Blackhawks teams swing into full action

CHENEY – All Blackhawks Season 1 teams – fall sports – were in action last week, some for the first time since fall 2019.

Cross country

The boys and girls traveled to Central Valley for a double-dual meet with the host Bears and Gonzaga Prep - Cheney's first meet since moving to the 3A classification and into the now 4A/3A/2A Greater Spokane League.

Both Blackhawks teams came up on the losing end, with the boys falling 19-42 to CV and edged 27-30 by G-Prep. The girls lost 15-50 to the Bears and 24-34 to the Bullpups.

Senior Beckett Schoenleber led the Cheney boys, finishing sixth with a time of 17 minutes, 26.30 seconds and was followed by junior Finnegan Syrie in seventh in 17:55.76, with sophomore Adam Estock 13th, junior Dylan Thornburg 14th and sophomore Noah Hinton 21st.

Sophomore Samantha Habegger led a group of three girls finishing 13th – 15th, turning a time of 22:10.27, followed by seniors Marion Mager-Reeser in 23:14.33 and Mayah Spakousky in 23:26.11. Seniors Anna Richardson and Jaela Thornburg were 20th and 22nd respectively.

The boys return two varsity starters from last year's team, losing four from the squad that finished seventh as a team at 2A state, including fourth-place finisher Bas Holland. The girls have four back, with Habegger 29th and Mager-Reeser 31st at Pasco in 2019.

"Girls should do OK in the transition," fifth-year head coach Derek Slaughter said in an email. "Boys had lots of seniors and some kids who are not coming back (Jobs/ Not wanting to run in masks) and will have a tougher transition into the new league."

Football

One week after scoring 28 points, including a pair of defensive touchdowns, the Blackhawks found the end zone elusive against Mt. Spokane in Cheney's first trip to the Mead School District's new Union Stadium. The host Wildcats essentially got all they needed in the first quarter on Tyler Alm's 11-yard scoring run, adding a field goal for a 10-0 halftime lead and a third quarter TD for a 17-0 win.

Cheney was held to just 89 yards of total offense, with running back Gabe Gerber leading the way with 37 yards on 16 carries. Quarterback Josh Whiteley was 3-for-10 passing for 11 yards, eight to Ryan Rieckmann. Whiteley also had six rushes for 21 yards.

Defensively, Ben McGourin led the Blackhawks with nine tackles, three assists, two sacks and two tackles for loss. Konner Dobosh and Dylan Straley each had six tackles and two assists, with Dobosh getting a sack and a tackle for loss. Van Vega had an interception.

Soccer

The Blackhawks spent their first week coming pretty close but in the end winding up short of achieving their first win since returning to the 3A classification and the new-look GSL.

Cheney opened with a 3-0 loss to Mt. Spokane on March 1 on the home pitch, allowing two second-half goals and being outshot by the Wildcats 18-3. They followed that on Wednesday, March 3, with a shootout loss at home to Lewis and Clark.

Junior Grace Hammermeister gave the Blackhawks their first goal of the season off an assist from Lauryn Woller five minutes into the game. LC's Faith Shaw knotted the score early in the second half in the 43rd minute, and eventually won via a 4-2 goal shootout margin, with McKenna Benson and Katelyn Alderson scoring for Cheney.

LC barely outshot the Blackhawks, 8-7, with Cheney junior goalkeeper Irelyn Deweese making 12 saves.

Monday, March 8, the Blackhawks defense again proved stout for most of the game at Central Valley, surrendering a goal in the 65th minute to the Bears Abby Lewis in the 1-0 loss. The offense struggled, being outshot by the home team 22-1, while Deweese had 12 saves in goal.

Swimming

The Blackhawk girls notched two more wins over familiar opponents last Saturday, defeating Pullman 84-61 and Clarkston 110-30 in their second virtual meet of the season.

Volleyball

Cheney dropped to 2-3 in GSL play with a pair of losses last week. The Blackhawks lost a five-game heartbreaker at home to University March 2, losing the first two games 25-23 and 25-22 before rallying for a pair of 25-19 wins before dropping the fifth game 15-8 to the Titans.

Senior Sara Graham led Cheney with 12 kills while senior Kiley Power had 31 assists and eight aces. Senior Avery Stark had 17 digs and sophomore Navi Islam-Zwart added eight blocks.

Two nights later the Blackhawks traveled to Gonzaga Prep, losing in straight games, 28-26, 25-13 and 25-17 to the GSL leading Bullpups (4-1). Stark led Cheney in four of five categories with 12 kills, eight digs, three aces and two blocks. Graham had 19 assists.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.