Good morning! I'm Matt Courtney!
I'm Anthony McGuire
And I'm Nicole Reding! Welcome to a very special edition of the "Bear
Facts", where we're doing some celebrating here at Bishop Garrigan High
School.
Until last Wednesday the Turkey Valley Trojans had won thirteen straight games, and in all their games this season they hadn't allowed another team to score more than 7 points in a game. Then they ran into the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears. Garrigan was the underdog against the Trojans, who different polls rated #4 or #5, but the Bears played like champions. It was a defensive struggle, with no scoring at all in the first or third quarters. When the final horn sounded, though, Garrigan came out on top, 16 - 8.
The Bears are now headed for the Dome. Monday night at 8:45 they'll face Gladbrook-Reinbeck Rebels inside the concrete marshmallow in Cedar Falls. The Golden Bears are no strangers to the big green carpet. Garrigan won the state championship in 1985, and in 1999 they finished in second place in the state. This year's play-off shirts say "the tradition continues", and the players will do their best to make it to the final round.
There are a lot of good players on the Golden Bear team, but the core is definitely the seniors. Quarterback Matt Vitzthum has called the plays all season long. Derek Tindall and Sean Kohlhaas have run the ball well, Sam Dittrich, Cole Vautier, and Dan Gisch have worked hard at wide receiver, and Brian Marso has been awesome at linebacker. A lot of the credit goes to the linemen, though: Andrew Berte, Chris Reinhart, Kyle Frideres, Jim Garman, and Mitch Buscher have kept the opponents from scoring. Congratulations to the seniors, and to all the Golden Bear football players.
Today is a big day for the Golden Bear football cheerleaders. The girls have been practicing non-stop since July, and today they're showing everybody what they've got. They're competing today in the state cheerleading championships at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids. The competition starts at 9:15am. The Bears have a 21/2-minute routine that includes five difficult stunts. The squad includes Nancy Syharath, Monica Schiltz, Jennifer Miller, Samantha Arndorfer, Denise Kohlhaas, Courtney Mergen, Kathy Kohlhaas, Jill Patterson, Amanda Thompson, Amanda Fox, and Brianne Donahe. Good luck at state to Coach Deb Trenary and the cheerleaders!
Two other girls are also competing at state today. Jennifer Vaske and Jessica Cink are in Pella this morning for the state solo dance competition. Jenn is dancing 5to "Hey Big Spender", while Jessica's routine is set to "Money, Money, Money". The event began at 7:30 this morning, and the girls should be dancing right about now. Good luck at state, Jenn and Jessica!
Also this morning twenty-eight Golden Bears are competing in the second big quiz bowl tournament of the year. Matt Courtney, Jeff Lappe, Seth Rogers, Chris Loebach, and Andrew Missal are captains of the five teams BGHS has entered at Algona High today. Also competing are seniors Jacob Richter, Samantha Kirsch, Anthony McGuire, Holly Lancaster, and Renee Taphorn. Juniors in quiz bowl include Gavin Freking, Amanda Golwitzer, Alison Brandenburg, Jesse Studer, Sepnser Rahm, Jude Studer, Jacob Hellman, and Joe Rahm. Rounding out the team are sophomores Amanda Cruise, Josh Rahm, Brian Capesius, JoAnn Kirsch, Chris Scobba, and Alex Bradley, and freshmen Brent Kajewski, Chris Gelhaus, Chad Lambert, and Jacob Zittritsch. Good luck quiz bowl!
The final big event on the schedule today is the fine arts extravaganza. Students, teachers, and alumni are all teaming together to present a special variety show. The program will include drama, music, dance, and improvisation. Showtime is 6:30 this evening, and tickets are just $5 for adults and $3 for students.
Our Senior spotlight this week shines on Sean Kohlhaas. Here with the details on him is Holly Lancaster.
In football this year, opposing teams often key on all-state running back Derek Tindall. Whenever they do, Sean Kohlhaas steps up for the Bears. Sean is the Bears #2 running back, and while he's sometimes overshadowed by his teammates, he's had an outstanding season himself. In addition to football, Sean enjoys basketball and track. This St. Joe native also keeps busy on the farm. He's active in 4-H and has shown grand champion cattle all through high school. Sean will be off to college next year, and we wish him all the best.
Thanks, Holly. On our Golden Bear calendar today there's the state cheerleading competition in Cedar Rapids, the state solo dance finals in Pella, and quiz bowl at Algona High. Tonight be sure to catch the fine arts extravaganza.
Tomorrow is a bit of quiet in the middle of all the chaos. The only thing on the schedule is the volleyball team's awards potluck. Monday is the state football quarterfinals. The Bears will play Gladbrook-Reinbeck at the UNI-Dome at 8:45pm.
Because of the extremely late night Monday, school will start late at Garrigan on Tuesday morning. Classes will begin at 10:30am. Also because of play-offs, parent teacher conferences have been re-scheduled. They'll now be Tuesday night from 6 - 9pm.
The rest of the week is pretty quiet, but we're hoping next Saturday will be busy again. The state football semi-finals would be Saturday at either 10am or 1pm. Also that day the math team plays in Waverly and there's quiz bowl at Parkersburg.
That's the "Bear Facts" for this week. Thanks for listening, and be sure to join us again next Saturday for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.