RD Sports Photo Blog

Gaylord 4th-5th-6th boys Travel Basketball

2012-02-05T13:46:00.000-05:00

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The boys Gaylord Travel Basketball teams took the court at Gaylord High School on Saturday for leagues games at the 'Monge. The travel team play league games against teams from around Northern Michigan and rotate gyms, and will also play tournaments as well. Gaylord has teams at the 4th, 5th & 6th grade levels, and I was able to photograph all of them, except for the last 2 4th grade games, and the games I saw, Gaylord won everyone of them but 1, a 2-point loss to Petoskey by the 6th grade team. The 5th grade team has played 20-games (league and tourney) so far this year, and has not lost. They could be the best collective group I have seen at the youth level in my 6+ years of photography, and have a young point guard star in the making, a name you should hear in the future on the Blue Devil court, Jared Landrie. Will have a photo of him on my Facebook site with some others.

#44 Matt Wilson in the 5th grade game

#1 Ryan Stefanski in the 5th grade game

Gaylord varsity head coach Tim O'Rourke and his
son Marcus officiating the games. Many Blue Devil
players helped out.

#45 Drew Neff at the line in a 6th grade game

#10 Cade Coonrod with a lay-up in the 6th
grade game.

#10 Riley Gapinski shows the form the a 4th
grade game.

#2 Kyler McKenzie shows the defensive form
in a 4th grade game.

Gaylord St. Mary 47 - Joburg 29 boys basketball

2012-02-01T22:26:00.000-05:00

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The Gaylord St. Mary Snowbirds took the court on the road at Johannesburg to take on their Ski Valley Conference rivals, the Cardinals, and came away with a 47-29 victory. St. Mary jumped out to a 14-4 lead, and increased it through out as they played a pressure trapping defense that created many turnovers for their defense. Pretty mush a mid-winter listless game tonight, as the season gets closer to the playoffs over a month away. Joburg won the JV game 50-28

jv game

varsity game

Gaylord 58 - Ogemaw Heights 31 girls basketball

2012-01-31T23:29:00.000-05:00

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It seems really strange, but this was my first time to photograph the Gaylord Blue Devil girls varsity and jv basketball teams, as they hosted the Ogemaw Heights Falcons in a Big North game at the 'Monge, winning both contests. In the varsity game, the Falcons jumped out to a 10-5 lead (10-6 at the end of the 1st quarter), as Gaylord's leading score,r MacKenzie Edwards, was called for 2 quick 1st quarter fouls, and had to sit the bench for much of this stretch. The Blue Devils would find their legs though and cruise to a 58-31 win over the Falcons. A very slow game though. Plenty of whistles and rough play that stopped the action way to much. In the jv contest, the Blue Devils lead early and cruised to a 41-20 win, with freshman Lindsey Zaremba leading the way for Gaylord.

#30 Shelby Coon in the jv game.

#42 Sydney Meadows in the lane for Gaylord
in the jv game.

Pregame intro for #21 Sarah Polena on the varsity.

The varsity team watching a technical free throw at the end of the 1st quarter.

#24 Megan Lamb with a smooth jumper for the varsity.

#23 Lauren Mead posts up a Falcon in the varsity game.

The wounded (ankles) in the rough varsity contest.

Gaylord Youth wrestling - Myway tourney in Gaylord

2012-01-29T21:38:00.000-05:00

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Youth wrestling was held in Gaylord on Sunday, at Gaylord High School, as close to 200 wrestlers invaded the Jim Mongeau Gym at the high school. I just focused on the Gaylord wrestlers all day, as just to many mats and matches to cover everyone in the MYWAY tournament. A bunch of great young athletes in the gym today, that is for sure.

Gaylord 64 - Grayling 44 freshman basketball

2012-01-27T21:51:00.000-05:00

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The Grayling Vikings hosted round 2 with the Gaylord Blue Devil freshman basketball team Friday night at the Grayling Middle School, with the Blue Devils beating the Vikings by a 64-44 score. In the first meeting before Christmas break in Gaylord, a close first half was broken open in the 2nd half as Gaylord cruised to a victory, and this night would be much of the same. At the half, the Blue Devils held a slim 31-27 lead, but in the 3rd quarter they held the Vikings to 0 points and scored 13 of their own to take a 44-27 lead into the 4th quarter held it the rest of the way. Each team came into the game with 1-loss, so these are two pretty good freshman teams in Northern Michigan. Gaylord takes the court next Tuesday as they make the road trip to Ogemaw Heights.

Opening tip

Strong physical inside play all night

#44 Blayne Baker scored 15-points for the Blue Devils.

Jumper by #12 Viking Scout Tobin

#42 Landen DeForge at the free throw
line for the Blue Devils.

Gaylord Blue Devil wrestling vs TC West & Ogemaw Heighhs

2012-01-26T22:02:00.000-05:00

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The Gaylord Blue Devil wrestling team hosted a quad event for the Big North Conference Wednesday night, and swept their 2 matches to secure their 5th straight Big North Cnference Championship. The Blue Devils first took on Traverse City West, and blanked the Titans winning every match for a 73-0 final score. The next match, they faced off against Ogemaw and came away with a 57-9 victory, only losing 2 individual matches. The wrestling team at Gaylord could be the most successful sports program in Blue Devil history as the machine keeps rolling along every year.

St. Mary 57 - Joburg 34 girls basketball

2012-01-24T22:45:00.000-05:00

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A Ski-Valley match-up between Otsego County teams took place in Johannesburg Tuesday night, as the Gaylord St. Mary Snowbirds kept their undefeated season going by beating the Cardinals 57-34. The Snowbirds jumped out early in this game leading 17-6 after 1 quarter of play, but the gritty Cardinal defense would not let this game get away in the first half, fighting back to with-in 2-points of the Birds at 23-21 at the end of the first half. Joburg with only 1-loss on the season, at the hands of St. Mary earlier this year, had the roll going starting the 2nd half, but the Snowbirds crushed that early, going on a 15-0 run to start the half, and never looked back from there holding the Cardinals to 13 second half points in taking the 23-point victory. Both teams will look for sucess this post season, as they will play in different classes I believe in the post season. Joburg-Lewiston won the JV game over St. Mary by a score of 54-28.

Action in the paint during the JV game.

St. Mary varsity before the tip-off.

Joburg offense cycles through #4 Tiffany Nickert.

#43 Mary Spyhalski with a jump shot.

#23 Michelle Samalik with a reboundd for the Snowbirds.

Northern Michigan Ski Academy - Boyne Mountain

2012-01-23T22:48:00.000-05:00

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Mother Nature graced up with some fresh powder over the last week, and I took advantage of the nice tempatures, as I headed to Boyne Mountain on Sunday for the Northern Michigan Ski Academy's (NMSA) slalom event on the North Boyne course. This is the 5th straight year I have photographed at least one ski race for NMSA, aand I always love how the ski photos turn out. One of these days I am going to make a high school event, and see how the skiing is at the next level of racing. Kept in the area of 630 photos of this event.

Gaylord St. Mary vs Central Lake girls basketball

2012-01-18T22:55:00.000-05:00

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My first chance this season to catch the #2 rated girls basketball team in Class D, the St. Mary Snowbirds, as they hosted the Central Lake Trojans and came away with a 58-15 victory to remain undefeated on the year at 10-0. Central Lake, who has made it to the final 4 in class D the previous 2-years, has lost to graduation, Jasmine Hines, the highest scoring female in Michigan history, who is now playing at Michigan State University, and only played 6 girls tonight due to injury. The Snowbirds took advantage of this and cruised from the start with some impressive shooting of the basketball from the outside arc. St. Mary is hoping for a long run this year in the playoffs, as last year they lost in the Regional Final, and would like to take another step or two this year and keep the success going in the Ski Valley Conference the past few season along with Central Lake and Joburg. In the JV contest, the Trojans topped the Snowbirds by a 39-27 score.

A nice block in the JV game by Central Lakes
Allie Hines...that's right, I said Hines. I am
assuming a sister wearing the famous #40.

#14 Caylee Lawnichak of the Snowbirds starts
low with this free throw attempt in the JV game.

Love the intensity on the face of Snowbird #23
Michelle Samalik at the jump of the Varsity game.

Strong rebound by Snowbird #25 Sarah Long.

The ball is on the way...right at me. I just got out of the way,
and had to keep it from hitting my beverage tucked
around the corner. One of these days, I am going to
take a ball right to my head :)

TC West 29 - Gaylord 27 girls freshman basketball

2012-01-15T14:35:00.000-05:00

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Seems really strange that this was my first opportunity to photograph a girls basketball game this season, but glad I was finally able to make it, this one a freshman game between TC West and Gaylord at GIS school, won by the Titans 29-27. Gaylord led the first half and took a 14-10 lead into the locker room, but TC West would come out in the second half, outscoring Gaylord 17-6 to take a 27-20 lead with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the game. The Blue Devils would not give up though, and battled back to tie the game at 27-27, before the Titans hit a jump shot with about 8-seconds left to take the lead, and a last gasp shot by Gaylord did not make the rim, and West came away with the win. Should have more girls games upcoming soon with Gaylord, St. Mary and Joburg.

#22 Destiny Schram dribbles at half court.

#11 Julia Chwatun with the rebound.

#10 Tanner Arkfeld get the layup blocked
on this drive to the basket.

Arkfeld completes the layup in this photo.

Petoskey 7 Gaylord 3 Big North Hockey

2012-01-15T14:26:00.000-05:00

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A rematch took place at the Otsego County Sportsplex Friday night, as the Petoskey Northman came to the Plex to face off against the Gaylord Blue Devils, and the Northman skated away with a 7-3 victory over their Big North rivals. Earlier int eh year, Petoskey surprised the Blue Devils with a 9-1 (maybe 8-0) mercy win over Gaylord in Petoskey, which at that time seemed a big surprise with Gaylord playing so well. It looked like the Blue Devils would get their revenge at home, leading 3-1 in the 2nd period (and having a 4th goal waved off), until Petoskey used some pesky play, baiting the Blue Devils into a number of penalties, and cashing in, by scoring the next 6-goals (the last an empty-netter) for the 7-3 win, and sweep of Gaylord this season. This just sets up what should be a great regional coming up in D3 with Gaylord and Petoskey, Cheboygan who has only lost once so far this season, that to Sault Ste. Marie who is the other team in the regional. Any of these 4 will have a chance to make the Quarterfinals, although you have to figure the Soo will be the slight favorite, as they are most years.

Freshmen Mitchall Lawton sets uo in front of the Petoskey net
late in the 3rd period.

Always a scrum at some point in front of the net,,,,its hockey!

Action in front of the Petoskey net.

Hard check by this Gaylord forward in the 3rd period.

Blue Devil goalie Peter Lawton has his eyes on the puck, which
is blended in with his left pad.

Gaylord St. Mary vs Bellaire boys basketball

2012-01-12T22:28:00.000-05:00

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The Bellaire Eagles came to Gaylord tonight sporting a #4 early season ranking in Class D, and took care of business on the Gaylord St. Mary gym floor, defeating the Snowbirds tonight by a score of 58-33. St. Mary jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the first 4-minutes of the game, but the Eagles used their trapping defense to strangle hold the 'Birds, outscoring them 28-6 the rest of the half to take a 31-13 lead into the locker room. The Snowbirds did not give up in the 2nd half, but it was tough going being behind by so much, and the Eagles cruised to the 25-point victory to remain unbeaten on the year, as they will face Pellston on Tuesday night in Bellaire, as the Hornets are rated #6 in class D. I am hoping to make that game. The JV contest went the way of Bellaire also as they won 51-23.

#21 Snowbird Anders Marquard with a jumper
in the JV game

A fight for a rebound in the JV game.

A Bellaire block inside in the Varsity game.

Play was physical in the paint in the Varsity game.

#22 Gabe Meriwether flys in for a lay-up
for Bellaire in the Varsity contest.

Gaylord 7th & 8th grade basketball vs Ogemaw Heights

2012-01-11T22:47:00.000-05:00

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Tonights game was Spirit Night at Gaylord Middle School, as the 7th & 8th grade boys basketball teams took on Ogemaw, and came away with wins in all 3 games. The opener saw the 7th grade combine both of their teams, around 24-players in all to go against the Falcons, who only have one 7th grade team and dress 7-8 players. Since this was the last regular season game of the year, everyone had a chance to play for Gaylord in the win. The 8th grade Gold (wearing Blue uniforms) game was close until the 4th quarter where Gaylord pulled away for the win, and the 8th grade Blue team (wearing White) I was only able to view a small part of the game, as my family had a miscommunication on picking up my 9th grade son after basketball practice....so I was only able to capture about 8 photos..........I was looking forward to watching this game, but that did not turn out for me. The 7th and 8th grade teams will have a small tourney next week to close out their seasons.

7th grade

8th grade gold

8th grade Blue

Gaylord vs Alpena boys High School basketball

2012-01-08T23:34:00.000-05:00

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Back at it again for the 2012 year, as I stayed home for the Alpena vs Gaylord basketball games. Took in the first quarter of the JV game to shoot some of the Alpena players, off to GIS for the freshman game, as my son is on the Gaylord team, which won 59-34, then back to Gaylord High School for the varsity game, which was a terrific basketball game won by the Wildcats 76-69.

The varsity game was a close one through out. In the 2nd half, Alpena would manage no more than a 6-point lead, and Gaylord would cut it to one a number of times, but could never get that basket to take the lead in the 2nd half. At the end, with Gaylord needing to foul, and shoot 3's, the game ended with the largest lead of the night, the 7-point spread. Just a very good, physical Big North game at the start of the new year.

Action from the JV game.

#23 Marcus O'Rourke in the freshman game
for Gaylord.

A coaching moment in the varsity game
on the Gaylord sideline.

A block by Alpena on the Gaylord center #50
Zach Lundell.

#32 Austin Pearson goes high for a rebound
in the varsity contest.

Grayling 69 - Gaylord 48 varsity boys basketball

2011-12-23T23:12:00.000-05:00

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The Grayling Vikings made a quick trip North to the Jim Mongeau Gym to face the Gaylord Blue Devils in a non-conference game, and made quick work of their hosts with a 69-48 win. A pretty balanced attack from the Vikings who used full court pressure all game to force the Blue Devils into the area of 25 turnovers, and stretch a 12 point half time lead up to 28-points as they cruised to the win to move to 4-1 on the season. Gaylord jumped out to a quick 13-6 lead at the start of the game, behind 10-points from Tror Gahm, who finished with 19, but that was it as the Viking defense took over the game from there. Gaylord sits at 2-3 heading into the Christmas break, and will hit the road to face Traverse City Central on January 3rd.

Viking #13 Wes Dean at the free throw line.

#15 Tom Burrell scores between 2 Blue Devils.

#14 Troy Gahm gets this shot off before #32
Steven Enos can get the block.

Sometimes players do things that just make me
laugh, here as #1 Devon Dawson strikes 'The Pose'.
This was done when the game was out of hand.

Gaylord 61 - Grayling 33 boys freshman basketball

2011-12-23T23:01:00.001-05:00

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The last Gaylord freshman boys basketball game before the Christmas break was Thursday night at GIS, as the Blue Devils remain undefeated on the year at 5-0, with the 61-33 win over the Grayling Vikings. The 28-point win really does not descibe the tough physical play of this game, as Gaylord fell behind for the first time this year, and late in the 2nd quarter, Gaylord lead 24-19, before the Blue Devils racked up 12-straight points to take a 36-19 lead into the lockerroom. Gaylord would control the 2nd half, but really faced their toughest test of the season in the first half from a pesky Viking full court defense. Gaylord will take to the road the first time this season on January 3rd, as they take the bus trip to Traverse City to take on the Trojans.

Opening jump ball of the game.

#32 Colin Watters with a block on Viking
#44 Emmett Helsel

#42 Landen DeForge boxes out #44 Helsel.

Gaylord vs Petoskey 7th & 8th grade basketball

2011-12-19T21:47:00.000-05:00

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The Gaylord Junior High Blue Devils made the trip to Petoskey tonight for a pair of games vs the Northman, and came up on the short end of the 7th & 8th grade games. In the 7th grade game, Petoskey took control from the start and crusied to a 37-8 win over the Devils, while the nightcap was a much better game, with the Northman on top 41-33. Gaylord cut it to a 36-33 score, but had to foul the Northman, who converted some of the free throws for the final margin.

Kind of a tough deal for Gaylord, as they have to split their squads in each grade, as Petoskey only fields one team in each grade, so Gaylord splits their athletes when they play Petoskey, Cheboygan and Ogemaw for the 7th grade. All the kids get to play which is good, but the bad side is not having your best players on the court. The Blue Devils are finished for this year heading into the Christmas break, and will take to the court once again in early January.

Jump ball in the 7th grade game.
#44 Blake Limberger

#30 Brendon Goyette in the 7th grade game.

#33 Joseph Hrjesa in the 7th grade game.

#13 Jakovon Pryor-McCovery in the 8th grade game.

#11 Michael Dipzinski in the 8th grade game.

8th grade team timeout.

Gaylord 5 - Mattawan 3 High School Hockey

2011-12-17T10:10:00.000-05:00

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The Gaylord Blue Devils took to the ice Friday night at the Otsego County Sportsplex for a non-conference game against the Mattawan Wildcats, and came away with a hard fought 5-3 win. After an even first period that did not see a score for the first 15-minutes, the Wildcats were able to score to late goals to lead 2-0 after 1. How would Gaylord respond after this, and their 9-1 defeat against Petoskey on Wednesday night.....very well, as #15 Spencer Bajko scored early in the 2nd, then added 2 more for a Gaylord natural hat trick, Mattawan sandwiched one in between and the score was 3-3 at the end of the 2nd period. The Blue Devils would net 2 in the 3rd period from Derek Axford and Anthony Tomaski for the final 5-3 win, stretching the Blue Devil record to 6-3-1 on the season. Tony Apa and Peter Lawton split net duties on the evening, with Lawton getting the victory. The Blue Devils will take to the ice tonight at the Sportsplex one last time in 2011 before the Christmas break, as the host the Sault Blue Devils, who come in with a #4 ranking in Divison 3.

As a side note, I love these new Yellow Gaylord uniforms.....very nice....and kudos to whoever picked out this design :)

Love these new Gaylord uniforms, here #21 Willie Gelow.

#8 Nick Shear

#14 Blake Miller

#15 Spence Bajko

#34 Peter Lawton

Gaylord 62 - Boyne City 25 boys Frosh basketball

2011-12-15T22:25:00.000-05:00

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The Gaylord Blue Devil freshman basketball team took the floor at Gaylord Intermediate School Thursday night against the Boyne City Ramblers, and kept their record perfect on the season at 3-0 with a 62-25 victory. The Blue Devils used the press to jump to a quick 20-2 lead at the end of the 1st-quarter, and cruised from there, scoring over 60-points for the 3rd time this season. Boyne City, with 4 freshman playing up at either the Jv or the Varsity level, played hard, but were overmatched on this night. Gaylord will look to stretch it to 4 wins on the season when they take on Ogemaw at home on Tuesday of next week, and will finish off 2011 as they head into Christmas break with a Thursday game against Grayling, at home as well.

#2 Cotton Neff driving the hoop.

#44 Blayne Baker on defense

#12 Austin Frisch

#22 Steven Fitzek goes high to grab this rebound.

Gaylord St. Mary vs Boyne City boys basketball

2011-12-08T23:46:00.000-05:00

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A short trip to the Gaylord St. Mary gym tonight as the Boyne City Ramblers were the opponent for the opener of both teams, and the Ramblers were not nice guests as they cruised to a big victory. I left at the end of the 3rd quarter, with Boyne up 44-16. After an 11-6 first quarter lead by the Ramblers, they outscored the Snowbirds 33-10 through the next 2 quarters to secure the victory on this night. Boyne City looks to have a really nice team this year, and I assume you will hear more from our neighbors to the West as the season moves on. Boyne City also dominated the JV game by a 64-17 score. Not a great start for St. Mary on this night, but their are 19-more games on the year, and they may have faced their toughest foe they will see all season long in this game.

#23 Ryan Carson is rejected by #34 Charles Strehl
of the Snowbirds in Varsity action.

#34 Strehl sets up on the block in the Varsity game.

#33 Keegen LeBlanc takes a shot to the face
from a Snowbird on this 4th quarter drive
to the basket.

#32 Nick Harrington in the JV game.

#5 Jack Lochinski for St. Mary in the JV game

#5 Lochinski being guarded in the paint by Boyne's
#42 Skyler Davis in the JV game.

Gaylord 63 vs Cheboygan 53 boys basketball

2011-12-07T15:37:00.000-05:00

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The opening night of the boys basketball season for the Gaylord Blue Devils, saw them host their rivals from the North, the Cheboygan Chiefs, coming away with the 63-53 victory at the Jim Mongeau Gym. The Blue Devils controlled most of the game, leading 16-8 after the 1st quarter, but a nice 8-0 run by the Chiefs tied it up at 16-16, but Gaylord took off from there leading by 15 or so points. Cheboygan had one last gasp, closing it to 7-points with under 2-minutes left, but Gaylord would hang on for the 10-point victory to open the season with a win. In the JV game, Gaylord won big by a 71-34 (or somewhere in this area) over a freshman dominated Chief team. Gaylord will next play at home this Friday night vs the Petoskey Northman.

#22 Ryan Chrencik in the post

#50 Zach Lundell with 2 of his 13-points

Cheif's #33 sets up in the post on #14 Troy Gahm.

Chief #35 in the JV game

#14 Tyler Harwood with a jump shot in the JV win.

#20 JV Leland Huey

Gaylord 7th grade basketball vs Cadillac

2011-11-21T22:39:00.000-05:00

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My first chance to catch the Gaylord Junior High School Blue Devils boys basketball team, this game the 7th graders, who traveled to Cadillac and split a pair of games with the Junior Vikings. The Gaylord Gold team took to the floor first, and had an early 8-6 lead, but found themselves down 19-12 before losing 25-18. The Gaylord Blue team went up early as well, and were down 20-16 early in the 4th quarter, but outscored the Vikings the rest of the way 9-2 for a 25-22 win, as they pushed their record to 2-0 on the young season.

#22 Brad Van Kirk in the Gold game.

Jack Hervela with the ball in the Gold game.

#12 Travis Hough in the Blue game.

#11 AJ Hooper in the Blue game.

7th & 8th grade basketball, Gaylord St. Mary & Joburg

2011-11-09T21:12:00.000-05:00

Click here to view St. Mary girls 7th & 8th grade photos

Click here to view St. Mary & Joburg boys 7th & 8th grade photos

The Junior High School basketball season got under way last week, and I was able to catch the Gaylord St. Mary girls 7th & 8th grade teams ve Pellston, played in Gaylord, and this week the St. Mary and Joburg 7th & 8th grade boys as they faced one another at the Snowbird gym. The Gaylord Blue Devil 7th & 8th grade boys will tip it off next week, as November is the best time to catch the Junior High games before the high school season starts in the next few weeks.

#44 Elizabeth of the 7th grade Snowbird team.

#10 Wagner of the St. Mary 8th grade team.

#25 Giorgi Nowicki rips the rebound away for the 8th grade.

#10 Spencer White of the 7th grade Cardinals.

#43 Nathan Wahr of the 7th grade Snowbirds.

#43 Brandon Huff of the 8th grade Cardinals.

#42 Connor Reppuhn of the 8th grade Snowbirds.

Petoskey 31 - Bay City John Glenn 14 playoff football

2011-10-31T21:52:00.000-04:00

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My second game of the weekend, took me to Petoskey for a Division 3 game, as the Northmen beat Bay City John Glenn 31-14, and will now move on to face Mt. Pleasant next weekend in teh mountain town.
Petoskey grinded out a tough first half, taking a 7-0 lead into the lockerroom, then cam out and controlled the 2nd half on defense, and hit a couple of big plays on a 79-yard TD run by #8 Joe Robbins, who gained 213-yards on the day, and scored another on a muffed onside kick try by the Bobcats, as #10 Tony DeAgostino picked up the loose ball and ran it in from about 50-yards away to put a cap on a nice team performance from the Northman. John Glenn finishes the season at 6-3, while the Northman will face one of the top teams in Division 3 in the Oilers, but I am sure they will be up for the challenge this Saturday.

#8 Joe Robbins looks for some of his 213 yards early in the game.

#15 Bobcat Devin McCulloh on the kick return.

The best dam band, the Petoskey Northmen Marching Band.

#15 McCulloh almost gets to the #8 Robbins punt.

Fight for the ball on the sidelines on this pass.

Beal City 43 - Joburg-Lewiston 20 football playoffs

2011-10-31T21:42:00.000-04:00

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The Michigan High School football playoffs opened up this weekend, and the Joburg Cardinals hosted the Beal City Aggies in a district game at Johannesburg, with the Aggies winning big 43-20. Beal City jumped out to a quick 21-0 lead in their first three posessions, but the Cardinals would not fold, and fought back in the 2nd quarter to cut the score to a 27-20 Aggie lead at the half. Joburg had the big 'MO', but Beal City shut that down quick in the 3rd quarter, and cruised the rest of the game, outscoring the Cards 16-0 the rest of the way for the 43-20 win, which will send them off to Frankfort for a 2nd round game, between these two all so familar playoff opponents. Joburg finishes 8-2 on the season.

A nice play by #33 Todd Stevens of Beal City, as he swats away
this possible TD reception by #15 Gunnar Owens of Joburg.

Strong line play by both teams on this night.

Shifty Joburg QB, #3 Alex Payne looks for yardage.

#88 Nicholas Hoogerhyde makes sure he is onside witht he offical
for the Beal City Aggies.

The Cardinal helmet is rasied one last time for this season at the end of the game.

Gaylord St. Mary girls 7th & 8th grade basketball

2011-10-26T22:53:00.000-04:00

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My first chance in the gym for the 2011-2012 season, as the Gaylord St. Mary's girls 7th & 8th grade basketball teams hosted Pellston, each winning by a large margin, the 7th grade 37-2 and the 8th grade 52-5. Really struggled with my camera tonight, unsure if my flash may not be working at full power, the lights in the St. Mary gym look like they are getting worse than the previous season, and just trying to remember my settings shooting indoors......it was an adventure. Hopefully I will work out the kinks soon, as the gyms will be full of basketball from here on through the month of March.

#44 Elizabeth Harbin of the 7th grade Snowbirds.

#15 Morgan Juneac, 8th grader playing in the 7th grade game.

8th grader #21 Bekah Myler.

I have not seen this before, this young Pellston player shooting a free throw
from the far left side of the line...just looked a bit strange,
but she can stand anywhere she wants in that area behind the line.

8th grader, #25 Giorgi Nowicki rips away this rebound.

TC St. Francis 20 - Grayling -19 high school football

2011-10-22T22:47:00.000-04:00

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A great game to close out the regular season for high school football, as the host Traverse City St. Francis Gladiators held off the Grayling Vikings by 1-point, 20-19 in teh Cancer Bowl at Thirlby Field. Both teams on this night sported pink highlights on the uniforms to support the fundraising of TCSF fo the cancer center at Munson, and not only did they raise funds, they but on a great football game as well. The Glads led 14-7 at the half, but Grayling scored 2 3rd quater TD's to take a 19-14 lead. TCSF was able to only mount one successful drive in the 2nd half, but it was the one that counted, the go-ahead touchdown with about 7-minutes left in the game, and they held on from there for the big win, which will secure a home playoff game next week. The Vikings should host a playoff game as well. Each of the teams came in highly ranked in their divisions, and they left nothing onthe field that would suggest they should not be ranked.........just a great night of high school football.

TCSF to midfield for the coin toss

The pink St. Francis helmet logo

TCSF #5 picked this pass off, but it came back due to a penalty on the play.

Grayling's pink Viking helmet logo

The football on the Thirlby turf.

#20 Grayling runningback finds a big hole in the TCSF defense.

The final play, as the Glads needed to get this punt off with 7.1 seconds
left, and they were able to, winning the game 20-19.

Gaylord 7th grade football vs Petoskey

2011-10-20T19:56:00.000-04:00

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The Gaylord Blue Devil 7th grade football teams took to the field one last time in the 2011 season, as they took on the Petoskey Northman, and split a pair of games at Gaylord High School, in a cold and wet driving rainstorm. The Gaylord Gold team took the field first against the Petoskey B team, and took a quick 6-0 lead on a Justin Fessler TD run, but the Northman came back and scored the next 22-points before the Blue Devils Fessler tacked on another one in Gaylords 22-12 loss to Petoskey. The Gaylord Blue team, after suffereing their first loss in 3-years last week, came out strong on the opening drive and never looked back in a big way, beating the Northman 40-6, to finish their season at 4-1. Long TD runs from Mahn, Karsten, Kodatt and Poma were the highlights on the evening, along with the strong defensive play of the whole Gaylord team. This was one of the worst nights in my photography career, not only with the driving rain, but also the humidity that came with it, just kept mositure on my lens all night long, that I finally gave up taking photos near the end of the first half of the 2nd game. Posting them all on my Facebook site, www.facebook.com/rdsportsphoto for free downloads, as some of them are just not good, but still fun to look at :)

At the start of the first game, there was one lonely parent, but
would be joined by more later, in just terrible conditions.

#18 Justin Fessler on 1 of his 2 TD runs on the evening for the Gold team.

#59 Bryce Roll ran hard all night for the Gaylord Gold team.

A photo of the conditions early in the Gaylord Blue game, as
you can just see the fog on my lens.

A big tackle by #54 Cody Moyer of the Gaylord Blue team, as
#74 Jake Paquette looks to help out.

Where it all starts for the Gaylord Blue team up front, Kwapis, Boswood,
Moyer, Paquette and DeForge anchor the front offensive line.

Mio 56 - 14 over Gaylord St. Mary football

2011-10-02T21:49:00.000-04:00

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Gaylord St. Mary hosted their homecoming game Friday night against Mio at Gaylord Intermediate Field, but the guest Thunderbolts were rude host as they routed the Snowbirds 56-14. St. Mary started off strong taking an 8-0 lead on a safety and a touchdown, but by the end of the first half, the Bolts had built a 26-8 lead with two late 2nd quarter TD's, and crusied the rest of the way in the 2nd half for the victory. I used this game to try and test some different settings on my camera, which I was happy with some of the results and what my camera can do, but this football field is one of the toughest I have been to in Northern Michigan, as the colors seems to change every 5-yards you move on the field. This field and Joburg's field just have bad lights, and they are 2 of my Otsego County teams :)

#37 Snowbird Nick Harrington in the middle of the Mio defense on the run.

#49 St. Mary Pat Switalski picks up yards for the Snowbirds.

#24 Jack Lochinski on the sidelines for St. Mary.

Mio's #2 Micah Thomey breaks down to tackle a Snowbird runner.

#20 Thunderbolt Tod Rondo hauls in this 3rd quarter TD.

Gaylord 7th & 8th grade football vs Cadillac

2011-09-29T22:27:00.000-04:00

Click here for 7th & 8th grade game photos

A double home game Wednesday night for the Junior High 7th, and 8th grade teams, as they hosted the Cadillac Vikings, in the second game of the year, with both Blue Devil teams coming away victors.

In the 7th grade game, the Blue Devils started early and strong as they racked up 30-points, and kept the Viking s blanked, allowing them only as close as the 30-yard line in the Blue Devil end for the entire game, to stretch their season record to 2-0 on the season.

The 8th grade had a little tougher time in the first half against the Vikings, using a long TD run by Jacob Freeman to take a 14-0 lead, but the Viking returned the ensuing kickoff to close it to 14-8 at the half. I left before the second half began, but heard the Blue Devils won the game somewhere in the 30-14 range to bring their record to 2-0 as well.

#11 Ryan Myers scores a TD for the 7th grade in the 2nd quarter.

#7 Joey Ross has to contend with a Viking on this running play for the 7th grade.

#94 Shane Duncan almost has the INT, with #11 Myers on teh coverage
for the Blue Devil 7th graders.

#45 Joesph Miller on the carry for the 8th grade with some help from #74
Tim Roney, #75 Jacob Evans and #54 James Wojcik.

#75 Jacob Evans anchors the offensive line for the 8th grade.

#45 Miller blocks for fellow 8th grader #2 Luke Sage.

Joburg Oilers vs Mio Chargers Junior High football

2011-09-26T23:33:00.000-04:00

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Saturday afternoon and evening, I was at the Junior High football games between Mio and Joburg-Lewiston, at Johannesburg-Lewiston High School, as the 5th & 6th grade teams, and 7th & 8th grade teams battled as they do every year. This year Joburg came out on top this day with a 22-14 win in the 5th/6th game, while in the 7th/8th nightcap, they won a wild 42-38 game over the Chargers.

The 7th/8th game was probably the best Junior High game I have seen since I have been photographing football, as these teams kept going back-n-forth at one another. Ethan Mays of Joburg had in the area of 260-yards of rushing, scoring 3 TD's on the ground, but also adding one on a kick return. Not to be outdone was the QB of Mio, Ben Lubitz, a tall lanky 8th grader with a cannon for an arm, and impressive scrambling skills, as he scored at least 3TD's on this evening. Plenty of good talent to take the field next year for their high schools.

The 5th/6th game, Joburg jumped out to a 22-0 lead, but Mio kept it close with a couple of 2nd half TD's, but could not get the ball back for a try at a tying score.

Coin toss at the 5th/6th game

Joburg 5th/6th player

Big hit on the goal line in the 5th/6th game by this Charger,
but the Oiler runner made it across the goal line for a TD

#16 Mio's Ben Lubitz in the 7th/8th game

Joburg's #32 Logan Huff in the 7th/8th game

Pass is just incomplete in the 7th/8th game

Gaylord 5th & 6th football vs Cheboygan

2011-09-18T23:50:00.000-04:00

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The young Blue Devils took the field at Gaylord Intermediate School Field, all 4-teams, this past Saturday in Northern Michigan Youth Football League action. Gaylord fields 4-teams, but are only allowed to play 2 each week in league play, so teams 3 & 4 squared off vs Cheboygan, with team 3 falling to the Chiefs 13-7, and Team 4 taking a 20-18 victory. The other 2 Gaylord teams played the final game vs each other, with a 12-0 victory in that game. A long Saturday, as I took the team and individual photos for all of these teams...plenty of work to do now :)

Dog Agility TeaCup dogs - TDAA - Petoskey

2011-09-11T22:09:00.000-04:00

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A quick trip to Petoskey Saturday morning for the Jumpin For Joy Dog Training's Tea Cup dog agility event, which was held outdoors. This is the second time I have photographed an agility event, with alot of the same dogs I saw back in the Fall of 2010 at Johannesburg. The Tea Cup dogs are the smaller breeds, and it is amazing when I go to edit the photos, and you see just how high some of these smaller dogs get in the air, as it just does not look like it when you are watching it live. Hope one of these days I can find an event with the larger breeds to get a different prespective on this sport. I always enjoy taking photos of the dogs :)

Traverse City West 34 - Gaylord 12 varsity football

2011-09-11T21:45:00.000-04:00

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The Gaylord Blue Devils hosted the Traverse City West Titans in a Big North clash Friday night at Gaylord High School, with the Titans having a big 2nd half to take a 34-12 victory for their first win of the season (1-2). The Blue Devils came out strong in this game, as a Huff to Fahler 93-yard TD pass which broke the school record, put Gaylord up quickly 6-0, and they held the lead after the 1st half of play 12-8. The Titans would score on their first drive of the second half, and did not quit from there as they posted 26 straight points for the final margin, giving Gaylord their 2nd loss on the season (1-2). Another nice crowd at Gaylord, as they look to turn this program around, and will have another chance this week at home vs. the Cadillac Vikings, who will bring a 0-3 record into this game.

Blue Devil #13 Troy Gahm reacts as the Titans try to track down
Kyle Fahler on the 93-yard TD in the 1st quarter.

#6 Trae Hill on the extra point attempt after the first Gaylord touchdown.

TC West running back #22, who broke off 2 long TD runs in this game.

#3 Kyle Fahler looks around the Titan defensive line on this run.

Inland Lakes 33 - Gaylord St. Mary 12 varsity football

2011-09-05T21:05:00.000-04:00

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My first chance to catch the Gaylord St. Mary Snowbirds, as they hosted the Inland Lakes Bulldogs in a Ski Valley contest at Gaylord Intermediate School, where the Bulldogs took a 33-12 win. St. Mary has one of the smallest enrollments in he state for a high school, in the area of 55 students. 11 of the 18 on the football team are 9th and 10th graders, so they have a tough road to go against bigger upperclassmen each week. After an opening win vs Onaway last week, the Snowbirds were wore down by the bigger Inland Lakes team. They played the 2nd half even, after falling behind in the 1st half around the 21-0 mark. After going 0-9 last year, teh Snowbirds already have 1 win on this young season, and will look to scratch out a few more in their next 7-games.

Bulldog #29 Jordyn Smeltzer leaps for 1st down yardage.

#9 Snowbird Matthew Spyhalski runs for yardage.

The gang-tackling Snowbirds wrap up this Bulldog, #52 Dustin Cochran

The football slpis through the hands of #10 Austin Jensen of ILakes with
#37 Snowbird Nicholas Harrington on the coverage.

Grayling 46 - Houghton Lake 29 varsity football

2011-09-05T20:54:00.000-04:00

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Another Thursday night game due to Labor Day weekend, between these long time rivals, The Grayling Vikings and Houghton Lake Bobcats, as the visiting Vikings ran away in the 2nd half for a 46-29 victory. Grayling is probably the best team to photograph, as they pitch the football all over the field, and finished with 360-yards of passing on 5-TD's through the air. Very fun to watch and photograph this offense. The Bobcats hung around, and were down 19-13 midway through the 3rd quarter, but the Viking sput their foot on the gas pedal and cruised to their 2nd victory of the 2011 season. Houghton Lake falls to 0-2 on the season. On a side note, Houghton Lake has a really nice football complex, one of the nicer ones I have been to in Northern Michigan, and the grass on the field was in just excellent condition!!

#1 Travis Fox of Houghton Lake lines up as a wideout.

#84 Viking Steven Enos looks for yards after the catch as
he is about to be tackled by Bobcat #3 Kyle Bates.

#77 Ron Vradenburg on the offensive line for the Vikings.

Bobcat #2 Brett Rowley.

Gaylord vs Bay City John Glenn JV & Freshman football

2011-08-31T23:35:00.000-04:00

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Another chance to catch the junior Blue Devils, as they hosted Bay City John Glenn in JV and Freshman games at Gaylord High School on Wednesday night. The frosh had their way with the Bobcats, wininng by a final of 28-6. Once again, I was only able to make part of the 2nd-half, but the Blue Devils were in firm control of this game to run their record to 1-1 on the season. The JV's had a rough first half against John Glenn. Gaylord's first couple of plays on defense had them looking like they were ready to play, but on 3rd and long, the Bobcats found broken coverage in the secondary, and hit on a long TD pass play to take the early 6-0 lead. Gaylord just trying to sneak a score out with 2-seconds left in the half, threw an interception that John Glenn returned about 70-yards for a TD, and with 2 TD's sandwiched in the middle of these scores, Gaylord found itself down at the half 28-0. I left the game at this point, as the rains were starting, unsure of what the final score was.

#42 frosh Josh Fessler attemps a tackle on the Bobcat ball carrier.

#53 frosh Brad Britting on the sidelines with an injury.

Frosh #30 Cole Butler and #52 Marcus O'Rourke pressure the BGJG QB.

Soph #9 Leland Huey looks for running room.

Soph #24 Nick Parker gains yards for the Blue Devils.

Gaylord 5th & 6th football Team 4 over Team 3 - 13-7

2011-08-28T22:56:00.000-04:00

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The Gaylord 5th & 6th youth football kicked off on Saturday at Gaylord, with Teams 1 & 2 playing Northern Michigan Youth Football League games, while Teams 3 & 4 squared off in the final game of the day. I was only able to capture this last game between Team's 3 & 4, with Team 4 coming out on top by a 13-7 score. Gaylord has a total of 4 teams, but only 2 can play in the NMYFL, so they will rotate each Saturday in the league, and the other 2 teams will play a game against each other. It spreads the talent out when they face the league games, but does give the kids all plenty of playing time, which is great, as last year's program limited the amount of snaps some players could get. Two ways to look at it, but the long and short of it, all of the Gaylord 5th & 6th grade kids will be playing alot of football, and not just standing on the sidelines.

Northern Michigan Youth Football League - Titans vs Jets 5th & 6th grade

2011-08-28T22:36:00.000-04:00

A short trip to Gaylord Intermediate school for a Northern Michigan Youth Football League game for the 5th & 6th grade level, as the Inland Lakes Titans defeated the Alpena Jets on this day by a score of 12-8. A back-n-forth game, but the Titans score a late TD with a short field to work with to take home the opening game win. I also photographed the Gaylord Team 3 vs Team 4 game that followed, which was a non-league game, and was unable to capture the early games due to my work schedule on this day. Hopefully will catch more action in the near future.

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Titans #22 on the first TD run of the game

Jets defensive front

The Titans take a break at the end of the 1st quarter.

#34 Jets runningback finds daylight around the corner.

2 players running at full steam, as the Jets player does not see whats coming............

.........and there is the end result....have to keep that head on a swivel :)

Gaylord Blue Devil soccer Jv & Varsity games

2011-08-27T00:27:00.000-04:00

An early season look at the Gaylord Blue Devil soocer team, who has a new set of coaches, and a different idea, as the JV's took on Elk Rapids, falling 3-0, and the Varsity had their way with the Grayling Vikings, leading 7-1 early in the second half as I left. I was planning on a football game tonight (American style), but with the weather being a bit iffy, had the chance to catch the Gaylord teams who were home on this evening. A good turnout of players (something I did not anticipate) for Gaylord will hopefully set up the Blue Devils for good seasons on the pitch in the coming years. Possibly the only games I may attended this year........

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JV #10 Seth Lashuay

JV Mark Hansen in net

JV #11 Jared King

Varsity #5 Chris Stout

Varsity #14 Evan Crawford

Grayling's #19 Nick Wells

Gaylord 12 - Cheboygan 7 Big North football

2011-08-26T22:50:00.000-04:00

The High School Varsity football season kicked off Thursday night, as the Gaylord Blue Devils won their first home game after 10 straight losses, as the beat their Big North rivals from Cheboygan by a score of 12-7. Gaylord scored on a long 84-yard TD drive in the 1st half, with Troy Gahm catching a TD pass in the corner of the end-zone to put Gaylord on top 6-0 after the missed extra-point. The score stayed that way, until late in the 4th-quarter, the Blue Devils put another long drive together, this one an 85-yard effort, capped off by a Trevor Huff TD run to put the Blue Devils on top 12-0 with about 4-minutes left in the game. The Chiefs would not go away, as they scored on the next possession to make it 12-7 with about 2-minutes left to play. Gaylord would turn the ball over as they tried to run the clock out, but the Gaylord defense, great all night, shut down the last Chief effort to close out the game with a 12-7 victory. Congrats to Coach Doug Berkshire on his first victory with the Gaylord Blue Devil varsity.

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Gaylord band takes the field

Cheboygans full back looks for a crease in the Gaylord defense

#13 Troy Gahm hauls in this 1st half pass

#26 Blue Devil Robb Hansen

Cheboygan QB lets go of the ball on this pass attempt

Blue Devil QB Trevor Huff scores on this play to give Gaylord
a 12-0 lead late in the 4th quarter.

Blue Devil #2 Caleb Tomes celebrates the victory over the Chiefs

Gaylord Blue Devil Freshman & JV football vs Cheboygan

2011-08-25T15:48:00.000-04:00

After nearly a month break from photography, the Fall sports season has started, and my first event/game was the Freshman and Junior Varsity openers for Gaylord Blue Devil football, as they took on the Chiefs from Cheboygan. I was only able to see the 4th quater of the freshman game, where Gaylord scored early in the 4th to cut the Cheboygan lead to 26-22. The Blue Devils would gain control of the ball for a last drive, and made it to the Chief 20-yard line with 1-second left to play, but Cheboygan was able to stop Gaylord and secure the 26-22 victory.

In the JV game, it was close for the first couple drives of the game, with Cheboygan up 6-0, but a long TD run opened the flood gates, and it was never close from there, as the Chiefs clobbered the Blue Devils by a 42-7 score. Just seemed like a very lifeless effort by the young Blue Devils, who will have to regroup for next weeks game vs Bay City John Glenn.

Tonight a chance to catch the Varsity action between Gaylord and Cheboygan, with this game in Gaylord as well.

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Cotton Neff #5, with the ball for Gaylord frosh

#95 Blayne Baker kicks off for the freshman Blue Devils

#26 Collin Watters runs after a catch for Gaylord's frosh

Blue Devil lineman captures a Chief behind the line for the JV's

#37 Jason Kempfer on a kick return for the JV Blue Devils

Leland Huey tries to evade a few Chiefs for the JV Blue Devils.

Youth baseball wrap up for 2011

2011-07-29T21:52:00.000-04:00

A little lax in posting during the tourney games I attended this year, so just writing an end-of-year blog post. As I type this tonight, there is still one Gaylord team playing, and that is the 9&10 baseball team in the State Finals down in Harper Woods, as they will play a game 3 straight days in pool play, and more than likely will need to win 2 of those to keep playing. Alot of success for the Gaylord Little League this year, as the 9&10 girls made the championship game, leading by 2 runs with 2 innings to go, but ended up losing for the second year-in-a-row at the District Final. The Gaylord 11-year old baseball team won their district, which was the second year straight for this age group, but then lost 2-out-of-3 to Cheboygan, and missed the State tourny of the final 8 teams. Sounded like a close game in the 3rd game vs Cheboygan. The Gaylord 12-year olds in baseball had a nice run. After winning the district as 11-year olds last year, made the final four in the district this year, losing to West Branch 1-0 in a pitchers dual. I had seen all 4 of the teams left, and I really think Gaylord had the best team of the 4, but a West Branch pitcher, and some nice defense got the best of them in the semi's

So many other great games in District 8 as well, along with a chance to photograph a couple of softball games in District 13 for something new this year. Alot of great athletes, great sportsmanship, and many, many...did I say many......photos LOL. You can view them all, as always at www.rdsportsphoto.com.

Now....ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?

The photos below are fron the boys and girls District 9&10 year old Finals that were played in East Jordan.

Alex Hunter for Gaylord

Gaylord catcher Becca Ross at the end of a Boyne City 9-run 5th inning....
it would just not end.

Averi Bebble of Gyalord is tagged out at the plate in the last inning.

Boyne City 9&10 District Champions.

Gaylord's James Miller scores the first run on an incredible 6th inning,
as Gaylord scored 7-runs, after being down 7-1.

Matthew Wilson catches the final out to complete the comeback for Gaylord.

Gaylord's 9&10's run witht he District 8 banner.

Gaylord team photo from the side.

Alcona, Alpena, Joburg and Hillman boys 11-12 baseball district

2011-07-04T23:37:00.000-04:00

I was on my way to Hillman Sunday for 9&10 yr old district baseball action, but their was no game due to a street drag race, so I cruised over to Lewiston, and caught the end of the 11-12 yr old Alpena 13-0 victory over Alcona, and Joburg-Lewiston's thrilling 8-5 win over Hillman. Alpena wrapped up the top spot in pool play with the victory, which ended in the 3rd inning, as Alcona could not field a 9th player due to injuries. Hillman held the lead most of the game vs JL, leading 5-3 in the bottom of the 5th, but JL erupted for 5-runs, and closed out Hillman in the top of the 6th, for the 8-5 victory. Joburg-Lewiston claimed the second place in pool play, so JL and Alpena will move onto the quarterfinal games in the district as 2 of the final 8 teams remaining.

Click here for Alcona-Alpena photos

Click here for Joburg/Lewiston-Hillman photos

Alpena 1st baseman

Alcona outfielder cannot come down with this fly ball

Joburg-Lewiston shortstop makes a play

Hillman outfielder plays the ball

Gaylord Travel baseball & softball at Beaverton

2011-06-26T22:52:00.000-04:00

The Gaylord Travel 12U and 9&10 boys baseball teams, along with teh girls 9&10 softball, took the field over the weekend at the Beaverton, MI tournament. All 3 teams made it to the semi-finals on Sunday, with the 12U baseball team making it to the Championship game vs Sanford, which they dropped by a 9-7 score. A good showing for all 3 teams as they head into Little League All-Star district play in the upcoming weeks.

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Brendon Mendolia of the 9&10 boys team delivers a pitch to the plate.

Alex Hunter of the girls 9&10 team looks in on the batter.

Jack Gorno of the 12U team lays down a bunt late in the Championship game.

Gaylord Travel Baseball

2011-06-07T18:11:00.000-04:00

3 Gaylord baseball travel teams took the field in West Branch for a weekend tourney, with some moderate success. The 9-10U team made it to the championship game in the 4-team tourney, dropping a 10-9 game against the All-Star Academy, to finish in second place with a 2-2 record, both losses coming to the Academy. The 11U team played in the 12U tourney, posting a 1-3 record, losing their last game in extra innings to Standish-Sterling, and the 12U team finished 2-2 after a tough loss to tourney champ West Branch, needing only 1-strike to win the game, a West Branch player stroked a 2-run hit to win the game for the hosts. A good start for the teams, and the 11U and 12U teams will play this weekend in Gaylord as well at the Hutchinson Field Complex. I only took a few photos, but have posted them on the web-site. I was a bit more of a Dad this weekend watching my son Lucas on the 12U team :)

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Brandt Kierczynski throws a runner out at 1st, while Gage Andrews
looks on for the 12U team.

Mitch Wilson just misses this ground ball for the 11U team.

Blake Charboneau reaches for a ball in the 9-10U game.

Gaylord Little League T-Ball

2011-05-27T22:57:00.000-04:00

I almost forgot how great T-Ball can be, as I took in an inning at Hutchinson Park for the Red vs Maroon in Gaylord Little League action. It was 6-7 years ago when this business of mine started to take roots, as I was taking photos of my sons with a point-and-shoot digital camera, and thought I could take photos for other parents as well. It brought me back to that time of watching my sons play at this level. The photos of these kids are just great!!

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Grayling vs Gaylord Junior baseball

2011-05-27T22:53:00.000-04:00

Grayling took their second trip of the week to play the Blue team of Gaylord, after their 3-2 victory over the Maroon of Gaylord, to score a big victory over Gaylord in a shutout. In fact the Grayling pitcher Matt Burrell may have pitched a no-hitter, with maybe 2 errors on Grayling. Gaylord hung close early, but arounf the 4th inning Grayling batted around the order close to twice to win in a mercy. These teams will play again next week in Grayling.

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Gaylord pitcher Casey Gilling

Close play at 1st base with Landen DeForge of Gaylord, and D. Schultz
of Grayling

Gunner Metzer of Grayling steals 3rd base.

St. Mary baseball & softball vs Rogers City

2011-05-24T00:12:00.000-04:00

I finally had the chance to make the Gaylord St. Mary Snowbirds varsity baseball & softball teams, as they played Rogers City, in Gaylord on Monday night. It was a very quick trip though, as I had to then go to my sons Little League game on the other side of town, but was able to snap off a few photos of each team. I hope to get another chance, but it is already becoming late in the season.

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Click here to view softball photos

Area 51 Paintball

2011-05-15T21:20:00.000-04:00

My son Lucas, and his cousin Brad, shared their birthday presents with a trip for 6 to the Area 51 Paintball field in Mancelona, MI. This was the kids first opportuinity to try this sport, and they matched up their 6 players, with another group of 6-players that were on a bachelor party, and some of them former servicemen....lets just say the kids took a beating :) It was fun, and I was bale to get on teh field and take photos. The cameramen did not get hit with 1 paintball, so thank you to the orange vest :) It was fun to photograph something different.

Gaylord Little League 2011

2011-05-15T21:13:00.000-04:00

Some photos from the early season action of the 2011 Gaylord Little League. This game between the Red and the Blue team in the boys Major Division. 5 total teams in this group, along with 4-5 other divisions of baseball and softball. Not sure how much I will photograph, but probably will be more from this division, and the Junior boys, as both of my sons are currently playing.

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Gaylord Blue Devil girls soccer

2011-05-12T00:12:00.000-04:00

Made it out to the Gaylord Intermediate Field Tuesday night for the Gaylord Blue Devil girls varsity soccer team, as they took on Big North Conference foe, the Alpena Wildcats. I left with around 12-minutes to go in the game, with Gaylord holding a 5-0 advantage (had to get home to watch those Red Wings vs San Jose in game 6). The Blue Devils dominated the play on the Alpena end in both halfs.....they really looked good on the pitch on this night. I was hoping to catch the JV, who won 4-0, but was not able to make the game in time, so hope to catch them in the upcoming weeks.

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Blue Devil goal keeper Alex Simmons, who did not see much
Alpena pressure in the 1st half.

Captured the ball right at impact witht he head of Blue Devil
defensemen, Destiny Wojtkowiak

#7 Emily Ballard for Gaylord settles the ball on offense

#3 Amanda Viviano gives her all to try and keep this
ball from going out of bounds

Gaylord vs East Jordan varsity baseball & softball

2011-05-05T23:55:00.000-04:00

Varsity action at Gaylord High School Thursday night, as the Red Devils from East Jordan made the trip to Gaylord to square off against the Blue Devils. I was able to make the second games of the doubleheader, with Gaylord taking the baseball contest 8-4 (they won the first game as well), while the Lady Blue Devils lost to East Jordan on the last at-bat 3-2 (The Blue Devils I believe won the first game). The weather was not to bad....much better than the JV game Tuesday night :)

Click here for the baseball photos

Click here for the softball photos

Gaylord's Travis Bandt fields a ground ball at short.

East Jordan starting pitcher

A play at 3rd base where the Gaylord runner was safe

Contact from this Blue Devil batter

Gaylord Blue Devil JV baseball & softball vs Cadillac

2011-05-04T23:16:00.000-04:00

Took in the Gaylord Blue Devil JV baseball and softball games Tuesday night against Cadillac, at a very cold Gaylord athletic complex. I made it in time for the 2nd game of the doubleheaders, and stuck around for a couple of hours to snap as many photos as I could. Look forward to a little warmer weather in the future :)

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Gaylord JV pitcher

A play at the plate, but the ball was knocked out of the glove.

Gaylord Blue Devil on the hot corner

Making contact

Gaylord Blue Devil track team

2011-05-04T23:07:00.000-04:00

Went to take photos of the Gaylord Blue Devil JV baseball & softball teams on Tuesday, and the Blue Devil track team was in action as well against Traverse City Central, so I snuck over and snapped a few photos of a few of the running events. Unsure if I will catch them anymore this year, as the start times of the events do not mix well with my place of employment :)

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800M I believe

Girls 200M

Boys 200M

Gaylord travel soccer, Blizzard & Extreme

2011-05-01T20:35:00.000-04:00

Took in 3 games over the weekend at the Gaylord Soccer Complex, that featured 3 of Gaylord's travel soccer teams, the girls U11-12A Blizzard, the girls U13-14 Extreme, and the boys U13-14 Extreme. The weather was not to bad for these spring games, except for a big steady wind, which really influences the game. This may be the only chance I have to catch these teams this spring, and hopefully in May, which capture one other travel team scheduled to play, I think it was the U9-10 boys.

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Click here to view U13-14 girls Extreme photos

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Blizzard goalie makes a save

Celebration of a goal by the Blizzard

This girls Extreme player keeps the ball in play

Great move by this girl Extreme player. Jumped over the ball
and turned back to gain control will the defender kept going.

Boys Extreme player, Landen Skop.

High in the air for the boys Extreme player.

St. Mary JV baseball vs Bellaire

2011-04-29T22:00:00.000-04:00

Went out tonight for the first time in 5-weeks, since the end of basketball season, to start with spring sports, this contest a Gaylord St. Mary JV baseball game vs Bellaire, at St. Mary. The photos are from teh 2nd game of the doubleheader, which was in favor of Bellaire 15-7 when I left. The Eagles also won the first game in the last inning with a big comeback. Just felt good to get out there agin, as Mother Nature has been slowing the spring sports, and my photography early in the season.

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This ball eludes the St. Mary Left Fielder

A close play at the plate as this Bellaire runner is safe.

St. Mary pitcher throwing from the stretch.

Otsego Christian School Eagles basketball

2011-03-20T22:19:00.000-04:00

Something new, as The Otsego Christian School hosted a basketball game vs a group from the Bear Basketball program, Friday night at the Otsego County Community Center. If you were on a green shirted Bear basketball team last season, you were invited to play in a pair of co-ed games vs OCS. A younger game that was 5th grade and lower, and the older game of 6th grade and above. Scores were kept, and I know the older teams split their games, but unsure on the younger teams. Just a chance to catch another group from in and around Otsego County, and post a link to the photos on their Facebook page.

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Waiting during the older game.

This young man scored the winning basket
as time ran out for the Eagles win.

The Eagles cheerleading squad.

Action from the younger game.

Cadillac 63 - Grayling 44

2011-03-20T22:10:00.000-04:00

The Regional Final of the Class B boys basketball game in Petoskey Wednesday night had one sure outcome......a Viking team would win, as the Cadillac Vikings and the Grayling Vikings tipped off for a trip to the Quarterfinals. The Vikings from Cadillac would control this one early, and throughout in a 63-44 win over Grayling, and earn that trip to the Quarterfinals against Muskegon Heights this Tuesday in Houghton Lake. Cadillac played well in this Regional over their 2 games, but will have a tough one upcoming against the Tigers, a team I saw play Petoskey in this same spot, which was a double OT win by Muskegon Heights last year. Unsure If I am heading to this game, or the McBain/Negaunee Class C match-up in Petoskey. Just hoping to make the right pick for a close game.

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#34 John Simons of Cadillac with a jumper over
Graylings #4 Jensen Aubry while #44
Jake Helsel looks on.

Liked this photo with so many players having
their hand on the ball going after this rebound.

#33 Mike Weeks of Cadillac with a layup, as Grayling's
#32 Steven Enos tries to defend.

A view from the balcony at the Petoskey gym, as Simons
and #55 Mason Watkins pose with the Regional Trophy.

Hemlock 63 - Gladstone 34 girls quarterfinal basketball

2011-03-15T22:50:00.000-04:00

Pretty much a dog of a game in the Class B match-up at Houghton Lake between Hemlock and Gladstone in a quarterfinal game won by Hemlock 63-34. The Huskies jumped on top early, and this game was never in doubt one quarter into it. This is the first game I have left early in a long, long, long time. I took the opportunity int he 3rd quarter to try some different camera settings, so really was a test type of game for me after the 1st half. Sometimes Quarterfinals can be great games, like the double OT between Petoskey and Muskegon Heights in the boys game last year, and sometimes it can be a mis-match, like tonights game.

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One of the Huskies big girls. They had a size advantage
over the Braves.

Gladstone gets a shot off. they were sitting on
4-points with about 6-minutes left in the half.

A great block by #32 of the Braves on this
Huskie lay-up attempt.

Cadillac 51 - Standish-Sterling 35 boys regional basketball

2011-03-15T00:17:00.000-04:00

A Semi-Final Class B Regional game in Petoskey Monday night, had the Cadillac Vikings fight both the Standish Sterling Panthers and the officials on this night, as they earned a 51-35 win, and a date in the Regional Final on Wednesday night vs the Grayling Vikings, who beat Kingsford 59-47. Cadillac mixed it up early witht he Panthers, but continued to stretch a lead out, and kept it around 10-points for the reminder of the game to win this Semi-Final with not to much of a problem. It was a rough game, and the officiating was just not good in this game as they missed many a call. They made some good calls as well, but really missed some major fouls on both teams, but in my opinion, Cadillac received the short end of the straw on the calls. John Simons was the main threat on the floor tonight, and will be interesting on how the Grayling Vikings will handle the 6'7" swingman for Cadillac on Wednesday night as the two Vikings teams tip off for a berth in the Class B Quarterfinals.

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Viking #33 Micheal Weeks tries it inside against the Panthers
big man #52 Cole Walderzak.

Panther guard #12 Tanner Trombley surveys
the Viking defense.

Weeks and Walderzak go at it in the lane, before Weeks
makes the classic move of backing up when Wladerzak
gets the ball, where he falls down for a traveling call.

One of the no-foul calls on this night, here #44 Trevor Karbowski
of SSC knocks the ball away from #33 Weeks of Cadillac.

SSC #42 Ryan Whitman splitting the Cadillac
defense for 2 points.

Grayling 59 - Kingsford 47 regional boys basketball

2011-03-15T00:02:00.000-04:00

A Class B Regional Semi-Final in Petoskey Monday night, had the Grayling Vikings break a tie game in the second quarter, and outscored the Kingsford Flivvers 29-9 in one stretch, to take a 59-47 win over the UP team. late in the 1st half, with the score tied 19-19, the Vikings finished off the half on a 11-3 run to lead at the half 30-22. The kept their foot on the gas pedal, and outscored the Flivvers 18-6 in the 3rd quarter to take command of the game 48-28 heading into the 4th quarter. Kingsford was able to chip it down to 8-points, but that is as close as this game would get as the Vikings won by a 12-point margin at 59-47, to earn a date in the Regional Final game Wednesday night vs the Cadillac Vikings, who knocked off Standish-Sterling 51-35. Zane Tobin for Grayling led all scorers with 22-points on the evening.

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Grayling Viking #44 Jake Helsel

Kingsford coach Dan Olkkonen argues a call.

Flivver #45 Ian Wienke looks to make a move in the lane,
guarded by Helsel and #20 Riley Zigila.

#32 Steven Enos and #42 Griffin Dean show some of the
Viking full court pressure against Flivver #12
Caleb Harrington.

Grayling 54 - Houghton Lake 40

2011-03-12T14:06:00.000-05:00

A Class B District Final was held at Grayling Friday night, with the Vikings hosting on their home floor, pulled away in the 4th quarter for a 54-40 victory over the Houghton Lake Bobcats. A tight contest throughout, the teams tied at 37-37 entering the 4th quarter, the Vikings went on a quick spurt at the start of the 4th quarter, and wore down the Bobcats, playing their 4th game in 8-days, outscoring them 17-3 in the final stanza to take their first district crown since 1994, and earning a berth in the Class B Regional in Petoskey on Tuesday night, where they will take on the Kindsford Flivvers.

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Bobcat #13 Matt Webster is fouled on the
way to the basket by Viking #12 Zane Tobin.

#32 Steven Enos celebrates a Grayling play
in their 4th quarter run.

#4 Jensen Aubry and #42 Griffin Dean on the rebound.
Aubrey pulled down 12 points in the district win.

#33 Houghton Lakes Zane Backus with a rebound.

The Class B District Trophy hoisted by the Vikings hands.

Brimley 51 - Gaylord St. Mary 46 girls regional basketball final

2011-03-10T23:57:00.000-05:00

A Class D Regional Final girls basketball game took place in Pellston Thursday night, as the Brimley Bays outlasted the Gaylord St. Mary Snowbirds 51-46, to advance to the Quarterfinals of Class D next Tuesday night. A good back-n-forth game that saw the Snowbirds lead 10-8 and 20-18 at the 1st & 2nd quarter breaks, but Brimley started the 3rd quarter on a 10-0 run to grab control of the game. The Snowbirds, not to be out done, then ran off a 12-3 streak of their own to take the lead back at 32-31 just into the 4th quarter, and that would be the last lead they would see, as the Bays ripped off another 8 straight point to go back out on top for good. GSM had 2 real good looks for 3-pointers to tie the game with under a minute to go, but could not knock them down, as the Bays wrapped up the game and earned the Regional trophy.

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Snowbird Karli Jacob in the lane battles for the ball
with Brimley's #24 Sydney Beaune.

Freshman #11 Kari Borowiak drives for 2 of her 13-points
for the Snowbirds

Bay's #10 Becca Carruthers with a jumper against
a turned around Jacob of St. Mary.

Brimley Bays and the Regional trophy

Gladstone 67 - Cheboygan 46 girls basketball

2011-03-09T17:53:00.000-05:00

The Class B Regional Semi-Final at Gaylord High School took place Tuesday night, as the Gladstone Brves drove down from the UP and took it to the Cheboygan Chiefs, 67-46 and earn a berth in the Regional Final Thursday night once again at Gaylord High School, where they will face Tawas Area, who squeeked by Ludington in the 2nd Semi-Final game 76-72. Gladstone's grip on this game was never in doubt as they took it to the Chiefs early with a full court press they created turnovers, and some easy buckets. Always tough teams that come down from the UP each basketball season.

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Gladstone's #14 Katie Becker with a lay-up
early in the 1st quarter.

Brave's #32 Jenna Leisner with a jumper over Chief
#12 Taylor Lopiccolo.

#12 Chief Taylor Lopiccolo boxes out
on a Brave freethrow.

Cheif #33 Jessica Beaudien drives the lane
against Gladstone in the 2nd quarter.

Kingsford 5 - Mona Shores 3 Quarterfinal hockey

2011-03-09T09:19:00.000-05:00

The Division 2 high school hockey Quarterfinal took place at the Otsego County Sportsplex Tuesday night, as the Kingsford Flivvers punched their ticket to the Final Four at Compuware Arena with a 5-3 win over Muskegon Mona Shores. The Sailors of Mona jumped out early to a 3-1 1st period lead with the help of some defensive breakdowns by the Flivvers, and held that late into the 2nd period, as #19 of Kingsford scored late in his shift, the second of his hat-trick on this night, and they added another with 8 seconds left in the period to send it to intermission at 3-3. The 3rd period was all Kingsford, scoring 2 goals about a minute apart, and from there, the Sailors could not get anything working in the middle of the ice as the Flivvers pushed all of the action to the sides, and forechecking 2 men deep not allowing Mona to get moving out of their zone. Quite a dominating perfomance the last 2 periods of hockey for Kingsford.

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Mona Shores goalie finds himself a bit out of position,
but Kingsford was unable to score.

This puck missed the net, although in this photo it
looks like it is going in for a goal.

Battle for th epuck in the corner.

Always love after a goal, the mad rush to the bench for high fives, this
after the Kingsford go-ahead goal making it 4-3 in the 3rd period.

Officials speak with the goal judge, who blinked the redlight on a possible
Mona Shore goals late in the 3rd period. It was determined a no-goal, which I
think was the correct call.

Love capturing the celebration of a big win.....but wait, who threw that glove into
my perfect photo LOL

Petoskey 75 - Gaylord 40 boys district basketball

2011-03-07T22:09:00.000-05:00

The opening round of the district playoffs was not kind for the Gaylord Blue Devils on their home court, as they fell behind the Petoskey Northman 12-0 to start the game on the way to a 75-40 loss. The loss was not unexpected, as Petoskey is the class team of Northern Michigan, but the Blue Devils just could not knock down any jump shots, and the Northman were fueled by their big man Corey Starkey, who threw down 2 dunks in this game, and I was finally able to capture one for a change. Amazing the fans/students Petoskey brings for this game. About the equal number of adults as Gaylord it seemed, but way many more students, and they were the VISITING team. Not sure why the Blue Devil students do not turn out for these games, as it just does not seem to be a place the Gaylord kids like to hang out at. Maybe it is just a winning team that makes the difference, but the Petoskey student section sure enjoys themselves.

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#40 Cole Wright of Gaylord banks in 2 points
around Northman #30 Eli Gooding.

#22 Corey Starkey of the Northman, with the first of
his 2 dunks on the night. I finally captured one :)

Opening tip between Petoskey Corey Starkey
and Gaylord's Troy Gahm.

Gaylord's #50 Zach Lundell with a hard foul
on teh Northman shooter.

Big Rapids 3 - Sault 2 2OT's hockey regional final

2011-03-06T12:57:00.000-05:00

The Division 3 Regional Final at the Otsego County Sportsplex Saturday night was a great hockey match from start to finish, as Big Rapids Junior Seth Adam's notched a hat trick, with the 3rd goal being the most important, coming a minute and a half into the second overtime, as the Cardinals took the regional by a 3-2 score over the Sault Blue Devils. This game was a hard hitting affair, and very clean. If you were skating in mid ice with your head down.....well lets just say, not a good idea. The Sault jumped ahead early on a breakaway goal by #8 Eric Hillock, and led 1-0 at the 1st period break. The Cardinals would tie it, and go ahead 2-1 on a pair of Adam's goals that were very similar, tucking the puck by Sault net minder Cody Jodoin from in close. The Blue Devils would tie it up though on another breakaway by #17 Joseph Dobrowolski, who put it in the top shelf to tie it at 2-2 at the 2nd period break. The 3rd period would go without a goal as the teams headed to the 1st 8-minute OT. Within that period, #11 Tyler Jones of the Sault took a boarding penalty, and a game ejection, giving the Cardinals a 5-minute powerplay. Big Rapids would be called for a 2-minute penalty just 15-seconds into that powerplay, and nothing came for either team as they would head to the 2nd OT. Just into the 2nd OT, Adams took the puck on the goalies left side and slid it into the net, and the wild celebration began for the Cardinals in a hard fought 3-2 win over the Blue Devils. They have earned a date in the Sault on Wednesday night in the D3 Quarterfinal vs. the Calumet/Hancock winner. High school hockey does not get any better than a great playoff game like this one.

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Adams and Jodoin at the handshake, after Adams ended the Soo
Seniors season with a hat trick

One of many hard hits all night long.

A key glove save by Big Rapids goalie
Trace Pennock.

Adam's second goal of the night giving the
Cardinals a 2-1 lead in the 2nd period.

#17 Dobrowolski goes top-shelf in the 2nd period for the
Sault Blue Devils to tie it at 2-2.

St. Mary 56 - Onaway 25 girls district basketball

2011-03-05T18:14:00.000-05:00

The St. Mary Snowbirds, rated 4th in Class D, captured the District crown in Onaway Friday night, with a tough defensive effort, beating the host Onaway Cardinals 56-25. Onaway came out with a tough defense in the 1st quarter, and halfway through, it was only a 6-2 Snowbird lead. Gsm would take a 25-12 halftime lead, then stretched out out to a wide margin knocking down a few 3 pointers, to cruise to the 56-25 win, and eran a date in the Cladd D Regional up in Pellston next Tuesday night, vs the Posen/Hale winner. You can read more about the game in the Gaylord Herald Times.

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Onaway coach Marty Mix

Cardinal #32 Raquel Moran looks around
Snowbird #35 Michelle Miller.

St. Mary frosh #11 Kari Borowiak defended
by a Cardinal guard.

The Class D District trophy, hoisted by
the Snowbirds

Northern Michigan Ski Academy - NMSA

2011-03-01T11:09:00.001-05:00

Finally made it out to the ski slopes this winter, although right at the end of the season, as I took a trip to Boyne Highlands in Harbor Springs, for the final event of the Northern Michigan Ski Academy. This is the 3rd year in-a-row I have been able to capture this ski club, and the conditions were perfect to be standing on the hill for 3+ hours. Very low wind, great even light, and some fast ski racers made for a bunch of photos, in the area of 1000+. An outside chance I may do it again this Sunday, as the Northern Michigan Ski Club Junior Championships (I may have the title wrong) will be held at the Highlands as well, as the top racers from the ski clubs across Northern Lower Michigan will compete. Should be alot of good action in that one.

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Never have been at a ski race with so many tounges hanging out, like these kids below :)

Alba 74 - Petoskey Club Team 54 boys basketball

2011-02-17T22:34:00.000-05:00

A great night at the 'Barn' (what I like to call it) at Alba high school, as the Wildcats beat up on the visiting Petoskey High School club basketball team 74-54. The game was the second story, as the game-within-the-game was highlight number 1, as Wilby Gates needed 16-points to surpass 1,000 in his high school career, and he was able to eclipse that mark in the 3rd quarter on a driving layup to the rim that gave him 1,001 career points. Always fun to capture these milestone moments,as this was the 4th one in my photography career, with Gaylord St. Mary's Kate Spyhalski scoring 1,000pts back in 2006 , and Ashley House with a 1,000 for Joburg, and Jasmine Hines at 2,000 for Central Lake last year (Jasmine has since broken the state record of 2,783 this year). Great job Wilby. He was the 2nd athlete in my 6-years of photographing sports that came up to me and thanked me for coming out to take photos. The other was Jimmy Osga of Grayling, who after a tough loss to Boyne City that kept Grayling out of the playoffs thanked me for being there....things I will always remember :)

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#33 of Alba early in the 1st quarter

#10 Wilby Gates with a jumper in the 1st quarter.

The banner shot after the 1,000th point was scored

This is it, the money shot for Wilby Gate's
1000th point for the Alba Wildcats.

Joburg 42 - Inland Lakes 36 OT boys basketball

2011-02-17T22:21:00.000-05:00

Ski Valley Confeence fors Joburg and Inland Lakes met on the court at Johannesburg Wednesday night for boys jv and varsity basketball. In the varsity contest, Inland Lakes had a chance to win the game with 0,3 seconds remaining, and at the free throw line with 2 shots, and the score tied at 30-30, but the Bulldog player missed them both, and Joburg outscored ILakes in OT 12 -6 to take a 42-36 win. Each team is having a tough season, and it really showed in this game with a low turnout of fans, and some not so good basketball at times. The Joburg jv won their game over the Bulldogs as well, this one by a 49-42 score.

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Cardinal #24 Brian Vancoillie on the way to the
basket defended by Bulldog #10 Josh O'Connor

#32 Joburg's Jake Newell drives by Inland Lakes
#20 Caleb Crawford.

Action from the youth halftime game.

#52 Sean Aisthorpe with a perfect block on
Bulldog #4 Austin Jensen.

Gaylord youth boys travel basketball

2011-02-13T22:55:00.001-05:00

At Gaylord High School today, the Blue Devils hosted a 5th & 6th grade youth basketball tournament. The Petoskey Northman took both age groups, as the Gaylord 5th grade team finshed 2nd to the Northman, and the 6th graders lost a close 23-21 game to Petoskey that knocked them out of the championship game, and into 3rd place. Gaylord's 4th grade team played up at the 5th grade level, and unsure how they finished, but they did beat Cheboygan, and limited them to 1-point I believe. Some good future talent coming down the pipeline for Gaylord basketball. I just took photos of the Gaylord teams, as I was helping to coach my son's 6th grade team as well. Tried to mix it all together :)

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Lucas DeForge of the 6th grade team shooting a free throw.

4th Grader James Miller on the dribble.

Mitch Wilson of the 5th grade team on a contested jump shot.

Cadillac 57 - Gaylord 56 boys basketball

2011-02-12T12:43:00.000-05:00

An entertaining game at Gaylord High School on Friday night, as the Cadillac Vikings eeked out a 57-56 win over the Gaylord Blue Devils, who are still fighting for their first conference win this season. Cadillac had a 10-point lead heading into the final quarter, but the Blue Devils mounted a big comeback, to take a 56-53 lead, but Vikings John Simons, who I believe had 30-points on the night, hit a turn-around jump shot with 6-seconds left to give Cadillac a 1-point advantage, which held up as Gaylord's Tyler Frish was able to get off a shot, but looked to be partially blocked to secure the Viking win. A gritty effort by the Blue Devils to keep charging in this game. They are building the blocks for Blue Devil basketball in the future. The event was a Coaches for Cancer game, with plenty of pink shirts/warm-ups and funds rasied to fight cancer. The Vikings also won the JV contest.

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Jake Cuca sporting the Think Pink warm-up for Gaylord

#34 Cadillac's John Simons just misses this dunk.

#33 Tyler Frisch who provided the Blue Devils
a big lift in the 4th quarter, here at the free thow line.

Simons, here guard by Gaylord's Troy Gahm, just before
he launches his winning jump shot with 6-seconds left.

#11 Jv Viking Jordan Hunter

#14 Alex Dodder for the Blue Devils fights for
position in the JV game

Gaylord Blue Devil Cheer Invitational

2011-02-12T12:25:00.000-05:00

My first chance to capture a cheerleading event in the last couple of years, and this one caught me by surprise, as the Gaylord Blue Devils hosted an Invitational at Gaylord High School, and I thought there would be about 4-teams there, but was just a bit short of that guess, as there were 15 total teams competiting at this event, so I stuck around and photographed the whole thing :) Not able to use the flash as the action happens continous, with no breaks to let it cool, so I did not use it to burn it out. The lights in the Gaylord gym are not the best, so bumped my ISO up higher than I like to shoot, but it is what I needed to do. Just a hard time to get the coloring right, and will mess with that on any orders.

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Gaylord JV

East Jordan

Gaylord varsity

TC West

Gaylord varsity

Gaylord 8th grade girls basketball

2011-02-12T12:14:00.000-05:00

Glad to get out and capture both the Gold and the Blue 8th grade girls basketball teams from Gaylord Middle School. It is hard to make it to these games because of the start time being so early, and I have to leave my 'real' job to make it, but was able to cut out early on this day and capture the girls in action vs. Cadillac. They dropped both games to the Lady Vikings, but looks like a few good players for the Blue Devils for next years freshman team.

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#40 Taylar Crouch of the Gold team

#35 Brianna Hrejsa for the Gold team

#23 Sydney Kassuba with a jumper for the Blue team.

#12 Tanner Arkfeld of the Blue team.

#21 Aimee Kilbourn of the Blue team.

#13 Alyssa Pickard, another Deepwoods
neighbor for the Gold team.

East Jordan vs Grayling boys and girls basketball

2011-02-06T17:18:00.000-05:00

A trip to East Jordan Friday night for the Lake Michigan Conference games between the East Jordan Red Devils, and the Grayling Vikings, in both boys and girls varsity basketball. In the girls game, I arrived at the end of the first half, of a 29-29 tie game, but the Red Devils of East Jordan dominated the second half with defense pressure, and the resulting fast breaks to take a commanding 74-50 win over the Lady Vikings. It was an impressive 2nd half effort, and not to many missed baskets by East Jordan. In the boys nightcap game, EJ played the Vikings tough, jumping out to a 14-7, but the Vikings crawled back into it, and led at the end of the first half by 3-points. East Jordan would still hang around, but then just had to many turnovers from the Grayling pressure, and the Vikings took control winning 68-49 to keep their conference title hopes alive, as Charlevoix dropped a game to Traverse City St. Francis. Unsure if I will catch these teams again this year, but you never know once the playoffs begin.

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#34 Grace Howes for East Jordan with a jumper
over Viking #44 Abbey Thomas

#10 Red Devil Valerie Peters in for a layup
while Viking #22Caitlin Prosser defends.

Viking #10 Devon Dawson defends the dribble
of East Jordan's #24 Marcus Wingate.

Viking #22 Tom Burrell goes up high for the
rebound around a trio of Red Devils.

Grayling vs Charlevoix boys and girls basketball

2011-01-30T20:48:00.000-05:00

My first trip to the Grayling gym this year was a good one, as both the varsity girls and boys faced tough games vs the Rayders from Charlevoix. In the opener, the Viking girls led by large double digit leads twice in this game, but the Rayders would claw back into it both times, and had 2 trips dowwn the floor to tie the game, but turned the ball over both times, as the lady Vikings escaped with a 62-59 win. In the boys nightcap, the Rayders came in with no losses in conference play, while the Vikings had 1, so this was a key midseason match-up in the Lake Michigan Conference. A close game the whole way, and the Vikings had a 3-ball shot miss with seconds remaining to tie this game, and the Rayders came out on top with a 56-51 hard fought victory. A large crowd for this one made for my best viewing game of the year. Hope to get a chance for one more this season.

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Varsity girls coach Joe Powers for the Vikings

#22 Caitlin Prosser of Grayling looks over Rayder
#10 Hannah Hybl

Viking #32 Steven Enos with 2 of his game high 28 points

Rayder #23 Dylan Putman hauls down a rebound

Grayling student section not interested
in viewing Rayder free throws.

Gaylord St. Mary 50 - Joburg 34 - girls basketball

2011-01-25T23:40:00.000-05:00

A Ski Valley rematch tonight in Gaylord, as the Snowbirds took a 50-34 win over the visiting Johannesburg-Lewiston Cardinals in varsity girls basketball action. A tough Snowbird defense limited the Cardinals to 3 points in the 2nd quarter to take a larger advantage, which they held for the balance of the game. The Snowbirds move to 11-2 on the season, while the Cardinals drop to 10-3. Two very good teams once again in Otsego County. Joburg took the JV game by a 41-30 score.

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jv game

varsity