Centerville-Washington Township Times, Thursday, November 3, 2011 5

SPORTS

By SHAWN BAUMANTimes sports editor

tcsports@tcnewsnet.com

The high school footballschedule can be a funny thing.Take Centerville and Butler

for example. The Elks beganthe season 1-3 with their lonewin coming at the hands ofOakridge out of Canada, a farcry from a typical Ohio HighSchool Athletic Associationpowerhouse. The Elks pro-ceeded to reel off six straightwins including a 63-35 pastingof rival Wayne, sneak theirway into the final playoff spotin division I region 4 and sud-denly look like they have agreat opportunity to knock offtop seed Middletown.The Aviators on the other

hand cruise to a 5-0 start andlook like they are destined fora spot in division II’s region 8.Instead, the Aviators run intoa difficult five-week stretch,lose four of those five and limphome with a 6-4 record, threespots out of the playoffs.Despite the disappointment ofthe 1-4 finish, the Aviators cer-tainly have plenty of reason tohold their heads up after goingjust 4-6 a season ago.Then there is the Alter

Knights. It doesn’t matter whatschedule or what division youthrow them in, the Knights justkeep finding a way to make theplayoffs. A 10-0 record thisyear guaranteed them theirtenth straight postseasonappearance. While the Elksand Knights will make theirway into week 11, Butler isjoined by Wayne, Oakwoodand Fairmont, among others,to see their seasons close inweek 10.Fortunately for us, this is

where this predictions columnreally gets fun. There are veryfew bad matchups in the play-offs which makes picking win-ners a difficult task. With thatin mind, here are my bestguesses for our two playoffmatchups as we enter theregional quarterfinals of theOHSAA’s football tournament.

Alter at Thurgood MarshallFriday, November 4 at 7:30 p.m.

Dayton Welcome Stadium

This is the matchup I haveactually been hoping for sinceabout week seven. It is a battleof two very different teamswith similar numbers. The 10-0Knights are averaging 30points a game while giving upjust 10 while the Cougars aver-age over 40 on offense and giveup just 11.5. The question hereis does the schedule theCougars’ play compare to thethe Greater Catholic Leagueslate the Knights’ face everyweek. Thurgood Marshall didgive Trotwood fits in week one,but that seems like ages agonow. I think a tested Alterteam has the advantage hereand I think their ability topound the ball at the Cougars’defense will be the difference.Thurgood Marshall will gettheir points, but it won’t beenough. Alter advances, 35-27.

Centerville at MiddletownSaturday, November 5 at 7 p.m.Middletown Barnitz Stadium

This is a perfect example ofwhy you shy away from thecommon opponent theorywhen picking games. TheMiddies survived a late ques-tionable failed 2-point conver-sion in week one to hold offWayne 32-31 while the Elkstook it to the Warriors from theopening kickoff in a 63-35 weekeight victory. It would seemcrazy to use that as an indica-tion of why I might pickCenterville to win this game.Instead, I’m going back awhole year to justify my logic.The Warriors were the eightseed just a season ago, came inwith a similar 7-3 record as theElks and made quick work ofan unbeaten and top-seededMiddies squad 21-0. They didit by running the football,something the Elks are prettydarn good at themselves. If theElks can contain Middletownquarterback Jalin Marshall,which I think they do justenough, I like their chances.I’ll take the upset here asCenterville wins in a nailbiter,28-27.

Let thepostseasonparty begin By DARRELLWACKER

Contributing writer

After a 1-3 start to the sea-son, things were lookingbleak for the Centervillefootball team. With a newquarterback, a young offen-sive unit, and three lossesto traditionally powerfulteams, many wondered ifthe Elks had an answer.After Friday’s 63-7 rolling

of the BeavercreekBeavers, that answer is anemphatic yes. The win,which was Centerville’ssixth straight, earned theElks sole possession of theGreater Western OhioConference (GWOC) centraldivision with a spotless 5-0record, and their overall 7-3record catapulted theminto the eighth and finalspot in the Division I,Region 4 playoffs thisSaturday night.Coming into the game, it

didn’t appear the Elkswould have it quite as easyas they did. The upstartBeavers had perhaps theirbest team in decades and awin would have givenBeavercreek its first everGWOC central title.The Elks made sure to

dash those hopes early.Centerville received the

opening kickoff which wasreturned to their own 47-yard line by Nick Bozzo.With Jimmy Brooks undercenter, the Elks proceded tomarch down field in typicalCenterville fashion whileaided by a 15-yard carry byBrooks into Beavercreekterritory. Facing a third-and-five at the Beaver 23,Brooks got the call andscampered into the endzone for Centerville’s firstscore of the night. JasonKaczala kicked the extrapoint and the Elks led 7-0.Centerville’s defense

forced the Beavers to puntwithout a first down and theElks were given possessionat their own 37-yard linefollowing a punt.Dan McCoy got the first

two carries and ran for 11and 21 yards to gain a pairof first downs into Beaverterritory. The Elks thenbegan a methodical marchaided by a nine yard carryby Janson Matthews. TheElks eventually faced athird-and-goal from theBeavers’ 4-yard line andChris Barr got the call andscored. Kaczala againkicked the extra point andthe Elks led 14-0 with 2;30left in the first quarter.The Beavers were forced

to punt just before the peri-od ended and on the finalplay of the quarter, Bozzogained 16 yards on areverse to the Beavercreek44-yard line. Brooks tookthree straight handoffs tomove to the Beavercreek 24,and McCoy gained sevenyards to get to the Beaver17.On first down Brooks

used a keeper to score from17 yards out to take a 21-0

lead early in the secondquarter.Centerville’s defense con-

tinued to dominate theBeavers who were forced topunt after three plays andwas downed at theCenterville 26.On the first play from

scrimmage, Matthews foundJarrett Briggs open for 14yards out to the 40, and thenBarr and Matthews went for17 and 33 yards respectivelydown to the Beavercreeksix. Matthews then cappedthe drive off with a six yardscore and the Elks held a28-0 lead midway throughthe second quarter.Beavercreek was forced

to punt again and the Elkstook over at their own 35-yard line with 4:33 left inthe half. The Elks needed11 plays to go 65 yards aidedby an 18-yard pass fromBrooks to McCoy beforeMichael Hale got the callfrom a yard out with 24 sec-onds left in the half to givethe Elks an insurmountable35-0 lead at the half.The Elks defense contin-

ued its stellar play in thesecond half, and onBeavercreek’s first posses-sion Davin Flemingstepped in front of a Beaverpass and intercepted it.

Fleming returned the ball45 yards to the Beavercreek13-yard line to set up yetanother Elk touchdown.On the first play,

Matthews gained 12 yardsdown to the Beaver oneyard line, and the Beaverswere hit with an unsports-manlike conduct penalty.Barr got the call a minutelater and scored from ayard out to give the Elks a42-0 lead.The Elks scored again

with 4:56 to play in the thirdperiod on a 54-yard run byBarr to make the score 49-0and then again with 10:47left in the game as NickTomasoski carried for a 34-yard score.The Elks last score came

with 5:07 to play in the gameas the Elks used nine playsto drive 56 yards beforeMcCoy scored from sixyards out to give the Elks a63-0 lead.Beavercreek’s Jake

Jackson scored the onlypoints for the visitors onthe ensuing kickoff as hereceived the ball at theBeavercreek 2-yard lineand returned the kickoff 98yards for the Beavercreekscore. Matthew Ringlekicked the extra point to setthe final score at 63-7.As expected, the Elks

dominated all the statistics,including gaining 28 first

downs while surrenderingjust six. Centerville rushedfor 519 yards compared tojust 86 for the Beavers andgained 32 yards through theair. Centerville held theball for nearly 28 minutescompared to just 20 for theBeavers.Chris Barr led the Elks’

balanced rushing attackwith 113 yards on 13 carrieswhile Matthews had 112yards on 15 carries. McCoyand Brooks both gained 85yards.The Elks will now enter

the playoffs Saturday nightas they travel to the topseed in the region,Middletown. The Middies(9-1) capped off their sec-ond straight stellar seasonwith a 27-14 win overPrinceton Friday night.Middletown’s lone loss thisseason was a 21-13 loss toColerain, although theMiddies did struggle todefeat Wayne after theWarriors were denied acontroversial two-pointconversion in the seasonopener for both teams.Centerville demolishedWayne in week eight andappears to be improvingeach week.Kickoff for the contest

will be at 7 p.m. atMiddletown’s Barnitz stadi-um at Middletown HighSchool.

Elks wrap up GWOC Central titleCenterville rolls 63-7 to secure final playoff spot in division I region 4

Photos courtesy ofwww.burtenshaw.smugmug.com

Centerville senior IfeadiOdenigbo (above) wrapsup a Beavercreek ball car-rier in Friday night’s 63-7victory over the Beavers.Right, senior Dan McCoyruns away from a pair ofBeavercreek defenders.Below, Nick Bozzo tries toelude a tackler during theElks’ Friday night victory.

The Centerville boysand girls cross countryteams have both quali-fied to race in theDivision I Ohio HighSchool AthleticAssociation’s StateCross CountryChampionships inHebron, Ohio nextweek. The Boys teamfinished in fourthplace at the regionalchampionship race inTroy and the girls fin-ished in third.

The Centerville boyswere led by junior JoshSteible who clocked a15:55 for a third placefinish. Senior HenryMurakami was next at16:40, followed by soph-omore Ryan Larkin at16:59.

Senior Payne Ballwas the fourth Elk at17:04 and he was fol-lowed by junior DavidLawler 17:21 for thelast scoring position.Senior Colin Franks(17:35) and freshmanJimmy Barton (17:37)rounded out the teamwith the last two posi-tions.

The girls team wasled by great perform-ances from a trio ofsophomores: MeghanHarris in 13thplacewith a 19:04, MeredithRintoul in 23rd at 19:27and Emily Pantuso in25th place at 19:34.Junior ChristineZavakos was next with19:37, followed by ViolaDeng in the last scoringposition at 19:49.Juniors RachelZavakos (20:00) and CCSalzman (20:15) tookthe last two Elk places.

The State champi-onship meet is beingheld at the NationalTrail Raceway at 2650National Road SW

Hebron, OH 43025. Thegirls Division I race

begins at 12:30 p.m. andthe boys race at 3:00

p.m.. Come out and sup-port the Elks.

6 Centerville-Washington Township Times, Thursday, November 3, 2011

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Contributed photosThe Centerville girls cross country team advanced to state this past weekend. Varsity team members include (left toright) Emily Pantuso, Christine Zavakos, Meredith Rintoul, CC Salzman, Rachel Zavakos, Viola Deng and Meghan Harris.The boys team will join them on Saturday. Varsity boys runners include (left to right) Josh Steible, Jimmy Barton, RyanLarkin, David Lawler, Henry Murakami, Payne Ball and Colin Franks.

Centerville cross country teams head to State

The Centerville Lady Elks suf-fered their third loss of the seasonand was knocked out of the districtsby power-house Ursuline Academyfrom Cincinnati. Ursuline beat theElks in three games, 25-17, 25-16 and25-17.

The Elks were led defensively byJanna Krafka with 27 digs and SydneBenge with nine blocks. On theoffensive end, Allee Johnson putdown 11 kills against the much tallerUrsuline team and Baylee Johnsondished out the ball for 15 assists. TheElks showed a lot of heart and hustleon the floor, but it just wasn’t enoughto overcome their strong opponent.The Elks struggled with their block-ing and couldn’t stop the Ursulineoffense especially in the middle. Inaddition, Centerville had too manyunforced errors.

Centerville coach Chris Connertold his team they had a great seasonthis year by finishing 21-3, winningthe Greater Western OhioConference central division and thesectional tournament while finish-

ing as the district tournament run-ner-up.

The Elks also ended ranked 12thin the state and put up wins over CJ,Alter and Upper Arlington. It is thebest season the Elks volleyball teamhas had in many years.

Congratulations to seniors JannaKrafka, Sydne Benge and SarahBurtenshaw for receiving honors.Krafka earned first team all-confer-ence, district first team and districtplayer of the year. Benge earnedhonorable mention in the confer-ence and second team all-districtwhile Sarah Burtenshaw receivedhonors for second team all-confer-ence and honorable mention all-dis-trict.

In addition, underclassmen, AlleeJohnson earned honorable mentionall-district, Maggie Schutterreceived honorable mention all-dis-trict and Baylee Johnson earned sec-ond team for both conference anddistricts. Congratulations to all theCenterville volleyball athletes andcoaching staff for a great season.

Photo courtesy of www.burtenshaw.smugmug.comThe Centerville Lady Elks volleyball team ended their season with a 21-3 overall record while winning the GWOC central division crown and thesectional tournament. Members of the Lady Elks posing with their dis-trict runner-up trophy are back row (left to right) coach Carrie DeMange,Natalie Quinn, Karlie Roshong, Jen Harrison, Lauren Urbanic, EmilyBastain, Sarah Burtenshaw, Shannon Coffee, Sydne Benge, Christie VanWinkle, coach Chris Conner; front row (left to right) Maggie Schutter,Emmy Mays, Janna Krafka, Allee Johnson, Katie Kirchmer, BayleeJohnson, and manager Hope Creech.

Successful 2011 seasoncloses for Lady Elks

Ohio Galaxies FC will be conduct-ing supplemental tryouts for boysand girls in the U15-U19 age groupswho are interested in playing clubsoccer for the 2011-2012 season.

The tryouts will be conducted atAthletes in Action in Xenia, Ohiobeginning Wednesday, November 2,

2011 for boys and Thursday,November 3, 2011 for girls.

Players interested in trying out forthe Galaxies FC should visitwww.ohiogalaxiesfc.com to registerfor tryouts and to obtain more infor-mation about our high school ageprogram.

Galaxies announce tryout dates