VOLLEYBALL AT BLUE SPRINGS TOURNAMENT

O’HARA WINS CONSOLATION BRACKET AT BLUE SPRINGS VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT Playing among some of the area’s best volleyball teams, O’Hara emerged champions of the consolation bracket of the Blue Springs Tournament over the weekend. The Lady Celtics, defending Missouri Class 3 State Champions, held their own among the squads from class 4, winning against their final opponent from Raymore-Peculiar. The scores for the consolation championship trophy were 25-19 and a close 27-25 which prevented a need for a third rubber match. Competition began with four pools and O’Hara was entered in the four-team Silver Pool. Not off to a good start, the Celtics lost two games to Cor Jesu 25-13 and 25- 20. They then split with Notre Dame de Sion by losing 25-16 and finally persevering in a very competitive overtime win. The team also split with Raymore-Peculiar by losing 22-25 before taking the next game 25-18. This placed O’Hara in the consolation bracket where the Celtics saw better results. They did not lose another game from here on. O’Hara beat Jefferson City 25-21 and 25-17. They followed this by putting away Blue Valley West 25-19 and 27-25 to qualify for the showdown championship with Raymore-Peculiar from their original pool. The overall winner of the sixteen-team tournament was Lee’s Summit West. Incarnate Word was second followed by Cor Jesu and Note Dame de Sion in that order. Prior to the tournament, the Missouri Volleyball Coaches Association ranked O’Hara #1 in Class 3 volleyball with undefeated Platte County ranked #2.

OHara 14 St James 13

O’HARA’S HOMECOMING GAME IS A REFLECTION OF THE POWDER PUFF GAME On Friday at O’Hara’s Paul Monteil Stadium, as a part of the Homecoming festivities, the junior and senior girls had their annual powder puff game. Both teams scored two touchdowns with Jackie Kruger and Linda Nwachukwu scoring for the seniors and Ashley Cadenhead and Cameron Randle scoring for the juniors. That evening, in the same setting, the O’Hara Celtics and the Saint James Thunder did the same with Donnie Criswell and TJ White scoring for O’Hara and Jim Getto and Ben Reynoldson scoring for Saint James. The Celtics won 14-13 however when Bryce Scovill kicked both extra points for O’Hara and Christian Mata only made one of two for Saint James. O’Hara had the ball first and fumbled on their second play, giving an indication of the woes they would endure throughout the game. Saint James drove the 37 yards for the first scoring of the game. Jim Getto’s 15 yard pass completion to Christian Mata was the key play in the nine downs it took to score. Getto plunged for the final yard and the Thunder was ahead 7-0. But this wasn’t for long. Starting eighty yards from the goal, the Celtics exploded in five plays to knot the score at 7-7. Donnie Criswell had a run of 30 yards and TJ White passed to James Tillman for 9 yards and to Joe Pepple for 42 yards in the drive. Donnie Criswell delivered the ball to the endzone from the 13 yard line for the tying TD. It was to be the only scoring until the second half of play. Both squads had setbacks. The Thunder defense got a deep sack and the Celtics benefited from a deep over-the-shoulder interception by Danny Hernandez who reversed the ball nearly all the way to the original line of scrimmage. O’Hara got as close as the 11 yard line in spite of several bad snaps, and a wide-open pass caught by Joe Pepple in the endzone that was nullified by a five yard procedure penalty at the line of scrimmage. At halftime, three events relating to Homecoming took place. The O’Hara Dance Team performed, and was followed by the introduction of the Homecoming court, queen and king. Patrice Jackson and Andy Park were the Homecoming Queen and Homecoming King. The letterman club then announced the retirement of the jersey #21 which was used by five outstanding running backs from the same family at O’Hara. Honored were alumni Mike Brown ’81, J. R. Brown ’83, Jeff Brown ’87, and Mark Brown ’93. Saint James received the second half kickoff and eventually gave up the ball on a fumble recovered by Jake Robinson. O’Hara also gave up the ball on an interception by Ben Reynoldson who returned the ball all the way to the 17 yard line. Reynoldson took the ball in to score on two runs but the kick for the extra point missed its mark and the Thunder had only a 13-7 advantage. This advantage did not last long. On the second play following the kickoff, TJ White went 59 yards untouched around the right end for the tying touchdown. Bryce Scovill then put O’Hara ahead for the first time in the game with a successful conversion. At the end of the third quarter, Saint James gambled on a fourth down attempt but came up short. A second interception by Reynoldson brought the ball down to the O’Hara 19 yard line. The Celtic defense did not allow their opponents to get any closer the rest of the game. When the clock showed five and a half minutes left in the game, O’Hara got possession and ran off the remainder of the time with a mixture of short gain plays except for an important 18 yard gain from a TJ White pass to Joe Pepple. Donnie Criswell led the O’Hara runners with 88 yards for an average gain of 9.8 yards per carry. Joe Pepple caught four passes for 78 yards. TJ White upped his total yards career passing to 1729 yards for 4th place in O’Hara history. Ryan McNamara presently holds 3rd place with 1749 yards garnered in 1997-1998. Joe Pepple is the O’Hara all-time career pass receiver with 51 receptions asnd Bryce Scovill is the O’Hara all-time career extra point kicker with 104. He hasn’t missed this year in 17 attempts. Next weekend O’Hara will meet Christ Prep in a Saturday afternoon game with a starting time at 1 PM.

SOFTBALL O'HARA WIN TWO MORE

LADY CELTICS CLING TO SECOND PLACE IN WWC WITH TWO WINS The O’Hara softball team maintained their second place standing in the West Central Conference by defeating Clinton and Saint Pius during their Homecoming week. The Lady Celtics had lost their two games to the league leading Tigers from Warrensburg, the most recent was a 13-3 game in which O’Hara’s only runs came by way of Andi Davis’ three-run homer. But the team rebounded with a 12-5 win over the Clinton Cardinals and a 14-4 win over the Saint Pius Warriors. Brittany Gallatin was the winning pitcher in the game with the Cardinals and Melissa Batiz for the game with the Warriors. In the Clinton contest, the Cardinals jumped to a three run lead in the first inning on four hits, but the Celtics matched that with three of their own. The early tie game was broken in the second inning with Patrice Jackson’s three-run homer, and in the third inning six more runs crossed the plate for O’Hara. At Saint Pius, the Celtics went to work right away with three first inning runs. Clean singles by Andi Davis, Lindsey Davis, Caitlin Croker, and Patrice Jackson, along with Kelly Bachkora’s double provided the punch. Three more O’Hara runs materialized in the next inning capped by a triple by Patrice Jackson. Jackson went on to hit two more triples in game, an O’Hara record. Remaining on the O’Hara schedule are games in the Jefferson City Helias Tournament and two West Central Conference games with Smith-Cotton and Saint Pius.

HOMECOMING FOOTBALL GAME

O’HARA EDGES SAINT JAMES 14-13 It came down to a missed extra point attempt and the O’Hara Celtics football team was able to score a Homecoming victory 14-13 Friday night. Each team scored twice and in both cases Saint James scored first and was immediately was answered with an O’Hara TD. In the first quarter, O’Hara fumbled giving Saint James good field position. .Jim Getto plunged for the six points and Christian Mata converted the extra point. The Celtics responded with five lightning plays covering a total of 80 yards. The big yardage came from a TJ White pass to Joe Pepple who fought his way for 42 yards. Don Criswell added a nifty 30 yard run and the actual touchdown was via a 13 yard run by Criswell. Bryce Scovill kicked the first of his two extra points of the evening. O’Hara had difficulties with penalties and bad snaps, some of which resulted in long lost yards through quarterback sacks. There was no scoring in the second period although Joe Pepple had a wide-open pass in the end zone and Aaron Stubblefield had a spectacular deep catch on the five yard line; both plays were negated by 5 yard penalties at the line of scrimmage. At halftime, Andy Park and Patrice Jackson were crowned homecoming king and queen. Also at halftime the jersey #21 was retired. It had been the number of Mike ‘81, JR ‘83, Mark ‘87, and Jeff ‘93 Brown who were outstanding O’Hara players of the past all from the same family. Ben Reynoldson intercepted a TJ White pass in the third quarter at midfield and set up Saint James’ second TD by returning the ball to the 17 yard line. A bit later, he scored on a run from 9 yards away but the extra point kick failed. After receiving the ensuing kickoff, on the Celtics’ second play, TJ White scored on a 59 yard run untouched around right end. Scovill then put O’Hara on top for the first time in the game, and the defense held up the rest of the way. O’Hara was able to keep possession for the final five and a half minutes of the fourth quarter.

HOMECOMING EVENTS 2008

HOMECOMING AT O’HARA HAS BIG APPLE THEME September 22-27 is Homecoming Week at Archbishop O’Hara High School. This year’s theme is The Big Apple and will reflect New York, Liberty, and Broadway. Vicki Swanson, moderator of the Student Council, announced that the queen and king homecoming candidates have been selected as well as the underclassman court members. Candidates for the queen are Linda Nwachukwu, Patrice Jackson, and Paulina Pengelley. The homecoming king will be chosen from Alex Rogers, Larry Liggett, and Andy Park. The underclassmen making up the homecoming court are Brittany Gallatin and Teddy Dujakovich from the junior class, Courtney Peterson and Andre Jordan from the sophomore class, and Katie Hayes and Pat Berney from the freshman class. The five school days each have a different focus. Monday is “Liberty Day”, Tuesday is “Big Apple Day”, Wednesday is “Good Morning America Day”, Thursday is “Broadway Musical Trivia Day”, and Friday is “New York Bagel Day.” On each of these days O’Hara students will participate in various related activities. A schoolwide Mass at 10 AM and the annual powder puff game after classes will be on Friday. The homecoming queen and king will be announced on Friday when the O’Hara football team will play Saint James Academy. The Homecoming Dance is scheduled for Saturday from 8 to 11 PM.

Number 500 for Lori Hanaway

O’HARA DEFEATS SAINT TERESA’S TO WIN THE LEE’S SUMMIT NORTH VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT Even though O’Hara won the championship game at the Lee’s Summit North Volleyball Tournament on Saturday by winning over Saint Teresa’s, the newsworthy excitement came in the semifinal game with Notre Dame de Sion. By coming out winners in this contest, O’Hara Head Coach Lori Hanaway won her 500th victory since her coaching career began in 1990. Over the years, her teams have won five Missouri State Championships including last year’s. Four of these were as the O’Hara coach and one was as coach at Saint Teresa’s. In the Tournament, the road wasn’t without some challenges. To survive pool play to compete for the Tourney Championship, each team had to win at least three times. O’Hara came up with a 1-0-2 record which boiled down to four games won and two lost. The Celtics defeated Saint Teresa's Academy by winning 25-19 and 25-21 after losing 23-25 at the Lee's Summit North Brono Volleyball Tournament. Tori Hurtt led the Celtics with 79 kills. Michala Boehm added 56 kills. Lindsey Hanaway dished out 130 assists. Katie Huber and Madeline Rembold led in the passing and defense effort. There were 16 teams entered in the Tournament. O'Hara defeated Oak Park, split with Blue Valley North, and split with Lee's Summit North in pool play. They finished 2nd in their pool. The Celtics defeated Liberty in the quarterfinals and Notre Dame de Sion in the semifinals.

One Version of the Game in Sedalia

CELTICS LOSE BY NINE TO TIGERS In a game of two high-scoring football teams, the Smith-Cotton Tigers outpointed the O'Hara Celtics 38-29 on Friday in Sedalia. O'Hara had two touchdowns scored by Donnie Criswell and Smith-Cotton had two scored by Bryce Johnson. However, the Tigers got three scored by Solomon Watkins, and the Tigers got the game's only field goal. O'Hara's other two touchdowns came from a 95 kickoff return by DJ Jackson and a 7 yard short run by Chuck Preston. O'Hara had first possession and moved the ball from their own 21 yard line to the Tigers' 23 yard line before giving up the ball on downs. On the Tigers' very first play after the long drive, Solomon Watkins discovered a huge hole in the O'Hara defense and scampered 82 yards for the home team's first six points. Immediately the Celtics got the score tied as DJ Jackson took the kickoff on the five yard line and went all the way for a score. Breaking the tie just before the end of the first quarter, the Tigers pushed across another TD for a 14-7 advantage, and midway throught the second quarter added on another to up the score to 21-7. With four and a half minutes remaining before the half, the Celtics showed why they were regarded as a strong offensive team. Starting at their own 12 yard line they went across the field in seven plays which included a 19 yard pass from TJ White to Joe Pepple, a 19 yard run by James Tillman, an 18 yard gain by Donnie Criswell, and a 13 yard pass from White to Danny Hernandez. After scoring the touchdown, the Celtics surprised the crowd with a two-point conversion. Raphael Spencer scored the points on a pass from Joe Pepple. With two seconds on the clock, after the Celtics kept the Tigers out of the endzone, Jessica Greer kicked a 22 yard field goal to make the halfway mark 24-15. The Tigers played ball-control the entire third quarter but scored only seven points during that time. O'Hara was held to a total of only four plays from scrimmage. The Tigers did score once in the fourth quarter but the Celtics had two TD's of their own. The first one was set up by two White-to-Pepple passes for 13 and 37 yards and the second one was set up by a long pass completion from TJ White to Joe Melchoir covering 32 yards. For both of these touchdowns, O'Hara went for the two-point conversions. They were successful in their first attempt as TJ White passed to Joe Pepple, but in their second attempt, TJ White tried to run it in but was held short.