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By John Lefforge
The Oakwood Lumberjacks hosted the Brookville Blue Devils at Mack Hummon Stadium on Friday. The Jacks were celebrating Homecoming and attempting to go 6 – 0 for the first time since 1985. The Blue Devils, also 5 – 0, needed the win to move up in the computer rankings and make an SWBL title run.
Under the harvest moon, David Miller line up for the kick off to start the game. The kick was gathered in at the 5. Five missed tackles later, the Blue Devils had the ball on the Oakwood 38. Brookville put together a seven play drive and scored with 8:08 left in the first quarter. The Jacks, trailing 7 – 0, needed to mount a drive. Chris Hardy returned the kick to the 24. AJ Lewis hit Ben Scott with a quick pass for a short gain. Lewis kept the ball and ran for a first down. Hardy took the next hand off and scooted 15 yards to mid-field. A couple of runs for no gain brought up a 3rd and long. Lewis found an open Hardy on the home sideline, but the ball was just out of his reach. Damian Rudy entered the game to punt on 4th and long. Brookville broke through the line, blocked the kick and covered the ball on the Oakwood 30. Two plays later, the Devils scored on a pass play giving the Devils a 14 – 0 lead with 3:32 left in the first quarter. “I confess I’m a little bit nervous about the outcome,” said Oakwood spectator Greg Gannt.
Chris Hardy returned the ensuing kick to the 35. Lewis ran the keeper for 8 yards. Hardy ran for 10 more. Robby Sherk hit the line for 6 yards. Lewis, following a perfect fake, kept the ball and darted to the Brookville 25 as the first quarter came to a close. The Jacks moved the ball to the 10, but the drive stalled. David Miller drilled a 29 yard field goal and the Jacks trailed 14 – 3 with 9:17 left in the half. The teams each put drives together, but were unable to put points on the board before the end of the first half. The Blue Devils drives were stopped by the stellar Oakwood defense. JT Allen and Joe Lefforge each picked off passes and the defensive line play of Barrett Dody, Brian Beck, Jonathan Shine and Matt Money put pressure on the Blue Devils running game.
Following a halftime show featuring the Homecoming Court, the teams came out for the second half. Lefforge returned the kick off to the Oakwood 30. Lewis ran the keeper for 10 yards. Hardy, behind blocks by Tommy Lambert and Money, broke loose for 66 yards to the Brookville 2. Sherk pummeled a would be tackler on the play, giving Hardy the lane. Hardy followed Beck’s block to paydirt on the next play. Miller booted the extra point and Oakwood closed the gap to 14 – 10. Brookville returned the kick to their 37. The Devils mounted a 6 play drive and scored again, seemingly dashing the Lumberjack’s hopes with a 21 – 10 lead.
Hardy fielded the kick in the end zone and the ball was placed at the 20. The Lumberjacks flexed their muscles as though they expected to win. A pass to Sherk started the drive. Then the running of Lewis and Hardy drove the ball to the Brookville 4. Hardy crashed the line and scored again. Millers kick split the uprights and with 1:37 left 3rd quarter, Oakwood chopped the lead to 21 – 17.
Miller’s kick was returned to the 25. The Jacks forced a 3rd and long situation. Brookville’s QB escaped pressure and ran the ball into Jack territory as the 3rd quarter ended. Ben Scott came up big on the next play. Scott, from the safety position, intercepted a pass and fell out of bounds on the Oakwood 4. Hardy drove the ball to the 22, giving the Jacks some breathing room. Lewis found Sherk with a quick screen pass. He turned the short pass into a 73 yard gain. Film showed he scored, but the ball was placed at the one. Hardy, lowered his shoulder and ran over a Blue Devil defender for the score. Miller’s kick was good and with 7:37 left in the contest, the Jacks had their first lead.
Brookville covered the squib kick on their 35. The Blue Devils mixed it up and drove the ball to the Oakwood 17. A counter for 2 yards was followed by a dive play for no gain. JT Allen and Brian Beck made the big hits, bringing up a 3rd and 8 from the 15. Money showed his 4 inch vertical and knocked down a pass to bring up 4th and long. Brookville, needing just a 32 yard field goal to take the game into overtime, opted to go for it. The Devils ran the same play they had run 4 times earlier. The Jacks were ready. Lefforge read the play and knocked the pass away from the Devil receiver. Oakwood took over on downs at their 15. The Jacks killed the clock and earned a 24 – 21 victory. The Oakwood offensive line dominated their opponent again in the 4th quarter. Beck, Lambert, Lefforge, Money and Greg Ambrose opened holes and controlled the line of scrimmage. Justin Macaulay and Barrett Doty added quality blocking when the Jacks used the T formation. Will Garner, John Whalen and Scott Feldmiller blocked well from the receiver positions.
The Jacks meet Waynesville next Friday. The Spartans are 4 – 2 following a 27 – 26 win over Dixie. GO JACKS!!
Zach Hood and Simon Gifford against Bellbrook.
On Sept. 25, the Soccer Jacks went to Milton Union to face the Bulldogs. The game was marked by total Jacks’ domination, and a goal came at six minutes with Phillip Wille finding Andrew Morris who netted the ball. Kyle Kissock had two close shots, both of which sailed over the bar. Tristan Schnader had a blast from 30 yards which hit the bar and went over. Then at 16 minutes, a play from the mid field from Schnader to Zach Hood found Addison Wille who was coming across the box; Wille shot on the ground to the far corner netting for a 2-0 lead. Oakwood seemed to have possession over 90 percent when Addison Wille found Phillip Wille, who buried the ball at 15 yards into the upper netting at the near post. In the dying moments of the first half, a 40 yard free kick from Brian Telek found Addison Wille’s head on goal. This was saved by the Milton keeper. The second half began with Addison Wille rattling the post on a hard shot. The rebound fell to Schnader who netted the ball from 10 yards, but this was deemed off-sides.
Further combinations continued in midfield, but lightning struck and the game was stopped and then ended for weather. However, the Jacks officially got the 3-0 win. Oakwood had out shot Milton 31-6. Scott Harman had 2 saves.
On Sept. 27, the Bellbrook Eagles came to Oakwood. Earlier in the afternoon the junior varsity Jacks had beaten the Bellbrook JV for the first time in many years; former coach Todd Duwell said it had been 12 years since he personally remembered such a win.
Early on, Oakwood found itself defending with header balls from Telek and John Harman. But at 7 minutes a Jack defender slipped in the box, allowing Bellbrook to score at Oakwood’s six yard box after receiving a long pass. At 13 minutes, Philip Wille was vertically upended 25 yards from the Bellbrook goal line. The free kick from Schnader curled around the wall and missed the left post by a yard. Moments later, Simon Gifford took a vicious blast from 25 yards which also missed the left post by a yard. Several dangerous Bellbrook plays and throws were disrupted by keeper Harman, who snagged balls out of the air, preventing Eagle offensives. Defensively, John Harman totally shut down Bellbrook star Matt Bly, not allowing him to drive anywhere with the ball and frequently stealing it. Kyle Kissock also did extremely well against Bellbrook’s other star, Garrigan, shutting him down whenever Kissock was on the field. Graham Roberts displayed strong and physical play on the wing. In the second half, however, Garrigan from Bellbrook, counterattacked down the left wing, juking Oakwood’s defense to score at the far post, past a stranded Scott Harman, for a final score-line of 2-0 Bellbrook. In the last 20 minutes, Oakwood possessed 65-70 percent, but to no avail as they could not net the ball. One play saw Schnader pass to Phil Wille who found Addison Wille, who chested the ball and volleyed it hard from within the box, but there was no score.
Bellbrook outshot Oakwood 19-15, and Scott Harman had six saves and numerous snatches from the air. In the experience of this writer, the referees for this game were the best to visit Mack Hummon field in the past three years.
The rock band Three Dog Night said in song that “one is the loneliest number”, and that certainly rang true for the Oakwood girls soccer team last week. The Jills played just one lone game at archrival Bellbrook, and lost that game by a score of one to nothing, Bellbrook’s lone goal coming on a penalty kick eleven minutes into the first half. The Jills had opportunities to score in the first half, but were unable to convert. At the seventeen minute mark, an Olivia Reasoner corner kick came out of a pack and off the crossbar. Two minutes later Sarah Shewell cleared the ball to a charging Brooke Klopsch who battled a Lady Eagle one on one down the field and managed to get a strong shot on goal, only to see a fine save by the Bellbrook keeper. At the 11 o’clock mark Hayley Ward got off a nice crossing shot from the right wing, but the Eagle goalie was there again.
The Jills came out strong in the second half, controlling the action for the first twenty minutes, narrowly missing several chances. Senior Emily Steiner’s crossing shot went just wide. A minute later Brooke Klopsch hit Liz Daganhardt with a
nice pass, but Liz’s shot glanced off the hands of the keeper and out of bounds. Klopsch then headed a Reasoner corner kick goalward, but the shot sailed high. The second twenty minutes of the half, however, belonged to Bellbrook, as Oakwood’s thin ranks (three starters still out with injury) seemed to catch up to them. Another strong effort by the Oakwood defense kept Bellbrook out of the goal, though, as stopper Hayley Ward, defenders Rachel Warwar, Taylor Garrity, and Erin Riley, and sweeper Rachel Huber were all solid. Bellbrook had seven shots on goal for the game. Oakwood goalkeeper Lauren Luther had six saves, the penalty kick being the lone score in the game. The Jills are a bit busier this week. Fairmont visited Mack Hummon Stadium last night, Oakwood travels to Franklin tonight, and the Jills return home Thursday to host Valley View. Last Tuesday’s home game with Milton Union was postponed due to weather, and has been rescheduled for Thursday night, Oct. 11, at 6:30 p.m.
After winning three games in a row, the Oakwood Junior Varsity Boys Soccer team were unable to overcome a very tough Bellbrook Eagle Junior Varsity Team on Sept 11. After that loss, however, the Jacks went on a scoring spree in their next five games culminating in a revenge, 2 – 1 victory over the Eagles at their home field. During the run of games, the team outscored their opponents 24 – 1 and recorded 4 consecutive shutouts. Sophomore Tri-Captain Tino Weckerling scored in each game – including two consecutive hat tricks in games against Brookville and Waynesville.
In the first game during this stretch, Freshman David Shephard had his first junior varsity goal of the season in a 4 – 0 victory over Franklin. Sophomores Peter Schwiezer, Tyler Henry-Payne also scored their first goals of the season, and Tino Weckerling notched his seventh goal.
The Jacks exploded in their next game, scoring eight goals against Brookville at Mark Hummon Field. In addition to the goals by Weckerling, Sophomore Graham Roberts added two goals, Sophomore Marcel Georgin converted a free kick from right outside the box and Shephard scored his second junior varsity goal. Sophomore Tri-Captain Tim Fecher finished the scoring with his first goal of the season.
The team then traveled to Waynesville and fell one-goal short of their result against Brookville, dominating the opposition by a 7 – 0 score. Goal scorers included Sophomores Hunter Anstadt and Troy Gould with their first goals of the season. Schwiezer, playing the last few minutes of the game in goal, preserved the shut-out with a nice save at the end of the game.
While the score was closer in their next contest, the Lumberjacks continued their winning ways with a 3 – 0 victory over the Milton Union Bulldogs. Weckerling continued his scoring streak and Fecher added his second goal of the season off a nice corner kick. Junior Michael Chapman notched his first goal of the season off an assist by Junior Tri-Captain Jake Basnett. Freshman Keeper Ryan McFarland recorded his fourth consecutive shutout, his sixth of the season.
The next game was against Bellbrook, and the team wanted to avenge their earlier loss. Weckerling scored the first goal of the season midway through the first half to put the Lumberjacks up 1 – 0. The scored remained the same at the end of the half with McFarland making several saves. Despite an early goal by the Eagles in the second half to tie the game, Sophomore Tristan Anstadt returned to his scoring ways to put away the game winning goal. For the first time in several seasons, the Boys Junior Varsity players were able to turn away all efforts by the Eagles to score and recorded their fifth consecutive victory.
The team’s record now stands at 8–3–1 and they have outscored their opponents 32 – 6 through this point in the season.
The Oakwood Jills varsity volleyball team completed a very positive week. Tuesday, the Jills hosted Milton-Union, who earlier this season defeated the Jills in a very close five-game match. The Jills got off to a slow start in this match, losing game one. From that point on, this match belonged to the Jills. With arguably their best team play of this season, the Jills took control of the match in game two and never let go - winning the match three games to one. Every team member contributed to this victory by playing / supporting every point with enthusiasm and focus. A well deserved victory!
On Thursday, Bellbrook hosted the Jills for a “Volley For The Cure” match. In 2006, the Sycamore and Loveland volleyball teams collaborated to convert a regular season varsity match into a breast cancer awareness event. This year all 800 teams in Ohio have been challenged to play one match dedicated to promoting breast cancer education, awareness and fundraising.
In this match, the Jills came out on the short end of the score, losing three games to zero to a very strong Bellbrook team (undefeated in SWBL league play). However, the big winner was Breast Cancer Awareness. Thanks to the efforts of numerous volunteers and sponsors, the approximately 750 fans in attendance contributed over $5,000 for breast cancer research. More information about this cause can be found at http://www.ohsvca.org/volleyforcure/index.php
The junior varsity Jills continued their winning ways with two games to one wins against both Milton-Union and Bellbrook.
On Tuesday, Oct. 2 the Jills travel to Franklin, and on Thursday, Oct. 4 the Jills host Valley View. JV matches start at 5:30 p.m. followed by the varsity matches at 7 p.m.
By H.W. Sizek
On a cool and clear morning at Indian Ripple Park in Kettering, the Oakwood Cross Country Teams had impressive runs in both the boys and girls races.
The Jills finish first in an eight team field, edging out Richfield Revere by just three points. Julia Sizek took top honors for the Jills finishing first overall. Elizabeth Connelly crossed the finish line shortly after in fourth place. Hilary Beyer finished in tenth place. Natalie Denka and Sarah Deitz finished together in twenty-second and twenty-third. Alex Conniff also finished for the Jills.
The Girls Reserve Race included over 300 Division I and Division II/III runners from nineteen schools. The Oakwood Reserve Girls brought home the hardware finishing first of the Division II/III schools. The Jills were led by Shannon Hallinan (50th) and Rachel Conniff (60th). Hannah McCarthy, Autumn Bruno, and Taylor Shade scored for the Jills. Ginny Beth Fulford and Alexandra Harmony also completed the course.
The Jacks were led by Peter Hix who finished first overall, crossing the finish line twelve seconds ahead of the second place runner. John Taylor finished fourth and Chris Wolcott twenty-third. Marc Skill (29th) and Tory Tomlinson (31st) rounded out the scoring for Oakwood. Freshmen Joey Neff and Philip Sizek also finished the 5K course. The boys finished second overall in the ten team meet.
In the Boys Reserve run, the top finisher from Oakwood was Gabe Svobodny who finished fifty-fifth. Andy Lamb, Keith Mueller, Noah Berry and Will Reese were the other scorers for the Jacks. Ethan Kissock and Evan Duffley also completed the course with four hundred and sixty other runners from twenty-one teams.
The Oakwood JH Field Hockey team continues to roll up the wins with two trips last week to Cincinnati. The first game was a win versus league opponent Summit. Hannah French (assist from Peanut Johnson), Emily Skill, and Anna Johnsen all scored in the first half which put the Jills ahead 3-0 at the break. The second half continued the onslaught with Katie Taylor (assist Maddie Maney), Nicole Maher (assist Mary Oda), Mary Oda (assist from Maney), and Datja Molinaro (assist French) all scoring for a 7-0 shutout win.
The second game of the week was a challenge as Oakwood met St. Agatha on the field at the Summit play day. The scoring started with Hannah French getting the score unassisted in the first half. Sarah Zabarnick scored with a shot from the top of the circle in the second half to secure the 2-0 win. The Jills remain undefeated for the season with 10 wins. This week Oakwood wraps up league play visiting VanBuren, hosting KMS and then playing the tournament on Saturday at KMS.
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