The Press-Dispatch
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B-4 Sports Wednesday, September 4, 2019 The Press-Dispatch By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Pike Central Middle School football split with Washington on Thursday, Aug. 29, with eight-grade team walloping the Hatch- ets 44-0 while the sev- enth-grade lost 22-0. Chargers' head coach Jorden Froderman was im- pressed with the progress of the eighth-grade team. "The eighth-grade played very well," he said. "They have been able to learn more of the offense than they had at this point last year. Defen- sively, we feel really good about what we have as well. They play as a unit on both sides of the ball, and it shows on game day. Everyone is ex- ecuting their assignment to the best of their ability." Eighth-grade quarterback Quade Morton passed for 165 yards and three touch- downs and rushed for 47 more yards and two addi- tional touchdowns. Julian Gish caught two touchdowns and had 64 yards through the air. He also returned two intercep- tions for a touchdowns. Ari McDonald convert- ed a 2-point conversion on the ground, and also fin- ished with 31 receiving yards and a touchdown re- ception. Zane Gehlhausen and Skylar Shelton had 47 and 23 yards receiving, re- spectively. "I feel like one of our greatest strengths is our team speed. We are able to fly around out there and make plays," Froderman said. "Holes that are in the run game or gaps in our zone coverages are much harder to hit because of that speed. All of that being said, we have a lot of football left to be played and a lot of good teams left on the schedule to play against. We have to keep on our relentless pur- suit to get better every day." The Chargers' sev- enth-grade squad couldn't get much going offensively, but Froderman was encour- aged by the determination and persistence of his team. "They showed a lot of heart in their game, even though the score wasn't where we wanted it to be," he said. "We have a lot of talent in that class. We just need a little more time to get them coached up to where that talent can show on game day. What we have to keep in mind is for some of these kids, it's the first time they are playing organized football, and for every one of those kids it was the first time they have played a mid- dle school game. The game gets a lot more physical and a lot faster from youth ball to middle school ball." Matthew Meadows led Pike Central with 34 pass- ing yards and 19 rushing. Ari O'Neal had five yards, Brenton Fryrear had 31 re- ceiving and Cole Nosiest had a catch for three yards. "I really like how well our athletes take coaching," Fro- derman said. "There were some mental mistakes ear- ly on in the seventh-grade game, and we were able to get a lot those fixed during the game. I really feel that this team can show a lot of growth between game one and game two." The middle school team will be back in action when they travel to North Knox on Thursday, Sept. 5. phens said. "He's the not the biggest, fastest or stron- gest, but he understands the game, plays with quick reac- tions and he doesn't have an ounce of fear in his body. I love that about him. He does really well. Life would be good if we had 11 Braden Howalds on defense." A reason the Chargers may be struggling so much in games in because of dra- matic increase in competi- tion from practice to Friday nights. Stephens said the inabil- ity to go full-speed in prac- tice has been a detriment to the team. "We can't even go 11- on-11 in practice [due to a lack of numbers]," he said. "The guys know their as- signments, but come Fri- day, there is a disconnect because I think the speed of the game causes uncertain- ty. I can equate it to this: it's like all you ever do in base- ball is soft toss and then you get in the batter's box and someone is smoking a 90 -mile an hour fastball at you. We have to find a way to increase the speed of what we are seeing in practice to give us a better chance of not having those breakdowns on Friday night." Tecumseh outscored Pike Central 16 -0 in the second half, but the Char- gers still had some positive plays. Defensive end Levi McCarter knocked a pass down to force a turnover of downs in third quarter, run- ning back Wyatt Frasure ran with purpose, O'Neal contin- ued his impressive play on both sides of ball and Corey Goepner recovered a fumble. "Overall, I'm happy with where the offense is going. We just have to execute a lit- tle better and we will be fine offensively," Stephens said. "We had over 300 yards and could have easily had anoth- er 100 if not for the drops. We had potential for a good night offensively, but we shot ourselves in the foot." Frasure led the Charger rushing attack with 18 at- tempts for 115 yards. He also led Pike Central's de- fense with 11 tackles. O'Ne- al caught nine receptions for 135 yards and a score. Ste- phen Kreig had one grab for 36 yards and Dillard made two catches for 12 yards. Pike Central has a huge challenge ahead this week on the road at Heritage Hills (2-0) at 8 p.m. on Fri- day, Sept. 6. WOES Continued from page 1 Chargers' middle school tennis defeats Tecumseh By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Pike Central's mid- dle school tennis team earned a pair of impres- sive victories this past week, thanks to outstand- ing play from the Char- gers' singles players. Pike Central defeat- ed Tecumseh, 3-2, and went on to win their sec- ond round match, 4-3, on Wednesday, Aug. 28. Against Tecumseh, Parker Knust defeated Dillon Dupont 8 -4 at No. 1 singles, JJ Belmore de- feated Thomas Pember- ton 8 -2 at No. 2 Singles and Eli Arnold defeated Easton Oxley 8 -1 at No. 3 singles. Tecumseh won at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles with Landon Oxley and Braydon Long defeating Jayden Baugh and Car- ter Blackwell 8 -2 and No- ah Ricketts and Nolan Ha- zelin beating Adon Le- mond and Jayden Bolin 8 -6. "We have won our last two matches by sweeping all three singles spots on varsity," Chargers' head coach Phil Knust said. "We are trying to find the right combination of play- ers on doubles now to win some points at the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles spots." In the second round, Pike Central again took on Tecumseh. Dietrich Dunigan won 6 -3 at No. 1 singles, Arnold won 6 -0 at No. 2 singles and Lemond won 6 -1 at No. 3 singles. Nolan Bailey and Alex Gray won 6 - 1 at No. 1 doubles while Jayden Baugh and Carter McCain lost 6 -0 at No. 2 doubles, Llinkyn Knust and Bolin lost 6 -0 at No. 3 doubles and Bellmore and Parker Knust lost 6 - 3 at No. 4 doubles. Carter Blackwell and Nolay Bailey compete for the Pike Central Middle School tennis team earlier this season. Pike Central receiver Connor O'Neal is wal- loped by a Tecumseh defender on Friday, Aug. 29. Pike Central's Ari McDonald lead blocks for quarterback Matthew Meadows on Thursday, Aug. 29 at Weathers Field. The Chargers' Brenton Fryrear breaks a big run against Washington on Thursday, Aug. 29. Chargers' quarterback Lars Utterback scram- bles for a first down against Tecumseh on Fri- day, Aug. 30 at Weathers Field. Pike Central boys' tennis fall to 0-4 with loss to Tecumseh By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central boys' tennis team dropped to 0 - 4 overall as a team this sea- son after a 5 -0 loss to Tecum- seh to on Wednesday, Aug. 28, but the team picked up some much needed individu- al wins at the Vincennes Lin- coln Tournament on Satur- day, Aug. 31. On Wednesday, Tecum- seh's Dax Bailey beat Quen- tin Sorgius 6 -1, 6 -2 at No. 1 singles. Jalen Oxley de- feated Ethan Huck 6 -2, 6 -1 at No. 2 singles and Dylan Greenburg won against Dal- ton Williams 6 -0, 6 -2 at No. 3 singles. The Chargers for- feited the matches at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. Tecumseh won the Vin- cennes tournament with 19 points. Vincennes Lincoln finished second with 13, Evansville Central was third with nine and Pike Central was fourth with seven. Bailey defeated Sorgius again, this time 6 -2, 6 -2, to start the tourney, but Sorgi- us rebounded with a 6 -0, 6 - 0 win over Evansville Cen- tral's Brendan Dunn. Vincennes Lincoln's Ethan Jones bested Huck 6 - 3, 7-5, but Huck came back with 6 -0, 6 -0 win over Arden Cates. Williams won 6 -0, 6 -0 against David Wilson in the first match, but lost 6 -4, 2-6, 10 -4 in his second match to Reece Wicks. "Overall, our singles play was pretty solid today with each of our players pick- ing up a win in one of their matches," Pike Central head coach Brent Beck said. "I think Ethan Huck had one of his better over- all days. He hit the ball ex- tremely well from the base- line, and was solid on his passing shots as well. Our kids went 3-3 on the day, and we could have easily been 5 -1, if we had just been better on the big points. The matches were that close. It was certainly good to see us take some steps forward to- day." Pike Central traveled to Washington on Tuesday, Sept. 3 and will host South Spencer on Wednesday, Sept. 4 and Wood Memorial on Thursday, Aug. 5. Bird Hunters Youth Day is October 12 Seven shotguns and five .22 caliber rifles are among the prizes in a random drawing at the conclusion of this year's Pike County Bird Hunters Club Youth Day. Saturday, October 12 will be the 14th Annu- al Brownells/NR A Youth Day presented by the Pike County Bird Hunters Club. All activities take place at the new clubhouse located two miles west on Division Road just five miles south of Petersburg on SR 57. All youth ages seven through 18 are welcome to participate in the activ- ities which include shoot- ing BB guns, archery, muzzle loading, .22 rifle, darts, trap shooting and hunting chukar over dogs. Breakfast and lunch is provided free for youth. Kickoff is at 8:00 am EST. Do not bring ANY fire- arms. All firearms and ammunition will be pro- vided by the club. Prizes will be drawn at the end of the day. Three model 1187 Rem- ington 12 gauge shotguns, two model 1187 20 gauge shotguns, two model 870 20 gauge shotguns, four Ruger .22 rifles and one Savage youth .22 rifle will be available in the random drawing. Pike Central Middle School football: 8th grade routs Washington; 7th grade fall HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL Pocket Athletic Conference Standings PAC Overall PF PA Gibson Southern 2-0 2-0 104 14 Heritage Hills 1-0 2-0 78 6 North Posey 1-0 1-1 50 69 Tell City 0 -1 1-1 18 48 Forest Park 0 -1 1-1 37 76 South Spencer 0 -2 0 -2 20 74 Pike Central 0 -0 0 -2 25 80 Southridge 0 -0 2-0 49 37 RESULTS FROM AUGUST 30 PAC Games Tecumseh 39, Pike Central 6 Heritage Hills 42, Tell City 6 Southridge 21, Jasper 17 Forest Park 30, Perry Central 20 Gibson Southern 48, South Spencer 7 Mount Vernon 56, North Posey 24 Area Games Boonville 19, Vincennes Lincoln 6 Castle 43, New Albany 6 Corydon Central 40, Paoli 24 Evansville Bosse 47, Washington 21 Evansville Central 10, Owensboro (Ky.) 8 Evansville Memorial 24, Northview 0 Evansville F.J. Reitz 45, Clarksville Northeast (Tenn.) 24 Henderson County (Ky.) 39, Evansville North 35 North Daviess 28, North Central (Farmersburg) 0 North Knox 65, Eastern Greene 0 Springs Valley 28, Mitchell 14 Terre Haute North 38, Princeton 0 Terre Haute South 41, Evansville Harrison 0 West Washington 72, Crawford County 0 Linton-Stockton 35, Sullivan 12 RESULTS FROM AUGUST 31 Area Games Evansville Mater Dei 56, Whiting 12 GAMES ON SEPTEMBER 6 PAC Games Tell City at South Spencer, 7 p.m. Forest Park at Southridge, 7:30 p.m. Gibson Southern at North Posey, 8 p.m. Pike Central at Heritage Hills, 8 p.m. Area Games Eastern Greene at North Daviess, 7 p.m. Linton-Stockton at Monrovia, 7 p.m. Springs Valley at Paoli, 7 p.m. West Washington at Mitchell, 7 p.m. Forest Park at Southridge, 7:30 p.m. Perry Central at Crawford County, 7:30 p.m. Princeton at Washington, 8 p.m. Tecumseh at North Knox, 7:30 p.m. Vincennes Lincoln at Floyd Central, 7:30 p.m. Mount Vernon at Mount Carmel (Ill.),. 8 p.m. Evansville Bosse at Evansville Central, 8 p.m. Evansville Harrison at Evansville Mater Dei, 8 p.m. Evansville North at Evansville Memorial, 8 p.m. Evansville F.J. Reitz at Castle, 8 p.m. SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY? Give us a call: 812-354-8500 BOX SCORE FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 TECUMSEH 39, PIKE CENTR AL 6 Tec. PC First Downs 17 12 Rushes-yards 47-399 29 -91 Passing 177 19 Comp.-Att.-Int. 13-27-1 3-8 -0 Punts 2-41.5 1-29 Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-2 Penalties-Yards 11-90 12-106 Time of Possession 28:15 19:45 Tecumseh 23 9 7 0—39 Pike Central 0 6 0 0—6 First Quarter Tec. — Safety, 9:59 Tec. — Chase Jones 1 run (2-point good), 5:52 Tec. — Jones 42 run (2-point good), 4:33 Tec. — Simon Hahn 9 run (2-point good), 0 :22 Second Quarter PC — Connor O'Neal 54 pass from Lars Utterback (2-point failed), 10 :54 Tec. — Safety, 4:08 Tec. — Jones 44 run (2-point good), 2:25 Third Quarter Tec. — Griffin Tuley 17 run (2-point good), 0 :56 INDIVIDUAL STATISICS RUSHING—Tecumseh: Chase Jones 16 -252, Jaidan Woodruff 9 -65, Griffin Tuley 8 -41, Kegan Clutter 5 -29, Michael Tron 3-13, Simon Hahn 1-9, Payton Buse 1-5. Pike Central: Wyatt Frasure 18 -115, Lars Utterback 6 - -25, Conner O'Neal 1- -10. PASSING—Tecumseh: Tuley 3-8 -0 -19. Pike Central: Utterback 13-27-1-177. RECEIVING—Tecumseh: Buse 2-7, Nick Gallagh- er 1-12. Pike Central: O'Neal 9 -135, Stephen Kreig 1-36, Colson Dillard 1- -5, Brandon Goepnner 1- -5.