Terry Konkle

One area of our museum expansion projects that has been getting a lot of action recently is the planning of the exhibits to be featured. Jerry Adams from Media Rare in Grand Rapids has been a consultant for our project and has designed the new displays. Members of the Rockford Area Historical Society (RAHS) board of directors were updated on his ideas during a two-hour presentation last week and were impressed with his plans. Changes could still be made, but the layout and use of space is well thought out. The next step is to price out the cost of the exhibits, so that we can see how it fits into our budget. The Rockford City Council has asked for the layout and the cost, and both will be done soon.

Fundraising continues and the responses are greatly appreciated. When we started the project, some people told us that the timing was bad, and the economic situation would work against us. The courthouse was available now so the timing was also now. Several of us looked at each other and said, “This is Rockford.” If any area can make it work, Rockford can. Because I have lived here for 52 years, I know the pride that exists in the community. In my experiences with education and athletics as a teacher and coach at Rockford High School, I often saw our area band together to get things done. We have a great and valuable history and the following is an updated list of donors who are supporting our new museum.

Donors as of January 22, 2012

by TIM COOPER

Danny Apkarian tries to escape from Hudson's number-one-ranked Joel Varney. Apkarian, ranked ninth in Division I, upset Varney 4-3. Photo by JIM COOPER

When the Rockford Rams took to the mat on Wednesday, Jan. 18 against Grandville, memories of losing to the Bulldogs last year were very strong. This year’s team was determined to prevent history from repeating itself.

The Rams’ scoring opened in the 103-pound match when Stephen Jendritz caught Micah Newton at the 1:07 mark of the first round, giving Rockford a 6-3 lead after two matches. Grandville went back on top with wins at 112 and 119, taking a 10-6 advantage going into the 125-pound match between Rockford’s Cullen Maksimowski and Grandville’s Keedan Hoezee.

Maksimowski, who splits time with Tyler VanRooyen at 125 and 130, dominated Hoezee, taking the Bulldog wrestler to the mat seven times en route to a 19-7 major decision. A Grandville void to Corey Stankus at 130 and VanRooyen’s pin of Jake Brower put the Rams on top for good.

Stephen Jendritz runs a half nelson for a pin against Grandville's Micah Newton. Photo by JIM COOPER

“This was the most complete effort we had all season,” said Coach Brian Richardson, whose Rams won 10 of 14 matches on their way to a 52-14 victory over their arch-rival. “This team is peaking at the right time. We’re glad to be in the driver’s seat of the OK Red.”

On Saturday, Jan. 21, the Rams traveled to Stevensville for a tournament hosted by the Lancers of Lakeshore High School. In the opening round, Rockford faced off with Division IV’s top-ranked team, the Hudson Tigers. The Tigers showed the Rams why they’re ranked number one by beating Rockford 41-16.

Stephen Jendritz runs a half nelson for a pin against Grandville's Micah Newton. Photo by JIM COOPER

In round two of the tournament, Rockford faced the host Lancers for the third time this season. The first dual saw the Rams win by one point on December 23 at Lakeshore’s Alumni Night. The second time around, the Lancers soundly defeated a depleted Rockford squad on January 7 at Howell High School.

In the rubber match between the two teams, Rockford won 30-23. The Rams won nine of the 14 matches, sparked by a VanRooyen pin in the 125-pound match and Trent Boyer’s 9-3 victory, despite battling flu-like symptoms all day. Austin Scogg’s fall at 152 and decisions by Danny Apkarian (160) and Robby Gorton (171) also contributed to the Rams’ victory.

In the final dual of the day, Rockford squared off with the Niles Vikings, downing them 38-33.

Rockford’s 2-1 record on the day gave them a second-place finish. The Rams’ fourth dual, scheduled to be against Mason, was canceled on account of the Bulldogs leaving the tournament early.

Richardson said, “These guys bounced back well after a tough dual meet with Hudson first thing today. We lost a lot of close matches with the Tigers, but the guys put that behind them and wrestled well the rest of the day.”

Jake Lewis skis the slalom course.

The ski season got off to a slow start this year with the limited snowfall. Despite the weather, however, the Rockford Rams ski team has been training hard and is off to a strong start. They have been conducting training sessions up north—where the snow has been better and the terrain is more difficult—to improve their speed and agility. Both the boys and girls teams are a good mix of tenured skiers and incoming freshmen. Many of the kids have been racing together since a young age.

According to girls coach Molly Noakes, “Our season has started out great! We have a young team this year and yet the girls are looking great! We have been pulling in thirds and fourths this season, however, only several points away from being in second place. If the girls continue with their determination, I don’t see second place in the conference far off.”

Ashley Rister competes on the slalom course.

There are two seniors on the team this year and both contribute consistently to the success of the team. Jake Lewis and Ashley Rister have been part of the team for their entire high school career.

Boys coach Terry Avink commented, “Jake is a great leader whose presence generate a positive attitude with our team.”

Noakes said, “Ashley’s positive attitude and leadership has earned her the title of captain this year. She has come a long way in her racing and that can only be attributed to her drive to constantly be a better racer. She has been an absolute joy to coach the last four years!”

When asking Jake and Ashley why they love to ski, Jake replied, “I like hanging out with the team and being able to do what I love,” and Ashley’s response was, “Everything! It’s challenging, makes me work hard, and everything about it is fun!”

The team will be participating in two races next week up north in addition to the weekly races at Cannonsburg Ski Area. They are working hard and are looking to do well at the conference races in addition to the regional race on February 16. The varsity races are on Tuesday evenings at 4:30 p.m. and the junior varsity races are on Thursday evenings at 4:30 p.m.

Six Rockford High School varsity volleyball players have signed national letters of intent to play volleyball in college next year. They are (pictured l–r) Sidney Rodriguez for Davenport University, Jessica Majerle for Grand Valley State University, Jen VanCuren for Aquinas College, Andrea Kacsits for Ohio State University, Murphy Heyer for Cornerstone University, and Halle Peterson for Michigan State University.

The second period began and less than two minutes into the period, junior Austin Cantu forced one past the goalie’s glove to go up 2-1 with the assist going to Bathum.

Rockford successfully killed off a few penalties, including a five-on-three, to preserve the lead with junior goaltender Jake Rekucki making some key saves along the way. Just before the end of the second, senior Ben Glass took advantage of a turnover with a nice fake on the goaltender to put it in the back of the net. Rams were up 3-0 at the second intermission.

As everyone knew, Forest Hills Central (FHC) was not going to give up, despite being down 3-0. Rockford continued to be battling penalties, but with one of the best penalty-killing teams on the west side of the state, they successfully killed them all.

Midway through the third period, the Rangers finally got one on the board. Rockford played solid defense the rest of the way to secure the win. Rekucki earned a great win, stopping 29 of 30 shots.

Three days later, Rockford took on one of the top teams from the east side of the state, the Lake Orion Dragons. Playing without one of the Rams’ top forwards, junior Nate Hill, due to injury, the Rams knew they would have their hands full against a team like Lake Orion.

Just three minutes into the first period, the Rams made their first statement with senior Keegan Knight driving home the goal off a rebound with Smyth and senior Justin Ullrey getting the assists. The first period ended with the Rams up 1-0.

Rockford came out looking to put more daylight between them and the Dragons, as they were able to mount a scoring chance at just two-and-a-half minutes into the period. This time it was Ullrey converting on the play with an assist going to junior Nick Larsen.

Todd Millar made some great saves in the second period, as the Dragons began to put the pressure on. With a couple minutes left in the period, Lake Orion was finally able to get one on the board. The score was then Rockford 2, Lake Orion 1after two periods.

The third period was played fairly evenly, with the Rams having a couple power play opportunities but unable to convert.  It was, however, one of those power play opportunities that turned out to bite the Rams. After a turnover, the Dragons went two-on-one to put the shorthanded goal in the net and tie up the game.

With just over three minutes left in the game, the score was tied at two apiece.

When the final buzzer sounded, everyone knew this one was going to overtime—the fourth overtime game for the Rams this season.

Rockford apparently did not want to leave too much to chance, as they came out skating hard and, at just 30 seconds into the sudden-death overtime, Ullrey got one past the Dragons’ goalie to secure the upset win. Knight got the assist and the crowd went wild.

Junior goaltender Millar played very well for the Rams and got the win in net, stopping 43 of 45 shots.

Coach Van Portfliet said after the game, “The team is really starting to play well. We had a tough loss a week ago that for some teams may have affected them the next game or two, but our boys bounced right back with strong performances against FHC and Lake Orion. The past four games our seniors, Ullrey, Knight and Glass, have really elevated their game and made our team tough to play against. This one was a great win for Millar. I wasn’t sure how he was going to respond after the tough loss a week ago, but he showed a lot of character by working hard in practice and not dwelling on the last game. He was outstanding against Lake Orion.”

The Rams take on Mona Shores, Wednesday, Jan. 25 at Griff’s Ice House in a great league match-up game.

Terri Atwood performs a twist cradle in round three for the Rams. Photo by MIKE HILLS

The Rockford Rams varsity competitive cheerleaders continue to make a stand in the OK Red conference. Finishing third at the Hudsonville Invitational on January 21, the Lady Rams had a season high score of 779. The Hudsonville Eagles finished first with a score of 806, followed by second-place West Ottawa’s score of 793.

Coach Dengler believes in the essence of this team, saying, “I could not be more proud of these athletes today. Round one has been getting great scores each time we compete. This team is right up there with the other teams in the OK Red in this round. I am so happy to see we closed the gap on our scores in round two, which was our main focus this week at practice. We made a few minor adjustments to that round that paid off for us in a big way. Our skills in round two are getting stronger and scoring higher every week. This week, we also made some big changes to round three. I was really pleased with how they performed out on the mat in this round. Once we get all of our stunts to hit consistently, we will be a top contending team! Today was a great day for the Rams; we earned some of the highest scores of the season. I am most proud of how focused we were and having fire and excitement into all three rounds!”

Rockford’s Charlye Meuser, Kinzy Russ, Paige Greer and Audrey Dornan set up for round one. Photo by MIKE HILLS

Senior Lady Rams, Paige Greer and Kim Hart, have tremendous pride in this team. Greer commented, “This team is a family. We have improved so much this year. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year will bring.”

Hart felt the same, saying, “We have so much potential and are ready to bring it to the matt.”

The next competitive cheer meet will be hosted by the East Kentwood Falcons for the LMCCOA Scholarship Meet on January 28 starting at 1:30 p.m.

Five local girls, (l–r) Maggie Schichtel, Kinzie Keller, Cassidy Fought, Morgan Mikowski and Abby DeMaet, are named champions of the 2012 Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship.

Maggie Schichtel was the 10-year-old girls champion and Jack Schichtel was the winner of the 10-year-old boys division. In the 11-year-olds bracket, Kinzie Keller was the girls champion and Alec Cote was the boys champion. Twelve-year-old winners in the girls and boys divisions were Cassidy Fought and Ben Gorton. The 13-year-old girls division was won by Morgan Mikowski and the boys by Nick Ludwig. Fourteen-year-old champions were Abby DeMaet in the girls bracket and Jake Herremans in the boys.

Each contestant was allowed 15 free-throw attempts in the contests. Ties were settled by successive rounds of five throws

Local boys, (l–r) Jack Schichtel, Mason Dettloff, Alec Cote, Ben Gorton, Nick Ludwig, and Jake Herremans’ father (Jake not available for photo), are named champions of the 2012 Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship.

per contestant until a winner emerged.

Each of the winners will compete in the district competition to be held on February 5, 2012 at Our Lady of  Consolation gymnasium with an eye toward moving on to the regional, state and international levels.

Rams 200 medley relay team of (l–r) senior captains Josh Travis, Eric Chisholm, Bryan Wasberg and sophomore Craig Wasberg breaks the Rockford High School pool record at the Rockford Invitational with a time of 1:36.90 on Saturday, Jan. 7.

While the atmosphere was cold and dreary outside, the Rams—along with five area teams—were turning up the heat inside with some strong performances at the Rockford Invitational meet on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 6-7. Rockford showed their dominance in the pool by scoring almost 300 points ahead of second-place East Kentwood. The final scores of the meet were Rockford 680, East Kentwood 388, West Ottawa 359, Jenison 333, Spring Lake 273, and Grand Haven 232.

The Rockford Rams celebrate their dominance of the Rockford Invitational.

The Rockford divers faced fierce competition on Friday night when West Ottawa’s Jordan Welling, an All American qualifier, ran away with the lead, grabbing 422.60 points. Ram diver Shane Phillips earned fifth place with 310.90 points, followed by Devin Rittenhouse in seventh (291.65), Mitch Rodema in eighth (288.65), and freshman Nate Isley in 15th place (191.10).

Rockford senior Alex Savage swims the 100-yard fly.

In the first event of the day on Saturday morning, the 200-yard medley relay, Rockford’s senior captains Eric Chisholm, Josh Travis and Bryan Wasberg, along with sophomore Craig Wasberg, energized the crowd by breaking the pool record in a time of 1:36.90. Hours later, the same four swimmers seized one of the fastest times in Division I so far this season with their 200-yard free relay state-qualifying swim of 1:27.64, barely missing breaking another pool record by only .50.

E. Chisholm continued to entertain the fans with his incredible individual performance in the 50-yard free (21.12), just .03 seconds away from taking down another pool record. He continued his winning streak in the 100-yard free by touching the wall first in 47.85 seconds.

Junior Mike Arend grabbed the eighth individual state cut for the Rams so far this season with his second-place finish in the 500-yard free (4:56.71), behind first-place Grand Haven swimmer Takuya Kobayaski (4:53.66). B. Wasberg added the ninth, with his 50-yard state-qualifying lead-off swim in the 200-yard free relay (22.53).

Rockford claimed numerous points when junior Nick Willison won the 100-yard back event (55.82), improving on his original state time in that event. Travis pulled in second with 57.01.

C. Wasberg led the way in the 200-yard individual medley (2:03.82), followed by Willison in second (2:05.93).

In the final event of the day, the 400-yard free relay team of Mike Arend, Harrison Webb, Willison and Trenton Babcock gained even more points with their second-place finish (3:24.16), behind the first-place Jenison team of Clement, White, Bouma and Wesseling (3:22.89).

Rockford’s Justin Ullrey (#9) shoots the puck for a goal against Mona Shores.

Wednesday night, Jan. 11, the Rockford Rams varsity hockey team took on the Mona Shores Sailors in a game that would be a rematch from a game last year, where the Rams were embarrassed on the ice. This year’s team was seeking retribution as not one of them had forgotten that night.

In the first period, it was obvious that the Rams had come to play with a new jump in their step, playing fast and physical. Early in the game, junior Nate Hill sustained an injury that forced him to miss the remainder of the game. This seemed to get the rest of the team to rally and step it up a notch, as they knew without one of their top players this night would be an even bigger challenge.

Mona Shores was able to get on the board first with five minutes left in the first period. However, just 11 seconds later, Rockford junior Stephen Shira scored the game-tying goal and both teams went into the locker rooms with the game tied at 1-1.

The Rams outshot the Sailors in the first, 10-8.

In the second period, the Rams came out and made the most of their scoring opportunities. At the 4:30 mark, junior Michael Moroney got the go-ahead goal with assists going to junior Austin Cantu and senior Ben Glass. The Rams went into the second intermission up 2-1 and feeling that they have what it takes to take down the Sailors.

In the third period, the Rams were determined to put a little breathing room between them and Mona Shores. At 4:50 into the period, junior Jacob Smyth scored an unassisted goal to put the Rams up by two goals.

Midway through the period, Glass scored what appeared to be the fourth goal of the game, but the referees ruled that they had blown the play dead, so the goal was not counted.

With about four minutes left in the game, Mona Shores was able to get a goal that brought them to within one, and it looked like the last few minutes would be a nail-biter.

Less than a minute later, Ram senior Justin Ullrey was able to capitalize on a turnover and went one-on-one with the Sailors’ goaltender for a break-away to seal the game with great top shelf score.

Rockford goaltender, junior Todd Millar, had a solid game in net, making sure that the win would be preserved. He turned away 29 of 31 shots he faced to get the very important win for the Rams.

The Rams’ next game is at home game Wednesday, Jan. 18 against Forest Hills Central.