The Highland Park boys hockey team lost their first game of the season, Saturday, November 21st, against Simley 1 to 4. With the devastating loss still fresh in their minds, I decided to go interview some of the players on the team.
The first player I interviewed was Lee Froelich. I asked Lee what he thought about the unfortunate defeat out in the ice. He replied, “I felt bad about me and my team losing but I feel like our loss was a great learning experience.”
One other player I interviewed was Jacob Boje. I asked him what could he have done better, and he said, “There could have been better communication between the team and we need to work on it at our practice more often.”
The Highland Park Cross Country team had an overall very successful season this year including: sending the top seven girls and seven boys of the team to city conference, being conference champions for both girls and boys, and winning against our rival Central!
Girls conference had a great outcome with Erin Moening coming in third place. Boys conference also had a good outcome with Michah Mather coming in second and Abram Donovan getting 5th. Michah Mather also won second during the sections race! The girls team unfortunately did not get into the top three but had three girls in the top thirty, Elizabeth Pearson, Erin Moening, and Anna Schmidt.
photo courtesy of Nancy Galliganphoto courtesy of Nancy Galligan
This year, the Highland Park Cross Country team sent two boys to state, Michah Mather and Abram Donovan, which has not happened in years, according to their coach Brad Moening. Michah Mather came back with amazing results coming in second place overall. Coach Brad Moening said, “This is one of the best performances we’ve had, we’ve only sent 4 people to state in the past 15 years so this was a big deal. I’m very proud of them.”
Another great mention, and thanks, to the cross country coach, Brad Moening, who was voted “Coach of the Year”. He said, “Being voted coach of the year really reflects how the kids have done and it’s really fun for them to be recognized as well.”
The Highland Park Girls Varsity soccer team had an overall very successful season. With five wins and one loss they came in second in the Saint Paul Public Schools conference.
Audrey Dombro, one of the soccer captains this year, said, “I’m really pleased with the dynamic of our group”.
The girls soccer team made it to sections and played Trinity on October 13th and played a very close game, making the first goal. The team played this team earlier in the year also playing a close game and tied 2-2. They sadly lost the sections game 2-3.
Audrey also commented on their game performance, “We hoped to advance in sections and perform against more competitive teams. While we didn’t win our game, our season was a testament to the fact that we definitely have played at a level that was high enough to have gone further.”
The annual Musket Game went off without a hitch, packing the stands with passionate fans for both schools. The first two quarters Central and Highland were competing in a close game, but towards the end the intensity affected everyone who attended, including players. Highland slipped behind but never gave up, however, ultimately, Central took the win.
We interviewed Jenna Cook, Katie Darwitz, and Gaby Masiello about the game from a fan perspective. They all agreed that the game was exciting, but the loss affected the vibe overall.
There are still complaints that we do not give enough school spirit for our team during the games and that the mascot is slacking on energy, with one person even asking “Who even is the mascot?”.
Requests have also been made for better themed games as well as the themes being better announced. Few people followed the Musket Game theme of underclassmen wearing white and upperclassmen wearing red.
However, that is just off the field. We interviewed players off the varsity team including Mason Ferguson, Rasjus Jackson, Tre Hollamon and Amitri Collins. We asked how it felt to be out there that evening, on the bench or field, and it was unanimous that the word to describe it was “intense.”
Some of the players felt that Central had bad sportsmanship, while others felt it was reasonable because of the known tension at rivalry games. Many players felt that their personal game was on point but the plays and overall teamwork could have been better.
Disappointed, but never despairing – We’ll get ‘em next year.
Chloe Hunter and I interviewed Lily O’Donnell and Davina Newman about the homecoming game against Fridley. Our first question was asked to Davina. “What was your favorite part of the game?” She answered saying she enjoyed watching Angelo Martin’s catch. We also asked her what she thought about the crowds enthusiasm, she said it could have been improved if people were more on their feet and cheering, she also would have liked a better game score. Over all she rated the game a 7 out of 10.
Lily’s favorite part of the game was watching the cheer leaders. She would have also wanted the crowd to improve their enthusiasm as well, although she was so excited that we won with a winning score of 21-20. She also mentioned how the score could have improved if it was more stretched out. She scored the game a 9 out of 10.
Over all they both enjoyed watching the game and agreed that there could have been more excitement and energy brought to the game, remember that next year Highland Scots!
Great turnout for the fan section, lots of us repped our HP pride and came out in fun, red outfits to support our football players in the homecoming game against the Fridley Tigers. The bleachers were jam packed with fans cheering on the boys and supporting Highland Park athletics. We saw staff, students, parents, siblings, many former students, and many others come out to the homecoming game. We also had a great performance from the band. Being as this is the first homecoming game we’ve won in 2 years (last homecoming game won was in 2013) our fans were pumped! Although there were moments when we could have been a little louder, all together we had a pretty hyped fan section!
The game had mixed reviews, depending on the grade of the people interviewed, the opinions on the game and the fan section varied. One freshman rated the game a 7 out of 10, saying that the fan section was fun with players jumping on the stands and cheering up the crowd but wishes the highland mascot would have done more. Her favorite part of the game was the cheerleader’s halftime show. Her biggest complaint was the timing of the game, it felt too early and didn’t seem the same as a night game in terms of excitement. When asking a senior boy and girl, their opinions were almost the opposite. They agreed that the mascot was not the best, but also felt that the fan section was lame and needed more cheering. The notorious Musket game, Highland vs Central, is scheduled for Friday, October 9th at 5pm. When mentioned, everyone interviewed said they were looking forward more to the musket game than the homecoming, with statements such as “there is more fan interaction” and “Central vs Highland game is always the best”!
photo courtesy of Ms. Hedwallphoto courtesy of Ms. Hedwallphoto courtesy of Ms. Hedwall
A powderpuff game is a flag football game formed by a group of junior and senior girls, to determine which class is better at football. The same rules apply as regular football, just no tackling.
The females that joined the powderpuff football team this year were: Dominic Estrada, Titania Thao, Marine Nystrom, Jennifer Ibarra, Carli Webber, Daisy Lor, and Allison Kavanagh.
Juniors chose to be a part of the game because they wanted to be a part of an activity that involved team work, and to show that juniors are better than seniors.
The reason the seniors joined this activity is because this is their last year to prove that seniors will always have the win, and that they are the strongest class.
Before the game we asked each player on the junior and senior team a few questions about the game and how they felt about it. We asked them their name, grade, position they wanted to be, what their thoughts were about the game, and why they chose to participate in the game. For example, Allison Kavanagh, a fellow 12th grade student, wanted to be a receiver and was pretty pumped about the powderpuff game. Allison said: “The reason I joined the powderpuff football game is because it’s senior year. Go hard or go home.”
The game started at 9:00 AM on Saturday morning, before the homecoming football game. The teams were set and ready to go in 3…2…1 game time. Due to the number of participants, it turned into a 3 on 3 football game. The coach gave each team three possessions.
After two possessions each, they were tied with one touchdown and they each had one more possession. So the seniors were up first and the juniors had a chance to get up first. The juniors needed the score to tie and the seniors intercepted it to secure their victory. Seniors had their last possession, they scored, and the seniors won! So, even with only having 3-4 people it was a lot of fun.
Here’s a second update on some Highland Park fall sports! This past week was a rocky one with many ups and downs. Homecoming week was filled with some big games, including the football game on Saturday against Fridley;
The football team pulled out an exciting last minute win Saturday at homecoming! They beat Fridley by a score of 21-20. Congratulations to Danny Belinski for the game winning field goal! There was a great turnout for the game and tailgating prior. Congrats boys and keep up the good work! For more stats check out the Highland Park Football website; http://hpfootball.weebly.com
James Farnsworth
Here’s a picture of the student section saturday, where as you can see many students participated in the red out theme!
Football homecoming game picture thanks to Jeniffer Ponce on the yearbook committee.
Girls varsity soccer had a successful week with two wins against Minneapolis South on Monday and Humbolt on Thursday. Winning a close game with a 4-1 score in the end against Minneapolis South. They won the second game of the week with an outstanding score of 8-1 Humboldt. Keep up the good work ladies! They have three upcoming games this week, two home games and one away game. The home games will be on Wednesday against our rival Central and Thursday against Simley. The away game is on Friday against Como Park. Come and support our lady scots on the field!
Boys varsity soccer team also managed to win a game this week but lost one as well on Monday. They lost a very close game against St. Thomas Academy with a final score of 2-0. Winning another very close game against Humboldt on on Thursday with 1-0 lead. This upcoming week the soccer boys will be busy with four games! Two home games are on Monday against Bloomington Kennedy and Wednesday against Central. The two away games will be on Friday against Como Park and Saturday against Minnehaha Academy. Come support the boys as they play our rivals Central and Como Park!
Girls volleyball suffered losses this week against rival schools Como Park and Central. Monday against Como, they lost by two in the fifth set, and Thursday against Central they also lost by two in the fourth set. Both games were very close and nerve racking with many ups and downs. Congratulations to the C squad and JV team who defeated both Como and Central! The team really appreciates all of the fans who came out to support! Here are some pictures of the amazing fan section:
James FarnsworthJames Farnsworth
The girls tennis team beat both Washington and Humboldt with a score of 7-0! Last friday, they also beat Central for the first time in ten years with a score of 4-3 and are now first in conference. This week they’ll take on Harding @ Harding and Park- Cottage Grove @ Highland. Congrats ladies, keep up the good work!
The cheerleading squad had an impressive performance this week at Friday’s Pepfest and Saturday’s game. Coached by Karen Sjoberg, she says, “They did really well and nailed it. I’m so proud of them because we practiced many new things and it looked great.”
Congratulations to Micah Mather and Abram Donovan for winning first at the Saint Paul Relays meet with a time of 24:44! Libby Pearson and Keiko Hilmo also won first with a time of 31:23! Both the boys and girls teams took first. This weekend they also participated in the Griak Invitational where Micah placed top 10! Their next invitational is this Friday, October 2nd. Keep up the good work!
Last week girls Swimming/Diving beat Como/Johnson with a score of 92-77. Their next meet is Monday the 28th against Blake at Blake. Good luck and congrats ladies!
These are just a few updates of the many sporting events going on this all at Highland. Check back here for more updates to come. Keep up the good work athletes. Go Scots!
In his interview head coach David Zeitchick told the Pioneer Press “I don’t know what kind of football they play in the Tri-Metro, but we showed them what the City Conference is all about.”
After a win of 49-23. Highland’s senior quarterback and football captain Charles Klug completed 7 of 11 passes for 214 yards and four touchdowns.
When asked about the 2015-16 Varsity football team coach Zeitchick said “The key right now is to share the ball and for the players to know there is no one star of the team. We have a tight nit group of boys that have worked very hard all through the summer.”
Both the coaches and the players have come into this season with more intensity ready to play and ready to win. Senior Quarterback Charles Klug said “We need to come to every game ready to play as if we were playing Central.”
The 2015 Varsity football team has become more of a show than the past few years (tailgaiting, cheerleading, more enthusiastic fans) which makes it a lot more fun for the players and also a lot more fun for the fans.
All of our senior captains believe we have a strong chance of going undefeated for the rest of the season and making it to state. If you were going to choose one year to go to games this would be your year!
After a 2014 campaign that led to a conference title and a deep run into the section playoffs, the Highland Park Scots girls volleyball team is once again slated to put together another successful 2015 season. After a 4-0 start that included wins against Sibley and fellow St Paul City conference foe Johnson, the Scots entered the weekend with momentum as they attended the Visitation Invitational Tournament.
They started their tournament run against St. Louis Park, and defeated them in convincing fashion 2-1. Next they faced the team that would give them trouble throughout the entire tournament, the Academy of Holy Angels. Highland battled hard in the first set, but would ultimately end up losing to Holy Angels 2-1. Although it was a tough loss the girls were not out of the tournament yet, and next they had to face conference rival Como Park. This matchup provided one of the most entertaining games of the tournament. After dropping the first set to Co
mo, the team fought strong during the 2nd set and forced it to go into extra games and eventually pulled off a 30-28 win, and would then go on to win the 3rd set. Following anther 2-1 victory of Robbinsdale Armstrong, the girls found themselves matched up again against Holy Angels in the 1st place game. After dropping the first set in extra games 27-25, they were able to win the 2nd set 25-22 and force a 3rd game for all the marbles. The team would eventually lose the 3rd set 15-10 for their 2nd loss of the tournament to Holy Angels, and settle for 2nd place.
The team has received very good play from senior captain and Division 1 commit Emilia Czapiewska. She currently is leading the team in scoring and provides a threat in front of the net. They have also received very nice play at the setter position from sisters Cassandra and Maddy Krois. The sister duo leads the team in assists. Another player to look out for is Junior Maria Nelson, who is putting up nice scoring numbers, as well as Junior Lucia Calatayud, who keeps the opposing team on their toes with her nice serve game.
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