Thursday, October 02, 2008
While most college football fans focus on the hype of the Football Bowl Subdivision, Madisonville native Tim Maypray has been making quite a name for himself in the Football Championship Subdivision this season.
Maypray, a former Madisonville-North Hopkins standout, ranks 14th in the nation for net rushing yards in the FCS and has propelled the Virginia Military Institute Keydets to a 2-2 record thus far on the season.
Of the players ranked ahead of Maypray, nine have 91 carries or more, compared to his 59 touches.
Last Saturday, Maypray g ot a chance to showcase his skills at FBS opponent Ohio University of the Mid-American Conference (1-4). Maypray rushed 19 times for 130 yards and one touchdown. It was his third game of the season with 100 yards rushing.
During the third quarter, Maypray amassed all 52 yards of a scoring drive that pulled the Keydets within three points of the Bobcats at 34-31.
Maypray’s 51-yard run set up a 1-yard rushing touchdown, and the long sprint marked his fourth consecutive game with a 50-yard plus run.
The score put VMI in great position to upset the favored ’Cats, but Ohio prevailed, winning 51-31.
According to vmikeydets.com, Maypray said despite the 20-point loss, he was proud of his teammates.
“We definitely came in as the underdogs, and we wanted to prove to everybody that we could play,” Maypray said after the game. “The scoreboard doesn’t exactly prove what happened, but I think that we definitely played with them today.
After spending the previous two seasons as a slotback, Maypray has taken the reins as quarterback for VMI, but has passed sparingly.
During the first quarter against Ohio, Maypray dropped back and found receiver Michael Rainey-Wiles for a 36-yard touchdown reception with 7:59 left in the quarter to put the Keydets ahead 10-7.
So far on the season, Maypray has completed each of his five pass attempts for a total 130 yards and two scores.
VMI has reluctantly gone to the air because of the team’s tremendous running attack, led by Maypray. Entering Saturday’s game against Ohio, the Keydets led the FCS in rushing at 399 yards per game.
Maypray leads the team with 442 yards rushing and is tied for the team lead in scoring at five touchdowns with running back Howard Abegesah.
For his efforts in the team’s 49-0 season-opening win Sept. 6 against St. Francis (Pa.), Maypray earned Big South Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors. During the game, Maypray rushed 10 times for 116 yards and two touchdowns. It was the third time he earned the award in his career.
Maypray and VMI will hit the gridiron 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday against the University of Richmond Spiders (Va).
n Western Kentucky University linebacker Blake Boyd and the Hilltoppers took on the University of Kentucky Wildcats in the first ever meeting between the two schools on the football field on Saturday.
Although Western suffered a 41-3 loss, Boyd, a North graduate, collected five tackles, three behind team-leader Jihad Morris. The Hilltopper defense limited UK to 182 yards passing, but surrendered another 216 yards on the ground.
Offensively, Western could only muster 157 total yards of offense.
The loss drops WKU to 2-3 and with the team’s next game 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Virginia Tech, the Hilltoppers face a steep climb if the team wishes to achieve a winning record for the 13th consecutive season.
Women’s cross country
Former Hopkins County Central cross country runner Ashly Rodgers competed in her second collegiate race as a walk-on for Murray State University on Saturday in the Saluki Invitational, hosted by Southern Illinois University.
Rodgers finished the 5K course with a time of 22:49.71, just 10 seconds behind teammate Emily Ormay, and one second better than Southeast Missouri’s Amy Guignon (22:50.71).
The Lady Racers took second place out of six teams and finished four points behind host SIU.
Murray’s next race is 10:15 a.m. Saturday, the Greater Louisville Classic hosted by the University of Louisiville.
Women’s tennis
Brittany Deese, a former North tennis player, experienced mixed success last week with Kentucky Wesleyan.
On Sept. 26, Deese and partner Heather Allgood defeated Oakland City University’s Joy Cutler and Tabitha McKinney 8-2 at OCU as the Lady Panthers won 8-1 overall.
The next day did not go as well, however, as Deese lost to Indiana University Southeast in singles and doubles play. IUS’ Abby Enteman defeated Deese 6-1, 7-5 in singles and then Lady Grenadiers duo Tabitha Collins and Sam Kabuke beat Deese and partner Katie Cecil 8-0.
As a team, Wesleyan lost 6-3 to fall to 3-2 on the year. The Lady Panthers’ next match will be Friday against Oakland City.
Volleyball
Barry University’s (Fla.) Julia Ridley had nine kills on Sept. 26 to help lead the Lady Buccaneers to their first win in Sunshine State Conference play over the Eckerd College Tritons (Fla.).
Ridley also chipped in with one ace and two blocks in the win.
Barry did not achieve the same level of success the next day though as the team lost to defending conference champions, University of Tampa Lady Spartans.
The Lady Buccaneers took the first two sets, but then Tampa displayed why its team was ranked sixth in the nation in D-II, by the American Coaches Volleyball Association, sweeping the next three games.
Since the win, Tampa has climbed to fifth place in the country while Barry fell to 4-4 overall and 1-3 in conference.
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