By Al Stilley
Editor

Roncalli’s wrestling team is saving its best for the last in this year’s IHSAA playoffs. After coming close to sectional and regional titles, the Rebels stepped up and captured the program’s first IHSAA semistate championship Saturday at New Castle. Third-year coach Wade McClurg’s grapplers snared four individual titles and edged back-to-back champs Cathedral, 104-97.5 for the team championship. Warren Central was third with 73 points and Perry Meridian fourth, 70 points. 

Roncalli’s No. 4-ranked Braydon Lowery (120 pounds), No. 2 and 2017 state champion Alex Viduya (132), No. 2 Tyce Frieje (138) and No. 5 Elijah Mahan (170) earned semifinal titles. Teammate John Harris (285) was defeated in the final round.

“We are excited to continue to build and prepare for the state finals,” McClurg said. “Our guys have set themselves up well to make a run at their individual goals, and those performances can put our team in a position to bring home the big trophy.”

Also at New Castle, the state’s No. 1- ranked 106-pound wrestler, PM’s Alex Cottey, also won and advanced to the state finals where he was runner-up last year.

Center Grove’s No. 1 Brayden Littell (120) and No. 4 Peyton Pruitt (160) captured semfinal titles at Evansville Reitz. The Trojans were fourth to champion Brownsburg.

Additional state finals qualifiers who placed 2-4 in semistates are: No. 4 Aiden Warren (145), No. 9 Sammy Fair (152), No. 3 Brooks Davis (160), No. 12 Austin Lane (195) and No. 10 Sam Jones (285) of Perry Meridian and No. 5 Nick Willham (195) of Greenwood. A total of 14 wrestlers will represent Southside high schools in the IHSAA State Finals at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

First-round matches begin Frida at 6 p.m.; quarterfinals are Saturday at 9:30 a.m., thirdplace matches at 5 p.m., and finals at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $8 per session or $20 for both days. At New Castle, Manan’s pin of Carmel’s Logan Hart assured the Rebels of their first semistate title. Lowery also pinned Warren Central’s Christopher Stewart. VIduya defeated WC’s Aundre Beatty, 5-0. Frieje downed Carmel’s Kyle Holman, 8-4. Roncalli coach McClurg expressed pride in his wrestler’s comeback Saturday.

“Gratitude is a Biblical principle that we talk about a lot in our wrestling program; gratitude in our program is defined as thinking of yourself less,” McClurg said. ‘We won the first team semistate championship in program history because our attitude and effort was top-notch. After we dropped three tough matches in the first two rounds, our five state finalists stepped up and ran like thoroughbreds by scoring a lot of bonus points for the team.”

​PM’s Cottey remained unbeaten with a lively 9-4 win against Carmel’s Suhas Chundi.

By Al Stilley
Editor

The euphoria of Greenwood Christian Academy’s first-ever girls’ basketball regional victory lasted about 8 ½ hours Saturday. The Cougars pounced upon Farmersburg North Central, 80-62 in the 1A Southwestern regional opener that ended around 11:30 a.m., before falling to tall and talented No. 3-ranked University, 55-29 in the championship.

However, the defeat does not negate the history-making season that the Cougars with coach Alan Weems put together this season. They became the first team in program history to win a sectional championship, a regional game and go deeper into the IHSAA playoffs than any previous team. A big following of GCA students and fans nearly filled the south grandstand at Southwestern gave their beloved Cougars a standing ovation late in the title game.

“I love my basketball team,” coach Weems said. “This is a team that epitomizes the word ‘team.’ They do a good job of finding each other on the court. It’s about each other first; not about themselves.”

The future is bright for the senior-less Cougars who expect everyone back next year. “We have three double-figure scorers returning who can flat-out play on both ends of the floor,” Weems said. “They’re all back.”

Going deeper into the playoffs is the goal for juniors Alexis Mead, Cameron Northern and Morgan Haynes, sophomores Izzy Reed, Alexis Mead, Savannah Frye, and Sarah Kate Wells plus freshmen Ellie Bigelow, Chloe Grider, Kirsten Carlson, Dorothy O’Dell and Alayna Boyer.

“They (University) deserved this (win), they were the better team,” Weems said. “We’re hoping next year that we can say the same thing – we deserve the win and we earned it.”

GCA undoubtedly played one of its best games in the opener against North Central. After a slim 15-13 first-quarter lead, the Cougars exploded for 33 points in the second quarter, hitting 5 of 6 3-point shots and 13 of 16 field goal tries. Three Cougars reached double figures with Reed scoring 23 points, Mead 20, and Frye 13. Bigelow came off the bench and scored 9 points.

The nightcap resulted in a far different outcome. The turning point again was the second quarter, but only because the favored Trailblazers out-scored the Cougars, 15-2. Only Reed’s two free throws after time expired prevented a shutout.

GCA trailed at the half, 28-12. For more than 14 minutes, the Cougars did not score a field goal from 2:16 left in the first quarter to Frye’s short jumper with 3:48 to go in the third quarter. Meanwhile, University built a 43-15 lead. GCA did not hit a 3-point shot until Frye connected late in the third period. Reed scored a team-high 13 points.

​Defensively, GCA could not cope with 6-1 junior Lindsey Syrek, who scored 28 points. “We have the opportunity next year to advance from this regional,” Weems said. “We won 17 games with a very young group against GCA girls finish historic season in 1A regional final the toughest schedule in school history.”

Trojans bow out

No. 8 Center Grove traveled to the Bedford North Lawrence regional where the host Stars upended the Trojans, 51-33 behind 6-1 senior Jorie Allen’s 21 points and 16 rebounds. The Trojans trailed only 25-24 before BNL went on a massive game-ending 26-8 run. CG’s 1-2 punch of seniors Emma Utterback and Ella Thompson combined for 20 points. CG finishes 22-4 and a three-year record of 57-20 with seniors Utterback, Thompson and Malory Storms.