Sports

Rocky Start for Varsity Football
by Willie Griffes
The young and inexperienced varsity football team has gotten off to a rocky 2-5 start. There are no returning starters on offense from last year's 6-4 team. Only Tracell Wilson, Julian Clay, and Mike Beard returned on defense.

Head Coach John Young starts six sophomores and one freshman. "They are playing extremely well. They've been our strength. We need Seniors to step up." Coach Young points to the returning starters on defense, Senior Alfonzo Floyd, and Sophomores Fred Tudor, Miles Davis, Leonardo Acoff, and RyanThomas as key players to lead this year's team.

Coach Young says that the offensive and defensive lines are the team's weakness: "The Eagles have good backs and receivers, but the lines have had trouble blocking for them this year. The game is won and lost through the linemen's performance. Thus far the the line hasn't reached its full potential."

In the season opener, the Eagles fell to Purcell 33-24. Alfonzo Floyd led the Eagles with 99 yards rushing and two touchdowns. The Eagles played a close game against Turpin, but came up empty with a 18-15 loss. The Eagles briefly held the lead in the first quarter with an 82 yard kick off return by sophomore Fred Tudor and the extra point by sophomore John Goodrich. The Eagles had a chance to win late in the fourth quarter with the ball on Turpin's goalline. Walnut, however, lost their composure and committed two penalties, ending with a loss of posession. In their home opener, Walnut fell 28-6 to Glen Este and lost their league opener to Woodward by a score of 18-6.

In their last game Walnut managed to salvage a win against Aiken by a score of 21-20. Hopefully this exciting victory will mark a turnaround for the Eagles.

Coach Young believes Withrow and Western Hills will be the two toughest opponents. He points out also that Woodward, Aiken, and Mt. Healthy have improved since last year. Coach Young still believes that a winning season is possible.

Girls Varsity Soccer Team is Strong
by Megan Goth
The Walnut Hills Girl's Varsity soccer team has had an exciting season, with their current recordof 7-2-4. Although there have already been two game cacellations, the games that have been held kept the spectators on the edge of their seats.

Game one was a home game against Amelia. Goals were scored by Tamara Fennell and Lucy Roberts, with a final score of 4-1. The second game of the season was held at Seton High School. The game was an intense one for the two traditional rivals. Seton managed pull out a win in the 1-0 game. Game three took place at Oak Hills High School. This game was another close one, but Walnut was triumphant in the end by a final score of 2-1. Both of Walnut's goals were scored by junior, Lindsey Scheer.

Team Captain, Sara Hagopian is optimistic about their tournament prospects: "We do have a new team this year, but we also have a lot of skill. The team is fairly young, but they were able to combine their skills well and turn into a power house." The young team includes 6 seniors, 6 juniors, 5 sophomores, and 4 freshmen.

Coach Muro is pleased with the team's performance, "The season is actually going better than I expected it would. We only had four returning starters from last year, and we also had a lot of new and a lot of young players. I wasn't sure how strong we were going to be, but I think that especially in the defense, we have proven how strong we can be."

As a testament to their strength, the varsity team is now ranked in the top 10 in the city, and they're not going to give up their spot any time soon.

The Eagles Nest
The latest news, information, and highlights of your Walnut Hills sports program

Cross Country Killers
-The Cross Country Killers, are Walnut Hills High School's very own long distance runners! Cross Country is a competitive sport at Walnut Hills. It is not only difficult but mentally challenging. The team has 5 SENIOR girls: Morgan Dixon, Jessica Hessford, Leusa Jones, Elaine Emmerich, and Susannah Tisue; and 6 SENIOR guys: Greg Aerni, Scott Lloyd, Sam Lieberman, Chuck Bell, David Bullock, and Peter Ungerer. The team is coached by Karl Kaufman and Diane Rappaport. Cross Country meets are usually on Saturday mornings. Your next chance to see the cross country team is at the St. Xavier invitational on September 29.

Boys Soccer
-This year's boys varsity soccer team, under the leadership of new head coach Mike Homer and captains Kurt Robinson, Nick Farfsing, and Rusty Heintz have scored yet another victory with their win over Mt. Healthy by a score of 5-0. Their record is now 3-7. Coach Mike Homer has laid down many new rules this year, and runs a more regimented schedule to try to make Walnut's boys' team a more respectable program. This year's team has been plagued by various injuries including that of SENIOR Mike Fischer, who broke his leg.

Last Chance To See the Reds
by Johnny Lipps
If you are a Reds fan, you are running out of time to see your team take the field. Unfortunately, the Reds have been far from a winning season for quite some time. The Reds are currently 26 games out of first place and second to last in the National League central division. Although most of the season has been disappointing, there have been some highlights. Faithful fans will fondly recall the bobbing head giveaways and the fluke performance by Deion Sanders.

Fans also might recall the dramatic return of Jose Rijo to the Reds' roster after 5 years. In his first appearance, Rijo managed to strike out the side and salvage a rare victory. Rijo, with a 2.31 E.R.A has provided the team with a reliable relief pitcher amidst a rough pitching staff. Also reassuring is Griffey's ability to come on strong the second half of the season. Griffey is currently batting near .300 with 19 homeruns.

Sean Casey has also proved for the first time that he can hit for average all season. Casey is currently batting .319.

Most of this season's developments however, have been negative. One of the more disappointing changes this year is the sudden ineffectiveness of two-time gold glove infielder, Pokey Reese. Reese who is making $3.2 million is eligible for arbitration after the end of the season. Reese who is batting .226 with 15 errors has openly said he wouldn't mind playing elsewhere. Keep in mind that Reese was one of the Reds' untouchables in the Griffey trade.

Even though the Reds have long been assured of finishing below .500, it is still not too late to support your favorite baseball team. Due to the week long postponement of major league baseball for the national tragedy, the Reds will play into October.

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