Photo by Mike Brothers
Signs Letter with Parkland
Sullivan Redskin softball stand out Makenzie Ruppert signed a letter of intent to play catcher in Parkland Community College softball program next season. Ruppert’s high school softball teammates attended the Nov. 22 signing ceremony at Sullivan High School gym. Pictured seated from left: sister Ema, mother Kari, Makenzie, father Shane, and brother Tristan. Standing are Sullivan coach Troy Waggoner and Parkland head coach Chuck Clutts.
•November 23, 2016•
In seasons past the Okaw Valley baseball team has beaten teams 18-0.
The same could be said for the softball team and SOV football.
But to start the 2016-17 boys’ basketball tenure, the ‘Wolves were on the wrong end of that margin after a quarter.
The first bucket of the season came with 5:09 to go in the first half when Garrett Fritz took to the lane and lifted up a floater that wasn’t sent back by one of the St. Anthony post players. Read More
•November 23, 2016•
The fall sports banquet for Sullivan Okaw Valley sports was held recently with football all conference recognition given to several players.
Coach Gerald Temples announced that Preston Waggoner was named Most Valuable Offensive Lineman; Kolton Rose - Most Valuable Defensive Lineman. Read More
•November 23, 2016•
Kirk Whitaker
NP Sports
The 10 point lead with 4:39 to go was long forgotten.
Monticello closed the gap on their home court Nov. 18 with 43 seconds to go. They took the first Sage lead of the game 41-40.
Things looked even more dire after Mychaela Miller missed an open layup attempt with five seconds to go.
The Knights fouled, and Monticello made the back end of the two offerings. Then the magic the Knights enjoyed in volleyball rolled over to basketball.
Kim Davis inbounded the ball to Hannah Wallen with 3.9 seconds to go.
Wallen got past half-court and heaved up a prayer from the volleyball line which banked in to give the Knights the 43-42 win. Read More
•November 16, 2016•
Kirk Whitaker
NP Sports
After last season’s 91-15 dismantling at the hands of Teutopolis, the Redskins’ season opening victory over the Shoes just the season before felt like an eternity ago.
This season, the result was the same, only not near as much of a beating.
The Wooden Shoes took a 10-1 lead out of the gate, a 25-5 advantage after a quarter, and ultimately take the season opener 78-35.
Sullivan still had several bright spots while taking on the defending second place team in the state tournament from a season ago who is returning three of its starters.
Esther Miller was responsible for all five of the Redskins’ first quarter points and would finish with nine on the night, sinking a free throw, and two layups--one off a steal going coast-to-coast and the other off an inbounds play--but it was Addison Darush who took the rest of the night. Read More
•November 9, 2016•
Kirk Whitaker
NP Sports
There were no magical three-set triumphs this time around.
In a sectional also comprised of powerhouses St. Thomas More and St. Joseph-Ogden, Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond drew Tri-Valley, a team with two losses on the season, one of which came at the hands of SJO.
The Vikings sported arguably the most menacing hitter of the whole sectional in 6’2” junior Hannah Clayton, along with a couple other players taller than anyone on the Knights’ roster, but the Knights made things interesting.
It looked as if beating would have been a more descriptive word in the beginning.
Clayton gave the Vikings their first point after Abby Foreman downed a kill, and the match was even up until the five point mark.
After that, things got a little carried away. Read More
•November 2, 2016•
Kirk Whitaker
NP Sports
Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond’s first regional as a school--and five years to the day of their last volleyball regional crown--came by the skin of their teeth.
Both Tuesday and Thursday the Knights went up against teams with tall, powerful hitters, needing sets with more than 25 points to decide them, but behind the strength of familiar faces, the Knights topped both Oakwood Fithian (25-14, 27-25, 31-29) and Tri-County(19-25, 26-24, 25-23)--in the fifth meeting of the year between the schools--move on to the Argenta Sectional to take on top-ranked Tri-Valley, who beat Maroa-Forsyth in the Decatur St. Teresa Regional.
The Knights’ first set drubbing of Oakwood (25-14) Tuesday was more than their other three margins of victory combined (11 compared to six).
The last two sets in both games were hectic in an electric home atmosphere to say the least. Read More
Photo by Mike Brothers
Redskins running back Luke Bowman turns the corner and gains a few yards in SOV’s season ending game with Tuscola Oct. 21.
•October 26, 2016•
By Kirk Whitaker
NP Sports
Tuscola entered Friday night’s game as the second ranked team in Class 1A and showed it well against SOV.
The Warriors scored the first 28 points in 8:55 thanks to two interceptions that bounced off the hands of Luke Bowman and Keith Bone respectively, leading to a 52-7 drubbing.
“You can’t spot a lead like that to a good team and expect to win,” head coach Gerald Temples said. “After the first quarter, we played better, but we just couldn’t come back from that deficit.”
Tuscola took the lead with short touchdown runs after the two interceptions and a 34 yard score, but the Redskins’ defense held the rest of the quarter to prevent further damage.
The Warriors started out the second quarter with a 40 yard field goal followed by a 14 yard touchdown run from quarterback Kaleb Williams before the Redskins scored their lone touchdown of the night. Read More
•October 26, 2016•
Kirk Whitaker
NP Sports
Last Thursday, Okaw Valley fell to Cerro Gordo on the Broncos’ senior night 25-21 each set.
Both sets saw the Timberwolves mount comebacks and tie the set late--at 19 in the first and 21 in the second--but it was to no avail, as hitting errors did them in both nights.
Fast forward to the Oct. 24 Regional contest in Bethany, and it was more of the same.
The ‘Wolves tied the first late and were as close as two but couldn’t finish the job, falling 25-22. Read More
•October 26, 2016•
The Okaw Valley/Sullivan/Shelbyville high school girls’ swim team kicked off their season at Olympia High School in Stanford recently.
Brynna Sentel led the team with five first place finishes in the 200 IM, 100 backstroke, 500 freestyle, 200 backstroke and 100 breaststroke to earn her the overall first finish.
Sophomores held off the remaining swimmers to have overall top finishes behind Sentel. Read More