The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch B-1 Wednesday, October 26, 2022 SPORTS Submit sports items: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: sports@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg See SEMI-STATE on page 2 See SECTIONAL on page 2 SECTIONAL SUCCESS TRUNK OR TREAT FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH 1400 E. Main Street, Petersburg Saturday, Oct. 29 4pm-6pm Weisman qualifies for cross country state finals By Andy Heuring Press-Dispatch Sports sports@pressdispatch.net Pike Central sophomore Xavery Weis- man placed eighth in the Brown County Cross Country Semi-State and qualified for the state finals. on Saturday. Weisman ran a time of 18:44. She was the first quali- fier from a non-advancing team. Her time was four seconds faster than last year when she placed 12th at Brown County and ran an 18:48. Pike Central's girls team placed 18th in the semi-state, which consisted of the top five teams from four regionals. Sophomore Anna Whitehead placed 71st with a time of 20 :34. Senior Kennedy Willis ran a 21:52 to place 125th. Kaylyn Warner was 155th in a time of 23:05 Ashlynn Kirk was 172nd with 26:12 and Kylee Weathers 173rd in 26:36. "Coming in to the meet, we felt like our team could fall somewhere between that 12- 20 mark on paper depending on how well we ran. The scores in that range were rath- er close. Being off by 20 to 30 seconds on your time could affect that in a big way due to the number of runners in the meet," said Charger Coach Randy Graham. "Our girls gave it a great effort. Even though we felt like we had a great lane, we had a few get a little bottled up at the start and it's just a tough race to catch up in if you fall behind early. Everyone at this lev- el is good and there are so many runners to fight through." "We are proud of our girls and how they came together over the last month to make this semi-state run even possible. It's not an easy thing to do and to do it with six kids is even harder," said Graham. "We are thrilled for Xavery, who works so hard in the summer and in the season to have another opportunity to go back to the state finals and to try to improve upon her finish from last year. We know she will go up there and give it her best shot next week," said Graham. Weisman is the only Pike Central cross country athlete to ever qualify for the state finals. This is the second consecutive year she had made it to the state finals, which are at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute. The course has hosted the NCA A cham- pionships. The girls race is set for a noon start time. Columbus North won the girls team com- petition as they had the individual champi- on, Julia Kiesler, who ran a winning time of 17:17. They also had the second place and runner-up in Lily Baker and the seventh place runner. The top 10 individual runners were 1) Ju- lia Kiesler of Columbus North 17:17, 2) Lily Baker of Columbus North 17:53, 3) Heidi Meade of Princeton 18:02, 4) Kaitlyn Stew- art of Floyd Central 18:03, 5) Lily Myers of Bloomington South 18:22, 6) Haley Meade of Princeton 18:38, 7) Brianna Newell of Columbus North 18:43, 8) Xavery Weis- man PC 18:44, 9)Savanna Liddle Floyd Central 18:44, 10) Hadley Gradolf of Brown County 18:50. The team scores were: Columbus N 58, 2) Bloomington S 110, 3) Floyd Central 140, 4) Northview 143, 5) Princeton 168, 6) Co- Chargers beat Washington in sectional to avenge early season loss By Arri McDonald Press-Dispatch Sports sports@pressdispatch.net Pike Central created a complete turnaround to beat Washington 28 -7 on Friday. The Chargers hosted Washing- ton in its sectional opener with history weighing heavily on the side of the Hatchets. Washing- ton had pounded the Chargers 41-0 in a September 16 match-up at Hatchet Hollow. Moreover, the lone sectional win in Pike Central history occurred 20 years earlier over Princeton in 2002. Despite the history, Charger head coach Kelly Brashear has continued to stress the improve- ments he has seen in his team in the month since that disappoint- ing defeat, beating Forest Park and playing a string of competi- tive hard-fought games against quality opponents. At the final gun, the Chargers had avenged their most disap- pointing loss of the season and advanced to a sectional semi-fi- nal for only the second time in school history. PC, after a touchback on the kickoff, immediately began moving the ball. Nathanael Kell notched a 22-yard run on the first play from scrimmage. Three plays later quarterback Matthew Mead- ows hit Jagar Dent for a 27-yard catch and run, setting the Char- gers up deep in the Hatchet red zone. Braden Howald used a big hole opened by the offensive line to run the ball over the left side into the Hatchet end zone at the 10 -minute mark of the first quar- ter. The kick was good and Pike Central led 7-0. The Charger defense appeared to force a three-and-out on the ensuing drive, but a holding call gave the Hatchets a first down. Charger senior defensive end Isaac Marchino sacked Hatchet quarterback Colton Stowers on the next play for a 10 -yard loss. On the ensuing plays the teams traded penalties, but the Charger pass defense stopped the Hatchet receiver for no gain on third and 18, forcing a punt. The Chargers took over at their own eight-yard line with a touch- down lead. Dent ran for six yards on first down, followed by a 10 -yarder from Howald and a 17-yard run from Kell, moving the ball out of the shadow of the Charger end zone. Kell pushed the ball into Hatch- et territory with another 10 -yard run, which set up Peyton Howald's first big catch on what would prove to be a huge night. The Charger senior snatched a Meadows pass and broke a tackle at the 10, rac- ing into the end zone on a 34-yard score. The kick was good and the Chargers led 14-0 at the 1:54 mark of the first quarter. The Hatchets returned the kickoff to their 36 -yard line and began throwing the ball. Stow- ers hit Lesure for nine yards and Kaleb Waller for another six. A f- ter a false start backed up the of- fense, Lesure took a toss play for 30 yards to the edge of the Char- ger red zone. A fter two runs net- ted a Hatchet first down, Washing- ton set up first and goal at the 10. On second and goal Charger de- fensive tackle Braden Schultheis stuffed Cook for a short loss and two plays later the Hatchets lined up for fourth and goal from the PC seven-yard line. The defense stopped Lesure for no gain for a turnover on downs. The Chargers took over at their seven. Howald busted a 17-yard run, followed by four and five yarders by Dent and Meadows. The Chargers faced a fourth and one at their 34. Meadows plunged forward for eight yards to pick up the first down. At that point the Charger of- fense was not to be denied. Dent took a pitch from Meadows and threw the ball back to Meadows for a 25 -yard gain. On third and 10 at the Hatchet 34, Meadows hit Peyton Howald on a 31-yard pass. Braden Howald punched it in a play later from the three. The kick was good and Pike Central held a 21-0 lead with With :37 to go in the half. Washington took the second half kickoff and looked to get back in the game through the air. Stow- ers led the Hatchets on a 12-play drive in which he completed 8 of 10 passes for 58 yards. With just over seven minutes left in the third quarter, Stowers complet- ed a 20 -yard touchdown pass to Ryland Memering to make it 21- 7 7:14 mark of the third quarter. Pike Central returned the kick- off to its 35 and after two short runs, faced third and six. The Chargers handed the ball to their best player, but Braden Howald lost the ball and Washington re- covered at the PC 35. Just as momentum had swung, the Charger defense stepped up, forcing two incompletions. On third and 10 Marchino sacked Stowers for a 10 -yard loss. When the Chargers took over, Meadows completed back-to- back passes to Jagar Dent and Trenten Richardson, pushing the Xavery Weisman rushes up a hill beside a Jasper runner during the Brown County Cross Country Semi- State. Weisman finished eighth over- all and qualified for the state finals. She is the only Pike Central athlete to ever qualify for the cross country state finals. Chris Clement photo. Charger defensive back Justin Spinks makes a tackle during the Chargers 28-7 win. Arri McDonald photo. Trinten Richardson pulls in a 22-yard pass while closely defended during the Washington game. Arri McDonald photo.