Winter sports come to a close

The Monticello boys completed the most successful basketball season in many years with mixed emotions, in Rhett Maughan’s first year as the boys head coach.

The 11-10 junior-laden team started the 1A state tournament with a bang last week, shellacking the Wendover Wildcats, 76-40.

The Bucks, paced by Joseph Weatherford’s 24 points and Connor Frost’s 17 raced to a 45-23 halftime lead and never looked back. Weatherford was a beast on the boards with 18 rebounds. Dalton Rogers chipped in with 11 points and Daniel Torres had nine.

The win brought no consolation as the Bucks earned the honor of playing the second-ranked Escalante Moquis. Before the game, Buckaroo Coach Rhett Maughan proved prescient, predicting the winner would become the state champ. Unfortunately for the Bucks, it wasn’t them as they got thumped pretty good by the Moquis, 76-42.

The eventual state champs connected on nine three pointers and the Bucks quest for a state championship was over. Dalton Rogers and Cory Eardley were the only Bucks to consistently find the hoop, with 13 and nine points respectively.

In the Buck’s final game of the year, they found out the difficulty of coming back from a loss at state, missing their first 14 shots of the game to fall behind 19-1 in the first quarter to the Panguitch Bobcats. The Bobcats kept the pressure on throughout, ending the Bucks season with a 62-42 win.

Top scorers in the tournament for the Bucks were junior Joseph Weatherford, who tallied 42 points and junior Dalton Rogers, who scored 37 in the three games. Junior Daniel Torres tossed in 20 and juniors Connor Frost and Ashton Whipple both scored 19. Next year looks to be the Bucks’ year in 1A.

That’s a wrap

Basketball is over for 2007-08, at least until school is out today. Of the county schools, only Whitehorse claimed a place at state. However, all the schools at least can take some consolation.

I mean no disrespect by the following comments. The San Juan girls were knocked out of the 2A tournament in the first round by the North Summit Lady Braves, who went on to finish fifth.

The Monticello Lady Bucks won a first round game at state but lost their next two. ICS, who beat the Bucks on a last second shot in the quarterfinals, went on to finish third.

The Bryce Valley... uh, Bryce Valley... (what is the Bryce Valley mascot, Bovines?), ended the Lady Bucks season and finished fifth.

The San Juan Broncos were upset in the first round by Parowan, but the Rams went on to finish second to the Manti Templars. The Broncos can be proud of the fact that they were the last team to beat the Templars, who went on a 10-game winning streak after the Bronco loss.

Whitehorse cruised through the consolation bracket of the 1A tournament. The team that beat the Raiders of Coach Chad Shumway was the Piute... the Piute... what is the Piute mascot, the Peanuts? Anyway, the Piute team ended up with the second place trophy.

And finally the Buckaroo boys, who won a state tournament game for the first time since 2002, lost to the eventual state champions, the Escalante Moquis in the quarterfinals.

The meaning of all this? The Lady Broncos were the sixth best 2A team, the Lady Buckaroos were the fourth best 1A team, the Raiders were third best in 1A, the Bucks second best in 1A, and the Bronco boys the best in 2A. Does anyone see a problem with this logic?

Youth Volleyball

There are 13 teams from Blanding and six from Monticello that are participating in the girls spring volleyball circuit. Most teams have played in two tournaments so far, in Monticello and Cortez and some in Dove Creek.

The interest is higher than ever in both communities and it is fun to see the quality of the volleyball they play. The top teams, so far, appear to be the Ihops from Blanding, coached by three time 2A MVP Heather Meyer (she’s not just Heather Meyer anymore) in the 7th and 8th grade division, and coach Crystaleen Hunt’s Static X in the 4th-6th grade division.

Both teams have two firsts in the gold bracket. Also playing in the upper division are the V-8s from Monticello, coached by Sheila Wells with a second place gold finish and a first place silver finish.

The Runts of Monticello, coached by Kara Boyd, have a first place bronze. The Jennifer Leavitt-coached Back in Blacks have a second and two third place finishes so far.

Other Blanding teams include Denise Johnson’s Minxs, Wendy Meyer’s Digs, who have a first in copper and a second in silver, Sagan Shumway’s Shock, and the Nicole Ivin’s Cheezits.

Behind Static X in the fourth-sixth grade division, are Stephanie Ivin’s Jolly Ranchers, Wayne Palmer’s Zours, Cheryl Bowers’ Black Tic Tacs, Mariah Arthur’s Skittles, Sunny Jones’ Smackers, Tanya Bleggi’s Hot Tamales, and the M & Ms of Shaylee Grover. No word on how many of these kids are descendants of Seth and Vivian Shumway.

From Monticello come the Melissa Fullmer’s Orange Crush, Brooke Davis’ Crushers, Lynda Boyle’s Green Beans and Dan Sheeran’s Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Nearly 150 young girls are involved in volleyball in the two communities. Thanks to all the coaches, parents and the directors in both communities, Sheila Wells in Monticello and Tiffany Hurst in Blanding.