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Marietta booters are still unbeaten

At halftime, during last Thursday night's Marietta High at Warren High rivalry girls' soccer match, the Jeff Price-coached Tigers got a rousing pep talk and cheer from senior Ethan Feathers. The score was 0-0 at the intermission. "We go to the boys' games all the time," said MHS girls' senior co-captain Maria Pfaff. "And we see how Ethan can motivate his team." Feathers plays outside attacking mid for the the Todd Morris-led Tiger booters. "So, we thought," continued Pfaff, "why not bring him to this game. "I mean, of all games, this would be the one to bring him to." Well, whether ...

JOHNSTON: MHS girls’ booters have a legit squad

DEVOLA — Marietta High’s girls soccer team welcomed back Gretchen Lankford on Senior Day Saturday at Jerry Brock Field. The starting junior defender had gone four weeks and two days since playing in her last match due to a copperhead snake bite in the Broughton Nature Preserve. The 16-year-old Lankford’s return to the pitch makes a strong team even stronger. And, never was that more evident than when the undefeated Tigers, 13th-ranked in the OSSCA Division I State Poll with a 12-0 overall record (5-0 ECOL), dominated Minford, 5-0, Saturday on a hat trick by Courtney Schuck and ...

Tigers and Lions on the pitch Saturday night, oh, my

DEVOLA — Sean Fournier made an unbelievable goal Tuesday night at Jerry Brock Field. Late in Marietta High’s match against Zanesville High, the 6-foot, 175-pound senior lined up to boot a corner kick from the left side. Usually, co-captain Jake Craven takes the CKs, but he was rested with 17:38 left in the match and the Tigers up 7-0. With both the MHS and ZHS teams positioned in the goal mouth and penalty box, Fournier approached the ball from a little angle and right-footed it. The next thing everybody knew, the ball swerved low to the ground untouched and inside the far right ...

There will never be another Marty Brennaman

My first memories of the great game of baseball date back to when I was a 7-year-old kid growing up in Reno. I barely remember Bob Robertson slugging a pair of home runs in a single game in the 1971 World Series for the Pittsburgh Pirates as they defeated the Baltimore Orioles. In ’72 my memory grows a little clearer as I remember listening to the great Al Michaels call Johnny Bench’s game-tying home run in the ninth inning and later calling George Foster scoring the winning run on a wild pitch as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Pirates to advance to the World Series. In the fall ...

MHS soccer has a Bayern Munich look about it

Marietta High kind of resembled Bayern Munich on the boys’ soccer pitch at Jerry Brock Field Tuesday night. Seriously. Bayern Munich is a powerhouse “futbol” team in Germany. And, while the Todd Morris-coached Tigers obviously aren’t pros, they’re pretty darn good prep soccer players. Just ask the previously unbeaten Coshocton Redskins (4-1-1 overall), who dropped an 11-0 decision to MHS on Tuesday evening. Coshocton didn’t know whether to throw in the towel or wind its watch. Marietta, led by Ryan Mannix’s single-game school record 6 goals and Jake Craven’s 3 ...

Here’s to Nathaniel’s opening day

Marietta High won going away against Morgan of McConnelsville, 56-14, Friday night at Don Drumm Stadium. It was the Tigers’ 2019 football lid-lifter. It was also Nathaniel’s opening day — and someday when he’s old enough, I’ll try to describe “the first day of the rest of his life” to him. You of course don’t know Nathaniel but the highlight of my day occurred at 1:48 p.m. at Marietta Memorial Hospital where Marissa Prunty gave birth to her first child. Nathaniel weighed 6 pounds, 8 ounces, and Delta said she was right there to welcome him into the world. Delta is ...