Preseason Celtic Wrestling

O'HARA TO BEGIN WRESTLING SEASON WITH A DOZEN Twelve potential wrestlers will start off the Archbishop O'Hara High School season with two seniors and three freshmen in the mix. Depending on whether the athletes can maintain their weight classes, the team could lessen the number of open weights this year. The two seniors are Zach Taylor at 160 and Trevor Gudde at 171. The three freshmen that will begin their high school experience are Chase Scott and Jake Fortin both at 112 and Blake Hughes at 145. Returning from taking second in State at 103 last year is junior Travis Peter who will be wrestling at 130 this year. Louis Golden is the only other junior at 189. The remaining five are sophomores. They consist of Dan Adams at 103, Josh Bonello at 119, Sam Janet at 152, Matt McInerny at 135, and Dontae Obie at 215.

Preseason Celtic Boys Basketball

O'HARA BASKETBALL IS YOUNG AND TALENTED Led by two seniors and a nucleus of talented juniors, the Archbishop O'Hara High School basketball team is getting ready for their opening game with Pembroke Hill on December 5th. Joe Pepple and Trevor Krasowsky are the only two players returning for their fourth and final year on the O'Hara team. Great expectations are anticipated from juniors TJ White, Mark Braden, Aaron Stubblefield, Dominique Fields, and tall Tyler Houser. Others from the junior class that will be challenging for playing time are Keenen Wilkins-Hemphill, Larkin Garrison, Emanuel Moore, and Ronnie Miller. Seven sophomores will display their talents in JV games and occasionally pop up in varsity games. They are Jevon Lyle, Josh Rupprecht, Kenton Echterling, Andre Jordan, Lowell Thomas, DJ Jackson, and Bryce Foster. Suiting up for JV or varsity play are freshmen Daniel Hurtt and Rayshawn McDonald. The Celtics bring a lot of experience from last year when they came in second in District play, nearly won the William Jewell Classic, and won the West Central Conference Championship with an 8-2 record. The Celtics were 17-7 for their regular season.

FORMER O'HARA BASKETBALL PLAYER LEADS HIS TEAM WITH 31 POINTS

Marcus Walker leads Colorado State over Northern Colorado 85-74 O’HARA ALUMNUS IN PLAYING FOR COLORADO STATE WAS WRITTEN UP WITH THE FOLLOWING REPORT: A worn-out Marcus Walker struggled to the sidelines with 5:19 left in the game. Having to play every second to that juncture had taken its toll on the Colorado State guard. But after a two-minute breather, Walker returned and took over the game. Walker had a 3-pointer and key steal in the last two minutes and scored 31 points to lead Colorado State to an 85-74 victory over Northern Colorado Tuesday night. "Any time you play 30-plus minutes, I don't care who you are, you are going to be tired" said Walker, who played all but two minutes of the game. "Just knowing that you're going to hit a brick wall, and that if I could get over the hump, pushed me through in the end." Walker was 9-for-18 shooting and added three assists, three rebounds and three steals. "Marcus started 3-for-12, but made his last shots," Colorado State coach Tim Miles said. "Pretty salty numbers for a guard at the end of the game and playing the point, which he's not accustomed to doing." Walker was forced to move to point guard when starter Willis Gardner sprained his left ankle in the first half and never returned. The win avenged a 72-59 loss for the Rams last year in Greeley. "I can't talk enough about our defensive effort," Northern Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. "We had no answers for Marcus Walker.. Walker's short jumper gave the Rams the lead, 54-53, and two free throws with 5:48 left completed a 15-4 run that put them ahead 67-57. Walker went gasping to the bench with 5:19 remaining and returned two minutes later to watch Northern Colorado storm back to get within 74-70 on a basket and free throw with 2:03 left. Walker followed with a 3-pointer. And after two free throws by Will Figures made it 77-72, Walker stole an errant pass and converted it into a layup with 43.6 seconds to go. The layup made it 79-72. "I'm just out there playing for my life," Walker said. "This is my last year, and I don't have any time to take off."

JOSH SNOW #1 RATING

Josh Snow scored a 1 rating (that’s the highest) at the State competition of the Missouri Music Teachers Association, held at Washington University in St. Louis. Josh played Beethoven’s Opus 10 Sonata #2 and Muczynski’s Preludes #4 and #6.

Swimmers Take Third at WCC Meet

FOUR O'HARA SWIMMERS EARN THIRD PLACE AT WCC MEET The O'Hara swimmers consisting of only four members took third place in the West Central Conference Meet at Sedalia Nov. 8 with 84 team points. Spencer Noyes won a big upset taking second place in the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 1:01.58. He was seeded fourth. Gabriel Pozos added eighth place points in the same event with a personal best time of 1:44.44. In the 50 yard freestyle, Spencer Noyes took fourth place with a time of 27.42. In the same event, Patrick Kelly took eighth place with a personal best time of 31.91, A.J. McCracken finished ninth at 33.71 (also a personal best), and Gabriel Pozos finished 10th at 44.50, each scoring points. In the 100 yard breaststroke, both Patrick Kelly and A.J. McCracken swam personal best times. Patrick took fifth place at 1:34.60, missing fourth place by two-tenths of a second. A.J. took sixth place at 1:35.04. In the 200 yard freestyle relay, the team of Patrick Kelly, A.J. McCracken, Gabriel Pozos and Spencer Noyes also put up their best time of the year, finishing in fourth place with a time of 2:16.31. On Nov. 5 and 6 at the Independent League Championships Small School Division Meet at Kansas City Central High School, Spencer Noyes and the 200 yard freestyle relay team all won medals. The relay team of Patrick Kelly, A.J. McCracken, Gabriel Pozos and Spencer Noyes finished third with a then-season best time of 2:17.46. It marked the first time the relay team had broken 2:20. In the 100 yard freestyle, Spencer Noyes took the sixth-place medal in extremely tough competition featuring some swimmers who had already qualified for the State Championships. Spencer put up his personal best time of 1:01.12. In preliminary competition on Nov. 5, the relay team finished third out of five teams to qualify for the finals with a time of 2:21.75. Spencer Noyes qualified for the finals in the 100 yard freestyle by finishing seventh out of 23 swimmers with a time of 1:01.86. In the same event but not reaching the finals, Gabriel Pozos had a time of 1:48.86. Not making the finals but still competing strongly, Spencer Noyes had a personal best time of 26.62 in the 50 yard freestyle, an event that featured three State Championship qualifiers. Patrick Kelly had a then-personal best time of 32.41, and A.J. McCracken had a time of 36.18, also a personal best at that time. Finally in the 100-yard breaststroke preliminaries, both Patrick Kelly and A.J. McCracken swam personal best times to date. A.J. swam a time of 1:35.05, and Patrick swam 1:37.63. It was the first time both swimmers had broken 1:40, but neither qualified for the finals.

VOLLEYBALL STATE CHAMPS AGAIN

The Celtics defeated Logan-Rogersville by two 25-19 scores to claim their second consecutive State Championship and their fifth State Title in the last seven years. In winning the Class 3 Championship. the Celtics were led on offense with 18 kills by Tori Hurtt and 15 by Michala Boehm, both of whom are sophomores. Another sophomore on the team, Lindsey Hanaway chipped in 34 assists as the team's setter. Junior Katie Huber had a passing efficiency rating of 98%. Tori Hurtt and Michala Boehm made the First Team All State while Lindsey Hanaway and Katie Huber were named to the Second Team. The Celtics' record for the year was 33-4-5.

O'Hara defeated Logan-Rogersville 25-19 and 25-19 on Saturday, November 8th to defend their State Championship in Class 3. The team of Tori Hurtt, Michala Boehm, Lindsey Hanaway, Jennifer Wulff, Maddie Rembold, Jordyn Wyatt, Janell Jordan, Katie Huber, and Emily Tyler were coached by Lori Hanaway. In both games the Celtics had a run of five and four consecutive points. In game #1, following a score of 13-12 O'Hara jumped to 17-12 with their five, and later jumped from 18-14 to 21-14 for four points in a row. In game #2, they duplicated the task going from a close 18-17 to 21-17 and from 21-19 to the end of the game. In the first game the last time O'Hara was behind was at 9-10 and in the second game it was at 10-11. On the previous day, the Celtics qualified for the Championship game by winning five of the six pool games. They won by scores of 25-12 & 25-15 over Saint Dominic and 25-12 & 25-9 over Saint Genevieve. However to make thing interesting, they split with Logan-Rogersville 25-29 & 24-26.

Max Storms 7th in Class 3 State Cross Country

Max Storms from Archbishop O'Hara High School, the Class 2 Cross County State Champion last year, came in seventh in the Class 3 State Meet on November 8th. He set a new course record for O'Hara with his 16:32 time.

FINAL REGULAR SEASON FOOTBALL STATE RANKINGS

A panel of twelve sportswriters and broadcasters announced their final regular season State rankings for Missouri high school football, placing Archbishop O'Hara High School in 8th place among the Class 3 teams. The first three teams were undefeated: Chillicothe, Monnett, and Holden. Supporting 9-1 records were the 4th, 5th, and 7th place schools: Mountain Grove, Sullivan, and Saint Genevieve. O'Hara had an 8-2 record for the regular season as did Pleasant Hill tied for 5th, and Potosi ranked 9th and Salem ranked 10th. Oak Grove and Smithville, two teams that eventually handed the Celtics defeats, just missed the top ten rankings.

The Game With Smithville

SMITHVILLE RALLIES TO BEAT O'HARA BY ONE POINT The Smithville Warriors football team patiently rallied from a 15 point halftime to force an overtime game with O'Hara and eventually pull out a 35-34 win in the first round of the Class 3 State playoffs. At no time did they hold the lead until the final play of the contest. O'Hara powered to a 20-6 first period bulge with three touchdowns. James Tillman, following a 20 yard pass reception by Joe Pepple from TJ White, rambled 54 yards for the Celtics' first score. Bryce Scovill's kick went wide however. It was to be his only miss of the day. A short four yard TD pass from Brent Hastings to Blake Fore tied up the score, but a two-point conversion attempt fell short. For O'Hara's second touchdown of the quarter, TJ White scored on a one yard plunge after the ball was brought to that location on an Aaron Stubblefield 26 yard pass reception. The Celtics got the ball back with an on-sides kick and were in the end zone in four plays. Danny Hernandez caught a pass for 29 yards before he was stopped, but Joe Pepple caught a scoring pass for 25 yards. Smithville got a touchdown in the second quarter on a quarterback sneak but once again the Warriors were unable to score on a two-point conversion attempt. Before the end of the second quarter, the Celtics scored on an 18 yard pass reception by Danny Hernandez to bring the halftime count to 27-12. The Smithville defense denied the Celtics any points in the third and fourth quarters. Meanwhile the Warriors were able to score a touchdown in each of those quarters along with a kicked extra point and a two point conversion that tied the scoree at 27-27. Their touchdowns materialized from an 8 yard pass from Brent Hastings to Blake Fore and an 11 yard run by Bryant Brant. Drew Sperry kicked the extra point for the first TD and Austin Baker ran in the two-pointer. O'Hara had the ball first in the overtime period, and wasted little time in scoring. Hernandez caught a 17 yard pass and Donnie Criswell ran the ball in the rest of the way. Smithville got their TD on just one 25 yard pass play from Brent Hastings to Andrew Townsend. The successful two-point convesion not only put Smithville ahead of the Celtics for the first time in the entire game, but was the winning play. TJ White who holds several all-time O'Hara passing records gained 274 yards on 16 completions. His main target was Danny Hernandez who caught seven for 138 yards and Joe Pepple who caught five for 82 yards. In O'Hara's eleven games of the year, James Tillman scored 96 points with Danny Hernandez and Bryce Scovill scoring 50 each.. Tillman gained 1,732 yards in the games placing him 7th in O'Hara's top career rushing yards. TJ White upped his career passing yards to 3,042 and is O'Hara's top passer; his closest competitor has 1,869 yards. White now also has the most passing yardage for a single season with 1,919 yards. Two seniors from this year's team moved to the top two spots in career passing receptions. Joe Pepple in his years at O'Hara caught 68 passes for 1,259 yards and Danny Hernandez caught 47 for 972 yards. Between the two of them, they scored 19 touchdowns. Finally senior Bryce Scovill finished his career extra points total with 128 points, far ahead of the number two place of 86..

O'Hara Swimming

IT ONLY TOOK FOUR ************ In the finals of the INDEPENDANT LEAGUE CHAMPIONHIPS, the tiny swim team from Archbishop O'Hara High School came away with bronze medals for third place in a free style relay. The team only has four members. All four were needed for the competition. They were Pat Kelly, Spencer Noyes, Gabriel Pozos, and A. J. McCracken. The swimmers have their last meet this weekend in Sedalia, at the West Central Conference competition.

Football All-Conference

O’HARA IS WELL REPRESENTED IN ALL WEST CENTRAL CONFERENCE FOOTBALL TEAM The 2008 O’Hara football team came in second in the West Central Conference losing only to Smith-Cotton. Outside the Conference, their only losses were to Oak Grove by seven points and to Smithville by one point in overtime. As a result, the Celtics were ranked 8th at the end of the regular season in Class 3. The team was well represented in the All West Central Conference Team. On offense, making the First Team were return kicker DJ Jackson, quarterback DJ White, Offensive tackle Tyler Houser, wide receiver Danny Hernandez, tight end Joe Pepple, and both running backs James Tillman and Donnie Criswell. On defense, making the First Team were punter Larry Liggett, linebacker Chuck Preston, and defensive end Joe Pepple. Joe Pepple was also awarded the West Central Conferences Defensive Player of the Year Award. In addition to the First Team honors, six Celtics were selected to the Second Team All Conference. They were kicker Bryce Scovill, offensive guard Teddy Dujakovich, defensive lineman Louis Golden, and defensive backs Aaron Mitchell, Alex Rogers, and Joe Melchior,

OHara 34 Smithville 35 Overtime

SMITHVILLE OUTLASTS O’HARA IN OVERTIME ----------------- The Smithville Warriors never led in the first round of the State playoff game with the O’Hara Celtics but won the game on the last play of overtime 35-34. The two teams were tied at 27-27 at the end of regulation time and O’Hara scored first in the overtime period with a one-two punch. TJ White passed to Danny Hernandez for 17 yards and Donnie Criswell ran the ball in from 8 yards out. Bryce Scovill’s extra point conversion made the score 34-27. The Warriors answered with a 25 yard TD pass from Brent Hastings to Andrew Townsend and Bryant Blank successfully ran in a two-point conversion for the win and the only time O’Hara was behind in the entire game. Back in the first quarter, the Celtics used a one-two punch to score first. TJ White passed to Joe Pepple for 20 yards followed by a 54 yard TD run by James Tillman. The extra point kick went wide to the left and ultimately this was the margin of difference for O’Hara not winning in regulation time. The Warriors were able to tie the score at 6-6 with Brent Hastings completing a 4 yard pass to Blake Fore, but the try for a two-point conversion failed. The Celtics were able to put two more first quarter touchdowns on the scoreboard within the first quarter to take the lead and then boost their advantage to 20-6. The first of these came right after a 26 yard pass completion from TJ White to Aaron Stubblefield to set up a one yard plunge by TJ White. The Celtics got the ball back immediately on an on-side kick and proceeded to obtain their next TD. The one-two punch in this series was a 29 yard pass completion to Danny Hernandez plus a 25 yard scoring pass to Joe Pepple. Both teams scored a touchdown in the second quarter. The Warriors crossed the goal line first when Brent Hastings took it in from two yards out, but the Warriors once again failed to make their two-point conversion. With just over two minutes left in the first half, James Tillman sacked quarterback Brent Hasstings and forced a fumble recovered by O’Hara on the 29 yard line. TJ White and Danny Hernandez combined for two pass completions of 8 yards and 18 yards, the second of which was for the six points. The half time score was O’Hara 27 Smithville 12. To start the third quarter, the Smithville Warriors ground out small yardage gains and consumed much playing time which paid off with a 9 yard touchdown pass caught by Blake Fore. Drew Sperry kicked the extra point putting the Warriors down by only 8 points 27-19. The last scoring drive in regulation time occurred just as the third quarter was ending and the fourth quarter getting under way. The Warriors held possession of the ball for over ten plays and came away with a touchdown on a 2 yard run by Bryant Blank. To tie up the game, Austin Baker ran for a two-point conversion. O’Hara had one more good series which included a 16 yard pass to Danny Hernandez and a 19 yard pass to Joe Pepple, but Austin Baker was able to halt the drive with an interception on the 11 yard line to stop he threat. Smithville also had one more good series in regulation time getting as close as the 23 yard line before the Celtic defense stiffened. A long field goal attempt by Drew Sperry on fourth down was way short however. On the last play before overtime, the Celtics attempted their hook-and-ladder play. TJ White’s completion to Joe Pepple got off all right, but his lateral to speedy James Tillman was fumbled and the trick play fizzled.

O'Hara Softball

PATRICE JACKSON NAMED AGAIN TO MISSOURI ALL-STATE SOFTBALL TEAM ------------------------------------------------------- For a second year in a row, Patrice Jackson was named to the Missouri All State Softball team. Patrice had a batting average of .580, 24 runs scored, 50 RBI, 8 doubles, 6 triples, and 5 home runs. With the 5 homeruns, she had a 4-year total of 24 homeruns which places her 2nd in the state for career homeruns. Defensively, she only had 3 errors for a fielding percentage of .984.

LIGHTNING!

The game between O'HARA and SMITHVILLE had to be posponed to the following day due to LIGHTNING in the area!

Soccer District Results

CELTICS FALL TO PEMBROKE HILL 5-1 Ross Payne scored three times and Ryan Buck scored twice as the Pembroke Raiders eliminated the O'Hara Celtics in their District semi-final game played at Center High. O'Hara was only down 1-0 at the halfway mark on a goal scored within the final four minutes of the first half. After the Raiders were up by five goals, Andy Park connected for O'Hara's lone point near the completion of the game. Pembroke Hill went on to play Harrisonville for the District Championship. Harrisonville won its semi-final game by toppong East 6-2. ********************************************************* O'HARA REACHES SEMI-FINALS IN SOCCER BY DEFEATING CLINTON Thanks to a four-goal performance by Bryce Scovill, the O'Hara soccer team beat Clinton 4-1 to boost them to the semi-final District game in soccer. Three O'Hara players had assists. They were Taylor Mathews, Trevor Gudde, and Patrick Hogan. The win qualified the 3rd seeded Celtics to play Pembroke Hill on November 3rd at 7 PM.

WHO SWIMS FOR O'HARA?

Archbishop O'Hara High School is represented this year by FOUR persevering swimmers: The are PATRICK KELLY, SPENCE NOYES, A. J. McCRACKEN, and GABRIEL POZOS. On November 8th, they will be competing in the WEST CENTRAL CONFERENCE meet in Sedalia.

Rankings for Football & Volleyball

CLASS 3TEAM (Overall record) Last week's ranking Football Rankings: 1. Chillicothe (6) 9-0, 114, 1tie; 2. Monett (6) 9-0, 113, 1tie; 3. Holden 9-0, 95, 4; 4. Mountain Grove 8-1, 78, 5; 5. Sullivan 8-1, 71, 6; 6. Pleasant Hill 7-2, 69, 3; 7. Ste. Genevieve 8-1, 37, 9; 8. O'Hara 7-2, 36, 8; 9. Oak Grove 7-2, 25, 10; 10. Smithville 7-2, 11, NR ************************************************* Volleyball Rankings: 1. O'Hara (23-3-4) 1, 2. Logan-Rogersville (21-5-3) 2, 3. DeSoto (26-4-1) 5, 4. St. Francis Borgia (18-9-3) 3, 5. Platte County (26-4) 4, 6. Holden (23-5-1) 8, 7. St. Pius X (Kansas City) (22-5-3) NR, 8. Reeds Spring (18-6-3) 6, 9. Notre Dame (Cape Girardeau) (22-5-2) NR, 10. Ste. Genevive (17-5-4) 9, DROPPED OUT: Republic, Dexter

O'HARA DISTRICT: VOLLEYBALL AND CROSS COUNTRY

O’HARA ADVANCES IN VOLLEYBALL The Archbishop O’Hara High School defending Class 3 State Champs in volleyball zipped through Sectional play on Saturday and will go on to retain its top position. Played at Excelsior Springs, the Celtics faced Platte County to start the Sectional competition and won the best of three, losing the first by a close 23-25 score and then going on to 25-18 and 25-12 wins. Holden also made the quarterfinals with a 25-18 and 25-17 decision over Excelsior Springs. Coach Lori Hanaway’s Celtics then went on to 25-20 and 25-17 games for the Sectional victory. The 30-4-4 O’Hara squad will meet Logan-Rogersville on Friday for the State semifinals. Saint Genevieve and Saint Dominic are the other two teams making up the final four. ********************************************************* MAX STORMS IS #1 IN DISTRICT CROSS COUNTRY Challenged by just one other runner, O’Hara’s Max Storms won first place in the Class 3 District 7 cross country completion in which twelve schools were involved. His time was 16:09.52 with his closest competitor, Maksim Korolev of Harrisonville, coming in at 16:13.81 in the 5K race. O’Hara finished sixth while the top team was Pleasant Hill, followed by Clinton, Webb City, Ruskin, and Carl Junction. Max Storms was the only senior on the O’Hara team. Others running for the Celtics were junior Jerry Rellihan, sophomores Andy Meyer and Thomas Armenta, and freshmen Colin McKinney and Sam Baird. None of the Lady Celtics’ team finished in the top fifteen for medals, but running “as a team” the squad was able to reach 4th place. All five team member were bunched between 20th and 26th places. The one’s earning team points were Aliyah Jones, Paige Bush, Claire Becker, Amy Gaston, and Katelyn Gutteridge. In addition to the five who score team points, Kristina Snyder and Erin Scott also competed for O’Hara.

The football game with Saint Pius

O’HARA WINS 41-23 OVER SAINT PIUS In their final game of the regular season and of their District, the O’Hara Celtics defeated the Saint Pius X Warriors by a score of 41-23. With the victory, O’Hara earned the possession of the Crystal Cup which goes to the winner of the O’Hara-Saint Pius game each year sponsored by the Ancient Order of Hibernia. As for the District standings, the game had no bearing inasmuch as Saint Pius had already dropped games to Lincoln Prep and Pembroke Hill. O’Hara had won the District Title the previous weekend and go on to play Smithville at O’Hara on Wednesday for their first postseason game. The Saint Pius Warriors had the right idea throughout the first quarter of play. Except for a three-and-out series for the O’Hara Celtics, they maintained possession until the 2:28 mark while pulling ahead 10-0. Beginning play at the O’Hara 42 yard line, they held on to the ball for fourteen time-consuming plays until the Celtic defense stiffened. They settled for a 23 yard field goal. When they got the ball back on their own 16 yard line, they marched down for their only touchdown of the first half and the only one earned via rushing. Anthony Zicarelli carried the ball in for the score from 23 yards away. Josh Baker who had kicked the earlier field goal added on the extra point. Larry Liggett recovered a fumble near the goal line to give the Celtics an excellent chance to get back into the game, and TJ White plunged in for the score putting O’Hara down by only three points. Joe Melchior got the ball back for the Celtics on the next series by intercepting Bryon Petcoff and returning the ball to the 12 yard line. Unfortunately Ben Wilson returned the favor with an interception for Saint Pius, so the Celtics lost a golden opportunity. However, the next time O’Hara did regain possession, Donnie Criswell was able to ramble in for a 14 yard score to put O’Hara on top for the first time in the game. The halftime score was 13-10. On the opening kickoff of the second half, Donnie Criswell fielded the ball around the 15 yard line and went the distance to boost the score to 20-10. Unable to make a first down in the Warriors’ next series, the Celtics went for another touchdown. Following a 16 yard pass completion from TJ White to Danny Hernandez, James Tillman showed great down field running in covering 43 yards, making the score 27-10. Saint Pius demonstrated a spark of life when Blake Brown got behind the O’Hara defense and gathered in a pass from Bryan Petcoff for a TD that covered half the playing field.. With the score 27-17, O’Hara reached the scoreboard again. To bring the ball close to the goal both TJ White with a 15 yarder and James Tillman with a nifty 29 yard run placed the ball on the 18 yard line. The one-two punch of Chuck Preston for 7 yards and TJ White for the rest stretched the score to 33-17. Before the third quarter drew to a close, Alex Rogers intercepted a pass thrown by Saint Pius’ new quarterback, Ben Wilson. With game pretty much decided, both squads scored in the final quarter of play. O’Hara scored theirs on a long 49 yard run by James Tillman, and Saint Pius got theirs on a Ben Wilson to Blake Brown 49 yard pass. Both teams attempted two-point conversions. O’Hara was successful when TJ White passed to Joe Pepple, but Ben Wilson’s pass attempt was intercepted By Alex Rogers.