Local fall athletes named to award show

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The Perryville area will be well represented at a local awards show in the summer.
A total of nine fall sports athletes were nominated for the 10th annual Semoball Awards when the names were recently announced.
Those names include Jackson Unterreiner (SV Cross Country), Margaret Hillin and Abigail Haley (Saxony Lutheran Tennis), Tom Hasz (Saxony Swimming), Josey Wahlers (Saxony Volleyball, Aaron Zoellner, Max Richey, Jace Boland (Saxony Soccer), Carson Adams (Perryville Soccer) Christian Schaaf (SV Football), Drake Robinson (SV Football.
Unterreiner was nominated for the boys cross country runner of the year. He went to state and set a personal record for the school. Unterreiner finished 17th overall with a time of 17:26.30 at the Class 2 state meet in Columbia. The time was the fastest for any St. Vincent runner on the current state course.
Unterreiner was one of nine runners nominated for the category, which includes runners from Cape Central, Woodland, Jackson and Notre Dame.
Hillin and Haley finished seventh in state in the indiviudal doubles tennis.
Wahlers helped Saxony capture its first at the Dig For Life Tournament, setting the single season wins record, and capturing the program’s third straight district title. Wahlers led Saxony with 315 kills on the season.
Zoellner, Richey and Boland were each instrumental in helping Saxony Lutheran reach the Class 2 Final Four last fall.
Saxony (15-11) had a flair for the dramatic this postseason as the Crusaders played three overtime/penalty kick shootout games.
Saxony defeated Perryville and Affton in PKs in the district tournament and then in the semifinals defeated Principia 1-0 on an early goal within the first 10 minutes.
Zoellner earned first team All-State in the fall.

He was instrumental in the net for the Crusaders this season and burned brightest in the postseason with three shutouts in the district tournament to go along with winning two penalty kick shootouts in the Class 2, District 1 tournament over Perryville and Affton. He secured 10 shutouts this season and had 190 saves.
“When you look at the numbers this season, there were a couple games in there that I think were outliers where we didn’t help ourselves defensively and there was nothing he could really do about it,” Saxony coach Chris Crawford said. “In the postseason, I’m not sure there was a more dominant performance across the state with three shutouts in five games.”
Max Richey also earned a spot on the first team and was the “engine” behind the Saxony offense. He produced 11 goals and 14 assists.
“He helped control the middle of the field and in turn the game for us,” Crawford said. “He was able to do a lot of things for us and we had to play him at all three levels. He’s an incredible player and he never stops.”
Senior Jace Boland was named second team All-State, after being the primary goal scorer for the Crusaders this past year.
He led the team with 22 goals and 11 assists.
“He scored a ton of goals for us and people see his stats and think he is just a goal scorer, but he did play in the midfield for us a lot this year,” Crawford said. “He was a force in our midfield and was a threat on top if we needed him.”
Perryville senior midfielder Carson Adams received a first team all-state honor while contributing 11 goals and 12 assists on the season. However, Perryville coach Jerry Fulton noted that his impact was much more than that.
“It’s just everything he does on and off the ball,” he said. “He totally commands the midfield and we are certainly going to miss that next year. Carson gave us great minutes and probably played the most minutes of anyone on the team.”
Schaaf was named to the Offensive Player of the Year in football. Schaaf earned the Offensive MVP of the I-55 conference. Schaaf threw for 1,968 yards with 23 touchdowns and 9 interceptions, while rushing for 351 yards and seven touchdowns.
Junior Drake Robinson led the way for the St. Vincent defense with a team-leading 137 tackles, one sack, and one interception and was one of many reasons he was named to the Defensive Player of the Year category.
The winter and spring athletes will be announced at a later date, while the ceremony will be in July.