Maple Valley News

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A weekly publication of View Newspaper Group printing the events and news of the Maple Valley community, including Nashville and Vermontville, inside The Reminder.

Maple Valley freshman Kelvin Nevins-Davis runs one of his fastest 110-meter high hurdles races yet (16.65 seconds) to fi...
05/31/2025

Maple Valley freshman Kelvin Nevins-Davis runs one of his fastest 110-meter high hurdles races yet (16.65 seconds) to finish 23rd in the semifinal heats at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Track and Field Finals Saturday.

He’s got the 300-meter hurdles ahead this afternoon at the Finals.

(Photo by Chris Robotham - Thanks Chris!)

They smiled. They shouted. They shook hands with the Athens guys. They huddled right there on the infield next to their ...
05/30/2025

They smiled. They shouted. They shook hands with the Athens guys. They huddled right there on the infield next to their discarded gloves, and then the Lions promptly lined up along the first baseline.

It’s almost like they’d done this before (well, a few of them anyway.)

The Maple Valley varsity baseball team, a year after the program rolled all the way to the state semifinals, opened the 2025 postseason by shutting out Bellevue and Athens to win a MHSAA Division 4 District Championship for the second year in a row.

Senior Jakeb McDolanld pitched a complete game shut out in the Lions’ 7-0 district final win over Athens at Bellevue High School Friday.

Pitchers Teegen McDonald and James Coblentz each threw two perfect innings in a district semifinal win over Bellevue.

The Lions scored in five of the six innings that they stepped to the plate in the final with Athens. Noah Musser led the way offensively going 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored. Six other Lions recorded one hit apiece.

Jakeb McDonald struck out 13 Indians and gave up just one hit, a first inning single. He lost a little control late, but got out of a two-on, one-out jam in the top of the sixth with Coblentz starting a nifty 4-6-3 double play. The Lion second baseman shot the ball over to the shortstop Teegen at second who fired a laser over to Darren Carpenter at first.

The Lions go to Addison for their MHSAA Division 4 Regional Semifinal Wednesday, June 4 …

Read more in the June 7 edition of the Maple Valley News …

Pitchers Teegen McDonald and James Coblentz each threw two perfect innings and the Maple Valleylley varsityty baseball t...
05/30/2025

Pitchers Teegen McDonald and James Coblentz each threw two perfect innings and the Maple Valleylley varsityty baseball team combined six hits with a number of walks, hit batters and a handful of errors by the young Bellevue team to open the MHSAA Division 4 District tournament at Bellevue High School with a 15-0 win Friday afternoon.

Athens beat Tekonsha 10-4 in the day’s first district semifinal match-up, and the Lions and Indians now square off for the district championship.

Twice the Lions cut a two-goal Bronson lead in half, but they couldn’t quite find an equalizer in a 3-2 loss to the visi...
04/29/2025

Twice the Lions cut a two-goal Bronson lead in half, but they couldn’t quite find an equalizer in a 3-2 loss to the visiting Vikings in Big 8 Conference action Monday at Maple Valley High School.

Bronson scored on a breakaway midway through the first half and then got behind the Lion defensive line again in the opening minutes of the second half to take a 2-0 lead.

Senior exchange student Ines Sanchez broke in on the right side of the Viking box and converted on a one-on-one chance against the Viking keeper with 17:07 to go to finally get the Lions on the scoreboard.

Both teams put a free kick into the net in the final 15 minutes to finish the scoring. First Bronson found the net with 14:12 to play to go up 3-1. The Lions cut the lead back to one with Claire Seume shooting a low, hard free kick from just outside the Viking box that glanced off a Viking defender and into the goal.

The Lions fall to 1-4 in the Big 8 Conference with the loss. They will be at home again Thursday to take on Comstock and then face Big 8 leading Quincy next week, May 5. The Lions do get another shot at Bronson on the road May 12.

Lion head coach Richard Seume was already looking forward to making some adjustments for the next meeting with the Vikings as his girls met following Monday’s defeat. He is excited for his team to get in its first practice in a week on Tuesday afternoon.

There are some things to work on. He’d like to see his defensive line to mark up a bit better to prevent some of those breakaways the Vikings managed, and while the Lion offense worked the ball forward fairly well there is still some experience to gain in what to do in that final third of the offensive zone. The Lions were one or two touches away a number of times from getting the ball in the back of the net.

A couple of the Lions’ best scoring chances came early in the contest with Sanchez and fellow seniors Isabel Emerick and Grace Widenhofer moving the ball well together on the attack.

Senior Makenna Barnum-Suttles continues her transition from a center back to goalie. Slowed by an injury early on in the season, she moved back into the goal and coach Seume said she is performing as well as any keeper in the conference. The Bronson girls had a few more breakaway attempts than the ones they scored on, and Barnum-Suttles did a good job of coming off her line to deflect a few shots away or take the ball away before the Vikings could get a shot off …

Read more in next weekend’s edition of the Maple Valley News …

The Maple Valley varsity boys’ basketball team found a way to slow down a Potterville team that hit ten three-pointers i...
03/01/2025

The Maple Valley varsity boys’ basketball team found a way to slow down a Potterville team that hit ten three-pointers in the first half of its MHSAA Division 3 District Semifinal at Maple Valley High School Wednesday.

An answer never came against a talented Pewamo-Westphalia team in the district final Friday back at MVHS. The Pirates took a 76-38 win over the Lions in the district championship game.

The Pirates had 14 different players score and half of them hit at least one three-pointer. Grady Eklund hit five of his team’s 15 three-pointers and finished with a game-high 17 points to lead the Pirates. He had 14 of those points in the first half as the teams rolled through their benches in the second half.

Maple Valley had nine different guys score led by Teegen McDonald’s eight points. Kelvin Nevins-Davis buried a couple of corner threes and finished with seven points. The Lion team got six points each from Jake McDonald and Cam Murray.

While the Pirates shot the lights out, Lion head coach Ryan Nevins said the P-W team might be the best defensive team one of his squads has everer played against.

The Pirates have not lost a district ballgame since 2015, winning nine district championships since then …

Read more in next weekend’s edition of the Maple Valley News …

Springport had 14 fewer points than in the first ballgame of 2025.Maple Valley had 24 more.That's progress.The visiting ...
02/13/2025

Springport had 14 fewer points than in the first ballgame of 2025.

Maple Valley had 24 more.

That's progress.

The visiting Springport varsity girls' basketball team kept the Maple Valley girls winless in the Big 8 Conference so far this season by scoring a 63-37 win at Maple Valley High School Tuesday, but the final score showed big strides from when the two teams met in the first ballgame of 2025 back on Jan. 7.

Spanish exchange student Ines Sanchez led the Lions with 12 points and sophomore guard Aubree Roth put in 11 in the loss. The Lions haven't had a lot of nights this season with two girls in double figures, and everyone on the team is getting more confident with the basketball in their hands.

The Lions got six points from senior forward Taylor Casey and four from freshman center Abbigail Harvey …

Read more in this weekend’s edition of the Maple Valley News …

It just didn't fall right for the Lions.The match ups didn't fall right and the one last attempt at a trip by freshman K...
02/07/2025

It just didn't fall right for the Lions.

The match ups didn't fall right and the one last attempt at a trip by freshman Kade Wright didn't fall right.

It would have been an upset for sure for Wright to defeat Saranac senior Andrew Wittenbach, the Red Hawks' lone returning regional qualifier from a year ago.

Wright got his shot in at the start of the 165-pound match, the final bout of the MHSAA Division 4 Team District Final at Saranac High School Wednesday. Saranac held a 40-36 lead and the Lions last, best hope was really for the freshman to find a way to get a pin. Wright managed to get a single leg hold on Wittenbach, but had a tough time trying to trip up the Saranac senior and get him down to the mat.

When Wright finally did get Wittenbach to stumble midway through the first period, Wright lost his balance too. The more experienced wrestler came out on top at the end of the fall and soon earned the pin that clinched Saranac's 46-36 victory.

A trio of seniors, Ryan Bollone, Landen Winsor and Wittenbach earned pins in the final three matches of the district final to turn what had been a 36-28 Lion lead into a ten-point Saranac victory. Up until that final stretch, the Lions had won five of the six flights that were contested in the district final, all by pin.

The Lions got victories in the first four weight classes to start the dual with a 24-0 lead. It took Lion junior Tyrese Robinson some time to finish the deal, but he eventually stuck Saranac's Jacob Bollone 4 minutes and 44 seconds into their 175-pound match that opened the final. Lion junior Jackson Burpee, a state qualifier a year ago, took a forfeit win at 190, a weight class he has bumped up to the past couple weeks with an eye on a run back to the state finals at Ford Field.

Maple Valley senior Skyler Cook got taken down by Saranac's Eric Lake right at the start of the 215-pound match, but made a quick recovery to pin Lake 59 seconds into the match. The Lion team then got a pin from junior heavyweight Joe Long midway through the second period of his 285-pound match against Whyatt Hicks.

The rest of the way, the Lions added a pin by freshman Roman Schilz in the 113-pound match against Isaac Delinsky and a pin from exchange student Filip Nowak midway through the second period of his 144-pound match against the Red Hawks' Seth Purchase.

Maple Valley opened the night with a 54-30 win over Fulton in the district semifinals while Saranac was outscoring Carson City-Crystal 54-22 …

Read more in this weekend’s edition of the Maple Valley News …

It seems to be a script the Lions have written for themselves. A decent start; a little lull before the half where they ...
01/17/2025

It seems to be a script the Lions have written for themselves. A decent start; a little lull before the half where they fall in a hole; and fight like mad to try and get back in the ballgame in the third quarter.

They finally got the ending right.

The Maple Valley varsity boys’ basketball team dug out of a 16-point halftime deficit to score a 75-72 win over Bronson in a Big 8 Conference ballgame at Maple Valley High School Thursday.

Sophomore guard Teegen McDonald had a game-high 36 points and senior guard Jake McDonald finished with 19 points for the Lions, but it took an all around team effort to fend off the Vikings and their star senior guard Kamron Brackett who finished with 34 points.

Bronson took its big halftime lead with Brackett scoring 19 points in the second quarter with the help of three three-pointers and a 6-for-6 performance at the free throw line in the quarter. The Vikings led 45-29 at the half in a ballgame in which they had a 13-12 lead at the end of one quarter.

The Lion defense did a better job of getting over screens int eh second half and held him scoreless in the third quarter and to “just” nine points in the third. He did bury a three in transition with eight seconds left that cut the Lion lead to 73-72 at the moment. Teegen hit a couple free throws to push the Lion lead back to three points with 3.4 seconds left on the clock, and Bronson’s Owen Losinski couldn’t get the ball off his hip as he tried to hoist up a desperation three after crossing half-court before the buzzer.

Bronson couldn’t keep Teegen from getting to the basket, and the Lion team got nearly all of its scoring done around the rim. Coach Nevins was pleased with his guys’ work on the glass, the way they pushed the ball to score in transition, and the all around defensive effort in the second half.

The Lions improve to 4-8 overall and 2-5 in the Big 8 Conference with the win. They have now won back-to-back ballgames in conference play and will step outside the Big 8 for a trip to Delton Kellogg Monday. The Lions fell by 17 against the Panthers in the season opener at Maple Valley High School back in November.

Junior guard Bradley Cushing chipped in six points for the Lions in the win over Bronson, freshman guard Kelvin Nevins-Davis had five points and junior Eli Wright and senior Jimmy Wiggs had four points apiece.

An improved round two helped the Maple Valley varsity competitive cheer team to a runner-up finish in its division at la...
01/15/2025

An improved round two helped the Maple Valley varsity competitive cheer team to a runner-up finish in its division at last Thursday’s Caledonia Purple and Gold Invitational. The Lions finished shaking off the holiday break rust in the Fighting Scots’ big gym and then followed that up with a runner-up finish at the first Big 8 Conference jamboree of the season Monday …

Read more in this weekend’s edition of the Maple Valley News …

Five individual state qualifiers ran their last race before heading to Michigan International Speedway for the MHSAA Low...
10/29/2024

Five individual state qualifiers ran their last race before heading to Michigan International Speedway for the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals on Monday afternoon at the Barry County Meet hosted by Hastings at Charlton Park.

That group included three seniors: Jacob Draaisma and Ava Crews from Thornapple Kellogg who won individual county championships and helped their Trojan teams to titles too, and Hastings’ Brandon Simmons who was the runner-up to Draaisma on the day. For 17 other seniors, it was their final varsity cross country race and Hastings athletic director Mike Mohn and the local varsity coaches took time to honor those seniors as the sun began setting behind the historic Charlton Park village.

Crews is now a three-time Barry County individual champion, and a four-time state qualifier. She won Monday’s race in 19 minutes 15.0 seconds. The only girl to ever beat her in a Barry County race, Hastings sophomore Caroline Randall who is a two-time state qualifier herself, was the day’s runner-up with a time of 19:44.1

The Thornapple Kellogg girls’ team put nine girls among the 14 All-Barry County honorees including first-teamers Crews, Peyton Hardy (third), Madison Kietzman (fourth), Meghan-Jane Skidmore (sixth) and Alaina McCrumb (seventh), and second-teamers Carmen Reynolds (eighth), Amya Gater (ninth), Hailey Lee (tenth) and Avery Hagemann (13th).

The TK team finished the day with 21 points followed by Hastings 59, Delton Kellogg 63, Lakewood 99 and Maple Valley NTS.

Randall and the top five Trojans were joined in earning all-county first team honors by Delton Kellogg senior Kylie Main who was fifth overall. The rest of the top 14 also included Delton Kellogg senior Jillian Leclercq (11th), Lakewood freshman Raelin Schrock 12th and Hastings junior Berta Fabrega Vivas (14th). The Maple Valley team was led by senior Isabel Emerick who was 19th overall.

The Thornapple Kellogg girls have won the Barry County Championship for as long as anyone can remember. The TK boys’ victory Monday snapped a three-year winning streak by the Hastings boys. TK last won the county meet in 2020.

The TK team had six of the top 14 finishers in the boys’ race. Draaisma had a winning time of 17:06.2. Senior Hunter Tietz was TK’s number two with a sixth-place time. The Trojan team had sophomores Grady Galaviz and Elijah Frazer place eighth and ninth and senior Case Dykhouse and junior Noah Donker 13th and 14th.

The Trojans won with 37 points ahead of Hastings 58, Lakewood 67, Delton Kellogg 77 and Maple Valley 110.

Saxon senior Micah Johnson was third in his final race.

Lakewood and Delton Kellogg both had three guys among the top 14 including DK sophomore Landon Madden who threw out an impressive PR at his team’s MHSAA L.P. Division 3 Regional in Allendale to qualify for the state finals in his first varsity cross country season. Madden led the DK team Monday with a fifth-place finish and the Panthers had junior Nick Muday 11th and freshman Jace Hilton 12th.

Lakewood was paced by senior Riley Johnson who was fourth overall. The Viking team had sophomore Bryce Goodemoot seventh and sophomore Kaden Rohrbacher tenth.

Maple Valley sophomore Tyler Curtis led his Lion team and was just 3.5 seconds behind the last of the all-county honorees in 15th place.

The Lion boys’ team also had sophomore Quincy Page 21st, senior Doug Smalley 23rd, sophomore Cameron Murray 27th, senior Jeremiah Penny 28th and sophomore Brayden Joseph 37th.

Behind Isabel Emerick for the Lion ladies, freshman Lydia Emerick was 28th, senior Brianna Gurd 36th and senior Arial Coleman 37th.

09/14/2024

The Maple Valley varsity football team rallied from a 16-0 halftime deficit, scoring 27 points in the fourth quarter alone, to earn a 33-16 win at Quincy for its first ever Big 8 Conference football victory.

Jimmy Wiggs returned two interceptions for touchdowns in the second half, capping both ends of the Lions’ comeback. He intercepted a Quincy pass in the end zone and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown to finally spark the Lions int the second half, getting his team within 16-6 at the time in the third quarter, and then picked off another one and took it back 37 yards for a score with just under two minutes left in the game.

In the fourth quarter the Lions dominated. They pulled within 16-13 thanks to a 37-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jakeb McDonald to Skyler Cook and kicker Kelvin Nevins-Davis’ extra-point kick. Maple Valley took its first lead of the ballgame with 2:15 to play on a one-yard TD run by McDonald and another Nevins-Davis e.p.

Back Carson Milbourn powered the Maple Valley offense with 19 rushes for 76 yards.

Wiggs was stellar on defense adding a team-high 12 tackles too. McDonald and Chris Mock had eight tackles each for the Lions. McDonald and Alex Shepard also picked off Oriole passes, and McDonald and Cook recovered fumbles.

The Lions are now 2-1 overall this season and 1-1 in the Big 8 Conference.

Maple Valley was bested 34-6 by visiting Springport in its first ever Big 8 Conference football game.The Lions got an 8-...
09/07/2024

Maple Valley was bested 34-6 by visiting Springport in its first ever Big 8 Conference football game.

The Lions got an 8-yard touchdown run from Jeremiah Penny at the end of the first quarter to get their team within 7-6 of the Spartans, but Springport tacked on two more touchdowns before the first half was through to take control.

Springport quarterback Gibson Overweg was 14-of-15 passing for 194 yards and one touchdown and ran for a TD too. Daniel Dyster scored three times for the visitors.

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