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By Dennis Dunn, Writer

The IHSAA unveiled their 2024 volleyball sectional pairings on Sunday night, Oct. 6 and all three county schools found out their fate. Located at 1100 N. Eastern School Rd., New Pekin, the Eastern Musketeers will host Class 2A Sectional 46, while the Salem Lions will play at Eastern. West Washington will travel to 1000 Academy Dr., New Albany to play in the Class A Sectional 63 at Christian Academy of Indiana (CAI).

In Class 2A, Eastern is 19-4 and 5-3 in the Mid-Southern Conference, while Salem is 9-18 and 0-7 in the MSC. Eastern is 5-0 against sectional opponents with wins over Salem (2-0, 3-0) twice, Clarksville, Paoli and Mitchell (all 3-0 scores). Salem is 6-3 against sectional foes with two wins over Mitchell (2-0, 3-0), two wins over Crawford County (3-2, 2-0), and wins over Paoli and Clarksville (both 3-0). They lost to Eastern twice and Crawford County (2-0).

In the first match of the Eastern Sectional, Clarksville will battle Mitchell and Paoli will play Salem. Crawford County drew the bye and will play the winner of the Clarksville-Mitchell match, and Eastern drew the other bye and will play the Paoli-Salem winner.

In Class A Sectional 63 at CAI, Borden will open with the host school in the first match, while South Central will play New Washington in the second match. Henryville will play West Washington in match 3 and Lanesville will battle with Rock Creek Academy in match 4.

The Senators were 8-12 this year and 2-3 in the Patoka Lake Athletic Conference. However, they were 1-4 against sectional opponents this year. Their only win was over Henryville (3-1). They lost to Borden twice (2-0, 3-1), CAI (3-2) and Lanesville (3-0).

Class 2A Sectional 46 at Eastern

M1: Clarksville vs. Mitchell (10/17 - 6 p.m.)

M2: Paoli vs. Salem (10/17 - 7:30 p.m.)

M3: Crawford County vs. Winner of M1 (10/19 - 11 a.m.)

M4: Eastern vs. Winner of M2 (10/19 - 12:30 p.m.)

Championship: Winner of M3 vs. Winner of M4 (10/19 - 6 p.m.)

Class A Sectional 63 at Christian Academy of Indiana

M1: Borden vs. CAI (10/15 - 6 p.m.)

M2: South Central vs. New Washington (10/15 - 7 p.m.)

M3: Henryville vs. West Washington (10/17 - 6 p.m.)

M4: Lanesville vs. Rock Creek (10/17 - 7 p.m.)

M5: Winner of M1 vs. Winner of M2 (10/19 - 10 a.m.)

M6: Winner of M3 vs. Winner of M4 (10/19 - 11 a.m.)

Championship: Winner of M5 vs. Winner of M6 (10/19 - 6 p.m.)

By Dennis Dunn, Writer

The IHSAA recently held the tennis sectional pairings on Monday night, September 30 and the Salem and Eastern boys tennis teams found out their fate. The Lions and Musketeers play for county, conference, and now can add sectional bragging rights to their repotoire.

The Lions and Musketeers will battle in the first match of the Floyd Central Sectional on Wednesday, Oct. 2. In the second match on Thursday, Oct. 3 will be the host Floyd Central going against Borden. The Highlanders come into sectional play as the heavy favorites to win their 38th straight sectional title. They have won a total of 40 sectionals. However, five teams have won more than the Highlanders (Munster 50, Columbus North 46, North Central (Indianapolis) 46, Jasper 43 and Homestead 42).

The championship match is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 4.

Sectional 15 at Floyd Central

Wednesday, Oct. 2

M1: Eastern vs. Salem

Thursday, Oct. 3

M2: Floyd Central vs. Borden

Friday, Oct. 4

Championship: M1 winner vs. M2 winner

Seth Ponsford tries to shake a tackle after a catch downfield.

By Josh Lewis, Writer

It was a wet, but not a wild game between Corydon and Salem on Saturday. The game was moved thanks to the stormy weather coming into the area, and both teams squared off in the rain on Saturday afternoon. Both offenses struggled, but Salem struggled just a little more than the Panthers as they fell 10-6.

Head Coach Brian Glesing said he was proud of the effort from his squad despite the loss.

“I liked our fight. We executed the game plan defensively. I was happy with our defense. This is a team averaging a lot of points and we held them to 10. That was pretty good. I liked how we fought. We wanted to control the ball and we did in the second half. We got the ball back and gave ourselves a chance. We just aren’t a team that can line up and throw it like you see in a two minute drill,” said Glesing. “We just aren’t that team.”

After both teams traded punts in the first quarter Corydon finally got some offense going on the ground, converting a fourth and short to keep the drive going. They broke the stalemate early in the second stanza with a 30 yard field goal.

The Lions next drive looked promising after getting a first down with a penalty, but a fumble on their own 40 yard line allowed the Panthers to drive the field with some gashing runs and put in a 1 yard touchdown run to make a 10-0 game with 4:15 left in the half.

In the third quarter the Lions started to get some momentum with a long run from Noah Deaton to get out to the Corydon 46 yard line. But the drive stalled after a holding penalty.

Both teams traded punts again and the Lions again started to move the ball with a mixed ground and air attack. Caris Moore got a big run followed by a catch from Seth Ponsford. The Lions looked like they were about to punch in a score, but a fumble on the snap gave the ball back to Corydon at the two yard line.

After forcing another punt the Lions drive again stalled when they turned the ball over on downs at the Corydon 30 yard line. This time though the defense forced a fumble on the next play. To get the ball back. Two plays later Adam Mull found Deaton down the seam for a 27 yard score. The two point conversion was stuffed and Salem trailed 10-6 with 2:39 left in the game.

The onside kick was recovered by the Panthers but after forcing a quick three and out Salem was able to give themselves a chance, taking over at their own 26 with 1:28 to play. But the Lions offense couldn’t get going and an interception at the 42 yard line ended the game, extending their losing streak to five.

Salem has been short handed and fighting the injury bug the last couple weeks. Glesing remarked that getting those guys back will help them get on the right side of their losing streak.

“We have to get 14 guys healthy. It's tough when you have 50 on the team and 30% of them are out. We have to continue plugging away. When a guy gets hurt you have to switch positions and it can get discombobulated sometimes. We have to get guys healthy and fight," said Glesing.

With so many guys out Glesing said they moved some guys around and he was proud of them for making that sacrifice.

“C.J. Ward went to guard this week from fullback. He made a move for the team. It’s tough to go from being a ball carrier to the offensive line," acknowledged Glesing. "Braxton Dean had to play some running back. That’s tough to do but it’s team stuff with guys caring more about the team.”

Up next for the Lions is a trip to Eastern for a county showdown.

Caris Moore breaks a tackle on a long run.

Noah Deaton gets around the end for a big run.

By Dennis Dunn, Writer

The IHSAA just recently announced the boys and girls soccer sectional pairings on Sunday, September 29. Both of the sectionals will begin the week of Oct. 7-12. The boys will begin 2A Sectional play at Silver Creek while the girls will compete in the Class A Sectional at Providence.

The Lions are 6-7 on the year and are 3-2 against other sectional opponents. They have a 3-2 win over Corydon Central, 6-1 win over North Harrison and a 3-2 win over Scottsburg. Their losses came against Silver Creek and Charlestown.

The Lions will open sectional play against Silver Creek in Match 1. Charlestown and Corydon Central will play Match 2. The winner of Match 1 will play the winner of Match 2. In Match 4, Scottsburg will battle North Harrison.

The Lady Lions are 0-9-1 on the year and are 0-1 against other sectional opponents as they were defeated 2-1 by Trinity Lutheran. They will begin sectional play in Match 3 against Christian Academy of Indiana. In Match 1, Providence will battle Southwestern (Hanover), while Shawe Memorial will play Trinity Lutheran in Match 2.

Austin drew the bye and will play the Providence-SW Hanover winner. In Match 5, the winner of Match 2 will play the winner of Match 3.

Boys

Class 2A Sectional at Silver Creek

M1: Silver Creek vs. Salem

M2: Charlestown vs. Corydon Central

M3: M1 winner vs. M2 winner

M4: Scottsburg vs. North Harrison

Championship: M3 winner vs. M4 winner

Girls

Class A Sectional at Providence

M1: Providence vs. SW Hanover

M2: Shawe Memorial vs. Trinity Lutheran