RAIN COULD NOT STOP O'HARA FROM BEATING WARRENSBURG 31-13

After a fifteen minute delay because of tornado warnings and during a downpour of rain, the O'Hara Celtics were able to sudue the Warrensburg Tigers 31-13 on Friday night. O'Hara scored on their first drive which was set up by a Tiger fumble on the 39 yard line. Passes from TJ White to Joe Pepple and James Tillman brought the ball close to the goal line where James Tillman ran the ball across for the points. Before the quarter was over, the Tigers tied the score following a blocked punt. O'Hara took the lead for good within two minutes of halftime. A sustained drive from the O'Hara 26 yard line accomplished the feat. Two completed passes to Danny Hernandez, and runs each over ten yards in length by James Tillman, TJ White, and Raphael Spencer brought the ball down to the two yard line. Tillman scored on a short run. Although the rain let up during the third quarter, neither team saw paydirt. However, on the Celtics first possession in the fourth quarter James Tillman went around right end for a 39 yard scoring run. Chuck Preston recovered a Tiger fumble on the next series, and the Celtics pushed across their last TD of the evening. When the ball was advanced to the one yard line Preston was given the call to score the six points. Warrensburg got a touchdown late in the game on a screen play covering 46 yards. Chase Ludlam passed to Layton Moore who did the rest. Moore who was successful on his earlier extra point attempt kicked wide on this occasion. Although that was enough scoring for a wet evening for O'Hara, Bryce Scovill, who kicked all four extra points, converted on a 30 yard field goal for the Celtics' final three points.

Volleyball Team Win Two WCC Contests

O'HARA VOLLEYBALL TEAM ADDS TWO MORE CONFERENCE WINS The defending State volleyball champs from O'Hara added wins to this year's record as they downed West Central Conference teams in two home games this past week. First to fall was Smith-Cotton 25-5 & 25-14 and then Saint Pius was beaten 25-13 & 25-18. In the Celtics' first game with the Sedalia squad, they ran up eight points before the Tigers finally scored a point. In the second game, the two teams tied at 6-6 before O'Hara broke away to win. Saint Pius played a little tougher and actually led by a point or two until the teams were knotted at 7-7. Then O'Hara pulled away and at one stretch scored six unanswered points. In their second game the only time the Warriors held any lead was at 2-1 early in the contest and 8-7 when they experienced a minor rally. The Celtic Varsity volleyball team moved to 4-0 with the victory over Saint Pius. Using a balanced offensive attack, many Celtics contributed: Tori Hurtt had 13 kills, Michala Boehm added 11, Janell Jordan was 4 for 5 in kill efficiency, and Lindsey Hanaway recorded 26 assists. Finally, Libero Katie Huber led the team in passing and digs.

How About That Celtic Softball Team

Patrice Jackson drove in four runs including a walk-off RBI double to lead the softball Celtics to a 5-4 victory over Harrisonville and Andi Davis and Brittany Gallatin each contributed two hits to the victory. It was a cold September day

O'HARA 21 OAK GROVE 28

O’HARA LOSES A CLOSE GAME TO OAK GROVE Jumping ahead of the Oak Grove Panthers 14-0 in the first quarter, the O’Hara Celtics were eventually edged out by a 28-21 score by the end of the hard fought football contest on Friday. In just three plays, O’Hara took the early lead. After Danny Hernandez returned the opening kick to the 34 yard line, TJ White completed a 14 yard pass to Joe Pepple, and two plays later completed a touchdown throw to Danny Hernandez covering 54 yards. Oak Grove was unable to get beyond midfield with their possession, and the Celtics mounted another scoring drive. This one took eleven plays. Starting from their own 21 yard line, the Celtics moved downfield, aided by a pass-interference penalty and two pass plays to Danny Hernandez and Joe Pepple to set up the touchdown pass. TJ White hit Joe Pepple with a 37 yard strike to build up the O’Hara lead. Oak Grove scored their first TD at the beginning of the second quarter. Somehow the team was given five downs along the way to the eventual score. From the 13 yard line, the Panthers gained two yards on a short pass, was held for no yards on a running play, picked up seven yards on another running play, was again halted for no gain, and on the fifth play in the series, broke for a 7 yard gain and maintained possession. The TD came a bit later from a 3 yard run by Trey Rigby. With under three minutes before the half, on a fouth down play, Caleb Barnhill was able to get a long TD pass to Landon Grego covering 25 yards and tying up the game at 14-14. With time running out for the first half, the Panthers were able to slip in yet another score with Trey Rigby carrying the ball unto the endzone with just 30 seconds remaining, and Oak Grove had the lead for the first time 21-14. Oak Grove decided to go for a first down on fourth down midway through the third period but the O’Hara defense stopped them. The Celtics then tied up the game with just three spectacular plays. It began with a 38 yard completion from TJ White to Joe Pepple. This was followed by an hook-and-ladder play: TJ White completed a short pass to Joe Pepple who quickly made a lateral pass to James Tillman. It resulted in getting the ball to the 17 yard line. On the very next play, James Tillman weaved through the Oak Grove defense for the tying score. Except for the deciding touchdown play, both teams matched sputtering offenses and strong defenses for the rest of the third quarter and throughout the fourth quarter. Bryce Scovill kicked O’Hara’s three extra points bringing his career all-time school record to a 106 total since he began providing this service to the team. TJ White completed ten passes in the game, two for touchdowns. Four of these were to Joe Pepple who took over first place in the career all-time school record for receiving passes. He now has 44 receptions, one higher than the previous record holder Tokie Aromona. On defense O’Hara’s leading tacklers in this game were Louis Golden, Chuck Preston, James Tillman, and Joe Pepple. Chuck Preston and DJ Jackson recovered fumbles. O’Hara hosts Warrensburg on Friday before going on the road. This is a West Central Conference opponent.

Cross County Schedule

Here’s the latest schedule for Cross-Country. The meet on the 09/11 will only be attended by the Girl’s (V/JV) and boys (JV). The meet on the 09/13 (Forest Park) is only boy’s Varsity. The meet on the 09/27 is still undetermined. Date Meet V/JV Time Home/Away Notes 9/6/2008 St. Mary's Invitational Varsity/JV Away William Jewell 9/11/2008 Oak Grove Girls Varsity/JVBoys JV 4:00 PM Away No Boy's V 9/13/2008 Forest Park Boys Varsity Away St. LouisBig meet tons of good runners 9/18/2008 Platte County High School JV/Varsity 4:00 PM Away Battle of best in the North Liberty/OP/Kearney/etcPossibly toughest course of the year 9/23/2008 Smithville High School Varsity/JV 4:00 PM Away Smithville Lake 9/27/2008 ? Varsity/JV Away Possibly St. Joe 10/4/2008 KC Metro Meet Varsity Away Best of KC Metro RunnersBig Meet 10/11/2008 Helias Invitational Varsity/JV 10:00 AM Away Good talent Jefferson CityBig Meet 10/18/2008 St. Mary's Fall Classic Varsity/JV Away William Jewell 10/21/2008 WCC Championships Varsity/JV Away Sedelia 11/1/2008 Districts Varsity Home Swope Park State Preview w/Korlev 11/8/2008 State CompetitionClass 3A Varsity Away Jefferson City

Cross Country at Saint Marys Invitational

Max Storms finished first by a large margin in O'Hara's cross county meet at the Saint Mary's Invitational on Saturday, September 6th. The O'Hara team score was 175. In addition to Storm's first place finish, two others medaled (among the top 25 finishers). Andy Meyer was 18th and Jerry Rellihan was 21st. Trevor Gudde and Kyle Van Hecke rounded out the varsity scoring. The other teams besides Saint Mary's and O'Hara were Saint Paul, Kearney, Oak Grove, Marshall, Lone Jack, Saint Pius, Lawson, Excelsior Springs, Northtown, West Platte, and Holden.

Celtics Fall Short to Oak Grove

OAK GROVE OUTLASTS O'HARA 28-21 It took a 30 yard pass from Caleb Barnill to Jacob Horn to break a 21-21 tie near the end of the third quarter, but the Oak Grove Panthers were able to hold on to give the O'Hara Celtics their first defeat of the 2008 season 28-21. O'Hara began the game strong. The Celtics scored 14 points in the first quarter while holding the Panthers scoreless. TJ White completed two long passes for the early scores. One was a 54 yard pass play to Danny Hernandez and the other a 37 yarder to Joe Pepple. However, the second quarter belonged to the Panthers. Utilizing the running ablity of Trey Rigby and gambling on fourth down completions, the team scored three times before the half. Rigby scored Oak Grove's first TD on a three yard run (after it appeared the Celtics stopped them twice and appeared to have five downs instead of four in one of the series of downs). He also scored on a seven yard run when the game was just 37 seconds away from the half The other score in the quarter was a 26 yard fourth down pass from Caleb Barnill to Landon Grego halfway through the period. The Celtics tied up the score in a flashy manner in the third quartrer. Three remarkable plays contributed to this scoring. TJ White passed for 38 yards to Joe Pepple. Then the Celtics succeeded with the hook-and-ladder play for an additional piece of yardage in which TJ White passed to Joe Pepple who immediately lateralled to James Tillman. The actual scoring occurred with a nifty broken-field run for 17 yards by James Tillman. Bryce Scovill added on O'Hara's three exrta points.