PROCTORVILLE — With his team trailing their arch-rivals at halftime, coach Ron Wooten didn’t deliver a fire and brimstone speech. He just told them it was gut check time. The self-introspective proved to be the key as the Fairland Dragons came out inspired in the second half and beat the Chesapeake Panthers 25-21 in the regular season finale. Wooten felt his team played a lackluster first half with too many penalties and failed to control their composure. But the second half

WEST PORTSMOUTH — A Week 10 showdown with cross county rival Portsmouth West brought a hard-hitting, physical challenge to a battle-tested Wheelersburg team that had seen plenty of ups and downs this season. In the end, Wheelersburg's defense rose to the challenge to keep West's rushing attack in check, and the offensive produced explosive plays at opportune times to give the Pirates a 31-13 win on Friday night and claim the Southern Ohio Conference championship. "When you pl

IRONTON — Texas Jack Whaley was up to some new tricks. In fact, he was dishing out a double hat-trick. The St. Joseph Flyers’ senior soccer standout registered his first career double hat-trick as he scored 6 goals in an 8-1 rout of the Zane Trace Pioneers on Thursday in the Division 5 district quarterfinals. "I thought we played very well the first 40 minutes, but then (Zane Trace) kind of came out at the beginning of the second half and got a goal out played us at times in