Bluffton High School's Caitlyn Couch advanced to the quarterfinals of the girls tennis Div. II Northwest sectional tournament at UNOH Thursday, October 7.
Couch won a pair of tough three-set matches and was one victory short of qualifying for districts before falling in the round of eight.
Couch rallied to defeat Mya Garcia of Defiance in the first round of the singles flight 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Then in the round of 16, Couch gutted past Kayliann Howell of Celina 6-3, 6-7 (7-4), 6-1.
Playing at home, the Bluffton High School volleyball team took down Columbus Grove in a straight-sets Northwest Conference match Thursday evening, October 8.
The Lady Pirate record improved to 13-7 overall and 4-3 in the NWC with the 25-22, 25-19, 25-16 victory.
The Bulldogs fell to 7-10 overall and 2-4 in the NWC with the defeat.
Senior Kylie Stackhouse topped Bluffton with 16 kills and three blocks. She also served one ace. Freshman Ayla Grandey hammered 15 kills and added one block.
The visiting Bluffton boys soccer team played Ottawa Hills to a 1-1 draw in a non-conference match Thursday evening, October 7.
The ninth-ranked Pirates ran their record to 10-2-2 overall with the tie.
OH is 6-0-4 after the draw.
Green Bear senior Walker Kight scored just 2:15 into the first half to take a 1-0 lead. But the Pirate defense stiffened and held them scoreless over the last 78 minutes.
The score stayed 1-0 to halftime and well into the second half when Bluffton netted the equalizer.
Gary Douglas Steiner, 58, passed away October 5, 2021, at ProMedica Toledo Hospital. Gary was born July 11, 1963, in Bluffton to the late Evan W. and Betty C. (Reichenbach) Steiner. On September 6, 1986, he married Brenda (Schramm) Steiner, who survives.
A training in Mental Health First Aid will be offered from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday, November 6 at Bluffton Presbyterian Church, 112 N. Main St.
The program will teach participants to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illness and substance abuse disorders. Skills needed to provide support to someone in crisis and expanded content on trauma, addiction, and self-care will be included. The training is free and open to community members, high school and college students, and faith leaders.
Have you been bitten by the photography bug? The Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan park district invites non-professional photographers to enter the 45th annual Nature Photography Contest. Deadline for entry is Sunday, October 31. Competition categories are:
Specific Nature Subject – Flora
Specific Nature Subject – Fauna
Landscape
Parks Potpourri
For "Parks Potpourri," photos must be taken in a park operated by the Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District (including Bluffton's Motter Metro Park, 10740 Columbus Grove-Bluffton Rd.)
Registration is open for Fall Session 2 youth programs at Bluffton Family Recreation (BFR), 215 Snider Rd. The session runs from October 10 to November 6.
A variety of after school programs are available on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Costs range from $16-24 for BFR members and $30-48 for non-members. See attached flyer for programs and times.
All youth classes are run each session (Fall I-III) unless otherwise noted. The schedule is subject to change.
Ben Thiel, the new Bluffton Elementary school principal, is originally from the Findlay area and graduated from Liberty Benton HIgh School. He attended Indiana Wesleyan University before transferring to Bluffton University in 2007, where he played football and graduated with a middle childhood education degree.
Ben and his wife Sarah started their teaching careers in Texas. He began his masters coursework at the University of Texas at Arlington and completed Principal Licensure at the University of Findlay.
Some of you may be familiar with the idiom “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” The expression is interpreted as a person that invests or commits all their energy or resources into a single opportunity or goal at the risk of losing everything. We were often given this advice to make sure that we had a backup plan or a plan B so that if the original goal did not come to fruition, we had an alternative. (When you say plan B to a healthcare professional, we often think of the commercially available product for emergency contraception known as Plan B®.)
