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Recent Stories
Phil Welch Stadium to host college conference tournament
Phil Welch Stadium will be getting a little extra work this spring. The St. Joseph facility will host the Heart of America Athletic Conference baseball tournament, which will feature the conference’s top six teams and run from May 5 to 9.
Local fans have expanded options for Olympic access
Plenty of options will be available for local fans who can’t get enough of the Winter Olympics, which start tonight. St. Joseph Cablevision and the News-Press’ Web site, stjoenews.net, both will offer special expanded packages of coverage to customers.
Chiefs camp at Western, Northwest championship top 2009 local sports stories
The successful recruitment of an NFL team's summer training camp (after a decade's worth of work), a national championship, the overwhelming attention of the nation focused on an admirable local young man ... Few years hold as many sports highlights for St. Joseph and Northwest Missouri than 2009. It seems as if ESPN needed to add a Northwest Missouri bureau as often as its cameramen turned their attention to this region. It's hard to rank the top 10 highlights of the year, especially the top half: Matt Ziesel, who has Down syndrome, scoring a touchdown for the Benton freshman team; the success of the St. Joseph Mustangs' inaugural season at Phil Welch Stadium; and Northwest Missouri State's victory in the NCAA Division II national championship game.
Work begins on Western's new baseball, softball stadiums
The indoor football facility isn't the only big piece of sports construction going on at the Missouri Western campus. The university recently started work on its new baseball and softball stadiums. The baseball team has historically played at Phil Welch Stadium, which is owned and operated by the city of St. Joseph. The stadium is about six miles from the campus. It's also used for high school games as well as acting as summer host of the St. Joseph Mustangs, a college wood bat league.
Western makes progress on construction of Chiefs' camp facilities
The Kansas City Chiefs summer camp at Missouri Western once was a fantasy. It's far more concrete now. Literally. Most of the exterior brick-and-mortar work is complete - about 90 percent so, said Dave Williams, Western athletic director. Construction is slightly behind schedule, but planners expect to catch up quickly once the building - located adjacent to Spratt Stadium on the Western campus - is fully enclosed. That aspect should be completed by mid to late January.
Missouri Sports Hall of Fame to induct Tjeerdsma, Schottenheimer
It's been a good month for Mel Tjeerdsma. The Northwest Missouri State football coach took his Bearcats along to their third NCAA Division II national title earlier this month. Now he can look forward to being inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. Tjeerdsma will be one of 15 individuals honored at the ceremony on Jan. 31 in Springfield, Mo. The same class will include former Kansas City Chiefs coach Marty Schottenheimer and Kansas City Royals pitcher Mark Gubicza. "It's totally unexpected to me. It's something I didn't expect at this point in my career," Tjeerdsma said. "Those are usually for people whose careers are generally over, I think, and I don't consider mine over yet. "I'm thrilled about it."
Tough foes help Griffons grow up
Usually, when a team spends a couple of weeks playing one ranked team after another, it's part of the postseason tournament. But for the Missouri Western men, the cavalcade of ranked foes kicked off the season. And the Griffons expect that exposure to top competition will lead to the postseason tournament. "We escaped the preseason with a decent record and got some experience that I don't think a lot of other people got," said Western coach Tom Smith, whose team is 7-3. "You grow more playing good teams. And when you're trying to put new parts in like we are at point guard and some other places, then you need to grow."
Dominant run defense pushed Bearcats to 3rd national title
FLORENCE, Ala. - Northwest Missouri State knew one imperative stood out before all other priorities if the Bearcats were going to find a way to stop Grand Valley State on Saturday. "We told ourselves that if they couldn't run the football, then they couldn't win the game," said Northwest defensive lineman Kyle Sunderman. "That was the mentality.
Northwest Notes: Division II Championship Game
Northwest Missouri State's passing-game juggernaut of quarterback Blake Bolles and receiver Jake Soy finished with the season with a huge exclamation point. Soy set an MIAA conference record. With 118 yards in the NCAA Division II national championship game on Saturday, Soy finished with 1,559 total receiving yards. That bested the previous mark of 1,495 of Pittsburg State great Ronnie West in 1991.
Special teams prove pivotal for Bearcats
FLORENCE, Ala. - Defensive end Kyle Sunderman gave some simple instructions to his Northwest Missouri State teammates when as they lined up to defend a routine extra-point play. "'We've got to get this block right here,' I told them," Sunderman said right after Grand Valley's first touchdown. "I told them straight up that I was going to block that.
