The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, September 25, 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 The Pike Central girls' soccer team was out- standing in a 6 -0 victory at Northeast Dubois (2-8 - 0) at Monday, Sept. 23. The Chargers controlled the game and scored three goals in each half and im- proved their record to 7-4- 1 this season. "A lot of people played some different spots and got a lot of chances to score or make plays," Pike Central head coach Chad Western said. "It was a great team win." Chargers' senior Chloe Roy was incredible once again after missing all of last season with an injury. She was assisted on her first and second goals by Shelby Vaughn with 31 minutes and 23 minutes remaining in the first half. Freshman Kennedy Wil- lis extended Pike Central's lead to 3-0 with 12 minutes left until halftime. She was assisted by Roy. Vaughn scored off an assist from Albany Ashley at 22 min- utes left in the second half. Roy competed the hat trick by scoring her third goal with 16 minutes left in the game. Vaughn scored the Chargers' final goal with 13 minutes remain- ing. Pike Central goalkeep- er Jenna Horrall was dom- inate. She played in the middle for the final 20 min- utes and game and was re- placed in goal by Kahle Young, who preserved the shutout. Keena and Kahle Young, along with Lauren Young, Hannah Woodford, Jay- lynn Capehart, Lillian Thompson, Adair Kabrick and Jasmine Leighty, were all strong on defense, and Morgan Houchins, Ash- ley and Vaughn really con- trolled the middle of the field all night. SPARTANS SHOCK CHARGERS The South Knox Spar- tans (5 -8 -0) pulled off a mild upset on Tuesday, Sept. 17, when they defeat- ed visiting Pike Central in a tight 2-1 game. "South Knox was up for the challenge," Western By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Pike Central football may not have won on the scoreboard, but contrary to popular belief, the team certainly did a lot of things rights on Saturday in the 42-0 loss at Forest Park (3-2). "Our goal before the game was to come out and give four quarters of great effort," Pike Central head coach Dave Stephens said. "I felt like the kids gave me great effort for four quarters. That was an improvement we were glad to see." The Chargers also did a better job with their defensive alignment than they had all year. Rebuilds take time, there's no way around it and Stephens knew that when he accepted the position. "There were a lot of positives this week," he said. "It was a wonderful opportunity for our kids to learn and grow against a new style of defense." Forest Park did a great job of preventing the Pike Central of- fense from getting into any kind of rhythm. The Chargers had not seen a true lockdown cover-zero defense until Friday. "I think it was a good learning ex- perience for our linemen, our oth- er receivers and [quarterback] Lars [Utterback]," Stephens said. "They committed to zero safeties responsi- ble for deep coverage." The Rangers' bracket covered Chargers' standout wide receiver Connor O'Neal wherever he was on the field, which means they had a defender, who's underneath at the linebacker level, hit him at the line of scrimmage and then had a safe- ty over the top spying on him. The Rangers went man-to-man with all of the Chargers' other receivers. "No matter where we put [O'Ne- al], they had a game play of commit- ting two defenders to him," Stephens said. "What that leaves you with is other guys having to beat single cov- erage or you have to be able to run with numbers in the box. We weren't able to effectively do either one of those things." The cover-zero defense did lead to some one-on-one opportunities for Pike Central, but the Chargers were not able to capitalize. "It wasn't because of a lack of try- ing," Stephens said. "The kids tried, but they just had better guys who shut us down consistently." Pike Central's defense played well and allowed just 246 total yards. "Which is by far our best statisti- cal output defensively this season," Stephens said. Senior captain Levi McCarter had a sack and forced fumble to end the first quarter. "It was another week where we were facing some really big offen- sive and defensive linemen," Ste- phens said. "I was really happy with By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central volleyball team traveled to South Knox on Saturday, Sept. 21 to take part in a four-way round rob- in tournament with Eastern Greene (3-15), Washington (14-4) and South Knox (7-11). The Chargers (5 -17) started the day with an impressive 2- 0 win over the Thunderbirds. "The girls played very well against Eastern Greene," Pike Central head coach Brandi Chestnut said. "This game is probably the best they had played all year. They were communicating well on the court, covering hitters, de- fending well, blocking and being aggressive at the net." Pike Central won the first set 25 -21 and the second, 25 - 12. The team's stats leaders were Kenzie Powell with five kills, two aces, six digs and five assists; Erika Vinnedge with two kills, two blocks; Kar- en Pipes with two kills, eight digs and two assists; Audrey Keepes with two kills, two ac- es, five digs; Ashlyn Shoultz with a kill, two digs; Lily Fred- erick-Rice with a kill, an ace, four digs and an assist; Aubrey Dawson with a kill, four digs and two assists; Addie John- son with two aces, five digs; and Jaime Mills with a dig. Pike Central lost to Wash- ington in straight sets in its Chargers volleyball competes at South Knox 4-way Pike Central girls' XC 7th at South Knox RANGERS DEFUSE CHARGERS IN PAC CLASH Pike Central's Ken- zie Powell serves during the South Knox Four-Way Round Rob- in Tournament on Sat- urday, Sept. 21. Pike Central's Dal- ton Williams reaches up high for a return against Forest Park. Pike Central's Morgan Houchins battles for possession of the ball on Monday, Sept. 16. Pike Central running back Wyatt Frasure sprints for a first down against the Forest Park Rang- ers on Friday, Sept. 20. Pike Central's Wyatt Frasure (9) and Stephen Krieg (82) chase after a Forest Park ball carrier on Friday, Sept. 20. By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central girls' cross country team placed seventh with 156 team points at the South Knox Invitation- al on Saturday, Sept. 21. South Knox won the event with a team score of 57, Shakamak was second with 82, Barr-Reeve was third with 98, Clay City was fourth with 125, Gibson Southern was fifth with 135 and Princ- eton was sixth with 146. Pike Central was followed by Evansville North (197), North Daviess (227), Te- cumseh (242), North Know (269), Eastern Greene (320) and Vincennes Lincoln (371). North Central, Shoals, Linton-Stockton, Washing- ton, Evansville Christian School, Evansville Mater Dei, North Posey, Evans- ville Central and Castle also competed, but did not record a team score. Princeton's Heidi Meade won the girls' race in a time of 19 minutes and 33 sec- onds. Pike Central's highest finisher was Lilly Stone at 21st in 22:09. She was fol- lowed by teammates: Quin- lan Teague at 30th in 22:39, Kennedy Willis at 39th in 23:24, Morgan Anderson at 41st in 23:33, Laney John- son at 43rd in 23:35, Char- lotte Dudenhoeffer at 44th in 23:38 and Jenna Meyer at 47th in 24:00. "All of our runners ran very well," Pike Central head coach Josh Roach said. "This course is a dif- ficult course and measures out right on the dot for a 5k. Over the course of the year, we will see some courses that are a little short or a lit- tle long. Last week, we were on a course that was a little short. If you took our times from this Saturday down to that distance, all of our girls improved. You can see that our girls are hungry and working to make their most improvement as the year winds down. They really want to make a strong post- season push again this year and getting some confidence on our sectional course was the first step in getting there. We look forward to the next few weeks to see what we can do." The Chargers also com- peted in the junior varsity race, but did not record a team score. South Knox won the com- Charger runners 12th at South Knox Invite By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central boys' cross country team competed at the South Knox Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 21. The Chargers finished the race with a team score of 299, which placed them 12th out of 19 teams. South Knox won with a score 86. They were followed by Vincennes Lin- coln (101), Castle (116), Gib- son Southern (119), Eastern Greene (176), Barr-Reeve (185), Clay City (203), Wash- ington (215), Evansville Cen- tral (226), Evansville Ma- ter Dei (250) and Evansville North (260). Pike Central finished ahead of Shakamak (308), North Posey (397), North Daviess (418), Linton-Stockton (427), North Knox (459), North Cen- tral (481) and Washington Catholic (560). Evansville Day School, Te- cumseh, Evansville Christian School and Shoals also com- peted, but did not record a team score. Evansville Mater Dei's Dawson Schroeder finished the race in first with a time of 16 minutes and 24 seconds. Pike Central's Nate Woolery continued a solid senior cam- paign with a 10th-place finish in 17:37. "It makes me very happy to see Nate getting to the podi- um as much as he has been this year as I feel he is final- Pike Central tennis drops matches to Boonville, Heritage Hills The Pike Central boys' tennis team's trying season continued with a 4-1 loss to Boonville on Thursday, Sept. 19. The Pioneers' Zeb Miles defeated Quinton Sorgius at No. 1 singles by a score of 6 - 2, 6 -3. The Chargers secured their lone victory at No. 2 singles when Ethan Huck beat Drew Richardson 6 -2, 6 -1, but Boonville rebound- ed when Nicholas Hyndman PCHS girls' soccer gaining momentum as postseason nears South Spencer set to take Pike Central See CHARGERS on 2 See CLASH on 4 See SEVENTH on 3 See PREVIEW on 4 See TWELFTH on 2 See GAIN on 5 See DROP on 2 By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Pike Central (0 -5) will host South Spencer (0 - 5) on Friday, Sept. 20, in a battle of winless Pock- et Athletic Conference teams. The Rebels are led by junior quarterback Kobe Bartlett (6'3", 180 pounds). "He makes things go," Pike Central head coach Dave Stephens said. They have good balance at wide receiver with a lot of different players catch- ing passes this season. Stephens said Rebels re- ceiver and linebacker Will Stewart (5 -9, 210) is a re- turning starter with good skills, "And is pretty stink- ing good at linebacker." Defensive lineman Dev- on Soto (6 -7, 385) will make things tough on the Chargers' offense. "He can really make things difficult," Stephens said. South Spencer has some size upfront, but it's not the most skilled size. South Spencer runs a spread offense similar to Pike Central, and fans can expect to see a lot of tun- nel screens and run-pass option stuff. "I'm excited to play a more balanced football team, than a team that just runs it," Stephens said. "That style is just harder for us to deal with because we're just not physically designed to do that. I like