Eureka girls volleyball head coach Jodie Fowler was going through her desk at school Monday when she found a bracelet given to her by junior Macy Berg when Berg was 9 or 10 years old.
Berg’s sister, Mia, a 2023 graduate, was playing for Fowler at the time. The Wildcats finished 33-4 Mia’s senior year. Fowler showed Macy the bracelet on her wrist before Eureka played Francis Howell Central and North Point Wentzville in a tri-match Monday night in Cottleville.
“She was nervous and scared to talk to me, she threw it at me and ran away,” Fowler said, recounting the day Macy gave her the bracelet. “I saved it. The kids don’t realize I’m sentimental. I saved it, and I showed it to Macy, and she said, ‘Did I make that?’”
The Wildcats beat the host Spartans 25-15, 25-14 in the first match Monday, and finished off the Grizzlies 25-14, 26-24 to improve to 16-3 this season.
Perhaps the bracelet brought Eureka some good luck. The Wildcats won two of four matches at the MOKAN Tournament at Lee’s Summit West High on Sept. 19, then took Sunday off.
Fowler’s not a fan of playing on Mondays.
“I think Mondays are a scheduling nightmare,” she said. “You can’t practice on Sundays. It’s disrespectful to students and their religious beliefs. I believe these kids play too much volleyball anyway, so adding more Sunday practices has become bananas. The expectation since they didn’t practice, was they needed to come in here and take care of business. I was proud of the way they played tonight.
“The kids serve-received really well. They took care of the ball whenever we had control, and that’s the name of the game at any level.”
After playing out of position as a middle at MOKAN, sophomore Sami Brown was back at her opposite position on Monday and was a force at the net.
“She’s done nothing but improve,” Fowler said. “She’s on a high-level team and plays all year round. But it’s different when she’s only a sophomore playing against seniors, who might have more court knowledge than someone who just turned 16 years old. She’s had some roadblocks where she’s mentally and emotionally exhausted and (Sept. 19) she made huge headways.”
Lee’s Summit North, Lee’s Summit West, Park Hills South, Blue Valley Southwest and Grain Valley were the other schools at MOKAN. North finished second in Class 5 last year.
“We are gritty. We don’t give up,” Fowler said. “We were down in a lot of the games. We were missing pieces of our starting lineup and had some JV kids come up, and starters had to step into roles they’re not used to. We had to keep fighting back all weekend, and the cool thing is, that’s what we were supposed to do.”
Before Monday’s matches, senior Caroline Tenholder was leading the Wildcats with 155 kills and 32 blocks, one more than senior MB/OPP Hannah Garrett.
“Our senior leadership is amazing,” Fowler said. “Caroline was an absolute all-star last weekend. She went on serving runs. She blocked some great attackers.”
Eureka made it three matches in a row against the Gateway Athletic Conference when it played Francis Howell Wednesday after deadline. The Wildcats also played Westminster Christian Academy in the tri-match. Eureka hosts Seckman tonight (Sept. 24) in a match between Suburban Conference schools in different pools.
“This is business as usual … these kids are laser-focused,” Fowler said.
Kem’s emergence softens serious injuries
Eureka has allowed fewer points each of the four weeks it’s played this season.
After allowing 48 in an overtime win against Troy Buchanan, the Wildcats lost 29-28 to Hannibal. Both games were decided by the two-point conversion. A 40-14 win at Parkway North on a Thursday night, and the 22-7 Suburban Conference Yellow pool win at Rockwood Summit on Sept. 19, have Eureka standing at 3-1 at the midway point of the regular season.
“We’ve had some battles this year against some really good offensive football teams,” Eureka head coach Jake Sumner said. “Our defense has had some great big moments.”
Intentional or not, the defense is helping the offense adjust to new starters after injuries have taken out junior wide receiver Garrett Anders and senior running back Brandon Webb, who was injured against the Falcons. Webb has scored six touchdowns and rushed for 217 yards. His availability to play this week or the rest of the season is to be determined.
“I’m proud of our kids. I was proud of the way our boys had the ‘next man up’ mentality,” Sumner said.
Juniors AJ White and Curtis Harris were already receiving an equal amount of carries as Webb and have combined for 421 yards and four TDs.
“Either one can be 1A or 1B,” Sumner said. “AJ is a shifty guy. Curtis is a power back.
Senior quarterback Zac Kem was in on all three of Eureka’s TDs against Summit. He threw a 49-yard TD pass to Riley Major in the first quarter, the PAT failed, and the Wildcats took a 6-0 lead.
In the second quarter, Kem’s 36-yard scoring gallop and kicker Patrick Bradley’s extra point made it 13-0. Sumner said Kem’s run was a sight to see.
“Zac Kem made one of the most amazing high school football runs you’ll ever see,” Sumner said. “He broke four or five tackles and scored. He’s a man on a mission. Zac started at cornerback last year when we had Patrick Hutchcraft (2026 graduate). That (TD run) is in the fabric of his body. Everything he’s got, he’s going to give you.”
Kem fired a 38-yard TD pass to Major to give Eureka a 19-0 lead (the PAT failed), and the Falcons scored on a 14-yard TD pass from McCoy Brown to Kobi Barton midway through the fourth quarter. Blake Boschert’s PAT made it 19-7.
Bradley missed two extra points, but booted a 23-yard field goal to provide the final score.
Unbeaten Kirkwood (3-0) visits the Wildcats on Friday night at 7 p.m. for a Yellow pool game. The rivalry between the schools has been ultra-close the last few seasons. Last year, the Pioneers beat Eureka 24-21 in the regular season and 21-10 in the Class 5 District 2 championship.
“The next game is the best game,” Sumner said. “Everything has been ramped up. They’re a well-coached team. (Kirkwood head coach Jeremy Maclin) will have them ready.”
On Oct. 2, the Wildcats will host Marquette for their homecoming.
In the win over North, Webb scored on two TD runs, Kem scored on two 1-yard runs, and threw TDs to Lincoln Rausch and White. Ben Mohesky and Colin Swingle recovered Viking fumbles. North QB Jeremiah Burns tossed two TD passes.
Freshman hat trick spurs soccer win in Chesterfield
The Eureka boys soccer team blanked host MICDS 7-0 on Sept. 14.
Seven Wildcats scored goals against the Rams, including freshman Carter Tall, who was playing in his first varsity game.
“So they asked me to stay,” Tall said after scoring a hat trick (three goals) in the second half of a 6-0 shutout at Parkway Central on Sept. 17.
“I scored those (goals), but my team really helped me put those chances in,” said Tall, who plays striker and wing forward.
Since Tall’s arrival, Eureka is 3-0-1, has improved to 7-2-1, and has allowed one goal in the last four games. Tall said the key to consistent offensive production comes down to two things: “Stay focused and work every day,” he said.
Juniors Logan Klingler and Liam Wilkens and senior Henry Eichholz scored the Wildcats’ goals against the Colts in the first half. Eichholz’s goal came on a penalty kick. Eichholz and Klingler lead the team with six goals.
“Credit to Jameson Foley,” Eureka head coach Mike Hanna said about the play that resulted in the PK being awarded to the Wildcats. “He’s drawn countless PKs – I think that was our seventh – this year. We don’t score on all of them. It’s been a struggle. But (Foley) does an amazing job of pressuring the back to where the only option’s take him down or give up the goal. And then Eich buries it.
“We came here and got done what we wanted to. We had a tough one against Kirkwood on (Sept. 15), so it was good to find the back of the net again. The second goal gave us breathing room, and the second half we put it away.”
Sophomore Charlie Kovis entered the season as Eureka’s No. 1 goalkeeper, but Kovis was injured after playing 100 minutes in a 3-2 overtime win against Lindbergh. Enter sophomore Jonathan Neville, who’s got more shutouts (four) than goals allowed (three).
“Neville made some big saves against Mehlville (1-0 shutout Sept. 12),” Hanna said. “The defensive line in front of him shut things down.”
That would be center backs Charlie Zoeller (senior) and Ben Berry (junior).
“I’m sure there are some center backs out there that can match them, but there aren’t any better,” Hanna said. “They do a lot offensively, creating and connecting the ball, and they shut things down. It’s nice having two 6-4 guys back there.”
Berry scored for Eureka in a 1-1 tie with visiting Kirkwood Sept. 15. The two Suburban Conference teams are in different pools. The Pioneers (3-3-1) are in the top Yellow pool; the Wildcats are one rung below in the Red. Both teams will compete in Class 4 District 2 at Ladue Horton Watkins.
“Kirkwood outplayed us the first 15 minutes,” Hanna said. “Their formation, their running gave us some trouble. We made some changes during a water break that was huge for us. The game leveled out. We scored right before half, and it was back and forth in the second half. They tied it. We both swung at each other the next 15 or 20 minutes, and darkness settled in, and we had to call it. It was a heck of a game.”
Most of Eureka’s games have been played during the September heatwave.
“We’re not doing a whole lot of practice right now,” Hanna said. “We have enough guys to cycle through and get their minutes. But we’ll be thankful when the weather breaks.”
State softball powers tangle in Troy
Conference leaders met on the softball diamond Monday in Troy when Eureka visited the Trojanettes on a day that finally looked and felt more like fall.
Troy-Buchanan took advantage of Wildcat errors on defense and scored two quick runs in the first inning. Eureka could muster just four hits against Trojanette pitcher Grace Jacobsmeyer and Troy won 6-2. The Trojanettes are leaders of the Gateway Athletic Conference South Division at 6-0, won their eighth game in a row and improved to 16-2 this season.
The Wildcats (10-2) hadn’t lost since opening day in August, and were coming off 10-0 shutouts over St. Francis Borgia (Sept. 15) and Marquette (Sept. 16), which is in the Suburban Conference Yellow pool with Eureka. The Wildcats and Lindbergh (10-3) lead the Yellow pool at 2-0.
“It wasn’t an ideal day for us,” Eureka head coach Mark Mosley said after the game in Troy. “We gave them two runs by not making routine plays, and against a team like that, you can’t do that, and we couldn’t dig out of that hole.”
Eureka had cut the Troy lead to 3-1 in the fourth after loading the bases with no outs. Evelyn Humes led off with a single, and Jacobsmeyer then hit Alina Logush and Emily Seiler with pitches. With one out, Olivia Manion drove home Humes with a fielder’s choice, but that was the only run in the inning.
The Wildcats turned a double play to end the fourth, and Jacobsmeyer, who didn’t issue a walk in a complete-game effort, retired the side in order in the fifth. In the bottom of the frame, Eureka pitcher Chrystal Hall walked leadoff batter Kennedy Damron before Piper Daugherty turned around Hall’s pitch for a two-run home run to give the Trojanettes a 5-1 lead.
A two-out RBI double by Kayleigh Niles in the sixth made it 5-2, but Troy got that run back in their half of the inning on a two-out single off of reliever Estelle Gianino.
“She’s (Troy’s) No. 2 pitcher, but she’s still pretty darn phenomenal,” Mosley said. “It was a tough game to score runs on her. We had chances where we had the bases loaded with no outs and scored one run. It would have been a brand new game if we could have gotten a couple of more runs.”
Hall walked three Trojanettes and allowed six hits. Gianino gave up two hits and a run. Troy averages close to seven runs per game, while allowing fewer than two runs.
“Chrystal would say it wasn’t her best day in the circle,” Mosley said. “They’re a great hitting team. They put the ball in play and made things happen.”
In the win over the Mustangs, the Wildcats sent 11 batters to the plate in the first inning. Niles blasted a three-run home run in the inning that began with a ground out. Both teams will be in Class 5 District 2, which is being hosted by Eureka.
Niles finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs. Josie Humes and Teresa Hutchcraft had doubles against Marquette, and Evelyn Humes had two of her team’s five stolen bases.
Freshman Harper Hubbard pitched a five-inning shutout (mercy rule), fanning seven and giving up three hits.
“Both teams didn’t throw their ace because we know they’re a possible district opponent,” Mosley said. “We jumped on them right away in the first inning and didn’t let the foot off the gas.”
The same could be said about Eureka’s performance in Washington against Borgia in another game that ended in five innings due to the mercy rule. The Knights finished third in the state in Class 4 in 2025. But Niles doubled and hit another home run in as many games. Shelby Seiler led the Wildcats with three hits.
Hall mowed down nine Borgia batters, and allowed two hits and a walk.
Eureka hosts Westminster Christian Academy (18-3) on Friday.
The Wildcats beat Seckman 11-10 to win the Fort Zumwalt East championship on Sept. 19.
“It will be a gauntlet of a week. We’ll get to see what kind of mettle we have,” Mosley said.