The Bear Facts
November 18, 2023

Good morning! I’m Violet Bode!

I’m Abbie Capesius!

And I’m Lauren Swift! This is the “Bear Facts”. Happy Thanksgiving from everyone here at Bishop Garrigan High School.

Thanksgiving is this coming week, and we’ve got a lot to be thankful for here at Garrigan. First of course is our football team’s success. The Bears flew under the radar most of the season, but in playoffs they got five straight victories that ended the season for some of the top teams in the state. In playoffs Garrigan took five teams that were ranked higher than they were: Janesville, Remsen St. Mary’s, CAM of Anita, Winfield—Mt. Union, and Bedford. They beat all those teams, and the Golden Bears ended up the state champions in eight-man football.

While the Bears have a long tradition of football success, they’ve been in a rebuilding process since their last trip to the Dome in 2016. The first two years in eight-man ball were losing seasons, but things really came together in 2023. This is hall of fame Coach Marty Wadle’s first state championship in thirty-two years with the Bears. It’s only the second state football championship in school history. The other was in 1985, which was before most of our parents were in school.

The core of the football team this year has been seven seniors. Caden Roethler has rushed for over 1,200 yards this season. Justin Bauer, Brody Ludwig, and Benjy Trainer each have more than 20 tackles, with Brody and Benjy also getting lots of pass receptions. Drew Lappe has kicked for more than 3,500 yards and also has 30 pass receptions, and Sam Plathe has hauled in five interceptions, as well as being a solid receiver and tackler. Then there’s Logan Nemmers, who hiked the ball flawlessly hundreds of times and used his size to push for dozens of first downs.

The future looks bright for the Bears, too. Sophomore quarterback Tate Foertsch passed for over 1,300 yards and rushed for 500, while fellow sophomore Ethan Marso was one of the top players on both offense and defense. Junior Keaton Helleseth and sophomore Carter Schwab made huge plays on the line, and junior Owen Murphy gained about 400 yards, Wyatt Rosenmeyer has racked up both tackles and pass receptions, and Andrew Lichter and Trayton Cink came back from injuries to make huge contributions to the team. Congratulations to all the Golden Bears on an awesome season and a well-deserved state championship!

Football wasn’t the only success for the Bears this past week. Last Saturday Sam Plathe announced that he’d won his first championship of the week. That championship was in quiz bowl. Bishop Garrigan hosted the Top of Iowa Conference meet, and two different Golden Bear teams ended were the champions and runners-up. The first place team featured Ben Greteman, Sam Plathe, Brendan Plathe, and Benjy Trainer.

Garrigan’s second team upset North Union to make their way to the championship game. That team featured Zach Warren, Violet Bode, Hannah Merron, and Marshall Bormann. A third Golden Bear entry with Tate Foertsch, Amaury Thomas, Thadd Kollasch, and Sam Greteman also had a winning record. There’s more quiz bowl action today, with the Bears competing in the Algona High Invitational. Go, quiz bowl!

Between quiz bowl and football there was DECA. Bishop Garrigan’s business club went down to Gilbert for the district DECA competition, and three Golden Bears ended up in the top three in different categories. Zach Warren took first place in Restaurant and Food Service Management, Violet Bode was second in Human Resources Management, and Brooke Ludwig took second in Hotel and Lodging Management. Congratulations, DECA!

One other big achievement for some Golden Bears is the All-Iowa Honor Cheer Squad. Seniors Ava Hough and Ella Schaaf were selected for the top cheer honor in the state. They were part of a big group that did a special performance at the 5-A championship game yesterday. Congratulations, Ella and Ava!

Next Wednesday we’ll have our annual memorial mass for deceased alumni. This mass is always planned to coincide with Thanksgiving, because we give thanks for the tradition they established for us. The memorial mass will be at 9am Wednesday, and families of all those being honored are invited to attend. There will be a social gathering for families after mass.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Drew Lappe. Here to tell you about him is Brendan Plathe.

Drew Lappe is a year-round athlete. Throughout football season he showed he was one of the top kickers in the state, and he also was also one of the Bears’ top receivers. Drew is also one of the Golden Bears’ top baseball players, as he works hard in the off season. Drew will be off to college next year, and we wish him all the best in the future.

Thanks, Brendan. Because of the holiday weekend, we’ve got two weeks of events on our Golden Bear calendar. There’s quiz bowl today at Algona High. Tonight Benjy Trainer will be singing in the All-State concert in Ames.

There will be parish busing at Garrigan and Seton next Tuesday and Wednesday because our schools are in session, while the Algona Community Schools have an early holiday break. Tuesday is the first basketball game of the year, with the Golden Bear girls will host Ft. Dodge St. Edmond.

Wednesday morning is the memorial mass for deceased alumni. We’ll dismiss at 1:30 Wednesday afternoon, and of course Thanksgiving will be on Thursday.

Classes resume on Monday the 27th. There will be a winter sports pep rally that afternoon, and that night the boys basketball team hosts St. Edmond.

There’s a basketball quad on Tuesday the 28th, with the Bears hosting Belmond Klemme. Wednesday the 29th the danz squad leaves for state, and that afternoon the quiz bowl team will compete in the nationwide 3—2—1 contest.

Friday, December 1st we’ll have meal packaging at Garrigan. Saturday the 2nd there’s quiz bowl at Spirit Lake, and that afternoon the basketball Bears will travel to Hull Western Christian.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for Thanksgiving week. We’ll be off next week because of the holiday weekend, but be sure to catch the show again two weeks from now when we’ll be back with more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.