A Closing Smile

BY: Jordan Pasalaqua

This year's Madison Girls Varsity Volleyball team has ended their season with a record of 14-9, they were also 5-5 for the conference. They had many accomplishments in this years season. The girls won the Pink Jug back from the Madison vs. Perry game that was held at Madison High School. The last time the girls had the jug was in 2013.

This year the Riverside Beavers were the Madison Girls' toughest opponent. Weeks before the game the girls worked their hardest at practice and were getting ready for their tough match. This game was held at Riverside High School, the Beavers home court advantage. The girls started off really strong and kept their intensity up the whole entire game. The girls still only played 3 games in all, but they fought their hardest and kept all the games close. The player who stood out the most during the game was Senior Shyenne Ledford. She had around around 10 blocks during the game, four of them in a row. The girls were upset that they lost but in the end they knew that they played their hardest and gave it their all and were still happy with the outcome.

The girls traveled out to Euclid where Euclid High School were hosting sectionals. The Madison Girls were facing Cleveland heights in the first round. They only played three games but they were really close. The girls pulled through and came out with a win. The girls next game was on a Thursday against North at Euclid High School again. The girls came out hard and strong to try and keep their season going but the girls could not pull through. The girls played three games but they were all close and the girls battled hard.     

The Madison Girls Volleyball team had a really good season. They are proud of what they have accomplished this season and they are proud to be a team. The girls can not wait for next year. Good luck to all the seniors for their future plans for next year.

Bringing the Storm

BY: Adrianna Hanzak

Throughout the 2017 season the Lady Blue Streaks had gone above and beyond, just about breaking six school records. As of Monday, October 23, you can consider it seven.

In the past, the Lady Streaks battled against the Mentor Cardinals on three occasions, never succeeding to deliver a shot into the back of their net, but on Monday they crossed paths yet again on Madison's home field to take on the fourth crusade.

The Lady Blue Streaks took on the first half with more fight than they have amid the entirety of the season. The Streaks brought the storm and made one eminent cross delivered by Hailey Nichols and a climactic shot taken by Mykayla Askew, as she bounced it off of the side post and into the far side of the net, the first goal in Lady Blue Streak history to be counted against the Mentor Cardinals.

Closing the half with a lead of 1-0, the Lady Blue Streaks were determined to not only take the first goal against the Cardinals, but also the first clean sheet.  With the defense that easily held out the ambitious teams on their season lineup, Defensive Captain Victoria Tromba made a feasible statement at halftime that every defender in the locker room surely took to heart: "The offense did their job, now we have to do ours."

The second half was the Lady Blue Streak's time to be determined in proving that the storm was here to stay. Throughout the half, the Streaks not only held the Cardinals out, but delivered yet another shot into the net by a subliminally placed shot from Kaitlyn Rohl. As the game came to a close, Monday, October 23 not only marked the first time the Lady Blue Streaks scored against the Cardinals, but added another clean sheet to their growing record.

Thursday, October 26 the Lady Blue Streaks are taking the trip to Eastlake North to take on the Mayfield Wildcats, in hopes of taking home the District Champion title. Come support the Lady Blue Streaks as they take the road to see if the Wildcats can weather their storm.

Freshman’s Astounding Win!

BY: Iszabelle Vliek

Thursday night was an exciting day for our freshman football players. The crowd went crazy as our boys kept putting the points up on the scoreboard. We faced the Kenston Bombers at home, winning with the score of 42-14. The year before, we lost to Kenston by 4 points making the score 20-16.  This game was important because it shows our improvement and redemption.

The top 3 performers during this game were Brad Mckeon, Matty Vliek, and Jacob Laurie. There was a total of 5 touchdowns scored, being Vliek, Mckeon, Havens, Tweedy, and Myers. Coach Reed and O’Brien called many good plays leading to the victory. Both coaches were very proud of the boys for their hard work and dedication.

The first quarter of the game we scored our first touchdown and we were feeling confident. During the second quarter the opposing team scored their first touchdown, making the score even. During half-time the coaches gave a pep-talk to the boys and knew they needed to step up their game. During the third quarter Kenston scores their second touchdown but our players don’t lose hope. Throughout the third and fourth quarter we scored our last four touchdowns beating the other team and leaving the crowd astonished.

The Madison freshman football team will be facing Willoughby North this next coming Thursday on North’s home field. Having this be the second to last game of the season we will be cheering them on the rest of the way, only hoping for wins here on out.

Kamryn Kincaid, Varsity Cheer Captain

BY: Emily Johnston

Kamryn Kincaid is a Madison High School varsity cheerleader and captain. She’s seventeen years old and a senior in high school. She has been a cheerleader for four years and has lettered three of them. She is only a football cheerleader, however, she used to do competition and basketball cheer. Kamryn’s main goal of high school was to succeed and to have fun. She said that cheer leading has made her four years of high school memorable and she is thankful to have had so much fun and laughter with her close friends these past years.

Kam was also on homecoming court this year. She was very thankful that her classmates voted her on court. She said that it was a great experience with her peers. The assembly was her favorite part of being on homecoming court. On Friday’s homecoming game, she walked across the track and got announced with the rest of homecoming court and then proceeded to cheer on our football players after.

After high school, Kamryn wants to go to college to major in physical therapy. She’s undecided where she wants to go as of now. However, she doesn’t plan on continuing her cheer leading career in college.

Kamryn has been cheer leading since 7th grade and prior to that she did gymnastics. It takes up a lot of her free time.

Kam is a well-rounded student and athlete and has succeeded in school and sports during her high school career. “Cheer has been a great experience and even though we had a rough year being out there supporting the football players, I still had fun”, Kamryn said. She said that she knows that she is going to miss her high school years of being a cheerleader but she’s excited to move on with her life outside of high school.

Homecoming Assembly

BY: Joshua Smith

At the homecoming assembly they announced the homecoming court. They presented a cool and funny trailer that introduced the court. In their trailer they had a beach and water theme because homecoming's theme is under the sea. After that they played games such as Hungry Hungry Hippos, Musical Chairs, Guess that Lyric, Plunger Crawl, and Balloon Pop. They ended up in a tie, to decide who wins they did rock paper scissors and they did a big dance for the halftime show.  

The songs they played were pretty cool and it went well with all the dancing they did, I got some quotes from the court and they said:

“It was a lot of fun and I had a great time with all my friends.” -Matt G."Very grateful and and had a fantastic time.” Kammy K."It was great to see the school come together and have a great time.” -Owen Myers “I'm happy that my senior class voted for me on court and I'm so glad they had as much fun as we did.” -Ireland Bittner-Ford“It was very memorable experience to share with my selected friends who made the court along with me and thanks to the rest of the senior class who made it even more memorable.” -Kaylee Kless“It was cool, it was a lot for work to learn the dance and it was was fun.” -Mark PrimerIt was an honor to be nominated, and making the dance was a blast.” -Gabby Blackford

Before the game started the announced the court with their families and that the homecoming queen was Ireland Bittner-Ford and they gave her a crown and flowers and everyone was cheering.

At the homecoming dance they gathered the court by the office and they lined them up, in the dance room they made a pathway for the court so they can pass through, the announcer called them out one by one and they all walked up on the stage. Then they grabbed the crown and ribbon and announced the king, Mark Primer, after he was announced king, Mark and Ireland slow danced and the rest of the court joined in and then after that they all did the dance they did at the assembly and after that they got pictures together, it was fun.

First Year of High School

By: Kennedy Rochford

This year Freshman Jordan Rittacco tried out for the cheer team. As she had good feeling about this upcoming season, she made this year's Junior Varsity cheer leading team. So far she likes it a lot more and says that it is a lot more serious than any other cheer team she has been on. Not only does Jordan stand out for being a good and committed cheerleader, she also stands out for being funny and nice to others. What made her want to cheer was that in middle school she wanted to be with her friends and they thought it seemed fun and something new to try. She ended up loving it and the competition so she stuck with it. Also, she won a competition with her competition team in middle school. Not only did she cheer, she also ran the 200 and threw discus in track.

In school Jordan tries really hard and keeps her grades up so she can cheer and for her future. In her future she wants to go to college. She is still indecisive on where she wants to go to college but she knows she wants to go to college to be a physiologist and help people. When she is not in school, or when she is finished practicing, she likes spending time hanging out with her friends. Her favorite movie is the new movie “IT”. Jordan has created a lot of memories this season and can’t wait for future seasons with her friends. “They are not just my friends, they are family,” Jordan said.

Madison Mural

BY: Jack Tagliamonte

So as many of you know, we got a new mural thing upstairs, it sadly covers up the masterpiece that was "The Claymation Sports Figures" but the new look is refreshing and much needed. It has this "We're the cool Madison now" vibe which most of us dig. The mural is a train track with a thunderstorm taking over the sky and, if you look closely there's a mustache hiding on the wall. It has the iconic blue M smack dab in the middle with some weird pixelated clouds next to it but you only see those if you're nitpicking and up as close as you can. As my dad would always say, "There are few things that get the people reading like a mural in a high school."

I was told to go ask the Fish himself how the mural came to be, how he liked it, why he wanted to make it this year, and how he grew his perfect mustache.

"Avery Pinta, Abby Reed and Kelly Sill were the main instrumental people to give us the mural, they saw it in the city and came to us about the company, I don't remember the company name but I heard that there was a mustache hidden somewhere in there."

I decided to ask some other people how they thought about the new mural to add some more length to the article.

I asked Toni Burr, to which she replied, "It was pretty cool... I liked the mustache. Oh and the train tracks!" Mr. Butler said, "I haven't seen it yet." Which isn't really helpful but he just said that to not be in the article, guess again Butler... guess again. Asking other students they all had some really boring answers from "We have a new mural?" to "It was pretty cool." But personally I think we needed something to cover up that poor, poor preschool painting so this is a good thing in my book. The mural has a vibe that makes us all tell the other schools that the old Madison can't come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, because it's dead.

Double Digits

BY: Alyssa Caruthers

Last night, your JV girls soccer team took on the Edgewood Warriors on their home field. Your lady streaks entered the match with a record of 9-2-1 and were looking to add another W to their record.

Spirits were high and the girls were ready for this game. With twenty four minutes left in the first half your Streaks got up 1-0, with a goal from Hailey Nichols (assisted by Liberty Paratto). Just two minutes later the lady streaks scored again with a goal by Haylee Winfield! The streaks ended the half up 2-0. “The girls are dominated in possession this first half and just need to perfect their through-ball,” says your Lady Blue Streaks varsity coach.

The ladies went back on the field second half and gave a PK, and Edgewood shoot it wide left. The ladies then continued to dominate the game and, with seventeen minutes left, Emma Shirer found the back of the net with an assist from Liberty Paratto, making it 3-0. With five minutes remaining Amanda Webster scored for your lady streaks closing out the game at 4-0. The lady streaks dominated this game, and worked very well as a team to win this battle.

However, this was not just a normal win for the girls. Their record was now 10-2-1, and it is the first time since 2013 that the girls JV team has had a double digit winning record! Coach Mackenzie Spangler says, “Our motto is ‘Give 60%, 4,000% of the time’, which does not make sense to most people, but the team understands it”. Ally Naso says, “I really feel privileged to have the opportunity to get to play with this team, their improvements from off-season to now are incredible”.

Your Lady Streaks will continue their season as they play the Riverside Beavers for the second time this season. The match will be held at Riverside High School, on Monday at 5:00 p.m. Come out and support your JV girls soccer team as they look to continue adding “W’s” to their record.

Jack's Journey Through The Junior Year: Stop Dabbing

BY: Jack Tagliamonte

Stop dabbing. It's trash. It's been a year and no one finds it funny, or good, or anything. There's a real problem here and dabbing has become a big one in the United States, nay, the world. The only country that really understands the cringe factor of dabbing is Saudi Arabia; they made dabbing illegal and it's probably the best thing that they could do in this situation. Think of it, what's worse than dabbing... the Holocaust, North Korea, Trump being President, sure, but there's something that may get up on the list, little children dabbing.

Children dabbing is the lowest of low that children could do other than making a Youtube channel of them recording their TV with their iPhone 4 while playing Minecraft on their Playstation 3. It's not only the biggest disrespect I've ever received from a child, I pray that they repent and see the lord's light and live the rest of their lives in peace and harmony without the need to dab on the haters.

But I don't only have a problem with children dabbing, I have a problem with all dabbing. It has this power over everyone, every one of those bad Youtube dance videos has at least one dab and the cameraman just has this jolt of regret.

There are few other things that hit the right buttons in just the right spot to make me curl up and wish I was never born; children overall. I hate their singing, their dancing, their God awful Youtube videos (Like please parents just make sure your child doesn't touch Youtube until they're 45), chalkboards and fingernails, and pineapple on pizza. They're all the worst things I could imagine other than half spider half cat riding a dragon. Really, I can be passionate about some things, mainly this: this homecoming. If I see anyone dabbing I will just leave and go to Taco Bell for the rest of the night and just hope that if I eat enough Cheesy Gordita Crunches I could forget that I saw a high schooler moronically dab.

This may sound repetitive, but I just need to drill it into your head. Stop. Dabbing. It will never be good, it can't be good, and it's beyond the point of repair. Also stop with the backpack kid dance, it just freaks me out.

Shooting For Sectionals

BY: Sierra Craddock

Your Girls Golf team played Monday, October 2 at Tamberwin for sectionals to see who can make it to districts. Who ever scored under the cut off limit, which was 86, would advance to districts. Coach Titman states, “The girls did much better than they did last year, but unfortunately none of the girls qualified to districts.” Coach also said, “I thought the scores would be better, although the three teams that beat us, we improved during sectionals. Mentor beat us by one stroke in 18 holes." Kalee K. spoke and said, “ We needed to bring out A game and shoot low scores.”

Despite none of the girls making it to districts, they played a good hard season. The top three players for sectionals were Mina G., for shooting a 97; Emiligh K., shooting a 99; and Mira K, shooting a 102.  This ends the season for our Girls Golf team.  

Now for our Boys Golf team: They played as well on Monday, October 2 at Quail Hollow for sectionals. Their final score, with the top four people added up, was a 403. The cut off limit to go to districts was a score of 83 or lower and the only one to do so was Danny A.

Danny scored close to the cut off, but made it with a 76. Teammate Lucas W. says, “Danny pared the last three holes is what helped him to get his score, were all going to cheer him on and hope he makes it from districts to states.” With that being said, since Danny is going to districts, the season for him is not over, and his team is standing right behind him. The top three performers for sectionals were Danny, shooting a 76; Lucas, shooting a 100; and Logan, shooting a 114. Districts are played next Wednesday for Danny. Good luck!

Tying The Title

BY: Adrianna Hanzak

For the entire season that led up to Tuesday, October 3rd, the Madison Girls’ Soccer Team had one game on their mind: The Mayfield Wildcats. The head coach Chad Butler had not yet experienced a win in Wildcat stadium, and he, and his twenty varsity players, were starving for the opportunity to overthrow the Wildcats for the WRC title. The Lady Blue Streaks took the field, determined to add another loss to the Wildcats’ record on their own turf.

As time passed after the kick off, it became more evident that the Lady Blue Streaks were having a slow start. All it took was the heart drop of the ball leaving Mayfield’s foot going in the back of the net in the second half for lightning to strike.

The second half was when the Lady Blue Streaks were the team that had ten wins over the season, the team that could make it eleven. When the Wildcats would take the lead, the Lady Blue Streaks tied the score. The anticipation of the game kept the spectators on their feet and the players up off of the bench.

Defensive Captain Victoria Tromba commented that it was “the most intense game I’ve played. 10/10,” showing beyond doubt that the adrenaline was pumping both on and off the field.

With the score tied 2-2, Mykala Askew, having scored both the Streaks’ goals, sent a pass through the defense to Alyssa Caruthers who out ran her mark and sent the ball into the back of the net just as the whistle blew to call her offside, causing an uproar in the stands. The shouts and mumbles from the spectators further showed the disapproval of the ref's call.

The goal being marked as a fault, the game ends in a 2-2 score, setting the Lady Blue Streaks closer to sharing the the WRC title with the Wildcats. Next week the Lady Blue Streaks take on the Kenston Bombers on Tuesday, October 9 on home field, with the chance to take the title.

Mayhem in Madison

BY: Toni Burr

They're back at it! Madison Cross Country had another meet Saturday, October 1st at Madison High School. Madison took 3rd place at the meet. This game was very important to the team because it was a home game and also it was senior night. I was very excited about this game, we got to see all of the seniors with their parents taking their final walk as a part of the Madison Cross Country team.

The coach,  Jeremy Verdi, said that they did so well because the course was flat, and they worked on that track a week in advance. I talked to Owen Hennessey about the meet, he thought he would get around the low 17's but instead he got 16:55, a very big deal seeing as he broke the 17 flat barrier. I knew they were going to be good because they all have been getting up early and training hard everyday.

This meet was important for the season because it was senior night, the seniors got to walk with their parents. I feel as if this meet was a very important meet because it was a home meet at Madison and we had to show the competitors where we came from. The top runner is Senior Nick Amos, the other two top runners are Junior Owen Hennessey and Sophomore Chris Plummer.

The Cross Country season is almost over! The next meet is Saturday, October 7th at Andrews Osborne. Come support the Madison Cross Country team!

Madtown Senior Night

BY: Taylor Stevens

The Madison versus Chardon game was senior night and also a WRC conference match. A game to honor the seniors for their hard work and dedication for 4 years. This years seniors are Griffin Albert, Matthew Bowen, Kenton Keller, Mason Riehl, Tanner Gortz, Frank Marcelli, Michael Swinarski, Conner Hahn, Richie Camp and Cole Hejduk.

Frank Marcelli, the captain of the varsity team, had his expectations of the game. His pre-game assessment of the game was to have a primarily defensive game and for it to be a very close one.

Richie Camp had lots of positive thoughts going into the game and expected the team to work hard and take the win.

During the first half the game was at a slow point and as the second half came around Frank Marcelli came in and scored two back to back goals putting the team in the lead. Frank said he was very happy scoring the two goals and it made him even happier that is was senior night when he scored those two goals. Fabian Ruiz, who is a sophomore, scored a very important goal that night. The defensive end slipped and let the Chardon Hilltoppers score a goal making the score 3-1.  Richie Camp said that they could of stepped up their game and not given them the chance to score, but in all had a very good defensive game that night. The team agreed that they should of came out stronger in the first half.

Madison took the victory. It was a great win and even better since it was senior night. The team had to get ready for their next conference match against Mayfield on October 3rd, 2017 on home field. At the practices between the two games the boys worked on crossing and from changing from defense to offense. The coach, Julio Gutierrez made a decision to change their formation.

The team is ready for the upcoming challenges of the end of the season with tournament games. The seniors have been working their hardest because it is their final games in their high school soccer games.