The Press-Dispatch
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D-2 Wednesday, August 24, 2022 The Press-Dispatch 3.5" x 2.5" | Maximum Font Size: 30 pt MKT-5894M-A > edwardjones.com Go Pike Central Chargers! Tom Willis Financial Advisor 801 N Vincennes Avenue Petersburg, IN 47567 812-354-9950 VARSITY GIRLS' GOLF ❚ Thursday, Aug. 25 — North Daviess / Vincennes Lincoln — 4:30 p.m. at Prides Creek Golf Course ❚ Monday, Aug. 29 — Washington — 4:30 p.m. at Country Oaks ❚ Thursday, Sept. 1 — Forest Park — 4:30 p.m. at Prides Creek Golf Course ❚ Saturday, Sept. 3 — PAC — 1 p.m. at Country Oaks ❚ Tuesday, Sept. 6 — Princeton / South Knox — 5:30 p.m. at CCOV–Vincennes ❚ Thursday, Sept. 8 — South Spencer — 5:45 p.m. at South Spencer ❚ Saturday, Sept. 17 — Sectional — 11 a.m. at TBD By Andy Heuring Press-Dispatch Sports sports@pressdispatch.net Pike Central's girls golf team heads into the 2022 sea- son with three seniors, but they lost three of their top six from last season. Charger coach Jarrod Gide- on said the girls have gotten better every time they have played this year, lowering their scores nearly 30 strokes from the first match of the sea- son. "They are playing more and improving. I have seen a big improvement from our young- er girls." Aubrey and Kaley. Kaley shot a 58 in our last match. That is in just four matches when she shot double par," said Gideon. "Our older girls are getting in a little bit of a groove and getting more consistent and comfortable from playing ev- ery day," said Gideon. Junior Brailey Mills has consistently been the Char- gers' top layer this season. "She is probably as good of an athlete as we have in the school. She is just a very gift- ed athlete, ultra competitive. Problem with her is she is too hard on herself. I think she will shoot some really scores before the year is out," said Gideon. "She has new clubs and is trying to figure out her distances with them. Even though she isn't very big, she hits it a long way . She creates a lot of speed." Senior Chloe Williams is an- other great athlete. Williams is one of the top softball pitch- ers in the area and swung a big bat for the Charger region- al champion softball team. She also hits a golf ball a long way. "She has a real compact swing but hits it a long way," said Gideon. He said she still needs to work on short game around the greens, but is a hard worker. "I'm fortunate to have ath- letes who play other sports and are used to being coached," said Gideon. The other two seniors are Mabry Shoultz and Grace Goodpaster. "At times both have played great matches. In the last match Mabry shot a 48. She just played with con- fidence and kept it rolling. I think that is a lot of it," said Gideon. "Grace has had some rounds in practice where she hits it really well. I think she gets a little tense in matches and her scores haven't indicat- ed how well she can play yet," said Gideon. "We have four girls I think who can break 50 anytime," said Gideon. Addy Russell is a junior, but it is her first year to start play- ing. Gideon said she has been in the top five every match so far. "She has really played solidly for us and she has on- ly been playing golf since this summer," said Gideon. Kaliea Hartke is a freshman who shot a 58 for the Chargers recently. She is another play- er who hadn't picked up golf clubs until this summer. Ella Hartke is a sophomore who just joined the team at the be- ginning of the school year. "They seem to being enjoy- ing it. They want to play well right away, but they are get- ting better," said Gideon. Despite the Charger inex- perience, they are off to a good start with a 4-3 record. (Girls golf season begins a week be- fore school starts.) Gideon thinks the future of Pike Central golf looks strong with a solid group of upper- classmen and several young players with lots of potential. Three seniors lead Lady Chargers in '22 Grace Goodpaster Chloe Williams The Pike Central 2022 girls golf team members are: front row (l to r) Mabry Shoultz, Ella Hartke and Kaliea Hartke; back row: Grace Goodpasture, Brailey Mills, Chloe Williams, Addy Russell, Aubree McGowan and Sophie Boyd. Mabry Shoultz "Connor has the best hands on the team. If you get the ball near him he is going to make the catch. . . He struggled some with the boys-against- men thing playing as a fresh- man. He has gotten quick- er and worked in the weight room," said Brashear. Richardson is coming off a year in which he battled ankle injuries. "He has grown phys- ically, probably 25 pounds in the strength and two inches taller. He is an ongoing proj- ect, but by the time he is a se- nior, he will be an oustanding player," said Brashear. On the other side of the ball the defense may go through some changes as the season progresses. "We are going to run a ver- sion of 3-4 defense. We will run a lot of cover two and cov- er four and man defense. Brashear said last year they "may have thrown too much at our kids." "Coach JJ Howald has do- ne a fantastic job of scheming our defense. We have a little bit of depth this year, especial- ly where we struggled in the defensive backfield. We have a little depth in the corners and safeties. We are much more confident than we were last year." Up front for the Chargers defensive line will be nose guard Brandon Schultheis. "He has made the most im- provement in the off season in regards to the weight room of anyone on the team. He was big and slow last year. His weight gains with lifting was awesome. He decided he want- ed to be a football player and he worked toward that. He is a totally different kid. He should be able to compete with any center he faces this year. He is 295 to 300 and not fat, just a big strong boy. We are looking for him to make a lot of disrup- tions on the defensive line this year," said Brashear. Junior Skyler Shelton will also be on the defensive line. "A physical kid who plays low to the ground. He will also be back-up fullback." Marchino will also play end on the defensive side of ball. He played end last year. "We expect him to excel there this year. He is one of our best of- fensive linemen and should be one of our best defensive line- men." The two cornerbacks will be Grant Boyd and Justin Spinks. "Boyd is just an outstanding athlete. We wanted to get to the point where were weren't starting any freshmen, but Grant is one of those kids who is hard to keep off the field. He knows the game. . . He will provide great run support on the outside and is a good cov- er man," said Brashear. Spinks is another one of those guys who played all year as an undersized freshman. "He really had some growing pains, but ended up being our most improved defensive play- er last year. It seemed like he saved his best football for the last two games of season. He just kept getting better and better. He is a ball hawk and loves to hit." The two safeties will come from the offensive backfield. Dent, a four year senior, is moving to safety on defense. "He will still be one of those guys who is great run sup- port. He loves to hit and is a very physical player. It is a new position to him, but he knows football and will be a good pass coverage guy bet- ter there. Meadows will be the other safety. "He did a really nice job last season, especially as the season went on. He had an interception at the end of the year. He has grown and gotten much stronger. He will hit and is a good fundamental tackler. It is a luxury to have him at safety," said Brashear. Another luxury this year's team has compared to last year is numbers. They are up to 29 players. "We would love to have 35, but 29 is a lot better than 18. We are getting a little bit of depth. Some guys who had played in the past decided to come out and give it a go and we are glad to have them." One of those is Jayden Bolin, a sophomore. "He has been a nice surprise," said Brashear, who expects Bolin to add depth and get on the field to provide a breather for the starters on both sides of the ball. "We don't have a lot of goals. But the goals we have are im- portant," said Brashear. "We want to be much more competitive. We had too many games where we were playing under a running clock in the second half. We aren't going to be that team this year. We are going to be physical. We want to be in games. We don't want to be down 55 - 0 at half- time, that is demeaning. It's al- most like you are playing for pride. I think we have an op- portunity to win ball games. I think the kids see that this year," said Brashear. "They are understanding the program and understand- ing the significance of being in the weight room. They are much more interested in be- ing students of the game. It is what they know and didn't know. We want to win. We don't want to wait. We are go- ing to be younger than the teams we are playing. But the guys who have played in the past, they have gotten so much bigger and faster we feel like we can win some games. FOOTBALL Continued from page 1