County teams end season with wins

All four county boys basketball teams won game in the final week of the regular season with Southwood and Manchester each winning two games while Wabash and Northfield both won thrillers.

Wabash 82, Peru 74 (OT)

Snyder and how he’s helped me and mentored me throughout my 4 years,” he said.

Looking forward to the next chapter, Oprisek reflected on his past seasons and what he’s learned from each one. He believes the most valuable lesson football has taught him is to, “always believe in yourself regardless of what happens around you.”

During his time at Southwood, Oprisek received eight varsity letters – four in football and four in basketball.

This past season, he was named the Wabash County Defensive Player of the Year. He also was named First Team All-Wabash

County Offensive Lineman three times and Second Team All-Wabash County Offensive Lineman one time.

He was named First Team AllWabash County Defensive Lineman two times and was twice slected to the Indiana Football Coaches Association All State Class 1A.

Oprisek also was named First Team All Three Rivers Conference Offensive Lineman two times.

In 38 games for the Knights, he had 270 tackles, including 101 solo tackles.

He also had 34 tackles for losses, 10 sacks, an interception, four passes defended and four fumbles caused.

Blossom earns top 20 places at swimming finals

Wabash senior swimmer Seth

Blossom ended a stellar career at the IHSAA Boys State Swimming and Diving State Finals last weekend, Feb. 24-25.

Blossom placed 13th in the 100 free and 17th in the 200 free.

Blossom finished 15th in the preliminary round on

Friday night with a time of 47.03 to qualify for the finals where he moved up two places on Saturday with a time of 47.36 in 13th place.

Blossom just missed the cut for the finals in the 200 free by 1.08 seconds, finishing in 17th place with a time of 1:41.80. The top 16 in each event advanced to the second day of swimming on Saturday, Feb. 25.

A furious Peru comeback against Wabash was all for naught Friday, Feb. 24, in the final Three Rivers Conference game of the season as the Apaches pulled out an 82-74 win in overtime against the Tigers to end the season with a 16-6 record and 5-4 in the TRC, good for a fifth-place tie with Southwood and Rochester.

Peru ended the season in fourth place in conference play at 6-3.

Wabash raced out to a 15-8 lead at the end of the first quarter and took a 36-23 lead into the locker room.

They maintained their 13-point lead going into the fourth quarter before the game went into overtime with a 27-14 fourth quarter.

Peru took a 58-57 lead with 2 minutes left in regulation before Trevor Daughtry tied it up with a free throw.

Peru looked to be in control with a 62-58 lead but the Apaches clawed back and sent the game into overtime after Daughtry drained a threepointer with 17.4 seconds remaining.

This was Blossom’s fourth trip to Indianapolis for the State Finals.

He advanced in the 500 free in 2020, the 200 IM and 200 butterfly in 2021, and the 200 free and 100 back in 2022.

Dave Ford with 11 points and six rebounds.

Grant Ford went for nine points while Kolton Wilson finished with five points, five rebounds, and two assists, followed by Kaden Vogel with four points and three assists, Alex Dinkins with three points and four rebounds, and Collin Price with seven points and one rebound.

Southwood 74, Eastbrook 44

The Southwood Knights put their game with Eastbrook on Tuesday, Feb. 21, away quickly, outscoring the Panthers 20-7 in the first quarter, and never looked back in a 74-44 win.

The Knights padded their lead to 45-22 at halftime and 68-33 after three quarters.

rebounds, and Bo Liddick with two points.

Southwood 83, Bluffton 54

The Knights ended their regular season in style with an 83-54 win over Bluffton Friday, Feb. 24, to finish the season with a 10-12 overall record and tied for fifth in the TRC at 5-4.

Cole Winer led the Knights with 22 points, four rebounds, four assists, and five steals, followed by Lehner with 17 points, five rebounds, four assists, and six steals, Will Winer with 11 points and four steals, Oprisek with 10 points, six assists, and four rebounds, and Stout with 10 points and four rebounds.

run away with the win.

Dillon Tomlinson led Northfield with 17 points, four rebound, and six steals, followed by Eli Kroh with 12 points, six steals, five rebounds, and three assists, Noah Burkhart with 10 points and five rebounds, Carter Rogers with eight points and two assists, Easton Shaw with eight points, Tyson Baer with seven points and four rebounds, and Jaden Baer with three points and one assists.

Northfield finishes the regular season with a 7-15 record overall and placed eighth in the TRC with a 2-7 mark.

Manchester 71, Whitko 46

The Whitko Wildcats hung around with Manchester for one half of play before the Squires outscored the hosts, 24-9, in the third quarter to blow the game open on their way to a 71-46 conference win.

Manchester led 12-11 after the first quarter and 29-23 at halftime.

Game stats were not available.

Manchester 51, Mississinewa 40

In the extra period, Daughtry broke a 70-70 tie with a three-pointer and Izaak Wright went 4-4 from the free throw line in the final seconds to secure the win.

Daughtry led the Apaches with 25 points, five assists, and four rebounds, followed by Wright with 23 points and 14 rebounds, and

Nathan Lehner led Southwood with 20 points and two assists, followed by Cole Winer with 14 points, seven rebounds, five steals, and four assists, Jason Oprisek with 14 points, four rebounds, and two steals, and Will Winer with nine points and six rebounds.

Jaret Denney added seven points, five rebounds, and three assists, followed by Bryce Wilcox with four points and six rebounds, Dylan Stout with four points and four

Wilcox added six points and nine rebounds, followed by Caleb Wyatt with three points, and Denny and Randall Boone with two points apiece.

Northfield 65, Tri-Central 49

The Northfield Norse came from behind in a big way to stun Tri-Central Friday, Feb. 24, with a 65-49 win.

The Trojans led 14-10 after one quarter and 36-29 at halftime but it was all Northfield in the second half.

The Norse closed the gap to 43-41 after three quarters of play then outscored the Trojans, 24-6, in the fourth quarter to

The Squires finished the regular season with a 17-5 overall record after a 51-40 win at Mississinewa Friday, Feb. 24.

Manchester wasn’t able to pull away from the Indians until a 14-0 run turned a 27-26 Mississinewa lead late in the third quarter into a 40-27 Squire advantage with 4:44 left in the game.

Gavin Betten led Manchester with 16 points followed by Ethan Hendrix with 14, Tyler McLain with eight, Trevor Heath with six, Tallon Torpy with five, and Gavin Martin with two.