More important for

some:

Section

Home field advantage in the

playoffs is a much bigger
deal for some teams.

B2
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Main Events
Boys Basketball:
Cadillac at TC
West. 7:30 p.m.
Boys Basketball:
Big Rapids at
McBain. 7:30 p.m.
Boys Basketball:
Mesick at Buckley.
7:30 p.m.
Girls Basketball:
Marion at Lake
City. 7:30 p.m.
Girls Basketball:
Manton at Pine
River. 7:30 p.m.
Girls Basketball:
NMC at Evart.
7:30 p.m.

On Deck

Familiar
foes:

Its the
opening night
of Highland
play for
the girls.
See whats
happening.
TUESDAY

Getting it done
Sports Editor: Marc Vieau | sports@cadillacnews.com | 775-NEWS

www.cadillacnews.com | tuesday, december 16, 2014

NMC overcomes
sluggish
performance for win
cadillac news

MCBAIN Dale Veddler

thought he was in good
shape.
His Northern Michigan
Christian boys basketball
team played pretty well in a
scrimmage Saturday night
against the schools alumni,
hitting some big shots and
playing strong defense.
And then Monday happened.
The Comets struggled
but still found a way to beat
Northport 54-38 in a nonconference contest.
We had a good day of
practice with that game Saturday and then just a totally
different team showed up
tonight, Veddler said. We
did not rebound well, shoot
well or defend well.
I didnt think our intensity in the first half was
there and we couldnt get
into a flow tonight at all.
We just didnt play smart at
times and that got us into
foul trouble.
NMC led 12-5 after the first
quarter before Northport
rallied to tie the game at 2222 at halftime.
The Comets made some
defensive adjustments at
halftime, including putting
Cody Winkle on the Wildcats 6-foot-8 big man and
that paid dividends, along
with some other sparks.
We made some adjustments and I thought that
was a game-changer, Veddler said.
Jager Haan was a spark
for us in the fourth quarter
with six points.
NMC stretched its lead
back to 37-30 going into the
fourth quarter before closing it ou.
Cody Farr paced the
Comets with 17 points, five

PREP SPORTS B2
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NFL NEWS
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Rangers
crunch
Chips
cadillac news

marc vieau | cadillac news

Northern Michigan Christians Jordan Eisenga drives to the basket with a shot attempt during Mondays
non-conference contest against Northport. The Comets beat the Wildcats 54-38.
rebounds and three assists
while Jordan Eisenga had
11 points, 11 rebounds and
three blocks.

Kade Ellens added eight

points and four rebounds.
NMC hosts Mesick on
Thursday.

NMC won the JV game

52-10. Chase Gernaat paced
the Comets with 20 points
and six rebounds.

Defense sparks Pine River past Chip Hills

15 points in the first quarter and the

Bucks led 15-14 after the first eight
minutes of play.
LEROY Now, they wait.
Still, coach Brian Goodenow was
And wait some more.
looking for a spark and he found it with
Pine River wrapped up the prea different defensive combination.
holiday break portion of its schedule
"We were stagnant and weren't
by beating Chippewa Hills 63-44 in a
shooting a very good percentage,"
non-conference boys basketball game
Goodenow said. "My swarm group
Monday night.
came out and played tenacious defense
The next time the Bucks take the
in the second quarter.
court for a game, it will be Jan. 6 in a
"They created turnovers, got us gokey Highland Conference contest at
ing and we just kind of rode it from
Manton.
Mitch McDonald was once again the there."
Pine River was up 33-21 at halftime
spark for Pine River on Monday as the
senior standout scored 14 of the team's and led 49-31 after three quarters.
cadillac news

NFC

McDonald finished with 23 points, 11

rebounds and seven steals while Brandon Fulks had nine points, four assists
and four steals.
Lucas Harris added eight points,
seven rebounds and two blocks while
Tyler Wing had six points.
Matt Goodenow had five rebounds
while Marcus Washington added three
assists and three steals.
Brian Goodenow also commended
the play of Connor Hoaglund, who was
very active and did a lot for the Bucks.
Pine River won the JV game 60-43.
Davontae Lamb paced the Bucks with
29 points.

MANISTEE Call it the

perfect start and finish.
It's just the middle that
left something to be desired.
Still, Manton got the job
done as it beat Manistee 7141 in a non-conference boys
basketball contest Monday
night.
The Rangers outscored
the Chippewas 23-8 in each
of the first and fourth
quarters but foul trouble
hindered their efforts in
the second and third.
"We played a great first
and fourth quarters," Manton coach Ryan Hiller said.
"Just getting into foul
trouble caused us to switch
our gameplan.
"We had to go to a zone
for the first time this year
and I thought our guys responded to that pretty well
for not having practiced it
much."
Manton led 23-8 after the
first quarter but was up
just 32-24 at halftime.
It was 41-33 going into the
fourth quarter before the
Rangers exploded again.
"I thought Brock Clough
and Treh Helsel did a great
job coming off the bench
and helping carry us when
the starters were in foul
trouble," Hiller said.
"Credit Chandler Shazri,
too. He hit some big shots."
Jaden Perry paced Manton with 16 points and six
assists while Hunter Ruell
had 11 points and Tyler
Swing added 10.
Ethan Ancick had seven
points and nine rebounds
while Wyatt Baker had seven points and five boards.
The Rangers (2-2 overall)
host Glen Lake on Thursday to wrap up their preholiday break schedule.
Manton won the JV
game 33-19.
Preston Shazri led the
way with 12 points.

Cadillac frosh fall to

Chippewa Hills

REMUS The Cadillac

freshman boys basketball
team dropped a 53-47 decision to Chippewa Hills
on Monday in its season
opener.
Maddux Hoaglund paced
the Vikings with 12 points
while Noah Bartlett added
10 points and Jared McDaniel had eight.
Cadillac is at Traverse
City West today.

Lions have NFC North

title in their sights
point to
make. It's
like texALLEN PARK Detroit ting and
is within striking distance driving.
You can't
of its first divisional title
since 1993 and the automat- have your
ic playoff berth that comes focus and
On Deck: at
attention Bears, 1 p.m.
with it.
on two
Sunday
"We can taste it," defenthings at
TV: FOX
sive end Jason Jones said
one time.
after Sunday's 16-14 win
over Minnesota. "It's right It's no different. Obviously,
I'm not talking about the
there in front of us."
same dire consequences,
Coach Jim Caldwell's
but I'm talking about an exstrict one-game-at-a-time
ample of distorted vision."
philosophy has served the
The Lions have reached
Lions well thus far, and he
this point by toughing out
doesn't want his players
close games all season.
losing sight of that with
Half of their 10 wins have
games at NFC North rivals
been by seven points or fewChicago and at Green Bay
to close the regular season. er. Just three other teams
in the league have won five
"They might not go
games by a touchdown or
(to the playoffs) if they
less. Not one has won more
don't start focusing up on
close games than Detroit.
this next game, either,"
"They have grit," Caldwell
Caldwell said. "That is a
By ANDY REID
the Associated Press

Carolina
Panthers

said. "They are very rarely

deterred when a big challenge comes their way. They
are able to hang in there
and play with poise down
the stretch and overcome
some difficult circumstances. They play as a unit
in that way. They just aren't
shaken by the moment.
They have supreme focus
when they need it."
And the Lions have
fought through early holes
in many of those games, including a 21-0 deficit against
Atlanta and 14-point
comeback wins over New
Orleans and against the Vikings on Sunday.
"It doesn't matter however you get them," safety
James Ihedigbo said. "Our
mindset is we're going to
fight. If we're up in the
game, we're going to fight
and if we have to come
back, I think that's sharp-

rick osentoski | associated press

Detroit Lions defensive tackle Andre Fluellen, left, and defensive end Darryl Tapp (52) react after
their sack of Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater during the first half of a game at
Ford Field in Detroit Sunday.
ening our character as
a team and showing our
resilience and the ability to
fight through adversity."
Although the offense has
closed out games with critical drives, the defense has
also played a big part in the
Lions' late-game success.
The Vikings racked up

193 yards, nine first downs

and two touchdowns in
their first four drives on
Sunday. After that, the
Lions surrendered just 167
yards and 12 first downs
the rest of the way.
That resiliency will be
tested in the next two weeks
as the Lions hit the road.

It's hard for everyone not

to look ahead to the finale
at Lambeau Field with the
Packers currently sharing a
10-4 record with Detroit.
But, as Caldwell has
stressed all season, the only game that matters is the
next one on the schedule:
at Chicago on Sunday.