An Independent Newspaper Serving the Athletes of the

Springville Schools and Area Community

Wednesday, March 5, 2014, Volume 4>>Issue 27>> An Independent newspaper serving Springville, Iowa

ORIOLE PRIDE “l Came To Coach Basketball

Players, And You Became Students. l Came To Teach

Boys, And You Became Men” ~ Ken Carter

ORIOLE BASKETBALL ENDS TOO SOON

Cruising through the opening rounds of district play, the Oriole’s were looking good. Beating Central City 74-46 and then Lisbon 55-38 I think that maybe I should take the blame for the O’s loss against Easton on Thursday. I printed the bracket, looked at the state schedule and planned my calendar for a trip to Wells Fargo Arena. I was so certain that the O’s were going to take care of Easton that I committed those unspeakable acts. I soothed the nervous Moms during pre-game, was already thinking that Iowa City West is where our volleyball team earned their trip to state and that the boys would follow right along... I hid my grin when Wilhelm picked up his 3rd and then cracked a small one when he earned his 4th. So I’ll take the blame Oriole fans because I am still struggling with the end of one heck of a season. North Cedar hosted the District match up with Easton Valley, the only team to put a mark in the loss column for the O’s back in early January. But playing its best basketball and averaging 65 points a game, Springville was anxious to get another shot at the River Hawks. Easton scored first but Springville scored more often and held an 11-10 advantage at the end of the 1st quarter. The lead see sawed back and forth in the 2nd and at the half time break, Easton led just 22-21. In the 3rd quarter the battle continued and Easton held the edge taking a 7 point lead into the final quarter of play. Then the O’s turned it on. Junior Greg Pauly hit a 3 to cut it to four, Senior Kolton Markley picked up a defensive rebound off a poor Easton shot and quickly made the outlet to Senior Sam Scriver who took it the length of the court for 2 and the O’s all of a sudden were within 2. I am not so sure I’ve ever felt so much electricity in the air as the crowd was at its best and at that moment, that precise moment I saw the “oh no” look in Easton’s eyes and I thought to myself here we go, we have them right where we want them. Costly

turnovers hurt the O’s at key possessions of the game and in the 4th they came back to bite the O’s again. To Easton’s credit, they made the big shots and the O’s could not answer. With 1:34 in the game, Easton had a 58-47 advantage and the Oriole’s had to foul. Springville fell by a final of 60-49, ending their hurricane of a season with a 21-2 record. Obviously distraught over the loss, Coach Merritt said that “We just had a few too many turnovers, missed a few shots we typically don't miss, and didn't attack as well as we could have which were all reasons for the defeat. However, there really isn't anything negative I can take away from the game. I thought we executed our game plan very well and got into their bench and got their post player in foul trouble early. Jesse Robertson did exactly what we asked of him and that was to work his tail off and make things difficult for their big guy. I thought our effort was amazing and I thought we stayed composed in a loud environment and in a situation that wasn't very pleasant. As a coach or player, you want to be able to walk away after a

loss without any what-ifs and I don't feel like we have any of those.” Statistically the O’s again had a strong balance in scoring. Senior Elias Nissen led with 18 points and 13 rebounds, Pauly finished with 11 points and Scriver 10. Markley finished with a game high 14 Rebounds and he dished out 4 assists, while Robertson, as Coach Merritt said, did what doesn’t show in the stat book. He got under the skin of Easton’s leading scorer and that alone was worth the price of admission.

Nissen with a rebound

Allsup and Scriver demonstrate “Ball Pressure 101”

The best fan base in the state of Iowa!

Wednesday, March 5, 2014, Oriole Pride 2

And so here we are, just short of another state appearance. While it is the end of a season, for our seniors it is the beginning of what’s to come. They have many more memories to make and success to celebrate and that is how it should be. Those of us who cheer them on appreciate their efforts, applaud their wins as well as their losses and look forward to the days that we’ll reminisce. I can already hear myself saying I remember when… A Springville Oriole basketball team outplayed their opponents from the start to the finish—a team that enjoyed playing defense just as much as

offense. A group of guys that worked hard for their coach and believed in one another. A core of seniors unlike any other. A team that exceeds any image movies like Hoosier’s, Glory Road or Coach Carter try to emulate. This year has taken us all to new heights as sports fans but it still boils down to the basics. We have good, solid kids from good, solid families who are coached by good, solid people. And because of that, we are the luckiest fans alive. So keep your chins up and start practicing those bragging rights. Picture yourself 10 years from now, down town at the Legion perhaps, arguing with a local as to who the best rebounder in school history is...the most prolific 3 point shooter to wear an Oriole uniform...the quickest guard to pounce on an opponent… the craziest antics of a student section...the biggest rival to enter Machovec...chances are, a name on this year’s roster is part of that argument. How cool is that?

Pauly up for 3—look at the anticipation in the crowd

To the left, Robertson goes up strong. To the far right, Markley making things tough for Easton. To the right, Brooks serves up 1 of his 4 assists. Below, their faces tell the story; Allsup, Pauly, Brooks and Markley. Far below, your senior’s and your coach’s.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014, Oriole Pride 3

KILBURG SIGNS WITH THE MUSTANGS

Surrounded by family, friends and coaches, Senior Tracy Kilburg made her official commitment to play volleyball AND basketball for the Mount Mercy Mustangs next fall. Kilburg, a 4 sport athlete here for the Orioles will tone it down to just 2 when she enters her Freshman year at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids. Kilburg was joined by Mustang Volleyball Coach Deb Marlin last Thursday for the signing in Machovec Gymnasium. Mount Mercy is an NAIA school in Cedar Rapids with an enrollment of just under 2000 students. Tracy is the daughter of Cindy and Scott Kilburg. Congratulations Tracy.

ORIOLE PRIDE TAKES A LITTLE TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE….. In the interest of making space on my nearly full hard drive, I started going through the archives. I thought I’d share some pictures of this year’s senior class of basketball players - as freshmen, and what the heck, the Coaches too from that fateful year! Please be advised it was a couple cameras ago and before I knew how to use one. Enjoy.

Pictured clockwise from above left: Daisha Hall, Emmie Rommann (in her 8th grade season), Samantha Fitzgerald, Kerrigan Riley, Head Coach Nate Sanderson and Tracy Kilburg.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014, Oriole Pride 4

Pictured clockwise from above left; Brian Allsup, Elias Nissen, Jesse Robertson, Sam Scriver, Peter Brooks, Kolton Markley and to the left, Tyler Rowell. Below left, Head Coach Nick Merritt. And directly below, one of my favorites; Allsup on the floor, Nissen, Markley and Robertson around him.

DID YOU KNOW? Tim “The Voice of The Orioles” Scriver did a little moonlighting last weekend? The Kirkwood Eagles were without an announcer and according to Scriver, “The back up knows me, so he called to see if I could work the Kirkwood game. It was both women's and men's games against Ellsworth CC. The athletes were certainly bigger, stronger and faster than high school play but you can't beat the fans and the atmosphere at Machovec gymnasium in the wonderful town of Springville”.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014, Oriole Pride 5

WEEKLY PICKS CONTEST… This week we have more Men’s College Basketball match-ups:

Illinois at Iowa Oklahoma State at Iowa State Kentucky at Florida North Carolina at Duke Here’s what you do, make your picks and for the Tie-Breaker, who ends up being the leading scorer for Iowa State on Saturday? If needed, the winner will have chosen a Cyclone with the most points in that game. Make your picks and email us at oriolepride@gmail.com Congratulations to last week’s winner Joe Martin who won with his 3 of 4 picks. Thanks for playing and have a great week.

THE FAMOUS AMONG US… OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT

Every now and then there is a fan, coach, parent or even an athlete who catches my eye and reminds me of someone. This week, Springville fan and former coach Shawn O’Brien is our newest man of fame. He could be the stand in for Seattle Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll. Pretty crazy don’t you think?

Find us online at http://issuu.com/oriolepride E-mail; oriolepride@gmail.com

CRAZY MASCOT OF THE WEEK There’s some pretty crazy mascots out there, here’s your weekly dose of a U.S. high school with an out of the ordinary nick name. You’ve all seen Coach Carter haven’t you? The film is the true story based on the 1999 team who played under Ken Carter in Richmond, California. The Oilers, as was their name in the movie and is in modern day, is the mascot for a public high school with an enrollment of just over 1300 students. The school competes in the usual athletic events as well as swimming, tennis and badminton. The school colors are red and blue unlike the burgundy and gold in the movie. Richmond selected Oilers as their nick name because of its proximity to the shipyards which were abundant in the days of WWI and WWII. The film was shot in California, but not on any part of the Richmond campus. Ken Carter now resides in Texas and runs an academy for underprivileged youth. Previously he had coached a Slamball team, The Rumble.

ARCHERY TEAM WRAPS UP THEIR SEASON AT THE STATE TOURNAMENT Nine Springville Archers competed across 6 divisions last weekend in state competition. In High School boys, Cody Bell, Ty Nelson and Brian Sindelar qualified for the O’s. Kylie Mysak was the lone High School girl qualifier and in Middle School, Leah Foley, Haley Kirchmann and Jacinde Lillard competed in the girls division and Nick Miller and Cade Zaruba the boys. Brian Sindelar had his personal best, a 270 that placed him 64th out of 170 among the High School archers and among 9th graders he placed 10th out of 49. Cade Zaruba also had a personal best, he shot a 270 to earn 31st out of 172 in Middle School and 7th out of 51 Sixth graders. Haley Kirchmann shot her second best score, her 266 earned her 23rd of 135 in Middle School and 12th of 46 in Eighth grade girls. Kylie Mysak set a new HS Girls Springville record for her score of 273 and Ty Nelson set a new HS Boys Springville record with his 276. Head Coach Gary Biles said that “Springville’s program had 30 archers competing in tournaments this year, which was a 36% increase over the first year. With only two seniors leaving the program this year, it is anticipated next year’s program will also see good growth”. Congratulations to all the archers for an impressive season. Pictured in orange to the right is Leah Foley, Cody Bell and Cade Zaruba. (Thank you to Jaime Zaruba for the photo)