Red Devil wrestlers face off with Charlestown

All photos by Magdalene Conrad and Malachi Conrad. Click on each photo in the gallery below.

Red Devils swim to first-place finish in Jeffersonville High School Co-Ed Swimming Invitational

All photos by Parker McCloskey and Malachi Conrad. Click on the photos in the gallery below.

New Albany defeats JHS 79-56

All photos by Magdalene Conrad, Malachi Conrad, Parker McCloskey and Mackenzie Stubblefield. Click on photos in the gallery below to view images.

Supplies for Food Pantry and Connor’s Closet

by Areli Hernandez

Additional Reporting: Tyler Conley 

Graphic by Daysha Gray.

The food pantry and Connor’s Closet at Jeffersonville High School prioritizes the needs of students and families. As winter break comes to an end, items and clothing are in high demand to help students. 

Those interested in donating supplies for the Food Pantry may turn them in to room A225 or in A204. For more information, contact Michelle Houchin. 

Michelle Houchin: mhouchin@gccschools.com

Graphic by Daysha Gray.

If someone outside the school is interested in donating items for Connor’s Closet, contact Stephanie Soper or Jennifer Mitchell for further information. Students who are interested in donating, may bring their donations to room C125.

ALL clothing must be in new conditions. 

Stephanie Soper: ssoper@gccschools.com

Jennifer Mitchell: jmitchell@gccschools.com

JHS wrestlers defeat Providence during Senior Night on Wednesday

All photos by Malachi Conrad. Click on photos in the gallery below.

Red Devils battle New Albany tonight at 7:30 p.m.

by Austin Bainbridge

The Red Devils enter a hostile environment tonight against an imposing New Albany team after dropping three out of the last four games. 

The environment at New Albany should add to the excitement of the rivalry game.

Head coach Sherron Wilkerson talks to his team in the third quarter of the Lawrence North game on Jan. 3. The Red Devils face New Albany tonight at 7:30. Photo by Malachi Conrad.

“New Albany’s a loud environment that really helps their players along with getting in the opponent’s head,” said sophomore guard Cornelius Weobong.

Red Devil fans are also ready to see Jeff get back to form.

“I don’t think New Albany has the basketball IQ to beat our guys,” said sophomore fan Preston McCombs.

Jeff is looking to get back in the win column by changing their approach.

“I think as a team we need to pick it up in practice and work hard to prepare for this team,” said senior point guard Elijah Cheeks.

The team is also looking for leaders to help get the young team ready to play.

“Me and (Terrence) Nord need need to pick up our leadership in game and practice; we have to get people to give it their all,” said Cheeks

The New Albany team is headlined by stars like sophomore shooting guard Noah Washington, who will be a struggle to stop.

“New Albany is looking dangerous this year — they have some good players, but I still have confidence we can stop them,” said head coach Sherron Wilkerson.

The team is also looking to get out to an early lead and retain it throughout the game.

“We want to come out on fire and not wait until our backs are against the wall to comeback and put up points,” said Cheeks.

Jeff has its own players to watch out for, especially junior Jacob Wilkerson.

“(Jacob) Wilkerson has to keep doing what he’s doing — he’s balling right now; he just has to keep on track,” said Cheeks.

While New Albany seems like an unstoppable team, Jeff sees weaknesses to exploit.

“They don’t play defense and don’t really want to guard the ball; I think with our offense we can take advantage of that and win this game,” said Cheeks.

Graphic by Magdalene Conrad.

Red Devils prepare to face New Albany this Thursday

Lawrence North defeats JHS 71-53 on Jan. 3

All photos by Parker McCloskey and Malachi Conrad. Click on photos in the gallery below.

Silver Creek defeats JHS 64-51

State championship rings handed out prior to last night’s game

All photos by Magdalene Conrad, Malachi Conrad, Parket McCloskey, and Isaiah Stewart. Click on photographs in the gallery below.

Niemi wins Sophomore Class JHS Christmas Shirt Fundraiser

Stephanie Niemi poses with the Christmas candy basket she won as part of the Sophomore Class JHS Christmas shirt fundraiser. The Sophomore Class had a drawing for the gift basket for anyone who purchased a shirt, and Niemi’s name was drawn as the winner. The Sophomore Class thanks everyone who participated. Submitted photo.

Red Devils prepare for Silver Creek tonight

by Austin Bainbridge

The Jeff boys’ basketball team faces one of the top-ranked schools in Indiana, Silver Creek, for their home opener in a big benchmark game tonight in Johnson Arena.

“This is an important game; even though it’s not a rivalry like Floyd or New Albany there is a very good team and a win would be huge,” said sophomore guard Cornelius Weobong.

Silver Creek is looking like one of the best teams in Indiana and is searching for a statement win against Jeff.

“They’re really good at sharing the basketball. They’ve got six guys that could score 20 on any given night. So they do a really good job of moving the ball,” said head coach Sherron Wilkerson.

Graphic by Magdalene Conrad.

Jeff isn’t looking as potent as last year’s state championship team but still sees this as a competitive game.

“Our biggest keys are — Number one, we’ve got to guard for basketball. Number two, we’ve got to rebound. Number three, we have to take care of it, we cannot turn the ball over,” said Wilkerson.

The fans are also looking forward to a competitive game like this early in the season.

“I’m excited to see our guys play at home. I hope that we can come away with a win against a team as good as Silver Creek — that would be a big momentum boost,” said English teacher David Kummer.

To come away with a victory Jeff is going to have to capitalize on opportunities and not give Silver Creek very many.

“We have a lot of time where you get a good cut, get the ball, and then we miss, we give them free possession again… and then on defense we have got to know where we were at and we’ve got to sprint to our spot. We can’t give them easy points,” said Weobong.

Silver Creek is good as a team, but they also have players who shine above the rest.

“Brandon Hunter — he just recently had a game where he had 13 rebounds at the point guard position. When you have a point guard putting up 13 rebounds, that means that he is worthy of being able to get you a triple double, which probably makes him the most dangerous player on the floor,” said Wilkerson.

The Red Devils are looking to overcome some of early year struggles.

“Our mental toughness and our physical toughness is probably our biggest hurdle right now. And I think that once we’re able to correct those two issues, I think then you will start to see us jell into a unit,” said Wilkerson.

This game has been on Jeffs’ calendar for some time and they’ve been preparing.

“We’ve been preparing for Silver Creek since the buzzer went off at Seymour; we’ve been gameplanning and preparing pretty intensely,” said Weobong.

This young Jeff team could put itself on the map with a Silver Creek win, and they’re ready for tonight’s challenge.

“A win would be huge for us because this particular group as a unit has not been through the fire yet. So it would be nice to be able to go through the fire and come out successful. These guys are ready to be recognized,” said Wilkerson.

In addition to tonight’s battle with the Dragons, Jeff players and coaches will be honored with the presentation of their state championship rings from last season.

Kentucky fans react to new football coach

by Sophia Waldridge

After 13 seasons Mark Stoops brought historic stability to Kentucky and led four 10-win campaigns in 2018 and 2021. He also showed the team eight consecutive bowl games and two top-25 finishes. But after too many losing streaks and a 41-0 loss to Louisville on Dec. 1, Kentucky fired him. Will Stein is the new Kentucky coach.

Many Louisville fans are happy because they want real change and challenge. Senior Kaeleb Hayes, who is a die hard Louisville fan, said that Kentucky “needed to do it” and that the team would be “better off without Stoops and the team will get along so much better with the leadership and the stability of Stein.”

But others do not agree with Hayes and think that Stoops should not have been fired. Sophomore Eli Tate, “I think that we will have better prospects but at the same time he was a good coach and I don’t think that this one game should have caused him to be fired.” 

Sophomore Cali Smith agreed with Tate and is also a Kentucky fan; she said that the team will have to come up with new critical thinking skills and “learn to adapt with a new coach with different teaching styles.”

Freshman Harper Gordon also said that the Wildcats will have to adapt and thinks that it was a good thing because “Stoops has been a bad coach for three years and gave us a horrible season.” She said the new coach Stein is better for the team because he will push them harder.

Kentucky fans aren’t too happy, but most of them are rallying for the new coach and can’t wait to see how he trains the team differently and if they’ll get any better under different and new leadership.