August 28, 2008

sports

Bulldog Sports Roundup

Girls soccer nabs first 2
The YSHS girls soccer team came out of the gates blazing this year to beat Urbana 3–1 in the first game on Thursday, Aug. 21, and take down Middletown Christian 5–3 on Saturday, Aug. 23.

Against Urbana, Lady Bulldog Katie Nickels shot the first goal on an assist by Olivia Chen. The next two were won by Elyse Giardullo and Chen. Yellow Springs keeper Katie Triplett had six saves for the night.

Against Middletown, Nickels again kicked the first scoring ball, followed by a goal by Ryder Comstock and another by Nickels to put the Lady Bulldogs up 3–1. In the second half Brenda Jones scored for Yellow Springs, followed by an unassisted goal by Chen. The Lady Eagles rallied with two more goals, but couldn’t get back into the game. Yellow Springs keeper Ashanta Robinson had two saves for the team.

Golfers challenged
The Yellow Springs High School golf team started its season with three consecutive wins until last week, when the competition from Middletown Christian and Miami Valley undermined their record to 4–7 two weeks into the season.

On Wednesday, Aug. 13, the Bulldogs slipped in with a 177, under Cedarville’s 191 at Locust Hills Golf Course. The top four scorers for Yellow Springs bested their counterparts easily, with Carl Wiener finishing in 41, Lucas Donnell with 43, Joe Fugate with 44 and Max Fleishman with 49. YSHS also sent in Zane Reichert (52) and Zeb Reichert (53), who handily beat Cedarville’s reservists.

But Monday’s match on Aug. 18 proved to be tougher. At Walden Ponds Golf Course in Fairfield, Yellow Springs pulled in a 181, well over Middletown Christian’s 162 and higher than Miami Valley’s 169. Playing for Yellow Springs, Wiener had a 44, Donnell a 43, and Fugate and Fleishman both shot 47.

On Tuesday, Aug. 19, the Bulldog team was back at Locust Hills with very little competition from Emmanuel Christian. Wiener was back with a consistent 41, with Donnell and Fleishman not far behind at 46. Fugate sealed the win with a solid 49 for a team total of 182, to Emmanuel’s 278.

Playing a quad match at Locust Hills on Thursday, Aug. 21, the Bulldogs again faced steep competition from Middletown, who won the match with 163, ahead of Troy Christian with 172, Dayton Christian with 179 and Yellow Springs with 184. Wiener kept up with his first flight by shooting 41 to beat a 42 from Dayton’s Brandon Stein and hanging tight with Middletown’s Brooks Curry and Troy’s Thomas Sundlie, who both shot 40. Donnell and Zeb Reichert both had a tough day, but Fleishman in fourth position tied Troy’s fourth man with 46, beat Dayton’s score of 48 and shot just one over Middletown’s man.

Volleyball has rough start
The Yellow Springs girls volleyball team took two early losses at a tri-meet against Greenon and Cedarville on Saturday, Aug. 23.
Against Cedarville, the Bulldogs came out a little tentative and lost the first game 25–14. Yellow Springs kept up in the second game, but fell short in the end with a 26–24 loss.

Against Greenon, the Lady Bulldogs were overpowered and suffered two more defeats with scores of 25–16 and 24–13. For Yellow Springs, Belle Pilar Fleming had a total of 33 digs and seven kills, Marlee Layh had a total of six blocks and a service ace, and Alex Beer had eight assists along with a service ace. 

Footballers fall to Cincinnati
In the first game of the season on Friday, Aug. 22, the YSHS football team lost to the Cincinnati Christian Cougars, 40–23. After a first quarter touchdown and extra point for the Cougars, the Bulldogs came back to even the score on a 15-yard touchdown by quarterback Ryan Newsome, with Joe Fugate scoring the extra point.

Despite a second quarter gain by the Cougars for a half-time score of 21–7, the Bulldogs scored a second touchdown by Raphael Allen on a 80-yard kick return, followed by his two point conversion. The Bulldogs scored their last touchdown on an 85-yard run by Newsome and another conversion by Allen.

Allen had an exceptional game with pass returns of 52 yards, and a 45-yard pass setting up the Bulldogs for the first touchdown. By the end of the game Allen had 18 tackles and a total of 275 yards returned. 

Newsome had two deep completions to Allen and one to Ian Wimberly with a total of 130 passing yards and 115 rushing for a total of 245. Joe Fugate had seven solo tackles and one assisted tackle. Allen Cox had 13 solo tackles and three assisted. Davone Freeman had two solo tackles, an assisted tackle and an interception.

Jeremy Paul had two tackles, and Cory Daniel had one solo tackle, while Keida Johnson and Juice Teyler shared tackles. Steve Scott had five quarterback pressures, and the Bulldogs defensive team forced the Cougars to six turnovers.

Cross country off to mild start
At the Bob Schul Invitational in West Milton on Saturday, Aug. 23, the YSHS Bulldog boys and girls harriers finished in the middle of the field, despite a dashing win for the junior high McKinney girls with Paloma Wiggins finishing her two-mile race in 13:9 in a field of 215 girls.

For the high school girls, team captain Reini Brickson led her squad to a 12th place finish out of 18 schools, behind Cedarville, Minster and first place finisher Versailles. The Lady ‘Dogs finished ahead of Xenia Christian, which topped Yellow Springs in the 2007 league championship.

Brickson, a junior, placed 49th in 24:24, while sophomore Elizabeth Gonder finished just behind in 24:43 out of a total 142 competitors in the 3.1-mile course. Completing the scoring for the Bulldogs were Alli Berry, Hannah Kumbusky, and Kelly Miller. Mary Triplett completed her first race as a high school freshman in 30:01.

The boys team, missing several of its top runners, finished 13th out of 29 schools, well behind the winning Russia team, who was third in last year’s state meet.

Senior Anthony Pettiford, the team’s captain, lead the blue and white to finish 53rd overall in 19:15. Nerak Patterson, who, with Pettiford, ran on last year’s district championship team, was 63rd in 19:29. Following close behind were Zach McHugh, Mitchell Brickson and Gabe Armhein. Nathan Auten and Nathaniel Reed also raced for YSHS.

“We started one senior, four sophomores and two freshman, and they ran very competitively,” Coach Vince Peters said. “I was particularly pleased with their ability to run in a pack through the first and second miles of the 5,000-meter race.”

YSHS fitness open
The fitness and weightlifting room at Yellow Springs High School will be open regularly for public use this fall, beginning this weekend. The hours this week are Saturday, Aug. 30, from 10 a.m. to noon, and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 2, 3, and 4, from 5 to 7 p.m. Regular hours for the season will be announced the following week in the Yellow Springs News, and they will be posted in the school gym.

To use the fitness room, local residents must register for membership during open hours. For more information, contact Brad Newsome at coachbnewsome@yahoo.com.