September 27, 2007

sports

Bulldog sports roundup

Football finds fast times at Ridgemont High
The Bulldogs bounced back from a disappointing fourth quarter loss last Friday, Sept. 21, with some fourth-quarter antics of their own as they defeated the Golden Gophers of Ridgemont 23–16 on the road. The win brings their record to 2–3.

Yellow Springs went on top 3–0 early with a 33-yard field goal from Andrew Ferguson. Ridgemont answered in the second quarter with an interception of an Adrian Lester pass for a 50-yard touchdown. The Gophers added a touchdown in the third and capped it with a two-point conversion, making it 16–3.

With five minutes remaining and the game seemingly in hand, Ridgemont inexplicably went to the air, giving Bulldog defender Robert Harden the opportunity to intercept a pass and run it back 90 yards for a touchdown. Ferguson’s attempt at the extra point missed, and the score was 16-9 Ridgemont. The Bulldogs promptly set about adding another touchdown and extra point to tie the score at 16.

It was three downs and a punt for Ridgemont on the Gophers next possession. With the clock running down, Lester went to the air without success until he completed a desperation fourth-down pass to Raphael Allen for a 30-yard gain and a crucial first down. The ’Dogs went on to score the game winner in the waning seconds.

Lester was 10 of 31 passing for 171 yards with two interceptions and two touchdowns. Allen had six catches for 75 yards and two touchdowns. Antonio Woodard had two receptions for 67 yards. On defense, Allen had 11 tackles and Woodard forced two fumbles. Harden and Kilan Brown had one interception each. Josh Foster and Jon Haller each had a fumble recovery.

Boys soccer punts two shutouts
The Yellow Springs High School boys soccer team enjoyed home cooking two nights in a row and improved its record to 10–1–1 overall and 3–0–0 in the Metro Buckeye Conference with consecutive shutouts over the Newton Indians 7–0 and MBC rival Middletown Christian 9–0.

On Monday, Sept. 17, James Butler scored two first-half goals on assists from Alexis Onfroy and Zeke Hardman to give the Bulldogs the lead over the Indians at the half. In the second half, a bevy of Bulldogs bolstered the lead. Kyle Buchwalder netted two, while Onfroy, Butler and Ben Armstrong each added one. Assisting on the second-half goals were Andrew Ferguson, Armstrong, Todd Sheets, Butler and Onfroy. Defenders Alex Turner, Brock GunderKline, Ethan Brown, Kyle Buchwalder and Max Buchwalder combined for their fifth shutout of the season.

On Saturday night Sheets put the locals on the board early when he knocked in a header from Armstrong. Butler, Sheets, Kevin Sikes-Gilbert and Armstrong each tallied before the first half ended, giving the ’Dogs a comfortable 5–0 lead. Armstrong, Max Buchwalder, Asa Casenhiser and Butler picked up assists. In the second half Sikes-Gilbert and Armstrong netted one more goal apiece, and Butler picked up two more for the hat-trick to close out the scoring. Sheets, Sikes-Gilbert and Onfroy had the assists. Alex Turner, Brock GunderKline, Ethan Brown, Kyle Buchwalder and Max Buchwalder again combined for the defense’s sixth shutout of the season.

Golf lands in the rough
The Locust Hills links weren’t very kind to the YSHS golfers as they fell to Greenview and Greenon in a three-way match Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 19. The Bulldogs’ best finisher was Carl Wiener, who finished in fifth place with a round of 44, just two shots out of third. The final score was Yellow Springs 181, Greeneview 179, Greenon 169.

Harriers bring home hardware
For the first time in three years, the girls varsity cross country team fielded a full compliment for a meet and ended up bringing home a trophy as well. The team of Allie Berry (third place overall), Hannah Kumbusky, Lizzy Gonder, Kelly Miller (all ninth graders) and German exchange student Stephanie Broelingen scored enough points to place second in the Bellbrook Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 22, beating out Waynesville and Kettering Fairmont, a division one school, to do it.

At the same meet, the boys team came in first, besting a number of division one and two schools, with Andy Peters winning the race and Alexis Onfroy coming in third overall. Jake GunderKline came in fourth, Brock GunderKline was seventh, and Nerak Patterson was twelfth. Peters’ win was his fourth this year. Personal bests were achieved by Onfroy, Austin Bailey, Nick Thompson and Gabe Amrhein. Birch Robinson-Hubbuch tied his PR.

According to coach Vince Peters, this may have been the first time in history that the boys and girls teams have brought home trophies in the same meet.