BricksCenter
DaDaDa DaDaDa
November 10, 2019
21 Sports ... 1 Team ... WE ARE HOBART!
No ... I'm not talking about the song made famous by Andy Williams and played often on 93.9 FM between now and Christmas ... but from a sports perspective it was a HUGE week in the land of the Brickies! The Hobart football team was hoping to be STAYIN' ALIVE (Bee Gees) on the gridiron in IHSAA post season play after a Sectional Title tilt with Lowell on Friday and Girls basketball officially opened up the winter sports season with a couple exciting contests!
Better grab a seat and some popcorn ... it's time for BricksCenter!
Football
On Friday, Hobart hosted the IHSAA Class 4A Sectional 17 Football CHAMPIONSHIP against Northwest Crossroads Conference rival Lowell on a chilly November evening. Not quite "from the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field" chilly, but it was close! Back on October 18th, the Brickies put a hurt on the Red Devils by the score of 38-7 to earn an outright NCC title. This time, a spot in the REGIONAL (Elite 8) was on the line.
The opening quarter featured few highlights as both defenses asserted themselves. Each team was able to move the ball some, but neither found paydirt and the score was knotted at 0-0 after 12 minutes of play. With about 8 minutes left in the first half, senior running back DJ "workhorse" Lipke made an INCREDIBLE run ... one where it appeared he might be tackled for a loss of yardage, but instead he bounced outside and scampered all the way down to the 1-yard line!! The Red Devils held Hobart out of the endzone on 3 consecutive plays, but on 4th and 1, Coach Osika again put the ball in Lipke's hands and the offensive line made a great push to get him in for the TOUCHDOWN! After senior Matt Hylek's extra point was good, Hobart led 7-0.
After a Lowell punt, the Brickies again began driving down field via the running game. With Lowell defenders double-teaming junior receiver Zach Vode on the right side, senior Matthew Benton raced by his defender and junior quarterback Riley Johnston found him for 38 yards and another Brickie TOUCHDOWN!! A missed extra point kept the score at 13-0 as the first half came to a close.
In the 3rd quarter, after yet another Lowell punt, Hobart once again overpowered the Red Devil defense with the running game and Lipke scored his 2nd touchdown of the game!! Hylek's extra point gave H-town a 20-0 lead that turned out to be the final score as the Brickies WON their STATE RECORD 21st SECTIONAL TITLE IN SCHOOL HISTORY!!!
Senior backs Lipke (24 carries, 132 yards) and Tyler Schultz (11 carries, 89 yards) ... along with the offensive line ... were almost unstoppable as the running game piled up 244 total yards and 2 touchdowns!!
The Brickie D-D-D-DEFENSE was RIDICULOUS!! Junior Cameron Smith led the attack with 11 tackles ... but everybody got in on the action as Hobart flooded the Lowell backfield with defenders the entire game. Juniors Bobby Babcock, Tyler Turley, and Haidyn McLamb ... along with senior Mark Mummey ... made it a VERY LONG NIGHT for the Red Devils as the BRICK WALL held them to a mere 63 yards of total offense for the ENTIRE GAME! THAT'S INSANE!! The shutout was Hobart's 5th of the season! Senior punter Luke Smith was PHENOMENAL as well averaging nearly 40 yards per punt and pinning the Lowell offense twice inside their own 20! Monsters of the Midway? Maybe not, but these guys are some JUNKYARD DAWGS holding opponents to 9.75 points per game on the season! They even eat out of dog bowls at Thursday night team meals :)
WHAT A GAME! WHAT A TEAM!! CONGRATULATIONS to Coach Osika, his entire staff, and these OUTSTANDING BRICKIES for bringing home the 2019 SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!
BRICKIE PRIDE was in full effect on Friday night with chants of "WE ARE HOBART" echoing from the stands as the clock wound down in the 4th quarter.
The Brickies will host #4-ranked New Prairie in the IHSAA REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP on Friday night at THE BRICKYARD! Official game time will be announced soon ... stay tuned.
#PLAY15
D-D-D-DEFENSE
RUNNING GAME
O-LINE
CHAMPIONS
HARDWARE
Check out the links below for articles from the NWI Times and Post-Tribune!
Photos of the SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP are courtesy of NWI Life.com
Basketball
The Lady Brickies are back in action on the hardwood and THEY ARE FAAAANTASTIC!!
A scrimmage 10 days ago gave us a glimpse of what might be in store, but this past week it was FOR REAL and Hobart was up to the challenge!
On Wednesday, the Lady Brickies traveled east to take on the Michigan City Lady Wolves in the season opener for both schools. This one was worth the price of admission :).
The first half was back and forth with neither team able to gain much of an advantage and Michigan City held a 1-point lead at 23-22 heading into the locker room. Freshman Asia Donald buried a 3 on the first possession of the 3rd quarter to put Hobart up 2 and that margin remained going into the final 8 minutes with the Lady Brickies up 31-29. The first 3 minutes of the 4th quarter were ALL HOBART as our girls jumped out to a commanding 38-29 lead with some timely shooting, GREAT passing in transition and some OUTSTANDING D-D-D-DEFENSE! After a time out to regroup, the Lady Wolves charged back and the pace was FRANTIC down to the wire! With about 2 minutes left, senior Grace Nestich made a HUGE steal and lay-up to swing the momentum back to Hobart and thanks to some CLUTCH free-throw shooting (11-for-12 in the 4th quarter), our girls hung on to WIN A THRILLER 51-49!! Freshman Asia Donald paced 3 Lady Brickies in double figures with 13 points ... juniors Ariah Rivera and Lexi Williams each netted 11 to help secure the VICTORY!
After opening with a 'W' for the first time since the 2013-2014 season, Hobart was "On The Road Again" (thank you Willie Nelson) on Saturday down at Boone Grove to face yet another pack of Lady Wolves. This one was just as fun, but not nearly as exciting as the Lady Brickies DOMINATED the opening quarter and never looked back. Thanks to some TENACIOUS full court pressure, Hobart built a 20-4 lead after 8 minutes and cruised to an easy 57-16 WIN!
For the 2nd time in 2 games, freshman Asia Donald led a well-balanced Hobart attack with 12 points (all before halftime). Senior Gabbie Ramirez added a career high 10 points and classmates Grace Nestich & Paige Cooper, along with junior Lexi Williams, each chipped in 7 in the rout.
The Lady Brickies are 2-0 after the 1st week of play! These girls have been fun to watch so far because they are playing HARD and playing TOGETHER! Home opener is this Wednesday night against Kouts ... YOU GO GIRLS!!!
#GIRLSJUSTWANNAHAVEFUN
Photos courtesy of NWI Life.com
NCC Leadership
Overall it was a very positive day ... one that reemphasizes what education-base athletics are all about. Hopefully, each Brickie in attendance was able to bring back something to help our teams continue working towards building the kind of sports culture we can all take great Brickie Pride in!
Student athletes in attendance were Marc Enslen, Alex Pickett, Zach Vode, Avione Lane, Bruce Leipart, Max Jancich, Addison Kasch, Alivia Ahner, Delaney O'Brien, Melanie Leonard and Samantha Paterson.
#BRICKIEPRIDE
Fall Sports Awards
Coaches will briefly discuss their fall seasons and distribute senior awards in the opening segment. Next, break-out sessions for individual sport awards will take place in designated areas. Finally, light refreshments will be available after the conclusion of each session.
PLEASE join us to celebrate a FANTASTIC fall sports season and all of the AMAZING accomplishments of our student-athletes!
#OURBRICKSWILLSHINE
Sports Schedule This Week
Veteran's Day Assembly
First day of Boys Basketball Practice
First day of Boys Swimming Practice
Tuesday
Fall Sports Awards - 6:30 PM Great Hall
Wednesday
Girls Basketball vs. Kouts
Thursday
Girls Swimming vs. Wheeler
Friday
Football REGIONAL vs. New Prairie
Saturday
No Events Scheduled