprise Valley 48-38 on Tuesday night. Hawkins put in 24 for the Cards.
Next up for BV is a home game against Dunsmuir, tomorrow night at 6:30. Saturday brings a bus ride to McCloud.
Surprise Valley Boys, 1-1
Butte Valley should have known it was all over when Carpenter hit his first four shots in the first three minutes of the game. Carpenter went on to score 33 points as Surprise Valley won their Evergeen League opener easily, 65-47.
Carpenter, who shot 60 percent on the night, also found time to rip down seven re bounds, make three steals and pass off for three assists.
The Hornets also got prime performances from the supporting trio of Ryan Burresch, Joel Ruiz and Johnathan Dabill. The three combined for 27 points and 27 rebounds.
In their loss to Big Valley on Tuesday, Carpenter was top scorer with 14 points.
The Hornets will try to get back on the winning track tomorrow night when McCloud comes to Cedarville. Game time will be ap proximately 8:00 p.m. On Saturday, the team goes on the road to face Dunsmuir.
Surprise Valley Girls, 0-2
The Hornets lost their league opener 61-33 to a Butte Valley team with a tough 2-2-1 full-court press and a lightning quick fast-break. There is apparently no need for a shot-clock when the Bulldogs take the floor.
Most of SV's points came from post-players Traci Reeves and Cassie Cockrell. Reeves tossed in 14 and grabbed nine rebounds. Cockrell was right behind her with totals of 13 and eight. Jessie Bietz and Meghan Darst combined to add 15 rebounds.
Against Big Valley, the Hornets took the floor with only five players due to illness. They were able to hang tough for the first three quarters before the Cardinals pulled ahead in the fourth to win by 10 over the weary Hornets.
Cockrell had 18 points and 10 rebounds while Caity Wimer tossed in 12. Reeves had seven blocked shots
The Hornets will host McCloud tomorrow night at 6:30, before taking on Dunsmuir on Saturday on the road.
Record sports for January 27, 2000
- Modoc wrestlers continue top season
- Area hoop teams doing very well
Modoc wrestlers continue top season
Modoc's talented wrestling team placed second at the ex panded Mazama tournament over the weekend and now heads to Durham Friday and then to another top-of-the-line event at Corning Saturday.
The Braves were just edged by South Medford for the Mazama title, 191 points to 185.5. Phoenix, Or., was third at 157.5, followed by Illinois Valley, 140, Klamath Union, 133.5, NorthValley 111.5, Bend 111, Mazama 101.5, HiddenValley 85.5, and Tulelake 73 to round out the top of 31 teams. Modoc's JVs finished with 10 points.
"I was very proud of our team, that was a very tough tour nament and we were the third smallest school there," said Modoc coach Shaun Wood. "The teams were tougher than I thought they would be and there were a lot of top wrestlers. We beat every team in Oregon's Skyline Conference, and they are all 3A schools."
Modoc travels to Durham Friday night for a dual meet and then Saturday will compete at Corning where Wood hopes his crew will finish in the top five of a very tough event. According to Wood, 30 good wrestling schools will be featured in Corning.
In the match of the Mazama tourney, Modoc heavyweight Tony Willis, just back from injury, pinned Mazama top gun Sean Jeynes at the 2:32 mark for the championship. That match, according to Wood, was one of the most antici pated meetings of the tournament and lived up to its billing. Willis has faced Jeynes twice and won both times. Jeynes is the number one ranked wrestler at his division in Oregon and Willis beat him without much difficulty.
"Tony pretty much handled him and it was the best finals match I've seen him wrestle this season," said Wood. "Blake Wilson wrestled well, he just ran into a real stud from South Medford who was the real deal. I don't think Blake will see anyone tougher through our section."
Because many wrestlers would have been over the five match per day high school limit, all third and fifth place bouts went uncontested.
Wilson, who is the top ranked California north section 215 pound wrestler, tied for third in the Mazama invite. The weight was won by Ian Taylor of South Medford. Wilson lost to Taylor, 11-3, in the semi-finals and Taylor won the finals with no trouble.
Woods was extremely pleased with the overall perfor mance of the team. Of the 13 wrestlers entered, 11 placed, with eight taking thirds, two fifths and one first.
Wood was very pleased with two freshmen who placed third in the event, Bill Moriarity at 103 pounds and Robert Flournoy at 119 pounds.
Justin Semenko also did well and took a third at 125 pounds. A pair of brothers, David (130 pounds) and Richard (140 pounds) Lutz each wrestled very well and placed third.
Junior Ross Lundgren had a good tournament and placed third at 189 pounds, while sophomore Jared McGarva took a third in the tough 145-pound group.
The Braves also had good performances from Collin Cook at 160 pounds and Jeremy Price at 112 pounds, who each placed fifth.
Area hoop teams doing well
Halfway through the Shasta-Cascade and Evergreen League seasons, three lo cal teams have been able to run the table. Both the Modoc boys and girls teams have needed overtime wins to get to 6-0, while the Big Valley boys have been dominant in most of their games.
The only team in the Evergreen League that has given the Cardinals a challenge was Tulelake. Big Valley will travel to the Honkers' gym on Friday night. A win by the Cards leaves them in the driver's seat for the league title.
Back in the last century, (OK it was December) Modoc coach Lane Bates predicted that nobody would go through the Shasta-Cascade League undefeated. Too much parity. Too many tough road trips.
So, after the first-half of the league schedule, guess which team has so far not suffered a loss?
"We've still got six more ball games. We've still got a long way to go," Bates said on Tuesday night, sounding much like a presiden tial candidate after the Iowa caucuses. "I'm sure a lot of the other teams still feel like they can beat us."
His point was vividly illustrated on Tuesday night. The Fall River Bulldogs showed up in Alturas with a mere 1-4 league record, but ended up pushing the unbeaten Braves to the limit before Modoc escaped with a 59-53 win.
Before getting the victory, the Braves had to suffer through a cold shooting night. Modoc shot just over 40 percent from the field and under 20 percent from three-point range. However, they did make their free throws. The were 16-20 from the charity stripe, and most impor tantly, 8-8 in the final 1:24.
Senior guard C.J. Straub had six of those eight free throws, and scored all eight of his points in the last three minutes of the game.
"It's nice to see your senior captain step up in those situations," Bates said.
The Braves trailed by seven at the end of the first quarter and three at the half. They fought their way back to hold a 51-50 lead with 1:32 left after the Bulldogs nailed a three.
In their next three possessions, Modoc got the ball to Straub, who got fouled. He swished six in a row while Fall River could only manage one more trey.
Blake Thorn was high scorer with 19, and he also pulled down 13 rebounds. The inside duo of Brett Hamilton and Josh Conner combined for 19 points and 12 rebounds.
Last Friday, Modoc had an easy time in a 68-46 win over Etna. The Braves opened a big lead in the second quarter by using a full-court press to create turnovers and score 17 points in the final five minutes of the half.
Thorn was high scorer with 20, while Straub shot 4-5 from three-point range to finish with 14 points and three assists. Hamilton and Conner each had eight points and three steals.
On Saturday, the Braves were able to hang on for a 47-44 win at Trinity. Modoc had bal anced scoring as Conner and Thorn each had 11, Straub had 10 and Kris Server had nine.
On Friday night the Braves will travel to Weed. They are back home on Tuesday against Burney at 8:30 p.m.
The closest scrape of the Braves' league sea son came on Saturday at Trinity. Modoc had to go to overtime before coming away with a 33-29 win in a defensive struggle.
The Braves trailed at half-time after going scoreless for the entire second quarter. The only buckets in the OT came from Tatum Dunn and Jodie Freeman. Each ended with eight points. Andrea Knox was the game's high scorer with 11.
Once again, it was the Modoc defense that carried the team through allowing just nine baskets over 36 minutes (one basket every four minutes), and holding the Wolves scoreless in overtime.
"They're a good team. They played well," Modoc coach Mike Martin said of Trinity. "We just shot the ball poorly.
"That's why we preach defense. It's the one constant that comes to the table every night. You might have a poor shooting night, but you can always play defense."
Defense was also the key in a 44-13 win over Fall River on Tuesday night. The Braves allowed no field goals in the second and fourth quarters, and just five baskets for the entire game.
Modoc used their variety of full and half-court pressure defenses to set up their offense as well. The Braves got many baskets off some of the 16 turnovers they created in the first half.
The offense was balanced with three players (Dunn, Freeman and Jessica Kern) each scor ing eight. Kern added four steals while Dunn had three assists and three steals.
The first of three games over a five-game stretch was last Friday when the Braves got an easy 56-30 home win over Etna.
The refs were definitely "letting 'em play" in this one, as they called just one foul during the entire first quarter. They also called traveling like it was an NBA game. (Meaning they didn't call it at all.)
The Braves led just 20-15 mid-way through the second quarter before Sarah Howell came off the bench to lead an 8-0 run in the final minutes of the half. Howell used rebounds, as sists and steals to widen the Modoc lead. She finished with eight points and eight rebounds on the night.
The Modoc defense held the Lions to just one field goal in the second quarter and five buck ets in the second half.
Jodie Freeman was tops on the squad in both steals and points. Her five picks helped her get some of her 14 points on 6-11 shooting.
Knox finished with nine points and nine re bounds.
The Modoc girls begin the second half of the SCL schedule tomorrow night at Weed. On Tuesday they will host Burney at 7:00.
The Cardinals slammed Butte Valley 66-32 on Saturday to stay unbeaten in the Evergreen League. The junior tandem of Calvin Jackson and David House combined to score 40 points for the game.
Possibly the biggest game of the season awaits the Cards tomorrow night in Tulelake. The Cards will host Happy Camp on Saturday.
While the Cards were the EL favorite when league-play began, they now find themselves in third place after losses to Tulelake and Butte Valley. Those two unbeaten schools will do battle at Tulelake on February 8.
On Saturday, the Cardinals had to play without injured sharpshooter Michelle Terry and lost 58-53 at Butte.
Luena Harbert was the game's high scorer with 24 while Jamie Hawkins put in 17. Hawkins is still the leading scorer in the North Section with an average of 23.7 points per game.
Big Valley gets a chance for revenge tomor row night at Tulelake, before returning home to face Happy Camp on Saturday.
The Hornets got their second league win on Saturday at Happy Camp. SV used an artillery of 10 three-pointers to score a 76-31 victory.
Mike Carpenter had 29 points to put his season average at just under 25 points per game. Jerry Cook had three treys on his way to 15 points and Joel Ruiz tossed in 14.
Surprise Valley lost at Tulelake on Friday night, 90-54. Carpenter led with 17 and Ruiz added 11. Johnathan Dabill scored 12, half of them coming from the foul line, where he went 6-8.
The Hornets travel to Butte Valley on Friday.
SV split a pair over the weekend to end the first half of the EL season at the .500 mark.
The Hornets got a 47-14 win at Happy Camp on Saturday. A balanced scoring attack was led by Cassie Cockrell with 13, followed by Traci Reeves with 12 and Caity Wimer with 10.
On Friday the Hornets lost 49-35 at un beaten Tulelake. Reeves had 12 points and 10 blocks while Jessie Bietz dished off for seven assists.
Tomorrow night Surprise Valley will play at Butte Valley.
- February
Modoc Wrestlers are target of SCL
Modoc Braves wrestlers went into the Shasta Cascade League tourney yesterday heavily expected to win the league ti tle with the main hurdles being the Trinity Wolves.
Modoc is currently ranked number two in North Section Small Schools, behind Willows.
The tourney was after Record press-time and we'll have photos and results next week.
Modoc Coach Shaun Wood said his team is healthy and should be able to bring home another SCL title. The Braves were surprised by Trinity last season, but Wood doesn't expect that scenario to repeat itself.
Wood figures the Braves should have 10 wrestlers in the 14 finals matches at the SCL championships and should win many of those.
Braves expected to win championships are Ross Lundgren, Tony Willis and Blake Wilson with Robert Cox, Jared McGarva and David Lutz all having good shots. Wood expects Richard Lutz, Justin Semenko, Jeremy Urban and Robert Flournoy to be in the finals. He also figures Billy Moriarity, Landon Brown, Collin Cook, Robert Veverka and Wayne Sanders to finish in the top four. Will Sagaser, Mike Maine and James Brogan are also ex pected to do well.
The Braves' Wilson is the top rated North Section wrestler at 215 pounds and Willis is ranked third at heavyweight. Lundgren is ranked fifth at 189 and Semenko ties down sixth place rankings at 125 pounds.
Area basketball teams rounding out season
The past week saw the Braves and Cardinals, as expected, stay at or near the top of the Shasta-Cascade and Evergreen leagues. What was a bit unexpected, was the Surprise Valley teams making noise in the EL standings.
The Hornet girls squad is 6-3 and hasn't lost since January 21, while the boys team is flirt ing with the .500 mark. Both teams are trying to earn a spot in the Division VI playoffs.
A convincing 63-33 win over Dunsmuir on Saturday capped a four-game win streak for the Hornets, who were a mere 2-3 just three weeks ago. They currently stand in fourth in the Evergreen, but are only one game behind Big Valley and two behind Tulelake.
Both of those teams still have to play in Cedarville, while the two league leaders, the Honkers and Butte Valley, still have to play each other twice. There is a definite chance that the league champ could finish at 9-3, a record that Surprise Valley could still achieve.
"It seems that our defense has improved quite a bit," SV coach Jeanette Reagan said while trying to explain her team's improve ment. "We're playing defense more as a team."
It is also no mere coincidence that the Hornets are winning more now that they have a third wheel in what was previously a two-wheel offense.
Junior inside players Traci Reeves and Cassie Cockrell have been in double figures for scoring in most games this year. Now senior Jessica Bietz is also hitting two digits on a regular basis.
Bietz may well end up leading the North Section in triple-doubles now that she is look ing for her shot more often. It's not unusual for her to reach 10 in rebounds and assists.
In Saturday's win over Dunsmuir, the big three tallied 53 of SV's 63 points. Cockrell had 14 of her 22 points in the third quarter and also snagged 13 boards. Reeves had 16 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots. Bietz was solid across the board with 15 points, eight re bounds and six assists.
The Hornets also had an easy victory on Friday night, beating McCloud 49-18 on the road. Cockrell had 17, Reeves added 14 and Bietz tossed in 10.
The coming week brings two very tough teams, Tulelake and Big Valley, to the Surprise Valley gym. The Honkers will show up on Friday night at 6:30, while the Cards will be ready to play on Tuesday at 6:30. SV played both schools tough on the road earlier in the season.
The best shot for getting above .500 came for the Hornets on Saturday night when they hosted Dunsmuir. Surprise Valley had moved up to 4-4 with a forfeit win over McCloud on Friday, and they were hosting a Tiger team they had pushed to overtime earlier in the sea son.
However, Surprise Valley's frustrating expe rience on Saturday night was adequately illus trated by the last shot of the game. The ball ended up stuck, wedged between the rim and backboard. The Hornets also ended up getting stuck with a 66-50 loss.
The Tigers opened a 7-0 lead and never looked back thanks to 14 first half turnovers by SV, early foul trouble for Hornets scoring ma chine Mike Carpenter and a Dunsmuir fond ness for the trey. The visiting team would end up nailing eight threes on the night.
"Eight is six too many," Hornets coach John Christie said after the game. "We're a very young team. We've got sophomores playing in the post. We're inconsistent. These guys still need to learn a lot more about basketball."
Carpenter would eventually end up with 16 points, just ahead of teammate Joel Ruiz, who scored 14 to go along with four steals. Ryan Burresch finished with 10 points and five re bounds.
The Hornets have three games left. A victory is very likely against hapless Happy Camp in the last game of the season. Before that though, Surprise Valley must host the two ti tans of the Evergreen League - Big Valley and Tulelake. Both teams have performed far above the rest of the league so far.
The Honkers will show up in Cedarville to morrow night at 8:00 p.m., while the Cards take the court next Tuesday, also at 8:00 p.m.
It is becoming apparent that, given their killer defense, the Braves can beat pretty much anybody as long as they can just put 30 points on the board themselves.
That 30 point mark has proved to be a tough nut to crack some nights.
Take, for example, Modoc's 32-26 come-from-behind victory over Mt. Shasta on Friday night. The Braves held the Bears to just 22 percent shooting and a total of nine field goals for the game. Problem was, Modoc's totals in those ar eas were even lower - 21 percent shooting and eight field goals, or one every four minutes.
What saved the Braves was their free throw shooting. All of their fourth quarter points came at the line, where they were a clutch 13-14. Half of Modoc's point total for the game came on free throws.
The Braves started well enough, leading 10-4 after the first quarter. The second quarter was a different story however. Modoc commit ted more than twice as many turnovers as their opponent, an unusual stat for a Mike Martin coached team. The Bears also hit a couple of threes and led 19-15 at the half.
The Braves defense then applied the brakes to Mt. Shasta, allowing them just three bas kets in the second half. However, Modoc could manage just two baskets in the third quarter and wouldn't take the lead until there was just 4:31 left in the game.
Modoc was trailing 23-22 when the Mt. Shasta coach was given a technical for going over the mid-court line. Jessica Kern stepped to the line and hit both free-throws to give Modoc the lead for good. Kern was 5-6 from the line in the fourth quarter while Andrea Knox was 6-6 in the final 1:49. Knox would finish as the high scorer for both teams with nine points.
The last home game of the regular season is on Saturday, when the Braves host Trinity, a team they needed to go to overtime to beat in a previous match-up.
Saturday's games will begin earlier than weeknight games. The JV girls will begin the series at 2:00 p.m. followed by the JV boys. The varsity girls game will begin around 5:00 p.m., followed by the boys varsity.
Next week, the Braves finish up the league season with Fall River on Tuesday and Etna on Friday.
The Braves continue to be on top of the heap in the SCL after an exciting 63-53 victory over Mt. Shasta. The game was close all the way, with the Braves actually trailing 50-49 with 3:50 left on the clock.
At that point, Modoc's seniors took over the game and led the Braves on a 14-3 run to end the game. Class of 2000 member Brett Hamilton scored the team's next three baskets off assists by fellow seniors C.J. Straub and Kaylon Benson. Straub and Benson would also combine for a 4-4 performance at the free-throw line in the final stretch.
Meanwhile, at the defensive end, the Braves held the Bears to just one field goal (a three-pointer) in their last eight offensive trips.
Hamilton finished with 15 points on 7-11 shooting while also picking up seven rebounds and three steals. Junior guard Kris Server was 3-4 from three-point land to total 14 points. He also came up with three steals.
The Braves will play Trinity on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. as their final regular season home game. They finish off the SCL schedule next week with trips to Fall River on Tuesday and Etna on Friday.
The Cards picked up two more easy victories this past week to stay in contention for the EL title.
On Friday, they beat Dunsmuir 61-42 thanks to the inside dominance of sophomores Jamie Hawkins and Luena Harbert. The two combined for 36 points and 23 rebounds while dispensing the Tigers.
On Saturday, Hawkins hit the 20 point mark in a 59-28 drubbing of McCloud. Michelle Terry also score 18 points.
The Cardinals have two major tests left to complete the regular season. Tonight, they will look to avenge one of their losses by hosting Butte Valley at 6:30 p.m. The Cards lost to the Bulldogs in January, but played that game without Terry.
The league season ends on Tuesday at Surprise Valley. Big Valley beat the Hornets by 10 when the teams met in Bieber.
Since their last game with EL co-leader Tulelake on January 28, the challenge for the Cardinals for the rest of the league season is to stay focused on preparing for the playoffs as they steamroll the other five Evergreen teams.
Dunsmuir and McCloud were the latest teams to find themselves in the path of the BV juggernaut.
The Cards used a balanced scoring effort to down Dunsmuir 60-49 on Friday. Four players hit double figures led by Calvin Jackson with 17. Michael Lemke had 13 while Jimmy Perez and David House scored 12 each.
Saturday brought a 55-36 win over McCloud. House controlled the paint with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Jackson added 17 points.
On February 3, the Cardinals beat Burney in a non-league contest, 58-41, with House netting 23, Lemke had 12, Jackson 11 and Mike McClain 10.
Big Valley ends the regular season this week by hosting Butte Valley tonight at 8:00 p.m. then traveling to Surprise Valley on Tuesday.
JV Basketball
Braves beat Bears in OT
After scoring just seven points in the first half of their game against Mt. Shasta, the Mod oc boys JV team went on a tear in the second half. The Braves ended up finishing tied with the Bears at 30-30 at the end of regulation, before going on to post a 39-34 win.
Tim Lauppe was top scorer for the Braves with 14, followed by Jack Britton with 12.
The Big Valley boys team bounced back from a loss to Dunsmuir on Friday to beat McCloud 45-40 on Saturday. Scott Shaull had 14 points and Brendan Coakley contributed 12.
The Surprise Valley boys lost to McCloud 62-40 on Friday despite a 21-point performance by Ivan Rangel. On Saturday, Jack Minto scored 19 in a 54-42 loss to Dunsmuir.
Brave wrestlers win ninth of 10 SCL titles
The Modoc Braves had no trouble winning their ninth out of the last 10 Shasta Cascade League wrestling champi onships last week in Burney. Modoc scored 223 points, crushing runner-up Trinity at 135.5 points.
The Braves now head to the small schools finals Feb. 18-19 in Tulelake where they will try to unseat the number one ranked small school, Willows. The Braves are ranked sec ond in the north section and Durham is right behind them. Knocking off Willows will be a test, said Modoc coach Shaun Wood. He figures his Braves will need some help.
"It was an impressive performance in league by our guys," said Wood. "We were so far ahead by the time the fi nals began, we could have lost them all and still won. Willows will be tough in small schools, but we're going to win our share."
But they didn't lose much in the SCL finals. The Braves picked up individual championships with David Lutz (130 pounds), Jared McGarva (145 pounds), Robert Cox (171 pounds), Ross Lundgren (189 pounds), Blake Wilson (215 pounds) and Tony Willis (275 pounds). None of those cham pionships surprised Wood.
Of the 14 championship matches, the Braves had wrestlers in 11. Taking second place for Modoc were Jeremy Price (112), Robert Flournoy (119), Justin Semenko (125), Robert Veverka (130), and Richard Lutz (140).
In addition, several Braves finished third, including Billy Moriarity at 103 pounds, Jeremy Urban at 135 pounds and Will Sagaser at 171 pounds. Morgan Dunn took a fourth at 275 pounds.
"Actually, it went as well or better than we could have hoped," said Wood. "Everyone wrestled well and pretty much did what we expected. We will do well at small schools and hopefully, we can knock some people off. Willows is tough and we know that going in."
Final team scores for the SCL were as follows: Modoc 223, Trinity 135.5, Fall River 108, Etna 98, Tulelake 72.5, Hayfork 64, Chester 53, Burney 24 and Greenville 9.
Modoc has six wrestlers ranked in the north section (all schools) with only Anderson and Orland having more individuals. Wilson is the number one ranked 215-pounder, Willis is the number three at heayweight, Robert Cox moved to number four at 171, Lundgren is fifth at 189, McGarva is sixth at 145 and Semenko is sixth at 125.
Wood expects Wilson and Willis to win small schools and Cox has an excellent opportunity.
Modoc's junior varsity wrestlers also ran away with their division in a big way. Matt Shepherd won the 103 pound divi sion with teammate Dave Markson taking second. Roger Cronley won the 119 pound class with teammate James Brogan taking second. Modoc's Doug Wellemeyer and Wayne Sanders tied for first in the 140 pound division. Robert Mendoza was first at 145 pounds and Robert Williams was second. James Waterman won the 152 pound division and David Coombes won at 160 pounds.
Local basketball teams do well
This coming Saturday is a day that teams all over the North State have been working towards since November. February 19 is "Selection Saturday" when coaches and North Section CIF officials get together to set the playoff brackets for Sectional Championships.
The playoffs begin next Tuesday and run through March 4, when championship games will be played.
The Modoc boys and girls teams both clinched Shasta-Cascade League Titles during the past week. The female Braves have won five crowns in a row now, and thus far posted a 58-1 league record during that stretch.
The girls team will probably get the No. 2 seed in the Division V playoffs behind Portola, the only team the Braves have lost to this sea son.
The boys situation is more complicated. Modoc is ranked as high as No. 2 in one poll, and as a league champ will hopefully be no worse than a 3 or 4 seed. Mercy at 21-1, is clearly the No. 1 seed in Division V. The Warriors only loss was a one-pointer to Division III Enterprise.
Beyond Mercy, there are several other schools that will compete with the Braves for the higher seeds. They include: Westwood (21-1), Tulelake (19-3), Delta (16-5), Durham (16-6), Quincy (15-6) and Hamilton (14-4.)
Big Valley also has an impressive record of 19-4, but they won't go into the playoffs as a league champ. The Cardinals finished in an 11-1 tie with Tulelake, but the Honkers get to go to the playoffs as the Evergreen League champs. The two-teams also finished tied in 1996-97, and the Cards got the nod that time. Therefore, using the EL's turn-taking tie-breaker, the 1999-2000 top spot goes to Tulelake.
Big Valley coach Bryan Gerig is understand ably not a big fan of the league's tie-breaker system.
"I think the league needs to change the pol icy," he said. "I'd rather play Tulelake on a neutral court to decide the league champ."
Gerig estimated that if the Cards had gone in as the league champ, the would get no worse than a 3 or 4 seed. Now, he feels that his team will get no higher than the 6 or 7 spot, and they really have no guarantee that they will even be in the top eight.
One interesting scenario could be if Modoc is the No. 3 seed and Big Valley is at No. 6. The two teams could meet in the quarterfinals at Griswold Gym in Alturas.
The tie-breaker system worked out better for the Big Valley girls. Their 10-2 record left them in a first-place tie with Butte Valley. The Bulldogs got the No. 1 seed last year so the Cards get to go into the playoffs as EL champs this year. In the girls Division VI bracket, Big Valley will probably go in as the No. 1 seed while Butte Valley will be at No. 2.
Another team to watch out for in Division VI is the Surprise Valley girls. The Hornets are clearly the most improved team in the tourna ment and will surely do some damage.
As far as Shasta-Cascade League girls bas ketball goes, the new century started off the same way the old one ended. Modoc is still clearly the top team in the league. The Braves secured their fifth straight SCL title on Saturday night with a 61-51 win over Trinity.
Modoc coach Mike Martin praised the work ethic and team philosophy achieved by this year's edition of the Braves' dynasty. While the four previous championship teams were loaded with height, speed and future college players, this year's squad had just one senior in the starting lineup and two starters who had never played at the varsity level before. Nevertheless, Martin's defensive coaching and gutsy perfor mances by the players left Modoc on top once again.
"This is a team that just really works hard," Martin said. "This was by far my most team oriented group. That's because they know they have to work together to win."
Against Trinity, the Braves easily jumped to an early 10 point lead over the Wolves and then held on the rest of the night. Trinity did make a couple of runs in the third quarter to get within seven points, but the Braves were always able to answer with a run of their own, mainly by getting the ball to Andrea Knox.
Knox appears to be returning to form after suffering an achilles injury. On Saturday she led all scorers with 24 points. Half of those came at the foul line, where Knox went 12-15. Two Wolves fouled out trying to guard Knox. She also had two blocks and five rebounds.
Jessica Kern put in nine points while Tatum Dunn scored eight and passed off for four as sists. Stephanie McMaster led the squad in both rebounds and steals. She had nine boards and five swipes to go along with seven points.
On Tuesday, the Braves traveled to Fall River and came away with a 54-30 win. Modoc scored 28 points in the last 11 minutes of the first half while holding the Bulldogs to just eight first half points.
Modoc coach Mike Martin praised the de fense of Kern. She held FR's Christie Brewster, who had 31 points in her last game, to just four points on the night.
Kern and Dunn both hit double figures with 10 points.
The Braves finish off the regular season to morrow night at Etna. The Lions are in second place in the SCL and are the only team to beat Modoc in league play since 1995.
Five free throws down the stretch secured an SCL title for Modoc on Tuesday night down in Fall River. The Braves were trailing 43-42 late in the game, but free throws by Josh Conner, C.J. Straub and Blake Thorn were the last five points scored in the game, giving Modoc a 47-43 win.
That victory, combined with a Burney loss, makes the Braves league champions regardless of what happens in the last league game on Friday night at Etna.
Thorn and Brett Hamilton both had 11 points, and coach Lane Bates noted that Hamilton, "just really controlled the game in side."
He also praised the defense of Straub. Bates put the senior guard on Fall River's best scorer, and Straub pitched a shut-out for the night.
The win over Fall River was a nice recovery after losing to Trinity 62-54 on Saturday night. The Wolves simply overpowered the Braves in side, scoring many of their 23 baskets within three feet of the goal. They got many of those close shots thanks to their ability to control the boards and get plenty of put-backs.
While it hasn't been unusual to see the Modoc defense hold opponents to 30 percent shooting, this time it was the Braves them selves who were shooting in the low 30's. At the other end of the floor, Trinity hit half their shots.
The Wolves had a 35-25 lead at the half, but the Braves were able to get within six points several times in the second half. However, untimely turnovers and fouls always stopped Modoc short of making a full come back.
The Braves trailed 54-48 with 1:47 left after scoring six straight points on free throws by Brett Hamilton, Josh Conner and Blake Thorn. However, Trinity scored on their next two pos sessions to put the game on ice.
Thorn ended the game with 20 points and nine rebounds while Conner hit his first six shots on the way to 18 points.
Before the Cards could claim a share of the EL crown, they had to defeat a tough Surprise Valley team in Cedarville on Tuesday night. Big Valley withstood a late rally by the Hornets before coming away with a hard-earned 52-50 win.
Jamie Hawkins was once again a major force in several areas of the game. She scored 22 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, blocked three shots and dished off for three assists. However, her most important contribution may have come on defense as she racked up an incredible 12 steals. Anytime SV tried to throw passes into the key, Hawkins was there to pick them off.
The Cardinals also got key performances from some of their less heralded players. Megan Armstrong, a 5-2 senior, had six steals to go along with four points and three re bounds. Sophmore Ashley Oney made BV's last basket of the game. The Cards were leading 50-48 at the time, and her shot turned it into a two possession game with too little time left for the Hornets.
Big Valley coach Eileena Oney said her team is "going to focus on our man-to-man defense," in getting ready for the playoffs. "In the play offs, a lot of teams are going to have a lot of outside shooting. We need to be able to defend that."
The Cardinals wound up their regular sea son with six players in double figures during a 78-54 win over Surprise Valley on Tuesday.
Two senior guards named Michael - Lemke and McClain, led a 21-4 run in the final four minutes of the first half that blew the game open. McClain was BV's high scorer with 16 points on 7-11 shooting, while Lemke left his mark all over the stat-sheet. He finished with 11 points, eight steals, six assists and four re bounds.
Other Cards in double figures were David House (14), Calvin Jackson (13), Chris Blue (11) and Jimmy Perez (10).
The Hornets demonstrated just how far they have come during the league season by playing two of the EL's toughest teams right down to the wire.
"I'm sure we'll contend with them again in the playoffs," Big Valley coach Eileena Oney said of Surprise Valley after her team escaped Cedarville with a 52-50 win on Tuesday night. "I hope they get put in Butte Valley's half of the bracket so we don't have to face them until the finals."
On Tuesday night, Surprise Valley almost extended their win streak to six games. Jessica Bietz, the EL's version of Jason Kidd, contin ued her trend of posting good numbers in a va riety of categories with eight points, eight as sists, four rebounds and four steals.
Traci Reeves scored 11 points and blocked four shots. Meghan Darst came off the bench to score 11 points and grab eight rebounds.
The game was close most of the way, with the Hornets leading at the half and trailing by just two heading into the fourth quarter. However, Big Valley went on an 8-2 run be tween 6:05 and 3:37 of the fourth quarter to take a 46-36 lead.
Perhaps not coincidentally, that BV run came during the same time that SV forward Cassie Cockrell had to go the bench with an in jury. Up to that point, Cockrell had gone through a rough night. The 5-9 junior had been held to just six points while being guarded by the Cards' 6-1 center, Jamie Hawkins.
When she came in for the last 3:37 though, Cockrell found her range and would put on a show of amazing offensive pyrotechnics with 10 points in just two minutes.
The Hornets also went into a full-court press during that last 3:37. During Cockrell's scoring stretch, Bietz would come up with three steals and assist Cockrell on three of her baskets. Cockrell's biggest shot resulted in a four-point play. She hit a three-pointer, got fouled and made the free throw. Her last bucket at 1:34 tied the game up at 48-all.
However, the Cardinals would score the next two baskets and then hang on for the win.
Cockrell also provided last minute heroics as Surprise Valley beat Tulelake 62-61 on Friday night. With her team trailing by two, she scored the last points of the game on a three-pointer.
Cockrell finished with 26 followed by Bietz with 14 and Reeves with 12.
The Hornets can finish in a tie for third with Tulelake if they beat 0-11 Happy Camp tonight. The game will be played at a neutral court in Butte Valley.
In their last home game of the year, a young Hornets squad gave the home crowd a taste of what to expect next year.
Junior guard Mike Carpenter proved that he is already one of the most exciting players to watch in the North Section. He scored 22 points on 9-14 shooting, grabbed seven boards and dished out six assists. Carpenter finished the season with a 23.6 points per game scoring av erage.
Another junior, Joel Ruiz, also had a hot night. He shot 6-11 to finish with 14 points.
In their home loss to Tulelake last Friday, sophomore Jonathan Dabill led the Hornets with 15 points.
The Hornets end their season tonight against Happy Camp.
Record sports for Feb. 24, 2000
Wilson, Willis favored in 4A tourney
Modoc coach Shaun Wood knew it was go ing to be close as his Braves wrestled in the Small Schools sectional champi onships last weekend in Tulelake.
And Wood was right. The favored Willows team just edged the Braves by scor ing 230 points while the Braves fin ished sec ond with 213 points. Durham ended the day with 200 points for third place and Trinity was well behind for fourth with 143.5 points.
"The matchups favored Willows and we had to have some help from other teams and our guys had to wrestle well to win it," said Wood. "We came close and there was plenty of ex citement along the way. Our guys did really well."
Modoc 215 pounder, Blake Wilson, who is the number one ranked wrestler in the sec tion at that weight, gave the Braves their first individual title when he decisioned Wheatland's Mike Mihalyi 13-5. Wilson will be the favorite at his weight to win the all schools sectional title this weekend in Redding and head to the state tournament.
One of the highlights of the small schools tournament was the heavyweight match-up between Modoc's Tony Willis, ranked third in the section and Willows Nathan Allen, who held the top ranking. Allen was at the Corning tournament with Willis, but failed to make the final round. Willis won the tourney, but Allen was left as the number-one ranked wrestler in the weight class.
At small schools, Willis was out to change that once and for all. When Allen made it to the finals match with Willis, it was all the Brave could ask for. Willis was never in trou ble against Allen and ended up with a 10-5 decision for the title. Willis scored all of his points on takedowns after tak ing charge 4-1 in the first round.
According to Wood, Allen stayed on the defensive and Willis took advantage when he could. Willis was the ag gressor in the match and that ended up winning it for him.
Another one of the real tough matches was at 145 pounds where Modoc's Jared McGarva, ranked sixth, ran into the number one wrestler, Andy Zuckerman of Willows. In a very close match, Zuckerman decisioned McGarva 7-5. Wood said McGarva, a sopho more, handled the pressure well and gave Zuckerman all he could handle to earn a sec ond place.
Wood also praised the wrestling efforts of Robert Flournoy and Justin Semenko. Flournoy (119) decisioned Wheatland's William Lopez 12-5 for third place. Semenko (125) pinned Wheatland's Levi Devany for third place.
Modoc's 189 pounder, Ross Lundgren, did very well and pinned Tulelake's Andy Thompkins for third place.
Willows Brian Sinclair decisioned Modoc's David Lutz for third place in the 130-pound division. Richard Lutz, Modoc, deci sioned Owen McIntosh, Etna 12-4 for fifth place at 140 pounds.
Robert Cox, Modoc's 171 pounder, pinned C.J. Goni, Quincy, for fifth place. Jeremy Price, Modoc's 112 pounder decisioned Shane Fackrell, Trinity, for fifth place. Collin Cook, Modoc's 160 pounder was pinned by Etna's Robbie VanRyn in the fifth place match. Trinity's Matt Strockman decisioned Modoc's Jeremy Urban in the 135-pound fifth place match.
The top four finishers in small schools qualify to go on to the all-schools tournament this weekend in Redding. That includes Wilson, Willis, Flournoy, McGarva, Lundgren, Semenko, and David Lutz. Cox, Richard Lutz and Price will be alternates. Of 14 Modoc wrestlers, 12 of them placed in small schools and most return next season.
Area hoop teams in play-offs
The Modoc boys and girls basketball teams won in the opening round of the Division V playoffs on Tuesday night in very different ways. While the girls estab lished they would win their game in the opening minutes, the boys needed two overtimes before claiming a win.
The Modoc teams, dual champions of the Shasta-Cascade League, are both No. 4 seeds in their respective sectional tournaments, and both may end up hosting Tulelake teams in the quarter-finals for a Friday night double-header.
The Big Valley boys played their opener in the Division V tournament last night. The Big Valley girls as well as the Surprise Valley boys and girls teams all got spots in the eight-team Division VI playoffs that begin tonight.
The Braves opened the playoffs against Paradise Adventist on Tuesday. Andrea Knox scored baskets on four of Modoc's first five pos sessions and the Braves built an 11-2 lead in less than three minutes on their way to a 68-17 blowout of the Cougars.
Every Modoc player scored and every player that came off the bench had at least four points. Knox and Jessica Kern combined for 33 points while shooting 13-19 from the field and 7-9 from the line. Kern also had four assists and four steals.
The Braves also played their usual tough de fense, forcing 20 turnovers in the first half. Stephanie McMaster led the way in that cate gory with seven steals. Katelyn Tate was the top rebounder with six.
On Friday the Braves will host a quarter-fi nal game with Tulelake at 6:30. The 15-9 Honkers finished tied for third in the Evergreen League and won at Hayfork on Tuesday night.
Should the Braves win that game, they will likely have to travel to No. 1 Rio Vista (20-1) on Leap Day next Tuesday.
Coach Mike Martin noted that Rio Vista's only loss on the season came to Colusa, the No. 1 team in Division IV. Later in the season, Rio Vista came back to beat Colusa and even the season record at 1-1 between the two schools.
"If we have to beat the best team in the sec tion, we want to beat them at their place," Martin said. "They should be nervous with us coming there. All the pressure is on them while we've got nothing to lose."
The playoffs for the boys team are turning out to be a repeat of December's Block M tour nament. The Braves hosted Liberty Christian on Tuesday night and have a good chance of facing Tulelake on Friday. Both schools lost to Modoc in the pre-season tournament.
On Tuesday, the Braves needed two over times to beat the Patriots by a final score of 73-61. Actually, the Braves needed two miracle comebacks just to force those two overtimes. Coach Lane Bates credited his team with refus ing to quit.
"The team just kept working hard," he said. "There were a couple of times where they could have just folded but they didn't."
One of those times was when the Braves trailed 47-43 with less than 20 seconds left to play. However, Modoc patiently worked the ball around to get an open three-pointer for Kris Server. He nailed the shot with 13.9 seconds left to bring the Braves within one.
Liberty Christian would then give Modoc ev ery opportunity to win the game, turning the ball over three times in a row - once on a five second inbounds call, once on a steal by Blake Thorn and once on a pass thrown out of bounds.
Although Modoc got good looks on all three possessions, they could only come up with one free throw by Thorn that sent the game into overtime tied at 47-47.
Things looked bleak again in the first over time. The Braves trailed 54-51 when they called timeout with 10.8 seconds left. Bates set up a double-screen for Thorn. Brett Hamilton cut off the LC defender and Thorn hit a turnaround three to force a second OT session.
Server took over in the second overtime, scor ing 10 of his 13 points in that period. After struggling to score the whole night, the Braves suddenly exploded for 19 points in the last four minutes.
C.J. Straub and Thorn also scored 13 each, with Thorn contributing 14 rebounds. Brett Hamilton led the team in scoring with 16, while also pulling down 11 rebounds and recording three assists.
On Friday night, Modoc hosts the winner of last night's game between No. 5 Tulelake and No. 12 Fall River. A win in the quarter-finals would probably mean a trip to Mercy to face the No. 1 ranked Warriors next Wednesday. Should Mercy lose, the Braves would get to stay home for the semis.
The Cardinals got the No. 2 seed in the Division VI tournament. They open tonight by hosting Loyalton in the quarter-finals.
Big Valley will get to stay home for the semi-finals against either Mercy or Maxwell on Tuesday.
The Cards got the No. 7 seed in Division V, the highest seed given to any team that was not a league champion. They hosted Burney last night, after this edition of The Record had gone to press. Big Valley previously beat the Raiders in Burney on February 3, by a score of 58-41.
Friday's quarter-finals will probably mean a trip to No. 2 seed Westwood. The semi-finals will be held next Wednesday.
The Hornets got the No. 8 spot in the Division VI tourney and will play at Downieville tonight. A win would put SV in Tuesday's semi-finals at either Champion or Butte Valley.
The Hornets were able to sneak into the Division VI playoffs as a No. 7 seed. They play tonight at Greenville. Should SV emerge victori ous, they would be at either Herlong or McCloud for Tuesday's semi-finals.
Likely Links forms Ladies Club
An organizational meeting for the purpose of forming a women's club at the Likely Links Golf Course, will be held at the home of Lynn McClellan, 500 East Fourth Street, Al turas on Wednesday, March 1, commencing at 7:00 p.m.
All women interested in joining are invited to attend this meeting. Any one unable to attend, but interested in joining or who may want further information, should contact either Lynn McClellan at 233-2458, or Sheila McKenzie at 233-4005.
A Pacific Women's Golf Association rating team is scheduled to rate the Likely Links Golf Course for the women in May, for handicapping purposes.
The course was rated for the men last year, at which time a computer was installed for posting of scores. Once the course is rated for women, this same service will be avail able to them at the Likely Links.
SV hosts open b-ball tourney
The Surprise Valley High School Class of 2000, with the sponsorship of the Modoc County Tobacco Education Program, will host an open basketball tournament during the weekend of March 3-5.
The tobacco-free tournament will be held at the SV High School gym in Cedarville and is open to eight mens and eight womens teams. The entry fee is $100.00 per team.
For further information con tact Raquel Azevedo at 279-6169 or Jessica Bietz at 279-6123. Entries may also be faxed to SVHS at 279-2210.
Record sports summaries for March 3, 2000
Update: Modoc's boys were knocked out of the section tournament Wednesday night when Mercy beat them 65-59.
Willis on state wrestling finals
To highlight a perfect year, Modoc's heavyweight Tony Willis won the North Section wrestling title last weekend and is now on his way to Stockton to compete in the California State Finals.
Unlike other sports, which compete in di visions, in wrestling (and track) an athlete must win the north sec tion all schools meet to advance to the state champi onships.
"Tony wrestled really well," said Modoc Coach Shaun Wood. "What a great way to end the section tournament. It was the final match and Tony won it 5-4. Pretty exciting stuff."
Willis, a junior, is now 31-0 on the season and goes into the state finals with a better than average chance to place. He will meet the number four wrestler of the south section, Mike Werner of Arlington in the opening round and if he wins that will face the San Joaquin champion, ranked fourth in the state, Randall Brown, of Merced.
"He has a good chance against both of those guys," Wood said. "If he can win the first two matches, I think he has very good chance to make it to the final round. Every match is tough from here on out."
In the North Section finals, Willis beat Brandon Povio of Oroville for the champi onship 5-4, in what Wood called a very in tense match. He beat Lassen's Ben Zamora of Lassen by pin in the third round of the semi-finals.
The Braves Blake Wilson, a 215 pound ju nior, didn't fare as well as expected at the North Section finals, taking a respectable fourth, after being ranked number one most of the season.
Wilson lost to Shane Beers, Shasta, 2-5. In the consola tion bracket he beat Mike Mihalyi, of Wheatland, 3-1 in overtime and lost the third place match to Jared Lovett of West Valley in double overtime 2-1.
"It was not his best day," said Wood. "But he had an in credible season and there was a lot of pressure on him go ing into that section tournament. We are certainly proud of his year and his finish. I know he would rather have done better and he'll have next year."
Sophomore Jared McGarva took a fifth in the section, a very respectable finish at 145 pounds,
Wood was also proud of the effort of Robert Flournoy and of David Lutz, who each fin ished one match out of the medals. Flournoy is a freshman who competed at the 119-pound division and was the only freshman at the weight. Lutz, Modoc's 130-pounder, had a very strong weight class and wrestled well.
"I'd really like to thank all the fans who traveled to Redding to support us at the North Section, it was impres sive," said Wood.
Other Modoc wrestlers who qualified to compete at the north section were Ross Lundgren 189 pounds, Justin Semenko at 125 pounds with Robert Cox and Richard Lutz as alternates.
The state finals are held March 4-5 in Stockton.
Girls on way to section basketball finals, boys out
The Modoc and Big Valley girls teams got Leap Day wins on Tuesday, February 29 to reach the Division V and VI North Section finals. Both teams will play their title tilts in Chico over the next three days.
The Modoc boys team is also looking for a trip to Chico. They played their semi-final game at Mercy last night after this edition of The Record had gone to press.
The boys teams from Big Valley and Surprise Valley, as well as the SV girls, were all eliminated in the first round of the playoffs this past week.
The Braves came up with a huge 51-47 semi-final win at No. 1 Rio Vista on Tuesday night. The win puts the Braves into the North State finals for the fifth year in a row. Modoc went 4-0 in title games from 1996-99.
The championship game will take place on Saturday, March 4, at 11:00 a.m. at CSU-Chico.
Modoc's opponent will be undefeated Portola, the one and only team to put a blem ish on the Braves' record this year. Portola beat Modoc at the Portola tournament in the first week of the season.
Coach Mike Martin has stated that he thinks the Braves are a much better team now than they were in early December. He noted that when the Braves went into the Portola Tournament, they had only held two practices due to the fact that the Modoc volleyball team had advanced into the California State play offs.
The Modoc basketball team will also make its fifth straight State Tournament appear ance. Should they win the Section finals on Saturday, the Braves would host their first-round State playoff game next Tuesday. A loss to Portola would still allow Modoc to get into the State tourney, but the Braves would get a lower seed and would have to go on the road for all of their games.
The Braves earned the right to play Rio Vista on Tuesday by defeating Tulelake in Alturas on Friday night. The Braves struggled early before putting together a strong second half that led to a 59-43 win.
In the early going, the Honkers didn't have much problem with Modoc's defensive pressure. While the Braves were shooting just 30 percent from the field and 4-12 from the free throw line in the first half, Tulelake was rebounding all of those missed shots and heading the other way on fast-breaks.
The Honkers led by as much as five mid-way through the second quarter before the Braves came back to take a 26-25 half-time lead. The game turned around during a 90 second stretch late in the third quarter. Leading 32-29, the Braves went on a quick 8-2 run thanks to back-to-back three pointers by Jessica Kern and Tatum Dunn followed by a two point bucket by Jodie Freeman.
That extended Modoc's lead to 40-31, and they never looked back while forcing 15 second half turnovers.
Andrea Knox left her mark in every category with 21 points, 10 rebounds, six steals, three blocks and three assists. Kern had 17 and Dunn added 15.
The Modoc boys team would like to accom pany the girls squad to Chico on Saturday. A win over Mercy last night would put the Braves in the finals at 12:45 p.m. (right after the girls game) against either Quincy or Westwood. Those teams played in the other semi-final game on Wednesday night.
In the quarter-finals, the Braves made it 3-0 against Fall River this year with a 57-46 win on Friday night.
The key for Modoc was outscoring the Bulldogs 19-6 in the second quarter to take a lead they would never lose. The Braves trailed 19-20 mid-way through the quarter when Blake Thorn hit back-to-back treys to trigger a 9-2 run.
Defense was also important for the Braves during the second stanza as they held FR to 3-12 shooting while forcing six turnovers. After the Bulldogs hit half their shots in the first quarter, the Braves would put the clamps on and hold them to just 30 percent shooting for the rest of the night.
"Our team defense was pretty solid," coach Lane Bates said. "I told them (the players) be fore the game that that's what's gotten us here. Our offense has been good and bad, but we've always been able to count on our team de fense."
Thorn and Brett Hamilton combined to score 34 of Modoc's points on 15-25 shooting, and they also teamed up for 17 rebounds. Thorn came up with seven steals while Hamilton had three assists.
The final score could have been 60-46, but a half-court shot by C.J. Straub at the end of the game was ruled to have come after the final buzzer.
In a way, that play was the only fitting way to end the game for Straub - he did all the work but didn't get the credit. Although he didn't score a single point or make any flashy plays against Fall River, Straub was clearly the glue that held the Braves together. Besides record ing eight assists, he also held FR's top scorer, James Wood, to just 11 points.
"C.J. really did a good job of recognizing the changes in defense by Fall River and getting us into the right offense," Bates said.
Big Valley plays Butte Valley for the Division VI championship tonight in what might be called a case of deja vu. In the first ever Division VI championship last year, the Cardinals and Bulldogs squared off, with Butte taking home first prize.
This year, the schools split their two games played in the Evergreen League. The title tilt is tonight at Pleasant Valley High in Chico at 6:00 p.m.
BV got to the finals by defeating Mercy 51-40 in a semi-final game on Tuesday night. The game was not as close as the score indicated, with the Cards leading by as much as 20 late in the game.
Jamie Hawkins was top scorer for Big Valley with 23 while Michelle Terry added 13.
The Cards started the playoffs with a 68-54 defeat of Loyalton last Thursday. Hawkins had 21 points and 21 rebounds while Terry and Luena Harbert combined for 29.
A very successful season came to a very abrupt end for the Cardinals with a loss to Burney in the opening round of the Division V playoffs. What made the loss even more painful was the fact that Big Valley had defeated the Raiders by 17 points just a couple of weeks earlier.
Things look good for the 2000-2001 season for Big Valley. The Cards will return their two top scorers, juniors Calvin Jackson and David House.
The Hornets suffered a first round loss to No. 1 seed Downieville by a score of 67-44. SV is looking strong for next year though, with the re turn of leading scorers Cassie Cockrell and Traci Reeves to lead a team that showed tremendous improvement over the course of this season.
A third quarter breakdown led to a 71-51 loss for the Hornets against Greenville in the first round of the Division VI playoffs.
"Get rid of that third quarter, and it was a very winnable game," SV coach John Christie said.
What the game did show was that Surprise Valley will have a strong squad coming back next year. Sophomore inside players Ryan Burresch and Jonathan Dabill combined for 23 points while junior Joel Ruiz tossed in 10. Christie also reported that freshman guard Ivan Rangel played well after being moved up to the varsity for the playoffs.
The Hornets will also once again have one of the best scorers in the North State on their team next year as junior Mike Carpenter will return for another season. Carpenter averaged over 23 points per game during the regular season, but due to foul trouble, was held to just nine against Greenville.
The Surprise Valley High School Class of 2000, with the sponsorship of the Modoc County Tobacco Education Program, will host an open basketball tournament during the weekend of March 3-5.
The tobacco-free tournament will be held at the SV High School gym in Cedarville and is open to eight mens and eight womens teams. The entry fee is $100.00 per team.
For further information con tact Raquel Azevedo at 279-6169 or Jessica Bietz at 279-6123. Entries may also be faxed to SVHS at 279-2210.
Record sports for March 9, 2000
Ah, baseball. . .
MODOC'S BRAVES are scheduled to host a baseball and softball tournament this weekend in Alturas. Baseball coach Brad Server has been doing battle with old man weather all week and as of Wednesday had refused to give up hope. A decision on whether the tourney goes or not is scheduled for today. If it does go on, both Modoc's baseball and softball teams will take their respective fields against Butte Valley Friday at 11 a.m. and the tourney would run through Saturday. The forecast wasn't helpful for the tour ney, but anything can happen.
Willis goes 3-2 in state tourney
Modoc heavyweight Tony Willis went 3-2 and missed a medal at the California State Wrestling Championships by just a flip of the coin.
In his final match, Willis and Jacob Hallmark of Clovis had wrestled to a 1-1 tie after double overtime. Some 8,000 fans at University of Pacific's gym were in tense as the match went on. Most of the schools were root ing for Willis to beat the Clovis wrestler, to knock that school out of second place statewide.
At the end of the second overtime, Willis lost the coin flip and Hallmark got into the down position and escaped for the one-point win. Had the flip gone the other way, said Modoc coach Shaun Wood, Willis would have escaped and won the match.
"It was intense," said Wood. "Tony had a great tourna ment and went far ther than any Modoc wrestler has ever gone. We were really proud of him. There were 32 guys in his divisions, all studs, and Tony actually placed around ninth. Not too bad for a ju nior."
Willis opened the state finals by beating Mike Werner, of Arlington, 8-3. He then ran into the number four ranked wrestler in the state, Randall Brown, of Merced, who pinned him in the first round. Brown went on to place third in the state.
Willis then went out and beat George Guerrero, John Glenn High School, 4-2 in his next match. He met Jeremy Leslie from Freedom High School in the next match and pinned him in the second round.
Then came the match with Hallmark, which went all the way to the double overtime and the coin flip.
"I'll tell you there were some guys from the north sec tion who were saying he got lucky by winning the north, but they had all changed their tune during the state meet," said Wood. "Tony represented our school, league, section and the north state very well and he had a lot of support down there. The guys that beat him at state placed third and fifth."
Wood figures Willis should be ranked in the top 12 to start next season and should probably come in some where around fifth to eighth since many of the ranked wrestlers this year were seniors. Willis finished this sea son with a remarkable 34-2 record, with his only losses at the state championships.
Wood is licking his chops for next season as well. He'll return Willis and the top-ranked 215-pounder in the section Blake Wilson and most of the team. He loses se niors Robert Cox, Justin Semenko, Richard Lutz and Jeremy Urban.
"We're going to be tough as nails next year," said Wood. "We had a lot of young guys do really well this year and I expect us to be in a position to send more than one person to state next season."
Modoc girls wins scetion, lose in state
The Modoc girls basketball team had a week of highs and lows. The upside came on Saturday when the Braves clinched their fifth straight North Section Championship. The depths followed three days later when Modoc's season ended with a heartbreaking loss in the first round of the State Tournament.
The Braves stretched their domination of the North State to five straight years in the Division V finals in Chico. No other team has claimed the title since 1995.
The win also allowed Modoc to avenge its only regular season loss against Portola. This time, the Braves downed the Tigers 42-29.
Modoc held a five point lead at the half and a seven point lead at the end of three before pulling away in the fourth quarter. The Braves played their usual tough defense, holding Portola to just eight baskets.
Senior Andrea Knox provided nearly half of Modoc's offense, pouring in 20 points.
Knox's hot hand would continue into the Division V State Playoffs, where Modoc was given the No. 2 seed in Northern California. On Tuesday night, the Braves hosted Central Catholic.
The game provided a great match-up be tween Knox and the Raiders' Teresa Martini. Both are six-foot seniors who can do everything from handling the ball against a press to post ing-up inside. While Knox may have won the battle, outscoring Martini 25-19, Central Catholic ultimately won the war by a score of 47-45.
Martini scored Central's first eight points on impressive drives to the basket and the Raiders led by as much as 10 early in the third quarter. The Braves forced 32 Central turnovers on the night, but had a hard time gaining ground due to 14 first-half turnovers of their own.
However, with 4:33 left and Central Catholic up 32-23, Martini picked up her fourth foul and had to go to the bench until the fourth quarter.
The Braves used that opportunity to go on a 7-0 run, thanks in part to steals and lay-ups by Sara Howell and Stephanie McMaster. They would end up trailing just 35-33 heading into the fourth quarter.
Even though Martini returned to the floor for the final stanza, the Braves held her to just one more basket on the night. Knox tied the game up with two free throws at 7:31 and put her team ahead 37-36 with two more foul shots at 5:30.
The Braves took their biggest lead at 40-38 when Jessica Kern knocked down a three-pointer with 4:48 left.
The Raiders would go on a 6-0 run to take a 44-40 lead with 2:30 left, but Modoc would an swer right back with five straight points on a basket by Knox and free throws by Jodie Freeman and McMaster.
McMaster's charity toss put the Braves up 45-44 with exactly one minute showing on the clock, but that would be the last Modoc point of the season.
Central Catholic came back with a two-and-one bucket and free throw to take a 47-45 lead with 38.9 seconds left. Modoc turned the ball over on the inbounds pass and the Raiders were able to run the clock down nearly another 30 seconds before missing a three-pointer.
Modoc grabbed the rebound and called time out with 4.8 seconds on the clock. However, the Braves were unable to get off a final shot before the buzzer and Central Catholic moved on to the NorCal semis held tonight.
Besides scoring over 55 percent of the Modoc points, Knox also had nine rebounds, six steals and two blocks.
Kern had six points and four steals while McMaster added five points and five rebounds.
The Braves finished the season at 23-2 and Knox earned MVP honors in the Shasta-Cascade League. Tatum Dunn and Kern made the All-League squad.
Season ends in semis for boys
The Modoc boys basketball team pushed the top-ranked team in Division V to the limit before being eliminated from the playoffs last week.
The No. 4 ranked Braves played at No. 1 Mercy in the North State semi-finals last Wednesday night. The game was tied at 57-all with just 1:30 left before the Warriors pulled away to take a 65-59 win.
The Braves, who finished the season at 19-6, can take some consolation in the fact that they gave Mercy by far its toughest game of the playoffs. The Warriors went on to blow out Westwood in the finals on Saturday.
The Braves' trip to the Section semis was the first since the early 90's. In Modoc's final game of the season, sophomore Blake Thorn had 23 points and Josh Conner hit double fig ures with 11.
After taking the Shasta-Cascade League ti tle, the Braves also cleaned up when it came time to hand out league awards. Senior center Brett Hamilton was named co-MVP along with Burney's T.J. DeBraga.
Thorn was a first-team All-SCL selection while Conner and C.J. Straub both earned sec ond-team honors. Modoc coach Lane Bates was voted Coach of the Year by his peers.
Kern, 3 others help Shasta College girls
Maybe they should just re-name the team "Modoc South." After all, when the Shasta College womens basketball team takes the floor tonight in Stockton at the California Junior College Championships, they will have no less than four players on the roster who once wore the purple and white of Modoc High School.
Jennifer Kern, Ileah Jackson, Leah Siegel and Linda Lake have all made the jump from Braves to Knights, and have helped their team gain a 31-3 record and the No. 1 ranking for Northern California JC teams.
Out of 85 junior college teams in the Golden State, only the top eight (four from the North and four from the South) will get a chance to play for the California Title in Stockton over the next three days. Shasta College has not been to the great eight State Championship Tournament since the early 80's, and had pre viously never won 30 games in a season.
The Knights will play College of the Canyons tonight at 8:00 p.m. If they win, the semis will be on Friday, and the finals will be held Saturday.
Shasta coach Jerry Brown said he is thank ful for the contributions of the Braves farm team.
"The last time I saw (MHS coach) Mike Martin I asked him if he had any more he could send my way," Brown joked. "The Modoc kids have been great to work with. Mike does a great job of getting them ready for the college level."
The leader of the team has been Kern. The sophomore center has averaged 16.7 points and 12.9 rebounds per game. She was named MVP of the Golden West Conference and Brown feels sure that she will be on the first-team when the All-State squad is picked.
Brown said that Kern's biggest improvement over the last two years has come in her offen sive abilities.
"She's always been a good defender and re bounder, but now she's a more complete offen sive player," Brown said of Kern. "Now she can step outside and knock down shots from the perimeter. She's been working on her inside game too and she's got more moves in the post now, including the hook shot."
Kern's performance has drawn attention from a variety of four-year colleges with schol arships to offer.
"A lot of people have been talking to her and we feel that there will be more offers once the season ends. Things are still really open for her," Brown said.
The Knights have also relied heavily upon Kern since she was the only returning starter this season.
"We had a lot of freshmen kids and you don't know how they are going to react to college basketball," Brown noted.
One that reacted quite well was Jackson. She earned a spot in the starting lineup and averaged over 10 points and five rebounds per game. She poured in 22 points in the final game of the league season against College of the Siskiyous and earned a spot on the GWC All-Conference team.
Siegel and Lake have been coming off the bench for the Knights, and Brown praised the "solid" play that both have provided.
"The Modoc players have been fun to coach," Brown said. "They've done a really good job for me."
Cards win girls D-6 championship
The Big Valley girls basketball team left no doubt whatsoever that they were the