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Chasing down Interstate-8 Athletic Conference leading Jackson Parma Western won't be easy for anybody. The Panthers are 11-1 overall and 7-0 heading into this weekend's action, but the number two spot in the I-8 is still very much up for grabs. The Saxons can take a big step towards a top two finish in the conference with a win Friday. The Saxons host Marshall Friday night. Both teams are 5-2 in the conference, currently tied two games back of the Panthers. Hastings is 9-4 overall on the season and Marshall 7-5. The RedHawks took the opening match-up of the season between the two teams 44-29 back in December. The Saxons will try and combat Marshall's experienced guards by getting the ball in the paint on offense, and work on changing things up a little bit on defense here and there to slow them down. “I'm excited for the girls to be able to play the game at home. That has a good feel to it. There are consequences to the game. This is why kids play,” Hastings head coach Chase Youngs said of the anticipation for Friday's ballgame. The Saxons picked up their ninth win of the season last Friday, Jan. 21, at Pennfield High School in Battle Creek. Hastings outscored the Panthers 55-48 – rallying after a bit of a slow start which saw the Saxons down 11-7 after one quarter. “That is a team that is at the bottom of the league right now, but they played us pretty tough,” coach Youngs said. “It is good to win on the road. I told the girls afterwards, winning on the road is never easy. Winning isn't easy. It doesn't matter what the score is, they fought through.” Hastings found its offense in the second quarter to pull in front 26-20 at the half. Pennfield surged to within 35-33 heading into the fourth quarter as Hastings struggled a bit to extend its lead beyond six or eight points throughout the period. The Saxons closed the ballgame with a 20-13 run in the fourth quarter. Brooklynn Youngs had seven of her 13 points in the fourth quarter for the Saxons. Hastings was 16-of-19 from the three throw line as a team in the ballgame and Youngs was 6-of-6 herself. Macy Winegar had a team-high 17 points for the Saxons. She hit three three-pointers and was 4-of-4 at the free throw line. The Saxons also got nine points from Brianna Barnes, seven from Madison Pettengill and six from Bailey Cook Coach Youngs was pretty pleased with the play of Cook and Pettengill on the inside. He guessed they had nearly 20 rebounds between the two of them. Brooklynn Youngs and Winegar shot well, and Barnes attacked the basket for the Saxons. It was on Barnes and Allison Teed for most of the evening to try and slow down Pennfield star Kylee Glidden. Glidden finished the ballgame with 24 points. She hit a pair of three-pointers in the third quarter as her team powered into the lead and was 16-of-18 from the free throw line. Glidden was 12-of-16 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter alone. Coach Youngs was mostly pleased with the defensive effort on Glidden. One of her three-pointers was a 26-footer, which was one of the few times the Saxons really gave her any space according to their coach. He said the refs were calling things tightly, but didn't have much argument against Glidden's opportunities at the free throw line. On the offensive end, coach Youngs was basically happy about how his girls worked the ball and found good shots. Overall, he has liked the patience his girls have shown offensively in their past few games. “They're starting to see what it should look like, when it's a good take and when it is not,” coach Youngs said. Hastings will visit Coldwater Feb. 4 for another I-8 contest.

It was more than just a break from the Interstate-8 Athletic Conference duals for the Hastings varsity girls' bowling team. It was a chance to win a championship. The Saxons rolled a score of 1,505 in ten Baker matches to place third in qualifying and then knocked off the top two teams, Thornapple Kellogg and Zeeland, to win the championship at the Zeeland Baker Invitational at Fairlanes in Grandville Saturday. The Saxon team of Ally Herder, Abby Barton, Andrea Rhodes, Shyanna Baker and Jen Stoline outscored top seeded Zeeland 328-310 in their two-game Baker series for the championship. Zeeland won the opener 173-147, but the Saxons rallied to win the second 173-137 to take the overall pinfall. Hastings outscored Thornapple Kellogg 156-124 and 136-133 in two Baker games in the quarterfinals, then bested Coopersville 180-114 and 178-156 in two games in the semis. The Saxons opened match-play with wins by the scores of 130-129 and 143-131 against Coopersville. The Saxons had a high Baker game of 200 during the qualifying rounds. The Hastings boys weren't able to advance through match-play at the tournament. They put together a score of 1,643 during their ten Baker games in qualifying. The team of Deagon Wilkins, Miles Lipsey, Cam Eaton, Gage Richmond, Drew Rhodes and Hunter Pennington had high games of 201 and 202 throughout qualifying. Thornapple Kellogg bested the Hastings boys in the opening round of match-play. TK took the opening Baker 189-153. Hastings managed to outscore the Trojans in the second 156-152. Grand Rapids Christian bested the TK boys in the quarterfinals. Hastings was back in action Tuesday taking on Pennfield in Interstate-8 Athletic Conference duals at Hastings Bowl. The Hastings boys scored a 24-6 win over the Panthers while the Hastings girls pulled out a 16-14 victory. Shyanna Baker won two team points for the Saxon girls on the afternoon, rolling games of 146 and 165. Amber Rabideau, Herder, Barton and Andrea Rhodes won one point each. Rabideau won hers with a 128. Barton rolled a 157, Rhodes had a 164 and Herder rolled a 136. In the boys' victory, the Saxons took ten points for winning each of the two regular games and they took six points thanks to a win in one of the Bakers as well as the top overall pinfall in the Bakers. Richmond, Eaton and Lipsey won two team points each in the head-to-head match-ups. Eaton had games of 182 and 166. Lipsey rolled a 148 and a 166. Richmond scored a 186 and a 213. The Saxons also got a team point thanks to a 209 from Drew Rhodes and a 144 from Wilkins. Last Thursday at Jax 60 in Jackson, the Hastings boys were bested 26-4 in an I-8 dual with the Northwest Mounties while the Hastings girls took a 24.5-5.5 win. Rabideau, Baker, Barton and Herder won two team points each for the Saxons. Baker had games of 124 and 165. Rabideau rolled a 143 and a 173. Herder scored a 139 and a 120. Barton added a 154 and a 156. Teammate Andrea Rhodes picked up half a team-point with a 135. The two girls' teams split the two Baker games with the Saxons winning the total pin-count in those two contests. The Hastings boys got their four points against the Mounties by winning one of the two Baker games – that despite bowling really well overall against the talented Northwest team. Richmond rolled games of 176 and 179 for the Saxons. Drew Rhodes hit seven strikes in a row at one point in a 222 game. Hunter Pennington scored a 165 for the Saxons, Eaton had a high-game of 155 and Lipsey rolled a 147.

The Pennfield Panther varsity boys' basketball team defeated the Saxons 73-38 in an Interstate-8 Athletic Conference game at Hastings High school Friday. At the half, the Saxons trailed 43–18. Joe McLean hit two three-point shots for the Saxons in the first half, but the Panthers shut down the Saxon offense in the third quarter only allowing two points. The Saxons tried to rally in the fourth by putting 18 points on the board and holding the Panthers to 13. Owen Carroll, who scored all seven of his points in the last quarter, led the rally along with Myles Padilla who added another six points. Layton Eastman led the Saxon team in scoring overall with eight points for the night. Pennfield got 17 points from Luke Davis who had a solid all-around game for the Panthers. Graham Boyd added 16 points and Aiden Burns had 12 in the win. Pennfield comes into this week as one of the handful of teams among the honorable mention ranks in the Division 2 AP State Rankings. Hastings will travel to Marshall in Interstate-8 action on Friday. The RedHawks are currently ranked seventh in the state in Division 2. Marshall will head into Friday night's ballgame with a 10-1 overall record. The RedHawks are currently tied atop the I-8 standings with Coldwater. Both teams are 6-1 in the conference. Pennfield is tied with Harper Creek in third place in the league standings at 5-2. Pennfield improved to 8-2 overall with the win. The Saxons are now 0-7 in conference play and 1-10 overall.

The Delton Kellogg varsity wrestling team placed seventh at last Friday's Comstock Invitational. Hesperia took the tournament championship with 174 points, ahead of Olivet 142.5, Portland 137, Chelsea 132, White Pigeon 119, Hopkins 101, Delton Kellogg 90.5, West Catholic 78, Coloma 57.5, Galesburg-Augusta 50, Hartford 48.5 and Comstock 44. Delton Kellogg senior Caden Ferris won the 215-pound weight class with pins of Olivet's Evan Brand and White Pigeon's Seth Miller. Neither match lasted as long as a minute despite both guys coming into the tournament with winning records. Ferris improved his record to 35-0 on the season with the two victories. Delton Kellogg's other top performances came in the lightweights. Gauge Stampfler was the runner-up at 125 pounds and Marcus Momenee placed third at 130. Stampfler scored a technical fall in his opening round match and then pinned Portland's Isaac Kramer late in the first period of their 125-pound semifinal. West Catholic's Thomas Zielinski scored a 16-0 technical fall against Stampfler in their flight championship match. Momenee was pinned by White Pigeon's Gavin McGrady in their 130-pound semifinal match, after opening the day with two pins of his own. Momenee rebounded to pin Olivet's Kaedon Goodnoe 47 seconds into their consolation final. DK also had Gage Vincent at 119 pounds and Hunter Antolovich at 135 pounds place sixth and Vinnie Quick score a fourth-place finish at 152 pounds.

The scoreboard didn't tell the tale of the effort the Delton Kellogg boys showed Friday. Parchment took an 83-55 win over the Delton Kellogg varsity boys' basketball team at Parchment High School in Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley Division action. Despite an 18-point defeat, DK head coach Jim Hogoboom said, “I thought tonight was our best performance. There was great effort out of our kids. We just need to eliminate the multiple possessions that seems to stack up on us - sometimes I think impacted by fatigue not necessarily due to lack of effort or understanding. “We are growing and if we bring tonight’s effort every day we will get on a little roll at some point.” Parchment jumped out to a 23-7 lead in the ballgame and extended its advantage to 44-21 by the half. “Parchment is very difficult to guard and in some ways you have to pick your poison with them,” Hogoboom said. “We tried two different zones, a gimmick triangle-and-2 as well as man-to-man and they have so many weapons you just can’t afford any coverage or rotation errors.” Aaron Jasiak hit six threes and led Parchment with 22 points. Parchment knocked down 15 three-pointers as a team. Tony Williams added 18 points for the winners and freshman Jalen Kampen chipped in nine points on three threes in the second half. Delton Kellogg has another tough one on the road Friday at Kalamazoo Christian and then will be home to face Schoolcraft Tuesday.

The scoreboard didn't tell the tale of the effort the Delton Kellogg boys showed Friday. Parchment took an 83-55 win over the Delton Kellogg varsity boys' basketball team at Parchment High School in Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley Division action. Despite an 18-point defeat, DK head coach Jim Hogoboom said, “I thought tonight was our best performance. There was great effort out of our kids. We just need to eliminate the multiple possessions that seems to stack up on us - sometimes I think impacted by fatigue not necessarily due to lack of effort or understanding. “We are growing and if we bring tonight’s effort every day we will get on a little roll at some point.” Parchment jumped out to a 23-7 lead in the ballgame and extended its advantage to 44-21 by the half. “Parchment is very difficult to guard and in some ways you have to pick your poison with them,” Hogoboom said. “We tried two different zones, a gimmick triangle-and-2 as well as man-to-man and they have so many weapons you just can’t afford any coverage or rotation errors.” Aaron Jasiak hit six threes and led Parchment with 22 points. Parchment knocked down 15 three-pointers as a team. Tony Williams added 18 points for the winners and freshman Jalen Kampen chipped in nine points on three threes in the second half. Delton Kellogg has another tough one on the road Friday at Kalamazoo Christian and then will be home to face Schoolcraft Tuesday.

Barry County had a two point lead heading into the final event of the evening against the Ottawa Hills Bengals Thursday at the Community Education and Recreation Center in Hastings, but couldn't quite hold on for a second conference win. The Bengal foursome of Ryan Yon, Amado Huner, Ben Brinks and Jonathan Hoffman won the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3 minutes 55.95 seconds to secure a tie for their team and then the team of Elias Morgan, Reuben Oeverman, Miles Wilbourn and Caleb Oeverman secured Ottawa Hills' victory with a third-place time of 4:24.00. Barry County had the team of Mason Cross, Donald Kuck, Nolan Send and Jameson Riordan place second in the race with a time of 4:08.10. The Barracuda team of of Isaac Stanton, Camden Reynolds, Reagan Neuman and Jake Gheradi placed fourth in that final relay, about two and a half seconds behind that Bengal team which earned the two third place points. Jack Kensington was a part of all the Barracuda wins in the pool in the dual. He took the 100-yard freestyle in 53.41 seconds, the 50-yard freestyle in 23.88 and teamed with Matt Smith, Shults and Pacillo to win the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:39.27. Blake Sheldon won the diving competition for the Barracudas with a score of 197.50, finishing nearly 50 points ahead of the runner-up. Hoffman and Zeke Deblaay teamed with Matis Rizkalla and Ehtan Shi to win the 200-yard medley relay for the Bengals. Hoffman went on to win the 200-yard freestyle in 1:54.00 and the 100-yard backstroke in 57.79. Deblaay won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:17.63 and the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:08.93. The Barry County boys were back in the water for a non-conference tri with Coldwater and Marshall in Marshall Tuesday. The Barry County boys defeated Coldwater 134-43, but fell 102-83 to Marshall. Marshall scored a 137-39 win over its Interstate-8 Athletic Conference foes from Coldwater. Sheldon was the meet's top diver putting up a score of 198.65. Teammate Ethan Kooistra was third overall with 131.20 points, which was good for second in the dual with Marshall. Barry County's 200-yard freestyle relay team of Shults, Matt Smith, Kensington and Pacillo won in 1:41.22. Kensington earned a time of 52.44 to win the 100-yard freestyle for Barry County as well.