SPORTS

High school football—
’Dogs drop Homecoming game

On Friday, Sept. 27, the YSHS football team played the Homecoming game to stands of cheering fans. Upper Scioto Valley won the game, however, in the last quarter with a final score of 27–17. Junior Aaron Zagory gave YS their first points of the game after he kicked a 35 yard field goal in the first quarter. Sophomore fullback Martin Bakari scored a touchdown on a five yard carry in the second quarter, then ran the ball in for the two point conversion. By halftime, the Bulldogs trailed 9–13.

In the third quarter, sophomore quarterback Jake Fulton threw a 10-yard pass to sophomore tight end Cody Johnson for the ’Dogs’ second touchdown of the game. The two point conversion was stopped by USV. Eli Visbal led the defense with nine tackles, and Cody Johnson and Spencer Jordan also contributed to the close game by making seven tackles each.

On Saturday, Sept. 21, the Bulldogs played Dawson Bryant High School at Coalgrove. Although the Bulldogs were beaten 36–8, Anthony Brandon made one notable offensive play. In the fourth quarter, Brandon took control of the ball at the 42 yard-line in the Bulldogs’ zone and bolted the 58 yards to score the only touchdown of the night. Quarterback Jake Fulton ran in the two point conversion. Eli Visbal provided defense with 10 tackles, Cody Johnson had nine, and Martin Bakari and Spencer Jordan each had eight tackles.

High school boys soccer–
'Dogs undefeated in MBC

Playing in a constant drizzle on a rain-soaked field, the YSHS boys varsity soccer team crushed its Metro Buckeye Conference rival Middletown Christian, 12–1, Thursday, Sept. 26, at home.

After several near misses by Bulldog attackers, Noah Woodburn started off the scoring in the seventh minute of the first half when Duncan Silvert-Noftle tipped a throw-in from Mike Hosket to Woodburn, who buried the ball in the back of the net.

Ten minutes later, Woodburn scored again, with an assist from Mike Mucher. Silvert-Noftle increased the Bulldogs’ lead to 3–0 after receiving a scoop-pass from Aaron Zagory, which was literally lifted over the heads of the Middletown defense. Rory Hotaling closed out the first half with a goal, assisted by fullback David Suzel.

John Grubbs opened the second half with a shot from 20 yards out that increased the Bulldogs’ lead to 5–0. Two minutes later, Zagory sent a pass to midfield, setting Scott Keyes up with a one-on-one break against the Middletown goalkeeper. Keyes faked to his left and cut back to his right, beating the goalie and sinking the shot into the far-post net.

Middletown’s only goal came off a free kick fired from outside the penalty box. The ball got by YSHS goalie Matt Phillips when he slipped in the mud.

Thirty seconds later, the Bulldogs countered when Silvert-Noftle scored off a pass from Woodburn. In the next three minutes, three different YSHS players added to the lead: Zagory on a solo break-away from midfield, Woodburn off an assist by Grubbs and Charlie Cromer on a rebound from Hosket’s shot on net.

Anthony Brandon closed out the scoring with two goals in a row, one unassisted, the other from an assist by Hotaling.

The YSHS boys soccer team is now 3–0 in the Metro Buckeye Conference and 6–0–1 on the season. The squad is ranked third in Division III in the latest Miami Valley Soccer Association coaches poll.

High School Cross Country—
Warren leads YSHS Harriers

Last Saturday, Sept. 28, 153 runners from 19 high schools met for the 15th Annual Buck Creek Invitational. Leading the YSHS harriers was sophomore David Warren, who finished in eighth place with a final time of 5:28 in the first mile, 11:19 at the two mile mark, and 17:44 overall.

Freshman Cary Dixon followed eight seconds behind to take 11th place with 17:52. His splits were 5:25 for the first mile and 11:19 for the second. Matt Carr finished 84th with 20:40.

For the girls high school team, freshmen Tina Peters and Tina Chen went up against 123 other runners. Peters posted 12th place with 21:46 and Chen posted 27:56 (a quick 8:20 in her first mile) in her first race with the team.

Junior high—

The McKinney School Bulldogs were led once more by Andy Peters and Sam Borchers. A winner of three of his four races this year, and twice a course record breaker, Borchers finished his first mile in 5:45, but only received fifth place. Peters led the Bulldogs, however, finishing his first mile in 5:40 in third place. Peters and Borchers shared second place after they rallied for the lead during the second mile, and upon hitting the last uphill leg of the course, Borchers took the lead, finishing first with a final time of 11:34. In the end Peters dropped away from the front but still took third place with 11:49. Sixth place went to Andy Sontag with a final time of 12:16.

Also running for the boys junior high team were Matthew Marretta, finishing 97th with 15:43, Zach Reichert, coming in 119th with 16:45 and Pete Lovering, finishing 128th with 17:21.

For the girls, Rosa Dixon ranked 35th out of 153 runners with a final time of 15:39. Lara Donnelly finished with her fastest time of the year, 19:28 for 118th place.

Youth soccer—
Warren leads YSHS Harriers

FC Springs fell to the undefeated and previously un-scored upon Shelby County Alliance, 2–6, Sunday, Sept. 29.

The Alliance built a strong lead in the first half by scoring five goals. But the Springs rallied their offensive and defensive play in the second half and with 10 minutes left in the match, David Ingham passed the ball to Ben Armstrong. With his back to the goal, Armstrong spun around and shot it past a surprised Shelby goalkeeper.

Six minutes later, Alexis Onfroy-Curley received a pass on the left wing and split the defense with a pass to Ryan Phillips, who was unchallenged only 12 yards from the goal. The Shelby goalie charged Phillips, but Phillips outmaneuvered the goalie and scored the Springs’ second goal.

The Alliance managed to score one more goal late in the second half when the Springs defense got caught too far upfield.

Coach Jim Hardman praised the Springs’ second-half play, pointing out that the team managed to score twice on the Alliance, a team that had shut out all of its previous opponents.

“Clearly the Alliance is a strong team both defensively and offensively,” Hardman said. “At the half, we made some adjustments and definitely out-played them in the second half, winning the half 2–1.”

Girls soccer—
Burrick leads YSHS in big win

Megan Burrick scored five goals, leading the Yellow Springs High School girls soccer team over Middletown Christian, 9–1, Thursday, Sept. 26, at home.

Amy Erickson also added to the scoring with two goals. Laura Garcia and Monica Erickson each scored a goal for the Lady Bulldogs as well.

Coach MacKenzie Reynolds said Rose Blakelock and Paia Lapalombara also had outstanding efforts on offense. Kayla Graham had an excellent game in goal and notable defensive efforts were made by Becky Pasch and Hillary Livingston.

JV girls soccer—

The YSHS girls junior varsity squad lost to the Fairborn Skyhawks, 5–1, Monday, Sept. 30.

Stephanie Goode scored the Lady Bulldogs’ only goal of the game. Eve Gunder-Kline, Amy Price and Laura Garcia also played well on offense, Reynolds said.

The YSHS defense was led by Becky Pasch, Dana Ingham and Olivia Smith.

Volleyball Team defeats Cedarville

Last Wednesday, the YSHS volleyball team defeated Cedarville, a team that has repeatedly beaten the Lady ’Dogs in the past few years. At first it appeared that nothing had changed when Cedarville took the lead 7–0 in the first game, but aggressive net play by Janell Martin and the defensive line helped pull the YSHS team back up to make the score 8–11, still in Cedarville’s favor. Emma Robinow then served seven straight points to win the first game.

Cedarville countered in the second game to take the win, 8–15. The Cedarville team also took the lead in the third game until, at 11–13, Evin Wimberly served three strong points and had a potential game-winning shot sail just out of bounds. On the ensuing point, Sarah Finn made her fourth kill of the game to end the match. After a neck and neck final game, the score turned out to be 15–13, with YSHS besting one of its longtime rivals.

On Thursday, Sept. 26, Middletown Christian visited, and the Bulldogs needed to win the match to claim second in the Metro Buckeye Conference. Nikki Perry played a strong game on both offense and defense to lead the Lady ’Dogs to win the first game, 15–4. The second game was close, the score 14–10 when an apparent game-winning spike was deflected by Middletown, which went on to score three points in a row. After a Middletown player was called for a net violation, the ball went back to YSHS, which won the game 15–13.

On Monday, Sept. 30, the Lady ’Dogs continued on their winning streak against Jefferson, the final score a comfortable 15–4, 15–1. The Lady ’Dogs volleyball team is now 12–5 overall and 8–1 in the Metro Buckeye Conference.
The junior varsity played three games last week. The first two games were losses, 15–2, 12–15, 15–9 in Cedarville’s favor and then 15–11, 15–10 in Middletown Christian’s favor. Katie Lovering was cited for playing a well-rounded game on the back row. The JV team then broke out of their losing streak by defeating Jefferson 15–3, 15–10 on Monday to raise the season record to 6 wins, 9 losses.

Go Bulldogs!