Category Archives: Sports

Basketball, Sports

Basketball games

Every week there are either boy’s or girl’s home and away games for basketball. During home games for both teams cheerleaders cheer to support their peers and the school sport. Even though both teams have cheer support, there are still many differences between boys and girls basketball teams. We want to look at how we can make them equal.

Some of differences between the boys and girls are that more people go to the boy’s games than the girl’s games. A way we can change this is by promoting the girls basketball games more by making signs around the school, and getting people to talk about it on social media.

Another difference between the games is how the concession stands are only open at the boy’s games and not girl’s games. An easy way we can solve this is by opening the concession stand up for both girl’s and boy’s games.

Also, when the boys go against rivals like Central, the cheerleaders decorate boy’s varsity team lockers, so to make this fair when girls play against Central they should get the same treatment of getting their lockers decorated too.

Overall, we just want for both the teams to be treated equal and to be taken as seriously as the other.

varsity_girls_basketball_2014-2015

 varsity_2520boys_2520basketball-1

Scoreboard/Schedule

Winter sports update

Leave a comment

Here’s an update on some of the winter sports at Highland Park, for the past couple of weeks:

Congratulations to the boys hockey team on an exciting 6-5 win against Legacy Christian on Friday, the 8th! They now hold 3rd in conference. Their next home game is Saturday, the 16th, against LaCrescent at Highland Arena. Keep up the good work boys!

The boys basketball played Central, at Central, last Tuesday, the 5th. The boys put up a hard fight but lost 80-76. On the bright side, they won their next three games. They won against Harding 71-60 on Friday, the 8th, against Humboldt 66-54 on Tuesday, the 12th, and a very close game against Johnson 78-77. They have one conference game this week against Como on Wednesday, the 20th. Good luck and keep making Highland Park proud!

The women’s gymnastics team participated in the Roseville Invitational Meet, and hit a score of 121.575. On Tuesday, the 12th, they pulled out the win against Cretin Derham Hall! It was a close meet, and Highland won by 1.25. Congratulations to freshman Lia Wallace for being the All-Around Winner at 4 out of their 5 meets. Keep up the good work girls!

The boys and girls Nordic ski team took first place at their last meet in the 5K Race Classic with a score of 471! Congratulations to Gabriel Pfeiffer, who was an individual winner, in the Freestyle, with a time of 10:27, at last month’s Maplelag Invitational.

The boys swimming/diving team has been undefeated so far this season! On Tuesday, the 5th, they won against Hopkins 104-83. This past Thursday, the 14th, they won against Como 100-71. Their next meet will be on Thursday, the 21st, against Johnson at Humboldt. Keep up the good work boys!

Last but not least, congratulations to Amitri Collins who competed against some of the nation’s top talent at the US Army National Combine in San Antonio, Texas. He is one of the 600 athletes invited from all around America. Way to represent Highland Park, we’re proud of you!

Basketball, Scoreboard/Schedule

Boys basketball

Leave a comment

The Highland Park Scots boys basketball team got off to a good start, winning their first game against Hill-Murray 78-71. The win came in front of a nice crowd, which included many returning alumni. The boys were able to get off to a hot start, and led the game early. The Scots were led by Senior Mike Cornelious who set the tone early, and led the team in scoring. Hill-Murray was able to close in on the lead however, and the Pilots pulled in within 2 points at the half, where the score was 34-32.

The second half opened up similarly to the first half, and the scots were able to once again add to their lead. From the bench you could hear Coach Deperry calling plays and rallying his players together, which only added more chemistry and teamwork for the Scots. Hill-Murray was able to keep it close until the end, but the Scots prevailed, with some clutch shooting from Junior Amitri Collins. The boys were able to come away with an impressive win over their out of conference foe, with a final score of 78-71.

Hockey, Scoreboard/Schedule

Boys hockey update

Leave a comment

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.”

Upcoming opponents include:

Minnetonka

Grand Rapids

Park of Cottage Grove

Apple Valley

Benilde-St. Margaret’s

Duluth Marshall

Please come out and support the team!

Cross Country, Scoreboard/Schedule

Highland Park Cross Country Season Highlights

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.

Micah at state meet
photo courtesy of Nancy Galligan
Abram, Coach Moening, Coach Johnson and Micah at State Meet
photo 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.”

Congratulations Scots! We’re all very proud!

Scoreboard/Schedule, Soccer

Girls Varsity Soccer Sections Game

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”.

IMG_4660IMG_4659

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.”

Get ‘em next year girls!

IMG_4656

Football, Scoreboard/Schedule

The Musket Game

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.

Football, School Life

2015-2016 Highland’s homecoming game

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!

Football, School Life

Homecoming fan section

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”!  

Screen Shot 2015-10-12 at 9.48.04 AM
photo courtesy of Ms. Hedwall
Screen Shot 2015-10-12 at 9.48.26 AM
photo courtesy of Ms. Hedwall
Screen Shot 2015-10-12 at 9.48.14 AM
photo courtesy of Ms. Hedwall
School Life, Sports

Powderpuff Power

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.

Screen Shot 2015-10-05 at 10.38.09 AM

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.