Boys Soccer Blanks Ballard To Get To Substate Final

The Knoxville Boys Soccer Squad moved on to the class 2A substate final with a 3-0 win over Ballard on Tuesday. The Panthers struck early to take control in the 1st half and added an insurance goal later in the 1st half to go up 3-0. Kaison Wilder, Brett Watters, and Jensen Finnegan all scored while Joe Finnegan, Max Magana, and Brody DeJong all got assists. The Panthers defense did not allow the Bombers many shots as goalkeeper Carson Cecil had three saves on the night. The Panthers are 12–1-3. The Panthers will travel to Perry on Thursday in a go-to-state match.

Softball Falls In Season Opener

The Knoxville Softball Squad fell in its opener to Chariton on Tuesday 9-0 heard live on 95.3 KNIA. The Chargers jumped on top in the 1st inning with four runs to take control early on a combination of Panther errors and Charger base running. The Panthers seemed to settle down until Chariton plated five runs to put the Panthers in the run rule ending the game in the 5th inning. Coach Chris Peden told KNIA/KRLS Sports his team needs to be better all the way around.

Peden: “We have to be better, we just have to be better on the defensive side. We asked Jordyn to get us 4-5 outs per inning and we don’t have the luxury to do that this year. So it goes back to relying on what we need to do right in those stressful situations.”

Jordyn Counts took the loss going five innings giving up nine runs and striking out four. Addy Dunkin, Macy Cox, and Ralei Danner all collected one hit each. Knoxville is 0-1 and will host Newton on Thursday. Softball has instituted a new run rule as the game now ends if one team is up by eight runs after five innings.