Lady Rams drop first conference match;
fall to K-Christian

The Galesburg-Augusta varsity volleyball team dropped its first conference loss to Delton-Kellogg September 17 and then fell to Kalamazoo Christian two days later.

The Comets took G-A in three games, 25-10, 25-15, 25-7 September 19 at G-A High School.

While G-A coach Jonica Klimp points out the team continues to struggle with third ball execution, she found some positives despite the tough.

“Defensively we are looking pretty strong. The back row is doing a great job keeping the ball in play,” points out the Lady Ram coach.

Jaidyn Klimp had four kills and seven digs and Suzanne Nicholas and Lily Gilbert each added eight digs.

Kalamazoo Christian def. Galesburg-Augusta, 25-10, 25-15, 25-7
G-A Stat Leaders:
Jaidyn Klimp 1 Ace, 4 Kills, 7 Digs
Suzanne Nichols 8 digs, Lily Gilbert 8 digs
Delton-Kellogg Clips G-A In 5 Games

The Galesburg-Augusta varsity volleyball team suffered its first conference loss of the season to an aggressive Delton-Kellogg squad September 17 in five games.

The Lady Rams lost the first two games (23-25, 18-25), but rallied to win the next two games (25-14, 27-25) before losing the deciding fifth game, (5-15).

Jaidyn Klimp finished with a team high 15 kills and led the team with 20 digs to go with five blocks. Lily Gilbert added 10 kills and 28 digs, Suzanne Nichols (15) and Rhyann Wilson (17) combined for 32 assists, Addison Born contributed 18 digs. Nichols had 12 digs and Lili Thompson and Samantha Mobley each pitched in with 11 digs.

Delton-Kellogg Def. Galesburg-Augusta, 25-23, 25-18, 14-25, 25-27, 15-5
G-A Stat Leaders
Jaidyn Klimp: 15 Kills 20 Digs 5 Blocks, 3 Assists
Lily Gilbert: 1 Ace 10 Kills 28 Digs 1 Block
Suzanne Nichols: 1 Ace 6 Kills 12 Digs 15 Assists
Lili Thompson: 1 Ace, 1 Kill, 11 Digs, 1 Assist
Rhyann Wilson: 6 Aces 3 Kills 3 Digs 4 Blocks 17 Assists
Samantha Mobley: 11 Digs 1 Assist
BreAnna Keene: 4 Kills 3 Digs 1 Block 2 Assists
Grace Gibson: 7 Kills 7 Digs
Addison Born: 18 Digs 2 Assists
Charlotte Lockner: 1 Dig 1 Assist

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G-A Varsity, JV, Freshman Volleyball
A Look Ahead
• 9/24, Martin (JV/Var.), Home, 5:30 p.m.
• 9/26, Watervliet (JV/Var.), Home, 5:30 p.m.
• 9/30, Schoolcraft (9th), Away, 4:30 p.m.
• 10/1 , Fennville (9th), Away, 4:30 p.m.
• 10/1 , Saugatuck (JV/Var.), Away, 5:30 p.m.

Matches start at 5:30 p.m. unless noted.

Freshmen and JV will play at the same time when all three teams are together.

Varsity matches will start approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the JV or freshmen and JV matches

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A scrappy effort helped the Galesburg-Augusta JV volleyball team to a win over Delton-Kellogg in two games September 17, 25-10, 25-13.

While the team battled hard, the JVs couldn’t keep the momentum going September 19, falling short to Kalamazoo Christian 18-25, 27-25, 9-15.

G-A coach Kristin Gibson said the game was played well by both teams and felt her team “left everything they had on the court and that’s all I could ever ask for.”

G-A JV Spikers Compete in Quincy Tournament; Earn 2 Wins

The Galesburg-Augusta JV volleyball team earned a win over Allegan  before bowing out of the Quincy Tournament in the first round of bracket play recently.

G-A defeated Allegan September 10, 25-4, 25-6.
G-A coach Kristin Gibson felt her team capitalized on free balls and was aggressive on offense in the win over Allegan.
The Lady Rams competed in the Quincy Tournament September 7.
 G-A played third in pool play before losing to Pennfield in the first round of bracket play.

“The girls played phenomenal this day and their energy on the court intimidated other teams while raising themselves up to the challenge,” explained Gibson.

G-A held off Parchment in two games September 5, 26-25, 25-15.

Coach Gibson felt her team struggled with serve receive in the first game but the team rebounded with great energy and strong serving to win by double figures in the second game.

While the Galesburg-Augusta mens cross country team continues to show promise, the team fell one point short at the Fox and Hound run at Kalamazoo Valley Community College September 21.

Kalamazoo Hackett, with 27 points, and G-A, with 28 points, were the only teams to have enough runners to score as a team in the event that included runners from seven schools.

Landen Bouchard and Carter Stevens finished second and third respectively with times of 18:19.61 and 18:31.62.

Kalamazoo Hackett, with 16 points, won the womens run.

G-A did not have enough runners to score as a team, however sophomore Ellesa Callender, with a time of 27:22.83, finished 13th as G-A’s first runner to finish.

In the two-mile middle school race, the G-A boys finished fifth with 131 points and the girls did not have enough runners to score as a team.

Plainwell won the middle school boys race with 39 points and the girls race with 25 points.

In the traditional cross country race all runners start at the same time and then finish in a stagger with the fastest runners coming in first. A fox and hound race flips this tradition to provide runners a race that challenges them on a different level. Runners are lined up and released from the start line by their best performance to date for the season, with the highest seeded runner going first. Each successive runner is released based on their seed time.

Medals went to the top finishers and a trophy went to the top team (team scores based on top five finishers like a standard meet), recognition of the top fox (athlete that drops the most time) and top hound (the athletes that makes the most passes).

Fox & Hound at KVCC
Men
G-A Results
2-Landen Bouchard, 18:19.61, 3-Carter Stevens, 18:31.62, 6-Nick Stevens, 20:21.93, 7-Knighten Rockwell, 20:25.08, 11-Ashton Dingee, 21:31.01
Women
G-A Results
13-Ellesa Callender, 27:22.83, 14-Claire Callender, 27:31.77, 15-Kayla Bortolussi, 28:09.77
2-Mile Middle School Race
Girls
G-A Results
9-Sophia Dohm, 14:39.50, 26-Neva Freed, 17:00.32
Boys
26-Hershel Dohm, 15:18.96, 27-Vinny Finedell, 15:28.23, 33-Everett Finedell, 16:42.36, 41-Aaiden Schroeder, 18:02.77, 42-Cameron Kuhse, 18:16.46, 45-Matthew Chichester, 19:43.30, 46-Colton Tiller, 20:06.89

G-A Senior Places 1st At Parchment Classic

While the Galesburg-Augusta mens cross country team finished sixth at the Parchment Classic September 18, Ram senior Carter Stevens placed first out of a field of 41 runners.

The Ram senior posted a season and personal best time of 17:43.03, just over 12 seconds ahead of the second place runner. Stevens, who enjoyed his second first place finish of the season, is aiming to break the school record set by Brian Coates G-A coach Chris Thomas believes is 17:32.

Marshall won the event with 66 points.

G-A did not have any runners compete in the women’s race, won by Marshall with 47 points.

G-A placed fifth in the boys middle school race while the girls did not have enough runners to score as a team.

Hershel Dohm was the first Ram runner to cross the finish line in the 1.80-mile race with a time of 14:20.52.

G-A 8th grader Sophia Dohm, with a time of 13:16.90, finished third in the girls’ middle school race.

Kalamazoo Christian won the girls middle school run with 19 points.

Parchment Classic
Men
1-Marshall, 66, 2-Coldwater, 73, 3-Bronson, 88, 4-Parchment, 95, 5-White Pigeon, 107, 6-108, 7-Martin, 159, 8-Delton-Kellogg, 168.
G-A Results
1-Carter Stevens, 17:43.03, 7-Landen Bouchard, 18:38.64, 32-Knighten Rockwell, 21:10.17, 38-Nick Stevens, 21:30.17, 43-Ashton Dingee, 21:52.53
1.8-Mile Middle School Race
Men
1-St. Michael Lutheran, 50, 2-Kalamazoo Christian, 62, 3-Parchment, 67, 4-Martin, 75, 5-G-A, 118, 6-White Pigeon, 128.
G-A Results
23-Hershel Dohm, 14:20.52, 25-Vinny Finedell, 14:40.76, 34-Everett Finedell, 15:37.81, 41-Cameron Kuhse, 17:09.18, 50-Aaiden Schroeder, 18:55.60, 51-Colton Tiller, 19:35.89
Women
G-A Results
3-Sophia Dohm, 13:16.90, 17-Neva Freed, 15:54.61

Ram Cross Country Team Defeats Allegan and Comstock

With both Allegan and Comstock not having enough runners to score as a team, the G-A boys defeated both schools September 16 at Comstock.

G-A, which finished with 15 points, occupied five of the top eight spots.

G-A senior Carter Stevens was the first Ram to finish, crossing the finish line in second place in 19:34.59, just under 45 seconds behind the winner (18:49.76).

G-A did not have a runner compete in the women’s run.

Comstock Meet
Men
G-A Results
2-Carter Stevens, 19:34.59, 3-Landen Bouchard, 19:43.41, 6-Knighten Rockwell, 22:28.06, 7-Ashton Dingee, 22:42.16, 8-Nick Stevens, 22:56.50.

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G-A Cross Country
A Look Ahead
• 10/5 Port. Inv. M.S./H.S. at Portage West  TBD
• 10/10 SAC Finals H.S. only at U.S. 131 Dragway 4:30 p.m.
• 10/12 Bloomingdale Inv. M.S./H.S. Away 10 a.m.

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G-A JV football team now 2-2

The Galesburg-Augusta JV football team dropped back to .500 after suffering a 48-18 loss to Schoolcraft September 19 on the road.

G-A, now 2-2, received two passing touchdowns from Patrick Armock to J.J. Bailey and Alex Krugh and Armock also rushed for another touchdown.

The Rams recorded a 26-0 win over Allegan September 12.

G-A is scheduled to host Saugatuck October 3 at 6 p.m.

Eagles shutout Rams

By Dale Martin

A stifling defense and an opportunistic offense led Schoolcraft to a convincing 49-0 win over Galesburg-Augusta last Friday night at G-A’s Maskill Field.

The 3-1 Eagles scored early when Cooper Johnson fell on a fumble in the Rams endzone for the game’s first score. Three minutes later a 60-yard punt return gave the Eagles the ball at the G-A 15-yard line. Jaden Reiber’s 5-yard run with a Jack DeVries to Gavin Hart pass for the point after try gave Schoolcraft a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

G-A turned the ball over on a fumble minutes later at its own 23-yard line. It took just one play, a 23-yard scamper by TJ Luteyn, and Schoolcraft finished the quarter with a 21-0 lead.

Taking over at the G-A 47-yard line the Eagles needed just four plays, the last a 23-yard pass from DeVries to Drew Enright, to increase their lead to 28-0. Late in the second quarter the Eagles partially blocked a Ram punt giving them possession at the G-A 46-yard line. Two DeVries completions carried the Eagles to the G-A 2-yard line. Reiber scored from there and the Rams found themselves in a deep hole trailing 35-0 at halftime.

Schoolcraft’s seven first half possessions  all started in G-A territory. The second half was no different.

The Eagles returned the second half kickoff 42 yards to G-A’s 40-yard line. A 7-yard DeVries pass completion was followed by a 33-yard run by Cooper Howard giving the Eagles a 42-0 lead.

The Eagle defense forced an interception three plays later giving them the ball at the Ram’s 47-yard line. It took them seven plays to cover the distance with an 11-yard run closing out the scoring and giving the visitors a 49-0 win.

The Ram offense was held to 37 rushing yards and 12 passing. Three Ram miscues led to 21 points for the Eagles.

Jonah Ranes was a standout for the Rams on defense recording 8 tackles. Dominic Corsi had 5 tackles, Nolan Brewer and Caden Allie each made 4.

G-A (2-2) travels to Lawton this week for a 7 p.m. meeting with the Blue Devils.

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G-A JV/Varsity Football
A Look Ahead
• 9/27, Lawton (Var.) Away, 7 p.m.
• 10/3, Saugatuck (JV) Home, 6 p.m.
• 10/4, Saugatuck (Var.) Away, 7 p.m.

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