Lisbon Central Celebrates Student-Athletes, Community Spirit At Sports Awards Night

LISBON - Community.

Eight Lisbon Central School coaches and four senior student speakers spoke in high volume about community and Knight pride on Tuesday night at their 2010 Winter Sports Awards banquet.

Superintendent of Schools Erin Woods started the evening off speaking of the welcome atmosphere at Lisbon.

"Everyone I see, always speaks highly of our student-athletes and the way our school welcomes their families and fans," said Woods. "We have a wonderful community."

The first of four student speakers, Matt Pierce, began his speech about his Canton Indoor Track-Field Team team. "This season at Canton, we had a very good year with lots of enthusiasm with 40 girls and 30 boys making up the team. We set goals high and I believe we meant them at Sectionals. Demand success for every goal," said Pierce who never spoke the word "I" or "Individual" during his speech focusing more on a "Team" concept.

Pierce placed seventh in 1600 meters in the New York State Indoor Championships on Saturday.

Cheering squad co-captain David Mendez spoke of the dedication, perserverance, and hard work it takes to be a cheerleader. "I just want to thank Coach Hooper for helping me gain confidence," said Mendez.

Ryan Akins spoke of the memories of the Knights basketball season and of a "one of a kind team".

Caitlin Hammond spoke of being her parents first child to graduate and that a 7-11 record didn't reflect the girls basketball season they had. "Our recorded didn't matter, we all had fun."

Indoor Track-Field: Assistant Coach Jeff Kelly presented certificates to Matt Pierce, Laura Pierce, Trevor Bodwell and Nevin LaRock.

"The first time I saw Laura — my first impression was wow and impressive. She is a quite confident person," said Coach Kelly of the Bears third leading point scorer.

Kelly's first impression of LaRock was "there is never a dull moment". The team's Coaches Award winner always gave a 110 percent according to Kelly. Coach Kelly said Trevor Bodwell was like having another coach on the team and was very versatile. And as for Matt (Pierce), Coach Kelly said he was a very gifted athlete who always put "Team" first and "Individual" last.

Girls Hockey: Canton Coach Kristen Powers thanked Heather Richards for her dedication and hard work.

"Heather was our third leading point scorer as a defenseman. She missed half the season because of injuries but once she came back she stepped right in. I really believe that her best game came in our last game of the season," said Powers after of her team which finished second to Chazy on the regular season.

Cheerleading: Coach Beth Hooper spoke of her team's ups and downs during the season. But she spoke highly of her team's competitiveness after needing to change the routine that they worked on for four months in just four days.

"Everyone of you are true competitors. You always kept your heads high and kept a positive attitude. Winning the Spirit award at OFA was the biggest award you could have given me," said Hooper who honored assistant coach Jordan Woodside and team members: Emily Hunter, David Mendez, Tori Addison, Megan Barney, Elaini Compo, Jordyn Curtis, Shelby Dishaw, Chelsea Duprey, McKenzie Fields, Alyshia Murray, Nicole Neadom, and Joslyn Spearance.

Modified Boys Basketball: Seventh Grade Coach Bill Vine thanked his team for their hard work with many of them being new to the sport. Honored were Josh Adams, Brent Dean, Don Duprey, Alex Gravelin, Devin Johnson, John Kelly, Evan Robinson, Nathan Ruddy, Lee Salter, and Tristin Vine. Eighth Grade Coach Al Flack cited his team's competitiveness which earned them two wins in their last three games.

"We lost five games by seven points or less, so we played very competitively," said Flack who honored Colin Fields, Nick Shoemaker, Jesse Gleason, Cody James, Ryan Demick, Bill Green, Alex Arduine and Jake Putney.

Modified Girls Basketball: Seventh grade Coach Renee Robinson said her team was competitive despite working with just seven players.

"They worked hard and never quit," said Robinson who gave certificates to: Alex Amo, Carrissa Scritchield, Shelby Todd, Brooke Oshier, Courtney Green, Anesia Fields, and Makayla Deruchia. Coach Michelle Kelly thanked her eighth grade players for their determination despite just one win.

Members of the team were: McKenna Vote, Kaylee West, Holly Williams, Kristen Calkins, Maeve Bowdish, McKenzie Lynch, Hanna Richardson, and Morgan Baldock.

JV Boys Basketball: Coach James Aschmann thanked his team for their work ethic in a season which was measured on improvement. Presented certificates were: James Robinson, James Darcy, Adam Felt, Chris Measheaw, Matt Snyder, Dillon Crawford, Jordan Gokey, and Andrew Martin. Angel Mendez, Kaleb McLear, Eli Parker, and David Turri.

JV Girls Basketball: Coach Gene White spoke highly of his team's improvement on limiting their turnovers.

"At the beginning of the season, we would have 35-40 per game and at the end it was like 10-15. I thought we improved throughout the season," said White as he handed out certificates to Chrissy Wilson, Beth Crowley, Emily Dishaw, Jessie Cooke, Emily Rayburn, Natalie Pitts, Gabby Walker, Jackie Sovie, Kaitlyn Paquin, Alison Mitchell, Alison Crowley, and Colleen Hammond.

Varsity Boys Basketball: Finishing 14-4 overall, regaining the James Darcy Memorial Championship trophy, and recording matching six game win streaks - Coach Sean Backus felt his team had success in 2009-2010. "This team was very tight. We've wanted to go farther but we played a good Edwards-Knox team in the playoffs who were on a run. I just want to thank our coaches at the younger levels for their dedication and time," said Backus who honored seniors Ryan Akins, and Josh Crawford, and Chris LaRock; juniors Nolan Fletcher, Clkauden Bennett, Scott Lawton, Mike McDonell, David LaTulip, Eric Mehaffy, and Dan Vallance and sophomore Kyle Binion and Brent Sullivan.

Girls Varsity Basketball: Second year coach Dickie Marcellus said wins didn't summ up his team's success. "We learned a lot of life lessons and we had many memories that nobody can take away for us," said Marcellus. "We improved from the first practice and we three great trips together as a team.

Marcellus whose team finished 8-12 was comprised of Taylor Amo, Alison Akins, Sarah Bodwell, Aleashia Parmeter, Brianna Teele, Melissa Wheeler, Taylor Armstrong, Jaclyn Moore, Taylor Fargo, McKenzie Walker and Caitlin Hammond.