Bear Facts Script
November 19th 2016
Good morning! I’m Andrew Thilges!

I’m Danielle Plathe!

And I’m Logan Capesius! Thanks for tuning in to the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.

Thanksgiving is coming up next week, and here at Garrigan we’ve got a lot to be thankful for this fall. One of the things we’re thankful for is that while most schools in Iowa were done playing football a month ago, the Golden Bears were still on the gridiron this week. While the Bears came one point short of the state championship, we’re still grateful for the wonderful year they’ve had.

While Garrigan is always a contending football team, this was the first time the Bears made it to the Dome since 2005. No one expected much of the team at the start of the season, but they took the motto “Why not us” to heart and played beyond everyone’s expectations. The Bears led all through the semi-final game against Council Bluffs St. Albert a week ago, and that advanced them to the state championship game. It was a hard-fought game, and the Bears gave it everything they had. They came up just short, falling to Gladbrook—Reinbeck 20 – 19.

At the end of the championship game, Garrigan’s thirteen senior football players walked off the field proudly. This has been a great year for Gibson Behr, Mat Thul, Max Patkins, Grant Buscherfeld, Grant Arndorfer, Andrew Meister, Levi Capesius, Nick Mergen, Chase winkel, Andrew Thilges, Mark Mather, Chase Hatten, and Joel Vaske. Congratulations to them, to Coach Marty Wadle, and to the whole Golden Bear football team.
There was also good news this past week for the Golden Bear quiz bowl team. Last Saturday Garrigan hosted the Top of Iowa Conference quiz bowl tournament, and for the second straight year the Bears ended up taking the conference championship. The team of Ben Degen, Logan Heying, Levi Capesius, and Sam Trainer finished the day with a perfect 7 – 0 record. In preliminary matches they beat Nashua—Plainfield, North Union, Lake Mills, and North Iowa. They advanced through playoffs and defeated Forest City to take the overall championship.

A second Garrigan team also made playoffs. Logan Capesius, Andrew Thilges, Ben Fogarty, and Josh Hamilton were also undefeated in preliminary games. They fell to the championship Garrigan team in playoffs to take fourth place overall. The Golden Bear win qualifies Garrigan to make its 18th trip to the National Academic Championship, and we’re tentatively planning to head to nationals in New Orleans over Memorial Day weekend. Congratulations, quiz bowl!

At the state semi-final football game last week members of the Garrigan choir sang the National Anthem. Among them were three students who are at the All-State Music Festival this weekend. Levi Capesius, Sam Trainer, and Bryce Capesius are all down in Ames for the highest honor in music. They’ll be performing at the all-state festival concert tonight, and that concert will be broadcast on Iowa Public Television next Thursday night at 7:00. Congratulations, all-staters!

Our senior spotlight this week shines on Chase Hatten. Chase is a Bancroft native who was an important part of the state football team. He has also run at the state track meet, he’s won all-conference honors in baseball, he’s lettered in basketball, and he’s part of the target shooting team. Chase would like to go to UNI next year, where he plans to major in construction management. We wish Chase all the best in the future.

Because of Thanksgiving, we’ll look at two weeks of events on our Golden Bear calendar. Today there’s the All-State Music Festival at Hilton Coliseum in Ames. Tomorrow is the Feast of Christ the King. There’s a confirmation retreat in the afternoon at St. Cecelia’s, and the volleyball team will have their awards potluck.

Monday is Presentation Day, when we celebrate the sisters who have served our area schools for decades. Monday is also the birthday of longtime Garrigan superintendent Father Cecil Friedmann.

Tuesday we’ll have a special assembly on vocations with Sister Rita Cameron. That night the girls basketball team begins their season with a JV/varsity doubleheader at St. Edmond.

Wednesday we’ll have our memorial mass, where we honor deceased alumni. Mass will be at 9am in Friedmann Auditorium. We’ll have a special lunch to help fight world hunger on Wednesday, and that afternoon we’ll dismiss early for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Sunday the 27th marks the beginning of Advent. We’ll have a candle-lighting service at school on Monday morning. That night the JJV basketball teams play at Belmond, while the varsity boys play at St. Edmond.

Tuesday the 29th there’s a basketball quad, with the Bears hosting Belmond—Klemme. Then on December 1st and 2nd the danz squad will be in Des Moines hoping to win another state championship.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for November. We’ll be off next week because of the holiday, but be sure to tune in again on Saturday, December 3rd for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.