Sports
‘Neers short-rest specialists
North Murray defeats Raiders in JV contest
CHATSWORTH — When you think of Tuesdays, normally the last thing that comes to mind is a high school football game. Yet, at Murray Field, North Murray’s Mountaineers and the Southeast Raiders got together for an early-week junior varsity contest.
It was a short turnaround for both teams. North Murray played last Friday and the Raiders the day before.
The Mountaineers proved the most effective on short rest and handled Southeast, 31-10, by making big plays in all facets of the game — special teams, defense and offense — in front of their home fans.
“We really played with heart,” North Murray coach Larry Cornelius said. “We made some fundamental mistakes in the first half — we had two turnovers and missed a lot of tackles — but the biggest thing is we kept them out of the end zone and put points on the board.”
The Mountaineers (2-1) went into halftime with a 17-3 lead thanks to two 40-yard scoring plays and a field goal. John Olinger scored the first touchdown in the first quarter, blasting through a big hole and running up the middle, cutting to the outside and outrunning the Raiders’ secondary.
In the second quarter, Brady Swilling threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Smith. Swilling, effective with the deep ball throughout the game, was 6-for-11 with 103 yards, one touchdown and an interception.
“We’ve been doing this for a while,” said Swilling, referring to the passing game. “Since spring, actually. We’re getting great blocking right now and I’ve had a lot of time to make a great throw, so it’s been good.”
Mountaineers kicker Izzie Hernandez made both extra point kicks and a 24-yard field goal in the first quarter.
Southeast (1-1) kicker Hernan Garcia kicked a 20-yard field goal in the second quarter.
North Murray opened the second half by recovering an onside kick and using a five-minute drive that was culminated by Justin Pack’s 13-yard touchdown run, stretching the Mountaineers lead to 24-7.
The Raiders got their only touchdown on a 2-yard run by Michael Izaguirre to cut North Murray’s lead to 24-10 after the PAT.
In the fourth quarter, North Murray scored two more touchdowns — the first an 8-yard run from Austin Carter and the second on Swilling’s 17-yard run, which came on the first play after Zach Penland’s interception of Southeast’s Levi Sams.
Despite the lopsided score, Raiders coach David Crane said his team exceeded expectations.
“The positive for us is, No. 1, a lot of kids got to play,” Crane said. “Our JV situation is different from North Murray’s JV situation in the fact that our goal is just to get a lot of kids in there and get them some experience, and we were able to do that. We moved the ball well on them at times offensively, we just didn’t finish off some drives. But I’m pretty pleased with how we moved the ball and executed on some slant routes. That was good.
“Our kids don’t get a ton of work in practice, so it was good to see those guys execute a little better than maybe we had anticipated.”
Varsity volleyball
• Northwest Whitfield split its tri-match at Sequoyah between Cass and Sequoyah, beating the Lady Colonels 25-7, 25-9 and losing to the host Lady Chiefs 25-20, 24-26, 21-25.
The Lady Bruins (13-7, 2-2) were led by Christy Robinson, who finished with 21 kills and a block, Kelsey Kirk, who added 13 kills and two blocks, and Morgan Ridley who contributed four kills and three blocks.
• Southeast lost to Ringgold 27-29, 25-19, 25-21 in its first Region 6-3A match.
The Lady Raiders (8-7, 0-1) were led by Cassey Adams’ 18 digs and eight kills, Casey Crump’s 15 assists and seven digs, Morgan Johnson’s 10 digs and eight kills, Lynsey King’s 12 digs, Hannah Graham’s 11 digs and nine assists and Emelee Oliver’s seven kills.
• Dalton’s Lady Catamounts defeated Rome 25-14, 20-25, 25-5 and lost to Woodland-Bartow 25-21, 20-25, 19-25 in Rome.
• Christian Heritage hung on for a GISA Region 4-2A victory in a best-of-five match at home, beating Atlanta’s Holy Spirit Prep 23-25, 25-14, 23-25, 25-18, 15-10.
Katie Beth White led the Lady Lions (8-1, 4-1) with 13 assists, seven kills and five aces, while Karla Ireta had five blocks to go with a team-best 13 kills and Chelsea Elrod had 11 kills, six aces and three digs. Bailey Correll had a team-best 12 digs, Kathryn Green added eight kills and two aces, Carmen Tejada had six blocks and five digs and Kirsten Greene five digs and four kills.
JV volleyball
• Southeast remained undefeated by beating Ringgold 25-15, 25-18.
The Lady Raiders (5-0) were led by Lindsay Cox’s seven aces, Megan Collins’ five kills and two aces, Serena Ramsey’s four kills and Linda Duarte’s five assists, five digs and four kills.
9th football
• Northwest Whitfield 35, Woodland-Bartow 28: Blake Heard had touchdown runs of 35 and 54 yards for the Bruins (2-0). O’Shea Hill scored on a 40-yard run, Silas Ledford had a 1-yard TD run and Jared Farmer scored from 2 yards out.
Farmer and Alejandro Orozco added two-point conversion runs and William Zamora kicked an extra point.
Farmer was credited with eight tackles and 1 1/2 sacks and Kyle Brock had five tackles and 1 1/2 sacks for the Bruins. Wyatt Miracle had four tackles.
Correction
Murray County’s Lady Indians had two hits by Alley Palmer and Danielle Ensley against Southeast in Monday’s softball game.
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A keen work ethic
Misty Watson/ The Daily Citizen
This is Kolby Keener’s school year — athletically speaking — at Murray County High School: It’s softball in August, but before that season is barely cold in the books, it’s time for basketball. After the hardwood season concludes, it’s off to travel softball, which ends for her in late May.
Continued ...
Then, it’s time for a summer break.
Oh, wait. There’s no time for relaxation.
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