Coloma Press Box
Governor decides to delay high school sports again: 60,000 Michigan athletes are still on ice
It is beginning to look more and more like Michigan will have two holes in its record books concerning state championships in the winter sports season. Because of the COVID pandemic, the high school sports seasons were stopped dead in their tracks last year during the height of the State championship playoffs. Eventually they were just canceled with no state champions crowned in boys or girls basketball, or competitive cheer.
The Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) has been steadfast in their belief that this year they would still be able to provide full season schedules, had they been able to begin their seasons in early February as has been anticipated since early in January. The announcement that came last week from the governor’s office that contact practices and games would not be allowed to take place in Michigan until Feb. 21, has to leave a huge question mark in whether a full season can still take place in such a short time frame. The high school spring sports season, which takes place mainly outside, is scheduled to begin in the near future.
If no winter sports take place this year, it will be the second straight year that no winter champions will be crowned which would leave those holes in the record books. Coloma has been preparing and getting ready for the seasons which have now been on hold for almost two months, but this most recent dagger could be the blow which ends those hopes. The Comets don’t have rosters set yet, and the only practices which can take place would have to be mostly conditioning and individual skills, as no contact is supposed to take place.
The fall football season finally concluded with the state championships taking place last weekend at Ford Field, home of the Lions.
Executive director of MHSAA Mark Uyl says, “We are unable to provide specific plans just yet, as we are still evaluating the best options for delivering a memorable experience for 60,000 athletes involved in winter contact sports in Michigan.” Uyl goes on to say that they will continue to advocate for the sports to take place, but if that Feb. 21 date stands pat it is hard to imagine any season having significance taking place unless they extend the season well into April.
We look forward to getting back in the gyms and seeing our Coloma Comet teams competing and having fun playing their sports once again, but for now we can only hope for the best.
Comets in College: Huntington University splits a pair with Taylor U.
It’s generally very unusual for two conference basketball teams to play each other twice in a matter of a few days, but because of an early season postponement Coloma graduate Zach Goodline’s Huntington Foresters played Taylor University in two games last week.
On Wednesday, Jan. 20, Huntington was led by Goodline to a win over Taylor by a score of 74-63. In a rematch on Saturday the 23rd, Taylor returned the favor and beat the Foresters 80-70.
Zach, who is averaging a team leading 18 points per game and a little over five assists and five rebounds per contest coming into the earlier game, almost had a rare triple double finishing the game with 11 points, eight rebounds and nine assists, in leading his team to the conference victory.
A few days later playing at Taylor, Huntington fell behind early and trailed most of the game. Even though they were able to keep within shouting distance, the Foresters were never able to fully make up the early deficit and fell to the home team 80-70. Goodline led the Foresters in scoring in this game hitting on 4-12 overall, including 2-6 from the 3-point arc and also converting on 8-11 from the free throw stripe, finishing with 18 points. Zach also pulled down five rebounds and dished out two assists for the Foresters who now stand at 12-6 overall and 5-5 in the conference, good for 5th place in the Crossroads League.
Michigan’s Tom Brady looking for Super Bowl Win number 7
University of Michigan graduate Tom Brady at 43 years of age, will be looking for his 7th Super Bowl win when the Tampa Bay quarterback leads his Buccaneers into the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 7, on their home field Raymond James Stadium. It will be the 10th time Brady has led his team - the first nine coming with the New England Patriots - into the Super Bowl, while looking for his 7th title.
No quarterback in history has won more than four Super Bowls to Brady’s six. Joe Montana with the 49ers and Terry Bradshaw with the Steelers are the only quarterbacks with four NFL titles to their credit. In another first, the Buccaneers will be playing the Super Bowl at home becoming the first team ever to have this advantage.
This is Brady’s first year playing in Tampa Bay, and the Buccaneers will be looking for their second Super Bowl win ever, in only their second attempt. They beat the Oakland Raiders in their only other trip to the big game, a 48-21 thrashing in Super Bowl XXXVII (37) played in January of 2003.