Indiana State | Archive | September, 2006

By Will Willems
Contributing Writer

INDIANAPOLIS ���?? To say there was a lack of
offense Sept. 29 at Ben Davis may be the understatement of the century.

In a game
that featured just over 160 total yards, the Class 5A No. 11 host Giants were
able to hold off 5A 10^th-ranked Center Grove, 4-3 ���?? and yes, that is
the correct score ���?? in a Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference showdown.

���?The way
it works in this conference is that you win,â�?� said Ben Davis coach Tom Allen,
whose Giants improved to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the MIC. ���?Every game in this
conference you are going to play a good team and you have to be ready to play,
and Iâ�?��?�m proud of our kids for flat-out finding a way to win.â�?�

The Ben
Davis defense made a statement on the game���?�s first drive, forcing a safety a
mere 90 seconds into the contest. The entire defensive line penetrated, forcing
Trojans quarterback Jordan Luallen to throw the ball away and get an
intentional grounding penalty.

Center
Grove coach Eric Moore saw the play differently.

���?The refs
decided to call a safety, and I donâ�?��?�t know how,â�?� Moore said. â�?��?Our tight end was on a route and
the ball was thrown in his direction, so I don���?�t know how the penalty was
called.â�?�

The rest
of the first half was a stalemate with the teams trading punts back and forth
until the final drive of the first half.

That���?�s
when Center Grove (5-2, 2-2) took possession on Ben Davis���?� 44-yard line,
driving 35 yards in eight plays before getting a 25-yard field goal from Ian
McGarvey.

MORE TO COME â�?�¦

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By Mike Hutsell
Contributing Writer

CLARKSVILLE ���?? Providence football coach
Gene Sartini probably could claim, literally, to have seen everything happen on
a football field.

Before Sept. 30,
he had walked off the field a winner 251 times in his coaching career.

Sartini���?�s career
started when he coached Laura Engle���?�s father���?�s grade-school team, so finding
anything that surprises him is a pretty rare occurrence. That���?�s probably why last
Saturday can best be summed up like this.

���?I���?�ve never been
a part of a game like that,â�?� Sartini told a host of reporters on a damp, dreary
swamp where Jeffersonville���?�s
Blair Field once sat. â�?��?Iâ�?��?�ve done this a long time â�?��?? Iâ�?��?�ve never seen that happen.â�?�

â�?��?That,â�?� as
Sartini described it, was perhaps the rarest of rare finishes on a football
playing field. Sartini���?�s Pioneers had battled Jeffersonville for four full quarters, some 60
minutes over the course of two days. When it was all said and done, the
scoreboard simply read:

2-0.

That���?�s not a
forfeit, that���?�s a final score. Thanks to a third-quarter safety when the Red
Devils���?� Terrence Johnson threw the ball out of the end zone after a bad snap
from center, Providence had scored the lone points in a wet and wild, rain-filled
mudfest.

���?We just tried
to play field position the whole way,â�?� Sartini said. â�?��?There wasnâ�?��?�t going to be
a lot of points with the weather and the field the way it was. We needed them
to make a mistake for something to happen.â�?�

Providence���?�s safety-dance
victory was just one of the remnants of a weekend marked by weather that would
have made Noah sweat.

Rain and
lightning invaded the south last Friday afternoon, forcing much of the action
on Friday to be shifted around to Saturday.

New Albany started a 35-0 beat down of Madison on Friday. By the time the game ended
Saturday, local radio crews had given up trying to read the numbers on the
Bulldogs���?� mud stained black & red uniforms.

Class 4A No. 1
Columbus East pounded Floyd Central to the tune of a 35-7 score in the first
half Friday, and the contest was scheduled to be finished Saturday morning. However,
the teams opted not to complete the contest, which was allowed to stand as
complete.

Perhaps the
biggest game between teams in the south last weekend ���?? and the one that has the most people
talking about it these days ���??
was a scheduled Mid-Southern Conference showdown between North
Harrison and Brownstown.

The game never
kicked off Friday evening, and Saturday���?�s makeup was buried under water left
standing on Brownstown���?�s home field. The two teams decided to play things out
on Monday â�?�¦ only to be informed later that the IHSAA wants no part of this
whole Monday Night Football idea.

The contest, one
that pitted an unbeaten Cougars team against the perennial Mid-Southern
Conference heavyweight Braves, will not be played out this season. The IHSAA,
citing a rule prohibiting teams from playing more than one game in a week,
pulled the plug on all games that were on the slate for Monday, with no plans
for any make up contests in the works.

Instead, there
will be no game played in a matchup that likely would have determined the final
standings in the MSC race. North Harrison,
unbeaten in conference play, will miss its toughest road date of the season.
Brownstown, which has one conference loss, will not get an opportunity to play
spoiler and make its way back into the conference mix.

The decision
sets up this Friday���?�s game between North Harrison and Clarksville as a de facto conference
championship. The Generals, like North Harrison,
are unbeaten in the MSC, with Friday night���?�s game their final conference game
on the 2006 slate.

The Cougars
still have dates left against Corydon and Salem
in the final two weeks, but they will be decided favorites entering both of
those contests.

Brownstown,
which has won at least a share of every MSC title since 1995, now needs a lot
of help in its bid to maintain its dynasty.

All of this thanks
to one wet and wild weekend! One where it only seemed like everything that
could possibly happen did, and everything that could possibly go wrong did as well.

Mike Hutsell is the sports editor of the Jeffersonville
Evening News and New Albany Tribune. He can be reached at
mike.hutsell@newsandtribune.com.

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By Sam Murdock
Contributing Writer

MUNCIE ���?? With Class 4A top-ranked
Indianapolis Cathedral in town to battle ever-slipping 4A No. 8 host Muncie
Central, it���?�s quite possible that no one at Muncie Fieldhouse was adequately prepared
for what went down Sept. 28.

That���?�s
because the host Bearcats came out like a ball of fire, beating Cathedral in
four games.

���?It feels
good to win,â�?� said fourth-year Muncie Central coach Wes Lyon. â�?��?We competed hard
the whole time against a great rival.â�?�

The first
game of the night was close until Muncie Central���?�s Katelyn Bergdoll and Tessa
McGill came up to serve for what turned out to be the last time. Bergdoll went
to serve at 18-15 and rattled off three points. After a point and a service
error on Cathedral���?�s Christiana Gray, McGill finished the Irish off, 25-17.

In Game 2,
things got a little sloppy for both teams. There were many missed attacks,
blocks, and mental errors early in the game before Cathedral���?�s Lauren McIntyre
dominated the net, getting four kills and a dig to even Cathedral up at a game
apiece.

From here
on, it was a fight between the Bearcats and the Irish for net dominance. With both
teams having multiple players receiving kills and blocks, it came down to
serving.

Muncie Central
stayed two to three points ahead of Cathedral in Game 3 before Cathedral senior
Yvonne Marten threatened the Bearcats at 24-19, scoring three solid points to
bring the Irish close. But a blocking error and strong Muncie Central attacking
sided-out Cathedral, which fell 25-23.

Cathedral
took a 9-7 lead after the sixth rotation in Game 4 after both teams had a bad
turn on their blocking, knocking several balls out of bounds. It again became a
battle at the net as Central���?�s McGill and Kim Kuzma went head-to-head with
Cathedral blockers. McGill had three kills, while Kuzma racked up six of her
own as well as assisting on a block with sophomore Kristina Kerrigan.

But Muncie
Central���?�s attacks weren���?�t all lovely as the Bearcats had six attacking errors, all
either into the net or out of bounds. Cathedral, meanwhile, got four blocks by
Christiana Gray (plus a solo and an assisted block) in addition to two assisted
blocks and three solos by Mary Ording. All of Ording���?�s blocks were assisted by
Marten, who had four kills in Game 4.

Points came
down to the wire. Muncie Central, for a brief moment, forgot that it was still
playing as two receiving players watched Cathedral���?�s 24^th point land
right in front of them.

With
Cathedral up 24-23 and with the ball in hand, the crowd was preparing for a
Game 5. But a net rally provided a boost for Central, and the Bearcats
reawakened. Kuzma shot off two kills to side Cathedral out, give Muncie Central
a 25-24 lead.

When Marten
hit her spike into the net, mighty Cathedral had fallen, 26-24.

���?Central
is a good team â�?��?? hats off to Wes,â�?� said Cathedral coach Jean Kesterson. â�?��?We
just weren���?�t dominating at the net, and there was no back court. They outplayed
us.â�?�

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By Dave Fresher
Contributing Writer

INDIANAPOLIS — No love was lost when top-ranked North Central (Indianapolis) and No. 5
Indianapolis Cathedral, two schools rich in tennis history, got together in a
North Central Sectional quarterfinal match Sept. 28.

Rackets
were thrown. Fists were pumped. Emotions were spread all over the courts. Just
another typical meeting between 16-time state champion North Central and
defending state champion Cathedral.

North
Central dominated early then struggled to hang on, battling Cathedral down to
the very last point. In the end, North Central proved too strong as the
Panthers defeated the Irish in thrilling fashion, 3-2.

North
Central coach Spencer Fields attributes the victory to his team���?�s ability to
play well under pressure in close matches.

���?It was a
tight match, a match that probably did not go as expected,â�?� Fields said. â�?��?I am
pleased that we won another close match. It is kind of what we have been doing
recently, and hopefully we can keep it up.â�?�

In the
most-watched match of the day, North Central���?�s Paul Chappell and Cathedral���?�s Luke
Bielawski put on quite a show for the several hundred students and parents who
were on hand.

Chappell
jumped all over Bielawski from the opening toss. Chappell gained support early from
the crowd and broke Bielawski���?�s serve three consecutive times in the first set.
Bielawski appeared tight as an abundance of his shots sailed wide, long, and
into the net. Chappell���?�s serve appeared dominant as he won the opening set,
6-0.

With the
crowd and momentum clearly on Chappell���?�s side, he appeared on his way to a
quick and easy victory. But what Chappell really had accomplished was to wake a
sleeping giant.

With an
intense North Central crowd cheering and jeering against him, Bielawski let his
racket do the talking. His serve came around, and he was able to mix up his
shot selection: Forehand. Backhand. Slice. Volley.

All his
shots came together when he needed them. Despite letting his emotions get the
best of him during the match, Bielawski rallied to win the final two sets, 6-1,
6-1.

Bielawski���?�s
victory evened the match at 1-1 after North Central���?�s Phillip Siebels had made
quick work of Cathedral���?�s Travis Mandrell. Siebels won 6-1, 6-0 before most of
the other matches even reached their second sets.

After a
quick rain shower and a delay of nearly 40 minutes, the match was tied 2-2 with
one huge match remaining at No. 1 doubles.

David
Dietz and Max Shelton of North Central were doing their best to hold off the
charging Irish duo of Alex Swider and Brett Barra. Dietz and Shelton won the first set in a tiebreak, but
Swider and Barra came back to take the second, 6-3. It would come down to the
final set.

The crowd
of hundreds converged to the middle court to watch these young athletes push
themselves to their limits with two prominent schools���?� seasons on the line.

The final
set went back and forth, with each team breaking the other���?�s serve. With the
set knotted up at four games apiece, the Panthers jumped on Swider���?�s serve and
took a love-30 lead. But Swider���?�s serve came around, and the Irish led 40-30
before the blink of an eye.

Unfortunately
for the Irish, that was as close as they would get.

North
Central forced Barra to make several bad shots, and the Panthers broke serve to
take a 5-4 lead in the set. The Irish appeared gassed and could not mount
another comeback. Dietz and Shelton
won the next game clinch the sectional quarterfinal victory, 6-4, as Panther students
rushed the court in celebration.

Before the
final set, Fields had some simple instructions for his No. 1 duo.

���?I told
them to keep holding serve,â�?� Fields said. â�?��?That is what it has always been, and
that is what we needed to do.â�?�

Serving
was, indeed, the key to victory. North Central was only broken once in the critical
No. 1 doubles final set, while the Irish were broken twice. And that is why
Cathedral will be unable to defend its boys state title.

North
Central���?�s next opponent will be Heritage Christian. The two will tangle at 4
p.m. EDT Sept. 29 at North Central.

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