Manchester Press, Manchester, Iowa

The Official Newspaper of Manchester and Delaware County, Iowa

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

HAWKS CLAIM TOUGH WESTSIDE TITLE!
Hawks top Vinton, Williamsburg next

For More Sports Action,
Pick Up Your Copy of The Manchester Press Today!

HAWKS CLAIM TOUGH WESTSIDE TITLE!
by Ken Boesenberg

No matter how focused a team is, it is hard to keep from looking ahead at what is coming up.

Last Saturday’s much anticipated Westside Volleyball Tournament in

The Hawks Emily Heffernen (left) and Tess Reinig (right) go up for a block against North Cedar last Saturday at the Westside Invitational Volleyball Tournament in Cedar Rapids. At right, Katie Wessels of West Delaware finishes off a kill against DeWitt Central. The Hawks swept the Sabers in three games last Thursday night to remain unbeaten in WaMaC Conference action.

Cedar Rapids had the top rated in Class 3A and number one tournament seed, Dubuque Wahlert on a collision course with the second ranked in Class 3A and number two seed, West Delaware.

In the end the Hawks took care of business all the way to the championship match where they defeated the sixth ranked Class 4A team, Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 2-1 to claim their first ever Westside Championship.

The Cougars blocked the anticipated West Delaware, Dubuque Wahlert finals showdown by defeating the Golden Eagles in the semi-finals, 15-21, 21-19 and 15-10.

The Hawks on the other hand defeated Dubuque Hempstead 21-19 and 21-10 to earn their spot in the championship match.

The Hawks went 3-0 in pool play, defeating North Cedar 21-7 and 21-9; Indianola 21-9, 21-10 and Linn Mar 29-27, 21-14.

In their quarterfinals match the Hawks disposed of Urbandale by scores of 21-12 and 21-12 while Wahlert was defeating Dike New Hartford 21-16, 21-12; Cedar Rapids Kennedy was defeating Iowa City West 21-16 and 21-12; in the fourth quarterfinals match Dubuque Hempstead downed Waterloo Columbus 23-21, 15-21 and 15-13.

The semi-finals had Cedar Rapids Kennedy defeating Dubuque Wahlert 15-21, 21-19 and 15-10 while the Hawks were disposing of Dubuque Hempstead 21-19 and 21-10, setting up the finals match between the Cougars and the Hawks.

Against Kennedy the Hawks lost only their second game of the season as the Cougars took game one, 21-14.

There wasn’t any panic on the Hawks side as they came right back for a resounding 21-12 victory in game two as Katie Wessels, Lindsey McDowell and Emily Heffernen combined for 11 kills against the Cougars.

In game three the Hawks got off to a bit of a slow start and trailed 9-5 before pulling to within three points at 12-9.

Junior Emily Heffernen recorded back to back kills for the Hawks and a net serve by Kennedy got the Hawks back to even with the Cougars, 12-12.

A pair of Heffernen kills sandwiched around a huge block for a point by Tess Reinig gave the Hawks a huge game three win, 15-13 and a Westside Invitational Tournament Title.

This was the Hawks first ever trip to the Gold Medal round and they made it a memorable one.

Dubuque Wahlert had won the previous six tournament titles before not making it to this years finals.

It was a fitting end to the week as the Hawks had disposed of WaMaC Conference rival, DeWitt Central on Tuesday night in DeWitt, 3-0 (25-3, 25-10, 25-12) to remain unbeaten in WaMaC Conference play.

The Hawks now stand at 38-0 in match play while sporting an 85-2 game record for the season.
This week the Hawks will be involved in the WaMaC Conference Tournament.

Pool play will be held at Marion on Thursday night with bracket play taking place on Saturday evening at a site to be determined after the pool play takes place.

Match stats
vs. DeWitt Central
Ace serves - Katie Wessels 5, Katlyn Heiserman 1, Lindsey McDowell 2, Tess Wegner 4, Kayla Bries 1; Kills - Katie Wessels 14, Katie Murphy 3, Lindsey McDowell 8, Emily Heffernen 17, Tess Reinig 4; Blocks - Katie Wessels 3, Lindsey McDowell 1, Nicole Neverman 1; Digs - Katie Wessels 12, Katie Murphy 3, Katlyn Heiserman 7, Lindsey McDowell 2, Kaylin Kelchen 4, Danielle Graybill 1, Tess Wegner 4, Kayla Bries 3, Emily Havertape 4; Assists - Katie Wessels 2, Katie Murphy
hy 44.

Westside Tournament
statistics
Ace serves - Katlyn Heiserman 4, Katie Murphy 3, Kaylin Kelchen 5, Kayla Bries 1, Lindsey McDowell 8, Tess Wegner 7, Katie Wessels 10; Kills - Katie Wessels 54, Katie Murphy 5, Lindsey McDowell 29, Emily Heffernen 37, Emily Havertape 4, Tess Reinig 6, Nicole Neverman 1; Digs - Kayla Bries 2, Emily Heffernen 1, Katie Wessels 26, Katie Murphy 15, Katlyn Heiserman 38, Lindsey McDowell 11, Kaylin Kelchen 10, Tess Wegner 9, Emily Havertape 8, Nicole Neverman 3, Tess Reinig 1; Blocks - Nicole Neverman 8, Emily Heffernen 5, Tess Reinig 3, Katie Wessels 1, Lindsey McDowell 3, Emily Havertape 4; Assists - Katie Wessels 2, Katie Murphy 129, Emily Havertape 2, Katlyn Heiserman 2, Lindsey McDowell 1, Danielle Graybill 1, Tess Wegner 1.

Hawks top Vinton, Williamsburg next
by Ken Boesenberg

West Delaware junior quarterback BJ Hermsen completed a school record 21 passes for 321 yards and five touchdowns as the Hawks stayed unbeaten in district action with a 49-21 defeat of Vinton Shellsburg, in Vinton last Friday night.

Hermsen tossed touchdown strikes of 7, 11, 47, 21 and 10 yards to four different receivers.

The Hawks got a pair of first quarter touchdowns on the ground. The first on a 1-yard plunge by Hermsen and the second on a 2-yard run by junior Nate Lynch.

The second quarter was full of offense as the two teams combined for 358 yards of offense during the 12 minutes.

The Hawks Ryan Hauser makes a key catch of a pass thrown by BJ Hermsen to keep a Hawk drive alive against the Vikings of Vinton last Friday night. The Hawks improved to 6-0 with the 49-21 win over the Vikings.

The Hawk defense stepped up at the end of the first quarter and held Vinton out of the endzone after the Vikings had driven to the Hawk eight yardline with a first and goal.

The Hawks then mounted a 15 play 94-yard drive to extend their lead to 21-0 when BJ Hermsen hooked up with Zach McCool from 7 yards out.

McCool had gotten the Hawks out of big hole with a nifty 40-yard run on second and 12 from the Hawk four yard line.

Another big play in that drive occurred with the Hawks facing third and 10 from the Viking 44.
Hermsen found Ryan Hauser on the near sideline for 11 yards and a Hawk first down at the Viking 33.

Vinton answered the third Hawk touchdown with one of their own to cut the Hawk lead to 21-7 with 5:01 left in the first half.

West Delaware took the ensuing kick off and marched to the Viking 36 where their drive stalled out.

Vinton used a long pass play and three straight running plays to get to the Hawk 10.

It was then that Zach McCool intercepted a Viking pass and raced 81 yards to the Viking 11.

On the first play from scrimmage Hermsen connected with Ryan Hauser to give the Hawks a 28-7 lead with just 22 seconds left in the first half.

Vinton was able to complete three straight passes and scored as time expired to cut the Hawk lead back to 14 points, 28-14 at the half.

The teams traded punts to start the second half with West Delaware getting the better of the field position at their own 36.

Facing third and 14 from their own 32 Hermsen again connected with Ryan Hauser for a critical first down at the Viking 47. Following an incomplete pass Hermsen hit Devon Alber who was streaking down the middle of the field for a 47-yard touchdown pass to put the Hawks up 35-14 with 7:19 left in the quarter.

The Hawks forced Vinton to punt and with good field position at the Viking 45 it took just eight plays for the Hawks to up their lead to 42-14. This time it was a nice pass from BJ Hermsen to Brian McWilliams that gave the Hawks a 28 point cushion.

109 E. Delaware - P.O. Box C - Manchester, Iowa 52057
563-927-2020 / FAX 563-927-4945

Copyright Manchester Press 2005-2006
Thede Web Works - Web Questions