The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, September 20, 2017 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 Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Senior Kyson Western scored four goals as the Pike Central High School boys' soccer team shut out visiting Heritage Hills 4-0 on Thurs- day, Sept. 14. The Patriots, ranked 10th in Class 2A, entered the con- test with a record of 10 -0 -1 against 6th-ranked Pike Cen- tral, including a 2-1 win last year that gave the Chargers their only regular-season loss. "When you've not been able to beat a team, and you've both been really good, some- thing's got to give, because pride takes over, and you just want that a little more than they do," said Pike Central head coach Chad Western, whose team improved to 9 -1- 1 overall and 4-0 in the Pocket Athletic Conference. "I don't think they wanted it as bad as we did tonight." The loss was the third straight for the Patriots (7-4 overall, 4-1 in the PAC). Her- itage Hills, which went 6 - 0 in conference play to win PAC titles in both 2015 and 2016, had won 16 consecu- tive Pocket Athletic Confer- ence games. Led by senior Jesus Lara (10 goals, 7 assists) and junior Phillip Koesters (9 goals, 8 assists), Heritage Hills came into Thursday night's show- down having scored 62 goals in 10 matches while allowing only 11. Pike Central – led by strik- ers Kyson Western (21 goals, 12 assists) and sophomore Ethan Scott (5 goals, 11 as- sists) – had scored 47 goals in its first 10 games while al- so giving up 11. "What they do, they do very well," Chad Western said of Heritage Hills. "They're more skilled than us, per man, but our effort had to be up, and then we had to counter out of it hard. We thought we could expose some things with our two strikers." With the score still knot- ted at 0 -0, Pike Central got its first scoring opportunity with approximately 16 min- utes left in the first half when Scott – taking a pass from se- nior Briar Meadors – fired a shot on goal that forced Her- itage Hills senior goalkeeper Daniel Yeager to make a div- ing stop. With a little more than 13 minutes remaining in the first half, Patriots senior Austin Schnuck received a yellow card for a tackle on Chargers senior Kaleb Claridge, which would set up a free kick by Kyson Western midway be- tween the midfield line and the top of the 18 -yard box. Kyson Western tried to kick the ball into the left side of the goal, but Heritage Hills junior Carter Cox intercepted the ball and cleared it, kick- ing it out of bounds. Then, with 8:02 remain- ing before halftime, Kyson Western gave the Chargers a 1-0 lead when he was able to nudge the ball past a hard- charging Yeager and kick it Burkhart's 18 -hole-score of 81 broke the previous school record of 85 that was set by Kinzie Reed in 2007 during the sectional tournament – which was played at the Bicknell Country Club – and was tied by Bohnert earlier this season during the Washington Invitation- al at the Country Oaks Golf Course. "Honestly, she's been, from freshman year to this year, the most consistent golfer we've had in the girls' golf program, in the history of it," Gideon said of Bur- khart, who has earned All-PAC honors all four years. "She's played No. 1 all year for me, all last year and the year before, and I put her there because, just like today, she was playing with a girl that's a really good player, but she can handle that pressure." Burkhart's 81 was a seven-stroke improvement over the 14-over-par 88 that she shot during the PAC Cham- pionship at the Oakland City Golf Course one week earlier. By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Senior quarterback Christian Alvey and sophomore running back Mario Fields proved to be a winning combi- nation for the Pike Central High School football team during a 46 -26 victory at Forest Park on Friday, Sept. 15. Alvey rushed for 257 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries. Fields, meanwhile, gained 144 yards on 17 rushing attempts while scoring four touchdowns – including one on an 85 -yard fumble return – as the Char- gers improved to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in the Pocket Athletic Conference. "J.J. Howald, one of our assistant coaches, makes a great point," Pike Central head coach Erik Mattingly said afterward. "They are two totally differ- ent runners. So we can put them in and call the same play and, defensively, it's almost like two different plays, because you're tackling two different runners." "It's a nice one-two combination," Mattingly added. "Instead of thunder and lightning, it's, like, thunder and thunder. They just keep coming at you." Alvey, however, gave credit where the credit was due – the offensive line. "I couldn't have done it without my line, me or Mario," Alvey said. "A fter they got the block, they would just run down the field. A couple of times, I got down field, and I'd see a lineman just pass me and he'd block somebody, and Senior Halley Powers placed seventh out of 58 to- tal runners to lead the Pike Central High School girls' cross country team to a sec- ond-place finish in the Princ- eton Invitational on Tuesday, Sept. 12. Powers completed the 3.1-mile course with a time of 21:56. Evansville Reitz soph- omore Hannah Sale placed first overall with a time of 19:38. Lady Chargers freshman Lauren Young finished 10th with a season-best time of 22:35, while Lady Chargers senior Cailey Furman fin- ished 14th with a season-best time of 22:49. In addition, Lady Char- gers freshman Jenna Mey- er placed 27th with a sea- son-best time of 24:39; La- dy Chargers senior Britta- ny Young placed 30th with a time of 24:43; Lady Chargers junior Erin Craig placed 36th with a personal record time of 24:56, besting her previ- ous PR time of 25:07; and La- dy Chargers junior Lillie Pan- cake placed 37th with a time of 24:59. As a team, Pike Central scored 85 points, trailing on- ly Jasper, which placed first with 58 points. Boonville fin- ished third with 93 points, followed by Vincennes Lin- coln (108 points), Evans- ville Reitz (113), Mount Ver- non (Posey) (144), Tecum- seh (164), Northeast Dubois (171) and Washington (180). Princeton and North Posey also participated but did not have enough runners to qual- ify for a team score. "With Halley leading the pack for us, Lauren Young, Cailey Furman, Jenna Mey- er and Brittany Young all did a great job in the girls' race of pushing our 2nd to 5th places as low as they could," Pike Central head coach Josh Roach said. "Our girls' eyes lit up when they realized they By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Senior Natalie Burkhart shot a school-re- cord 18 -hole score of 81 and junior Natalie Bohnert fired an 84 to lead the Pike Cen- tral High School girls' golf team to a sec- ond-place finish in the sectional tournament at the Country Club of Old Vincennes on Sat- urday, Sept. 16. Senior Mackenzie DeWeese had a 99, soph- omore Hadley Holder had a 105 and senior Morgan DeWeese had a 106 as the Lady Char- gers shot 369 as a team, breaking – by one stroke – the school record of 370 that was set during last year's sectional tournament. With the second-place finish – the highest in the program's history following third-place finishes in 2007 and 2016 – Pike Central will advance for the second consecutive year to the regional tournament, which will be held on Saturday, Sept. 22, at the Country Oaks Golf Course in Montgomery. "We played real well," Lady Chargers head coach Jarrod Gideon said. "We knew coming in we had a shot if we played well. We couldn't play like we did last week (when Pike Central finished fourth in the Pocket Athletic Confer- ence Championship with a team score of 392) but it was just one of those things. Both Na- talies stepped up big today." PCHS girls' cross country team places second in Princeton Invitational Alvey, Fields lead Chargers past Forest Park, 46-26 BURKHART, BOHNERT LEAD LADY CHARGERS TO SECOND-PLACE FINISH IN SECTIONAL GOLF TOURNAMENT The Pike Central High School girls' golf team shot a school-record score of 369 while placing second in the sectional tournament at the Country Club of Old Vincennes on Sat- urday, Sept. 16. The Lady Chargers qualified to compete in the regional tournament at Country Oaks Golf Course in Montgomery on Saturday, Sept. 23. Pictured, from left to right, are: Mackenzie DeWeese, Natalie Burkhart, Natalie Bohnert, Hadley Holder and Morgan DeWeese. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School se- nior quarterback Christian Al- vey (16) throws a pass during football game action at Forest Park on Friday, Sept. 16. Alvey rushed for 257 yards and two touchdowns and passed for an- other in the Chargers' 46-26 victory. Ed Cahill photo See CHARGERS on 3 See WIN on 8 See PCHS on 2 See SECOND on 2 I AM THE CO-OP The information we get from our Touchstone Energy cooperative about efficiency, safety and technology gives us the power to make informed decisions. Visit TouchstoneEnergy.com to discover the power of your co-op. YOUR SOURCE OF POWER. AND INFORMATION. Copyright©2017 Caperion PCHS boys' soccer team posts first-ever win over Patriots, 4-0 Pike Central High School senior Breyton Book- er (21) goes after the ball as Heritage Hills ju- nior Luke Leffert (right) closes in during varsi- ty boys' soccer action on Thursday, Sept. 14. The Chargers defeated the visiting Patriots, 4-0. Ed Cahill photo