OHS athletic teams train for upcoming seasons over summer (August 2018)
Many OHS students and community members take pride in the success of the school’s athletics.
With that success comes many hours of practice and training, including in the summer time. One sport that had practice and worked out over the summer was the basketball team, led by coach Drew Tyler.
“Pretty much for the month of June we just practiced, lifted weights, and played some abbreviated games,” Tyler said. “We played some games here at Oxford and other Mississippi high schools, with the addition of two team camps at Rhodes College and the Ole Miss camp here. ”
The OHS basketball team took part in multiple games and events over the summer. Tyler says games and events like this helped him and the team focus on what they needed to learn for the upcoming season.
“We graduated a lot of good basketball talent the past two years, and have lost a lot of offensive firepower,” Tyler said. “With all those losses on offense, we need to maximize our trips on offense this season.”
Baseball is another sport that went through workouts and practices over the summer. Head coach Chris Baughman and his team narrowly missed out on reaching the state championship last year by losing to Desoto Central, and are competing for such success again this year.
“Like every summer and fall, our major focus is getting stronger,” Baughman said. “To physically match up with the Desoto Centrals, Tupelos, and Madison Centrals, we have to continue to get stronger.”
The team also played scrimmages against other high school teams, in addition to lifting many afternoons. Baughman believes that the team is set for another successful season in their second go-around in 6A.
“I think it is going to take some time to figure out lineups and different roles with the team,” Baughman said. “But I think once division and playoffs roll around, we will be a team that is fun to watch.”
Boys’ soccer team head coach Charles Sabatier held practices, workouts, and also games for his team over the extended break. The team scrimmaged against three different Mississippi high school soccer teams during the summer.
“We played four matches, twice against Tupelo, once against Southaven, and once against New Albany,” Sabatier said. “The four matches allowed us to try out some new players in different or new positions.”
The soccer team also played in an alumni game in which they competed against players who graduated from the team in prior years. In the first year of OHS being in 6A, the boys’ soccer team was knocked out of the playoffs in the first round by Madison Central.
“I’m very excited about this team,” Sabatier said. “There are a lot of fresh faces on the field and we’re gonna try and make a strong showing in 6A again this year.”
Finally, one of the most active sports teams that worked throughout the summer was the OHS football team.
Narrowly missing out on making the playoffs last year, both the team and head coach Chris Cutcliffe are focusing on working hard and trying to go farther this year.
“We trained four mornings a week, Monday through Thursday from 7:00 to 9:30,” Cutcliffe said. “We played some 7 on 7 games as well, hosting some teams on Monday nights then going around to play in a few tournaments as well.”
With the many workouts, practices, and games from the summer out of the way, Cutcliffe feels as though this team has worked hard and is ready to compete in their second year of 6A football.
“I’m excited about the season and am ready to get started,” Cutcliffe said. “We’ve got some guys returning who played a lot and also have a lot of new faces, so we’re excited to see those guys step in and see what they can do.”
Cross Country team has sights set on top finish at state 6A (September 2018)
The OHS cross country team is back for its second season in class 6A and have already competed in five events this school year. Junior captain of the team Sam Shelton is back for his third year of running for the team and has a hopeful outlook for the remainder of the season.
“The past two years we’ve lost a lot of really good runners and key members of the team,” Shelton said. “We have a pretty young team this year but I think we can definitely do well at State.”
The team has already competed in five different meets this season, those being in Memphis, Tupelo, Saltillo and New Albany. Junior Walt Johnson came first overall at the Tupelo XC Invite on Sept. 8 in Tupelo and helped the boys team place third in that event.
“When we went to Tupelo I was really set on going out there and winning it all,” Johnson said. “And that’s what I ended up doing.”
While Johnson individually finished first, in Tupelo, both the boys and girls teams finished third in the event, and eighth grader Ella Thompson won the JV girls race.
Before transitioning to 6A, the girls and boys teams were both successful in the lower class of 5A. Head coach of the cross country team Chris Patton has a hopeful outlook on the season and feels that the team will be more successful at the end of the year than they were last season.
“I expect us to finish higher than we did last year,” Patton said. “The guys finished fourth last year with the girls finishing tenth, so we are definitely hoping to improve on those finishes this year.”
Another meet that the team competed in was the annual Brooks Memphis Twilight XC Classic in Memphis. The meet, hosted by Christian Brothers University, welcomes schools from eight different states and hundreds of individual runners.
“We ran pretty well in Brooks Twilight,” Patton said. “We had a few people finish in the top 100 out of 400+ runners.”
Recently the team competed in the Saltillo Invitational in Saltillo. Once again Walt Johnson finished in the top three with a time of 17:16 and freshman Luke Johnson finished ninth at 17:36. In the girls’ race, senior Addie Thompson finished fifth overall with a time of 20:34.
“We had the Saltillo meet on a Saturday, the same day as the Alabama football game,” Johnson said. “As a team, we had a decent, not our best meet, but still ran hard.”
In addition to the meets in Tupelo, Memphis and New Albany, the team has also competed in the Saltillo Invitational, North Mississippi Challenge, and will compete in the FNC Cross Country Invite on Sept. 29. The meets still upcoming are the Jesse Owens Classic, Pontotoc Invitational, South Pontotoc Invite, and the state Meet.
“We’ve finished about half the season so far,” Shelton said. “We just have to focus on working hard and finishing out the rest of the season strong.”
Volleyball defeated in 6A playoffs (October 2018)
The OHS volleyball team’s season ended on Oct. 18 against Clinton in the first round of 6A playoffs. They finished with a 15-18-1 record overall and a 2-1 record in the division. While the team didn’t finish the season the way they wanted, head coach Kacie Hengler felt that overall it was a productive season.
“Going into the season I knew we had a lot of talent and well-seasoned players, so I knew it was possible for us to do well,” Hengler said.
Two years ago, the volleyball team won the 5A State Championship in Oxford’s last year of 5A sports. Last year was another successful year overall as the team went 21-10, losing to Desoto Central in the playoffs. Although this season was not as successful on paper, senior Gray DuPerier considered it a special season.
“Not going to lie, we struggled this year success-wise,” DuPerier said. “We started off the season beating Brandon, which was a huge accomplishment, then began to lose to teams we could have won against.”
With some disappointing losses coming against teams such as Tupelo and Lake Cormorant, Oxford did have some big wins on the season. In both matches against Lafayette, the Chargers beat their crosstown rivals by at least two sets. In the first match, DuPerier led the team in digs as they won 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-10).
“Beating Lafayette was easily one of the best moments from this season,” DuPerier said. “The Lafayette games and Brandon game were two really big games for us.”
The team will be losing eight seniors after this year, including Lauren Sink, Kelsey Wilborn, Gray DuPerier, McLain Hill, Meia Baskin, Emily Bone, Katy Calderwood and Anna Grace Whaley. These eight seniors were celebrated on senior night, where the Chargers were defeated by Lake Cormorant 3-0 (25-13, 25-10, 25-12).
“Four years is a long time to catch a group of girls and they have been such a large part of my life here,” Hengler said. “I love how well they love each other and the way they’ve looked after and cared about the underclassmen.”
Even though the season ended earlier than the team hoped, they still battled to the playoffs and win 15 games. And, although the team is graduating eight seniors this year, they have many juniors and sophomores who will step up into more prominent varsity roles next year.
“I’ve coached many of the seniors since they were freshsmen, so I’ve seen them grow a lot in the last four years,” Hengler said. “In the end, I think their goal was to simply enjoy their last season, which I believe many of them did.”
Indoor track season begins year with hopeful wins (January 2019)
The year 2019 is underway and with it so is the indoor track season. The track team began practicing before students were let out for winter break, but the practices are now in full swing. Head coach Chris Patton feels confident about how the team will compete this season.
“I feel pretty well about this upcoming track season,” Patton said. “We’ve been working very hard in training in the cold and rain just to get prepared for the season.”
The team has lost multiple runners to graduation after last school year. Patton says his current seniors and many juniors will have to step up to help lead the team.
“Jaquan Webb and Tyrese Ivy will be missed this year,” Patton said. “Those guys started contributing as underclassmen and gained the experience over the years to help our team.”
Junior Walt Johnson is a long distance runner for the team and competes in the two mile and one mile events. Johnson has a positive outlook for the season but knows that it will be a challenge to ultimately win state against some of the other 6A schools and runners in Mississippi.
“Last year in the state track meet, when I was a sophomore, the overall winner of the two mile was a junior by the name of Clay Derrick,” Johnson said. “He goes to Oak Grove and will be hard to beat this year.”
Both Johnson and Patton foresee the long and short distance runners on the team to be very crucial to the success of the team. Patton says that some of the longer distance runners will have to keep running well for the team to be successful.
“If these guys can stay healthy, they can really have a special year” Patton said. “I think our strong areas this year will be in the 3200m, 1600m, 800m, the relays and hurdles.”
Since he still has one year of high school and running after this 2019 season, Johnson will have a chance to help the team win state next year. But, Johnson knows that this team has the ability to beat every other team in the state.
“I feel that we will surprise a lot of teams at the state meet,” Johnson said. “We have a lot of good sprinters this year, which obviously plays a big part, and I believe me and a couple other distance runners will do our part as well.”
Track captains proud to lead team in junior year (March 2019)
In just their junior year, Byron “Tank” Pearson, Sam Shelton and Walt Johnson were selected as captains of the track team for the 2019 season. Both Shelton and Johnson are also members of the cross country team, and specialize in long distance for track. Pearson starts for the football team, basketball team and sprints for the track team.
Shelton feels proud and takes pride in the fact that he was chosen as a captain before his senior year.
“I’m honored to be selected as a captain in my junior year,” Shelton said. “Many captains in the past have been seniors, and I’m blessed to be in this position this early in high school.”
Johnson also takes pride in being chosen to lead his fellow students. He credits being named a captain as a motivating factor that pushes him to become better at his skill.
“It feels really good to be picked as a captain,” Johnson said. “It motivates me to work harder each and every day to not only make myself better but also make the team better.”
Head coach of the track team, Chris Patton, is proud of the leadership Pearson, Shelton and Johnson have shown so far this track season.
“Captains were chosen to help oversee and give input to different areas of the team,” Patton said. “They have done pretty well so far, and the most important part is to lead by example and be great role models for those who are following.”
For both Johnson and Pearson, the beginning of track season has brought about challenges concerning getting in shape for track. Johnson says that the transition from cross country to track is a difficult transition while Pearson is fresh off of playing on the court for basketball.
“Before I came to track I was playing basketball,” Pearson said. “So just getting back into track shape has been the hardest thing this season so far.”
So far this season the team has competed in a practice meet and the Daily Journal Relays at Tupelo High School on March 29. With a strong team showing at Tupelo, the team is looking to carry that success into the Oxford Eagle Invitation on April 6 and throughout the rest of the season. Shelton is confident in how the team will compete at the rest of the meets and the state meet.
“I feel like the team will excel at state. We have sprinters that are some real athletes,” Shelton said. “Our team is very deep, so our relay teams are guaranteed to get us some points at state.”
In last year’s state championship, Clinton was victorious in 6A for girls track, and Pearl came out on top for the boys. Johnson believes that the state championship this year could spell out differently than last year’s event.
“I feel that we are going to surprise many teams at state this year,” Johnson said. “I think that we have a good balance of good sprinters and long distance runners, so I think we will do well.”
Patton also believes that the team will show their true potential at the end-of-season as long as the team is able to stay injury-free and on task.
“My goals for this season, as for every season, are to help the guys reach their individual goals as well as the team overall goals,” Patton said. “If we stay healthy and focused I think we can accomplish these goals.”
A team blended together with a mixture of upper and underclassmen, this track team and its runners believe that they can win it all. Shelton has high hopes for the team, as long as they do their job and keep working towards their goals.
“One of our challenges is that our team has a lot of talent in the freshman class,” Shelton said. “I think if we work hard everyday and run on our own time, our distance team and the whole team can be something special.”
Roth follows older brother's footsteps, success (April 2019)
It’s the fifth inning of a crucial division game at Edwin Moak Field between Oxford and the Tupelo Golden Wave. Sophomore Hays Roth comes to the plate and delivers a 3-RBI single to help the Chargers take the lead 3-1. In addition to the hit, Roth got the win on the mound for the Chargers, allowing only five hits and striking out four. Sitting in the stands, there to watch the whole game was Roth’s older brother, former Oxford baseball standout, Houston Roth.
The elder Roth, who graduated from OHS in 2016 and plays baseball for the University of Mississippi, feels a sense of pride when he gets to watch his younger brother perform.
“It’s extremely exciting getting to watch him go out and perform the way he has been,” Houston said. “It’s very humbling, and I’m super proud of him.”
The two brothers grew up in what Houston described as a “baseball family” with their parents being supportive of their baseball careers, as well as everything else they did.
“Our parents have always been supportive of us in whatever we do, not only baseball but in everything,” Houston said. “They are always there encouraging us and always going out of the way to give us these opportunities, and we are forever grateful for their sacrifices.”
Throughout his childhood, Hays grew up watching both of his older brothers play baseball, inspiring him to do the same.
“As a child I basically grew up at the baseball field watching my brothers play,” Hays said. “Most of the time I was probably playing with toy army men, but watching them made me want to pursue a career in baseball.”
During his tenure at Oxford, Houston was a huge part of the 2015 and 2016 state championship team, pitching in both championship series. For Hays, it has been a challenge for him to live up to Houston’s legacy and success at Oxford.
“Following in Houston’s footsteps puts a lot of pressure on me, but it is fun to chase after his success,” Hays said. “Houston left behind such a legacy in the Oxford baseball program that sometimes I feel as if I have to continue that. I am just proud to get to have the chance of doing what he did.”
On the mound, the two brothers see some similarities and differences in the way they pitch and how they act, such as how one is a right-handed pitcher and the other is a left-handed pitcher.
“Hays being a left-handed pitcher obviously makes his style of pitching a little different than mine, but he does locate his pitches well, and that’s what made me successful in high school,” Houston said. “He is aggressive and shows some competitive emotion on the mound, and that is really cool to see out of him.”
After watching his older brother pitch and play baseball over the years, Hays says that some of Houston’s habits and actions have rubbed off on him.
“Some similarities between us are the little things we do on the mound between pitches or after strikeouts,” Hays said. “Every time he strikes out a batter he tends to tuck in his shirt, and one days I realized I do the exact same thing. Over the years I guess I saw his habits and just picked up on them.”
Since one is in high school and the other is in college, Hays says they try not to worry about baseball when they are able to spend time together. Instead, they use that time to just be themselves and not take the time for granted.
For Houston, getting to see Hays’ talent and getting to watch him improve makes him proud. The older Roth has given Hays some tips and pointers, but says that his younger brother has worked on his own to become the player that he is.
“I’m super, super proud of him and I love getting to watch him grow as a player and a person,” Houston said. “I’m extremely excited to see what opportunities present themselves for him going forward.”