Athletics 2012 Fall Sports Update

It was Dan Purlee’s first season as the Varsity Football coach. The team had a record of 4-5, losing in very close contests to teams that made the playoffs. Congratulations to the Junior Varsity team, who won the Lakeland Conference title with a record of 7-2.

Ray Prestly became the new Varsity Volleyball coach. The Varsity team had its ups and downs but the girls showed much improvement. Ray received the “Coach of the Year” award from the Lakeland Conference for his team’s improvement this season. Also, Ray hired a Junior Varsity coach and a freshmen coach volunteered to help with the expanding teams. The JV team had a great year and won the Lakeland Conference title along with several tournaments. The freshmen team learned many skills that will help them through their high school career.

The Soccer team had a new coach mid-season. Mike Peters took over and finished off the year with great success. Midwest Energy donated money to help pay for a new scoreboard that will be operational for the girls soccer season this coming spring.

Fall Sports had the following 1st Team All-Conference Players

1. Tyler Prestly – Football / Wide Receiver

2. Mike Dussel – Football / Guard

3. Sheridan Curry – Volleyball

4. Cameron Hayden – Soccer

Upcoming Sports Season

Wrestling

Second year varsity coach Josh Rinehart has a very promising wrestling team. Twenty-five students came out for wrestling. Our numbers are up from recent years. The first wrestling match for the 2012-13 season will be December 5th, at home.

Basketball

Both Varsity Girls and Varsity Boys Basketball have new coaches this year. Both coaches have a good number of athletes and expect great things from their teams. The boys team had 38 student-athletes participate in tryouts and ended up filling a freshman team.

Student Section

Our student section The Ranger Zone will participate in “Battle of the Fans.” The state of Michigan is in its second year with this program. The goal is to find the best student section in Michigan regardless of class size and to promote sportsmanship. Students will have to submit a three-minute YouTube video at the end of the year and a committee will vote on the best student section. The winner will get a banner and the title of BEST STUDENT SECTION.

Each home game will have a different theme decided by the Student Athletic Committee. To participate in The Ranger Zone go to the student Facebook page “The Ranger Zone” or to the Twitter account @Ranger_Zone to find out the theme of each game night.