Ohio State - Despite giving up the points on special teams, I thought they played a great game. Pryor had a few moments, but overall I thought he did well. He still seems to do well when he creates from broken plays. Still would like to see more from him being a straight drop back passer. Running game was good from both Seine and Herron. Defense was on - take away the special teams points and you have a blow out. I liked the interceptions. Who didn't like Heyward lumbering down the field with his takeaway - a lineman's dream moment. I think this team has the possibility of being top 10 or better.

Bengals - Ugh, what a lame game. Defense looks nothing like they did last year. The Patriots were tearing big holes in the front line and passed at will. What happened here? And the offense did recover in the second half, but they never did establish that solid running game that was their trademark. Team seemed flat for the first game of season, hopefully Marvin can get them revved up next week.

Michael Vick. Had some company over, left the TV in the family room on and forgot about it. Came back and their was an injury timeout. I was going to change channels, but then Vick came on the field. Well, I'll just watch and see what happens. He played like a guy with nothing to lose. Made the most of his minutes, and almost lead a comeback. I think he made a statement that he can still lead a team. Fun to watch, time will tell if he gets his chance.

Twin Valley South and Arcanum played a hard fought game on Friday night. By nights end, the winner would be decided by a single point. Each team sported a 0-2 record coming into the game. And each team featured their running attack on offense. Both teams are known for using a double wing offense although South would lean to a wishbone formation. In a lot of respects the teams were mirror images of one another, which made for such a close game. Scoring was lean for the first part of the game, with the fireworks occurring from the third quarter on.

The first half saw Arcanum dominate everywhere except for the scoreboard. They had the ball for almost the entire first quarter. But to South’s credit, Arcanum made three trips into the TVS red zone and came back empty handed each time. South made some big plays on 4th down. Steve Balthis had an interception to end one drive, another drive ended one foot short of first down on the 1 ½ yard line of TVS, the last ended at about the 20. So the South defense was bending, but showed no signs of breaking. In the first half, Arcanum had 3 pass attempts – one complete, one incomplete, and one interception. So I could see why they were leery of the pass. The rest of their yardage, they ground out with the run.

While the Trojans were racking up the yardage, the Panthers were having problems moving the ball. About midway thru the second quarter, the team did put together a drive into Arcanum territory. But the South could not stand good fortune – they fumbled on two consecutive plays, recovering the first one, but giving it up the second time. It was looking like a good old fashioned slugfest as the teams stood at 0-0 at half time.

But the game opened up in the second half. South came roaring back in their first posession when quarterback Michael Burke burst thru the center of the Arcanum line and sprinted 63 yards for a TD. The next score was set up by an Arcanum miscue. A high snap on a punt gave the ball back to the Panthers. A pass interference call on Arcanum gave the ball to TVS on the 10. From there Dillon Ashley plunged thru the line and scored. But South had problems with extra points – they whiffed on their first two attempts on way to a 12-0 lead.

But big plays would be the bane of the Panthers. Arcanum bounced back with a 67 yard TD run and nailed the extra point. South’s next score was set up in part by a Arcanum penalty for knocking over the returner on a fair catch during a punt. This put the Panthers at midfield. Again they took advantage of a short field, capping their drive with a Dillon Ashley carry for his second TD of the night. This time South went for two and got it.

Arcanum mixed the pass and run on their next drive with effectiveness. Capping the drive with a touchdown pass. Then late in the fourth quarter, South gave up another big play. Allowing a punt return to be carried all the way to the 4 yard line where Trojan quarterback Derrick Baker punched it in. They made good on their extra point attempt. With 2:26 left in the game, Arcanum had their first lead of the night up 21-20. South finally had to give up the ball on downs on their next possession and Arcanum would win a close one, taking a knee to run out the clock. Next week South will play against winless Mississinnewa Valley.

Defense was the difference maker in North’s game against Mississinnawa Valley. The Panther offense was not silent, but I thought the defense set the tone Friday night. The offense sputtered at times, but North’s defense was stalwart throughout the game. Particularly in the first half. The offense was good for 14 points, but some miscues kept them from scoring more. Penalties and lapses in the pass blocking would derail several opportunities. But thanks to the defense, special teams, and a rambunctious home crowd, a good bit of the game was played in Blackhawk territory.
Late game heroics helped to seal a shutout for North. The Blackhawks only mustered a couple of first downs for their efforts up until halftime. The second half wasn’t much better. A swarming North defense kept their running game at bay. But then they nosed the ball into North territory late in the 4th quarter. And it was starting to look like the Blackhawks were poised for a 4th quarter rally. They had connected on a key 4th and 11 pass play with 3:43 left in the game to keep their drive alive. Blackhawk Gary Pease had found an open seam in the North defense and put the Blackhawks into North territory. But Caleb Lawson made a big play during the next set of downs, intercepting a pass to put any hope of a comeback to rest and ensuring a North shutout.
After the game Coach Derringer had praise for his defense, “We allowed about 25 yard rushing for the entire game, and about 60 yards of passing. We had big plays from our line backers, a pair of juniors – Jacob Schlater and Josh Daugherty. And Alec Brasher, our defensive end, had several tackles for loss. The defense played really well Friday night.”
North won 14-0; Freshman quarterback Austin Hutchins called his own number and scored from 14 yards out in the first quarter, then late in the second quarter he connected with Sam Judd for an 11 yard TD catch. In the second half, North penetrated deep into Black Hawk territory several times, but came away empty handed. “ We already had a starting tackle and guard out going into the game, “ stated Coach Derringer, “ Then we lost our other tackle to injury. So we had to start a lot of young guys on our line. “
Even with the patchwork offensive line, North was able to put 3 rushers past the 50 yard mark: Hutchins, Mike Olinger, and JJ MacPherson. Hutchins could have had even more net yardage, but sacks subtracted from his total. North was generous with the ball, giving 8 players touches on offense. Hutchins was 4/11 and 70 yards on the night. But the youthful line showed – there was one sequence where North had 3 penalties in a row – leaving them with an outrageous 1st and 35. And twice North advanced inside the 30 in the second half, but quarterback sacks pushed the ball backwards and ended the threat.
Coach Derringer was asked to look ahead at Bethel, “They still have the same coaches there that they have had for several years. They know what we do, and we know what they do. They played a tough game against Covington this week. When we play it has always been a hard fought and close game. We coaches are breaking down their film this weekend and getting the team ready.”

Don't watch UFC fighting that much, but was at a sports bar last night and they had it up on the big screen. One of the early matches on the card had me scratching my head. The one guy was chiseled - very muscular and looked like a fighter. The other guy looked like his training regimen was eating a dozen glazed donuts while smoking a pell mell cigarette for breakfast. Lounging on the couch during the day and having a night cap of a 12 pack of old Milwaukee. I mean the guy had man boobs.

To his credit, he did have fast hands and could take a punch. But it was obvious that at the end of the match that he was spent. The decision went unanimously to the chiseled looking dude. The pilsbury dough boy is probably using his check for a weekend grazing at the Golden Corral buffet. Another interesting match was also on the undercard. A tall string bean looking guy against a bear like looking guy - a wrestler. The wrestler guy owned the string bean in the first round. Got him on the ground and pummeled him. It was like watching a play ground bully own the geeky kid.

At the break, they tried to patch up the guys bloody lip. Back out they went - my wife said 'why don't they stop the fight'? Well they must have given the skinny one piece of advice - use your reach and box. About a minute into the second round he got the wrestler on the chin and down he went. What a turn around.

I have to admit, I like it more than boxing.

Well I can't say that I am enthused about the Bengals signing TO. The team will be more of a circus than ever. Ochocinco and Owens are O squared. A negative chemistry if there ever was one. Palmer will have to have a whip and chair to keep control of that huddle. Both recievers will be badgering him for the ball. And with Benson having probs in the off season, I can't see the team being focused.

Well after a summer's hiatus, it is time to awaken from a July slumber and start looking forward to the start of fall sports.

CCC Football - Curtis Enis takes the reins at Bradford. The former NFL player has worked as an assistant, but now he will be head coach. I would think that this would pick up interest in the program, but don't know what talent the Railroaders will have this fall.

Reports from Covington are that the numbers are up a little and the weightroom is well attended. They only lost a handful of starters from a play off team. Look for them to be contending yet again.

Arcanum should be returning a lot of starters from a young team.

Trail will be under their second of coach Graher. Lets see if that program gets some traction this season.

North has some talent that quarterback I saw last year had a decent arm. Line will have to give him some time.

South has some holes to fill from a sub .500 team. Lots of openings in the line and skill positions. The senior class has some talent, but will the depth be there to fill out a competitive roster.

League champ Ansonia loses talent to graduation. But they still have their quarterback. I see them having a winning season, but don't think they have what it takes to repeat.

Speaking of fall football, how about Ohio State. Big year for Pryor, it will be interesting to see if his skills have matured as a quarterback. The team returns 16 starters, so there is plenty of experience. I didn't think that Herron or Saine were that steady of rushers. I saw them play well in spurts, but I would like for the leading rusher on the team for the 2010 season be a running back, not the quarterback.

The Bengals - I have been wearing my Bengals gear this summer. In the past, you kept it hidden away, broke it out in the fall, then in October when it was obvious that the team was going no where you put your gear away. Palmer is getting to the age where he needs to make that deep playoff run. Not sure how many more years he has in him. Chad Ochocinco is not focused this off season. When he should be working out, he is dancing and calling out Pittsburgh. I don't see him being a factor this season. And with the Benson getting arrested for fighting in a bar, it doesn't look like the Bengals are focused this season. I can see the cards falling right and the Bengals making the playoffs. But I can't see them making a deep run.

Now how about them Reds. Very surprising that they are in first place in July. I thought that they needed one more big bat to be a complete team at the start of the season this spring. But the team has done well. They have lots of pitching, so do they deal any away to strengthen the team this season and go for a play off run? Or do they hold onto the cards they have been dealt? Maybe trade a starter for a closer? Or move a starter to bull pen?

Local Athletes Compete at the Regional Meet

If you remember the Wide World of Sports show from back in the day, they mention the joy of victory and the agony of defeat. The Dixie boys track team got a flavor of both extremes this past week. For the second time in two weeks there would be a rare rerun of an event and again it would concern hurdles. This time around it was the 300m hurdle event was where there was a disqualification and rerun.

Local track teams sent their athletes to the South West Ohio Regional track meet in Troy. Several of them responded to the challenge of a tough regional meet and qualified to participate in the state track meet in Columbus. Athletes finishing in the top 4 places were tapped to continue the season for one more week. Here is a list of qualifying athletes: 1600m run George Holman TVS 3rd, 4X100 Relay Dixie 2nd (Andrew Barnet,Tony Prater, Ryan Jordan, Billy Hauser); Discus Myranda Schoen TCN 3rd; High Jump Skylar Reckers TVS 4th; Pole Vault Jordan Krickenbarger TVS 2nd.

Going into the 300m hurdle finals Dixie’s DeAaron Isaac looked like a shoe-in to qualify for state. He had the second fastest time in the preliminaries. And as the runners came around the curve and came down the last 100 meters, young Isaac had the lead. But as he crossed the next to the last hurdle, he clipped it. That may have thrown his stride off, because as he crossed the last hurdle he had a horrendous fall. He tumbled out of control and attempted to recover. He ended up crossing the finish line last – and since he crossed into another lane while attempting to recover, he ended up being disqualified completely. The race was rerun at the conclusion of the meet since the officials determined that another runner had been interfered when Isaac went into their lane.

So that certainly was an agonizing moment for DeAaron Issaac. The camera was on auto during that last 10 meters and it captures frame by frame an athlete desperately trying to get to the finish line, then agony as he realized that it is all for naught. But the young man is a junior and something tells me he will be back next season with more determination. There was joy for Dixie however as their blazing fast 4X100m team were Regional runnerups. This is an event where timing is everything as a slow hand off can drop a team off the victory podium. Billy Hauser stretched over the finish line 1/100 of a second faster than the Mechanicsburg anchor for the second place photo finish. Look for them and other local athletes to do well in Columbus next week.

Local teams fared as follows: TCN girls 23rd, TVS girls 34th, Dixie Girls 42nd.
TVS boys 8th Dixie boys 22nd.

Other local athletes that placed: 110m hurdles DeAaron Isaac Dixie 8th. Girls 4X100m relay TVS 6th (Hayley Glander,Jessica Hickey,Katherine Leach,Laura Ingram); 3200m run Josh Hemmelgarn TVS 6th. Long Jump Jacob Hemmelgarn TVS 7th; Shotput Jesse Koeller TVS 8th; Pole Vault Megan Uzzel Dixie 8th;

This years high school sports season is almost over. Pictures from this entire year are available at: http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=christ77&p=4010 Due to space limitations only a few pictures are selected for publication. So all pictures from an event are posted there. Past stories and other links of interest to local sports fans can be found at: http://christ77.tripod.com/sports.html. Comments: chrisaukcam@gmail.com

South Wins District Title
J. C. Tilton

To me this an exciting time of year, when young athletes are giving it their all in hopes of getting a district win and a chance to qualify for state. Local athletes had some outstanding performances in Welcome Stadiums Division III District track meet. South’s boys track team has been fighting injury all season, but were able to bring it all together when it counted to capture another District Title. Coach Fahrenholtz attributed the title to team work and a strong showing in the field events.

During the meet there was a rare runoff involving South’s Jordan Krickenbarger. He tied for 4th place in the 110m hurdles with a runner from Cedarville. The photo finish showed a tie between the two of them. Since the top 4 go to regionals, the officials stopped the meet and had a runoff between the two runners. It was a close duel until Krickenbarger clipped a hurdle about ¾ thru the race, throwing him off stride. Although he lost the runoff, Krickenbarger will still be attending the regional meet since he won in the pole vault.

Some highlights from the meet - DeAaron Isaac of Dixie had an outstanding day, qualifying in 3 events for the regionals. First in the 110m & 300m hurdles, 2nd in the 4X400m relay. Dixie’s 4X100mteam was a winner. North’s Myranda Schoen qualified in two events – winning the discus throw and runner up at shot. Dixie’s girls team sent 2 girls in the pole vault, Megan Uzzel, the district champ, and Lindsay Seim 3rd place. South’s boys team did the same on the boys side with Krickenbarger winning and 3rd place Ryan Burns qualifying. South’s Skylar Recker won the high jump. South’s George Holman was a two even qualifier – winning the 1600m run and placing 4th in the 800m run.

“It was a total team effort” stated Coach Fahrenholtz of South, “We scored in every field event. In fact every field event will have at least one person going to regional. Reckers won the high jump which was an upset over the jumper from Cedarville. George Holman had a tremendous meet – the key was the 800. He had won the 1600m and came back and scored high enough to put us over the top. He did it in 2:01 which is a super time. And in the 1600m run our freshman, Josh Perry, got a 6th place. Every time we can score two kids in an event like that, it helps put us on top. That’s how you win championships, its not always the guys that get first place, it’s also the guys that go out and get 5th and 6th places. That’s what makes it a good team effort”

Coach Via of Dixie was pleased with her pole vaulters. “Both of them were excellent today, one tied her personal best and the other set a personal best. Sherry Myers qualified for regionals in the high jump. A surprise was freshman Adrianna Frizzel, she qualified in the discus, we knew that she was capable and today she went out and did it. The 4X100 team had a heartbreaker, the 4th thru 7th place teams were with a few hundredths of a second. Overall I was happy with the teams performance.”

Jack Sturgill boys coach from Dixie was pleased with the athletes that are going to regionals. “Our relay teams did well today. Stapleton had one of his best times and qualified in the 1600m run. Several athletes had their best times all year. DeAaron Isaacs had one of his best meets this year with two firsts in the hurdles. We are looking forward to see what we can do in the regionals.”

Other local teams fared as follows: Girls – Dixie 6th, TCN & TVS 7th (tie). Boys - Dixie 4th. TCN – no points.

Local Results, top 4 finishers go to the Regional meet next week in Troy: Girls 4X800m relay TCN 4th; Boys 4X800m relay TVS 5th , Dixie 8th; 110m hurdles DeAaron Isaac Dixie 1st, Jordan Krickenbarger 4th(tie). 100m dash girls Jessica Hickey TVS 3rd, Katherine Leach TVS 6th; 100m dash boys Ryan Jordan 6th. 4X200m dash Girls TVS 4th. 4X200m dash boys Dixie 5th.

1600m run girls Abbey Schlater TCN 4th; Boys 1600m run: George Holman TVS 1st,William Stapleton Dixie 4th, Josh Perry TVS 6th. Girls 4X100m relay 2nd (Hayley Glander, Jessica Hickey, Katherine Leach, Laura Ingram), Dixie 7th. Boys 4X100m Dixie 1st (Andrew Barnett, Tony Prater, Ryan Jordan, Billy Hauser), TVS 7th.

400m dash girls Abby Voge TVS 6th. 400m dash boys Zach Grubb Dixie 8th. 300m hurdles boys DeAaron Isaac Dixie 1st. Jacob Hemmelgarn TVS 5th, Jon Nygen Dixie 8th. 800m Run girls Makayla Conley TCN 4th,Hayley Glander TVS 5th.Boys 800m run George Holman TVS 4th. Girls 3200m run Morganne Hammaker TCN 6th. Boys 3200m run Josh Hemmelgarn TVS 2nd,William Stapleton Dixie 7th. Girls 4X400m relay TVS 4th. Boys 4X400m relay Dixe 2nd(Doogie Hauser, Toney Prater, DeArron Isaac, Billy Hauser), TVS 8th.

Girls Discus Myranda Schoen 1st, Adrianna Frizzel Dixie 3rd, Bailey Judd TCN 4th. Boys Discus Dylan Steffy TVS 4th, Girls High Jump Sherry Myers Dixie 2nd(tie), Haleigh White Dixie 6th, Jordan Hickey TVS 7th. Boys High Jump Skylar Reckers TVS 1st. Girls Long Jump Emily Robbins TVS 6th, Sherry Myers Dixie 8th. Boys Long Jump Jacob Hemmelgarn TVS 2nd, Steve Balthis TVS 6th

CCC League Meet Results
By J. C. Tilton

The boys division was won by Bethel and the girls division was won by Miami East. Locally, TVS boys finished third by just 5 points, with TCN finishing 12th. The TVS Girls finished 5th, just ahead of TCN who was 6th. Juli Accurso of Miami East set a meet record in the 800m run with a time of 2:19.3. Nathen Mogul of Tri Village set a record in the 3200m run with a time of 9:56.1. And Freshman Leah Dunivan of Miami East set a record in the shot put with a throw of 36’1.5”.

The Twin Valley South Boys team finished in third place. But I think that coach Fahrenholtz would have liked to have done better. I first asked him about the dearth of sprinters. “During prelims, the baseball team was playing in districts, so we didn’t have several of those athletes. And Steve Balthis was sick, so he couldn’t compete at all. So we had no one in the 100m and that took out one of sprint relay teams. Jordan Krickenbarger (pole vault) has an injured back and could only clear 11’6” which may have been his lowest this season. So we lost a lot of points on the first day.”

But he went to say that, “The kids who did participate did great today.
George Holman in the 1600m won and did it with his best time. Josh Hemmelgarn had a personal best. Nick Guehring put on a show – running the 3200m run and turning around to run in the 4X400m relay. Jacob Hemmelgarn scored a lot of points for us. It was one of those meets where we didn’t have everyone, but everyone that we did have I was really proud of – they did a nice job. Districts are next week and we hope to have everyone and go after it.”

He further stated that, “The 4X100m and the 4X200m relay teams really ran well today”, said girls track coach Mabry when asked about the meet. “The 4X200m team took about 3 seconds off their best time. And the 4X100m team had their best time too. The two 200m runners also had their best times.”

“The girls did a great job, getting 6th place overall which is an improvement from last year,” stated the North Track Coach. “Considering where we came from, I am very, very pleased. Myranda Schoen - she did well with the disc and shot – she threw 32 feet today to finish 2nd and was 3rd in the discus. She was also 2nd place in the 100m, but had to scratch from the 200m. Makayla Conley was third in the 400m, and the 4X800m that got third. The 4X400m got sixth. So we had some good finishes today. Now we are still struggling on the guys side, with a lot of freshman and sophomores trying to run varsity. But we hope to hang onto them and in 2-3 years we will have a decent program with the guys.”

Finishes by local athletes. Girls 4x800 Meter Relay: TCN 3rd, TVS 4th. Boys 4x800 Meter Relay: TVS 2nd. Boys 110m Hurdles: 4th Jacob Hemmelgarn TVS, 6th Jordan Krickenbarger TVS. Girls 100m Dash: 2nd Myranda Schoen TCN, 3rd Jessica Hickey TVS. 5th Kathrine Leach TVS. The 4X400m relay team is coming around. The 4X800m team took almost 20 seconds off of their best time. Abbey Voge did a personal best in the pole vault. So they are all peaking. We still have a few nagging injuries for next weeks district meet, but we are hoping that everyone will be ready to go.

Girls 4x200 Meter Relay: TVS 1st. Boys 1600m run: 1st George Holman 4th Josh Hemmelgarn. Girls 4x100 Meter Relay: TVS 1st, 8th TCN. Boys 4X100m Relay: TVS 3rd. Girls 400m Dash: 3rd Makayla Conley TCN, 7th Abby Voge TVS. Boys 400m Dash: 6th Nick Guerhring TVS. Girls 800m run: 4th Hayley Glander TVS, 6th Abbey Schlater. Boys 800m run: 7th George Holman TVS, 8th Tony Combs TVS.

Girls 200m Dash: 3rd Kathrine Leach TVS. Boys 200m Dash: 6th Chris Eck. Girls 3200m run: 7th Bridget Jones. Boys 3200m run: 2nd Josh Hemmelgarn TVS. 6th Nick Guerhring TVS. Girls 4X400m relay: TVS 5th, TCN 6th. Boys 4X400m relay: TVS 4th.

Dixie Fastpitch – Tough Season Winding Down.
J. C. Tilton


A tough season for the Dixie fastpitch team is closing shortly. To date, the team has eeked out one victory. But injuries have put a limit on the teams success this season. Senior pitcher Bethany Patterson missing a good part of April due to injury. Another player had a bad concussion and is lost for the season. One bright spot is that the team is sending a player to the next level at Wilmington College.

The coach talked about the seniors, “Carrie Ynnucci is a first year varsity player and this is her second year in fast pitch. She was the heart of the team, she keeps a positive attitude. Definitely one of our senior leaders. Bethany Patterson is our star pitcher, this is her third year of pitching varsity. She had shoulder tendonitis and was out the last 2 ½ weeks. So we are glad to have her back, she is a solid player.”

“The other part of our battery is Amber Neaves, catcher. She is a tough kid. She seems to be dialed in. She is probably overall our best athlete. She has been batting .479 with a slugging percentage over 700. She is an amazing athlete – as long as she keeps her eye on the prize. She was 2 for 3 today against Belvo, who is a tough pitcher. Against Hannah Kendrick of Madison, she has batted over .500 against her. And against Greenville the number 1 ranked team in Division 2 in the state, she had another 2 for 3 day. The better the pitcher, the better she seems to be. She will be playing college ball for Wilmington, she is definitely ready for that.”

“Nikki Harris, our third baseman and team captain. Another player like Carrie who is the heart and soul of the team. She is like having another coach on the field. She keeps the girls on task. She has had to play several different positions this year.”

He went on to talk about the teams most severe injury, “One of our better players was a sophomore, Courtney Hawk, and she had a play at second. A girl went into her with her helmet to her head and gave her a grade 3 concussion. It ended her season, and she is not even allowed to go to school. She is an amazing ball player and plays on a traveling team. Softball is the last thing I worry about for that kid, I just want her to get healthy. It has really opened up my eyes to concussions. We also had a kid get one in basketball and it affected her drastically. So we have just been snake bit this year.”

This week the team lost to Preble Shawnee, ending league play, and also Bethel. The team next faces a tough state ranked West Liberty Salem team in the state playoffs. It has been a tough season for the Greyhounds and it doesn’t get any easier. Comments: chrisaukcam@gmail.com

Dixie Over Shawnee.
J. C. Tilton

Dixie prevailed over fellow South Western Buckeye Conference foe Preble Shawnee. The victory was due to solid relief pitching and scoring that was primed by the Hayes brothers. After tacking on some insurance runs late in the 7th inning, Dixie would win 5-1.

Both teams threatened early, putting runners on base in the first couple of innings. But then, starting pitcher Ethan Hayes got into trouble – loading the bases with Arrow runners. The score was 0-0, but Shawnee looked ready to break the game open. Coach Bingham made the decision to pull his starter, he would later relate that Hayes just didn’t have good stuff for this game. Then relief pitcher Wes Smith was called upon to put out the fire.

He coolly dispatched the next three batters – not allowing a single run. In the game, he would have three consecutive innings where the batters were sent down 1-2-3. Shawnee did score a run on a sacrifice fly. But the Hayes brothers – Ryan and Ethan would provide some offense, scoring first for Dixie and putting them ahead.

Coach Bingham commented on Smith’s relief work, “He came in with bases loaded and nobody out and got out of it clean. That was a big situation. He has thrown good all year, this puts him at 6 and 2. He has been a solid pitcher for us.”

Next he was asked about Dixie scoring, “Ryan Hayes reached on a walk and scored on a passed ball. Ethan Hayes singled to drive in a run. In the sixth inning we touched them up for a couple of hits. They walked Ryan Hayes, sacrificed him to second, and Ethan Hayes drove him in. The brothers have done a great job. Tyler Harris singled to drive in Ethan Hayes. Then in the seventh we touched them up again. Mike Hall reached first on a hit by pitch. We did a hit and run – Luke Bowling singled to right field scoring him. Garret Moore then singled and drove him in. Aaron Worley drove in the games final run.”

The team would later play Middletown Fenwick where they would play close until late in the game when Fenwick broke the game wide open and would double up the Greyhounds 14-7. This would put the teams record at 17-8 and third place in the league. The last league game is against rival Brookville and then Dixie will begin tournament play as a number two seed. Comments: chrisaukcam@gmail.com

Dixie Wins at Shawnee
J. C. Tilton

The Dixie boys track team put it all together at the Preble Shawnee Invitational. The team had been beset by injuries. But on Friday they showed what they could do with the team at almost full strength. From talking with the other coaches it seems like the team that healed the best, did the best. The Greyhound team did this with a lot of strength in the speed events and showed that with top finishes in all the races that were 400m and lower. Dixie was lead by the following top performers: Billy Hauser finished 2nd and 3rd in the 100m and 200m dashes. Doogie Hauser was 3rd in the 400m dash. DeAaron Isaac was 1st and 2nd in the 300m hurdles and 110 hurdles. 4X100m team 3rd. 4X200m team 2nd. 4X400m team 2nd. Discus Mike Smiley 2nd.


Winning Coach Jack Sturgill of Dixie was happy to have his team back at close to full strength. “We are doing a lot better, we have some people healed up. Our top sprinter, Billy Hauser, is back with us. Our throwers are doing well now and our jumping has improved with kids coming back from injury. The team seems be peaking right now. We still haven’t had a full team yet. This meet is the only meet we had this week – and that was good for us. It gave everyone a chance to get healed.”

He continued, “This meet Mike Smiley threw 127 feet in the discus – the best he has ever thrown as did Greg Koth who threw a personal best 116 feet. DeAaron Isaacs did well for us in the hurdles. Next week we have a little meet at Northridge, then Friday we host a 6 team meet with some good competition – I am looking forward to that.”

The Tri County North track coach was asked about his week, “We did OK despite the injuries. Bridgett Jones, Cameron Gayhart, Billy Shrever among others were out. This hurt our relay teams, its kind of a skeleton crew that we are working with. When you have a small school and you lose a few, it really hurts. But we are hoping to get everyone back and make a strong showing at the CCC league meet. The girls finished 4th and the boys finished 5th at the Preble County meet. Myranda Schoen did well at that meet placing in the sprints as well as the shot and discus, Makayla Conley scored in the 800, as did Abbey Schlater.”

South girls track coach Mabry was likewise asked about this week, “At the Preble County meet, I thought that we did well. We lost some steam at the end, in the beginning we were up there – actually in 1st place for a while. In the end, the lack of depth hurt us. Jess Hickey had a real good race in the 100m dash and the 4X200m relay team won. We scored 3 places in the long jump, 3 in the 400m - in about every event we competed in, we placed.”

Coach Mabry went on to say, “We only have one senior and a lot of young kids are getting experience. I told the girls that if everyone did their best maybe we could get second, but if did poorly we could end up 4th or even 5th. But they did about what was expected and finished 3rd. We are a little banged up right now. Our hurdler hurt her ankle, Katherine Leach is fighting a hamstring, and Emily Burge has been out. But if your going to get injuries, you hope to get them now, not for league and district.”

TVS coach Fahrenholtz’s team was 2nd at the Preble Meet and 4th at the Shawnee Invitational. “Well at the Preble County meet we were missing the baseball players and others were out due to injury, but we still finished runners up which was amazing for being as short handed as we were. Jacob Hemmelgarn competed in the long jump and high jump and won both of those. George Holman won the 1600 and was second in the 800. Jesse Koeller was back from injury and was second in the shot put, he threw over 46’ tonight. Josh Hemmelgarn ran a good 3200. Jordan Krickenbarger cleared 13’ in the pole vault and won so that was a highlight. The 4X800 team did well. It was disappointing because we thought that we could win it this year, but the boys we had really competed well.”

All of the teams have one more week of regular season, the following week will be the league and district championships. As you can see, several of the teams success in the post season will depend up on how quickly that hurt athletes can come back from injury.

Coach Via from Dixie was unavailable for comment.

Local girls team finishes: Brookville 1st, TVS 3rd, TCN 6th, Dixie 8th. Local boys team finishes: Dixie 1st, Brookville 2nd, TVS 4th, TCN 12th.

Top finishers locally: 100m dash Myranda Schoen TCN 1st, Jessica Hickey TVS 2nd, Danielle Sedwick Brookville 4th, Erin Cummins Dixie 5th, Brindy Northcutt Brookvile 7th. 200m dash Brindy Northcutt Brookville 1st, Myranda Schoen TCN 4th, Danielle Sedwick Brookville 5th. 400m dash Makayla Conley TCN 3rd, Abby Voge TVS 5th, Callie Watkins Brookville 6th, Ashton Beneke TVS 7th.

800m run Hayley Glander TVS 1st, Makayla Conley TCN 2nd, Courtney Swink
Brookville 3rd, Abbey Schlater TCN 5th. 1600m run Courtney Swink Brookville 1st, Abbey Schlater TCN 3rd, Emily Mendenhall Brookville 5th, Rachel Hartwig TVS 7th. 3200m run Alissa Mayrer Brookville 2nd, Chelsea Tiley Brookville 3rd, Sarah Star Dixie 3rd.

100m hurdles Kelsey Limbert Brookville 4th, Kristin Hauser Dixie 5th. 300m hurdles Kelsey Limbert Brookville 3rd, Justice Thomas Brookville 3rd, Kristen Hauser Dixie 8th. 4X400m TVS 2nd, Brookville 4th, Dixie 7th. Girls 4X200m TVS 3rd, Dixie 7th, Brookville 8th.

Girls 4X400m relay Brookville 2nd, Dixie 4th, TVS 6th, TCN 8th. 4X800m relay: Brookville 1st, TVS 3rd, Dixie 6th. High Jump Rebekah Stout
Brookville 2nd, Sherry Myers Dixie 3rd, Jordan Hickey TVS 4th, Laura Ingram TVS 5th, Haleigh White Dixie 6th.

Long Jump Rebekah Stout Brookville 2nd, Abby Voge 4th TVS, Katherine Leach TVS 7th. Shotput Elisabeth Wheeler Brookville 1st, Myranda Schoen
TCN 4th, Lainey Linville Brookville 7th. Discus Elisabeth Wheeler Brookville 1st, Adriana Frizell 5th Dixie, Myranda Schoen 6th TCN, MaryAnne King Brookville 7th, Caitlin Highley 8th Eaton.

Boys 100m dash Billy Hauser Dixie 2nd, Nick Lipinski Brookville 6th, Andrew Barnett 7th, David Williams Brookville 8th. 200m dash Billy Hauser
Dixie 3rd, Doogie Hauser Dixie 7th. 400m dash Doogie Hauser Dixie 3rd, Billy Hauser Dixie 5th, Matt Sewell Brookville 8th. 800m run Ethan Leonard Brookville 1st, Sam Bench Brookville 2nd, George Holman TVS 3rd, Tony Combs TVS 7th, Landen Hicks Dixie 8th.

1600m run George Holman TVS 1st, Josh Hemmelgarn TVS 2nd, Doug Cook Brookville 5th, Chad Petitt Dixie 6th. 3200m run Matt Sewell Brookville 1st, Josh Hemmelgarn TVS 2nd, Matt Hangen Brookville 5th, Nick Guerhring
TVS 6th, Chad Petitt Dixie 7th. 110m hurdles DeAaron Isaac Dixie 2nd, Jon Nguyen Dixie 4th, Charlie Newsome Brookville 5th, Tyler Scott Brookville 6th. 300m hurdles DeAaron Isaac Dixie 1st, Jon Nguyen Dixie 6th, Kyle Rutherford Brookville 7th.

4X100m relay Dixie 3rd, Brookville 8th. 4X200m relay Dixie 2nd, TVS 6th. 4X400m Brookville 1st, Dixie 2nd, TVS 8th. 4X800m Brookville 1st, Dixie 4th, TVS 5th, TCN 7th. High Jump: Jacob Hemmelgarn TVS 1st, Landen Hicks Dixie 3rd, Charlie Newsome Brookville 7th, Nick Gillis Brookville 8th.

Long Jump: Nick Lipinski Brookville 5th, Shot Put: Jesse Koeller TVS 1st, Brent Kegley Brookville 5th, Greg Koth Dixie 7th. Discus: Mike Smiley Dixie 2nd, Dylan Steffey TVS 3rd, David Pierce Brookville 4th, Greg Koth Dixie 7th.

Dixie Fastpitch – Young but Resilient.
By Chelsea Tilton

An interview with Dixie Varsity Softball coach Derek Jacobs revealed that it was a rough week for Dixie Varsity Softball team. The girls played Tri-County North on Monday and started the week off with a loss. The team had eight graduating seniors on the team last year leaving this year’s roster with only three seniors and few girls with varsity experience. This 2010 season will likely be a tough one for this young team, but will surely be a year for "experienced gained”.

However, Dixie did put up a valiant effort against Tri-county North, with a score of three to nothing at the bottom of the sixth. Tri-county North did not relent and battled back to win with a final score of five to three.

Dixie played two more games this week; Thursday the team played Waynesville. This game also resulted in a loss for Dixie with a final score of three to one. The team held them off until the fifth ending when they gave up the lead, but was not able to pull a win from Waynesville either.

The team however, did gain a win against Northridge. The final score was an impressive twelve to three. What was sure to be an appreciated victory for this young team. The ‘stand out players’ so far this year have been: Bethany Patterson, and Amber Naves. Defensively Patterson a pitcher that has greatly contributed to the win, and Amber Naves also left an impression on offense as a ‘stand out hitter’.

The team faces another quick week with games nearly back to back as they play three games in a four day time span. Monday they will be facing Monroe at Monroe. Preble Shawnee is the next game at home, what is sure to be a hard game as Preble Shawnee has beaten Dixie in past years. Then Dixie will travel to face Madison at Madison on Thursday. The team will be down a player part if not all of this coming week as Courtney Hawk is out due to injury. Which is too bad, as the coming week’s schedule is sure to be exhausting.

Greyhounds are Rolling
Chelsea Tilton
Dixie varsity boys baseball team had a very busy but prosperous week, playing seven games in the past week but walking away winners from almost every single game. The start of the week was slightly disappointing. Dixie faced Tri-County North at North, the grey hounds lost to the panthers by one point in the bottom of the seventh. The final score was North with five and Dixie with four. The pitcher Ryan Hayes went three for four, with two doubles, and 3RBI's. However, Hayes suffered his second pitching loss of the season.
The very next day the, Tuesday, the boys hosted their first home game, facing Troy Christian; they also gained their first W for the season. This time around the greyhounds dominated the ball field, with a final score of fourteen to Troy Christian’s six. The grey hounds started off strong with 8 runs in the first inning and four more in the second. The games hi-lights were Ethan Hayes who had two home runs and six RBI's, Ryan Hayes had a home run and five RBI's, and Aaron Worley picked up his first pitching victory of the season.
Wednesday saw the grey hound boys at Waynesville playing an exhausting ten ending game. It was a close game as Waynesville came out with a run in the first ending. Neither would score again until the fourth ending, when both scored a run. Dixie then tied it up in the sixth ending, the game would remained tied until the tenth ending when Dixie scored the winning run. The stand out players in this game was again, Ryan Hayes whom picked up his second home run of the season and pitched 9 strong innings. Aaron Worley, who came on in relief to pick up his second victory of the season, Luke Bowling, who doubled in the bottom of the ten and Mike Hall who luckily knocked him in with a game winning single ending the never ending game.
Without a break the team played its fourth game in a row on Thursday, hosting a game against Valley View in which, they pulled yet another victory. The first two ending of this game were rather uneventful offensively as neither teams started getting runs until the third inning. In the third inning both teams were tied three to three, the fourth inning the Valley View Vikings did not score and the grey hounds, however, got another three runs. The fifth inning the tables turned as the Viking held the grey hounds from scoring any runs. The sixth inning the grey hounds scored six runs while the Vikings scored zero. The seventh inning only one point was scored by the Vikings with a final score of six Valley View and twelve Dixie. Garrett Moore pitched for five strong innings, picking up his first pitching victory. Ryan Hayes was three for three with three RBI's, and Ethan Hayes doubled and drove in two.
Without missing a beat the team played Friday. The grey hounds traveled to Northridge and won the fourth game in a row, with a run rule after the fifth inning. The final score was three Northridge to Dixie’s twenty three. Wes Smith picked up his first pitching victory of the season. the stand out players of the game were Ryan Hayes, whom hit home run number three and four in the victory and added seven RBI's Garrett Moore doubled and drove in three runs.
Saturday was a double header; the boys played Arcanum scoring yet another win. The game started slowly offensively as neither team scored a run until the fourth ending. Arcanum scored two runs and Dixie scored one run at the end of the fifth ending. Dixie prevented Arcanum from scoring the rest of the game with a total score of four runs Dixie and two runs Arcanum.
Coach Dave had this to say about the second game, “In the second game we came out swinging and took control and coasted to a ten to three victory”. Ryan Hayes hit home run number five and added three RBI's, Luke Bowling was two for two with two doubles and 2 RBI's. The grey hounds are strutting away this week with a six game winning streak and a season record of 6-2 so far for the season.

Panthers Win Blazer Relays

Despite losing two key athletes due to injury, the Twin Valley South boys track team won the Blazer Relays last week. Fortunately, the team has some depth and was able to overcome this adversity. Eaton finished second, Trail and TCN finished 8th and 9th. On the girls side Fort Recovery garnered the win. Eaton and TVS were 2nd and 3rd; TCN finished 5th while Trail finished 7th.

TVS Coach Fahrenholtz was pleased with the result, “The 4X200 relay team won, and the 4X800 team did really well. It was a long, long night. We didn’t get the results very quickly and so we did not know where we were until the very end. But anytime you win its fun, the kids got their trophy. Now Steve Balthis hurt his ankle and will get it x-rayed. So we don’t know when he will be back. Jesse Koeller is out for a couple of weeks. So we are a little thin right now. I hope we get things back together.” Josh Hemmelgarn won 4 events at the North track meet later in the week, so South has some athletes stepping up until the team is at full strength.

TVS girls track Coach Mabry is happy to have more athletes out this season. “Last year we only had about 11 girls out and so we really couldn’t do very much. This year we have over 20 and although they are young, we expect to do better. But it will be difficult to compete against teams like Miami Valley – they are loaded this year.”

The North coach was happy with the girls 4X800m performance. “They took first and we did well in the 4X100 and the 4X1600m relays. This year we have coach Gibbons and coach Worley to help with the throwers and distance – they are really coming along well. I am pleased with what I have seen so far. This year we have a lot of freshman and sophomores out – so a lot of young people, but they are developing.”

Finishes by local teams(all events were relays): 4X800m boys TVS 1st,Eaton 5th,TCN 6th,Trail 8th. 4X800m girls TCN 1st TVS 3rd, Eaton 6th, Trail 7th. 4X100m boys Eaton 2nd, TVS 3rd, Trail 5th, TCN 7th. 4X100m girls TVS 2nd, Eaton 4th, TCN 5th, Trail 8th.

4X400m boys Eaton 1st, TVS 5th, Trail 6th, TCN 8th. 4X400m girls Eaton 2nd, TCN 4th, Trail 5th, TCN 7th. Shuttle hurdles boys TVS 4th, Trail 6th. Girls TVS 2nd, Eaton 3rd, TCN 4th, Trail 5th. Medley Run boys TVS 1st, Eaton 3rd, Trail 4th, TCN 8th. Medley Run girls Eaton 3rd, Trail 4th, TCN 5th, TVS 6th.

4X1600m boys Eaton 1st, TVS 2nd, TCN 7th, Trail 8th. 4X1600m girls Eaton 2nd, TCN 3rd, TVS 6th, Trail 7th. Shotput TVS 4th, Eaton 5th, TCN 6th, Trail 9th. Shotput Eaton 1st, TCN 3rd, Trail 4th, TVS 6th.

Discus boys TVS 3rd, TCN 7th Eaton 8th, Trail 9th. Discus girls Eaton 2nd, Trail 3rd, TCN 4th, TVS 6th. High Jump boys: TVS 5th. High jump girls TVS 2nd, Trail 3rd, Eaton 4th.

Long Jump TVS 2nd, Eaton 3rd, Trail 7th, TCN 9th. Long Jump girls TVS 2nd, Eaton 3rd, Trail 5th. Pole Vault Boys Eaton 1st, Trail 2nd, TCN 3rd. Pole Vault Girls Eaton 2nd, TVS 3rd.

South Track Gets Their Feet Wet at Versailles.

“Well we got our feet wet today” was the quote from coach Fahrenholtz and that was true in more ways than one as a sunny, calm morning evolved into a cold and blustery afternoon with bursts of rain at the Versailles Invitational. They had to suspend the pole vault for about an hour as the wind gusts peaked at about 45 miles an hour. Even though the vault was being done perpendicular to the wind, the vaulters were still in danger of being thrown side ways. Making a challenging event even more hazardous.

Strong headwinds were a factor in the sprints and the discus throwers had a tough time throwing into the teeth of the wind. If there was any wobble in the trajectory of the disc, the wind would catch it and throw the disc violently to the ground. One Versailles staffer remarked to me that the only folks that were happy with the wind was the clean up crew. With the debris being blown against the fences, it made their jobs that much easier.

South had other obstacles as well. I asked the coach about the numbers – it sure looked like several athletes were missing. South had to pull out of several relays and had to rely on individuals for most of their points. “Well several kids went on a trip to France – and just got back at midnight. Then with Easter weekend, we had some that went out of town with their parents.”

Coach Fahrnholtz was asked about the South athletes that were able to put in substantial individual performances. “George Holman had a nice day – first in the 1600m and 800m runs. Balthis won the long jump and was second in the 100m – but pulled up injured, so the injury is something we need to watch. Jordan Krickenbarger was third in the pole vault. Jesse Koeller got second place in the shot, but he is having some back problems.” With two meets next week South will need these two athletes to heal in a hurry.

As a team Twin Valley South placed 6th overall in the Black Division.

South times and distances: 4X800m relay 7th, 10:06.66; 110m hurdles Krickenbarger, Jordan 19.36;2nd Balthis, Steve 12.03; 1600m run 1st Holman, George 5:00.47;400m Reece, Jacob 65.68, Wells, Zach 69.14. 800m run 2nd Holman, George 2:10.98; Perry, Josh 2:29.26. 200m Eck, Chris 27.07. 3200m 3rd Hemmelgarn, Josh 10:55.28; 5th Guerhring, Nick 11:04.96. 7th 4X400m relay 4:13.21. Shotput 2nd Koeller, Jesse 44-01.50. Long Jump 1st Balthis, Steve 19-07.25. Pole Vault 3rd Krickenbarger, Jordan 12-00.00.

South will next journey to National Trail on Tuesday, April 6 and then to TCN on Thursday, April 8. Comments: chrisaukcam@gmail.com

Got to watch a couple of girls basketball games recently. South struggled at times against Bethel. I thought the Bee's applied good defensive pressure to take Gates out of her game. But the shooting of the South team as a whole seemed to be off. They played neck and neck thru out the game, but Bethel finished strong to put the Panthers away.

Shawnee needs more depth. They did get win number two of the season against Northridge but got beat by Monroe. They have some decent starting talent, but there just isn't any depth on the bench. So it is hard to pull the starters from the floor. I think just getting more numbers out will make the team more competitive.

Too bad about North losing McAdams for the remainder of the season. Gotta keep your grades up. A really good athlete, he was fun to watch play.

Colts looked tough against the Jets. I favor them in the Super Bowl. Favre is getting pretty beat up as I write this. Fumbles have been a big problem for the Vikings. If they win this game, Brett will need the 2 weeks to get healed up.

I was worried about the West Coast mystic bringing down the Buckeyes. Or whatever it is that seems to cause Big 10 schools to fail in the Rose Bowl. But the defense did a great job of containing Oregons high octane offense. Pryor did a great job of passing the ball and also running for first downs when he needed to. And Tressel wasn't as conservative as he has been in the past with his play calling. Instead of trying to sit on a lead with running plays he was trying to extend the lead by utilizing the pass. And with almost everyone coming back, look for a BCS bowl next season.

The Big 10 had some quality wins this week. After getting a bad rap the past few years, it is good to see other teams from the conference winning bowl games. Penn State had a good win, and so did Wisconsin. Northwestern lost, but only by 3 points. So 3 out of 4 ain't bad. Michigan State plays tonight.

Cincinnati had a rough rough night. I watched the first half and couldn't watch anymore. Even with Kelly coaching, I don't think that they would have done much better. Florida was on their game and the Bearcats couldn't get it in gear. They had a good season and achieved a lot the past few years. Time will tell if the team keeps their momentum the next few years, or fades back into being a mid-tier team.

Well I did not see the first round games, but I found out that Trail got their first win of the season over Shawnee. So that was a surprise. Shawnee is a .500 team, but they have played some tough competition.

Shawnee took on North in the consolation game. Shawnee acquitted themselves well. Good rebounding, balanced inside/outside shooting and they got a lead that they did not relinquish. For North the McAdams brothers were impressive and they did get some points in the paint from one of the post players. But overall Shawnee just overwhelmed them for an easy victory.

The South/Trail game looked to be a blowout early on. South raced to an early lead. They were up 17-2 at one point. But Trail came back and even held the lead briefly. As hot as South was in the first quarter, they were stone cold for minutes at a time in the second half. This allowed Trail to keep chipping away at the lead and catch up.

South played mainly a zone. Slipping into man to man for a bit when Trail got hot from outside. Trail stayed in man to man for the entire game. In the second half, South got reorganized. They did a good job of getting the ball inside by either dribble penetrating, or feeding the post. Walker did get his 4th foul in the 3rd. But South did well during the stretch that he was on the bench.

The team was hitting on all cylinders in the final quarter of the game. They made good plays when they had to and although they had turnovers, they were able to minimize the damage. South would go on to win the holiday tournament.

Well we are in the thick of basketball season. Lots of hoops action this week.

Mississenwa at Trail (girls) - I was impressed with the play of the Trail guards. Everyone knows that 6'3" Yeazel is a presence in the post. But in this game Yeazel did not score much. Maybe she just had an off night. Defensively she did keep the Blackhawks out of the paint. But the guard play was the difference. Trail used the press and vigorous half court defense to hurry up the Black Hawks and generate turnovers. Offensively their passing was swift and accurate. Good win for the Blazers.

South gets their mojo back? A rocky start to the Panthers boys season with 4 losses. And at half time, it looked like another tally mark on the L side of the ledger as the Panthers had a 10 point deficit against Newton at halftime. After playing mostly zone and zone variations in the first half. South manned up in the third quarter. That put pressure on the Indian shooters. And at the other end of the court, South got into a groove and started to hit their shots. They lit up the scoreboard for 29 points to take the lead and not look back.

I thought the Indians started to tire and fade in the second half. South just had a deeper bench and were able to keep fresh players on the court. Newton's shots kept bouncing off the front of the rim as they tired. Walker did a good job of snagging rebounds and Spitler had a good night on offense with 23 points.

South girls are off to a good start and got notice in the Dayton Daily News. Ranked 4th in the area D4 teams. Now the girls will have a bulls eye on their back. D3 is tough in the Dayton area. Middletown Madison is running roughshod over opponents. Anna, Brookville, Versailles, and Miami East are also in that division. I have a feeling that who ever comes out of the SW region will win state in D3.