Sports Briefs

By Ryan Jensen

Published: November 25, 2014

Bowling Season Recap

After six seniors graduated, the bowling team only has enough players for one team this year. They are optimistic about this coming year, given their first place spot in the division.

“The team this year is, in a lot of ways, a lot better than last year,” sophomore Ricky Stratmann said. “If we can hold on to that first place spot it’d be great. We’d make the cut for tournaments and hopefully win the championship.”

Coach Renee Miller returns as coach to the bowling team after two years.

“I’m a bowler, I really enjoy it and enjoy coaching the kids,” Miller said. “But, I’m really hoping they stay in first so that the kids can get money, get scholarships, for their hard work.”

Senior Alan Paaren is the only senior left on the team.

“I want us to win and keep doing what we’re doing,” Paaren said. “[My goal is to] make the year last as long as it can because it’s my last year.”

The Road So Far: Wrestling

With the new wrestling season beginning, here is a look back at how last year’s team fared. They finished with a record of 2-10 which the team felt did not reflect their talent, since they sent three wrestlers to State.

This year they start the season as they did last year with the Parkway South Tournament. Last year AJ Lozada took first at this tournament and looks to do the same this year. They follow that tournament with back to back matches against their rivals Francis Howell High School and Francis Howell Central.

Football Season Recap

The Varsity Football team ended their season strong by winning the first playoff game in this school’s history, making this season stand out from past years. The season started off poorly, with an 0-4 record, before the team turned around to win three of the five games to close the season.

“I think we’ve improved a lot this season,” sophomore Jimmy Gianopulos said. “We really got closer as a group.”

Soccer Recap

The Varsity Boys Soccer team finished with a record of 11-13, making it to District finals, where they lost 3-1 to Hazelwood West. After the loss, senior Gabe Grote described the game as ”their worst game of the season” and wished they could’ve done better.

“It was rough, I’m not going to lie,” Grote said. “I mean the other team deserved it a lot more and they earned it. What happened is because of us, there were no other factors, but I wish it could have been us.”

Ice Hockey So Far

Ice Hockey began the season by beating FHHS 6-3 in the annual Gold Cup game, a preseason game against FHHS. This is a bounce back from last season, when they lost the game 12-2. The team dominated this year with four goals from senior Brycon Johnson in the wing, and a performance that many would say was oustanding from his brother, sophomore Kavan Johnson, in goal. The crowd chanted both of their names.

“It was a great pleasure [to win],” Kavan said. “Since we lost to them last year, it was an unreal experience to beat them this year.”

The team holds a record of 2-2-1 as of press time, and their next game is against Timberland, Friday Nov. 28 at 9:30 p.m. at the Rec Plex. In order to continue their winning record and beat Timberland, the team will be looking to improve their defensive lineup.

“We need to play with more structure in our own zone, and pressure the other team more,” sophomore Ashton Clark said.

Last season, the team finished with a record of 7-14. The team looks to improve this season by working on their goal scoring, as they scored 64 goals in 21 games, an average over three goals a game.

“We need to build up the play more [to score more goals],” Brycon said. “We need to get the puck in more attacking positions and put our opportunities away.”

Girls’ Swimming Starts Up

Dec. 12 begins the first meet of the year for the Varsity Girls’ Swim team. The girls are looking to have a friendly, but competitive season this year with a young, talented and close knit group of swimmers.

“The team as a whole will do a lot better this season compared to last,” senior Lindsey Grzeskowiak said. “We have more talent and more speed this year.”

The team is finding different ways to compete in the GAC conference this year, more than they did a year ago. New freshman talent gives this team a bolstered chance at competing for a GAC title or shot at State.

“The team can make it to State,” Grzeskowiak said. “We are a young team with great freshman talent.”

This underclassmen talent will bring out the best of the upperclassman swimmers. The team will push each other to do better in the water this season, but pushing each other is not always the hardest thing to do compared to pushing yourself according to junior swimmer Samm Heupel.

“Swimming is a sport where you succeed as an individual but work as a team to improve yourself,” Heupel said.

Boys’ Basketball Coming Season

The Varsity Boys’ Basketball team will be looking to improve upon their 17-8 record from last season, when the team took first place in the GAC South. One challenge in doing this is the loss of nine seniors, making up three-fourths of the team from the previous season. Since the team doesn’t have as much experience this year as they have other years, this will be an obstacle for not only the players, but the whole team as well.

“I do not believe it will be that difficult,” senior Gabe Grote said. “It was hard losing some key players, but so far we have had six seniors be there, a lot coming back from my freshman team, but many have not played Varsity like the seniors last year.”

The first regular season game is coming up on Dec. 16 against FZE at 6:30 p.m. at FHN. The experienced players, as well as the new players, will need to be ready for the task ahead of them. The Knights also have some preseason games and a preseason tournament to prepare for the season. As both FHN and FZE lost in the first round of districts last year, they’ll both be looking to improve with their new rosters for the new year.

“They [the new players] need to learn how to deal with bigger, faster, stronger players,” junior Matt Borrelli said.

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