Click on the link above to access photos from the ceremony honoring Swanton High School Class of 2024 seniors who participate in football, volleyball, girls golf, boys golf, girls soccer, boys soccer and band. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded for NO CHARGE courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.
Photo: Luke (16) and Brady (68) Arnold with parents Carrie and Jake
Both the Archbold Boys and Girls golf teams entered the NWOAL Tournament held on Friday at Auglaize Golf Club as heavy favorites to win the league championship. And, at the end of the day, neither of the Blue Streak contingents disappointed, easily finishing atop the leader board by 14 and 20 strokes respectively.
On the boys side, Archbold won with a score of 310. Bryan was second with a 324, Swanton came in tied with Wauseon for third at 331, Patrick Henry had 342 to finish fifth, Evergreen was sixth at 352, Delta with a 360 and Liberty Center with a 383 were seventh and eighth. Archbold’s winning score for the girls was 364. Patrick Henry was second with a 384, Wauseon had a 387, Delta finished at 439, Evergreen came in at 470, edging Swanton’s 471.
Swanton’s Mazin Rukieh fired a 74 to tie for medalist honors with Archbold’s Grady Short and Bryan’s Kai Dauber. Rukieh was named Player of the Year (POY) by totaling the most individual points based on finishes in all the league matches during the regular season and the tournament. In fact, the Bulldog junior finished as the medalist in every league match this year to earn the POY award. Aniyah Copeland of the Lady Streaks shot a round of 79 to earn medalist honors for the girls.
Boys Individual Scoring: Only top four scores count towards team total.
Archbold (310): Grady Short (74), Cahle Roth (75), River Ryan (80), Zach Short (81), Charlie Jones (82), Cameron Yoder (82) Bryan (324): Kai Dauber (74), Noah Hurd (77), Brayden Hall (85), Jaydan Deel (88), Frew Engstrom (90), Elijah Schlade (97) Swanton (331): Mazin Rukieh (74), Adam Lemon (75), Dylan Smigelski (91), Carson Lemon (91), Brady O’Shea (92), Grady Tipton (119) Wauseon (331): Carter Stuckey (81), Zach Puehler (81), Jack Alstaetter (82), Mykale Schneider (87), Gavin Van Deilen (93), Ethan Schnitkey (97) Patrick Henry (342): Jaxon Guelde (80), Ian Schwab (82), Luke Woods (87), Noah Robinson (93), Chayse Maas (104), Zach Hastedt (109) Evergreen (352): Cody Kanneman (85), Brady Kanneman (86), Nicholas Kruzel (87), Adam Schmidt (94), Michael Laver (96), Caden Beier (105) Delta (360): Slade Young (84), Adam Mattin (87), Lane Lopez (90), Ethan Huffman (99), Ashton Alig (109), Drew Smith (111) Liberty Center (383): Brody Wyckhouse (86), Braden Like (94), Stone Roth (96), Tony Caprella (107), Jack Jones (110), Izzy Hill (133)
Girls Individual Scoring: Only top four scores count towards team total.
Click on the link above to access photos from the tournament. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded for NO CHARGE courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.
Photo: Mazin Rukieh about to tee off on hole #1 to start the tournament
The Swanton Lady Bulldogs grabbed a relatively easy 25-12 game-one win against the Archbold Lady Blue Streaks but had to battle the rest of the way to come away with a 3-1 NWOAL match victory at home. Game-two saw Swanton survive a game-point at 23-24 before rallying for a 26-24 win. Archbold then returned the favor and took game-three by the same 26-24 score. The Lady Bulldogs finally closed out the match with a 25-19 win in game-four.
The victory takes Swanton’s overall record to 9-3 and 3-1 in the league, good for third place behind Delta and Liberty Center, both at 4-0. Archbold falls to 1-3 in the NWOAL and 4-7 on the season.
Click on the link above to access photos from the match. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded for NO CHARGE courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.
Photo: Peighton Manning gets ready to defend the net.
The Evergreen Vikings went on the road and slipped past the Wauseon Indians 3-2 on a late second half goal. The win put the Vikings’ record at 2-0 in the NWOAL and 8-1 overall. The Indians fall to 2-1 in the league and 6-1 on the season.
Click on the link above to access photos from the match. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded for NO CHARGE courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.
Photo: Evergreen’s Riley Dunbar (8) and Wauseon’s Seth Richer (4) fight for ball possession.
As part of a continuing fund-raising effort for Wreaths Across America, the Legion Riders of Swanton American Legion Murbach-Siefert Post 479 put on a poker run in honor former Legion member Eric Stasa this past Saturday and to raise awareness for this worthy cause. Wreaths Across America is a non-profit organization that raises money in order to place a wreath on the gravesite of every United States military veteran in the nation. Their mission statement reads: Remember our fallen U.S. veterans. Honor those who serve. Teach our children the value of freedom.
Leading the local effort is Swanton resident and Legionnaire John Schmidt, U.S. Army Retired. “We’re going from Swanton to Holland, from Holland to Morenci, from Morenci to Wauseon and Wauseon back to Swanton,” said John outlining their itinerary for the day. “Basically, the reason is to raise money to purchase wreaths for every veteran’s grave in Swanton. Right now, we have two cemeteries. We have the main cemetery on Main Street and St. Richard’s Cemetery (Dodge Street) that have signed up to be locations for it. We’re looking to purchase 600 wreaths. There are 600 grave sites between the two cemeteries. I know because I counted every single one of them. I figure if Toledo can do it and West Unity can do it, why can’t we do it? That’s our goal.”
This year, the wreath-laying ceremony will take place on December 16th in over 3700 cemeteries in all 50 states. Over two million wreaths will be placed on veterans’ grave sites that day. The Swanton Legion is still very short of their goal at this writing. Each wreath is just $17. If you would like to donate to this great cause you can contact the Legion at 419-826-2936 or stop in at 200 S. Hallet Ave. and they will provide all the details you need.
Photo: John Schmidt riding to help honor American veterans
The Archbold Blue Streaks went to halftime down just 14-7 to the defending NWOAL Champion Liberty Center Tigers, but were outscored 28-7 in the second half and dropped their league opener 42-14. The loss was the first of the season, moving their overall record to 3-1. Liberty Center remains unbeaten at 4-0.
Click on the link above to access photos from the game. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded for NO CHARGE courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.
Photo: Blue Streak Lucas Dominique follows Jayden Gensler upfield
Click on the link above to access photos from the activities surrounding the football game. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded for NO CHARGE courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.
The visiting Ottawa Hills Green Bears scored 21 points in each of the first two quarters and went on to defeat the Swanton Bulldogs 49-7 in a non-league football game.
Click on the link above to access photos from the game. Photos are in the jpeg format and can be downloaded for NO CHARGE courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.
Miguel Deeds-Rodriguez and Max York scored midway through the first half and the Delta Panthers went on to defeat the Swanton Bulldogs 5-0 in NWOAL boys soccer. Both teams wore special uniforms as part of a tribute to a Swanton parent battling cancer.
Click on the link above to access photos from the match. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow editing and can be downloaded for NO CHARGE courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.
As passionately as we love our sports, with a dedication that we willingly give while pushing aside so many, too many other things, life has a way of delivering a wakeup call that quickly resets our priorities and relegates sports to a more appropriate position, after our health and after our loved ones. Last evening, under the lights of Swanton High School’s David W. Hansbarger Stadium, we were given a stark reminder of how important it is to practice this philosophy.
Prior to the boys’ soccer match between the visiting Delta Panthers and the hometown Swanton Bulldogs, a tribute was paid to Catherine-Gee Robinson, a Soccer Mom who is in the midst of battling colon cancer. Cathy has been a heavily involved parent in support of the Bulldogs soccer program while watching her son Jake, SHS Class of 2023, compete on the pitch for his school.
Unfortunately, as she began to experience some health symptoms during son Jake’s senior year, she held off seeking medical attention, chalking it up to “getting older” and being tired. In February of this year, Cathy’s symptoms became progressively worse and she finally saw a doctor who recommended she undergo a colonoscopy. She was surprised at the advice, believing you had to be 50 years of age before needing a colonoscopy, but was told the suggested age is now 45.
The test results found a tumor blocking both the large and small intestines. Further testing discovered that the cancer had spread to her liver and several lymph nodes. In May Cathy underwent surgery to remove the tumor along with sections of her intestines and later began chemotherapy treatments. To date, her body is responding very well to the chemotherapy, but she will now begin a series of radiation treatments to battle the tumors on her liver.
The special night for Cathy, unknown to her or her family, was put together by Swanton head-coach Ronnie Rico and Lisa Wylie and coordinated with Delta head-coach KJ Abair. Both teams wore special uniforms donated by North Star Bluescope of Delta for the match with the name “Robinson” on the back and colored with dark blue for colon cancer and pink.
This particular game was chosen because, growing up, Jake had played travel soccer with many of the Panther players and had actually played for Coach Abair. In another ironic twist, Amy Roth, mother of Panther goalie Brodey Roth, was also diagnosed with colon cancer last year and a special tribute to her was held In Delta during its match with Swanton. Cathy remembers that game quite well.
“I remember going to the Delta game last year where Amy Roth and everyone were trying to make people more aware of colon cancer and I talked to her in the stands,” recalled Cathy. “I kept thinking, ‘Just go and take the test. If you’re not feeling well, go and see a doctor.’ But it was Jake’s senior year and I had basketball games to go to.”
Looking at Cathy last night she appeared to be just fine, smiling and talking like it was an ordinary day in the life of a mother with two teenagers growing up in Smalltown, America. She was a profile in courage, facing what is next with respect to her illness. Cathy’s story is a cautionary tale and she wants everyone to raise awareness of this disease. Caught in time, colon cancer has a 90% survival rate. “Be an advocate for your health. Be an advocate for yourself,” said Cathy. “Take the test. It’s a simple test. And I will tell you that chemo is way worse that a colonoscopy. So, take the colonoscopy.” Great advice from a very brave woman.
Photo: Cathy Robinson with husband Wayne, daughter Audrey, son Jake and the Swanton and Delta boys soccer teams.
Fulton County Ohio Media 