The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, September 4, 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 PATOKA VALLEY OUTDOORS By Sam Whiteleather By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central girls' soccer team split a pair of matches in recent action. The Chargers (3-2-0) de- feated Washington Catholic on Tuesday, Aug. 27, but then fell to Evansville Day School on Thursday, Aug. 29. "We played well, except for having a mistake the first two minutes of the second half [against Day School]," Pike Central head coach Chad Western said. "Our team can improve by com- ing out strong the first five minutes of each half." Pike Central won 4-1 at Washington Catholic (1-2-0). Alli Holder scored the first goal off an assist from Adair Kabrick. "The first goal was a switch of the field from right to left on an early cross by Adair," Western said. "Alli got a good touch, and stayed composed and had a nice fin- ish on their goalie." Chloe Roy scored the next goal off an assist from Kah- le Young. Washington Catho- lic scored to narrow the lead to 2-1, but Pike Central add- ed goals from Kennedy Wil- lis and Abby Skelton in sec- ond half to pull away. Shelby Vaughn assisted Willis and Morgan Houchins assisted Skelton on their goals. The Chargers had 22 to- tal shots and 15 shots on goal against the Cardinals. Jenna Horrall earned the "Eli, get away from the boat! " I yell at my 7 year old son. He stands on the river bank staring down at me, his blue eyes steady and firm un- der the brim of his camo hat. I look back towards the ca- noe. A cloud of large bumble bees swarms around one end. They look angry. One buzzes at me and I feel a tin- gle of pain in my leg. Another attacks my hands which by this time are flailing wildly around my head (when at- tacked by bumble bees nev- er flail around like one of those inflatable air dancers businesses use to grab atten- tion, it just makes the bees madder!). They've got me ze- roed, it's man versus bees. Thinking quickly I shove the boat into the river. It hits the green water with a splash along with my paddle which has somehow slid down the bank in the midst of the bat- tle. Catching in the current the boat and paddle drift rap- idly away under the shade of the silver maple trees that grow along the river bank. The pair look peaceful float- ing side by side, except for the swarm of angry bees that still hover over one end of the canoe. I look back at Eli. He is standing in the same place, staring down at me with that calm look in his eyes. He hasn't said a word, but I know what he's thinking oh no, here we go again… As I stand on the bank watching the boat drift away, I feel relieved to be rid of the bees and their painful sting- ing. But now a new problem enters my brain "if I let the canoe drift away, how will we ever go canoeing again? " I leap off the bank and into the river. My head goes un- der the cool water and things go quiet and dark for a mo- ment. The water relieves some of the pain from my stung legs. I resurface with a gasp and swim rapidly to- wards the canoe. This has been a tough summer for the Whiteleath- er family when it comes to canoeing trips. The White River has been high from constant heavy rains. Just when it started to come down another storm would come along and turn it into a brown swirling beast again. Not to By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net An 0 -2 start isn't ideal, but that's where the Pike Cen- tral football team is at right now after a 39 -6 loss to Te- cumseh. The Chargers showed glimpses of being a success- ful team against the Braves (1-1) on Friday, August 30 at Weathers Field, but it seemed like with every step for- ward, the team took two steps back. "At times, we are showing the ability to do some pos- itive things offensively," Pike Central head coach Dave Stephens said. "There are times where we had some gains happen on the ground or through the air, but I am not happy with the lack of execution of our defense game plan." Tecumseh's offense took to the field first on Friday. The Braves drove deep in the Chargers' red zone before Colson Dillard forced a fumble. Pike Central recovered inside their 5 -yard line. However, two plays later a missed assignment led to a safety on a quarterback rollout to give Tecumseh a 2- 0 lead with 9:59 remaining in the first quarter. "I think sometimes guys feel like they have to cover for other guys and then they don't end up doing their jobs," Stephens said. The Chargers did a fairly solid job of bottling up the Braves in the first half, but Tecumseh made Pike Cen- tral pay on the big plays, including a 43-yard touchdown run on 3rd-and-34. "Blown assignments hurt us," Stephens said. "We would do well and then they would just catch us out of position. When one guy doesn't do his job it messes up the run fits for everybody else. Things worked out okay when we played assignment-sound football, but things were bad when we went 'rover' and didn't do our jobs. They got huge gains." The Braves extended their lead to 23-0 before Char- gers' quarterback Lars Utterback found Connor O'Ne- al on a 54-yard touchdown pass with 10 :54 in the sec- ond quarter. Utterback took a big step in his progression and played his best game as Pike Central's signal caller. "He was getting the ball out on time and delivering it when and where it needed to be," Stephens said. "He showed more poise in the pocket and his timing was good. He did a very good job on the screens and on our vertical switch concepts of really delivering the ball where it needs to be." Utterback finished the game 13-of-27 for 177 yards with one touchdown and one interception. The Charger receivers didn't do Utterback any favors, with at least five drops. The Pike Central defense stood triumphant at the end of the first half when it forced a turnover on downs inside the five-yard line after freshman Braden Howald made an impressive tackle to force fourth down. "Braden plays beyond his physical limitations," Ste- By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Pike Central football Chargers will face one of the toughest challenges of the season on Friday, Sept. 6, when they travel to "The Jungle" to face to Class 3A #5 -ranked Heritage Hills Patriots (2-0). The Chargers know they will have their hands full after Heritage Hills defeated Pike Central, 62-2, last sea- son. "They're big, strong, physical and they play bully football," Pike Central head coach Dave Stephens said. "That's what they're going to do. They're incredible strength and size makes it hard. Their scheme isn't tough to defend. Their defensive scheme isn't hard to figure out. They don't really do anything schematical- ly that presents a challenge. It's the Jimmys and Joes, not the Xs and Os. Their Jimmys and Joes are pretty big, strong, physical and good." Pike Central will try to use its short passing game as a de facto run game. "We are going to do some four- and five-wide stuff," Stephens said. "We are going to do some things where we use short motions and look to rub guys and get guys open in space by getting rid of the ball quickly be- cause we know we won't be able to hold up a long time in pass protec- tion." Pike Central also plans to move the pocket and change the quar- Libby Stone claims individual silver By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central girls' cross country team kicked off the season by winning the five-team Southridge Invitational on Tuesday, Aug. 27. The Chargers stood atop the po- dium with just 54 total points. Heri- tage Hills was second with 61, Per- ry Central was third with 66, South- ridge was fourth with 84 and Tecum- seh was fifth with 111. "It was a great way to start the sea- son," Pike Central head coach Josh Roach said. "It was still a little hot when the girls started, but they ran smart and gave themselves a chance to battle all the way through." Libby Stone finished in second place with a time of 22:58 to lead the way for the Chargers. Quinlan Teague was fourth (23:18), Char- lotte Dudenhoeffer placed 13th (24:37) and Jenna Meyer was 17th (25:11). Stone came out of the woods with about 400 meters remaining and a solid gap separating her from sec- ond-place. She kept working and moved into second on the final straightaway of the race. Teague held off a strong push in the final straightaway to hang onto fourth. Dudenhoeffer battled a three-way sprint down the stretch. She bested one of her opponents, but fell to an- other thanks to a diving attempt across the finish line. Meyer also held off a strong push at the end of the race to hang onto her position. "Every girl had a moment like that at some point of the race and it re- ally goes to show their competitive nature," Roach said. "All girls im- proved from their time at this race last year." The Chargers also had Laney Johnson finish 26th (26:37), Morgan Anderson place 28th (27:00), Kayla Cannon at 36th (28:50) and Morgan PCHS girls' soccer splits matches On the River at Last SELF INFLICTED WOES HAUNT CHARGERS AGAINST TECUMSEH BRAVES Pike Central's Chloe Roy attempts a shot against Evansville Day School at the Goeb- el Soccer Complex in Evansville on Thurs- day, Aug. 29. Pike Central Isaac Burdette passes to a teammate in the Char- gers' 4-1 junior var- sity win over Evans- ville Day School at the Goebel Soccer Com- plex in Evansville on Thursday, Aug. 29. Chargers' defense end Levi McCarter sacks Tecumseh's quarterback during the Braves' 39-6 win at Weathers Field on Friday, Aug. 30. The Pike Central girls' cross country team stands for a photo after winning the Southridge Invi- tational on Tuesday, Aug. 27. The photo includes (Left to Right: Assistant coach Joe Chamberlain, assistant coach Wil Teague, Morgan Sallee, Kayla Cannon, Jenna Meyer, Quinlan Teague, Libby Stone, Charlotte Dudenhoeffer, Morgan Anderson, Laney Johnson, Lexie Neese, Taylor Corn and head coach Josh Roach. Chargers shut out Cardinals, Wildcats Carson Johnson scores hat trick of headers By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central boys' soccer team continued to prove it's one of the best teams in t he area with two more wins this past week, improving to 4-1-0 this sea- son. The Chargers unleashed their offense at Washington Catholic (1-2-0) on Wednes- day, Aug. 27 and blanked the Cardinals, 9 -0. "The boys played a solid game," Pike Central head coach Jacob Western said. "We were sloppy at times with the ball, but we creat- ed a lot of chances and were able to have five different guys score." Carson Johnson scored PC volleyball: JV loses to Loogootee; 6th grade beats Fort Branch By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central junior varsity volleyball suffered a setback on Thursday, Aug. 29. The Chargers lost 25 -10, 25 -19 to Loogootee and fell to 1-2 overall record on the season. Pike Central's stat leaders were Alayna Sharp with four kills, Liberty Taylor with two kills, Reagan Craig with a kill and Alaina McClellan and Emily Krieg each had an ace. The junior varsity team traveled to Forest Park on Tuesday, Sept. 3. Pike Cen- tral will also host F.J. Reitz on Wednesday, Sept. 4 and travel to Shoals on Thurs- day, Sept. 5. Pike Central's sixth-grade squad had an impressive showing when they defeat- ed Fort Branch Communi- ty 26 -24, 25 -19 on Thursday, Aug. 29. "The girls played amaz- ing," sixth-grade coach Stephanie Shedd said. "They really talked and played as a team. We were down 23-24 See VOLLYBALL on 2 See RIVER on 2 See WOES on 4 See PREVIEW on 3 See SPLIT on 2 See WIN on 3 See SHUT on 2 Pike Central girls' XC wins Southridge Invitational Pike Central set to face daunting opponent in Heritage Hills