Grant County

Tuesday night's win over Grant County gave the East Jessamine volleyball team its first set of back-to-back wins in more than two years. Last Thursday, the Lady Jags (2-1) beat Danville 2-0 and followed with a 2-0 win over Grant County (0-2)  on Tuesday. East won game one 25-21 and closed out the Braves 25-18 to win the match. The win was a major improvement from the season-opener just a week before. Coach Steve Schweitzer said he thought the team played hard in both games, especially the second.

The George Rogers Clark girls soccer team put together its best performance of the season in a 4-2 win at Grant County Monday night. “Honestly, this is the best I'd seen us play yet,” Clark coach Jessica Laswell said. “We passed the ball really well, had some great headers and made pretty decent runs in and around the box.” Laswell also was pleased with her team's defensive adjustments, especially in the second half. Molly Pelfrey scored both goals for Grant County in the opening half, but was held scoreless during the final frame.

HARRODSBURG - Grant County will be the biggest team that Harrodsburg has faced this year when the Pioneers go for their fifth straight win Friday night when they host the Braves. Grant has 325-pound Jared Webster anchoring the defensive line from the nose guard position while 295-pound Jeremy Faust mans one tackle position on a defense that Harrodsburg coach Terry Yeast said will blitz on every play. "They will open in a 3-5 defense, but they will blitz more than any team I've ever coached against," said the Harrodsburg coach.

Danville wrestler Zach Phillips, wrestling at 113 pounds, went 5-0 Saturday at the Franklin County Duals in Frankfort. Daniel Lannum (132) went 4-0 and Seamus Sallee (182) finished 4-1 to lead the Admirals. As a team, Danville finished 2-3. The Ads beat Grant County 41-39, then lost to Franklin 60-21, beat Barren County 36-27 and lost to North Oldham 54-24 and Cooper 48-30.

The George Rogers Clark girls' soccer team had trouble finding the net again Monday night in a 2-0 loss to Model. The Lady Cardinals (4-5-2) lost for the fifth time in the last six games and couldn't get over the hump after both teams played a scoreless first half. "Yet again, we played some great soccer, but failed to put away the chances that we had," Clark coach Bill Kirk said. "Again, we made silly mistakes and gave up soft goals. " Despite the loss, Kirk likes his team's chances of ending the losing skid during the final week of the season.

Editor's Note: During the 2006 season, sports editor Larry Vaught and sports writers Mike Marsee and Hal Morris will be predicting the outcome of area high school and college football games each week. Mike gets to go first. Hal's picks for the Boyle County and Danville games follow on Wednesday. Casey County vs. Russell County There's a rivalry out there that most of us know very little about, but it's always one of the biggest games of the year in the southernmost part of the Advocate's coverage area.

Editor's Note: During the 2006 season, sports editor Larry Vaught and sports writers Mike Marsee and Hal Morris are predicting the outcome of area high school and college football games each week. Hal's picks for the Boyle County and Danville games follow on Wednesday, and Larry will pick this week's Kentucky and Louisville games Thursday. Mercer County at Newport As big as the Boyle County game was for Mercer County - especially after Mercer won it - this might be the Titans' biggest game of the season.

Christina Hill and Carly Walton drove in four runs each as Danville defeated Madison Southern 10-3 Thursday at Berea for its eighth straight victory. Walton and Chelsea Wallace had two hits each for Danville (12-6), which hasn't lost since falling to Grant County on April 6 in a tournament in Bowling Green. The Admirals led 6-0 before Southern (6-6) got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning. Wallace singled and tripled and drove in two runs and Kendra Nutter scored four times for Danville.

Friday, Aug. 18 South Atlantic League Baseball Lexington at Greensboro, 7 p.m. (WHBN-AM 1420) High School Football Pleasure Ridge Park at Lincoln County, 6 p.m. Boyle County at Harrison County, 7:30 p.m. (WRNZ-FM 105.1) Grant County at Casey County, 8 p.m. Pulaski County vs. East Jessamine at Lincoln County, 8:30 p.m. Girls Golf Casey County at Corbin (Tri-County C.C.) Volleyball Pulaski County Invitational: Garrard County Saturday, Aug. 19 NASCAR Busch Series Auto Racing Carfax 250 at Brooklyn, Mich.

Thursday, Aug. 17 PROFESSIONAL South Atlantic League Baseball Lexington at Greensboro, 7 p.m. (WHBN-AM 1420) HIGH SCHOOL Boys Golf Danville at Garrard County (Dix River C.C.), 4:30 p.m. Campbellsville, Mercer County, Russell County at Taylor County (Campbellsville C.C.) Girls Golf Casey County, Mercer County at Boyle County (Old Bridge G.C.) Boys Soccer North Hardin vs. Garrard County at Anderson County, 6 p.m. Boyle County at Scott County, 7:30 p.m. Girls Soccer Southwestern at Boyle County, 6 p.m. Garrard County at Campbellsville, 6:30 p.m. Berea at Mercer County, 7 p.m. Volleyball Casey County at Madison Southern, 5:30 p.m. Lincoln County at Rockcastle County, 5:30 p.m. Southwestern at Mercer County, 7 p.m. Boyle County at West Jessamine, 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 18 PROFESSIONAL South Atlantic League Baseball Lexington at Greensboro, 7 p.m. (WHBN-AM 1420)

Danville wrestler Zach Phillips, wrestling at 113 pounds, went 5-0 Saturday at the Franklin County Duals in Frankfort. Daniel Lannum (132) went 4-0 and Seamus Sallee (182) finished 4-1 to lead the Admirals. As a team, Danville finished 2-3. The Ads beat Grant County 41-39, then lost to Franklin 60-21, beat Barren County 36-27 and lost to North Oldham 54-24 and Cooper 48-30.

The George Rogers Clark girls soccer team put together its best performance of the season in a 4-2 win at Grant County Monday night. “Honestly, this is the best I'd seen us play yet,” Clark coach Jessica Laswell said. “We passed the ball really well, had some great headers and made pretty decent runs in and around the box.” Laswell also was pleased with her team's defensive adjustments, especially in the second half. Molly Pelfrey scored both goals for Grant County in the opening half, but was held scoreless during the final frame.

Brenda Lynch, district administrative secretary for the Jessamine County Conservation District, presented a check for $7,500 to the Jessamine County Fiscal Court May 1. The check was the result of an environmental grant received from the Soil and Water Conservation Commission to help with the expenses the county incurred for the spring cleanup event.

Tuesday night's win over Grant County gave the East Jessamine volleyball team its first set of back-to-back wins in more than two years. Last Thursday, the Lady Jags (2-1) beat Danville 2-0 and followed with a 2-0 win over Grant County (0-2)  on Tuesday. East won game one 25-21 and closed out the Braves 25-18 to win the match. The win was a major improvement from the season-opener just a week before. Coach Steve Schweitzer said he thought the team played hard in both games, especially the second.

The Colts picked up a much-needed win on Friday night to stifle a three-game skid. West Jessamine defeated Grant County 43-13. “Tonight’s win was pretty important,” West coach Graham Heasley said. “We had three very tough opponents in a row, and it sucked a little bit of our confidence out. This was a big game in terms of getting confidence and getting a little bit of swagger back going into another really tough opponent next week.” On a night where the seniors said goodbye to the home crowd one last time, they put on a show.

Emma Ditto finished second in her race and led the Boyle County girls to a second-place finish Saturday in the Woodford County Invitational at Versailles. Ditto finished just seven seconds behind Mia Cornette of Lafayette after running the 3.1-mile Woodford County Park course in 20 minutes, 39 seconds. Calvin Steber of Danville was 16th place in the boys race in 18:31. Mercer’s Qualls in top 10 At Camp Nelson, Bryant Qualls of Mercer County finished ninth in the boys race at the East Jessamine Camp Nelson Extravaganza with a time of 18:45.

The Jaguars may have lost to Boyle County on Tuesday night, but coach Steve Schweitzer was still impressed with how much his team has improved since last facing the Rebels in the Boyle County Invitational. At the invitational, East lost both sets, 21-7 and 21-13, relative blowouts. But on Tuesday night, the Jags were able to stay in both sets but eventually lost 25-21, 26-24. “We played well,” Schweitzer said. “I thought we played very good tonight. We’re playing much better as a team ... Even though we lost, I’m OK. I wanted the win, but it was much better than some of our other losses.

The Lower Howard's Creek Nature and Heritage Preserve in southern Clark County is quickly becoming a "jewel" for the community, County Judge-Executive Henry Branham said Tuesday. During a report at a special-called Fiscal Court meeting, Branham said the preserve has benefited from about $2.4 million in grants, including $601,000 in federal transportation enhancement funds that Gov. Steve Beshear announced last week. Beshear said the money will help pay for clearing and repair of more than two miles of historical roads and rebuilding of 600 yards of stone fences.

The West Jessamine football team has made history. With their 36-8 win at Grant County last week, the Colts are now 8-2, giving the team eight wins for the first time since the school became West Jessamine in 1998. The Colts took a while to get warmed up, but after scoring in the second quarter, they never looked back in their pounding of the Braves (3-7). Parker Ball scored that first touched down on a 75-yard run. West followed that score with a turnover, picking up a Grant fumble on the following drive.