OCR Text |
Show The Park Record D-3 FROM THE PRESS KOK by Brett Larsen " D As high school sports season ends, some awards are in order SatSunMonTues, May 22-25, 2004 '''" j Another high school sports year has come and gone, but before we look ahead to next season, there are moments to be remembered and some awards to be handed out: Finest hour Boys' soccer , shootout win over Ogden: The I boys didnt get the trophy until - one day later, but it was in their nean-siopping, win over tne Tigers in the state' semifinals that the Miners made themselves champions. Undefeated and unanimously named the favorite to win it all, Park City floundered floun-dered for every minute of regulation regula-tion and two overtimes against a stubborn Ogden squad. The pressure mounted as the ensuing , shootout came down to the final I shot. "With hundreds of Park City fans holding their breath, senior Matt Smith booted the ball past Tigers' goalie Blake Noseworthy, setting off an eruption in the stands and earning the Miners a spot in the next day's title game , against Morgan, which they went on to win 2-1. Runner up: Football edges Wasatch Park City was making fools out of its opponents, hanging hang-ing 48, 55 or 56 points on them week after week. But when the Miners visited rival Wasatch on Halloween, they found themselves them-selves in an all-out brawl that evolved from an unexpected speed bump to a fight for survival sur-vival by game's end. Hoping to wrap up its first-ever first-ever perfect season in Region 10, as well as the league championship, champi-onship, Park City clung to a 7-3 lead late in the game with the ; Wasps driving deep. As the clock ticked down below one minute to play, Miners' defensive lineman Brian Kadziel burst through the line, batting a pass straight up in the air. The ball floated up, then down straight into Kadziel's arms. The junior's timely interception inter-ception not only earned the Miners the Region 10 crown, but kept the steam going for a cruising cruis-ing Park City squad. Biggest bummer: Girls' soccer semifinal: The Miners had only lost two games all year, and despite a tumultuous coaching hc change on the eve of the play offs, they looked poised to make a run at the state title. After cruising through the first two rounds. Park City earned a spot in the state semifinals, but lost a 2-1 heartbreaker to Ogden, bringing a disappointing ending to an otherwise brilliant season. Runner up: Boys' basketball at Granite: The boys' season was summed up in the way they trudged off the court after suffering suffer-ing Park City's first-ever loss at Granite, a 63- 56 shocker in the season finale on Feb. 13. Having pummeled the Farmers for one of their only two wins of the season sea-son in January, the Miners couldn't could-n't end their dismal season on a high note, and went to the locker room shaking their heads and staring at their shoes. The good news is, Park City should be extra motivated to bounce back and prove themselves next season. sea-son. Woulda, coulda, shoulda: Football: After winning the aforementioned game at Wasatch, the Miners went on to drop Dixie 13-3 in the first round of the playoffs a week later. But the Grantsville team that Park City played in the second round looked nothing like the one that the Miners humiliated 48-10 in September, and for that matter, Park City didn't look anything like its former self either. The Cowboys had their way with a shockingly porous Miners' defense, while the high-octane Park City offense sputtered to a measly seven points. A back-breaking back-breaking interception return for a touchdown just before halftime put Grantsville ahead 12-7, which ended up being the final score. The Miners' reaction: Stunned, to say the least. Runner up: Golf: The golfers suffered a fate similar to that of their gridiron counterparts. Undefeated in a highly-competitive Region 10, the Miners entered the state tournament in Brigham City with all the swagger swag-ger of a potential champion, but left two days later with a lackluster, lacklus-ter, middle-of-the-pack finish. Courage under fire award: Ed Potts: Nobody had a season quite like the recently-resigned boys' basketball coach .: No the r Par k i City team won fewer games than his did. But through all 18 losses, he quietly kept his confidence that his boys would get things turned around and win some games. Since Potts wouldn't give up, neither did the players, and down to the bitter loss at Granite in the finale, the entire squad played to win. Nice job, coach. Runner up: Nancy Berry: Like Potts, the girls' Softball coach suffered through a long season, trying to build a program from scratch and maybe win a few games along the way. With an extremely young and inexperienced squad, Berry made progress with her girls that didnt necessarily show up in the standings. Although the Miners didn't win a single Region 10 game and Berry stepped down at season's end, she left plenty behind for new coach Gerry McMillan to build on. All-around butt-kickers award: Boys' tennis: Undefeated. . Hardly lost any games, much less any sets. Back-to-back state championships. Eight-straight Region 10 titles. Almost everybody every-body is back for next year. Enough said. Runner up: Girls' cross-country: Miners took home second-straight second-straight state title in October. We're all in this together award: Tie-Baseball and boys' soccer: Talk about school spirit. As the soccer team faced a late-season late-season match with rival Judge, baseball coach Buster Schwab cancelled practice so that his players could go out and support their classmates, and no section of fans was cheering louder as the Miners downed the Bulldogs in a 1-0 thriller than the contingent contin-gent of baseball players. At the baseball team's game against Union a week later, guess who was filling the grass behind the backstop? That's right, the soccer team. And when soccer was playing in the state finals, it was the baseball team that took time out of its playoff trip to Cedar City to stop and watch. Rudy award: Volleyball: The Miners were scrambling for a victory vic-tory to make it into the state tournament, and despite a losing record, pulled' out a thrilling win over Judge n Jheir season finale mm III Jit IO $ mm mBm MfltfkHni.- TAKB CONTROL VISIT YOUR LOCAL DISCOUNT TIRE STORE FOR DEBJIS OFFER GOOD MAY W THROUGH ME 20, 2004 coopfiwf vbunlof YOKOHAMA IfinESi nflrc? Tread design may vary 4) 185B0R14 4) 14x6 MBM 272 I V vJ adr cause ac3 702 ::3pgg7cs:j3 S3 Proudly serving Utah with 12 great locations. Salt Lake City, Murray, West Jordan, Reams, Holladay, Sandy, Bountiful, Lay ton, Roy, Provo & St. George. Coming soon-Lindon, Rivcrton & Rivordalo DRIVE THRO U G H LIFE TIRES.COM ASK ABOUT OUR FftEE SPECIAL FINANCING AVAILABLE. REPLACEMENT CERTIFICATE! act STOKc rOn CfclARs. APP0IHTHEWT8 AVAILABLE to set up a play-in game for the postseason. Although Park City lost the play-in against the same Bulldogs team a week later, the girls went out knowing they gave it their best shot. - Runner up: Wrestling: How can you compete in the same region as Wasatch and Uintah without being the lovable underdog? under-dog? Zero to 60 award: Boys" lacrosse: Park City started the season 6-0 in the Utah High School Lacrosse League's toughest tough-est conference. Although they eventually cooled off, finishing the regular season just 2-4, the Miners got hot again at the right time, winning three straight, including the playoffs, and plowed into the state quarterfinals, quarterfi-nals, exceeding all preseason expectations along the way. What's in store for next season? Local lacrosse fans cant wait to find out, because it's going to be big. SportsCenter highlight- Caleb Fine's dunk on Wasatch: In the boys' basketball team's home, finale against the Wasps, senior forward saved his best dunk of the season for last. With his team trailing by 14 midway through the fourth quarter, Fine drove baseline, threading a path between three Wasatch defenders defend-ers before leaping for a rim-rattling dunk right on their heads, conjuring images of Vince Carter's monster slam over a French defender in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Kodak moment: Girls' basketball's basket-ball's group hug: Remember Malone, Stockton and Hornacek doing that jumping-up-and-down group hug in Houston in '97? It was the same as the one exchanged between seniors Kali Judkins and Nicole Tomlin after the pair led the Miners to a 51-40 win at Judge on Jan. 27. Playing with its back to the wall, Park City needed a victory in one of the toughest gyms in Region 10, and thanks to the heroics of their super seniors, the Miners got it. So, there you have it. Congratulations to all the Park City High School athletes, coaches coach-es and parents who have made ' this year 6ne worth remembering. Family-omented individualized elderly care live-in or Hourly Adult Day Care Private or Semi-Private rooms available k ,1' -ft ill 1 0 II II . .... VIW ( 1 V ' V .: ' V :kVi'l tr ' ' " ' " - u . t n i V' .' , tl mil Kmi&pTtettt m L li '- v j . . 2 fit J P- v;" 1 1 h' 1., I, . - i. - I - j, 'tI :f - Wfcoom |