Monday, November 29, 2010

Basketball O'Hara 70 Saint Pius 51

Archbishop O'Hara High School opened its 2010-2011 basketball season with a West Central Conference win 70-51 on November 29 hosting the Saint Pius X Warriors. _____ The Celtics jumped to a 13-2 start and maintained a comfortable lead throughout the night. _____ D.J. Jackson with 20 points and Josh Ruprecht with 19 points led the way. _____ Also contributing to the victory was Daniel Hurtt who contributed 12 points and JeVon Lyle had 8. _______ By the end of the initial period, O'Hara had doubled Pius' output 24-12. _____ The top two scorers from Saint Pius were Brian Kaufmann who led all scorers with 23 points and Mac Mason with 10.______ _____ _____Prior to the boys varsity game, the girls varsity resulted in a win for the Warriors 57-46. ______ Early in that game, the Celtics had a three point lead but then the Lady Warriors scored twelve unanswered points to begin the second quarter ahead 15-6. _____ O'Hara narrowed the margin to three points 17-14 in the middle of the second quarter and again to three points 26-23 in the middle of the third quarter. _____ Only two seniors were on the team and the top scorer for the Lady Celtics was freshman Amanda Hull who scored 18 points. _____ Two others made double figures, both sophomores: Madison Clark with 11 and Cyndee Reese with 10._____ The top two scorers from Saint Pius were Lexie Oak who led all scorers with 23 and Danielle Kaullen with 11.

Monday, November 22, 2010

FIFTH PLACE MEDAL & TROPHY IN SPEECH TOURNAMENT

Park Hill South had 30 schools with over 900 entries in their Speech Tournament on November 2oth. ______ From Archbishop O'Hara High School, Johanna Kelly took a 5th place medal in Original Oratory Speaking (out of 56 entries). ______ Winning a trophy for 5th place were Natalie Berigan & Payton Hannahs in Publis Forum Debate who had four wins with no losses in the preliminaries. _____ Two other teams that competed with 2/2 records were Gabe Spencer & Austin Yancey and Jayla Smith & Cyndee Reese.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

O'Hara Football Matches a Feat from Last Year

This year the Archbishop O'Hara High School Celtics football team lost to Richmond in the quarterfinals and last year they lost to Cassville in the semifinals. ______ Cassville went on to win the State Championship and this Year Richmond also won the State Title beating John Boroughs. _____ O'Hara ended the season 5-7 after a 0-5 start. ______ In the final totaling, the team outpointed their opponents in EVERY quarter: 83-81 in the first quarter, 102-88 in the second quarter, 75-67 in the third quarter, and 88-85 in the fourth quarter. _____ THOSE IN THE TOP TEN IN SCHOOL RECORDS FOR SINGLE SEASONS: Raphael Spencer in rushing #2 this year with 2001 yards and #6 last year with 1454 yards. In kickoff returns he was #4 last year with 560 yards and #7 this year with 431 yards. In scoring, he scored 180 points to lead all O'Hara scorers for a season with 180 yards in each of the past two years._____ Quarterback Jake Fortin holds fifth place in passing from this year's season reaching 1092 total yards. _____ Pass receiver Brandon Dennis is #6 in total yardage with 556 yards on 25 catches which #10 in most caught. ______ Place kicker Julian Gidley tied for third in most extra points with 33 this year and tied for 7th place last year when he had 29. _____ THOSE IN THE TOP TEN IN SCHOOL CAREER RECORDS: Raphael Spencer is #2 in rushing with 3642 yards and #1 in kick return yardage with 1018 yards. He holds the school record for total points scored with over 370 points. _____ Jake Fortin completed 67 passes for 7th place and in yardage had 1114 yards for 9th place._____ Julian Gidley with 62 extra points ranks #3. _______ Of those that are in the top ten, Jake Fortin, Julian Gidley, and Brandon Dennis return for another O'Hara season.

Friday, November 19, 2010

HANAWAY SIGNS TO ATTEND BAKER UNIVERSITY

Lindsey Hanaway signed a letter of intent to attend Baker University. ______ She was the setter for the 3-A O'Hara State Volleyball Champions for the past four years and a member of the All-State First Team.

Blood Donation Number 210

On November 18th, Brother Richard made his 210th blood donation when the bloodmobile was at Archbishop O'Hara High School.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

FOUR CELTICS MAKE ALL-CONFERENCE SOCCER

Sophomore John Tyler and junior Julian Gidley were selected to the All West Central Conference Soccer First Team. ______ Selected to the Second Team were juniors Patrick Berney and Justin Chang. ______ All four will be returning for the 2011 season.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

O'Hara Will Bring Experience to 2011 Football Season

The 2010 O'Hara Celtics football team climbed all the way to the State Quarterfinals which was quite an accomplishment inasmuch as there were only five seniors on the roster. _____ In addition to Raphael Spencer who holds school records, the 2012 squad will have to proceed without the talents of Jake Chichuk, Josh Bonello, Jimmy Clark, and Lowell Thomas who will be graduating in the Spring. _____ The leadership roles will shift to others who helped carry the team through the challenging past season. ____ Quarterback Jake Fortin is 9th in O'Hara's top ten passers in career total yards with 1,114 on 67 completions (which is 7th in total number of career passes). _____ In the category of top ten passers for a single season, he is 5th in total yardage with 1,092 yards. _____ Brandon Dennis holds the O'Hara record for most yards gained as a pass receiver in a single game, and caught 25 passes for a total of 556 yards this year; only nine former Celtics caught more than 25 in any one season. ______ Julian Gidley kicked 33 extra points for O'Hara this year, tying Bryce Scovill for 3rd place for a season, and has increased his career total to 66 for 3rd place with a full season coming up. _____ Of course, Raphael Spencer who led the Celtic offense will be missed. _____ His career total rushing yardage is 3,642 yards second only to Matt Patterson's 5,396 which is the school record. _____ In his senior year he gained 2001 yards and a year ago gained 1,454 yards, good enough for 2nd and 6th places for single season output. _____ But where Spencer really excelled was in the scoring! _____ He scored more career points than any other Celtic with 372 and scored 180 in each of his junior and senior years, tops among all O'Hara scorers through the years. _____ In addition to the scoring of Spencer, Brandon Dennis had 54 points this season on 9 TD catches and Brett Coatney had 48 points on 8 rushing touchdowns.

Monday, November 15, 2010

MISSOURI WINS MO-KAN VOLLEYBALL

With four players from the 3-A State Champion Archbishop O'Hara team, the twelve Missouri All-Stars won their GKCVCA MO-KAN game against the Kansas All-Stars in three sets on November 14 at Avila University. ____ Coach Lori Hanaway coached the winning team which included players Tori Hurtt, Michala Boehm, Janell Jordan, and Lindsey Hanaway all from her own squad during the past season.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Celtics Football Team Falls to Richmond 49-14

Raphael Spencer added one more touchdown to his impressive career total, a 43 yard run, but the Celtics lost their State Quarterfinal game 7 TD's to 2. _____ Sophomore Ronnie Sailer scored O'Hara's last touchdown of their season in the fourth quarter. _____ Sailer's run was for 17 yards. _____ The Spartans built up a 35-7 halftime score and when they upped the advantaqe to 42-7, the game was played with a running clock. _____ Reaching the quarterfinals was quite a feat for a team that began the season 0-5 and had only five players who are seniors.

Friday, November 12, 2010

O'HARA'S FOUR ALL-DISTRICT SOCCER PLAYERS

Selected to the ALL-DISTRICT soccer team were Matt Shelton, Kevin Hogan, Justin Chang, and Pat Barney.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Football Top Ten Career Stats

For the second year in a row, Raphael Spencer had the most points scored for O'Hara. _____ Last year he had 180 and this season he is at 174 with 28 touchdowns and three two-point conversions. _____ As a result, overall he has taken over first place in career scoring with 366 points topping Matt Patterson's 346 points from 1998-2001. _____ Spencer with 931 yards in kickoff returns is second only to Joe Privitera from 1986-1988 who holds the record at 935 yards. _____ _____ Also Julian Gidley moved up in most extra points made by kicking to third place overall with a total of 60. ____ Last year he had 29 for the entire season and he already has 31 this year. _____ Gidley is in 5th place in career kickoff yardage too. _____ _____ With 24 catches this year, nine players are ahead of Brandon Dennis in number of pass receptions. _____ _____ Jake Fortin completed 60 passes this year for 1,051 yards placing him 5th best for a season. ______ He is tied for 7th in number of career pass completions and 10th place in yardage gained.

HONOR TO CELTIC VOLLEYBALL TEAM

The Archbishop O'Hara High School State Champs in 3-A volleyball were honored as the HY-VEE team of the week and Lindsey Hanaway, a member of the team, was selected as scholar athlete of the week.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Victoria Hurtt Signs Letter of Intent to Iowa State

On November 9th Tori Hurtt signed a letter of intent to Iowa State University in the Archbishop O'Hara High School Theater. _______ She was accompanied by her parents Lewis and Martha, Head Volleyball Coach Lori Hanaway, Activities Director Alan Hull, Dr. Jim Redd Principal, and memebers of the O'Hara student body. ______ A letter of welcome and congratulations was read at the ceremony from Cyclone Coach Christie Johnson. ____ Coach Hanaway expressed her appreciation to Tori who was selected to All-Conference, All-District, All-Region, All- Metro, and All-State teams for the past four years for her excellence in volleyball. ______ In addition to leading in the scoring for the O'Hara State Championship teams in volleyball, Tori was also a member of the O'Hara basketball team last year that took Third in State.

Monday, November 8, 2010

CELTICS WIN 48-25 REACHING QUARTER FINALS

With a 48-25 victory on November 8 over Pembroke Hill, the Archbishop O'Hara football team reached the final eight in the State playoffs and will travel to undefeated Richmond on Saturday for a 1:30 game. _____ Last year the Celtics got to the final four before losing to Cassville, the State Champions. _______ Richmond won their game with Maryville 21-14 to get to the final eight. _______ The last time O'Hara and Pembroke Hill played, the score was 48-28. _____ In O'Hara's last four games, the Celtics scored 48 or more points in each game. _____ Raphael Spencer became O'Hara's all-time top scorer with his four touchdowns reaching a total of 366 eclipsing Matt Patterson's 346 points. ______ The rest of the O'Hara scoring in this game came from two touchdowns by Brett Coatney and one by Brandon Dennis along with six successful extra point kicks by Julian Gidley. _____ In the Monday night game, the Celtics jumped off to a 28-0 halftime advantage. _____ On O'Hara's first running play, Brett Coatney had an end run for 64 yards for the Celtics' first TD. _____ The Raiders' offense sputtered and the Celtics scored again on a six yard run by Raphael Spencer. ______ The touchdown was set up by a 26 yard pass by Jake Fortin to Brandon Dennis. _____ The next time the Celtics got the ball, Brandon Dennis pulled in a Jake Fortin pass for a 27 yard touchdown boosting the score to 21-0 while still in the first quarter. _____ The longest play of the evening was in the second quarter and it was a 70 yard touchdown run by Raphael Spencer. ______ The Raiders scored three touchdowns in the third quarter to make the game interesting. _____An 10 yard TD run by Pembroke Hill's Patrick Freitag was followed by a 5 yard TD run by O'Hara's Brett Coatney. ______ On the ensuing kick, Jacob Gerson returned the kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown. ______ Gerson also scored on a 5 yard run for a touchdown before the third quarter ended. _____ In the fourth quarter, Pembroke Hill scored first on a 10 yard pass play from Jacob Gerson to Charlie Mueller for their 25th and final points for the day and putting the score at 34-25. _____ O'Hara played ball control on their next drive capped by a 15 yard touchdown run by Raphael Spencer. ______ Shifting to a passing game, the Raiders lost the ball on an interception by Jimmy Clark who returned the ball all the way to the one yard line. _____ Raphael Spencer plunged over the goal line for to final points of the game.

Medal For Fourth Place for Brianna Wright

On November 6th, some members of the Archbishop O'Hara High School Speech/Forensics Team competed with 30 schools at the huge Oak Park High School Varsity Speech Tournament which had 600 entries in individual event categories. _____ For her part in STORYTELLING, Brianna Wright brought home a fourth place medal. _____ Also advancing to their semifinals were Johanna Kelly, Kayla McDowell, Jayel Gant, and Beth Vernon.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

O'Hara Freshman Makes All-State in Cross Country

With a time of 20:31.85 Jennifer Gustin, a freshman at Archbishop O'Hara High School, came in 11th in the 2010 MSHSAA Cross Country State Class 2 Championships at Oak Hill Golf Center in Jefferson City on November 6th. _____ Her finish was better than any competing junior and only two other freshman runners had a better time. _____ To be recognized for All-State, runners must finish in the top tewnty-five. _____ In this race, Gustin had an improvement of 25 seconds over her previous best time. _____ Claire Becker, a junior, completed the course in 40th place. _____ In the boys competition, Andy Meyer was 39th and Coach Mike Martin said, "This is the seventh best finish by an O'Hara runner ever for a 39th place." _____ "And for Andy, it was his second best time of the season on the toughest course."

3-A STATE VOLLEYBALL CHAMPS AGAIN

On November 6th, the Archbishop O'Hara High School volleyball team won the 3A MISSOURI STATE CHAMPIONSHIP for the fourth year in a row. _____ By scores of 25-13 and 25-21, the Celtics outplayed Saint Francis Borgia for the title. ______ The team was led by aggressive offensive shots by Tori Hurtt and Michala Boehm, persistent setups by Lindsey Hanaway, and crisp passings and defensive digs by Janell Jordan, Annie Mahlberg, McKenzie Roberts, and Madison Clark. _____ In the first game, after an early 2-2 score, the Celtics pulled ahead by five at 8-3, then by nine at 14-5, and maintained the lead up to the twelve point victory. _____ The second and deciding game was more competitive with the score tied nine different times. _____ The last time the teams were deadlocked was at 20-20. ______ Following a timeout when Coach Lori Hanaway spelled out the strategy, the team reached the 25 point mark while holding ND to one tally.

Friday, November 5, 2010

3-A STATE VOLLEYBALL ***** FINAL FOUR POOL PLAY

Archbishop O'Hara High School went undefeated in pool play on November 5th at Municipal Auditorium winning all their games. ______ First the Notre Dame Lady Knights from Cape Girardeau lost to the Celtics 25-19 and 25-7. ______ Next the Saint Francis Borgia Bulldogs came up short 25-15 and 25-19. _____ Finally O'Hara won 25-8 and 25-20 over the Logan-Rogersville Wildcats. _____ On November 6th, O'Hara plays Saint Francis Borgia who had the next best record in pool competition.______ They defeated Notre Dame 25-13 and 25-21 and won over Logan 25-20 and 25-13. ______ Notre Dame and Logan split, Notre Dame winning 25-10 and Logan winning 26-17.

A Few O'Hara Football Accomplishments

Raphael Spencer has scored 24 touchdowns plus 3 two-point conversions for 150 points to lead the team in scoring in 2010. _____ Brandon Dennis has 8 TD's for 48 points and Brett Coatney has 6 TD's for 36 points. ______ Julian Gidley has a career total of 54 kicked extra points; this year he has 25 so far and last year he had 29 at the end of the season. Bryce Scovill (128), Kevin Furey (72), and Joe Palmer (57) hold the top three spots for most career extra points made. _____Brandon Dennis now holds the school record for most yardage gained as a pass receiver in a single game with 194 yards in the District game with Central this year

Thursday, November 4, 2010

O'Hara Players on All-Conference Football Team

Led by Raphael Spencer who was named the OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR, a number of O'Hara football players were named to the All West Central Conference teams. _____ Spencer was named as a First Team All Conference running back and to the Second Team as return specialist. _____ Jorge Belcher was selected to the First Team as a linebacker. ______ O'Hara was the only Conference team without a Conference win but had five players on the Second Team. _____ They were Ronnie Jackson punter, Brett Coatney defensive back, Jake Chichuk defensive tackle, Josh Snow offensive guard, and Brandon Dennis tight end. _____ Overlooked although among O'Hara's top ten O'Hara extra point kickers was Julian Gidley who has a career total of 54 as of the Lincoln Prep game; that places him in FOURTH PLACE with only Bryce Scovall, Kevin Furey, and Joe Palmer ahead of him.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

O'HARA FOOTBALL TEAM ADVANCES WITH 48-12 WIN

It was Head Coach Jim DeMarea's 100th victory and the third game in a row that the Archbishop O'Hara Celtics scored 48 or more points. _____ The Lincoln Prep Tigers lost to O'Hara on November 3rd 48-12 in the first game of the State playoffs. _____ Four O'Hara touchdowns were scored by Raphael Spencer, two by Brett Coatney, and one by Gabe Spencer. _____ Julian Gidley added six extra point kicks. _____ ______ The game began with the Tigers running off nine plays along with three first downs, mostly behind the efforts of running back Micah Robinson. _____ On the tenth play however Brett Coatney picked up a fumble and returned the ball for a 77 yard TD return. _____ Brandon Dennis picked up another fumble a few plays later and returned the ball to the 10 yard line from which Raphael Spencer scored in two carries. _____ Before the first quarter ended, O'Hara had another touchdown on a 24 yard run by Raphael Spencer. _____ Lincoln controlled the ball for ten plays at the beginning of the second quarter but eventually gave up the ball on downs on the 22 yard line. _____ After Brett Coatney broke loose for a 23 yard gain, Raphael Spencer brought the ball into the endzone from 48 yards away to advance the score to 27-0. _____ The score reached 33-0 on O'Hara's next possession, the points coming from a 24 yard run by Raphael Spencer. ______ Just prior to halftime, the Celtics took over on their own 38 yard line but with only 26 seconds left in the quarter. ____ It was enough as Jake Fortin connected on a long pass play with Jimmy Clark for 47 yards and a 15 yard pass play for the score to Raphael Spencer. ______ The 41-0 margin put the second half of the game on a running clock. _____ Gabe Spencer ran in a touchdown for an 18 yard TD in the third quarter. _____ O'Hara provided the rest of the squad playing time throughout the fourth quarter. _____ Lincoln was able to get on the scoreboard twice, once on a short run by Micah Robinson and then on a 38 yard pass play from Trevante Dixon to Daquan Jackson. ____ After each of these touchdowns, the Tigers attemted two-point conversions but were denied.

O'Hara Completes Soccer Season With Overtime Loss

Kevin Hogan and John Allard scored the O'Hara Celtics' soccer team's final two goals of the season as they tied Lutheran before losing 3-2 in the Class 1 District 14 game._____ The Celtics were down 2-0 with ten minutes remaining in the contest and managed to tie the game to send it into overtime. ______ Lutheran goes on to play Barstow for the District title.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

ALL DISTRICT, ALL-CONFERENCE & ALL-REGIONAL IN VOLLEYBALL

Four O'Hara volleyball players made FIRST TEAM ALL DISTRICT: Madison Clark, Lindsey Hanaway, Tori Hurtt, and Michala Boehm. Making the SECOND TEAM were Lindsay Beachner, Trisha Wankum, Annie Mahlberg, and Janell Jordan. _____ The fantastic trio of Lindsey Hanaway, Michala Boehm, and Tori Hurtt from the Archbishop O'Hara High School volleyball team made the First Team All West Central Conference and First Team All Regional. _____ Madison Clark was named to the Second Team All Conference and to the Second Team All Regional. _____ Janell Jordan was selected to the Second Team All Conference and Annie Mahlberg is an Honorable Mention for the All Conference Team.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Tori Hurtt Is A Finalist

The Evelyn Gates Award is annually given to an outstanding high school Missouri or Kansas volleyball player, and this year Tori Hurtt from Archbishop O'Hara High School was selected as one of the four finalists.