Sports slow for break

By Bill Mullaly

The final full week of action for the year 2007 took place over the last seven days for the Hudson High School winter sports teams. Three of the four teams were in action and leading the way was the number two ranked wrestling team that won the Montrose Christmas tournament last Saturday. The girl's basketball team continues to win game after game, as they are now 5-0 on the season as the holidays approach. The only winter sports team that is struggling is the boys hoop team but they are competitive and playing hard. The competitive cheer team had the week off and all of the teams will return to action once the first of the year arrives. Here is a look at what the Hudson teams did last week.

Wrestlers Continue to Win

Hudson went to the Montrose Christmas tournament and came home the winners of the event. The Tiger grapplers won all five matches and were not severely challenged in any of them. Hudson beat Martin 54-15 in the title match to claim the championship. Other teams that Hudson beat during the day were Flint Central 72-9, Highland Park 47-22, Tecumseh 40-21 and Flint Carman-Ainsworth 59-15. The five wins improve the team’s overall season mark to 17-2 as they head to the holiday break. Hudson had five wrestlers that went unbeaten on the day going 5-0. Zeb Hilyard at 112, Kevin Vanderpool at 119, Taylor Smith at 125, Kyle Hillard at 171 and Gabe Elliott at 189 pounds. Five other Tigers were 4-1 as those grapplers were Dakota Kelley at 103, Derrik Marry at 135, Caleb Ely at 152, Kyle Benschoter at 160 and Joey Beaubien at 215 pounds. Having ten of 14 wrestlers with records like that for the tournament it is easy to see why Hudson was the winner. The Tigers are the number two team in the state behind Hesperia in the rankings, which of course, at this time of the year means absolutely nothing but it sure does create excitement in the program. Many teams around the state are watching Hudson, as the experts feel that the Tigers could be the team to beat in late February at the state meet in Battle Creek.

The Tigers were also in action on Wednesday of last week when they went to state power Eaton Rapids to wrestle and the gained a split. Hudson lost to the host team 42-18, as Eaton Rapids is the number two team in division 2 compared to Hudson being number two in division 4. In the loss the Tigers had wins by Kelley with a void, while Marry, Benschoter, Beaubien and Eric Wolfe all gained wins by decision accounting for the 18-team points. The Tigers gave up too many pins in the loss, which was just the team’s second on the year. In the win Hudson beat Adrian 50-12. Getting wins by pins for Hudson were Hilyard, Jesse Reed, Marry, Hillard and Beaubien. If the name of Reed sounds unfamiliar it's because he transferred in this year from Hillsdale and he is going to be a big help to the team. Hudson is off to a great start on the season so far and fans had better get out to see this local state power wrestling team that very well could make a name for itself at the state meet in two months. Hudson is off now until Saturday, January 5th when they compete in the Jackson Parma Western invitational.

Girls Keeping Winning on Hardwood

Hudson had just one game last week on Thursday and it was at home versus league foe Erie Mason and Hudson won 56-40. Junior power forward Aubrey Laughlin was the key to the win as she scored 27 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and swiped the ball six times. “Aubrey had a great game,” said Tiger head coach Tom Romanowski. “We came out real flat as a team and it took a while to get going and Aubrey kind of carried us in this one.” Hudson was down 10-9 after one quarter as they had a hard time getting the juices flowing after the emotional win five nights earlier on the same floor against Addison. “We just didn’t come out with any intensity and it showed. We had this ho-hum attitude and it took us a bit to get our game going as Erie wouldn’t let us play our usual transition game going up and down the floor.”

Hudson regrouped to lead 26-17 at halftime and after three-quarters it was Hudson on top 43-35. Hudson’s lead was at just six points with just over six minutes to play when the Tiger defense clamped down and the Eagles never scored again. It was 46-40 when Hudson went on a 10-0 run to finish out the game and get its second win in the LCAA this season as they look to repeat as LCAA champions. Laughlin led with 27 points, while Ashley Boies had eight points, as did senior Janet Verdon with eight. Kellee Wonders had five points, as did Mykahla Frayer with five. Rachel Pawson added four. Wonders led the team with a game-high 14 rebounds and Pawson had seven assists. Boies added seven rebounds. Senior standout player Sheila Komarynski had to sit out with an injured knee but the prognosis is that she will return soon after the holidays and that is good news. The girls will not be off very much for the holidays as they were invited to the prestigious Grand Rapids West Catholic tournament. It is an event for all Catholic schools but they were short one team and asked Hudson to play. Thus, the Tigers will play under the name Hudson "Sacred Heart Scarlet" Tigers. Just joking! This is a very tough tournament and will be held between the holidays on December 27-28. If Hudson can somehow win these two games then they very well could go unbeaten on the regular season. Wouldn't that be something?

Wildcats Nip Tigers in OT

Hudson's boys hoop team played an exciting overtime thriller last Friday at Onsted and fell in the extra four-minute period by a score of 63-59. This game was deadlocked the whole way and you could just see overtime coming. The score was 9-9 after the first period. Then it was 23-23 at intermission. The score after three periods was 45-45 as both teams scored 22 points apiece in the third quarter after both getting just 23 after two quarters. Go figure that one! Then they both scored 11 points in the final quarter setting up the fan-favorite and referee-hater, which is overtime. Onsted won the game in overtime at the foul line as they hit five of seven attempts. "There was nothing in particular that won them they game except that they got to the foul line more than we did in the extra period and that was the difference as they made them," said a disappointed Tiger head coach in Wayne Perry.

Garrett Schoonover led Hudson with 14 points in the loss. He added eight rebounds and two steals. Blake Woodward had 13 points, while Matt Aguirre had nine points and six assists. Luke Milligan added nine points and Taylor Milligan had five. Nick Hart put in four, while Jeremy Busscher and Nate Burlew both had two and Brandon Hephner had one point. Hudson hit 12 of 21 foul shots compared to Onsted's 18 of 32 effort. The Tigers are now 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the LCAA. Hudson has beaten local rival Pittsford but they have lost to local rivals Hillsdale, Addison, Madison and league rival Onsted. The next game will be at home after the first of the year on the 5th versus another rival in Sand Creek.

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