The Press-Dispatch
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B-2 Sports Wednesday, October 24, 2018 The Press-Dispatch Memorial, Bloomington South, Columbus North and Edgewood qualified to ad- vance as teams to the state meet, which will be held on Saturday, Oct. 27, at the La- Vern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute. Advancing as individuals will be Sale; Seymour senior Ashton Chase; Christian Academy of Indiana senior McKenna Cavanaugh; Barr- Reeve freshman Makenna Pruett; Jasper senior Alyssa Skorge; Jasper freshman An- di VanMeter; Crosthersville freshman Kaylyn Holman; Forest Park freshman Ellie Hall; Terre Haute South ju- nior Lily Barton; and Shaka- mak junior Jacy Collins. In the boys' race, Pike Central senior Draven Huff placed 52nd out of 180 to- tal runners with a time of 17:03.9, while sophomore Ijaa Chambers placed 93rd with a time of 17:34.4. During last year's semi- state meet, Huff was 118th out of 179 total runners with a time of 17:29, while Cham- bers was 137th with a time of 17:48. Christian Academy of In- diana senior Caleb Futter placed first in the boys' race with a time of 15:31.5. Edge- wood senior Austin Hackett finished second with a time of 15:39.8, while Bloomington South senior Ian Shaw was third with a time of 15:43.0. Bloomington South (81 points) placed first as a team, followed by Columbus North (97), Bloomington North (126), Floyd Central (164), Jennings County (179), Tell City (208), Evansville Re- itz (245), Gibson Southern (251), Northview (254), New Albany (275), Terre Haute North (288), Austin (297), Jasper (318), Christian Acad- emy of Indiana (334), Terre Haute South (350), Evans- ville Memorial (368), Silver Creek (382), South Knox (392), Castle (448) and Sey- mour (539). Bloomington South, Co- lumbus North, Bloomington North, Floyd Central, Jen- nings County and Tell City qualified to advance as teams to the state meet. Advancing as individuals will be Futter; Haskett; Princ- eton senior Jackson Krieg; Terre Haute South sopho- more Cael Light; Heritage Hills senior Mitchel Hopf; Terre Haute South freshman Matt Gambill; Austin senior Ethan Fugate; Jasper junior Jackson Miller; Evansville Memorial junior Joseph Rus- sler; and Evansville North ju- nior Dean Schmidt. "It was definitely a day to be proud of," Pike Cen- tral head coach Josh Roach said. "Nobody should have anything to be upset about. Draven and Ijaa both ran their races faster this year than last year. The big take- away we always try to preach is continuous improvement. You can only control your im- provement. While we would have liked to be able to say we have one more race to train for, they will look back and see the big things they achieved and be proud that they never stopped improv- ing." The same thing, Roach noted, could be said for the Lady Chargers, who were making only their second ap- pearance as a team at semi- state since the distance was increased from 2.5 miles to 3.1 miles in 2007. And the future only looks bright for the girls' team, with four sophomores and two freshmen competing in this year's semi-state meet. "They've basically set the standard with this race and we hope to get back a few times and be able to improve on those times," Roach said. "Cross country is still one class, and when you get to the semi-state level, you get to face some teams that no other sport gets to face come tourney time. They didn't back down from any of that. There may have been nerves and emotions more so than some other races with how big this meet is, but they stepped up and competed as best as they could." "They definitely have a lot to be proud of," Roach added. "And a lot to look forward to." Mario to tight end, that lim- its your options on what you do in the run game," Ste- phens said. "So we really relied on Eli, and I felt like Eli did a good job for us. He puts his head down. He runs hard. He's just as steady as a rock. I really think he did a really good job of showing what kind of back he is and what he's all about." "We're going to miss hav- ing him around next year," Stephens added. "He's just as steady as a rock. You know what you're going to get out of him." Junior Colin Craig, who was moved from linebacker to defensive end to replace McCarter, had one fumble recovery for the Chargers. Junior wide receiver Connor O'Neal rushed for 84 yards on eight carries while catching one pass for 15 yards. Fields gained 22 yards on three carries and caught three passes for 29 yards. Freshman running back Wyatt Frasure gained 16 yards on three carries, and Leathco caught two passes for three yards. Utterback, meanwhile, completed eight of 21 pass attempts with four intercep- tions – three of which were returned for scores – for 55 yards. "We knew getting a win would be a tough task for us, but we really wanted to be in a situation where we got to honestly evaluate Lars' ability as a varsity quarter- back, and we kind of opened up the playbook," Stephens said. "Even though the weather was a little bit of a concern, we wanted to give him throws we thought he could still make, get him the full plethora of the offenses that we would run and see what he could do." "I think as far as reads and stuff like that, he was doing a good job of going to the right read," Stephens added. "What happened to Lars early on, his protection broke down and I think that he was maybe feeling pres- sure that wasn't quite there later on, and it was causing him to not follow through on his throws. And I think that's just a game experi- ence thing. I have full con- fidence that he's going to learn, he's going to grow. I'm excited about our future with him." Trailing 44-6 at halftime, Stephens said that the refer- ee asked him if he wanted to play with a running clock during the second half. "Those kids, regardless of their skill set or ability, they always try hard to the very end; there's no give- up in them," Stephens said. We're always going to deny a running clock. Our guys re- sponded in the second half. I'm really proud of our guys. I mean, it's cold, it's raining, and you know that the out- come's all but determined. In a game like that, it's re- al easy to look forward to fall break and to getting the game over with, and they could have laid down, and our guys fought all the way to the end." "I think that says a lot about their character, and it says a lot about what our fo- cus has been for this season, which is a culture shift," Stephens added. "We'll get there skill-wise. We'll get there physical-wise. But I think our hearts and our competitive spirit are al- ready starting in the right direction for the culture that we want to build for this pro- gram going forward." Stephens said that he was pleased with how positive the players were through- out the season. "It's hard to stay posi- tive," Stephens said. "I love fans, but fans are fans. Fans want greatness yesterday, and I can appreciate where they're coming from, and it's hard sometimes be- cause they don't always un- derstand the in's and outs of everything that's going on. But our kids, even though they may hear some nega- tively, they did a great job of staying positive." "I'm really blessed and pleased with the kind of at- titude that they set, and I think it was set by our senior leaders," Stephens added. "I think Coleman was a guy who set the tone. I think Ju- dah Leathco was a guy who set the tone for positiveness. When you have that kind of leadership, it shows. I was really excited about being really blessed and fortunate to have those guys lead the way for our culture change." FALL Continued from page 1 UPCOMING SCHEDULE SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27 High School Girls' Basketball: Northeast Dubois at Pike Central (scrimmage), 1 p.m. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1 High School Girls' Basketball: Pike Central at Evansville Reitz – Junior Varsity, 6:30 p.m.; Varsity, 8 p.m. Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Girls' Basket- ball: Fort Branch at Pike Central, 6 p.m. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20 High School Girls' and Boys' Cross Country: Semi-State Meet at Brown County, 11:30 a.m. HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL Pocket Athletic Conference Standings PAC Overall Team W-L W-L PF PA Heritage Hills 7-0 10 -0 460 52 Gibson Southern 6 -1 8 -2 446 99 Southridge 5 -2 7-3 373 153 North Posey 4-3 5 -5 210 387 South Spencer 2-5 2-8 185 441 Tell City 2-5 3-7 130 195 Forest Park 1-6 1-9 92 360 Pike Central 1-6 1-9 92 433 IHSA A TOURNAMENT FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19 CLASS 4A Sectional 24 Boonville 42, Evansville Bosse 35 Jasper 34, Evansville Harrison 12 Northview 55, Owen Valley 0 Evansville Central 30, Evansville Reitz 14 CLASS 3A Sectional 32 Vincennes Lincoln 56, Pike Central 6 Evansville Memorial 52, Princeton 14 Heritage Hills 47, Mount Vernon (Posey) 0 Gibson Southern 54, Washington 6 CLASS 2A Sectional 40 Linton-Stockton 42, Forest Park 7 Evansville Mater Dei 35, North Posey 7 Southridge 49, South Spencer 7 North Knox 14, Tell City 8 (OT) CLASS 1A Sectional 48 Tecumseh 32, North Daviess 7 Eastern Greene 46, Rock Creek Academy 6 West Washington 27, Springs Valley 20 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26 CLASS 5A Sectional 16 Terre Haute South at Terre Haute North Castle at Evansville North CLASS 4A Sectional 24 Jasper at Boonville Evansville Central at Northview CLASS 3A Sectional 32 Vincennes Lincoln at Evansville Memorial Heritage Hills at Gibson Southern CLASS 2A Sectional 40 Evansville Mater Dei at Linton-Stockton Southridge at North Knox CLASS 1A Sectional 48 North Central (Farmersburg) at Tecumseh Eastern Greene at West Washington HARTING J eff RECORDER PIKE COUNTY Paid for by Harting for Recorder Connect with me on Facebook "Jeff Harting for Pike County Recorder" or www.facebook.com/PCRecorder Pike Central High School senior Judah Leathco catches a pass before heading upfield during sec- tional football game action at Vincennes Lincoln on Friday, Oct. 19. The Alices defeated Pike Cen- tral, 56-6. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School junior Mario Fields (left, with ball) carries the ball up the field while junior team- mate Connor O'Ne- al (center) blocks Vin- cennes Lincoln se- nior Eli Malone (right) during sectional football game action on Friday, Oct. 19. The host Alices defeated Pike Central, 56-6. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Eli Coleman (wth ball) gets tackled by Vin- cennes Lincoln sophomore Andrew Brown (top) while Alices senior Colton McCrary (bottom) grabs him by the foot during sectional football game ac- tion on Friday, Oct. 19. The host Alices defeated Pike Central, 56-6. Ed Ca- hill photo Pike Central High School freshman Wyatt Frazier (6) finds some running room during sectional football game action at Vincennes Lincoln on Friday, Oct. 19. The Alices defeated Pike Central, 56-6. Ed Cahill photo PLACES Continued from page 1