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Show SPANISH FORK WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2009 • A9 Covering what matters most Dons lose nailbiter in Are 5A SF Dons on battle of the 'Forks' uneven playing field? Chad Vest STAFF WRITER The Mighty Dons were in Cavemen country last Friday with hopes of an upset bid against the red and white. Spanish played with a lot of heart for four quarters and fought ferociously to take the lead on several occasions in the second half. The Dons got within a bucket on several occasions but AF had answers for each run with big shots from their big men and some long balls behind the arc. Both teams pressed in this contest and while the Cavemen gave fits to SF in the first half, the red and gray turned the favor by causing some big turnovers during the second for an intense battle between the Forks. American Fork heated up in the third quarter and went up by as many as nine and from there, the Dons battled back until the final tick on the clock in a losing effort by the score of 67-60. Travis Still scored quickly with a power move inside to give SF an early 2-0 lead. While the Dons played good defense, they also forced some passes Inside the Huddle Steve Taylor Chad Vest / Spanish Fork News BATTLE OF THE 'FORKS': Chase Loftin displayed great hustle with hard nosed physical play. He finished the night with eight points. which created turnovers. AF took advantage of those miscues and also gave SF fits with their full court press early on which resulted in a 12-9 scoring advantage to end the first. Seniors Chase Loftin and Breck Lewis displayed great hustle all throughout the contest with hard nosed physical play. Both grabbed steals early in the game and were the beneficiary for the other's swipe which resulted into two big buckets. With less than a minute to play until See DONS VS AF • B8 Lady Dons FINAL GAME: The Lady Dons had their work cut out for them, traveling to American Fork to play the top-ranked team in the state in their final region contest Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009. The Cavemen caused turnovers and shot well, to take the 68-46 victory. Bright spots for the Dons were Erin Redd, left, who scored 25, and Jenn Huntsman, who played great defense on AF's Holmstead and chipped in nine points of her own. The Lady Dons finish the season with a record of 11-10. Namon Bills / Spanish Fork News Sophomores beat AF, 33-32 Keri Huntsman STAFF WRITER The Spanish Fork High School sophomore girls completed their basketball season with an amazing win at American Fork on Tues, Feb. 17, 2009. The final score was 33-32 with the last three points being scored in the final seconds of the game! American Fork led the first and second quarters by one point ending the half Courtesy photo with the score of 17-18. In GAME PLAN: In the last seconds of the game, Alyssa Larsen the third quarter American coaches her team giving them strategies to pull off a win. Fork pulled ahead by four more points going into the Fork thought they had won their season. Kaitlin Urmston fourth quarter with a score the game. With seven sec- and Jen Huntsman led the of 22-27. But this Spanish onds left on the clock Ameri- scoring with 12 points each. Fork team was determined can Fork still had possession, Brooke Kramer, Brooke to play with all their heart but Spanish Fork was not giv- Thurgood arid Shandy Elliot and picked it up in the ing up. They defended well came away with four, three fourth quarter with a strong as American Fork threw the and two points respectively. ( defense, several steals arid ball in and Haileigh Emerine "Since the beginning of great rebounding. With a knocked it away. Jen Hunts- the season these girls have minute and a half left in the man quickly shot the bail but been fighters; through their game, Spanish Fork was missed. She got the rebound, hard work and determinadown by two points and made the shot and was fouled tion they fought to win this American Fork had posses- just as the buzzer ended the game. I couldn't be more sion of the ball. After several game. The score was now proud of these girls, and I attempts at bringing the ball tied 32-32. Jen shot one free am grateful to call them my in and watching the clock throw to win the game 33-32. team." says Coach Alyssa slowly tick away, American What an awesome win to end Larsen. Once a sports season starts, we all forget about everything but wins and losses. We overlook the level of competition; we overlook injuries; we overlook effort. We forget about a lot of things that aren't necessarily in control of the athletes. They don't decide whether they should be 3A, 4A, or 5A; they don't get to choose the boundaries for their school. As a paper, we've had the tendency to give winning teams the front page, overlooking some great teams and great athletes. The current cutoff for schools to be 5A is 1,500 students — minimum. Some Salt Lake schools like Bingham and Alta have nearly 3,000 students. There's an old saying that for every 100 students, you can find one really good boy and one really good girl athlete. At the end of the day, having a lot more students to choose from makes a big difference. This year, the Spanish Fork Dons have had to fight an uphill battle. Their enrollment this year is around 1250 students, but they are playing at the 5A level. That's like sticking UVU in the MWC, or having BYU play in the Big East — they would be the same teams, but they would have very different records. Without getting into the politics of it all, Spanish Fork got stuck in 5A this year when they should have been playing 4A. The Dons have seven athletes that have signed to play at the college level next year — seven! They have a superstar like Erin Redd that will be left out of the awards circle by most because her team has flown under the radar. Never mind the fact that Redd had a dominating performance in a win over Pay son, a team ranked #2 in 4A, and 25 points last week against AF, the top team in 5A. Not to take anything away from Salem Hills, but in some ways their success this year is due to Spanish Fork, beacuse they had a lot of good athletes that developed their skills through Spanish Fork's city pro- grams and with the help of Spanish Fork High coaches. In spite of the disadvantages that the Dons have faced this year, they've never complained. All of the athletes at Spanish Fork have continued to work as hard as ever, and every time they play, they play to win. Even though all of that effort hasn't translated into a ton of wins, it has helped the Dons improve. For all of the 4A teams that have had the good fortune of avoiding the Dons this year, watch out, because next year the playing field will be more even. It's easy to criticize coaches and players, but we, as fans, should realize when things beyond their control affect their perfors mance. . Barry Dalton / Spanish Fork News PLAYING HARD: Pictured above is Travis Still in SF's game against Lehi. And now let's play... Auto OODS \ jeopardy n • Q: Even with beating the national average for vehicle time in the shop, this business has refused to pat itself on the back. A: What is Robarge Collision? Q: Receiving no government bailout, they still manage to save their customers money on every vehicle auto body repair. A: Who are Cary and Judy Robarge? Q: 97.86%. A: What is the customer satisfaction rating at • Robarge Collision? When you're in a fender bender or worse the answer is: Exceptional Cares Collision Repair 798-1967 • 570 South Main St. • Spanish Fork I • |