A whole new world...and a brand new season

Well here we are, one week into the fall sports season, and the 2009-10 school year will be starting up next week for all the high schoolers. This year also marks a whopping 10 years since I was a high school senior (Class of 00 represent!!). Where does the time go? Without trying to sound older than I actually am, blogging wasn't as frequent when I was in school. Actually, I don't know if it existed at all, but I do know that this blogging thing is new to me. So please bare with.

On to a look back at the first week that was in fall sports, starting with the Manchester-Clinton football game. The "Battle of M-52" was certainly that...a battle. Manchester's 20-14 double-overtime victory was proof that nothing is a given after the kickoff. The Dutchmen were coming off a Division 6 regional championship game appearence while Clinton (5-5 last year, lost in the first round) was undermanned. Yet hear were the Redskins, holding a 6-0 lead most of the night and surviving a late drive to go to overtime tied 6-6. The overtime was punch and counterpunch, until a big rush by the Manchester defensive line forced a fumble to end the game.

One lesson from the game. The Dutchmen have the potential to strike at any time on offense. The Logan Zigila-to-Corwin Every combination could be one of the deadliest in the county this year. Zigila, a senior, has enjoyed plenty of success in his career, posting a 25-4-1 record as a starting quarterback (varsity and JV). Every will give defensive coordinators playing to think about with his speed and jumping ability. Both are early favorites to make our All-Heritage West Football team.

The offense took a while to get going against Clinton, but that can be expected for a first game. The wet field didn't help matters either. But give it plenty of time, and the Dutchmen will be high octane soon enough. And once their running game finds its stride...look out Cascades Conference!!

Manchester volleyball and cross country are off and running (no pun intended, cross country fans). Both teams have new coaches in Sarah Andrews (volleyball) and Elissa Weidmayer. The volleyball squad is looking to rebound after a tough 9-13-9 campaign last year. Injuries curtailed their season in 2008, but a new conditioning program that Andrews has implimented should help the Dutch avoid that. There is plenty of talent with Tracy Schaible, Stephanie Ball, Halley Cook, but an early surprise has been Brooke Fuller, a senior newcomer who lead the team in kills in its first two tournaments. I'll predict that the Dutch are a dark horse in the Cascades race.

Weidmayer has some impressive athletes to replace on the cross country team, particularly James and William Heslip on the boys side and Fuller on the girls team. The girls team should still be decent with Liz and Jackie Timoszyk leading the charge. The sisters where state qualifiers a year ago and will provide valuable experience to the Dutch this season.

Speaking of the Heslips...they will be featured in our final Manchester Scholar Athlete 2009 series. The original plan to run their feature Thursday fell through due to the opening week of fall sports and the county football preview section. I didn't forget about them, so look for the feature in the Sept. 10 edition of The Manchester Enterprise. On that note, congratulations to all the student-athletes recognized over the summer for their excellence on the field and in the classroom.

That's all for now. See you next week.