By John Raffel
Max Preps.com
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In the small, but quiet community of Onekama in northwest Michigan, they play Saturday afternoon home games because they have no lights at their football field.
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But with one of the most experienced coaching staffs in the entire state, Onekama is zeroing in on a possible state championship season despite being 2-1 after losing one game in overtime.
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Head coach Jim Hunter has 31 coaching years under his belt, but he's the "baby" of the staff. His assistants Tim Klein, Roger Smith, and Jim Taylor, have all coached for more than 36 seasons.
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"For a little Class D school to have all that experience is impressive," Hunter said.
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To keep on the path toward a playoff spot, Onekama needed a victory over Class D neighboring rival Manistee Catholic Central and came up with a 38-13 victory.
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"We did what we had to do," Hunter said. "Manistee Catholic Central has a leg up on us seven years in a row. Before that, we had a run of victories against them. They came in here today with a lot of confidence. With a 32-0 lead at halftime, I was feeling good about that. We just didn't let them in the end zone."
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Running backs Dave Gillespie and J.J. Randall have been leading the Onekama offense. Onekama's only loss was to another small school power, Marion.
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"They tied us up in the last 40 seconds when we gave up two scores," Hunter said.
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Another team that could spell trouble for the Portagers is Vestaburg in mid-October. Onekama will make a three-hour trip to play the Wolverines who have had the Portagers' number in recent years.
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"We have had a good rivalry with them," Hunter said. "We hope to get it back with them. Their coach said when they beat us a few years back for the first time that they accomplished something. Now it's up to us to take it back."
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Defending Champs on Top
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Rockford is the defending champion in Division 1 and Birmingham Brother Rice in Division 2. Currently, both football powers are No. 1 in the polls with 3-0 records.
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In Division 1, Macomb Dakota is ranked second followed by Lake Orion in third, Clarkston in fourth, Canton in fifth, Milford sixth, Bay City Central seventh, Saline eighth, Saginaw Heritage ninth and Grand Blanc 10th. All of those teams are 3-0.
Brother Rice is followed in Division 2 by five other teams with 3-0 marks; Muskegon, Lowell, Davison, Allen Park and Adrian.
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DeWitt is ranked No.1 and Chelsea No. 2 in Division 3. Muskegon Orchard View, Holland Christian, Croswell-Lexington, Whitehall, and Zeeland East are ranked in the top five in Division 4.
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Sitting on top of polls at 3-0 in other divisions are defending champion Muskegon Oakridge in Division 5, Saginaw Nouvel in Division 6, Fulton in Division 7, and Waterford our Lady of the Lakes in Division 8.
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Girls Basketball
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Hudsonville Unity Christian, a parochial school located in the Grand Rapids area, has started off at 2-1, but with the likes of 6-2 forward and Division I prospect Carrie Snikkers, the Crusaders are considered a strong contender to win Class B state honors this season in Michigan.
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Snikkers averaged 17 points, nine rebounds, and 3.5 steals for a Unity Christian team that last season was in the state finals.
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"We could be possibly just as good, if not better, than we were last year," head coach Scott Soodsma said. "We have four returning starters."
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The team's only loss so far this year was to another Class B power, Grand Rapids South Christian.
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"We have to be able to rebound with other teams," Soodsma said. "(For Snikkers) the first couple of games were excellent games for her. Her first game, she went down with a knee injury. Bot fortunately, it wasn't too bad."
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What makes Snikkers such a valuable player?
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"She can shoot, rebound, and do just about anything," Soodsma said.
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Last year's team was 23-4 and Soodsma hopes his team can contend in the rough O-K Green Conference.
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"It's hard to say," Soodsma said. "It's early in the year. We'll have to wait and see."
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Soccer
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East Lansing is at it again in the boys soccer ranks.
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The reigning Division 2 state champs, coached by Nick Archer, are at it again with a 9-0 start and are presently ranked No. 1 in the state.
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"I didn't know what to expect coming into the season," East Lansing coach Nick Archer said. "We lost some key players last year. We have some good kids coming back. We don't stress what we've done in the past. But the kids are proud of the tradition we have here. They have to want to do well."
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East Lansing won the Division 1 title in 1987 and the Division 2 title in 2002. They were state runners-up in 1999.
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Archer started the program in 1977 and is in his 30th year as coach at East Lansing.
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"In 1977, there were only 25 teams in the state," Archer said.
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But soccer, Archer acknowledged, has grown dramatically in popularity in the state.
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"Our boys know that other teams want to do well against us," Archer said. 'It's their focus to knock us off."