THE CREST ONLINE

   The MHS dance team attended nationals 2012 in Orlando, Florida Thursday, February 2- 6. There were 80 teams competing against our Spinnakers. They competed in both Pom and Jazz. Only 15 teams are capable of making it to the finals; however the Spinnakers did advanced into semi-finals for Pom. The winners in the Pom division were St. Thomas Moor from Lafayette Louisiana and Jazz was Rosary High school from California. There were teams from 15 different states.

           “Nationals was a great experienced, it was both fun and competitive for the girls,” says coach Belou, the Spinnakers sponsor. Co- captain, Kayla Miller says, “We didn’t do as well as we could have, but we’re proud of what we did and hope to improve next year.” After their competition Saturday and Sunday, the girls enjoyed a day at Walt Disney World’s parks.
MEIGHAN LAMBERT

 

           The new season for MHS baseball has just started. A number of people are excited for the beginning of baseball season. “I’m really looking forward to the new baseball season; they should be good,” said Mr. Belou.

           “Yeah, I’m super excited to finish out my senior year of baseball,” says a current team member, Joel Murphy.

           Coach Skinner says, "I'm really excited about the upcoming year.  Our players have worked extremely hard throughout the year, and we have had some great practices so far.  We have a great group of seniors who we will look upon to provide leadership.  We also have a very good nucleus of juniors and sophomores returning.  Our freshmen class has a lot of potential as well.  We look forward to a great season." The first scrimmage was against St. Charles on Saturday, February 4th and the Jamboree is two weekends later. We have ten home games and hopefully we will see a lot of Skipper fans there to support our team. 

MEIGHAN LAMBERT

 

                After a couple of hard played games, Mandeville found themselves in the unlikely position of the final four. This was the first time in school history that the Mandeville High School football team made it to the Semifinals. When asked about this historic achievement, linebacker, Jerry “Pete” Petersen said, “I’m honored to be a part of making history here at MHS, but we’re not done yet. We won’t stop until we get that State Championship ring.” Squaring off against MHS in the semis will be, perennial powerhouse, #5 seed West Monroe. This will easily be the toughest team the Skippers have faced in the postseason, seeing as the highest seeded team they have played was the #8 seeded, Parkway. Mandeville has benefited greatly from the demise of rival, SPS in the first round because the Skippers would have likely had to face off against the #1 seeded Wolves rather than the #16 seeded Ruston in the Quarter Finals. Although the Skippers have had an easy road, they believe that they are playing their best ball of the entire season and can win it all. When asked about the team’s historical run, MHS student and football fan, Nick Morgan, had this to say. “We’re playing against the big boys now. Our easy road has come to an end. To get to the State Championship, you have to beat the best and that’s what we will need to do on Friday. Thus far in the post season, it has been a gift that we have played low quality teams, but you can’t just expect an easy road all the way to the State Championship. At some point, you’re going to have to beat a team that you are not supposed to. We have a chance at that this Friday. Best of luck.” Overall, the Skipper football  made history by making it to the Semifinals, but are starving for more and long to bring a State Championship to the city of Mandeville.

Jeremy Priola

  On Friday, September 9th, the Skipper Football team faced the Catholic High Bears. From the beginning to the end, the Skippers stole the show and dominated the game on both sides of the ball. Catholic High is known as a district 5A power house in football and they came into the game with high expectations. Despite these expectations, the Skippers had a field day on offense putting 27 total points. Running back, Charles Jones, had three first half touchdowns setting the tone for the game and giving the Skipper momentum. Ouaterback, Matt Bergeron was 20 for 27 through the air and threw one touchdown to wide receiver, Garret Dinacola. Another offensive stand out was the wide receiver, Xavier Marcus, who had 8 catches for 85 yards. The Skippers were also dominant on the defensive side of ball, allowing only 7 points in the game.Defensive back, Todd Primo, had an interception that was voted on as a play of the week  in the stat. When asked about this, he said, "I am honored to be chosen for play of the week. I'm happy with what the defensive has been able to do so far and I have high expectations for the rest of the season." The defense stopped the run and pass very well. The only touchdown that the Skippers allowed was a controversial throw and catch which resulted in mutual possession in the end zone, giving the Bears a touchdown. Overall, the Skippers displayed a solid performance on both sides o fthe ball and the season ahead looks very promising.

Jeremy Priola

   Pow! The gun goes off, the racers are gone, and the race begins!
   I interviewed Ma McGuire on cross country. Mr. Singer is coach and his goal this year is to have three guys make all district and Mac wants to be one of the three. As a runner, Mac faces obstacles. The weather has a huge effect on running. If it is too hot, it's harder to run, and if it's really hot, the school board won't let them run. Mac faces many obstacles. He says, "The worst obstacle is running harder even when the pain and exhaustion overwhelms your body. Injuries occur all the time. Last year, I had stress fractures in my legs, from over-working and it affected my running greatly. I almost lost my spot on varsity because of it!"
   I asked him what he does to practice for cross country. His reply was, "RUN! No, practice is more complex than most people give it credit for. It's not just running. We have speed days and distance days. Speed days are done on the track and is like the name says, working on foot speed which helps a lot in a cross country meet. Distance days are there to get more miles on your legs. Every mile makes you a stronger runner.
   When asked why he does cross country, Mac says, "Me personally, I run for the challenge to get that good time I've been working hard for. It's also a great way to relieve the stress of the day."
   Mac told me that while he runs he thinks of the finish line. Then, once he gets there, he'll get a hand shake from Coach Singer and a "good job" at the end of the day.

   As the school year kicks off, so does the MHS football team. With summer practice, and the heat a constant event, hydration is key. When asked about keeping hydrated. One of the Offensive Linemen told us that, "drinking water constantly throughout the day and night is very important or you will overheat in no time out there." But, to those that love playing football, the heat does not bother them. All that matters to many of the football playersd is actually having a field to play on this year.

   During the summer break there was an event called a seven-on-seven. Only the most skilled players from a team may perform in this event. To perform in nationals you must recieve an invitation to participate. After winning regionals, the team was given that opportunity. MHS came in 3rd place out of the whole nation. "We did surprisingly well competing against all of the nation's best players. Said Coach Sutherland.

   With the graduation of many previous players, the question of whether or not this had affected the teams' performance in any way had to be addressed. The response recieved told of how the "O Line" has only two returning starters; but, there are a lot of new players rising to the surface that seem to be looking good. This leads others to believe that the MHS football team will have a fairly good season this year. The training has been rigorous and the coaches can get pretty tough on the players at times, but all in all, the tiresome work is well worth being able to do something that you love.

   Oh, and for the record, Mr. Sutherland was not struck by lightning.
By: Jared