Thursday, January 19, 2017

Cavaliers Tomahawk Indians

Top Performers
JERSEY #
NAME
POINTS
REBOUNDS
ASSISTS
3
Jaron VanFleteren
15
5
5
1
Owen Walter
7
5
2
4
Logan Lepage
7
3
0

 To start this blog off, I just have to say: There is nothing like an old fashioned rivalry in a small town. The Cavaliers and the Indians have been competing against each other for decades upon decades. There are not very many schools in the state that get to be apart of a special game like this one. I personally have family roots in Chesaning and to answer your question, yes, I love beating them every year. In football, Corunna and Chesaning play for what is called “The Old MMB Trophy”. It gives me chills just thinking about Coach Robinson hoisting it up after we beat Chesaning my junior year and finally took it back (which has not moved this year while we beat them again 65-8). This is just one of those games no matter what sport, the “old timers” will come back to watch.


Due to no school because of the icy roads, the game was pushed back to Wednesday. When I arrived, the student section was barely visible due to all of the camouflage, but seemed ginormous compared to other nights in the Cavalier Gymnasium. If it was that big on a make-up game, I wonder how many will come out for Lake Fenton?


During warm ups, the Indians came out on a bright note as they were wearing neon orange warm ups. No lie, it made me watch them during every second of pregame. Smart move coaches! A few seconds later, the Cavs came barreling into the gym with the hype song “Jump Around”. That is such a classic tune for shooting layups and jumpers nonchalantly.



Right from the tip the Cavs were trying to put their Hamady loss behind them. It was very entertaining to watch as the second shot that went up was a trey ball from “The Corunna Sharpshooter” Mitchel Skym. He may have only ended with 6 points, however he gave the Cavs what they needed early on. It seems that the entire first half all Corunna was hitting were 3 point splashes. My partner in crime Max Nations put it like this, “It was a three point overflow.”


Now, let us converse about Jaron VanFleteren’s ALL STAR night. VanFleteren finished with 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Those are Russell Westbrook numbers! I know Mr. VanFleteren has family ties through Chesaning, could that have been a reason for his studdish numbers? At halftime, the score read Corunna 27 Chesaning 9.


As the game putt-putted along, the Chesaning faithful had gotten a little edgy with the officiating. As bad as that sounds, it could have definitely been the spark the Indians were waiting for as they made it a 9 point game with 5 minutes left in regulation. But, the Cavaliers had enough of that as soon as it happened. Corunna finished the game, winning by a score of 50-35.


Come out and support your Corunna boys on Friday night @ HOME 7PM.
TAKE DOWN THE BLUE DEVILS!


What a time to be a Cavalier!


Josh (Richy) Richardson



1/18/17 vs. Chesaning
JERSEY #
NAME
POINTS
REBOUNDS
ASSISTS
1
Owen Walter
7
5
2
2
Ethan Quinn
5

1
3
Jaron VanFleteren
15
5
5
4
Logan Lepage
7
3

5
Chase Ardelean


1
11
Jerod Fattal


1
12
Chris Wooley
1
4

15
Logan Rugg



21
Mitchel Skym
6
1

23
Zach Sawyer
7


25
Sage Walker



45
Cooper Clapp
2


55
Johnny Pavka

1




TOTALS
JERSEY #
NAME
GP
POINTS
REBOUNDS
ASSISTS
1
Owen Walter
8
49
23
12
2
Ethan Quinn
8
25
6
15
3
Jaron VanFleteren
8
80
21
25
4
Logan Lepage
8
47
37
11
5
Chase Ardelean
5
14
5
2
11
Jerod Fattal
8
13
12
10
12
Chris Wooley
8
35
53
3
15
Logan Rugg
5
3


21
Mitchel Skym
6
44
7
8
23
Zach Sawyer
8
43
17
11
25
Sage Walker




45
Cooper Clapp
7
55
29
9
55
Johnny Pavka
7

1
1

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Cavaliers Fall to Goodrich's Second Half Surge

On January 6th, the Cavaliers traveled to the Martians of Goodrich for a GAC RED challenge. As I walked into the gym, I became instantly shell shocked with the amount of people that came out to support. I was very well pleased with the amount of Corunna supporters. The Cavalier fans covered the visitor bleachers left to right and up and down. There really is no better feeling than watching a high school basketball game on a friday night! Not to mention the warm-up music was near perfect. I wasn't even playing in the game and the music was making me want to kick out 10 of these blogs in about 10 min. Can “Mr. Beldyga’s beats” step up his game? We will have to see. I am not completely sold on the country music for warm ups. Yet.


With Corunna warming up, I can’t help but bring up yet again how SHARP the black uniforms look. What a great move by Buscemi, one that which brings swagger back to the Cavs. Goodrich on the other hand, came out onto the court with music that was shattering decibel levels (ears are still ringing).


With the first half looking good for the Cavs as they went into half with a 9 point lead, the second half looked quite promising. However, with Goodrich outscoring Corunna by 20+ points in the second half alone, the Cavs couldn't keep up. Goodrich prevailed with a 63-47 victory over the black and gold. After the game, I caught up with Ethan “Jabrill” Quinn and asked him what caused the breakdown. “We play great when we have the energy rolling. We came out of halftime and just fell flat.” and then added, “We have to start finishing games”. Which I couldn’t agree more with.


Come out on the road and support your Corunna Varsity Boys on Tuesday January 10th against our crosstown rivals the Owosso Trojans.


Will tempers flair?
Which student section will prevail?
Who will control Midtown?


All questions will be answered Tuesday night at Owosso High School.
The Showdown of the Town
Buckle Up.


What a time to be a Cavalier!
Josh (Richy) Richardson

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Corunna's Pleasant New Addition

Meet the new Corunna varsity boys basketball coach, John “Rocky” Buscemi. Residents of Corunna may ask why people call him Rocky, “My middle name is Rocko and I was never called John a day in my childhood”.
However, he does have a conspiracy to why his middle name is Rocko, “Rocky The Movie came out in 1977 and that is when I was born. Another part of me thinks maybe my dad just really liked the movie. Trust me, I was not a boxer.” Only his father would know the true meaning of
his son’s middle name.

Rocky hails from Detroit Loyola (all male prep school) where he has coached and taught for 16 years. One of his major highlights has been taking his previous team to the state championship where they lost to Flint Beecher in a very close game. Buscemi is now happily married to his wife
Chloe and has a 14 month old baby daughter named Charlie. Like all new parents are, he stated, “It’s all about the little one”, which was what lead the Buscemi’s to our passionate community. “Our whole idea is to plant roots and raise our daughter in this community while building this program.” The Buscemi’s have recently moved and they love everything about their new home. Rocky, who is used to morning rush traffic into Detroit Loyola has been very relieved that he does
not have to deal with all of the rush anymore. “A 25 minute drive with barely any traffic in the morning is really refreshing.”

Corunna basketball’s future seems to be in good hands as Rocky made it very clear that he hates losing more than anyone he knows. “We won’t know the true success of our program until four, five, even 10 years down the line when guys come back to help out our program because it meant so much to them. Or when they come back just to tell me that they got
married, found a career, etc. That’s when we will know how successful this program is.”.

From our conversation during a school day, Rocky seems to be optimistic about the new era of Corunna basketball. “I love
it here, it’s better than I could have ever imagined. Everyone is so supportive here. I’d be lying to you if when I took this job,
I didn’t think about the movie ‘Hoosiers’.” If the upcoming season is anything like the movie “Hoosiers”, we are in for one wild ride.


Being from Corunna, I have taken a lot of liking to the food that our little town has to offer. When I asked Rocky about
his “go-to” meal, his response was very simple, “I always love a good burger.” I suggested that he should go try out
“South 401” right in the heart of Corunna. If anyone else has any suggestions to where our new community member
should sit down and eat, tell him about it!

With time ticking away as Mr. Buscemi and I talk about his life, a closing remark that I would say touched base with not only me but everyone I know was stated “The more I get out of the way and trust the direction that God is taking me, the better things seem to turn out. We truly feel that we are in a great place”.

Join me in welcoming our newest Cavalier coach! JOHN “ROCKY” BUSCEMI

What a time to be a Cavalier!

– Josh (Richy) Richardson

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Corunna Puts Panthers in their Place

As I walked into Mt. Morris high school, I could feel the energy in the building. It was the first road game for the boys which I must say, the black Moneyball jerseys kept me entertained all night. By far the best uniforms in Mid-Michigan.

Upon my arrival, the Lady Cavs were just finishing up where they advanced to victory over the Lady Panthers 61-45. I must say, they looked quite impressive and looks like they have potential that will escalate in march. Keep up the good work!

In addition, the boys game was a real dandy. It was a fun game to witness and had lots of horrific screeching from the Mt. Morris student section that made you think they were in the game the entire time (not the case). I kid you not, the Mt. Morris student body could have been categorized in 4 items. Ugg boots, Timbs, Leggings, and Buckle Jeans. What a sight eh?

In warmups, you could tell the Cavaliers were ready for battle. As I watched the Cavs warm up, one person stood out, Ethan (Jabrill Peppers) Quinn. You could tell he was ready to play. During lay-up lines I witnessed EQ doing good form jumping jacks. He was biting at the bit and fired up till the final buzzer.

On another note, the Cavaliers had a new addition to the starting lineup as they started the big-man roster. Cooper “Big Smooth” Clapp was a huge contributor to seal the win against the Panthers. One hysterical moment for Clapp is when he kept trying to make a bank shot layup, he was either too short or too long. On the positive note, no one was going to stop him from getting his own board. I would assume he was just trying to stuff his stat sheet (I would have done the same). He brought dominant post presence that the Cavaliers needed. Hopefully Clapp can keep up his great play. It would be very beneficial to the black and gold.

Anywho, back to the game. At end of the 1st quarter the score was Corunna 16 & Mt. Morris 5. As you can infer from the scoring, Corunna had the Panthers on LOCK. On the offensive side, the Cavs started out a little shaky, but after Ethan “Mr. Everything” Quinn and Jerod “The Arrow” Fattal’s back to back three point WALLUPS near the end of the 1st quarter, things started rolling. As the game itched on, the Panthers kept it below a double digit lead all the way till halftime. At the break the Cavs were only up by 4, 25-21.

Halftime was a story of its own. It started as a typical halftime break, but suddenly, Mt. Morris students came rumbling onto the court in a single file line at half court. It definitely gave the fans a show as every kid took a turn to try to hit a half-court shot. SPOILER ALERT- No one was even close (besides one lucky shot).

Coming out of halftime, Chris “Carson Wentz” Wooley ignited the Cavs by putting his body in front of the very physical small forward tatted out #40 and got the offensive charge. What a guy.

With the game pretty much decided at this point, Mt. Morris tried making one more comeback. However, sophomore Mitchel Skym had something to say about it. At the end of the third quarter Skym flashed his shooting ability and splashed a trey ball. Don't worry folks, he was just warming up. I few minutes into the 4th, Logan Lepage finds Skym in the corner and “The Corunna Sniper” buries another long ball. You would think they would at least put a hand in his face right? Wrong. From the same spot yet again, Skym WALLUPS yet another shot from behind the arc.

On a low key note, when I glanced at the stat sheet after the victory, something caught my eye. Logan Lepage had a very silent 21 points. The silent assassin was scooping up rebounds and batted down passes and turned them into two points every time he got the chance. Logan is an exciting player to talk about reckoning that he was only a sophomore. He has a lot of ball left and I hope he definitely makes the most of it. He will carry on the legacy of Corunna basketball.  

From this point on, the Cavaliers closed out the game by hitting the majority of their free throws to seal the Cavalier victory!

Come out and support your boys December 27th @ Atherton High School!
Stay safe and have fun in the winter wonderland!
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
What a time to be a Cavalier!
-Josh (Richy) Richardson


Top Performers
JERSEY #
NAME
POINTS
REBOUNDS
ASSISTS
4
Logan Lepage
21
3
1
45
Cooper Clapp
12
5
2
21
Mitchel Skym
11
2
2


TOTAL ROSTER STATS
JERSEY #
NAME
GP
POINTS
REBOUNDS
ASSISTS
1
Owen Walter
3
13
6
4
2
Ethan Quinn
3
3
1
3
3
Jaron VanFleteren
3
14
5
6
4
Logan Lepage
3
21
11
3
5
Chase Ardelean
0
0
0
0
11
Jerod Fattal
3
5
6
6
12
Chris Wooley
3
13
23
1
15
Logan Rugg
3
0
0
0
21
Mitchel Skym
3
23
4
4
23
Zach Sawyer
3
16
4
6
25
Sage Walker
0
0
0
0
45
Cooper Clapp
2
21
5
3
55
Johnny Pavka
3
0
0
1