High School Sports
Zac Nero chosen to be the next North High School football coach
The Harrison grad had been the defensive coordinator for the Huskies since 2022EVANSVILLE — Zac Nero was named the next head football coach at North High School.The hire was approved during the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. board meeting on Monday. Nero, a 2007 graduate of Harrison, has been an assistant coach with the Huskies for […]
The Harrison grad had been the defensive coordinator for the Huskies since 2022EVANSVILLE — Zac Nero was named the next head football coach at North High School.The hire was approved during the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. board meeting on Monday. Nero, a 2007 graduate of Harrison, has been an assistant coach with the Huskies for 11 seasons. He is now the eighth head coach in program history.More: Joey Paridaen named new Tecumseh High School football coach
Nero called the opportunity “rewarding” after spending over a decade on staff.
“I feel like it’s kind of rare these things happen now,” he said. “My initial thing wasn’t necessarily to be the head coach. It was to coach and give back. The longer you are there, you have a sense of pride. I’ve coached basketball, football and track. I’m kind of over the moon right now.”
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Nero has an extensive athletic background at North. He has been an assistant coach in boys basketball and track & field for the past 12 years, in addition to being a health and physical education teacher at the school since 2020. Nero was a four-year member of the football team at Indiana State before throwing discus at Southern Indiana for one year. He also previously spent two seasons on the football staff at Memorial.
Courier & Press All-Metro Player of the Year pushed Memorial basketball to higher standard
Joey Paridaen stepped down in February following seven seasons to accept the head coach position at Tecumseh. He provided a stretch of stability for a program that went 23 years between sectional championships. Nero said Paridaen did a great job of “setting a precedent and a standard.” It’s now his job to add to those expectations.
The next step will require a combination of what he learned from his predecessor and others.
“The phase we were trying to move to with Joey is find a way to be more player led,” said Nero. “I’m really ready to get us into that next step. If you look at basketball, I’ve learned a lot from (coach Jason Roach) in aspects of being player led and a lot of culture things. Getting our kids to really feel that sense of pride for something bigger than themselves is the key to the next step.”
High School Sports
High School Scoreboard, results from Tuesday, May 13
Castle Rock Pitching — Jerry Neighbors 6.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 7 K, 6 BB; Owen Erickson 0.2 IP, 0 R, 1 K, 2 BB; Highlights — Jacob Lafever 1-3, R, 2B, SB; Jack Kerker 1-2, R, RBI; Noxx Worrell 1-3, R; Stuart Teter 1-3; Tristan Honey 1-1, R, RBI, SB. SOFTBALL […]
Castle Rock
Pitching — Jerry Neighbors 6.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 7 K, 6 BB; Owen Erickson 0.2 IP, 0 R, 1 K, 2 BB; Highlights — Jacob Lafever 1-3, R, 2B, SB; Jack Kerker 1-2, R, RBI; Noxx Worrell 1-3, R; Stuart Teter 1-3; Tristan Honey 1-1, R, RBI, SB.
SOFTBALL
3A GREATER ST. HELENS LEAGUE
Third-place tiebreaker
Heritage 9, Mountain View 3
HERITAGE 9, MOUNTAIN VIEW 3
Heritage 103 301 1—9 13 1
Mt. View 002 010 0—3 6 4
Heritage
Pitching — Jaila Ellis 7 IP, 2 ER, 8 K, 0 BB, win. Highlights — Skyler Jones 2-4, run, 2B, RBI, BB; Jaila Ellis 1-4, 2 runs, 2B, 2 RBI, BB; Kylie Thomas 3-3, 2 runs, RBI, BB; Lillie Stroup 2-3, run, 2B, RBI, BB; Gracie Peterson 2-4, run, 2 RBI; Emma Messing 2-4, 2 RBI; Veronica Ayala 1-4.
Mountain View
Pitching — Peyton Lalande 7 IP, , 4 ER, 5 K, 3 BB, loss. Highlights — Izzi West 2-4, 2 runs, 2B; Peytonb Lalande 3-3, run, 2 RBI; Amaya Paschal 1-3.
2A DISTRICT PLAY-IN GAMES
Tuesday’s Games
Black Hills 14, R.A. Long 0
W.F. West 21, Hockinson 0
W.F. WEST 21, HOCKINSON 0
Hockinson 000 00 —-0 2 6
WF West 700 (14)x —21 7 0
Hockinson
Highlights — Samantha McDonald 1-2; Cassidy Barrows 1-2.
BLACK HILLS 14, R.A. LONG 2
Black Hills 126 05 —14 8 2
RA Long 000 20 —2 2 7
R.A. Long
Highlights — Stevie Jones 1-2, run, 3B, RBI; Kace Prindle 1-2.
BOYS SOCCER
4A BI-DISTRICT TOURNAMENT
Tuesday’s matches
Semifinals
at Sumner HS
Union 5, Puyallup 4, OT
Tahoma 6, Olympia 0
Loser-out
Sumner 2, Auburn Riverside 1
Camas 3, Mount Rainier 0
Kentridge 2, Emerald Ridge 0
Curtis 1, Stadium 0
Thursday’s matches
Championship
Union vs. Tahoma, 7:30 p.m. at Federal Way Memorial Stadium
Winner-to-state matches
At Art Crate Field, Spanaway
Camas vs. Sumner, 5:30 p.m.
Kentridge vs. Curtis, 7:30 p.m.
3A BI-DISTRICT TOURNAMENT
Tuesday’s matches
Semifinals
at Federal Way Memorial Stadium
Central Kitsap 1, Bellarmine Prep 0
Heritage 1, Silas 0
Loser-out
Kent Meridian 2, Federal Way 1
Auburn Mountainview 5, Decatur 1
Gig Harbor 5, Enumclaw 1
Mountain View 3, White River 1
Thursday’s matches
Championship
Heritage vs. Central Kitsap, 5:30 p.m. at Federal Way Memorial Stadium
Winner-to-state matches at Auburn HS
Kent Meridian vs. Auburn Mountain View, 5:30 p.m.
Gig Harbor vs. Mountain View, 7:30 p.m.
2A DISTRICT TOURNAMENT
Tuesday’s matches
Semifinals
W.F. West 2, Tumwater 1
Columbia River 3, R.A. Long 1
Loser-out matches
Hockinson 6, Hudson’s Bay 1
Ridgefield 4, Aberdeen 3, OT-PKs
Thursday’s matches
Championship
W.F. West at Columbia River, 6 p.m.
Winner-to-state games
R.A. Long at Hockinson, 6 p.m.
Ridgefield at Tumwater, 5:30 p.m.
COLUMBIA RIVER 3, R.A. LONG 1
Columbia River
Goals (assists) — Beckham Young (JP Guzman), Tyler Brown (Johnny Avalos), Brown (Mason Renner). Goalkeeper saves: Eli Smith, 3
High School Sports
HIGHLIGHTS
SPOKANE, Wash. — The Western Hockey League Championship series returned to Spokane for the first time since 2008 on Tuesday, as the Chiefs hosted the Medicine Hat Tigers for Game 3 with the series tied at one apiece. Chiefs head coach Brad Lauer said his team would be ready to play in front of the […]
SPOKANE, Wash. — The Western Hockey League Championship series returned to Spokane for the first time since 2008 on Tuesday, as the Chiefs hosted the Medicine Hat Tigers for Game 3 with the series tied at one apiece.
Chiefs head coach Brad Lauer said his team would be ready to play in front of the home crowd for the first time this series, but Spokane looked anything but prepared.
The Tigers came out aggressive, even without WHL Player of the Year Gavin McKenna, who took warmups but left the ice early and was scratched from the lineup.
With about eight minutes left in the first, Medicine Hat killed off a Chiefs power play and immediately capitalized, beating Dawson Cowan with a laser from the dot.
Riding that momentum, the Tigers tacked on another goal with less than two minutes remaining in the period as Hunter St. Martin found the back of the net.
After one, the Chiefs were outshot 15-5 in a frame where they struggled to establish anything in the offensive zone.
The second period brought more of the same. Just 93 seconds in, Kadon McCann buried a wraparound to make it 3-0. Spokane didn’t register a shot on goal until 11:45 remained in the period, as Medicine Hat’s defense clamped down and their offense kept pushing.
Liam Ruck extended the lead to 4-0 before the intermission. By the end of the second, the Chiefs had managed just eight shots to the Tigers’ 17, with the total reaching 32-13 in favor of the visitors.
Cowan was replaced by backup Carter Esler to start the third, but the change did little to stem the tide. Esler surrendered the second shot he faced, giving the Tigers a 5-0 advantage just 30 seconds into the period.
Medicine Hat defender Bryce Pickford added another midway through the third — his sixth goal in as many games — sealing a 6-0 shutout. It was Spokane’s first scoreless outing since Oct. 28, 2024, and first at home since Nov. 29, 2023.
“To be pretty honest, we weren’t very good as a group,” Lauer said. “It’s one of those things. I thought Medicine Hat had probably their best game so far in the series. I thought they came and had a lot of jump and were skating. You know, for us, we were on our heels.”
Spokane showed a bit more urgency in the final frame, firing 15 shots, but still couldn’t solve Tigers goalie Ethan McCallum. The Chiefs finished with 28 shots to Medicine Hat’s 45.
“We haven’t given up that many shots or had that less of shot all year, I don’t think,” Lauer said. “It’s 11 shots after two periods. We weren’t playing as a group. It was all individual hockey. A lot of stuff that was uncharacteristic of us as a group tonight. For some reason, I don’t know why. We’ll dissect it here tonight and tomorrow morning to figure things out and make sure we’re ready tomorrow.”
The WHL doesn’t keep track of time of possession in the offensive zone, but if it did, it wouldn’t have looked good for the Chiefs, who struggled mightily to get anything going on offense with several turnovers in the o-zone and sloppy play most of the night.
“It’s one of those things that you don’t know what, as a coach, you don’t know what to put your finger on, what it was, or what it is, but you gotta have a short memory,” Lauer said.
“I think we know that we weren’t very good as a group, especially coming back to home ice. You thought you have an opportunity to take advantage of the team, but you know, it’s one of those things. That’s why you’ve got to play the game. It doesn’t happen automatically and we’ve got to learn from tonight.”
There’s little time for the Chiefs to dwell on the loss, with Game 4 set for Wednesday at Spokane Arena. The Tigers will look to take a commanding 3-1 series lead, while Spokane aims to even the series.
“We get to come back tomorrow, so that’s the beauty of playoff hockey, and that’s what we’re looking at it,” Chiefs captain Berkly Catton said. “Learning from tonight, but also flushing it and coming out ready to play tomorrow.”
“Brad and Berks kind of said it, I think a big thing for us is just have a short memory,” a Chiefs left winger added. “That’s all we can really do. Learn from our mistakes tonight and just be eager to have a better start tomorrow.”
Puck drop for Game 4 of the WHL Final is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at Spokane Arena.
As for McKenna’s status, Medicine Hat head coach Willie Desjardins wasn’t optimistic following the game.
“I’m not gonna talk about what the injury was. He was out,” Desjardins said. “I thought he might be able to go but just wasn’t tonight and the nice thing for us is he’s been such a big part of our team all year, it was really nice to rally behind and get one for him because he’s gotten quite a few for us. The boys are playing for him.”
You learned about it on SWX.
You learned about it on SWX.
| April 27, 2025
(via @noseyone4/X)
