The line between tears of joy and tears of frustration was thin at times for the Jefferson County North Chargers volleyball team as the squad slipped through pool play only to have a frustrating Saturday for a fourth-place finish Nov. 1 at the 3A state tournament in Salina.
The Chargers entered play on Halloween afternoon at the Bicentennial Center as the fifth seed in a pool with top-seeded Phillipsburg, fourth-seeded Osage City and eighth-seeded Hoisington. Hoisington knocked off Phillipsburg in an upset in the first match of the day and the Chargers got started versus Osage City.
The Indians, who entered the tourney at 35-5, jumped out to a 14-6 game 1 lead but saw North fight back to whittle the lead to 21-17 and, eventually, 23-21, on a kill by North senior Lisa Weishaar. After Osage City’s second timeout of the game, a North player made contact with the net to give Osage City game point and an illegal hit call on North gave Osage City a 25-21 win in the first game of the best-of-three match. North took the early lead in game two by surging to a 14-3 advantage and rolling to a 25-13 win to force a deciding game 3.
The game would be close as North took a 6-3 lead but Osage City came back to take a 15-9 lead. JCN responded to tie the game at 18 on a kill by senior Devin Gigstad and force an Indians timeout. JCN made it a 6-point run to make the lead 21-18 but the Indians tied the game at 22. The Indians had a match point at 24-23 but JCN junior Sara Navinskey came through with a kill. At a 24-all tie, JCN sophomore Jordyne Seichepine scored a kill to give North a match point but Osage City retied the game. A Seichepine block gave North a second chance and an Osage City kill attempt hit the net and fell on the Indians’ side to give North the match.
North stayed on the court to face top seed Phillipsburg and found the Panthers focused after their opening loss to Hoisington. The Panthers led most of the way as they pulled away to a 4- or 5-point lead most of game 1 to take the game by a score of 25-20. JCN established the early lead in game 2 and was ahead, 14-9, before the Panthers started to creep back into the game. They got the game tied at 16 before moving ahead with a run of 4 straight points to make it 21-17. A Weishaar kill cut it to 22-20 and the Chargers got within a point before the Panthers scored the next 3 points to take the game and the match, 25-21, and drop JCN to 1-1 in pool play.
Hoisington and Phillipsburg both defeated Osage City to knock the Indians out of contention at 0-3 and set up a pivotal match between North and 2-0 Hoisington with a shot at advancing to Saturday’s Final Four on the line. North pulled out its best match of the day to dispatch the Cardinals, 25-21, 25-18. On the tiebreaker, Phillipsburg came through as the pool’s top seed while North came out ahead of Hoisington based on the amount of games needed to win its 2 matches.
The Chargers were then slated to face Rock Creek as the top qualifier in the other pool in Saturday’s semifinal match. North would play a tough game 1 but wouldn’t recover from a close loss in that game in game 2.
The Mustangs jumped out to a 5-2 lead and forced a North timeout at 9-4. The Chargers responded to tie the game at 11, 12 and 13. Rock Creek would creep ahead again only to see North tie the game at 16. Rock Creek again took a 3-point lead at 19-16 but North wouldn’t go away to cut the lead back to 20-19. Again Rock Creek tried to put the game away at 23-19 and 24-21 but a Mustang serve sailed long and a good serve by North junior Molly Lyon wasn’t returned by Rock Creek to keep North in the game.
After a Mustang timeout, a Gigstad tip fell in to tie the game at 24. Rock Creek had another chance to win the game but North scored two straight points including a Weishaar kill that forced a Mustang illegal hit to give North a game point. After another Mustang timeout, Rock Creek survived to tie the game but North fought off another game point before Rock Creek eventually won the game, 29-27, as a Seichepine kill fell just long.
JCN held an early 8-5 lead in game 2 and led, 9-6, when Rock Creek rolled off 9 straight points to take a 15-9 lead. The Mustangs extended the lead to 7 points before North was able to make a run to cut the lead to 21-18. Rock Creek would score the final 2 points of the match to move into the state title game with a 29-27, 25-19 victory.
With dreams of a state title dashed, the Chargers were forced to refocus on a rematch with Phillipsburg, which fell to Garden Plain in the other semifinal. The second match with the Panthers would play out much like the first one as a tight game 1 saw Philipsburg pull ahead in the teens to take a 19-14 lead. North cut the lead back to 20-19 but the Panthers rattled off 5 straight points to take game 1 by a 25-19 count.
In game 2, Phillipsburg took a 6-1 lead and extended it to 11-5. JCN got as close as 13-10 before the Panthers went on another run to make it 19-10. The Panthers got match point at 24-12 and North fought off three points before the Panthers were able to take home a 25-16 game 2 victory for third place in the tournament.
With the season in the books at 35-10, North coach Jeremy Gish huddled his players as they emotionally dealt with a tough end to another successful season. The team waited and watched as Garden Plain defeated Rock Creek in two games for the state title and then the Chargers got their fourth-place medals and took time for some team photos by the cadre of parents, students and supporters that made the trek west on I-70 to Salina.
Gish said despite the unfavorable outcome of Saturday’s matches, he and his team wouldn’t second-guess themselves.
“We don’t have any regrets,” Gish said. “The girls played extremely hard and they left all they had on the court. Against Rock Creek, we probably got our best defensive match of the year. The girls just refused to let the ball hit the floor at times. Rock Creek is a good team but, really, we don’t match up well. With Phillipsburg, we knew what they liked to do, we just couldn’t get it going. I think the girls were extremely motivated. I didn’t feel like we were getting too many breaks today, and there’s not much you can do about that.”
Navinskey was later named to the Kansas Volleyball Association’s all-tournament team for the 3A tourney.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
County football scores from Oct. 24, 2008
Oskaloosa, 41, vs. Jefferson County North, 0
Pleasant Ridge, 48, vs. McLouth, 6
Atchison, 35, vs. Jefferson West, 14
Baldwin, 35, vs. Perry-Lecompton, 28
Valley Falls, 54, vs. Immaculata, 6
Pleasant Ridge, 48, vs. McLouth, 6
Atchison, 35, vs. Jefferson West, 14
Baldwin, 35, vs. Perry-Lecompton, 28
Valley Falls, 54, vs. Immaculata, 6
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Valley Falls blanks McLouth, 33-0
When one player on a team outgains the opposing team as a whole by more than three times, that’s a pretty good sign of which team came out on top of a matchup.
Such was the case Friday in Valley Falls as Dragons senior Josh Kearney ran over, around and through the McLouth defense for more than 250 rushing yards and three touchdowns in a 33-0 Valley Falls victory on homecoming night.
To top it off, Kearney was even crowned homecoming king at halftime.
The Dragons defense also played well in holding McLouth to seven first downs in the game. McLouth finished with 101 yards before taking into account three bad snaps for a total loss of 32 yards to leave the Bulldogs with total offensive yardage of 67 on the night.
The game was scoreless through four possessions until Kearney picked up two first downs and scored on a 34-yard run with 1:26 left in the first quarter to make it 6-0 Dragons. After McLouth’s third three-plays-and-out on their first three possessions, Kearney scored on a 60-yard run on the Dragons’ next play from scrimmage and junior quarterback Mitchell Streeter booted the extra point for a 13-0 Dragons lead with 11:39 to go in the first half.
The Bulldogs picked up two first downs on their fourth possession of the game but stalled at their own 42. Kearney rushing gains and a 19-yard pass from Streeter to senior Ridge Glassel took the ball to the McLouth 17, and three plays later, Kearney scored from 7 yards out to make it 20-0 with Streeter’s extra point. That would hold as the halftime score.
McLouth picked up a first down on its first possession of the second half but turned the ball over on downs at the Valley Falls 40. The Dragons’ offense went back to work as four different rushers took the ball to the McLouth 26. Kearney ran the ball 25 yards to the Bulldogs 1 and scored on the next play to make it 27-0 with Streeter’s extra-point kick.
Dragons sophomore Alex Lederer cut the Bulldogs’ next possession short with an interception. The Dragons had another Kearney touchdown run called back by a holding penalty before turning the ball over on downs at the McLouth 21 early in the fourth quarter.
A Kearney 43-yard run set the Dragons up again on their next possession and Streeter finished the drive with a 14-yard touchdown run to make it 33-0 with 5:54 left in the game. From there, it was only a matter of time. Two more McLouth drives stalled, and Lederer came in at quarterback and had a long touchdown run called back on an illegal block penalty with time dwindling. He followed that play with a 20-yard run that ended up being the final play of the game.
Kearney finished with 23 rushes for 258 yards and 3 TDs while Streeter had 10 runs for 39 yards and a score and was 2-for-4 passing for 41 yards and an interception. Three other rushers combined for 71 yards for the Dragons as they racked up 409 yards in offense.
McLouth was led by 14 rushes for 37 yards from senior Jake Hullinger and 10 rushes for 18 yards from senior quarterback Derrick Crouse. Crouse was 7-for-17 passing for 42 yards and an interception.
Dragons coach Rod Bunde said his team played well but he still saw a couple areas of improvement as district play begins this week.
“We’ve had a lot of kids hurt but the guys stepped up and played a good game tonight,” Bunde said. “We had a couple touchdowns called back because of penalties, but the kids played hard. We’re hoping to get healthy and get a couple kids back from ineligibility going into district play.”
The win improved Valley Falls to 4-2. McLouth fell to 2-4 with the loss. The Dragons play host to Lyndon in the first game of their 2A district play Friday. McLouth plays host to JCN in the first game of those teams’ 3A district schedule.
Such was the case Friday in Valley Falls as Dragons senior Josh Kearney ran over, around and through the McLouth defense for more than 250 rushing yards and three touchdowns in a 33-0 Valley Falls victory on homecoming night.
To top it off, Kearney was even crowned homecoming king at halftime.
The Dragons defense also played well in holding McLouth to seven first downs in the game. McLouth finished with 101 yards before taking into account three bad snaps for a total loss of 32 yards to leave the Bulldogs with total offensive yardage of 67 on the night.
The game was scoreless through four possessions until Kearney picked up two first downs and scored on a 34-yard run with 1:26 left in the first quarter to make it 6-0 Dragons. After McLouth’s third three-plays-and-out on their first three possessions, Kearney scored on a 60-yard run on the Dragons’ next play from scrimmage and junior quarterback Mitchell Streeter booted the extra point for a 13-0 Dragons lead with 11:39 to go in the first half.
The Bulldogs picked up two first downs on their fourth possession of the game but stalled at their own 42. Kearney rushing gains and a 19-yard pass from Streeter to senior Ridge Glassel took the ball to the McLouth 17, and three plays later, Kearney scored from 7 yards out to make it 20-0 with Streeter’s extra point. That would hold as the halftime score.
McLouth picked up a first down on its first possession of the second half but turned the ball over on downs at the Valley Falls 40. The Dragons’ offense went back to work as four different rushers took the ball to the McLouth 26. Kearney ran the ball 25 yards to the Bulldogs 1 and scored on the next play to make it 27-0 with Streeter’s extra-point kick.
Dragons sophomore Alex Lederer cut the Bulldogs’ next possession short with an interception. The Dragons had another Kearney touchdown run called back by a holding penalty before turning the ball over on downs at the McLouth 21 early in the fourth quarter.
A Kearney 43-yard run set the Dragons up again on their next possession and Streeter finished the drive with a 14-yard touchdown run to make it 33-0 with 5:54 left in the game. From there, it was only a matter of time. Two more McLouth drives stalled, and Lederer came in at quarterback and had a long touchdown run called back on an illegal block penalty with time dwindling. He followed that play with a 20-yard run that ended up being the final play of the game.
Kearney finished with 23 rushes for 258 yards and 3 TDs while Streeter had 10 runs for 39 yards and a score and was 2-for-4 passing for 41 yards and an interception. Three other rushers combined for 71 yards for the Dragons as they racked up 409 yards in offense.
McLouth was led by 14 rushes for 37 yards from senior Jake Hullinger and 10 rushes for 18 yards from senior quarterback Derrick Crouse. Crouse was 7-for-17 passing for 42 yards and an interception.
Dragons coach Rod Bunde said his team played well but he still saw a couple areas of improvement as district play begins this week.
“We’ve had a lot of kids hurt but the guys stepped up and played a good game tonight,” Bunde said. “We had a couple touchdowns called back because of penalties, but the kids played hard. We’re hoping to get healthy and get a couple kids back from ineligibility going into district play.”
The win improved Valley Falls to 4-2. McLouth fell to 2-4 with the loss. The Dragons play host to Lyndon in the first game of their 2A district play Friday. McLouth plays host to JCN in the first game of those teams’ 3A district schedule.
Video of Tenpenny catch from Bears win
This week's submission from Vance Massey features a one-handed catch from Oskaloosa senior Chase Tenpenny that set up a Bears touchdown during their win over Doniphan West on the road Friday night. This one comes complete with slo-mo instant replay, in case the action is too fast the first time to catch the catch.
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