11-2, Bad Days can be learning experiences!

Well, the wining streak comes to an abrupt halt. The Lady Railroaders lost to the NHC today and now sit at 11-2.  We had a very tough time adjusting to the great defense of both the Homestead and Columbia City teams.  We had a terrible day shooting free throws and an equally bad day turning the ball over.  In the first game we were 8 of 20 from the line and followed that up with 6 of 16 in the second game . Both NHC teams are well coached and are very disciplined teams.

I don't usually comment on officiating.  The Railroader faithful were not thrilled with the officiating at either game (to say the least).  I have to admit when I got to the first game I noticed we had a very inexperienced officiating crew. Because of the quality of the teams playing, i knew this would be an intense game and I have to admit I was worried about the officiating from the beginning. I am not sure they had the experience of this level of game. HOWEVER, WE DID NOT LOSE THIS GAME BECAUSE OF THE OFFICIALS! We lost because we had twice as many turnovers as Homestead and shot only 40% from the free throw line. BOTH teams had exactly 20 fouls called on them. I have to admit this was a lot of fouls but the officials were calling the game equal for both sides. The final score of 52-55 could have been in our favor had we just corrected the turnover and free throw stats.

The second game we had a very experienced officiating crew.  We can disagree with some of their "untimely" calls but again they had minimal impact on our losing this game.   Our poor free throw shooting and equally poor shooting from the field (33%) had much more of an impact on our loss.   When you combine that with their rebounding advantage of 2 to 1. It's hard to blame the loss on officials.  Columbia CIty was called for 17 fouls while Garrett was only called for 14.

So, I always say when we play a perfect game and lose, then we can blame the loss on the officials. We were far from perfect today.

Hopefully we can learn from these losses today and we can correct some things to get ready for the ACAC tournament and the IHSAA tournament! We need to learn from days like this and make ourselves better!

Third Times a Charm -- Cancellations!

Both the Boys and Girls C-Team games at Fremont scheduled for tonight have been cancelled and will be rescheduled at a later date. We will look for a date sometime in January -- Third Times a Charm!

The VARSITY Wrestlers will practice this afternoon from 1pm-3pm.

The VARSITY Girls Basketball Team will practice this afternoon from 3pm-5pm.

The Boys Basketball teams were not scheduled to practice today.

All other Athletic Practices have been cancelled for today.

HAVE A GREAT CHRISTMAS BREAK. Enjoy the time you have with your families and try to have some fun!

Merry Christmas and remember the Reason for the Season!

Another Buzzer Beater!

I don't know how many times I can take it. But, the Varsity Boys (3-4) defeated the Angola Hornets tonight on the road in the Hornets Nest!  The game was close most of the way. THe Railroaders had the largest lead of the night at 8 points but Angola battled back to take it to the last few seconds of the game. Garrett was on defense for the last 34 seconds of the fourth quarter when the Railroaders were called for a foul.  Angola hit both free throw shots and led by two points with 4.3 seconds. Garrett brought the ball up the court after a time out and were fouled. We were not in the bonus yet. Then Todd Frickey took the ball out of bounds with 1.6 seconds left. He passed the ball in to a WIDE OPEN Drake Landes who drained a 3 point shot at the buzzer. GAME OVER!

What a finish. Two of these in one year is tough on your heart. But, it is a lot easier to take when you are on the winning side! Great Job Railroaders!

The Boys have short Christmas Break and are not back in action until after the New Year!

11-0

I have dreaded this game since last December. The 2nd ranked Lady Railroaders traveled to the Stardome at South Adams High School to take on the Lady Starfires tonight. The South Adams Girls Basketball program has struggled to win games. They have won only one game this year and have been beaten soundly by most of their opponents. It is just as hard to play this type of game as it is to play an opponent you know is going to beat you badly.  It certainly is tough to Coach and tough to prepare for. Last year, we got accused by their former Head Coach of running the score up.  You are in a no win situation with this type of game.

Our coaching staff led by Dan Feagler did a wonderful job tonight. All of our girls played. Craig Kelham did a great job playing all of his girls in the jv game and Dan did a great job distributing playing time for all of our varsity girls also. The only stat that's important is this: Every girl on the Varsity squad tonight played and scored.  Heather House, Megan Getts, and Jessica LaTurner all were in double figures on the way to a final score of 68-15.  The Lady Railroaders did not press at all during the game and still came up with 33 Starfire Turnovers.

We now have a 10 day break until the NHC-ACAC Challenge at Columbia City. The games will be much different on that day. Homestead has a great team this year and Columbia City is always tough and especially so on their home court. This challenge will tell exactly where we are in preparation for the post season tournament.

Amazing Stats!

Here are some amazing stats form tonight's game

Garrett shot 43% for 2pt shots -- Leo shot 45% , however Leo took 51 2pt shots, we took 35
Garrett shot 22% for 3pt shots -- Leo shot 23%, however Leo took 31 3pt shots, we took 23

Garrett shot 86% for Free throws - Leo shot 72%, however Leo shot 25 free throw, we shot 14.

We had 49 rebounds, they had 56.  Here's the kicker: Garrett had 25 turnovers, Leo had 8.

I point this out for one reason. We got beat by 28 points. It sounds like we got dominated. But, we matched them stat for stat except on big one, Turnovers. If we can keep from turning over the ball, they don't get as many possessions, then they can't score as much and this game might have a different outcome.

Our Guys are close!

The Lions Den!

Daniel may have survived the Lions Den with the help of God, but the Railroaders couldn't survive the Lions Den at Leo tonight. Leo's aggressive trapping defense and up tempo game style were too much as the Lions defeated Garrett 85-57.

I was very proud of how are players and coaches worked hard throughout this game.  It was great to see Drake Landis and the rest of the boys on the team scrapping for every loose ball all the way to the end of the game.  I also want to tip my hat off to the Leo Lions and specifically Coach Cogdell for their sportsmanship tonight. I know Coach Cogdell  and Athletic Director Brock Rohrbacher very well and Leo does not have a reputation for being gracious in victory. But, Coach Cogdell backed off the defense after the game was well in hand and the Leo fans also displayed good sportsmanship throughout the game. At the very end of the game, in a great display of sportsmanship, he also decided to hold the ball instead of continuing to attack on offense. Although this prevented us from substituting some jv kids into the varsity game, it was done with good intentions. Thanks Coach Cogdell, it is good to be a part of a conference where players, coaches, and fans can be gracious in VICTORY as well as defeat.

Next up, the Boys travel to Angola to take on former NECC Rivals.  I guess we go from the Lions Den to the Hornets Nest. This is a triple header basketball night is next Tuesday, December 21st with the C-Team game starting at 5pm, the JV at approximately 6:15pm and the Varsity at about 7:45pm. Good Luck Railroaders!

NHC - ACAC Showdown

Garrett has 4 of the NHC teams on it's schedule this year. The first installment of the "Showdown" goes to the NHC.  I have not received the final stats but Bellmont dominated most of the game. Garrett had spurts where we played pretty well and just before the end of the 2nd half, we brought it within 2 points. But, Bellmont had a small run at the end of the first half and Garrett was down 5 points. However, the Braves came out with some intensity to start the 2nd half and dominated the rest of the game.  The Braves were much taller than us and dominated the Boards. We also helped their cause by committing several turnovers that led to Bellmont points. We dug a hole and couldn't fight our way out of it.

The Boys continue the season on Friday night traveling to the Lions Den to face the Leo Lions in another key ACAC conference game.  Leo plays a very up tempo game and the Railroaders will have to be patient and play good defense. Game time tip-off for the C-team and JV is 6pm. Good Luck Railroaders!

10-0 + ACAC INFORMATION

Well, the Big Train keeps rolling. The tracks aren't as smooth as they should be but the Lady Railroaders keep finding ways to win. The team defeated a good Fremont team (6-2) by a score of 42-32.  Fremont shot 33% from inside the arc while the Railroaders only shot 30%. However, Garrett was 4 of 9 from behind the 3 point line while Fremont was 1 of 7. In all other stats the two teams were pretty evenly matched.  Garrett was led by senior Heather House with 15 points, Megan Getts had 8 and Katie Depew had 7 points. Fremont had two in double figures, Carlson and Kobalek.

The Lady Railroaders will travel to  South Adams on Saturday night for the last game before the Christmas break.

Today, the ACAC Tournament draw was held in Decatur. This tournament is the longest running tournament in the State, 2nd only to the IHSAA tournament.  Both Railroader Basketball teams will travel to Heritage High School on Tuesday, January 11th. The Boys will open the night at 6pm followed by the Girls game at approximately 7:30.  The reason for the switch is that the Boys Semi-Finals are at the Coliseum on Wednesday, while the Girls Semi-Finals are on Thursday.  The early Boys game gives them the opportunity to go home early on Tuesday so they will be fresh to play on Wednesday.

The Garrett teams would face either South Adams or Woodlan in the Semi-Finals.  Garrett's Semi-Final game times would be at 7:30pm on Wednesday or Thursday. The Championship games will be played at the Coliseum on Saturday. The girls will play at 10am followed by the Boys at Noon.  Good Luck during the tournament.

Practices and Cancellations

Snow will be redeveloping in the area later this afternoon and tonight. The winds will continue to be a problem through this evening.

The C-Team Boys Basketball game at Southern Wells has been postponed to Monday, January 31st at Southern Wells.

The JV Wrestling 4 way tournament at Northrop has been cancelled and will not be rescheduled.


Wrestling, Girls Basketball, and Boys Basketball practices will be permitted ONLY between 1pm-3pm today.  These practices are for VARSITY teams only.  Coaches will be initiating their "phone trees" to share this information.  Practices during these conditions ARE NOT mandatory. IF a parent or student does not feel they can travel to practice safely, they should remain at home.  There will be no consequences for not attending. As usual, the safety of our kids is #1!

9-0

Another W for the 2nd Ranked Lady Railroader Basketball team. But, after a dominating 1st half, the 2nd half was actually won by the Lady Jets of Adams Central 22-19.

The Lady Railroaders had 9 blocks and 13 steals, but also had 19 turnovers for the night. But a win is a win and we will take all we can get. We certainly have things we can work on to earn the number 2 ranking in the polls.

Fremont will be a very tough challenge and their record of 6-1 is pretty impressive. The game is in the Bateman Gymansium on Tuesday with a 6pm JV start.

On a special Note.........Thanks to Principal Matt Smith for filling in for Bob Novy as announcer. Our Principal is the greatest.

WR Results

Here are the results from last nights Wrestling vs Leo:

Another great match. The meet came down to Zach Helton's match and he pulled out the win! Great team effort tonight.


JV

130- Chris Hunkler (Gar) pin Chase Ringwood 1:35

145- David Helper (Leo) pin Gabe Gunion 3:25

152- Brock Omspacher (Gar) dec Chris Rave 13-10

215- Luis Martines (Leo) pin Matt Schultz :27



Garrett 37 vs. Leo 30

Varsity

125- August Novy (Gar) dec Anthony Crossgrove 5-2

130- Austun McCray (Gar) dec Rance Harris 8-6

135- Brayden Moreau (Gar) maj dec Aaron Eichart 16-3

140- Corey Botts (Leo) dec Logan Lee 5-2

145- Kyle Lanning (Leo) pin Alex Copeland :52

152- Isaac Stevry (Leo) dec Brett Schendel 5-0

160- Garret Weber (Leo) pin Nathan Duesler :20

171- Spencer Cooper (Leo) pin Che Fuentes 1:06

189- Alex Jacacki (Leo) pin Erich McCrumb 2:51

215- Travis Carunchia (Gar) pin Braden Waggoner 1:33

285- Austin Gibson (Gar) pin Jesse David 4:14

103- Ryan Fawcett (Leo) def Forfeit

112- Dustin Alwine (Gar) def Forfeit

119- Zack Helton (Gar) dec Logan Gengler 4-1

WR Rumor!

Rumor has it the Wrestlers got an ACAC victory tonight by defeating the Leo Lions at Leo. I don't have details but I do know it was another close match with the final match determining the winner.  Congratulations to Coach Fielden and the Mighty Railroaders!

How to Talk to Your Child's Coach

Truth #1 = Coaches are not evil.

Truth #2 = You can communicate with your coach.

This is a great video that endorses our Athletic Department policy on Coach/Athlete/Parent communication.

Watch the video for tips and ideas from someone outside our school. I think you will see our philosophy is not unique!

If you as a parent have a question or problem with your coach, there is a proper way to communicate. In short, our policy is to follow this process:

1. The first step is to encourage your athlete to talk to their coach personally and privately. One of the most popular questions is about playing time. The best way for an athlete to handle this question is to ask, "What can I do to increase the amount of time I get to play in games?" I have never, ever heard of a coach that won't take the time to answer this question of a player. We want our student-athletes to learn through their participation in sports. One of those learning experiences is to learn how to communicate properly with adults who have authority over you. This is not always a comfortable situation, but it is great for them to learn. The question doesn't have to be about playing time. ANY conversations about questions or problems that come up during the season should start with a Player / Coach discussion. 95% of the time this is the only discussion that needs to occur. As the video says, students can become responsible for their own experience.

2. If this meeting does not go well or if issues are not resolved, it may become necessary for the athlete/parent to set up a meeting with the coach to discuss the issue. As with the player/coach meeting, this discussion needs to be in private and NOT after or before a contest. Most schools use a 24 hour rule. This rule says that a player or coach will not talk to a coach within 24 hours of a contest. This gives some "cooling off" time. Cooling off time is important because parents are passionate about their kids, and they should be! But sometimes emotion can get in the way of problem resolution. Follow the 24 hour rule, it works!

3. The 3rd step is for the Athletic Director, ME, act as a mediator for resolution of the problem. I can tell you that every single one of our Coaches at GHS talk to me about issues that come up on their teams, DAILY! There are very few problems I am not aware of (however, sometimes it does occur!) After going through the first two steps, if your son or daughter does not feel the problem has been resolved, I should be contacted. Re-read that statement. Make sure it isn't just a problem YOU have. If the athlete is satisfied, let it drop. If not, I will schedule a meeting with all the interested parties and we will come to some type of resolution. That doesn't always mean we can fix it to a parents or athletes satisfaction. Sometimes we just have to agree to disagree about the resolution of a problem But, we are committed to doing what we think is best for the kids at GHS.

4. The 4th step is to forward this problem to the Principal. He/She will also set up a meeting to talk about the situation with all the parties involved. Again, if the problem is not resolved to your satisfaction.

5. The final step is to set up a meeting with the Superintendent.

I was a parent of a couple of GHS students at one time. I am proud that my kids graduated from GHS! They participated in many sports and extracurricular activities. I know how much it hurt me when my daughters were upset about how things were going on their team or at school. But, try to take the emotion out of it. Try to look at both sides of the issue. Our coaches care deeply about your kids. They want what is best for your son or daughter. The Coaches want and want what is best for the team. You may disagree with their decisions, but they do it with a good heart. No one can say our coaches don't care about their players. No one can say they don't want the best for their team. I love our coaches, athletes, and parents at GHS. Roll Big TRAIN!

Good and Not so Good!

Do you want to hear the Good news first or the Bad News?

I never know how to answer this question. So I will start with the Bad News first.

The Varsity Boys Basketball team were defeated tonight by Fremont at the Bateman Gymnasium. The lone bright spot of the night was Senior Eric Custer dominated inside. Eric Scored 26 points but the Railroaders were soundly defeated 84-64. Although the offense was not as good as we're used to, it was the defense that really struggled tonight.  You have to give Fremont credit. They out hustled us on both ends of the court.  The Railroaders started out with a 12-4 lead and then never recovered  the rest of the game. The other bright spot of the night was the JV victory on a last second 3 point shot by Kylan LaMotte.

The Good News is the wrestlers bounced back after the tough defeat to South Adams last week by beating Snider in a make up game from November. Garrett won by a score of 40-34. The Railroaders won 8 of 14 matches. Brayden Moreau and Hayden Lee remained undefeated for the season. The match came down to the final match with Carunchia pinning Snider for the victory.

The individual results are listed below:

JV
135- Chris Hunkler (Gar) def Carsten Clark 7-3
171- Che Fuentes(Gar) pin Adam Whisler :36
Garrett (40) vs. Snider (32)Varsity
103- Hayden Lee (Gar) tech fall Drew Gordon 18-3
112- Enrique Early (Sni) pin Zach helton 3:22
119- Jose Casa (Sni) maj dec Dustin Alwine 10-4
125- Mason Meling (Sni) maj dec August Novy 11-3
130- Austun McCray (Gar) pin Tyler Mckee 3:03
135- Brayden Moreau (Gar) maj dec Jared Wilson 11-1
140- Logan Lee (Gar) maj dec David Frygang 13-1
145- Kyle Lanning (Gar) pin Aaron Bender :54
152- K.C. Corey (Sni) pin Gabe Gunion :59
160- James Storks (Sni) pin Nathan Duesler 1:14
171- Brett Schendel (Gar) def Braine Morgan 4-3
189- Logan Dan (Sni) pin Lucas Bobay 1:38
215- Austin Gibson def Forfeit
285- Travis Carunchia pin Jarimiah Kelsaw 1:45

The other good news of the day is our Girls Basketball team moved up to 2nd in the State 2A rankings behind Bishop Luers and they were chosen as the Wane TV 15 team of the week. 

Wane TV Team of the Week -- Video

 Great work Lady Railroaders! Keep the Big Train Rolling!

Cancellations!

I hope this is not an early trend. But, Winter is here!

The C-Team Boys and Girls Basketball games at Fremont are cancelled and will not be rescheduled at this time.

Also, all practices are cancelled today. This includes Wrestling, Boys Basketball and Girls Basketball.

The weather conditions are  not expected to improve until tomorrow. Although main roads are in decent shape, the side roads and country roads are snow covered and slick. The winds are supposed to continue to increase throughout the day.

Just as a note of information, Decisions about games and practices will be made by Noon if possible. Practice and Game cancellations will be decided based on existing and expected weather conditions. IF practices or games are held on School Cancellation Days and parents feel their son or daughter can not get to  practice or the game safely, they are excused and NO consequences will be issued. Safety of our Student Athletes is the most important factor.

8-0

BIG, BIG WIn for the Lady Railroaders. Always a tough opponent and a very rough game, Leo again came ready to play. But, despite a rash of illness all week, the Lady Railroaders overcame the rough play and won by a score of 39-31.  Leo shot just 27% from the field and Garret wasn't too far behind shooting only 33%.  With 40 fouls (Leo had 26 to 14 for Garrett) to say it was a rough game is an understatement. 3 Leo girls fouled out of the game and 1 Garrett player reached 5 fouls.

This game is always so critical because the Lady Lions have knocked us out of the ACAC championship several times in the past. But, when we have defeated Leo, it seems like we have a tendency to let down somewhere in the season. So, STAY Focused Lady Railroaders! Keep the Big Train Rolling!

Simple Truths - We Hope You Enjoyed the movie!

Simple Truths - We Hope You Enjoyed the movie!

Win #2

The Boys Basketball team did a really nice job fighting off the adversity of the Prairie Heights game to bounce back with a big ACAC Conference win tonight AT Woodlan.  The Garrett Guards were the difference in the game from start to finish. Drake Landes and Quinten Fiandt were top scorers for the team and they put just enough pressure on Woodlan to come out with a big win. Todd Frickey only scored 3 points tonight but they were big.  The Railroaders were down by two with 4 seconds left in the game. The Ball went to Todd and he shot a LONG 3 to end the game for the W. I guess it just goes to show, you don't have to score a lot to be a major contributor to the team Hitting a pressure filled shot to win the game is not easy.   The team had a great effort and really played well defensively.  Next up the Railroaders will host the Fremont Eagles in the Paul Bateman Gym on Tuesday Night.

The Girls team will host ACAC Rival Leo tomorrow night. The girls have also had to battle some adversity this week. Heather House, Kelly Singleton, and Katie Depew have all been sick this week.  Laura Moynahan had a head injury from practice and Katie Wisel has had an infected toe. This is not the game we want to play without being at full strength. Good Luck Girls.

Don't Forget tomorrow night is Black Out Night.  We need all the GHS Lady Railroader fans to be there to support the team in this important ACAC match-up!

ACAC Wrestling

Well, we didn't get the results we wanted at South Adams tonight. Our wrestlers lost to a tough Starfire team in the Stardome tonight.  The team is young and we had some matches that did not go the way they should have. I haven't gotten the results sent to me. But, I can remember Travis Carunchia, Hayden Lee, Brayden Moreau, Brett Schendel, Austin Gibson, and Austin McCray all won. If I'm leaving someone off, my memory is not that good.

Coach Fielden has some things to work on and I am sure they will work hard. The next ACAC match is next Thursday Night at Leo High School. Good Luck Wrestlers!

How Ashland Cross Country Plays the Game

How Ashland Cross Country Plays the Game