October 18, 2007

sports

Bulldog sports roundup

Boys soccer ends on high-note
The YSHS boys soccer team closed out its regular season by stopping Xenia Christian 3-0, getting past Franklin Monroe 4-2, and shutting out Troy Christian 5-0. With these wins the Bulldogs improved to 13-2-1 overall, and earned the MBC championship with a perfect 5-0-0 conference record.

Against the Xenia Christian Ambassadors on Saturday, Oct. 6, the Bulldogs struggled to put the ball between the pipes during a scoreless first-half. But 15 minutes into second half, Kyle Buchwalder fired one from the right corner that the Ambassador’s goalkeeper couldn’t hold onto and Kevin Sikes-Gilbert directed the rebound into the net. Just 20 seconds later, Ben Armstrong chipped a pass over the Xenia Christian defenders that James Butler raced onto and nodded over the charging goalie from 20 yards out. The ball rolled slowly into the goal for a 2-0 Yellow Springs lead. Butler closed out the scoring with 12 minutes to go on an assist from Chris Johnson.

On Tuesday, Oct. 9, the ‘Dogs hit the road to challenge the 12-1-0 Franklin-Monroe Jets. The Jets were ranked 3rd in the Dayton area coaches’ poll, one place behind Yellow Springs. The game lived up to its billing as Yellow Springs fell behind 1-0 early, before battling back to a 1-1 tie when Armstrong headed in a corner kick from Zeke Hardman. The Bulldogs took a 2-1 lead 10 minutes before halftime as Butler slotted a shot past the Jets’ net-minder at close range on a well-timed through-pass off a boot from Hardman. Franklin-Monroe evened the score at 2 before the break. In the second half Butler netted the game-winner from six yards out, streaking past his defender to hit a one-timer off an Alexis Onfroy pass. With 15 minutes remaining, the Franklin-Monroe goalie made an amazing stop on a blast from Hardman, but was caught out of position when Zach Katz-Stein ran onto the loose ball and floated it over the defense and into the goal from 35 yards out to put the game out of reach.

On Saturday, Oct. 13, Yellow Springs closed out its regular season on the road against the Troy Christian Eagles. Once again the Bulldogs struggled to score in the first half. Katz-Stein’s shot, two minutes before halftime, was mishandled by the goalie and Andrew Ferguson was there to clean up, giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 halftime lead. On the opening kickoff of the second half, Brock GunderKline stripped the ball off an Eagles player and sent Butler slicing and dicing his way through six defenders to put Yellow Springs up 2-0. Armstrong finished a loose ball with 22 minutes left, and Butler sent another shot into the back of the net to put the Bulldogs out front 4-0. Armstrong closed out the scoring with 15 minutes left on the clock, heading in a Butler cross to take home a 5-0 victory and the Bulldogs’ second MBC soccer championship in two years.

The team opens tournament play on Saturday, Oct. 20, at home against the winner of Xenia Christian vs. Southeastern. The game starts at 6:00 p.m. If Yellow Springs wins, they will play again on Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 8:00 p.m. at Franklin HS against the winner of Bethel/West Liberty Salem/Miami East. Tickets are $5.

Harriers finish one and two
The Yellow Springs boys won their division of the Metro Buckeye Conference Cross Country Championships, Friday, Oct. 12, 2007 at John Bryan State Park for the fourth straight year. The Lady Bulldogs came in second, losing by only 3 points to Troy Christian.

Andy Peters, Alexis Onfroy, Brock Gunderkline, and Jake Gunderkline qualified for the All-League team. Peters finished third in the race in 16:50, behind John Luttrell and Walter Luttrell of Dayton Christian. Onfroy finished fourth, just four seconds behind Peters. The GunderKline twins finished sixth and seventh, with Jake edging Brock by nine seconds in a time of 17:09. Nerak Patterson finished 10th in 17:52.

According to Coach Vince Peters, the strategy for the team victory was for senior captain Andy Peters to hold a pack of Yellow Springs runners together and pace them for the entire race. The strategy worked as the next five Bulldog runners posted personal bests and Peters sacrificed a possible victory in favor of the team championship.

Two Yellow Springs girls, Allie Berry (fourth place – 21:45) and Hannah Kumbusky (seventh place – 22:57), also made the conference’s All Star team. Lizzy Gonder finished in tenth with a time of 23:47. Jessica Brant of Troy Christian won the girl’s race in 19:57.

According to Coach Peters, the most exciting race on Friday night’s program was the junior high boys race. Four runners were in a dead heat till the final 230 meters. The first two finished with a time of 11:54. But Yellow Springs eighth-grader Nate Reed pulled it out with a personal best effort. Zack McHugh placed third.

Lois Miller (13:15) and Paloma Wiggens (13:17) finished one and two in the JH Girls race, both with lifetime bests.

Commodores sink ‘Dogs in football
The Bulldogs came up short again against the Perry High Commodores on Friday, Oct. 12. 40-13. The first quarter started on a high note with a Bulldog drive to the five-yard line, from which quarterback Adrian Lester hit Ron Cobb in the end zone to make it 6-0 Yellow Springs. The extra point was missed by Andrew Lester.

Kilan Brown intercepted a Commodore pass and ran it back for a second Bulldog touch down with Andrew Ferguson completing the extra point to make it 13-0 Yellow Springs.

That was all for the Bulldogs, as Perry took control of the game with a second-quarter touchdown and didn’t look back. The half ended with a 20-13 lead for the Commodores. Perry started off the third quarter with a kick-off return for another touch down. By the end of the quarter Perry had made it 40-13. Neither team scored in the final quarter. The Bulldogs’ record is 2-8 with two games left in the season.

Girls soccer pulls out another win
The Yellow Springs Girls Soccer team defeated rival Miami Valley School 3-1 on Tuesday, Oct. 9 for their third win in a row. The victory brings their record to 5-9-1

Miami Valley took a one goal lead early in the first half. But Ashanta Robinson evened the score on an assist by Ryder Comstock before the half ended. In the second half, Olivia Chen finished a cross by Robinson with a diving header to give the Lady Dogs the lead. Comstock put the game on ice when she dribbled through the Miami Valley defense and finished with an unassisted goal.

According to Coach MacKenzie Reynolds, whenever Yellow Springs and the Miami Valley School play, it is a hard-fought game on both sides, and this night was no exception. For this game the girls really came together and played hard to create some great scoring opportunities and to thwart many of the efforts of the Miami Valley School, she said. The team is looking forward to taking their recent momentum into the upcoming tournament.

Basketball signups for fifth, sixth grades

Sign ups will be held the next two Saturdays, Oct. 20 and 27, at the Bryan Community Center from 12:30 to 2 p.m. for all fifth- and sixth-grade boys and girls interested in playing basketball. This is the KTC traveling basketball league which requires a fee to play and begins in January. Call Will Scarfpin at 767-1321 or Chris Lloyd at 767-9318 for more information.

McKinney football game

The McKinney School football team will travel to its last season game at Ridgemont on Wednesday, Oct. 24, at 6 p.m.