January

 

Record sports for Jan. 14

• Modoc wrestlers do well in Anderson
• Modoc girls start SCL at 3-0
• Big Valley boys in action
• SV Hornets open league play
• Modoc boys lose a pair

 

Modoc's Phil Weed has had a good week and moved up to the number two rank in the north section.

 

Modoc's wrestling team heads to the Burney Invitational this weekend and goes into that tournament as the favored team. They'll run into several of the Shasta Cascade League schools including Trinity and Etna so it should be a good test.

The Braves are coming off a good showing for several athletes at the 32-school, mostly large school, tournament held in Anderson over the weekend.

"I was very happy with the way we wrestled in Anderson," said Modoc Coach Shaun Wood. "We competed very well and had some excellent individual performances."

Heavyweight Tony Willis wrestled very well in the tour ney and placed third, losing only to the top ranked wrestler for that weight in the north section. Willis is ranked third in the section.

Phil Weed, Modoc's 152-pounder, took a fourth in Anderson and beat some strong, ranked wrestlers. His showing in Anderson moved him up to the number two ranking in the north section.

Modoc's Andy Nowak, at 180 pounds, placed fourth in the tournament. On his way to that finish, he beat the number one ranked wrestler in his weight class. Nowak maintains his number four ranking.

Wood said he was especially pleased with Robert Cox, at 215 pounds. Cox wound up tied for third after winning six matches in a row. "I think Robert probably impressed every one and had just an outstanding day," said Wood.

Other wrestlers that did not place, but who wrestled ex tremely well were Blake Wilson, Jared McGarva, Dan Irvin, and David and Richard Lutz.

As a team, Modoc placed 10th out of 32 schools. Some of the schools involved in the Anderson invitational were Salem, North Medford, Red Bluff, Del Campo, Sutter, Las Plumas and Red Bluff.

The Braves remain the number three ranked team in the north section, behind Willows and Sutter.

 

Modoc opens league with 3-0 run

 

Modoc's varsity girls basketball team beat the Mt. Shasta Bears in Mt. Shasta 56-45 last week and then beat Weed and Burney.

Andrea Knox led the Braves pace line with 22 points, Leah Siegel added nine, Ileah Jackson had seven, Lynda Lake had six, Megan Orner added four, Jessica Kern had six and Sarah Howell had two.,

The Braves jumped up 17-11 in the first quarter and by half led 27-13. By the end of the third, the Braves held a 37-23 lead and outscored Mt. Shasta 19-12 in the final eight minutes.

Tiff Wood of Mt. Shasta popped in four three-point goals and led the Bears with 14 points.

The girls beat Weed 53-23 Friday night behind a 17-point night from Leah Siegel, Ileah Jackson and Tatum Dunn each put up 10 and Jessica Kern added six.

Modoc led 26-9 at the half and 43-13 after three.

Tuesday night the Braves beat Burney 56-51. Megan Orner led the way with 23 points, Jackson added 14 and Kern had nine. Modoc led 22-21 at halftime and 44-36 after three.

 

Big Valley boys top Happy Camp

 

Big Valley whipped Happy Camp 53-39 last weekend be hind a 24-point effort from Chris Shaull. Shaull also added 10 rebounds and three steals in the game.

The Cardinals went up 16-9 in the first period and led 24-17 at halftime. By the end of the third period, Big Valley led 36-28 and outscored Happy Camp 17-11 in the final eight minutes.

Renden Ellenberger added 18 points for Big Valley.

Big Valley won the JV game with a 51-28 effort.

 

Hornets whip McCloud, 47-39; Tulelake Honkers 73-47

 

The Surprise Valley Hornet boys varsity beat the McCloud Loggers 47-39 behind a 16-point effort from Tom Harris. John Minto added 13 points, Avon Ray had 10 and Brian Darst added eight.

The Hornets led 10-8 in the first period, trailed 21-20 at the half, but moved out to a 39-28 lead at the end of three.

The Hornet junior varsity lost to McCloud 58-51. Mike Carpenter had 31 points and Brandon Wood had 10 points.

The varsity beat Tulelake 73-47 after jumping out to a 16-9 first period lead. They led 33-25 at half-time and 51-40 by the end of three, and added a good final period. Harris had 33 points, Darst added 15, Minto had 13 and Ray had 10.

In the junior varsity game, the Hornets won 67-55. Carpenter had 27 points, Ryan Burresch and Jack Minto had 14 and Wood had 10.

The Surprise Valley Hornets lost a girls basketball game to Tulelake last week 58-38 in Cedarville.

Tulelake got up 18-10 in the first period and led 31-21 by the half. The Honkers led 44-30 after three and outscored the Hornets 14-8 in the final period.

Tracy Tufts scored 20, Jamie Reeves had 12 points for the Hornets.

 

Modoc loses two, wins one

 

The Modoc boys varsity basketball team, started off slowly, dropping a pair of Shasta Cascade League games.

Modoc lost to Mt. Shasta 55-36 after giving up a 17-4 first period to the Bears and trail ing 33-16 at halftime. The Braves cut into the lead in the third, trailing 36-26 after three. Blake Thorn had 10 for Modoc, Brett Hamilton added nine and Brandon Roberts had eight.

The Braves lost to Weed 75-66 in Weed Friday, after trailing 38-18 at halftime.

Weed jumped up 25-9 in the first period and led 38-18 by half and 55-36 after three. The Braves outscored Weed 30-20 in the final period. Roberts had 19, C.J. Straub added 15, Thorn had 14 and Glenn Christensen had 13.

Modoc got a win against Burney Tuesday 58-46. Modoc led 29-14 at half. Thorn led the scoring with 19 and Straub added 16.

 

Record sports for Jan. 1, 1999

• Modoc wrestlers dominate Burney invite
• SV Hornets boys beat Butte Valley
• Big Valley boys lose in last second
• What's coming this week
• Ski Hill hoping for big snow storm

 

Modoc crushes opponents in Burney invite

 

Modoc's wrestling team crushed opposing grapplers and teams to win the Burney Rotary Invitational Saturday with 208 points. Some of the Braves will travel to Etna for a dual meet Saturday and the entire team heads to the big Corning tourney, Jan. 30.

Corning placed second in the Burney tourney with 167 points, Trinity followed with 142, Kelseyville had 140, Bonanza had 136, Middletown, 114.5, Lakeview 100, Etna 74.5, Hayfork 60, Fall River, 58, Biggs 53, Chico 45, Modoc JV 42.5, Burney 43.5, Tulelake 24, Chester 24, Big Valley 21, Greenville 18.

As a team, the Braves moved up from number three to number two in the north section rankings.

"I was really happy with how our kids wrestled," said coach Shaun Wood. "We had set a goal to win the tourney handily, and came out and did just that. We learned some things and our kids got plenty of matches."

Modoc had four individual champions in the tournament and Modoc coach Shaun Wood said he was proud of all of his wrestlers. He had expected to win the Burney meet and the kids came through in fine fashion.

Blake Wilson, Modoc's 171 pounder won his weight by pinning Etna's Tom Gemaehlich. Wilson pinned all four wrestlers he faced. He was also named the Outstanding Heavyweight Wrestler at the tournament.

Phillip Weed, at 152 pounds won the championship by beating Robert Havely of Lakeview in a tough match. Weed is ranked number two in his division for the north section.

Modoc's 215 pounder, Robert Cox, who has emerged as one of the top guys in the section, won his division by pinning Doug Looper of Fall River. Cox has won nine straight matches.

Tony Willis, Modoc's now number five ranked sec tion heavyweight, pinned teammate Dan Irvin to win the ti tle, with Irvin getting a strong second. Both Willis and Irvin pinned all their opponents on the way to the final match.

Andy Nowak, Modoc's 160-pound placed second to Jack Weiser of Bonanza in another tough match that was decided in overtime. Jared McGarva, at 130 pounds for Modoc, took a second place at that weight to a Trinity wrestler. Wood feels McGarva has a shot at beating the Trinity wrestler later this season.

Ross Lundgren took a third at 189 pounds for the Braves and Richard Lutz took a third at 140 pounds. David Lutz took a fifth and Justin Semenko was sixth at 119 pounds. Jeremy Urban took a fifth at 135 pounds.

Big Valley's Luke Stevenson took a third at 215 pounds.

 

SV Hornet boys beat Bulldogs

 

The Surprise Valley Hornet boys varsity basket ball team used a 28-point night by Tom Harris to whip Butte Valley 52-41 in Evergreen League basketball Friday night.

Surprise Valley led 18-8 in the first period and 27-21 at half, but took control of the game with a 12-4 advantage in the third period. Butte Valley came back in the fourth outscoring the Hornets 16-13. John Minto added 8 points for Surprise Valley, Brian Darst and Nick Fenske each had seven.

The junior varsity boys won 60-46 with Mike Carpenter and Ryan Burresch each getting 20 and Brandon Wood had 12.

The Dunsmuir Tigers beat Surprise Valley 58-46 Saturday, holding Harris to 20 points. Minto added 16 ad Fenske had eight.

Dunsmuir took a 17-10 first period lead, but the Hornets cut it to 29-26 at half. Dunsmuir led just 40-39 after three full, but stopped the Hornets in the fourth while adding 18 points.

Dunsmuir also won the ju nior varsity game 68-48. Burresch had 23 points and Carpenter had 18 points.

On Jan. 12, Big Valley beat Surprise Valley 64-60. Minto led the scoring with 24 points, Harris added 15, Fenske and Darst had eight each.

The Cardinals led 18-12 after one and 34-33 at the half. The score was tied 50-50 after three and Big Valley edged the Hornets in the fourth.

The Cardinal junior var sity won its game 69-55. Carpenter led the Hornets with 27, Burresch added 16 and Minto had 10.

Tom Harris is leading the north section varsity scorers, all divisions, with a 27.9 per game average.

The Hornets are at Happy Camp Jan. 23 and are home against McCloud Jan. 29 be fore heading to Tulelake Jan. 30.

 

Cards lose to Tigers on last sec ond shot

 

Big Valley's Cardinals lost to the Dunsmuir Tigers, 61-60, when a last second shot dropped through the nylon Friday night.

Big Valley trailed after a good first period 16-15, but led at the half 35-29. The teams played even in the third and the Cards held a 48-42 lead. The Tigers outscored them 19-12 in final period and the final-second shot by Chris Wiley was the difference.

Renden Ellenberger led the Cardinals with 23 points, Jason Oney added 13 and Joe Haury had 10, and Chris Shaull had eight.

The Cardinals travel to McCloud Friday and host Butte Valley on Saturday.

This week in sports

The following is schedule for area high school sports:

Basketball:

Jan. 22, Modoc at Etna (boys and girls)

Jan. 23, Trinity at Modoc (boys and girls)

Jan. 23, Surprise Valley at Happy Camp (boys and girls)

Jan. 22, Big Valley at McCloud (boys and girls)

Jan. 23, Butte Valley at Big Valley (boys and girls)

Wrestling:

Jan. 23, Big Valley wrestling at Lost River tournament

Jan. 23, Modoc sends part of team to Etna

Jan. 30, Modoc at Corning tournament

 

Cedar Pass hoping for snowpack

 

The Cedar Pass Ski Hill is all set for skiers, every thing's in good working order and the skiers are ready. The only laggard in the plans is the weather man.

The ski hill was open for one day early this winter, but has been closed since because the snow disap peared and storms failed to drop enough snow to open the hill.

Some forecasts are call ing for snow this week and the ski hill staff and volun teers and hoping for a bliz zard. "We just don't have the snow to open," said Tim Harris. "We're ready to open, and if at all possible would like to open this week end. But, if it doesn't do something, we won't be able to open."

Harris said skiers should watch the signs at the Alturas Chevron station at 12th and Main. Those signs state whether the ski hill is open or closed.

Record sports summaries for Jan. 28, 1999

• Etna stops Modoc girls perfect run
• Cards win a pair of games
• LadyCards doing well in hoops
• Braves lose to K-nines

 

Etna puts end to Modoc's perfect run

 

The Etna Lions put an end to a 37-game winning streak for the Modoc varsity girls basketball team by beating the Braves 56-53 Friday night in Etna.

Modoc meets Weed here Friday night and Burney comes to town Feb. 2.

The loss came even though Modoc pulled back in the fourth quarter. The game got off to a good start for both teams as Etna led 17-16 in the opening period and by half held a 25-21 advantage. Etna outscored Modoc 15-8 in the third to take a 40-29 lead into the final period. The Braves fought back to tie the game in the fourth, largely on a 15-point run by guard Ileah Jackson. She fouled out with about two minutes left in the game. Etna hit some crucial free throws in the fourth, and Modoc missed some from the charity stripe.

Modoc coach Mike Martin said the team is looking for ward to the rematch with the Lions here on Feb. 19, and knows his team can beat Etna.

Jackson led the Braves with 23 points, Andrea Knox added 10, Megan Orner had seven and Sara Howell had six.

The Braves got back on a winning track in a big way Saturday by whipping the Trinity Wolves 52-23 at home.

Modoc took charge early, going up 16-5 in the opening period and 27-10 by half. By the end of the third period, the Braves led 40-13 and added 12 points in the final period.

Jackson led the scoring with 16, Rebekah Richert added seven, Knox and Lynda Lake each had six.

A Tuesday night game against Fall River was just plain ugly as Modoc trounced the Bulldogs 66-16. The Braves starters were out of that game early and the re serves played well.

Modoc led 20-4 in the open ing period and 39-10 at the half. By the end of the third, the Braves led 56-12. In the game, said Martin, the Braves hit 20 of 28 free throws.

Tatum Dunn led the scor ing with 13, Jessica Kern added 11, Siegel had nine, Jackson had eight and Knox had eight.

In junior varsity ball, Etna beat Modoc 62-24. Jodie Freeman had 10 and Stephanie McMasters had six.

Modoc's jayvees beat Trinity 29-24 with McMasters scoring 12 and Shay Farmer added six.

The Braves beat Fall River Tuesday 35-20, with Freeman getting 15 and McMasters had 10.

 

Cards win pair of games

 

The Big Valley Cardinals won a pair of Evergreen League games over the weekend. They beat McCloud 57-44 on Friday night and topped Butte Valley 50-36 on Saturday.

Against McCloud the Cardinals jumped up 30-19 by half time, but a cold third period allowed the Loggers to cut into the lead 38-34. Big Valley got hot in the fourth quarter and put the game away with a 19-10 point effort. Chris Shaull led the scoring with 22 points, Jason Oney added 12 and Renden Ellenberger had eight.

In the game against Butte Valley, the Cardinals went up 12-5 in the opening period and led 22-17 at the half. By the end of the third quarter, Big Valley led 38-26. Big Valley added 12 points and Butte Valley had 10 in the fourth period.

Ellenberger led the Cards with 16 points, Joe Haury added 14 points, Shaull had 12 points and Oney had seven.

 

LadyCards drop Butte

 

Big Valley's girls varsity beat the Butte Valley Bulldogs 62-54 last weekend.

The LadyCards had to come back from a slow start, trailing 14-9 in the first period and 33-25 at half.

Big Valley outscored Butte Valley 19-8 in the third and 18-13 in the fourth for the win. The teams are on top of the Evergreen League race.

Michelle Terry led the Cardinals with 21 points, Jamie Hawkins added 15 points and 24 rebounds, Amy Plemons had 10 points, and Nicole Silva put up nine.

 

Braves lose to K-nines

 

Modoc varsity boys basket ball team lost to the Trinity Wolves Saturday in Alturas 52-40 and to Fall River's Bulldogs 66-49 in Fall River Tuesday.

Modoc meets Weed here Friday and Burney comes to town Feb. 2.

The Trinity game was tied after one 10-10 and Modoc led 21-18 at half. Trinity blew the Braves away in the second half, outscoring Modoc 34-19. C.J. Straub led the Braves with 11 and Brandon Roberts added 10.

Against Fall River, the Braves trailed 17-14 after one but took a 28-26 lead into half. Fall River figured out the Braves' offense in the third, turned theirs on and shut Modoc down 25-14. The Bulldogs added 15 and Modoc seven in the fourth.

Roberts led the scoring with 16, Kris Server added 14 and Thorn added 11.

Modoc beat Etna in Etna Friday night 55-46. Modoc led 8-7 and trailed at half 25-21. Modoc outscored Etna 32-21 in the second half. Blake Thorn led Modoc with 22 points and Roberts added 12.

 

February

 

Record sports summaries for Feb. 4, 1999

• Wrestler Phil Weed ranked number one in northstate
• Modoc girls on a terror
• Modoc boys beat Weed
• Hornets split in league action
• Big Valley Cardinals in tight games

 

Modoc wrestlers prepare for SCL league meet on Feb. 10

 

Modoc High School's wrestling team is the odds-on fa vorite to win the Shasta Cascade League, but they're going to have to wait until Feb. 10 to get the job done.

The Shasta Cascade League championship tournament is set that date in Tulelake. Modoc coach Shaun Wood figures his team has a realistic shot at finishing first or sec ond in nine of the 14 weight divisions and will place in most of the others.

Modoc's main rival to win the league tourney, histori cally, is Trinity. The title race may be close, but Wood doesn't think the Wolves have the wrestlers to knock off his Braves.

Realistically, Wood expects league titles from Phil Weed at 152 pounds, Tony Willis at heavyweight, Robert Cox at 215, Blake Wilson at 171, Richard Lutz at 140 and Andy Nowak at 180. He expects Ross Lundgren, 189, Jeremy Urban, 135, Jared McGarva, 130, and Daniel Irvin, heavy weight, to all make it to the finals match. In addition, Wood feels Robert Vererka, Justin Semenko and David Lutz will surprise some people.

Scoring for wrestling tournaments is as follows: 14 points for first place; 10 points for second place; seven points for third place; and four points for fourth place. Additionally, each pin a wrestler records adds an additional two points.

The Braves placed in the top 10 at the Corning Invitational last weekend (26-school quality competition). The top schools were as follows: Corning 217 points; Casa Robles 156 points; Pleasant Valley, 152 points, Willows, 124 points; Durham 118 points; Las Plumas 102 points; Modoc 100 points, Golden Sierra 99 points; Lower Lake, 93 points; Natomas, 80 points. Tulelake fin ished 22nd and Lakeview placed 19th.

For Modoc, Weed won an individual title and moved up in the north section rankings to the top spot at 152 pounds. Wood said Weed manhandled his opponents at Corning.

Heavyweight Tony Willis also won his weight class in a very solid effort. Willis is ranked fifth among section heavyweights, but Wood thinks he's among the top three.

Nowak took a third at 180 pounds and wrestled well in the invite as did Richard Lutz who took third place at 140 pounds. Irvin wrestled to a fifth place finish at heavy weight.

Wood said other wrestlers who did a good job at Corning were: Semenko, David Lutz, McGarva, Wilson, Lundgren and Cox. Wood said they just finished out of the medal round.

 

Modoc girls dump Weed, then Burney

 

Modoc's varsity girls team jumped all over the Weed Cougars Friday, winning 67-22.

The Braves play host to Mt. Shasta Friday night and travel to Trinity Feb. 13.

"We are playing excellent ball right now," said Modoc coach Mike Martin. "We're peaking at this time in the season, which is perfect, and we have three of our last four league games at home."

With the exception of a mid-season loss to Etna, Modoc has had another great season. That loss, said Martin, may have served to re-focus the girls on the task at hand. Since then, Modoc has simply dominated teams from the first period on. Mt. Shasta could be a test and they finish the regular season against Etna on Feb. 19.

"Not only are the starters playing well, the reserves are coming in and we don't lose the dominance," said Martin. "I feel good about where we are now, and am looking forward to the next four games and be yond."

The girls took an 18-8 lead at halftime against Weed and were up 26-12 by half. Modoc buried the Cougars in the third, taking a 50-16 lead, Modoc then outscored the Cougars 17-6 in the final eight minutes.

Senior point guard Leah Siegel led the Braves with 15 points, Andrea Knox added 14, Megan Orner had 11 and Ileah Jackson had nine. Siegel had three three pointers in the game and Jackson added one. Jenny Jensen led Weed with 10 points.

Tuesday night the Braves buried the Burney Raiders 78-30, after jumping out to a 28-1 first period lead. Modoc maintained that pressure, with the starters primarily watching from their seats, after that first quarter.

Modoc increased the lead to 47-8 at half and by the end of third led, 60-14.

Jackson, Orner and Dunn each scored 13 points to lead the Braves against Burney, Rebekah Richert added 10, Siegel had nine and Knox added eight.

Modoc's junior varsity beat Weed 41-27 with Stephanie McMasters and Kristin Clough each getting 11 points. The jayvees also beat Burney Tuesday night.

 

Modoc boys beat Weed

 

Modoc's boys varsity team beat the Weed Cougars 67-61 in Alturas last Friday.

Modoc hosts Mt. Shasta Friday and travels to Trinity Feb. 13.

Modoc led 17-14 after one and had a 39-28 lead at the half. Weed outscored the Braves 18-12 in the third and Modoc won the fourth 16-15.

Blake Thorn led the scor ing with 16 points, Kris Server added 14, and Brandon Roberts had 12.

Tuesday night C.J. Straub hit six three pointers to help the Braves beat Burney 75-53. Chris Server also put up 18 points for the Braves.

Modoc led 16-15 after one and 36-25 at half. By the end of three the Braves led 58-33 and cruised for the win.

The Braves junior varsity beat the Fall River Bulldogs last week 50-46 with Ramon Molina getting 17 points, Tim Lauppe added 14 and Eric Miller had 10. Modoc led 20-19 at half, but trailed 35-32 going into the fourth period.

The Braves JV lost to Weed 49-44 Friday, with Molina scoring 20 points and Justin Williams hitting 18. Weed led 15-12 after one, but Modoc took the lead 23-20 at half. Weed regained the lead 33-32 after three and the game was knotted at 41-41 at the end of four. Weed added eight points in overtime and Modoc put up just three.

Modoc's JVs beat the Burney crew Tuesday, but the FAX machine ate the results. Ramon Molina had 31 points for Modoc.

 

Hornets split in EL games this week

 

The Surprise Valley boys basketball team split a pair of games over the weekend. The common theme in both of them was the three point shot.

Against McCloud on Friday night, the Hornets could see that their opponent's strat egy was to live or die with the trey.

"All they were doing was standing out there and shooting threes," coach John Christie noted.

That's not an uncommon strategy in the Evergreen League, and to counteract it, Sur prise Valley has developed a 1-2-2 drop-back zone to get defenders out on the perimeter and not allow any long-range bombers to spot up.

That defense worked well against Mc Cloud as the Hor nets held the Loggers to just over a point a minute and 25 per cent shooting (5-20) from three-point land in a 60-33 run away win.

On offense, Surprise Valley committed just eight turnovers while getting their usual scoring output from Tom Harris, the leading scorer in the North State at around 26 points per game. Against McCloud, he went for 27 to go along with 10 rebounds, three steals and two assists.

John Minto and Brian Darst also provided solid scoring with 12 and 11 points respec tively. Minto also contributed seven re bounds while Darst had five assists. Avon Ray also helped control the boards with eight rips.

After the two teams were tied at 12 mid-way through the second quarter, Surprise Valley went on a 14-5 run to close out the half, They then started the third quarter by holding the Loggers scoreless for the first 2:38 while building a 15 point lead.

The Hornet JV squad lost to McCloud 76-65 despite an in credible 39 point performance by SV's Mike Carpenter.

Three-pointers were also an important factor in Satur day's varsity game at Tule lake, as the Hornets hit eight treys. However, they were often shooting from long dis tances because they were having difficulty getting the ball inside during a 74-55 loss to the Honkers.

"They pressed us all game and also ran a half-court trap," Christie said of Tulelake. "We beat it when we were sup posed to, but we settled too early for outside shots."

Harris was the leading scorer with 24.

The North State has created a Division VI this year for the smallest schools, which will include playoffs later this month.

In the rankings for Division VI, the Hor nets, 4-3 in the EAL, are ranked No. 3. Champion Christian is No. 1 while Big Val ley is No. 2. Surprise Valley will get a re match with the Cardinals next Tuesday, February 9, in Bieber.

This weekend, Surprise Valley will play Friday night at Butte Valley and return home to host league leading Dun smuir on Satur day. JV girls will start at 1:30, followed by JV boys at 3:00, girls varsity at 4:30 and boys varsity at 6:00.

Surprise Valley Girls: The girls varsity team is looking for their first win in league after losses to Tulelake (56-38), Big Valley (55-35), Butte Valley (68-44), Dunsmuir (43-32), and Tulelake again this past Saturday 39-27.

Throughout that stretch, Heather Tufts has averaged 17 points per game for the Hornets. Jennifer Reeves has also been a consistent scorer for SV. Against Tulelake, Jessie Bietz had six rebounds and six assists and against Big Val ley she tallied eight steals and seven assists.

The girls JV team currently holds a 6-1 EAL record, their only loss was a two pointer, 40-38, at Dunsmuir. The Hornets will get a rematch on Saturday afternoon when they host the Tigers.

In their six wins, SV has outscored their opponents by an average of almost 20 points per game.

The Hornets have a solid 1-2 scoring combo in Traci Reeves and Cassie Cockrell. Cockrell is averaging just un der 20 points per game. This past weekend she had 26 in a 58-25 win over McCloud and 28 in a 53-34 win over Tulelake. Reeves has also been solid with an average of 13.7 per game.

Meghan Darst has done well in all statis tical categories. For example, against Tule lake she had a great all-around game with five steals, five assists and 10 rebounds.

 

Big Valley Cardinals in tight games

 

Both the boys and girls teams from Big Valley put on exciting games with Tulelake this past week. The boys won on a last second shot, while the girls lost in the same way.

In the boys game, the Car dinals held a 52-37 lead going into the fourth quarter. How ever, the Honkers went on a run in the final stanza and tied the score up with five sec onds left.

That was just enough time for the Cards to get the ball to Renden Ellenberger. He got off a shot just before the score board wound down to all ze roes. The ball went in and Big Valley had a 70-68 win.

Ellenberger led all scorers with 28 while Chris Shaull added 15 and Joe Haury tal lied 13.

Big Valley also won the JV game against Tulelake. Calvin Jackson had 24 in a 70-45 win.

The boys team had been scheduled to play Happy Camp this past Saturday, but the In dians could not field a team due to having several players ineligible.

The Cardinals, ranked No. 2 in Division VI, have a road game this weekend before re turning home on Tuesday, February 9, to host No. 3 Sur prise Valley.

Big Valley girls: The Car dinals held a 53-50 lead in the final minutes of their game against Tulelake. However, the Honkers hit two free throws, came up with a steal, and hit a shot with four sec onds left to make the final score 54-53 in Tulelake's fa vor.

Michelle Terry led the BV scoring with 16 while Amy Plemons and Jamie Hawkins contributed 12 each.

In the JV game, the Honkers beat the Cards 38-29. Luena Harbert had 15 for Big Valley.

On Saturday, the Cardinals posted a 50-46 win over Happy Camp. Hawkins had amaz ing totals of 19 points, 18 re bounds and six steals. Terry put in 12 while dishing out six assists.

Big Valley also won the JV game 54-24 as Harbert had 26 and Ashley Oney had 15.

 

Record sports for Feb. 11, 1999

• Modoc wrestlers favored in league
• Modoc girls on way to showdown with Etna
• Big Valley, Surprise Valley sports overview
• Rotary hosts Snowblast '99 at Cedar Pass
• Modoc boys nip Bears

 

Modoc's Braves favored to win SCL wrestling crown

Phil Weed, ranked number one in the north section at 152 pounds, led the Modoc Braves into yesterday's Shasta Cascade League Wrestling Championships in Tulelake.

Modoc's wrestling team has won five of the past six SCL championships, and is looking at four in a row with this year.

The results of the match were not available when the Record went to press, but Modoc was heavily favored to win the league title with Trinity in hot pursuit.

Modoc coach Shaun Wood figured his wrestlers would place first or sec ond in nine of the 14 weight divisions and would place in most of the others.

Wood predicts league titles from Weed at 152 pounds, Tony Willis at heavyweight, Robert Cox at 215, Blake Wilson at 171, Richard Lutz at 140 and Andy Nowak at 180. He expects Ross Lundgren, 189, Jeremy Urban, 135, Jared McGarva, 130, and Daniel Irvin, heavy weight, to all make it to the fi nals match. Wood also said Robert Veverka, Justin Semenko and David Lutz will sur prise some people.

Willis and Nowak are ranked fifth in their weight divisions and the Braves are the number two ranked small school in the sec tion.

Scoring for wrestling tournaments is as follows: 14 points for first place; 10 points for second place; seven points for third place; and four points for fourth place. Additionally, each pin a wrestler records adds an additional two points.

 

Modoc girls trip Bears, on way to showdown with Etna

 

February 19 is a day cir cled on every Modoc High School girls basketball play er's calendar.

That's the day Etna's Lions come to town for a game that should decide the 1999 Shasta Cascade League Champions.

Modoc lost its only game of the season at Etna January 22, a game Modoc's girls, and coach Mike Martin, believe they should have been able to win. If everything works out according to plan, Etna will come into Alturas with one loss and Modoc will have one loss.

"Etna has a good team, but we're really looking forward to this game," said Martin. "We know we have to take care of Trinity Saturday and Fall River Tuesday, but February 19 is the big game."

The Braves got a slight scare last Friday when Mt. Shasta's' bears played them tougher than expected. Modoc won the game 41-36, and hit ting just five of 18 free throws was a problem.

The Braves led 13-6 in the opening quarter, but the Bears adjusted and took away Modoc's patented fast break. The Braves still led 22-15 at halftime and held a 30-26 lead after three.

"It was closer than I ex pected, but both teams played well defensively," said Martin. "We missed a lot of shots and had some scoring spurts, while they scored pretty much steadily all game long. They did a good job stop ping our running game."

Andrea Knox led the scor ing with 17, Megan Orner added 10 and Leah Siegel and Ileah Jackson each netted six.

 

Cardinals, Hornets square off for home

 

February is a time of year for buzzer-beater basketball played in packed gyms as teams try to make it into the play offs. It's also a time of year to check with Caltrans on road closures and chain requirements, and to check with high schools to find out if Evergreen League games have been canceled or postponed.

Surprise Valley and Big Valley were to have squared off Tuesday night in Bieber. However, the Monday night - Tuesday morning snow storm knocked out power in the Big Valley area and schools were closed. The teams rescheduled for last night, after this newspaper went to press.

The match-up is an important one in the boys varsity cat egory because the Cardinals and Hornets are ranked No. 2 and No. 3 respectively in Division VI. The winner of this match-up would probably be assured of having home games throughout the playoffs, until the finals, which will be held at Shasta College. The loser may find themselves on the road at the winner's gym again for the semi-finals.

Back on January 12, the Cards beat the Hornets by four in Cedarville.

Big Valley coach Bryan Gerig said of Surprise Valley, "They're the best team we've played all year in league."

Champion Christian has the No. 1 ranking in Division VI. They were soundly defeated by the EAL's Division V Dunsmuir earlier this season.

The Cardinals were looking for a win at Dunsmuir this past Friday. After losing to the Tigers at the buzzer at home, Big Valley was hoping for another close one. It wasn't to be though as Big Valley had a couple of starters who were also battling the flu. Dunsmuir took a 57-43 win.

Wyatt Harbert had 13 points for the 6-3 Cards while Chris Shaull tossed in 12.

The Big Valley JV boys ran their record to 8-1 with a 50-40 win over Dunsmuir. David House had 24 points. The team's only league loss came against McCloud, and they will get a rematch on Friday night.

The game was listed on the original Big Valley schedule as being at Big Valley, but it will instead be at McCloud. The Cardinals finish their EAL season at Butte Valley on Tues day, February 16.

Surprise Valley also had a home game with Dunsmuir postponed this past weekend due to weather problems. The game has been rescheduled for Thursday, February 18.

The Hornets did get in a road trip to Butte Valley last Fri day where they won 69-46 to notch a 5-3 EAL record.

Tom Harris had 26 points, five rebounds and two blocks. John Minto had 20 points and six rebounds. Brian Darst had eight points, seven rebounds and three assists.

The Hornet JV squad also picked up a win by a score of 52-33. Ryan Burresch led the scoring with 18 points followed by Brandon Wood with 16.

Surprise Valley has games scheduled against Happy Camp this Saturday at the neutral site of McCloud.

Big Valley and Surprise Valley girls basketball: The Big Valley girls varsity slipped to 4-4 after two losses last week. The Cards lost to Tulelake 67-50 despite 22 points from Michelle Terry and 12 from Jamie Hawkins.

Against Dunsmuir, the Cardinals fell behind early as the Tigers hit five three-pointers in the first half.

"Dunsmuir hit everything they threw up there," Big Val ley coach Eileena Oney said. "I'll bet they shot 90 percent in the first half."

The Cardinals battled back and even took the lead briefly in the fourth quarter before losing 64-56. Freshman Hawkins was unstoppable with 27 while Terry hit for 20.

The Big Valley JV beat Dunsmuir 46-35 behind 18 points from Luena Harbert and 10 from Ashley Oney. The Cards lost to Tulelake 44-38. Harbert was top scorer again with 16.

For Surprise Valley, Heather Tufts had a great stat line of 16 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks, but it wasn't enough to stop the Hornets from losing 58-33 at Butte Valley.

The Hornet JV suffered just their second loss of the league season 44-34 at Butte Valley. Cassie Cockrell had 17 points and 12 rebounds. Alyssa Tierney had 10 rebounds and eight points. Meghan Darst dished out six assists to go along with six points.

 

Snowblast '99 set up for Valentine's

 

Have a big heart and take your youngsters to the Alturas Sunrise Rotary's Snowblast '99 Feb. 14 at the Cedar Pass Ski Hill.

The ski festival, which was a huge success last year, is sponsored by Sunrise Rotary and of fers a free day of skiing or snowboard ing for anyone 18 years of age and younger who is a resident of Modoc County or resides within 10 miles of Modoc County.

The day starts at 10 a.m. and goes through to 4 p.m. In addition to the free skiing and snowboarding, there will be free hot dogs, hot chocolate, cider and sodas. There is also free ski rentals and free lessons for beginners. Those lessons will be held in two group ses sions, one at 10:30 a.m. and one at 12:30 p.m. Each group must have between six and 18 stu dents. Register for those lessons at the ski hut.

In addition to the Sunrise Rotary sponsor ship, the Modoc Tobacco Control Program is also providing spon sorship for the event.

The day has both ski and snowboard races and parents must sign consent forms for their children to participate in the races. Helmets are required for snowboard races and recommended for ski racers. Bicycle helmets are acceptable. Registration forms may be picked up at Coast to Coast or the Sports Hut in Alturas and will also be avail able at the ski hill.

 

Modoc boys nip Bears

 

Modoc's varsity boys team just nipped the Mt. Shasta Bears 59-56 in overtime Friday night.

Modoc travels to Trinity Feb. 13 and hosts Fall River Feb. 16, before completing the season at home Feb. 19 against Etna.

Against the Bears, Modoc trailed 17-11 after one but took a 25-24 lead at half. The Braves maintained a 37-36 lead after three but the Bears tied it at 50-50 at the end of regulation. Modoc outscored the Bears 9-6 in overtime.

Blake Thorn led the scor ing with 21 and C.J. Straub added 16.

Record sports summaries for Feb. 18, 1999

• Modoc, Etna girls play here for title Friday night
• Modoc grapplers look for win in small schools
• Big Valley, Surprise Valley Boys in tight one
• Cardinal girls, SV girls looking for good games
• Modoc crushed by Wolves, Bulldogs
• Snowblast '99 was a blast for skiers

 

Modoc, Etna girls play for title here Friday night

It just doesn't get any better than this.

Modoc's girls will square off Friday night here against Etna's Lions for the Shasta Cascade Championship. Game time should be about 6:45 to 7 p.m. Friday night's game is more than just the league title game, Etna and Modoc will be playing for the top seed in the CIF North Section tour nament and its resulting home court advantage.

Etna and Modoc come into the game with identical 10-1 league records. The Lions have four losses on the season, and Modoc's only blemish was at Etna Jan. 22.

"I've told the girls this is our first playoff game and to treat it like a playoff game," said Modoc Coach Mike Martin. "Winning this game is very important, not only for the league title, but we want home court in the play offs."

Martin looks at the Braves loss in Etna has a turning and learning point of the season and expects the girls to come out focused and strong for the championship game.

"We'll be doing some new things, but we'll also come out stronger than we did at Etna," said Martin. "Etna has a good team and we are going to have to play well to beat them, but I think we'll be able to get it done. Having the game here is an advantage."

While Modoc's girls didn't play their best game of the season, they still beat the Trinity Wolves 50-26 in Weaverville Saturday. Martin said the defense played well, but the offense missed "a lot" of shots. In the game, Modoc hit just 26 percent of their shots from the floor.

In Trinity, Modoc led 8-2 after one and 21-10 by the half. Modoc outscored the Wolves 15-2 in the third to take a 36-12 lead into the fourth. Each team added 14 points in the fourth.

Ileah Jackson led the Braves with 10, Lynda Lake added eight and Megan Orner, Andrea Knox and Sara Howell each added six.

The Braves played much better in the tune up against Fall River Tuesday night at home. Modoc won 71-31. The team started faster, taking an 11-2 first period lead and poured it on with 23 second quarter points to take a 34-9 halftime lead. By the end of the third, the Braves led 55-22 and outscored the Bulldogs 16-9 in the fourth.

Leah Siegel led the scoring with 15 points, Jackson added 12, Jessica Kern had nine and Lynda Lake had eight. Martin said Lake had an excellent game on de fense.

Modoc is the defending league, section and state cham pion and is anxious to move into the top spot in the play offs.

 

Modoc grapplers gear up for small schools

 

Modoc's wrestling team is gearing up for another shot at Trinity in the north section small schools champi onships Friday and Saturday at Live Oak.

The Braves were upset by Trinity in the Shasta Cascade League Championships last Wednesday, and coach Shaun Wood would like to avenge that situation. The top four finishers in each weight qualify for the all school sectional meet held Feb. 26-27 in Redding.

"I was a little upset with Trinity since they had some wrestlers in the league meet we hadn't seen all year," said Modoc coach Shaun Wood. "But we have another shot at them at small schools. I was hoping we could sneak in a league win, but it just didn't happen. But, of the 18 wrestlers we entered in the league championship, 17 medaled."

According to Wood, the small schools will be a fight between favored Willows then Modoc, Durham, Sutter and Trinity.

"The other league is probably stronger than us, so it's going to be tough," said Wood. "We'll do well, and a lot will be depending upon the seeding."

Modoc wrestlers who are expected to do well at small schools are Phil Weed, Tony Willis, Andy Nowak, Blake Wilson, Ross Lundgren, Robert Cox, Jared McGarva and David and Richard Lutz.

Trinity won the SCL with 217.5 points, with Modoc in second at 197. Trinity's win ended a five year domination of the wrestling loop by the Braves. Etna was third with 79.5 points, followed in order by Hayfork 61, Chester 52, Fall River 43, Tulelake 37, Big Valley 25, Burney 19.5 and Greenville 16.

Modoc had four individual champions in the SCL. Philip Weed won his 152-pound weight class by pinning John Kasper, Trinity at 1:40. Andy Nowak won at 160 pounds with a pin of Pfeifroth, Greenville, in 1:47., Blake Wilson won at 171, pinning Tim Gemaehlich, Etna, at 0:57. Tony Willis won at heavyweight by pinning Medin of Trinity at the 1:35 mark. None of those finishes was unexpected.

Four Braves finished second in the tournament, all to Trinity wrestlers. At 130 pound, Modoc's Jared McGarva was pinned by Lee of Trinity at 4:35 of the title match. McGarva is a freshman.

Richard Lutz, Modoc's 140-pounder lost by a 17-4 deci sion to McCray of Trinity in that final.

Modoc sophomore Ross Lundgren was pinned by Trinity's Perkins in the title match of the 189 pound divi sion.

Modoc's David Lutz was pinned by Fall River's Andy Main in the 119 pound class title match.

Modoc's Robert Cox, at 215 pounds decisioned Looper of Fall River for third place in the divisions. The weight was won by Archibald of Trinity.

In the heavyweight division, Modoc's Dan Irvin pinned Byrd for third place. Another wrestler, Collin Cook pinned Tillis of Chester for third place in the 152 pound group.

In the 135 pound group, Modoc's Jeremy Urban pinned Corrigan of Trinity for third place.

At 125 pounds, Looper, Fall River, decisioned Justin Semenko, Modoc, 4-2, for third. Duffy of Chester pinned Claudia Cronley, Modoc for third place at 112 pounds. Strock, of Trinity, pinned David Markson, Modoc for third place at 103 pounds. Estes of Burney, pinned Brian Massey, Modoc for third at 160 pounds. Modoc's Robert Williams placed fourth at 145 pounds.

For Modoc's junior varsity team, Jesse Duran won the 130 pound title and Will George won the 160 pound class. At 160 pounds, Jon Wellemeyer was second and Jesper Poremose was third.

Big Valley's Luke Stevenson, 215 pounds, was the Cardinals sole finalist. He was pinned by Archibald, Trinity, for the title.

 

BV Cards, SV Hornet boys battle, may meet in play-offs

 

It couldn't have been much closer. The Big Valley and Surprise Valley boys basket ball teams put on an exciting game last week with the Car dinals escaping with a 46-45 win. Right after the game, coaches from both teams were predicting, even hoping, that they would get the chance to face each other again in the playoffs.

If there is a playoff game in the future between these squads, one can only hope it will be half as good as last week's match-up.

Big Valley coach Bryan Gerig had his team play "just a good straight man" defense against the Hornets. The only problem with that was that meant somebody had to guard Tom Harris, the top scorer in the North State at 24.7 points per game, all on his own.

That unenviable task largely fell to BV's Renden Ellenberger. He proved up to the task. He came up with six steals while Harris got just 10 shots and eight points on the night.

"We didn't get it to Tom enough," Hornets' coach John Christie said. "He didn't get enough touches."

Harris still contributed 10 rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

Both coaches praised the performance of the other team's player.

"Ellenberger makes you work hard. You can't seal him very well," Christie said.

"Harris works harder than any kid in the league at get ting the ball," Gerig said. "Even when he got the ball we had guys helping."

One of the reasons Surprise Valley may not have been getting the ball to Harris more was that teammates Brian Darst and John Minto were taking it to the rack just fine on their own. The two seniors combined to score 33 points while shooting 60 percent from the floor. Minto, who sat out several games earlier in the season due to injury, is now averaging 18.1 points per game.

"They proved tonight that they're more than just a one-man team," Gerig noted.

The Cardinals had a bal anced scoring attack, with five players scoring between six and 11 points. Although they shot just 30 percent from the field, the Cards made up for it with defense, rebound ing and getting to the foul line. Big Valley went to the charity stripe 25 times as compared with three free throws for the Hornets.

The Cardinals kept the game close though by hitting just 13 of those 25 free throws. Shooting just over 50 percent from the line and still win ning was a surprise to Gerig.

"I've been telling the kids all season, 'In close games, if you make free throws, you win. If you miss, you lose.' Tonight was the opposite of that."

The game was close the en tire way, with neither team ever taking more than a four point lead. It was tied at 32-32 heading into the fourth quar ter, and Big Valley held just a 41-40 lead with 1:41 left.

After the Cards came up with a steal, Jason Oney got fouled and hit one shot to make it 42-40.

The Hornets missed their next shot and the Cardinals set up in their zone offense. They patiently ran through it until Chris Shaull found Michael McClain flashing into the key without a de fender on him. McClain canned the 10-footer to make it 44-40 with 35 seconds left.

Surprise Valley scored with six seconds left when Harris hit Darst underneath for a lay-up. The Hornets then fouled Joe Haury with three seconds left. Haury hit both free throws, to make it 46-42, and seemingly end the game.

However, Surprise Valley still wasn't finished. They got the ball up the floor to Minto, who hit a turnaround 25 foot prayer just before the buzzer. Hornets' fans might want to argue that he was also fouled on the shot, and should have been awarded a free throw and a chance to tie the game up. Nevertheless, the score board ended with a reading of Big Valley 46, Surprise Val ley 45.

For the Cards, Shaull had a great all-around game with 11 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

Both teams are looking to Saturday, when the North Section Division VI seedings will be announced. Playoff games for the eight-team tournament will begin on February 25-26, next Thurs day and Friday.

Big Valley finished out the league season at 9-3 with wins over McCloud and Butte Val ley.

The Cards beat McCloud 58-45 on Friday. They again had balanced scoring; 13 for Haury and Ellenberger and 10 for Shaull and McClain.

On Tuesday night they beat Butte Valley 53-33 to end the Evergreen League season. Sophomore David House was moved up to the varsity for this game and ended up leading the scoring with 13 points.

The Big Valley JV won the EAL with an 11-1 record after beating McCloud 45-32 and Butte Valley 50-30.

Surprise Valley will finish out the season tonight at home against Dunsmuir, that is if they can find five guys who don't have the flu. The flu played a major role on Satur day as the Hornets, with four of five starters playing sick, lost 75-52 to a Happy Camp team that hit 13 three pointers.

"We've got guys standing out there bending over because they're sick," Christie said. "We're out there walking."

Minto led the scoring in that game with 24.

The flu has also forced SV to cancel several recent JV games.

 

Big Valley Cardinal girls get big win over SV Hornets

 

The Big Valley girls bas ketball team got an important win over Surprise Valley last week by a score of 55-43.

Every win will count for the Cardinals in their effort to get a berth in the North State Di vision VI playoffs, which will be announced on Saturday. The Cards went 5-5 in the Ev er green League and 10-11 overall.

Against the Hornets, Big Valley had one important ad vantage - a bench. Flu re duced Surprise Valley to just five players for the game.

The Hornets did hang in early, and even led for some of the first half, thanks to pa tience and good interior pass ing on offense and a 1-2-2 zone that kept the Cards from being able to spot up from the outside.

However, Big Valley eventually got their running game going, which the un derstaffed Hornets couldn't keep up with.

"Running is what we do best," BV coach Eileena Oney noted. "It's when we don't run that we have problems."

The breaks were triggered in large part by the steals and long passes of senior Nicole Silva, who got the ball up the floor quickly and totaled five assists for the game.

The Cards went on a 10-2 run to begin the third quarter, but Surprise Valley got back within striking distance when Caity Wimer made a steal, hit a lay-up and then hit a three-pointer in less than a minute.

But the Hornets could get no closer than six and the Cardi nals eventually ran away with the game.

For Big Valley, Jamie Hawkins scored 22 on 11-15 shoot ing while pulling down 18 rebounds. Michelle Terry had 22 points along with four assists and three steals.

Heather Tufts led SV with 20 points. Tammy Small scored 14 and had six re bounds, three steals and two assists. Jessie Bietz had five assists and five rebounds.

In the girls JV game, the Hornets took a 74-25 win thanks to 38 points by Cassie Cockrell and 25 points by Traci Reeves.

The Cards finished their season on Tuesday night against Butte Valley, the top-ranked team in Division VI. The Bulldogs took a 74-56 win despite 24 points by Terry.

The Cards also lost the JV game 54-34. Luena Harbert led with 20 points while Ash ley Oney had 12.

If Big Valley does get into the playoffs, their first game will be on February 25 or 26.

The flu continues to sweep through Surprise Valley. Against Big Valley the Hor nets played with no bench, against Happy Camp on Sat urday, they played with no coach, as the flu even claimed SV bench skipper Jeannette Helderle.

The Hornets lost 56-29 to Happy Camp. Tufts led the scor ing with 12.

The SV JV beat Happy Camp 56-6 (yes, that really was the score) and have a chance to finish tied for the EAL title if they can beat Dun smuir in their last game this afternoon.

 

Modoc boys crushed by Wolves, 'Dogs

 

Modoc's varsity boys team was crushed by the Trinity Wolves Saturday, 56-28, in Weaverville and things got worse when Fall River came to town Tuesday to bite them, 61-24.

The Braves play hapless Etna Friday night to round out the regular season.

The Wolves led 12-5 after one and 23-16 by half. During halftime talks, the Wolves adjusted for Modoc's singular offense and defense and held the Braves to two points while adding 22 of their own to take a 45-18 lead after three. The Wolves then cruised to the 56-28 win.

J.P. O'Brien led the Wolves with 20 points and Seth Walters added 12. Blake Thorn had 11 for Modoc.

Fall River simply domi nated the Braves from the opening tip and never looked back. While Fall River's big man, Mark Wilson con trolled the inside, the Bulldog defense stayed in the face of Modoc's outside shooters.

Fall River took a 17-5 lead in the first quarter, then had the game on ice by half, 31-11. By the end of three, the score was 39-19 and Fall River outscored the Braves 22-5 in the fourth for the 61-24 win.

Wilson led Fall River with 17 and James Wood had 11. Modoc made just eight field goals the entire game and none in the fourth quarter. Thorn and Server had 10 points each.

Modoc's junior varsity beat Fall River, 59-56, behind a 20-point effort from Ramon Molina and an 18-point effort from Tim Lauppe. Fall River led at half of a good game 31-30 and the game was tied at 42 after three. In a solid third pe riod, Modoc scored 17 and Fall River scored 14. Matt Krauel added 11 points.

The jayvees lost to Trinity, 51-35, Saturday. Trinity led 10-6 in the first and 25-13 by half. By the end of the third period, Trinity led, 36-21. Lauppe led with 12 points and Molina added 10.

 

Snowblast '99 treats over 100 local skiers

 

Snowblast 1999 turned out to fill the Cedar Pass Ski hill with skiers, 106 who were kids treated by the Alturas Sunrise Rotary Club, who sponsored the second annual event.

In total there were 140 skiers out for the day, which went very well under clearing skies and with good snowpack. The Sunrise Club also provided hot dogs, chips and drinks for all skiers present for the day.

In addition to the free skiing, the Rotary Club also staged ski and snowboard races for a variety of age groups.

In the pee wee group for beginning skiers and boarders the results were as follows: snowboard, 1st, J.T. Davis; 2nd, Dustin Philpott; 3rd, Jack Callaghan; skiing age 9/10, 1st, Shane Pierce; 2nd, Brett Joyce; 3rd, Taylor Anderson; pee wee girls, 9/10, 1st, Jessica Harden; pee wee girls 11/12, 1st, Janel Hughes, 2nd, Missy Ackley; 3rd, Nicole Abernathy.

In the main events, the results were as follows: boys age 6 and under, 1st, Casey Cockrell; boys age 7-8, 1st, Tyler Stains; boys age 9-11, 1st Ross Cockrell, 2nd, Kody Dunn; boys age 12-14, 1st, Cody Cockrell; boys are 15-17, 1st, Morgan Dunn; 2nd, David Coombs, 3rd, Eric Miller; men's age 18-20, 1st, Aaron Teuscher; men, age 21 and up, 1st, Mike Orner; 2nd, Ted Lee; 3rd, Willy Hagge; girls age 15-17, 1st, Allison Ferry; 2nd, Jami Harris; 3rd, Andrea Knox; women ages 21 and up, 1st, Elizabeth Cavasso; 2nd, Edith Asrow; 3rd, Rendy Cockrell.

Snowboard race results were as follows: boys, 1st, Justin Cavasso; 2nd, Randy Urban; 3rd, Garrett Chapman; girls, 1st, Missy Lieurance; 2nd, Lindsay Lieurance; 3rd, Cheyenne Menkee.

The day went very well, according to Rotary, and was also partially funded by the Modoc County Tobacco Education Coalition.

Record sports for Feb. 25, 1999

• Modoc girls begin defense of state title
• Modoc grapplers have 3 league champs
• Cardinal, Hornets in Division VI playoffs
• Hornets shock Dunsmuir Tigers in league
• Modoc boys finish season

 

Braves win SCL, making run at section

 

Modoc's varsity girls had little trouble beating the Etna Lions Friday night to claim their fourth straight Shasta Cascade League basketball title and move into the section playoffs as the proverbial top seed.

Modoc is the defending state champion in division five.

Modoc whipped Etna, the only team to beat them this year, 60-44, behind a 19-point effort from Ileah Jackson and a 12-point effort from Leah Siegel. Siegel and Jackson, along with Lynda Lake, also drove Etna nuts, picking off several passes and snatching up a bunch of steals. Andrea Knox put up 11 points on the night, Megan Orner had eight and Lake added six.

Modoc started early against Etna, taking a 16-6 first period lead and by half led 31-19. The Braves led 45-29 following the third period and each team added 15 points in the fourth quarter.

Modoc finished the SCL with a 9-1 championship mark and Etna fell to 8-2. The Braves completed the regular season 18-1.

Modoc beat Westwood Tuesday night here 47-31 in the opening round of the CIF North Section Division V playoffs and will play Durham Thursday night, also at home, with game time at 7 p.m.

The Braves were without center Andrea Knox, who was ill, but had little trouble with Westwood. Modoc led 16-4 after one and 26-10 at half. The Braves led 39-15 at the end of the third. Orner had 12 points for Modoc and Jackson added 10. Everyone played several minutes, said coach Mike Martin.

Durham brings in a tall team for Thursday night's game., but Martin believes the Braves' pressure defense will give them trouble.

Jackson was named the co-Most Valuable Player of the league along with Kim Snap of Etna. Knox and Siegel were named to the first team All-League squad.

 

Modoc has 3 small school champs

 

Modoc's wrestling team took a third place at the North Section AA championship last weekend at Live Oak and are now heading to the All Schools section at Redding this week end.

The section tournament will be held at the Redding Convention Center. The top four finishers at small schools qualify and the fifth place finishers are alter nates.

Team scores at the event were as follows; Willows 251.5, Trinity 181.5, Modoc 170, Sutter 163.5, Wheatland 143.5, Durham 121.5, Live Oak 89, Biggs 54, Etna 50, Hayfork 41, Esparto 40, Fall River 33, Big Valley 20, Greenville 20, Chester 14, Tulelake 12 and Burney 9.

"I was pleased with our per formances. I would have liked to beat Trinity but we did well," said Modoc coach Shaun Wood. "I hope to finish in the top 10 at section, and that's probable."

Wood did point out that Modoc had three champions at small schools, while Trinity had just one.

Modoc's had three AA champions on its way to the third place overall finish. Philip Weed won the 152-pound divi sion and is seeded one or two in the section tour nament. Blake Wilson won the title at 171 pounds and Tony Willis won the heavy weight championship. Modoc's Andy Nowak placed second at 160 pounds.

Modoc coach Shaun Wood expects Weed to be in the fi nals in his division in a tough weight class. Weed has a good shot at winning section and advancing to state, but has to get by Holt of Orland. He also expects Willis to do well. Willis has a very strong big man in his path to state, Garnero of West Valley. Both Wilson and Nowak have tough classes, but should do well, said Wood. Wilson's 171-pound weight is very strong in the larger schools.

Ross Lundgren placed third in the 189 pound division and Robert Cox placed third at 215 pounds. Wood said they wres tled well and should be very competitive at section, with a good chance of placing.

"The large schools have some very strong wrestlers, espe cially in the middle and upper weights," said Wood. "We'll have our work cut out for us, but I do expect three or four kids to place." Only the individual champions move on to the state tournament.

Placing fifth and qualify ing for the section tournament are Jared McGarva at 130 pounds and Richard Lutz at 140 pounds. David Lutz took sixth at 119 pounds.

For Big Valley, Luke Stevenson took a fourth at 215.

 

Cardinals, Hornets in action in Di vision VI

 

Local teams will play a prominent role in the first ever North Section Division VI bas ketball playoffs begin ning tonight and to morrow. Both Big Valley's boys and girls teams received berths in the eight-team tour naments, while the Surprise Valley boys also made it to the big dance.

The Big Valley boys team got the highest seed of the three squads at No. 2. The Cardi nals will host No. 7 seed Princeton tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m.

A win there would move the Cards to the semi-finals on Tuesday, March 2, which they would also get to host. The op ponent for that game would be the winner of the Herlong (No. 3) and Maxwell (No. 6) game.

Two home wins would put Big Valley into the finals at Pleasant Valley High School in Chico on Thursday, March 4.

Conversely, if the Lady Cards are to make the finals, they will have to do it on the road. The Big Valley girls are the No. 7 seed and will play at No. 2 Downieville tonight at 7:00 p.m.

Should the Cards get a vic tory, they would next play the winner of the Loyalton (No. 3) and Elk Creek (No. 6) game. That game would also take place on Tuesday, March 2.

Surprise Valley will host its first ever bas ketball play off game tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. against Down ieville. It is the Hornets' first appearance in the playoffs since 1996.

Since the Hornets are the No. 4 seed, and Downieville is No. 5, it should make for a good match-up.

Indeed, there are a number of similarities between the two squads. As SV coach John Christie put it, "We could probably switch uniforms."

Surprise Valley is one of the smallest schools in Cali fornia, with an enrollment of 65. Downieville is even smaller though, with a student body of just 45.

The Hornets have the top scorer in the sec tion in Tom Harris. Downieville has the No. 2 scorer in the section in Aaron Quinn.

John Minto has been a reli able second scorer for SV, at around 17 points per game. Downieville also has a second scorer averag ing 16 points per game.

Sophomore Mike Carpenter was brought up from the Hor net JV towards the end of the season and has made a solid contribution on the varsity squad. Downieville has also added a JV player who has played an impor tant role down the stretch.

Finally, both squads like to run a zone half-court trap.

Friday night could be a narcissistic expe rience as each team looks at the other and sees themselves.

Should Surprise Valley win at home, they would probably next play at No. 1 seed Cham pion Christian of Chico, on Tuesday, March 2.

 

Hornets stage major comeback over Tigers

 

The Surprise Valley boys basketball team capped off their season last Thursday night with an incredible come-from-behind 72-64 win over Evergreen League Champion Dun smuir.

The game was one last tune-up before the Hornets got ready to host their first ever basketball playoff game. (See related article.)

Dunsmuir, the league champs at 10-2 and the No. 6 seed in the Division V playoffs, started the game at a blistering pace, hitting seven of their first nine shots and putting 27 points on the board in the first quarter. The Tigers are no strangers to scoring 90 or more points in a game, and it looked like they might be headed for triple-digit territory again.

The Tigers slowed down somewhat in the second quarter but still had a comfortable 38-26 lead at half-time. In fact, Dunsmuir fans were feeling so confident at that point that the team bus driver could be heard jokingly telling the Dun smuir coach that he didn't want him to call any time-outs in the second half so they could be on the road by 7:30.

Little did they know, the Hornets would put together an amazing third quarter. Surprise Valley scored 28 points in that quarter, more than they had scored in the entire first half, and more than the Tigers had scored during their first quarter shooting streak.

Much of the credit for the turnaround should go to the 3-1-1 half-court zone trap that the Hornets used to force Dunsmuir into 12 second half turnovers. Even when the Tigers didn't give the ball up, they were forced into uncomfortable shots, and could only hit 35 percent from the field during the final 16 minutes.

Hornets' coach John Christie said of the team's pressure-trapping defense, "We pretty much played it correctly. That's the first time this season. Even though it's a zone we've kind of been playing it as a man-to-man. That's the first time we've played it correctly as a zone."

Dunsmuir still held a 48-37 lead mid-way through the third quarter. What brought Surprise Valley back into the game was a five-point play. SV's Mike Carpenter got fouled on a drive and the ref also handed out a technical to a Dun smuir player who objected to the call.

Carpenter, a sophomore playing in just his second varsity game, hit both of his free throws and Tom Harris hit the two technical shots. The Hornets still had the ball out. Harris was fouled, hit one free-throw, and after one-trip down the floor the score was 48-42.

The Hornets continued to trim the lead and finally went ahead 51-50 in the final minute when Brian Darst found Harris open for a lay-up. Surprise Valley even extended their lead to 54-50 when John Minto hit his second three-pointer of the quarter just before the buzzer.

Dunsmuir came back to take the lead briefly in the fourth quarter, but the last three minutes belonged to the Hornets. It seemed that every time the Tigers went on offense, the trip ended with a steal or a rebound by Harris. He was also get ting it done on the offensive end, scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Harris hit two free throws and then scored a basket with 2:15 left to give the Hornets a comfortable 64-57 lead.

Carpenter also had some critical plays down the stretch. With 1:23 left he made a terrific block on the Dunsmuir point guard, drove to the other end and got fouled. He hit both, and on the next trip down the floor had an assist for a basket by Harris.

For the game, Harris poured in 30 points to go along with eight rebounds and four steals. Minto had 13 points while Darst scored 10 points, grabbed seven boards and handed out five assists. Carpenter came off the bench to contribute seven points, four rebounds and two assists.

Surprise Valley Girls Basketball: The Hornet varsity ended their season with a 53-38 loss to Dunsmuir. Senior Heather Tufts had 18 points in her final game.

The girls JV squad tied for the EAL league championship with a 10-2 record. The Hornets beat Dunsmuir 40-27 in the last game of the season behind 16 points by Traci Reeves.

 

Modoc boys finish season

 

Modoc boys beat the winless Etna Lions 61-47 Friday night to finish Shasta Cascade League play at 6-6, behind Trinity, Fall River, Mt. Shasta and Weed.

Etna led 18-12 after one and 26-23 at half. Modoc took the lead 43-40 after three and put up 18 to seven points in the fourth.

Blake Thorn scored 17, 12 on free throws, Kris Server had 16 and Brandon Roberts added 10.

Etna committed 28 fouls to Modoc's 13 in the game and had two players foul out.

The Braves received the number 14 seed in the CIF North Section tournament, and played number three Liberty Christian there after presstime last night. Liberty Christian was heavily fa vored.

Late: Modoc lost to Liberty Christain Wednesday, but the score was not availabel Thursday morning.

March

 

Record sports for March 4, 1999

• Brave girls face Etna for section five championship
• Cards, Hornets play for Division VI title
• Weed places second in section wrestling
• Wild turkeys planted near Canby
• Liberty puts end to Modoc boys season

Modoc girls meet Etna for North Section title

Survive scare from Durham to move on

 

Modoc will meet the Etna Lions for the CIF North Section Division V Championship at Chico State 6 p.m. March 5. Etna is not a new opponent for the Braves, giving Modoc (21-1) its only loss of the season.

Modoc did beat Etna handily at home to win the Shasta Cascade League title, but this game will be played on a neutral court. Modoc coach Mike Martin still feels his Braves will be able to take care of business.

"We'll see who gains the advantage at Chico," said Martin. "We'll be making some adjustments to stop their running game early and will work at getting the ball in to where it needs to be on offense."

Etna hasn't had any trouble getting through the section brackets, and Martin sees them coming in with some confidence. But the Lions still have to get over a 60-44 whipping the Braves gave them in the league title game.

If Modoc wins Friday, the Braves will have the opening round of the state tournament in Alturas next Tuesday night. If they lose, they'll be on the road.

The Braves beat Hayfork, 68-42, in the semi-finals Tuesday night at Modoc, with Andrea Knox leading the way with 19, Ileah Jackson added 15 and Lynda Lake added 13.

In the beginning, it looked like the Braves were in for a tough night as the Timberjacks stayed close, even leading at 8-6 with about three minutes left in the opening period. Then Lake and Leah Siegel took over. The pair combined to pick up five steals in five possessions and converted all of them to points, taking a 16-8 lead at the one minute mark. Siegel picked up her third foul in the last minute of the opening period and would have to sit out for much of the second quarter. Lake hit a three at the last second of the open ing period to put the Braves up 19-10.

Modoc pushed the score quickly in the sec ond period and moved to a 31-10 lead before Hayfork finally got another hoop about halfway through the period. The Braves cooled off in the final three minutes adding just four points and Hayfork mounted a run to cut the 21-point lead to 12, 35-23 at the half time buzzer.

That would be Hayfork's last hurrah. Andrea Knox took over the situation in the third and out up 13 points to give Modoc a 50-23 lead with 2:45 left in the period. Hayfork would wind up putting up just three points in the period and the Braves took a 55-26 lead into the final eight minutes.

The Braves put up 13 more in the fourth, Hayfork added 16 points and the Braves played everyone.

The girls team had an unaccustomed test in the North Section CIF playoffs Thursday, but escaped with a 48-40 win over Durham.

The Braves started fine, with a12-10 lead in the opening period, but Durham jumped on them 11-4 in the second quarter to take a 21-16 lead into the half. Modoc generally scores 16 points in any one quarter, and having to take two and still trail was a little shocking.

The Braves turned the tables on Durham in the third, outscoring them 13-3 to take a 29-24 in the final eight minutes. Modoc outscored Durham 19-16 in that period for the win. Durham sliced into Modoc's lead and cut it to four in the fourth period.

According to coach Mike Martin, the team turned the ball over about 30 times and couldn't make simple layups, missing more than 20.

Siegel led Modoc with 11 points, Jackson added 10, Jessica Kern had nine and Knox added eight

 

Division 6 playoffs find Hornets, Cards facing off at Modoc High's Gym

 

The North Section Division VI basketball finals have turned out to be pretty much a local affair. Big Valley has both its boys and girls teams in the finals while the Sur prise Valley boys squad has also made it into the champi onship game. The title games are so local in fact, that they were moved from Chico to Modoc High's Griswold Gym.

The champions will be de cided in Alturas tonight. The girls game between Big Val ley and Butte Valley will start at 6:00 p.m. The Cards and the Hornets will tip-off for the boys title at 7:45.

Even the lone gatecrasher team, the Butte Valley girls, is from the Evergreen League, which has proved to be the dom inant league in this first year of Division VI playoffs. Six EAL teams (three boys teams and three girls teams) got into the playoffs and all six won their quarterfinal games.

Along the way, there were some big upsets. In the boys tournament, No. 8 seed Butte Valley knocked off No. 1 seed Champion Christian. In the girls bracket, Big Valley, the No. 7 seed, knocked off No. 2 Downieville and No. 3 Loyal ton.

In the boys finals, Surprise Valley and Big Valley will meet for the third time this year. The Cardinals won the pre vious two games by a total of five points.

"The toughest thing to do is beat a team three times in one year," BV coach Bryan Gerig noted.

"We want a re-match," Hornets coach John Christie said. "We're healthy now and they're playing better."

That "better" could mean the addition of two sopho mores, 6-5 David House and 6-2 Calvin Jackson, who were moved up from the Big Valley JV squad at the end of the sea son. The two members of the class of 2001 have led the Car dinals in scoring in both of their playoff games and may give Big Val ley more of an inside presence.

Still, it's going to be hard for either one of these teams to surprise the other.

"Bryan knows what I run and I know what he runs," Christie said.

The girls game should also be a good match-up. The Cards and the No. 1 seed Bulldogs split during the reg ular season, with each team winning on their home floor. What will happen on a neu tral floor? Big Valley coach Eileena Oney is hoping that maybe Modoc's gym won't feel so neu tral to Butte Valley.

Back in December, the Cardinals played three games in Griswold Gym when they attended Modoc's Block M Tour nament. Oney thinks that may give her team the edge.

"We're used to that gym. That's our advantage," she said.

The routes the three teams took to the championship game are outline below.

Surprise Valley Boys: The Hornets came up with two im pressive home wins. In the first round, they slammed Down ieville 60-39. John Minto led the scoring with 23 points. Brian Darst had 17 points and eight rebounds while Tom Harris added 11 points and nine rebounds.

Surprise Valley had ex pected to have to go on the road to play Champion Christian in the semi-finals, but Butte Val ley's upset of the No. 1 seed gave the Hornets a home game on Tuesday night.

SV took care of the Bulldogs easily. The final score of 65-55 made the game appear much closer than it actually was. The Hornets led 28-5 midway through the second quarter and 55-31 going into the fourth. Butte Valley cut the deficit during garbage time against Surprise Valley's JV team that had been brought up for the playoffs.

Surprise Valley's 1-2-2 drop-back zone kept a tight grip on the Bulldog offense, allowing just five field goals and 22 percent shooting in the first half.

At the other end of the floor, Butte went man-to-man, but didn't have anybody who could contain Harris inside. Har ris scored 26 points on 11-17 shooting, grabbed eight boards and had two monster blocks.

The Hornets opened an 18-5 lead in the first quarter before Darst pretty much put the game away in the opening minutes of the second quarter.

Butte Valley's first four possessions of the second quarter resulted in three turnovers and one missed shot. Surprise Valley's first four possessions resulted in four baskets by Darst and a 26-5 lead.

Darst scored 10 of his 15 points (on 7-9 shooting) in the sec ond quarter. Minto had eight points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Big Valley Boys: The Car dinals lived up to their billing as the No. 2 seed with two con vincing wins in Bieber. In the quarter-finals, BV slammed Princeton 81-31 in a game where all 11 players on the Cards' roster scored.

Jackson had 16 points and 10 rebounds while Wyatt Har bert tossed in 14.

In Tuesday night's semis, Big Valley took a 65-50 win over a Herlong team with two 6-6 players. House came off the bench to register 17 points and 13 rebounds while Ren den El lenberger and Jason Oney each contributed 11 points.

Big Valley Girls: While the boys team had the luxury of staying home, the Lady Cards' road to the finals re quired them to get on a bus. They opened with a win over Down ieville and followed it up by winning 76-61 at Loyal ton on Tuesday.

"I was kind of concerned about Loyalton," Oney said. "We have not had good road games this season, but my kids played wonderful all four quarters - not just one, two or three quarters, all four quarters."

Big Valley opened a 10-point lead by half-time and then never let Loyalton get any closer than six the rest of the way.

Jamie Hawkins and Michelle Terry both had 27 points to lead the Cardinals' scoring. BV also ruled on the boards. Hawkins cleaned the glass for 23 rebounds while Amy Ple mons had 16 rips.

 

Phil Weed second in section wrestling

 

Modoc's top wrestler, Philip Weed, took a second place in the all schools North Section wrestling tournament last weekend in Redding.

Weed lost in the championship match 9-0, to Brian Holt, of Orland, who had the top ranking of the 154-pound division going into the North Section championships. Weed was ranked second going into the tournament.

"Phil wrestled well and tore people up getting to the fi nals," said coach Shaun Wood. "He impressed several peo ple and had some college coaches talking to him during the tourney. He had an excellent year."

The Braves' heavyweight Tony Willis took a fifth in a very strong heavyweight division, topping Wagoner of Chico in that match. The top seed in the heavyweight divi sion, Garnero of West Valley won that division of Zach Wise of Anderson.

"Tony ran into a couple of kids he hadn't seen this year and they were tough," said Wood. "He did well as a sopho more."

Wood said his other wrestlers had good outings, but wound up in some tough weight classes. Andy Nowak, Ross Lundgren and Blake Wilson each won matches, but because of seeding ran into some of the top guys early on. The same thing happened the freshman Jared McGarva.

"We gained a lot of experience and that's also helpful," said Wood.

Wood is now working with the youth wrestling program, where 40 elementary age wrestlers showed up and about 25 middle school wrestlers are on the team. The youngsters have an opening tournament in Tulelake this Saturday.

 

Wild turkeys released near Canby

 

Canby, California has taken another step in its drive to fill higher elevation habitats with wild turkeys suited for colder climates, the Departments of Fish and Game said today.

DFG wildlife biologists released 27 Merriam wild turkeys Friday in the Dev il's Garden area of Modoc County, the fourth Modoc County turkey release in the past two years. Four addi tional Modoc sites have been identified for future re leases, the agency said.

Tom Stone, biologist in Redding, said the three gob blers and 24 hens were trapped in Idaho and trans ported to California in a coop erative effort between the DFG and the National Wild Turkey Federation. The federation paid for the in terstate transportation costs, while Fish and Game paid for the trapping and the in trastate hauling.

Stone said beards were cut from the toms to protect them during the approaching spring turkey hunting sea son. Hunters may take only bearded birds during the spring season.

Stone said most mid-and lower-elevation habitats in California have been suc cessfully stocked with the warmer-clime Rio Grande turkeys, leaving the DFG's objectives focused primarily on upper elevations for which Merriam and eastern strains of turkeys are better suited.

 

Braves' season ended by Patriots

 

Liberty Christian's Patriots ended the Modoc boys basket ball season in the first round of the north section playoffs by drubbing the Braves, 61-36, last Wednesday.

The Patriots led 15-12 in the opening period and then took a 37-21 lead at half. By the end of the third period, Liberty led 54-29 and played out the fourth.

C.J. Straub hit four treys to lead the Braves with 12 points. Liberty's Tim Ambriz scored 22 points and Andy Hays added 17.

The normally strong Shasta Cascade League had an off year this season. Just one of the five league teams to make the playoffs survived the first round. Fall River whipped Durham 50-43 in the opening round, and Westwood 66-55 in the second round. The SCL's Weed was a first round victim of Westwood, 68-47, Mt. Shasta lost to Central Valley 44-39, and Colusa beat Trinity, 68-59.

In the semi-finals, Fall River played Delta Wednesday night and Liberty Christian hosted Capital Christian.

Record sports summaries for March 18, 1999

• Modoc girls drop close one 3-2
• Brave boys play well, lose one game
• Modoc track looks to repeat SCL title
• MMS wrestlers do well in second outing
• Don't forget Rocky Mountain Elk banquet

 

Modoc girls lose close one 3-2

 

The Modoc softball team came very close to opening its season at 3-0 in the first weekend of the season. The Braves, hosting their own tournament, posted convincing wins over Portola and Butte Valley before losing a 10-inning game to Liberty Christian by a score of 3-2.

In the opener on Friday, Modoc's hitting, led by All-Tour ney selection Cheyenne Menkee and sophomore slugger Laura Toaetolu, was good enough to make up for some first game jitters and fielding errors as the Braves beat Portola 8-4.

On Friday afternoon, the Braves crushed Butte Valley by a score of 25-1. Eighteen of those runs came in the first two innings when Modoc sent 26 batters to the plate.

During those first two innings, many of the Modoc runs could be chalked up to the Bulldogs 11 walks and seven er rors, but solid hitting performances were also delivered by Lindsay Lieurance, Jennelle Jacques, Toaetolu and Men kee. The Bulldog offense was kept in check by the pitching of Megan Orner and Jami Harris.

The best game of the tournament was the last, when Lib erty and Modoc squared off on a game that began on Satur day afternoon and ended nearly three hours and 10 innings later.

Modoc played as the visiting team and batted first in each inning. The Braves and Patriots couldn't shake each other as both teams put up solid pitching and defensive perfor mances.

The Braves got their hits, but couldn't seem to string enough together to push runs across the plate. Modoc had seven hits while stranding 12 runners.

Not that there wasn't some tough luck along the way. Lieurance and Toaetolu both got robbed by Liberty outfield ers who were able to catch their line drives that would have otherwise been extra-base hits, and a Modoc bunt and run misfired in the sixth inning resulting in a double play.

The Pats on the other hand, had just four hits, but made the most of them.

Lieurance pitched three innings of no-hit ball before a single, a walk and two errors allowed Liberty to score a run in the fourth. That tied up the score at 1-1 after Modoc had scored in the top of the inning on a double by Jessica Kern and an RBI single by Megan Marks.

After Lieurance completed the first four innings on the mound, Orner would come on to dominate for most of the next six. She had seven strikeouts and four innings where she would get the Patriots out 1-2-3.

Part of that success came from some great defensive plays. Harris made a diving catch in centerfield, Kern snagged a liner in left and Jacques made a great "over-the-shoulder headed into the fence" grab of a foul ball in the fifth inning.

The Pats took the lead in the bottom of the sixth by putting together two walks and a single. Modoc came back to tie the score at 2-all in the top of the seventh when Toaetolu opened with a double to right field. She went for the triple and got caught in a rundown, but got safely to third when Liberty dropped the ball. Toaetolu came home two batters later when Harris got the job done by grounding to the right side.

Modoc's second run led to three extra innings of play. The Braves' best chance to score came in the tenth when Orner hit a triple into right-center with just one out. However, the Braves weren't able to get her the final 60 feet to home plate, and ended up paying for it in the bottom of the 10th.

The Patriots got two runners on, but also picked up two outs, before the final batter of this marathon knocked a fly ball deep into left, well behind the Modoc outfielders, driving in the winning run.

"That's a hard one to lose, but I'm pleased we played this well for our first weekend," Modoc coach Dennis Banister said after the game. "That was a really strong team we played. We're going to go down to Redding next weekend and try and get it back."

The Braves and Patriots will square off again this week end at the Liberty Christian tournament before returning home to open Shasta-Cascade League play against Burney on March 29.

 

Boys team plays well, loses to Etna

Big tourney in Redding this week

 

 

The Modoc baseball team opened their season by going 2-1 at their own tournament this past weekend. The squad had its moments when it showed its talent, and also had mo ments when it was clear that this is still a very young group of mostly sophomores and juniors.

The Braves opened on Friday morning with a 10-0 win over Portola. Sophomore hurler Lucas Tramontanas got the win, striking out 10 and allowing just one hit. At the plate, Aaron Ford knocked the season's first homer, Glenn Chris tensen went 4-4, and Kris Server scored three runs as all 15 players on the Modoc roster got in the game.

On Friday night, the Braves posted an impressive 10-3 win over Liberty Christian in a five-inning game. Left-hander Josh Connor pitched all five innings and allowed just three hits while striking out six Patriot hitters. Two er rors by Modoc fielders in the third inning led to the Liberty runs.

Modoc put four runs on the board in the bottom of the sec ond. The Braves loaded the bases on walks and first base man Christensen, who went 3-3 on the game, cleared them with a double into the left-centerfield gap.

The offense was on track again in the fourth when Modoc sent 10 hitters to the plate and scored six runs. Connor and Brett Spicer started things off with singles. Anthony Silva, Server and Christensen kept the rally going. Even though none of them hit the ball further than 70 feet, they all reached base.

Silva laid down a sacrifice bunt but still got on due to a Liberty throwing error. Server and Christensen both grounded to the right side between the first baseman and the pitcher and beat out any play by the Patri ots.

Once the Braves had built a commanding lead in the fourth, Connor retired the side 1-2-3 in the fifth, just in time to make the game official before serious rains set in, lead ing the umpires to call the game.

On Saturday, Modoc faced defending Shasta-Cascade League champion Etna. The Braves hung close with the much more experienced team for five innings before the Li ons capitalized on fielding errors in the final two innings to take an 8-0 win. The Braves managed just three hits on the game, two by Server and one by Brandon Roberts, who also drew two walks.

"I was extremely pleased with our team effort this week end," Modoc coach Brad Server said. "Defensively we played really well other than those last two innings against Etna."

The Braves will play at the Liberty Christian Tourna ment tomorrow and Saturday before returning home to open the SCL season against Burney on March 29.

 

Modoc track looks to repeat league title

 

Modoc's girls track team will be looking to continue its dominance of Shasta Cascade League track and field and should be able to repeat. The girls have won 21 of 23 cham pionships including the past few years.

 

The Braves are coached this year by Kevin Pent, with assistants Jennifer Pent, Mike Martin and Louise Dunn. Steve Tate also helps with the weight events.

The team opens its season with the Eagle Classic Relays at West Valley March 27 and with a Lakeview dual March 30. The first invitational is at Lakeview April 10.

Modoc returns several girls to this year's team, includ ing SCL champions Billie Geldreich in the 100 hurdles and Missy Lieurance in the 3200. They will also be bol stered by the return of Leah Siegel, who missed last year because of injury.

New to Modoc this season is Ileah Jackson, from Big Valley, who won the 1998 north section 300 meter hurdles and went to state in that event. She also placed second in the long jump in the section meet.

For the first time in many years there will not be a dominate Greene girl on the team. Junior Julia Greene chose to graduate early and leave Modoc.

Returning from last season's championship team are solid performers, Susanna Wise, Amanda Moriarity, Rebekah Richert and April Dorton. Returning for this year are Courtney George and Andrea Knox. They're joined by newcomers Kate Nuebert, Amber Gardner, and Lindsey Delmas.

The girls junior varsity team has the following ath letes: Dawnelle Gaskey, Elaina Jones, Amanda Dennis, Heather Ward, Jennifer Wheeler, Tammy Drennan, Amy Gentry and Connie Wilson.

Modoc's boys team may not be as strong overall this season, but brings back several top athletes.

Jed Tate returns as the SCL champ in the shot and dis cus and Aaron Wishart comes back as the reigning 100 meter hurdle champ. Greg Buck is back as the second place finisher in the shot. Coming out at the fourth quarter is Cody Holloway, the league champ in the long jump and 200 meters. Holloway placed fifth in the north section long jump last season. Travis Dunn comes back in the dis tance events. Robert Cox and Andrew McLaughlin are also out and Chris Lauppe is expected to join the team.

Leading a group if junior varsity boys is Luke Hughes. He's joined by Sheldon Benson, Richard Tate, Robert Cummings, Josh Velasco and Jonathan Richert.

 

Modoc Middle school wrestlers are 2nd

 

The Modoc Middle School wrestling placed second last week at their second tournament in Susanville, with several wrestlers taking individual titles.

Those winning championships were: Roger Cronley, Robert Flournoy, Andre Gatlin, Megan McCulley, Blake McGarva, KC Poindexter, Andrew Simmons and Pierce Shiloh.

Second place finishers were: Landon Brown, Kody Dunn, Bill Moriarity, Jack Nay, Thomas Simmons and Doug Wellemeyer.

Those wrestlers placing third were: Jacob Hughes, Jaafar Mirlohi, Wayne Sanders and Chris Treval.

Coming in fourth place were: Bruce Drennan, Anthony Gatlin, Travis Nelson, David Stanford, Michael Treval and Justin Weaver.

For Alturas Elementary School, the fol lowing wrestlers placed first: Denise Preston, Travis Wood, Alex Moreo, Ethan Hawes, John Beck, Jalen Estes, Adrean Francis and Tim Cruse.

Second places went to Joshua Wood, Ian Jacques and Justin Estes. Third places finishers were: Bud Groff and Joe Trivell. In fourth place were: Zack McElwaine, Hank Raabe, Miguel Quezada, Nick Van Loan and Shawn Brownfield.

 

Rocky Mountain Elk chapter sets banquet

in Alturas for May 8

 

The Warner Mountain Chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elks Foundation will hold its first annual (organizational) Big Game Banquet and Auction at the Veteran's Hall in Alturas May 8. The local chapter is hop ing to attract a large membership for the Modoc chapter.

 

Invitations are necessary and if a person doesn't re ceive one in the mail, call 233-3432 and request one sent. Seating is limited and organizers are stressing that peo ple make reservations early.

The banquet is limited to 200 people, because of the ca pacity of the Veteran's Hall.

The RMEF is a international non-profit wildlife orga ni zation dedicated to ensuring the future of elk and their habitat. It has been active in the elk management plan ning for Modoc County's herd.

Tickets for the full course banquet are $55 each or $75 per couple. The fee includes a one-year membership to the RMEF and a subscription to "Bugle" magazine. The ticket is also entered in a door prize contest for a rifle and other mer chandise.

The event begins at 5:30 p.m. for social hour with din ner starting at 7 p.m. The fundraising auction will begin at 8 p.m. and features some 45 guns valued at over $26,000, out standing limited edition wildlife art prints, original art work, craft items, hunting and spotting scopes, and more. In addition to the auction items, there will be a silent auction, and other drawings beginning at just $5 per ticket. Proceeds from the evening will benefit the RMEF habitat conserva tion projects.

To ensure a spot at the banquet, call 233-3432 and re quest an invitation or stop by Modoc Insurance Services on Main Street in Alturas.

Record sports for March 25, 1999

• Modoc Braves get one game in at LC tourney
• Harris is MVP at All-star game
• Thinclads get chance to stretch legs
• Middle School grapplers place high
• Harbert is tops in Cal-Hi Rodeo
• Local Elk banquet sells out in less than 14 days

 

Modoc Braves get one game in at LC Tourney

 

The Modoc baseball and softball teams were able to each get a game in last Friday at the Liberty Christian Tourna ment before being completely rained out on Saturday. Both teams won their Friday games easily.

Sophomore Kris Server led the hardball squad by pitching a no-hitter against McCloud. He just barely missed a perfect game, issuing just one walk during the 10-0 win.

Modoc hitters cranked out 15 hits in the game, eight of them for extra bases. The Braves broke the game open in the third when eight hits led to seven runs.

Server also had a hot bat going 3-4 with two doubles. Ted Lewis was 2-2, including a monster 350 foot shot in the fourth inning that just missed clearing the fence. John Conner, Glenn Christensen and Lucas Tramontanas all went 2-3.

Modoc coach Brad Server said the team had hoped to get more games in last weekend in an attempt to build up mo mentum for the Shasta-Cascade League season. The Braves open their SCL schedule on Monday, March 29, with a home double-header against Burney beginning at 2:00 p.m.

Server said the match-up with the Raiders should be a good one since these two groups of players were also rivals during little league and senior All-Star tournaments.

The softball team improved their pre-league record to 3-1 while taking an easy win over Tulelake. The Braves opened up a 15-0 lead over Tulelake before taking the win by a final score of 16-5.

Megan Orner struck out six while issuing just one walk in three innings of pitching and Jami Harris finished out the hurling duties as coach Dennis Banister cleared the bench at the other positions.

The softball team also hosts Burney on Monday for a dou ble-header beginning at 2:00 p.m.

 

Harris wins MVP in All-star hoop game

 

With the high school bas ketball season completed, what is left for hoopsters at the end of March is All-Star games and the announcement of All-League teams.

This past weekend, Tom Harris of Surprise Valley helped the North All-Stars beat the South All-Stars 99-88 in the Lions All-Star Game in Red ding.

The game featured all the top players from throughout the CIF North Section, but the star that shined brightest was Har ris, who took home MVP honors. Harris scored 25 points and grabbed six re bounds on his way to the game's top award. He also had two assists and a steal. (Who ever heard of passing or playing defense in an All-Star game?)

This weekend, Harris will travel to Chico for the All-The-Best All-Star Classic. Leah Siegel and Ileah Jack son of Modoc's Sectional Championship team will be playing in the girl's edition of the Classic.

Surprise Valley and Big Valley each placed three play ers on the boys All-Evergreen League team. Harris was the EAL Co-MVP along with Sean Smith of Dunsmuir, while Hornets Brian Darst and John Minto also made the squad. For the Cards, win ners of the Division VI Title, Chris Shaull, Ren den Ellen berger and Joe Haury re ceived All-League hon ors.

On the girls side, BV's Jamie Hawkins and Michelle Terry were All-League selec tions while SV's Heather Tufts was also named to the squad.

Surprise Valley also gave out team awards at the school's sports banquet last week. For the boys varsity, Harris was Offensive Player of the Year while Darst was Defensive Player of the Year. Minto got the "Hornet Award" while also finishing as the team's top free-throw shooter. The Booster Club "Teammate of the Year" award went to Nick Fenske and Jon Ar reche. Jerry Cook also re ceived an award for per fect attendance at practices and games.

For the girls varsity, Tufts was Offensive Player of the Year and Jessie Bietz was De fensive Player of the Year. Jennifer Reeves received the "Hornet Award" and the "Teammate" award.

The boys JV team had Mike Carpenter as Offensive Player of the Year while Brandon Wood was Defen sive Player of the Year as well as top free throw shooter. Ryan Burresch received the "Teammate" award.

For the girls JV team, Cassie Cockrell was named Offen sive Player of the Year and was also the top free throw shooter. Meghan Darst won an award for perfect atten dance.

 

Modoc thinclads get first workout this Saturday

 

The Modoc High School track team will get to stretch its legs this week as it heads to the Eagle Classic Relays at West Valley High School Saturday.

The West Valley meet is a relay-form event with each event being decided in relay fashion. There are no individual places.

Modoc then travels to Lakeview March 30 for a dual meet and has its first invitational at Lakeview on April 10. The Modoc Rotary Invitational meet is scheduled for May 7 in Alturas.

Modoc's track team is coached by Kevin Pent.

 

MMS grapplers place high

 

The Modoc Middle School and Alturas Elementary wrestling teams continue to do well in tournaments. This last week they competed in the Shaffer Mountain matches in Lassen County.

Taking championships were the following: Robert Flournoy, Bill Moriarity, K.C. Poindexter, Travis Wood, Joshua Wood, Alex Moreo, Ethan Hawes and Brianna Fogerty.

Second place finishes were earned by: Kody Dunn, Anthony Gatlin, Blake McGarva, Doug Wellemeyer, Shiloh Pierce, Bennie Pevan; Travis Wood and Joshua Wood.

Coming home with third place awards were: Landen Brown, Robert Flournoy, Jaafar Mirlohi, Jack Nay, K.C. Poindexter, Wayne Sanders, Chris Treval, Shiloh Pierce, Hank Raabe, Nick Hawes and Dan Shaffer.

Placing fourth for the team were: Roger Cronley, Jacob Hughes, Megan McCulley, Andrew Simmons.

 

Harbert ties for All-around

 

Luena Harbert, of Bieber, tied for All-around Cowgirl honors at the District One California High School Rodeo March 20-21 in Cottonwood.

Harbert won the pole bend ing event out of 31 entrants and placed third in the girls cutting event of 11. She also teamed with Josh Ruda, Millville, to win the team rop ing event.

Wayne Harbert, Bieber, teamed with John Hutchings, Fall River, to place fifth in team roping. Victor Madrigal, Alturas, placed fifth in the bull riding event.

The next rodeo is at the Red Bluff Fairgrounds April 24-25.

 

Local Elk ban quet sells out in 14 days

 

The Warner Mountain Chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elks Foundation's first annual Big Game Banquet and Auction at the Veteran's Hall in Alturas May 8 sold out in less than two weeks.

The quick response sur prised and de lighted local chapter organizers. Most of the 200 available tickets were sold to local people, but it also attracted a number of folks from a wide geographic area.

The banquet was limited to 200 people be cause of the ca pacity of the Veteran's Hall. If someone who didn't make the banquet wants to join REMF, memberships are available for $30 each. Call 233-3432 to pick up that mem bership.

The RMEF is a interna tional non-profit wildlife or ga ni zation dedicated to en suring the future of elk and their habitat. It has been ac tive in the elk management plan ning for Modoc County's herd.

The banquet ticket in cludes a one-year member ship to the RMEF and a sub scription to "Bugle" maga zine. The ticket is also en tered in a door prize contest for a rifle and other mer chandise.

The event begins at 5:30 p.m. for social hour with din ner starting at 7 p.m. The fundraising auction will be gin at 8 p.m. and features some 45 guns valued at over $26,000, out standing limited edition wildlife art prints, original art work, craft items, hunt ing and spotting scopes, and more. In addi tion to the auction items, there will be a silent auction, and other drawings beginning at just $5 per ticket. Proceeds from the evening will benefit the RMEF habitat conserva tion projects.

 

April

 

 

 

Record sports for April 1, 1999

• Braves baseball, softball teams open at 2-0 in SCL
• Middle School wrestlers have home tourney