PREBLE COUNTY — National Trail handed Arcanum its second straight loss to begin the 2018 high school football season.
The Blazers won the low scoring contest 6-3 on Friday, Aug. 31 on their home field to improve to 2-0 on the season. They won their season-opener 34-6 over Riverview East Academy.
Trail is 2-0 for the first time since the 2013 season.
Blazer quarterback Evynn Short passed for 168 yards and a touchdown in the win. Zach Woodall had six catches for 51 yards. He also had 18 tackles on defense. Peyton Lane added 4 catches for 65 yards.
Joe Lawson had 14 tackles.
Justin Watts and Mike Bowerman added 11 and 10 tackles each.
Trail will host Miami East on Friday, Sept. 7.
Eagles beats Bellbrook for first time
Eaton’s boys’ varsity soccer team picked up its first win of the season against an unlikely opponent. The Eagles traveled to Bellbrook on Thursday, Aug. 30, and defeated the defending SWBL champions, 2-1. Bellbrook has dominated teams in the league over the years, including Eaton.
Eaton came into the match with a pair of losses and a tie in the early going of the 2018 season. After three matches against tough opponents, they were still looking for their first goal of 2018.
That goal came in the second half against Bellbrook and tied the score 1-1. After a scoreless first half, Bellbrook took a 1-0 lead in the opening minutes of the second frame. But, Eaton’s James Howard got the Eagles on the scoreboard, with an assist from Owen Baumann.
Howard also accounted for the game-winner later in the half, with Nate Gard picking up the assist.
Eaton’s defense did a great job against the Bellbrook offense, holding them scoreless for the remainder of the match, preserving the 2-1 win. Goalkeeper John Altom shut Bellbrook out in the first half with three saves, and Ethen Burrell held the Golden Eagles to just one goal with five saves.
Eaton was scheduled to travel to Franklin on Tuesday, Sept. 4, then host Valley View on Thursday, at home.
Eaton falls to St. Henry
Eaton fell to 0-2 with a 62-0 loss at St. Henry. The Redskins scored seven touchdowns in the first half to take a 48-0 halftime lead.
“Our effort and execution was poor pretty much all night. We lost the line of scrimmage, the takeaway/turnover battle, and the kicking game. We’re not going to win many games like that,” Eaton coach Brad Davis said. “I’m really disappointed with our special teams play; as well as we played with those units Week 1, we played equally as bad Week 2.
Despite the loss, Davis believes his team is capable of putting the early season slump behind them.
“There’s still a lot of football to be played. We’ll learn from this, and put it behind us pretty quickly. We need to have a great week of practice, get some things sorted out, and put together a good, complete game Friday night versus Talawanda,” he said.
Eaton will travel to Talawanda for a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday, Sept. 7.
Eaton volleyball drops pair of 5-set matches
Eaton’s volleyball team suffered its first losses of the season last week. The Eagles fell in five sets to host Monroe on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 25-22, 16-25, 21-25, 25-20, 14-16.
Shay Perry led the team in kills with15. Courtney Giffen and Kylee Pitsninger each added 11 kills and six digs. Becca Mowen added 10 kills, four digs and three aces. Ava Miller added seven kills. Maley Tinstman had 47 assists and four digs. Annika Gels added 18 digs and three aces.
On Thursday, Eaton won the first two sets against undefeated Bellbrook, 25-19 and 25-22. But the visiting Golden Eagles rallied to take the final three sets, 25-12, 25-10 and 15-5.
Perry led the team with 10 kills. Giffen added eight kills and eight digs. Mowen added eight kills and a pair of aces. Gels contributed 21 digs. Alysa Sorrell added 10 digs. Tinstman had 34 assists and three aces.
Eaton (3-2, 1-2 SWBL) was scheduled to host Franklin on Tuesday, Sept. 4 and will travel to Valley View on Thursday, Sept. 6.
Eagles XC has good day at Circleville
For the first time in eight year, Eaton’s cross country team traveled to the Circleville Invitational. The girls team won its division and placed fourth overall, while the boys were second overall and second in their division.
“Circleville afforded us the opportunity to race against several state-ranked teams in both the boys and girls races. It also provided us with a very competitive field of Division I, II and III teams with which to compete, ” Eaton coach Randy McKinney said.
McKinney said both teams continue to progress.
“The (girls) continue to step it up each time out this season. The 221 runner/28-team field was on what was a tough, but fun course that really challenged each of our athletes from beginning to end. The girls did an excellent job of working off one another to move through the field of runners as the course progressed,” McKinney said. “In places the course was very tight and narrow which tends to slow race times. However, almost everyone one of the girls improved their times and when the scores were tabulated we placed 4th overall, but when they split the divisions the girls walked away with a first place trophy. I’m very pleased with the progress and focus our girls have right now. It’s something we have been stressing everyday in practice and their results point out to me that they are making great progress.”
Claire Meyer led the way for the Eagles with a 12th place finish in 21:38, followed by Brooke Caplinger 19th in 22:05, Ali Mowen 34th in 23:08, Briana Baker 42nd in 23:30, Rachel Buckler 47th in 23:47, Cari Metz 57th in 24:19, Alexis Owen 67th in 24:37, Alaina Webb 73rd in 25:05, Arica Hamilton 78th in 25:12, Elaina Maynard 100th in 26:06, Ashlynn Conley 113th in 26:31, Grace Risner 142nd in 27:36, Nina Albinus 169th in 29:11, Katy Rich 203rd in 31:55 and Maddie Meredith 215th in 33:55.
“The men’s team also continue to step it up and get a little better each time they race. The boys field consisted of 258 runners and 30 teams. The guys are getting better with the team pack, but we are still a few meets away from where we need to be with it come time for the championship portion of our season,” he said. “The boys started out a little slower than usual on purpose and due to our starting position that was slightly on the low side which forced us to merge with the top third of the runners. The guys really had to work once they hit the first straight away to work their way through the sea of bodies form the half mile to the mile mark. Sheridan, who ended up winning the meet got a great jump on us and we were not able to track them down and split them up so we had to settle for team runner-up. I’m very pleased with the guys. We are gradually improving individually and as a team each time out.”
Alex McCarty led the team with a 9th place finish in 17:04, Alex Newport placed 14th in 17:34, Jack Bortel placed 17th in 17:42, Dylan Suding 21st in 17:59, Todd Coates 23rd in 18:05, Cole Bulach 26th in 18:15, LeaKendric Brown 54th in 19:06, Ben Brewer 55th in 19:07, Gideon Smith 57th in 19:12, KeAnthony Bales 66th in 19:26, Logan Cottle 73rd in 19:40, Austin Pugh 81st in 19:48, Austin Kopf 91st in 20:03, Cole Hauser 158th in 22:02, Isaac Rohrer 160th in 22:08 and Logan Sizemore 170th in 22:30.
The Eagles travel to Lexington, Kentucky this weekend to compete in the University of Kentucky Bluegrass Invitational.
Blazers second at Treaty City Invite
The National Trail boys cross country team finished second in the 21-team field at the Treaty City Invitational at Greenville Facing some tough competition and key competitors in the area, the Blazers ran a strong race on a muddy course.
Travis Hunt led the Blazers with his 8th place finish, while Josh Bishop was 11th and Cameron Harrison finished 16th. medalist. The top five was anchored by Adam Eyler and Caleb VanWinkle as Ethan Murphy and Ian Miller rounded out the teams top seven.
The girls team finished 7th on the day and were once again led by Lauren Sargeant (13th) and Molly Skinner (19th). Evan Byrd, Halle Osborne and Paige Lee ran strong races to round out the top 5 runners during the rain soaked race. Lauren Murphy and Cheyenne completed the teams top seven.
The JH girls were 9th in their race in a very competitive field of teams. Elizabeth Allison led the girls with her top 30 finish. Harley Henderson, Hailee Michael, Samantha Toms, and Sierra Allison were apart of the teams top 5 runners. The team continues to show their depth as they finished their 2nd race of the season.
Joel Hunt led the short handed jh boys team with a top 30 finish in a large race.of over 200 boys. Parker Webb and Caleb Gilliland also competed as they try to meet their personal gos as Caleb was very close.
The teams will compete in the Troy Invitational this week.
(Editor’s note: Deron Newman contributed to this report)
