BricksCenter
DaDaDa DaDaDa
February 21, 2021
21 Sports ... 1 Team ... WE ARE HOBART!
"Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it."
In a week where Mother Nature threw a wall of snow up to stop us, the Brickies figured out how to overcome it and still do some pretty amazing WORK WORK WORK! Gymnastics and Boys hoops were wrapping up the regular season, Boys swimming & diving hosted a Sectional for the 1st time ever, and Wrestling was down in Indy at the STATE FINALS!
What time is it? ... BricksCenter!
In need of some BRICKIE GEAR for Spring? Only 8 shopping days left! Check out the link below from Fancloth!
Wrestling
Devin was first on the mat for the Brickies down in Indy in Friday's 1st session. Wrestling in the 126-lb weight class, Wible was matched up with Nick Olson, a junior from Goshen who came in with a record of 32-2. In the match, Devin showed an extraordinary amount of BRICKIE PRIDE and competed with EVERYTHING he had! Ultimately, Olson ... who would eventually finish 8th overall on Saturday ... was too much and earned a victory by fall in the 1st period. This could absolutely be a DEFINING MOMENT for Devin ... taking advantage of an opportunity to wrestle in the varsity lineup at the end of the season to become an NCC CHAMPION, IHSAA SECTIONAL CHAMPION, IHSAA REGIONAL RUNNER-UP, and punch his ticket to the STATE FINALS with an OVERTIME COME-FROM-BEHIND THRILLER in the semi-state! Devin wrote an INCREDIBLE story in Purple & Gold over the last 5 weeks ... one that he and the entire BRICKIE NATION should be very proud of!!
CONGRATULATIONS ON A TERRIFIC SEASON DEVIN!
In Friday's 2nd session, it was Jacob's turn in the 170-lb weight class. Talk about a tough draw ... Simpson's bracket was LOADED with individuals who were either a semi-state champion or suffered their 1st loss of the season at the semi-state. WOW! Jacob was matched up with sophomore John Purdy from Castle High School, who was 30-1 on the year. About midway through the 1st period ... after the two competitors had been locked in place ... circumstances changed quickly as Purdy got Jacob in a challenging hold and was able to earn the victory. Purdy went on to place 5th overall - his only loss at the state finals was to eventual champion Bryer Hall from East Central. It was a tough loss to end a FANTASTIC season for Jacob ... one that began the day after he played in the IHSAA Class 4A State Football Championship game against Roncalli. WHAT AN AMAZING JOURNEY Jacob took us all on this winter ... running the table in the regular season ... becoming an NCC CHAMPION, IHSAA SECTIONAL CHAMPION, IHSAA REGIONAL CHAMPION and following the #BRICKRODE all the way to the STATE FINALS!! TWWWOOOOOOOO seasons ... TWWWOOOOOOO appearances in the STATE FINALS - UNBELIEVABLE!!!
CONGRATULATIONS JACOB! WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU!!
Coach Cook's theme this winter dealt with "The Twilight Zone". After watching our team all year ... it's safe to say that our kids spent more time in "The HIGHLIGHT Zone" than the "Twilight" one! CONGRATULATIONS TO COACH COOK and his TERRIFIC STAFF on navigating a COVID winter successfully and leading our boys to a 2021 conference title and finishing another season in Banker's Life Fieldhouse at the IHSAA STATE FINALS!
#BRICKRODE
Devin Wible - 126 lb STATE FINALIST
Jacob Simpson - 170 lb STATE FINALIST
Swimming & Diving
Thursday and Saturday were dedicated to swimming. In order to advance from Thursday's prelims to Saturday's FINALS, swimmers needed to place in the top 16 of each event ... and the top 8 compete for a podium spot. To advance to the state finals, competitors need to either WIN the event or finish with a time faster than the "state cut". Everybody got it?
Ok, on both Thursday night and Saturday afternoon, our boys were FANTASTIC! In spite of all the obstacles they've had to overcome this winter, the Brickies showed their toughness, talent and resiliency! The Brickies had personal best times ACROSS THE POOL, which is exactly what you want this time of year ... to swim as fast as you ever have in your life!! In all, the plethora of PRs added up to Hobart finishing 9th overall, which is absolutely AMAZING considering we only had 10 boys competing - 7 in swimming and 3 in diving!
Here are your sectional results from swimming:
200 medley relay - juniors Nathaniel Mamushe & Ethan Sy, sophomore Owen Finch and senior Chad Tomaga - 9th place (PR by 3 seconds)
200 free - Finch - 13th place (PR by 4 seconds); Tomaga - 16th place (PR by 2 seconds)
200 IM - Mamushe - 11th place (PR by 9 seconds)
100 fly - Mamushe - 11th place (PR by 3 seconds), sophomore Noah Bailey - 14th
500 Free - Finch - 11th place (PR by 6 seconds)
200 free relay - Finch, Tomaga, Mamushe & Sy - 7th (PR by 2 seconds)
100 breaststroke - Tomaga - 15th, freshman Brett Herrin - 16th (PR by 1 second)
CONGRATULATIONS ON A TERRIFIC SEASON BOYS! YOU REPRESENTED THE PURPLE & GOLD WITH PRIDE!!
In 2014, Meghan Trainor was All About That Bass ... Friday night, the Aquatics Center was All About The Divers as 16 competitors dove it out for sectional supremecy! The Brickies had 3 of the 16 divers ... and they were OUTSTANDING!! Junior Ethan Ferba, the 2020 Sectional Runner-Up, was an absolute machine ... taking the lead through 5 dives and leaving the other 15 divers in his wake on his way to becoming the 2021 SECTIONAL CHAMPION!! Ethan's massive score of 483.7 missed the 11-dive school record ... held since 1984 ... by just 4.3 points - UNBELIEVABLE!! His younger brother Eian finished 10th and freshman Ethan Robles was 13th!
Ferba, who finished 26th at least year's IHSAA STATE FINALS, advances to Tuesday's DIVING REGIONAL where a top 8 finish (out of 20 qualifiers) will earn him a 2nd straight ticket to STATE! GOOD LUCK ETHAN!!
#JUSTKEEPSWIMMING
#LICENSETODIVE
Ethan Ferba - IHSAA Sectional 1-mtr DIVE CHAMPION!
Check out the link below to see ALL 11 of Ethan's dives from Friday night!
Gymnastics
Wednesday was no different :)
Competing in the friendly confines of Frank Kurth Fieldhouse for the 1st time since early January, our girls did some WORK WORK WORK to collectively STEP UP their game and by night's end were able to STICK a team score of 102.050!! The Lady Bulldogs were victorious at 108.450, but the Lady Brickies placed 2nd ahead of Northwest Crossroads Conference rival Lowell, who finished with 93.600!
Junior phenom Aisha Arias has been on a tear lately and it continued on Wednesday as she placed 2nd on Vault, 3rd on Bars, and WON the beam (9.300) to finish 2nd in the all-around behind Crown Point's Lilly Stoelb (yes ... Mr. Stoelb's daughter) 35.950 to 36.100. WOW!! Sophomore sensations Haylie Skripac (4th on vault, 8th on bars ... 6th all-around), Sarah Romeo (10th on vault, 12th on bars ... 7th all-around) and Daeges Morgan (10th on beam) all scored for the Lady Brickies and senior Nataly Ponce, in the penultimate home meet of her career, also contributed to Hobart's 5th straight 100+ finish!!
The Lady Brickies have one more meet ... @ home vs. Lake Central on Tuesday ... before IHSAA Sectional competition begins next weekend! GOOD LUCK LADIES!!
#THEGYMNASTHASLANDED
Basketball
Due to a variety of factors, the Brickies didn't play their first game of the regular season until January 5th ... which means our boys had nearly two months of practice before facing an actual opponent. Filling the schedule on the back end has kept Hobart busy over the last few weeks, but that's the fun part - PLAYING! Just ask John Fogerty ... Put me in coach, I'm ready to PLAY! (I know he was talking about baseball, but you get the picture :-) )
On Thursday night, our Brickie cagers hosted NCC rival Lowell and Indiana All-Star candidate Chris Mantis. As we've seen in most games with our boys this winter, it was a DOG FIGHT! Hobart has been stingy on D-D-D-DEFENSE ... holding opponents to just 41.7 ppg in 3 of their last 4 outings ... and it showed on the court as our boys clamped down on the Red Devils through two quarters!! Unfortunately, Lowell found it's rhythm in the 2nd half and with a heavy dose of Mantis (an Appalachian State commit), defeated the Brickies 72-48. Senior Quinten White paced 3 Brickies in double-figures with 12 points. Classmate Max Jancich and junior Miki Djankovich each added 11. Senior Fabian Salazar-Bernal led Hobart with 5 rebounds.
Friday @ Highland, it was another Northwest Crossroads Conference SHOWDOWN! Inside the newly renovated Highland Fieldhouse, Hobart looked to play the role of spoiler in Highland's last regular season game! The host Trojans jumped ahead early 10-0 with some suffocating full court pressure, but OUR BOYS BATTLED BACK!! The signature stingy D-D-D-DEFENSE Hobart has played all year held Highland to just 34 points the rest of the game! As hard as our boys played on the defensive end to stay close, it was a struggle on offense to take the lid off the basket and Hobart dropped another tough one 44-31. Djankovich led the Brickies with 9 points ... classmate Josh Tejada and sophomore Keith Mullins each scored 7 ... White pulled down a team-high 7 rebounds in the loss.
Saturday @ Merrillville, the Brickies faced off with the always talented Pirates - a potential sectional opponent. On this night, it was the Pirates who clamped down on D-D-D-DEFENSE and held Hobart to only 39 points for the game ... their 2nd straight under 40. Playing their 3rd game in 3 days took it's toll on the Bricks as they had trouble containing the Pirate attack all game, surrendering a season-high 86 points in defeat. Jancich led the Brickies with 9 points ... junior Jaydon Hence grabbed a game-high 7 rebounds.
With one week remaining in the regular season, Hobart will look to gain some momentum heading into the Sectional, which starts on March 2nd over at Chesterton. Four games in 5 days ... including SENIOR NIGHT on Wednesday ... will once again put our conditioning to the test! GOOD LUCK BOYS - FINISH STRONG!!
#MAKETHEMBELIEVE
Sports Schedule This Week
No Events Scheduled
Tuesday
Ethan Ferba @ IHSAA Diving Regional (Hosted by Valparaiso High School)
Gymnastics vs. Lake Central (Senior Night)
Boys Basketball vs. Kankakee Valley *
Wednesday
Boys Basketball vs. Whiting (Senior Night)
Thursday
No Events Scheduled
Friday
Boys Basketball vs. Wheeler
Saturday
IHSAA Diving State Finals @ IUPUI Natatorium
Gymnastics @ IHSAA Sectional (Hosted by Chesterton High School)
Boys Basketball @ Lake Station
* = NCC Opponent