By Dean Backes
MaxPreps.com
Cameron football coaches Eric Thomas and Jeff White will be switching roles at separate schools next fall. And neither will be with the Dragons.
Thomas, who went 38-20 at Cameron, is walking away from his head coaching duties with the Dragons to accept the offensive coordinator position at Columbia Hickman, while White will take over the head coaching post at Gallatin next fall after serving as an assistant under Thomas during three of the past four years.
“The things that we’ve accomplished, it’s been a great ride,” Thomas told the St. Joseph News-Press. “Last year at this time, I was looking to buy a house in Cameron and stay here. That didn’t work out. Sometimes opportunities present themselves, and you have to jump on them.”
White will take much of what he learned from Thomas to Gallatin, a program with lots of tradition. The Bulldogs have qualified for the playoffs in three of the last four seasons.
Under Thomas, the Dragons have turned around their football fortunes. The five-year Dragon coach guided Cameron to its first playoff appearance in nearly a decade in just his second season at the helm. In his third season, Cameron went 14-0 during one of the more dominating seasons in Missouri high school football history.
Boys Golf: Holden’s 3-Under 33 Breaks School Record
Chance Holden’s golf game appears to be in mid-season form.
Just two days after earning medalist honors with a 4-over par 76 at the Notre Dame Invitational Monday, Holden broke the Dexter school record with a 3-under par 33 total over nine holes.
The sophomore was actually at 4-under par until he suffered his only bogey of the round on the ninth hole when he three putted. Holden birdied three of the first five holes to get off to a quick start, including back-to-back birdies on the par three fourth hole and the par four fifth hole. Then, he went to 4-under with a birdie on the par five eighth hole.
With Holden leading the pack, Dexter won the four team invitational with a team total of 173 for the nine holes. New Madrid County Central followed with a 182. Malden and Bloomfield carded team scores of 206 and 221 respectively on the cold and windy day.
“In that wind, that was a super round,” Dexter golf coach Eric Sitze told the Dexter Daily Statesman. “(He) Holden has been hitting the ball pretty good, but he hasn’t been making many putts. But he made some today.”
The old record was 2-under par, which was held by several players.
Girls Soccer: Long Owl Winless Streak Falls
It took two complete seasons, but the Marshall girls soccer team finally got to taste victory again. The Lady Owls snapped a 46-game losing skid with a 2-0 non-conference win over St. Paul.
“At times it was a long road for us over the past few years,” Marshall coach Josh Posegate told the Marshall Democrat-News. “I credit the girls for sticking it out through many tough times.”
The Owls scored their first goal when freshman Shelby McCoy followed her corner kick and passed to Paige Fifer for the goal. Vicky Renderos scored an additional goal when she took a pass from Kaitlyn Chevalier and scored with seven minutes remaining for the 2-0 triumph.
Boys Tennis: Richmond Ends Husker Streak
Over the last dozen years, the Missouri River Valley Conference has been dominated by the Higginsville boys tennis team. That all came to an end Tuesday when Richmond dominated the Huskers.
In the process of securing a key 6-3 conference win; the Spartans halted a 12-year streak, in which Higginsville never lost a conference match.
“We have now set ourselves up for a shot at winning the conference,” Richmond coach Ken Simmons told the Richmond Daily News. “Hopefully the guys will use this to build their confidence. I was proud of their efforts.”
The Spartan win reversed the direction of the two teams. Richmond had started the season with a pair of 8-1 losses, while Higginsville won the past 12 conference titles.
When Quentin Stevenson lost 8-2 at No. 1 singles to begin the match, it appeared Richmond would fall to the Huskers once again. But Evan McWilliams defeated Zach Kramer 8-1 at No. 2 singles and Phillip Corwin rallied for a 9-7 win over Husker No. 3 singles player Patrick Swartz to swing the momentum the way of the Spartans.
From that point on, Richmond won three straight singles matches and one of the three doubles matches to secure the win.