The Eureka football team improved to 3-2 Sept. 22 with a 35-13 victory over host Oakville (also 3-2). It was a good rebound effort for the Wildcats after consecutive losses to two local rivals, Kirkwood and Marquette.
It also marked the program’s 203rd victory of the 21st century, dating back to the start of the 2000 season. In that span the Wildcats are 203-53.
Eureka has not lost three in a row since 2009, when the team finished 5-5. “Over the years it (winning) has been a tradition of ours and this group is no different,” head coach Jake Sumner said. “It’s a team game; it takes 11 guys on the field to put together a good product.”
One of the senior leaders, linebacker Ryan Thornhill, said the team still has its sights set on a long postseason run. The Wildcats stand at No. 2 in Class 5 District 2, behind unbeaten Rockwood Summit (5-0).
“Going into the season, we had really high hopes for ourselves,” Thornhill said, “Things haven’t gone the way we planned. But like all things in life, you’ve got to move on; you can’t think about the past. We’re forgetting about those two losses, and we’re moving on.”
They moved a lot against Oakville, amassing 325 yards of total offense, 226 on the ground – by eight different ball carriers – and 99 by air as quarterback Casey Hobelman completed 11 of 18 passes, three resulting in touchdowns. Receiver Allen Brown III hauled in two of them from inside the red zone, giving him six TDs on the season, best on the team. Brown also made an interception on defense to set up Hobelman’s second scoring toss to him, which put Eureka up 28-7 at halftime.
Eureka’s other touchdowns came on a nine-yard pass from Hobelman to Blake Ashby at 3:15 of the first quarter; Trevor Codak’s 21-yard scamper to pay turf late in the first half, and a two-yard run by Charles Robinson in the third quarter. Kicker Bryce Clark converted all five PAT attempts and has 18 on the season, to go with three field goals.
Sumner said Clark is on pace to set some kicking records this fall. “He’s a good kicker, very talented, with a strong leg.”
The Eureka defense held Oakville to 173 yards of total offense. The Tigers got on the scoreboard with 4:59 left in the second quarter on a 46-yard pass from quarterback Max Bradley to Joshua Williams, who had six catches on the night for 78 yards. Oakville didn’t score again until midway through the fourth quarter on Joey Romano’s two-yard run.
Thornhill and linebacking mate Trey Hanneke led the Wildcat defense with seven tackles apiece and Jack Albert contributed a sack.
Eureka has retooled its offense to reflect the presence of a new signal-caller in Hobelman and the absence of a standout running back like Hassan Haskins or career rushing leader Kevin Emmanuel, who suits up these days for Murray State University. As talent and experience graduate, new players emerge to lead the program.
“That’s the beauty of football, and that’s the beauty of our team,” Sumner said. “As the years go on, somebody new comes up, and we’re having those young guys rise.”
After 8-0 start, soccer suffers first losses
After a weekend road trip that resulted in a Kentucky team snapping their eight-game winning streak, the Eureka boys soccer team came home to find they could lose to a local opponent as well.
The Wildcats visited Francis Howell Monday and lost 2-1 in overtime after taking a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. The loss dropped Eureka to 9-2 at the midpoint of the season.
The defeat stung a little more because the Wildcats seemed to throttle back after grabbing the early lead and let the Vikings (5-5) take charge.
“We sat on our heels a little as they took ownership of the game,” Eureka head coach Mike Hanna said. “We came out better in the second half and gave ourselves five great looks and we didn’t score, and when you do that, you leave yourself open to what happened in the end.”
Junior back Logan Basler got his own rebound and banged in a low shot into the corner past Howell goalkeeper Jack Kelley for the 1-0 advantage. It remained there for another 70 minutes as Howell had three corner kicks and a free kick in the final 10 minutes of the first half. But Wildcat goalkeeper Ryan Rose held off a number of shots and redirect balls to preserve the lead into the second half.
Howell senior back Dominic Bajardi was hit in the face by Eureka sophomore forward Tyson Sobacke’s point-blank shot in the 48th minute. After a few minutes on the ground, Bajardi was helped off the field by a trainer. The Vikings dialed up more offense and senior forward Cole Bange, Howell’s leading scorer, fired a hard shot to beat Rose and tie the score.
“They’re good in the air and they have size, and we can’t live under that kind of pressure,” Hanna said. “It was a waiting game until that breaks down, and eventually it did.”
Six minutes into extra time, Howell flooded the offensive zone and Kaden Watson, a sophomore forward, took a pass and scored the winning goal, his first tally of the season.
“It was a great ball,” Watson said. “I ran onto it and finished. I came in from the left side from 18 yards out.
“We knew this was going to be a tough game and we played hard.”
As Hanna saw it, his team simply ran out of gas.
“We didn’t have the legs or hustle we’ve shown throughout the year, and eventually they outworked us and put one in the net,” he said.
Eureka ran its unbeaten streak to eight games Sept. 19 with a 1-0 shutout of visiting Parkway West. Junior forward Kyle Rehg scored with an assist by senior midfielder Eli Remspecher, and Rose made five saves for the shutout.
The Wildcats traveled to Paducah, Ky., Sept. 22 and suffered their first loss of the fall 1-0 to Henry Clay High of Lexington. Eureka bounced back the next day with a 2-1 win over McCracken County. Rehg and junior back Owen Winslett scored for the Wildcats and Rose made five saves in goal. Rehg (seven goals and two assists for 16 points) and Remspecher (eight goals and two assists for 18 points) lead Eureka in scoring.
The Wildcats hosted Marquette (4-5-1) in a Suburban Conference Yellow pool game on Wednesday, after the Leader deadline. Eureka and Lindbergh (12-2) lead the Yellow pool with 2-0 marks.
“You’re going to see a very similar game,” Hanna said of the matchup against the Mustangs. “They’re going to be fast and physical. We have to try and match that intensity. Teams see that record and want to hand you a loss.
“It’s been a good start. These two losses in three days opened our eyes a little bit. We need to play our best game. Howell didn’t have the results going in, but they’ve been tough.”
Cross country squads run at Gans Creek
The Eureka boys and girls cross country teams were among dozens from around the state to converge on Columbia for the Gans Creek Classic Sept. 23. The 3.1-mile (five kilometer) Gans Creek course has hosted the state championship meet since the Missouri State High School Activities Association moved it there from Jefferson City in 2019. This year’s state Class 5 championships will run on Nov. 4.
The boys and girls races Saturday were split into Gold, Blue and White divisions, with the Wildcats competing in the Gold. Last year’s Class 5 state runner-up, Columbia Rock Bridge, won the boys Gold team title with 144 points. The Wildcats came in 16th out of 43 schools with 490 points.
Having qualified for state last year, Eureka sophomore Joseph Rauls knows the course, and he was the first Wildcat finisher in 48th place, clocking 16:46.9. Four spots behind him was junior teammate Logan Ghormley in 16:49.2. Lincoln College Prep senior Isaac Rivera won the Gold in 15:15. He was fourth in Class 4 last year.
Defending Class 4 state champion Father Tolton Catholic won the girls 35-team Gold Division with 140 points. Eureka finished 14th with 403, three spots ahead of rival Lafayette. The Lancers’ Natalie Barnard won the individual title by 22 seconds in 17:48.6. It was the second straight runaway win for the senior after capturing the Bowles Invitational title in Festus on Sept. 16.
All seven Eureka girls were packed within 25 spots of each other, starting with sophomore Brooke Samuelson’s 75th-place finish in 20:51.9.
Water in Earlywine's future plans
Water might not be part of Nolan Earlywine’s athletic pursuits after he graduates from Eureka High next spring, but he plans on it becoming a big part of his life as a professional.
Earlywine, the senior captain of the Eureka boys swimming and diving team, has been a reserve firefighter for the Eureka Fire Protection District for three years and plans to be a paramedic/firefighter after high school. The reserve program is for boys and girls ages 14-18, and they spend time training, going on engine calls and shadowing the firefighters.
“Absolutely, he has what it takes to do the job,” said Brad Trower, the firefighter/paramedic liaison for the Eureka junior firefighter program and president of the junior firefighter advisory board. “He’s been with us for a number of years. I’ve promoted him to one of our highest positions among junior firefighters. He’s the leader of one of the two sections. He’s always interested to help push the knowledge of our job to the next generation.”
“I need an active job and am already enrolled with the Eureka Fire Department,” Earlywine said.
“I’ve been on quite a few calls.”
When he’s not in the pool or chasing down fires, Earlywine teaches gymnastics to kids. Trower said many people who join his rigorous profession are top-notch athletes.
“All of the junior firefighters are in sports,” Trower said, “The ones who do the best in our program were part of other activities in high school.”
At last year’s Class 2 state championships in St. Peters, Earlywine competed in four events. He finished 14th in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:52.20, qualified for the 100 backstroke and swam legs in the 400 freestyle relay and 200 medley relay.
The Wildcats hosted Lindbergh in a dual meet Sept. 21 and Earlywine won the 200 free in 2:07 and the 100 butterfly in 1:04 (Eureka’s pool is measured in meters). He set personal records at Edwardsville last year in the 200-yard free (1:48) and 500 free (4:47).
“Those times are only going to get faster,” he said. “I’ve got to keep training hard and keep on my pacing.”
Earlywine’s top goal this year is to break the school record of 4:41 in the 500 freestyle.
Sophomore Luke Deutschman competes in the 100 fly and 100 backstroke, and swam with Earlywine on the two state relays. Freshman Isaiah Robinson is Eureka’s top sprinter in the 50 and 100 free.
Freshman Tyler Ortinau is a first-year diver for the Wildcats.
“He has improved exponentially this season,” Eureka head coach Anna Jovanovich said. “We’re hoping he qualifies for state.
“Our goal is to get everyone healthy,” she added. “We haven’t had a meet with the whole team and we have a small team. We need everyone to compete. I’m hoping swimmers get their best times; they’ve already dropped times. Our pool is in meters, so most meets don’t count.”
Jovanovich, who also coaches Eureka’s girls team, said the Wildcats will be well-rested when they compete at the Rockwood Summit Invitational Oct. 11-12.
“It’s a midseason taper to see how fast we can go to get some better times,” she said.
Eureka hosts Lafayette on Oct. 5 and Ladue on Oct. 7. The Wildcats compete in the Suburban Conference Red pool while the Lancers are in the top-tier Yellow pool.
Tourney puts Wildcats to test
In the first inning against Oakville, Eureka’s Sophi Mazzola stepped into the batter’s box visualizing a line-drive hit.
She was just a little off.
The senior shortstop belted a solo home run that triggered a three-run outburst and the Wildcats scored four more runs in the second, more than enough for pitcher Kate Proffitt to nail down a 7-1 home victory Sept. 21. Eureka improved to 11-8 overall and 3-0 in the Suburban Conference Yellow pool while Oakville dropped to 8-13 and 1-1.
“I got into the box, it’s the first inning and I just want to get on (base) for my teammates,” said Mazzola, who leads Eureka with a .510 batting average and has nine doubles, three triples and three home runs and is tied with junior teammate Heidi Daffron with 15 runs batted in. “I wasn’t thinking about a home run. If anything, it was a line-drive mentality and it went over.”
Eureka had another victory over a Suburban Conference team last week, scoring 14 runs in the first inning to crush Kirkwood (Red pool) 17-0 in three innings Sept. 18. Those wins snapped a three-game losing streak suffered at the Southside Classic tournament in Columbia Sept. 15-16. The Wildcats defeated Southern Boone 13-6 and Camdenton 8-4 but then lost twice to host Rock Bridge, 7-4 and 8-2, and fell to Troy Buchanan 2-0.
Playing in a tough tournament “was perfect for us,” said Mazzola, who has committed to play for the University of Washington, which is leaving the PAC-12 for the Big Ten Conference. “We have a hard week ahead of us and it was good for us mentally and physically. We have three hard games next week and we’re going to be ready for them.”
Proffitt has walked 31 batters in 71 innings, but she’s also struck out 58 and has an excellent defense behind her. Against Oakville she walked four, fanned two and scattered five hits. She also leads the team with four homers.
“Anytime Kate’s in the circle, she trusts us to make the plays behind her,” said Mazzola, who shares the middle infield with her sister, sophomore second baseman Gracie Mazzola.
Eureka head coach Mark Mosley said it was important to score early and get the upper hand on Oakville.
“Proffitt battled through some close calls and persevered,” Mosley said. “I was proud of her keeping her cool and throwing strikes as best she could. Our infielders made more plays than they’re used to. The defense made the plays behind her.
“Sophi set an offensive tone for us. Defensively, other teams have to clear the bases so she’s not up with runners in scoring position, or she’ll drive them in. She can do a lot.”
In the win over the Pioneers, Wildcat batters drew eight walks. Gracie Mazzola walked twice and scored both times. Daffron doubled and Sophi Mazzola had a triple. Senior third baseman Sydney Bailey (.412) contributed an RBI single and scored two runs. Freshman pitcher Chrystal Hall struck out seven and allowed two hits in three innings.
Home runs by Daffron, Proffitt and junior Savanna Wylie and doubles by the Mazzolas, Bailey and senior Kendall Terrell powered the win over Southern Boone. Bailey scored three runs. Proffitt got the win, striking out four and allowing five earned runs on six hits.
Against Camdenton, the Wildcat offense jumped on top with three runs in the first inning and a 5-0 lead after three innings. Eureka had nine hits and stole eight bases, including three by Bailey.
Hall went the distance, striking out seven, giving up seven hits and only one walk.
“We’ve been in two incredibly hard tournaments, and I’m super-proud of the girls,” Mosley said. “Our message to them was, ‘Now that we’ve competed with these teams, we need to beat them.’ I think we’ll be battle-tested come the postseason because we’ve only played two teams under .500.”
On Monday at Weldon Spring, Eureka lost 4-0 to Francis Howell (18-5), which features one of the best pitchers in the state, senior Lorin Boutte. She yielded only one hit and struck out 14. She has fanned 113 batters in 67 2/3 innings. Howell, the runner up in Class 5 last year, is in the same district as Eureka (Class 5 District 2).
Girls volleyball whips St. Pius X in straight sets
Eureka has 1,000 more students than St. Pius X, but the public school from St. Louis County and the private one from Jefferson County still enjoy going after each other on the volleyball court.
For the second year in a row, the host Wildcats beat the Lancers in straight sets (25-20, 25-19, 25-18) Sept. 21.
The loss for St. Pius (12-4) came two days after the three-time state champions suffered a straight-set loss to 11-time state champion Incarnate Word Academy.
“We like to play the volleyball empires,” St. Pius head coach Shannon Leftridge said. “And that’s Lafayette and Eureka. We like to challenge ourselves. It’s always going to make us better.”
As a Class 5 school in the Suburban Conference’s top-tier Yellow pool, Eureka (15-6) is used to facing the best teams in the state. The Wildcats’ eight-game winning streak was broken by Marquette in the Oakville Tournament final on Sept. 23.
“They’re very competitive,” Eureka head coach Jodie Fowler said about St. Pius. “I’ve known their coaches for a long time. We said something last year about setting up a game and we had them in our tournament. This year, we said, ‘Let’s put them on the schedule because Pius is always good.’ In Jefferson County, they are competitive against all of those teams.”
The Lancers, playing up at least two levels in Class 4 because the state uses postseason success as a factor to determine classification for private schools, were at a disadvantage before the match against the Wildcats because sophomore setter Elana Ruble was out sick. Meanwhile, Eureka’s setter, senior Sophia Gagnepain, is one of the best in the St. Louis area with 333 assists, an average of 6.8 per set.
“I coached (Gagnepain) in youth league and I knew she was smart as a whip then,” Fowler said. “She understands the game better than most. She understands why the hitters need the ball in a certain place.”
In her first start as a setter for St. Pius, junior Mady Bohnert, a defensive specialist, had 21 assists against the Wildcats.
“We were at half-mast tonight, but Mady had to step up and set,” Leftridge said. “She did a good job for having to go against Eureka your first time out.”
A handful of 2023 Eureka graduates are playing college volleyball, with more on the way. Senior Olivia Hasbrook, a defensive specialist, has committed to Ohio State University.
“Olivia is a very special player,” Fowler said. “This is a big group of seniors and they’re doing really good things.”
Lancer junior outside hitter Hannah Leftridge, Shannon’s daughter, already has committed to attend North Carolina State University. St. Pius sophomore middle hitter Bennett Raterman is being recruited by Division I schools. Ruble, daughter of assistant coach Therese Ruble, has that kind of potential as well.
“We call them the one-percenters,” Leftridge said.
After winning the Class 4 District 1 championship last season, the Lancers proved they can compete against top large schools like Farmington. They lost only one senior (Hannah Burch) to graduation and have a stellar cast of young talent.
“We’ve got really good team chemistry with four seniors (Emma Frazier, Karlie Lane, Sophia Michaud and Sydney Otec),” Leftridge said. “They all have a role and are all playing with confidence and are at the top of their game. Our younger players are very talented.”
From 2010 to 2019, a trip to the Show-Me Center in Cape Girardeau was almost routine for St. Pius, which won Class 2 state crowns in 2011, 2016 and 2017. But the Lancers haven’t returned since finishing second in 2019.
“This is the year we’re focused on getting back to state,” Leftridge said. “At St. Pius, we’re used to it. Once we got moved to Class 4, it got harder. And this is the team I think can get back there.”
The last time Eureka won a district title was in 2018, the year the Wildcats captured the Class 5 state crown, their first in the sport. They played Incarnate Word and St. Francis Borgia (which also has 11 state titles) on Tuesday and Wednesday, after the Leader deadline. After facing top teams in tournaments almost every week since the season began, Eureka concludes the regular season schedule one match at a time.
The Wildcats fell in three sets (25-20, 25-20, 25-19) to Yellow pool rival Lafayette on Sept. 13. Playoff seeding also was on the line in that match because the two teams are in Class 5 District 2 at Nerinx Hall.
“They have five or six players who’ve been together, club and high school, for the last seven years,” Fowler said of Lafayette, which has ended Eureka’s season the last four years. “There is a level of the kids knowing each other. We have a lot of new faces. Lafayette is crisp and solid and we’re not there yet. I’m waiting for a couple positions to settle.”
By Russell KorandoFor the Leader
After a weekend road trip that resulted in a Kentucky team snapping their eight-game winning streak, the Eureka boys soccer team came home to find they could lose to a local opponent as well.The Wildcats visited Francis Howell Monday and lost 2-1 in overtime after taking a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. The loss dropped Eureka to 9-2 at the midpoint of the season.The defeat stung a little more because the Wildcats seemed to throttle back after grabbing the early lead and let the Vikings (5-5) take charge.“We sat on our heels a little as they took ownership of the game,” Eureka head coach Mike Hanna said. “We came out better in the second half and gave ourselves five great looks and we didn’t score, and when you do that, you leave yourself open to what happened in the end.”Junior back Logan Basler got his own rebound and banged in a low shot into the corner past Howell goalkeeper Jack Kelley for the 1-0 advantage. It remained there for another 70 minutes as Howell had three corner kicks and a free kick in the final 10 minutes of the first half. But Wildcat goalkeeper Ryan Rose held off a number of shots and redirect balls to preserve the lead into the second half. Howell senior back Dominic Bajardi was hit in the face by Eureka sophomore forward Tyson Sobacke’s point-blank shot in the 48th minute. After a few minutes on the ground, Bajardi was helped off the field by a trainer. The Vikings dialed up more offense and senior forward Cole Bange, Howell’s leading scorer, fired a hard shot to beat Rose and tie the score.“They’re good in the air and they have size, and we can’t live under that kind of pressure,” Hanna said. “It was a waiting game until that breaks down, and eventually it did.”Six minutes into extra time, Howell flooded the offensive zone and Kaden Watson, a sophomore forward, took a pass and scored the winning goal, his first tally of the season.“It was a great ball,” Watson said. “I ran onto it and finished. I came in from the left side from 18 yards out. “We knew this was going to be a tough game and we played hard.”As Hanna saw it, his team simply ran out of gas.“We didn’t have the legs or hustle we’ve shown throughout the year, and eventually they outworked us and put one in the net,” he said. Eureka ran its unbeaten streak to eight games Sept. 19 with a 1-0 shutout of visiting Parkway West. Junior forward Kyle Rehg scored with an assist by senior midfielder Eli Remspecher, and Rose made five saves for the shutout.The Wildcats traveled to Paducah, Ky., Sept. 22 and suffered their first loss of the fall 1-0 to Henry Clay High of Lexington. Eureka bounced back the next day with a 2-1 win over McCracken County. Rehg and junior back Owen Winslett scored for the Wildcats and Rose made five saves in goal. Rehg (seven goals and two assists for 16 points) and Remspecher (eight goals and two assists for 18 points) lead Eureka in scoring.The Wildcats hosted Marquette (4-5-1) in a Suburban Conference Yellow pool game on Wednesday, after the Leader deadline. Eureka and Lindbergh (12-2) lead the Yellow pool with 2-0 marks. “You’re going to see a very similar game,” Hanna said of the matchup against the Mustangs. “They’re going to be fast and physical. We have to try and match that intensity. Teams see that record and want to hand you a loss.“It’s been a good start. These two losses in three days opened our eyes a little bit. We need to play our best game. Howell didn’t have the results going in, but they’ve been tough.”
Cross country squads run at Gans CreekThe Eureka boys and girls cross country teams were among dozens from around the state to converge on Columbia for the Gans Creek Classic Sept. 23. The 3.1-mile (five kilometer) Gans Creek course has hosted the state championship meet since the Missouri State High School Activities Association moved it there from Jefferson City in 2019. This year’s state Class 5 championships will run on Nov. 4.The boys and girls races Saturday were split into Gold, Blue and White divisions, with the Wildcats competing in the Gold. Last year’s Class 5 state runner-up, Columbia Rock Bridge, won the boys Gold team title with 144 points. The Wildcats came in 16th out of 43 schools with 490 points. Having qualified for state last year, Eureka sophomore Joseph Rauls knows the course, and he was the first Wildcat finisher in 48th place, clocking 16:46.9. Four spots behind him was junior teammate Logan Ghormley in 16:49.2. Lincoln College Prep senior Isaac Rivera won the Gold in 15:15. He was fourth in Class 4 last year.Defending Class 4 state champion Father Tolton Catholic won the girls 35-team Gold Division with 140 points. Eureka finished 14th with 403, three spots ahead of rival Lafayette. The Lancers’ Natalie Barnard won the individual title by 22 seconds in 17:48.6. It was the second straight runaway win for the senior after capturing the Bowles Invitational title in Festus on Sept. 16.All seven Eureka girls were packed within 25 spots of each other, starting with sophomore Brooke Samuelson’s 75th-place finish in 20:51.9.