It will be a tall order for the Columbus North girls soccer team Saturday, but the Bull Dogs have proven in the past that they’ve been up to big challenges.
Class 3A No. 13 North (14-3-2) will face No. 4 (15-1-1) Guerin Catholic, which is ranked No. 1 in the country by MaxPreps.com in the semistate at 3 p.m. Saturday at Lawrenceburg.
The Bull Dogs beat Guerin on penalty kicks in the 2010 state semifinals after the teams ended regulation and overtime tied 1-1. The next year, after soccer went to two classes, North made it back to the final four and took a powerhouse Carmel team to penalty kicks before falling in the semistate final.
This year’s Guerin team might be the best a Bull Dogs team has faced. The Golden Eagles have outscored their opponents 60-2 this season.
“They’re an extremely competitive team, a first-class team all the way around,” North coach Derek Stewart said. “Only giving up two goals all year, especially to the teams they play, says a lot.”
The Bull Dogs and Guerin have played two common opponents. North beat Heritage Christian 3-0 and tied East Central 0-0. The Golden Eagles beat Heritage Christian 7-0 and downed East Central 3-0 in Saturday’s Zionsville Regional final.
On Saturday, North posted 1-0 shutouts against Floyd Central and Bloomington South in the Bloomington South Regional.
“It’s definitely going to be a defensive stand I think on Saturday,” Stewart said. “We’re going to have to have zero errors to compete with Guerin.”
Runners look to advance
Three area boys teams and three local girls cross-country squads will try for top-six finishes in Saturday’s Brown County Semistate that would send them to the Oct. 28 state finals.
Columbus North, Jennings County and Brown County will be in the 20-team boys race at 11:30 a.m. Hauser senior David Seelye will compete as an individual.
No. 23 North and No. 25 Jennings, which went 1-2 in the Brown County Regional, are among six ranked teams in the field, joining No. 9 Bloomington South, No. 11 Bloomington North, No. 13 Tell City and No. 16 Christian Academy of Indiana. Castle and Barr-Reeve could challenge them for state berths.
“I think there’s eight or nine good teams,” North boys coach Danny Fisher said. “We could finish anywhere from second or third to seventh or eighth. All of our training sets up to run well last weekend and this weekend and next weekend. We’re just working on our attitude and our actions with the idea that we still have things to prove and have a chip on our shoulder.”
North, East and Jennings are in the 20-team girls field. Brown County will have three individuals — Emilia Koester, Anna Fleetwood and Emma DeBord.
The Bull Dogs, who won the Brown County Regional, are ranked No. 21. Other top teams include No. 9 Floyd Central, No. 10 Bloomington North, No. 12 Bloomington South and No. 20 Evansville Memorial.
“The girls have done really well (at Brown County) the last two weekends, and I think their goal is kind of to progress,” North girls coach Bethany Scruton said. “We want to score as few amount of points and hopefully have some (personal records).”
Jets ready for regional
The Hauser volleyball team will play a familiar opponent in Saturday’s Morristown Regional semifinals.
The Class A No. 2 Jets (32-4) will play Indianapolis Lutheran (16-18) at around 11:30 a.m. The schools met four consecutive years in the regional from 2012-15, with each team winning twice on their home court.
Earlier this season, Hauser beat the Saints in four sets.
“Indy Lutheran is a good team,” Hauser coach Jeff Case said. “We’ve played them before, and we have a lot of respect for that program. It’s a well-coached team, so I guarantee we have to show up and play well, or it’s not going to be good.”
Clay City (23-4) and Indianapolis Tindley (23-11) will play in the 10 a.m. opener. The winners will meet for the regional championship at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Tindley beat Hauser in five sets in last year’s Loogootee Semistate semifinals.
“We’d like to see Tindley again since they got us last year,” Case said. “But we just hope we’re there to play whoever. At this time of year, if you don’t show up, you’re going home.”
Olympian headed to UIndy
Columbus East senior Dawson Combest announced Tuesday afternoon that he will continue his wrestling career at University of Indianapolis.
Combest is a two-time state qualifier. He went 30-10 and was a semistate qualifier as a freshman before going 40-7 and finishing eighth in the state at 126 pounds as a sophomore and 45-2 and placing third at state at 132 last season.
Combest also was a Junior Academic All-State selection last year.
Lancers pick up a win
Edinburgh picked up its first football victory of the season, but not the way it wanted.
The Lancers have been awarded a forfeit victory against Class A No. 2 Eastern Greene. The Thunderbirds beat Edinburgh 61-16 on Sept. 29, but that was one of three games that previously undefeated Eastern Greene had to forfeit for using an ineligible player.
The win leaves the previously winless Lancers 1-8 going in to Friday’s sectional opener against South Decatur.
