By Don Eskins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Logan-Rogersville Wildcats, heavy favorites to win this year’s Class 1 District 9 tournament championship, didn’t disappoint their fans. On Tuesday, the Cats upended the Willow Springs Bears 5-0 in the C1D9 tournament final to claim the title.
The Wildcats defeated the Mountain Grove Panthers 5-0 while Willow Springs toppled the Liberty (Mountain View) Eagles 5-0 during semifinal play to set up the district final which took place in Logan-Rogersville.
“We got off to a slow start. We looked kind of flat,” said Wildcat head coach Sarah Worsham. “But I think a lot of that was because, with rain forecast for the area, we really didn’t get to warmup up the way we normally do.”
“But, although they bent a little bit during the match, they didn’t break. They’ve played hard all season long and I didn’t expect to see anything less from them today,” she said. “Despite the slow start they got it done and now they’re on their way to sectionals.”
Comprising this year’s Wildcat varsity squad are seniors Lucas Wilhoit, Jacob Zimmerman, Roni Yakovlev and Kyle Slayden, junior Eli Walker and sophomore Noah Jones.
“Our seniors have been with us since their freshman year. They were the core of our program in 2020 and they’re the core now,” said Worsham. “They’ve been very special to all of us around here.”
While Wilhoit, Rogersville’s No. 1 singles player, may be graduating this spring, he says he and his teammates have some unfinished business to attend to first.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE MATCH
“We won our district and went to sectionals last year, but we fell a little short of getting the W,” he said. “This year we intend to get it.”
Zimmerman, who plays doubles with Wilhoit, said picking up a sectional title would be a great accomplishment for his team, and more.
“To win sectionals we only have to win two matches,” he said. “Hopefully we can get that done. After doing that it would be on to state.”
The host site for the sectional and quarterfinal matches is to be determined.
As for Willow Springs, head coach David Cox had nothing but praise for team’s performance.
“Although our kids lost today, they fought hard and pushed a very good Logan-Rogersville team,” said the Bear coach. “But they’ve had a great season this year and I’m very proud of every one of them.”
For the Wildcats, it’s on to sectionals.
“We’re not sure yet just where or who we’ll be playing,” said coach Worsham. “But what we do know is that it’s going to take some work to win this year’s sectionals. There are some very good teams there who also want to get to state. But our kids are pumped and ready to play. They want to get to state too.”
