Watervliet Press Box by John Oliphant

Panther Football history The COVID curveball is keeping us all guessing what’s going to happen next. One of those possibilities was an attempt to postpone a couple heavy-contact sports until spring and bring spring sports to the fall. Fortunately the MHSAA recently agreed with just about everyone else that swapping the seasons wasn’t workable and didn’t do much to solve the virus-related problems. The bet was that full-contact sports, especially the big-money football season, would be safer in the spring when the rules will be relaxed. But that also meant bringing full-contact sports like boys soccer and lacrosse into the fall, as well as indoor sports like swimming and diving. The football season in California has been pushed back into the winter, but obviously that’s not going to work in any of the cold-weather states. As of this moment the regular fall sports schedule is still in effect, with full football practice starting August 10 and all other fall sports beginning on August 12. The first week of the regular season football schedule begins the week of August 20 and the others have varying schedules. Of course, all of this scheduling is subject to state restrictions. As a result of the no-contact rule currently in place the Panthers have not been able to participate in 7-on-7 drills with local schools, and team workouts have been somewhat limited, too. Cross your fingers, wear your masks, and avoid large gatherings and travel. We’ll see how well that goes.

Meanwhile, let’s talk about the recent history of the Tri-City football rivalries. Watervliet has played Coloma 67 times in the last 70 years, and the Comets lead the series 45-22. The Comets have a two-game winning streak going into the 2020 season. The Panthers have faced Hartford 68 times in the same span, and Watervliet holds the edge at 38-29-1. The teams haven’t faced each other since 2016, and the Panthers have won the last six matchups dating back to the 2011 season. That last loss to Hartford in 2010 must have inspired the Panthers because the next season they began a historic run, going 64-13, making seven straight playoff appearances and winning three district championships with an 8-7 playoff record. Unfortunately four of those playoff runs were ended by two eventual state champions and two runners-up. By the way, Coloma leads the series matchup against Hartford at 13-7. Overall, the Panther football program is 360-274-6 over the last 70 years, with a .567 winning percentage, putting them in the top half of the state’s best records. Hartford is a sliver behind, going 357-273-10 over the same span, at .566. The Comets are at .447, with a 281-348-6 record since 1950. Next week the plan is to look at the historic volleyball matchups.

Hartford Prress Box By Jerrod Birmele

MHSAA gives fall sports “green light”; but will it actually happen? The coronavirus pandemic has changed everybody’s way of life over the last four months, and has led to the cancellation of so many different aspects – school, graduations, sports, festivals, and more. In turn, people across the country have been looking for those bright spots, and as a sport reporter, the opening of sports has been one of them. Another bright spot for local athletes came last week via an important announcement from the MHSAA. On July 17, the Michigan High School Athletic Association issued “Summer Update #4” which stated that the organization’s current plan is to begin the 2020-21 school year playing fall sports as originally planned. While the announcement looked good in its opening sentence, it added “but with contingency concepts for potential interruptions due to the spread of COVID-19.” The 19-member legislative body, the Representative Council, made up of administrators and athletic directors from schools of all sizes throughout the state, met virtually to discuss the viability of having fall sports as scheduled this year. While a decision was made at their July 15 meeting, they will meet again next week for further discussions. A solid decision must be made soon, as football practice is set to begin Aug. 10 and all other sports two days later. This puts administrators, athletic directors, coaches and players all in a tough predicament. Summer conditioning, with the obvious restrictions, has been going on for a few weeks now. While conditioning will continue in the near future, nothing is completely set in stone. With the conditions changing minute-by-minute, fall sports can be postponed by the snap of a finger. This will require everyone to stay on their toes, and remain cautiously optimistic. With concerns in mind, the MHSAA has come up with a four-step “return-to-play” plan. This plan will allow for multiple scenarios the organization can use in the case that sports can be played as scheduled, or in the case COVID-19 has other plans. One way or another, they are trying to play three sports seasons this school year. The plans include: play fall sports in the fall, as scheduled; if conditions deem it necessary, delay the start of some, or all, fall sports practices and competitions; if conditions allow only some sports, play lower-risk fall sports with higher-risk sports postponed until later in the school year; and if any fall sports are postponed or suspended, resume the season using a reconfigured calendar that would see a completion of the winter sports season, followed by fall and spring seasons potentially extending into next-July. The MHSAA noted in their press release that the Representative Council did consider concepts that would have swapped fall and spring sports, but did not believe it to be a feasible plan, due to potential moderate and high-risk sports in both seasons (including football, volleyball and soccer). They also determined moving selected sports around to other seasons would not work, as it would make student-athletes pick between sports and would have created other logistical problems. However, all of these plans remain in the state government’s hands, and specifically, Governor Whitmer’s MI Safe Start Plan. Currently, the UP and northern Michigan are in “phase 5”, while all other regions are in “phase 4”. Here locally, what that means is no indoor training, practice or competition can be held. If we drop to “phases 1-3”, no school in-person education can exist, let alone athletics. As a high school sports fan and writer, I welcome this news. However, if I take that hat off and become a realist, it’s a lot more questions than answers. The biggest issue I have is how do you protect coaches and student-athletes? I understand, they are doing temperature checks and COVID-19 history now, and while that is great, it does not tell the whole picture. We know that many cases of the coronavirus come with “silent” symptoms, yet, without proper testing protocols in place, how can we really determine which student-athletes might have it? The last thing you need during an athletic season is for it to be passed along teammate-to-teammate; causing players and their families to have to quarantine in the process, costing them valuable practice time, along with games. Also, if you cannot have indoor practices or competitions, what does that do to the indoor fall sports seasons; here in Hartford, particularly volleyball? It could become a lose-lose situation for them, especially considering they are working hard, just like everyone else. It also leads to restrictions on weight room access, which is critical for the strength and conditioning of athletics throughout their seasons. I know that student-athletes all throughout Hartford want to play fall sports, and I totally get it. I want them to know that I want them to play, too. I want to be able to announce your goals and your touchdowns, and report on your amazing accomplishments and stats in the paper. I know that wearing that Hartford jersey means something. It’s a symbol of honor and pride; representing your community and your school, while playing sports with some of your closest friends, should never be taken for granted. The MHSAA and I both agree on the fact that sports need to be brought back safely. We need to continue to work with our state government and our local health departments to best come up with a plan for all activities to resume in the safest environment possible in this “new normal”. But, in the end, it all comes down to us – the citizens of our tri-cities. We must do our part now so that our student-athletes have sports to play this season, and effectively, this year. Before leaving the house, think of the senior student-athlete who may never get a chance to play football or volleyball again after their high school days; their last “hoorah” as many say. They deserve the opportunity to play, and the more we work together now, the sooner things begin trending in a positive direction. Let’s all work together, not just for the sake of having athletics, but for the sake of health, safety, and well-being of our friends, neighbors and citizens. It will take all of us to do this, but we can achieve whatever we set our mind to. To the citizens of Hartford, and even to the citizens of Coloma and Watervliet, I believe in you. Let’s make this happen. As always, GO INDIANS!

Coloma Press Box By Dave Vollrath

Comets introduce Joe Schmidt, new Coloma boys soccer coach The Coloma Comets had several coaching vacancies at the varsity level to fill at the beginning of the summer, including boys soccer, a fall sport, and girls bowling and girls basketball, which are both played in the winter months. Comet’s athletic director, Wendy Goodline, took little time in filling the most immediate need, which would be the soccer team whose season will begin late in August.

An announcement was made by the Coloma Comet Booster’s Facebook group announcing that Joe Schmidt had been Goodline’s choice to fill the soccer vacancy. Coach Schmidt wasted little time in introducing himself to Coloma. Through this post and also a letter to the soccer player’s families tells a little about himself and then goes on to list what his expectations will be and his principles for achieving those goals. This will be Schmidt’s third head coaching stint at the varsity level. He last coached the Lake Michigan Catholic girls from the 2017-18 season as they finished with an extremely respectable record of 15-2-4. After five years at LMC, Coach Schmidt then stepped away from coaching soccer for a couple of seasons to help in looking after his two young kids. He explains it, “I left coaching in 2018 to be able to help raise my young kids, and I am looking forward to the opportunity to work with the young men of Coloma, and growing a program and a winning tradition.” During his tenure at LMC, Coach Schmidt successfully coached both the boys and girls teams. The Record interviewed the new coach for an even closer look at getting to know a little bit more about him and his family. Coach Schmidt and his wife Abby have been married for eight years. Abby grew up in St. Joe, which is what drew the couple to this area. They had met while working summer jobs at the Van Buren County Youth Camp. This experience led them both to follow a career path that took them into the field of teaching. Wife Abby is now teaching in the St. Joe school system, while Coach Schmidt has been teaching English to the freshmen at Berrien Springs since the start of the 2019 school year, and plans to return there this fall. Joe and Abby have two children, James is 6, and Ayla is 4 years old. Coach Schmidt grew up in Mason, Michigan, which is a little south of Lansing. Soccer has always been a favorite sport for the coach, who says he played it for 12 years including high school, where he also ran on the track team in the spring. Coach Schmidt says he had several knee injuries during high school which limited his practice and playing time, so he didn’t really get an opportunity to see if he could have played at the collegiate level, but knows in his heart he could have if not for the injuries. However, those injuries also helped mold the coach, because the injuries forced Schmidt to the sidelines where he spent a great deal of time with one of the varsity assistants, Paul Kato, who he names as the coach who most influenced him to consider being a coach in the future. Following high school, Schmidt went on to earn his degree from Central Michigan. He then got his first teaching job at Treasure Coast H.S., in Florida, where he also began coaching soccer with the JV girls team. After one year the coach returned to Michigan where he taught and coached at a charter school in Battle Creek from 2008-2012. Coach Schmidt got married in 2012, and the couple moved to the St. Joe area where he began teaching and coaching at Lake Michigan Catholic. Tri-City Record asked the coach how he and his family have been dealing with the COVID-19 situation, and he said like everyone they had many ups and downs. With both parents also being teachers, the coach claims it was tricky finding a balance between being effective for their students while also helping their own kids with their school work. Coach Schmidt went on to tell us that they tried to focus on spending as much time as they could out of doors, while avoiding highly congested areas. This was a statement Coach Schmidt wrote to his new players and their families, in expressing his expectations for the coming season, “Even though the summer and fall of 2020 brings a new set of obstacles that have never been seen before, I honestly believe that this season has a chance to be very special and I feel it is my job to get the most out of every single player. All of the pieces are here at Coloma to build a winning tradition.” Baseball, we’re going to see baseball in 2020! Major league baseball will be played this year beginning Friday, July 24. Fans just won’t be able to take me out to the ball game, or anyone else. The major league baseball season will be played with a 60 game schedule; the normal schedule is a 162 game season. The schedule will also be much different for this season to happen, as the teams will only play teams in their division and the alternate division in the opposite league. For instance the Tigers will only play Central Division teams in the American and National Leagues. This schedule was brought forth to greatly limit the travel for all of the teams. They will be playing those 60 games in only 66 days. There are also major adjustments which will be allowed for the rosters, to prepare for possible injuries as well as possibly a few players testing positive for COVID virus. Like everything these days, nothing is a lead pipe cinch but right now I believe everybody is ready for the world to open up for sports. In addition to baseball, both NBA basketball and NHL hockey will be back underway by the end of this month. All of these sports, of course, will be played in empty ball parks, stadiums, and arenas. Hopefully the fans will be allowed to return soon, meaning this virus has diminished to the point of getting things back to normal.

Press Box Player of the Week!

By Dave Vollrath Tri-City Record Press Box Player of the Week for July 23, 2020 is Coloma Comet graduate Megan Koenigshof. Megan is a 2020 graduate of Coloma, and was one of the top players for the Comets since she came into the program as a freshman. This summer, which only began about a month ago because of the COVID-19 virus shutdown, Megan is playing on a travel fast pitch softball team from Portage, MI called the Hurricanes. Last weekend, July 18-19, Megan helped the Hurricanes win the championship trophy, playing in the Stevensville Beach Bash invitational softball tournament. The Hurricanes went undefeated at 4-0 to win the championship in the 18U age division, and Megan had an outstanding tournament. Megan says she did some pitching, but played mostly in the middle infield positions – shortstop and second base. Megan also led the offense from her usual leadoff spot in the lineup, getting on base frequently, swiping bases at will, and crossing home plate frequently. Megan also played strong up the middle on defense, keeping the opponents off the base paths. This is Megan’s first year playing on the Hurricanes squad. She’s greatly enjoying lacing up her cleats, and getting back on the field again following a very disappointing spring where she was denied the opportunity to finish out her stellar Comet softball career, which included a state championship during her sophomore year. We congratulate Megan on this award and wish her the best of everything, as she leaves next month for Grand Valley State where she will continue her education and play softball for the Lakers. Dr. Andy says… “Every medication you take has a side effect. It is important to consider that when you choose medications. They are necessary at times, but healthier lifestyle choices can sometimes eliminate the need for some of those meds. Chiropractic helps the body function healthier naturally.”