The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, August 8, 2018 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 The Pike Central High School football team – after being left without a Week One opponent when Wood Memorial unexpect- edly dropped its program in late July – will open the 2018 season instead against In- dianapolis Lighthouse East on Saturday, Aug. 18. Kickoff for the game, which will be played at Indianapolis Manual, is sched- uled for 5 p.m. According to the IHSA A website, Indi- anapolis Lighthouse East – a public char- ter school which opened in August 2015 – is classified as 1A with an enrollment of 277 students in grades nine through 12. Ironically, Wood Memorial is also classi- fied as 1A with an enrollment of 277 stu- dents as well. The Pythons are playing a varsity sched- ule for the first time this season. They are one of three teams, along with Indianapo- lis Howe and Indianapolis Manual, in the newly formed Greater Indianapolis Con- ference. "We started looking right away," Pike Central athletic director Dustin Powell said. "I found about three or four different teams, but, this particular team, I called and got a hold of the secretary and left a message. I really didn't think much more about it, just because I figured it may be a little bit before I heard from them." Within two or three days, however, Pow- ell received a return call from the India- napolis Lighthouse East athletic director. "We got to talking, and the biggest thing at that time was them traveling here," Pow- ell said. "They don't have a home field, so they just play a lot of teams in that area. But they get outside of it a little bit. They go to Seymour and play Trinity Lutheran, and I believe he said something about they're traveling to Terre Haute at some point. So he wasn't real confident that their superin- tendent and principal would be happy with them driving this far to play a game." Powell said that he subsequently contact- ed the school administration to see if the Chargers would be permitted to schedule a Week One game in Indianapolis. "The state IHSA A's (travel) rule is, like, 600 miles total," Powell noted. "It's not any- where near that, but, still, it's a two-and-a- half-hour drive. So it was just a matter of getting the okay to do that. There was no problem on our end." "With the situation and the timing and everything, that was our best bet," Pow- ell continued. "Let's be honest. The kids want to play. The coaches want to play. So, luckily, I felt real- ly good with how the admin- istration handled it. They said, you know, we under- stand the situation." Powell said that the dis- tance that Pike Central will have to travel to play was the biggest reason that the game was scheduled for Saturday with a late after- noon starting time. "We moved it to Satur- day, at a little earlier time, so with the travel, the kids aren't getting back real late," Powell said. "It'll take a couple hours to play, get cleaned up and all that stuff, and the kids are still back about the same time they'd be back from Tell City or South Spencer, and maybe even a little ear- lier. It all worked out." First-year Chargers head coach Dave Ste- phens agreed. "We wanted to make sure that we had an op- portunity for our fans, if they wanted to come, and we felt like 5 o'clock was a reasonable time to get up there," Stephens said. "And, also, a reasonable time for our players to get back home, and we're not getting home past midnight and those kinds of things. Those were the chief considerations with our kids." The Aug. 18 game against Indianap- olis Lighthouse East will mark the first time that Pike Central has played a foot- ball game on a Saturday since Sept. 23, 2006, when the Chargers' game at South Spencer that was scheduled for the previ- ous evening was postponed because of se- vere weather. Powell said that it was important that Pike Central pick up a Week One opponent since the Chargers are not playing a pre- season scrimmage after scheduling Wood Memorial for the season opener. "We're losing the scrimmage, as far as the kids' preparation, and then we're los- ing a home game," Powell said. "More than anything, as far as the kids go, it was just necessary to get them a game. That was our main objective. Obviously, we would have liked to have played a home game." "When we added Wood Memorial Week One, it took away our scrimmage game," Stephens said. "So we really felt like, if we didn't have a scrimmage game and we didn't have a Week One game, it was real- ly a disservice to our players to go into Te- cumseh Week Two – which is a game that we expect to compete – and not really have seen live bodies flying since July." Powell noted that Indianapolis Light- house East was interested in playing at Pike Central next season. "Most of your contracts are going to be at least two or four (years)," Powell said. "We've agreed on this year. They actually have a game scheduled for next year but they want to try to get out of it and pick us up. It just depends. If that works out, we'll do that." With the loss of the Week One home game against Wood Memorial, the Char- gers will have only three regular-season home contests in 2018 against Heritage Hills on Aug. 31, Forest Park on Sept. 14, and Southridge on Oct. 5. Bohnert leads girls' golf to 227-274 victory CHARGERS TO OPEN 2018 SEASON AGAINST INDIANAPOLIS LIGHTHOUSE EAST Pike Central High School senior Na- talie Bohnert shot a nine-hole score of 39 to lead the Lady Chargers to a 227- 274 victory over host Heritage Hills in a match played at the Christmas Lake Golf Course on Monday, Aug. 6. Juniors Madison Warner and Had- ley Holder had a 60 and 62, respective- ly, while freshman Carissa Moudy and junior Emma Rainey both fired a 66. Freshman Sydney Loveless added a 71. "We are getting better," said Pike Central head coach Jarrod Gideon, whose team improved to 2-0. "Natalie played really well, shooting a 39 on a tough course. The other girls are get- ting acclimated to playing competitive golf and handling the pressure and stress that goes along with it. They are learning and improving." The Lady Chargers will face South Knox and North Knox in a tri-match at the Bicknell Country Club on Thursday, Aug. 9, before competing in the Wash- ington Invitational at the Country Oaks Golf Course in Montgomery on Satur- day, Aug. 11. Pike Central will then host Gibson Southern on Monday, Aug. 13, at the Prides Creek Golf Course. Natalie Bohnert Pike Central High School senior Emily Hill (right) tries to beat a Vincennes Rivet player to the ball during a girls' soccer scrim- mage on Saturday, Aug. 4. The Lady Chargers will open the 2018 season at Tell City on Tuesday, Aug. 14, before returning home to host North Knox on Wednesday, Aug. 15. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School sophomore Grace Brandle (6) and a Vincennes Rivet player chase after the ball during a girls' soccer scrimmage on Saturday, Aug. 4. The Lady Chargers will open the 2018 season at Tell City on Tuesday, Aug. 14, before returning home to host North Knox on Wednesday, Aug. 15. Ed Cahill photo WE ARE PROFFESIONAL GRADE uebelhorgm.com 1-800-937-8721 Jasper, IN Pike Central Football Charger Night set for Friday The 1st Annual Pike Central Football Charger Night will be on Friday, Aug. 10, at 6 p.m. The jamboree-style event, which will be held on the Pike Central foot- ball practice field, will be comprised of a series of intrasquad scrimmages fea- turing the entire football program. The Pike County Youth Football 3rd and 4th graders will start off the festiv- ities followed by the Pike County Youth Football 5th and 6th graders and the Pike Central Middle School 7th and 8th graders. The evening will be capped off with the Burgandy and White Scrimmage featuring the Pike Central High School football team. "The idea behind Charger Night is that we want to show unification of a program – not just the high school football team," Pike Central head coach Dave Stephens said. "We want to make sure that everybody that comes and watches knows that there's support from third grade to 12th grade." Bleacher seating will be available, but spectators are also encouraged to bring their own chairs and/or blankets. Concessions will be available. There will be a nominal admission fee of $2 per person. "We had our three-day camp last week, and I really feel like the ground- work of the team came together," Ste- phens said. "I think that we will get a chance to show that we're unified as brothers but, at the same time, we don't mind at all being competitive with each other. The competition should come out in a good way with our players that night. And I'm excited for it." PCHS GIRLS' SOCCER SCRIMMAGE VS VINCENNES RIVET PCHS grad Daves takes on former major leaguers in Bluegrass World Series By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net When Pike Central High School alum Bo Daves took the mound for the Jasper Reds against the Louisville Stars – a team comprised en- tirely of former major league baseball players – in the Blue- grass World Series at Louis- ville's Slugger Field on Mon- day, July 30, he knew he had his work cut out for him. "It was interesting," said the 30 -year-old Daves. "I was jumbling a lot of things through my head of how to ap- proach them and, you know, really the only way is to just hit your spots, try not to walk too many, and definitely don't try to give up too many home runs." "It was crazy," Daves add- ed. "It was exciting and fun to think about, but it really wasn't until I was standing on the mound, and it was, like, 'Now up to bat, Johnny Damon,' when it really hit me, that, 'Wow! This is really hap- pening! '" Damon, who won two World Series rings – with the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and the New York Yankees in 2009 – and played in two All-Star Games during his 18 -year major league career, predictably proved to be a tough out, working the count to three balls and two strikes before being retired on an in- field pop up to end an eight- pitch at-bat. J.D. Drew, who won one World Series ring with the Boston Red Sox in 2007 and was named the Most Valuable Player of the All-Star Game in 2008, subsequently grounded out, while Jayson Werth, who won one World Series ring with the Philadelphia Phil- lies in 2008 and appeared in the 2009 All-Star game, flew out as Daves retired the Lou- isville Stars in order in the opening inning. "It took me, I'd say, at least an inning before I really set- tled down," Daves said. "I knew I wasn't going to blow it past those guys, so I was just trying to throw them dif- ferent stuff, trying not to just be predictable." "It was hard, because they've seen it all," Daves add- ed. "So it was really just try- ing to keep it low at that point, trying to get ground-outs, be- cause I knew I had a good de- fense behind me. I mean, they made some really good plays that night, too." Nick Swisher, who won one World Series ring with the New York Yankees in 2009 and appeared in the 2010 All- Star Game, led off the sec- See DAVES on 2 More Scrimmage Page 3