Mudget, Otsego make most of chance

Sunday,
February 24, 2008

BY ERIC POKOYOWAY

VICKSBURG -- Since eighth grade, Otsego senior Devon Mudget has been obsessed with cheerleading.

``In eighth grade I remember
watching the varsity take first at conferences and really ever since then I
have always had a passion for the sport,'' said Mudget,
who has been cheering competively since third
grade. ``I remember watching them and wanting to be one of the people on the
mat.''

Saturday at Vicksburg, Mudget
and the rest of the Otsego cheer squad learned that history can repeat
itself. The Bulldogs placed first at the Wolverine Conference finals for the
first time since 2004, when Mudget was still just a
spectator.

The Bulldogs finished with a score
of 714.216. Gull
Lake took second place
with 698.482, and Three Rivers was third (690.12).

``It was really tough because my
freshman and sophomore year, we always took third to Allegan and Gull Lake,
and last year we took second to Three Rivers,'' Mudget
said. ``It was really cool to finally possess enough to finish first.''

Otsego senior Keisha Johnson
called last season's runner-up finish ``devastating.''

``We choked in round three,'' she
said. ``We just went out there and we weren't as confident. It was like `Oh, my gosh'-- deer-in-the-headlights kind of thing.

``This year we felt like we had
all the confidence we needed to stick everything.''

Otsego entered Saturday's event
with 19 points in the conference standings, followed by Gull
Lake (18) and Three Rivers
(17). The Bulldogs' victory gives them sole possession of the Wolverine
overall title, and now they can shift their focus to the Division 3 regional
meet they'll host next Saturday.

Much like the regular-season race
was tight between Otsego and Gull
Lake, the Bulldogs
clung to a five-point lead over the Blue Devils after three rounds Saturday.

``It was really close and we
definitely were going to go out there and give our best shot,'' Gull Lake
coach Angie Brown said. ``The top three teams were just one point apart, so
it was anybody's game coming into it.''

Gull Lake senior Chantel
Einhardt said the Blue Devils have come a long way
since the beginning of this season and look forward to the Division 2 regionals next Saturday at Portage Northern.

``Today our main focus was on us
and our goals and not to worry about the other teams,'' Einhardt
said.

Gull Lake
expects the same kind of kind of performance at Northern as it turned in at Vicksburg.

``We just need to do exactly what
we did today; just fix a few details,'' Einhardt
said. ``We are very happy with our place right now -- we have made a dramatic
change since last year.''

Mustang Invitational

At Portage Central, Colon took top honors in
the Division III competion with a score of 700.2.
``With being off for two weeks, this was kind of our warmup
going into our regional,'' Colon
coach Jayne Sabaitis said.

In the Division II competition,
Mattawan finished with a score of 707.011 and took second place behind St. Joseph (720.447).

In Division I, Battle Creek Central took top
honors (623.9), in front of second-place Portage Central (568.154).