IOWA CITY — Playing football in the back yard with friends dreaming of becoming an National Football League (NFL) player, Marshal Yanda didn’t really think what he had dreamed so many years ago could actually become a reality today.

But now, after turning in a sensational senior season for the Iowa football team playing right tackle and the left guard positions to near perfection, Yanda is on the verge of becoming only the second Anamosa athlete ever selected to play in the NFL.

“I have always dreamed of playing in the NFL and someday making the big money,” said Yanda who earned second-team all-Big Ten honors this past fall and who just completed a sensational showing at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama Sunday, January 28.

ANAMOSA— It had been a struggle for the Raider girls basketball team the last couple of Tri-Rivers Conference contests putting the ball in the basket, but against visiting Maquoketa Valley Friday, February 2, Anamosa found their confidence, found their stroke and exacted a good dose of revenge after a convincing 47-32 victory over the Wildcats.

“This is the Anamosa girls basketball team I want to see play each and every night from here on out,” said Raider girls basketball coach Jack Leighty after his club attacked the rim against the Wildcats and were stifled by Maquoketa Valley pressure full-court defense last month in Delhi.
“We had so much trouble breaking their press the last time we played them and that was the difference in the game up there at their place. We knew we were going to see it again and if we couldn’t handle it, we weren’t going to win. But this time we not only handled their press, but got transition points because of it.”

Anamosa (9-11, 8-7) struggled out of the gate against Scot Moenck’s Maquoketa Valley team, trailing 6-0 after the game’s first four minutes of play, but then after scoring their first basket, began to flow more smoothly offensively the rest of the way.

“We came up with some big runs right when we needed them and the second quarter saw one of them,” said Leighty. “We did a great job of limiting their points in the paint and limiting their lay-ups. That wound-up playing a huge factor in this game.”

The Raiders trailed 10-7 early in he second quarter after coming up on the short end of a 6-5 score after the first eight minutes of action.

but used a 12-6 spurt to take a 19-16 halftime advantage.

“We were doing some pretty nice things offensively and defensively,” said Leighty. “Kayla hit a big three-pointer in the first half and Paige attacked the Maquoketa Valley defense in transition. We were really playing well together and as a team.”

But after the break, it was the Wildcats who took control going on a 7-1 run taking a 23-20 before Anamosa settled down and once again attacked the Wildcat press.

The Raiders went on a huge 13-4 spurt to end the third frame holding a 33-27 lead and had the visitors back on their heels stealing momentum with the run.

ANAMOSA— It didn’t seem to matter what the Raider boys basketball team threw at Springville in the early going of their Tri-Rivers Conference contest Tuesday, January 30, the Orioles seemed to have an answer.

What Springville didn’t have an answer for was Anamosa’s Colten Kelly, Skyler Miell and Andrew Peters, who shot the hosts past the visiting Orioles with sensational shooting guiding the team to a resounding 77-56 rout scoring a combined 31 first half points.

“Nights like this are few and far between in high school athletics,” said Raider boys basketball coach and Springville alum Kevin Barnes. “It is a night when the entire team gets quality minutes in front of a great home crowd.”

Anamosa (8-6, 8-5) and the Orioles appeared well on their way to a huge offensive scoring display as the Raiders piled in 19 first quarter points but the visitors almost matched the hosts point-for-point in the first quarter chipping in with 16 of their own to trail just 19-16 at the first quarter horn.

“We played well tonight,” said Barnes. “Skyler got his first career start because of the defense we wanted to play and he did an excellent job of causing havoc out front and got some easy hoops because of our defense. Andrew hit some big three’s in the second quarter to give us some separation and Tony is really starting to look like the Tony of old.”

Barnes gave each and every member of his bench plenty of minutes on the floor as Marcus McAtee-Ulferts, Kun Hee Lee, Stuart Miller, Nate Vaughn, Sean Corpstein, Josh Hora, Kurt Vavricek and Alex Hill all gave Raider fans plenty to cheer about in the fourth quarter.

Hill, a special-ed student and member of the 2006-2007 team, scored his first career points when he connected on a lay-up late in the contest drawing a raucous ovation from the packed home crowd.

Colten Kelly paced the hosts scoring 24 points connecting on all 12 of his field goal attempts while also adding 11 rebounds and nine assists, just missing a rare triple-double.

“Colten was Colten,” said Barnes. “Springville played zone and Andrew shot them out of it. So they go man-to-man and Colten makes all 12 of his shots. The way he played tonight he could have scored many more points, but because he is about team-first, he instead has nine assists. In my eyes, that makes him spectacular.”

Anamosa hosted Maquoketa Valley Friday, February 2, and in a thriller that went down to the final seconds, were edged in a 37-36 final.

“This one hurt,” said Barnes “For 31 and a half minutes, we fought and fought hard. We just didn’t make a couple of plays in the final 30-seconds and unfortunately, it cost us the game.”
Several questionable calls also factored into the equation.

Adam Andreesen was called for being out-of-bounds when it appeared he was well in-bounds with 44 seconds left. Kelly, waiting to take a game-winning shot with 19 seconds remaining, is called for five seconds when no Wildcat defender was within 10-feet of him. Then finally with six seconds left, the Raiders are called for a very questionable intentional foul.

Even with all the bad breaks, Anamosa still had one last chance but an in-bounds pass with 3.3 seconds left was deflected away ending the wild contest.

The Raiders led 35-31 with under a minute remaining and appeared well on their way to a huge conference triumph before a pair of late fourth quarter treys by Brian Wolf keyed the Wildcat comeback.

“It is easy to look at a game like this and blame the refs,” said Barnes. “But we have to realize if we make a free throw, get a defensive rebound and execute an in-bounds play, we don’t give the officials the chance to make those calls.”

OLIN— What started out as a track meet-style girls basketball contest in Olin Friday, February 2, ended with just one team running off the floor scoring a flurry of points.

The Lions opened their Big East Conference game against visiting East Central scoring a whopping 17 first quarter points while the Raiders answered with 12 of their own, but in the end it was Olin still piling in the points in a resounding 56-37 rout.

“It sure didn’t seem the way the game started that the final score would be possible,” said Lion girls basketball coach Wayne Lasack after his team outscored East Central 18-6 over the final eight minutes to seal the victory. “For the first three quarters, this was a pretty tight basketball game and one that appeared was going down to the wire.

But we just kept making the plays and kept running the offense and attacking the East Central defense and maybe most importantly, knocked down some jumpers.”

The game would stay extremely tight the rest of the way as the scored was tied at the half (29-29) with East Central taking a narrow 39-38 lead into the fourth frame.

The Raiders led through most of the fourth quarter but the hosts were never more than a shot behind and finally did take a lead when Dan Inglis connected on a field goal with 3:34 remaining giving Olin a 46-45 lead. Trent Mussmann answered for the Raiders with 3:07 left giving the visitors a one-point edge but Inglis scored again with 2:32 to go putting the Lions ahead again, 48-47.

The Raiders knotted the score with 1:12 remaining when Devan Henfrey connected on 1-of-2 from the free throw line.

“We got the ball back and held for one shot to try and win it,” said Sauer. “We wound up not getting a very good shot off and I blame myself for that. We had a little confusion out on the floor and we weren’t sure who was supposed to take the last shot. I should have called timeout and straightened that out.”

With the score tied at 48-48, the two teams went into overtime where the Raiders scored just seconds into the extra frame when Matt Entsminger converted a lay-up. Mussmann added as free throw before Jordan Cornilsen swished a jumper giving East Central a 53-48 lead.

Mason Smith answered for the hosts with a lay-up but Cornilsen scored again with just 1:45 remaining, giving the Raiders a 55-50 lead.

With 1:08 left, Inglis hit a short jumper and after forcing East Central into a turnover, Justin Rix drilled a long 3-pointer to knot the score at 55-55 sending the crowd into hysterics.