How is your bracket?

We want to know... How is your bracket doing?
I am hanging in there, but my Southeast region is in shambles.

Bracket Reminder...

Just a reminder to everyone about your NCAA Tournament brackets.
Both the Tribune Sports Blog Tournament and the Tribune Newspaper Tournament entries are due at noon Thursday.
Sign up for the Blog Contest by contacting Paul Adams at padams@hearstnp.com and he will give you a password to get into CBSsports.com. It takes about 10 seconds to go to the bracket pulldown and start your bracket.
From there, you can look at everyone's picks (including mine) and make fun of them on the message board.
Winner gets a $40 gift certificate to an area eating establishment.

The Newspaper contest can be played at michigansthumb.com. Click the NCAA bracket icon and you are all set.
Winner of that one gets $100 to any of the sponsors on the NCAA page.

Questions about either contest can be directed to mbogan@hearstnp.com
Good luck - and let the games begin!

New football coaches in the area...

Word has spread about the future of 3 area football programs and their coaches.
What is true is that Bad Axe, Lakers and Ubly will have new varsity football coaches come this fall.
Dave Rowland is out at Bad Axe, George Gardy is out at Lakers, and Bill Sweeney is out at Ubly.
Gardy retired earlier this year. Sweeney resigned earlier this week. The reason for Rowland's dismissal is not clear.
The Tribune, in the near future, will have stories on each departure and what it means to the programs.

All Knights Long: BV tops HB

REESE — Never mind Harbor Beach’s 94-51 setback to Saginaw Buena Vista here Monday night in the Class C regional semifinals.

Despite the loss, coach Ron Wruble is proud of a team which could have threw in the towel just 11 days ago.

“We have some talent, but that is not why we are where we are at,” Wruble said. “These kids work their tails off — and that’s the main reason why we’ve won.”

Two Thursdays ago, the Pirates suffered a crushing home loss to Sandusky, ruining their chances at back-to-back Greater Thumb East championships.

Wruble, though, coached them through that, eventually leading them to three tournament victories en route to their second straight district championship.

“I would have been very disappointed if this team didn’t come away with at least something, with the way they have worked and the season they had,” Wruble said.

Here Monday night, the Pirates stayed close for a quarter, but eventually wound up playing right into Buena Vista’s wheelhouse. The Knights racked up 34 second-quarter points, turning a tight 15-13 edge into a commanding 49-24 bulge at the half.

“That's a great basketball team and they were hitting everything,” Wruble said. “We played the first quarter like we played all season. We scrapped and fought hard for buckets. But that's a skilled and athletic Buena Vista team.”

Nobody showed off their skills more than Buena Vista senior George Goodman, who poured in 17 of his game-high 27 points in the second quarter, sparking a 14-2 run for the Knights over the first 2:30 of the period. 

From there, the shellshocked Pirates had little chance to keep pace with a team whose goal is a state championship.

Last season, the Knights picked up an 81-65 decision over the Pirates in the regional title game. From there, though, they lost to eventual state champion Melvindale Academy for Business and Technology in the quarterfinals.

Buena Vista, coached by 1996 Owendale-Gagetown graduate Austin Brinkman, has a chance for another regional crown when it takes on New Haven in the finals Wednesday. New Haven picked up a 65-54 win over Saginaw Nouvel in Monday’s other semifinal matchup.

Besides Goodman, Buena Vista had Malik Houston with 18 points while Dwayne Farris added 14, Derrick Washington 13 and George Smithers 10.

Harbor Beach had Andrew Siemen with 12 points while Sean Sorenson added 11, Aaron Ginther nine and Scott Grekowicz eight.

Like last season, Harbor Beach loses eight seniors — Grekowicz, Sorenson, Ryan Arntz, Doug Booms, Kyle Booms, Ryan Maurer, Dustin Mazure and Kevin Kraft. The Pirates, though, will return three starters next year, as well as several key reserves.

Harbor Beach finishes 17-6.

Harbor Beach senior guard Scott Grekowicz drives to the basket against Saginaw Buena Vista’s George Smithers (34) and George Goodman (5) during the second half of the Class C regional semifinals Monday night in Reese.

Harbor Beach's Sean Sorenson drives around Buena Vista's Evellis McGee.

Harbor Beach's Eli Kraft and Aaron Ginther battle for a loose ball.

Harbor Beach’s Dustin Mazure is fouled by Saginaw Buena Vista’s Malik Houston in the second half. 

Harbor Beach nips USA for district title

HARBOR BEACH — Harbor Beach coach Ron Wruble’s confidence in freshman point guard Eli Kraft never waned.

Even after Kraft missed the first of two foul shots with 1.7 seconds to play in a tie game here Saturday afternoon in the Class C district championship between the Pirates and Unionville-Sebewaing Area, Wruble knew Kraft was going to come through.

“He was going to stick it — he was going to shoot it with confidence,” Wruble said. “I don’t think missing the first one mattered to him.”

Wruble was right. Kraft knocked in the second free throw, giving the Pirates their second straight district title and making for the winning margin in their thrilling 39-38 decision over the Patriots.

“Really, any of the five guys we had on the floor at that time, we would have been just as comfortable,” Wruble said. “Eli, for a freshman... He’s so mentally tough.”

While Kraft’s free throw — and USA’s unsuccessful last-gasp attempt from midcourt — sent Harbor Beach’s fans into a frenzy, it was simply a stunning end for the Patriots, who thought the foul on Kraft should have been a non-shooting foul — or not a foul at all.

“When we tied it up we decided we were going to break down the last 30 seconds into intervals,” said USA coach Mark Gainforth, whose team had several fouls to burn in the final minutes before the Pirates were in the bonus. “We were kind of arm-barring him the whole time trying to get a call earlier before he was shooting...”

Nevertheless, Kraft drove into the lane and threw up a wild shot as the whistle blew.

“They had so many fouls to give that I was even wondering if they would even let us dribble at all,” Wruble said. “That last time we knew that when they made contact we wanted to try to get a shot up. It worked out for us.”

USA did have its chances. The Patriots led by six with 4:50 left, and were in the double bonus with 3:38 to play. The problem? They hit on just 6-of-13 free throws in the deciding fourth quarter.

“We had opportunities the whole fourth quarter to put the game away, but we didn’t,” Gainforth said. “When we’re good from the foul line, we’re really good. When we’re bad, we’re really bad.”

For Harbor Beach, Sean Sorenson dropped in 16 points, including four first-half three-pointers. Kraft added nine while Andrew Siemen netted eight, including a huge three-pointer with 1:35 to play which gave Harbor Beach a 38-37 lead.

“Actually, I think the shot of the game was Siemen’s three,” Gainforth said. “Was that a good shot? I don’t know, but he can make shots from out there. If that doesn’t go in the game might have been over.”

USA’s Jake Holland hit 1-of-2 free throws with 1:06 left to tie it at 38.

Holland led USA with a game-high 23 points while Andrew Botello and Dakota Gangler chipped in five apiece.

Harbor Beach led 10-8 after one quarter and 16-14 at the half. Sorenson had 14 of Harbor Beach’s 16 first-quarter points while Holland had 12 of USA’s 14.

“It was basically Sorenson vs. Holland in the first half,” Wruble said. “When we went man-to-man and kept switching off, Eli wound up guarding (Holland) quite a bit (in the second half). Eli’s 5-foot-10 on a good day and Holland is about 6-6. He was physical with him and actually slowed him down a little.”

USA led by as many as seven points in the third quarter, settling for a 30-25 advantage heading to the final eight minutes.

“The kids did a nice job of keeping their composure,” Wruble said. “We have been in every game this year, so that right there helped us out late in the game.”

Harbor Beach with the Class C district championship trophy.

Blog NCAA Contest is back

The Tribune sports blog is having its annual NCAA Basketball Contest again this year.
This is a separate contest from the Huron Daily Tribune's NCAA Contest which the paper runs.

The Blog Contest is run through CBS Sportsline.
Like in years past, you need to contact Paul Adams at padams@hearstnp.com for a password to get into the CBS Sportsline website and to set up your bracket.
This year's prize is a $40 gift certificate to any area eating establishment.
Good luck.

Vikings top Warriors

Adams covered the D district at Owen-Gage on Friday night.
Here is his report...

OWENDALE — A lot has happened since 1991.

The country has had four presidents, including a pair of Bushes. The average price of gas was $1.14 per gallon, and it was the last time Akron-Fairgrove won a boys district championship.

The Vikings ended the drought Friday night with a hard-fought 48-44 victory over nemesis North Huron.

“There was three things motivating us,” said Akron-Fairgrove coach Adam Moore. “No. 1, it would be our first district championship in 20 years. The second one was going home to the regionals. The third one was redemption on how they beat us last year in the finals and how they beat us two times this year.

“I don’t know what to think, it’s just sinking in right now. The kids feel very privileged. They are very excited right now. I think it will start to sink in tomorrow.”

Akron-Fairgrove led 44-42 with 1:33 to play, but Erik Dhyse tied the game with a driving layup with just over a minute left.

The Warriors had a chance to take the lead with less than 30 seconds to play, but turned the ball over. It allowed the Vikings to set up the eventual game-winning play.

With 19 seconds to go, senior Joey Dybilas drilled an open jumper.

“In our first two meetings, he had 13 and 17, we viewed him as just as much of a threat a (Tyler) Crane,” said North Huron coach Dave Toner. “We were sagging inside to help and he drilled a couple crucial baskets.”

Added Moore: “He made the play. I’m happy that he stepped up as a senior to make a couple of big plays.”

Still, the Warriors had a chance to tie or win the game, but Crane came through with a steal with 3.5 seconds to play. He made a pair of free throws to seal the game.

North Huron led 23-20 at the half, and extended it to 27-22 in the first three minutes of the third quarter. From there, both teams went cold from the field until Crane finally hit a triple with 3:45 left in the period.

“We had that five-point lead, but we just couldn’t build on it,” Toner said. “We couldn’t get the shots to fall when we needed them to. If we could have built a little lead there, we would have tried to slow it down. 

“We wanted to attack the middle and we had trouble getting the ball inside all night. We just weren’t flashing the middle real well.”

Dybilas had 16 points to pace the Vikings while Brett Stockton added 11 points.

Dhyse led North Huron with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Kevin Rice added 13 points and five boards. Mike Schramski had six points and eight rebounds.

Toner was happy with the defense his team played, but thinks it may have come at the cost of some offense.

“We wanted to push it against them, but we exerted a lot of energy on defense,” he said. “For the most part, we did play some pretty decent man-to-man defense out there.

“We did want to push, but we were tired a little bit.”

Akron-Fairgrove will return home to host Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary on Monday in the regional semifinals.

“Playing at Akron-Fairgrove in the regionals is going to be packed,” Moore said. “I hope we have the mindset of going to win, not just being happy with this district championship.”

North Huron finishes 13-9.

North Huron’s Forrest Maxwell is fouled by Akron-Fairgrove’s Archie Naert (42) during the second half of the Vikings’ 48-44 win on Friday night in the Class D district championship at Owendale.