While winning four 32nd District Tournament crowns in the last five years, the Simon Kenton Pioneers boys soccer team had not been able to follow up with wins at home in the 8th Region quarterfinal games.
That changed with an 11-1 win over Gallatin County (3-7) on Monday. Simon Kenton (12-9-2) advanced to the 8th Region semifinals for the first time since 2018.
Simon Kenton outshot Gallatin County, 22-4. Goalkeepers Brett Bockman and Miles Mullen had two and one saves, respectively, for the Pioneers.
Nasser Hussein scored three goals for the Pioneers and Cole Garnett had two. Ethan Perriman, Draven Dean, Hunter Barrett, Dominick Dornbusch, Aiden Hammons and Andrew Petty had one goal each. Gabe Beaman had three assists with Ian Lawrence assisting two and Michael Cawthron added one.
The Pioneers will face North Oldham (6-8-4) on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Carroll County.
Girls Soccer
9th Region Quarterfinals
Highlands 5, St. Henry 0
The Bluebirds advanced to the region semifinals for the 11th straight year with their 13th shutout of the season.
Claire Cavacini led Highlands with two goals and one assist. Laney Smith, Kate Fausz and Franny Smith had goals for the Bluebirds with Yvie Gorrigan, Lindsay Stein and Reese Wilkens recording one assist each. Goalkeepers Natalie Hinegardner and Aubree Colston had one save each.
Highlands (17-2-3) travels to Notre Dame (17-3-2) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the 9th Region semifinals. The Bluebirds beat the Pandas, 4-1 in the Lexington Catholic Challenge Cup on Sept. 14, before the two tied 1-1 on Sept. 25 at Tower Park.
St. Henry (10-12) made it to the region tournament for the second straight year. The Crusaders graduate seven seniors.
Dixie Heights 9, Newport Central Catholic 0
The Colonels advanced back to the region semifinals on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. against Cooper with the convincing win.
Makenna Long led Dixie Heights (14-8) with three goals. Hailey Hall had two goals and three assists with Karolyn Lighthall scoring twice and tallying two assists. Keeley Polk and Hope Tignor had goals with Abby Parsons recording two assists and Madelyn Kriger had one.
Newport Central Catholic (3-20-1) graduates 10 seniors from a program that was seeking its first region tourney win since 2018.
10th Region Quarterfinals
Campbell County 10, Mason County 0
The Camels ended the game early with the Royals by mercy rule with 32:42 left in the game to advance to the region semifinals on Wednesday.
Campbell County (11-9-3) outshot Mason County, 20-0. Ryan Weghorn led the Camels with three goals. Meryem Gonulates had one goal and three assists with Caitlin Crowley recording one goal and two assists. Jillian Florimonte had one goal and assist with Allison Tiemeier, Valerie Stephens and Kennedy Crowley had one goal each.
The Camels are back in the region semifinals for the third straight season. They’ll face George Rogers Clark in Winchester at 6 p.m.
Bishop Brossart 4, Montgomery County 0
The Mustangs recorded their 10th shutout of the season to move on to the region semifinals Wednesday.
Bishop Brossart (13-6-2) saw Kiersten Key, Abby Lloyd, Rachel Shewmaker and Larah Callahan score goals. Key had two assists with Lloyd and Kyle Kremer tallying one each and goalkeeper Madeline Broering had six saves.
The Mustangs have advanced to the region semifinals five straight years. They’ll square off against Pendleton County at George Rogers Clark at 8 p.m.
8th Region Quarterfinals
Oldham County 2, Simon Kenton 0
The Pioneers saw their streak of 10 straight region semifinal appearances snapped in the home loss. Goalkeeper Fayth Tomlin made four saves for Simon Kenton.
Simon Kenton (12-10-1) graduates 10 seniors.
South Oldham 5, Walton-Verona 0
The Bearcats drew the defending state champions and saw their record-setting season come to an end.
Walton-Verona (17-5-2) graduates eight seniors from the team that finished All “A” State runner-up.
Volleyball
Beechwood 3, Scott 0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-10)
The Tigers earned the home non-region win over the Eagles.
Beechwood (23-10) had 34 kills, 38 digs, 28 assists, 14 blocks and 12 aces in the win. Kendale Lair had 13 kills and Isabel Baaker had eight.
“We all work so hard and try our best every point. Our coaching staff has really changed what we’ve thought about volleyball and how we played,” Lair said. “The passing was great. We controlled the ball and had some great saves so we’re being aggressive and scrappy. I just hope we can keep that up.”
Skylr Estep had 28 assists and Maggie Dawson had 16 digs for Beechwood. Rachel Lewandowski had four digs and three blocks with Macy Armstrong recording four blocks, helping limit Scott’s two main hitters in Milyn Minor and Brooklyn Helm to nine and eight kills respectively.
“That was our key to make sure we took care of Milyn for and Brooklyn from an attacking standpoint,” said Matt Long, Beechwood head coach. “They got some kills. But once we got in rhythm, we got in their face a bit and slowed them down. But what helped us the most was serving really aggressive.”
Scott had 18 blocks, 18 assists and 23 digs. Elise Manhardt led the Eagles with 11 digs and Ryann Grigsby had 16 assists. Morgan Justice again led Scott with six blocks and Minor had five.
Both teams play again Tuesday at 7 p.m. Beechwood plays host to Conner (24-7) and Scott plays host to Boone County (8-22).
Other Volleyball Scores
Highlands 3, Bellevue 0 (25-18, 25-10, 25-8)
Dayton 2, Heritage Academy (25-11, 22-25, 25-7)
Lloyd Memorial 3, Carroll County 0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-5)
Bracken County 3, Holmes 0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-11)
Walton-Verona 2, Newport 0 (25-10, 25-15)
