Horace Blankenship

Berkeley Springs High School hosted its first-ever cross country invitational on Saturday, September 22, at Warm Springs Middle School, with the Indian boys team placing first and the girls team finishing third.

We've all heard the expression, "home sweet home," and home has really been sweet for the Berkeley Springs High School boys soccer team. In fact, they haven't been beaten at home this year and the streak continued last week with a 2-1 win over McConnellsburg and a 3-3 tie with St. Maria Goretti. In between the home matches, Berkeley Springs played at Martinsburg, falling to the Dogs 3-0.

The week started on Tuesday, September 18, with St. Maria Goretti visiting Morgan Field. Goretti had beaten the Indians 4-2 in an earlier match-up, but you wouldn't have guessed that early on, as the Tribe bolted out to a 3-1 lead.

Amanda Waltman recorded her fourth shutout of the year as the Berkeley Springs Girls Soccer team defeated McConnellsburg 5-0, on Saturday, September 22 in Berkeley Springs.

"I thought our girls played very well today and our defense was outstanding," said Berkeley Springs coach Rocky Riffle. "Considering that we only had one substitute, you could hardly ask for more. Rebecca Trump has been playing midfield since she returned from injury and is doing a great job. It was very unselfish of her to make that sacrifice, but I think it is paying off. And, I can't talk about defense without mentioning Brittany Fox. She is an outstanding defender and played a wonderful game today."

Berkeley Springs High School junior Lenny Roach defeated a strong field in Elkins on Saturday, September 15, to win the boys division of the Forest Festival Cross Country Invitational. Roach's winning time of 17:44.68 on the 3.1 mile course was nearly 33 seconds better than that of runner-up Zach Tennant of North Marion. David Ciarolla of Fairmont Senior finished third followed by John Paul Binotto of Hampshire County, Alex Zurbuch of Elkins, Lucas Warner of Tucker County, Cory Jefferson of Jefferson County, Brandon Doughty of Jefferson County, Josh Ferguson of Elkins, with Adam Woodruff from George Washington rounding out the top 10.

John Mundey of Berkeley Springs just missed the top 10, finishing 11th. Jake Wise placed 25th, Cory Yarrington 29th and Denny Golden 38th in the 125-man field to round out the Indian scoring.

The Berkeley Springs High School Volleyball Team hosted Martinsburg on Thursday, September 13 and gave the Bulldogs quite a battle before losing the best of five match, three games to one.

Martinsburg edged the Indians 26-24 in game one, before Berkeley Springs bounced back in game two with a 25-19 victory. Martinsburg won the next game, in the seesaw battle, 25-18 and then closed out the match with a hard fought 25-22 win in game four.

This wasn't the best game of the year for the Berkeley Springs High School Football Team, statistically speaking, but statistics can be deceiving. And, that was never more evident than it was on Friday, September 14, at Morgan Field in Berkeley Springs. Berkeley Springs, which came into the game averaging 428 yards per game managed only 282 yards of total offense, but still destroyed South Hagerstown, 56-22.

Berkeley Springs' first 28 points of the game came on 95 yards of total offense. Normally the Indians would churn out 200 yards or more on four scoring drives, but they didn't have to because of the terrific field position they were afforded by good defense, turnovers and poor punting. The short fields mask another very efficient performance from the Indian offense and in particular the double-headed monster of Cody Reed and Cody Hess, the two talented senior running backs.

Led by Ryan Redick's 41, Berkeley Springs defeated Hedgesville, St. Maria Goretti, Clear Spring and Martinsburg on Thursday, September 6, in a nine-hole match at Cacapon State Park.

Berkeley Spring's total of 179 was one stroke better than Martinsburg, which finished with 180. Clear Spring was third with 201, followed by Goretti with 208 and Hedgesville with 214.

Berkeley Springs High School goalie Amanda Waltman recorded her third shutout of the year as the Indians defeated Frankfort 2-0 on Saturday, September 15, at Morgan Field in Berkeley Springs.

Grafton, rated fifth in the state in Class AA by Charleston Gazette, visited the number six team in the Gazette poll, Berkeley Springs, in one of the feature Class AA match-ups in the state at Morgan Field on Friday, September 7, in Berkeley Springs. The Indians used a "bend-but-don't-break" defense and its vaunted offense to stampede the Bearcats 40-3, in front of a large and enthusiastic home crowd.

For the second time in as many meets, both Lenny Roach and Rachel Buser brought home individual gold medals.

Traveling all the way to Cabell-Midland High School in Barboursville in order to compete against some of the state's best competition and the opportunity to run on the course where the state meet will be held, Berkeley Springs performed well and now know what improvements are needed as they move forward.