The fierce openings of winter sports

Richelle Zheng
CHS Class of 2025

(1/2025) As the new year rolls around, the winter sports teams bring action to the courts. The Lady Cougar basketball and unified bocce teams are starting their season strong with numerous victories!

Girl’s Basketball

The Lady Cougars started their season on December 5 with a game against Liberty High School. In the first quarter, the girls trailed behind Liberty 8-7. Then, in the second quarter, the Lady Cougars hardened their defensive wall, leaving the Liberty Lions with zero points run as the Cougars scored 15 in a row. The score at the end of the second quarter was 22-9, with the Cougars taking the lead. During the third quarter, the Lions fought back by outsourcing the Cougars 18-14, converting numerous turnovers into effortless points. In the final quarter, the Cougars pumped up their game with their offense, making big shots, putting them back into the lead, and allowing the Cougars to end their first game of the season with a win! Junior Brooke Williams led the team with 19 points. On top of that, Williams made six assists, six rebounds, and three blocks. Junior Kelsey Troxell chimed in by adding 11 points, pulling down 13 rebounds, and making five steals, allowing the Cougars to win 47-35.

The junior varsity Cougars also had a decisive victory, 45-7, in their opening game against Liberty High School. Right off the bat, the Lady Cougars came into the game with a strong defensive wall, preventing the Lions from scoring any points in the first quarter. In the second half, the Cougars worked together on the offense to score 18-3, and they continued to be selfless in the third quarter, allowing ten players to score. Ryleigh Hammond led the team with 14 points, and Sophomore Raquel Owens aided in defense, which allowed her to make six steals. Sophomore Josey Shaffer and freshman Caroline Hoyt also added five points to the total. Additionally, Hoyt helped with the offensive plays with four assists.

The Lady Cougars played against Oakdale High School on December 10, losing a hard-fought match to the Oakdale Bears 44-36. The first quarter started slow with some younger Lady Cougars, which caused the team to fall behind. Then, the girls stepped up their defense in the second quarter's first period, turning the game around and taking the lead 9-7. Again, in the second period of the second quarter, the girls showed great effort, putting them in a slight lead of 17-15 at halftime. However, the Lady Cougars began to give way to the Bears in the third quarter as they struggled, scoring only three points and putting them in the lead 28-20. The girls found themselves in deep trouble as they entered the fourth quarter down by eight points. The Lady Cougars could lessen the score difference to 38-34 as two of the starting Bears were fouled out. In the last 50 seconds of the game, the Bears came back to attack as they made their foul shots finishing off the game 44-36. The Lady Cougars wounded themselves with 29 turnovers this game.

The junior varsity girls took home the win against Oakdale on December 10, 40-23. The girls came out with an aggressive defense during the first quarter, taking the lead 5-0. In the second period of the first quarter, the Oakdale Bears brought out their claws and heated the game as they took the lead and ended the quarter 13-7. The Cougars lost their spark during the second quarter, which allowed the Bears to make some easy baskets. The girls went into halftime 19-15. The Lady Cougars then made a comeback in the third quarter and increased their lead throughout the remainder of the game, finishing off at 40-23. Leading the team were Hammond with 21 points and Maddy Whetzel with 14 points. Shaffer aided the team’s win by adding five assists, and Whetzel with five assists. Hammond led in rebounds, making eight total rebounds. Shaffer and Whetzel held up the defense, each with seven steals.

The girls’ next game was on December 13 against North Hagerstown High School. The Lady Cougars went head-on into the game and took the lead immediately in the first quarter, 15-7. Then, the girls slowly began to lose intensity in their game during the second quarter, decreasing their lead to 27-17. In the third quarter, the girls brought back more energy and improved their lead to 43-19. Finally, the girls continued to play hard defensively in the fourth quarter, leaving North Hagerstown with only four points and ending the game with a 56-23 victory! Williams led the team with 19 points, five rebounds, and eight steals. Troxell also contributed to the win by adding ten points, and Cassidy Kreitz chimed in with six rebounds. Moreover, Harley Fitzpatrick and Hoyt both made four steals. The Lady Cougars have shown incredible talents in their first few games, and Catoctin cannot wait to see what else they have in store for their upcoming games!

Unified Bocce

On December 10, the Catoctin unified bocce team opened their season with a match against Urbana High School. Team one consisted of Lucas Bradley, James Grossnickle, Jayden Myers, Jonas Clausen, Chad Zimmerman, Vinney Perella, Falyn Zimmerman, and Darrin Frey. The team went into the game with lots of energy as they had a decisive win for their first game, 7-1. Then, Urbana led for the first two frames during the second game. However, the Catoctin Cougars were determined to take home the win and took three points as the time was up. Catoctin finished with a score of three, and Urbana with four. High scorers for this team were Chad Zimmerman with two points, Clausen with two points, Falyn Zimmerman with two points, Bradley with one point, and Myers with one point.

Team two consisted of: CJ Endlich, Maria Perella, Tyler McCallion, Ashton Merritt, Josh Ramos, Shay Johnson, Jayden Worthington, and Josh Deyton. These members lit the courts as they landed two casinos, where each member rolled as close to the pallina as possible to score all four points in one frame! Senior Merritt skillfully rolled to prevent the opponents from scoring, allowing the first game to end in a shutout, with Catoctin scoring one and the Urbana Hawks having zero! In the second game, the Hawks and the Cougars were neck and neck with each other as the Hawks took the lead by three points. With only five minutes remaining, the Cougars scored three points, tying with the Hawks, resulting in a tie-breaking frame to break the tie. The Cougars showed excellent skills as they tossed the pallina to a 30 feet range. The opponents then rolled all of their bocces to the floor, but then Deyton took the victory for the Cougars by rolling his closest to the pallina. After that, the Cougars worked together to strategically roll to ensure a Cougar victory of 4-3. Leading the team in points were Merritt with three points, Deyton with three points, Endlich with two points, McCallion with two points, Worthington with two points, and Johnson with two points. What a great first showing for Catoctin’s bocce teams!