SportsSportsB Submit sports news: Contact sports writer Andy Meyer

at andymeyer@npgco.com.W e d n e s d ayOct. 31, 2012

TAMING THE TIGERSSmithville Football: weeK 10 ReCaP

Marty WilliaMs/KCSports.net

Smithville senior Zach Parmenter looks for running room against excelsior Springs on thursday, oct. 25, at tiger Stadium. the warriors rolled in the second half during a 37-14 victory.

Physical approach leads to victory

By Andy Meyer

EXCELSIOR SPRINGS — Smithville senior Zach Par-menter motored toward the end zone, brushing off would-be tacklers as he went.

Finally, he was brought down a few yards short of the end zone. But he and his teammates had already made their point.

This t ime would be different.

Smithville avenged last year’s season ending loss on Thursday, Oct. 25, when the team muscled its way past Excelsior Springs, 37-14, in the first round of the Class 4 District 8 tournament at Tiger Field.

The Warriors only passed the ball once the entire second half, and flew right past a higher-seeded Excel-sior Springs team thanks to a dominant running game and four takeaways in the second half.

Warriors get even against

ExcelsiorEXCELSIOR SPRINGS

— The bitter memories were still there, wait-

ing to be remembered.For Smithville senior Joe

Dominiak, they came flood-ing back when he arrived to Excelsior Springs High School and stepped foot inside the locker room on Thursday, Oct. 25.

The last time he was there, he and his teammates had experienced a shatter-ing, season-ending loss that unceremoniously the season — just one win short of another playoff appearance.

Dominiak wasn’t about to go through the same thing again.

volleyball: ClaSS 3 DiStRiCt 15 touRnament

Spikers come up short in district championshipBy Andy Meyer

KANSAS CITY — There was no doubt that Smith-ville’s volleyball team was ready to take a run at the district title.

The Warriors charged out of the gate and opened up a big lead against St. Pius X in the Class 3 District 15 title

game on Tuesday, Oct 23 and led by as many as eight points in the first game.

But Smithville couldn’t keep up the frenetic pace and eventually fell to Pius — 25-21, 25-18. It marked the third time in four years that Smith-ville’s season came to an end against its bitter rival.

Smithville also lost to Pius in the district title game in

2009, two games to none.Still, Smithville senior Les-

lie Bultmann said she was proud of the entire team for making it back to the district championship for the third time in four years.

“It’s definitely an accom-plishment,” Bultmann said. “Even though it’s our last year, I’m still proud of it.”

Smithville knew it was in

for a challenge against Pius.Not only was Pius ranked

No. 5 in the state entering the contest, but the blue-and-gold Warriors had already knocked off Smithville twice early in the season.

But Smithville wasn’t about to go quietly and burst out to a 9-3 lead in the early going, forcing Pius into a timeout behind a strong serving run

from Amanda Claypool.The Warriors kept things

rolling and built their lead to as many as eight points thanks to some strong hit-ting from the likes of senior Jorden Hylton and Sierra Dominiak.

Smithville coach Leah Wahl watched as her team outplayed Pius for much of the first game, and she said

she was thrilled to see her squad firing on all cylinders in such a big clash.

“The first 20 points, they looked phenomenal. They looked great,” Wahl said. “They were aggressive. They were hitting. They were playing as a team. They look absolutely wonderful.

boyS SoCCeR: leblonD ReCaP

Soccer outslugs LeBlond for title

Benner’s hat trick helps team capture 11th MEC crown

By Andy Meyer

Maybe the numbers shouldn’t be surprising, con-sidering what was at stake.

Combined, Smithville and Bishop LeBlond racked up more than 40 fouls, nine yellow cards and five goals during an extremely physi-cal contest on Tuesday, Oct. 23, at Eagles Stadium.

But in the end, only one number mattered for the Warriors — 11.

Smithville earned its 11th consecutive Midland Empire Conference title thanks to a 4-1 victory against LeBlond in

a battle of state-ranked teams. Down three starters, the War-riors still found a way to break through for three goals in the final 14 minutes and contin-ue its lengthy conference win streak for another year.

Senior Daniel Parker knew how significant the game was for LeBlond, which entered the game undefeated in MEC play and sought to end Smithville’s run of con-ference titles.

Once again, however, it was the Warriors who pre-vailed thanks to Isaac Ben-ner’s hat trick.

“Eleven years in a row is a big deal, I think,” Parker said. “I don’t know anybody else that’s done that before. It’s exceptional.

“It’s a big deal.”

CRoSS CountRy: ClaSS 3 DiStRiCt 8 meet

State championship could be on the line

Girls expected to contend for title

with Ste. GenevieveBy Andy Meyer

All season long, the trio of Brooke Stearns, Shelby Olson and Megan Barrows has quietly gone about its business for Smithville’s cross country team.

The three runners have flown under the radar as the team’s fifth, sixth and seventh runners, but all three of them will be more important than ever on Sat-urday, Nov. 3, during the Class 3 State Cross Country Championships in Jeffer-son City.

While the team’s top runners have received

plenty of attention and accolades — and deserv-edly so — the title chase could come down to some of the team’s less heralded runners. That’s where Stea-rns and Olson, especially, could factor in.

But Stearns, a sopho-more, and the rest of the team remain confident and focused on contending for a state championship going into the meet at Oak Hills Golf Center.

“We’ve been together for so long and we under-stand how everybody runs the race and how every-body thinks,” Stearns said. “We’re just ready. We’ve been trying to stay positive, trying not to stress out, just focusing on that and trying

Matt reid/St. Joseph News-Press

Smithville senior Daniel Parker and the warriors fought off bishop leblond for the program’s 11th consecutive midland empire Conference title last week in St. Joseph.

u See WarriorS Page B2u See Football Page B2

u See State Page B5u See Soccer Page B8

u See Volleyball Page B2

InsIde: Girls cross country team takes care of business at district meet, PaGe B5.

ANDY MEYERE-MAIL: andymeyer@npgco.com

PHONE: 532-4444