The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, September 5, 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 Senior running back Kyndell Car- ter and junior quarterback Cole Sigler scored two touchdowns each as Heri- tage Hills defeated host Pike Central 62-2 in high school football action on Friday, Aug. 31. The Chargers, who fell to 0 -3 over- all and 0 -1 in the Pocket Athletic Con- ference, scored their only points of the game on the opening kickoff when Heritage Hills senior Dakoda Ebert – picking up the ball after it came to a stop inside the Patriots' 1-yard line – was tackled in the end zone by Pike Central senior Randy Powell and ju- nior Connor O'Neal with 11:52 left in the first quarter. Chargers head coach Dave Ste- phens noted that the game-opening safety was the second straight time that Pike Central opened up a home game against Heritage Hills with a lead. "It's always nice to start off with the lead," Stephens said. "It was nice be- cause it was one of those mental effort things that we talk about. I felt like a couple of Heritage Hills kids had given up on the play and our guys that were in pursuit were playing all the way to the whistle. And they were rewarded by getting a safety." It is probably worth noting that after the Chargers took an 8 -0 lead against Heritage Hills in 2016 – on a 78 -yard touchdown pass from quarterback Aaron Carlisle to wide receiver Colton O'Neal and a two-point conversion run by fullback Christian Alvey – the Pa- triots would score 56 straight points while rolling to a 56 -15 victory. As it turned out, Friday night's safe- ty proved not to be as much of a har- binger of good things to come as it was an omen, because Heritage Hills would score 62 unanswered points By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Seniors Becca Crow, Kylie Dawson and Alyssa Jenkins delivered 11 kills each as the Pike Central High School volleyball team held off visiting Forest Park for a thrilling 25 -20, 16 -25, 25 - 21, 33-31 victory on Tuesday, Aug. 28. The Lady Chargers, serving for the match-winning point with a 24-17 lead in the fourth set, instead gave up eight straight points to fall behind For- est Park 25 -24. The Lady Rangers would subse- quently serve for the game-winning point six times – at 25 -24, 26 -25, 27-26, 29 -28, 30 -29 and 31-30 – but were un- able to extend the best-of-five match to a fifth set. Pike Central then scored three straight points – including two on kills by Taylor Lamey and Jenkins – to win the set by two, improving its won-loss record to 4-6 overall and 1- 0 in the Pocket Athletic Conference. "It seems to be they always just needed one more," said first-year Pike Central head coach Brandi Chestnut. "I kept telling them the server only gets one serve and we're breaking it." "I feel like that kind of helped ... and them just really wanting the game," Chestnut added. "That passion is what they showed tonight. They showed that they wanted that game. They had the heart, and they got it. So that's great." Crow, who also led the Lady Char- gers with 31 set-assists, agreed. "I think we really just wanted it that bad," Crow said. "We knew that we had to take every serve one at a time, and then just play every ball smart." Playing its seventh match in six days, Pike Central scored the first five points of the first set – including two on ace serves by Taylor Lamey – to take a 5 -0 lead before the Lady Rang- ers rallied to tie the score at 6 -6. The Lady Chargers would score eight of the next 11 points to surge ahead 14-9. But Forest Park rallied once again, scoring seven of the next eight points to pull even at 15 -15. However, with the score tied at 16 - 16, Pike Central scored five straight points – including four following serves by sophomore Kaila Lamey – to take a 21-16 lead. By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net A goal by Princeton ju- nior Licson Regis lifted the Tigers to a 1-0 victory over host Pike Central in high school boys' soccer action on Saturday, Sept. 1. The goal by Regis – which came off of an assist by senior Brantley Mucker- heide – with 2:24 left in the first half gave Princeton its first win over the Chargers since 2013. "We knew going into the game it was going to take 80 really good minutes to win," said Pike Central head coach Jacob Western, whose team slipped to 4- 2 with the loss. "We had a game plan we wanted to ex- ecute, trying to keep Muck- erheide bunched up as best as possible. He is one of the top players in the area and has been scoring goals ev- ery game." Pike Central, which post- ed wins over the Tigers in 2014 (3-2) and 2015 (4-0) before battling to ties in 2016 (2-2) and 2017 (3-3), had several opportunities to score, including once with under 33 minutes left in the first half when a long shot on goal by junior Ethan Scott struck the crossbar. When the ball ricocheted onto the playing field, Char- gers sophomore Connor Young tried to kick it into the goal from the left side. However, Princeton junior goalie Braden Matthews was able to grab the ball for one of his 11 saves. Then, with just under 19 minutes left in the first half, a shot by Pike Central soph- omore Hunter Capehart By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Senior Draven Huff placed fourth out of 87 run- ners as the Pike Central High School boys' cross country team finished sixth as a team in the Alan Hopewell Invitational on Thursday, Aug. 30. Huff completed the 3.1-mile course with a per- sonal course record best time of 17:46, beating his previous personal course record best time of 17:58 he set as a junior. Huff's time was also a 24-second improvement over his pre- vious season-best time of 18:10. Junior Nate Woolery placed 20th with a sea- son-best time of 19:11, beating his previous sea- son-best time of 21:52 by 91 seconds; junior A.J. Hill placed 54th with a time of 21:34; and junior Sam The- ising placed 63rd with a time of 22:41. As a team, Pike Central scored a total of 68 points, trailing Gibson Southern (22 points), Castle (24), South Knox (26), Heritage Hills (32) and Mount Ver- non (55). Boonville was seventh with 77 points, fol- lowed by Evansville Harri- son (83), Evansville Cen- tral (91), Evansville Bosse (112), Tecumseh (115), Sig- nature (120) and Mount Carmel (146). Evansville Christian, Evansville Re- itz, North Posey and South Spencer also competed but did not have enough run- ners to qualify for a team score. In the boys' freshman/ sophomore division, Char- ger sophomore Ijaa Cham- bers placed third out of 67 runners with a season-best time of 18:15 – beating his previous season-best time of 19:01 by 46 seconds – as Pike Central finished fifth as a team. Sophomore Colt Arm- strong placed 24th with a season-best time of 20 :29, beating his previous sea- son-best time of 21:29 by one minute; sophomore Trent Zimmerman placed 35th with a personal re- cord time of 21:42, beat- ing his previous PR time of 21:49 by seven seconds; sophomore Ethan Gorby placed 36th with a personal record time of 21:44, beat- ing his previous PR time of 22:52 by 68 seconds; and sophomore Noah Russell placed 54th with a person- al record time of 25:17, beat- ing his previous PR time of 26:47 by 90 seconds. Heritage Hills senior Mitchell Hopf placed first with a time of 16:11, while Gibson Southern senior Travis Hart was second with a time of 16:15. As a team, Pike Central scored a total of 52 points, trailing Castle (13 points), South Knox (22), Heri- tage Hills (35) and Evans- ville Central (50). Boon- ville was sixth with 61 points, followed by Evans- ville Christian (78), North Posey (81), Mount Carm- el (82) and Evansville Re- itz (88). Evansville Bosse, Evansville Harrison, Gib- son Southern, Mount Ver- non, Signature, Tecumseh and Washington Catholic also participated but did not have enough runners to qualify for a team score. One homeschool partic- ipant, freshman Andrew PCHS cross country teams compete in Alan Hopewell Invitational HERITAGE HILLS ROLLS TO 62-2 WIN OVER CHARGERS Pike Central High School senior running back Eli Coleman (2) is tackled following a short gain during game action against visiting Heritage Hills on Friday, Aug. 31. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Jacob Vest (16) battles for possession of the ball during var- sity boys' soccer action against visiting Princeton on Saturday, Sept. 1. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School sophomore Kaila Lamey (3) and se- nior Kylee Shoultz (10) dive to receive a serve during varsity vol- leyball action against visiting Forest Park on Tuesday, Aug. 28. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School se- nior Draven Huff placed fourth out of 87 runners in the boys' junior/senior division of the Al- an Hopewell Cross Country Invitation- al hosted by Gib- son Southern on Thursday, Aug. 30. Heritage Hills se- nior Mitchell Hopf placed first with a time of 18:11. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Er- in Craig placed 31st out of 47 runners in the girls' junior/ senior division of the Alan Hopewell Cross Country In- vitational hosted by Gibson Southern on Thursday, Aug. 30. Ed Cahill photo See ROLLS on 4 See HOPEWELL on 3 WE ARE PROFFESIONAL GRADE uebelhorgm.com 1-800-937-8721 Jasper, IN Lady Chargers hold off Forest Park for four-set victory Princeton holds off Chargers for 1-0 victory See VICTORY on 5 See HOLD on 2