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The
Official Newspaper of Anamosa, located in Jones County, Iowa
Anamosa News
Since 1855
 Thursday,
December 8, 2005 |
Opening
night jitters
By
Daryl Schepanski, Sports Editor
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Attacking
the rim - Raider senior Derek Hart found the going tough around the basket as
Anamosa hosted Benton Community in their season-opener Tuesday, November 29. (Journal-Eureka
photo by Daryl Schepanski) | ANAMOSA
— You can’t fault the Raider boys basketball team for being just a tad
bit nervous in the first few moments of their season-opening contest hosting Benton
Community Tuesday, November 28.
Not a single starter for the Raiders
had seen any kind of significant time on the floor last winter and most of Anamosa’s
bench players were also first-time participants to the battles of the varsity
game.
But be patient Raider boys basketball fans, be patient. While the
first few moments against the Bobcats may have been difficult to watch as the
hosts turned the basketball over time and again and the offense struggled to score
all night long, but glimpses of hope shone through even in a tough 51-24 defeat.
“We just were not ready to play a game yet,” said Raider boys basketball
coach Kevin Barnes after the defeat. “Two weeks of practice is not enough
to get a team ready that has very little experience back on it. That being said,
we should have been more ready than we were and that responsibility is mine.” Anamosa
(0-1) struggled offensively from the opening tip and also struggled taking care
of the basketball as numerous Raider turnovers led to easy Benton Community baskets. |
The
visitors jumped out to a big 9-0 lead in the opening frame and never looked back.
“We couldn’t even catch the ball to start the game,” said Barnes.
“We were so nervous.”
Anamosa tallied nine turnovers in the
first three minutes of the contest and after one quarter of play, the Raiders
were staring up at a 12-3 deficit as a Colten Kelly 3-pointer was the lone score
in the opening eight minutes for the hosts.
“Yet with just over three
minutes to go in the half, Tony hit a 3-pointer to make it a 17-10 ball game,”
said Barnes as his team still played tough, hard-nosed defense all night long.
“At that time I was thinking we’re okay, we survived the jitters and
now are battling back.” |
Anamosa
wrestlers open season at home
By
Daryl Schepanski - Sports Editor |
Squeeze
play - Anamosa junior Curtis Paustian puts the clamps down on CP-U’s Adam
Whiting wrapping up an impressive 14-6 triumph for the Raiders as they hosted
the Pointers and East Buchanan Thursday, December 1. (Journal-Eureka photo by
Daryl Schepanski) |
ANAMOSA — The final scores of the Raider wrestling team’s matches hosting
East Buchanan and Center Point-Urbana Thursday, December 1, mattered very little
to Anamosa wrestling coach Ron Timp.
What Timp is looking for in each
and every match his club takes to the mats this winter is improvement, and while
the final scores may have been difficult to see, what Timp saw play out on the
mat gave him a good working spot to start.
“The kids we expected
to win, won their matches,” said Timp after his club was handed a 71-12 setback
by a very talented East Buchanan team in the Raiders’ first dual of the night.
|
| “East
Buchanan is a solid team with talented wrestlers up and down their line-up. That’s
tough for us to match up with. We have so many holes in our line-up and what holes
we don’t have, there’s a lot of inexperienced guys there. We performed
as I expected we would and now we have a good base to start from and we’ll
just work from here to try and get better and better.” |
Reaching
a coaching crossroads
By
Daryl Schepanski - Sports Editor |
Keeping
busy - Independence assistant girls basketball coach Jerry Carstens keeps close
tabs on the action during the Mustangs season-opener at Monticello Monday, November
28. Carstens, a Midland coaching icon for 39 years, decided to keep his bench
career going even in retirement in the Independence area. (Journal-Eureka photo
by Daryl Schepanski) |
INDEPENDENCE — When Jerry Carstens wrapped up his amazing 39-year coaching
run at Midland High School after the 2003-2004 Eagle girls basketball season,
the Iowa coaching icon didn’t know what exactly fate had in store for his
future in the game.
Carstens knew he wanted to continue to coach, but
where? And when would he get another opportunity to patrol the sidelines of the
game knows so well and loves so much.
Even after 42 years of coaching,
Carstens’ competitive drive was still churning. Hard. He knew he could help
some team in the state of Iowa with his basketball brilliance, but who would fit
the bill? Already
known as one of the best bench bosses in the state, a defensive guru and with
a win total that ranks in the Iowa girls’ basketball all-time top-10, Carstens
was at a coaching crossroads. |
“I
had actually thought that my coaching career was over after I resigned at Midland,”
said Carstens who is the eighth-winningest coach ever in the history of Iowa High
School girls basketball with a 685-245 overall record. “Maybe if I had left
Midland a few years earlier, I might still be a head coach right now, but I will
have to admit, I’m pretty happy right where I am right now.”
And that place is at his river-side cabin near Independence where he and his wife
Kathy now reside.
Carstens resigned his post as the Midland girls basketball
bench boss after the 2003-2004 campaign, but he knew even before the season started
that the run would be his last in Wyoming.
“When we bought the cabin
before the start of my last season at Midland, we knew that was going to be it,
we just were keeping it pretty close-mouthed,” said Carstens. “In the
end it was a pretty easy decision for me to make leaving Midland. I may have over-stayed
my welcome by a couple of years, but when it came down to deciding, it wasn’t
that hard. I was ready.”
The word of an Iowa girls basketball coaching
icon living in the Independence-area flew around quickly and Mustang girls basketball
coach Paul Brown was on the phone to Carstens in almost no time. |
Continuing
the hoop education
By
Daryl Schepanski - Sports Editor
|
Following
through - Raider senior Sara Schultejans shoots against Alburnett Friday, December
1, during a tough 34-33 loss hosting the Pirates. (Journal-Eureka photo by Daryl
Schepanski) | ANAMOSA
— Just watching the start of the Raider girls basketball contest hosting
Alburnett Friday, December 2, fans couldn’t help but cheer as a vastly improving
Anamosa team appeared well on their way to a Tri-Rivers Conference opening victory
after building an early 10-0 lead.
“We got off to a great start and
were playing the exact brand of basketball I want to see these girls play this
year,” said Raider girls basketball coach Jack Leighty after his team would
eventually succumb to a heart-stopping 34-33 defeat at the hands of the Pirates.
“We were pressuring the basketball and forcing Alburnett into turnover
after turnover which also led to easy baskets for us. For a while there, we were
on pace for a 40-point first half.”
But foul trouble settled in on
the Raiders and with several key players sitting on the bench instead of helping
fuel a heated fire, the Pirates began to slowly get back into the game.
“Picking up all those early fouls really killed our momentum and changed
what we were doing, which had been so successful to that point,” said Leighty.
“It became much more of a half-court battle from that point on and we gave
it as good a fight as we could.”
After building the early 10-0 advantage,
Anamosa (0-4, 0-1) watched as Alburnett went on a 5-1 spurt to end the first quarter
trailing by an 11-5 score.
The Raiders and Pirates continued to play even
basketball through the second stanza as each club tallied 10 points in the frame
ending with the hosts holding a 21-15 edge. |
“As
the game wore on, I thought Alburnett gained more and more confidence and we seemed
to be losing a bit of ours,” said Leighty.
“That’s what
can happen with young teams like ours. Keeping that confidence level up and believing
they can win and answer adversity is something we’re still learning to deal
with.” 
| 
Securing
the basketball - Anamosa sophomore Dakota Ahrendsen (right) and senior Sara Schultejans
got hard after the basketball as the Raiders built a big early lead hosting Alburnett
Friday, December 2. (Journal-Eureka photo by Daryl Schepanski) |
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