The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1168989
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, September 18, 2019 B-1 SPORTS Submit sports items: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: sports@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central Chargers played with a running clock in the second half for the fourth consecutive week after getting thumped in the first half of their 48 -14 loss to the Tell City Marks- men (3-1) on Friday, Sept. 13 at Weath- ers Field. Pike Central dropped to 0 -4 with the loss, but coach Dave Stephens be- lieves the team still has a lot to play for this season. "We will never shortchange our kids," Stephens said. "We are go- ing to continue to scheme for these games like we are a top five team in the state and undefeated. That's how we are going to handle our business because culture changes don't hap- pen overnight. It's like hammering away at a big boulder. You don't know which hit will crack that boulder, but at some point it will. You just have to keep swinging your hammer every single time." A lack of numbers continue to haunt the Chargers and while their offense has been respectable for much of the season, the defense has been abysmal. "I would love to tell you that there is some kind of schematic solution out there, but there is no schematic answer for a personnel problem," Ste- phens said. "It's painfully evident, that our lack of size up front on the defen- sive line is something that isn't getting any better this year. It's something we are still trying to figure out how to deal with it." Pike Central had tried moving de- fensive line around, shifting, pinching, stunting and slanting to fix the prob- lems, but has had little or no success. "At the end of the day, we just aren't holding up," Stephens said. "We have no choice but to keep trying to find an- swers, but every week, we just keep getting moved off the ball. You assign one man per gap, and if your not phys- ically capable of keeping gap integrity, it's hard to deal with." The Marksmen finished the game with 330 rushing yards on three at- tempts, for 8.46 yards per carry. Tell City's ball carriers often went five to 10 yards before they were even touched, with the Marksmen knock- ing the Chargers back three or four yards every time. "If you were standing right where the ball was snapped, you could see that we were just physically taking it to us," Stephens said, adding he had six players who didn't practice on Monday because of a combination of issues. By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Junior Kenzie Powell dis- tributed a match-high 32 as- sists, dove for 20 digs, added three kills and created one service ace, as Pike Central volleyball defeated Wood Memorial (0 -10) on Tues- day, Sept. 10. The Chargers (3-11) won the match 25 -22, 23-25, 25 - 18, 25 -22. "We came out pretty ag- gressive in the first set," Pike Central coach Bran- di Chestnut said. "We had some good kills, hitting the open areas on the floor. The second set was really close until the end, and they just edged us out for the last cou- ple of points. I told the girls going in to the third set that we needed to adjust to their hitters to cover the holes on our side and get the digs up for [Powell] to set the hit- ters up. They did a great job of going after the ball. It was a hot place to play and I am pleased that they were able to push through the heat and get the win." Audrey Keepes had a game-high 13 kills, 18 digs and one ace; Karen Pipes had six kills, six digs and an assist; Aubrie Dawson had eight digs, five kills, one ace and an assist; Lily Willis had five digs and four kills; Eri- ka Vinnedge had four kills, three digs and two blocks; Maddie Williams had three assists and two digs; Ashlyn Shoultz had five digs, three kills, one block and an assist; Shelby Ridao had one kill; Lilly Frederick-Rice had five digs, two aces, one kill and one block; Emma Russel had one kill and an assist; Addie Johnson had six digs and one ace; Riley Morgan had a dig and Neeley Correll had an assist. PCHS LOSES TO SOUTHRIDGE Southridge (6 -9) traveled to Pike Central on Monday, Sept. 9 and defeated the Chargers 25 -23, 26 -28, 25 - 14, 25 -15. The match was very close in the first two sets, and tied 1-1, but the Raiders were overpowering in the final two sets, securing the win. "I feel that we were pret- ty well evenly matched go- ing in to the match," Chest- The Pike Central boys' tennis team had a busy week, unfortunately it wasn't nearly as successful. The Chargers started the week with a narrow 3-2 loss to South Knox on Tues- day, Sept. 10. Pike Central won at No. 1 and No. 2 singles when Quentin Sorgius beat Na- than Ruppel 6 -1, 6 -2, and Ethan Huck de- feated Caleb Cunningham 6 -0, 6 -0. Na- than Robbins won over Dalton Williams 6 -4, 7-6 to give South Knox a win at No. 3 singles. However, the Spartans won at No. 1 PCHS tennis seeking first conference win Lady Chargers volleyball upends Trojans CHARGERS, STEPHENS SEE PATH FOR SUCCESSFUL SEASON DESPITE BEING 0-4 Pike Central's Ethan Huck hits a return during his No. 2 singles match versus Forest Park on Monday, Sept. 16. A gang of Pike Central defenders stop a Tell City ball carrier at the line of scrimmage at Weath- ers Field on Friday, Sept. 13. The Chargers' standout wide receiver Connor O'Neal breaks free for a nice gain against Tell City on Friday, Sept. 13 at Weath- ers Field. Powell posts 32 assists in victory By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central girls' golf team finished in the middle of pack at the Pock- et Athletic Conference meet on Saturday, Sept. 14 at the Oakland City Golf Course. No. 18 ranked Gibson Southern won the PAC and was way ahead of the rest of the field with a total team score of 334. The Chargers placed fifth with 411, but had the opportunity for a higher finish, with just six points separating third and sixth-place. "Overall, we played okay, but not great," Pike Central coach Jarrod Gideon said. "We know we can play bet- ter, but that's just the way golf goes, some days it just doesn't go your way." PCHS girls' golfers 5th at PAC Pike Central senior Hadley Holder tees off during the PAC Meet on Saturday, Sept. 14 at Oakland City Golf Course. See PAC on 5 See PATH on 4 See UPEND on 2 Pike Central senior Shelby Vaughn scores a goal to tie Princeton 1-1 in the first half of their game on Thursday, Sept. 12. The Chargers went on to de- feat the Tigers 4-1. By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central girls' soccer team had a spotty week after recording a win at home over Princeton (3-5 -1) and losing on the road to Forest Park (6 -3-1). The Chargers scored four unanswered goals to defeat the Tigers 4-1 on Thursday, Sept. 12. "We played well," Pike Central coach Chad Western said. "Princeton we played well most of the time." Princeton took a 1-0 lead with about 25 minutes remaining in the first half, but Pike Central senior Shelby Vaughn answered with a nice goal to tie the score 1-1 a short time later. Vaughn scored again a couple of minutes before halftime to give the Chargers a 2-1 advantage at the break. "Shelby is doing the same work she always does," Western said. "She just gets free a lit- tle more against certain teams. She knows what the team needs and gives that to us each time out. Sometimes it's offense, and a lot of the time it's defense." Western said Pike Central played even better in the second half and had several chances. Chloe Roy added a goal four minutes in the second half and Abigail Skelton scored the team's final goal with seven minutes left in the game. Alli Holder, Skelton and Adair Kabrick each had an assist. Lauren Young, Keena Young, Kahle Young, Hannah Woodford and Jaylynn Cape- hart all did well on defense to limit chances for Princeton, and Albany Ashley, Kabrick, Lillian Thompson and Vaughn controlled the middle and allowed the team to transition smoothly to offense. Pike Central goalkeeper Jenna Horrall fin- Up and down week for Charger girls Vaughn's goals lift team past Princeton See CHARGER on 2 See TENNIS on 3 ished the game with three saves. PIKE CENTRAL FALLS TO PAC FOE The Chargers played well against the Rangers on Saturday, Sept. 14, but lost 3-1. "Forest Park is very good," Western said. "They play a tough schedule to start the sea- son, but are a good senior group of girls. They have a great offense, and we had to sit back a little, or they could put up a lot of goals." Forest Park scored early, about three min- utes into the game. Vaughn tied the score at 1-1 off of a free kick with about 23 minutes to go in the first half. "We played well until the last minute of the half, when Forest Park scored a goal with 50 seconds left," Western said. "The second half was more of the same, as we had a few chanc- es, and Forest Park had their chances also." Western said the Chargers went more on offense in the game's final 10 minutes, with the Rangers countering once to take a 3-1 lead with three minutes left in the game. Horrall was solid in goal and the defense