Homecoming princess Kennedy Ashenfelter wrapped up her regular season for Paris by sending many back to the dugout.

Ashenfelter struck out 26 in 20 innings pitched in three games, leading the Lady Coyotes to a 3-1 win at Lewis and Clark Conference foe Harrisburg on Oct. 3, a 12-5 loss on senior night against Canton on Oct. 4 and a 12-5 six-inning victory at Sturgeon on Thursday. Senior and fellow member on the Homecoming court Rachel Shoemyer drove in six RBI during the final two games, and Emma Ashenfelter had four RBI throughout the week.

Emma Ashenfelter led Paris with two RBI, and Knightlee Mitten added one RBI to support Kennedy Ashenfelter’s nine strikeouts and three hits in seven innings at Harrisburg. 

Shoemyer had a good showing on senior night against Canton, going 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI. Reese Sutton and Jaclyn Shoemyer each picked up an RBI, and Kennedy Ashenfelter struck out five and allowed six earned runs on 11 hits and two walks in seven innings.

Paris had four finish with multiple RBI at Sturgeon to help Paris fall two runs shy of its season-high. Rachel Shoemyer had four RBI along with a double and a triple; Kennedy Ashenfelter had three RBI along with three runs scored and 12 strikeouts and one walk in six innings pitched; Sophia Crusha went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI; and Emma Ashenfelter finished with two RBI.

Paris (12-13, 3-5 L&C) goes into its Class 1 District 8 Tournament matchup as the No. 3 seed against No. 2 seed and conference opponent Salisbury (12-9), playing at 6:45 p.m. today at Westran in Huntsville. The Lady Panthers defeated Paris 17-1 in their previous meeting this season.

Cross country

Paris takes home three medals from Gans Creek

The Paris runners earned hardware on the state cross country course Saturday.

Three finished in the top 20 to bring home medals at the Brian T. Simpson Invite at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia. Mairyn Kinnaman and Alexandra Tullius finished 11th and 14th, respectively, in the girls 5,000 meters, and Landen Chapman was 16th in the boys 5,000 meters.

Kinnaman ran to a time of 21:45.83, and Tullius finished with a time of 22:04.82. Chapman had a time of 19:04.14 to lead the Paris boys that also included Brayden DeOrnellas’ 41st-place time of 20:32.44, and David Elzea’s 57th-place mark of 21:34.44.

Smithton’s Riley Bryan won the girls race with a time of 19:04.80, and South Shelby’s Noah Wilt won the boys race with a time of 17:20.12. 

In the girls’ 3,000 meters, Ava Crain finished third with a time of 12:35.80, and Hayden DeOrnellas took the last spot in the top 20 of the boys’ 3,000 meters with a time of 12:37 to give Paris a couple more medalists from its junior high runners. Gretchen Crusha was 30th in the girls race with a time of 15:10.77, and Jackson Mikel finished 56th with a time of 16:56.42 in the boys race. Christian Fellowship won the girls and boys race with Angelina Cottone having a time of 11:03.59, and Hayden Jokerst taking first with a time of 10:20.25.

Girls golf

Paris’ McKinney finishes 10 strokes behind state

In Thursday’s Class 1 District 3 Tournament, Riley McKinney was Paris’ best scorer but missed state qualification.

The junior missed state by 10 strokes as she shot a 129, or 57-over par, to finish 29th at Green Hills Golf Course in Chillicothe. North Harrison’s Stella Nichole Rinehart finished with a 47-over par to snag the final spot. 

McKinney’s score was two strokes behind Gallatin’s Madison Kirk, who was the third best scorer for the district runner-up to winner Cairo. Alyssa Webb shot a 137, or 65-over par, and Halle Rossen finished with a 147, or 75-over par to round out the Lady Coyotes’ golfers.

Football

Russellville fundamentals, system executed in Paris’ 38-0 loss

Paris’ offense took a couple more hits Friday night.

The Coyotes lost their homecoming game 38-0 to undefeated Russellville (7-0), marking their fifth straight loss. Running back Gatlin Fountain, who had Paris’ lone touchdown last week at Fayette, had to be taken out after hurting his shoulder and offensive lineman Brandon Callison’s status is also uncertain after leaving Friday’s game.

Fountain ran for 40 yards on nine carries to go along with Drew Williams’ 50 yards on 12 carries, accounting for most of Paris’ 92 yards of total offense. Owen Totten led the defense with 16 tackles — four for loss — and Gunnar Fountain had 10 tackles.

Head coach Joseph Utterback said Callison is the team’s “utility knife” because he has played offensive line, safety and linebacker and every other position except quarterback in his high school career. Fountain is also a big piece in Paris’ offense so that just adds to the frustration Utterback and the team are having in his first season as head coach.

“Our team knows we are doing a lot of good things, and our coaches know it, and our managers know it, and the people that are here every day know it,” Utterback said. “Every time I talk to a parent, I think they’re seeing the culture stuff. It’s headed in the right direction, but I wish we could’ve had a more competitive game for our kids.”

Utterback said despite the lopsided results and little offense this season – with every week but the 36 points at Missouri Military Academy resulting in a scoring output under 20 points – he and his team are making progress and want those results to “show up on the scoreboard.”

On Friday night, Russellville was the latest challenge as the Indians seemed to have bought in the third-year of the program led by Tim Rulo.

“Russellville is very fundamentally sound,” Utterback said. “They do a lot of the little things right. They run a double-wing offense, which is a balanced offense. They do a few things and they do them very well. Their kids have been playing football for a few years, but they basically have been playing in the same system for the entire time.”

Utterback said the Indians ran the dive and sweep running plays well, which draws safeties in so they can throw over the top of defenses. Russellville did just that early for a touchdown pass against Paris, Utterback said, and during the whole game, the Indians kept it simple with a couple formations.

Looking at Russellville’s example gives Paris hope it can be that in a few years, Utterback said, but the Coyotes will have to solve some short-term problems first. For instance, the personnel on offense in case the newly injured players can’t go.

“We always like to keep six offensive linemen,” Utterback said. “We’ve done some shuffling around. I heard somebody say one time, ‘As soon as you get a job, you’ve got to be training the guys that you want to be ready.’ Now we have to get our sixth lineman ready. Evin Reichmann and Reid Ragsdale will probably compete with each other. One will be the fifth guy (in case Callison stays out), and the other will be the sixth guy, and we’ll roll with it.

“(Losing Fountain) hurts us, but Drew Williams has done a fantastic job running the ball. I couldn’t have really expected more out of him as far as his ability to play football, especially running the ball this year. We wanted them both on the field at the same time, but if Fountain can’t go, then we’ll have to go to more single-back stuff.”

Paris (1-6, 0-4 L&C) travels to Lewis and Clark Conference foe Scotland County (0-6, 0-3 L&C), who lost 38-0 at Westran in Week 7, looking to win its first game against a district opponent in three tries.