Weekend Recap | 10/6 & 10/7

If you missed anything from the weekend, make sure to head over to https://catholiccentralsports.com/ and check out this weekend's Cougar Sports Recap. 

We are trying to showcase each team’s competition over the weekend for everyone to see. If you are a parent and have photos you want to share with us, please reach out to Assistant Athletic Director Brian Ciluffo at brianciluffo@grcatholiccentral.org. We could always use more photos of our athletes!

The Cougar Athletes had a busy weekend handling some tough competition. The football team traveled to Forest Hills Eastern for an OK-Gold showdown. The girls golf team traveled to Big Rapids for the Katke Classic and turned in a Masters’ like performance. The volleyball team had a solid day at the Mona Shores invite and the swim team reached some state cuts in the relays at the MISCA swim meet at Calvin University. All in all, a very solid showing by all those in action by the Cougars last weekend.

🏈  The Varsity football traveled across the Beltline on a rainy Friday night for an OK-Gold Showdown against the 5-1 Forest Hills Eastern Hawks. Despite the weather, the Cougars were able to control the game and came out with a 49-14 win to set up a Senior Night Showdown at home on Friday against the South Christian Sailors.

The Cougars shot out of the gate when Kellen Russell-Dixon opened the scoring with a 77 yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage. After Forest Hills scored the Cougars responded with a 1 yard touchdown run from Connor Wolf. Not to be denied again Forest Hills Eastern scored again to even the score at 14. From there it was ALL Cougars as Kellen Russell-Dixon scored again from 5 yards out to give the Cougars a 21-14 lead at the half. After the Cougars blocked a Hawk punt in the third quarter Connor Wolf connected with Austin Baxter on the Cougars first pass play of the night to bring the score to 28-14. Kellen Russell-Dixon would score twice more from 42 yards and 56 yards to push the Cougars to a 42-14 lead. With 8:57 left in the fourth quarter it was Junior Brock Jones who joined the scoring mix with a 5 yard touchdown run of his own. On a night when passing was at a premium, the Cougars ground attack kept their pedal to the medal with Russell-Dixon accounting for 270 yards on the ground.

The Cougars come back home this week to host the South Christian Sailors on Senior Night at the CAT. Kick off is set for 7:00 pm. Come on out early and support your Cougars! More game information will be released as it comes into the Athletic Office.

🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♀️   The Varsity Cross Country traveled to Portage to compete in the Portage Invitational on Saturday.  The Cougars put up a good fight in a stacked Division II event, with teams from all over the state. On the boys side, Junior Jeb Hillary led the way for the Cougars with a 33rd place finish (16:22). Junior Adian Kasprzak (17:03) rounded out the Cougars in the Top 100 by finishing 82nd. Other strong finishes for the Cougars include:

• Freshman Mitchell Dunlap - 18:17

• Sophomore Grant Hillary - 18:49

• Junior Roben Perez - 19:22

• Freshman Mason England - 19:55

Overall, the boys team finished in 33rd in their division.

On the Girls side of the event, the Cougars were paced by Senior Emily Tomes (18:25.5) who finished 5th overall in her division. Other strong finishes for the Lady Cougars include:

• Junior Katie Ptak - 22:26

• Senior Nora Huffman - 25:14

• Sophomore Hannah Gaiser - 27:01

• Senior Ally Broadus - 28:17

Overall, the girls team finished 37th in their division.

⛳️  In a warm-up event prior to the upcoming MHSAA post season tournaments, the CC Varsity Girls Golf Team traveled to Ferris State University's Katke Golf Course to compete in the annual 2-day Katke Classic Invitational.  Day 1 saw the Cougars outpace 12 other teams in the field with a team total of 342, 16 strokes better than Farmington Hills Mercy, the Division II 2022 State Champion.  Junior Ava Wisinski and Sophomore Kelsey Preston tied for 1st place at 80 and after a 2-hole playoff, Wisinski ended the day as the Round 1 medalist.  Sophomores Margaret Deimel (90) and Sofia Piccione (92) both finished in the top 10 with Junior Claire Sullivan (97) and Senior Katie Cook (98) rounding out the team's performance for the day.

Saturday saw conditions worsen from the previous day with cold, windy and rainy weather greeting the players.  The team battled the elements all day but improved their overall score from the previous day by 6 strokes finishing at 336 for a two-day total of 678, 19 strokes better than 2nd place Mercy, which secured the team with a 1st place finish.  A second day 79 brought Ava Wisinski medalist honors at 159, 3 strokes better than teammate Kelsey Preston (80/82-162) who came in second.  Finishing in the top 10 were Sofia Piccione (92/86-178) and Margaret Deimel (90/89-179) with teammates Katie Cook (97/96-193) and Claire Sullivan (98/95-193) all helping to bring the Cougars the overall tournament championship.

Coach Napieralski and Coach Grile would like to say “Thank you” to all the parents and relatives who came to Big Rapids this weekend to support our players as they competed in difficult conditions to win on a very challenging course at Ferris State.  We've appreciated all of the lunches, refreshments, and words of encouragement throughout the season.  The team is looking forward to the MHSAA tournament that begins next Thursday at Winding Creek Golf Course in Holland.

  🏐  The Varsity Volleyball team took to the lakeshore to compete at Mona Shores on Saturday.

The Cougars started the day playing Reeths-Puffer and showed a solid team performance led by Sophia Allen and Evy Koops. Avery Lannon, Lyla Joynt, and Cara wolf were a large part of our victory and we’re very consistent in serve receive. Cougars win 25-17 25-12

The second match of the day had the Cougars facing off with rival West Catholic. A hard fought match led by Sophia Allen with 9 kills. Unfortunately, the Cougars lost in 3 sets 21-25 25-18 8-15 and West Catholic would go on to win the tournament.

Third match pitted the Cougars against host team Mona Shores. Cougars played well against a very tall MS group, but ended up falling short. Kill leaders were Sophia Allen with 10 and Elle Sharpe with 5. Maddy Ostrander and Kate Passinault had 2 blocks a piece. Clare Rybicki and Lyla Joynt lead the defense with 11 and 12 digs. Final score 22-25 22-25

Match Four started the Cougars winning streak for the rest of the day as Catholic Central played Western Michigan Christian. Another very good team performance with contributions from the whole team. Mairin Ziegler was the stand out in this match recording 4 kills including a monster overpass kill in the second set, 4 blocks, and 6 aces! Maria App had a team high hitting percentage at .500 Cougars win 25-10 25-17.

In the fifth match, the Cougars would face league rival Forest Hills Eastern. The players showed a lot of resilience and focus in this match after losing a player to an injury early in the first set. Cougars executed the game plan holding their opponent to a .047 hitting percentage. With Sophia Allen, Elle Sharpe, and Maddy Ostrander leading the offense with 7,5, and 3 kills. Kate Passinault, Maddy Ostrander, and Amelia Sharpe added 6 blocks as a group. Clare Rybicki and Lyla Joynt had 11 and 14 digs respectively. Cougars win 25-21 25-22

The Final match of the day had the Cougars face off with Portage Central. Maddy Ostrander was the offensive leader with 8 kills on 11 swings for a career high hitting percentage of .727. Sophia Berger added 5 kills and Elle and Amelia Sharpe combined for 9 kills. Brooklyn Ontiveros and Lyla Joynt lead the team in digs with 5 and 7. Cougars win 25-19 25-19.

Tournament Total Stat Leaders

Kills: Sophia Allen 35, Elle Sharpe 24, Maddy Ostrander 18

Assists : Clare Rybicki 61, Elle Sharpe 39, Lyla Joynt 13

Aces: Mairin Ziegler 8, Lyla Joynt 7, Clare Rybicki 7

Digs: Lyla Joynt 58, Clare Rybicki 28, Elle Sharpe 27

*Please note, we did not receive any photos from this event for usage.

🏊‍♀️ The Girls swim team traveled to Calvin University to compete in the MISCA swim event. With a goal in mind of achieving some state qualifying score the Cougars did just that in the Medley Relay and the 400 Freestyle Relay. Those relays consist of Sophomore Mae Braun, Freshman Valeria Rodriguez, Sophomore Kate McNamara and Senior Sarah Rott. Great job ladies!