Just One Of The Guys...Despite Physical Challenges, Akron Boy Refuses To Be Different

MENTONE - Like most people, Tyler Akers just wants to fit in, be like everyone else. Described by his mother and stepfather, Lori and Byron Kaufman, as stubborn, laid back, easy-going and a fan of the outdoors, Akers is a typical 11-year-old boy. He enjoys playing baseball, basketball and football, loves to fish and hunt.He wants to be a professional athlete when he grows up. But just as this Akron native is the same as his peers, in a way he's different. Just don't tell Akers he's different. Though born without part of his left arm, Akers hasn't let it slow him down. Wednesday evening was just another day at the office for him, suiting up in his No.28 jersey for the Tippecanoe Valley 12-under travel baseball team as he and his team battled the squad from Milford at the Mentone Youth League diamond. In the first inning he caught a fly ball from his leftfield position and made it look effortless.

Wildcats Hang On For Homecoming Win

SOUTH WHITLEY - The electricity was in the air as the Whitko Wildcats took the field for their 2005 homecoming game. The Wildcats held on for a 28-21 win over the Northfield Norsemen. The Wildcat defense appeared to be in for a long night as Northfield scored the first touchdown of the game.The long drive was capped bye a one yard run by quarterback Braden Birk.On the next drive Randy Wilkinson gave the Wildcats the lead when he recovered a fumble. "Our kids played hard tonight.The defense made some mistakes, but they held on when they had to," said Coach Bryan Sprunger. Neither team moved the ball down the field until late in the second quarter.On the Wildcats last drive of the quarter they took a 14-7 lead when Tyler Elder ran for a 25 yard touchdown run.Elder finished the game with 142 yards on 15 carries.

Concord Ends Warsaw Spikers' Streak

Warsaw always knew it was a possibility. As the Tigers added another notch to their 49-game Northern Lakes Conference win streak, it became an increasingly precarious position to be in with every conference team always giving its best effort against Warsaw. It finally came crashing down in a 15-17, 15-12, 15-7 loss to Concord Thursday at the Tiger Den.Fittingly on Senior Night, since the six Warsaw seniors hadn't lost a conference match in their high school careers. In fact, Warsaw hadn't lost a conference match in more than six years, having won six straight outright NLC titles.Despite the conference loss, Warsaw still clinches at least a share of this year's NLC crown and more than likely, another outright one. Despite knowing it was always a possibility, the Tigers took the loss tough afterward.

Warsaw Takes Control Of NLC

NAPPANEE - Of the 504 yards junior tailback Brad Seiss has rushed for the past two weeks, none were as important to Warsaw as the last 1-1/2 he pounded out at Northern Lakes Conference rival NorthWood Friday in a 29-28 overtime win. Down 28-27 after Seiss scored on a three-yard plunge to counter a 1-yard score from NorthWood's Jesse Fink, Warsaw football coach Phil Jensen decided to go for the two-point conversion rather than an extra-point kick. "(Defensive coordinator) Troy (Akers) told me to go for two," Jensen said."He said if we went for the hard count they would jump (offside).I feel more comfortable about 1-1/2 yards against NorthWood than three.We ran a set at them they've never seen before, and Brad Seiss made a great effort." Tiger senior quarterback Jared Scrafton went with the hard count, and sure enough, he drew the Panthers offside.

High School Football Previews

Bob Wagner Wins AMRA National Championship

PIERCETON - Having been around them 35 years, Bob Wagner is no stranger to motorcycles.And as a 59-year-old rookie in the Harley Davidson Pro Stock Divison, he won the 2000 American Motorcycle Racing Association (AMRA) national points championship. "It was our first full year, so I guess it was our rookie season," said Wagner, co-owner of Maverick Motorcycle in Pierceton."We took a year and did some testing, but this was the first year we ran sanctioned races." Apparently the year of testing payed off for Wagner and his 1999 Harley Davidson, nicknamed the Maverick Express. Competing in four AMRA events this year, Wagner rode the 340-pound Maverick Express, powered by a 120 cubic inch engine, to runner-up status in each of the events. Points on the AMRA circuit are awarded for qualifying position and number of races run etc ...Therefore, Wagner didn't have to win each week to bring home the championship, just be consistent.

Tiger Soccer Team Makes It Four In A Row

Nothing went right for South Bend St.Joseph's boys soccer team on Tuesday. The start time.The injury.The premature ending.The 3-0 road loss to the Warsaw Tigers. All of it no good. The Tigers couldn't disagree more. They won their fourth straight, this coming after an 0-5-1 start. The offense clicked again.They scored three goals, giving them 18 in their last four games.This is a team that scored three goals its first five games. The defense played stingy.The Tigers recorded their third shutout in their last four games.The one game that wasn't a shutout, they allowed one goal. The Tigers were fortunate just to get this game in.St.Joe's bus pulled in at 5 p.m.for the junior varsity game. St.Joe's coach Leroy Krempec came in believing the junior varsity game would be played at 5 and the varsity game would follow.

College Roundup

KANKAKEE, IL -ÊThe Grace College men's soccer team turned around a 1-0 loss to St.Francis earlier in the week by defeating a strong Olivet Nazarene team 1-0 Saturday. The game was a defensive battle as each team got just three shots.Ryan Rollefson scored the only goal of the game 24 minutes into the first half off of a corner kick. Jon Hoover got his fourth shutout of the season with three saves. Olivet Nazarene falls to 8-4 on the season.Grace (6-5, 1-2 MCC) will host Indiana Tech Thursday at 4 p.m.

Valley Advances To State Golf Finals

FORT WAYNE - It was a simple nod of the head, but inside, emotions were ripping Tippecanoe Valley golf coach Roger Moriarty apart. "This is your first time out?" the regional golf host asked Moriarty during the awards presentation.Moriarty nodded his head.Yes.Yes it is. For the first time in school history, Tippecanoe Valley's golf team is "out" of the regional and into the state round.Valley advanced by shooting 322, good for third place, in Friday's Homestead Regional at Chestnut Hills Golf Course. The top three teams advance, which includes champion Culver Military Academy (317) and Goshen (321).

Tiger Golfers Hope For Best In Regional

The Warsaw Tigers have their work cut out for them Saturday at the Huntington North Regional Saturday. Not only do they have to face Culver Girls Academy, a team that beat them in the regular season and in the sectional, they also must face three other state-ranked teams: Fort Wayne Snider, Huntington North and Marion. Snider and Marion also posted top 10 scores in the sectional.Snider shot a 347 and Marion a 350 in their respective sectionals. "Marion has four girls that average in the 70s," said Warsaw coach Bob Turner."They are by far the best team at the regional.There are four top 20 teams there, so it will be a tough, competitive day." Warsaw finished last in last year's Huntington North Regional.

Warsaw Ends 2 Strokes Shy Of State

KENDALLVILLE -ÊWarsaw's girls golf team knew the results of the regional before the scores were announced.After shooting a 180 on the back nine at Cobblestone Golf Course to put themselves back in the hunt to advance out of the East Noble Regional, the Tigers waited anxiously for the scores of the final three teams (Fremont, Bishop Dwenger, and DeKalb) to come in. But when all was said and done, DeKalb edged the Tigers by two strokes and crushed Warsaw's dreams of becoming the first girls golf team to go to state. After nine holes, the Tigers, who have always placed last in the regional, sat in fifth place, 14 strokes behind leader Fremont. Once the Warsaw squad finished with a 373, all that was left to do was wait for the rest of the scores to come in. Warsaw's Kerri Wrobel shot an 84, Lara Reed 98, Erin Elliott 101, Jaci Thallemer 93 and Abby Schori 98.

Emotionally Spent Trojans Still Winning

BOURBON - Off to the best start in school history, Triton's volleyball team is finding it hard to celebrate right now.It isn't that the Trojans (13-3 this year) are not happy about their play, but their thoughts are elsewhere. In the past week, head coach Gayle Perry's mother died, and junior varsity coach Deb Shively's father passed away.Because of the close relationship between players and coaches, the deaths have affected the entire group. "The kids are a little emotionally drained right now," Perry said."We are struggling with that right now.

Tigers Prove They're For Real

GOSHEN - Warsaw football coach Phil Jensen doesn't need the Pony Express, nor does he need a pigeon to relay the message his team is sending to its opponents this year. In their first six games, the Tigers have done all the talking they've needed with their performance on the field.And if No.3 (4A) Goshen hadn't gotten that message yet, it did Friday night. The Tigers humiliated the Redskins 41-7 on their homecoming night, improving their overall record to 6-0 and more importantly to 3-0 in the Northern Lakes Conference.Goshen falls to 4-2 overall and 2-2 in league play. The win avenges a 60-15 loss the Tigers suffered at their homecoming last year and also gives Warsaw its best record since 1992, when the Tigers started the season 6-0 before finishing 7-2 and claiming a share of the conference crown alongside NorthWood.

NorthWood Rips Northridge

MIDDLEBURY - With a 33-6 win over Northern Lakes Conference rival Northridge, NorthWood moved its overall season record to 5-1 and 3-1 in the NLC.The loss sets the Raiders back to 0-6 and 0-4. Senior quarterback Charlie Roeder rushed for two touchdowns and passed for another to lead the Panther offensive attack.Roeder put NorthWood on the board in the second quarter with a 49-yard trot.In all, NorthWood scored 27 points in the second quarter of play. The Panther offense tallied 443 yards of total offense, while the defense allowed the Raiders a dismal 168 yards of total offense. NorthWood will be at Dowagiac (MI) on Friday.

Snyder Named Warsaw Girls Coach

A former player and now a social studies teacher at Warsaw Community High School, John Snyder knows the rich history of the Tiger basketball program. As a 6-foot-7 sophomore, Snyder started at center for Al Rhodes' team that advanced to the 1981 final four. Since graduating from Depauw University in Greencastle, Snyder has spent 17 years as an assistant boys coach, working 13 years in the Warsaw boys program with Rhodes and Doug Ogle and four years as the junior varsity boys coach at Columbia City. All the knowledge he has of the boys basketball program, Snyder says his first taste of Tiger basketball was in 1976, the year he and his family moved from North Manchester to Warsaw. Snyder was in sixth grade, and Jan Soyez' girls team was on the verge of making history by winning the inaugural state championship. Things have now come full circle for the 39-year-old Sndyer, who was unanimously voted Warsaw's girls head coach Monday by the seven-seat school board.

Goshen Tennis Team Gets Warsaw Again

This is how important Wednesday's tennis match between Goshen and Warsaw was. Important enough to decide who pulls ahead in the Northern Lakes Conference entering this weekend's NLC Tournament.Goshen entered 13-0 overall and 5-0 in the NLC, while Warsaw was 9-2 and 5-0 in the NLC. Important enough that Warsaw coach Andy Lewis got to be at the match.Wednesday was also the day for the open house for Lake City Bank's trust department, which recently moved into the old Kline's building.Lake City Bank is also Lewis' employer. Goshen entered having won eight of the last 10 times against Warsaw.The Redskins made it nine of 11, winning 3-2.

Tigers Advance To State...Again

KENDALLVILLE - Warsaw girls golf coach Chris LaLonde knew what her team needed to do Saturday in the regional.She predicted it a week ago after winning the sectional at Stonehenge Golf Club. She was right, and on a record-setting day at Noble Hawk Golf Links in Kendallville, the Tigers got it done. Shooting a four-person team score of 326, Warsaw finished second in the nine-team regional field and advanced to state for the third consecutive year.

Valley Wins 12th Straight TRC Game

AKRON - The Tippecanoe Valley Vikings continued their winnings ways in the Three Rivers Conference with a 28-7 win over visiting Oak Hill Friday night. Valley clung to a 13-7 lead in the fourth quarter before two scores that came less than 40 seconds apart provided the Vikings with much needed breathing room. The first fourth-quarter score came when quarterback Bryce Kelley found senior Aaron Reed from 12 yards out. Sophomore speedster Chad Hoffer was Kelley's next target, reeling in a pass from 27 yards out to cap Valley's scoring for the evening. Oak Hill welcomed back quarterback Matt Middlesworth, who missed several games to injury, last week in the Golden Eagles 37-3 win over Whitko. Middlesworth was adequate but not nearly as effective against the Vikings. The senior signal caller finished 9 of 19 for 100 yards and an interception that came at the hands of O.B.Thompson in the second half to swing the momentum toward Valley.

ROCHESTER EDGES WILDCATS

ROCHESTER 13, WHITKO 12 R W First Downs 10 9 Rushes-Yards 36-203 35-164 Yards Passing 64 84 Comp-Att-Int 5-12-1 6-12-2 Total Offense 267 248 Fumbles-Lost 3-2 1-1 Penalties-Yards 2-15 8-70 Punts-Avg 2-34.5 5-30.6 First Quarter W- Keith Starkweather 19 run (Kick failed) Third Quarter R- Bret Henderson 16 run (Jason Fincher kick) Fourth Quarter R- Henderson 2 run (Kick failed) W-Tim Mason 38 pass from Ben Mohr (Run failed) Individual Leaders Rushing- Rochester - Henderson 22-116, Jeremy Swank 11-73.Whitko - Starkweather 11-97, Mason 7-42. Passing- Rochester - Kevin Clark 5-12-64, Whitko - Mohr 6-11-84. Receiving- Rochester - Corey Wison 1-45, Whitko - Mason 1-38 SOUTH WHITLEY - Nobody expected the Whitko Wildcats to play Rochester so close.Rochester came into Friday night's game at Whitko, ranked 4th in Class 2A.They were 7-0 and 5-0 in Three Rivers Conference play, and they were averaging 38.9 points a game.

Johnson Advances To State

KENDALLVILLE - On a day that was otherwise cold, rainy and dreery, Kristi O'Brien, Emily Johnson and Lina Pisquali shot sizzling individual rounds and were in the spotlight in Saturday's regional at Cobblestone Golf Course near Kendallville. Playing the round together, the trio was impressive in outdoing the rest of the field and the weather. O'Brien, a senior at Fort Wayne Bishop Luers, shot a 3-under par 69 to garner medalist honors, while Johnson, a senior at Warsaw, and Pasquali, a senior at East Noble, tied for second after shooting 72.