Here's an early wish list for Santa

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

This week’s editions of The Messenger have already featured lists of items to be thankful for from writers Forrest Rutherford and Bob Watkins, so instead of being labeled a copycat, I will give another holiday list.

Thanksgiving, for me, has always marked the beginning of Christmas and I have a few sports-related requests for Santa this year.

nLess animosity between University of Kentucky and University of Louisville fans.

I’m from Ohio and hating another state’s institutions (Michigan, Penn State etc.) doesn’t sound too bizarre, but why so much distaste for another in-state school? UK and U of L are not even in the same conference.

Cincinnati schools Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati are bitter rivals and during the Crosstown Shootout, I wear Musketeer garb. Bearcat football has been phenomenal the past few years and it’s good for the city and puts it on the map, so there’s no harm in rooting for a rival.

One of my high school’s (St. Xavier) bitter rivals, Cincinnati Elder, played another rival St. Ignatius in the Division I football state championship last night. Just like Yankee Derek Jeter, I don’t like them, but I have respect for them.

Can’t Wildcats and Cardinals fans admire each other’s accomplishments when not playing each other?

nNo more wins for the Cincinnati Bengals this season.

If you’re going to have a bad season, why not just make it the worst? I want them to be the best at being bad. That way at least we get the first pick at the best available college player.

The Bengals finally realized the plan with a week 12 loss to the Steelers on Thursday after three straight non-losing weeks.

An addendum to this wish would simply be for owner/president/general manager/dictator Mike Brown to walk away from the organization.

nMore wins for the Tennessee Titans.

Sunday’s 34-13 loss to the New York Jets marked not just the end of the Titans’ undefeated season, but my first game.

Here’s to hoping my attendance did not curse Tennessee.

nMore fantasy football wins.

How does one not win every game with the likes of Phillip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback, running backs Marion Barber and Mewelde Moore and receivers Terrell Owens and Antonio Gates, not to mention the New York Giants defense and special teams?

It’s unbelievable to be 4-8.

nA competitive high-school basketball season

Unlike some of the fall sports, high-school basketball is typically dictated by how well a unit of players comes together rather than one star running back in football or attacking forward in soccer.

There are a few stars out there on the boys side though with Jon Hood at Madisonville-North Hopkins and Dan Croft and Chuck Jones at Hopkins County Central.

Who will step up for the Lady Storm to replace the presence of all-time leading scorer Kari Jo Harris?

Webster County’s boys team returns four senior starters while the girls return all five. The team’s unity should propel them to knock off some unsuspecting tough competition this season.

With eight teams from four area schools, there should be plenty of action throughout the week for local basketball enthusiasts to see.

nLots of hot stove action.

Winter is a depressing time for avid baseball fans and the only way to stay primed while heating up inside is keeping up with the latest hot stove news.

With Mike Mussina retiring and Manny Ramirez having issues with the Dodgers, there have already been some interesting high-profile stories. Many more big free agents, such as C.C. Sabathia, await lucrative contract offers and in just a few months, the World Baseball Classic will begin its second-ever championship tournament.

Here’s to the big man with the white beard and red jumpsuit fulfilling everyone’s wishes this year.

VMI's Maypray honored

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

For his outstanding performance on Saturday, the Big South Conference named Virginia Military Institute quarterback Tim Maypray as offensive player of the week.

The conference awarded the honor to Maypray, a Madisonville native, on Monday, after he collected four touchdowns en route to 332 all-purpose yards during the Keydets’ 49-27 victory against Presbyterian (S.C.). The four scores tied a school and conference record for a single game.

On the ground, Maypray rushed for touchdowns from four, 34 and 60 yards away and also threw a 75-yard touchdown pass.

Of his all-purpose yards, the junior carried the ball 20 times for 235 yards, a career-high.

Earlier in the season, Maypray eclipsed the 1,000-yard career rushing mark and with Saturday’s three catches for 97 yards, he achieved the 1,000-yard receiving yards necessary to become the first Big South player ever to reach the plateau in both categories.

Saturday’s win marked the end of the 2008 season for VMI, but with one season of eligibility left, Maypray ranks second in conference history with 4,279 all-purpose yards.

Men’s basketball

Transylvania University forward Brock Jones tallied a team-high 16 points, coming off the bench to shoot 6-of-9 from the field to propel the Pioneers to a 65-63 season-opening win against Centre College on Saturday.

Jones, a Madisonville-North Hopkins graduate, made two baskets beyond the three-point arc and contributed three rebounds as well to help his team break the Colonels’ 25-game regular season winning streak.

Transylvania returns to action at 7:30 p.m. tonight when the Pioneers play host to Spalding University.

Women’s basketball

Former Hopkins County Central star Kari Jo Harris played in two games last week for Lee University as the Lady Flames split a pair of decisions.

Harris scored two points during 10 minutes of play in Lee’s 86-74 loss to Southern Wesleyan University Warriors (S.C.) on Thursday.

Two days later, the Lady Flames bounced back to beat Columbia College (S.C.) 87-37. Harris, a freshman, started and recorded eight points, three rebounds, three assists and one block in 24 minutes of action.

Men’s swimming

Madisonville natives Daniel, Joseph and Stephen Porter and Yunan Yang each competed in the Wabash Invitational (Ind.) for Transylvania University on Friday and Saturday.

The men’s team finished fourth of five participating schools, but each former Maroon swimmer helped garner plenty of points.

Joseph and Stephen swam together on the same 200-yard freestyle relay for 26 points while Daniel swam the race with a different set of teammates.

The duo of Joseph and Stephen combined for four more points in the 100-yard backstroke and narrowly missed a few more in the 50-yard freestyle.

Yang amassed 13 of his own with a sixth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke and Daniel came away with three. Daniel tacked on 12 and five points in the 200-yard individual medley and 200-yard breaststroke respectively.

Rounding out the points-earners, Yang also had seven for his performance in the 200-yard individual medley and Stephen attained three in the 200-yard backstroke.

All four swimmers participated in the 200-yard medley relay team, but did not receive any points.

Women’s swimming

The women’s component of the Transylvania University team finished slightly higher than its male counterpart at third in the Wabash Invitational with plenty of aid coming from former North swimmers Maggie Davenport and Claire Dorris.

Davenport netted 15 points with a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke and 13.5 for a fifth-place tie in the 200-yard backstroke. The junior also swam in the 100-yard breaststroke (six points) and 200-yard medley relay.

Dorris, a sophomore, garnered points in the 200-yard butterfly (six points) and 500-yard freestyle (five). She also swam in the 200-yard freestyle.

Both swimmers teamed up for the 200-yard freestyle relay, but did not earn any points for the Pioneers.

n Auburn University swimmer Emile Ewing posted a number of top-three finishes during the Tigers’ victory against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the weekend.

The former North standout finished among the top three during five separate races, highlighted by a first-place time of 2:20.13 in the 200-meter backstroke.

Ewing swam the fastest leg of her team’s second-place 200-meter freestyle and finished second in the 400-meter freestyle relay as well.

Rounding out her successful day, Ewing led off her third-place 400-meter medley relay team and took another third in the 100-meter backstroke, missing first place by .37 seconds.

Titans tickets pay off

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Like the stock market, renewing NFL season tickets can be a risky investment, but for those daring enough to buy Tennessee Titans packages, the return has been exceptionally high thus far this year.

Local businessmen Jeff Howerton and Jimmy Riddle are two Hopkins County residents who attend each Titans game and have been reaping the benefits from the joy of watching an undefeated team this football season.

“The last game, we asked a scalper as we were tailgating, asked him what’s club level going for,” Riddle said. “Jeff likes to mess with those guys and they were going between $500 and $600 and we said ‘We got two for you’ and he said ‘I can’t afford them.’”

Although Riddle is a relative new season-ticket holder at three years, Howerton’s allegiance stretches back to 1999, the Titans’ first official year.

“Being an hour and a half away, I thought it would be a good idea,” Howerton said of his initial purchase. “Turns out, it has been.”

Without much argument, that first season provided the most unforgettable play in franchise history when wide receiver Kevin Dyson returned a kickoff for a game-winning touchdown against the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs.

“The best memory so far would be the Music City Miracle,” Howerton said. “I was at that game. We won the playoffs over Buffalo. That was real exciting. I think all 68,000 people were standing up in their seats screaming. My seats are kind of the endzone corner and Dyson was running right down towards me.”

For Riddle, the moments that stand out are those that were actually missed.

During week 12 of the 2006 season, the Titans trailed the New York Giants 21-0 heading into the fourth quarter. Facing a nearly impossible comeback, Titans fans, including Riddle and Howerton, filed out of the stadium.

The pair made their way back to Madisonville feeling they had just witnessed a shutout, but when they stopped in Clarksville, Tenn., they were quite surprised.

“We turn the radio on and the Titans are kicking a 50-yard field goal for the win,” Riddle said.

Rookie quarterback Vince Young and kicker Rob Bironas led Tennessee to 24 unanswered, fourth-quarter points for the improbable victory.

Not having yet learned their lesson, the duo of Howerton and Riddle missed another incredible ending the following week.

Again, it was Bironas who provided the heroics with a game-winning field goal against the Indianapolis Colts.

“We left was when the Titans kicked a 61-yard field goal and we missed that,” Riddle said. “I told Jeff, ‘I won’t ever leave any ballgame again.’”

With Brett Favre and the AFC East Division-leading New York Jets coming to town today, not many fans will be expected to leave before the final ticks of the clock.

“I think it will be a good game,” Howerton said. “I think we can beat them.”

Some Titans fans, including Riddle, have noticed that not many members of the national media have given Tennessee its due respect for being undefeated so late in the season.

“The past several weeks I’ve watched ESPN and the sports reporters and all this and every week they pick the Titans to get upset,” Riddle said. “This past weekend, they said, “Well if the Titans ever get behind, because they’re a running team, they can’t win,’ and here they go do it again.”

Riddle said he admitted he’s a bit partial, but doesn’t necessarily mind the slight because he thinks the team is playing harder with a chip on the shoulder in the underdog role each week.

The lack of superstars may also be lulling the press and other teams from keeping attention on the Titans, Howerton said.

“Tennessee is not a big-market team with a lot of money,” he said. “I think they’re doing it with the old workmanship way with a lot of hard-working players at each position.”

Both Howerton and Riddle have two season-ticket passes and usually take family members to the game and for today’s game, Riddle will take his daughter, who made the trip from San Antonio.

“She’s turned into a pro football junkie, she loves it,” Riddle said. “I thought, ‘Golly, if the Titans could be 10-0, I’m going to take her and send my wife shopping.’”

By the time most individuals pick up the paper or begin their Sunday responsibilities, Riddle and Howerton will be firing up the grill in Nashville.

“I keep telling people when the sun comes up, I’ll be starting my tailgate,” Riddle said.

Last week, Riddle said he enjoyed some caribou burgers thanks to his friend Skip McGaw, who hunted the animal in Quebec.

With great tailgate fare, a wonderful atmosphere and an undefeated team, Titans season-ticket holders feel they have hit the jackpot.

“These guys are so good, just being there watching is exciting,” Howerton said. “We just got our playoff tickets notice in the mail, so that gets you excited as well.”

Hall's last race for Peay hurt by food poisoning

Saturday, November 22, 2008

When Austin Peay State University cross country runner Tim Hall set off for the final race of his senior campaign, his legs were not the only part of his body feverishly fluttering.

Hoping to end his career with one more personal record, Hall mentally prepared himself for the Ohio Valley Conference Championship race last Saturday, but as the starting gun fired, Hall felt something inside him quiver, but it was not his nerves.

“About when I got to the starting line, I felt my stomach churning and just thought, ‘This can’t be good,’ ” Hall said.

The race began and Hall, a former Madisonville-North Hopkins runner, sprinted down the 8K course as his condition continued to diminish. Hall crossed the finish line in 35:26.40 for 107th place, well behind his desired result.

Once Hall was evaluated, it was clear what caused his discomfort throughout the race — food poisoning.

Hall said he believes he got food poisoning from eating chicken parmesan, which was not fully cooked, the night before the race.

The former Maroon tried to block out the pangs in his stomach during the race, but combined with a hilly course and tough competition, there was plenty on his mind.

By the race’s end, Hall finished second-best on his team, just five seconds behind teammate and running partner Ryne Sexton.

Although Sexton could do nothing but encourage Hall through his obstacles, it was not the first time the duo raced side-by-side as Hall endured distress in a meet.

During Hall’s junior year, he ran nearly an entire 8K race with just one shoe after one fell off in the first half-mile. Running mate Sexton attempted to aid him during the situation.

“He was with me at that point in the race and I was like, ‘Dude, try and kick off my other shoe,’ so he tried to kick off my other shoe to make me even, but we couldn’t do it,” Hall said. “I wasn’t about to stop and take it off because that would just take too much time, so I was like ‘Alright, you got to deal with it.’ ”

With just a single sneaker, Hall finished out the race.

“Thankfully it was on a really nice golf course and soft ground. It wasn’t like I was going to come away with a hurt foot,” he said.

The same could not be said after the meet though when Hall outlasted his luck.

“The ironic thing about that is after the race we were doing our cool down and I decided to do it completely barefoot and that’s when I stepped on a rock and cut my foot,” he said.

Now, with his cross country career behind him and his final track season ahead, Hall, a health and human performance major, is beginning to apply the lessons of running to the real world.

“Training for the season starts months ahead in advance, so I guess I can take away, any career worth having, it’s going to take some time to prepare for it,” he said. “Example, four years of college. You have to go there and be dedicated.”

As for continuing his passion for running after graduation, Hall said he has a few ideas.

“In the immediate next year or two, I’ll probably keep working on getting my 5K and 10K times down,” he said.

Last summer, when Hall suffered a hip injury, he bought a road bike to help in his training and he said he might have a future in duathlons.

“And if I can become a better swimmer, I could start on triathlons just for fun,” Hall said. “If I decide to do anything competitively, I would try to start doing marathons. That’s something I’ll have to work up into.”

Still, coaching may be another outlet for Hall to utilize his knowledge of running.

“I would be looking forward to coming back to Kentucky and coaching,” he said. “That’s one of the things I’ve wanted to do.”

Mullins steps back on the court

Friday, November 21, 2008

Not many college basketball players begin their senior season with a bachelor’s degree already in hand.

Or with a three-year-old child.

Nor do many coaches have the opportunity to sign the same player to the same school twice.

All of these things happened at once when Murray State University head coach Rob Cross persuaded former Hopkins County Central star Angela Mullins to suit up for the Racers four years after leaving the school at the end of her freshman campaign.

When Mullins entered the program in 2003, Cross, the team’s assistant coach, recruited her, but in March the school named him head coach. Among the first of his official duties was to look up Mullins, who previously chose to step away from basketball to raise her daughter.

“I e-mailed her and just kind of talked about the possibility, if she would be interested in me exploring the possibility because I would love for her to get some closure to her career and be able to end her basketball playing career on her own terms,” Cross said.

In her absence from Murray, Mullins went to Madisonville Community College to obtain her associate’s degree and received her bachelor’s in business administration through Mid-Continent University this year.

Although Mullins has already finished her undergraduate work, the NCAA’s pregnancy exception rule allows schools to extend the five-year playing clock for women who have had their careers interrupted by pregnancy, Cross said.

That left Mullins with one year of eligibility left, but coming back was not an automatic decision for the single mother.

“I knew that I would be able to have my master’s paid for and that’s an expensive thing, so I talked about it with people more mature than I and people that were more capable of making a decision like this,” Mullins said. “I talked about it with everybody I could get my hands on. I struggled with it, but I finally decided it was the direction I wanted to go. I didn’t want to spend my whole life wondering what it would have been like if I tried it.”

Balancing the responsibilities of a mother, student and Division-I basketball player has not been easy, but the hardest part was getting back into shape to play, Mullins said.

“It’s not been easy and they were all understanding of my situation,” she said of her teammates upon her first workouts in July. “I didn’t make the times to begin with, but I finished everything. We were lifting weights and it was just completely stressful and exhausting.”

With the season under way, Mullins typically drops off her daughter, Alexa, at daycare each morning before practice at 6:30 and then completes her homework and attends classes. When the team travels, Mullins takes Alexa to her father’s house.

Maintaining so many responsibilities, Cross said he holds Mullins in high esteem for her ability to stay level-headed.

“I have a son that is about the same age as her daughter and I have trouble handling him with my wife and not having to handle school or playing basketball,” he said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for what she does and the fact that she’s able to handle everything and juggle it all.”

Because Cross has his own child, he said he’s more than willing to be flexible to Mullins’ varying obligations.

“One thing I’ve always told her is her daughter is the most important thing and if we need to adjust individual workout schedules or things like that to fit her needs for her, we will do that,” he said. “If there’s ever a situation where she might have an individual workout scheduled and her daughter needs to be picked up from daycare, we’ll adjust the schedule around her needs.”

Murray began its schedule on the road, yet remained close, traveling to Western Kentucky University on Nov. 14.

Mullins started in 12 games her freshman season and made the starting lineup for the 2008-09 opener, but said her second “debut” had her more nervous than she had ever been.

“My stomach was upset all day,” she said. “I was nervous and I didn’t know if I could still run up and down the court. We play in practice, but when you get into a game situation it’s different. Until we started playing, I was a mess, but once we started playing it felt wonderful to compete again like that because once you quit playing basketball, there’s nothing to fill that spot in your life where you compete.”

By game’s end Mullins, the all-time Lady Storm rebounder (1,280) led Murray with seven rebounds, but the Racers lost 95-78. Four days later, Mullins posted eight rebounds to once again pace the squad in a 100-68 victory against Bethel College.

Cross said he feels Mullins aids the team beyond the stat book though.

“I really believe that she’s helped our freshman a great deal,” he said. “She’s been a good role-model for them and has helped them understand the pitfalls of being a student-athlete and pressures and things they have to deal with daily in their life.”

At 23 years old, there is a five-year gap between Mullins and her youngest teammates, which could open the door for age difference and generational jokes, but the 6-3 forward said she gets most of it from her coach.

“Coach Cross really eggs it on more than anyone about the being old thing,” Mullins said. “I get it from coach Cross more than the girls.

“The age difference is there and it’s obvious sometimes. The freshman will say something and I’ll just be like, ‘Oh my God,’ but we get past that really well. It’s not an issue. They come to my house, play with my daughter. It’s really, really a great group of girls.”

And it is with her teammates and the rest of her support network that Mullins said her comeback has become a reality.

“I have all the people I love: my family, my friends – everybody is here to help me,” she said. “They are so encouraging. I could ask for anything and they would help me with it, so it’s not like I’m completely single and on my own. My family makes it easier. It’s not easy by any means, but they make it possible.”

Ewing, Auburn swim team get season started

Thursday, November 20, 2008

The No. 7 ranked Auburn University swimming and diving team opened its Southeastern Conference schedule on Friday and former North standout Emile Ewing made significant contributions, helping the women’s team collect 18 points.

Ewing swam on two relay teams and participated in two individual events, but her efforts and those of her teammates were not enough to defeat the University of Georgia Bulldogs, losing 167-128.

The one-time Maroon swam the third leg of the first-place, 400-yard freestyle team, which finished in 3:19.96 and claimed 11 points.

During the 200-yard medley relay, Ewing swam anchor with the fastest time of :22.97. Her quickness helped the relay team finish in second place for four points.

Ewing also swam in the 50-yard freestyle (:23.41) and 100-yard freestyle (:50.64) to earn a total of three points.

The Tigers will try to rebound when they return to the pool Friday and Saturday at state-rival University of Alabama.

Men’s basketball

Albert Jackson and the Georgia Bulldogs began the season with a win on Friday before splitting a pair of games at the NIT Season Tip-Off earlier this week.

Jackson, who played his first three years of high-school ball at Hopkins County Central, started and posted five rebounds in just 11 minutes during Georgia’s season-opening 72-48 victory against the University of South Carolina-Upstate.

On Monday, the ’Dogs traveled to West Lafayette, Ind. to play Loyola of Chicago in the preseason NIT tourney. The Ramblers utilized a strong second-half effort to upset Georgia 74-53 despite a well-rounded game from Jackson, who posted a game-high five blocks as well as five rebounds and three points.

Both teams entered the intermission tied at 29, but Loyola outscored Georgia 45-24 in the second half to pull away with the win.

The Bulldogs nearly fell again on Tuesday to Eastern Michigan, but their own second-half run saved the team from back-to-back losses.

Playing in the NIT Tip-Off consolation bracket, Georgia defeated the Eagles 61-60. The Bulldogs trailed by 11 with 8:48 left in the game, but fired up a 16-2 run down the stretch.

Although Jackson started the game, he played just four minutes.

Women’s basketball

Webster County graduate Caitlin Owen saw plenty of action on the floor for the Brescia University Bearcats last week.

Owen scored four points and collected two assists in 17 minutes off the bench in the team’s 83-70 win against Midway College on Nov. 11, breaking a season-opening three-game losing streak.

The Bearcats collected back-to-back wins by defeating Mid-Continent University 76-67 on Friday, but no individual stats were made available.

On Saturday, Owen tallied five points, two rebounds and one assist while playing 16 minutes in Brescia’s 80-64 loss to Bethel College (Tenn).

In Tuesday’s 87-75 loss to Campbellsville University, Owen did not score a point but still contributed with three steals and one rebound off the bench.

Lee University freshman Kari Jo Harris enjoyed the most successful game of her young career on Friday by reaching double-digits, but an 89-83 loss to Langston University (Okla.) overshadowed her individual achievement.

Harris, a 2008 Central grad, scored 14 points, one of five Lady Flame players to reach double-digits, but Langston pulled out the win in the final minute of play during the Jack Souther Classic in Cleveland, Tenn.

All 14 of Harris’ points came during the first half, including two three-pointers. In addition to her scoring, Harris tallied three rebounds and two assists.

Friday’s loss marked the first of the season for Lee (4-1), but the Lady Flames rebounded on Saturday in the same tournament with an 83-73 victory against Xavier University (La.). During the win, Harris notched four points, three boards and one assist.

Football

The Virginia Military Institute football team rushed for 364 yards on Saturday, including 99 from quarterback Tim Maypray, but the feat could not overcome Stony Brook’s (N.Y.) offense in a 40-26 loss.

Maypray, a former North product, carried the ball 18 times including one rush for a 60-yard touchdown scamper.

Following his day’s performance, Maypray eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark and became the eighth VMI back to do so and the first Big South Conference quarterback to accomplish the honor.

The loss dropped the Keydets to 3-7 overall and 1-4 in conference. VMI will finish out the year at 12:30 p.m. Saturday against Presbyterian.

n Western Kentucky University linebacker Blake Boyd amassed eight tackles and the Hilltoppers defense held Middle Tennessee State University to 101 yards rushing, yet ultimately fell 21-10 on Saturday.

Boyd and the WKU defenders forced one fumble and one interception, but the Toppers’ offense could not create enough points from the turnovers to defeat the Blue Raiders.

A former Maroon standout, Boyd combined with a teammate for one tackle for a loss and helped his defense bring pressure to sack Middle Tennessee five times for a loss of 47 yards. Western Kentucky also held the Blue Raiders to one-of-two on fourth-down conversions.

With the loss, Western Kentucky fell to 2-9 and will look to close out the season with a win at 6 p.m. on Dec. 6 at Florida International.

Men’s soccer

Former Madisonville-North Hopkins soccer star Aaron Arndt earned a spot on the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Third Team for his defensive performance throughout the 2008 season for Centre College.

Arndt, a junior goalkeeper for the Colonels posted six shutouts en route to allowing an average of .91 goals per game.

With his lockdown defensive stability, Arndt helped propel Centre to a second place tie in the SCAC.

Seasons continue for the younger players

Wednesday, November 19, 2008 Football and soccer season has ended for all Hopkins County high schools, but the sports are still in session for some of the area’s youngest and most avid athletes. Members of a U9 football team and three local soccer standouts continue their athletic endeavors as the last leaves fall from the trees and winter begins to close in on western Kentucky. Soccer players Tate Burris, Courtney Gentry and Miranda Kuehne each participated in the Elks statewide shootout on Saturday in Princeton. The event matched each local player against individuals representing the eastern half of the state. Kuehne took top prize in the U8 girls bracket while Burris and Gentry finished in second in the U10 boys and U14 girls sections respectively. Mark Kuehne, father to Miranda and president of the Hopkins County Youth Soccer Organization, said the specifications to win varied with each age level. “With the younger ones, it’s just going at progressively smaller goals,” he said. “For the U12 and the U14, you actually have to loft the ball into specific areas of a large goal in which you get a certain number of points.” Before Saturday’s shootout, Kuehne, Burris and Gentry each won events in Madisonville and Draffenville to qualify. As for competitive play, Burris spends his time with the Madisonville Soccer Club and Gentry, a seventh-grader, contributed to the Madisonville-North Hopkins junior varsity team this season. Most participants in the Madisonville qualifier came from the Hopkins County Family YMCA, MSC, or North, Mark Kuehne said. With his daughter’s latest victory, Mark will accompany Miranda to the next level of competition, a multi-state regional contest to be held in Hagerstown, Md. the first week of March. The trip’s expenses will be covered by the Elks. For Mark, who hails from the Silver Springs, Md. area, the trip will an educational and civic opportunity as well for his daughter. “We’re going to make a little mini-vacation out of it and she’ll get to see the nation’s capital,” he said. Even though Miranda has a long ways before high school and choosing a college, her father hopes she can take in this experience as she carves her path to the future. “I hope she has fun and that’s what I told her,” Mark said. “I would love for her to win without a doubt. I would love for it to be a notch in her résumé. “I have high hopes for her in the future, maybe one day she can get a college scholarship is what I would love to happen and this could just be one little notch in the resume along the line.” Football On the gridiron, another group of young aspiring athletes have been learning important lessons. Todd Crist and a group of coaches from the Alliance Coal-sponsored third and fourth-grade YMCA football league amassed an all-star squad to take part in various fall tournaments. Most coaches and players came from the undefeated Warrior Coal team, but the 17-member all-stars boast kids from throughout Hopkins County Winning is not the sole message the coaches are trying to push though, Crist said. “It’s not just the football, it’s teaching these kids lifelong lessons as far as teaching them discipline and respect and sportsmanship, things you carry on your whole life,” he said. “The sports is key as far as we want to teach them to play well and win and that, but the bottom line is teaching these kids to be responsible citizens as they come up through the community and teaching them what it is to sacrifice and have discipline in their lives to succeed.” On Saturday, after just three practices together, the team participated in a 12-team, U9 tournament in Owensboro. After defeating Montgomery County 33-0, the local all-stars lost 34-0 to Owen County. Crist said the conditions for play were less than ideal. “When we played Owen County it was 38 degrees and it was raining,” he said. “I mean them kids were out there slopping around in that mud, they were cold and wet. You know how miserable it is when you’re cold and wet. Those little fellows were miserable, but they were fighting.” The youngsters play 11-on-11 with four seven-minute quarters and otherwise observe high school rules with the exception of special teams. During the team’s victory against Montgomery, Camron Johnson rushed for three touchdowns to earn the game’s MVP trophy. Chandler Crist and Drew Webb added the team’s other scores. The U9 Hopkins County team will hit the practice field this week and next in preparation of its next tournament, the Kentucky Cup — a Kentucky State Youth Football Championship in Owensboro during Thanksgiving weekend.

Storm opens season tonight

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

At Hopkins County Central, second-year swimming coach Cheryl Vaughn thinks with her debut season behind, the 2008-09 campaign will begin strides ahead after a full calendar of studying and preparation.

The Storm swim team has practiced for four weeks and its preseason work will finally come to fruition in the squad’s regular-season opener at 5:30 p.m. today with a tri-meet against Muhlenberg North and Muhlenberg South at the Hopkins County Family YMCA.

“We have focused a whole lot more on getting conditioning in before our meets this time because we had a little more experience of how to instruct the strokes,” Vaughn said of her approach to this fall’s practices. “We really tried to work on getting a lot more yardage in and we hope that shows up in the meet times.”

Assistant coach Sophie French said with a year of experience now at disposal, the staff has realized the most vital aspects to focus on during the preseason.

“It’s all about technique,” she said. “We have done nothing for four weeks, but breakdown technique.”

French said for her, learning the very basics of swimming has become a key part to developing success, even away from the pool.

“We have to study, really study,” she said. “I’ve had to use Ellen, who lives with me of course, my daughter at home and say, ‘Look at this drill, this is what we want you to do tomorrow.’ ”

Central will be have to replace a lot of veteran experience with the graduation of five seniors: Daniel Cotton, April Duncan, Zach Ford, Lauren French and Lacy Reynolds.

Among those expected to be pivotal contributors this season will be captains Kain Bean, Ellen Cox, Ellen French and Cody Patterson.

For the girls, eighth-grader Linny Hooper and freshman Rebecca Spraggs will also be top returners.

Sophie French said Spraggs has improved greatly on her breast stroke and has been really impressed with Hooper’s progress from her summer involvement with a Hopkinsville swim club.

Hooper said she enjoyed working with the club and her focus to continued progress will be getting stronger off the blocks.

Ariel Bruce and Kathyrn Cartwright will also bring a bit of leadership to the table for the girls.

“They’re versatile,” Sophie French said of her returning corps. “They are our experience that we can depend on and we can put them in anything and they know what they’re doing.”

The girls team will boast quite a few more swimmers with 13 to the boys’ seven swimmers, but Vaughn has faith in their capabilities.

“We have some really good young kids here for the boys team that have worked really hard and we expect them to do good things,” she said.

Wesley Ipock represents the boys’ only senior, but enters his second year well-prepared after a fall season full of playing cross country, football and soccer.

Ipock did not practice until Monday, but said he has worked up his stamina from running and feels ready for today’s meet.

The coaches have little reason to doubt him after his first day performance.

“He’s such a tremendous athlete,” Vaughn said. “He’s probably going to make a little noise in whatever he does...He only knows one speed, 110 percent.”

Ipock will swim in freestyle and breaststroke events while Bean, a freshman, will participate in the 500 free.

As for learning how to improve in their team’s respective races, Vaughn and Sophie French said they attended a summer camp at Western Kentucky University and ordered instructional DVDs from former Auburn University coach David Marsh, who won several NCAA national championships with the Tigers.

At the camp, the swimmers learned how to complete successful turns, which can be a critical part of the race.

“If it’s neck and neck the whole race and you slip on one turn, you can probably count yourself out, I don’t care how strong you are,” Ipock said.

Sophie French said the DVDs helped the kids relate to what the coaches have tried to describe.

“They helped us break it down in a simple manner,” she said. “Some of the kids were really struggling with the turns and understanding what we were asking from them.”

Ellen French said she has identified the turn as an area she must continue to improve upon if she wants to experience a high level of success.

“If someone has really fast turns, it’s hard to keep up with them because their transition from stroke to stroke and 25 to 25 is really quick, so I’ve really been focusing on my turns this year,” she said.

Most of the swimmers admitted in addition to the camp and tapes, they learned a lot from observing U.S. Olympian Michael Phelps on TV while he performed this summer in Beijing.

“I watched him like a hawk,” Patterson said. “Anything he did, I tried to copy. The way his arms moved in his butterfly. It was just like clockwork, perfect.”

Cox and French said they enjoyed his attitude and saw it as an inspiration.

“He kept a high spirit, he was positive and wanted all those medals that he won,” Cox said. “He strived and he kept working and he knew he could do it and he did it.”

Central’s swimmers hope to draw from the energy of Phelps and utilize everything they have learned in the offseason and convert it into plenty of wins beginning in today’s tri-meet.

Stalled drives hurt Storm

Sunday, November 16, 2008

After a season in which the Hopkins County Central football team amassed its most wins since 2003, the inability to finish drives brought the Storm’s successful run to a close.

Twice the Storm appeared on the brink to break Franklin-Simpson’s offensive momentum by driving deep into Wildcat territory and twice Central made costly mistakes to erase any progress as the team eventually lost 38-9 in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs Friday night.

“It was turnovers and penalties is what killed drives for us,” coach Rick Snodgrass said. “Those things, in playoff game, if you have penalties and turnovers those things just kill drives and that’s kind of what happened to us.”

During the first quarter, quarterback Jake Powell directed the Storm to the opposing 20-yard line, but could not handle a high snap on second down. Franklin-Simpson’s Jim Murphree jumped on the ball for the turnover.

On the next play, a Courtney Delcourt to Murphree to Patrick Flippin “hook n’ ladder” converted the Storm mistake into seven points.

“They’re kind of notorious for running some sort of trick play in the first quarter of ballgames and they executed to perfection,” Snodgrass said. “We jumped the hook and they slipped Flippin out of the backfield on the ladder and they did a really good job of executing and they got the big

play.”

The trick play trio was a thorn in the side of Central’s defense throughout the game.

Delcourt finished the game passing for 177 yards and two touchdowns while Flippin caught four passes for 129 yards with one receiving touchdown and two on the ground. Murphree exhibited great skill on offense and defense by catching three passes for 39 yards and a score with a fumble recovery and an interception return for a touchdown on the other side of the ball.

Central’s defense had prepared during the week to stop Delcourt as a running threat and successfully held him to 37 yards on five attempts. Instead of doing it with his legs, Delcourt broke down the Storm with small throwing gains though.

Snodgrass said without the injured Dustin Grant, Central lacked the vision to jump the plays before they broke for longer yardage.

“They didn’t really hurt us vertically, they just hurt us on the short screen passes and that’s kind of where we miss Dustin Grant,” he said. “Dustin does a great job of reading those screens and without him, with some inexperience in there, it hurt us with them getting the ball to Flippin out of the backfield on dumps and screens. They were able to make some big plays doing that.”

Kick returner Kelsey Bowman made a big play of his own when he raced 82 yards for a touchdown in the closing minutes of the first half. Bowman never broke stride, juked the kicker near midfield and breezed the rest of the way. A bobbled hold on the extra-point attempt kept the score at 17-9.

Franklin-Simpson’s deadly three stepped up again following the Bowman touchdown. The trio of Delcourt, Flippin and Murphree accounted for every yard of the Wildcats’ 7-play, 69-yard scoring drive, which took just 58 seconds.

In the third quarter, Central began with the ball and two first downs and a late hit penalty pushed the Storm to the Franklin-Simpson 30-yard line after just three plays.

Powell dropped back and attempted a screen pass, but the 6-6 Murphree peered over the line and read the play, jumping in front of the intended Kevin Couch. Murphree hauled the ball in and sprinted untouched 65 yards for a 31-9 lead.

Snodgrass said the back-to-back Wildcat scores had a bit of a deflating effect on the Storm sideline.

“I think after we returned the kickoff with about 1:50 left in the half and they march down the field and get a score before halftime – that kind of hurt us a bit,” he said. “But our kids came back and we had a good drive going (in the third quarter). We threw the pick and that kind of took a lot of the momentum out of us.”

Despite the frustration of an early playoff exit, Snodgrass said his senior class had plenty to accomplishments to take pride in this season.

As freshman and sophomores, the 2008-09 seniors endured back-to-back losing records, including a 1-9 year in 2006, but as upperclassmen posted consecutive winning seasons.

“I told them (Friday) night, they helped bring the program back,” Snodgrass said. “This is a young program, this is the 12th season for football...We had a lot of success early in the program and we had some down years and they were part of one down year as sophomores.

“Last year we had a winning season and made the playoffs. This year, we were able to better that and get back to the playoffs. Hopefully we’ve turned the corner and headed back in the right direction as far as getting the program built back up where it needs to be.”

Turnovers, missed chances knock out Central

Saturday, November 15, 2008

FRANKLIN — A wonderful football season highlighted by the play of nearly a dozen seniors came to an end Friday night as turnovers and missed opportunities marred Hopkins County Central’s chances to knock off Franklin-Simpson in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.

Once the second-half rains came, execution did not become any easier and the Storm (7-4) fell 38-9 to Franklin-Simpson (8-3).

The Storm’s Kelsey Bowman brought his team to life with two minutes left in the first half on an 82-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, cutting the deficit to 17-9, but the Wildcat offense continued to cruise against a struggling Central counterpart.

Following Bowman’s sprint to the endzone, Franklin-Simpson performed the two-minute drill nearly perfect, retaliating with a score in just one minute.

Wildcat quarterback Courtney Dalcourt, a touted Division-I college prospect, threw to 6-6 wide receiver Jim Murphree for a 12-yard fade rout in the endzone. The score put Franklin-Simpson up 24-9.

During the second half, Dalcourt became less of a factor, but Murphree and running back Patrick Flippin continued to push the throttle.

On Central’s first drive of the second half, the Storm once again moved deep into Wildcat territory, but on first down from the 30-yard line, Murphree jumped in front of a Powell screen pass intended for Kevin Couch and broke 65 yards for the score and a 31-9 lead.

Flippin added the game’s final points on a 4-yard touchdown scamper to the right corner with seven minutes to go in the third quarter.

Storm defensive lineman Josh Adamson recovered a fumble just inside the fourth quarter at the Franklin-Simpson 7-yard line, but Central could not capitalize to begin a comeback.

Central came out with the momentum and looked in position to surprise another talented team on the road as the Storm did to Lone Oak in the regular season.

The Storm defense forced a three-and-out on the Wildcats’ first possession and the Central offense assumed its first drive on the Franklin-Simpson 28-yard line after a shanked punt.

Coming back under center for first time in three games, senior quarterback Jacob Powell could not direct Central to a first down on the ensuing drive. Kicker Carlos Diaz salvaged the situation with a 42-yard field to take a 3-0 lead.

Troydale Rorer brought the rush on another Wildcat three-and-out and tipped a punt, but with a good roll, Central started the possession around midfield.

Powell found his stride on his team’s second drive throwing for 41 yards and rushing for another seven, but nearing the redzone Central found first downs difficult to achieve. On second-and-five, Wildcat Jim Murphree recovered a fumble on a high snap at the 27-yard line.

During the next Franklin-Simpson offensive play, Dalcourt passed to Murphree in the flats, who made a move, turned and tossed the ball to Flippin on the “hook n’ ladder.” Flippin raced down the sidelines and gave the Wildcats their first lead, one they would never surrender.

Bowman mishandled the following kickoff and Shaquille Harris recovered for Franklin-Simpson. Four plays later Justin Dyer kicked a 40-yard field goal.

With 1:52 left in the first half, Flippin capped a 12-play, 80-yard drive with a touchdown rush to go ahead 17-3.

HCCHS: 3 6 0 0 – 9

FSHS: 10 14 14 0 – 38

HCCHS: Carlos Diaz 42-yard field goal

FSHS: Courtney Dalcourt pass to Jim Murphree pitch to Patrick Flippin 73-yard reception, Justin Dyer XP

FSHS: Dyer 40-yard field goal

FSHS: Flippin 6-yard rush, Dyer XP

HCCHS: Kelsey Bowman 82-yard kickoff return, XP failed

FSHS: Jim Murphree 12-yard reception from Dalcourt, Dyer XP

FSHS: Murphree 65-yard interception return, Dyer XP

FSHS: Flippin 4-yard rush, Dyer XP

Hopkins County Central (7-4)

Passing: Jake Powell 10-18, 89 yards, 1 INT Luke Crawley 0-2, 1 INT

Rushing: Troydale Rorer 10-35 Powell 12-43 Keith Couch 6-22 Crawley 1-0

Receiving: Kelsey Bowman 2-9 Nikee Caldwell 1-13 Rorer 4-33 Von Lovan 2-23 Kevin Couch 1-11

Franklin-Simpson (8-3)

Passing: Courtney Dalcourt 9-16, 177 yards, 2 TD Hayden Williams 0-1

Rushing: Dalcourt 5-37 Patrick Flippin 15-66, 2 TD Williams 3-7 Jalen Bell 1- -1 Darius Wickware 3-18 DeAlmar Garner 1- -4

Receiving: Flippin 4-129, 1 TD Zack Herrington 2-9 Jim Murphree 3-39, 1 TD

Fumble recovery: Murphree

Interception: Murphree 1-65, 1 TD Williams 1

Youth wish lists voiced

Friday, November 14, 2008

Supporters of youth athletics from across Hopkins County came together on Wednesday night at the County Office Building and voiced a wish list of expectations they hope will be constructed as part of the future Regional Sports Complex.

Synthetic turf, tennis courts, a nature trail and more were named as possibilities to include during the stakeholders meeting.

Keith Cartwright, who heads the Hopkins County Tourist and Convention Commission board, said more than $700,000 has been collected in state and local money for the complex.

Sixth District State Senator Jerry Rhoades said while the money comes in, it’s important youth athletic supporters envision what they want from such a facility.

“We’re going to shoot for the long term, we’re not going to just do what we’re able to do now,” he said. “I would anticipate this is a phased-in project over several years.”

James Barritt of the Madisonville Rotary Club, said he would like to make the future football fields at the complex home to rotary football, which lacks a permanent complex.

Barritt said the club needs use of a field as well as a concession stand for six weeks each fall and pending approval from the club’s board, the organization could even pool resources for it.

Many youth soccer supporters attended the meeting, including Hopkins County Youth Soccer Organization president Mark Kuehne, who stressed versatility of the fields.

Kuehne said it’s easy to turn one adult-sized field into three or four usable areas for U-6 and U-8 teams.

David Webb, president of the YAA softball and baseball fields, spoke on behalf of youth softball and encouraged the commission to think larger and build more than the currently planned eight fields.

“We have eight fields and we struggle to get our games in now,” he said of the YAA’s site.

Webb and others in attendance stressed the importance of raising money through use of the complex.

“We need to be hosting tournaments on a regular basis,” Webb said. “If we’re not having a softball tournament, we should be having a soccer tournament.”

Some audience members asked the commission to identify which youth organizations would utilize the complex and David Lamb of Associated Engineers said he hopes there will be a director to oversee the facilities and coordination of usage.

“You guys are the stakeholders because for it to be successful it has to meet the needs of those people out there promoting youth sports in the county,” Lamb said.

While each person at the meeting raised individual concerns and desires from lighting to emergency access and bathrooms, nearly all agreed the community needs an upgrade from its current multi-field facility at the YAA fields.

Cartwright said he thinks the site could be finished with construction sometime in 2010.

With many interested individuals and a wide array of thoughts for the complex, Lamb said he hopes to have similar stakeholder meetings in the future.

Powell back as Storm visit Cats

Friday, November 14, 2008

Averaging nearly 50 points without its first-string quarterback during the past two weeks, the Hopkins County football team’s offense has little reason to expect a downfall with the return of senior Jake Powell from injury.

After a full week of practice, Powell will direct the Storm offense when Central (7-3) visits Franklin-Simpson (7-3) at 7:30 p.m. today in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.

While Powell has been away, the Central offensive playmakers have been amassing the points and the quarterback’s return should make the team’s outlook even brighter.

“I think it’s a big, big boost for them, just the confidence,” coach Rick Snodgrass said. “Luke (Crawley) and Jesse (Almon) both filled in and did a great job while Jake was absent, but we’re a better football team with Jake out there.

“He’s a senior, he’s the strongest kid on our team. It’s his last opportunity in the playoffs, so it’s a big plus for us.”

Powell, who missed his own Senior Night, will play with an air cast on his ankle, but knows he will have to be careful not to aggravate his injury.

“I have to make sure I don’t do anything stupid,” he said. “I can’t try and juke people. I’ll just have to lower my shoulder and get what I can get. I can’t slip and twist an ankle out here on this.”

Facing a Wildcat defense that typically drops eight men into coverage, Powell also knows the speed of Franklin-Simpson’s lineman will still be a factor.

“The defensive line, even though they rush three, they still get a lot of pressure on the teams that they’ve played, so I think that’s the strength of their team,” he said.

Defensively, the Storm will look to make a repeat of last week’s success, shutting out the opposition and creating turnovers.

As a veteran coach, Snodgrass said capitalizing on mistakes is key in the postseason.

“Those are momentum swingers and are usually difference makers in the playoffs when you have teams that are fairly equal,” he said. “It usually comes down to the turnovers and special teams play.”

Wildcat quarterback Courtney Dalcourt poses the biggest threat to the Central defensive game plan.

“The quarterback, he’s real shifty,” senior defender Denzel Arrington said. “That’s why we have to wrap up and make sure we get him down because he’ll break some tackles. If he breaks a tackle, he could be gone.”

During the regular season, Dalcourt rushed for 964 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Through the air, Dalcourt showed great efficiency, completing 116-of-171 passes for 20 touchdowns.

“It’s not so much what he does in the passing game that causes a problem, it’s what he can do with his feet, that’s our concern,” Snodgrass said. “The main thing is to keep him in the pocket and not bust some big plays by scrambling or designed runs.”

Helping to contain the elusive back will be senior linebacker Travis Watts, who described a wrinkle the defense designed this week.

“We came up with 33 monster, leave a man free to blitz,” he said. “The key is hopefully (Nathan) Crick will kill the quarterback with the ball or whoever’s got it because he’s free.”

Snodgrass said the package is merely a modification of what the team has been doing all season long.

No matter the defensive alignment, Arrington said the keys remain the same.

“We just have to focus and wrap-up technique wise,” he said.

Notes

The All-Western Kentucky Conference tabbed 11 Storm players to its 2008 honors list with Nathan Crick, Troydale Rorer and Cody Summers each making the first team.

Kelsey Bowman, Jake Powell, Travis Watts, Keith Couch, Kevin Couch, Denzel Arrington, Anthony Qualls and Dustin Grant also made the All-Western Kentucky Conference.

The banquet will be held at 1 p.m. Dec. 14 at Murray State University.

Luckily, for members of the Central football team, no player is old enough to remember playing Franklin-Simpson in the school’s last meeting and the heartbreak that accompanied for the Storm.

That also occurred in the first round of the playoffs. On Nov. 2, 2001, Central visited the Wildcats and lost 27-26 with the difference maker being a blocked point-after attempt.

Tonight’s game marks the eighth time in Central’s history the Storm have made the playoffs.

Georgia names Jackson a captain

Thursday, November 13, 2008

As college basketball season revs up and eyes begin to turn north to Lexington and Louisville, former Hopkins County Central player Albert Jackson has been garnering the attention of his coach and teammates at the University of Georgia.

On Monday, Jackson’s teammates and coach Dennis Felton tabbed the Earlington native as one of the Bulldogs’ three captains for the 2008-09 season for his leadership and continued hard work through the offseason.

The team also selected seniors Corey Butler and Terrance Woodbury as captains, but Jackson, better known as A.J. to his teammates, earned the lone junior nomination.

“It feels pretty good, just being here three years and I kind of looked up to Dave Bliss, the captain from last year, he was a post player,” Jackson said. “I always tried to learn from him. It feels good for coach to recognize that I’m really working hard to be a leader and my teammates to recognize the same thing and for them to vote me in as captain is a big honor.”

Felton expressed great confidence in Jackson and his fellow captains when he told georgiadogs.com of the team’s decision.

“I speak for all of their teammates when I say that the leadership of our team is in good hands,” Felton said. “’Wood,’ Corey, and A.J. all understand what an honor it is to be a Bulldog and they have done an excellent job of conveying that message to their teammates.”

Sophomore guard Zac Swansey spoke to the Web site on behalf of the players.

“As leaders on and off the court, Albert, Wood, and Corey have all the tools,” he said. “They lead by example all the time and are always there for their teammates.”

At 6-11, Jackson lists as the team’s only center and will be depended upon to do most of the squad’s dirty work in the paint, a tough task when it comes to playing in the Southeastern Conference.

“I love that challenge,” Jackson said. “I like when I

have pressure on me and I feel like I’m going to step up to expectations that everybody has set forth for me because I worked hard over the spring and the summer to get where I need to be for my team to be successful, so I’m really looking forward to this challenge.”

Jackson experienced a bit of pain in his first tune-up, the team’s exhibition-opener last Friday, a 93-56 victory over Albany State (N.Y.).

With less than five minutes to play, Jackson suffered a lower leg injury underneath the Albany State bucket and was later diagnosed with a sprained left ankle.

Although Jackson said he thought he would initially miss two to four weeks, after rehabbing during the weekend he thinks he will be ready for Georgia’s regular-season opener against University of South Carolina-Upstate on Friday.

During his 22 minutes on the floor, however, Jackson amassed seven rebounds, four points, two assists, two blocks and one steal. His bucket at the 11:53 mark in the second half provided the Bulldogs with their largest lead of the game at 76-35.

Now, with the regular season just days away, Jackson understands the importance of his presence on the floor to his team’s triumphs.

“My role is definitely increasing as a leader and I have a lot of experience and I have to bring that to the table to help lead some of our younger guys, so they know the things you have to do to be successful as a team,” he said. “My role is just to be very consistent and bring that toughness that everybody knows Georgia for having.”

Centre's Arndt records first assist of year

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Centre College goalkeeper Aaron Arndt recorded his first assist of the year against Division-III Trinity University on Friday and the Colonels maintained an early 2-0 advantage against the No. 1 ranked Tigers, but could not hold on following a costly penalty.

Facing nationally-touted Trinity (Texas), Centre jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead. Arndt, a former Madisonville-North Hopkins standout, even provided an assist on the second score from goal with a booming kick to an open Patrick Garvey.

Later, a red card against the Colonels, however, meant Centre had to play the remainder of the game a man down.

The one-player advantage proved to be too much against the Tiger offense and the Colonels eventually succumbed 3-2. Arndt finished the game with six saves.

Two days later, Centre rebounded to defeat visiting Southwestern University (Texas) 2-1 in the team’s regular season finale.

Arndt made three saves in the game and with the win, the Colonels secured second place in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference and finished 15-5 overall and 7-3 in the SCAC.

Women’s basketball

Webster County graduate Caitlin Owen has played in each of Brescia University’s three basketball games this season, but the team has struggled, opening the year with a three consecutive losses.

Owen has seen plenty of action on the floor, averaging the most minutes of any reserve coming off the bench.

Through three contests, Owen has scored in every game.

After an 11-point season-opening loss to Lindsey Wilson College and a 94-45 loss to the University of the Cumberlands, Brescia nearly knocked off Pikeville College, but eventually fell 97-92.

Lee University’s Kari Jo Harris came off the bench on Thursday to lead both Lee and all opposing Morris College (S.C.) players in minutes played.

As the “sixth man,” Harris, a 2008 Hopkins County Central graduate, played 27 minutes and accumulated four points, three rebounds and two assists in her team’s 100-66 victory.

On Saturday, Lee defeated Milligan College (Tenn.) in a similar fashion, winning 98-63. Harris tallied four points and two rebounds in 13 minutes of floor time.

Football

The Virginia Military Institute football team continued its mid-season slide losing 38-26 to the Liberty Flames (Va.) on Saturday, despite quarterback Tim Maypray’s consistent play.

Maypray, a former Maroon, rushed 16 times for 53 yards and ended the day 1-of-4 passing for another 53 yards.

Down 21-5 as the first half approached its close, Maypray’s 11-yard touchdown rush pulled VMI within striking distance for a possible second-half comeback.

With the loss, the Keydets drop to 3-6 overall and 1-3 in the Big South Conference.

Men’s swimming

Four former North swimmers took part in two separate swim meets during the weekend for Transylvania University with each seeing plenty of pool time.

The Pioneers lost 142-62 to Wabash University (Ind.) on Friday and defeated Union College 134-86 in Saturday’s match-up. There was plenty of brotherly competition between former Maroons Daniel, Joseph and Stephen Porter, but teammate Yunan Yang may have had the most impressive weekend.

Yang finished with the highest individual place by taking third in the 200-yard individual medley on Saturday.

In Friday’s meet Yang beat out Daniel in the 200-yard breaststroke.

On the same day, Yang teamed with Joseph and Stephen in the 400-yard freestyle race, taking sixth of nine participating teams. Yang and Stephen also swam together on the 400-yard medley relay while Daniel took part in the same race, but on a different team.

Rounding out Friday’s results, Daniel swam in the 200-yard individual medley while Joseph and Stephen participated in the 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard backstroke respectively.

All three Porter brothers entered the 200-yard freestyle relay against Union. Joseph and Stephen’s team finished second with Daniel’s team a couple seconds behind at third.

Daniel got a bit of revenge in the 100-yard freestyle though with a fourth-place victory and .25 seconds advantage against Joseph. Despite the narrow loss, Joseph still earned a point for his team.

Joseph also swam in the 50-yard freestyle while Stephen took part in the 200-yard medley relay and 100-yard backstroke. Both Daniel and Yang entered in the 100-yard breaststroke.

n At Centre College, former Central swimmer Zach Ford swam against Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis on Friday, but the Colonels lost 152-142.

Ford, a freshman, participated in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:12.59) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:42.96).

Women’s swimming

On the women’s side at Transylvania, Maggie Davenport and Claire Dorris each experienced a pair of successful meets against Wittenberg University (Ohio) and Union College.

Like the men, the women’s team split its meets, losing 165-71 to Wittenberg on Friday and defeating Union 137-54 on Saturday.

Both swimmers contributed greatly to their team’s success by accumulating several points.

Davenport swam the first leg of Friday’s second-place 400-yard medley relay and Dorris took a leg on the fourth-place finishing team in the same race.

In the same meet, Dorris participated in the 200-yard butterfly and 500-yard freestyle while Davenport finished out the day quite strong. Davenport earned nine points in a first-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke (1:06.80) and lost out to another Transy team for first in the 400-yard freestyle relay. For the 200-yard backstroke, Davenport claimed second place.

Dorris and Davenport teamed up to win Saturday’s 200-yard medley relay race in 2:00.38. Davenport began the race and Dorris swam anchor.

Later, Davenport earned points by taking second place in the 200-yard individual medley. Dorris led off the first-place 200-yard freestyle relay team and also swam the 200-yard freestyle.

Volleyball

The Barry University (Fla.) volleyball team swept its competition in three separate matches last week to improve to 15-10 overall and 5-9 in the Sunshine State Conference.

Former Maroon Julia Ridley and the Buccaneers began the three-game win streak with back-to-back 3-0 wins against Nova Southeastern (Fla.) on Nov. 3 and Palm Beach Atlantic (Fla.) on Friday. During the two contests, Ridley posted a total 16 kills, 16 digs, two blocks and one ace.

On Saturday, Barry went five games before defeating the St. Thomas Bobcats (Fla.). Ridley had her best game of the week, recording 12 kills, 10 digs and three blocks.

The Buccaneers close out the season this weekend 7 p.m. Friday at Florida Southern and 2 p.m. Saturday at St. Leo (Fla.).

Kitch is named leader of the Pirates

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Baseball season may be several months away, but the Tradewater Pirates made an important step to achieving back-to-back KIT League regular season championships last week by hiring head coach Brandon Kitch.

Taking over for last year’s skipper Kurt Elbin, Kitch joins the program with many years of experience. This spring, Kitch will begin his second year as an assistant coach at Faulkner University (Ala.).

Previous to his current job, Kitch spent one season at Vernon College (Texas) and nine years at Oklahoma City University.

Kitch’s resume appears as one of a seasoned veteran, but he still relies on his youth a bit to connect with his teams.

“I would describe myself as a player’s coach,” he said. “I’m 31 years old and I’m not far-removed from where those guys are at. I expect them to be disciplined. I have a couple rules. If they play hard and be professional and be on time, we’re going to be alright.”

Kitch said he applied for the job before Tradewater’s championship season last year and when approached by the team’s board members this fall about the opening, he accepted.

Originally from Oklahoma, Kitch spent his playing days as an outfielder with Oklahoma City and later went on to coach at his alma mater.

In 2004, during Kitch’s tenure at OCU, the team set a NAIA record for most wins in a season by going 73-7, but finished runner-up for the championship.

The next year, the squad captured the title and Kitch said some of his greatest moments and influences came from time spent with that program and helped him develop his own coaching philosophy.

“I worked with one of the – in my personal opinion and probably a lot of others – one of the best coaching staffs in the country as far as baseball goes, at Oklahoma City University,” he said. “Being there for nine years has gotten me where I am today, just letting players play and don’t handcuff them. Just have a relaxed atmosphere, yet make sure they respect the game and are professionals.”

Being from Oklahoma, Kitch said he does not follow one particular team, but rather the men who run the players.

“I like to watch and see how managers handle, just watching it from TV,” he said. “One of my favorite managers is (Los Angeles Dodgers manager) Joe Torre. He’s the epitome of professionalism, how he runs his club, how he disciplines his players. He’s just a very professional man in the baseball world.”

With the college season a couple months away, summer league coaches like Kitch are focusing on filling out their coaching staffs and rosters. Kitch said he hopes to have his assistants identified by Dec. 1.

“I want to have the right guy for me as well as the organization, the right fit,” he said.

As for players, the new Pirate head coach said he has been in contact with players from Oklahoma to Colorado, Kansas to Tennessee, but doesn’t want to leave any 2008 Tradewater players out of the mix.

“I do have a rule, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,’” Kitch said. “I’m giving every opportunity for guys that were on last year’s team to come back. I think I’ve got six or seven of them, maybe eight.”

With a “let the players play” philosophy, Kitch isn’t afraid to rely on the longball, but said he also recognizes the importance of small ball in a wooden-bat league, especially at a big ballpark like Riverside Park.

Therefore, fans can expect to see Pirate batters attempting to drive the gaps and stretch out hits.

Infield base hits will also be a weapon Kitch plans to use.

“I really do like to drag bunt,” he said. “I would rather drag bunt than sacrifice bunt, especially with some of the guys we’re going to have, we’re going to have some speed.

“That way, we’re allowing ourselves to hit for base hits. So, now instead of a runner at second with one out, we’ll have possible runners on first and second with no outs.”

Although Kitch has not yet met the Tradewater fan base, he said he plans to visit the Dawson Springs area by the new year.

“From looking up on the Internet, it seems to be a very nice area and a good place to play some baseball,” he said. “It’s going to be fun, I’m real excited.”

Starters and subs did well for Storm

Sunday, November 09, 2008

On Senior Night, fans typically get one last shot to witness the talents of a team’s best players, but at Hopkins County Central the underclassmen may have upstaged the veterans.

After taking a 28-0 lead into halftime, many of the Storm back-ups entered in the second half to finish off the Hancock County Hornets on Friday night and did not miss a beat.

“Those kids had a real good junior varsity season and they run scout team against our No. 1 defense every day in practice, so they get a lot of work,” coach Rick Snodgrass said. “We expect good things out of those guys.”

Quarterback Jesse Almon ran the offense in the game’s final 24 minutes, taking over for second-stringer Luke Crawley, who conducted the Storm offense smoothly in the first half.

Both Almon and Crawley finished the evening 3-for-5 passing; Almon netted 53 yards through the air to Crawley’s 27, but Crawley had one touchdown pass.

“I thought both quarterbacks came in and did a pretty good job for us,” Snodgrass said.

Joining Almon in the backfield during the second half was sophomore running back Jaylon McCoy.

The speedster McCoy caught two of Almon’s passes for 23 yards and had nine carries for 89 yards and two touchdowns.

“I thought Jaylon came in and gave us a big lift,” Snodgrass said. “McCoy has a lot of talent. He’s a physical runner and he gives our defense fits a lot of times in practice.”

Snodgrass also noted the exceptional play of Micah Rorer and Tyrone Glorioso.

“Micah Rorer is going to be a good player for us,” he said. “We started Tyrone Glorioso at corner and he’s a sophomore. He played a lot with the No. 1’s at corner and did a good job, so we really have some guys that stepped in.

“We’ve been working them in and out of the lineup some, but right now at this point in the season, we need everybody we can get on the field to help us out in certain situations.”

Although Rorer, a running back, did not have any carries, he helped guard against the rush and made an ESPN “Top Play”-esque catch as time winded down in the third quarter.

On third-and-six, from the Hornet 40-yard line, Almon dropped back to pass and threw one up to Rorer by the near sideline, who leapt, hauled the ball in and placed his feet just inside the field of play for a 30-yard gain.

The play resulted in a first-and-goal for the Storm and kicker Carlos Diaz converted on a 24-yard field goal to put Central ahead 45-0.

The kicking duo of Diaz and Wesley Ipock was another area that impressed Snodgrass.

“Wesley was good, 7-for-7 (on point-after attempts) and we made a field goal,” Snodgrass said. “We really hated to kick that field goal, we were up on them, but we needed the practice and Carlos needed some experience and some confidence and that was good for us.”

With the 52-0 win, Central’s defense notched its fourth shutout of the season, but during the first quarter that goal didn’t appear likely when Hancock County moved the ball easily down field.

“The first drive they kind of got us a couple times,” Snodgrass said. “We missed a couple tackles, blew a couple of assignments.”

After a pass interference call, the Hornets had first-and-goal from the 4-yard line, but the Storm defenders were up for the task. Hancock quarterback Zach Wettstain gained a yard on a first-down keeper, but his team lost yardage on the next two plays and eventually turned the ball over on downs at the 18-yard line.

“The defense kind of bowed its neck up a little bit and got some stops and didn’t let them in the endzone,” Snodgrass said. “We continued to play defense and forced some turnovers, blocked some punts and I thought our young guys in the second half did a good job defensively, so it was a good effort all the way around.”

Now, heading into the playoffs, Snodgrass said he’s happy to see all of his players performing well, the first-string as well as reserves.

“It’s a big plus for us,” he said. “It helps to know that you have guys that can step in and contribute if somebody goes down or if somebody has to come out for a play or two for a breather. We know we have some guys that can step in and get the job done.”

Central defensive against Hornets

Saturday, November 08, 2008

MORTONS GAP — If anyone thought the Hopkins County Central football team might overlook the Storm’s regular-season finale against Hancock County on Friday, the team put any such ideas to rest with a 52-0 thumping of the Hornets on Senior Night.

Central’s defense limited Hancock to just 75 total yards of offense and took full advantage of three fumble recoveries and two blocked punts to provide the Storm with great field position all evening long.

The Storm (7-3) did the bulk of their damage during the second quarter by scoring four touchdowns to take a 28-0 halftime lead over the Hornets (4-6).

“It took us a little while to wake up, but once we did, we started playing our kind of football and things started going our way,” coach Rick Snodgrass said. “They had some turnovers that gave us a short field to work with a few times.”

Keith Couch set up Central’s first score of the game on a 66-yard sprint down the sideline. Hornet defender C.T. Reed tackled Couch at the 6-yard line, short of the end zone, but quarterback Luke Crawley punched it in on a keeper on the next play.

Nathan Crick corralled the Storm’s first fumble recovery of the night, catching a ball in mid air from Reed at running back. Central gave the ball right back, however, three plays later on mixed signals in the backfield.

After three offensive plays, Hancock lined up to punt, but Lucas Duncan extended his hand just enough to block the kick and later recovered in the end zone for a 14-0 Storm advantage.

On the Hornets’ next offensive play, running back Eric Doyle lost control of the football and it bounced on the ground before being handled by Central.

Crawley converted on the turnover in just four plays by collecting his second rushing touchdown on a 2-yard keeper to the left side.

Up 21-0, the Storm defense refused to ease up on the Hornets by holding Hancock to another three-and-out. Facing a fourth-and-six from their own 45-yard line, the Hornets attempted to punt, but Duncan penetrated for the block while Anthony Qualls provided pressure as well.

The block marked the fourth of the season for Crawley.

“(Crawley) does a good job on point-after attempts too, but they didn’t get to kick any of those tonight, which is good,” Snodgrass said with a smile after the game. “We’ve managed to block quite a few punts this year. We really spent some time on that and we knew they spread it out and their snapper was a little slow.”

Crawley kept the Storm offense rolling on the ensuing play when he dropped a perfectly placed pass over the shoulders of Kevin Couch for a 21-yard touchdown reception in the left corner.

The Central back-ups proved to be just as successful in the second half, led by quarterback Jesse Almon and running back Jaylon McCoy.

Almon and McCoy accounted for all 56 yards of the Storm’s first touchdown drive of the third quarter. McCoy capped it on a 1-yard touchdown run.

Later, senior running back TroyDale Rorer finished off a great performance in his last home game by taking a hand-off and dashing 60 yards untouched for a 42-0 lead.

Kicker Carlos Diaz gave Central just enough points to begin the continuous clock when he knocked down a 24-yard field goal just minutes into the fourth quarter.

Central did not attempt a single pass on its final drive, just trying to run the clock out, but the Hornet defense still could not put a stop to McCoy, who ran 48 yards on the possession. McCoy scored the game’s final points on an 8-yard run.

In the first quarter, Storm fans nervously watched the Hornets control possession for nearly 10 minutes as Central appeared to be in a much closer battle than anticipated contest.

Hancock advanced as far down the field as the Storm’s 3-yard line after a pass interference call gave the visitors a first-and-goal opportunity.

Nathan Crick pushed the Hornets back on a 12-yard loss, sacking quarterback Zach Wettstain. Hancock decided to go for it, but an incomplete pass gave the ball to the Storm on downs.

“We have some leaders in there and (Travis) Watts didn’t want anybody in the endzone,” Snodgrass said of the team’s stand. He kind of made up his mind there and got the job done for us.”

The Storm take to the road 7:30 p.m. Friday to play Franklin-Simpson to begin the playoffs.

Central: 0 28 14 10 – 52

Hancock: 0 0 0 0 – 0

2nd quarter

HCCHS: 10:42, Luke Crawley 6-yard rush, Wesley Ipock XP – Central 7-0

HCCHS: 6:39, Lucas Duncan blocked punt recovery, Ipock XP – Central 14-0

HCCHS: 4:34, Crawley 2-yard rush, Ipock XP – Central 21-0

HCCHS: 2:15, Kevin Couch 21-yard reception from Crawley – Central 28-0

3rd quarter

HCCHS: 9:40, Jaylon McCoy 1-yard rush, Ipock XP – Central 35-0

HCCHS: 4:00, TroyDale Rorer 60-yard rush, Ipock XP – Central 42-0

4th quarter

HCCHS: 10:55, Carlos Diaz 24-yard field goal – Central 45-0

HCCHS: 1:55, McCoy 8-yard rush, Ipock XP – Central 52-0

Hopkins County Central (7-3)

Passing: Luke Crawley 3-5, 27 yards 1 TD, 1 INT Jesse Almon 3-4, 53 yards

Rushing: TroyDale Rorer 6-100 1 TD Keith Couch 3-72 Luke Crawley 2-8 2 TD Jaylon McCoy 9-89, 2 TD Tyler Powell 3-20 Almon 2-3

Receiving: Kevin Couch 3-27 1 TD McCoy 2-23 Micah Rorer 1-30

Blocked punt: Lucas Duncan 2

Blocked punt recovery: Duncan 1 TD

Fumble recovery: Nathan Crick, Travis Watts

Hancock County (4-6)

Passing: Zach Wettstain 3-7, 43 yards Matt Rapp 0-1

Rushing: Tyler Magan 5-0 Wettstain 8-36 C.T. Reed 7-14 Eric Doyle 8-15 Tyler Morris 2-9

Receiving: Jake Eckles 2-19 Ian Mittelberg 1-24

Fumble recovery: Mittleberg, Logan Payne

Interception: Reed 1-28

Central not letting key injuries affect lofty aspirations

Friday, November 07, 2008

Despite key injuries on both sides of the ball, members of the Hopkins County Central football team have some lofty aspirations to end the regular season with a bang.

When Hancock County (4-5) runs onto Storm Field at 7:30 p.m. today, Central (6-3) plans to disrupt all phases of the Hornets’ game plan and leave everything it has on the gridiron during the team’s Senior Night.

“We’re wanting a shutout, just to get everybody hyped,” junior defensive lineman Josh Adamson said. “It makes us real hungry because we’re trying to come out and get a big win and get hyped and ready for the playoffs coming up.”

Senior running back TroyDale Rorer said his eyes went wide when he learned the Hornet defense has difficulty defending the run.

“You know when a team is vulnerable to the run, as a running back you are going to get excited because you’re like, ‘Man, this is the game you want to rack up on,’ ” Rorer said.

The Storm will be taking the field though without senior quarterback Jake Powell and senior defensive lineman Dustin Grant.

Powell has not played since injuring his ankle on a punt return against Calloway County while Grant injured his knee during practice.

Freshman Luke Crawley started the Storm’s last game and has taken a majority of the team’s snaps since Powell’s absence.

Rorer said although a new play-caller has been handing him the ball in the backfield, he hasn’t noticed a difference.

“Crawley has stepped up,” he said. “He played a good game last week. I have to congratulate him for that.”

Center Cody Summers said it’s been business as usual for him as far as snapping the ball.

“I think he’s as good as Jake and he’s improved a lot during practice,” Summers said. “He likes to be a yard deeper than Jake, but it doesn’t affect me any. It’s the same routine.”

Coach Rick Snodgrass lauded Crawley’s ability to make quick reads under duress.

“We didn’t give up any sacks last week and (Union County) blitzed a lot, played a lot of man coverage, but he got the ball out of his hand quick,” Snodgrass said. “That’s one good thing that he does, he gets through his progressions pretty quickly and he gets the ball out to our playmakers pretty quickly.”

On the defensive side, junior Shelby Cummings will make his first start, filling in for Grant.

“He played quite a bit last week and we really liked what we saw on film when we went back and looked at the effort he gave us,” Snodgrass said.

Cummings said he’s quite comfortable being in the starting rotation.

“Some people would have pressure on them, but I don’t feel any pressure,” he said. “I just feel good about going out and hitting somebody.”

The junior defender will have to be ready if he and the Storm wish to shut down Hancock County’s offense, which uses 17 different formations.

“They run so many formations we don’t want to get caught not lined up right,” Snodgrass said. “With some younger guys in there, that’s always an issue, so we’re going to play a little more base this week and not so many fronts as we usually do.”

Snodgrass and Adamson agreed the Hornets prefer to run the ball and Hancock County amassed 142 yards in a 33-0 loss to Daviess County last week.

“They like to hit people on the toss-sweep and get to the edge,” Adamson said. “We’ve got some real good defensive lineman that can contain them, and I think we should be able to shut them down.”

Offensively, Central will look to pound the ball against an inexperienced line, Snodgrass said.

“They’ve got some kids with some good size, but they don’t have a lot of speed to go with it,” he said. “They start a couple sophomores up there, so they’re kind of young on the offensive and defensive line.”

Summers said he feels the Storm coaching staff has done more than enough to prepare the Central lineman for what they will face.

“They’re going to be running a 4-2 with blitzing linebackers,” he said. “We’ve been practicing all week, we should be able to pick it up. It should be a walk in the park.”

If every thing goes right up front, Rorer should be in line for another big evening, but for the moment all the running back is concerned about is getting a win on Senior Night.

“We’re trying to go a couple more weeks, so it hasn’t registered yet,” he said of playing his final game at home. “I don’t know if it’s going to be emotional or not. I haven’t given it too much thought, but I just want to make it a good game, try to play good. It will be the last time fans will see our senior class.”

Transylvania unit stocked with ex-Maroons swimmers

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Many college students celebrated Halloween by donning scary costumes or posing as some of the year’s most buzzworthy celebrities, but the Translyvania University swim team could have been mistaken for dressing up as the Madisonville-North Hopkins team.

Six different former Maroons participated in the Pioneers’ season-opening swim meet on Friday against Washington and Lee University.

The meet marked the beginning of collegiate careers for brothers Joseph and Stephen Porter as well as Yunan Yang. The trio joined Daniel Porter and girls’ swimmers Maggie Davenport and Rachel Dorris.

North coach Jason Clark oversaw each of the athletes during their respective careers with the Maroons.

“I think it’s really a testimony to this program through the work of coach (Charles) Rothe and coach (Lairy) Nofsinger over the years to kind of build the program up where we’re able to produce these athletes that can compete at the collegiate level,” Clark said.

Translyvania coach George Villarreal paired Daniel, Joseph, Stephen and Yang together in the team’s 200-yard medley relay during the season-opener.

“Coach has kind of been joking about it since there are so many Madisonville people,” Stephen said.

Joseph said the relay’s list of names came as a shock

“He did it without telling us, so it was kind of surprising,” Joseph said. “I think he wanted to see it. It was our first meet and he just wanted to do it just for fun I think.”

The foursome combined to finish in 1:45.31 with Joseph turning in the fastest leg at :23.24.

Stephen said the relay felt natural because the three freshman swam the same event in high school, but just replaced former Maroon E.J. Quijano with Daniel.

“It was a good relay last year and it’s still a good relay this year,” Stephen said. “It’s nice being on a team with so many Madisonville people to be so well-represented.”

Having so many former Maroons on the squad has benefits that transcend beyond the pool as well.

Yang said he’s take advantage of the older swimmers’ ability to aid in his studies.

“They did help me on my academic side, so that would make me have more free time to do swimming,” he said. “It’s really tough because for freshman we have a writing class and we spend a lot of time writing and we also spend a lot of time on swimming, so it’s kind of hard to balance, but it’s not a big problem.”

Each of the swimmers has noticed a considerable difference in the academic and athletic regime.

Stephen said his workouts have increased from one and one-half hours to three or four each day.

“If you want to get better, if you want to get faster, you have to try hard and you have to do it on your own, have your own self-discipline,” he said.

Clark said the group has a passion to excel that is unparalleled, which allows them to succeed.

“They have a love for the sport that I think really transcends a lot of things young people typically fall into,” he said. “They’re very academically-oriented and very athletically-oriented, so that just spills over into their work ethic.”

Yang said he has already dropped more than three seconds from his 100-yard breaststroke time and Joseph said he and his brother Stephen are breaking personal records early in the season as well.

Although North begins its swim season in a couple weeks, Clark has been keeping tabs on the Translyvania A.K.A. “Maroon University” team in Lexington.

“As well as I can – through e-mail, text message, phone conversations, whatever we can,” Clark said. “I like to keep in touch.”

Maypray leaves his mark at VMI

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

During a season in which VMI quarterback Tim Maypray and his Keydet teammates have experienced penty of success in the running game, Charleston Southern (S.C.) found the formula to slow down the team’s ground attack.

On Saturday, Charleston Southern (4-4, 2-2) defeated VMI (3-5, 1-2) 31-21 and limited Maypray to just 38 yards on 17 carries in Big South Conference action.

Despite the lower offensive numbers, Maypray, a one-time Madisonville-North Hopkins standout, still left his mark. Maypray found the endzone on a 3-yard touchdown rush for the game’s first score in the opening quarter.

The Keydets led 14-7 after the first quarter, but were outscored 24-7 the rest of the way.

In the fourth quarter, Maypray appeared to have shifted the game’s momentum when he found open grass for a long gainer. Maypray broke loose for a 74-yard touchdown run, but unfortunately the play was called back on a block in the back penalty, erasing the potential go-ahead score.

Charleston Southern scored with 2:18 left to go make it a two-possession game.

In addition to his rushing, Maypray was 0-1 passing.

Western Kentucky University linebacker Blake Boyd also enjoyed a certain level of personal success, but the rest of the Hilltoppers’ defense could not replicate his effort, losing 51-40 to North Texas on Saturday.

Boyd, a former Maroon defensive and offensive leader, led the team with nine tackles, including two for a combined loss of five yards and also had one pass break-up.

The loss came on WKU’s Homecoming, dropping the ‘Toppers to 2-7 on the season

WKU will look to get back in the win column 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at Troy.

Women’s basketball

Recent Hopkins County Central graduate Kari Jo Harris took to the basketball court in her collegiate debut during Lee University’s season-opener on Saturday.

The Lady Flames defeated Covenant College (Ga.) 87-65 while Harris, a 2008 Storm grad, saw 14 minutes of action.

Harris made one of three shots from the field for two points while also collecting one steal, one rebound and a pair of assists.

Lee will host Morris College (Ga.) 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Men’s Cross Country

Former North cross country runner Tim Hall took part in the 2008 Ohio Valley Conference Championship on Saturday for Austin Peay State University.

The Governors took seventh place as a team, but Hall finished the 8K race in 33rd place with a time of 27:39, just 10 seconds behind teammate Ryne Sexton (29th place).

The OVC Championship was hosted by Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Up next for Hall and the Govs is the NCAA Regional meet 11 a.m. on Nov. 15, in Knoxville, Tenn.

Men’s soccer

Centre College goalkeeper Aaron Arndt recorded yet another shutout win with a 1-0 victory against Maryville College (Tenn). on Sunday.

Arndt, who graduated from North, made one save in the win to collect his second straight shutout and sixth overall on the season.

The Colonels return to action 6 p.m. Friday to play Trinity University (Texas).

Volleyball

Former North volleyball player Julia Ridley and the Barry University Buccaneers (12-10, 4-9 Sunshine State Conference) defeated the heavily-favored Tampa University Spartans (22-3, 9-2) 3-1 on Friday.

Tampa won the first set, but the Bucs took the next three for the victory and Ridley’s play, with seven kills and nine digs, undoubtedly contributed to the victory.

Barry could not carry its momentum into the next day, however, when the Bucs lost in straight sets to Eckerd College (Fla.). During the contest Ridley posted four kills and two blocks.