Amherst News-Times, 2000-10-18

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Lady Comets take conference title — Page 8       Voters guide is ready — Pag
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Wednesday, October 18, 2000
Amherst, Ohio
3
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Local sailor hurt in blast
At least one Amherst man
was among the injured after
terrorists attacked the Naval
Destroyer USS Cole, just as
the ship prepared to depart
the harbor of Yemen last
week.
Frederick H. Ings D, a
1996 Marion L. Steele High
School graduate of the Lorain
County Joint Vocational
School, was off duty at the
time of the explosion, and
was sleeping in a sports chair
in the crew living quarters
forward of the area of the
explosion.
When the blast occurred
the force of the explosion catapulted Ings out of the chair
and slammed him against a
bulk head (wall), injuring one
shoulder, and then slammed
him directly onto his
backside.
According to reports, he
has sustained a good deal of
soft tissue damage to his tail
bone, and not seriously damaged his spine as first
reported.
Had Ings been on duty, he
would have been on deck
handling the ship's mooring
lines; he is ranked BM3.
Sometimes handling the lines
placed him directly over the
area where the blast occurred.
In that case, the outcome may
have been quite different for
Ings's family.
After notifying the family
that Fred was alive, the Navy
additionally told them that
there may have been spinal
injuries. The family was glued
to the newspaper and CNN
over the entire weekend for
any updates.
As they watched, they did
finally catch a glimpse of Ing
as a camera crew photographed him laying on a
stretcher, in Germany on Saturday morning.
According to Ings's sister,
1990 MLS graduate Jessica
LoPresti of Amherst, her
younger brother Fred was in
stable condition at the Military Hospital in Norfolk, Va.
Jessica and Fred have a
younger brother, Steven Lock-
ard, who is a 14-year-old student at Nord Junior High
School.
"We talked to him last
evening, (Sunday night) and
he is extremely tired and extremely sore, said LoPresti
Ings joined the Navy out
of high school and was assigned to the Cole in the
summer of 1998. In early August they arrived in the
Middle East for a six-month
tour.
The attack has severally damaged the ship, and forced
the Navy to send a floating
dry dock to return the
stricken Cole back to Norfolk
Naval Yard for repair.
Ings's wife Bonita, daughter
Cayci Nycole, his Mom Deborah and stepfather William
Lockard are already in Norfolk to see him. His dad Fred
senior and wife Katie, from
Vermilion, left for Norfolk on
Oct 17.
"The Navy has been astounding with the support to
see my brother,'' added Jessica, "We won't know the
total extent of the injuries until next week."
She is calm now, but Jessica wasn't so calm when she
found out about the bombing.
"At 8:45 when my dad
called to tell me the ship had
been bombed I dropped the
phone and fell, to my knees
and bawled my eyes out,"
Jessica said, "It was the worst
day of my life. Fortunately,
his wife (Bonita) held up
pretty good."
"We found out Thursday
that he was still alive which
was a big relief, but things
improved a lot more for me
when I heard his voice on
Friday night," LoPresti said.
"On Saturday morning we
saw footage where Fred was
walking toward the aircraft
and he waved and smiled as
if to tell us he was alright
Much of the family is crowd-
CONTINUED on page 3
At the top is Ings, next to his
wife, Bonita, with his sister Jessica LoPresti and her husband
Chad in the middle with their
children Christopher Bollin,
Fred's daughter Cayci Nycole
and Jessica's other son
Cameron.
Fredrick H. Ings II
\,
i
Raucous Comet crowd watches team win
by JASON TOMASZEWSKI
Naw Tim— reporter
Preparation. That is one of the
most important words in the vocabulary of a football team. If you are
not prepared, no matter how good
you are or how bad your opponent
is, you will struggle.
The Amherst Comets learned that
lesson the hard way two Fridays ago
when they were nearly defeated by
an inferior Bay team. However, if a
team prepares itself completely,
they will almost always succeed, as
was the case for the Comets this
weekend.
Amherst completely dismantled
the number 1 ranked Avon Lake
Shoremen in every aspect of tbe
game to come away with a 33-13
win while preserving an undefeated
"We just wanted 11 people flying
to the ball," stated a jubilant Amherst head coach Jeff Reisen. "We
knew if we did that and Avon Lake
beats us. then they deserve to win."
The Comets did just that. The entire defense, led by linebacker Brian
Cesear, flew all over the field holding the area's leading ground gainer,
Jeff Strauch. to less than 40 yards.
Ia fact the Shoremen offense could
only manage 198 yards with 87 of
those yards coming on 2 plays.
Mike D'Andrea, Avon Lake's leading receiver this year didn't have a
single catch.
Offensively, the Comets dominated as well. It was Cesear again
Brian Cesear, Phil Kerlin, and Nick Bigrigg celebrate after defeating rival Avon Lake 33-13 at Memorial Stadium. The win sets
up the SWC showdown with Olmsted Falls on Friday.
carrying the load. Coach Reisen
showed great confidence in him by
handing him the ball on what
seemed like every other play.
He was aided in his running efforts by his front 7. The smaller
Amherst offensive line was pushing
tbe Shoremen back all night, giving
Cesear, Adam Kuncel, and Bobby
Madison room to run.
Even the special teams played a
key role. In the fourth quarter Madison blocked an Avon Lake punt attempt Cesear, who had taken his
team on his shoulders, gobbled up
the ball and ran it in for the score.
The Amherst fans even out-
cheered tbe Shoremen faithful.
Comets fans packed the visiting side
of Memorial Stadium a solid hour
before kickoff, That is when the
cheering began, and I'm not sure
that it has stopped.
Amherst found itself down early
as the Shoremen went to the air.
Quarterback Justin Booher found
Anthony Stress open for a 42 yard
touchdown strike. Cesear would answer on an 11 yard scoring run, but
the point after was blocked. Kyle
Klekota added a field goal putting
the Comets us 9-7.
Avon Lake would punt the ball
away with only a few minutes remaining in the firs* half. Tbe Comets drove the ball nearly 60 yards in
that time to set up Klekota's second
field goal. The kick looked as
though it was going to be wide
right, before hooking around the upright as time expired. Amherst was
happy to take a 12-7 lead into the
half.
The second half was more of the
same as the Comets put 2 more
scores up before the Shoremen
would find the endzone. Cesear
would score on a 2 yard run and the
blocked punt-
Avon Lake would again go to the
air as Booher hit Zachary Lewis on
a 45 yard bomb. The 2 point conversion failed.
The Comets would strike one
more time with Kuncel going in
from 3 yards out to set the score of
33-13. That score was set up by one
of the biggest plays of the nighL
Facing a third and 10 on their own
25 yard line Comet quarterback
Dominic Pellitteri hit tight end Nick
Bigrigg over the middle for 8 yards.
Bigrigg then broke one tackle, ran
away from another and headed for
the left sideline. After picking up a
block, Bigrigg raced towards the endzone. Trying to avoid the gaining
Shoremen defense, he veered back
to the right sideline before getting
tripped up at the 3.
"I was dying," stated Bigrigg. **I
had nothing left down at the 10."
That play took all the starch oat
of Avon Lake as they were left to
ponder how this game of evenly
matched teams got out of hand.
Amherst is not out of the woods
yet, as the Olmsted Falls Bulldogs
(8-0, 5-0 SWC) come to tow*
Should the Comets come away wi*:
the win, they will be the outright
champions of the SWC. Gametime
is 7:30 p.m.
Fun run, Taste of Amherst' to highlight events
As the colder weather invades,
there is less and less to do outside.
For come people raldng the leaves k
the extent of their outdoor activity
during the chilly months.
This year the city of Amherst and
the Amherst Downtown Business
Association (ADBA) will be sponsoring an entire day of outdoor Am
to help keep the cabin fever away
for a little while.
Sunday Oct 29 will tee everything from parades to food tasting,
ndit will all be held in the heart of
downtown Amherst
The day will begin at 9 am. with
a 5K run. The event which is being
called the Run for Wellness is being
sponsored by the Amherst Downtown Business Association, EMH
Center for Joint Reconstruction, and
the Amherst Historical Society.
The run will begin in front of the
old post office on Park Ave. and
will stretch past City Hall Runners
will wind their way to the Sandstone
Center where they will head down
South Lake Street
From there they will head to the
opening of the new MotroPaAs facility which is still under construction. Rumen will then retrace their
steps until arriving back at the post
office.
Entrants may register online at
wwwJitnaeacleveland.com, or by
phone at 984-6709. There is a $13
pro-registration fee that includes an
event t-shirt, refreshments, and various giveaways. The first second,
and third place finishers in each of
the 12 age froups will receive aa
award. Registration on the date of
the event will be $16.
The Run for Wellness will be the
first in what is planned to be an annual Amherst tall event Proceeds
for the ran will go to the beautifica-
tion aad preservation of historic
For those of you who don't feel
like running, or just don't want to
get out of bed that early on the
weekend, they can take part in tbe
Amherst Halloween Parade. The parade will begin at 4:30 and will last
until S pjn.
Preceding the parade is a costume
contest Tbe contest will be held at
the Sans Springs building at 480
Park Ave. Registration for the contest will begin promptly at 3 pjn.
with the judging to begin at 4 pjn.
While^rou are waiting for these
activities lo begin, you can sample a
"taste of Amherst" Local merchants
will have their doors open to the
public so that they amy
some of the local and unique flavors
that make up downtown Amherst
There will be plenty of things to do
and plenty of goodies for the
children.
Some people might be worried
that they will miss die big Browns
game by spending the day downtown. They can put their fears to
rest as Ziggy's downtown is home
to the local chapter of the Browns
Backers Society. They will be
broadcasting the game so you can
catch all of the excitement as the
Bengali- visit Cleveland Browns
While Dad is watching the game
the kids can visk the Radio Disney
fun van. The fun van will be located
downtown and will feature the
Mickey Mouse prize wheel. Hers
the kids can spin the wheel and win
all sons of goodies.
When the kids are done with the
prize wheel they can get ready for
trick or treat which begins at 5 pm.
and runs until 7 pjn.
All of this promises to be a fa*
filled day ia downtown Ainhent
For more information about any df
the activities call the Aaafcatijt
Downtown Business AsaociatiOa |f
984-6709.
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