Grant High School

Tonight the JV and Varsity teams each took home victories.

The Varsity game was a showdown of unbeatens and the home town folks went home happy as the Tigers downed the Hornets from Central Montcalm, 82-56 and moved their record to 10-0. Zaiden Phillips continued his outstanding senior season, knocking down 30 points and leading all scorers again. "He wasn't hitting from the outside at the start of the game, but he just kept doing Zaiden things, seeing the whole court, passing to open teammates, playing tough defense and most of all rebounding and scoring on put backs. He put on a show of doing the little things right," said Coach Dan George.

Blake Rider and Kohen Obenhauf added 14 points each and Austin Gragg also hit double figures with 10 for the Tigers. Evan Rolston had 26 points for Central Montcalm and Zayne Cooper hit for 16 for the Hornets.

"It seemed we couldn't buy an outside shot in the first half," said Coach George, "but our work ethic on defense and rebounding got us to the second half where we started to connect from the outside."

The Tigers travel to Big Rapids onf Friday night for a 7 pm start.

The Tigers placed 3rd out of 18 teams at the Unity Christian Invite on Saturday December 11th. All 8 Grant wrestlers that competed made the medal round of matches. 3 Tigers took home gold medals and championship posters for their weight classes. Sophomore Antonio Santana won 113lbs with 2 pins and a major decision in the finals bout. Senior Cameron Espinoza had a pin and tech fall before winning by 6 points over his Comstock Park State ranked opponent at 126lbs. Senior Kashton Atwood took home the 132lbs championship with 2 pins and a tech fall. Freshmen Gary Jacobson (pins) and Junior Malachi Dawe (1 pin) met in the 3rd place match at 120lbs, with Jacobson taking home the bronze medal. Sophomore Kaden Smith lost in the 215lbs third place match against his Colon opponent, picking up 3 wins on the day. Freshmen Bodie Semlow lost an early match, but came back through with 2 pins to win the consolation finals at 138lbs. Freshmen Brayden Schullo had 2 pins at 106lbs before falling in the 3rd place match by one point in a back and forth tight match.

Grant hosted it's first ever Assembly Dual in front a raucous school crowd against Montague on Thursday January 8th. Spotlights, entrance music, awesome wrestler introductions, and fog machines brought the student body to a roar that kept building as the Tigers started strong with freshmen Brayden Schullo pinning his opponent in the first match of the night. Antonio Santana and Gary Jacobson followed with 2 more pins. Junior Malachi Dawe won by tech fall 15-0, before seniors Cameron Espinoza and Kashton Atwood each pinned their opponents. The Wildcats upper weights then took over to give them a 46-35 victory. Junior Markie Davis finished out the competition with a tech fall 16-1 over Trevino from Montague.

Tonight the JV and Varsity girls made the trip to Oakridge and came away with a couple wins. In game 1 the JV Tigers beat the Eagles 29-17. Evolette Davis lead the way with 12 points, Kaylee Stalter had 10, Zaidabelle Stuart chipped in 8 and Fatima Gonzalez had a nice 2 point bucket.

In game 2 it was a wild one back and forth. Victoria Ventura was clutch in the 4th quarter going 7 for 8 from the line including 2 big made free throws with 5 seconds left on the clock which put the Tigers up by 2. Payton Shoemaker also had a good night pulling down rebounds and scored 7 points.

Thursday at we will be hosting our first ever Assembly Wrestling Dual at the Grant High School Gym. Our Tigers will be taking on the Montague Wildcats starting at 1:35. If you are not able to make it in person you can watch on our livestream at https://www.grantps.net/live-feed.

Game day for the girls!

On Tuesday night, in front of a lively home crowd, the Grant Tigers notched their 8th straight win to open the season, downing Montague 74-35. Midway through the third quarter senior captain Zaiden Phillips scored on perfect lob pass from the opposite wing by fellow senior captain Blake Rider to eclipse 1,000 points for his career.

All 10 Tigers scored in the game, led by Phillips' 22 points. Rider added 10 points and junior Jacob Gates scored a career high 15.

"I was ecstatic that Zaiden got to reach this milestone in a home game and that his close friend, Blake Rider, got the assist," said Coach George. "And going 8-0 to start the season is a good way to finish the night."

The Tigers travel to Reed City on Friday night to face the Coyotes at 7 pm.

Another home game for the Boys tonight. You won't want to miss this game!

This Thursday will be our make up date for the Wrestling Assembly Dual vs Montague. The dual will start at 1:40 in the High School Gym.

A look at what's in store for Tiger Athletics this week

Girls basketball game day today!

The Grant Tigers played a non conference game Saturday afternoon against Grand River Prep in the 1st Annual Be Legendary Showcase held at Grace Christian University and organized by Wyoming Lee head coach, Gerard Oray, and his staff. The Tigers fought off some first quarter jitters and adjustment to the college three point line before senior captains Blake Rider and Zaiden Phillips caught fire near the end of the first quarter and led their team to a 17-10 lead after one period. From there the Tiger defense kicked in, limiting the Titans to four second quarter points, staying undefeated and cruising to their seventh straight win to open the season. "I thought our defense was as good as it has been all year after we got past the first quarter and I have to give a shout out to Coach Kirk Rider for the work he has put in to instill confidence in our guys to play like that," commented Coach Dan George. "I'll be happy with giving up 33 points for a game anytime." Phillips once again led the Tigers and all players with 23 points, and he was the leading rebounder for the game with 13 boards, and he was named MVP of the game by the Showcase staff. Fellow captain, Rider, knocked down 17 points as both captains hit on three 3 pointers. Grant was a perfect 6/6 from the free throw line. Nine of the ten Tigers scored. The Tigers are next at home on Tuesday, January 6 when they take on Montague.

Saturday we have 3 teams in action - Take a look at where they are all at.

Varsity Girls go into the weekend with a 66-24 victory over West Michigan Aviation.

It's game time!

Basketball is back in action tonight as our Varsity Girls take on West Michigan Aviation in a 5PM tip off!

Grant's Markie Davis took home another championship poster and medal from the Reed City Girl's invitational on Sunday December 28th. Markie pinned Conway from Kalkaska, then won by Technical fall 18-1 against her Thompson from Reed City, before pinning Vandyken from Cedar Springs in the championship match at 155lbs under the spotlight. Davis gave up one single point on the day. Alexa Crisman came in 4th place at 115lbs, getting her first pin of the season against Manning from Mancelona in the consolation round.

On Thursday the boys Varsity Basketball team took a trip to Pineview Homes in Evart where they spent the evening with at-risk youth. Each player was assigned two boys who stay at the homes and they were able to talk with them, play games and also present each of them with a gift, a John Wooden book, which in the book each player wrote some words of encouragement. Coach George spoke to the group after dinner along with Captains Zaiden Phillips and Blake Rider. Coach George talked about the team and what his goal is each year for his players; to have fun, to be better men-husbands-fathers, and to see them all in heaven some day. Zaiden and Blake talked about the John Wooden book and what the book means to them. After dinner the team finally got to shoot some hoops with all the boys. What a great experience for the Team.