East Knox High School

The Mount Vernon News sports department’s 31st ATHLETE OF THE WEEK nominations continues the established procedure of spotlighting student-athletes’ skills and performances on the fields and courts of action. Based on performances, we ask ADs, coaches and the community to nominate one boy and one girl from their athletic programs to compete against other schools’ nominations. This week we have two diamond stars who are run-production RBI machines for their school teams.

East Knox FFA recently competed in the State Wildlife Management Career Development Event April 2 at Hocking College in Nelsonville where they placed eighth out of a field of teams from across Ohio.

The East Knox baseball team is coming off what Coach Randy Baugher calls a “historic season,” as the the Bulldogs had three tournament wins leading to their first Division IV district championship in school history and a 15-13 overall record, as well as 8-6 in the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference.

The East Knox softball team is coming off a tough season where the Bulldogs went 8-14 overall and 5-9 in the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference (KMAC), and Coach Jake Ulrey hopes that his team can turn things around this spring through mental discipline and hard work.

The historic 2022 season for the East Knox Bulldogs basketball team came to an end at the hands of Madison Tri-Village, 60-38, in the semifinal round of the Division 4 Regionals, March 8. Even another second-half scoring display by leading scorer Shane Knepp, couldn’t stop the Patriots from recording their 14th straight win and moving on to the Regional finals against the Botkins Trojans (25-2), who advanced with a 60-46 win over Springfield Catholic Central.

The veteran east Knox Bulldogs took their time against the young Grove City Christian Eagles and in the second half, relied on KMAC leading scorer Shane Knepp ran away from the tiring GCC team at Capital University, Saturday to gain their first-ever district title with  51-36 victory.

A tight first half evolved into the Shane Knepp show in the second in a Division IV Central District Semifinals match Mar. 2 that was won by East Knox, 49-39 over Berne Union. The Bulldogs came into the game with a three-game winning streak, a play-off win over Patriot Prep Academy, 44-28 and an 18-6 record. The Rockets gained the semis with a 59-50 win over Granville Christian and owned a 12-10 overall record.

East Knox takes early lead, cruises to 56-38 win over Granville Christian.

Lester’s buzzer-beater 3, propels East Knox to road OT win over Smithville, 45-44. The host Smithville Smithies came into their home non-conference game against the visiting East Knox Bulldogs, with an 11-2 record and a first-place standing in Wayne County Conference play at 8-1. The Bulldogs entered at 11-4 and 8-2 in KMAC play, and the game lived up to the hype of two top teams battling it out, with the outcome going down to the final buzzer, with East Knox coming from behind and prevailing, 45-44 in overtime.

Girls Softball Registration set for February-MarchMount Vernon Girls Softball will be holding registration for the 2022 Spring Season.

HOWARD – When your top player is isolated and held down, someone must step up.For the East Knox Bulldogs, that meant everyone on the floor.Shane Knepp, the team’s most prolific scorer, was held to 12 points Friday against Northmor.

The East Knox boys Bowling team currently sits in third place in KMAC play, with a 4-3 record, with two losses -- to Cardington and Crestline (by about 70 pins) – occurring early in the season.

Trojans remain unbeaten in KMAC with 71-32 romp over Pirates. Centerburg improved to 11-1 and remained unbeaten in KMAC play at 7-0, with a thorough 39-point shellacking of Cardington-Lincoln (3-10, 1-7 KMAC), 71-32, Tuesday night at home. Controlling the action and shooting well, Centerburg hit 18 field goals and eight threes, to six and six for Cardington. Protecting the ball well, Centerburg turned the ball over only three times, to 10 for C-L.

Yellow Jackets get two 20-pt. performances, but lose to Ashland 67-65. Mount Vernon rode two big scoring nights to a fourth-quarter lead, but was overtaken by Ashland, 67-65, Jan. 7.. Nolan Belcher scored 22, Trevor Buttke poured in 20 and the Jackets (5-7 and 3-2 in Ohio Cardinal play) got 13 points from Caden Rowland, but their big nights were for naught as Ashland improved to 7-7 and 4-2 in OCC play on a 35-point night by Garrett Denbow.

Boys Basketball Briefs

East Knox stays undefeated, outlasts Danville, 52- 47. The East Knox Bulldogs started slowly, then ramped up their offense higher each quarter to remain unbeaten and improve their record to 6-0, 5-0 in KMAC play, with a hard-fought 52-47 win over host Danville. The Tuesday night loss dropped the Blue Devils to 2-6 and 1-5 in KMAC.

East Knox tops Granville, 61-47 to remain unbeaten. In a non-conference matchup, Saturday, East Knox came from behind to down Granville Christian, 61-47. Remaining undefeated at 5-0, the Bulldogs dropped Granville to 1-3, after a tight first quarter that ended with EK on top 9-8. The Bulldogs were outplayed in the second quarter, 20-13, to go into the locker room at halftime down 28-22. The Bulldogs came out shooting in the third and took over with a 20-9 run, led by Sam Whitney and Peyton Lester with seven points each and Ethan Rine with six.

Chafin deadly at the line in Mount Gilead’s overtime win over Northmor, 79-70. Elijah Chafin calmly hit 15-of-17 at the line and scored 10 points on overtime, as Mount Gilead (3-3, 2-2 KMAC) came from behind to take down the Northmor Golden Knights (3-3, 2-2 KMAC), 79-70, Tuesday night.

Scots lose game at the line to Pleasant, 62-57. The Highland Scots traveled to Pleasant High School on Dec. 4, and in a tough and close game, that was decided by free throw performance, the Scots went home with a 62-57 loss in what was the first win of the season for Pleasant. Mount Vernon wins 62-61 thriller over Mansfield. A tight first half moved into a come-from-behind situation in the second half for Mount Vernon (2-2, 1-0 OCC), as they beat Mansfield (2-2 1-1 OCC) in a thriller, 62-61.

Bulldogs hold down Indians offense in 46-28 victory. East Knox (2-0, 2-0 KMAC) showed consistent offensive play and tenacious defense to take down Mount Gilead (2-2, 1-1 KMAC), 46-28, on Tuesday, December 7.