It was a busy week in the MCAA: the Cardinal football team completed its sweep of MCAA opponents, the Ellinwood Lady Eagle tennis team is headed back to state, and TMP's Heather Ruder was beat for the first time in nearly two years.
Hoisington
The Cardinal football team completed its sweep of MCAA opponents Friday with a dominating 41-15 win over Larned. Hoisington advanced to 4-2 on the year by scoring two touchdowns in each of the first three quarters, taking a 27-6 lead into the half, and a 41-6 advantage into the final quarter.
Cody Batt punched it in from a yard out early in the first quarter for the 7-0 lead. The Cardinal offense opened things up eight minutes later on a 69-yard strike from Derrick Kaiser to Hagen Hanzlick. Kaiser added a seven-yard touchdown early in the second quarter for the 20-0 lead, then Eric Hellerud took one in from a yard out for the 27-0 lead with 5:43 to play in the first half. Hanzlick and Batt added short touchdowns in the third quarter for the big win.
Hanzlick put up solid numbers all game, leading the Cardinals with 136 rushing yards on 17 carries. He also led the squad with 101 yards on three receptions.
“Hagen has done a tremendous job this year in every facet of the game,” said Hoisington coach Jason Ingram. “He is a great leader by his actions and effort that he puts out on and off the field. He tries to run harder each carry that he gets and is very hard to take down with first contact.”
Hellerud added 46 yards on four carries, and Austin Stout finished with 38 yards on two carries, and had two interceptions on defense. Kaiser threw for 69 yards on 6-of-15 passing.
Hoisington will try to get back on track as district play begins. Last season, the Cardinals missed the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons.
“As with the whole season, we only look at what is ahead of us,” Ingram said. “Each team starts 0-0 now, so we are focused on our goal of making the playoffs. We like the Al Davis phrase, ‘Just win baby,’ and that is what we will be focused on these next weeks.”
Ellinwood
Rain could not stop the Lady Eagle tennis team. For the second straight season, Ellinwood will send a full team to the state championships. The Lady Eagles dominated Friday and Saturday’s Kiowa regional, nearly doubling the next competitor with 21 points. Central Plains finished second with 11 points.
Oma Thomas won at in singles, finishing strong to beat Ashland 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. Thomas breezed through the competition before that, winning most sets by surrendering one game or less, and giving up two games only once.
In doubles play, Bailey Schartz and Darrien Beckwith started strong and finished strong. The pair gave up three total games in the first four sets of play. The squad then beat Chaparral 6-2, 6-0, before winning their biggest test of the day, a 6-4, 6-2 match against Central Plains’ Katie Hipp and Janae Hekele.
The team of Gentry McLeland and Kaitlyn Robl also did well, finishing in third place. The duo started the day at 2-0 with a shutout over St. John, and a 6-3, 6-4 win over Meade. Hipp and Hekele then beat the Ellinwood pair 6-1, 6-2, but the team bounced back to win beat Chaparral in a 6-7 (8-10), 7-5, 6-2 battle.
Rachel Morales competed in the singles competition, finishing sixth for the Eagles. Morales opened the day with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Cimarron, then lost to Central Plains 6-3, 6-1. Morales struggled early against South Barber, losing the first set 6-1, but took the final two sets 6-1, 6-0. Morales then lost to Meade to finish 2-2 on the day.
TMP
Heather Ruder is not used to losing. The two-time state champion cross-country runner did not lose a cross country race last year, and also cleaned up at the state track meet last spring. Thursday, the junior lost her first cross country race in two years, falling eight seconds short of Pratt’s Cheyenne Becker at the Sterling Invitational.
Ruder did lead the Lady Monarchs to a second-place team finish. Ruder’s time of 15:15.01 was second only to Becker’s time of 15:43.86. Allison Pfeifer finished fifth for TMP in 16:45.61. Annie Mindrup finished 22nd in 18:20, just ahead of Kayla Walker in 24th at 18:32. Allison Marsell ran a 19:08 for 30th place, and Jenna Lang was the final Monarch runner at 45th in 20:36.
TMP finished with 52 team points, eight points behind Invite champion Pratt. The TMP boys finished in eighth place. Ellinwood won the boys’ side.
Larned
The Indian football team has struggled to an 0-6 start to the 2011 season. Three of those losses came to MCAA opponents. Friday, Hoisington gave Larned its final MCAA loss of the year in a 41-15 contest.
Trailing 27-0 late in the first half, Brady Keith was able to break out for a 23-yard score. The Indians would not score again until the fourth quarter, when the Larned defense forced a Hoisington safety, and Jamil Shoemaker caught a three-yard pass from Easton Palmer for a touchdown.
Palmer threw for 124 yards and the score on 11-of-23 passing. Two of those pass tries were intercepted. Keith led the ground attack with 59 yards on 11 carries. Chad Wallace added 46 yards on 13 carries. Shoemaker finished with four catches for 46 yards. Keith added 44 yards on four receptions, and Brayden Smith took his one catch for 31 yards.
