Lady Hawks break records

The Broadus Lady Hawk Volleyball team played two matches last week. On Tuesday, Broadus hosted Northern Cheyenne (Busby) for a record-breaking performance.

Broadus Head Coach Gordon Archer said that Kiarah Coulter had 20 aces, which he was fairly certain would be a new school individual record. Archer said that as far as he knew, Taylore Drane held the previous record. Taylore holds the record for aces in a year, with 92. Kiarah also went 25 for 25 on serves during the match – the record is held by Bethany Dice, who went 26-26 in a 1999 match.

As a team, Broadus had 29 aces during the Busby match; the previous record was 26 for a team, which also occurred during the 1999 season. That means Broadus broke two records last Tuesday!

Broadus was able to dominate Northern Cheyenne, beating the team in three straight sets, 25-10, 25-6, and 25-11.

The Lady Hawks then hosted St. Labre, on Friday. The Homecoming game featured a raucous cheering section, including several of the football players dressed in volleyball jerseys, and a large contingent of youngsters cheering loudly from the stage. The youth cheerleaders who had just attended the mini cheer camp, led by Broadus Hawk Cheerleaders, performed an impressive routine at the match.

In the past few years, St. Labre has been very beatable for Broadus, but Archer said this year, a new coach at St. Labre has turned the program around, and made the team from the Tongue River into a more formidable opponent.

This change in their opponents from year's past may have taken some of the Lady Hawks by surprise: "They served really hard, and our serve/receive stats weren't very good," Archer noted. "We had opportunities to pull ahead, but just couldn't get a run together."

Broadus would fall in three sets to St. Labre, but long volleys made for exciting watching, and

the crowd never missed a beat, cheering for their home team loudly throughout the match.

Archer said that this week, the team will work on serve/receives and rotations, in order to hone their skills for an array of upcoming conference matches.

Broadus faces Terry on Thursday in Terry, with JH games starting at 4 pm, Varsity HS starting at 5.

The Lady Hawks will then go to the Ekalaka Tournament on Saturday.

"We need to keep improving, because our competition is practicing hard and improving also," Archer said.

The Hawk Varsity Football team took the field Saturday for a Homecoming game against Plentywood. The cool conditions on game day made for good playing weather, but meant fans needed to bring a bit of extra insulation.

The Hawks, coming off a loss to Circle, were thirsty for redemption, and on their first drive steadily drove down the field on a series of Larry Hunt runs to score and put in the 2 point conversion to go up 8-0.

Plentywood answered on their first drive, with a series of pass completions, but Broadus answered right back, and then were able to stop Plentywood on the ensuing possession with a goal line stand at the start of the second quarter.

"That defensive stand really changed the momentum to our side," Broadus Head Coach Ross Randall commented on Monday. "After that, Plentywood just couldn't get anything going."

Randall noted that Broadus had an exceptional day on defense, adding: "Thomas Drane had a huge day."

On offense, the offensive line was back and healthy, which meant the three big guys up front: Dalton Wahl, Thomas Drane, and Hunter Robinson (the line averages 250 lbs), were able to quite literally push Plentywood around, allowing the Hawk running backs to have their way with the defense. Larry Hunt, Brian Hopkins, Corbin Irish, and Johnny Richards all took the ball as backs, while Tate Harmon also ran the ball well from the QB position.

With Cass Zimmer announcing the plays from the crow's nest, the Hawk fans were quite entertained, hearing Cass's antics from the loud speakers and watching their hometown team dominate the Plentywood Wildcats on the field.

When the smoke cleared, Broadus won the game, 40-6. Randall was able to get his younger players some playing time in the second half – good experience for the future with eight senior Hawks on the roster.

With three regular season games left, Broadus first hosts St. Labre, this Friday at 7 pm. Randall is optimistic about the game, as well as next weekend against Lodge Grass.

Stats for the Plentywood game were not available at press time, as Broadus did not film the game, and Plentywood had not yet provided tape to ascertain stats.