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Show A6 The Emery County Review, Tuesday, December 9, 2008 SPORTS Tale of Two Games Ends with a Split for Lady Spartans C. Josie Luke It was “A Tale of Two Games” for the Lady Spartans last week as they faced Canyon View and Richfield on back to back nights, Dec. 4 and 5. Emery downed the Falcons 51-34, but the great play which brought the team the win was missing in a tough loss to the Wildcats just the next day. Emery’s game versus Canyon View literally was “the best of times” for the girls, who beat the Falcons for the first time. Led by Jodi Robertson, who scored 19 in the game, including three 3-pointers, the team outscored Canyon view in three of four quarters: 12-3 in the first, 15-6 in the third, and 13-12 in the fourth, to bring the Lady Spartans a hard fought, physical win. The team’s up tempo style was on clear display in the game, and their dominance in the game was well exhibited during the third quarter, when they stretched their lead over the Falcons from 23-16 at halftime, to 38-22 at the end of the third. The “worst of times” came after the adrenaline from the previous night wore off, and the Lady Spartans found themselves matched against a tall, strong Richfield team. “We were really tired against Richfield,” revealed Coach Steven Gordon. “We haven’t ever beat Canyon View, and it was a pretty emotional, physical game. The next day everybody was just kind of emotionally dead, and it didn’t help that they were huge. They had a 6’4’’ post player and a 6’1’’ post player; we just looked like little guys out there.” And when the “little guys” didn’t take advantage of their quickness against the bigger team, it was a disappointment. Gordon said, “The bottom line is we didn’t make a shot and we turned it over too many times.” Their bad-shooting night was evident in their 3-for-11 shooting on 3-point shots, and missing eight of their 26 free throws. This, compounded by the loss of Lacey Montgomery who was hurt in the fourth quarter of the game against the Falcons, proved to be too much for the team to overcome. “It was just a whole different atmosphere. We just didn’t play well,” Gordon reported. “Lacey being out hurt us. Especially defensively, that hurts us quite a bit, but we still could have won if we had made a shot.” This week, Emery will be back home, playing two games at the Spartan Center. On Tuesday, they face Cedar and on Thursday, they play American Leadership Academy. Gordon hopes that a combination of rest and playing on their home court will rejuvenate his team. He said that if they play well, “I think we have a good chance of winning both games.” His only worry is trying to fill the spot left by Montgomery, who is still unsure of the severity of her knee injury. Photo by James L. Davis Frankie Komar goes for the basket. Abbie Kay takes a shot. Spartans Win One, Drop One in First Week of Play Casey D. Wood The Emery Spartan basketball team traveled to St. George on Dec. 4 to play Desert Hills, followed by a game in Hurricane on Dec. 5, playing against the Tigers. In their season opener against Desert Hills, the Spartans came out and fought their way to a victory. As the first quarter drew to a close Emery was down, 13-16. They continued to fight hard, but at the half they were still down four, by a score of 28-32. The close game drew closer as, at the end of the third quarter the score was 39-40, Desert Hills. Emery played an astonishing fourth quarter, scoring 21 points, while only allowing Desert Hills to score 6. The final score for the game was 60-46. Nevin Jensen led the team in points with 17, including three 3-pointers. Colton Barnett followed with 14, Karson Jensen scored 10, Jason Giles and Tanner Procarione both scored 6, with both of Giles points being 3-pointers, Cameron Hansen scored 5, and Brett Mecham scored 2 points. In the next game, Emery was prepared for a fight, but unfortunately the ball did not bounce their way. The first quarter ended with Hurricane ahead, 5-13. In the second quarter Emery kept up with Hurricane, each team scoring 12 points, making the total 17-25, Hurricane. In the third Emery once again paced Hurricane’s scoring and at the end of the third the score was 27-36. Emery kept fighting hard and outscored Hurri- cane in the 4th by one point, but was unable to make up for the lead Hurricane took in the first. The final score was 43-51, Hurricane. In the second game the high scorer was once again Nevin Jensen, with 9 points, 6 of which were from 3-point shots. He was followed by Colton Barnett with 8 and Tanner Procarione with 7. Next was Karson Jensen with 6, then Jason Giles with 5, including one 3-pointer, Gatlan Huntington with 4, and Cameron Hansen and Brett Mecham both with 2. The weekend left the team to a 1-1 record. This week features a game against ALA in Spanish Fork on Dec. 10, followed by the Coal Country Classic with Canyon View, Carbon, and Uintah High Schools on Dec. 12-13. Emery Wrestlers Hold their own in Tournament Rebecca Lofley Nothing is more physically or mentally taxing than wrestling for six straight minutes, straining with every muscle against one’s opponent while having to out-think them with each move. Imagine having to keep up the pace not only for one match, but for nine matches. Emery High’s wrestlers, along with wrestlers from 10 other schools faced this daunting task at a tournament in Carbon County held Dec. 5-6. The two adjacent gyms at Carbon High were teeming with enthusiastic supporters and focused wrestlers. One aim of each wrestler was to become Photo by C. Josie Luke Junior High Rivals Meet The rematch between the Canyon View and San Rafael junior high wrestling teams was a closer affair despite producing another lopsided score. In the Dec. 4 bout Canyon View bested the Bulldogs, 63-29, but this time San Rafael won five matches, two by pin, two by forfeit and one by tech fall. The Cougars again dominated, helped by San Rafael’s lack of wrestlers to fill each weight class, compiling six wins by pin, one win by decision and four by forfeit. Though many of the matches were closer, San Rafael was hurt by their lack of wrestlers in the lower weights, giving up their forfeits to the Cougars in the first four weight classes. Canyon View then won the next four to extend their lead to 45-0 before the Bulldogs notched their first win in the 124-pound weight class. San Rafael won the next five, bringing the score to its closest at 45-29, but Canyon View rebounded with pins in the final three classes, stretching the final score to 63-29. Results: Weight class 75 - Leedan Johnson wins by forfeit. 81 - Wyatt Oviatt wins by forfeit; 87 - McCoy Allred wins by forfeit; 93 - Cameron Allred wins by forfeit; 99 - McKlane Allred wins by decision over Stetson Bennett; 105 - Jeremiah Luke pins Derrick Dawes; 111 - Colten Collard pins Wyatt Nelson; 118 - Taven Miller pins Devan Thompson; 124 - Taylen Nielson pins Taylor Weihing; 132 - Blake Noyes pins Tyler Miera; 140 - Nathan Thompson wins by forfeit; 148 - Bret Sorensen wins by forfeit; Caleb Woolsey wins by tech fall over Tyler Dasch; 165 - Kenden Huff pins Tyrell Winters; 175 - Chandler Curtis pins George Sorenson; and heavyweight - Brandon McCandless pins Kalin Reynolds. aware of his opponent’s weaknesses and then use those weaknesses to take him to the mat. Doing this successfully is difficult. It requires keeping technical mistakes to a minimum. Emery’s wrestlers had their mistakes and successes, but according to Coach Buck Taylor they are “doing things right, winning matches, and wrestling hard.” During the tournament Emery’s toughest opponents were the wrestlers of Duchesne, whom they were evenly matched with despite suffering a loss to them. Emery did meet victory, though, wrestling against Carbon and several other schools. Emery ended up in fourth place by the conclusion of the tournament, with Spencer Fehlberg placing second at 103 pounds. Jace Guymon stated that their strenuous practices are paying off, and Jake Gardner along with others have their eyes on “making it all the way to state.” Although Coach Taylor expressed regret at not placing higher than fourth, he knows the team can rise to their potential. He places value in the “kids wins over the team wins.” Emery wrestlers will have a short recovery time from their matches this past weekend as they’ll face ALA at home this week on Dec. 10 and Grand High School Dec. 11, in Moab. Fall Rodeo Season comes to a close for Emery Club C. Josie Luke The Fall Rodeo Season has come to a close for the Emery Rodeo Club, which grew from three members in the early competitions, to six in the end, and though they were somewhat slow to establish themselves, they were consistently scoring points by making it into the top 10 in their respective events in the last rodeos. The great results were evident at a rodeo in Beaver on Nov. 21, where AnnDee Adams came in second with a time of 17.247 in barrel racing, and MacKenzie Grange came in sixth with a time of 3.77 in breakaway roping. In Hurricane the next day, AnnDee matched her terrific result, bettering her time by .04 second. Grange came in eighth but also beat her own time by more than .1 second. Erin Gordon broke out at Enterprise the next weekend, Nov. 28, taking ninth in barrel racing, seventh in goat tying and fifth in breakaway roping. The next day’s rodeo in Dixie also proved favorable, with Erin taking sixth in barrel racing in under 18 seconds, Jacob Marshall taking ninth in bull riding with a score of 64, and Teigan Adams taking seventh in breakaway roping and 11th in barrel racing. Erin’s results in breakaway roping put her at eighth in the state. She is also tied for 34th in barrel racing and 26th in goat tying. Jacob is 29th in bull riding. AnnDee is tied for 14th in barrel racing, and Teigan is tied for 42nd. MacKenzie is tied for 39th in Breakaway, with Teigan just behind her at 41st. Teigan is also the 15th highest scoring rookie cowgirl in the state. The rodeos resume on April 3 in Farmington. The Emery Club will also host their annual rodeo in cooperation with Carbon on April 17-18. The ’08-’09 season will conclude with the State Finals in Heber from June 9-13, and qualifying students will attend the National Finals in Farmington, NM, July 19-25. Pirates’ basketball season underway Basketball Season is well underway for both the girl’s and boy’s basketball teams at Green River High School. The Lady Pirates season started on Nov. 21, and the Pirates began on Nov. 25. The Lady Pirates had a rough start, losing their first three games by an aver- age of 23 points, but they bounced back to win two of their next three games. Their first was a dominating win on Dec. 2 over Tabiona, 51-23. And although they dropped their next game to Kanab on Dec. 5, they beat Intermountain Christian Dec. 6. Because of the later start, the boy’s team has played only three games, losing two, but winning a thriller on Dec. 3. Their first game was a 67-28 loss to Wayne on Nov. 25. Then on Dec. 3, the Pirates beat their close rival Grand in the final seconds of an exciting game, 48-47; but they lost to Tabiona 57-45 two days later. This week features two home games for the Pirates, who face Piute on Dec. 9 and have a rematch with Grand on Dec. 11. The Lady Pirates play two games this weekend, but both are at the Sevier Valley Center; one against Milford and the other against Bryce Valley. |