2015
Sectionals
monday, march 2, 2015 section b
dubois county, indiana
â– yo u r c o m m u n i t y n e w s pa p e r s i n c e 1 8 9 5 duboiscountyherald.com
The Herald
page 2 ■ sectional
the herald ■ Monday, March 2, 2015
Clockwise from left: Seniors Rhiley Eckert from Jasper, Henry Steckler of Southridge (50) and Gavin Schaefer of Heritage Hills (driving with ball) each have different ways of remaining prepared. Whether it’s Eckert’s earnest approach on the basketball floor, Steckler’s emphasis on healthy eating, or Schaefer’s superstitions that include attention to his hair, everyone does something a little different to look good and feel good. Herald photos by Caitlin O’Hara.
Look Good, Feel Good, Play Well ■■ whether it’s eating right and taking vitamins, looking the part with perfect hair or just keeping a balanced mindset, success over the long basketball season starts with feeling good first.
Rhiley Eckert: Maintaining the right mind Rhiley Eckert is a tough one to figure out. Is he the guy who sometimes doesn’t emit so much as a peep? “I’ve had him in homeroom for the last four years, and he hardly ever says a word in my homeroom,” Jasper basketball coach John Goebel says. Or is the guy that Wildcat coaches also pin as the one who seems to radiate the most cheer? “I’ve always been pretty much a happy guy,” Eckert says. Turns out, he’s a little of both. Maintaining an equilibrium in the sometimes-heated realm of hoops isn’t always easy for teenage kids. Eckert, who’s typically the first guy off the Wildcat bench, seems to have the routine down pat. “He’s able to compartmentalize his life,” Goebel says. “I know Rhiley’s family personally, so I’ve seen that side of him, but he’s more of a goofy kidder, practical joker away from practice. He doesn’t do it during practice. He’s pretty focused in practice. When we’re in the locker room, he rarely says a word. He’s sneaky funny. … Around basketball, he just doesn’t show it very often.”
Goebel knows that more boisterous side exists, just from the way he senses Eckert is wellliked by his teammates and the way they interact with him. Indeed, “they call me the goofy guy, and I’m always laughing or messing around,” Eckert says. “But I take stuff serious at the same time also.” The emotional balance and seriousness is also a handy trait during a season that can lag sometimes as it stretches over four months. When the Wildcats have been needing a jolt, Eckert has delivered a couple of his best games. His 10 points were one of the few sunny spots in a January defeat to Washington. Eckert’s 12 points, seven rebounds and assortment of hustle plays were Jasper’s antidote to frontcourt foul trouble in last week’s overtime road win at Floyd Central. A lot of times, Eckert is the one in foul trouble. But it’s tough to keep him down. “I get mad when I get fouls, but you’ve always got to keep your head high and keep going out there,” Eckert says. “It’s the end of the season, and you have to come out playing good, and you have to come out with a positive attitude and try your best every game; hopefully you get the right outcome.” — by Brendan Perkins
Henry Steckler: Well-balanced life Two years ago, when Henry Steckler came down with mono, his doctor advised him to start taking a daily vitamin. He initially scrunched up his nose at the suggestion. “Vitamin? I don’t need that. I get plenty of stuff through the day,” the Southridge senior recalls thinking. But Steckler tried it. A daily multivitamin became habit. Now it’s part of his routine, even without those reminders from mom. “I’m not a fan of being sick during basketball season; it really takes a toll on your body,” Steckler says. “So I try to prevent that as much I can.” It’s certainly appreciated also by the Raiders, who’ve churned out a 14-win season by keeping everyone in their slim seven-man rotation largely healthy all year. Around the Raider program, Steckler’s known for attention to health. Teammate Evan Julian even gave him the nickname “Corn Boy,” partly because Steckler is grown big (a lithe 6-foot-4, 180 pounds) and comes from a farming family tree. One of Steckler’s uncles owns organic farmland in Dale and makes organic cheese. Steckler’s parents, Greg and Julie, both grew up on farms, and now the family main-
tains a garden where they produce green beans, peppers, sweet potatoes — and corn, of course. Steckler sticks to a nutritious regime: vegetables every night at dinner, and he keeps a water bottle with him during school on game days. When something junky enters the body, Steckler can feel it — such as last Sunday, when the team chowed on chicken wings during the sectional draw. “Monday was rough. I could feel it. It was bad,” he says with a laugh. It’s not just diet. Raider coach Ted O’Brien applauds the type of healthy balance that Steckler achieves elsewhere, through his faith (he never misses a Sunday at church) and school involvement (he’s the president of three clubs at SHS). “I figured out when I was a freshman, (my) time management wasn’t the greatest,” he says. “But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve kind of learned, ‘I can do this now, or this can wait.’ And being involved in so much stuff, your brain kind of seems overloaded, but it gets used to it by now.” Think well, eat well, play well. It’s worked for Steckler. “It’s a good thing to learn,” Steckler said of the healthy lifestyle, “and if your parents can teach you, it’s good to know for the future.” — by Brendan Perkins
Forest Park: Trim and proper With any shot in basketball, an inch or two can make the difference. Forest Park coach Jeff Litherland couldn’t pass up the opportunity to remind Noah Fleck of that when the Ranger freshman canned a 3-pointer against Tell City in early December. Fleck had gotten the usual inch to an inch and a half of hair snipped off when he received a haircut earlier that day. So when he delivered from deep that evening, Litherland gave a quick explanation. “Fleck, you hit that because you can see the goal!” the coach explained. The shorter the hair the better, in Litherland’s opinion. It’s part of the coaching protocol he’s sculpted from guys like Dave Reese, the Huntingburg resident who coached Litherland at Perry Central, as well as other old-school types like Washington coach Gene Miiller and former South Spencer coach Roger Guth. “The discipline is where it starts at. Forest Park has already got a lot of discipline. When I got here, the kids were unbelievable,” Litherland says. “We want HOOPS continues on Page 14
the herald ■ Monday, March 2, 2015
sectional ■ page 3
We’re Backing the WILDCATS!
GO! FIGHT! WIN!
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page 4 ■ sectional
the herald ■ Monday, March 2, 2015
WILDCATS Win The Sectional!
Tyler Begle Senior
Nonte Chiropractic
1450 S. Executive Blvd., Jasper – 812-634-2474
Nolan Ahrens Senior
The Mutt Hut
Rhiley Eckert Senior
Austin Alles Senior
Gudorf Supply Company
2622 Brosmer Street, Jasper – 812-482-6336
1280 3rd Ave., Jasper – 812-634-5101
Brosmer Land Surveying & Snap’s Engineering, Inc. Uebelhor & Sons, Inc. Headquarters, Inc. Kid City USA Drs. Brad & Kim Wilson
Shoney’s
1115 Main Street, Jasper – 812-848-7627
231 South, Jasper – 812-481-1466
Edward Jones-Craig Hanneman
205 E. 6th Street, Jasper – 812-482-9819
www.uebelhor.com
416 Jackson St., Jasper – 812-481-1035
Jasper Embroidery & Screenprinting
201 Main St., Jasper – 812-482-3411
600 N. Truman Rd., Jasper – 812-848-2273
310 Main St., Jasper – 812-482-4787
288 Northwood Ave., Jasper – 812-482-1855
Craig Shepherd Junior
Harmon Family Chiropractic
2602 Newton St., Jasper – 812-634-6363
Eck-Mundy Assoc.
450 11th Ave., Jasper – 812-634-8001
Papa John’s Pizza
Hwy. 231 S., Jasper – 812-482-1166
Carpet Warehouse
Justin Goebel Junior
Grant Theil Junior
Hunter Gossett Junior
Gudorf Contracting, Inc.
Springs Valley Bank & Trust
Chem Dry Carpet Cleaning
TablEx
Dairy Queen / Orange Julius
VU Jasper Campus
4 Star Awards
Adventures Recreation & Gear
Jasper – 812-482-1081 or 812-309-0661
1500 Main Street, Jasper – 812-634-1010
Denise & Greg Luegers 812-482-5328
at the “Y” in Jasper – 812-482-2766
143 Hwy. 231 S., Jasper – 812-482-7488
555 Cathy Lane, Jasper – 812-481-1177
850 College Ave., Jasper – 812-482-3030
1002 Third Ave., Jasper – 812-482-3757
650 Woodlawn Dr., Jasper – 812-482-5692
Luke Foster Junior
Alex Allen Junior
Peyton Gentry Junior
Tyler Nottingham Sophomore
the herald ■ Monday, March 2, 2015
sectional ■ page 5
sectional history
YEAR WINNER RUNNER-UP HOST SCHOOL SCORE 1925 Huntingburg Orleans Jasper 23-21 1926 Huntingburg Winslow Jasper 23-14 1927 Huntingburg Winslow Huntingburg 37-29 1928 Spurgeon Petersburg Petersburg 24-15 1929 Spurgeon Holland Jasper 20-13 1930 Huntingburg Holland Huntingburg 21-12 1931 Stendal Jasper Petersburg 45-30 1932 Stendal Jasper Jasper 24-20 1933 Jasper Ireland Huntingburg 41-7 1934 Jasper Huntingburg Petersburg 23-7 1935 Huntingburg Jasper Jasper 28-13 1936 Jasper Holland Huntingburg 36-24 1937 Huntingburg Jasper Petersburg 40-34 1938 Jasper Huntingburg Jasper 30-25 1939 Stendal Jasper Huntingburg 37-35 1940 Huntingburg Petersburg Petersburg 36-22 1941 Winslow Holland Jasper 25-19 1942 Jasper Spurgeon Jasper 49-33 1943 Jasper Winslow Jasper 32-28 1944 Jasper Spurgeon Jasper 50-43 1945 Jasper Holland Jasper 61-30 1946 Jasper Spurgeon Jasper 51-41 1947 Jasper Huntingburg Jasper 36-27 1948 Jasper Spurgeon Jasper 51-49 1949 Jasper Winslow Jasper 48-39 1950 Winslow Jasper Jasper 64-46 1951 Winslow Jasper Jasper 49-42 1952 Jasper Spurgeon Huntingburg 52-47 1953 Holland Huntingburg Huntingburg 49-46 1954 Winslow French Lick Huntingburg 67-53 1955 Huntingburg Holland Huntingburg 55-50 1956 Jasper Winslow Huntingburg 73-69, OT 1957 Jasper West Baden Huntingburg 77-68 1958 Springs Valley Huntingburg Huntingburg 66-41 1959 Huntingburg Springs Valley Huntingburg 41-39 1960 Jasper Winslow Huntingburg 84-38 1961 Jasper Winslow Huntingburg 85-58 1962 Jasper Ireland Huntingburg 59-51 1963 Ireland Springs Valley Huntingburg 20-19 1964 Springs Valley Ferdinand Huntingburg 77-74, 2OT 1965 Springs Valley Huntingburg Huntingburg 72-65 1966 Springs Valley Jasper Huntingburg 59-57, 2OT 1967 Holland Jasper Huntingburg 62-52 1968 Holland Ferdinand Huntingburg 57-53 1969 Springs Valley Holland Huntingburg 54-34 1970 Huntingburg Holland Huntingburg 55-53 1971 Jasper Dubois Huntingburg 86-65 1972 Jasper Forest Park Huntingburg 61-53 1973 Jasper Southridge Southridge 47-46 1974 Jasper Perry Central Southridge 73-49 1975 Jasper Forest Park Southridge 75-74, 3OT 1976 Southridge Forest Park Southridge 57-45 1977 Northeast Dubois Jasper Southridge 60-55, OT 1978 Perry Central Jasper Southridge 56-55 1979 Southridge Northeast Dubois Southridge 46-44 1980 Southridge Northeast Dubois Southridge 55-45 1981 Jasper Southridge Southridge 69-68 1982 Southridge Forest Park Southridge 48-44 1983 Southridge Jasper Southridge 63-53 1984 Northeast Dubois Southridge Southridge 49-36 1985 Southridge Forest Park Southridge 57-37 1986 Southridge Jasper Southridge 55-53 1987 Southridge Northeast Dubois Southridge 42-41 1988 Northeast Dubois Jasper Southridge 52-39 1989 Jasper Southridge Southridge 49-37 1990 Forest Park Jasper Southridge 55-42 1991 Southridge Northeast Dubois Southridge 47-36 1992 Southridge Forest Park Southridge 55-40
YEAR WINNER RUNNER-UP HOST SCHOOL SCORE 1993 Forest Park Pike Central Southridge 46-40 1994 Southridge Forest Park Southridge 46-34 1995 Jasper Southridge Southridge 70-51 1996 Jasper Northeast Dubois Southridge 61-43 1997 Pike Central Southridge Southridge 67-56 1998 Gibson Southern Pike Central Washington 63-47 Evansville Bosse Evansville Memorial Boonville 72-71, OT South Spencer Evansville Mater Dei Southridge 69-68 Cannelton Northeast Dubois Tecumseh 70-61 1999 Gibson Southern Pike Central Washington 64-53 Heritage Hills Boonville Boonville 58-53 Evansville Mater Dei Perry Central Southridge 62-56 Tecumseh Cannelton Tecumseh 66-42 2000 Princeton Vincennes Lincoln Washington 61-46 Evansville Mater Dei Evansville Bosse Boonville 86-60 Paoli Tell City Southridge 73-69 Northeast Dubois Springs Valley Orleans 71-46 2001 Jasper Vincennes Lincoln Washington 71-69, OT Evansville Mater Dei Heritage Hills Boonville 72-59 Crawford County Tell City Southridge 65-64 Northeast Dubois Orleans W. Washington 61-30 2002 Jasper Pike Central Washington 66-39 Gibson Southern Heritage Hills Boonville 53-43 Crawford County Southridge Southridge 50-46 Tecumseh Evansville Day Wood Memorial 64-52 2003 Sullivan Vincennes Lincoln Washington 38-37 Heritage Hills Gibson Southern Boonville 38-36 Forest Park Crawford County Southridge 59-45 Tecumseh Evansville Day Tecumseh 48-37 2004 Vincennes Lincoln Washington Washington 64-54 Evansville Mater Dei Heritage Hills Boonville 59-55 Forest Park North Posey Southridge 64-42 Orleans Crothersville W. Washington 45-33 2005 Washington Vincennes Lincoln Washington 83-60 Evansville Mater Dei Boonville Boonville 47-38 Forest Park Southridge Southridge 61-46 Orleans Northeast Dubois Springs Valley 42-40, OT 2006 Washington Vincennes Lincoln Washington 63-53 Evansville Mater Dei Evansville Bosse Boonville 66-64 Forest Park South Spencer Southridge 50-37 Orleans Northeast Dubois Orleans 67-44 2007 Washington Vincennes Lincoln Washington 71-63 Evansville Bosse Evansville Memorial Boonville 56-54 Southridge Tell City Southridge 42-41 Orleans West Washington W. Washington 70-43 2008 Washington Vincennes Lincoln Washington 76-49 Evansville Memorial Princeton Boonville 67-58 Evansville Mater Dei Tell City Southridge 54-41 Orleans Springs Valley Springs Valley 32-24 2009 Washington Vincennes Lincoln Southridge 42-34 Princeton Evansville Memorial Princeton 60-51 Forest Park Evansville Mater Dei Boonville 69-60 Northeast Dubois Orleans Orleans 40-39 2010 Washington Jasper Washington 43-30 Forest Park Evansville Mater Dei Southridge 66-44 Northeast Dubois Orleans Sprgs. Valley 44-42, 2OT 2011 Washington Southridge Southridge 47-36 Forest Park North Posey Boonville 43-41 Trinity Lutheran Orleans Orleans 53-40 2012 Vincennes Lincoln Jasper Washington 56-41 Forest Park Evansville Mater Dei Southridge 73-51 Orleans Northeast Dubois Orleans 61-47 2013 Vincennes Lincoln Jasper Washington 56-41 Perry Central Evansville Mater Dei Southridge 56-54 Northeast Dubois Tecumseh Wood Mem. 69-60, OT 2014 Jasper Heritage Hills Southridge 69-52 Perry Central Evansville Mater Dei Boonville 67-64 Northeast Dubois Tecumseh Tecumseh 55-45
PROUD SPONSORS OF THE WILDCATS!
LH Sturm Hardware Co.
D & D Interiors
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Monte’s Pizza
Hoosier Business Machines
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Merder’s Auto Detailing 5071 W . Co u n ty Farm Ro ad, Jasper – 812-631-3416
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GO JASPER WILDCATS
WIN IT ALL!
page 6 ■ sectional
the herald ■ Monday, March 2, 2015
Class 3A
@ Hatchet House, Washington Jasper Wildcats Record: 15-6 Coach: John Goebel (9879 in eight seasons at Jasper; 184-116 in 13th season overall) Opponent: vs. Mitchell (5-14), 7 p.m. Tuesday Postseason history: 31 sectionals, 14 regionals, 1 semistate, 1 state title (1949) Probable starters: G T.D. Nottingham (5-8 Soph.); G Tyler Begle (6-2 Sr.); G Nolan Ahrens (6-1 Sr.); F Alex Allen (6-3 Jr.); F Austin Alles (6-4 Sr.) Team tidbits: Jasper’s 15 victories are the most in the regular season since the Cats
Southridge Raiders Record: 14-6 Coach: Ted O’Brien (14-6 in first season at Southridge; 25-15 in second season overall) Opponent: vs. Pike Central (12-10), 6 p.m. Wednesday Postseason history: 12 sectionals, 2 regionals, 2 semistates Probable starters: G Corbin Neu (6-0 Sr.); G Payton Mattingly (6-2 Jr.); F Evan Julian (6-5 Sr.); F Cam O’Bryan (6-4 Sr.); F Henry Steckler (6-3 Sr.) Team tidbits: Southridge’s 69-52 regularseason win over first-round sectional foe
Heritage Hills Patriots Record: 12-9 Coach: Matt Sisley (84-94 in eight seasons, all at Heritage Hills) Opponent: vs. Washington (15-7), 6:30 p.m. CST Wednesday Postseason history: 9 sectionals Probable starters: G Sean Schaefer (5-7 Sr.); G Tyler Ward (5-11 Sr.); G Gavin Schaefer (6-4 Sr.); F Sam Collins (6-4 Sr.); F Mason Becher (6-3 Jr.) Team tidbits: Gavin Schaefer is 22 points away from 1,000 for his career. ... Heritage Hills is 3-2 all-time against Washington, with a 1-1 split in postseason games. ...
won 16 in 2003-04. The Cats’ average of 64.4 ppg is their highest since the 2001-02 team scored 64.6. ... Begle and Nottingham both shoot better than 85 percent from the foul line and 40 percent from 3-point range. ... Jasper averages almost 10 steals per game, and Begle tops the team with 41. Keep an eye on: The number 60. When the Cats have exceeded 60 points this season, they’ve won their last 12 games. Moment to remember: Near the end of the regular season, the Cats snagged overtime road wins at Mater Dei and Floyd Central. That could provide some confidence in what’s been a tough venue to string together wins — the Cats are 8-10 in sectional games at the Hatchet House since 2002.
Mitchell Bluejackets
Pike Central marked the Raiders’ highestscoring game of the season. ... With 49 wins in the last three seasons, this is the best three-year stretch for the Raiders since going 66-14 from 1984-85 through ’86-87. Keep an eye on: Scoring enough. Since winning the sectional in 2007, Southridge has struggled to score in sectional losses, averaging 36.9 points in those seven defeats. Moment to remember: The Raiders captured the Pocket Athletic Conference for a third straight season; Southridge’s girls basketball team also shared the PAC crown this season, marking the fourth time in school history the boys and girls have won PAC titles in the same season. It also happened in 1981-82, 2004-05 and ’12-13.
Pike Central Chargers
Last year, the Pats made the sectional final for the first time since 2004. Their last sectional title came a year earlier in ’03. Keep an eye on: Offensive consistency. The Pats have showcased offensive pop at times with five games in the 70s this season, but have also been limited to 43.3 ppg in their six losses since the New Year. They’ll need to produce against a Washington team that limited them to 39 points on 33 percent shooting in the regular season. Moment to remember: Heritage Hills shook out of a funk with a four-point win over Vincennes Lincoln on Feb. 14, coming from seven points down in the first half and limiting the Alices to four points in the fourth quarter.
Washington Hatchets
just to be asking: AUSTIN HOPF there’s been no break for austin hopf, the jasper senior who’s been the student manager for the basketball, football and baseball teams the last two years. You’re in rare company when it comes to managers. Was that something you knew you wanted to do coming into high school? Not really. I knew it would be a challenge, but I figured I’d give it a shot. What’s the experience been like? It’s been fun. It’s been fun with all three teams, and around this group of guys, it’s been awesome. I can only imagine the amount of hours you’ve worked altogether. Yeah, usually it’s late. On baseball and football, it’s late, and here with (basketball) games, it’s been late. Does it have a lot to do with the group of guys? Is that what makes it worth it? They’ve been awesome and everything. It’s fun being around them all. And most importantly, the nickname. How did “Squirrel” develop? It started with (football) coach (Tony) Ahrens my freshman year at lunch, I
think it was. We just randomly made it up or something. (laughs) Has it become the Squirrel legend around here? It spread around pretty quickly. What’s your favorite sport? All three are the greatest. I mean, it would be hard to choose one. What’s the most enjoyable thing you get to do? Doing the stats, probably. Favorite memory? Probably going to state my sophomore year (in baseball), going up there and competing with the best teams. As a manager you get some pretty exclusive access. What’s the coolest thing you’ve been able to do? Just being around the coaches, and giving my stats to them and seeing what they do around here. What’s something about Ahrens, boys basketball coach John Goebel or baseball coach Terry Gobert that most people don’t know? Eh, I don’t know that.
Record: 5-14 Coach: Doug Thomas (17-43 in third season) Opponent: vs. Jasper (15-6), 7 p.m. Tuesday Postseason history: 12 sectionals, 1 regional, 1 semistate Probable starters: G Daulton Blackwell (6-3 Soph.); G Aidan Wheeler (5-10 Jr.); G Daniel Jenkins (5-10 Sr.); F Clinton Yeary (6-4 Sr.); F Jared Vance (6-3 Sr.) Team tidbits: Balance reigns for Mitchell, as Vance leads the way with 10.3 ppg followed by Blackwell (8.3), Wheeler (8.1), Jen-
Record: 12-10 Coach: Jason Roach (12-10 in first season at Pike Central) Opponent: vs. Southridge (14-6), 6 p.m. Wednesday Postseason history: 1 sectional, 1 regional Probable starters: G Colton White (5-11 Soph.); G Garrett Elliott (6-0 Sr.); G/F Gabe Elliott (6-4 Soph.); F Tyler Toopes (6-5 Jr.); C Chris Downey (6-6 Sr.) Team tidbits: Pike Central has secured its first winning season since going 15-8 in 1998-99. Since then, the Chargers had
Record: 15-7 Coach: Gene Miiller (168-69 in 10 seasons at Washington; 636-297 in 40 seasons overall) Opponent: vs. Heritage Hills (12-9), 7:30 p.m. Wednesday Postseason history: 46 sectionals, 20 regionals, 6 semistates, 7 state titles (1930, ’41, ’42, 2005, ’08, ’10, ’11) Probable starters: G Connor Brown (6-0 Jr.); G Colten Garland (6-0 Jr.); G Matthew Stephens (6-0 Soph.); F Jacob Overton (6-2 Soph.); F Jake Bedwell (6-1 Jr.) Team tidbits: Garland is a three-year starter,
Vincennes Lincoln Alices Record: 17-6 Coach: Jeff Hein (10259 in seven seasons at Lincoln; 274-198 in 21 seasons overall) Opponent: vs. Jasper (156) or Mitchell (5-14), 6 p.m. Friday Postseason history: 70 sectionals, 19 regionals, 4 semistates, 2 state titles (1923, ’81) Probable starters: G Brandt Nowaskie (6-2 Sr.); G Conner Barmes (5-11 Sr.); G Jacob Breece (6-1 Sr.); G/F Ethan Claycomb (6-6 Jr.); F Anthony Smith (6-5 Jr.) Team tidbits: Nowaskie (14.7 ppg), Claycomb (11.8) and Barmes (8.5) all started
kins (8.0) and Yeary (7.3). ... Mitchell is 1-9 away from home this season, with the lone win coming against Shoals (3-18). The Bluejackets are also 1-5 on the season against fellow 3A teams, though the one win came against a Brown County team with 15 wins. ... Mitchell has been eliminated by Jasper in the sectional each of the last three seasons, falling 66-50, 62-42 and 62-28. Keep an eye on: Vance. He’s a three-year starter and rang up a team-best 15 points in the sectional against Jasper last year. Moment to remember: Mitchell lagged to a 1-12 start to the season but gained some momentum following a 41-38 overtime win over Loogootee, in which Jenkins buried the winning 3-pointer at the buzzer.
averaged 4.4 wins per season. ... Toopes scores 13.4 ppg (including 42 percent on 3-pointers), while both Elliotts score near 11 ppg. White averages 9.5 ppg, and Bryant Nalley (Fr., F) scores 7.3 ppg off the bench. Keep an eye on: Defense. The Chargers can score; they’ve put up 78 or more on six occasions this season. But they also give up 62.7 ppg. They’ll have to defend to make a run through a tough sectional draw. Moment to remember: The Chargers created some noise with a 92-87 triple-overtime win over Vincennes Lincoln on Feb. 7 that included 30 points from White. Pike Central swept all four Knox County teams this year, also knocking off North Knox and South Knox, which have a combined 31 wins.
and the Hatchets return all five starters from a year ago. Garland nailed a combined eight 3-pointers in regular-season wins over Jasper and Southridge. Keep an eye on: The second half. Against Jasper, Southridge and Heritage Hills during the regular season, the Hatchets broke away from close games at halftime. With their guard-heavy lineup, experience and disciplined style, the Hatchets are a nightmare to face if you’re playing from behind. Moment to remember: Pretty much all of 2015 so far. The Hatchets were 3-5 and averaging 46.5 ppg before Christmas. They’ve been a different team since then, scoring 64 ppg and losing only to Vincennes Lincoln and Evansville Memorial.
two years ago for Lincoln’s sectional championship squad. ... Breece adds 11.1 ppg and Smith provides 7.2 ppg and 6.7 rebounds. ... The Alices could face Jasper in Friday’s semifinals; Lincoln has won the last eight sectional clashes between the rivals. Keep an eye on: 3-pointers. Lincoln’s four-guard starting lineup attempts a lot of them. The 3s didn’t fall in a regular-season loss to Heritage Hills, but did against Jasper later in the game as the Alices rallied. Moment to remember: At the end of an eight-game win streak, Breece nailed the game-winning jumper at the buzzer in a 40-38 win at Washington on Feb. 6 that clinched the Big Eight title for the Alices and gave Hein his 100th win at Lincoln.
You don’t know or you won’t disclose the details? No, I can, but I don’t really know for sure. They yell a lot?
What does your future hold as far as being a manager goes? I know a couple of them have asked me to come back and help out around here.
This football season, you went from the Evansville Memorial game where it was close to 90 degrees to the Evansville Central game in late October where it was below freezing. Yeah, I always have to think about what to wear. (laughs)
So when do you stop and say, “You know, I want to stop and treat myself. I want to get tended to”? Not much. Sometimes I do, but most of the time I can’t sit still a lot. It keeps me motivated.
You’ve touched upon it, but with jobs that require so many hours, what does it give back to you? Leadership, knowing how to handle stuff when I’m in the real world and all that.
Summertime even? There’s no point where you just want to kick back and relax? Well, I know if there’s Legion games or football practice, I always go to them. (He played in a couple Legion games.)
the herald ■ Monday, March 2, 2015
sectional ■ page 7
Jasper senior Austin Alles looked to the bucket against Princeton’s Maleek Hardiman during last Thursday’s win over the Tigers. Alles, who scored 17 points to key last year’s sectional championship win, plays with a pass-first nature but has begun taking a more aggressive approach. Senior classmate Nolan Ahrens can also unleash streaks of big production, which have helped the Cats amass 15 regular-season wins. Rachel Mummey The Herald
Wildcat seniors full of potential for spurtability By BRENDAN PERKINS Herald Sports Editor Memo to Austin Alles: “We’ve got to let him know that he’s got to get his points in so we can just feed off of what he does,” teammate Nolan Ahrens said. It’s not the first time Alles has been fed the message. It may not be the last. It’s been laid out pretty clear to him — a more assertive Alles makes for a better Jasper. Same could be said for Ahrens, but with a twist: He’s already wired to be scoring-minded, but maybe more so than any other Wildcat, he possesses the ability to assemble a flurry of seven, 10, a dozen points before you know what hits you. “You never know when it’ll happen,” Alles said of Ahrens’ scoring binges. “It’s awesome. You just give him the ball, sit back, relax, and watch him go to work. It’s exciting.” Both guys possess that capacity to play with a bang. Jasper wouldn’t mind a double dose of it this week. The Wildcats (15-6) are set to face Mitchell (5-14) in their Class 3A sectional opener at 7 Tuesday night, and they’ll venture into Washington’s Hatchet House with a few wild cards to play in the sectional if Ahrens and Alles are at their peak. The refrain with Alles has been repeated since he was a sopho-
more. He’s been a starter for three years. The shooting touch from out to 17 feet and the under-thehoop physicality; they’re both there. At 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds, he’d belong on a college football field. Alles still averages seven points a game. But he prefers to defer. “We’ve been challenging Austin for three years,” Jasper coach John Goebel said. “He’ll have moments where — for example in the sectional championship last year against Heritage Hills, he was the difference in that game (with 17 points, a career-high). He had a tremendous game offensively, he rebounded well and he was a force inside that really made a difference for us, and we’d like him to do that more often. Sometimes it’s just Austin being the considerate kid he is, by when he gets the ball, looking to pass it back out. ... But when he does have the right feel for it, and when he is playing well, he’s obviously a force to be dealt with.” It shows just from the way Alles alters his way of thinking. When Jasper visited Mount Vernon a couple weeks ago, Alles placed the pass-first inclination aside. “When I got the ball in the middle, I was looking to score first, typically,” Alles said. The new Alles deposited a season-high 16 points, gathered
six rebounds and was “pretty much just manhandling” foes in the paint, as Ahrens recalls. His follow-up effort: 15 points at Evansville Mater Dei. Ahrens Alles’ 12 field goal attempts in Thursday’s regular-season finale against Princeton were the most he’s tried all season. He only made three, but the bottom line is “he’s been coming out of his shell the last couple games, so that’s really going to help,” Ahrens said. “I wasn’t being aggressive enough, and we’re going to need me and our other forwards, we’re going to need to be able to score more consistent,” Alles said. “Our guards aren’t going to be able to carry us all the time, so we’ve got to be able to step up.” In Jasper’s six losses, Alles averaged a modest four points a contest. In the Cats’ last three defeats on the season, Ahrens was muffled to five, seven and three points. Ahrens is the one always potentially on the verge of something huge, though. There was the personal 13-0 run he executed against Mount Carmel that shot a three-point Jasper lead to 48-32. The 10 early
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points against Forest Park that ignited a 35-point romp. The 13 assists against Floyd Central. The seven-point, two-assist burst against Northeast Dubois that vaulted the Cats from down two to up 12 in less than 21⁄2 minutes. The owner of the JHS career record for passing yardage plus a few other records, Ahrens may be a football-first guy. But his capability to produce in bunches on the basketball floor can be similar to a play-action pass over the middle for a touchdown: instant and devastating. “We need all of our better players to be playing their best basketball right now, and Nolan is one of those,” Goebel said. “He’s arguably our most gifted athlete on this team. Just like any other high school player, he has his ups and downs and he has his moments that he’s not shooting well then moments that it is. Probably as much as anyone that we have, when he is shooting well ... he can be, at times, unstoppable.” “I wish we could do it consistently, but it’s a basketball game, we’re going to get in spurts where
we shoot 5-for-5 or spurts where we shoot 0-for-5,” Ahrens added. “Just when we’re in that position we’re going on a big spurt, it’s pretty awesome knowing that everybody’s working together.” This week, a fresh challenge awaits at the sectional, one that the Cats haven’t dealt with in more than a decade: trying to defend a sectional championship. After winning last year, “we’re definitely not under the radar,” Goebel said. “I think people realize we have the ability to win the sectional. But probably the thing that keeps us grounded is the fact we’ve already lost to two teams in our sectional this year. We recognize that anyone in that sectional is capable of winning.” Added Ahrens: “I just can’t wait to be able to play these last couple games with these guys, because it’s winding down. It’s winding down.” If Ahrens and Alles wind up, Jasper may not wind down for a little longer.
Contact Brendan Perkins at bperkins@dcherald.com.
page 8 ■ sectional
the herald ■ Monday, March 2, 2015
Raiders hope to revisit success from past roots By JOSEPH FANELLI Herald Sports Writer It’s tough to appreciate history when you practice inside it every day. Southridge boys basketball coach Ted O’Brien sees it on the faces of opposing players and coaches when they enter Huntingburg Memorial Gymnasium, “they’re just amazed,” O’Brien said. “Even me, as a first-year coach, this late in the season I’ve got to take that timeout to appreciate the history of Southridge basketball.” Neither O’Brien nor any of the Raiders have to look very far to find links to the golden age of Southridge hoops. O’Brien’s great-uncle, 1973 graduate Danny O’Brien, owns a handful of program records. Ted O’Bryan, the father of current Raider senior Cam O’Bryan, played on the Raiders’ back-to-back Final Four squads in 1985 and ’86. Ted O’Bryan’s teammate, Andrew King, was on Southridge’s ’87 sectional championship team and his son, senior Justin King, comes off the bench for the Raiders now. Current senior Evan Julian has two uncles, Nathan Scherry (’81) and Dan Scherry (’83), whose names appear on the list of all-time Raider scorers. The current Raiders are entrenched in the long tradition of basketball in Huntingburg, while Southridge (14-6) tries to make history of its own when it kicks off Class 3A sectional play at 6 p.m. Wednesday against Pike Central (12-10) at the Hatchet House in Washington. “I always wonder, ‘When are we going to get back to that?’” Justin King said. “That was before class basketball so it’s kind of a big deal, really, but it’s always kind of in the back of your mind whenever your dad has been there and you want to get where your dad’s been.” King’s foray into Southridge basketball has been a brief but fulfilling experience. The senior, who joined the team this year for the first time since his freshman season, rounds out the Raiders’ seven-man rotation and has taken on a small but necessary role. “I’m basically here to be rough, be an energy guy, and I’m totally fine with that,” King said. The choice to join the Raiders though has been “one of the better decisions I’ve ever made,” he said, especially to create the same connection that his dad once felt. “Whenever I’m on the court, no, but beforehand, I think a lot about the fact that my dad and Cam’s dad (played for Southridge),” he said. “There’s a lot of history going on that I want to be a part of. ... It’d definitely be cool to see what it was like for him.” The Internet has allowed the current batch of players to take a peek into the past. Both of the Raiders’ state semifinal games are on YouTube, where Cam has watched his dad compete at the same position he plays now. “When he got the ball, he ba-
Alisha Jucevic/The Herald
Southridge’s Justin King, front, Henry Steckler and Braden Harding proceeded down the steps in the locker room tunnel at Huntingburg Memorial Gymnasium at halftime of a game earlier this season. King and teammates Cam O’Bryan and Evan Julian and even coach Ted O’Brien all have family ties to former players who’ve made a big mark on the Southridge program or the Raider record books. sically just turned and banked it off the backboard. Pretty highpercentage doing that,” Cam said with a grin. Basketball was never forced upon Cam, but with his family’s deep connection to the sport, it’s hard to imagine anything else. He’s become accustomed to strangers telling him about watching his father — who sits 26th on the alltime scoring list. His grandfather, Jerry Altstadt, coached future NFL Hall-of-Famer Bob Griese at Rex Mundi High School in Evansville, and his uncle Steve Altstadt is in his 10th year as the boys coach at Boonville. From a young age,
Cam and his older brother Chad, a 2014 graduate, spent Sundays with dad at Huntingburg Memorial Gym just to play and work on their games. Back then, Ted used to muscle his sons underneath the basket. Now, Cam thinks he might have a better shot. “He’s out of shape and whatnot, so I think I can probably beat him,” he joked. That opportunity may not arrive any time soon, but Cam is relishing the moment now to be part of the Raider and family culture. “My dad was here, then Chad went through and now it’s my turn my senior year to do some-
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there, but just because it’s there, it’s not necessarily going to happen to you. “That’s ultimately what we want to do,” O’Brien added. “We’ve made baby steps as a program. Coach Rauch (former coach Jeremy Rauch) gets some winning seasons. He wins back-to-back conference championships and we add one more. ... So we’re moving in the right direction in that sense, but we really want to have that success in March to come back (like) we saw in the 70s and 80s.”
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thing special,” Cam said. “It’s pretty cool to have that chance.” Coach O’Brien and his staff spend time preaching about the history the Raiders are part of every time they wear their uniforms, but what they’re more focused on is bringing a sampling of that success back to the program now. “We’ve got to change that culture a little bit,” O’Brien said. “We really need to get over that next step of thinking like a champion and attacking it when March comes. That’s our final step with this group: live in that moment, live game-to-game. Yes, the heritage is there. Yes, the tradition is
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the herald ■ Monday, March 2, 2015
sectional ■ page 9
Patriots push for higher power By JOE JASINSKI Herald Sports Writer The Heritage Hills basketball season has become an English teacher’s nightmare. The exposition begins with questions galore: replacement of last year’s leading scorer and a slew of savvy veterans; the anticipated arrival of three starters and some key reserves whose football season extended into mid-November; the prospect of a reunited senior bunch who’d straight-up dominated the scene in middle school — the last time they’d all shared significant court time together. The rising action entailed Caleb Sabelhaus recovering from a busted elbow injury sustained during football, the recapturing of familiarity between all the guys and bringing along newbies like Mason Becher and Alec Meunier. And when those ingredients melded with key returners Tyler Ward and Gavin Schaefer and athletic dynamo Sam Collins, the plot would direct toward a quintessential moment of solving the puzzle. Turning potential into consistent production. Questions into answers. Yet what the Patriots (12-9)
Ariana van den Akker/The Herald
Heritage Hills senior Tyler Ward reeled in a rebound while teammates Gavin Schaefer and Sam Collins followed the play when the Patriots faced Jasper earlier this season. The Pats lost that game by 18 points and have been bitten by inconsistency this season, though they’ve also beaten the likes of South Spencer and Vincennes Lincoln to show the ability exists. The chore for the Patriots is trying to unlock more of that as they enter Wednesday’s first-round sectional clash against Washington on the Hatchets’ home floor. have lacked, and what any story requires, is that resolution: that moment that helps tie together the dramatic arc heading into Heritage Hills’ first-round sectional tilt with Washington (15-7) on Wednesday at the Hatchet House.
The Pats defuse Pike Central by double digits, they wipe out county rival South Spencer 71-45 and muscle past 2012 and ’13 sectional champ Vincennes Lincoln 42-38 two weeks ago. But sprinkled in between, Heritage Hills
absorbed double-digit losses to the Hatchets, Jasper, Forest Park and Perry Central and “that pendulum always swings back on us,” coach Matt Sisley said. It’s an interesting quandary, because if there’s one thing with
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page 10 ■ sectional
the herald ■ Monday, March 2, 2015
Members of the Jasper basketball team are, from left, first row: Justin Goebel, Nolan Ahrens, Austin Alles, Rhiley Eckert, Tyler Begle and T.D. Nottingham. Second row: Craig Shepherd, Hunter Gossett, Grant Theil, Peyton Gentry, Luke Foster, Alex Allen and Andrew Schmitt.
Members of the Southridge basketball team are, from left, first row: Gaage Fetter, Ross Eckert, Justin King, Corbin Neu, Jayden Montgomery and Braden Harding. Second row: Harrison Steckler, Brandon Bayer, Henry Steckler, Cam O’Bryan, Evan Julian, Payton Mattingly and Connor Craig.
the herald â– Monday, March 2, 2015
sectional â– page 11
Members of the Forest Park basketball team are, from left, first row: Trever Zink, Austin Bromm, Ben Englert, Damon Wilmes and David Lusk. Second row: Collin Hochgesang, Sam Englert, Noah Fleck, Jaxon Cronin, Ben Wendholt, Dylan Buechler and Daniel Lusk.
Members of the Northeast Dubois basketball team are, from left, first row: Alex Harder, Tristan Linne, Kaden Quinn, Caleb Danhafer, Scott Betz and Alan Kerstiens. Second row: Brayden Wineinger, Jacob Gress, Jarah Gordon, Eric Dodson, Keigan Meyer, Peyton Hurt and Drew Jacob.
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the herald ■ Monday, March 2, 2015
Jasper Wildcats
Members of the Jasper boys basketball coaching staff are, from left: Jeremy Wolf, Jason Ahlbrand, Adam Schwartz, John Goebel and Eric Dall.
Student managers for the Jasper boys basketball team are, from left: Levi Eckert, Austin Hopf and Jordan Fischer. Members of the Jasper cheerleading squad are, from left, first row: Jessica Mehringer, Hailey Hurst, Lydia Shepherd, Grace Werner and Emma Cave. Second row: Kylie Seibert, Julia Ariens, Morgan Kissel, Kiersten Lorey, Bailey Wigand and Claire Mathies.
SEASON RESULTS (15-6) OPPONENT W/L SCORE EV. HARRISON L 83-72 at Mount Carmel W 68-48 at Evansville Memorial W 71-67 BEDFORD N. LAWR. W 71-63 vs. Northeast Dubois W 80-46 vs. Southridge W 38-32 at Evansville Central L 76-60 PIKE CENTRAL W 79-66 at Vincennes Lincoln L 53-50 at Washington L 51-37 SOUTHRIDGE W 57-43
OPPONENT W/L SCORE FOREST PARK W 71-36 BOONVILLE W 72-51 at Northeast Dubois W 70-58 NEW ALBANY L 51-42 BARR-REEVE L 62-59 at Heritage Hills W 65-47 at Ev. Mater Dei W 65-61, OT at Mount Vernon W 87-60 at Floyd Central W 73-71, OT PRINCETON W 66-57
STATISTICS PLAYER G PTS HI AVG FG 3PT FT-FTA Tyler Begle 21 280 23 13.3 86 36 72-83 Nolan Ahrens 21 226 19 10.8 87 27 25-43 Alex Allen 21 209 17 10.0 79 0 51-66 T.D. Nottingham 21 190 20 9.0 57 25 51-63 Austin Alles 21 146 17 7.0 63 0 20-40 Rhiley Eckert 21 106 12 5.0 45 0 16-35 Hunter Gossett 21 66 14 3.1 23 4 16-34 Justin Goebel 21 42 9 2.0 13 12 4-9 Luke Foster 9 16 6 1.8 7 0 2-4 Craig Shepherd 13 21 9 1.6 5 4 7-8 Grant Theil 18 26 6 1.4 9 0 8-14 Andrew Schmitt 3 4 2 1.3 2 0 0-0 Peyton Gentry 19 21 6 1.1 8 0 5-11
Southridge Raiders
Members of the Southridge boys basketball coaching staff are, from left: Brandon Hopf, Steve O’Brien, Ted O’Brien, Don Buse and Steve Rust. Not pictured: Jeff Tooley.
Student managers for the Southridge boys basketball team are, from left: Jenna Broeker, Chase Stetter and Savannah Mazanec. Members of the Southridge cheerleading squad are, from left, first row: Ashley Folz, Jessica Lubbehusen and Jessica Hilsmeyer. Second row: Bailey Barrett, Haley Barnett, Natalie Ahlemeier, Brittany Smith and Erica Buechlein. Not pictured: Justin Reed.
SEASON RESULTS (14-6) OPPONENT W/L SCORE at Corydon Central L 47-40 at Tell City W 47-23 at Pike Central W 69-42 Forest Park W 56-50 Jasper L 38-32 GIBSON SOUTHERN W 37-35 TECUMSEH W 66-38 Northeast Dubois W 61-55, OT at Perry Central W 51-41 at Jasper L 57-43
OPPONENT W/L SCORE HERITAGE HILLS W 43-39 PAOLI W 66-45 at Forest Park L 31-24 at Crawford County W 61-51 NORTH POSEY W 55-39 LOOGOOTEE W 64-44 at Wood Memorial W 52-49, OT at Washington L 54-40 at South Spencer L 50-45 BOONVILLE W 51-46
STATISTICS PLAYER G PTS HI AVG FG 3PT FT-FTA Cam O’Bryan 20 261 21 13.1 94 2 71-117 Evan Julian 20 244 34 12.2 93 14 44-58 Gaage Fetter 20 225 24 11.3 70 53 32-39 Payton Mattingly 20 100 15 5.0 33 11 23-30 Henry Steckler 20 94 9 4.7 32 5 25-40 Corbin Neu 20 54 8 2.7 19 0 16-30 Justin King 18 14 4 0.8 5 0 4-6 Jayden Montgomery 10 8 2 0.8 2 0 4-4 Braden Harding 10 2 2 0.2 0 0 2-2 Ross Eckert 11 1 1 0.1 0 0 1-2 Brandon Bayer 3 0 0 0.0 0 0 0-0
the herald ■ Monday, March 2, 2015
sectional ■ page 13
Forest Park Rangers
Members of the Forest Park boys basketball coaching staff are, from left, first row: Jordan Johnson, Jeff Litherland and Bill Harris. Second row: Kyle Greulich, David Welp, Phil Winkler and Aaron Berg.
Members of the Forest Park cheerleading squad are, from left, first row: Kayla Knust, Moriah Fleck and Tabbi Bolte. Second row: Morgan Uebelhor, Shelby Olinger, Kennedy Rainey, Payton Prechtel and Adley Spayd. Third row: Dana Hoffman, Madelyn Sturgeon, Auria Wilson, Kari Begle and Makenna Chumbley.
SEASON RESULTS (14-8) OPPONENT W/L SCORE at Crawford County L 77-58 at Tell City W 60-43 at Loogootee W 55-51 WASHINGTON L 45-41 Southridge L 56-50 Northeast Dubois W 66-53 vs. Corydon Central L 78-43 vs. Tell City W 74-36 vs. Perry Central W 59-43 BARR-REEVE L 48-30 at Perry Central W 51-50
OPPONENT W/L SCORE SOUTH SPENCER L 67-63, OT at North Posey L 68-51 at Jasper L 71-36 at Tecumseh W 62-35 SOUTHRIDGE W 31-24 EV. MATER DEI W 53-44 WOOD MEMORIAL W 50-44 HERITAGE HILLS W 53-40 at Pike Central W 74-65 at Gibson Southern W 68-60 NORTHEAST DUBOIS W 64-44
STATISTICS PLAYER G PTS HI AVG FG 3PT FT-FTA Ben Englert 22 246 26 11.2 80 7 79-118 David Lusk 22 239 22 10.9 90 24 35-48 Damon Wilmes 22 237 22 10.8 75 24 63-90 Ben Wendholt 22 195 18 8.9 67 19 42-64 Trever Zink 22 136 17 6.2 40 28 28-36 Jaxon Cronin 22 42 13 1.9 13 9 7-14 Dylan Buechler 22 34 5 1.5 10 1 13-20 Austin Bromm 21 16 4 0.8 6 0 4-6 Noah Fleck 19 23 5 1.2 10 3 0-5 Sam Englert 11 10 4 0.9 3 0 4-7 Daniel Lusk 7 4 3 0.6 1 1 1-2 Evan Weyer 4 3 3 0.8 1 0 1-3 Collin Hochgesang 3 6 3 2.0 2 2 0-0
Northeast Dubois Jeeps
Members of the Northeast Dubois boys basketball coaching staff are, from left: Bruce Terwiske, Travis Schroering, Terry Friedman, Dwayne Knies and Cody Ziegler.
Members of the Northeast Dubois cheerleading squad are, from left, first row: Jenny Merkley, Allysia Overton, Ashton Knies, Melanie Marks and Makayla Jones. Second row: Jeep mascot Jade Hoffman, Lauren Lorey, Kristin Blessinger, Gabbi Schepers, La’Kiegha Fawks, Hunter Thewes and Kennedie Knies.
SEASON RESULTS (9-13) OPPONENT W/L SCORE at Pike Central L 78-53 WASH. CATHOLIC W 61-33 at Heritage Hills L 66-52 ORLEANS L 50-44 at Tecumseh W 44-30 vs. Jasper L 80-46 vs. Forest Park L 66-53 at Barr-Reeve L 50-32 at Southridge L 61-55, OT PAOLI L 58-56 SOUTH KNOX L 61-47
OPPONENT W/L SCORE at Vincennes Rivet W 61-50 WEST WASHINGTON W 55-46 JASPER L 70-58 WOOD MEMORIAL W 43-37 NORTH KNOX L 58-42 at Springs Valley W 47-40 at Perry Central L 74-67 NORTH DAVIESS W 43-17 LOOGOOTEE W 63-52 at Shoals W 61-36 at Forest Park L 44-64
Student managers for the Northeast Dubois boys basketball team are, from left: Tyla Rasche, Kortney Quinn and Clare Mangin.
STATISTICS PLAYER G PTS HI AVG FG 3PT FT-FTA Eric Dodson 22 288 22 13.1 104 0 80-106 Drew Jacob 22 190 20 8.6 55 14 66-79 Jacob Gress 22 175 17 8.0 60 13 42-64 Tristan Linne 22 141 16 6.4 42 23 34-46 Keigan Meyer 22 119 10 5.4 52 0 15-26 Kaden Quinn 21 114 15 5.4 33 3 45-72 Brayden Wineinger 22 36 4 1.6 14 1 7-9 Jarah Gordon 19 16 5 0.8 7 0 2-5 Caleb Danhafer 18 38 6 2.1 11 5 11-13 Peyton Hurt 10 6 6 0.6 2 2 0-0 Scott Betz 4 0 0 0.0 0 0 0-0 Alex Harder 3 2 2 0.7 1 0 0-0 Alan Kerstiens 3 0 0 0.0 0 0 0-0 Brandon Merkel 2 2 2 1.0 1 0 0-0 Sydney Schott 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0-0
page 14 ■ sectional
the herald ■ Monday, March 2, 2015
Heritage Hills Patriots
Members of the Heritage Hills boys basketball coaching staff are, from left: Kevin Tempel, Josh Wetzel, Matt Sisley and John Becher.
Members of the Heritage Hills cheerleading squad are, from left, first row: Derian Scales, Shelby Klueh, Bekah Barnett, Olivia Hitz and Lauren Hohl. Second row: Kayla Wilkerson, Audra Kippenbock, Farrah Frakes, Jayde Loper, Kayley Marchand and Taylor Dugas. Not pictured: Paulina Gogel.
SEASON RESULTS (12-9) OPPONENT W/L at Evansville Day W NORTHEAST DUBOIS W at North Posey L at Mount Vernon W vs. Perry Central W vs. Crawford County L vs. South Spencer L NORTH HARRISON W GIBSON SOUTHERN W at Washington L PIKE CENTRAL W
SCORE 74-58 66-52 49-40 65-55 52-46 81-72 65-64 57-46 55-49 55-39 62-50
Student managers for the Heritage Hills boys basketball team are, from left: Jordan Schaefer, Sydney Rube, Shaylynn Smith, Tiffany Brown and Zach Bulleit.
STATISTICS
OPPONENT W/L SCORE at Tecumseh W 66-50 at Southridge L 43-39 at Ev. Mater Dei L 62-44 SOUTH SPENCER W 71-45 at Boonville W 74-69 JASPER L 65-47 at Forest Park L 53-40 VINCENNES LINCOLN W 42-38 PERRY CENTRAL L 70-54 TELL CITY W 54-45
PLAYER G PTS HI AVG FG 3PT FT-FTA Gavin Schaefer 21 329 24 15.7 109 33 78-97 Sam Collins 19 243 26 12.8 108 4 23-36 Tyler Ward 21 184 17 8.8 71 11 31-61 Mason Becher 20 148 13 7.4 50 4 44-61 Caleb Sabelhaus 9 57 10 6.3 24 0 9-16 Sean Schaefer 21 75 10 3.6 24 4 23-41 Alec Meunier 21 61 12 2.9 22 7 10-11 Kenton Crews 11 28 9 2.5 10 0 8-10 Logan Wilkerson 21 36 9 1.7 15 6 0-0 Mitchel Becher 4 3 2 0.8 1 0 1-2 Dalton Selvidge 7 3 3 0.4 1 1 0-0 Caleb Mulzer 15 6 3 0.4 2 1 1-2 Gabe Hitz 6 2 2 0.3 0 0 2-2
Hoops (Continued from Page 2) to try to look good, feel good, play good.” It’s why Fleck, who prefers the shaggier top he had during soccer season mostly because “I think I look better with it long,” has had five haircuts this season, including one Saturday in prepaFleck ration for this week’s sectional. When Fleck showed up at the beginning of the season, Litherland gave him and his mop a warm greeting. “You’re going to have to cut that before the first game,” the coach warned. Welcome to the team. While Fleck, Zach Cline and Aaron Meyer are the Rangers who tend to let the mane grow more than most, Litherland said no one has rebelled too much. Not like 2012 grad Lynk Kordes, who “was kind of a bully about it,” Litherland joked. “But he was bigger than all the coaches, so we let him go a little bit.” However, Litherland holds himself to similar standards. In fact, he’s shaved his head the night before every game since coming to Forest Park in 2009. The task does require help from his wife, Tammy, to clean up his neck. With three kids, sometimes the trimming duties are forgotten ... until 1 in the morning. Uh, honey? “Sometimes I’ll forget and I’ll have to wake my wife up in the middle of the night,” Litherland admits. “So I ask her, ‘Can you trim my neck?’ And she’s like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ ... I know it frustrates her because it only takes 10 seconds and it’s like, ‘I’ve got to get out of bed for this?’” — by Joe Jasinski
Tristan Linne: Resident health nut Tristan Linne isn’t a junk-food gestapo. If there’s a piece of cake in front of him that looks good, he’ll eat it. If the regular school lunch offering in the Northeast Dubois cafeteria is something he wants, he’ll choose it. But ask anyone on the Jeep basketball team who the resident health nut is, and you get an instant response. “That guy,” Jacob Gress says, pointing a thumb at Linne sitting nearby. A few months ago, Linne did count calories for a while. And at the beginning of the school year, he brought his lunch to school daily. The menu became predictable for the senior shooting guard. “It was grilled chicken every day, it was a set diet every day,” he says. “People did say some stuff
about it: ‘Aw, all you eat is chicken.’” “It’s good for you,” Linne insisted. “Aw, whatever,” the responses would come back. Linne’s Linne usual consumption is heavy on protein — including “a lot of yogurt” — and low on carbohydrates. He does increase the carb count on game days with pasta, but in moderation as he always makes a microwaveable Smart Ones meal after getting home from school. “I’ll eat salads at lunch some days, and I’ll try to cut down on fat, try to cut down on sugars and ice cream,” Linne says. “I do tend to have a soft drink every once in a while, just for caffeine.” When it comes to supplements,
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that’s where Linne gets a bit more particular. He’s got a daily routine of taking seven pills: three garlic pills, two fish oil pills and a pair of multivitamins. “I just take some fish oil pills and some garlic pills to try and prevent me from getting sick — that’s what mom always tells me, garlic does that,” he says. It’s all part of the fitness transformation for Linne, who shed 25 pounds prior to his freshman year. One of the perks of being a teenager and especially an athlete is that you’re typically able to inhale whatever food you want, with minimal waistline ramifications. But for Linne, being particular about his food intake has become a point of pride. “There’s not very many kids my age that watch what they eat — they just go out and eat whatever they want. Yes, I eat a lot, but I don’t eat a lot of junk food,” Linne says.
“It definitely helps. I can definitely feel when I eat something bad or something greasy, I’ll just feel terrible compared to when I eat something healthy. After a while, your body knows; it knows if it’s bad or good. You can feel it.” — by Brendan Perkins
Gavin Schaefer: The hair makes the man Heritage Hills senior Gavin Schaefer has always had the game. He just needed the hair to match. His sophomore season, his first year as a starter, he rocked the ‘Opie,’ the simple, straightforward haircut. Since then, he’s boosted his scoring numbers, and upgraded his hairstyle. HOOPS concludes on Page 20
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page 16 ■ sectional
the herald ■ Monday, March 2, 2015
Hoops always on the brain for hungry Rangers By JOE JASINSKI Herald Sports Writer There’s one thing they can all agree on: Ben Wendholt is the best. After that, the debate can get downright ugly. When Forest Park’s Ben Englert, Damon Wilmes, David Lusk and whichever other Rangers are brave enough to pick up the controller for a heated tangle in “NBA 2K15” on Xbox, things ... “get pretty heated,” Lusk says. “I beat Dave all the time,” Wilmes assures. And here we go. “That doesn’t happen,” Lusk retorts. “I beat both of ’em, with the Wizards,” Englert asserts. “The Wizards are the best team on NBA 2K15.” “I’d say the Warriors,” Lusk counters. “Curry, Thompson, Iguodala.” “Beal and Wall,” Englert shoots back. Care to join, Mr. Wilmes? “I’d take (Oklahoma City),” he adds. “I mean, who can beat Kevin Durant and Westbrook?” “Steph Curry and Klay Thompson,” Lusk answers. “No,” Wilmes doubts. For 30 seconds, the Ranger trio transforms into 10-year-olds quibbling at the lunch table. The dispute is certainly anecdotal to what attracted Forest Park coach Jeff Litherland about the school six years ago and what has been affirmed to him ever since. “It’s something that was built here long before our time,” Litherland says. “It’s something that the city, the community, they love the
Forest Park’s Austin Bromm, center, threw a towel in the locker room as teammates Jaxon Cronin, left, Ben Englert, Ben Wendholt, Trever Zink, David Lusk and Dylan Buechler cheered after the Rangers beat Loogootee in December. Basketball has been a passion for the Rangers not just in their current eightgame win streak, but in their time spent away from the court, too. Caitlin O’Hara The Herald
sport of basketball.” Litherland remembers returning to the school in the wee hours of morning after Indianapolis Park Tudor edged the Rangers in a quadruple-overtime semistate thriller in 2010, his first year with the program. The clock read somewhere around 1:30 a.m. as Litherland walked out Buechler Arena’s back door into the parking lot, “and I hear a basketball bouncing around,” the coach recalls. “Guys on the team, they found a basket-
ball and they’re out there shooting baskets.” That type of scene, retroactively, was precisely why Litherland parted with Perry Central, his alma mater and former coaching gig, to sign on with the Rangers “without even asking my wife,” he says. “This place is just a basketball school.” Things haven’t changed. Aside from the “NBA 2K15” battles taking place, players furnished their locker room with a
PlayStation 2, which elicits more battles in “NBA Street” and “NBA ShootOut 200...2?” Lusk believes. “MJ’s still on there,” Englert informs. Then there’s the dreaded lockup duties every Thursday night, when one lucky coach must shoo out kids who have been shooting for an extra hour after practice or gaming in the locker room. And with March Madness or any big college game for that matter, the Rangers relish team get-togethers.
The Lusks’ house is optimal for viewing parties. “We’ve got a TV,” Lusk says before Englert clarifies, “a big TV.” “A couch,” Lusk continues. “A soft couch,” Wilmes amends. “And Jen (Lusk’s mom) always makes the best food,” Englert says. “And the cookies. Monster cookies.” And wings and steak and tacos See RANGERS on Page 17
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sectional ■ page 17
Class 2A
@ Huntingburg Memorial Gym Forest Park Rangers Record: 14-8 Coach: Jeff Litherland (30-24 in third season) Opponent: vs. Tell City (4-18), 8 p.m. Tuesday Postseason history: 10 sectionals, 5 regionals, 3 semistates, 2 state titles (2005, ’06) Probable starters: G David Lusk (6-0 Jr.); G Ben Englert (6-0 Sr.); G Austin Bromm (5-9 Sr.); G Damon Wilmes (6-2 Sr.); F Ben Wendholt (6-3 Jr.) Team tidbits: The Rangers have won their last eight games entering the sectional, and nine in a row would give them their longest
Perry Central Commodores Record: 9-13 Coach: Matt Carter (10677 in eight seasons, all at Perry Central) Opponent: vs. Evansville Mater Dei (16-6), 6:30 p.m. Tuesday Postseason history: 4 sectionals Probable starters: G Michael Schwartz (5-9 Sr.); G Trey Mullis (5-9 Jr.); G Luke Hubert (5-9 Soph.); G Lane Lynch (6-1 Jr.); F Aaron Pierrard (6-0 Sr.) Team tidbits: After a three-year run with a 57-16 record and a pair of sectional titles, the Commodores have a brand-new starting
North Posey Vikings Record: 14-10 Coach: Heath Howington (31-39 in third season) Opponent: vs. Evansville Mater Dei (16-6) or Perry Central (9-13), 6:30 p.m. Friday Postseason history: 1 sectional Probable starters: G Bryce Martin (6-2 Sr.); G James Marshall (6-2 Sr.); G Austin Graves (5-10 Jr.); F Grant Scheller (6-6 Jr.); F Damon Cardin (6-3 Sr.) Team tidbits: In this year’s hectic Pocket Athletic Conference race, the Vikings finished fourth despite beating two of the
streak since the 2010-11 team started 250. ... The Rangers have lost their sectional opener each of their last two seasons, falling to Mater Dei by 11 points each time. Over the prior 10 seasons, they racked up a 40-8 record in state tournament play. Keep an eye on: Everyone. In their last seven games, the Rangers have had five different leading scorers. Englert (11.2 ppg), Lusk (10.9) and Wilmes (10.8) have swapped the team scoring lead all season, and in six February wins, freshman Trever Zink scored 12 ppg and Wendholt averaged 11.3. Moment to remember: The Rangers announced their late-season revival by knocking off Mater Dei 53-44 in early February after falling behind 12-2 to open the game.
Tell City Marksmen
five this season. Schwartz has emerged as the scoring catalyst and pumped in 22 and 24 points in Perry Central’s final two wins of the season over Northeast Dubois and Heritage Hills. ... The sectional clash with Mater Dei comes early this year after Perry Central edged the Wildcats in the sectional championship each of the last two seasons (67-64 and 56-54). Keep an eye on: Offensive oomph. Against first-round sectional opponent Mater Dei during the regular season, the Commodores managed just 29 points in a 16-point loss. Moment to remember: Behind 35 points from Schwartz and 24 by Mullis, Perry Central nearly hit the century mark in a 99-94 double-OT win over Boonville on Dec. 27.
Ev. Mater Dei Wildcats
three teams that shared the title (Forest Park and South Spencer). ... North Posey’s lone sectional title came in 1966. Keep an eye on: Shooting streaks. North Posey beat Forest Park in January by hitting 24-of-28 shots for the game. Graves shoots 42 percent on 3-pointers, hitting 68 for the season. Last week against Tell City, Marshall nailed six 3s in the second quarter alone. A potential semifinal matchup with Mater Dei could be a shootout against a Wildcat team similarly loaded with shooters. Moment to remember: After losing to largerschool county rival Mount Vernon four times over the past two seasons, North Posey swept this year’s series with wins by eight and seven points.
South Spencer Rebels
Rangers (Concluded from Page 16) and basketball. With another side of hoops. “Every now and then, you get people that say, ‘Man, you love basketball. You do too much,’” Lusk says. “I don’t think you can.” The insatiable appetite has yielded gains as well. After Forest Park’s last loss — a 71-36 stomping by Jasper on Jan. 23 — Litherland returned to the gym the next afternoon for the team’s scheduled walk-through before that night’s skirmish with Tecumseh to find the entire team in uniform trudging through a workout led by seniors. Litherland, coming from his home in Perry County in the Central Time zone, checked his watch, thinking he was late. Nope. His players were an hour early. “They were in full sweat,” Litherland recalls. “They were all business. They were down there working.” In the eight games since, Forest Park hasn’t lost. Yet the Rangers (14-8), who begin their Class 2A sectional quest against Tell City (4-18) on Tuesday at Huntingburg Memorial Gym-
Record: 4-18 Coach: Greg Arnold (4-18 in first season) Opponent: vs. Forest Park (14-8), 8 p.m. Tuesday Postseason history: 34 sectionals, 5 regionals, 1 semistate Probable starters: G Hunter Rowe (5-11 Jr.); G Reed Goffinet (6-0 Jr.); F Spenser Beard (6-0 Sr.); F Blake Haller (6-4 Sr); C Zach Ziegelgruber (6-7 Sr.) Team tidbits: After winning at Cannelton to open the season, Tell City is 0-9 away from home since then. ... Arnold, a Tell
Record: 16-6 Coach: Kurt Wildeman (100-84 in eighth season) Opponent: vs. Perry Central (9-13), 6:30 p.m. Tuesday Postseason history: 9 sectionals, 5 regionals, 2 semistates, 1 state title (2004) Probable starters: G Devan Straub (6-1 Jr.); G Josh Price (6-2 Sr.); G Jacob Stauber (6-3 Sr.); F Brandon Heuck (6-4 Jr.); F Ben Sellers (6-4 Sr.) Team tidbits: Stauber, Price and Straub fuse to score nearly 40 ppg and have sank more than 125 3-pointers on the season.
Record: 14-8 Coach: Tyler Phillips (14-8 in first season) Opponent: vs. Forest Park (14-8) or Tell City (4-18), 8 p.m. Tuesday Postseason history: 8 sectionals, 3 regionals Probable starters: G Trevor Lehr (5-10 Sr.); G Kody Lopez (5-10 Sr.); G Kobe Stephens (5-10 Jr.); F Jon Stallings (6-3 Sr.); F Jesse Stallings (6-5 Jr.) Team tidbits: The Stallings brothers have combined to block nearly 60 shots this season, and Jesse scores 15 ppg while Jon
City graduate, is the fourth coach of the program in the last five years. ... Tell City’s 34 sectional titles are two more than the other five sectional teams have won combined, though the Marksmen have won just one sectional crown since 1975 (coming in 1993). Keep an eye on: Tell City guard Gant Miller. The two-year starter has been out recently with a back injury. He’s Tell City’s point guard and third-leading scorer behind Rowe and Beard, who combine to score 21 ppg. Moment to remember: The Marksmen were winners in their final game of 2014, beating Boonville 56-54 in their last game of the PSC Holiday Classic on Miller’s two free throws with 3.7 seconds remaining.
... Half of Mater Dei’s 22 games have been decided by six points or fewer; the Wildcats are 7-4 in those contests. Keep an eye on: Making the next step. Mater Dei’s last sectional title came in 2008, and in five of the last six seasons, the Wildcats have lost in sectional final. That comes after Mater Dei dominated with nine sectional titles from 1999 through 2008. Moment to remember: Two of the Wildcats’ best wins of the season came just last week when they tripped up Central 73-70 and Harrison 63-58. Against Central, Straub piled up 39 points and broke his own school record with nine 3-pointers. Two nights later against Harrison, Price’s 22 points helped give Wildeman his 100th win.
tallies 13.5. Stephens adds another 10 ppg and Adam Roth comes off the bench for 7.5 ppg; Roth has nailed more than 40 3-pointers this season. ... One more victory will give the Rebels their highest win total in 15 years. Keep an eye on: Ending the drought. The Rebels last won a sectional in 1998, and their current upperclassmen have been successful all the way through the grades. They went 5-1 against fellow sectional teams in the regular season, including a two-point road triumph at Mater Dei. Moment to remember: South Spencer charged back from 13 points down in the fourth quarter last Thursday to edge Southridge 50-45 and earn a share of the PAC title for the first time since 1999-2000.
just to be asking: BRANDON HOPF nasium, have struck a balance between the focus and fun. Before last Tuesday’s game against Gibson Southern — a victory that ended up earning the Rangers a share of the Pocket Athletic Conference title — Litherland handed out a scouting report to each player. On top of each scouting report sat a personalized, hand-written good-luck note from Litherland’s 8-year-old daughter Mayci, who couldn’t make the game because of a talent show. And after the tense PAC battle, the Rangers joked on the bus about Englert dribbling the ball off his foot, which then ricocheted off a Trojan defender’s face and back into Englert’s hands. Try doing that on Xbox. Doing, seeing, talking basketball. It rarely relents for the Rangers, whose common mindset extends toward one thing in particular. “Everybody really embraces what we’re doing here. Everybody seems to buy in to what our goal is, and that’s just to win a sectional,” Wilmes says. “That’s what it’s all about.”
Contact Joe Jasinski at jjasinski@dcherald.com.
after leading forest park’s pair of state title teams, brandon hopf is warming up to a new role as an assistant coach for southridge. This year you guys have had a strong emphasis of getting the ball in the post with Cam (O’Bryan), and he’s had a pretty good transformation to being more of an interior player. How much of a part have you played in that? A lot of that stuff comes natural to Cam; whereas I worked on it for four years, he was a shooter, more of an outside player for most of his career. What we worked on is we kind of skipped most of the basics: Usually you teach a kid from the ground up, you teach him how to post up, where to post up, where to put their hands, when to call for ball. We didn’t have time for that. One day we covered it — all right, you got it, let’s move on. ... Being a senior and playing a lot of ball, you usually see a senior slow things down: Things are slower for them, they see things better, and that’s really the case for Cam, I think. He’s able to catch the ball and with people around him, can feel people behind him and make those moves and be shifty in there. You’ve now seen some sectionals from the other side after your time playing. What’s your impression from watching it now? I still remember the feelings. Our teams won four sectionals when I was there on this floor (at Huntingburg). The idea that we play at Washington and then we play here (and it alternates), that’s odd to me, and it would be completely weird to me if I played now. It’s a harder class (in 3A), but the at-
mosphere is still exciting. It is weird, though, to be in here and just remember the feeling of being on the floor and making your hair stand up, and people are screaming and yelling for you and your team. With you and Ted (Raider head coach Ted O’Brien), your playing days in high school overlapped a little bit. Did you guys know each other real well back then? We didn’t know each other really at all, except for just being opponents. Ted will tell you this story probably better than I will, even. The Heritage Hills-Forest Park game when he was No. 1 in 3A and we were No. 2 in 2A, we came back from 31 points down to beat him. He was a senior on that team, and I was a sophomore, so he tells that story a lot. We won. (laughs) What’s his version of that story, and is that a little bit of a sore subject? Well, no. He’s got his opinions on why they lost, and he doesn’t seem to want to give us any credit for it, we’ll say that (laughs). He wants to put it on them and say it was their fault and we didn’t have anything to do with it. I keep telling him, though, I said, “We had to score 31 points at a minimum, just to come back (and send the game to overtime).” We laugh about it, there’s obviously no hard feelings about it. It is funny to talk about it. He actually usually brings it up before I get a chance to.
■■ For an extended version of the Q&A with Hopf, visit DuboisCountyHerald.com.
page 18 ■ sectional
the herald ■ Monday, March 2, 2015
Muscle matters in Jeep growth By JOSEPH FANELLI Herald Sports Writer When you spend as much time in the weight room as Tristan Linne, certain aspects of life are going to feel a bit ... tighter. So when Linne’s basketball coach tossed him a small jersey at the start of this season, the senior had to politely inform him that his days of mini-sized uniforms were over. “Coach gave me a small jersey. I told him I couldn’t wear it because it was too small,” Linne recalled with a laugh. “I said, ‘Coach, I need a medium.’” Really, it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise to Jeep coach Terry Friedman. His players tend to follow a certain track through the Northeast Dubois program. They enter as gangly freshmen and exit four years later encased by pounds of newly discovered muscle. Linne is just one of several Jeep players who have jumped sizes in their time with the Jeeps (9-13), who will start their run at a third consecutive Class 1A sectional title at 7:30 p.m. EST Wednesday against Wood Memorial (14-9) in Oakland City.
Alisha Jucevic/The Herald
Northeast Dubois senior Tristan Linne, left, has gained 40 pounds since his freshman year, with much of the weight coming in increased muscle mass. Several other Jeeps have followed the same timeline for bulking up, and the Jeeps hope to put the muscle to good use as they chase the program’s third consecutive sectional title this week. “We’ve got a lot of hard-working farm boys so they’re used to hard work,” Friedman said. “A lot of them are big-boned and strong kids to begin with, and we try to help that along in the weight room.” When Friedman inherited the program nine years ago, the first
thing he noticed about opposing teams was, Man, these kids are big. Pretty quickly, he installed a rigorous summer and fall weightlifting schedule for the team. The Jeeps don’t have a football team for kids to bulk up for, so “we try to supplement that with basketball,” Friedman said. The pro-
gram received a boost to muscle production when the school’s weight room was renovated three years ago. Now, big bodies are part of the norm. Friedman explained that the coaches try to fit their gameplan to their personnel, so the style of play for the last several
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the herald ■ Monday, March 2, 2015
sectional ■ page 19
Class 1A
@ Wood Memorial High School Northeast Dubois Jeeps Record: 9-13 Coach: Terry Friedman (105-102 in nine seasons, all at Northeast Dubois) Opponent: vs. Wood Memorial (14--9), 7:30 p.m. EST Tuesday Postseason history: 9 sectionals, 1 regional Probable starters: G Drew Jacob (5-10 Jr.); G Tristan Linne (5-10 Sr.); G/F Jacob Gress (6-1 Sr.); F Keigan Meyer (6-4 Fr.); C Eric Dodson (6-7 Sr.) Team tidbits: The Jeeps allow almost 4 ppg fewer than they did last season. Over their
Tecumseh Braves Record: 6-16 Coach: Kevin Oxley (288251 in 23 seasons, all at Tecumseh) Opponent: vs. Evansville Day (9-13), 6:30 p.m. EST Friday Postseason history: 12 sectionals, 2 regionals, 1 semistate, 1 state title (1999) Probable starters: G Jackson Fowler (5-9 Jr.); G Aaron Beard (5-8 Fr.); G Keenan Lautner (5-11 Jr.); F Tristan Cummings (6-2 Sr.); F Christian Wagner (6-3 Sr.) Team tidbits: In its losses, Tecumseh has been outscored by an average of 21 points.
Cannelton Bulldogs Record: 1-21 Coach: Michael Snyder (1-21 in first season) Opponent: vs. Northeast Dubois (9-13) or Wood Memorial (14-9), 8 p.m. EST Friday Postseason history: 6 sectionals Probable starters: G Cameron Cravens (5-9 Jr.); G Damon Powers (5-8 Jr.); F Jacob Pearey (5-11 Soph.); F Bryce Garrett (6-0 Sr.); C Jayden Morris (6-1 Sr.) Team tidbits: Snyder, in his first season coaching a Bulldog program that’s gone
two-year run as sectional champs, they’ve limited every sectional opponent below 50 points. ... The Jeeps are 9-2 this season against fellow 1A teams, losing only to topfive sqauds Barr-Reeve and Orleans. Keep an eye on: The battle of senior big men: Dodson vs. Conner Sevier of Wood Memorial. Dodson got the better of the matchup during the Jeep victory in the regular season, when he netted 13 points while Sevier was limited to six. Moment to remember: Northeast Dubois set the program record for fewest points allowed in a game by muting North Daviess 43-17 on Valentine’s Day. That was part of a swing of seven wins in 11 games to close the regular season.
Wood Memorial Trojans
Three of the Braves’ wins (Evansville Day, Vincennes Rivet and Lanesville) have been by one or two points. ... Since 1999, the Braves have won at least one sectional game in every season but one (2012). ... All of Tecumseh’s starters average between 5 and 8 ppg. Fowler (8 ppg) is the top scorer while the freshman Beard was promoted to the starting lineup late in the season. Keep an eye on: The bench. Tecumseh also get a combined 13.5 points and six rebounds from juniors Grant Pemberton and John Dossett. Moment to remember: On New Year’s Eve in the Vincennes Lincoln Tournament, the Braves grazed first-round sectional foe Evansville Day 50-49.
Evansville Day Eagles
1-15 in sectional play since 2000, was a senior on the Cannelton team that won the sectional in 1998. He scored 16 points in the championship that year against Northeast Dubois. ... Powers is the only returning starter from last season and leads the team in scoring (11.1) and rebounds (7.5). Keep an eye on: Powers, Morris (10.2 ppg) and Garrett (7.6). They combine to score 75 percent of the team’s points and will have to produce for a team that’s been outscored by a margin of 28 ppg. Moment to remember: Cannelton’s only win this season came on it home floor and in commanding fashion, against Kentucky school Grace Baptist just before Christmas in an 80-47 verdict.
Jeeps (Concluded from Page 18) men come along here who were 130-pound, scrawny freshmen and turned out to be 170-pound, full-blown athletes by the time they were seniors,” Friedman said. Senior Jacob Gress fits into that mold. He’s gained around 25 to 30 pounds from his freshman season to a burly 185. “Any time you try to fight around a guy, you just didn’t have enough power (as a freshman),” Gress said. “Now I can give him a nudge and get him out of the way.” Players relish their time working with Seth Matheis, a physical education teacher at Dubois and coach of the Jeeps’ fifth-grade team. Matheis has become the school’s unofficial strength and conditioning coach, mixing traditional lifting with more highintensity, endurance type workouts. “A lot of conditioning,” said senior Eric Dodson about Matheis’ workouts. “You don’t stop and rest. You’re always moving, always going. It’s a very demanding workout and it’s a lot of fun.” Perhaps no current Jeep encapsulates the radical change players go through more than Linne, who’s been through two transformations since high school. To Linne’s own admission, “I was a little chunky middle-schooler.” He dropped from about 145 pounds in eighth grade to a light 120 as a freshman. He’s spent the last few years putting that muscle back on, but in a very different way.
“We like to pick on him because back in middle school, he was a little bigger,” Dodson said about Linne. “He had a bigger face, but now we can’t say anything. He looks great.” Linne has packed on nearly 40 pounds of muscle since his freshman season. He started making regular workouts with Matheis the summer of his sophomore year and hasn’t stopped since. This past summer, he’d be in the gym three to four times a week and currently rises before school at least three times a week to hit the weights. “Sometimes I’m sitting there (in school) totally dead,” Linne said with a smile. “Can’t even pick up a book and read it.” Linne and all the Jeeps have curtailed the time in the weight room as the season winds down to be as fresh as possible, but they all understand they’ve put in the necessary work beforehand. For many of them, the weight room was their first chance to impress coaches with their effort and work ethic, and now they are all reaping the benefits. “Those guys are bullies,” Gress said about opposing teams. “They knock you around in there and you really need to fight back. ... You’ve got to get in the weight room or you’re going to fall off compared to the competition.”
Contact Joseph Fanelli at jfanelli@dcherald.com.
Record: 14-9 Coach: Josh Thompson (29-41 in third season at Wood Memorial; 59-121 in eight seasons overall) Opponent: vs. Northeast Dubois (9-13), 7:30 p.m. EST Friday Postseason history: 5 sectionals Probable starters: G Lathan Falls (6-2 Fr.); G Walker Nurrenbern (6-0 Fr.); F Jacob Jarboe (6-2 Jr.); F Tyler Fleisher (6-4 Soph.); C Conner Sevier (6-4 Sr.) Team tidbits: Wood Memorial’s 14 wins are its most in a decade, though the Trojans
Record: 9-13 Coach: Kelly Ballard (188216 in 18 seasons, all at Evansville Day) Opponent: vs. Tecumseh (6-16), 6:30 p.m. EST Friday Postseason history: 1 sectional Probable starters: G Humaad Khan (5-9 Soph.); G Levi Willis (5-8 Fr.); F Joey Ballard (6-2 Jr.); F John Grimm (6-2 Sr.); F Rilee Epley (6-3 Fr.) Team tidbits: Epley is the second-leading freshman scorer in the state at 17.3 ppg and also secures nearly five rebounds per
have lost four straight entering the tournament. ... Sevier scored his 1,000th career point in a loss to Southridge on Feb. 12. He shoots 71 percent from the floor, and the only game all season he shot below 50 percent from the floor was against Northeast Dubois when he was 2-of-5 and limited to six points (his second-lowest scoring game of the season). Falls adds 12.1 ppg. Keep an eye on: Finishing. Wood Memorial shoots just 55 percent at the foul line and was 11-of-22 in the 43-37 regular-season loss to Northeast Dubois. Moment to remember: The Trojans were 7-1 to open the season, starting with a 20-point win over Princeton that ended a 15-game losing streak to their county rival.
contest. Grimm provides 8.1 per contest, and the next two highest scorers both come off the bench: senior guard Brevin Tilmon (5.9) and Patrick Cinelli (6.2), who’s the tallest Eagle at 6-foot-4. ... Day School has gone 7-6 in January and February, winning five road games in that stretch. Keep an eye on: The experience factor. Of the top nine guys in Day School’s rotation, five are freshmen or sophomores. The Eagles proved their worth in a two-point defeat at Evansville Memorial in January, and their best days are likely ahead of them. Moment to remember: The Eagles went 5-1 in February, igniting the stretch with a 7049 rout of Tecumseh after they’d lost to the Braves earlier in the season.
just to be asking: jarah gordon when his time on the northeast dubois basketball team is done, jarah gordon has plans of entering the aviation mechanics field. the hope is to eventually join his older brother josh, also a former player in the jeep program who’s now in the navy with hopes to become a fighter pilot. I’ve heard your career interest is in aviation mechanics and your oldest brother Josh is training to be a pilot, and the idea is to one day bring those two together. Yes. It’s called aviation maintenance technician. It’s like another way of saying aircraft mechanic. My brother is in the Navy right now. He wants to be a fighter pilot and go into jets and hopefully get his F-18 slot and then get his wings eventually. Tie those two together some day. Even our sister sister-in-law, she’s a pilot, too. So they break stuff, I fix it. That’s how it goes. What sparked the interest in that line of work? Just messing around with old motors. My godfather, Dallas Knies, I’m around his shop and he teaches me about (cylinder) heads and I’m kind of a grease monkey, I like messing with oil. As of right now I intern at the Huntingburg Airport. ... I just do kind of the maintenance work around there, see how the airport is. If I don’t want to do the mechanic side, I can probably run the airport or do maintenance with it. As of right now, there’s a class that already started up (at Northeast Dubois). It’s Sonex (an airplane kit manufacturer). You put planes together. It’s kind of a kit thing. Is that for model planes, or you’re talking about actual full-size planes? Like a two-seater. This one’s a low-wing so the cockpit sits above the wings and it’s a single propeller. ... It’s in one of the hangars. We have the all the stuff back there. Right now we’re doing the tail section for the Sonex kit. If you want to do this as a living,
what do you have to do next? I’m playing on going up to Vincennes University in Indianapolis. It’s called the Aviation Technology Center and it’s a two-year associate degree where you get your A&P — which is airframe and powerplant license — and I plan on moving to AIM, which is the Aviation Intuition of Maintenance (in Indianapolis), to get my avionics license, which is the electric part of the airplane. If you wanted to go work with your brother, would you have to go join the Navy? To fix a jet like that, I think so. They’re really highly advanced aircrafts. Especially those F-18s. They are something. Is that like a goal, to fix that type of airplane? No, I just want to fix any aircraft. To say, “I know how to fix that.” Why airplanes? Why not just cars? I was just more interested in planes and the way the hydraulics work on them and how that one motor keeps it up in the air and how it’s super light, and learn the different planes, like what are they made out of. I learn a lot because I sometimes refuel aircrafts, and you can’t put salt on the runway because it’s corrosive for the aluminum and you learn stuff like that working with them. You ever flown one? My brother did let me take control of the yoke, which is the steering wheel. ... We went down to Owensboro and I flew it a little bit and then gave him back the controls and he landed. What’s it like the first time you’re going up in an airplane and it’s your brother that’s flying next to you? He scared me a couple times. He jerked that wheel and we dropped about 2,000 feet. Well, like 500 feet. It’s one of those bellyhoppers that you get.
page 20 ■ sectional
the herald ■ Monday, March 2, 2015
Members of the Heritage Hills boys basketball team are, from left, first row: Caleb Mulzer, Alec Meunier, Sean Schaefer, Logan Wilkerson, Dalton Selvidge and Tyler Ward. Second row: Kenton Crews, Sam Collins, Caleb Sabelhaus, Gavin Schaefer, Gabe Hitz and Mason Becher.
Patriots (Concluded from Page 9) his hand over the coach’s clipboard during a timeout with 10 seconds to play in a tie game back in eighth grade, said, “I got this, Coach,” and went out and made the shot. It’s what develops from guys like reserve guard Logan Wilkerson, point guard Sean Schaefer and forwards Collins and Sabelhaus, who steered the football squad from a two-win campaign in 2013 toward a 12-victory reconstruction that came just a couple plays short of a state finals berth. It’s what Wilkerson witnessed when Gavin Schaefer (who’s now 22 points shy of 1,000 for his career) grabbed him and Sean Schaefer against Lincoln and urged they get him the ball in a tight fourth-quarter spot. They found the 6-foot-4 swingman. He banked home a shot. “We respect that,” Wilkerson said. “We respect him having confidence in himself and we have confidence in him.” Yet with every instance suggesting the Pats have finally figured it out, it’s come with an asterisk, a slip, an anecdote indicating
otherwise. Ward points to the Pats’ nine straight points in a oneminute, 49-second interval against Southridge that sent Heritage Hills ahead in the fourth quarter after having trailed the entire game. But that came only after a first period in which the Patriots couldn’t muster a single point and “you don’t see any confidence on the floor,” Sisley said. “And it’s been like that all year. It’s been up and down. And you don’t know when it’s going to come and when it’s going to go, and that’s what’s been the frustrating thing about the season. “It’s almost like an all-or-nothing type thing.” Added Ward: “Everybody knew we had the tools and everybody knew we had a lot of potential, so when you see the 10-, 15-point swing that we had on Southridge where we had the game where we wanted it, that really showed everybody where our level of basketball can be. And that’s where we’ve been trying to get this entire time since then.” To bottle what’s worked for the Pats hasn’t been easy, with guys like Becher and Collins battling illness in January, a few others
suffering sporadic injuries and the starting lineup carouseling from one game to the next. But they’ve made efforts, like a team meeting before their game against Lincoln where all 10 varsity guys “were put on the hot seat,” Ward recalled. The players circled up in the locker room and went personby-person, asking each to define his role before teammates chimed in and came to a consensus on each guy’s job. The senior class lost just one game between their seventh- and eighth-grade basketball seasons, and considering those who played middle school baseball as well, like Ward and Wilkerson, those Patriots lost just once on the diamond in that stint, too. The success hasn’t been quite the constant this year, but at the same time, “we always seem to stop the bleeding once it seems like it’s really starting to hurt,” Sisley said. The Patriot coach marked Wednesday’s practice as “terrible.” Twenty-four hours later, “we come back and have one of the best practices we’ve had all year,” Sisley said. In a seven-team sectional containing no team without a loss
good to go. Schaefer’s hair has even become closely linked with his identity — last season, a radio announcer for a rival team even referred to him as “The Pompadour” once during the broadcast. The careful upkeep of the hair is all part of a pregame routine that he’s perfected since his sophomore year. “I always got the hair going,” he says. “I wear the same sliding shorts every game. I eat a little fruit cup of mandarin oranges and fruit cup or pineapples before
every game. I usually eat Subway two or three hours before every game. I have the same routine before every game, just try to keep it the same, try to get myself mentally prepared.” Still, just like he was willing to change up the ’do, he’s always willing to tweak the routine if he has to. “Very superstitious,” he adds. “Sometimes I play good, sometimes I don’t. I try to change it up a little bit.”
Hoops (Concluded from Page 14) “I just wanted to change things up,” Schaefer says. “I want to be different, really. I want to be separate from everybody else. I like being in the spotlight, so that was one thing I stared doing and everybody complimented me on it and I’m still doing it today.” Now, Schaefer styles his hair into a wavy front spike. He’s been doing it for so long that he doesn’t even need gel all the time. He’ll just walk out of the shower, run a hand through his hair and he’s
— by Joseph Fanelli
against the other six, “everybody’s got revenge, everybody wants to get at each other,” Ward said. “We’ll see come next week who eventually pulls it out.” They’ve been up. They’ve been down. But to hit stride in March, nothing can replace the confidence. “Sports are a mindset. If you come into anything with confidence, you’re going to do well in
it. If you think you’re the best Ping-Pong player in the world and you’re awful but you still have confidence, you’re still going to be better than if you didn’t have confidence,” Ward said. “In anything, just imagining success and positivity, not only in yourself but in your teammates, just really helps.”
Contact Joe Jasinski at jjasinski@dcherald.com.