Portage’s Willowcreek Middle School fires up their fall sports season with Football, Boys and Girls Cross Country and Volleyball.
Football
Football season started with 65 students going out for the team. There will be both an “A” and “B” team that will play an eight game schedule.
Willowcreek hosted the Football O’Rama where all the players were able to gain field experience and the coaches got to see how the players performed during actual game situations. The coaches will use the experience to make adjustments to the teams as well.
Coach Smith said that, “The 7th grade players last year were the Conference Champions and so moving up to 8th grade they have a title to defend.”
The team is using that as motivation for this season.
The A team won their season opener with a 32-14 victory over La Porte.
Boys and Girls Cross Country
Coach Swindle is excited about his cross country teams this season. He had a big group of runners out this year and they kept up with their practices over the summer. He has a talented group of 6th graders that are looking good so far; they just need to learn how to race now.
The 7th grade is a large group as well. Many of them are newer runners so they will gain experience throughout their season, they are looking forward to improving at each meet.
As for the 8th graders, coach Swindle stated, “They have a lot of talent, especially the boys who were conference champions.”
The whole 8th grade group is full of hardworking competitive runners who are improving every day. Coach Swindle is assisted by Coach Christine Keaton and Jackie Pagan. Willowcreek will host the Willowcreek Invitational at Woodland Park on Sept 21 and then Conference on October 17th.
Volleyball
The Willowcreek volleyball teams are off to a great start and Coach Scheuer stated, “We had over 30 girls tryout for Volleyball this season, a total of 14 girls will play on either the ‘A’ or ‘B’ team.”
Many of the girls who tried out played club volleyball over the summer which is allowing the teams to get off to a fast start as many of the girls are familiar with the ins and outs of competitive play.
Coach Scheuer stated, “Our strength lies in our passing and serving, and we continue to work on setting, hitting and the wonderful ‘Scheuer Shuffle!’”
Coach Wheeler and Scheuer look forward to their season this year and state it promises to be exciting with the spirited group of girls they are working with.
The 8th grade team is talented as well. Coach Haupt agrees that many of the girls participating in club ball and attending camps in the off season are helping to improve their middle school players when they start their school volleyball season. They are excited to for their season to begin.
Coach Haupt stated, “This entire 8th grade group of girls is showing great team camaraderie and an excellent work ethic.”
Come out on to the ‘Creek and enjoy watching one of our great fall sports!