14 The Carrollton Democrat SPORTS Friday, September 21, 2012

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vs.

A glance at the Knob Noster PanthersCoach: John Cox 2012: 2-2

Offense: Triple option out of the flexbone.

Defense: 4-4

Key personnel:

RB-DB Mike Williams The junior is the team’s leading rusher and one

of its top defensive players in the backfield.

RB-DB Lane Epperson One of the other feature backs in Cox’s

flexbone option offense, Epperson is one of the better athletes on the team.

OL-LB Derek Morgan Knob Noster’s best player on defense and likely

its best offensive lineman as well, Morgan is a three-year starter.

Quick look: Knob Noster had major fumble problems against Boonville

and gave up 335 yards on the ground. However, in their two wins, the Pan-

thers rushed for plenty of yards, averaging 34.5 points against Versailles and

El Dorado Springs. Slowing down Williams, Epperson and sophomore quar-

terback Logan Lawber and establishing its down run game are key for CHS.

Week 1 Trenton L, 18-14

Week 2 at Westran L, 37-8

Week 3 Odessa L, 65-14

Week 4 at KC East L, 48-12

Week 5 Knob Noster

Week 6 at Richmond*

Week 7 Lexington*

Week 8 at Holden

Week 9 Higginsville*

Week 10 District Tournament

*MRVC East contest

Carrollton schedule

Week 1 at Versailles W, 39-22

Week 2 at El Dorado Sp. W, 30-23

Week 3 O’Hara L, 13-6

Week 4 Boonville L, 35-13

Week 5 at Carrollton

Week 6 Lexington

Week 7 at Higginsville

Week 8 Richmond

Week 9 Holden

Week 10 District Tournament

Knob Noster schedule

CHS volleyball team falls in 3-game thriller at Higginsville

The Carrollton volleyball

team was part of a three-game

thriller Tuesday at Hig-

ginsville.

The Lady Trojans came

out on the short end of a 22-

25, 25-22, 20-25 decision.

“I'm proud of the girls for

playing hard and staying fo-

cused throughout the match,”

Carrollton coach Trudy Flee-

man said. “We are still work-

ing towards our goal of

finishing at the end of each

game.”

Kortney Wilson high-

lighted the team’s efforts with

an impressive nine aces

served.

Erin Thoeni and Alex Stark

both had five kills on offense,

with Thoeni adding five

blocks on defense.

Hannah Miller, Cydney

Smith and Ryane Miller all

had two digs on defense,

while setter Menley Hender-

son assisted on eight of the

team’s kills.

The Lady Trojans entered

Thursday’s home match with

Knob Noster 2-6-1 overall

and 0-1 in the MRVC East.

Carrollton heads to

Cameron on Monday and

Richmond Tuesday before

hosting Lexington on Thurs-

day.

Baseballhittingclinic Sunday atShapes

Former professional base-

ball player Rick Prieto is put-

ting on a free baseball hitting

clinic Sunday at Shapes.

Players ages 8-11 will hit

from 6-7 p.m. with boys 12

and older from 7-8.

Prieto says players need to

RSVP on his website for a

spot: prietospoweralley.com.

Prieto is a former profes-

sional baseball player who

played in the Cleveland Indi-

ans, Cincinnati Reds, San

Diego Padres, Los Angeles

Dodgers and Chicago White

Sox organizations.

He ended his career play-

ing for the Kansas City T-

Bones, where is in the top

five of many team records.

Prieto is opening a baseball

academy, Prieto’s Power

Alley, at Shapes.

Trojans open MRVC Eastplay with Knob NosterBy Colby Gordon

sports reporter

It’s a clean slate for the

Carrollton football team

tonight when Knob Noster

comes to Trojan Field for

Homecoming and the start of

MRVC East play.

The Trojans will look to

turn things around from an

0-4 non-conference with a

good showing in the confer-

ence portion of the season.

Knob Noster comes to

town under the direction of

first-year coach John Cox,

who built Concordia into a

powerhouse the past six

years.

Cox has done an admirable

job with the Panthers, getting

them off to a 2-2 start after the

program won a total of three

games the past two seasons.

“It looks like they do a lot

of things better this year as a

unit,” Carrollton coach Greg

Hough said. “They play more

disciplined football, get 11

guys to the football on de-

fense and on offense are

doing some complex things

with lots of movement.”

The Panthers averaged

34.5 points in their wins over

Versailles and El Dorado

Springs to open the year,

while mustering just a 9.5 av-

erage the last two weeks in

their two losses to O’Hara

and Boonville.

Like Carrollton, Knob

Noster runs a triple-option of-

fense, but it is out of the

flexbone formation, with one

back behind the quarterback

and two wingbacks (or slot-

backs) just outside and a little

behind the offensive tackles.

“We have to read our keys

as opposed to paying atten-

tion to all the motion in the

backfield,” Hough said. “We

need to watch the offensive

line play. A big focus in prac-

tice this week has been on

where our eyes are supposed

to be.”

Sophomore quarterback

Logan Lawber and

Pink GameThe Carrollton softball team held its annual “pink” game Tuesday at City Park againstKnob Noster. The game raised $1,000 with a silent auction going to HELP Services to fightagainst breast cancer. Breast cancer survivors were honored and balloons were let go tohonor breast cancer victims. The Lady Trojans won the game 12-2 (see game story on page13) in front of a nice hometown crowd. (Democrat photo by Janet Zullig)

Continued on page 13