16-17 School Year One to Remember

The last of the area high schools have held their Graduation and while Reeds Spring Track has a great shot to improve on last years third place finish at State the area sports season is otherwise done.

A special shout out to Galena Baseball, while not in my usual coverage area the Bears deserve recognition and I want to wish them the best of luck in their State Quarterfinal game tomorrow afternoon.

This was  a very special year for me because in addition to my radio coverage at Earls Family Broadcasting, this marked the first year for my own company and this website.

As you would expect I will start with Reeds Spring Football leading off the stories of the fall sports.  The Wolves finally got over the Bolivar hurdle and although they would slip at Springfield Catholic they would claim a piece of the COC small Championship and earned the number one seed in the district playoffs. Wolves will lose some some special players but return a nucleus that could make next year special.  Hollister football had its best season in history.  Coach Jacob Hamon’s club set all kinds of FIRSTS for the school.  Although they fell a little short of my third place conference prediction they no doubt opened eyes.  Branson was competitive in most contests and although they did not show huge strides in their final record they were much improved.

The softball teams from Branson and Reeds Spring were both extremely competitive.

The story of the winter was the Branson Girls.  Despite flying under the radar from other media sources, Coach Kip Bough’s ladies beat Ozark and Kickapoo to win the District Championship, downed Republic in sectionals and after falling behind early against Columbia Rock Bridge fought back to make a game of it before finally having their season end one game short of the final four.

My coverage in the spring focused on area baseball in addition to Branson Girls Soccer.

Although we did not have an area baseball team advance as far as a district Championship game most of them were extremely competitive and all had high moments.

The Branson Girls Soccer team won a district game for the first time ever and competed for a District Championship.  The team will return nearly intact next year and seems to be poised to take that next step.

Over the coming days I will discuss more individual accomplishments as well as specific highlights and sports that dont get as much coverage.  I will also go over all the coaching changes in the area.

Finally I want to say THANK YOU for the past year.  When I started this site and later added play by play broadcasts I really did not know what to expect.  I thought if I could have 5000 visits to my webpage I would be happy.  Well, you responded much better than I ever imagined.  You topped the 11000 before the end of December and right around 22000 for the year.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you.  It makes the old, short guy, feel good to think that you actually care what I have to say.

To the sponsors who jumped on board this first year, this would not be possible without you.  To all the athletes, thanks for letting me be part of your seasons.  To the parents and fans, thanks for the words of encouragement.  I do appreciate it.  And, finally to the coaches and administrators… I cant express my appreciation enough. You are all great to work with.

Here’s to growing and making next year bigger and better.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *