New Albany defeats JHS 5-0 last night
Category: Sports
Tennis team heads into sectional play next week
by Mikail Cetiner
The boys’ tennis season is coming to an end, and that only means one thing — sectional is close.
The Jeff tennis team is really excited and nervous because for most of them, this is their first time playing in a sectional.
According to singles 1 senior William Brunette, “It is very exciting, but also very stressful to play sectionals.”
The tennis team works hard and takes the practice really seriously. “We work on a lot of basic strategies to prepare for sectionals; the main focus is playing with energy and focus and staying present during matches that can often be very intense,” head coach Jerid Inman said.
Even though the practice is hard and intense, many tennis players decide to stay after practice, and one of them is junior Alex Nef.
“I stay after practice to work on my weak points so I can be ready for Sectionals.”
“We have a lot of new varsity players this year,” coach Inman said, “so we need to practice more intensely so the varsity players can learn how to play under a lot of pressure.”
Sectionals also have a side effect for the J.V players, “Sectionals affect J.V really much because we won’t have any matches since sectionals only is for varsity,” junior J.V player Ian Hoyer said.
According to senior J.V player Micah Cabell, “J.V should be taken more seriously because most of them are the future of the varsity team.”
“Even though we have no matches we will still practice and play against each other for next year,” J.V coach Clint Fackler said.
Sectional begins Tuesday, Sept. 30.
Girls’ soccer defeats Columbus East 4-1
All photos by Malachi Conrad.
Cheerleaders earn honors at ‘Fear the Cheer’ competition
by Reese Dobson
Cheerleading is a lot more difficult than it may appear at a regular football or basketball game.
“The hardest part about cheer is probably cheering throughout all the difficulties, like weather conditions, losing, and people being absent,” said sophomore cheerleader Aaliyah Flowers.
Cheer is an all-year-long season. “I don’t think anybody realizes how much we practice. We only get one month off throughout the year, and we practice from April to competing at nationals in February,” senior Kyndal McCartin said.
McCartin said the cheer team practices on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. On weekends, cheerleaders compete in competitions and cheer at sports games.
“Going to nationals with my team and competing the routine we have worked so hard on makes it all worth it,” senior Kenzie Keller stated.
UCA cheer nationals is a cheerleading competition in Orlando, Florida, where teams all over the country come and compete for state titles. Teams have to receive a bid to compete in the competition, Keller explained.
However, cheerleading isn’t always about competitiveness. A big part of cheerleading is team bonding and trust, which cheerleaders need to have for each other.
“I have always enjoyed watching others cheer, and I wanted to give it a try. I enjoy the sportsmanship and friendship on the Jeff team, and it keeps me going,” said freshman Kiela Smith.
Coming to practice with a good attitude is important to get through a hard practice, Flowers explained.
Cheer is sometimes debated as to whether it’s a sport or not. “I think cheer is definitely a sport because we practice, train, and perform. We have a minimum of four practices a week, and we have competitions against other teams,” said freshman Eliza Davis.
The Jeff High cheerleaders attended one of these competitions at New Albany High School last Saturday, Sept. 21. They came out in first place for the timeout routine and first place for the game day routine. The awards ended with the title “Grand Champs” for the overall timeout category.
“I’m glad we won because we practiced hard, and I’m glad all the work paid off,” Keller said.
Red Devils beat North Harrison 3-2 to celebrate Senior Night
Floyd Central beats Jeff 34-12 on Friday; Red Devils prepare for Bloomington North and Homecoming this Friday, Sept. 26
All photos by Magdalene Conrad, Malachi Conrad, Parker McCloskey.
Red Devils face Floyd Central tonight on Senior Night
by Austin Bainbridge
It’s a rivalry week for Jeff football, matching up against a Floyd Central team that has had great success against them in the past, and Jeff is trying to turn the corner on tonight’s game.
“It’s a mental thing for the players, when a team just beats you down year after year you just expect it to keep happening, so I’m hoping we can get this done,” said head coach Joe Washington.
The coaches know this game starts with them, and they want to show the players a way to win.
“This game starts with me. If I’m fiery and excited about the game, I think the players are going to feed off my energy. So I hope me showing how much I care will make the players really want to dominate Floyd,” Washington said.
Even though Jeff hasn’t beat Floyd in 11 years, the players remain confident in their skills.
“I think they’re scared of coming here and losing. When you’re scared of doing something, you come up with excuses to get out of it,” said fullback Jaxx Long.
The Jeffersonville defense made several stands against Kokomo last week, along with a dramatically improved performance at Bedford-North Lawrence.
“Our linebacker play was really good against Kokomo. Malachi Monts had 13 tackles, and KT (senior Kurion Thompson) had nine and an interception. I think that’s what helped with the win,” said Washington
The defense is going to have to step up to stop Floyd’s potent rushing attack, which went for 425 yards last game.
“They played Silver. I mean, it’s not too hard to rush for 400 against Silver Creek. We put in a new defense, we’re going a five-man front this week to try to slow down their running game,” said Washington.
It’s Senior Night tonight, and that is just more motivation for the players.
“I want to play hard and win to give these seniors a good memory before they go off to college,” said Long.
The coaching staff sees where a win could take Jeff, and they want to make it there
“A win against Floyd would start a fire and start this program down a path we want to go,” said Washington
Girls’ soccer Red Devils defeat Charlestown 5-1 Wednesday; will play Columbus East and New Albany next week
Magdalene Conrad.
Girls’ golf team celebrates its seniors on Wednesday
All photos by Magdalene Conrad.
Conrad.
New Washington. Photo by Magdalene Conrad.
JHS defeats Borden 3-2 in tennis, plays Friday at New Albany
All photos by Magdalene Conrad and Malachi Conrad.
JHS defeats Jennings County, falls to Male High School; will play Bedford-North Lawrence this Saturday
by Parker McCloskey
As they prepare to face Southern Indiana rival Bedford-North Lawrence this Saturday, the Jeffersonville Red Devils come off a 7-0 win against Jennings County last weekend, and a tough 3-2 loss against the Male High School Bulldogs on Tuesday night.
The first half of last night’s Male game resulted in no points scored on either team. The second half started out with a goal for Jeff, scored by junior Alan Soloranzo Lopez, then a second goal for Jeff scored by junior halfback Bryan Juarez De La Luz.
“I think the team could’ve been more active; during the second half we could’ve shown more energy and fighting spirit against Male,” said Juarez.
The team is optimistic about Saturday’s game against BNL.
“We’re going to have a good time. This team is different from other Jeff teams in the past; we’re going to learn from our mistakes and hopefully take home a victory against BNL, ” said Juarez.
Jeff still remains in second place in the Hoosier Hills Conference with a 3-1 HHC record and a 8-3-1 overall record. This Saturday the Devils travel to Bedford-North Lawrence to face off against the Stars.
All photos by Parker McCloskey and Malachi Conrad.
Junior Scarlett McRae succeeds in soccer and in wrestling
by Aubrey Cummings
Coming from a family of soccer players, the sport has always been a big part of Scarlett McRae’s life. McRae, a junior at Jeff High, has been playing soccer for almost 10 years now.
“If I had to pick one person that has inspired me the most when it comes to soccer, I would have to say my dad. Not only has he taught me about soccer my whole life, but he is also there after games to give me feedback, good and bad,” said McRae.
In her three years on the Jeff High girls’ soccer team, McRae has had many accomplishments. Her freshman year she was awarded with The Rookie of the Year award. Halfway through her sophomore year she set a record for the most goals scored for the girls´ team and will continue on to add to that record this year.
Earning these accomplishments has put a lot of pressure on McRae to keep being the one of the best. This pressure has taken a toll on her confidence in her abilities. In order to overcome her lack of confidence before games she said, “I pray before games and then just go with the flow, remembering that it’s okay to make mistakes and that I don’t have to be perfect.”
McRae isn’t just a part of the Jeff soccer team, but also the Racing Louisville Academy team. It’s a great opportunity to get her name out there and to be seen by colleges and professional teams.
After high school McRae plans to go to college for sports physiology. She also wants to play for her college team and eventually for a professional team.
“She makes me want to keep getting better so I can improve and beat her but not in a super competitive way but in the way that we both want to make the team the best it can be,” stated Junior Abi Lemon, a teammate of McRae’s on the field and the mat.
Though soccer is her main sport, McRae is also a part of the girls´ wrestling team. She started her freshman year when Sian Rogers, a senior on the soccer and wrestling team, convinced her to give it a try, telling her it would help her at soccer.
After a week of wrestling she decided it wasn’t for her but she still wanted to be involved, deciding to be a manager instead. By doing this she was allowed at the practices and meets. As time passed she realized how much fun her friends were having and decided to rejoin towards the end of that season. That year she made it to Semi-state with her team before ending the season. She then chose to come back the following year to continue to improve.
Wrestling coach Danny Struck described McRae as a driven and dedicated player.
“When given the opportunity Scarlett is always open to improving; she keeps her eye on her goals and does the things that make her and her team better,” he said.
McRae said competing in both sports has helped her compete on the soccer field and on the wrestling mat.
“Soccer allowed for me to have better and quicker foot work in wrestling that most girls didn’t have, and wrestling taught me how to not get pushed off the ball as easily and stand my ground in soccer.”
McRae has been described as a leader in everything she does. She strives to be the best person she can be and to help whoever she can. She looks forward to trying to beat Floyd Central and New Albany, along with helping her teammates score more this soccer season.
Going into wrestling later this year, she wants to win as many matches as she can and make it to state.
“Coming into both seasons I am excited to win,” McRae explained. “Also to help my teammates succeed and to see how far we can go.”
