The Daily Press Pass: Eventful 2018 comes to a close
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Before we really get into things, a sincere thank-you goes out to all the readers of the sports pages of The Highland County Press. Also, thank you to all the athletes, coaches and athletic directors for your play on the court and all the help given to me through any given year.
As 2018 closes out and 2019 enters, there is a lot to look forward to as the winter sports season rolls into the 2019 calendar year. The Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs are 9-0 following the completion of the 2018 portion of their schedule. They won in convincing fashion Saturday afternoon by defeating the Huntington Lady Huntsmen, 68-37.
This season, Lynchburg-Clay is averaging 63.1 points per game and allowing 35.4 ppg. In SHAC play this year through six games, the Lady Mustangs are averaging 65.1 ppg and allowing 35 ppg. Granted, there are still many games left on the schedule, but so far the Lady Mustangs are playing some excellent team basketball, which will be really useful as the season continues as there are still some strong conference games remaining on the schedule.
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The top two leading scorers for LCHS this season are senior Peyton Scott, who is averaging 25.2 ppg after nine games, and Zoe Fittro is averaging 16.4 ppg this season as these two players are also the top two scorers in Highland County this season as well for girls basketball.
The Lady Mustangs have been the best girls team I’ve watched all season, not only because of all their wins, but just how the Whitney Lewis-coached team plays the game of basketball as a team. They play crisp offense, and the defense they’ve played this season has been outstanding to watch as they force teams into mistakes and teams really don’t score a lot of points against them.
One of LC’s players on defense who has played excellent this season has been Logan Binkley, as she has 62 total rebounds after the first nine games played this season, including a team-high 39 offensive rebounds to lead the Lady Mustangs. Those offensive rebounds have led to 39 second chances for the offense, which is important to any team, especially one playing at a high level.
• Looking at the boys side of the basketball season, the Frontier Athletic Conference and Southern Hills Athletic Conference titles are up for grabs. With the 2018 part of the schedule in the books, the 2019 part of the schedule should be very interesting and exciting, though games this upcoming week will be non-conference contests.
One of the boys games I’m looking forward to seeing this upcoming week will be next Saturday night when the McClain Tigers host the Fairfield Lions. Both teams have had interesting seasons. The Tigers have already surpassed their wins total from a season ago, even coming off a win over Adena this past Friday night by a 62-56 score in a highly contested non-conference game. McClain is an improved team from a year ago, and watching players like Devin Carter, Dalton Mischal and others take the next step in their season has been and will continue to be exciting. For McClain, their top two scorers after their first nine games are Carter with 15.9 ppg and Mischal at 12.6 ppg.
For the Fairfield Lions, what is enjoyable to watch about them is their balanced scoring because when you watch them you never know which player will be the team leader in the scoring column. Following the game on Friday, the Lions had three players in Sam Buddelmeyer (14.5), Bryson Simmons (12.9) and Wyatt Willey (13.7) all averaging double-figure scoring, and another player in James Bentley (9.0) right on the brink of that double-figure scoring as well.
We’ll talk more about this matchup later in the week, but this matchup is something to think about at the start of the week as this game is played at McClain High School Saturday evening, with the game being scheduled to start around 6 p.m.
• On Saturday, the McClain wrestling team held their annual invitational at the McClain Gym, and they deserve two thumbs up for having a quality wrestling event with 13 teams participating. From the part I watched, it was a well-run event that went off smoothly. The Tigers finished third overall in the event with only the nine-time Kentucky state champion Campbell County team and Greenon finishing ahead of them in the standings. The Tigers had two first-place finishers as well in Lucas Jansen (120) and Kade Rawlins (220). Congratulations to both sophomore wrestlers for their achievement.
• FINAL THOUGHTS OF 2018
What an exciting year of high school athletics we’ve had in the area. Just for Highland County alone, there was the Whiteoak baseball team reaching the Division IV State Semifinals and the Hillsboro Indians football team tied for the FAC championship, their first conference title since 1998. Hillsboro also qualified for the football playoffs in Division III for the first time since 2005.
With those two teams alone, we saw WHS baseball coach Chris Veidt selected as the 2018 NHSBCA Region 4 Coach of the Year, and for Jack O’Rourke of Hillsboro, he was the OPSWA Division III State Coach of the Year in football. Both of those coaches were very well-deserving of those coaching honors.
As this week continues, we’ll take a look back at 2018 and see which moments stood out the most. Congratulations to everyone who achieved success in athletics this past year, and have a safe and happy new year. See you in 2019!
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press. He can be reached at sforsha@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @HCPSportsEditor.
As 2018 closes out and 2019 enters, there is a lot to look forward to as the winter sports season rolls into the 2019 calendar year. The Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs are 9-0 following the completion of the 2018 portion of their schedule. They won in convincing fashion Saturday afternoon by defeating the Huntington Lady Huntsmen, 68-37.
This season, Lynchburg-Clay is averaging 63.1 points per game and allowing 35.4 ppg. In SHAC play this year through six games, the Lady Mustangs are averaging 65.1 ppg and allowing 35 ppg. Granted, there are still many games left on the schedule, but so far the Lady Mustangs are playing some excellent team basketball, which will be really useful as the season continues as there are still some strong conference games remaining on the schedule.
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The top two leading scorers for LCHS this season are senior Peyton Scott, who is averaging 25.2 ppg after nine games, and Zoe Fittro is averaging 16.4 ppg this season as these two players are also the top two scorers in Highland County this season as well for girls basketball.
The Lady Mustangs have been the best girls team I’ve watched all season, not only because of all their wins, but just how the Whitney Lewis-coached team plays the game of basketball as a team. They play crisp offense, and the defense they’ve played this season has been outstanding to watch as they force teams into mistakes and teams really don’t score a lot of points against them.
One of LC’s players on defense who has played excellent this season has been Logan Binkley, as she has 62 total rebounds after the first nine games played this season, including a team-high 39 offensive rebounds to lead the Lady Mustangs. Those offensive rebounds have led to 39 second chances for the offense, which is important to any team, especially one playing at a high level.
• Looking at the boys side of the basketball season, the Frontier Athletic Conference and Southern Hills Athletic Conference titles are up for grabs. With the 2018 part of the schedule in the books, the 2019 part of the schedule should be very interesting and exciting, though games this upcoming week will be non-conference contests.
One of the boys games I’m looking forward to seeing this upcoming week will be next Saturday night when the McClain Tigers host the Fairfield Lions. Both teams have had interesting seasons. The Tigers have already surpassed their wins total from a season ago, even coming off a win over Adena this past Friday night by a 62-56 score in a highly contested non-conference game. McClain is an improved team from a year ago, and watching players like Devin Carter, Dalton Mischal and others take the next step in their season has been and will continue to be exciting. For McClain, their top two scorers after their first nine games are Carter with 15.9 ppg and Mischal at 12.6 ppg.
For the Fairfield Lions, what is enjoyable to watch about them is their balanced scoring because when you watch them you never know which player will be the team leader in the scoring column. Following the game on Friday, the Lions had three players in Sam Buddelmeyer (14.5), Bryson Simmons (12.9) and Wyatt Willey (13.7) all averaging double-figure scoring, and another player in James Bentley (9.0) right on the brink of that double-figure scoring as well.
We’ll talk more about this matchup later in the week, but this matchup is something to think about at the start of the week as this game is played at McClain High School Saturday evening, with the game being scheduled to start around 6 p.m.
• On Saturday, the McClain wrestling team held their annual invitational at the McClain Gym, and they deserve two thumbs up for having a quality wrestling event with 13 teams participating. From the part I watched, it was a well-run event that went off smoothly. The Tigers finished third overall in the event with only the nine-time Kentucky state champion Campbell County team and Greenon finishing ahead of them in the standings. The Tigers had two first-place finishers as well in Lucas Jansen (120) and Kade Rawlins (220). Congratulations to both sophomore wrestlers for their achievement.
• FINAL THOUGHTS OF 2018
What an exciting year of high school athletics we’ve had in the area. Just for Highland County alone, there was the Whiteoak baseball team reaching the Division IV State Semifinals and the Hillsboro Indians football team tied for the FAC championship, their first conference title since 1998. Hillsboro also qualified for the football playoffs in Division III for the first time since 2005.
With those two teams alone, we saw WHS baseball coach Chris Veidt selected as the 2018 NHSBCA Region 4 Coach of the Year, and for Jack O’Rourke of Hillsboro, he was the OPSWA Division III State Coach of the Year in football. Both of those coaches were very well-deserving of those coaching honors.
As this week continues, we’ll take a look back at 2018 and see which moments stood out the most. Congratulations to everyone who achieved success in athletics this past year, and have a safe and happy new year. See you in 2019!
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press. He can be reached at sforsha@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @HCPSportsEditor.