Bark River-Harris High School started its wrestling program this school year, and became the smallest program in the Upper Peninsula. The team lost to powerhouse Iron Mountain in the first round of the MHSAA team districts last week, but there was still the individual district tournament to be held over the weekend in Munising. And BR-H freshman Curtis Labadie became the school's first-ever regional qualifier by finishing fourth overall in his weight class at districts. Labadie will represent himself, and his school, at the Division Four Individual Regional tournament next Saturday in downstate Manton.
After the Gladstone Braves finished off a 62-46 win over the Big Bay deNoc Black Bears Tuesday night, it was hard to tell that they had won the game. Nobody seemed to be happy about the performance, in which the Braves built a 33-point lead and then cruised to the victory.
Why? Well, shooting 14-for-40 from the free throw line is not very encouraging. And a slew of turnovers and missed lay-ups didn't exactly excite the guys, or a glum Coach Phil Griebel after the game.
For most of the night, not much went right for the Rapid River Rockets basketball team. The boys couldn't pass, couldn't shoot, and they were trailing their arch-rivals by 15 points with just 5:46 left in the game. But the Rockets stayed composed and put on an improbable late-game run to pull victory from the jaws of defeat.
Rapid River scored the final 19 points of Friday night's game and beat the Mid Peninsula Wolverines, 47-43, at the Rapid River High School Gym. "I told the guys that we had nothing to lose," Rapid River Coach Craig Carter said. "I told them that I'm not gonna get mad if they go for a steal and miss. And the guys came up big. But in Mid Pen's defense, they had some shots that went in in the first half that didn't go in the second half. They weren't taking bad shots. And they were protecting the ball decently."
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The Gladstone Braves scored 25 points in the fourth quarter and turned back the Mid Peninsula Wolverines, 52-41, in a non-conference game Tuesday night in Perkins. The game was sloppy at times, especially in the first quarter, when there were almost as many turnovers as points on the scoreboard. Mid Pen led, 9-8, after the first quarter, and Gladstone led, 23-22, at halftime. The game stayed close throughout the third quarter, as the teams managed to score just four points apiece. Leading 27-26 entering the fourth quarter, the Braves went on a 12-2 run. Click the above headline to see the whole story, and for more pictures.
