SPORTS

VARSITY BOYS BASKETBALL
Elks dominate Stags in first conference game

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Wyatt Bargy (24) is left alone under the basket for an easy two against the Stags. Photo by Kristie Wolgamott
The Elks began the Northern Shores Conference basketball era with a big win over the Kingsley on the road last Friday, dominating the Stags with a 63-18 win. The game was the conference season opener for both squads, although they had played against each other the last three years in non-conference action. The win gave the Elks a four-game winning streak over the Stags; the teams will clash horns again in late January in Elk Rapids.

The game was knotted at 4-4 early in the first quarter, Keagen Cotterman dropped a 10-foot jumper to put the Elks up 6-4 and they would not trail again. A 10-0 Elk run closed out the opening quarter, giving the Elks a 16-4 lead that grew to 33-8 at halftime and 48-17 after three quarters of play. The Elk added 15 points in the final quarter and held Kingsley to a single free throw to get the 63-18 win, the first victory for the Elks this season. Cameron Kerfoot led the Elks with 15 points, including three buckets from behind the arc, Max Ward tallied 10 points with five assists, Jayden Hresko scored eight and Mason Cannon added seven points. Wyatt Bargy pulled down 14 rebounds to go with three blocked shots, Cotterman collected 11 rebounds.

The game produced two spots in the Elk Rapids basketball record books. The Elks tallied a new single game team rebounds record of 55, passing the old record of 54 rebounds set against Central Lake in December of 2022. All 11 Elk players dressed for the Kingsley game contributed to the new rebounding record. The 18 points scored by Kingsley tied a third fewest points allowed in a game record for the Elks, the record low is 14 points scored by Bellaire in March of 2014.

On Tuesday the Elks traveled to Gaylord for a non-conference game and suffered a 74-55 loss to the Blue Devils. Hresko led the Elks with 17 points with three baskets coming from behind the arc, six rebounds and two steals, Ward had 13 points with four assists, Kerfoot scored nine points with two threes, Bargy grabbed five rebounds. The Elks trailed 17-14 after one, 35-24 at halftime and 50-36 at the end of the third quarter.

Elk Rapids (1-2, 1-0 NSC) begin a six-game home stand facing Kalkaska (2-2,0-1 NSC) in a conference battle on Friday followed by a non-conference match-up against the Alpena Wildcats on Tuesday.

VARSITY HOCKEY
Bay Reps hockey teams return to ice 

Bay Rep girls
The Bay Rep girls hockey team returned to action after a 12-day layoff with a trio of road games over last weekend. The Reps were at ESH Ice Arena in Detroit for a pair of games, knocking off the Grosse Pointe North Norsemen 7-2 on Friday then had a three-game win streak snapped with a 3-1 loss to the Grosse Point South Blue Devils on Saturday. On the road Sunday the Reps traveled 35 miles north to the Detroit Skating Club and notched a 6-2 win over the Bloomfield-Birmingham Blackhawks.

Against the Norsemen, Elk Brynne Schulte scored the first goal for the Reps on a powerplay and fellow Elk Gillian Evina had the final score with eight seconds remaining in the third period. In the Sunday matchup win, Evina notched a third period goal, her fifth of the season, tying her with junior Taryn Beamish of TC Central for the lead in goals scored on the team.

Late last week the Reps announced Elk junior Brynne Schulte was named team captain, joined by two assistant captains in St. Francis senior Kate Classens and TC Central senior Riley Scollard. The team captain and assistant captains are chosen by the team members and the coaching staff.

The Bay Rep Girls (5-3) currently hold third place in the Conference Group A standings, trailing Grosse Pointe South (8-0) in first place and Mid-Michigan Alliance (6-1) in second place. The six-team conference is rounded out with squads from University Liggett (3-2), St. Mary’s/SCA and Ann Arbor Huron-Skyline (0-5).

The Rep Girls return to Centre Ice on Saturday afternoon (12/14) to face the Grand Rapids Griffins. The game is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m.

Bay Rep boys
The Bay Rep boys were on the road after a six-day break in the schedule, playing two games last weekend at the Patterson Ice Center located in Grand Rapids.

On Friday the Reps won their third straight game with a 4-2 defeat of the Grand Rapids Christian Eagles. The Reps led 1-0 after the opening period and 3-1 at the end of the second, with each team notching a final third period goal in the Reps 4-2 win. 

Back in Patterson Center on Saturday the Reps’ winning streak was snapped after suffering a 5-2 loss to the East Grand Rapids Pioneers. The game was knotted 2-2 after the first period, but the Reps would not find the back of the net again. The Pioneers tacked on three third period goals to seal the win.

The Bay Rep boys (5-3) are not in a conference this season, the team skates as a Division 3 independent team. The Rep Boys next play a road game against Grand Rapids Catholic Central on Saturday (12/14) at the Otsego County Sportsplex in Gaylord with a 2:00 p.m. scheduled face-off.

FRESHMAN BOYS BASKETBALL
Freshmen guided by “new” coach

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Elk Rapids High School Freshman Boys Basketball Team 2024-2025: front row: Josh Raddatz, Brody Turner, Kelen Croftchik, Miles Prabhaker, Ian McDonald, Hayden Levi-Veliquette. back row: Head Coach Tyler Wilson, Noah Ligget, Henry Veith, Hudson Sailor, Cormick Lawrence, Luke Otto, Jacob Raddatz. Photo by Kim Eardley Photography
The Elk freshmen boys team is where the transition begins for players to grow from playing middle school basketball to learning how to compete at the high school level. The freshmen head coach must have major patience along with the ability to instruct and motivate the incoming young players. For the last six seasons this job was done successfully by Coach AJ Anderson, along with Coach Shae Somers for the last four seasons, but both men stepped down after last year due to family and job constraints. The search began for a new freshmen coach to guide these young players, and that coach was found sitting on the Elk JV team bench. Tyler Wilson, a former head coach of the Elk JV boys team, had stepped back to take an JV assistant coach role for the last three seasons in order to spend more time with his family and newborn son. As the vacancy in the freshman coaching position went unfilled, Coach Wilson realized it was time for him to return to the front of the coaching bench.
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“I’ve been hanging around as an assistant JV coach, and after the freshman coaches both stepped down last year, it seemed that we really had nobody to fill that spot. I did not want to see the freshman program dissolve because it is so important for player development, so I took the job and here I am,” Wilson explained. In addition to having been an Elk basketball coach for several years, Wilson is also a social studies teacher at Cherryland Middle School, making him quite familiar with his roster of 12 players.

“I have a very coachable group with a decent basketball IQ for being freshmen,” Wilson said. “They have been coached well at the middle school levels; coaches Tim Hildreth and Spencer Impellizzeri do a phenomenal job of getting the boys ready for high school ball, they are a big reason for our success at the high school level.”

A major challenge this season is the team schedule. The Elk freshmen will play a tough schedule this year with several games coming against much bigger schools such as Petoskey, TC West, Alpena and Gaylord. “The dwindling number of freshman programs out there make it necessary to have to schedule many bigger schools. It will be a good challenge though for the guys, I have always believed that playing good competition makes you better,” Wilson said.

These freshman players finished with a record of 10-2 last year at Cherryland. They have a well-rounded team according to Coach Wilson. “We do have some size for being a freshmen squad with rebounders like Luke Otto, Noah Liggett, Henry Veith, Hudson Sailor, Cormick Lawrence and Brody Turner. In shooters we have Ian McDonald, Miles Prabhaker, Kelen Croftchik and Josh Raddatz. Defenders and “hybrid” players who will be asked to play multiple positions are Hayden Levi-Veliquette, Jacob Raddatz, Veith, Lawrence and Turner. It is very early but this is what we have been seeing so far. This is another good group that plays well as a team and hustles and that aligns with the ER style of up-tempo play!”

The freshmen team is in good hands with an experienced Coach Wilson at the helm. In just a few short years this group will be dominating at the varsity level and watching them improve along the way promises to provide some exciting times on the hardwood!

VARSITY GIRLS BASKETBALL
Lady Elks take third at own invitational 

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Hunter Shellenbarger (15) makes history scoring the first basket for the Elk varsity girls in the new gym on a fast break layup against Onekama. Photo by Kim Eardley Photography
The varsity basketball season began for the Lady Elks at home in the Elk Rapids Athletic Complex last weekend, hosting the inaugural Elk Rapids Girls Basketball Invitational. The two-day tournament is planned to be an annual event for both the varsity and junior varsity teams in years to come. This first invitational attracted teams from Glen Lake, Onekama and St. Francis with the first round taking place on Friday evening and the consolation and championship games held Saturday afternoon.

The Elks faced off against Onekama on Friday in round one, falling 61-54 in overtime in a game they led by 20 points at halftime. Hunter Shellenbarger made Elk girls basketball history scoring the first Elk basket on a fast break lay-up at the 7:19 mark of the first quarter. Haleigh Yocom tossed in 11 first-quarter points including three three-pointers giving the Elks a 17-4 lead after one, en route to 36-16 halftime advantage. In the third quarter Onekama battled back and outscored the Elks 16-2, trimming the lead to 38-32. The Elks dodged the third-quarter shutout with a basket from Anna Pray. In the fourth quarter Onekama outscored the Elks 19 to 11, Shellenbarger had eight of the fourth-quarter Elk points, tying the game at 49-49 then prevailed in overtime for the win. Shellenbarger had 18 points, Haleigh Yocom scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Rhielynn Skrocki added eight points with 11 boards and five steals and Pray finished with seven points.

“This was a good early lesson for us,” said Elks varsity girls coach Mike Brown, “Don’t look up at the scoreboard and think we got this, every team is going to come out and fight. Nobody is going to lay down.”

Hunter Shellenbarger led the Elks with 18 points, Haleigh Yocom had 13 points including three three-points shots to go with 11 rebounds, Rhielynn Skrocki scored eight points, grabbed 11 boards and had five steals.

The Elks returned to the home court on Saturday to go against former Lake Michigan Conference rival St. Francis in the consolation game and came away with a 39-20 win to claim third place in the tournament. The Elks built a 14-3 first-quarter lead that swelled to a 24-6 advantage at the half and 29-11 after three quarters of play. 

Brooke Fluty had 14 points with three baskets from behind the arc, Shellenbarger scored nine points with four rebounds and Skrocki chipped in seven points to go with seven steals. The Gladiators were in the consolation matchup by falling to Glen Lake 44-21 on Friday. The championship trophy went to Onekama with a 57-42 win over Glen Lake.

A road trip to Glen Lake on Tuesday for a non-conference battle with the Lakers ended with a 49-32 loss for the Lady Elks. The Elks were led in scoring by Shellenbarger and Skrocki with 10 points each.

The Lady Elks (1-2) will complete a four-game road stretch this week starting at Kalkaska on Thursday in the Northern Shores Conference opener for both teams followed by a non-conference game against Benzie Central on Monday and a trip to Petoskey on Tuesday for a makeup game with the Lady Northmen.

JV BOYS BASKETBALL
JV basketball brings successful track record this season

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Elk Rapids High School JV Boys Basketball Team 2024-2025: front row: Mason Hilley, Eli Zbytowski, Keegan Kiel, Michael Macksey, Cole Graham. back row: Head Coach Tylor Somers, Drew Plum, Colin Shockley, Caden Schlicker, Jake Moore, Jack Morton, Asst Coach Caden Moore. Photo by Kim Eardley Photography
The Elk JV basketball team roster lists 10 players this season made up of nine sophomores joined by a freshman in Jack Morton. One sophomore, Jake Moore, is the lone returnee to the JV team, the other eight sophomores played together on the freshman team last year, finishing with a record of 18-4.
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A majority of these sophomores also played together at Cherryland on the seventh and eighth grade teams, tallying a two-year record of 22-1, giving this group of players an impressive 40-5 record over the last three years. 

The team is coached by Tylor Somers, in his third year as JV head coach. Coach Somers has been a coaching fixture at various levels of Elk Rapids basketball for nearly 15 years; last season his JV squad finished at 20-2 improving on the 19-2 record tallied by the JV under Somers’ first year at the helm.

“We absolutely have the potential to keep the success going with this group,” Coach Somers said. “Our strengths are that we have guards who are quick and skilled, and we have three good post players on the inside. A nice balance for sure, being able to have skilled perimeter guys and skilled bigs should help us.” This a cohesive group, as they have played together and been successful, and they know each other well. They are also growing physically and that will really make them a tough squad to beat. 

“Jake Moore is a motor who works hard on both ends, Caden Schlicker is a nightmare for anyone in the paint offensively and defensively. Drew Plum does a great job bringing the ball up and getting the offense rolling. Mason Hilley can get a hot hand on offense and gets in the passing lanes on defense. Colin Shockley is a workhorse, following in the Shockley ways of his brothers! Keegan Kiel is a defensive nightmare; he plays with high energy. Cole Graham can get hot from the three-point line. Eli Zbytowski is an all-around great player who can shoot well and get to the basket along with locking up on defense. Michael Macksey works hard, and Jack Morton is a great addition to the group, showing that he can score and lock up playing defense,” summed up Somers.

“We can clean up some of our turnovers, as we tend to get a little sloppy at times, but I already see improvement in that area,” Somers continued. “I have personnel and positions figured out already, but you never know, if someone shines in a way I haven’t seen, we will make changes, it is early.” Assisting on the coaching bench this year is Caden Moore, an Elk basketball alumnus.

“We are going to have a great season, because we have the size, speed and a great group of guys who care to succeed and work hard,” said Somers.

The JV Elks have the tools to be a great team this year and in the near future at the varsity level. The new gym is waiting to see just what this group can do! Elk Pride!