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Page 1: 15 Fayette Advertiser

Th e Fayette Advertiser

SportsGreg Jackson, Sports Editor • Email: [email protected] • Phone: 248-2235 • Page 4 • March 7, 2012

Fayette Falcons

Higbee TigersHarrisburg BulldogsGlasgow Yellowjackets

New FranklinBulldogs

Central Methodist Eagles

CLASS 1 DISTRICT 10 TOURNAMENT

Back on topGlasgow girls capture fi rst district title since 2002.By GREG JACKSONSPORTS EDITOR

It appears Glasgow High School is going to have to order a new dis-trict championship banner for the girls basketball team.

Nearly a week after the school hanged its fi rst baseball district title banner, the Lady Jackets have run out of room on their banner to post another year for a district champion-ship. But as far as the Glasgow com-munity is concerned, that’s a good problem.

Top-seeded Glasgow ended its district championship drought Saturday afternoon, beating No. 2 Hale 51-34 in the Class 1 District 10 championship game.

The last time the girls won a dis-trict title, current head coach Molly Monnig was a senior for the Lady Jackets. In just her second season as head coach, Monnig has helped guide a team that won its 23rd game of the season Saturday.

And Monnig had a very good feeling from the get-go.

“On the fi rst possession, we had two girls dive on the fl oor for a loose ball,” Monnig said. “Then, on our fi rst offensive possession, we had a fast-break layup and Nikki (Fuem-meler) fi nished on the other end. It just showed that we were in the right spot from the very beginning.”

Fuemmeler posted yet another double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. She started the game by scoring Glasgow’s fi rst two baskets, but it was Trisha McMillan who had the hot shooting touch Saturday.

McMillan scored a team-high 17 points and also came away with six steals. She picked up back-to-back baskets in the fi rst quarter off dish-es from Alex Davis and extended Glasgow’s lead to 9-2 with 3:21 to play in the fi rst quarter.

“Anytime you can go inside and get some shots to fall, then it opens up for your shooters outside,” Mon-

nig said. “Trisha took advantage of it and knocked down some big threes for us today.”

Abby Thompson, Glasgow’s “sixth man” off the bench, entered the game at the 2:08 mark of the fi rst quarter and immediately made a contribution. Thompson hit a 3-pointer from the left wing — also on an assist from Alex Davis — that gave Glasgow its fi rst double-digit lead of the game. Thompson then made a 10-footer from the left side at the buzzer to give the Lady Jack-ets an 18-6 lead after the fi rst quarter.

Those were Thompson’s only fi ve points of the game, but those two minutes of action helped Glasgow sustain a double-digit lead for the next 24 minutes. Thompson also grabbed fi ve rebounds.

“She makes a difference,” Mon-nig said of Thompson, her younger

sister. “She’s good off the dribble, which we lack at times, so it’s nice when you can have her and Trisha in at the same time. They kind of feed off each other.”

Monnig said her main concern going into the game was stopping Nos. 22 and 44: Michaela Daniels and Quincey Copple, respectively. Daniels led Hale with 12 points, which is seven below her season average. But the two did combine to score 13 of the Lady Cardinals’ 15 fi rst-half points. The thing is, Glasgow still nearly doubled up Hale by halftime, taking a 29-15 lead at the break.

“I knew if we could take those two girls away, we basically would take away everything they wanted to do,” Monnig said.

McMillan came out fi ring again to start the second half. She scored

a coast-to-coast layup off a steal and then fi nished a 10-2 run with her third 3-pointer of the game, boosting Glasgow’s lead to 39-17 with 4:04 to play in the third quarter.

When the fourth quarter rolled around, players knew a celebration was just around the corner.

Glasgow (23-4, 10-2 CAC) led 46-21 at the start of the fourth quarter, and even though Hale outscored the Lady Jackets 13-5 in the fi nal quar-ter, it was going to take more than a complete collapse for Glasgow to not come away with a district title.

Glasgow may only have a roster of 11 girls, but the cheers vibrated throughout the gym once the fi nal buzzer sounded, locking down a dis-trict title for a young team that has over-achieved all season long.

Harrisburg senior Haley Heuer (right) applies pressure to Sturgeon’s Kylee Foster during the second half of Friday’s Class 2 District 7 championship game. Heuer led Harrisburg with a team-high 12 rebounds.

Glasgow junior Trisha McMillan (right) dives on the fl oor for a loose ball and passes it to her teammate, Peyton Davis, for an easy two points in the third quarter. McMillan scored a team-high 17 points and also fi nished the game with six steals, helping Glasgow to a 51-34 district championship victory over Hale.

By GREG JACKSONSPORTS EDITOR

When Harrisburg and Sturgeon met for the fi rst time this season on Dec. 20, Harrisburg blew away Stur-geon with a 21-point victory. But come the Class 2 District 7 champi-onship game, Harrisburg head coach Dan Bachmeier anticipated a much closer outcome.

Bachmeier said he would take even a 5-point win against Sturgeon, but he would prefer to win by 15 points.

His team went ahead and split the difference for him.

In a rare occurrence, Harrisburg installed its full-court from the very start of the game to the very end. Tina Chickering picked up her fourth steal of the game in the closing seconds and Harrisburg won its third consecu-tive district title with a 51-41 victory Friday night at Sturgeon High School.

“When you get knocked in the nose, you fi nd out what you’re made of,” Bachmeier said. “I knew Stur-geon was an excellent club. In the fi rst game we played them, I didn’t think they played very well. But I knew they were going to be ready.”

Harrisburg (25-2, 8-0 MMC) nev-er trailed in the game, and the Lady Bulldogs built an early lead by getting to the free-throw line. A lot.

Harrisburg made 7-of-10 free throws in the fi rst quarter and shot 23-of-36 from the line over the course of the game. Sturgeon severely struggled shooting free throws, making just 7-of-20 attempts for a meek 35 per-cent.

Bachmeier credited his defense, wearing down Sturgeon to the point where players were so worn down that they couldn’t hit free throws.

“When you play this style, you go through nights where you do not shoot free throws well,” Bachmeier said. “I kept saying to myself, ‘That’s in our favor. They’re not used to playing like that.’ Then, of course, we missed free throws when we should be used to playing that way.”

Harrisburg’s Chelsey Kroese, normally the team’s most clutch free-throw shooter, had probably one of her worst performances from the line. The two-time All-State player missed eight free throws.

However, Kroese still made 11

other shots from the charity stripe and led her team with 19 points. But she received several tips on her free-throw shooting after the game.

“I had been leaning a little bit too far forward and not following through,” Kroese said. “I fi xed that, but sometimes I just didn’t calm down and was too hyped.”

Harrisburg’s full-court press forced turnovers on each of Stur-geon’s fi rst four possessions of the game. Early in the second quarter, Sturgeon had twice as many turnovers (12) as it did points (six).

Still, Harrisburg’s 11-6 lead af-ter the fi rst quarter began to dwindle away. Bridgette Arends tied the score at 16-16 with an offensive putback. Ten seconds later, Kroese drove the lane for an easy two points and Har-risburg led for the fi nal 18 minutes of the game.

Tina Chickering helped provide a spark for Harrisburg right before halftime. After missing 3-pointer af-ter 3-pointer, Chickering ended the drought with a three from the right corner with 1:52 to play, putting Har-risburg ahead 22-17.

Chickering, who has been play-ing with a broken fi nger for the past month, also took an inadvertent knee to her nose from Sturgeon’s Krissy Arends. After sitting out for a few moments, she went right back in the game and contributed nine points in the win. The 5-foot-3 senior played, well, as tough as a Bulldog.

“I know I’m smaller than every-body else and I have to work twice as hard,” Chickering said. “I just want to go out there and do my best every game.”

Harrisburg led 23-17 at halftime and on the fi rst possession of the sec-ond half, Krissy Arends cut the lead in half with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Harrisburg knew it had to respond on the next possession, and Jackie Williams did.

Bachmeier said it was one of the biggest baskets his team scored all game. On the ensuing possession, Williams came down and drained a 3-pointer from the right corner, start-ing a 7-0 run that extended Harris-burg’s lead to 30-20.

Williams, who saw her role take a

Harrisburg girls press past Sturgeon for district crown

(Continued on Page 6)

(Continued on Page 5)

The Class 1 District 10 Tour-nament may have been the easiest tournament of the season for the Glasgow boys basketball team, but it’s also the one that will pay off the biggest dividends.

After losing district champion-ship games in back-to-back seasons, the Yellowjackets reclaimed the dis-trict title Saturday with a 67-31 win.

“We got a couple shots to go down and we jumped out to an early lead and just kept building on it,” Glasgow head coach Mick Cropp said. “We wanted to pressure them, push it, rebound and run. That’s re-ally what we wanted to do.”

Dillon Yung, who led Glasgow with 17 points, established his own-ership of the baseline seconds into the game, scoring a reverse layup in the game’s fi rst possession. Cropp said if opponents aren’t used to that, Yung will get by you in a hurry.

“He just caught it and — Choom! — reverse layup, before those kids even knew what happened,” Cropp said. “I told them we could attack the baseline and he did a good job of it.”

Ethan Thompson scored fi ve of his eight points in the fi rst quarter, starting with a 3-pointer from the left wing. Although Northwestern appeared overmatched, Glasgow (23-5, 10-2 CAC) committed seven turnovers in the opening frame and led just 15-7 after the fi rst quarter.

Then Glasgow took control in the second quarter.

Yung drew some “oohs” and “aahs” with a behind-the-back pass to Reid Littrell for an easy basket to start the scoring attack in the second quarter. Littrell, who also cracked double fi gures with 14 points, scored six in the second quarter and Glasgow outscored Northwestern 19-4 in the period, taking a 34-11 lead at halftime.

Northwestern only had six play-ers dressed for the game and it wasn’t long before exhaustion set in for the Eagles.

The past two district champion-ship games have basically been road games for Glasgow, losing at Pilot Grove in 2010 and at Tina-Avalon in 2011. With his team holding a 20-plus point lead the entire second half in front of a home crowd, Cropp made sure to enjoy the moments leading up to Glasgow’s fi rst district championship since 2009.

“I told myself a couple of times in the second half that I need to sit down and enjoy it,” Cropp said. “And I tried. Being able to get that win, you don’t think it’s as big of a deal, but it’s a big deal to win a dis-trict championship. I also wanted my kids to understand that.”

Glasgow nearly had the fourth

Yellowjackets win districts, rout Northwestern

Glasgow senior Dillon Yung walks along the bench, receiving high-fi ves from his teammates once he exited Saturday’s championship game for the fi nal time. Yung scored a game-high 17 points in the 67-31 victory.(Continued on Page 5)

Page 2: 15 Fayette Advertiser

By GREG JACKSONSPORTS EDITOR

Glasgow fans could have closed their eyes Saturday afternoon and would have heard sounds that were vaguely similar to something they hadn’t heard for nearly a decade.

Cheers of excitement reverber-ated from one corner of the Glasgow High School gym to the other, fol-lowing a 51-34 victory over Hale to claim the Class 1 District 10 Tourna-ment.

In just her second season as head coach, Molly Monnig has returned the Lady Jackets to the state playoffs for the fi rst time since 2002, when she was a senior guard for Glasgow. She’s guided them to a state ranking they’ve held for the past six weeks, a team that’s currently ranked No. 10 in Class 1.

And she’s done it all, facing simi-lar adversities to the ones her former head coach, Glasgow schools super-intendent Mike Reynolds, encoun-tered as a coach, back when his star player went by the name of Molly Thompson.

The two teams are eerily similar. But now, Monnig refers to her former head coach as “Mr. Reynolds” instead of “Coach Reynolds,” and Reynolds calls his former star “Coach Monnig” instead of just “Molly.”

They’re living proof that success can carry from one generation to the next.

* * * * * * * *Fans who walk into the foyer out-

side Larry Littrell Court will see the remnants of Monnig’s high school career hanging on the north wall. They’ll see Monnig’s No. 22 jersey hanging up for all to see, never to be worn again by another Lady Jacket.

What they won’t see are the ACL injuries that shortened her career, one that was just beginning to blossom when Glasgow won the state title in 2000.

But now Monnig is getting a sec-ond chance to add to her legacy, this time as Glasgow’s head coach.

“She has a winner’s mentality,” Reynolds said. “She’s very competi-tive herself. Obviously, she has dealt with adversity. She knows how to do that.”

One of the fi rst obstacles Monnig had to overcome was get her play-ers accustomed to recognizing her as a coach rather than a former star player. It turned out to not be a big deal after all.

At Monnig’s fi rst practice last season, one of her players pointed out that they wanted to win a district championship, just like she had when Monnig was a player. And the Lady Jackets nearly achieved that goal in 2010-11. Glasgow lost to Hale 52-46 in overtime last March.

It was just the beginning. Glasgow has improved last year’s 14-13 record to 23-4 this season after winning Sat-urday’s district championship game. They contended for a Central Activi-ties Conference title in the fi nal game of the regular season. They fi rst beat perennial powerhouse Salisbury at home to vault into the state rankings, then knocked off state-ranked Mead-ville on the road by 11 points.

“I wanted to get us back to a level where we were competitive every night,” Monnig said. “It takes the right group of kids to get you there and we have that group right now, a group that works hard and feeds off each other, that has very good chem-istry.”

But that road hasn’t always been an easy one for Monnig as a head coach. Unfortunately, this year’s team is almost too similar to the one she played for a decade ago.

In July, her younger sister and in-coming freshman, Abby Thompson, tore her ACL during the Show-Me State Games in Columbia. As close as it was to the start of the season, it seemed as if Thompson would miss out on her fi rst season playing for her older sister.

Instead, the injury turned out to be a blessing in disguise, and it brought the girls basketball team even closer.

“When she had her ACL injury, I could just see how hard she worked and how motivated she was (to get back),” Monnig said of her sister. “One of the biggest likenesses we have as a team was that whenever I tore my ACL, my teammates came to my surgery, my teammates came to my rehab, my teammates did all that. And that’s the same thing that hap-pened to her.”

Well, OK, Abby’s teammates didn’t come to her surgery because it was on the fi rst day of school, but they were there with her, literally ev-ery step of the way, beginning with the rehab process. And like her older sister, Thompson was hellbound on getting back to the court as quickly as possible.

According to Reynolds’ book, “Last One Out of Town, Turn Out The Lights” — a book he published in 2002 to commemorate his state title team — Monnig spent countless hours going through rehab to get her-self ready for the 2000-01 basketball season after her fi rst ACL injury. Af-ter tearing her ACL on June 1, 2000, doctors told her if she rehabbed her knee aggressively, she would be ready to return to playing basketball as early as January.

That answer wasn’t good enough for Monnig. She set a goal to be ready to be back on the court in four months rather than the six months doctors told her. Sure enough, on the fi rst day of practice in early No-vember, there was Monnig, working out with the rest of her team.

The story prac-tically repeated itself following Thompson’s ACL injury this past summer.

“From the day she (tore her ACL) to when we went in early August and found out that she had torn her ACL, it was just, ‘What do I have to do?’ or, ‘When can I play?’” Monnig said her younger sister asked doctors. “They said six months and she said, ‘Well, what about four months?’ And they said, ‘Well, we’ll see what happens.’ Two-and-a-half months later, she’s here and she’s playing.”

Thompson had recovered so quickly that, if Glasgow’s softball team absolutely needed her this fall because it needed a ninth player on the fi eld, she would have been able to play.

This year’s team also reminds Monnig her of the Lady Jackets in her playing days because they sim-ply can’t get enough basketball. After going through a grueling week at the Slater Wildcat Classic in late Janu-ary, most teams would have taken the ensuing few days to rest up and get ready for the next week’s games.

But not this team. Instead, after beating Pilot Grove for third place on Saturday, several players accom-panied Monnig to Mizzou Arena the following day and scout Class 1’s top-ranked team, Marion County, as the Lady Mustangs played Harris-burg, the top-ranked team in Class 2, at the MFA Oil Shootout.

“Anytime you’re around bas-ketball, you can learn more, even if you’re watching it on TV,” Monnig said. “I had one of the girls text me one day that the Miami Heat ran our ‘Horns 2’ set and they were wonder-ing if we stole it from them. Anytime that they’re watching it — profes-sionally, collegiately or ever high school — they’re learning more and more stuff from it.”

And as this magical season has unfolded, Reynolds has enjoyed watching his former player returning Glasgow girls basketball to the state it was in 10 years ago.

* * * * * * * *At Glasgow’s home basketball

games, Reynolds takes his usual spot against the north wall inside the gym, appear-ing the hold up the wall as if it were going to blow over at any minute.

During the games, he’ll spend time talking with Glasgow boys basketball players or the opposing coaches, but he al-ways has his eyes on the game.

After all, he’s wearing several different meta-phorical hats. Not only is he wearing

his superintendent’s hat at the games, but he also wears the hat of a former coach watching a program he built to be one of the best in the state during Monnig’s playing days. And he also has a third hat. His oldest daughter, sophomore Erin Reynolds, is a start-ing forward for the Lady Jackets.

In one of the pictures inside Reyn-olds’ book, the girls were celebrating their 2000 district title in the locker room after the game. As everyone smiled for the camera, Erin sits there, holding the team’s district trophy, with Monnig looking over her shoul-der. Twelve years later, the scenario is much the same between player and coach, but now it’s during the sec-ond half of a game when Reynolds is shooting a 3-pointer in front of her team’s bench, and Monnig watches

the ball swish through the hoop over her shoulder.

“Erin’s got a lot of basketball sense where you can tell she’s a coach’s daughter,” Monnig said. “She doesn’t always realize she has it, but she’ll make a move that a nor-mal kid wouldn’t be able to make without a lot of practice.”

Reynolds can’t tell you the date on which his team won its state championship, but he can tell you the two dates on which Monnig tore her ACLs — June 1, 2000, and Feb. 13, 2001. Those were the days he watched “a great athlete and a super person stop playing a game that she played as passionately” as any athlete he had seen at any level, according to his book.

“I can remember Coach Monnig when she wore glasses and would wear out the nets at the St. Mary’s parking lot,” Reynolds said. “And that’s what it took. I used that ex-ample for many, many years, and I still use it as an example for my own kids. I challenge my own daughters, if they have a spare moment, they need to be out on a basketball court, because like I told Coach Monnig and her teammates, and like I tell my own daughters a generation later, I can guarantee you there’s some girl at some neighboring, rival commu-nity that’s out in a backyard or out on a basketball court somewhere trying to get better. And if you want to be able to compete against them, you’ve got to keep working at it.”

A month-and-a-half after Mon-nig’s fi rst ACL injury, Reynolds’ wife, Michelle, gave birth to the cou-ple’s third daughter. They decided to name her Molly, after Molly Thomp-son.

“As a matter of fact, my daugh-ter used to reference herself as Molly Thompson, and would take offense if we told her she wasn’t, all the way up to about the time she was four or fi ve years old,” Reynolds said. “It was a running joke.

“We named her after Molly be-cause not only was Molly a talented player for me, but she was also prob-ably one of the best all-around kids that I’ve been lucky enough to be around.”

The following is an excerpt from Reynolds’ book, he describes the greatness he saw in Monnig as a player:

“Of all of the great young people that I have had the privilege to coach, I have never enjoyed watching any of them compete as much as I have enjoyed watching Molly Thompson play the game of basketball.”

When Reynolds helped pick Monnig for the head coaching job two years ago, he knew the adver-sity she had to overcome as a player would make her a great coach when struggles would arise. With every-thing this team has achieved this sea-son, Reynolds hopes fans are able to look past the wins and losses to see what exactly it was that this team has accomplished.

“I’ve always felt like I’ve been extremely lucky to be a part of this school,” Reynolds said. “I’m on my second generation of kiddos. I’d love to get to a point where I’m on my third generation of kids. Every day is a challenge and this business is chal-lenging, but I can’t think of a better place to face a challenge. My boys and girls on that basketball team, I’d take them anywhere, just because I know they’re going to do their best to represent their families, this school and their community. I’ll never have to worry about that.”

And anytime Monnig has a ques-tion, she knows her former head coach will be right there across the gym, holding up a wall of memories that will never fall.

“Anytime I have a question, he’s always there to answer it,” Monnig said of Reynolds. “I talked to him about how to guard the (Quincey) Copple girl (from Hale), what he thought would be most effective.

“I think the biggest thing I’ve learned from Mr. Reynolds is how to coach players, not how to coach the game,” Monnig said. “You have to adapt how you speak to one com-pared to another. One girl you can yell at and she’ll get all over it, and the next one you have to just kind of encourage. That was the thing that made him the most successful. He could read us and knew what we needed at different times.”

WWW.FAYETTENEWSPAPERS.COM • THE FAYETTE ADVERTISER WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2012 • PAGE 5

By BRANDON BUTLER

Maryland, Vermont, Alaska and now Missouri have all banned felt-soled wader boots. Although felt soles may be the best bet for keep-ing anglers from slipping and taking a plunge, they are also potentially damaging to fi sheries, as the felt al-lows for spores and larvae of non-natives to transfer from water to water.

Missouri is wade fi shing state. We have many beautiful warm water streams and enough cold wa-ter fi sheries to make our Midwest neighbors green with envy. Felt-soled waders and wading boots are usually found in high numbers in states where cold water fi sheries draw out of state anglers, like Mis-souri. Anglers can transport invasive species in felt from out of state wa-ters, which is exactly why they had to be banned.

If you were to wear felt-soled waders duck hunting in Louisiana and an invasive species burrowed up in your felt, then you packed up your waders and traveled home to trout fi sh Taneycomo, that invasive could release into the lake. The inva-sive could over time change the fi sh-ery. It’s hard to imagine a Louisiana weed destroying the Lake Taney-como, but it could happen.

“Didymo” (Didymosphenia geminata) or “rock snot,” is the main reason why Missouri has banned felt soles. This invasive alga forms large, thick mats on the bot-toms of cold-water streams and riv-ers, reducing the quality and quan-tity of food vital to fi sh such as trout. Didymo also clogs water intakes and boat motors. It interferes with fi shing gear and eventually makes fi shing nearly impossible.

According to Missouri Depart-ment of Conservation fi sheries biol-ogist Mark VanPatten, “Didymo is kept in check naturally in other parts of the country and world by lower

pH, or acidity, levels in the water. Missouri’s wealth of limestone cre-ates higher pH levels in the water. These higher pH levels can allow didymo to spread unchecked.”

It would be devastating to see the beautiful little smallmouth creeks of the Ozarks and our trout rivers choked with rock snot.

“Porous-soled waders and wad-ing boots, worn by many trout an-glers, appear to be a likely pathway for the spread of didymo,” VanPat-ten explains. “The soles hold mois-ture for days and can harbor cells of this alga. Individual cells cannot be seen with the naked eye and only a single cell is needed to establish a stream-killing colony. Anglers who visit waters with didymo can, un-knowingly, transfer these cells to the next stream they visit.”

Rubber-soled waders are the answer. Although wearing the old fashion rubber soles meant there was a good chance you were going to slip and fall in the water, today’s technology has greatly improved the gripping power of certain soles. Also, screws in studs have become a popular answer to the question of how to maintain stability while pro-tecting the resource. Many wader manufactures are now producing boots with soles specifi cally de-signed to ensure stability without rubber soles.

“Preventing the spread of this in-vasive species is critical. There is no way to control or eradicate didymo once it gets established in the state,” VanPatten said.

If you plan on wade fi shing in Missouri this year while wearing waders, you can’t do so in felt-soled. It’s now against the law. You must replace any felt soled waders you have. In the end, the investment is worth it. Our streams deserve your support.

See you down the trail…

Rubber-soled boots perfect alternative for wade fi shing

Passing the torch

CLASS 1 GIRLS SECTIONALNo. 10 Glasgow (23-4)

vs. No. 7 Chamois (22-4)WHEN: 6 p.m. Tuesday

WHERE: Smith-Cotton High School (Sedalia)CLASS 1 BOYS SECTIONAL

No. 8 Glasgow (23-5)vs. St. Elizabeth (15-10)WHEN: 7:45 p.m. Tuesday

WHERE: Smith-Cotton High School (Sedalia)CLASS 2 GIRLS SECTIONAL

No. 2 Harrisburg (25-2)vs. Windsor (21-4)

WHEN: 6 p.m. tonight (WednesdayWHERE: Smith-Cotton High School (Sedalia)(All three games will be broadcast live on 99.9 FM/KIRK)

State Sectionals

Glasgow head coach Molly Monnig has Lady Jackets basketball team living the dream she had as a player a decade ago.

Glasgow head coach Molly Monnig has guided the Lady Jackets to a district championship in her second year at the helm. The similarities between this year’s team and the teams from 2000-2002 are endless, but like the rest of the Glasgow community, Monnig hopes there’s one more similarity between the two squads that is still down the road: a Class 1 state championship.

“We’re still a young team and we have a lot of learning to do,” Monnig said. “The good thing is we’re athlet-ic, we work hard and absorb every-thing we can. We never, so to speak, have a bad practice because we have such great effort. And that’s what has gotten us to where we are in every single game: our effort.”

Erin Reynolds fi nished the game with eight points and Alex Davis, Peyton Davis and Lindsey Kopp scored two points apiece. Carley Brucks came off the bench and grabbed a rebound and Lauren

Kramm dished out an assist.Although for some it may seem

like it was generations ago, this Glasgow team had plenty of moti-vation to win Saturday’s game. The Lady Jackets lost to Hale in overtime in last year’s district championship game. This team has faced fi ve dif-ferent 20-plus win programs this season, so winning a district title is a testament to the team’s hard work, both in the offseason and during the regular season, Monnig said.

“They were the most mentally-ready they’ve been for a game all year,” Monnig said.

(Continued from Page 4)

quarter begin with a running clock, extending its lead to 29 points after a 3-pointer from Jimmie Wilson. How-ever, Northwestern’s Luke Sanders knocked down a 3-pointer as well with three seconds to go in the third, mak-ing the score 51-25 heading into the fourth quarter. He led Northwestern with 31 points.

That would be the Eagles’ fi nal gasp of the afternoon.

Littrell added back-to-back baskets in early going of the fourth quarter be-fore picking up his fi fth foul with 6:17 to play. But that won’t be the fi nal time the junior walks off the court this sea-son.

Yung, who celebrated his Senior Night against Sturgeon on Feb. 21, walked off Larry Littrell Court for the fi nal time midway through the fourth quarter. His fi nal points of the game were on a putback off a miss by Alex Mathews. Yung tied Littrell with a team-high seven rebounds.

“He’s a gamer,” Cropp said of Yung. “He has been since he was a freshman, diving on a loose ball in a

district championship game against Pi-lot Grove, for a ball he had no business getting to, and slides 20 feet.”

Unlike the past several years, Cropp was able to insert every player in Saturday’s championship game. Landon Brand ended the game at the free-throw line and made the front end of a one-and-one. Unfortunately, with the running clock in effect, Brand was unable to shoot the second free before the game ended.

Blake Hackman also scored in double fi gures for Glasgow with 11 points, while Wilson and Austin Stockhorst had six points apiece. Joel Monnig added two points.

Five of Northwestern’s six players scored.

Glasgow, ranked No. 8 in the fi nal regular-season Class 1 rankings, met District 11 champion St. Elizabeth on Tuesday at Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia. Although the Yellowjackets were able to cruise to an easy district title, their coach believes they will be ready to compete at a state-playoff-cal-iber level come the sectional meeting.

“They know they’ll have to bring it,” Cropp said. “They will, they will.”

(Continued from Page 4)

Glagow girls basketball

Glagow boys basketball

CENTRAL METHODIST SPORTS BRIEFSThe Central Methodist softball

team (6-5) had a 3-2 record over the weekend at the Friends Tournament in Wichita, Kan. The Lady Eagles beat

Bethel, Mount Marty and Hastings.The CMU baseball team (5-4)

swept a three-game home series against Roosevelt.

Page 3: 15 Fayette Advertiser

Th e Democrat Leader

SportsGreg Jackson, Sports Editor • Email: [email protected] • Phone: 248-2235 • Page 4 • May 19, 2012

Fayette Falcons

Higbee TigersHarrisburg BulldogsGlasgow Yellowjackets

New FranklinBulldogs

Central Methodist Eagles

Hull pitches two-hit gem to lead Bulldogs past Pilot Grove Tyler White’s home run boosts offense, giving New Franklin its fi rst district title since 2006.By GREG JACKSONSPORTS EDITOR

Tyler White just missed hitting a home run in his fi rst at-bat. As he returned to the dugout, he told his fa-ther, who was sitting next to the New Franklin dugout, that if he saw the same pitch again, he wouldn’t miss.

And he didn’t miss. White hit a solo home run over the left-fi eld fence in the third inning, giving a jolt to New Franklin’s offense and propelling the Bulldogs to an 8-2 win Tuesday night in the Class 1 District 11 champion-ship game. It’s New Franklin’s fi rst district title since 2006.

“Tyler, in the leadoff spot, is one of our best offensive players,” New Franklin head coach Erich Gerding said. “When he’s going, we’re usu-ally going as a team.”

Pilot Grove starting pitcher Tren-ton Young handled New Franklin fairly easily the fi rst time through

the batting order. The second time through, not so much.

Following Tyler White’s one-out home run in the third, the next four Bulldogs reached base: a single to center by Tanner White, a walk to Tyler Hull, a two-RBI double from Alex Holem in the cleanup spot and a walk to Evan Storjohann.

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, it went from a scoreless game to a 4-0 New Franklin lead. That was more than enough run support for Hull.

The New Frank-lin sophomore struck out the fi rst four Pilot Grove batters he faced in the game. No runner reached second base against him until the fi fth inning, when Scott Reynolds broke up his no-hitter with a single to left fi eld.

“When Tyler Hull is on the mound, our kids have a lot of confi -dence anyway,” Gerding said. “He struggled at times with the command of his fastball, but he was able to execute some key pitches when he needed to.”

New Franklin (12-5) added to its lead in the fourth inning. Zach Purvis, the No. 9 hitter, hit a one-out single to right fi eld. He would later score in the inning on an error to extend the Bulldogs’ lead to 5-0.

Pilot Grove (15-6) fi nally broke through in the fi fth inning. Reynolds’ single moved Young over to third base with one out. Matt Townlain grounded out to the third baseman to score Young and put the Tigers on

the board.But New Frank-

lin wasn’t done yet. In the bottom half of the fi fth, the Bull-dogs got that run back. Tyler John-son doubled down the left-fi eld line and scored on an

RBI single from Jacob Woodbury to make the score 6-1 in New Franklin’s favor.

For good measure, the Bulldogs scored two more runs in the sixth in-ning. Tyler White, who had the only multi-hit game for New Franklin, had a leadoff double and moved to third

By GREG JACKSONSPORTS EDITOR

This season hasn’t gone quite the way Harrisburg senior Haley Heuer had planned. Sure, she’s going back to the state track and fi eld championships for a third consecutive year, but that wasn’t necessarily her goal this season.

Heuer’s goal was to beat her personal-best in the discus, which is a school-record throw of 142’-6.5”. None of her throws have yet to make it past 130 feet, but she still qualifi ed for state and is seeking her third medal.

“This year, I feel like I just haven’t fi gured it out yet,” Heuer said.

The discus has been her strong suit as a thrower. In her fi nal attempt at the Class 2 state championship, she broke the school record with a throw of 120’-7”. During her junior year, she would break her record six more times.

And at the Larry Lit-trell Relays as a junior, she broke the record on three consecutive throws in a span of 15 minutes.

“I felt like I barely had to try there,” Heuer said. “There are some meets where I try to throw my hardest and it seems like it doesn’t go anywhere.”

Because the Harris-burg girls basketball team won the Class 2 state championship in March, Heuer missed out on three weeks of track practice and had very little time to get ready for the team’s fi rst meet. Then she missed another week when she went to Florida in late March on the school’s senior class trip. It took her more than a while to get going.

Her season appeared to hit rock bottom on April 10 at the Central Invitational. Although Heuer took third place in the discus, her best throw only traveled 102’-5”. Reaching a per-sonal-best suddenly looked like it was out of her grasp.

“It’s all about the work she puts in,” Har-risburg track head coach Kyle Fisher said. “After that 102-foot throw, she came right back (to the high school) that night and started throwing some, trying to work on technique. She got some things worked out because at the next meet, she was throwing in the 120s.”

Things began to pick up following that meet. Heuer set the meet record in the dis-cus at the Lowell Eaton Invitational and then broke the event record at the Tomahawk Re-lays in Hallsville only two days later.

Even though Heuer wasn’t near her goal, she was starting to get fi rst-place medals. Then she received an additional boost toward the end of the regular season at the South Cal-laway Relays.

Heuer fi nished in second place at last year’s state championship in the discus, placing be-hind only Lauren Allen of Fatima. After fi nishing be-hind Allen at a few meets earlier this year, Heuer fi -nally topped her nemesis on April 27. Not only did she beat Allen in the dis-cus by eight feet, but Heu-er also edged her in the shot put by a few inches.

“I know she didn’t have her best throws, but it gave me a lot of confi -dence,” Heuer said. “It seems like every meet I

go to, somebody else was hitting their best throws every time. It wasn’t my best throw, but it was nice to know that some people do have ‘off’ days.”

Heuer comfortably advanced past districts and sectionals in the discus this season. It wasn’t an easy task, considering some of the state’s best throwers are from the northeast region. She said she has changed her goal to at least get back to throwing in the 130s, which could be enough to put her in conten-tion for a state title.

The big surprise this season has been

Heuer’s progress in the shot put. She set the school record in the event at districts with a throw of 39’-1”, then threw the exact same distance a week later at sectionals to qualify for state.

The road in shot put had been a rather dis-appointing one for Heuer. As a sophomore, she scratched on all of her attempts at dis-tricts and failed to record a distance. Then, as a junior, Heuer had a throw of 37’-11.75”, but she was edged out of fourth place by less than three inches. Her throw would have like-ly qualifi ed her for state in any of the other districts and sectionals in Class 2.

“What makes it even better is that, at this time last year and the year before, I felt like my shot was always getting worse,” Heuer said. “I’d start off good in the beginning of the season and I’d get better, but by districts I was throwing my worst.”

But just like the discus, the northeast region also boasts some of the top shot put throwers in the state. Heuer placed fourth at sectionals in the event, but she’s seeded fi fth out of 16 girls in the shot put heading into state competition.

She heads into state seeded in the top seven in both events and has a strong chance to medal in both, something that didn’t seem plausible a little over a month ago.

“She’s defi nitely got a chance to medal in two events,” Fisher said. “That just shows what kind of talent she has. She doesn’t think she’s throwing very well and she probably hasn’t reached her full potential yet.”

Although she already has the school re-cord in the shot put and throwing farther than Centralia’s Kelsey Benoit may be a bit of a

Th rowing for gold

WHO: New Franklin, Glasgow and Harrisburg high school track teams

WHAT: 2012 MSHSAA State Track and Field Championships

WHEN: Friday and SaturdayWHERE: Lincoln University in

Jefferson CityResults will be posted at

www.mshsaa.org

Class 1 and 2 State Track Championships

Lady Eagles top Houston-Victoria in NAIA opener

Back-to-back RBI doubles by Kayla Yount and Rebecca Lipsey gave No. 20 Central Methodist a 2-0 victory over No. 11 Houston-Victoria (Texas) on the opening day of pool play Thursday in the 32nd Annual NAIA Softball Championship.

The Lady Eagles (41-12) also used stellar pitching from Aubrey Utley, who threw a seven-hit shutout against the Jaguars (39-9).

CMU moves to 1-0 in Pool F, while Houston-Victoria drops to 0-1. With the win, CMU also ties a single-season school record for victories, which the Lady Eagles set last sea-son. CMU improves to 2-2 all-time in the national tournament after last appearing in 1981, the fi rst year of the national tournament.

CMU broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth inning after Kelsey Johnley scored on a double by Yount. Lipsey and Yount traded places in the next at-bat, giving the Lady Eagles an insurance run.

Yount’s RBI marked a team-high 47th this season and moved the Olathe, Kan., native into third on the school’s single-season RBI list. She is tied with Stephanie Sullivant, who also had 47 RBIs in 2010. Yount is eight RBIs behind breaking Christy Jones’ mark of 54, set in 1996.

Yount and Lipsey each recorded their 15th double of the season, mov-ing them into a tie with Jones (1996), Jordyn Tolliver (2011) and Joleen Pollard (2005) for fourth on the CMU single-season record list. Yount and Lipsey are six doubles away from passing Sullivant’s record of 20, which she set twice in 2010 and 2011.

Utley (26-5) improved on her single-season school record for wins and struck out fi ve batters on Thurs-day. Utley now has 157 strikeouts this season and moved past Chelsea Fuemmeler (155 in 2010) for third on the CMU single-season list.

Utley also recorded her 50th ca-reer win, which ranks third in Lady Eagles history and is fi ve behind Mc-Call Kenney’s 55 (2007-10). Utley also got her eighth shutout of 2012, which is two behind her own single-season mark of 10 from last season.

CMU faced No. 6-ranked nation-ally and the top seed in Pool F, Wil-liam Carey (Miss.), on Friday in the second of three pool play games. The Lady Eagles will fi nish pool play to-day (Saturday) against Indiana Wes-leyan. First pitch is set for 10 a.m.

New Franklin pitcher Tyler Hull struck out 12 Pilot Grove batters in an 8-2 complete-game victory Tuesday for the Class 1 District 11 championship. Hull improved his pitching record to 6-2, accounting for half of New Franklin’s wins this season. He pitched a no-hitter through 4-1/3 innings and allowed only two singles.

New Franklin (12-5)vs. Sturgeon (11-6)

WHEN: 5:30 p.m. MondayWHERE: Sturgeon baseball fi eld (located behind the high school)

Class 1 Sectionals

(Continued on Page 5)

Haley Heuer is out to prove she can turn a slow start into a strong fi nish at this weekend’s

state track and fi eld championships.

(Continued on Page 5)

Harrisburg senior Haley Heuer is seeded in the top seven in both the Class 2 girls’ shot put and discus at this weekend’s state track and fi eld championships in Jefferson City. This will be her third state appearance in the discus and fi rst in the shot put. She holds the school record in both events at Harrisburg and is already a two-time medalist in the discus.

Page 4: 15 Fayette Advertiser

By GREG JACKSONSPORTS EDITOR

As if getting by the No. 7 team in the state in the fi rst round of districts wasn’t enough, Harrisburg had to get past another state-ranked opponent Wednesday night just to keep its sea-son alive.

The Bulldogs, seeded No. 6 in the Class 2 District 6 Tournament, took the game down to the wire against Linn. The Wildcats scored the win-ning run in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 6-5 win to end Harris-burg’s season.

“To play two state-ranked teams in one week is a tall order,” Harrisburg head coach Brian Simpson said of Linn, which is ranked No. 9 in Class 2. “It’s a game of mistakes and usually whoever makes the fewest will come out on top.”

Harrisburg (6-12) wasted very lit-tle time coming out of the gate. Blake Cochran drew a leadoff walk, stole second base and then scored on an RBI single from Ethan Beringer to put the Bulldogs ahead 1-0 after the top of the fi rst inning.

“That was our plan, to come out and rattle their pitcher,” Simpson said. “We had seen Dalton (Wolfe) throw earlier in the year at their place.”

Linn evened the score at 1-1 in the second inning, but Harrisburg stretched its lead to 3-1 in the third in-ning. With one out, Beringer drew a walk and Eric Penton reached on an infi eld single. Beringer proceeded to steal third base and then scored easily on an overthrow into left fi eld. Penton later scored on an RBI single from Ben Bolton out of the cleanup spot.

But the Wildcats did plenty of dam-age in the bottom of the fourth inning. Penton pitched solidly in the fi rst three innings, but the fi rst three Linn bat-ters reached base in the fourth inning. With two runners on, Alec Shoop hit a ball into the left-fi eld corner, scoring both runs to tie the game. Harrisburg left fi elder Jared Rich got stuck in the fence retrieving the ball and Shoop legged out a triple before the ball made its way back to the infi eld.

Jake Mebruer and Wolfe each had RBI singles in the inning as well to give Linn a 5-3 lead.

Harrisburg cut its defi cit in half in the top of the fi fth. With the heart of the order coming up, Austin Samuels ripped an RBI single down the third-base line to score Beringer, making the score 5-4.

Neither team scored in the sixth and Harrisburg was three outs away from defeat heading into the seventh. Ryan Mantle relieved Wolfe in the sixth inning, but he walked the bases loaded with two outs and Brian Bolton at the plate. On his second strike, the ball scooted past the Linn catcher, al-lowing Beringer to score from third base to tie the game and send it into the bottom half of the inning.

“I’ve just been asking these guys all spring to compete,” Simpson said. “They never stopped believing. I don’t know if I’ve seen a team compete as hard as my guys have in these past two games.”

Beringer came in to pitch for Har-risburg, trying to send the game to ex-tra innings. He retired the fi rst two bat-ters, but Shoop drew a walk, moved over to second base on a throwing error and advanced to third on a wild

pitch. Mebruer ended the game with an infi eld single up the middle to score Shoop.

Beringer took the loss for Har-risburg, allowing one run on one hit with one walk in the seventh. Penton pitched the fi rst four innings and Cody Colyer threw in the fi fth and sixth in-

nings.Beringer, Ben Bolton and Samuels

each had an RBI single. Penton had two singles and Blake Williams had one single as well.

South Callaway, the No. 4 seed, beat Linn 5-4 in nine innings to win the district title Thursday night..

Waggoner shoots a 197, Zimmel cards a 227 at Class 1 Golf Championship in Nixa.

The Fayette High School spring sports season came to an end Tues-day at the Class 1 State Golf Champi-onship, held at Fremont Hills Coun-try Club in Nixa.

No matter what happened at the two-day event, Fayette golf head coach Kirk Besgrove told his team he had three of the top 92 golfers in the state.

“It’s great that they made it to state,” Besgrove said. “Now they’ve got some experience with the pres-sure that comes from getting there. I just want them to appreciate the opportunity that they earned to get there.”

Junior Kirby Schoephoerster placed himself in the middle of the

pack after his fi rst round, shooting a 20-over par 91. S c h o e p h o e r s t e r shot another 91 on Tuesday for a two-day total of 182 (40-over par) to tie for 52nd place with Will Helvering of Mid-Buchanan and Tim Schumer of St. Vincent.

“With his put-ting and chipping, if we can shave anoth-er fi ve or six strokes off, he’s shooting an 85 instead of a 91,” Besgrove said. “That’s what we’re looking for. He’s defi nitely capable of it.”

Junior Thomas Waggoner had the lowest round for Fayette on Monday, shooting a 19-over 90. However, his second round was the second-highest

of the state qualifi ers on Tuesday, shooting a 107 for a two-day score of 197 to tie for 76th place with Miles Loucks of Mound City.

“With Thomas, we just have to work on his consistency and keeping his head in the game,” Besgrove said.

“He’s doing bet-ter at it, but there’s places where we can improve.”

Sam Zimmel fi nished the fi rst round with a 38-over par 109, but Tuesday didn’t get much better for the Fayette freshman. Zimmel shot a 118 on the second day to fi nish with a two-day score of 227, putting him in 90th place.

“He’s young and he’s a freshman,

and there were only four freshmen in the state of Missouri that were there,” Besgrove said. “That’s just an ac-complishment there. He has a lot of time to make up to get back there.”

Besgrove said the three golf-ers are already planning to play in

the Optimist Junior Golf East Mis-souri qualifi er tournament on May 31 at Whitmoor Country Club in St. Charles. By playing in this tourna-ment, they have a chance to qualify for the Optimist Junior Golf National Championship in Palm Beach Gar-dens, Fla.

“They’re going to help me with the Jr. Golf Program, so they’re going to be around (golf) and working at it all summer,” Besgrove said. “And then we’ll play when we can play. I told them all, when I fi rst started, that golf is not a six-week sport. It’s a year-round sport. You have to work at it and hit a lot of golf balls every day to get really good at it. They’re starting to take that to heart now.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Wednesday’s Fayette Advertiser incorrectly listed Waggoner’s and Schoephoerster’s scores from Monday’s round. It should have read that Waggoner shot a 19-over par 90 and Schoephoerster shot at 20-over par 91.

PAGE 5 • SATURDAY, MAY 19, 2012 THE DEMOCRAT LEADER • WWW.FAYETTENEWSPAPERS.COM

Sports CalendarSATURDAY, MAY 19

• Central Methodist University softball vs. Indiana Wesleyan (@ 2012 NAIA Softball National Championship in Gulf Shores, Ala.), 10 a.m.• New Franklin, Glasgow, Harrisburg high school track and fi eld @ Class 1 and 2 State Track and Field Championships (@ Jefferson City), 11 a.m.

Little League Baseball• Fayette Blue vs. Harrisburg 6th grade (DH), 10 a.m.

MONDAY, MAY 21• New Franklin High School baseball @ Sturgeon (Class 1 state sectionals), 6 p.m.

Jr. Babe Ruth Baseball• New Franklin vs. Prairie Home, 7 p.m.

Little League Baseball• Fayette Red vs. Harrisburg 6th grade (DH), 6 p.m.

Fayette Instructional League• Blue vs. Red (Baseball), 6 p.m.• Blue vs. Green (Baseball), 7:30 p.m.

Fayette Midget League• Yellow vs. Red (Soccer), 6 p.m.• Blue vs. Green (Soccer), 7:30 p.m.

TUESDAY, MAY 22Little League Baseball

• Fayette Blue vs. New Franklin (DH), 6 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23Fayette Instructional League

• Green vs. Red (Soccer), 6 p.m.• Green vs. Blue (Soccer), 7:30 p.m.

Fayette Midget League• Yellow vs. Red (Baseball), 6 p.m.• Blue vs. Green (Baseball), 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY, MAY 24• Central Methodist University men’s and women’s track and fi eld @ NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships (@ Marion, Ind.), 10:30 a.m.

Jr. Babe Ruth Baseball• Fayette @ Prairie Home, 7:45 p.m.• Glasgow @ Jamestown, 7:45 p.m.

Little League Baseball• Harrisburg 5th grade vs. Fayette Red (DH), 6 p.m.

FRIDAY, MAY 25• Central Methodist University men’s and women’s track and fi eld @ NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships (@ Marion, Ind.), 10:30 a.m.

Little League Baseball• New Franklin vs. Fayette Blue (DH), 6 p.m.

Quad Cities Jr. Babe Ruth2012 Baseball Schedule

May 21 ................. Prairie Home @ New Franklin ...........................7 p.m. May 24 ................. Fayette @ Prairie Home ............................... 7:45 p.m. Glasgow @ Jamestown................................ 7:45 p.m. May 29 ................. Fayette @ Glasgow.......................................6:15 p.m. Fayette @ Glasgow.............................................8 p.m. May 30 ................. Prairie Home @ Glasgow ..................................7 p.m. May 31 ................. New Franklin @ Jamestown ........................ 7:45 p.m. Glasgow @ Jamestown................................ 7:45 p.m. June 4 .................. Glasgow @ New Franklin.............................6:15 p.m. Glasgow @ New Franklin...................................8 p.m. Fayette @ Jamestown .................................. 7:45 p.m. June 7 .................. New Franklin @ Fayette ...............................6:15 p.m. New Franklin @ Fayette .....................................8 p.m. Jamestown @ Prairie Home ........................ 7:45 p.m. June 11 ................ Jamestown @ New Franklin ........................6:15 p.m. Jamestown @ New Franklin ..............................8 p.m. Glasgow @ Prairie Home ..................................7 p.m. June 14 ................ Glasgow @ Fayette.......................................6:15 p.m. Glasgow @ Fayette.............................................8 p.m. New Franklin @ Prairie Home ...........................7 p.m. June 18 ................ Fayette @ New Franklin ...............................6:15 p.m. Fayette @ New Franklin .....................................8 p.m. Jamestown @ Prairie Home ........................ 7:45 p.m. June 20 ................ New Franklin @ Glasgow.............................6:15 p.m. New Franklin @ Glasgow...................................8 p.m. June 21 ................ Jamestown @ Fayette ..................................6:15 p.m. Jamestown @ Fayette ........................................8 p.m. June 25 ................ Prairie Home @ Fayette .....................................7 p.m. June 26 ................ Jamestown @ Glasgow......................................7 p.m.

CorrectionThe Clark Middle School track

story in the May 12 Democrat Leader incorrectly identifi ed a track athlete in a cutline for a picture on Page 5.

It should have read that “Gra-cen Ripley, who runs the anchor leg of the Clark Middle School girls’ 4x200-meter relay, fi nishes well ahead of the pack Tuesday. Fay-ette’s time of 2:03.37 was enough to win the event by six seconds.”

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Kirby Schoephoerster91 • 91 — 182T-52nd place

Thomas Waggoner90 • 107 — 197

T-76th place

Sam Zimmel109 • 118 — 227

90th place

State Qualifi ers

Fayette Golf ClubFayette Golf ClubFayette Golf ClubFayette Golf ClubFayette Golf ClubJr. Golf ProgramJr. Golf ProgramJr. Golf ProgramJr. Golf ProgramJr. Golf Program

will begin Tuesday, June 5: 3 p.m., 1st - 5th grades

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Call Kirk Besgrove at 660-537-3607 for more information or to sign up.

Schoephoerster ties for 52nd at state golf

Harrisburg pushes Linn to brink in 6-5 district semifi nal loss

The eighth annual Kenny Blakely Classic will take place Saturday, June 30, with a shotgun starting time of noon.

The event is a four-person scram-ble and all participants will represent a city, with the lowest score winning the classic. The winning team’s city will get its name on the fi rst-place trophy.

The cost is $140 for a team or $35 per golfer. The cost for each player will cover greens fees, a catered din-ner and a golf cart. There will be no mulligans.

The tournament is an annual event to honor a long-time member of the Fayette Golf Club, Kenny Blakely. The goal of the classic is to raise a minimum of $500 each year to be given to the Fayette High School golf program. Last year’s classic had a to-tal of nine teams.

For those interested in participat-ing, please contact David Devaney at (816) 941-2623.

Time to register for Kenny Blakely

Classic base on a wild pitch. He later scored on a sacrifi ce fl y by Storjohann. Tan-ner White also scored in the inning on an error.

Reynolds, who had both of Pilot Grove’s hits off Hull, singled up the middle in the seventh inning. Town-lain drove in his second run with a sacrifi ce fl y that left fi elder Tanner White had to catch on the run. One batter later, Hull struck out Jake Le-verton to end the game.

These two teams met earlier this season in a more dramatic matchup. It took nine innings, but New Frank-lin pulled away with an 8-2 win on the road. Pilot Grove was ranked No. 1 in Class 1 at the time.

“We learned a lot by playing them,” Gerding said of New Frank-lin’s 8-2 win at Pilot Grove on April 18. “The more I saw of them, the more comfortable I was going up against them. We knew what to ex-pect out of Young and offensively what they wanted to do with their lineup.”

Tyler White led the Bulldogs with one double, one home run and one RBI, while Alex Holem had one dou-ble and two RBIs. Johnson had one double, Woodbury had one single and one RBI and Tanner White and Purvis had one single each.

Hull improved his pitching record to 6-2, throwing 123 pitches in seven innings of work. He allowed two runs on two hits with fi ve walks and 12 strikeouts.

Young took the loss for Pilot Grove. He threw six innings and gave up eight runs on seven hits with four walks and 10 strikeouts.

New Franklin advances to the Class 1 state playoffs with the win. The Bulldogs will play against Cen-tral Activities Conference foe Stur-geon at 5:30 p.m. Monday in Stur-geon. New Franklin won the spring season matchup 4-3 on April 12 at Sturgeon.

(Continued from Page 4)

New Franklin baseball

New Franklin left fi elder Tanner White makes a running catch in foul territory in the seventh inning.

Harrisburg shortstop Ethan Beringer squares up to fi eld a ground ball in the fi rst inning against Linn. Beringer had an RBI single and scored three runs.

(Continued from Page 4)stretch, Heuer said she would like to throw 40 feet this weekend at state.

Preparation for state this week has been a little different than it has in the past. Rather than focus solely on one event, Heuer has had to manage her time differently for two events.

“Now that I have to focus on two (events), I try to split my time even-ly,” Heuer said. “This past week, I’ve just been trying to get a lot of throws in because it’s my last week of high school track. I just want to try and do my best.”

Overcoming obstacles this season isn’t something new to Heuer. She tore the ACL in her right knee during basketball practice her freshman year. Because it took her a year to recover from the injury, she only has one state basketball championship ring instead of two and couldn’t compete in track as a freshman.

Since then, she has two state track medals and became an All-District player for a state championship bas-

ketball team. And now she’s to the point where she doesn’t even think about her injury anymore and hasn’t worn a knee brace while competing in track this season.

“We always say in basketball that you need to be playing your best at the end of the year,” Fisher said. “That’s what she has done over the past couple of years. She just needs to get to those last couple of throws in to give herself a chance. All it takes is that one big throw to come out on top.”

Track: Heuer looks to achieve state title in track

Page 5: 15 Fayette Advertiser

The Democrat Leader

SportsGreg Jackson, Sports Editor • Email: [email protected] • Phone: 248-2235 • Page 4 • October 6, 2012

Fayette Falcons

Higbee TigersHarrisburg BulldogsGlasgow Yellowjackets

New FranklinBulldogs

Central Methodist Eagles

Sports CalendarSATURDAY, OCT. 6

• Fayette 3rd/4th grade youth football @ Hallsville, 9 a.m.• Central Methodist University men’s and women’s cross country host Gary Stoner Invitational, 10:30 a.m.• Fayette 5th/6th grade youth football @ Hallsville, 1 p.m.• Central Methodist University football @ Benedictine College, 1 p.m.• New Franklin High School softball vs. Harrisburg (Class 1 District 7 Tournament championship), 1 p.m.• Central Methodist University volleyball @ Mid-America Christian University, 1 p.m.• Central Methodist University volleyball @ Haskell Indian Nations University, 3 p.m.• Central Methodist University women’s soccer @ Benedictine College, 5 p.m.• Central Methodist University men’s soccer @ Benedictine College, 7:30 p.m.

MONDAY, OCT. 8• Glasgow, Harrisburg high school girls golf @ Class 1 Sectional 3 Tournament (@ Green Hills Golf Club in Chillicothe), TBA• Higbee Middle School girls basketball vs. Sturgeon (Higbee Jr. High Tournament), 4:30 p.m.• New Franklin Middle School girls basketball vs. Bunceton (Prairie Home Jr. High Tournament), 5 p.m.• Higbee Middle School boys basketball vs. Sturgeon (Higbee Jr. High Tournament), 5:30 p.m.• Fayette High School JV football @ Slater, 6 p.m.• New Franklin Middle School boys basketball vs. Bunceton (Prairie Home Jr. High Tournament), 6:15 p.m.• St. Mary’s Middle School girls basketball vs. S.S. Peter & Paul (Higbee Jr. High Tournament), 6:30 p.m.• St. Mary’s Middle School boys basketball vs. S.S. Peter & Paul (Higbee Jr. High Tournament), 7:30 p.m.

TUESDAY, OCT. 9• Glasgow Middle School girls basketball vs. Middle Grove (Higbee Jr. High Tournament), 4:30 p.m.• New Franklin Middle School girls basketball vs. Pilot Grove (Prairie Home Jr. High Tournament), 5 p.m.• Glasgow Middle School boys basketball vs. Middle Grove (Higbee Jr. High Tournament), 5:30 p.m.• Central Methodist University women’s soccer @ Missouri Valley College, 6 p.m.• Central Methodist University men’s soccer @ Missouri Valley College, 8 p.m.• Central Methodist University volleyball vs. Missouri Valley College, 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY, OCT. 11• Central Methodist University volleyball vs. College of St. Mary, 5 p.m.• Clark Middle School football @ Slater, 6 p.m.

FRIDAY, OCT. 12• Central Methodist University volleyball vs. Clarke University (Hannibal-LaGrange Tournament), 3 p.m.• Central Methodist University volleyball vs. Hannibal-LaGrange University (Hannibal-LaGrange Tournament), 7 p.m.• Fayette High School football @ Salisbury, 7 p.m.

CLASS 1 DISTRICT 7 TOURNAMENTNo. 1 New FraNkliN vs. No. 2 Harrisburg

1 P.M. SATURDAY • PILOT GROVE HIGH SCHOOL

bombs away Pitcher’s gem

New Franklin right fielder Madi Lyons (center) receives a warm welcome from several of her teammates at home plate after she hit a three-run home run over the center-field fence in the first inning of Thursday’s semifinal game against Bunceton. New Franklin scored 11 runs in the opening frame and also had a grand slam from Kalani Pihana earlier in the inning.

Harrisburg pitcher Kimmie Roberts lets out a smile after pitching a no-hitter in Thursday’s 14-0 semifinal win against Jamestown. Roberts allowed just one batter to reach base — a walk on a 3-2 count to Alexis Muri in the second inning — and struck out 13 of the 16 batters she faced, advancing Harrisburg to its third consecutive district championship appearance.

Two home runs in an 11-run first inning power New Franklin to a 15-4 win over Bunceton

Kimmie Roberts no-hits Jamestown, striking out 13 batters in a 14-0 district blowout

By GreG Jacksonsports editor

New Franklin didn’t have the easi-est of roads entering the Class 1 District 7 Tournament, despite

holding the top seed in the bracket.The Lady Bulldogs had lost four of their

last five games entering the postseason and were without a handful of players during that stretch because of injuries. With every-one finally returning to the lineup for Thurs-day’s semifinal game against Bunceton, New Franklin decided it was time to announce its presence with authority.

An 11-run first inning, aided by a grand slam from Kalani Pihana and a three-run blast from Madi Lyons, powered New Franklin to a 15-4 romp in five innings at Pilot Grove.

“We were really trying to work on our bal-

ance and getting our hands through the zone,” New Franklin head coach Ross Dowell said. “I really felt like we did that early. I thought we were relaxed, I thought we pressed and changed some things late.

“I was glad to get off to a good start. We haven’t played well the last five out of six games. It was good to see them relax, smile and play, especially this late in the year.”

New Franklin (15-10, 4-2 CAC) loaded the bases for Pihana after Abby Prewitt drew a bases-loaded walk to score the first run. Pi-hana’s blast to left-center field put her team ahead 5-0 with just one out in the first inning.

The bottom of New Franklin’s batting order hit just as well. Aislinn Himmelberg and Megan Phillips hit back-to-back singles,

By GreG Jacksonsports editor

Harrisburg pitcher Kimmie Rob-erts had to win the battle of her life in last year’s district semifinal

against Sturgeon.She had to battle for 12 grueling innings

and took a line drive off her hip before she was able to score the winning run last year. In Thursday’s district semifinal, well, let’s just say Roberts had an easier time getting a win.

The junior struck out 13 of the 16 batters she faced and only allowed a second-inning walk, throwing a no-hitter to lead the Lady Bulldogs past No. 3 Jamestown 14-0 in five innings at Pilot Grove.

By the time Jamestown came to bat the second time through its order, the Lady Ea-gles came up bunting, knowing that was the

team’s best chance to get runners on base.It didn’t work. On the other two outs,

Roberts induced to pop-ups to third baseman Kassi Blakemore.

Jamestown never hit the ball past the pitcher’s mound all night.

“We haven’t gotten to face Jamestown (earlier this season), but we knew they were quick and if they put it in play, they were go-ing to get two bases every time,” Harrisburg head coach Janeil Draffen said. “(Kimmie) really worked hard on her rise ball, keeping it low and hitting her spots.”

Harrisburg (14-11) scored two runs in the first inning, taking advantage of a couple of Jamestown errors. The Lady Bulldogs added five more runs in the second inning, sending

By GreG Jacksonsports editor

Much like the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals, Fayette was down to its final strike Wednesday and pulled through to keep its season going.

The difference is, Fayette didn’t tie the game or take the lead. The Lady Falcons were just trying to get their district opener to go the full seven innings. Fayette, the No. 5 seed in the Class 2 District 14 Tour-nament, did just that in a 10-2 loss to Knob Noster at Higginsville.

“I thought we started the game pretty well,” Fayette head coach Mike James said. “We got ourselves out of a pretty decent jam in the first inning and got out of there with no runs. Unfortunately, as it has been all year, our offense wasn’t able to scratch any runs early.”

Fayette’s defense stranded a run-ner on third base in the first inning. Fayette pitcher Caitlin Wells struck out Knob Noster’s No. 3 and 4 hit-ters to end the inning.

In the second inning, the Lady Panthers took advantage of four walks in the inning and picked up RBI hits from Katie Butler and Marisa Jordan to score three runs in the inning.

Knob Noster added three more runs in the third inning and anoth-er four runs in the fourth to take a 10-0 lead. Fayette missed a couple opportunities earlier in the game to score, stranding two runners in scoring position in the third inning. Now, if the Lady Falcons couldn’t score in the fifth inning, their season would be over.

Clara Beaman stood at first base with two outs as pinch hitter Tif-fany Ray walked to the plate. Ray drew a walk and Kennzie Thornton reached on an infield single to load the bases. The next batter, Kenzie Smentkowski, took the count to two strikes, but the junior came through in the clutch with an RBI single up the middle to score Beaman. Cait-lin Wells added an insurance run with another RBI single, cutting the Knob Noster lead to eight runs.

“Hopefully we can build from that for next year,” James said. “I just wish we would do that earlier in games. If we had done that in the third inning and took the lead from them, who knows what would have happened? We got more competi-tive the last few games.”

Caitlin Wells retired six of the next seven batters she faced and al-

lowed just a one-out single in the seventh inning. In her final pitch-ing appearance, she walked six and struck out four, including three strikeouts against Knob Noster’s No. 3 hitter Kelsey Beasley.

“From the fifth inning on, our girls battled pretty hard,” James said. “We won those last three in-nings and made the game go seven innings, so that in itself was like a moral victory.”

Fayette had a runner reach base in each of the final two innings on an error, but both runners were stranded. By extending the game another two innings, it also gave both seniors — Thornton and Wells — another opportunity to bat one last time as a Lady Falcon. Thornton reached on an error in the seventh and Wells ended the game on a pop-up in foul territory.

“I thought (Caitlin’s) offspeed pitches were working better against Knob Noster than they had been earlier in the year,” James said. “She pitched that No. 3 hitter pretty intelligently and got her way out in front. She showed a lot of guts and a lot of heart. She went out there and

Lady Falcons fall to Knob Noster in opener

Fayette left fielder Sarah Howell fires the ball from the left-field corner to the infield on a double in the fourth inning Wednesday. Knob Noster finished the game with nine hits, pulling five of them to left field against the Lady Falcons.

(Continued on Page 5) (Continued on Page 5)

Fayette rallies to score two runs in fifth inning to extend season, but Lady Panthers hold on for 10-2 victory

(Continued on Page 5)

Page 6: 15 Fayette Advertiser

The DemocraT LeaDer • www.fayeTTenewspapers.com saTurDay, ocTober 6, 2012 • page 5

CLASS 11. Hamilton (14) 1402. Salisbury 1203. Tipton 1044. Valle Catholic 1035. Miller 796. Skyline 727. Wellington-Napoleon 568. South Harrison 439. Cass-Midway 22T10. Westran 8T10. Drexel 8

Others receiving votes: Porta-geville (5), Milan (3), East Bu-chanan (1), South Shelby (1),

CLASS 21. Higginsville (13) 1392. Maplewood-RH (1) 1163. Clark County 104T4. Blair Oaks 88T4. Mountain Grove 886. Caruthersville 587. Liberty-Mountain View 528. Holden 519. South Callaway 2610. Strafford 21

Others receiving votes: Lamar (9), Lathrop (8), Sarcoxie (7), Brookfield (3)

CLASS 31. John Burroughs (14) 1402. Maryville 1263. Cassville 1114. Oak Grove 965. Centralia 856. Ste. Genevieve 647. Hogan Prep 608. California 379. Clinton 2410. Soldan 17

Others receiving votes: Duchesne (6), Park Hills Central (3), Spring-field Catholic (1)

CLASS 41. Webb City (14) 1402. Savannah 1263. Harrisonville 1094. Sikeston 955. Hannibal 806. St. Dominic 547. Sullivan 498. Helias Catholic 339. Miller Career 2810. Hillcrest 27

Others receiving votes: St. Joseph Lafayette (10), Platte County (7), Borgia (4), Carthage (4), Excel-sior Springs (3), St. Clair (1)

CLASS 5T1. Kirkwood (7) 133T1. Lee’s Summit West (7) 1333. Rockwood Summit 1054. Staley 1005. Fort Osage 796. Parkway Central 627. Ozark 548. Hazelwood East 369. Nixa 3510. Webster Groves 18

Others receiving votes: Winneton-ka (7), Parkview (6), Jackson (1), Fort Zumwalt East (1)

CLASS 61. Christian Brothers (14) 1402. Blue Springs 1133. Lafayette 1044. Rockhurst 855. Francis Howell 846. Hickman 797. Jefferson City 628. Raymore-Peculiar 459. DeSmet 2410. Blue Springs South 18

Others receiving votes: Parkway South (13), Rock Bridge (3)

2012 Missouri Sportswriters/Sportscasters Association High School Football Poll

Week 7Total voting points are listed at right

LLLLLOCOCOCOCOCALALALALAL S S S S SPORTPORTPORTPORTPORTSSSSSFAYETTE GLASGOW

FALCONS YELLOWJACKETS

NEW FRANKLIN/HARRISBURG

BULLDOGSJUSTIN ADDISON, SPORTS EDITOR • PHONE 248-2235 • PAGE 4 • DEMOCRAT-LEADER • SEPTEMBER 6, 2008

CENTRAL METHOD-IST

EAGLES

By JUSTIN ADDISONSPORTS EDITOR

Falcons win opener 33-15The Fayette Falcons won their first game

of the season 33-15 Friday night over KnoxCounty at Central Methodist University’sDavis Field. The opening-night victory is thefirst in seven years for Fayette and a first forfourth-year head coach Billy Huthman.

“I’ve been waiting four years to win thefirst game and it finally happened,” Huth-man said.

“It’s a great day to be a Falcon.”In fact, the last time Fayette won its opener

was in 2001 with a 25-6 win at Knox County.The Falcons set the pace right from the

start. On the first play from scrimmage, se-nior running back Ryan Sherman got looseon a 65-yard sprint to the endzone for the firstscore of the season.

“We wanted to get out and score quicklyand get the momentum in our direction,” Sher-man said. And that’s just what he did.

When Fayette and Knox County met duringthe CMU football camp in June, Sherman wasnot on the field. And Huthman didn’t show muchat the preseason jamboree Aug. 23. “That’s oneof the things we didn’t show in our jamboree.We never showed it at camp.”

Sherman’s speed and success on the grid-iron is certainly no secret, but teams still havelittle success in efforts to contain him.

“He’s just fun to watch,” said Huthman.“And with the surrounding blocks on that play,everyone did their job. It wasn’t just him. Hehad some great blocks downfield from thereceivers and the backs. And the line did agreat job of sealing everything up in themiddle. You have to have everybody almostperfect to make plays like that.”

And that was just the first 15 seconds.Sherman would score three times more asthe Falcons posted five touchdowns on thenight. For their second, Sherman hauled ina pass from 23-yards out from junior quar-terback Dalton LeNoir with 8:29 on theclock to go up 12-0.

But just two and a half minutes later, themomentum would shift. An incomplete passfrom LeNoir bounced off the turf and into thehands of an Eagle defender. All five refereesconcluded the play ended in an interception.So with a short field of just 14 yards, KnoxCounty drove the ball toward the goal linebefore senior running back Lucas Hudson ranit in from four yards out for the touchdown.

“You can bite and scream all you want,but they aren’t going to change the call,” saidHuthman.

Fayette would once again make it a two-score game before the end of the half. Withless than two minutes left in the second quar-ter, Sherman struck again from long yardage,this time on a 43-yard blast which ended in a10-yard trot into the endzone. A two-pointconversion by junior full back Ethan Boul-den made the score 20-7.

Even with time running down, Fayettemanaged to get one more possession. On thefinal play of the second quarter, LeNoir putan exclamation point on the first half whenhe hit junior wide receiver Logan Ball from31 yards out for a touchdown at the buzzer.The two-point conversion failed, but Fayettecruised into halftime with a 26-7 lead.

“I wanted to take it to them,” Huthmansaid. “I thought we were better athleticallyand faster with our backs. After we got thatrun going and made them commit to the in-side, we went with our pass, and our receiv-ers did a great job.”

Following an action-packed first half, thethird quarter was quite the change of pace.Knox County erased nearlythe first eight minutes offthe clock with a long drive.Fayette finally stopped theEagle push when seniorlinemen Matt Pritchard andJaQuan Jones brokethrough the line and pulleddown Knox County quarter-back Keenan Gillaspy for a sack on a four-and-five situation.

But Fayette offense sputtered, and fourplays later Knox County regained possession.The Eagles posted 17 plays to Fayette’s fourin the third quarter.

The Eagles reached pay dirt for their sec-ond and final score of the night with 7:02 leftin the game. Hudson one again took it in fromshort yardage with a one-yard run. The two-point conversion on a keeper by Gillaspy wasgood and cut the lead to 26-15.

Knox County came dangerously close tomaking a late rally. But with 5:15 left on theclock Boulden scooped up an Eagle fumblejust 17 yards from the goal line. Fayette hadanother brush with luck to clinch the win.With 3:11 on the board, Knox Countybobbled a Fayette punt. Falcon junior BoonePriddy recovered the loose ball on the Eagle

34-yard line.Fayette didn’t squander the opportunity.

With 1:41 left to play, LeNoir threw his thirdtouchdown of the night as he hit Shermanfrom 27 yards out.

Sherman’s point-after attempt was goodto give Fayette the 33-15 win.

“He had a fantastic game,” Huthman said.Sherman racked up 137 of the team’s 159

rushing yards on eight carries for two touch-downs. “You never know with Sherm,” Huth-man said. “Sometimes I just take my eye off

him and look at my play book to decide thenext play. I hear people cheering and it’s like‘OK, there he goes again.’”

Sherman also had two catches, each ofwhich were for touchdowns. He spanned 50yards with both grabs.

Boulden racked up 28 yards on six carriesand senior Keyton Schweighauser picked upfive more to round out the ground attack.

Leading the receivers was junior LoganBall with three catches for 71 yards and atouchdown. Juniors Mikey Thompson,Rodney Felten and Boulden each had onereception.

“But we have a corps of receivers that do agreat job for us. And it showed tonight,” saidHuthman. “Teams have to cover everybody.”

LeNoir in his first varsity game since be-ing named starting quarterback completedeight of 21 passes for 145 yards and threetouchdowns with two interceptions.

“He’s a general out there,” said Huth-man. “He knows everything. Even when wedo our last play to kneel on it, I always takea timeout to make sure everybody is linedup right. He told me to stay on the sidelineand he’d line it up.”

Huthman said his presence on the fieldgives the Falcons more balance on offense.“That’s what we want. We want a balancedattack. That’s what Dalton brings to the table.We have a quarterback who can throw andthe runners who can run.”

LeNoir battled through the entire secondhalf and part of the second quarter with soreribs which made deep breathing difficult.“I was supposed to roll out,” he explained.“Some linebackers got through and got ahelmet on my ribs.” That shot caused hissecond interception of the night in the sec-ond quarter.

Defensively, returning tackling leader Boul-den led three Falcons in double figures with 13take downs (3 solo) and a fumble recovery. Fel-low inside linebacker Schweighauser had 11 stops(5 solo) and junior Boone Priddy had 11 tackles(3 solo) with a recovered fumble. Sherman andThompson each had seven total tackles and fiveunassisted. Senior JaQuan Jones added six total(2 solo) while Logan Ball had five (4 solo) andAlex Hilderbrand tallied five assists. Pritchard,at nose guard, managed four tackles (1 solo) anda fumble recovery after leaving the game in thefourth quarter with a sprained right knee.

Fayette was to head toTipton to take on thethird-ranked Cardinalson Friday. Huthman saidthat ranking doesn’t in-timidate his team whatso-ever. “I don’t even pay at-tention to that. I’ve seenthem a little bit on film. I

saw their jamboree. I think our offense cando a lot of things against their defense. Of-fensively, they are fast. They run the heck outof it and do a lot of play action. It’s a goodprogram. They don’t rebuild, they reload.They return four starters on offense and fouron defense. They graduated a lot of kids.

“We have to play our football and dictateto them.”

LeNoir summed it up simply. “We beatthem in camp.”

Kickoff Friday is at 7 p.m.

Wide receiver Ryan Sherman made it look easy Friday. The senior had four touch-downs on the night: two in the air and two on the ground. Above he scores his second ofthe night on a 23-yard reception from quarterback Dalton LeNoir.

Fayette FalconPlayers of the Week

Ryan Sherman4 Touchdowns in Season Opener

vs. Knox County

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“It’s a great day to be a Falcon.”--FHS Head Coach Billy Huthman

The Central Methodist UniversityLady Eagles volleyball team movedto 3-2 overall and 1-0 in the Heart ofAmerica Athletic Conference with a3-1 win over Benedictine CollegeTuesday night.

After splitting the first two games,the Lady Eagles gained all of themomentum in the match during gamethree. CMU held a 10-3 lead to openthe game, Benedictine battled backto tie six times at 18, 23, 24, 25 and26. But a pair of kills by juniormiddle hitter Viola Rotich gave theLady Eagles the 28-26 win.

The Ravens got off to a 4-1 startin game four. CMU battled back totake the lead at 8-6, then pulled awayfor a 25-17 win to clinch the HAACopener.

The Lady Eagles got off to a hotstart on the night, jumping out to a7-0 lead in game one before Bene-dictine was able to pull within twopoints at 14-12. The Ravens got asclose as 18-17 before CMU pulledaway for the win 25-20. Benedictinecapitalized on a few CMU errors ingame two to cruise to a 25-14 win.

Central was paced by senior out-side hitter Rael Rotich with 16kills. Viola Rotich finished withnine kills and two aces served,while senior right-side hitter AmyGeurin added six kills. Senior set-ter Michelle Wilson recorded 39assists and 12 digs for the LadyEagles. Senior Libero KristaMcShane led a solid defensive ef-fort for CMU with 38 digs. She wasfollowed by junior outside hitterSarah Hugunin with 15. Senior de-fensive specialist Brandi Cutolo-Crain posted 14, while Geurinchipped in 13.

CMU also posted a win inTuesday’s junior varsity match,sweeping Benedictine 25-23, 25-16.

The Lady Eagles return to actionat the Illinois Tech Tournament thisweekend in Chicago. CMU’s nexthome match will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 10against nearby rival Stephens College.

of Central Missouri in Warrensburg.Central returns four out of its top

six tacklers from 2007 including itsthree best. Starting will likely be se-nior Charlie Stevens (6’2-255).“With his size and speed, when hecomes downhill and hits people, it’sfun to watch,” Dykens said. Stevensfinished the 2007 campaign with 54tackles (25 solo) and a blocked kick.

Senior Mickey Pitman (6’1-200)returns after recording 48 tackles (22solo) last season with a sack, twoforced fumbles and one recovery.

Senior Ryan Boyer (6’1-225)will make his return at outside line-backer after leading the Eagles intackles a year ago with 61 (40solo). He had 2.5 tackles for lossesof 11.5 yards in addition to fivepass breakups and an interceptionand a recovered fumble.

Boyer was also named a teamcaptain this season. “It really fits himwell with the scheme we’re running,”Dykens said.

The Eagles also have seniorsReggie Jeff (6’0-255) and Trey Neal(5’9-200) fighting for time in thelinebacker corps.

“We’re going to run a lot of threefront,” said Dykens of his defense.“You’ll see us in a lot of 3-5-3 and3-4. We’re going to do some multipletypes of fronts to keep our opponentsoff guard. We want to dictate to theoffense what they can do. The com-

plexity of our defense is apparent, yetit’s simple.”

In the defensive backfield is seniorIra Riggins (5’10-175) as corner back.Last season he recorded seven breakups and 23 of his 25 total tackles wereunassisted. Additionally, he had one in-terception and a fumble recovery.“He’s got good hips and good feet,”Dykens said. “He’s physical and he’snot afraid to hit. He’s a taller corner.And in this league a taller corner cando some things.”

Dykens has a couple of seniors forthe safety position: Chad Smith (6’2-200) and Alfred Marshall (6’1-185).

Marshall redshirted last year af-ter transferring to CMU from con-ference rival Evangel University.“The kid has no fear,” said Dykens.“Those are the kind of people youneed in the safety position to makesure nobody crosses that middle.”

The Eagles kickoff tonight at 6 p.m.at Davis Field against Graceland. TheYellowjackets, who posted a record of6-4 last season, were picked to finishfifth in the HAAC Preseason Coaches’Poll last month. CMU was picked ninthafter finishing 2-8 in 2007.

“That’s right where we should bepicked,” Dykens said. “They don’tknow what we have. I’m glad wewere picked ninth. It’s just more fuelfor the fire.”

As far as making any predictionsin a conference which boasts three

teams in the top 15 of the NAIA,Dykens said you simply never can tell.“You don’t know in this conferencewho is going to have a run of luck. It’sa topsy-turvy conference. This is thebest NAIA conference in the nation.”

Ten of Central’s 11 games areagainst conference teams. Instead oftaking a bye week or padding theschedule with an easy team for theoff week, Dykens has instead pittedhis Eagles against NCAA D-I Ten-nessee Tech on Sept. 25. CMU willmake the trip to Cookville, Tenn. forthe 7 p.m. game.

“We’re looking at it as a once ina lifetime opportunity,” he explained.“Our kids get to experience a bigNCAA DI stadium. We wanted togive them something special.”

But Dykens said neither he nor hisplayers have even mentioned the game.Instead, they are solely focused on thefirst game of the season tonight andencourage the fans to help make it amemorable season opener. “We wanteverybody to come out and watch usplay. The more people there, the morefun we’ll all have.”

“I’d like to throw a big thank youto my staff for everything they aredoing. And the administration fortheir support. It’s a coach’s dream tocome in and have the facilities wehave and have the administrationback you in what you are trying todo. I can’t thank them enough.”

CMU Eagle football Continued from page 5

Lady Eagleswin opener

The Central Methodist men’s soc-cer team scored three goals in thesecond half to earn its first win ofthe season in the home opener Thurs-day. The Eagles defeated Universityof St. Mary 4-1 in the contest.

Four different players scored forthe Eagles as they improved to 1-1-1 on the season. Freshman midfielderKyle Redd got the scoring started forCentral Methodist with the only goalin the first half off a throw-in fromjunior midfielder Brandon Ousley.

Freshman midfielder EduardoWeschenfelder scored on an unas-sisted goal seven minutes into thesecond half. The Eagles built a 3-0lead when Ousley scored on a cross-shot from freshman midfielder Provi-dence Tucker. After the Spires scoredwith eight minutes left, CMU fresh-man forward Patrick Wulfers put aone-on-one shot past the goalie forthe Eagles’ final goal of the game.

CMU is back in action today (Sat-urday) against Iowa Wesleyan athome. The 2 p.m. game will be thesecond of four home contests in arow for the Eagles.

Men’s soccerfinds first win

The Central Methodist UniversityLady Eagles soccer team picked upits first win of the season Thursdaynight against University of St. Maryat home.

Junior forward Natalie Rolphscored a goal in each half to give theLady Eagles the 2-1 victory. Rolph’sfirst goal came just less than fourminutes into the game off an assistfrom freshman forward KirstynLinders.

The Spires tied the game 1-1 withjust less than 11 minutes left in thefirst half. But in the second half,Rolph scored the game-winning goalfor the Lady Eagles with a one-on-one shot.

The win moved CMU to 1-2 on

Lady Eagles soccer gets first winthe season. The Lady Eagles were totravel to Joplin on Friday to take onOzark Christian College. They willreturn to Davis Field for a three-gamehome stand beginning at noon Sat-urday against Iowa Wesleyan.

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Fayette FalconPlayers of the Week

Clara LutzHit two singles and two RBIs in

23-18 win against Glasgow

Zach CookThrew season-high 80 passing

yards in 33-16 loss at Paris

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Central Methodist University dropped a Heart of America Athletic Conference volleyball match Tues-day night to Graceland University in three sets inside Puckett Field House. The Yellowjackets (12-3, 5-1 HAAC) defeated the Lady Eagles (4-13, 0-6 HAAC) by scores of 25-15, 26-24 and 25-18.

CMU jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the first set. A Hannah Babcock ser-vice ace was followed by kills from Allie Slaton and Makenzie Shepard

before the visitors rallied to tie the game at point 10 off a Moriah Jones kill. CMU’s Kylie Melkersman would tie the game at point 11 off a kill from Jennifer Garrett before the Yellowjackets went on a 14-4 run to close the set.

The Lady Eagles again started strong in the following game, staking claim to an 8-4 advantage after a ser-vice ace by the Lady Eagles’ Rebecca Edwards was followed by an attack error from Ashley Hausmann. CMU

held a three-point cushion, 19-16, off a kill by Taylor Russell before Grace-land rallied to tie the match at point 23 off a kill by Jones. Dana Peters gave the Green and Black a 24-23 lead off a kill before the Yellowjack-ets scored three straight points to take the second game.

Graceland opened the third set on a 12-7 run. Trailing 23-13, CMU outscored the Yellowjackets 5-1, in-cluding a service ace by Kristi Miller, to cut the deficit to six points, 24-18.

However, a Kendra Martin kill would end the match, giving the visitors the win.

Allie Krabbenhoft had eight kills for Graceland. Erin Polte and Kelsi Martin dished out 14 assists apiece. Denise Atualevao had 16 digs.

Peters led the Eagles with nine kills, while Shepard added seven. Sarah Lewey posted a match-high 16 assists. Babcock had nine digs, and Edwards added eight.

Lewis & Clark All-Conference Softball

First teamMackenzie Hombs WestranMadison McCormick MarcelineLexie Richards SalisburyMorgan McCormick MarcelineShelby McCawley WestranSarah Roling SalisburyPeyton Gruber ParisKayla Langerud ParisAmber Summerville SalisburyKelsey Link WestranAbby Gauthier MarcelineLaney Shelby WestranMary Rose Gonzalez SlaterCamryn Hunt WestranSydnee Brooks MarcelineKenzie Smentkowski Fayette

Honorable mentionAllison Minor WestranMandy Millar SalisburyHayley Kendrick SalisburyAmber Linneman SalisburyKennzie Thornton FayetteCaitlin Wells FayetteHaley Fredrick ParisKate Peiffer MarcelineHannah Dorrell Marceline

setting up Lyons’ three-run shot that hit the top of the center-field fence and landed on the other side, just out of the center fielder’s reach.

“It was a great boost for her be-cause she’s struggled,” Dowell said of Lyons’ home run. “But she stayed with it. She’s got a couple little glitches and we’re close to breaking out, so hopefully that will get her go-ing. I just feel like, if we concentrate one through nine, then we’re about as good as anyone around, hitting-wise.”

Bunceton head coach Roger Stone had seen enough. He changed pitchers after Lyons’ home run, bringing in Samantha Brandes to re-lieve Erica Kahle, who allowed eight runs against New Franklin’s first nine batters.

New Franklin added three more runs in the inning after Brandes took over on the mound. Prewitt had a two-run single in her second at-bat of the inning, giving her three RBIs total in the first inning.

That would be more than enough help for Pihana when she took the mound in the second inning. Dowell said his team has struggled putting other teams away this season, but that wasn’t an issue Thursday.

“Defensively, I wanted (Pihana) to challenge, because there’s no rea-son for walks at this time,” Dowell said. “We were trying to use our de-fense, keeping them in the game. And offensively, you just have to keep pil-ing it on.”

But then Bunceton joined the home-run parade as well. Deanne Emde blasted a two-run home run way over the right-center field fence for the Lady Dragons’ first runs of the game. Emde also had a two-run home run in the third inning, to nearly the exact same spot beyond the right-center fence.

Those were Pihana’s only two mistakes of the game. The junior had four strikeouts in five innings of work and gave up three walks and three singles in addition to the home runs, winning her 11th game of the season.

New Franklin picked up three

more runs in the second inning and had a small window of opportunity to end the game after three innings, but Brandes closed the lid on New Frank-lin’s big innings.

Sara Montgomery led New Frank-lin, going 3-for-3 with one single and two doubles and Aly Hundley had one triple and two RBIs.

For Bunceton, Maddie Berwanger also had a multi-hit game with two singles and Kahle had a single in the fourth inning.

After facing Pilot Grove in the district championship game for sev-en straight years, New Franklin will face a different opponent for the title. The Lady Bulldogs will take on No. 2 Harrisburg at 1 p.m. today (Satur-day), as both teams will try to return to the Class 1 playoffs after winning district crowns in 2011.

“Harrisburg, with their experi-ence, they stay pretty cool,” Dowell said. “We did a pretty good job last time pitching to them and we had them in a couple of pickles. Mentally, in the back of our minds, we know we can play with them.”

10 hitters to the plate in the inning. Rachel McKernan, Karyssa Giboney and Bobbi Mathews hit three consec-utive singles to start the inning and Roberts reached on an infield single later in the second to drive in another run, giving Harrisburg a 7-0 lead.

Kyla Brown drove in Harrisburg’s only run of the third inning with a double into the right-center field gap. Brown finished the game with two singles, one double and four RBIs.

Harrisburg had eight of the nine starters finish the game with at least one hit to go along with 10 RBIs as a team. If a runner got into scoring position, Harrisburg hitters usually found a way to drive them in.

“We were aggressive on the bas-es,” Draffen said. “We were trying to take every chance we got. We just kept pushing them and putting the ball in play, finding the gaps. We hit the ball solid.”

Harrisburg batted around the or-der again in the fourth inning, scoring

six more runs. With two outs, Brown and Blakemore had back-to-back two-RBI hits and Blakemore made it all the way to third base after a wild pitch, giving the Lady Bulldogs a chance to end the game in four in-nings if she scored. She would be stranded on third base and Roberts a chance to add to her strikeout total in the top of the fifth inning.

Roberts allowed a two-out walk to Alexis Muri after working her to a full count. Muri would be the only Jamestown batter to reach first base, and that’s where she stayed after Roberts struck out the next hitter to end the inning.

Harrisburg pounded out 13 hits against Jamestown pitcher Stephanie Birkmann. Mathews also had a three-hit night with three singles and one RBI, while Roberts had one single, one double and one RBI. Giboney and Karissa James each had one sin-gle and one RBI, Blakemore had one double and two RBIs and McKernan and Caitlin Atkins finished the game with one single apiece.

The Lady Bulldogs will get a chance to avenge an earlier loss this season to New Franklin in today’s (Saturday) district championship game, which will start at 1 p.m. in Pi-lot Grove. New Franklin scored two runs in the sixth inning to beat Har-risburg 6-4 back on Sept. 10. Harris-burg will be playing to win its third consecutive district championship.

“We’ve seen New Franklin, but every team in this district puts the ball in play, so it’s anybody’s ballgame,” Draffen said. “If we come out and do our job like we know we can, then we have a good chance of winning.”

* * * * * * * *Harrisburg won its first-round

game Wednesday against Prairie Home 9-2.

Blakemore hit a solo home run in a four-run sixth inning and Rob-erts had one double and one triple. Mathews, Giboney and Brown each had two singles and Megan Crowley had one triple and one RBI.

Brown drove in two runs and Rob-erts and Mathews each had one RBI.

pitched and did her job. She should be proud of her last game effort.

“(Kennzie) came off her knee in-jury last year and really struggled. She hit .184 last year and I think she almost doubled her batting average from one year to the next. Toward the middle to the end of the year, she was our most consistent hitter. She was the one girl who consistently put the ball in play and hit it pretty hard. I thought she had a good sea-son and she definitely showed that in her last game.”

Smentkowski finished the game with two singles and one RBI and Thornton added one single and one double. Wells also had one single and one RBI.

NOTE: The Lewis & Clark Con-ference released its All-Conference softball team on Thursday. Kenzie Smentkowski was named to the first team and Kennzie Thornton and Caitlin Wells made the team as hon-orable mentions. A full All-Confer-ence list can be found on Page 5.

(Continued from Page 4)

Fayette third baseman Haleigh Strodtman (right) keeps her foot on the base to force out Knob Noster’s Katie Butler during the fourth inning of Wednesday’s district first-round game. Amanda Byers hit a bloop single into left field, but Butler hesitated at first, not knowing whether the ball would be caught.

Fayette: Three players receive All-Conference honors

CMU volleyball remains winless in HAAC, fall at home to Graceland

New Franklin: Pihana strikes out four(Continued from Page 4)

Harrisburg: Brown drives in four runs(Continued from Page 4)

Glasgow pushes Lady Panthers to the limit

Glasgow catcher Peyton Davis glances toward home during the district semifinals Thursday at Salisbury.

(Photo courtesy of Jessica Nelson/Chariton Valley News Press)

Salisbury scores winning run on controversial call in the seventh inning.

The Glasgow softball team gave top-seeded Salisbury everything it had in Thursday’s Class 1 District 11 semifinal. Glasgow led most of the game, but Salisbury came back and scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh, ending Glasgow’s season with a 7-6 win.

With runners on second and third base and two outs, Brooke Summer-ville reached on an error to score the winning run. However, as Summer-ville celebrated the win, Glasgow head coach Neal Bailey noticed she jumped over first base and missed the bag, meaning the play was still live and a force out could still be made.

However, he said the umpires didn’t see Summerville miss the bag, and the game ended, as well as Glasgow’s season.

The play was similar to that of the “Merkle’s Boner,” a play which cost the New York Giants the 1908 Na-tional League pennant.

“When I’m talking to the girls af-ter the game, rarely do I have some-thing that I can’t say,” Bailey said. “If we had won that game, I would have had a lot to say. To lose in the fashion in which we lost, it was very difficult

to come up with words. It’s very hard to have it end the way it did.”

Glasgow (10-10, 3-3 CAC) led Salisbury 4-2 after the top of the third inning. Devyn Yung and Shelby Prentzler each had RBI singles in the second inning and Abby Thompson and Peyton Davis each scored in the third inning.

The Lady Jackets added a run in the fifth inning on an RBI single from Nikki Fuemmeler, as well as another run in the sixth inning on another RBI single from Prentzler.

Bailey said Thursday’s game was pitcher Alyson Fuemmeler’s best performance of the season. She struck out six batters and only walked one, but Bailey said it was because he had her pitch around one of Salis-bury’s power hitters.

Glasgow won its first-round game Wednesday against Keytesville 6-2. The game was tied at 2-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.

* * * * * * * *It was hard for coaches to describe

Tuesday’s 23-18 Fayette win over Glasgow.

Fayette trailed 13-2 heading into the bottom of the third inning, but the Lady Falcons rallied to score 12 runs and take a 14-13 lead after three.

The game featured 28 walks. Kennzie Thornton led Fayette with two triples and one RBI and Tara Fuemmeler led Glasgow with one single, one triple and one RBI.

CMS football pounds Hallsville 36-0After playing three tough Lewis

& Clark Conference opponents, the Clark Middle School football team picked up a shutout Thursday night in Fayette, beating Hallsville 36-0 to improve its record to 4-1 this season.

CMS head coach Ryan Buffing-ton said Ahmad McCutcheon fin-ished the game with four total touch-downs and had 231 yards rushing.

“The kids stepped up and played a good second half,” Buffington said. “Last week, we felt like we came out and played well in the first half and

then just gave up. They came out and that was the best second half of foot-ball we’ve played all year.”

The Falcons stopped Hallsville on its opening drive and then McCutch-eon scored his first touchdown of the night on a run close to 50 yards.

Hallsville was driving late in the second quarter, but McCutcheon in-tercepted a pass and returned it for an 85-yard touchdown. Buffington said the clock expired to end the first half as McCutcheon was making the return.

Leading 14-0 at halftime, Fay-ette came out and added three more touchdowns in the second half. Mc-Cutcheon picked up two rushing touchdowns and quarterback Blake Dawson completed a 20-yard touch-down pass to Kaden Hoover in the third quarter.

Colten Kopp also scored two 2-point conversions and McCutcheon scored one as well.

“Hallsville had a big fullback and when he had the ball, he was a load,” Buffington said. “The kids hit hard constantly and fundamentally, we tackled wonderfully.”