The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, August 28, 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 Pike Central volleyball picked up its first victo- ry of the season, 3-1, at Evansville Central (1-3) on Thursday, Aug. 22, af- ter losing back-to-back matches to start the 2019 - 20 campaign. The Chargers (1-2) lost the opening set to the Bears 25 -21, but fought back to win the next three sets 25 -20, 26 -24 and 25 - 18. "It was a great match," Pike Central head coach Brandi Chestnut said. "Way to fight back and come out with the win. We played a great match over- all. The girls played hard, they played determined and did what they need- ed to do to put points on the board and get the win. I could not have been more pleased with they way they played last night." The Chargers were led by senior Audrey Keepes with 10 kills, two aces, 14 digs and five assists. Ju- nior Kenzie Powell also played a great game. She had six kills, six aces, 16 digs and 21 assists. Pike Central's oth- er leaders were: seniors Aubrie Dawson (three kills, one ace, eight digs), Karsyn Pipes (two kills, three aces, five digs and three assists), Lily Fred- erick-Rice (two kills and three digs) and Emma Russell (two kills, two ac- es and five digs); juniors Lily Willis (two kills, six digs and two assists), Mad- die Williams (two kills and one dig), Addie Johnson (two aces, 11 digs and two assists) and Shelby Ridao By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Brown County Eagles flew onto the Daily F. Hill Field on Friday, Aug. 23, scoring five first-half touchdowns and gliding to a 41-19 victory over Pike Central in each team's season-opener. "Brown County was a pretty sol- id team," Chargers' head coach Dave Stephens said. "All of the credit goes to them and their team for how they played and executed in their passing game and defensively." However, there were some positive takeaways for Pike Central. The team scored three touchdowns in game, which it didn't do all of last season. The Chargers had a rusher and a re- ceiver go over the century mark, and the team's young linemen displayed good physical toughness. "It was nice to be able to get a lit- tle offensive production," Stephens said. "I was pretty pleased with some of those things, but we have seen some things on film that we know we need to clean up. We took steps on Satur- day to address some of those things. The good news is that the things that need cleaned up are doable." The Chargers struggled with penal- ties in the first half, but did a good job of cleaning that up in the second half. "We don't mind effort penalties, like holding or accidentally grabbing someone's face mask," Stephens said. "We don't ever teach them or encour- age them, but we don't ever want to take the stinger off the bee." Stephens said he's more worried about eliminating the procedural calls, like delay of game, offsides and false start, that can stop a drive before it even gets started. "Those are the things that we real- ly look to avoid," he said. Pike Central also has to get better movement from the defensive line. "We didn't get effective movement out of defensive line," Stephens said. "I don't know if that was a fatigue is- sue, but we are looking at a couple of different options to get some effective movement. Maybe some fresher legs can help." The Chargers didn't provide much of pass rush to Eagles' quarterback Noah Carter, and he made them pay. Carter finished the game 16 of 20 for By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central boys' tennis season had a tough start this past week start- ing the 2019 -20 season 0 -3. "So far we have gotten off to a slow start," Pike Central head coach Brent Beck said. "We are hitting the ball well at times, but we aren't staying in points as long as we should. As a team, our serving has to im- prove as well." The Chargers lost its sea- son-opener 5 -0 at North Posey on Wednesday, Aug. 21. Mac Reshaw defeated Quentin Sorguis 6 -1, 6 - 0 at No. 1 singles; Blake Schmitt defeated Ethan Huck 6 -2, 6 -1 at No. 2 sin- gles; and Ian Heinlein de- feated Dalton Williams 6 -0, 6 -2 at No. 3 singles. Cole Kuester and Zach Seibert won by forfeit at No. 1 doubles, as did Gaige Kihn and Logan Braun at No. 2 doubles. Pike Central also lost its home-opener 2-1 to Vin- cennes Rivet on Friday, Aug. 23. Rivet's Samuel Hinkle won at No. 1 singles. He defeated Sorgius 6 -1, 6 -1. Rivet also won at No. 2 sin- gles when Grant Freeman beat Huck 6 -3, 6 -2. The Chargers earned their win at No. 3 singles when Wil- liams edged Luke Weiss 7- 6, 6 -3. Gibson Southern handed Pike Central its third loss, 5 -0, on Monday, Aug. 24. Max Braselton defeated Sorgius 6 -0, 6 -0 at No. 1 sin- gles; Jarrett Klusmeier beat Huck 6 -1, 6 -0 at No. 2 sin- gles; and Evan Birch won against Williams 6 -1, 6 -0 at No. 3 singles. The Titans won by forfeit at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. Pike Central matches against Northeast Dubois (Monday, Aug. 19) were canceled due to inclement weather. The Pike Central Invitational scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 24 was also canceled. The team is scheduled to host Tecumseh on Wednes- day, Aug. 28, and travel to Vincennes Lincoln on Sat- urday, Aug. 31. Jersey Mills' header sparks Chargers past Bulldogs By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Sometimes all it takes is one spectacular play to ignite the entire team, and that ap- pears to be exactly what hap- pened when Pike Central de- feated Evansville Bosse, 6 -0, in the River City Tournament at the EVSC Soccer Complex on Saturday, Aug. 24. The Chargers started the game a little slow and slug- gish, but that's when senior Jersey Mills scored with a great header off of a corner kick. "A fter that, we started playing extremely good team soccer and put four more goals away in the first half," Pike Central head coach Ja- cob Western said. The Chargers' other goal scorers were seniors Ethan Scott (3), Sam Henson (1) and Gabe Caldwell (1). Ju- nior Connor Young added two assists, and Henson and freshman Nolan Nelson each had one. Freshmen Peyton Howald and Gabe Jones com- bined for the shutout in goal. Howard made six saves and Jones made four. Evansville Bosse finished the tournament with a 1-2 re- cord. Pike Central began the tournament with a 6 -1 victo- ry over North Knox (0 -4) on Friday, Aug. 23. The game was moved to Evansville North High School because of the wet field conditions at the EVSC Soccer Complex. "We played on turf tonight which was a different experi- ence for almost every player on our team," Western said. "A fter we figured out how fast the game was going to be, we settled in." Scott and Young each scored a pair of goals. Hen- son and freshman Joey Rid- ao each added a goal. It was Riidao's first varsity goal of his high school career. Scott also had three as- sists, and seniors Paxton Thorne, Carson Johnson and Nelson each had one assist. The Chargers scored one goal in the first half, where six or seven different play- PCHS tennis takes lumps Pike Central girls' soccer blanks Evansville Bosse EAGLES SWARM CHARGERS IN SEASON OPENER Pike Central senior Connor O'Neal runs through a Brown County tackler on Friday, Aug. 23 at Daily F. Hill Field. Chargers' running back Wyatt Frasure lead blocks for quar- terback Lars Utterback on Friday, Aug. 23 at Daily F. Hill Field. Pike Central running back Wyatt Frasure breaks free for a big gain at Brown County on Friday, Aug. 23. Pike Central's Aubrie Dawson goes up for a spike against Washington on Wednesday, Aug. 21. By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central girls' soccer team kicked off the season in style behind a strong 2-1 start. The Chargers traveled to Evansville Bosse (0 -4) on Monday, Aug. 26 and shut- out the Bulldogs, 2-0. "We were dealing with a couple of injuries tonight," Pike Central head coach Chad Western said. "But we battled through for the win and had several players step up and make some big con- tributions." The Chargers' senior Jenna Horrall played well in goal for all 80 minutes and made six saves. Pike Central freshman Kennedy Willis continued to impress. The youngster scored both of the Chargers' goals. Senior Shelby Vaughn added an assist. Western said senior Chloe Roy created chances for the team, but played the final 20 minutes of the game on de- fense due to the team suffer- ing from injuries. Freshmen Jaylynn Capehart and Lil- lian Thompson also played well on defense and the mid- dle of the field. Pike Central had 21 total shots and 13 shots on goal in the game. NO. 4 VINCENNES RIVET TOO MUCH FOR PCHS Pike Central played well for most of the game, but couldn't overcome Class No. 4 Vincennes Rivet (2- 0) on Saturday, Aug. 24 and lost 3-1. Willis scored the Char- gers' lone goal. She was as- sisted by Roy. "They are a very good team," Western said. "We PCHS girls' golf continues solid season By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central girls' golf team had its first road test of the season when it traveled to Country Oaks for a six-team match on Thursday, Aug. 22. The Chargers didn't shoot their best, but still fin- ished third with a score of 223. South Knox won with a 205 and Washington placed second with a 208. "It was the first away match of the season for us," Pike Central head coach Jarrod Gideon said. "It was See MILLS on 3 See WIN on 3 See SOLID on 3 See PREVIEW on 2 See SOCCER on 3 See SWARM on 2 Charger volleyball earns first win at Evansville Central Pike Central set to host Tecumseh By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Pike Central football will host Tecumseh (0 -1) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Weathers Field in the team's 2019 -20 home-opener. Chargers' head coach Dave Stephens said the Braves are a better team than their 42-2 week-one loss to North Daviess indicates. "Tecumseh is a dangerous team," he said. "They have three guys over 260 pounds on their offensive line. They have a pair of 6 -foot-3-inch wide receivers and they have a nice quarterback who is ac- curate with the ball." The Braves run a spread offense and are led by quar- terback Griffin Tuley (5'11",