Pirates football knock off Stockton, Lady Pirates volleyball notch two more wins

The Ash Grove High School football team hosted Stockton on Friday, Sept. 11 and cruised to a 29-9 win.
 
The Pirates got on the board first when Chase Acosta ran it in from 11 yards out to give Ash Grove an 8-0 first quarter lead. In the second quarter, the Tigers would get a safety and an interception return for a touchdown to take a 9-8 lead into halftime.
 
Jaden Hance would take a 25-yard pass from Acosta to the end zone and after a two-point conversion, Ash Grove would regain the lead, 16-9. The Pirates added two more scores in the fourth quarter, one on a three-yard run from Acosta and the other on an interception returned for a touchdown to finish off Stockton and win the game by 20 points.
 
Acosta was 12-18 passing for 157 yards and a touchdown and added another 44 yards on 25 carries rushing with two more touchdowns. Blake Reece led the Pirates with 62 yards on the ground and Jaden Shorter led Ash Grove with 84 yards receiving. Hance added another 48 yards receiving with a score.
 
The Pirates are 3-0 on the season and will host Class 1, 8th ranked Miller this Friday night. Ash Grove remains in first place in the Class 1, District 3 standings with 54.33 points, followed by Pierce City (45.67 points), Miller (42 points), Marionville (32 points) and Diamond (22 points).
 
Volleyball
 
The Lady Pirates volleyball picked up two more wins last week, knocking off Fordland and Pleasant Hope.
 
On Thursday, Sept. 10, Ash Grove made the trip to Fordland and came home with a three-set win, 25-12, 25-21 and 25-20.
 
Hadley Dean led the Lady Pirates with nine kills, Millie Willmon had six aces, Bristol Lathrop had three blocks and Allie Nicholson led with 14 assists. As a team Ash Grove had 28 kills, 11 aces, 26 assists and 34 digs in the win.
 
On Tuesday, Sept. 8, the Lady Pirates hosted Pleasant Hope and won the match in three sets, 25-20, 25-20 and 25-17.
 
Lathrop led with 12 kills, Willmon led with 19 assists and seven aces, Dean added nine kills and Collins Rust added five kills and four aces. The team had 35 kills, 16 aces, 34 assists and 43 digs.
 
"We served 27 aces in two matches and that's not an accident,” said Head Coach Hilary Nicholson. “The girls have put in the work behind the line, and when we serve tough we get to play our brand of volleyball instead of theirs."
Ash Grove is 9-1 on the season and were scheduled to play against Round Rock Christian Academy on Monday before heading to Lockwood tomorrow night and Buffalo this weekend to compete in the Buffalo Lady Bison Invitational.