Luke Thomas scores four touchdowns in Malvern loss to East Palestine

Select one or more newsletters, then complete your signup. Join more than 1,000 local readers across nine Ohio communities. East Palestine pulled away for a 43-26 win as Malvern football, volleyball, golf and cross country teams competed last week Apparently, Luke Thomas looked at the concept of sharing the workload and decided it was overrated. Thomas scored all four Malvern touchdowns Sept. 4, but host East Palestine scored the final 14 points to pull away from the Hornets for a 43-26 nonconference victory. AD Malvern trailed 15-0 before Thomas got things moving with a 21-yard touchdown run. Then he did it again, breaking loose for a 51-yard score. And again, plunging in from 2 yards. And, because three rushing touchdowns apparently seemed insufficient, Thomas caught a 45-yard touchdown pass from Jaxon Jones in the third quarter. Thomas' scoring reception pulled Malvern within 29-26 entering the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, the Hornets' offense then went quiet, while East Palestine's RJ May most certainly did not. May scored on a 39-yard run before catching an 11-yard touchdown pass from Clark Rutledge to finish his own rather ridiculous evening. May caught six passes for 116 yards and three touchdowns while adding 59 yards and another score on seven carries. Rutledge completed 18 of 34 passes for 240 yards and four touchdowns. Thomas finished with 109 yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries and caught two passes for 62 yards and a score. Jones completed eight of 19 passes for 118 yards and a touchdown, while Grady Barkley caught two passes for 45 yards. And then there were the penalties. AD Malvern (1-2) was flagged 15 times for 125 yards, while also committing both turnovers in the game. The Hornets actually outrushed East Palestine 222-166 and finished with 340 yards of offense, but repeatedly found ways to make life considerably more difficult than necessary. Volleyball The Hornets opened their Inter-Valley Conference schedule Sept. 1 by defeating Newcomerstown 25-17, 25-20, 21-25, 25-19. Whitney Smith hammered 17 kills, Ella Debo added 12 kills and two blocks, and Ashlyn Bush handed out 32 assists. Skye Harmon served 18 points with four aces, while Avery Sprague handled the back row with 25 digs and 18 perfect serve-receive passes. Smith, Harmon and Debo added 14 digs apiece because apparently leaving defensive work for someone else was also frowned upon. Things were considerably less festive Sept. 3 against Tuscarawas Central Catholic, which swept Malvern 25-18, 25-14, 25-17 in another IVC match-up. Sprague served seven points with four aces and added 21 digs, while Debo contributed seven service points, two aces, six blocks and 15 digs. Bush finished with 11 assists. Malvern ended the stretch 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the IVC. Boys Golf Malvern picked up its 10th victory of the season Sept. 1, firing a 176 to defeat Tuscarawas Central Catholic's 188 at Great Trail Golf Course. Cooper Kiehl led the Hornets with a 37 on the par-35 layout, Tyler Pelle carded a 41 and Ayden Pelle finished with a 42. Parker Bowe rounded out the scoring with a 56. One day later, Malvern improved by three strokes but discovered the inconvenient truth about golf: sometimes everybody else improves, too. The Hornets shot 173 in a tri-match Sept. 2, finishing behind Tuslaw's 164 and Carrollton's 170. Ayden Pelle flirted with par and led Malvern with a 36, followed by Kiehl at 42, Tyler Pelle at 47 and Bowe at 48. Cross Country Malvern's runners spent the week discovering that the reward for running several miles as fast as possible is apparently getting invited somewhere a few days later to do it again. At the Lee Sternberg Invitational at East Canton Sept. 2, Emma Maher led the girls by finishing second among small-school runners in 22:53.62, while Olivia Maher placed 10th in 26:02.93. Lexus Buchman finished 22nd and Annabell Renz was 26th, while Scarlett McLoughlin placed 28th. On the boys' side, Jacob McClelland finished eighth in 19:53.05, Dekon Pennington was 12th in 20:54.37 and Cooper Dorr placed 15th in 21:37.04. Parker Babiczuk finished 28th and Andersen Myers was 31st. Among middle school students, Charlee Schreffler won the two-mile girls race. Remember that name. We'll need it again momentarily. Three days later at the Newcomerstown Invitational, the Malvern girls finished 12th with 315 points. Emma Maher again led the Hornets, placing 14th in 21:32, knocking more than a minute off her Sept. 2 time. Olivia Maher also cracked the top 50, finishing 37th in 23:29. Lexus Buchman (94th), Scarlett McLoughlin (123rd) and Annabell Renz (127th) completed Malvern's lineup, with McLoughlin recording a lifetime personal record. The boys also placed 12th with 288 points. Malvern actually tied River View, but without an additional runner available for the tiebreaker, the Hornets were bumped to 12th. Pennington led Malvern in 34th place with a 19:02, while McClelland finished 46th in 19:33. Dorr just missed the top 50, placing 54th, while Myers was 108th and Babiczuk 113th. Meanwhile, somewhere on the shorter course, Schreffler apparently decided one victory was insufficient. She won the middle-school two-mile race in 13:35, giving her victories in both of Malvern's meets that week. Two races. Two wins. Not too bad at all.