Cherokee

No great shot putter ever threw the discus better than Jess Woodard. No great discus thrower ever performed better in the shot put. "It's the combination that makes her so special," Cherokee throws coach John McMichael said of Woodard's two-event excellence. Woodard capped an incredible high school career with an incredible senior season at Cherokee. She is The Inquirer's South Jersey girls' track and field athlete of the year for 2013. "I'm humbled by it," Woodard said. "I love track so much, and to be able to work so hard and perform so well, it's such a blessing.

The Olympic Conference American Division is one tough boys' soccer circuit. There's Shawnee, perched atop The Inquirer's South Jersey rankings. There's Lenape, one rung below the Renegades. Next there's Cherry Hill East, at No. 3, and Cherokee comes in at No. 8. With a cast like that, there will be a lot of key matches this season in the American Division. Cherry Hill East, which has won the American Division title for six consecutive years and seven times since Karl Moehlmann took over in 1989, will play at Cherokee at 3:30 p.m. today.

It started raining harder at halftime. For Cherokee, it was like a splash of cold water in the face. "We just came out with more intensity in the second half," senior attack TJ Ahern said. "We were much more focused. " Cherokee pulled away from a 3-3 halftime tie and scored an 8-6 victory over Eastern yesterday in an Olympic American boys' lacrosse game in the driving rain in the Chiefs' football stadium. Ahern and senior attack Frank Garvey scored three goals for Cherokee (2-1, 1-0)

A spry sophomore who had only carried the football in junior varsity games before last night is a big reason Cherokee avoided its first 0-3 start since the program's inaugural year in 1976. Sean Mayers rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries - all in the second half - to spark the Chiefs to a 23-21 win over Willingboro. His fresh legs and nifty feet produced a couple of highlight-reel runs as well as the touchdown that put Cherokee up for good. Pat Davitt also helped kick the Chimeras (2-1)

With 4 minutes, 27 seconds remaining in the game, Shawnee coach Joe Kessler emptied his bench. The Renegades had only 36 points at the time, including just one field goal in the second half. Cherokee's tenacious defense made the difference yesterday in an imposing 69-46 victory over Shawnee in a tournament cutoff-day battle between school district rivals and teams that are ranked in the top 10 in South Jersey by The Inquirer. "We have depth at every position and we demand that they play defense," Cherokee coach Ron Powell said after the victory in front of a near-capacity crowd in the Chiefs' gymnasium.

STANDING IN a cold, driving rain near midfield on the artificial surface at Washington Township High, Cherokee senior running back Sean Farrell surveyed the damage he had inflicted on the Minutemen throughout the evening. Rare is the event that lives up to the hype, and this game last night between the Daily News' No. 3 team, Cherokee, and No. 6 Washington Township proved that point. Cherokee manhandled the Minutemen for four quarters en route to a 35-0 win in a Burlco/Olympic American Division game.

After a last-ditch rally earlier in the day earned Cherokee a berth in the Hammonton Tournament final yesterday, the Chiefs made the most of the opportunity. Facing Pennsville - the No.1 team in The Inquirer's South Jersey Top 10 - No. 7 Cherokee won its first Hammonton Tournament championship with a 2-1 victory at Hammonton Lake Park. It was the first loss of the season for Pennsville (17-1), which defeated No. 2 Camden Catholic, 2-0, in the semifinals. Cherokee (17-3) had scored three runs after two were out in the bottom of the seventh inning to win, 3-2, over Cumberland in its semifinal matchup.

Jordan Glover enjoyed his leisurely, lonely trot around the bases after his solo home run in the sixth inning. But the Cherokee senior liked the company of his teammates in the middle of a big rally in the second inning even more. "That was good to see," Glover said of Cherokee's 10-batter inning that set the tone for a 7-6 victory over Moorestown in a nonleague baseball game Thursday. "Everybody was hitting their pitch. " Glover, a senior centerfielder, was 3 for 4 with an RBI single in the second and a blast over the center-field fence for the eventual winning run in the sixth.

EWING - Mike Ryan scores goals. Early, late. Left foot, right foot. All alone or in traffic - the Cherokee striker has a knack for finding the back of the net. He also has a flair for the dramatic. Ryan scored the last goal of his career in the state championship game Thursday night. Fittingly, it also was "the best goal I ever scored," Ryan said after leading Cherokee to a 2-1 victory over Bridgewater-Raritan in the Group 4 title game at The College of New Jersey.

No great shot putter ever threw the discus better than Jess Woodard. No great discus thrower ever performed better in the shot put. "It's the combination that makes her so special," Cherokee throws coach John McMichael said of Woodard's two-event excellence. Woodard capped an incredible high school career with an incredible senior season at Cherokee. She is The Inquirer's South Jersey girls' track and field athlete of the year for 2013. "I'm humbled by it," Woodard said. "I love track so much, and to be able to work so hard and perform so well, it's such a blessing.

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, N.J. - Cherokee senior Jess Woodard slowly walked away after her final discus throw Wednesday at the Meet of Champions in South Plainfield. Woodard, who locked up her third straight title in the meet, was waiting to hear that she had made history. The throw ended up going 161 feet, 1 inch, good for a meet record but short of her 168-foot throw in the group finals Saturday and short of the state record, 172-2. She met her father off the field after retrieving her disc, and shed some tears.

Jess Woodard's teammates were bundled up and spectating, watching her compete in the final event of the afternoon. It was the team's fourth hour in the miserable, unseasonable weather. "They were out here supporting me," Woodard said. "But I think even they were ready to get back on the bus at that point. " It was a spectacle to see so many so bundled up in late May. But Woodard's game plan for the weather stood out just as much. Through sideways rain; strong winds; and bitter, cold temperatures, the Cherokee senior never stopped moving - running in place, jogging, stretching, shuffling back and forth.

With about a half-second left in the third quarter, Anthony Brunetti went airborne just in front of the net. He dived away from the goalie and dunked the ball in the net just as the buzzer sounded. His Lenape boys' lacrosse team charged the field as if it had just won a playoff game. In a way, it had. The goal put the Indians ahead by five scores - clearly more than enough cushion for a defense that was utterly dominant as fifth-seeded Lenape won, 9-4, at No. 4 Cherokee Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the South Jersey Group 4 playoffs.

Christine DiLullo scored three goals as No. 11 seed Cherokee upset sixth-seeded Cherry Hill East, 12-9, Friday in a first-round game in the South Jersey Group 4 girls' lacrosse tournament. Jenna Castiglia and Michelle Tegethoff each added two goals for the Chiefs. Caitlin Delaney had six goals for the Cougars. Also in Group 4 first-round games: Alex Hlesciak scored seven goals, and fifth seed Rancocas Valley defeated West Windsor-Plainsboro South, 19-13. Mackenzie Hlesciak (four)

Matt Long took matters into his own hands Thursday. Already pitching a gem, he made sure he had enough run support, too. Long drove in the go-ahead run in the third inning, and Washington Township nipped visiting Cherokee, 3-2, in an Olympic Conference National Division baseball game. The senior righthander threw a four-hitter, striking out four. His single drove in Tom Hildebrand, who had doubled. Township is The Inquirer's fourth-ranked team in South Jersey. Matt Curry cracked a two-run double for Cherokee.

Baseball CAPE-ATLANTIC LEAGUE AMERICAN Egg Harbor Township 4, Hammonton 3 COLONIAL CONFERENCE Haddon Heights 14, Lindenwold 4 Sterling 11, West Deptford 0 OLYMPIC CONFERENCE NATIONAL Washington Township 3, Cherokee 2 NONLEAGUE Shawnee 12, Seneca 2 Millville 6, St. Augustine 4 Delsea 6, Pinelands 4 Moorestown Friends 9, Burlington City 5 Northern Burlington 16, Holy Cross 10 Maple Shade 21, Medford Tech...

The final of the Jim Kelly baseball tournament had been delayed three weeks because of rain, but host Gloucester did not miss a beat and beat Woodbury, 11-1, on Saturday. Aldie Carracino went 3 for 3 with a pair of doubles and drove in five runs to lead Gloucester. The Lions' Tom O'Donnell homered. John Lindenborn added two doubles for Gloucester. The tournament began on April 13. Nonleague. Dan Gallone delivered a single in the seventh inning to lift Holy Cross to a 4-3 victory against visiting Riverside.

The Cherokee girls' 4x400-meter relay runners knew they were capable of running a fast time. They just didn't think Thursday would be the day. And why would they? Their second-leg runner, Sarah Robbie, has been competing in mostly intermediate hurdles and 800-meter races this season. Their third-leg runner, Courtney Foster, hadn't been on the track since bruising her shins in a car accident two weeks ago. And their anchor, Brittany King, spent most of the afternoon asking her teammates for tissues to plug a leaky nose.