Page 9 - Sanger Herald 3-15-18 E-edition

SangerSports
SANGER HERALD * PAGE 1B * THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2018
Apache badminton enters 4th year and wants to win CMAC
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Those who started off as freshmen on Sanger High’s inaugural badminton team are now seniors as the program enters its fourth season, firing a bright yellow birdie over a narrow 5-foot net.
That’s the case with senior Marie Yang, who has earned the rank of the Apaches’ No. 1. The ranking means she plays the opposing team’s No. 1 in competition, as was the case March 9 in the Coach Dean Nicholson Gym when Clovis visited.
Yang acknowledged the difficulty of holding the ranking. But she didn’t let it deter her.
“We have a lot of footwork,” she said of learning to master the game. “You have to have a lot of determination. And it takes a lot of practice, a lot of hard work and who you have to face in your match, you never know what to
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Marie Yang, the Apaches' No. 1, plays a match against Clovis last week.
coach Fuchi Ly.
The Apaches beat
Reedley on March 5 and lost to Buchanan on March 7, she said. “We play everybody three times in the CMAC (County Metro Athletic Conference),” Parks said. “Sunnyside will be tough.
“I’m looking forward to a good season.”
Parks said the sophistication and confidence of the athletes has grown along with the program, with seniors able to provide mentorship to the younger students.
The Apaches’ No. 2 is senior Nicole Vang, who has been on the team three years. “I love it,” she said. “It’s fun to communicate with my teammates and be a team leader.
“When I first started, nobody knew about badminton. But this year, a lot of girls wanted to try out. We’re a really positive team. We try to encourage people to join.”
Vang said new players
have the benefit of learning from those who have been at it several years. “It was nerve-racking to teach myself,” she said. “I wasn’t confident.”
But she said last year, she experienced an epiphany that helped her game. “I realized if I kept looking down on myself, I couldn’t improve.”
She improved her outlook and her skills followed. Although, she said, she did feel she was already pretty good, “but there was more improvement I needed to do.
“I reached my goal in varsity. But now my goal is for my team to be No. 1.”
Vang said her Apaches are pretty good this year, but “we need to improve more.” She added that the team needs to learn what its coaches teach and to practice and build those skills.
Yang also expressed confidence in her team’s
See Badminton, Page 2B
expect.”
Yang lost to Clovis’ No. 1
but defeated the Cougars’ No. 2.
“Even though I lose, I take it as a lesson,” she
said after the first match. “Every mistake I make, I learn from it.”
The Clovis competition served as the third of the preseason, said coach
Allison Parks, who has been captaining the program since it began. She is joined this year by new junior varsity coach Rob Thompson and assistant
Apaches drop Beyer, lose in Chico
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Sanger’s boys basketball team wanted to make history by winning its first ever state playoff game, but visiting Fred C. Beyer High’s Patriots had their own ideas March 7.
They battled back from the first three quarters of Apache court domination to outscore Sanger in the fourth quarter, eerily similar to the way Reedley’s Immanuel dismantled the Apaches the previous Saturday at Selland Arena. And no Sanger fan at the Coach Dean Nicholson Gym wanted that, especially Jean Nicholson, the late coach’s wife, who attended the California Interscholastic Federation Division III state playoff match.
Apache senior Isaiah Rodriguez had faith.
“I was not going to let them have a repeat of what happened at Valley,” he said. Rodriguez scored 12 points, connecting on six of seven shots from the floor.
Sanger beat visiting No. 10 seed Beyer 66-60, and the near capacity crowd got what they hadn’t when Immanuel poured in 29 points in the fourth quarter March 3 at Selland for the Central Section championship and got a 68-57 win. Sanger received the No. 7 seed ranking.
Redemption.
The mood amongst the players proved markedly different, too.
“Big win for us,” said senior Morice Norris, who scored 14 points, pulled down six rebounds, dished three assists and grabbed three steals. “Coming off the loss at Selland Arena, people said we gave up. So we had to prove them wrong. I didn’t want to graduate without a ring, but it is what it is.”
For seniors Rodriguez, Norris, Isaiah Cuevas, Romeo Little and Avery Chatman the game will be their last one at home. The team traveled to Chico on March 10 to play the Pleasant Valley Vikings
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Isaiah Rodriguez goes up for two against Beyer, above, while Morice Norris fights off a bunch of defense, right. Sanger won its first playoff game and lost the next.
Immanuel, which trailed until midway through the fourth quarter before firing up its two-barreled offense, the Patriots pushed hard in the final period with senior Ben Polack, who had a game- high 24 points, providing much of the firepower.
Stanley said coach Al Alvarado III told them before the game how they controlled their destiny. “He said it’s going to be a character game,” Stanley said. “It would show who wanted to play and who didn’t. And we all wanted to.
“Coach said winning is the best medicine. And we went to the right doctor, Sanger High. We rallied our troops together and got the win.”
And then Stanley described the mood.
“It feels great,” he said. “Relief, you know.”
The outcome wasn’t certain especially with about 2:48 minutes left in the fourth when Polack scored two points to even the score at 52 apiece. “We have to win this game,” said Gina Cuevas, Isaiah’s mom, at that moment. “Oh my God.”
After the game, Gina was more confident. “We’re going to take it all the way,” she said.
Assistant coach Mike Paredes indicated he also was a little nervous. “Cardiac,” he said. “Cardiac arrest.”
Alvarado told his team after the game that he was exceptionally proud of the effort, especially after the heartbreak many felt after the previous loss. “It’s really easy to pack your bags and say, ‘I’m out of here,’” he said. “But you didn’t. It showed a lot of perseverance. It showed a lot of character.
“This is the first time we’ve hosted a state (boys basketball) playoff game in Sanger and the first time we won a playoff game in Sanger. You’re a state level team. Be proud of that.”
Assistant coach Mark
See Basketball, Page 2B
only to lose 63-45. Going into the game, the Vikings had a 28-2 overall record and 10-0 in its league. The No. 2 seeded team was ranked by Maxpreps.com on statistical data as 28th in the state.
In the Beyer game, Cuevas led the Apaches with 18 points, all from behind the three-point arc. At one point in the game, his shooting touch ignited and he drained one after another. But the magic touch didn’t strike right away.
“The first four I missed,” he said. Cuevas made six of 13 attempts. “Then I sat on the bench and relaxed. Got back to restart everything.
“And then I just caught fire.”
Cuevas credited his
teammates for feeding him the ball at just the right time. Little and junior guard Cameron Stanley stood close by. The group stayed on the court after the game as music blasted over the public address system and hundreds of Sanger fans congratulated the players.
Little responded to Cuevas’ remark about getting help from fellow players. “He just waited for me to give him the ball so he could start making it,” Little said with a smirk. “I’m the floor genie.”
Stanley, who scored 12 points with three of them from three-point territory, attempted to address exactly what he and his fellow Apaches did to adapt this time around. Like