COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – In Branch County high school sports, it turned out to be a winning football weekend for county teams who all played at home with Bronson and Union City earning victories Saturday night in the completion of their Friday night games suspended by lightning and thunderstorms. The Vikings and Chargers followed the shutouts posted by Coldwater and Quincy with both their contests called midway thru the third quarter Friday because of the weather. Week Four of the season wrapped up with Bronson outscoring Comstock 65-53 for their first win. Kyle Roberts had a game-high 238 yards rushing for the Vikings with three touchdowns. Union City pulled away from Springport in the fourth quarter to beat the Spartans 48-32. Elijah Way had 155 yards on the ground with two touchdowns while Thomas Anderson had 3 receptions for 137 yards and two touchdowns. Anderson also led the defense with an interception and 10 tackles. The Chargers improved to 3-1 overall and 2-1 in the Big Eight.
In other weekend action, in Boys soccer Saturday, Coldwater scored 5 second half goals in an 8-1 home win over Sturgis. Wageeh Saeed and Mana Ahmed each had 3 goals and one assist. Haroon Aljabaly and Waheeb Ahmed each had one goal. Ali Naji had 2 assists, while Yones Mussa, Fadel Said, and Abdul Haggagi each had one. Freshman Balal Nasser had 2 saves in goal as Coldwater out shot Sturgis 19-8, improving their record to 8-3-1. They will host Parma Western tomorrow for the first ever soccer game on the new Cardinal Stadium artificial turf. In the reserve match, the Coldwater JV team stayed undefeated with a 3-1 win over Sturgis. Mohsen Saleh had 2 goals with one goal for Shuaib Aljabaly. Goal keeper Alex Schaale made 5 saves with the Cardinals outshooting the Trojans 11-5 while improving their record to 9-0.
In volleyball, Coldwater and Bronson played Saturday at the Portage Northern Invitational with Coldwater finishing 1-3 on the day while Bronson was 4-1-1 and took third place. In pool play, Coldwater lost to Lakeshore and Schoolcraft before beating Sturgis and advanced as the last seed in the gold division where they were eliminated in the bracket play losing 2-0 to Niles. Jasmine Wellet led the Lady Cardinals on the day in kills with 20 and in digs with 42. Jamie Wellet had a team-high 41 assists. Tyler Scheid had 3 solo blocks and Allie Butler and Shelby Kahler both served a perfect 100% for the tournament. Coldwater’s season record is now 5-12-4. Bronson, which is ranked second in the state in Class-C, beat Class D top-ranked Battle Creek St. Philip 2-0 in the first round of single elimination and then defeated Grandville before falling to Niles in the gold bracket semi-finals. Alexa Ratkowski had 116 assists, Allison Sikorski and Jill Pyles had 35 kills apiece with 7 blocks for Pyles. And Kiera Lasky had 60 digs. Bronson’s record is 22-5-2.
In Boys tennis, Coldwater captured the title of the Allegan Invitational for the third year in-a-row. The Cardinals earned 21 points in the field of 8 schools with host Allegan taking second place with 17 points. First place finishers for Coldwater were Javier Perez-Mara, Nate Waterbury and Kumaran Arivoli at first, second, and third singles, along with Nolan Duda and Austin Butler at first doubles and Kam Miller and Shane O’Grady at second doubles. In Cross Country, at Friday’s MSU Invitational, the Coldwater Boys team finished fifth out of 41 teams in the Bronze Division led by Ben Fagen’s medal winning effort. In the JV race, Coldwater’s Shuaib Aljabaly beat 970 other runners to the finish line to win a gold medal.
And in Girls swimming, Coldwater placed 5th out of 7 teams Saturday in the Lady Bearcat Invitational at Battle Creek Central. Medals were awarded to first place finishers in the three divisions. Jayda Kelly won the 50 yard Division A freestyle. In Division B, Erica Rogers won the 100 yard butterfly. And Coldwater’s Division C winners were Korey Ulrich in the 200 yard intermediate and Kenydee Otto in the 100 yard backstroke.
On today’s high school sports schedule, in Girls golf, it’s Coldwater at the Onsted Invitational while in Boys Tennis, it’s Coldwater at Harper Creek and Bronson at New Buffalo. And in Boys soccer, Quincy has a 5:30 match at home against Jonesville. Today on the Coaches Corner, it’s Coldwater volleyball coach Kelsey Closson.
In middle school sports, Coldwater played Saturday in the seventh grade Marshall Redhawk Invitational with the A team finishing first in their tournament while the B team had a second place finish. Mia Rzepka led the A team in kills with 17 and in digs with 53. Abby Herman and Madison Beckhusen each had 22 aces. For the B team, Allysa Stevens and Lacy Janusz were the serving leaders, each with 36 points while Stevens had 19 aces.