GOES ALL THE WAY

April 2011

Oillustratedzark

REWIND

at WALNUT GROVEFamily Ties

STATE CHAMPSLady Tigers

Pirates

Lady Eagles

AD

VC

Ask for PromoPrep prior to purchase. Not good with other offers.Non-transferable for cash. Expires 8/31/2011.

00170 TODD Ozarks Prep full Rev 4/7/11 11:33 AM Page 1

Construction Management, Gymnasium Renovations and Product Sales

Repair Services Gymnasium ServicesFlooringPaintingHVACRoofingMasonry Tuck Pointing

Parking Lot workWindow replacementsRestroom remodelingDrainage control

Wood floor refinishing/screeningWall padsScore tables and Possession ArrowsScore boardsBasketball goals and rimsBleachers, Chair Back Seating and Team ChairsSignage and BannersVinyl Floor Covers

Varsity Contractors, Inc.3230-C S. National AvenueSpringfield, MO 65807 www.varsitycontractors.com • P: 417-887-7469 • F: 417-882-6321

Hughes Bro.

Construction Management, Gymnasium Renovations and Product Sales

Repair Services Gymnasium ServicesFlooringPaintingHVACRoofingMasonry Tuck Pointing

Parking Lot workWindow replacementsRestroom remodelingDrainage control

Wood floor refinishing/screeningWall padsScore tables and Possession ArrowsScore boardsBasketball goals and rimsBleachers, Chair Back Seating and Team ChairsSignage and BannersVinyl Floor CoversVarsity Equipment ChecklistVarsity Contractors, Inc.

3230-C S. National AvenueSpringfield, MO 65807 www.varsitycontractors.com • P: 417-887-7469 • F: 417-882-6321

Ask for PromoPrep prior to purchase. Not good with other offers.Non-transferable for cash. Expires 8/31/2011.

00170 TODD Ozarks Prep full Rev 4/7/11 11:33 AM Page 1

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

LETTERfrom the

eeLL

Le

Editor-In-Chief

Oillustratedzark

PWP r a i r i e Wa r b l e rPubl ishing, LLC

Publisher/Editor-In-ChiefByron Shive

Art Director

Advertising Sales Representative

Ty DeClue

Lisa Rayl

Contributing WritersScott Puryear

Monica Wallace

Contributing PhotographersRick Akins, Cindy Evans, Lynn Harman, Linda Patton, Sharon Payne, Kelly Presley, Janet Timmerman, Michelle Wheeler

On the Cover

Ozark Preps Illustrated (OPI) is published monthly by Prai-rie Warbler Publishing LLC. Reproductions in whole or in part without permission are prohibited. OPI is not responsible for the return of unsolicited artwork, photography, or manu-scripts, and will not be responsible for holding fees or similiar charges. All digital submissions and correspondence will be become property of OPI.

Editorial DisclaimerAll rights reserved. For editorial matters, please contact the edi-tors. The views of contributing writers do not necessarily reflect the policies of OPI, nor that of the publisher.

Advertising DisclaimerAll rights reserved. The views and opinions of OPI advertisers do not reflect those of OPI.

OPI has a clear committment to inviting and publishing cor-rections of fact and clarifying errors of context. Corrections of errors and mistakes are a necessity in obtaining credibility in the magazine.

EDITOR

2

P.O. Box 777Bolivar, MO 65613

417.770.0003

Printer

Shweiki Media4954 Space Center Dr.San Antonio, TX 78218

bshive@ozarkpreps.com

Dr. J.P. Simanis

www.ozarkpreps.com

Halfway’s Mark Timmerman pitches in the 1998 Class 1A state championship game. (Photo courtesy of Janet Timmerman)

Dear Readers:

Welcome to the latest issue of Ozark Preps Illustrated! Before I go any further, I want to encourage our read-ers to patronize our advertisers, because without their generosity and ad revenue, we would not be able to do something we love to do, which is provide in-depth coverage of high school sports throughout the Ozarks each month. And don’t forget to tell them you saw their ad in Ozark Preps Illustrated! Of course, please en-courage any business owner or other person you know that makes marketing decisions to show their support for high school sports by advertising in the magazine.

After a one-month hiatus due to the Spring Sports Preview, the Rewind section returns this month, and features the 1997-98 Halfway Cardinal baseball team, which posted a 61-4 record over two seasons, enjoyed a couple of Final Four trips and won a Class 1A state championship in 1998. The Rewind section has become one of my favorite articles to write each month, mainly because it takes me back to my own “glory days” back at Southport High School in Indianapolis, where I grew up.

Regardless of where you grew up, what school you attended, or how long ago you graduated, if you played high school sports, then you have memories embedded in your mind that cannot be forgotten. It may be a specific game, play or series of plays, a big win in the state playoffs or over a heated rival, or in some cases a “what might have been” bitter loss, but those memories are all there ready to be relived as soon as someone or something reminds you of those times.

That has been the case with the men and women that I have had the privilege of interviewing these past few months for the monthly Rewind article. Whether it was the Jolly Green Giants, or the Lady Jays, or the Hicks from the Sticks, and now the Halfway Cardinals. As I sat and listened to the former Cardinal players recall spe-cific plays and games from their state tourney runs, I could not help but think back 20-plus years to my senior year of high school and the run the Southport Cardinal football team made in the Class 5A state playoffs.

I was born and raised in Indiana, which is a state fanatical about its basketball. Those of you who have seen “Hoosiers” (or who have followed Butler in March Madness the past couple of years) realize this. Southport was always good on the hardwood, but had not experienced much football success. However, for one year at least, Southport became a football school. We did not win a state championship that season, instead losing in the Final Four to the Ben Davis Giants, the eventual state champions (and the mythical USA Today national champions a year later).

I still remember specific plays from that game like they happened last night, though. Like the Ben Davis kicker nailing a 50-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to put us in a 20-3 hole, or our defense picking off two passes early in the second half that led to touchdowns and cut the lead to 20-17. I also remember our de-fense forcing Ben Davis into a 4th-and-1 in our territory in the final two minutes of the game. “Hold them and we get the ball and have a chance to win the game,” I remember thinking at the time. I still see our nose guard, though, jumping offside on a hard snap count and giving Ben Davis a first down. That was the ballgame. Final score: Ben Davis 27 Southport 17.

That is the beauty of high school sports. Regardless of whether you are the star player (I wasn’t) or a role player (that was me), high school sports are all about making memories. There can only be one state champion in each sport (at least in each class), so that means that the majority of high school athletes will NOT win a state championship in any given year, but they will all make memories that will last a lifetime.

I congratulate the Purdy and Stockton girls basketball teams and the Crane boys team for winning state cham-pionships in their respective classifications. But I know that these boys and girls were not the only players this season—in all sports—that have made memories. That is what means the most…going into competition with your closest friends and making memories you will never forget!

As always, thanks for reading Ozark Preps Illustrated!

Sincerely,

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Oillustratedzark

Byron Shive

Rick Akins, Cindy Evans, Lynn Harman, Linda Patton, Kelly Presley, Janet Timmer-man, Michelle Wheeler

Ozark Preps Illustrated (OPI) is published monthly by Prai-rie Warbler Publishing LLC. Reproductions in whole or in part without permission are prohibited. OPI is not responsible for the return of unsolicited artwork, photography, or manu-scripts, and will not be responsible for holding fees or similiar charges. All digital submissions and correspondence will be become property of OPI.

Editorial DisclaimerAll rights reserved. For editorial matters, please contact the edi-tors. The views of contributing writers do not necessarily reflect the policies of OPI, nor that of the publisher.

Advertising DisclaimerAll rights reserved. The views and opinions of OPI advertisers do not reflect those of OPI.

OPI has a clear committment to inviting and publishing cor-rections of fact and clarifying errors of context. Corrections of errors and mistakes are a necessity in obtaining credibility in the magazine.

STARTING LINE UPState Champs

State Champs

State Champs

Rewind

18

20

22

26

30

DEPARTMENTS

8 Time Out6 Milestones

Stockton Lady Tigers

Crane Pirates

Purdy Lady Eagles

Halfway Goes All the Way

Family Ties

Shweiki Media4954 Space Center Dr.San Antonio, TX 78218

10 Chalk TalkSparta cross country and track coach Monica Wallace talks about the keys to a successful program.

It was a family affair at Walnut Grove this sea-son, as five members of the Harman family contributed to the Lady Tigers’ success on the diamond and hardwood.

The Halfway Cardinal baseball team - which posted a 61-4 record from the fall of 1996 to the spring of 1998 - captured the 1998 Class 1A state championship.

34 End ZoneScott Puryear makes some observations on Ozark prep sports.

16 On The DLDr. J.P. Simanis talks about preventing knee injuries.

12 Photo FinishMarion C. Early’s Brody Huff (R) (Photo by Kelly Presley)

Fair

Gro

ve’s

Kayl

a Ke

pler

(L) a

nd P

leas

ant H

ope’

s La

uren

McC

urry

(R)

(Sta

ff Ph

oto)

Wal

nut G

rove

’s H

anna

h H

arm

an (S

taff

Phot

o)

M

MMMILESTONES

BOYS BASKETBALLZach Akins, Crane—2nd-Team All-Con-ference (SWCL)Cody Anderson, Kickapoo—Honorable Mention All-Conference (Ozark)Shane Artz, Marion C. Early—MBCA Academic All-StateDylan Barnum, Strafford—Honorable Mention All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Marshall Bashmam, Aurora—Honorable Mention All-Conference (Big 8)Devon Bennett, Purdy—Honorable Mention All-Conference (Ozark 7)Trent Bergmann, Dadeville—MBCA Aca-demic All-State; MSSA Class 1 2nd-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (PCL)Hunter Bishop, Spokane—Honorable Mention All-Conference (SWCL)Austin Brown, Walnut Grove—2nd-Team All-Conference (PCL)Logan Brown, Everton—1st-Team All-Conference (Mark Twain)Andrew Bumgarner, Sparta—MBCA Academic All-State; Honorable Mention All-Conference (SWCL)Brady Chastain, Billings—1st-Team All-Conference (SWCL)Levi Cook, Crane—MBCA Class 2 All-State; MSSA Class 5 1st-Team All-State; SWCL Player of the Year; 1st-Team All-Conference (SWCL)Blayne Cowan, Pleasant Hope—Hon-orable Mention All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Levi Crews, Humansville—1st-Team All-Conference (PCL)Clay Crouch, Wheatland—MBCA Class 1 All-State; MSSA Class 1 1st-Team All-State; PCL Most Valuable Player; 1st-Team All-Conference (PCL)Trevor Decker, Spokane—2nd-Team All-Conference (SWCL)Avery Dingman, Branson—MBCA Class 5 All-State; MSSA Class 5 1st-Team All-StateBen Dobbins, Dadeville—2nd-Team All-Conference (PCL)Ryan Durst, Fair Play—2nd-Team All-Conference (PCL)Jordan Dykes, Marionville—2nd-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Cody Ernsberger, Verona—2nd-Team All-Conference (Ozark 7)Austin Essick, Billings— MSSA Class 2 2nd-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Con-ference (SWCL)Robbe Ewing, Stockton—1st-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Dalton Fisher, Clever—Honorable Men-tion All-Conference (SWCL)Josh Flood, Hurley—2nd-Team All-Con-ference (Mark Twain)Blake Freedman, Glendale—Honorable Mention All-Conference (Ozark)Bradley Freeman, Sparta—2nd-Team All-Conference (SWCL)Dalton Freeze, Stockton—2nd-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Chris Friederich, Ozark—MBCA Aca-demic All-StateRhen Garner, Miller—2nd-Team All-Conference (SRVC)Judd Ginnings, Wheatland—2nd-Team All-Conference (PCL)Colin Gowen, Hermitage—2nd-Team All-Conference (PCL)Darnell Green-Beckham, Hillcrest—Honorable Mention All-Conference (Ozark)

Dorial Green-Beckham, Hillcrest—MBCA Class 4 All-State; MSSA Class 4 1st-Team All-State; Ozark Conference Player of the Year; 1st-Team All-Confer-ence (Ozark)Rob Guerin, Crane-- MSSA Class 2 Coach of the YearCody Hall, Purdy—Honorable Mention All-Conference (Ozark 7)Tyler Hall, Kickapoo—Honorable Men-tion All-Conference (Ozark)Justin Hansen, Marionville—1st-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Jerrod Harmon, Fair Grove—2nd-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Kaleb Harter, Billings—2nd-Team All-Conference (SWCL)Tommy Hedges, Glendale—Honorable Mention All-Conference (Ozark)Tyler Hinshaw, Miller—MBCA Academ-ic All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (SRVC)Brennan Holt, Skyline—2nd-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Jake Hull, Chadwick—1st-Team All-Con-ference (Mark Twain)Austin Hunsaker, Bradleyville—All-Conference (White River); 2nd-Team All-Conference (Mark Twain)Derek Hurst, Forsyth—Honorable Men-tion All-Conference (SWCL)Tim Huskisson, Willard—MBCA Class 5 All-State; MSSA Class 5 1st-Team All-StateJustin Jack, Miller—MBCA Class 2 All-State; MSSA Class 2 1st-Team All-State; SRVC Player of the Year; 1st-Team All-Conference (SRVC)Riley Jack, Miller—2nd-Team All-Confer-ence (SRVC)Cameron Johnson, Glendale—1st-Team All-Conference (Ozark)Dakota Johnson, Chadwick—1st-Team All-Conference (Mark Twain)Kaden Jones, Mt. Vernon—1st-Team All-Conference (Big 8)Gavin Kenney, Stockton—2nd-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Wesley Kissinger, Verona—1st-Team All-Conference (Ozark 7)Jesse Laughlin, Bradleyville—Honorable Mention All-Conference (White River)Parker LiaBraaten, Spokane—MBCA

Academic All-State; 1st-Team All-Con-ference (SWCL)Mike Linehan, Dadeville—MSSA Class 1 Coach of the YearSeth Losack, Verona—Honorable Men-tion All-Conference (Ozark 7)Matt Loyd, Fair Grove—1st-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)John Luecke, Blue Eye—Honorable Men-tion All-Conference (SWCL)Seth Martin, Hollister—MBCA Academic All-StateZach Medley, Dadeville—MBCA Class 1 All-State; MSSA Class 1 1st-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (PCL)Jalen Norman, Nixa—MBCA Class 5 All-State; MSSA Class 5 2nd-Team All-StateJared Pearson, Osceola—Honorable Mention All-Conference (WEMO)Anthony Peters, Strafford—2nd-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Clark Petrochilos, Clever—1st-Team All-Conference (SWCL)Zane Phillips, Mt. Vernon—2nd-Team All-Conference (Big 8)Alex Poke, Parkview—1st-Team All-Con-ference (Ozark)Dustin Preston, Greenfield—2nd-Team All-Conference (SRVC)Dick Rippee, Kickapoo—Ozark Confer-ence Coach of the YearRyan Rippee—MBCA Class 5 All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (Ozark)Koleder Ross, Bradleyville—Honorable Mention All-Conference (White River)Luke Routh, Weaubleau—2nd-Team All-Conference (PCL)Eric Sechler, Pleasant Hope—1st-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Tyler Simpson, Hurley—2nd-Team All-Conference (Mark Twain)Wyatt Stephens, Galena—2nd-Team All-Conference (SWCL)Adam Teague, Fair Play—1st-Team All-Conference (PCL)Landon Terry, Purdy—1st-Team All-Con-ference (Ozark 7)Hawken Thieme, Greenwood—MBCA Class 2 All-State; MSSA Class 2 1st-Team All-StateSeth Thomas, Chadwick—MBCA Class 1 All-State; MSSA Class 1 1st-Team All-State; Mark Twain Conference Player of the YearKorry Tillery, Parkview— MSSA Class 5 2nd-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Con-ference (Ozark)Kendall Tilley, Billings—SWCL Coach of

the YearAnthony Vermillion, Crane—1st-Team All-Conference (SWCL)Garrett Vest, Hermitage—2nd-Team All-Conference (PCL)Tyler Weaver, Fair Play—1st-Team All-Conference (PCL)Dakota Webb, Dadeville—MBCA Aca-demic All-State; MBCA Class 1 All-State; MSSA Class 1 1st-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (PCL)Byron Williams, Hillcrest—1st-Team All-Conference (Ozark)Shane Williams, Mt. Vernon—2nd-Team All-Conference (Big 8)Conner Wilson, Strafford—MBCA Aca-demic All-State; MBCA Class 3 All-State; MSSA Class 3 1st-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Mike Wilson, Strafford—Mid-Lakes Con-ference Coach of the YearBrodie Wingert, Kickapoo—1st-Team All-Conference (Ozark)Jared Yarberry, Strafford—2nd-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Nick Yocum, Republic—MSSA Class 4 2nd-Team All-StateJoe Young, Logan-Rogersville—MBCA Class 4 All-State; MSSA Class 4 1st-Team All-StateAlec Zimmer, Branson—MBCA Aca-demic All-State

GIRLS BASKETBALLEmily Akins, Parkview—MBCA Aca-demic All-State; MBCA Class 5 All-State; MSSA Class 5 2nd-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (Ozark)Lauren Aldredge, Marshfield—MBCA Class 4 All-StateZoe Allen, Kickapoo—Honorable Men-tion All-Conference (Ozark)Annie Armstrong, Kickapoo—MBCA Class 5 All-State; 1st-Team All-Confer-ence (Ozark)Bekah Bade, Springfield Catholic—MS-SA Class 3 2nd-Team All-StateMaddie Bauman, Clever—2nd-Team All-Conference (SWCL)Mary Bergmann, Dadeville—2nd-Team All-Conference (PCL)Amelia Bramer, Mt. Vernon—1st-Team All-Conference (Big 8)Beki Breshears, Aurora—Honorable Mention All-Conference (Big 8)Katie Burkhart, Weaubleau—1st-Team All-Conference (PCL)Ashli Burton, Stockton—Honorable Mention All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Garrett Burton, Stockton—2nd-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Tristan Carrasquillo, Verona—MBCA Class 1 All-State; MSSA Class 1 1st-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (Ozark 7)Jenna Chadd, Verona—MBCA Class 1 All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (Ozark 7)Alyssa Chastain, Crane—Honorable Mention All-Conference (SWCL)Anna Clark, Glendale—Honorable Men-tion All-Conference (Ozark)Emily Cline, Glendale—MBCA Academ-ic All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (Ozark)Tori Coffer, Sparta—Honorable Mention All-Conference (SWCL)Cortney Conrad, Hurley—1st-Team All-Conference (Mark Twain)Kaitlan Cramer, Stockton—MBCA Class 3 All-State; MSSA Class 3 1st-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Erika Davis, Chadwick—1st-Team All-

Parkview’s Emily Akins (#22) and Glendale’s Emily Cline (#25) (Photo courtesy of Rick Akins)

M

Conference (Mark Twain)Megan Deines, Glendale—MBCA Class 5 All-State; MSSA Class 5 1st-Team All-State; Ozark Conference Player of the Year; 1st-Team All-Conference (Ozark)Linsey Denney, Everton—1st-Team All-Conference (Mark Twain)Krystyn Dollarhide, Chadwick—1st-Team All-Conference (Mark Twain)Richard Driscoll, Stockton—MBCA Class 3 Coach of the Year; MSSA Class 3 Coach of the YearCiara Eastwood, Fair Grove—2nd-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Alexis Edwards, Republic—MBCA Class 4 All-State; MSSA Class 4 1st-Team All-StateCaitlin Evans, Pleasant Hope—2nd-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Jordan Farmer, Clever—1st-Team All-Conference (SWCL)Taylor Filley, Strafford—Honorable Men-tion All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Olivia Francka, Halfway—2nd-Team All-Conference (PCL)Kate Frazier, Glendale—MBCA Academ-ic All-StateLindsay Garza, Blue Eye—Honorable Mention All-Conference (SWCL)Erin Gavin, Mt. Vernon—Honorable Mention All-Conference (Big 8)Kara Glor, Skyline—MBCA Class 3 All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Danielle Goodman, Mt. Vernon—1st-Team All-Conference (Big 8)Jordan Graham, Kickapoo—1st-Team All-Conference (Ozark)Brittany Groves, Billings—Honorable Mention All-Conference (SWCL)Imani Hairston, Osceola—2nd-Team All-Conference (WEMO)Jamie Hale, Chadwick—Mark Twain Conference Player of the YearMichaela Hanafin, Clever—2nd-Team All-Conference (SWCL)Mikalah Hardcastle, Sparta—MBCA Class 2 All-State; 1st-Team All-Confer-ence (SWCL)

Haley Harman, Walnut Grove—1st-Team All-C o n f e r e n c e (PCL)Hannah Har-man, Walnut Grove—MBCA Class 1 All-State; MSSA Class 1 1st-Team All-State; PCL Most Valu-able Player; 1st-Team All-Con-ference (PCL)Heather Har-man, Walnut Grove—MBCA Class 1 All-State; MSSA Class 1 2nd-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (PCL)Lexi Harman, Walnut Grove—2nd-Team All-C o n f e r e n c e (PCL)Katie Harold, Glendale—MB-CA Academic All-StateDoug Hepler, Mt. Vernon—Big 8 Confer-ence Coach of the YearKayla Hickey, Blue Eye—1st-Team All-Con-ference (SWCL)Jessica Hol-

land—1st-Team All-Conference (Mark Twain)Karyli Ingles, Forsyth—2nd-Team All-Conference (SWCL)Riley Israel, Crane—Honorable Mention All-Conference (SWCL)Mariah Jennings, Hurley—2nd-Team All-Conference (Mark Twain)Shelby Jones, Chadwick—2nd-Team All-Conference (Mark Twain)Kayla Kepler, Fair Grove—MBCA Class 3 All-State; MSSA Class 3 1st-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Taylor Kleier, Hillcrest—Honorable Men-tion All-Conference (Ozark)Emily Loethen, Springfield Catholic—MBCA Academic All-StateLauren McCurry, Pleasant Hope—MBCA Class 3 All-State; MSSA Class 3 1st-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Maggie McManamy, Crane—1st-Team All-Conference (SWCL)Rebekah McTeer, Hillcrest—Honorable Mention All-Conference (Ozark)Jeremy Mullins, Crane—SWCL Coach of the YearMolly O’Brien, Spokane—MBCA Class 2 All-State; MSSA Class 2 1st-Team All-State; SWCL Player of the Year; 1st-Team All-Conference (SWCL)Taylor Parham, Hillcrest—MBCA Class 4 All-State; MSSA Class 4 2nd-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (Ozark)Audrey Patton, Purdy—2nd-Team All-Conference (Ozark 7)Jim Pendergrass, Kickapoo—Ozark Con-ference Co-Coach of the YearTaylor Pinkly, Verona—Honorable Men-tion All-Conference (Ozark 7)Demi Price, Galena—2nd-Team All-Conference (SWCL)Kyra Ramsey, Republic—MBCA Class 4 All-StateMiranda Ray, Wheatland—1st-Team All-Conference (PCL)Taylor Redd, Halfway—2nd-Team All-Conference (PCL)

Molly Robb, Parkview—MBCA Academ-ic All-StateAshley Roberts, Skyline—1st-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Addy Roller, Purdy—MBCA Class 2 All-State; MSSA Class 2 1st-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (Ozark 7)Lyndie Routh, Humansville—1st-Team All-Conference (PCL)Bethany Roweton, Weaubleau—2nd-Team All-Conference (PCL)Chelsey Rowland, Skyline—2nd-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Chayla Rutledge, Stockton—MBCA Class 3 All-State; MSSA Class 3 1st-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Lanley Scroggins, Fair Play—2nd-Team All-Conference (PCL)Alexis Self, Osceola—1st-Team All-Con-ference (WEMO)Lakin Simmerman, Ash Grove—2nd-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Kirsten Smethers, Branson—MBCA Aca-demic All-StateJessica Smith, Verona—1st-Team All-Conference (Ozark 7)Kelsey Steele, Crane—1st-Team All-Con-ference (SWCL)Brooke Swadley, Purdy—1st-Team All-Conference (Ozark 7)Jenny Talbert, Fair Grove—Mid-Lakes Conference Coach of the YearRenee Temple, Glendale—Ozark Con-ference Co-Coach of the YearRana Thomas, Parkview—1st-Team All-Conference (Ozark)Alisha Thorpe, Dadeville—2nd-Team All-Conference (PCL)Kendra Vernatti, Spokane—Honorable Mention All-Conference (SWCL)Callie Weant, Weaubleau—MBCA Class 1 All-State; MSSA Class 1 2nd-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (PCL)Kaile Weinreis, Ash Grove—MBCA Aca-demic All-State; MSSA Class 3 2nd-Team All-State; 1st-Team All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Jonna Welch, Bolivar—MBCA Class 4 All-State; MSSA Class 4 2nd-Team All-StateJulia Wells, Glendale—Honorable Men-tion All-Conference (Ozark)Shelby White, Purdy—MBCA Class 2 All-State; MSSA Class 2 1st-Team All-State; Ozark 7 Conference Most Valu-able PlayerKenzie Williams, Mt. Vernon—MBCA Class 3 All-State; MSSA Class 3 1st-Team All-State; Big 8 Conference Player of the Year; 1st-Team All-Conference (Big 8)Tara Williams, Blue Eye—2nd-Team All-Conference (SWCL)Hannah Wisdom, Skyline—Honorable Mention All-Conference (Mid-Lakes)Kailee Woodall, Bradleyville—2nd-Team All-Conference (Mark Twain)Ryan Yates, Verona—Ozark 7 Confer-ence Co-Coach of the YearGrant Young, Purdy—MBCA Class 2 Coach of the Year; MSSA Class 2 Coach of the Year; Ozark 7 Conference Co-Coach of the Year

MISCELLANEOUS• It was recently discovered that Parkview’s Emily Akins is Missouri’s all-time girls high school basketball consecutive free throws leader. The senior standout—who was also recently named MBCA Class 5 All-State—made 36 consecutive free throws during an eight-game stretch from Jan. 21 to Feb. 11, 2010, breaking the old record of 33 straight. In addition, Akins’ career free throw percentage of 79.01 percent ranks ninth in state annals, while the Evangel-signee’s 18 points in the first quarter against Aurora on Dec. 20 is the eight-highest individual point total for one quarter in state history.• Stockton’s Kaitlan Cramer scored 15 points in a 71-49 win over Bolivar on Jan. 13 to surpass 1,500 points for her career.

The senior, who scored 25 points in the Class 3 state championship game, ended her career with 1,840 career points.• Stockton’s Robbe Ewing broke three school records this season. The senior broke the school career scoring record with 20 points in the Tigers’ 66-48 victory over Adrian in the District championship game on Mar. 5. Ewing, who ended his career with 1,423 career points, broke Matt Stafford’s record that had stood since 1991. Ewing also broke the school records for three-pointers in one game and in a career when he connected on 10 long range bombs in the Tigers’ 81-77 overtime win over El Dorado Springs in the District semifinals. Ewing broke Adam Thomas’ record for three-pointers in a career in the first quarter.• Halfway’s Olivia Francka scored the 1000th point of her career on Mar. 5 with 15 points in a 42-18 victory over Fair Play. The senior finished her career with 1,026 points.• Everton’s Jessica Holland scored pulled down her 1,000th career rebound on Feb. 28 in the Lady Tigers’ 49-34 victory over Thomas Jefferson in the first round of Districts. Holland, who had 13 re-bounds in the game, finished her career with 1,020 rebounds.• Parkview’s Gabi Mostrom, a fresh-man outside hitter for the Lady Vikings, received Highest Honorable Mention in consideration for the 2010 PrepVolley-ball.com National Frosh 59. • Wheatland’s Miranda Ray scored the 1000th point of her career after scoring 16 points in a 64-57 loss to Stoutland on Dec. 13. Ray ended the season with 1,412 career points.• Halfway junior Taylor Redd surpassed the 1,000 career point plateau with 15 points in a 76-50 loss to Walnut Grove on Feb. 21. Redd enters her senior sea-son next year with 1,083 career points.• Purdy junior Addy Roller scored the 1500th point of her career in a 49-42 vic-tory over Crane in the Sectional round of state tournament play on Mar. 9. Roller, who was 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the game in scoring 15 points, finished the season with 1,581 career points.• Stockton’s Chayla Rutledge scored nine points in a 56-28 win over Marion-ville on Jan. 31 to surpass 1,500 points for her career. The senior, who scored 29 points in the Class 3 state championship game, ended her career with 1,715 ca-reer points.• Osceola’s Kaitlyn Schrock, a freshman setter/right-side hitter for the Lady Indi-ans, received Special Mention in consid-eration for the 2010 PrepVolleyball.com National Frosh 59.• Parkview’s Korry Tillery surpassed the 1000-point career plateau after scoring 24 points in the Vikings’ 75-65 victory over Kickapoo on Jan. 28. Tillery, who finished his career with 1,115 points, was within reach of surpassing 1,000 re-bounds for his career, finishing with 938 boards.• Weaubleau’s Callie Weant surpassed the 1,500 career point plateau on Feb. 22 with 20 points in a 68-38 win over Halfway. Weant, who ended her career with 1,559 points, also surpassed 1,000 rebounds for her career this season. • Purdy standout Shelby White scored the 1500th career point of her career with 10 points in the Lady Eagles’ thrilling last second 62-61 victory over Parkview in the quarterfi-nals of the Pink & White Tournament on Dec. 28. The senior also surpassed the 1,000-re-bound plateau for her career when she pulled down 14 boards in a 79-25 victory over Thomas Jefferson on Feb. 22. White, who will play collegiately at Drury next season, fin-ished her illustrious career with 1,834 points and 1,092 rebounds, becoming only the third female player to reach the 1,500-point and 1,000-rebound career plateau.

Parkview’s Korry Tillery (#34) and Logan-Rogers-ville’s Joe Young (#24) (Staff Photo)

6

Either Seinfeld or How I Met Your Mother

TIMETTOOOUT

Kate BarnettTrackSparta

Wha

t is y

our b

est

spor

ts m

emor

y?

Wha

t is t

he w

orst

mov

ie y

ou h

ave

ever

seen

?W

hat i

s you

r fav

orite

TV

Show

?

Wha

t hist

oric

al fi

gure

wou

ld y

ou m

ost l

ike

to

mee

t?

Wou

ld y

ou ra

ther

alw

ays b

eat

your

arc

h-riv

al, b

ut n

ever

get o

ut o

f Dist

ricts

OR

neve

r

beat

you

r arc

h-riv

al, b

ut g

o

to S

tate

as a

seni

or?

My best friend played four or five straight volleyball games with her spandex turned backwards

The Green Hornet There are too many to mention just one.

Definitely go to State!

Christian JordanFootball/Track Ozark

Kelsey KapellaSoftball/Basketball Hollister

Winning Districts for the first time in softball my sopho-more year. We were the first girls team at Hollister to win a District title.

Twilight Burn Notice Abe Lincoln...he’s an honest fella

This is a hard one! Could we beat our arch-rival in the Final Four? I would always beat my arch-rival, because there’s more bragging rights involved.

My freshman year, I threw a touch-down pass on the last play to beat Willard

Catfish That 70’s Show Ben Franklin Make it to State

Drew CherryBaseballForsyth

Tyler Weaver

Basketball/Baseball Fair Play

Karlie KoenemannBasketballWalnut Grove

Our last game against Montrose (state quarterfinals). We played hard and even though we lost, we accomplished a lot and that’s going to roll over to next year

Old Superman movies

Jersey Shore Elvis Presley I would always choose to go to the Final Four

Hitting a walk-off homerun against Billings last season.

ThanksKilling Tosh.0 Ted Williams Go to the Final Four as a senior, just because we’ve only made it once in baseball.

I have a lot of sports memories. In my junior year, we were down by 28 to Morrisville, and I scored 16 of the team’s 28-straight points to tie the game, and then scored eight more points in overtime for the win.I won State in the mile and two mile my sopho-more year, but in the mile, I had a girl come up even on me at the 300m mark. I kicked it in and at the 100m mark, I thought, “this is it.” I knew I had it at that point.

Ghost Lake My Name is Earl Honest Abe Go to the Final Four as a senior. That means way more to me.

Grey’s Anatomy

Dylan Barnum

Olivia Francka

Football/Basketball/TrackStrafford

Cross Country/Soft-ball/Basketball/Track Halfway

There was some Barnie movie when I was little that scared me

Babe Ruth I’m very competitive and don’t like to lose to anyone, but I’d probably have to suck it up and say go to State, because that’s where it matters the most.

Obviously, the basketball team’s run to the Final Four this year. I have finished in second-place four times in track, but that wasn’t near as much fun.

Napoleon Dynamite Is SportsCenter a show?

George Washington Definitely go to the Final Four.

Wou

ld y

ou ra

ther

alw

ays b

eat

your

arc

h-riv

al, b

ut n

ever

get o

ut o

f Dist

ricts

OR

neve

r

beat

you

r arc

h-riv

al, b

ut g

o

to S

tate

as a

seni

or?

Kirby Van Burch

CT Monica WallaceHead Cross Country/Track Coach, Sparta Trojans

TALKCHALK

At some point in everyone’s lives, we all have had the thought we need to step out of our “comfort zone.” My program needed a change. I needed to try something new or dif-ferent and get myself, as well as my athletes, out of our “comfort zone.” As a coach, pushing and motivating our athletes to that next level is what essentially separates the good years and makes them into great years.

I realized it was time to take my program to a different level. I needed to find ways to mo-tivate my runners to move out of their comfort zones and want more for themselves as well as our program. Stepping out and going to the next level is often a difficult change to make. You have to create adventure and excitement for today’s athletes or over time boredom will diminish their commitment levels.

The topics that I would like to address are areas that I changed within my two pro-grams. These topics do not only apply to cross country and track, but to coaches of all sports. I felt these were changes that were es-sential to create the team that I wanted.

GOAL SETTING: As a coach, we all start out at the beginning of every season setting team goals, as well as individual goals. Once these goals are put onto paper, the true work begins. Our team looked at old habits that we needed to break and what new habits we needed to create. I would remind the team of these daily in the drills and conversations I would have with them. Throughout each race, everyone knew where they needed to place and what their goal time needed to be for that race. They were always prepared.

PRACTICE: Think about those days of prac-tice that you just go through the motions. My athletes would come to practice and put in the distance and I felt I had done my job. Needless to say, just going through the motions never accomplished those goals we would set at the beginning of every season. Your athletes need to know you are investing in them, they are crucial to the team, and most importantly, you care about them.

CHANGING THE TYPES OF WORKOUTS/DRILLS: Discovering the types of workouts and drills that will further enhance the team that you have is crucial to the team’s success. Sometimes as coaches, we continue to run the same drills or do the same workouts because we don’t want to have to change. We need to remember it is not about us, but our athletes. It is our job to help them reach their full poten-tial and create a sense of accomplishment. By doing this, we are essentially stepping out of our “comfort zone.” Undoubtedly, this made the difference in our improvement this season. I am beyond proud of the team’s accomplish-ments.

TEAM BONDING: Convincing the team that they have to believe in their teammates to make the program a success is extremely cru-cial. My runners knew every race that it wasn’t just about them…it was about the team! Even on the days they didn’t feel like giving their all, they knew they needed to in order for the team to have the success we were striving for and deserved.

This year’s team bonded and enjoyed just hanging out with each other. I can recall one

day we were out of school on a half day. The entire team wanted to stay after and get in a longer run before the weekend. We ran ten miles and came back to do our ice bathes. At 3:30 p.m. on a Friday, I reluctantly would have to tell them it was time to go home. They want-ed to just be with each other. As their coach, I knew then that they had bought into what I was doing.

SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INTEREST: My passion in life is spending time in Colorado. I wanted to share that part of myself with my runners and give them the opportunity to ex-perience something new. We were fortunate enough to be able to take a trip to Colorado this summer.

I knew this trip made a significant difference in my athletes and their motivation going into the season. I realize trips like this are not pos-sible for every program, but my goal was to find the inspiration to light the team’s fire! This trip played a big role in our team’s bonding, memories, and the work ethic we developed after nine days of training at a higher eleva-tion.

CHANGE IS GOOD: After implementing these changes, we went from being a school that was satisfied at qualifying for state in Cross Country to a team that is now more motivated than ever to achieve our goal. We know there is always more out there we need to achieve. I believe having athletes that understood the importance of this concept is the biggest key to this team’s success. As their coach, it is my hope that they realize that stepping out of their “comfort zone” is often necessary for success.

Citizens Memorial Healthcare

CMH WALK-IN CLINIC

Open Daily - 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. 2230 S. Springfield 417-777-4800

The CMH Walk-In Clinic provides convenient and quick care for people of all ages who have a sudden illness or minor injury and who need to be treated right away. No appointments are necessary. The clinic is staffed by licensed nurse practitioners and offers X-ray and laboratory services on site. The CMH Walk-in Clinic is open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The CMH Walk-In Clinic is located at 2230 S. Springfield in the Railway Station, Bolivar. For more information, call the clinic at 417-777-4800.

CT Monica WallaceHead Cross Country/Track Coach, Sparta Trojans

TALKCHALK

Ad

Citizens Memorial Healthcare

CMH WALK-IN CLINIC

Open Daily - 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. 2230 S. Springfield 417-777-4800

The CMH Walk-In Clinic provides convenient and quick care for people of all ages who have a sudden illness or minor injury and who need to be treated right away. No appointments are necessary. The clinic is staffed by licensed nurse practitioners and offers X-ray and laboratory services on site. The CMH Walk-in Clinic is open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The CMH Walk-In Clinic is located at 2230 S. Springfield in the Railway Station, Bolivar. For more information, call the clinic at 417-777-4800.

PF

PHOTOFINISH

PF

PPFFWalnut Grove’s Josh Peck at-tempts to pick-off a Hurley base runner in the first inning of Walnut Grove’s 15-0 victo-ry on Apr. 8 during the Half-way/Wheatland Tournament at Halfway. (Staff Photo)

Stockton pitcher Kevin Mar-tin fires a pitch to the plate in the Tigers’ 21-9 victory over El Dorado Springs in round robin play of the Buffalo/Bo-livar Tournament on Mar. 24 at Bolivar High School. (Staff Photo)

PF

PHOTOFINISH

PF

PPFFFair Grove’s Matt Loyd hurls a pitch to catcher Jerrod Harmon as Springfield Catholic’s Calvin Roebuck bats during round robin play of the Buffalo/Boli-var Tournament on Mar. 24 at Buffalo High School. The Fightin’ Irish won the game 11-8. (Staff Photo)

Parkview’s Anna Withers (#19) battles Logan-Rogersville’s Colette Mast (#19) for the ball as the Lady Vikings’ Becca Castillo (#22) and the Lady Wildcats’ Megan Smith (#7) close in on the play in the teams’ match-up on Mar. 31 at Parkview. The Lady Vikings won the game 1-0. (Staff Photo)

Hurley’s J Simpson puts the ball in play in the second inning of the Tigers’ 15-0 loss to Walnut Grove on Apr. 8 during the Halfway/Wheatland Tournament at Halfway. (Staff Photo)

PF PFwww.whiteriver.org

Learn the basic strength and conditioning training techniques to maximize your abilities and improve your athletic performance.

Camp is held on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays of each week.

$45 per student For more information and to register, call 417/236-2480.

June 13-30Monett South Park: 10:30 a.m.Republic Community Center: 9 a.m.Mt. Vernon Jr. High School: 1 p.m., 2 p.m. or 3 p.m.

July 11-28Monett South Park: 9 a.m., 10 a.m. or 11 a.m.Aurora High School: 1 p.m., 2 p.m. or 3 p.m.

coxhealth.com

Cox Monett

2011 Speed and Conditioning Campfor grades 5–12

El Dorado Springs senior Trey Barger (#33) drives the ball down the leftfield line against Stockton in the Bulldogs’ 21-9 loss to the Tigers in round robin play of the Buffalo/Bolivar Tournament on Mar. 24 at Bolivar High School. (Staff Photo)

PF PFwww.whiteriver.org

Learn the basic strength and conditioning training techniques to maximize your abilities and improve your athletic performance.

Camp is held on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays of each week.

$45 per student For more information and to register, call 417/236-2480.

June 13-30Monett South Park: 10:30 a.m.Republic Community Center: 9 a.m.Mt. Vernon Jr. High School: 1 p.m., 2 p.m. or 3 p.m.

July 11-28Monett South Park: 9 a.m., 10 a.m. or 11 a.m.Aurora High School: 1 p.m., 2 p.m. or 3 p.m.

coxhealth.com

Cox Monett

2011 Speed and Conditioning Campfor grades 5–12

Kickapoo’s Stefan Herron (L) makes the ex-change with teammate Cody Anderson (R) after the first leg of the 4x200 meter relay at the All-City Relays on Mar. 31 at JFK Stadium. (Staff Photo)

Marion C. Early shortstop Brandon Martinsen applies the tag to Dadeville’s Zane Medley, who was caught stealing in the third inning of the Panthers’ 10-0 victory on Apr. 8 in the finals of the Halfway bracket of the Halfway/Wheatland Tournament. Morrisville’s Dustin Hargus (#2) watches the play unfold from his second base position. (Staff Photo)

Bolivar base runner Kolby Follis (L) and Stockton shortstop Robbe Ewing (R) react to a pop-fly on the infield during the Liberators’ thrilling 7-5 come-from-behind victory in eight innings over the Tigers in round robin play of the Buf-falo/Bolivar Tournament on Mar. 22 at Bolivar High School. (Staff Photo)

DL

DISABLEDDDLLLIST Dr. J.P. SimanisM.D., MPH, MSPH

On The

On The

USA Today says the “show owns the title of World’s Largest Performing Family!” While the Hughes Brothers Show boasts the largest on-stage family (over 45 and growing) in Branson; the size isn’t what makes this show so memorable. It’s the astonishing scope of entertainment and talent. From their spine tingling harmonies to the amazing production that fills the stage, the Hughes Brothers Show moves your feet, your hands, and your heart! It’s Branson’s Ultimate Entertainment Experience!

SPECIAL FAMILY PASS

for Mom, Dad, & all the Kids 17 & under.Mention this Ad

69$HughesBrothersTheatre.com • 3425 West Hwy 76, Branson, Missouri417-334-0076 • 800-422-0076 • HughesBrothersShow.com

HB 2011 - Ozarks Prep.indd 1 3/3/11 1:35 PM

Knee and joint injuries are common, es-pecially among athletes and former athletes. Sports can cause a lot of strain to joints result-ing in ligament and meniscal tears. These tears and other knee injuries can sideline an athlete for up to a year. The risk of knee injuries can be significantly decreased and maybe even pre-vented by taking certain precautions.

One way to prevent a knee injury is to par-ticipate in knee strengthening exercises. “Com-pound exercises are good exercises for the knees because they involve multiple muscle groups and joints, thereby improving joint sta-bility, as well as coordination, reaction time and balance,” says J.P. Simanis, M.D., board certified physician with the CMH Sports and Occupational Medicine Clinic. “Performed

correctly, compound exercises like squats, leg presses, deadlifts and lunges, as well as isola-tion exercises like leg curls and leg extensions, are all great knee strengthening exercises. Add-ing weights also helps to keep bones strong.”

Stretching is another easy way to potentially decrease the risk of knee injury. “When muscles are tight, they exert extra force on joints and limit range of motion,” says Simanis. “Always warm-up before and cool-down after workouts, and be sure to stretch regularly.”

Simanis also recommends being conscious of how the knee is moving. A lot of jumping and pivoting can be hard on the knees if not done properly. “Be sure to bend at the knees when landing from a jump and keep the knees shoulder width apart instead of letting the knees

come together. When pivoting or crossing later-ally, also bend at the knees and hips to reduce the chance of injury,” says Simanis.

Another way to prevent knee injury is by maintaining a healthy weight. Weight gain can put more strain on your joints, making the chance of a knee injury a lot higher. “Stud-ies suggest that for every one pound a person gains puts an extra four to eight pounds of stress across their knees,” said Simanis.

It’s never too early to start taking care of your joints. “Prevention starts at a young age,” said Simanis. “And yes, sports are great, but athletes need to learn how to take care of their joints and, if they get injured, they should seek treat-ment early so the injury can be identified and treated.”

Practice Areas: Personal Injury* · Bankruptcy · Family Law · Criminal Defense · Estate Planning · Trust Administration · Traffic Law · Real Estate · Business Law · Commercial Law · Employment Discrimination

The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements. Past results afford no guarantee of future results and every case is different

and must be judged on its own merits.

Douglas, Haun& Heidemann, P.C.

417.326.5261800.743.5728

Two Locations:111 W. BroadwayBolivar, MO601 N. National, Ste. 106Springfield, MO

www.bolivarlaw.com / www.gottrafficticket.com

Attorneys at law

Douglas, Haun & Heidemann, P.C.

* No recovery, no fee. Client may be responsible for expenses.

SHWEIKI AD

FULL BLEEDS

PRINTING... TO THE RESCUE

HASSLE FREE

www.SHWEIKI.com

www.SHWEIKI.com QUOTE & SAMPLESFREE

DL

DISABLEDDDLLLIST

Ad

USA Today says the “show owns the title of World’s Largest Performing Family!” While the Hughes Brothers Show boasts the largest on-stage family (over 45 and growing) in Branson; the size isn’t what makes this show so memorable. It’s the astonishing scope of entertainment and talent. From their spine tingling harmonies to the amazing production that fills the stage, the Hughes Brothers Show moves your feet, your hands, and your heart! It’s Branson’s Ultimate Entertainment Experience!

SPECIAL FAMILY PASS

for Mom, Dad, & all the Kids 17 & under.Mention this Ad

69$HughesBrothersTheatre.com • 3425 West Hwy 76, Branson, Missouri417-334-0076 • 800-422-0076 • HughesBrothersShow.com

HB 2011 - Ozarks Prep.indd 1 3/3/11 1:35 PM

CHAMPSSTATESTOCKTON LADY TIGERS “Can I getta Zooga?” Zooga, Zooga, Zooga!That line, originally made famous by The

Frogman in the movie “The Little Rascals,” be-came a rallying cry for another Gang of tight-knit friends this season, as the Stockton Lady Tigers captured the school’s fourth girls basket-ball state championship by running roughshod through the Class 3 Final Four Mar. 17-19 in Columbia.

Stockton turbo-clocked a 29-2 Kennett team in the state semifinals, racing to a 30-13 half-time lead before coasting to a 64-24 victory over the state’s ninth-ranked team. The Lady Tigers then posted a 74-52 victory over #6 Her-mann in the state championship game to run their record to 28-3 for the season. Senior All-Staters Chayla Rutledge and Kaitlan Cramer led the way for Stockton in their final game in a Lady Tiger uniform with 29 and 25 points, re-spectively. Junior twins Ashli and Garrett Bur-ton scored 10 points apiece.

“I think it would have been more exciting if it had been a close game, but it was still excit-ing,” said Ashli Burton. “We were expecting it to be close.” Head coach Richard Driscoll con-curred. “I don’t know that I would call them ‘easy’ wins, but we did not go into those games

thinking they would be blowouts,” said the reigning MBCA Class 3 Coach of the Year. “I felt like we were capable of winning by a de-cent margin, but not by that much. But when you buckle down and play good defense, these things can happen.”

Defense was certainly the Lady Tigers’ call-ing card this season, as Stockton used a swarm-ing pressure defense to set-up its offense, which often meant breakaway lay-ups. “We’re gonna guard you, whether it’s full or half court,” said Driscoll. “We try to defend you and push you outside the three-point line, so that you can’t start your offense. We try to protect the paint—that’s the first and foremost key. We want to contest every shot and rebound. I firmly believe that if we play defense the way we are capable of playing it, our offense will take care of itself. We want to create turnovers, play defense, re-bound, and then get out and run. I want to stop people from scoring.”

Stockton executed Driscoll’s system with deadly precision in both Final Four games. The Lady Tigers harassed opposing ball handlers, denied passing lanes, protected the paint, trapped with abandon, and rebounded with au-thority. The result was a frazzled opponent, and

an onslaught of fast break points. Even when the Lady Tigers were forced into a half court set on offense, they executed that to near perfec-tion, as well.

The seeds for Stockton’s state title run were sown last spring following the Lady Tigers’ 46-30 loss to Maryville in the state quarterfinals. “The loss last year just made us more focused,” said Rutledge, who will play basketball colle-giately next year at Benedictine. “I remember us thinking, ‘we still have another year to do this.’”

According to Driscoll, Maryville did not get the Lady Tigers’ best shot. “We had gone through so much adversity prior to that game,” said Driscoll, citing injuries and illnesses. “We may not have won the game, but we felt like we didn’t give them our best shot.”

Stockton avenged last season’s disappointing state quarterfinal loss this season, but had to stage a dramatic comeback to do so. In fact, Stockton trailed at halftime by double digits in both of its Sectional and state quarterfinal vic-tories. The Lady Tigers rallied to beat St. Pius X 54-43 in the Sectional round before beating Maryville 41-37 in the quarterfinals despite a 16-point third quarter deficit. “We weren’t

Kaitlan Cramer (L), Amber Thomas (#11) and Chayla Rutledge (R) (Photo by Michelle Wheeler)

Kaitlan Cramer (Staff Photo)

By Byron Shive

18

STOCKTON LADY TIGERS

ready to go home,” said Rutledge. “Our crowd helped us a lot in those games,” said Garrett Burton. “We had been there in the big game before, and that helped.”

After rising to the top-ranking in Class 3, Stockton suffered a couple of hiccups, the first a 63-57 home loss to Skyline. However, it was a 63-61 loss at Fair Grove on Valentine’s Day that refocused the team. “That game exposed some chinks in our armor,” said Driscoll. “That game was a wake-up call, really.” Stockton reeled off nine straight victories to close the season.

The Lady Tigers had a pair of All-State play-ers in Cramer and Rutledge, and All-Confer-ence performances by the Burton twins, but it was truly a team effort by Stockton. The state champion Lady Tigers included seniors Kait-lan Cramer, Kelli Ratliff, Chayla Rutledge, Tif-fany Taylor, Amber Thomas; juniors Garrett and Ashli Burton; sophomores Breeanna Burns, Emilyn Dearman, Bethany and Laura Meeks, Josie Pyle, Rachel Wheeler, and Kelsi Wilkins; and freshman Alexis Smith.

The entire school and community of Stock-ton got behind the team. However, this was not the town’s first rodeo, so to speak, since Stockton has captured three other state titles in a four-year span (2001, 2003, 2004) in the past decade. “Our crowd always beat out their crowd, even though we may not have had as many people,” said Cramer.

This was never more evident than in the state semifinals against Kennett, which was played at noon on a Thursday. Seemingly the entire Boot Hill had made the trip to Columbia to support the Lady Indians, and filled nearly half of the lower bowl at the Hearnes Center. However, it was the Stockton contingent that was loud, proud, and clearly the rowdiest. “We have re-ally good fans that are very loud,” said senior Amber Thomas. “Our crowd had more heart,” said Garrett Burton.

The players are well known now throughout the town. “We’re almost like celebrities around here,” said Rutledge. “It’s something to be proud of. It’s brought the community together. The people in the town get to share the same thing. If you go to the grocery store, you’ll have someone congratulate you. You may not know them, but they know you.”

Like most small towns in the Ozarks, the Lady Tigers grew up playing basketball togeth-er, and that team chemistry and camaraderie was evident this season—both on and off the court. “We know how each other plays,” said Thomas, who will play volleyball next season at Fort Scott. “We know where everyone is go-ing to be, because we’ve played together for so long.” Driscoll knew three years ago that he had the makings of a special team rising up the ranks. “I knew when Kaitlan and Chayla were freshmen, and the Burton twins were in eighth grade, that we could make a run at some point in their careers.”

As focused and determined as the Lady Ti-gers are on the court, they are just as carefree, loose, and fun-loving off of it—even in pre-game warm-ups. The catalyst for the fun-loving and easygoing nature of the team was sopho-more Laura Meeks, who Rutledge described as the team’s “personal pump up system.” In addi-tion to leading the “Zooga” chants, Meeks also would call out “Can I get an ‘Amen?’” prior to

the team heading out of the locker room for pre-game warm-ups, a question that was first posed to her friends during youthful slumber parties growing up. As if that was not enough inspiration, Meeks also would “Dougie” be-fore every game.

The team motto was “Don’t Stop Believin’,” taken from the title of a Journey song that the Lady Tigers regularly sang throughout the sea-son. One verse of the song is particularly pro-phetic, and goes hand-in-hand with Stockton’s one-game-at-a-time mentality:

Working hard to get my fillEverybody wants a thrillPayin’ anything to roll the dice just one more timeSome will win, some will loseSome were born to sing the bluesOh, the movie never endsIt goes on and on and on and on The Lady Tigers’ easygoing and playful na-

ture also extends to their head coach, who has been known to get quite animated on the bench and in practice. “He’s bipolar,” said Thomas. “He’s scatterbrained,” said Cramer. “He’s like a giddy little high school boy. You

always know if you’ve done something good or bad.” “Actually, no you don’t,” interrupted Rutledge, “because you get both screamed at you.”

Assistant coaches Kevin Burns and, to a lesser extent, Chad Burton were the yin to Driscoll’s yang. “Coach Burns kept everything even-keeled this season,” said Cramer. “You would be getting yelled at by Coach Driscoll about something and then Coach Burns would say ‘good job.’” Rutledge described the coach-ing dynamic as good cop-bad cop, with Burns the good cop and Driscoll the bad.

All kidding aside, the Stockton girls have a deep respect and admiration for their coach. “He’s cares about every one of us,” said Thom-as.

“We can talk to him about more than just basketball,” added Rutledge. “He’s a great lit-tle fella,” said Cramer. “He’s like our dad.”

“It’s never been about winning it (a state title) for myself,” said Driscoll. “I’m very close to these girls. I wanted it more for them than for me. It’s all because of them. Coaches lose games and players win them. This was a spe-cial team.”

Can I get an “Amen?”

Cha

yla

Rut

ledg

e (P

hoto

By

MIc

helle

Whe

eler

)

Kaitlan Cramer (L), Amber Thomas (#11) and Chayla Rutledge (R) (Staff Photo)

The first time was a charm for the Crane boys basketball team this season, as the Pirates won the Class 2 state championship Mar. 19 in the school’s first-ever trip to the Final Four. The win also marked the school’s first state champion-ship in any sport. It was a dream come true for the team, and especially for the Pirates’ four seniors.

“As a little kid, you dream of playing in the state championship game,” said senior Zach Akins. “I never thought that I would be able to experience it. The feeling was awesome, bet-ter than I ever could have imagined. When the final buzzer sounded, I thanked God for every-

thing that He had done. We put all of our trust and faith in Him, and let Him do the rest.”

Getting to State had been a goal of the team since preseason. “Dreams can become a re-ality,” said senior Hunter Quick. “In the pre-season, our coach (Rob Guerin) set a goal of making a trip to Columbia in March to play at State, and to not only accomplish that goal but to go on and win the championship is the best feeling ever.”

Senior standout Levi Cook led the way in the Pirates’ 77-63 victory over #4-ranked Bernie in the championship game with 42 points and 15 rebounds. Cook nearly recorded the first triple

double in state championship history, as he also dished out eight assists. “I just came out thinking that it was just another game, and all my shots seemed to be falling that night,” said Cook, who also broke Crane’s 51-year old ca-reer scoring record this season.

“I have watched him play that style of game a few times, so it didn’t really surprise me much,” said head coach Rob Guerin. “He is always ready to deliver in big games and big situations. I wish he could have accomplished it (a triple double) with two more assists, but he still did an amazing thing.”

“I couldn’t be happier for him, and it couldn’t

CHAMPSSTATECRANE PIRATES

Hun

ter

Qui

ck (L

) (St

aff P

hoto

)

Ant

hony

Ver

mill

ion

(Sta

ff Ph

oto)

By Byron Shive

20

have happened to a more deserving person” said Quick of Cook and his performance. “He is a tremendous athlete and the best basketball player I’ve ever seen in Missouri at the high school level.”

Crane finished the season with a 27-5 re-cord, but the way the season began did not exactly foreshadow the state championship to come, as the Pirates dropped three of their first five games. After a double overtime victory over Reeds Spring on Dec. 13, Crane reeled off five more victories, the last two coming in the Southwest Central League Tournament. The Pirates then lost back-to-back games to state-ranked Billings, the first in the SWCL champi-onship game and the second a regular season contest six days later. The Pirates would not lose again, though, ending the season with 19 consecutive wins.

In the first round of Districts, Crane beat Ga-lena, and then rolled over Ash Grove in the second round by a score of 72-33. State-ranked Billings, the Pirates’ SWCL nemesis, was upset in the first round by New Covenant Academy in a 100-99 thriller. The Pirates defeated the Warriors 66-49 in the District title game.

Crane’s Final Four dreams were nearly dashed in the Sectional round, as the Pirates needed overtime to defeat Miller 56-54. After a 69-51 victory over Linn in the state quarter-finals, Crane was bound for its first Final Four in Columbia. The Pirates defeated upstart New Bloomfield, which entered the game with a 13-16 record, by a 68-49 count to advance to the Class 2 state championship game, as Cook led the way with 22 points.

The Pirates stepped up their defense in the postseason, a key factor in Crane’s march to Columbia. “I thought we would have a shot at the state championship after our first game of Districts,” said Akins of the Pirates’ 71-61 vic-tory over Galena. “Everybody stepped up and played hard every minute. Our defense was the key to our success. Our team could always score, but the problem was keeping the other teams from scoring.”

“Our team defense improved throughout the year,” said senior Anthony Vermillion. The smothering Crane defense played a key role in the state title game, as the Pirates limited Ber-nie’s potent three-point shooting to just 8-for-34 accuracy. “Tough defense and rebounding are always our keys,” said Guerin. “We wanted to get a hand up on the three-point attempts and be sure we boxed out and only allowed one attempt per possession. We also tried to push the tempo to a faster pace to get the other team into a mismatch or to have to play us in transition.”

The seeds of making the school’s first trip to the Final Four were sown in the preseason, and watered game-by-game throughout the season. “I told the boys, at the end of our sum-mer games, that they had the potential to make a trip to Columbia,” said Guerin. “I told them that if they wanted that goal to become a real-ity, that they would have to work hard every day in practice and in games to get prepared for what any team might throw at us. After that, I hadn’t really thought about it. We focused one game at a time all season long, so when the postseason started we were used to focus-ing on one team and what to do to beat them. It made it easier to keep the boys focused on

what we needed to do to be successful.”The Pirates had the talents of an All-Stater in

Cook, and the leadership of three other seniors, but this truly was a team effort. “We couldn’t have done it without our seniors or the rest of the team,” said Guerin. “They all played well and fulfilled their role well.” In addition to se-niors Akins, Cook, Quick and Vermillion, the rest of the Crane Pirates included juniors Alex Estes and Cody Lumpkin, sophomores Jordan Bowling, Thomas Chabrecek, Bailey Moore, Cole Walden and Jonah Walker, and freshman Zane Mahan.

The trip to the Final Four itself was a big deal around the Crane community, and winning the state championship was a nice bonus for the Pirate faithful who made the trek to Columbia. “It means a lot, because this is one of the most memorable things that will ever happen to the Crane community,” said Cook. “It means a lot to the community and I think they will always remember their first state championship,” said Vermillion.

“This was a very big deal to our program, school, and community,” said Akins. “It was a big deal for our program, because this was the first appearance of the boys basketball team in the Final Four. It was big deal to our school, because this had never happened. There were signs all over our school saying ‘Good Luck.’ They also had a really big send off for us. This was a big deal for our commu-nity, too. The town of Crane was nearly empty while we played in Columbia. I want to thank ev-eryone for their sup-port.”

The Crane faith-ful were just as ap-preciative when the Pirates returned home with a state championship. “We are almost four hours away and had one of the biggest crowds that weekend,” said Guerin. “They showed their support by cheering loudly to keep the boys pumped up, and that helps our boys play that much harder. On Sunday (following the state champion-ship game on Sat-urday), we made it back into town about 2:00 p.m., and they had signs decorating the road, along with a lot of people along the road and in the parking lot cheering, as we made our way back into town and unloaded into a mob of people. It was a

great way of showing appreciation.“I would like to say thank you to my assistant

coach, Joshua Loveland, my wife and book-keeper, Gretta, and my student manager, Zach Cook, for all of their help,” added Guerin. “We couldn’t have done it without Coach Guerin, Coach Loveland, Gretta, or all of our fans and family,” said Cook, who will play collegiately next season at College of the Ozarks.

Akins, a starter at guard, almost missed out on the state title run. The senior had planned to focus on baseball in his senior season, but was “bribed” into playing by Cook. “I didn’t even want to play this year,” said Akins. “I played because Levi told me that he wouldn’t play baseball if I didn’t play basketball. After los-ing four seniors from last year, I didn’t think we had any chance to make it past Districts. I thought that we were going to have an average year, but this was the perfect season.”

For the seniors, winning a state champion-ship in their final high school game was a mo-ment they will never forget. “It feels great that we were able to accomplish everything that was possible,” said Vermillion. “It was the best feeling ever, just knowing there was nothing more we could have done,” said Quick. “We accomplished everything we wanted to do. What a way to end my basketball career.”

CRANE PIRATESLe

vi C

ook

(Sta

ff Ph

oto)

CHAMPSSTATEPURDY LADY EAGLESAfter a grueling regular season schedule,

the hard work of the battle-tested Purdy Lady Eagles paid off with a state title following a 55-49 victory over Couch in the Class 2 state championship game Mar. 19 at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. The win upped Purdy’s record to 26-6 for the season, and was the school’s first girls basketball state title since the Lady Eagles won the Class 1A title in 1981.

“Winning a state championship has been a lifetime goal of mine, and it feels great to have finally achieved that goal,” said senior stand-out Shelby White, an All-State selection who scored 19 points and pulled down 17 rebounds in the title game. “Winning a state champion-ship is the ultimate accomplishment,” said se-nior Audrey Patton. “Our team has worked very hard to get to this point.”

Clinging to a two-point lead in the wan-ing seconds of the state championship game, Couch went to the line with a one-and-one and a chance to tie the game. In the timeout prior to the free throw, Purdy head coach Grant Young put his two best free throw shooters, White and

junior Addy Roller, under the basket to block out. “I told them, ‘she will miss this front end one-and-one,’” said Young, the reigning MBCA and MSSA Class 2 Coach of the Year. “You have to give me the best block out you ever have. It is coming to you two. They both did and Addy got fouled and hit both free throws. Ball game.”

In fact, Roller hit four consecutive pressure-packed free throws in the final seconds to ice the game. “When I got fouled at the end, I just went up to the line and told myself it was just another free throw,” said Roller, who scored 20 points to pace the Lady Eagle attack. “Do what you always have done and put it in.”

The road to Columbia was a grueling one, as Purdy faced a gauntlet of Class 4 and 5 teams in the pre-conference portion of the schedule, including tournaments at Aurora and Kickapoo, as well as the annual Pink & White Tournament. The Ozark 7 Conference was no picnic either, as the conference games included match-ups with state-ranked Verona and Exeter, which was the Class 1 runner-up. Despite four losses (all to bigger schools), Purdy rose to the #1 ranking in

Class 2 at the midway point of the season.After knocking off big schools Parkview and

West Plains in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, of the Pink & White Tournament, the Lady Eagles nearly won the tournament before losing a hard fought 47-40 champion-ship game to Class 5 Ozark in a game that was back-and-forth until late in the fourth quarter.

“I put these girls through the toughest regu-lar season schedule of any team I have ever coached,” said Young. “And these girls accept-ed the challenge. We played games at Hearnes, McDonald Arena, JQH, and Mizzou Arena. How many small schools can say they did that? I ran these girls more than any boys team I have ever coached. Our conditioning sometimes wore people out even before halftime.”

Despite the state title game win, the Lady Eagles let Couch back in the game in the third quarter. Leading 28-20 at the halftime break, Couch rallied to trail by just three heading into the fourth quarter. “I told the team in the locker room at halftime, ‘For once in your lives, could you please give me a good third quar-

Shel

by W

hite

(Pho

to b

y Li

nda

Patto

n)

Bro

oke

Swad

ley

(Sta

ff Ph

oto)

By Byron Shive

22

ter?’” said Young. “Since Districts, we let our opponent comeback in the third, and we did again. At the first media timeout, I said, ‘Well, you haven’t given me one all year. So at least we’ll have our fourth quarter where we seal the game.’ And we did.”

With the state championship game close in the final seconds, though, the Lady Eagles had no doubt about what would be the final out-come. “There was no doubt in my mind that we were not going to lose that game,” said White, who will play next season for the Drury Lady Panthers.

“The entire game was back and forth,” said Patton. “Towards the end, I felt like we stayed calm, because Coach Young had pushed us to play hard against bigger, tougher teams this season. In the end, it paid off.”

The date of the state championship game had extra significance for Young. Not only had he been baptized on Mar. 19, but the state championship game also marked the one-year anniversary of the date his wife, Julia, was di-agnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer. Thankfully, her prognosis is good a year later.

Although the team is blessed with talent throughout the lineup, the Lady Eagles’ team chemistry played a pivotal role throughout the season. “We have played together for so long that we knew what our roles were as individu-als,” said White. “We all knew what it was go-ing to take to achieve our goal.” The fact that the girls had been playing together for so long also helped. “Most of us have played together for so long that we know where the other per-son is going to be on the floor,” said Patton. “There are times when we can make passes just knowing our teammate will be there.”

“We were just like a family,” said Roller. “We would do anything for one another, and we all knew that. If one girl was down, someone else would pick her up and that’s how we made it as far as we did.”

“‘It’s not who you play, it’s how we play’ was a quote our assistant coach, Jennifer Schallert, took with us all season,” said Young. “Great teams achieve this, but we couldn’t do it with-out God. We prayed after every practice and before every game as a team. We couldn’t have been as successful without Him as our biggest fan and supporter.”

The Lady Eagles had a couple of pregame and other rituals, too. “Before every game, Shelby White would play a relaxation song on her phone and we would meditate, right before Coach Young would come in to have a laugh before we went out and played,” said Roller. “There are so many rituals and supersti-tions that I can’t name them all,” said Young. “My OCD at times gets on the player’s nerves, but also relaxes them.”

“In our huddle after each practice and be-fore each game, we would hold hands and pray. Then, for every away game, we would go to Addy’s house and her mom would cook us dinner. We would hang out and just relax be-fore our game. This was good team bonding time.”

The Lady Eagles had a pair of All-State play-ers in Roller and White, as well as a strong starting lineup. However, the state champion-ship would not have been possible without the contributions of the unsung heroes. In ad-dition to seniors Patton and White and junior

Roller, the rest of the Lady Eagles included se-niors Brittany Mareth, Shelby Scott and Brooke Swadley; juniors Kristyn Comman and Rachael Neill; sophomores Bailey Spears and Mattie White; and freshmen Carleigh Hall and Megan Schilly.

“One or two players does not comprise a team,” said Young. “Our JV players knew other team’s inbounds plays and set plays better than our own. They pushed us every day in practice. These kids will relish the opportunity to take over next year with greater responsibility at the varsity level.”

“Brooke Swadley was our comedian,” said Roller of the senior. “She kept us all relaxed and ready to go.” Swadley provided some un-intentional come-dy during Districts when she missed a step and tumbled headlong into some trash bags.

The state cham-pionship also means a lot to the Purdy com-munity, which has followed the Lady Eagles all over Southwest Mis-souri this season. Members of the 1981 state cham-pionship team also made the trek to Columbia—including one player who resides in New Mexico. “The community loves its basket-ball here and has a pride in its bas-ketball teams, and will talk about this for many years,” said Young.

“Winning State means everything to them, just like it did 30 years ago,” said Roller. “They were behind us the whole way, and I know that they helped us win the champi-onship. Our boys cheering section was fantastic and very appreciated. I appreciate ev-erything the Purdy community has done for us the whole year, and I’m glad we can give something back to them.”

“It’s hard to put into words how proud the Purdy community is of their Lady Eagles,”

said Patton. “They have supported us through-out our high school years by packing the gyms for regular season play. We have an amazing following and we love them all.”

From preseason practice to the final buzzer of the last game, coaches (and players) devote a lot of blood, sweat and tears into molding a team. “Every team goes through adversity at some point during a season,” said Young. “We learned that life happens around us as we play basketball. This was a very special group that will be in my heart forever. They worked hard, they were passionate, and they played together unselfishly as a team. I feel privileged to have gotten the chance to coach some classy girls that will be successful adults in our society.”

Aud

rey

Patto

n (P

hoto

by

Lind

a Pa

tton)

Full Spread

Full Spread

Rewind

Small school baseball, for the most part, means dirt infields, quirky home field nuances, and fewer students from which to choose players for a team. Halfway certainly is a small school—and town for that matter. Halfway is located, literally, half-way between Bolivar and Buffalo on Highway 32. Driving across Polk County into Dallas County—or vice-versa—Halfway serves as a brief 45 miles per hour speed zone. There’s a church or two, a convenience store and a few other smaller busi-nesses, and there is the Halfway School, which sits on the south side of the road in the “middle” of town.

In the late 1990s, though, Halfway was a destination point for baseball fans all across the Ozarks, who made the trek to the tiny hamlet to see firsthand one of the best baseball teams in the area. The Cardinals had experienced some suc-cess in the mid-90s, winning their share of games and a District title or two, but those years paled in comparison to a two-year stretch from the fall of 1996 to the spring of 1998, in which Halfway posted a record of 61-4 (fall and spring combined) while winning the 1998 Class 1A state champi-onship. The Cardinals finished in a disappointing 4th-place in 1997 with what many feel was a bet-ter team than the 1998 state champions.

Changes were in store at Halfway going into the 1996-97 school year. The fall of 1996 marked the first season of fall baseball at Halfway. It also sig-naled the arrival of new head coach Steve Carva-jal. The fall of 1996 also was the end of life as the Cardinals knew it, as Carvajal drilled his players relentlessly in the muggy August heat. The players may have despised Carvajal at the time, but to a man, they all heap praise on him years later.

“The practices with Coach Carvajal were just insane,” said Ben Locke, a senior on the 1997 team. “It was a shock to the body, the work he

was putting us through. Honestly, game time was the least stressful of any of it, because it was just a downhill slide from there.”

“In the fall, he worked our tails off,” said Mike Calhoun, a junior on the 1997 team. “That pre-pared us more than anything. We went back to the basic fundamentals. I remember even re-learning how to take batting practice. I had never had a coach like that. He was a really good baseball coach. He broke down baseball into small pieces, and taught every fundamental aspect of it.”

“Coach Carvajal was a breath of fresh air,” said Matt Drake, another junior on the 1997 team. “We had a group of boys that had been playing together our entire lives, and we knew that what he was putting us through would make us better. We hadn’t ever worked that hard on a baseball field.”

Carvajal even instituted his own version of bat-ting practice, which featured a pitching screen set-up about 30 feet from home plate. Even though the batting practice pitcher was not intentionally throwing fastballs, at that distance, the batter was facing what seemed like 90-mile per hour heaters. With only a few exceptions, the live pitching the Cardinals faced in games paled in comparison. “It made the pitches seem slow in games,” said Cal-houn. “The pitching we faced in games was worse than what we were facing every day in practice.”

Another key difference was that Carvajal was a baseball coach. “In small school baseball, a lot of times you get a basketball coach who also coached baseball,” said Aaron Evans, yet another junior on the 1997 team. “Coach Carvajal was different, because he had a solid baseball background and had played in the upper levels of baseball.”

Everything with Carvajal’s program was regi-mented, including pregame warm-ups, and the Cardinals went about their business with mili-

tary precision. “With all of our warm-ups, we did everything in regimens,” said Evans. “It helped us stay focused. Base-ball is a mental game. If you get in an opponent’s head, you’re already ahead of them. It is intimidating. It tells the other team, ‘these guys are here for business.’ It also creates team unity and creates structure.”

“When you play small town ball, you know guys on the other team,” said Locke. “Whenever we would be going through our pregame warm-ups, the other team would stop what they were doing and watch us. It was no nonsense. All the horseplay went out the window.”

“I knew that Halfway was a quality baseball team,” said Carvajal. “I just broke down their fundamentals, and we went to work on different as-pects of the game, like running the bases and being aggressive.

That work created quite a baseball season.”Halfway entered the 1997 season with upper-

classmen scattered throughout the lineup, includ-ing seniors Brian Doke, Locke, leftfielder Kenton Payne, rightfielder Nathan Poterbin, and catcher Jay Roderick. The Cardinals also sent five talented juniors to the field each game in Calhoun, Drake, Evans, Jeremy McCarthy, and Mark Timmerman. Sophomore twins Brad and Brandon Doke also filled key roles, with fellow classmates John An-drews and Josh Forrest also contributing.

The Cardinals averaged a gaudy 13.3 runs per game in the 1997 regular season, and were held under 10 runs in only four games—all of which were victories. Halfway also had a trio of domi-nating pitchers in Evans, Locke and Timmerman, who regularly mowed down opposing offenses, and registered seven shutouts in the regular sea-son. When the ball was put into play, the Cardinal defense was nearly airtight, as Halfway opponents averaged just 1.95 runs per game.

The Cardinals finished the regular season with a 21-0 record, with an average margin of victory of 11.3 runs. “We did roll through the entire sea-son,” said Calhoun. “We were solid 1 through 9. There really wasn’t a weak spot in the lineup. In single A baseball, if you have nine solid bats, you’re gonna score a lot of runs. Plus, we had four solid pitchers in 1A.”

The Cardinals were willing to play whoever and wherever, as Carvajal sought to beef up the team’s schedule. “We added as many tough teams as we could,” said Carvajal. “We wanted to make the regular season schedule as tough as possible.” One such team was Springfield Central—where Carvajal had been an assistant the year before—and the Cardinals headed south to play the big school Bulldogs in a regular season match-up.

“When we walked onto the field at Central, they were making fun of us,” said Calhoun. “‘Oh Halfway, where’s that at?’ They were razzing us for being the little hicks from Halfway. We said, ‘let’s

Halfway’s Mike Calhoun looks to get a hit against Oran in the 1998 Class 1A state championship game, which the Cardinals won by a 9-3 count. Calhoun, the Cardinals’ second baseman, was an All-District and All-Conference honoree his senior season. (Photo courtesy of Cindy Evans)

By Byron Shive

Halfway Goes All the Way

run rule ‘em’…and we did.”

Evans also re-calls the catcalls from the Bulldogs. “You got this 1A school from out in the country,” he said. “At big schools like Cen-tral, you’d have tryouts and then pick the best play-ers for the team. At Halfway, there were no tryouts. Whoever showed up for practice was on the team.” Final score: Half-way 11 Central 1.

The Cardinals rolled through District play, de-feating Fordland 15-5 in the cham-pionship game. Halfway used a pair of five-run in-nings to dispatch Clever 11-1 in the Sectional round, setting up a battle with Golden City in the state quar-terfinals, with a berth in the Final

Four at stake. The Eagles sent their ace, 6’6” flame thrower David Combs, to the mound. The Cardi-nals’ batting practice techniques would be put to the test by the hard-throwing Eagle pitcher.

“He was very effective and threw extremely hard, but he had accuracy issues,” said Evans of Combs. “Anything above 81 or 82 (miles per hour) was fast for 1A, and he was pumping it in there at 90-plus. Plus, he was tall, so it was coming in at a different angle than we were used to. It was a new challenge for us.”

The Golden City leadoff hitter smacked the first pitch of the game over the leftfield fence, and the Eagles tacked on two more runs to lead 3-0 after a half inning of play. Combs struck out the side in the first two innings, and struck out eight of the first nine Cardinal batters he faced. Timmerman hit a homerun to tie the game in the fourth and eventually, the Cardinals wore down Combs. In the fifth inning, with Combs battling control is-sues, the Cardinals sent 13 batters to the plate, knocking out Combs in the process. The Cardinals then hammered the Golden City bullpen for eight runs in the inning, pulling away for an 11-5 vic-tory. It was off to the Final Four at Simmons Field on the campus of the University of Missouri.

“Our game plan was to get him (Combs) to throw as many pitches as possible,” said Carva-jal. “He had thrown 93 pitches after three innings. He’d never been hit hard, and we got to their bull-pen.”

“That whole game was a battle,” said Locke. “They were a really, really tough team. It was our biggest victory for sure. To do it at home in front of our home crowd was also big.”

In the Class 1A state semifinals, Halfway would face New Bloomfield, a Class 1A power and the defending state champions that had already won four state titles and made five Final Four appear-ances in the previous six seasons. The Cardinals would also have to overcome the “bright lights, big city” mentality of their first trip to the big time,

as well as the changes associated with playing their first night game of the season. On paper, it was 25-0 Halfway against 12-8 New Bloomfield, but the Wildcats’ Final Four experience played a key role in the outcome.

“I remember stepping onto Simmons Field for the first time,” said McCarthy. “Of course, it was a big deal to us small town boys. It seemed like we were just happy to be there. We let up a lit-tle on our intensity.” Timmerman agreed. “It was completely the small town boys going to the big city,” said Timmerman. “We were shell shocked over everything. We weren’t ready for it, by any means.”

“It was tough before that first game,” said Locke. “Here we are in Columbia in this gorgeous stadi-um. I kept thinking, ‘stay focused, stay focused.’” The immaculate field also differed from the small school diamond back at Halfway. “We were used to playing on a dirt infield,” said Evans. “Here we were stepping onto a college field.”

Halfway did have reason to celebrate, though only briefly. The Cardinals led 1-0 in the bottom of the second inning as Timmerman scored Calhoun on an RBI single. The Wildcats answered with a pair of two out runs in the third to lead 2-1. Half-way came back again, though, and scored two runs in the fourth inning to regain the lead at 3-2 after four innings of play. However, New Bloom-field answered with three runs in the top of the fifth, and Halfway managed only three base run-ners in the final three innings in the 5-3 loss.

“We misplayed two or three balls in the lights,” said Carvajal. “Evans pitched a heckuva game. We just didn’t get the big hit when we needed it. We had a few defensive lapses that cost us a couple of runs.”

The New Bloomfield loss still haunts the Car-dinal players today. “We didn’t run into New Bloomfield, we ran into our first night game, in my opinion,” said Drake. “We lost a bunch of balls in the lights. We beat ourselves. We were the better team.” Locke always felt like the Cardinals would come back and win. “It wasn’t the first time we had been down in a game,” he said. “It wasn’t an absolute foreign idea that we could lose, but we

just needed to buckle down and do what we’d al-ways done.”

“It was a close game,” said Evans. “Whether it was nerves or not, they just played better than we did. It was very disappointing. It’s heartbreaking, because we didn’t go there to take second, third, or fourth. They played better than we did and the scoreboard proved it. It definitely gave us a hun-ger for the next season.”

The loss carried over into the third-place game the following day against Holcomb, as the Cardi-nals went through the motions in a 6-2 loss to fin-ish in fourth-place. “It wasn’t even like the same team the next game,” said Calhoun of the Hol-comb loss. “We knew we weren’t going to win the championship. It’s a different feeling when you know you’re playing for third-place instead of a championship. It was just a numb feeling. It was probably the worst game we ever played.”

“Our heads definitely weren’t in it,” said Locke. “With the run we were on, it’s tough to take a loss right before you’re about to play for a state cham-pionship. As a team, it was tough recovering from that.”

“We were determined that we were going to go back,” said Calhoun. “We were going to do whatever it took to go back to State. There was no reason we couldn’t win it with the group we had coming back.”

Several Cardinal players garnered postseason honors, led by senior Ben Locke, who was named 1st-Team All-State as a third baseman after batting .493 for the season with nine homers and 51 RBI. The senior, who also went 8-1 on the hill with a 1.22 ERA, was also named the PCL Most Valuable Player. Evans garnered 2nd-Team All-State honors as a pitcher after posting a 9-1 record and 2.28 ERA, and also batted .453 at the plate with 32 RBI. Drake also was named 2nd-Team All-State after a standout season in centerfield. Drake, Evans, Locke, Jay Roderick, and Mark Timmerman were all named to the All-District Team. Evans and Tim-merman joined Locke as 1st-Team All-PCL play-ers, while Mike Calhoun, Drake and Roderick re-ceived 2nd-Team honors. Senior Nathan Poterbin received honorable mention recognition.

Halfway’s Aaron Evans pitches in the Cardinals’ 7-6 victory over Macks Creek in the 1998 Class 1A state semifinals. Evans was a two-time All-State honoree, and was also a USA Today Honorable Mention All-American for the state of Missouri following his se-nior year. (Photo courtesy of Cindy Evans)

Halfway’s Mark Timmerman hurls a pitch to the plate in the Cardinals’ 9-3 victory over Oran in the 1998 Class 1A state championship game. “There’s nothing that can top that,” said Timmerman of winning a state champion-ship. “I pitched one of the best games of my career. That was one of the greatest days of my life.” (Photo courtesy of Sharon Payne)

Halfway returned a core group of players for 1998, and had several underclassmen ready to step into more prominent roles. In particular, ju-nior Brandon Doke stepped into the spot vacated by Locke in the rotation. The Cardinals had Evans and Timmerman at the top of the rotation, with Doke pitching a midweek game when needed. Doke also played third base when not pitching, while twin brother Brad Doke replaced Poterbin in right. Junior John Andrews replaced Payne in leftfield. Freshman Clint Vest stepped into the catcher’s role in place of the departed Roderick.

The Cardinals knew they were losing five se-niors, but they did not know that they would also lose their head coach after just one season, as Carvajal left Halfway to coach at North Shelby. “Sometimes, I wish I would have stayed one more year, but it was a good opportunity,” said Carvajal of his decision to leave. “It was a storybook sea-son, and those boys worked their tails off. They were a good group of kids that wanted to learn. It was a special bunch of kids, and I’ll never forget

it.” Carvajal is currently the Superinten-dent of the LaPlata R-II School District.

“Without Carvajal, we wouldn’t have gone to State,” said Locke, who went on to play collegiately at Avila University. “I don’t think the ’98 team would have ei-ther. I played baseball for 14 years and he was, by far, the best coach I ever had.”

Rick Hammers, a member of Hill-crest’s 1988 state champions, took over the helm. “I knew there was some talent at Halfway—a lot of it,” said Hammers. “They had a good nucleus coming back. There were a few holes, mainly with the loss of a starting pitcher and at catcher. I had seen them play the year before a couple of times and at the 1A level, they were a very good baseball team.

“They really didn’t need to be moti-vated too much,” he added. “We worked a lot on bunting and base running, and they had a lot of freedom to do what they wanted. The bunting game and running game were a big part of our success, along with our starting pitching.”

“They were actually very similar coach-es,” said Evans of Carvajal and Hammers. “Both had solid baseball backgrounds. Hammers was open to us keeping the same routines and regimens, because they obviously were successful. He built upon what Carvajal had taught us.

“There was a transition period, be-cause everyone had great respect for Carvajal,” added Evans. “There’s always an unknown with a new coach, but he helped us grow as players and people, just as Carvajal had helped us grow as players and people.”

“He basically took what was already started and he let us be successful,” said

Calhoun of Hammers. “Looking back on it, I think he was wise to do what he did. He was a good coach. Our practices were like drills and we al-ready had our drills down.”

Halfway entered the 1998 campaign as the #7-ranked team in Class 1A, but quickly ascend-ed to the top spot in the rankings. The Cardinals opened the season with 10 straight blowout vic-tories, including six shutouts. The Cardinal offense was on a power surge, too, with balls leaving the yard with regularity.

In the tenth game, the Cardinals were beaten 4-1 at home by Pleasant Hope, though. In the next game, the Cardinals fell behind at Fordland 4-1 after three innings and never recovered, losing 5-2 to drop their record to 10-2.

The bus trip back to Halfway was a turning point for the season, as the back-to-back losses refocused the team. “We had a ‘come to Jesus’ moment on the bus ride back,” said Calhoun. “The air was thick. The five seniors said, basically, ‘if we have

to score ev-ery run, we’ll do it.’ We gave a ‘pretty strong ex-hortation’ to the under-c la s smen that they needed to step up and score at the bottom of the or-der. Losing those two games was

the best thing that ever happened to us. After the Fordland game, we became a strong team.”

“That was the best thing that could ever have happened to us,” echoed Timmerman of the two losses. “It gave us the realization that we could be beat. We were beatable. With the ’97 team, the worst thing that didn’t happen was that we thought we couldn’t be beat.”

“I don’t like to lose, but one of the problems in 1997 is that we had never lost,” said Evans of entering the Final Four undefeated. “Those losses made us realize that we needed to get our stuff in gear. It’s not a guarantee—anything can hap-pen. It was an eye-opener, a wake-up call. It was a make or break point, and those two losses helped us as much as anything. We got refocused on one-game-at-a-time instead of looking ahead to State.”

“It took a little of the pressure off,” said McCa-rthy of the losses. “It made us refocus our intensity. You learn more about your team when you lose a game or two.”

“Losing builds character,” said Hammers. “Were we a little confident? Yeah. If you’re gonna lose, you better do it early and get it under your belt. It was a humbling experience for everyone.”

The Cardinals rebounded from the two losses by hammering Fair Play and then Weaubleau in the first round of the Polk County League Tournament. The Cardinals came from behind to beat Morris-ville 5-3 in the semifinals, setting up a rematch with Pleasant Hope for the PCL tourney title.

The Cardinals and Pirates battled for six innings and stood tied at two heading to the seventh. After the Pirates were shut down in the top of the in-ning, Evans launched a walk-off grand slam over the leftfield fence to give Halfway a 6-2 victory. “I knew we were going to win the game when Evans came up to bat and the bases were loaded,” said Calhoun. “I just didn’t know he’d hit it out. You knew it was gone as soon as he hit it.”

“We wanted that game,” said Evans. “When someone beats you, from a competitive stand-point, you want to avenge that loss. I wasn’t think-ing about hitting a homerun in that situation, I just wanted to put the ball in play. I swung and it flew off the bat.”

Hammers has high praise for Evans. “If there is any player that worked harder than Aaron Ev-ans, I’d like to meet him,” said Hammers. “He did what it took to be great. He did the extra things on the side. He was the hardest working player ever. He was a baseball player. He was one of the top three players I ever coached.”

The Cardinals followed up the PCL title with an 8-7 victory over a pesky Sparta squad, as Drake hit a two-run homer in the third and Timmerman a three-run bomb in the fourth, both of which gave Halfway a lead. “We started to worry it was going to be our third loss,” said Timmerman. “We had determined after our second loss, though, that los-ing was not an option anymore.”

Halfway closed the regular season with two more victories and then defeated Dadeville 5-3 in the first round of Districts. The Cardinals dis-patched Morrisville for the second time in two weeks by a 5-1 count in the District title game.

The Cardinals played host to Billings in the Sec-tional round, and perhaps the largest crowd in Halfway baseball history turned out for the game. “The little field we had only had a couple of small bleachers, but there were lawn chairs lined up all around the field, and people were standing every-where,” said McCarthy.

The Cardinals and Wildcats battled to a 3-3 tie through six innings. In the bottom of the seventh inning, with the score still tied 3-3, Evans led off with a triple. After Drake and McCarthy were intentionally walked to load the bases, Brandon Doke was hit by a pitch, forcing home Evans from

Halfway’s Matt Drake bats against Oran in the 1998 Class 1A state championship game, a 9-3 Cardinal victory. Drake was a two-time All-State selection as a centerfielder. (Photo courtesy of Cindy Evans)

DiamondExteriors

DiamondExteriors

4802 S. 220th Rd. • Halfway, MO 65663

Mark Timmerman . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417-445-6725Cell 417-327-5206 • 1-888-291-4183 • Fax 417-445-3631

Vinyl Siding • Soffit • Fascia • Replacement Windows & Doors

“As sharp as they come”

Diamond Exteriors bc 3/30/11 8:23 AM Page 1

third with the winning run.“That was the most anti-climactic win you

could have,” said Evans, who would go on to play collegiately two years at College of the Ozarks and three more at Southwest Baptist University. “You’re expecting a hit, or at least a ball in play. You don’t expect a game to end that way. You’re thinking, ‘Is that it? Is it over?’ They did the right thing strategically with the intentional walks, be-cause he could have hit into a double play.”

“In order to win a state title, you have to have breaks throughout the season, and we caught a break,” said Hammers. “We had the heart of the lineup coming up. They tried to set-up the double play. It was a tough decision. I would hate to have been on the other side making that decision. It was a battle of attrition, and we won.”

After defeating Jasper 6-1 in the state quarterfi-nals, the Cardinals were headed back to Colum-bia for the 1998 Class 1A Final Four, once again at Simmons Field. Halfway’s opponent would be a familiar foe in Macks Creek, a team the Cardinals had already beaten 9-3 earlier in the season.

“I was really happy with our pairing at State,” said Hammers. “I felt very confident going into that game. My biggest decision was should I pitch our ace, Evans, or Timmerman? They were both workhorses that year. I decided to go with our ace. We had to get out of the gate. You don’t want to lose without your ace on the mound.”

Halfway led 3-0 after two innings, added two more in the fifth and two more in the sixth to lead 7-0 going to the bottom of the sixth. Macks Creek erupted for four runs in its half of the inning, and after Halfway went scoreless in the seventh, the Pirates were down to their final at-bat.

A couple of errors put two runners on to start the inning, followed by a groundout and strikeout. The next Pirate batter ripped a two RBI double to cut the lead to 7-6. Following a walk and stolen base, the Pirates had runners at the corners with two outs. Evans slammed the door shut by striking out the last batter, as the Cardinals escaped to the state championship game with a 7-6 victory.

“I got ahead in the count on the last batter,” said Evans. “I didn’t want to give him anything to hit. I had one more base to give. It was stressful, but you just have to focus on your job. I wasn’t think-ing about the state championship, I was thinking, ‘just do you job.’ All of the stretching, regimens and practice were focused on being mentally in tune and doing your job.”

“I think everybody thought it was going to be a blowout,” said Calhoun. “The biggest thing I remember is thinking—when it got tight at 7-6—that it might be possible they were going to take us. You just get that sick feeling in your stomach. ‘We’re not surely gonna let this happen again.’ Bless his little heart, Aaron struck that guy out to end the game.”

“Aaron was sore that day and did not have his best stuff,” said Hammers. “Still, I would rather have Aaron at 75 percent than most pitchers at full strength. It was a big game to win or lose.”

“With Evans on the mound, not to say there wasn’t any doubt, but I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else on the mound,” said Drake. “He was the man. We had our ace on the mound.”

In the state championship the following day, Halfway jumped on Oran early, batting around in the first inning for an early 3-0 lead. “That’s what made it easier—not easy—was that we scored so many runs early,” said Timmerman, who was pitching the state championship game for the Car-dinals. “With a two-, three-, four-run lead, you can make some mistakes. The nerves were a lot better after we batted in the first.”

“He was a pitcher,” said Hammers of Timmer-man. “He didn’t have a phenomenal fastball, but he threw strikes. He also had a nice overhand

curve that was hard to hit. He kind of made them look foolish. He threw one of the better games of his career that day.”

The Cardinals scored four runs in the fourth to break the game open, keyed by a two-run double to right cen-ter by McCarthy. In the top of the fifth, McCarthy ripped another two-run double to right center, scoring Ev-ans and Drake to up the lead to 9-2. Oran added a run in the seventh, but Halfway won going away by a 9-3 count. The Halfway Cardinals were state champions.

“There’s nothing that can top that,” said Timmer-man of winning a state championship. “I pitched one of the best games of my career, but I had the defense behind me. We had no errors. I was never a strikeout pitcher. I made them put the ball in play. That was one of the greatest days of my life.”

“We went out winning and there’s no better way to go out than winning,” said Calhoun. “Very few Missouri teams get to walk away with a win. I couldn’t help but think that if this team could win it, then last year’s team should have won it.”

“Timmerman pitched a great game,” said Evans, who played shortstop in the game. “I remember the last play. We were one out away. I had always been taught never to look ahead, but yet there was this anticipation. The last ball was hit to short, and stuff just slowed down. Think. Do your job. Block everything out. It was just a routine play that I had made thousands of times in practice. Just field it and throw it to first. The bench cleared and there was a big dog pile.”

“It’s not about me,” said Hammers. “Coaches are only as good as how well their players per-form. We played phenomenally that day. We played great defense and got a great pitching per-formance.”

“Even though Carvajal wasn’t there in ’98, he was still with us,” said Drake. “He taught us a lot and we carried that over into ’98.”

Evans finished his standout senior season by be-ing named an Honorable Mention All-American for the state of Missouri by USA Today after batting .564 with 15 homers and 45 RBI, while also post-ing a 16-1 record on the mound with 135 strike-outs over the course of the fall and spring seasons. Evans also was named 1st-Team All-State as a pitcher, All-District, and 1st-Team All-Conference. He was also the 1998 PCL Most Valuable Player.

There was plenty of post-season rec-ognition to go around, though, as both Ti m m e r m a n (infielder) and Drake (outfield-er) also received 1st-Team All-State recogni-tion. Calhoun, Drake and Tim-merman joined Evans on the All-District and

1st-Team All-PCL teams. McCarthy was named 2nd-Team All-Conference, while John Andrews, Brandon Doke, and Clint Vest received honorable mention recognition.

Winning a state title was special, but made even more special by doing it with friends with whom they had grown up playing baseball. “We all started playing baseball together when we were in first grade,” said Timmerman. “We knew how everybody played. That’s one of the biggest reasons for our success in high school. In certain situations, like pick-offs or squeeze bunts, all you had to do was make certain eye contact with dif-ferent people and they knew what you were go-ing to do.” The only player who did not grow up in Halfway was Calhoun, who moved there from Louisville, Ky., prior to his sophomore year. “Cal-houn fit right in with the rest of us, because he played just like we did,” said Timmerman.

The years that have passed have not dampened the sense of accomplishment. “It makes you feel like you accomplished something in high school,” said Calhoun. “You don’t get the chance to do what we did the rest of your life. It’s unique. You get to compete and be a champion. It was special to do it with guys that I was friends with.”

“It is something to talk to my kids about,” said Timmerman. “It’s just pretty special. I hope my kids can experience something like that in their lifetime.”

“I moved away, so I don’t get to see the guys as much anymore,” said Drake, who now lives in Mountain Grove. “I like to pull out my ring ev-ery now and then and show my boys. Show them some pictures of what a state championship looks like and what it means.”

What it means is that after a disappointing fourth-place finish in 1997, the Halfway Cardi-nals—who posted a two-year record of 61-4—had gone all the way in 1998.

The Halfway Cardinals dog pile on the mound after the final out of the 1998 Class 1A state championship game, a 9-3 victory over Oran. The Cardinals, who posted a 24-2 record during their state championship season, had a two-year fall and spring record of 61-4 from 1996 to 1998. (Photo courtesy of Cindy Evans)

Family is the most important thing in the world. – Princess Diana

After a successful softball season in the fall, in which Walnut Grove finished 19-8 and won a District title, the Lady Tigers (24-6) made a run to the state quarterfinals on the hardwood before bowing out with a loss to defending state cham-pion Montrose. It is not unusual for a school—particularly a Class 1 school—to have a couple of relatives playing on the same team. However, it is almost unheard of to have five members of one family playing together at the same time. It is even more unlikely that all five relatives have the talent to compete at a high level, which is what Walnut Grove has had at its disposal this year in the form of five members of the Harman family—all five of which were significant contributors to the Lady Ti-gers’ success on the diamond and the court this

season.Deciphering who is related to whom and how

they are related can get confusing—at least to an outsider. Hannah Harman is a senior—and a multi-sport standout. After breaking the state record for career strikeouts in the fall, Hannah followed that up with her second straight All-State performance on the basketball court. Heather Harman, a fresh-man, is Hannah’s younger sister who also received All-State recognition this season as the Lady Tigers’ point guard. Hannah and Heather are the middle two of Russ and Dawn Harman’s four daughters.

Haley Harman is a senior who garnered 1st-Team All-Polk County League recognition this season in basketball. Lexi Harman, a freshman, is Haley’s younger sister who received 2nd-Team All-PCL recognition in basketball despite playing virtu-ally the entire season with a torn ACL. Haley and

Lexi are the daughters of Gene and Lynn Harman. Cheyenne Harman is a junior who made major contributions despite playing throughout the sea-son with a nagging turf toe injury. She is the oldest of Marty and Tena Harman’s two daughters.

The Harman family has deep roots in Walnut Grove, and has resided in the community for gen-erations. With multiple branches from the same family tree, it probably should not be a surprise that the high school careers of five family mem-bers coincided with one another. Regardless, it has been a year that these five girls have looked for-ward to for a long time.

“We’ve looked forward to this year for as long as we can remember,” said Cheyenne. “We’ve looked forward to this year for a long time,” echoed Ha-ley. “We would just count down the days until we could all play together.”

FAMILYtiesBy Byron Shive

30

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Lyn

n H

arm

an

Cousins by blood – friends by choice. – Dar-lene Shaw

Marty and Gene are brothers, and Russ is the brothers’ first cousin. Therefore, that makes Haley and Lexi first cousins with Cheyenne. It also means that, technically, Cheyenne, Haley and Lexi are all third cousins with Hannah and Heather. However, the girls prefer to just be called friends rather than dealing with all the “Where Did I Come From?” family tree technicalities.

“We’re all really close, because we’ve grown up together,” said Cheyenne. “All of us became best friends,” said Haley. “You have to be when you’re with them every day. You have to learn to like each other.” Due to their ages, Hannah and Haley have been friends seemingly forever, with the freshmen, Heather and Lexi, also closer to each other than they are with the others.

“We were always close, but I guess you could say this season has brought us closer together,” said Lexi. “The coolest thing is that the girls have bonded together,” said Tena. “They’re closer than they’ve ever been before. They’ve always played together, but never on the same team at the same time. As they get older and have kids themselves, it will be neat that they have that bond they can share.”

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out. – John Wood-en

The Harman girls had been looking forward to this season—particularly on the basketball court—for a long time, and had often talked about the op-portunity for all of them to play for the same team. Hannah would anchor the post, while Haley would be free to roam inside and out. Cheyenne, a two-year starter, would also be another inside-out threat. Add to that the contributions of a pair of cat quick incoming freshmen guards in Heather and Lexi and it would be easy to fantasize about numerous wins and deep runs in March—with a lot of fun along the way.

However, things do not always go according to plan, as the team—and the family—faced ad-versity at the beginning of the season. Cheyenne suffered a turf toe injury in December which kept her out of action for over a month. Although she played through the rest of the season, she was nev-er fully healthy. “It’s been a great year,” said Tena Harman. “It was a little disappointing, though, with all the injuries.”

Lexi suffered a torn ACL in the Walnut Grove holiday tournament. She played the rest of the game with the injury, but her return to action was doubtful after tests confirmed the worst. Her big sister, Haley, had previously suffered the same injury. After learning that she could not do any further injury to the knee, Lexi postponed surgery and returned to action to finish the season. “We knew what was in store,” said Lynn Harman of Lexi’s injury. “She’s a tough cookie, though. We talked to the surgeons and got a brace made. She went back out there and played.”

Lexi returned to action, but was not nearly as fast as she had been. “It didn’t hurt that bad,” said Lexi. “I kind of learned what I could do and what I couldn’t do on it. I was definitely a lot slower afterwards.”

“When we were all healthy to start the season, it was a sight to see,” said head coach Rory Henry. “Lexi’s a game-changer when she’s healthy. When we first learned that it was a torn ACL, I was just sick. It was emotional for all of us when I told the team.

“The loss of both Lexi and Cheyenne changed the speed of our team defense,” said Henry, add-ing that Megan Shuler also suffered an injury. “We had all these things going for us. Both girls came back, but they were not at 100 percent. We were playing our best basketball at the end of the sea-son, which is what we wanted, but you still play the ‘what if?’ game.”

“It killed her and it killed us,” said Haley of her sister’s injury. “She played with a torn ACL, and I still don’t know how that worked. It did slow her down some, but she’s determined. She would have always wondered what she missed if she hadn’t played. The rest of us just had to pick up the slack.”

“It was amazing and a lot of fun,” said Lexi. “It was probably the most fun I’ve had playing bas-ketball in my career. And I got to play with my sister.”

To be a team, you must be a family. – Don Meyer

“The whole team was like a family,” said Lexi. It did not matter if your last name was Harman or not, if you were a member of the Lady Tigers, then you were a member of a family. “Yeah, we’re all related, but we’re best friends, too…all of us—not just the Harmans,” said Haley. “The whole team is a family.”

Walnut Grove is like a lot of other small towns and communities in the Ozarks, meaning that everyone pretty much knows everyone else. It also means that you are likely to have the same classmates in your graduating class that you had in kindergarten. Having grown up together, it was easy for the Harmans and their teammates to form lasting friendships over the years.

Even though the Lady Tigers—Harmans and non-Harmans alike—knew each other, though, that did not stop the team from becoming a “fam-ily” through various team bonding activities. “We have our team bonding time,” said junior Karlie Koenemann, who was one of the team’s key con-tributors off the bench this season. “We usually go to Hannah’s house to watch movies during the season. We try to keep everyone together.”

The team bonding worked, as it was easy to see by fans and observers alike that the Lady Tigers were a close-knit bunch. “They have so much fun together,” said Lynn. “They’re best friends, but they can be brutally hon-est with each other.” Add-ed Gene: “They just have great chemistry together.”

If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sec-tions, held together but separable—each segment distinct. – Letty Cottin Pogrebin

The Harman girls may be related, but that does not mean that they do not all have distinctly dif-ferent personalities. In fact, the girls’ differing personalities complement each other well. “We all balance each other out,” said Hannah. “Between the five of us, there’s never really a dull moment, that’s for sure.” The girls all have “great personali-ties,” according to Henry. “It’s always fun and they’re always laughing,” he said. “I don’t see these girls hav-ing too many bad days.”

“They all have great personalities,” said Koen-emann. “They have a lot

of energy…maybe too much.” Heather is the “class clown,” according to Koenemann, who made sure to tell the infamous “cat story.” Ap-parently, during one of the team bonding nights, Heather crawled on all fours into the kitchen, “meowing” the whole way, in an attempt to get the family cat to run into a wall. “I guess you had to be there,” said Koenemann. “Heather is some-thing else,” said Hannah of her little sister. “She’s hilarious. She’s pretty hard-headed, but I love her.” According to her mom, Heather is a sponge for new information, regardless of how insightful or irrelevant it may be. “She’ll come in all the time and say, ‘Mom and Dad, did you know…?’ and spout off some random fact,” said Dawn. “She’s something else. Everything’s a crack up with her. Everything’s a funny. She wears her emotions on her sleeve. You never have to wonder what she is thinking or feeling, because it’s written all over her face. She’s her own worst enemy in that way.”

Lexi is “sweet as she can be,” according to Han-nah. “She’s so nice.” Heather thinks the world of her classmate, cousin, and friend. “She’s my best friend,” said Heather. “She’s hilarious and so full of energy.” Heather and Lexi are virtually insepa-rable. “Heather and Lexi are always together,” said Dawn. “Everything’s funny to those two. They’re always laughing about something.” When the two are not together, “it’s like Heather is missing her other half,” said Russ. “Those two are crazy,” said Hannah of the Heather-Lexi tandem. “It’s always Heather and Lexi.” The games in which Lexi was out with the knee injury were particularly pain-ful for Heather. “The few games we didn’t have Lexi, Heather was lost,” said Russ. “Lexi was her

FAMILYties

“

“

all of us became best friends”

- Haley Harman

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Lyn

n H

arm

an

comfort blanket.”Cheyenne “is the most random person,” said

Hannah. “She is full of useless facts and random information. She is constantly walking into the locker room and telling everyone the ‘Fact of the Day.’ She’s like, ‘Guys, wanna hear this?’ ‘Sure, Cheyenne, what is it?’” Cheyenne is also unoffi-cially in charge of providing background music at practice. “She always got in trouble for unedited versions,” said Heather. “She’s not as crazy as me and Lexi, but she’s funny and a lot of fun to be around.”

Haley is the mother hen of the group. “She’s such a mom to all of us,” said Heather. “She con-trols us and keeps us in line. She can have fun too, though, but she’s such a party pooper.” Haley de-fended herself by countering with, “I’m not a party

pooper…I’m just smart.” Regardless of whether or not she “controls” the others, the family ties go much deeper between Haley and Hannah. “Ha-ley is not just my cousin, she’s my best friend,” said Hannah. “She’s the Mom of us all, though.”

Hannah is the tender-hearted member of the group. “She has the biggest heart of any person ever,” said Dawn of her daughter. Hannah is also as unassuming as they come, not wanting anyone to publicize her gaudy athletic statistics. “For Se-nior Night, Hannah had to fill out a sheet and list all of her accomplishments,” said Russ. “She only wanted to put a couple of things on there. I told her that she had earned everything that she had accomplished and that she should list everything, but in her eyes, she thinks she’s bragging.”

The late Larry Hazelrigg, a longtime reporter for the Springfield News-Leader, called Hannah “The Invisible Pitcher” on the mound, because you could never tell if things were going well or not by the expression on her face. “She never wanted to show anyone up by celebrating on the mound,” said Dawn. “She doesn’t want anyone making a big deal out of her,” said Russ.

Hannah is the best all-around athlete of the bunch, but she also bears the brunt of the oth-ers’ jokes. “She definitely should have been born a blonde,” said Haley of her cousin and friend. “I don’t think she’s all there,” said Heather of her sister. “She makes it easy to make fun of her.” Hannah cannot even get any love from her mother on the matter. “We call her ‘The Blonde,’ because you can tell her something, and she’ll say ‘Really?,’” said Dawn. “She’s so gullible.”

One story sums up Hannah’s personality about as well as any other, and there are cer-tainly many to choose from. The Lady Tigers have a play which entails Hannah to cut toward the ball and yell, “Ball, Ball, Ball.” Even though Walnut Grove has ran the play for years, Hannah still does not know the name of it. Whenever the play is called by Henry, “Hannah just looks at me with this confused look, and I say, ‘it’s the ball-ball-ball play,’” said Haley. “That is so em-barrassing,” laughed Hannah. “I’m really ditzy. I can’t remember the name of that play to save my life. To me, it’s just the ‘ball-ball-ball play.’”

Those who wish to sing always find a song. – Proverb

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. – Wayne Gretsky

“Hannah thinks she’s a good singer, too,” add-ed Heather to the Hannah anecdote-fest. “She’s always, like, ‘Every time I go on long road trips, I practice my singing. Heather, I’m getting really good.’ She’s terrible. She never sings any song right. She always gets the words wrong.” Hannah is not the only potential “American Idol” contes-tant on the team, though. “We sing a lot,” said Hannah. “Heather and Lexi will sing the whole way on bus trips.”

Although Hannah is an All-State player in both softball and basketball, according to Heather and Lexi, her volleyball skills are lacking. “She thinks she’s great at volleyball,” laughs Heather. “She’s terrible.” Lexi recalls Hannah telling her, “I really love volleyball. Do you think if college basketball doesn’t work out, I could get a volleyball scholar-ship?” Heather told her, bluntly as only a sister can, “Hannah…you (stink) at volleyball.”

The team likes to recite quotes—inspirational, motivational, and otherwise. Cheyenne recalls Hannah attempting to recite a pretty famous quote, but butchering it in typically humorous Hannah fashion. “She said, ‘You always make 100% of the shots you don’t take,’” said Chey-enne.

Heather, the team’s point guard, knows where to get the bread buttered, though. “On the court, she’s a beast,” said Heather. “No one can stop her. I did feed her a lot.”

Basketball is like photography, if you don’t fo-cus, all you have is the negative. – Dan Frisby

Road trips to away games for the Lady Tigers usually evolved into a travelling comedy cara-van—at least on the trip back home. “We have a ‘no cell phone policy’ on road trips,” said Henry. “I try to tell the team to be focused to games and on the way back. We usually have no problems on the way to a game, because the girls know they have a job to do, but after the game—on the way back—it can get quite loud on the bus. I don’t even try to go to the back of the bus. Usu-ally, I can’t even understand what they’re saying because they’re laughing so much.”

The team brought a special “friend” along for the bus rides this year. On the way to road games, Jasmine—a doll that came from a McDonald’s Happy Meal—was tied on a string, thrown out the bus window and dragged along the ground, a la “Napoleon Dynamite.” Jasmine survived the ordeal, but is in need of some “plastic” surgery.

What you are as a person is far more impor-tant than what you are as a basketball player. – John Wooden

The Harman girls are a fun-loving bunch and really talented athletes, but more importantly, they are good people. “I’m most proud of the girls’ at-titudes,” said Lynn. “It’s not just their athletic abil-ity, but they’re such good kids. They are great role models for future Lady Tigers.”

“All of these girls—the entire team—are just great kids,” said Henry. “You never have to worry about what these kids’ intentions are. They’re some of the best kids I’ve ever been around. It’s been a joy to coach these girls. They work hard and have some of the best work ethic I’ve ever seen.”

Nell Harman, the girls’ grandmother, passed away in Oct. 2009, but before her passing, she

“““

“The whole team was like a family

We’ve looked for-ward to this year for as long as we can remember

- Lexi Harman

- Cheyenne Harman

imparted some wisdom onto the Harman girls. “She taught the girls what a name means, and how that your behavior reflects on your name,” said Tena. “Your name follows you wherever you go. She told them that they have a name that they should want to live up to, and be proud of, and a name that the community can be proud of.”

Families are like fudge—mostly sweet with a few nuts – Author Unknown

The Harman family has gathered for family re-unions on a semi-regular basis over the years, and as one might imagine, when the Harman girls got together, hilarity and horseplay ensued. “Family stuff’s always fun,” said Cheyenne, with great un-derstatement. “You don’t get to talk much, that’s for sure,” said Gene.

Not surprisingly, family reunions usually result-ed in some competitive basketball games, though not so much anymore.

Basketball was not the only activity that en-gaged the girls at family reunions. A lot of families may have sack races or three-legged races, but that’s not the Harmans’ style. Instead, they would engage in trash can races, which featured Heath-er and Lexi riding in trash cans on wheels while Hannah and Haley pushed them. “That got a little crazy at times,” said Lexi.

If you don’t understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child. – Linda Sunshine

Cheyenne, Haley, Hannah, Heather, and Lexi will not be the last batch of Harmans to attend Walnut Grove High School, as there are a couple of younger Harmans on the way. Shelby Harman, Cheyenne’s younger sister, is currently in sev-enth grade, while Bayley Harman, Hannah and

Heather’s little sister, is in fifth grade. Both served as managers for the basketball team this winter.

“They’re good managers, I guess,” said Heather be-grudgingly. “Bayley’s obnoxious…she’s so annoying. I would argue with her about her managing skills, so we would fight a lot.” Said Cheyenne: “They’re always right in the middle of everything. We go a little harder on them, because they’re little sisters.”

The youngest Har-mans relished the experience, though. “I think it’s awe-some that they all got to play together,” said Bayley, who is a spitting image of Heather. “They’ve taught me so much about playing hard and never giving up. I’m just very proud of them.”

“I’ve been look-ing forward to it,” said Shelby. “They always made me laugh. They were always there for us, kind of since we were little. They’re great role models.”

Shelby added that she wishes she “could ball like Hannah.”

“We probably got a little snippy with them, but it was easy to get on them because of them being little sisters,” said Hannah. “I’m the senior now, so it’s nice.” Han-nah recalls being in the same position as Shelby and Bayley not too long ago, though, and idol-izing Abby Creed and Emily Simpson, key cogs for the Lady Tigers’ 2007 state champion-ship team. Hannah and Haley both served as managers on that team. “Me and Haley lived and breathed Abby and Emily,” said Hannah.

The name on the front of the jersey is what really matters, not the name on the back. – Joe Paterno

With all of the hoopla surrounding the team this season—and par-ticularly the large num-ber of Harmans on it—it would have been easy for internal frictions to develop over the pub-licity surrounding the Harmans, which in-cluded TV and radio ap-pearances and promos and various newspaper articles (and now, a magazine article). How-ever, to all the girls, this has never been about the Harmans, but about Walnut Grove.

Following the team’s District championship in basketball, T-shirts were printed with the usual “Walnut Grove…2011 District Champions” on the front, along with each player’s name on the back. Emblazoned across the back of the shirt was, “Success is about the name on the front of our shirt...not the names on the back.”

Henry wanted to squash any potential friction before it began. “I stressed to everyone early on that we were a team,” he said. “On one hand, we had a special situation in that we had five mem-bers of one family on the team. We didn’t want any distractions, but we also didn’t want to take anything away from them (the Harmans) either.

“We made a big deal about us being one team,” he added. “We stressed team unity. Our team mot-to was: ‘When you give yourself up to something that is greater than yourself, it’s the greatest power in life.’ All the girls bought into that philosophy and that contributed to our success.”

“At the beginning of the season, with all the ra-dio and TV publicity, it would have been easy for there to be problems, I guess,” said Haley, “but we don’t play selfish ball. It’s not ‘the Harmans have to do this or that,’ it’s ‘Heather needs to do this and Lexi needs to do that’ to be successful. We don’t pay attention to last names on the team.”

“The other girls never said anything,” said Han-nah of any perceived issues, “and we didn’t act that way toward them, like we were better or any-thing. We never had any problems with that. We were a team.”

Friends are the most important part of your life. Treasure the tears, treasure the laughter, but most importantly, treasure the memories. – Dave Brenner

The year that they had all looked forward to for so long is nearing an end, with Hannah and Haley heading off to college in the fall. Hannah signed a National Letter of Intent on Mar. 25 to play bas-ketball at College of the Ozarks, while Haley is bound for Southwest Baptist University to study nursing.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” said Hannah. “We ac-complished a lot, both as individuals and as a team. I knew it would be fun and exciting, but it was the most fun I’ve had, by far, in any sport.”

“When I came off the floor for the last time (in the state quarterfinals), that’s when it really hit me,” said Haley. “Then my sister hugged me and that’s when the waterworks started. It’s all her fault. I’ll always cherish the memories.”

The wish of “one more year together” is a com-mon one these days in the Harman family. “It was a fun experience, but I wish we had one more year,” said Heather, a sentiment echoed by her mother. “I wish we would have had one more year,” said Dawn. “Things would have been to-tally different if Lexi and Cheyenne had not got-ten hurt. It’s been a lot of fun, and something you don’t want to see end.”

“They were a fun group, and a fun group to watch,” said Lynn.

“““

It was a fun experience, but I wish we had one more year

The whole team was like a family

- Heather Harman

33

EZ

Notes, thoughts and assorted observations from the Ozarks prep sports world…

*It’s official now. Having been named the nation’s top football recruit for the class of 2012 by MaxPreps noted recruiting guru Tom Lemming and a five-star recruit by Rivals, Dorial Green-Beckham has become the most celebrated high school athlete ever to come out of the Ozarks.

With that in mind, we had several pressing questions for his adoptive father and Hillcrest coach, John Beck-ham, as we head down the stretch toward some big-time college football program being very happy…and a whole bunch of them wondering what more they could have done to land the 6-foot-5, 215-pound speedy Hillcrest star wide receiver.

Things like…*Does Dorial feel any pressure to deliver great times

every time he steps on to the track this spring for the Hor-nets and runs the 100 meters, the event in which he’s the defending Class 4 state champion?

Think about it…with all the hub-bub made over the NFL Scouting Combine and all the “measurables” there each February before pro teams make a draft pick, wouldn’t it stand to reason that if, say, Dorial had a large pizza buffet meal on a track meet afternoon and was running into a 40 miles per hour headwind and posted maybe an 11.5 in the 100, would the college scouts freak out and back off out of fear that the 6-foot-5 phenom had maybe lost a step?

“I don’t think so,” John said with a laugh. “Maybe last year or the year before, but not really anymore. I think everybody knows he runs pretty good at this point.”

FYI, DGB ran a 10.59 for his personal best in the 100 last year. Did we mention that he also was the state champ in the triple jump and state runner-up in the long jump?

*Is Dorial—who now holds state receiving records with 170 catches for 4,154 yards and 51 touchdowns over his first three seasons—any closer to narrowing his list of possible choices?

“We’d like to have it narrowed down to five or six schools by the first part of the summer, maybe mid-June,” John says. “We’ve got a few more visits to try to get in before that time.”

It’s important to note that the Beckhams are limited to taking unofficial, unpaid visits at this time until Sep-tember. They did take a pair during spring break, visit-ing Ole Miss and Alabama in one-day trips. Dorial spent time playing pool with Crimson Tide star receiver, and soon to be very rich NFL receiver, Julio Jones, on the trip to ‘Bama. “Alabama was a good trip…Julio was a really cool guy,” John said.

*Are the Beckhams wearing down under all of the re-cruiting attention?

“I’m a lot more tired of it than Dorial is,” John said with a laugh. “Right now, they’re not allowed to talk to him, so I’m the one getting the phone calls. I get a lot of calls every day…so I’ll be kind of glad when it’s over. I get a lot of calls mainly from assistant coaches, but also a lot from head coaches.

“Usually, when Darnell is getting treatment I don’t answer the phone, and I’ll leave my cell in the car,” he added. “Kind of different when I go to check my mes-sages and it’s from Bob Stoops and Les Miles. I don’t think Dorial is a big fan of the recruiting process, and I don’t think he enjoys it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he shuts it down early.”

*And lastly, there’s the aforementioned treatment for Darnell, Dorial’s freshman brother who was diagnosed with leukemia this past winter and has been undergoing treatments in Memphis for the past two months.

The best news of all…Darnell is responding favorably to those treatments, to the point where doctors aren’t rul-ing out his return to athletics—potentially as early as this fall—and especially by his junior and senior seasons with the Hornets if all signs continue to flow positive.

And I’m sure the college recruiters are wondering, like many fans of their programs are…does Darnell’s health situation change Dorial’s thinking in terms of staying closer to home for a college destination?

“We’ve talked about that. I told Dorial I want this to be a very selfish decision on his part, that I want him to pick the school that’s best for him,” John says. “I also told him, ‘we’re going to take care of Darnell and find a way to watch you play, so don’t let that be a factor.’ After all this, most of his treatments will be in Springfield, except for a few checkups (in Memphis).”

*Speaking of DGB, Ozarks fans will get maybe one last chance to see him on a big stage next January, when Hillcrest is one of eight teams in the 28th annual Bass Pro Tournament of Champions Jan. 12-14, 2012, at the JQH Arena.

Glendale will be the other local entry as the field was announced recently by tournament director Mark Fisher. Other teams making the trek to Springfield will be Christ the King of Middle Village, N.Y., Miller Grove High of Lithonia, Ga., St. Rita of Chicago, Westbury Christian of Houston, Lincoln out of San Diego, and Sylvan Hills from Sherwood, Ark.

Christ the King will be making its 14th T of C appear-ance, while St. Rita from Chicago is coached by Gary DeCesare, long-time guide of the St. Raymond’s Prep teams that used to alternate with Christ the King in com-ing to the event.

And fans, get those autograph pens handy. As usual, it appears the most highly touted players in the field (out-side of football star DGB, of course), are Westbury Chris-tian’s 6-3 senior point guard L.J. Rose, rated the No. 1 PG in the country in the class of 2012 by ESPN; Sylvan Hills’ 6-4 shooting guard Archie Goodwin, ranked the third best nationally at his position by Scout.com; Tyree John-son, a 6-4 junior from Lincoln of San Diego rated No. 4 by ESPN at his shooting guard position; and Tony Parker, a 6-8 senior-to-be standout from Miller Grove (Ga.) rated No. 5 at his power forward position by ESPN.

*We want to take this opportunity to welcome back to the Ozarks one of the good guys in the coaching world, as Joel Wells is coming back home as the new head foot-ball coach at Kickapoo High.

Wells, an Aurora native, has spent the past three sea-

sons at Liberty (Mo.) High School, butting heads in the KC area with the likes of Rockhurst, Blue Springs and other big boys of the state’s Class 6 football powerhouse world. It’s his third tour of duty at an area school, having guided Cassville back in the late 1990s and then Nixa for seven years before heading north to Liberty, where he was 18-13 in three years. That record should come with an asterisk, as Wells saw the Liberty school district break off into two schools (Liberty and Liberty North) this past season, after going 15-6 under Wells the first two seasons.

His challenge at Kickapoo: getting Chiefs football back to the level of excellence it routinely achieved in the days of the late Jim Pearson, Kevin Byrne and early on with Kurt Thompson. Back to a time when Kickapoo Football was a feared opponent and a program that was churning out college recruits on an annual basis.

And that’s exactly one of the first tasks for Wells when he arrives at KHS full-time at the conclusion of this school year—to point out to the current batch of Chiefs that being merely good to above average for KHS football, which has become the norm in recent years (including a 4-6 mark last fall), is no longer acceptable.

“I think we’ve got to set the expectations high,” Wells says. “The research I did in looking into the job, they haven’t made the playoffs since 2001, and I know a cou-ple of those years they were Class 6 and had good teams that simply didn’t get in. But Kickapoo shouldn’t go a 10-year period without getting into the playoffs. We’re go-ing to have to set that expectation from seventh grade on up. I think it can happen…I know they have the spring league and those things now, but you’re going to have to make football have an appeal to them.

“The big thing I want to do is have the best athletes out for football, even if it’s their second and third sport,” he added. “We want the baseball players, the basketball players, the wrestlers to come out…and from the coaches there that I’ve met, and from what I’ve been told, every-body is willing to work with each other to get them out there. Everybody wants to talk about specialization, but I want them to play basketball, baseball, run track…but I want them out there playing football, too, to create the best thing we possibly can.”

Wells, who’ll run a spread attack offense at KHS, says his brief time at Liberty also has made him better equipped as a coach to get the Chiefs to a higher level. For one thing, Wells says, he learned better communica-tion skills in a program where he essentially had 27 as-sistant coaches from the eighth grade on up.

“I’ve had the ability the last three years to compete against the best of the best up here in Class 5 and 6, so I know and I’ve seen exactly what it takes to be able to compete at this level,” Wells says. “It’s made me a better football coach, without a doubt. I feel like you really get a Master’s degree in the passing game on both sides of the ball, really. A big difference up here is when someone goes five wide, you’ve got to cover all of them. There are no imposters out there. It really expanded my knowledge of the game and things like that, and I think that has made me a better coach.”

END ZONE

EEZZScott Puryear

Co-Host, The Sports Reporters (JOCK 98.7)

Scott Puryear has been a part of the Springfield media scene since 1985 as both a sports writer/columnist for the Springfield News-Leader and in his current role as co-host of The Sports Report-ers Mondays through Fridays from 9 to 11 a.m. on JOCK 98.7 FM.

Family Pass Available – $69 99 for mom, dad,and all the kids 17 & under.

417.335.8080 • JimStafford.com • 3440 W Hwy 76 • Branson MO 65616

00121 STAF Ozarks Prep Full 3/2/11 10:02 AM Page 1

Z

Big Jimmy

Family Pass Available – $69 99 for mom, dad,and all the kids 17 & under.

417.335.8080 • JimStafford.com • 3440 W Hwy 76 • Branson MO 65616

00121 STAF Ozarks Prep Full 3/2/11 10:02 AM Page 1

FedProtection

THIS

WE

federalprotection.com

Providing Security Services for Financial Commercial & Residential Facilities since 1969.

800.299.5400

SECUREHOUSE

Federal P R O T E C T I O N , I N C .®