SPORTS

YSHS boys soccer team wins Metro Buckeye title

The YSHS boys varsity soccer team chalked up three more victories last week, culminating in the final game of the regular season and the Bulldogs taking the Metro Buckeye Conference title. The team’s record for the year is 12 wins and one tie, the second time in 27 years a YSHS boys soccer team has gone undefeated in regular season.

Tuesday, Oct. 8, YSHS hosted the Waynesville Spartans, who came to the match ranked second among small schools in the Dayton area by the Dayton Daily News Coaches’ Poll and seeded first in the Division III, Dayton 1 District Soccer Tournament. Yellow Springs was ranked fourth in the same poll and seeded third in the Division III, Dayton 2 District Soccer Tournament.

Five minutes into the game, YSHS trailed for only the second time this season, as Waynesville capitalized on a failure to clear the ball by YS defensemen. After four minutes, Duncan Silvert-Noftle put the Bulldogs on the score board with an assist from Noah Woodburn. Five minutes before the end of the first half, Woodburn took a successful shot on net from 20 yards out when he placed the ball between the goaltender’s outstretched fingertips and under the crossbar.

The ’Dogs’ defense held back the Spartans in the second half when, with 17 minutes left in the game, Rory Hotaling was knocked to the ground just outside the Waynesville penalty box. Silvert-Noftle took the direct free kick, and in a show of bravado, called his shot with an outstretched finger pointed at the near-post. He ended up delivering his shot as promised, past the Spartans’ defensive wall and diving goalie, off the post into the back of the net for the goal that put the Bulldogs at 3–1 and insured the game.

Thursday, Oct. 10, YSHS visited the Miami Valley School in what turned out to be the Metro Buckeye Conference Championship game since the Bulldogs were 4–0 in the Conference and Miami Valley was only 3–0–1. Needing only to tie to win the MBC, Yellow Springs got the winning goal from Anthony Brandon four minutes before the half when Scott Keyes passed to Brandon at the top of the penalty box. Spinning unexpectedly past the defense, Brandon took the goaltender by surprise with a goal shot from 15 yards out. Thanks to the ’Dogs’ defense, that goal proved to be the only one the team needed to take the match. Towards the end of the game, Miami Valley actually put the ball in the YS goal, but a controversial offsides call on the Miami Valley forward disallowed the goal. In a subtle win, the 2002 Bulldogs Soccer team took home the MBC title. The final score was 1–0.

Saturday, Oct. 12, the final game of the regular season, was against Dayton Christian. Just under two minutes into the game Silvert-Noftle, the leading scorer for the Bulldogs all year, claimed the first goal of the night when he outmaneuvered the Crusaders’ defense to dribble the ball to goal after an assist from Hotaling based off of a throw-in from Mike Hosket. Ten minutes later, Silvert-Noftle took another goal when a long downfield pass by Hosket was mishandled by the Crusaders’ defense.

Two minutes into the second half, Mike Mucher put the ’Dogs up 3–0 with an assist from Keyes. Dayton Christian avoided a shut out when they scored halfway through the half, but the Bulldogs continued to score after that. Martin Bakari sent Silvert-Noftle a pass which was about to become the fourth goal for the Bulldogs until Silvert-Noftle let the ball slip out of his possession. Without breaking stride, Mucher recovered it and placed his shot just inside the near post for his second goal of the night. Hotaling was credited with the assist.

Yellow Springs begins tournament play this Saturday night, Oct. 19, starting at 7 p.m., hosting the winner of the Xenia Christian-West Liberty Salem first-round match. If YSHS advances, they will play at the field of the winner of the Greeneview-Bethel-Northeastern on Tuesday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m.

High school girls volleyball—
YSHS finishes 2nd in MBC

In a busy week of play, the Yellow Springs High School volleyball team came to a close Saturday, Oct. 12, when the Lady Bulldogs lost to Cedarville, 7–15, 6–15, in the first round of the Division IV state tournament in Covington.

YSHS had split two earlier matches with the Cedarville Indians but failed to take the game. The Lady ’Dogs were plagued by a combination of poor blocking, backcourt miscommunication and eight calls for touching the net.

YSHS finished in second place in the Metro Buckeye Conference, after the team lost to Troy Christian, 14–16, 13–15, on Thursday, Oct. 10, in a close match that decided the conference title.

In the first game, the Lady Bulldogs went point for point up. But Troy Christian squeaked by 16–14.

The Lady ’Dogs struggled early on in the second game but came back to temporarily lead 9–8. Troy once again overwhelmed YSHS, which had troubles with its backcourt play, and Troy won the game and took the league title.

The Lady Bulldogs, however, won its last home of the fall season by besting Stivers 15–6, 15–10 last Wednesday, Oct. 9.

It was the eighth straight win for coach Shirley Martin’s team.

Senior Nikki Perry and sophomore Evin Wimberly each had eight assists. In the second game, the Lady Bulldogs served 23 out of 24 balls in-court, the best performance of the year.

Perry, along with fellow seniors Nikki Daegle and Emma Robinow were honored after the game for their good seasons.

The 2002 YSHS volleyball team finished its season 15–7, its best record in many years.

Cross country—
Three qualify for regionals

Eight Yellow Springs High School varsity harriers ran their fastest races this year during the Division III District Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Oct. 12.

Three runners, Carey Dixon, David Warren and Tina Peters, qualified for the next level in the state tournament, the Regional Championships in Troy on Saturday, Oct. 19.

Dixon broke a 15-year record for the fastest 5 kilometers by a YSHS freshman when he finished his race in 17:30. He placed ninth in the race.

Warren, a sophomore, kept pace with Dixon for most of the race. Warren moved from 15th place in the last half-mile to 12th place at the finish line with a time of 17:34.

Peters, a freshman, finished 12th overall in the girls race with a lifetime best time of 21:08.

Out for five weeks due to a stress fracture, team captain Travis Dean ran his third race of the season on Saturday, finishing 40th overall in 19:24. Matching Dean for most of the race, senior Matt Carr and junior Martin Borchers each fell behind in the end. Carr finished in 50th place in 19:55, and Borchers was only seconds behind, placing 54th in 20:06.

Christian Periera finished his first mile in a quick 6:55, but finished 67th overall with 21:57.

“I am really proud of the entire team,” coach Vince Peters said.

YSHS coed team beats Spartans

The YSHS coed junior varsity soccer team finished the season with a shutout on its home turf. The final score against the Waynesville Spartans was 3–0, putting the Bulldogs’ season record at 3-2.

Nathan Badger put the Bulldogs on the score board early in the match with a high cross from the right corner, which Waynesville’s goalkeeper couldn’t hold as the ball dropped in for the goal. Martin Bakari helped with an assist. Seven minutes later, James Hyde shot a 40-yard pass across midfield to Badger, who slashed a kick from the left side of the penalty box into the far post netting, putting the Bulldogs up 2–0.

Alban Holyoke closed out the scoring eight minutes before the end of the half when Badger attacked the left side of the field. After dribbling past two defenders, Badger delivered a pass to Bakari, who was open at the top of the penalty box. Bakari turned to goal, drawing Waynesville defenders to his position and then sent the ball to Holyoke, wide open at the penalty spot. Holyoke slipped the ball past a charging goaltender and then placed his shot into the open net. Goalie John Pamplin claimed his second shutout of the year and led the Bulldogs to victory.

McKinney football team tallies win, loss

The McKinney School football team claimed one win and one loss over the past two weeks. On Thursday, Oct. 3, Yellow Springs hosted Jefferson. After making two interceptions during the game, Ryan Silvert returned the second 48 yards for the first touchdown of the night. Jefferson came back with a touchdown of their own but failed to gain the extra point.

Jericho Stubblefield, in the fourth quarter, ran a 34–yard touchdown to put the McKinney School ahead again. The rest of the game was what coach Jason Doyle referred to as “a real nail-biter, right down to the end.” After Jefferson fumbled on the Yellow Springs 3-yard line late in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs gained control of the ball with only 37 seconds left. They took a knee and let the clock run out instead of attempting one more play. The final score was 14–6

On Saturday, the Bulldogs lost to Dayton Christian 27–6. Stubblefield ran in 44 yards for the only touchdown of the game off of a pass from Keelan Brown. The team is now 2–4 for the season.

Youth basketball program to start

Sign up for the Crickets Youth Basketball program for girls and boys in first through third grades will be held on Saturday, Nov. 2, noon–1 p.m., in the Bryan Community Center gym. There is no fee for participation, but donations will be accepted. The program will run through Dec. 21.

Program sessions will be held each week on either Friday from 6 to 7 p.m. or Saturday from noon to 1 p.m. at the Bryan Community Center gym. The gym is reserved for the following dates: Saturday, Nov. 2, Friday, Nov. 8, Friday, Nov. 15, Friday, Nov. 22, Saturday, Dec. 7, Friday, Dec. 13, and Saturday, Dec. 21.

The sessions will include instruction on basketball fundamentals and scrimmages using 8-foot baskets.

For more information, call Rich Miller at 767-2049, or contact him by e-mail at rmiller23@woh.rr.com.

Hotaling leads YSHS golfers

Bulldog golfer Rory Hotaling led the Metro Buckeye Conference in scoring this season by averaging 37.4 strokes per 9 holes during the regular season. At the Middletown Sectional, he finished seventh out of 110 golfers by scoring an 80 on the Hamilton Elks Course, which he had previously never played.

Hotaling, a junior, then went on to the Cincinnati District Division III match at the Weatherwax Course, also located in Middletown. Although he finished with an 82 for 18 holes, placing 12th out of the 84 competitors that day, he failed to qualify for the state tournament by only 6 strokes. Hotaling and the rest of the Bulldog golfers were coached this season by Gene Hitchcock.

Go Bulldogs!