BricksCenter
DaDaDa DaDaDa
September 29, 2019
21 Sports ... 1 Team ... WE ARE HOBART!
How does that cheer go again? Oh ya ...
LET'S GET FIRED UP ... WE ARE FIRED UP!
Get out and see our student-athletes in action - you won't regret it.
As for right now, settle into your favorite chair ... it's time for BricksCenter!
Looking for some Hobart stuff to wear this winter?
Volleyball
DAY 1 - vs. Highland in an NCC game rescheduled from late August
It looked like it might be a quick night for the Lady Brickies as the girls looked AWESOME in jumping up 2-0 after winning the first two sets 25-23 & 25-15! The Lady Trojans came fighting back to win the 3rd set 25-20 and then recovered from a 19-14 deficit to defeat Hobart in the 4th set 25-21... sending the match into a 5th set. It was winner-take-all in the first to 15 final ... and our Lady Brickies were refocused and ready to go! Hobart was ALL OVER the place in the last set and DOMINATED the Lady Trojans to WIN 15-5 and secure the 3-2 conference VICTORY!!
DAY 2 - @ Highland
Back-2-back NCC match-ups against the same team is tough ... particularly on back-2-back nights. This one started much like the last one finished as Highland won the 1st game 25-15 and Hobart came back to win the 2nd 25-17 to knot things up at 1-1. Next it was the Lady Trojans turn and they fired on all cylinders in taking the 3rd game 25-17. The 4th set was back and forth with both teams scoring BIG points. Despite a great effort, ultimately Hobart came up a little short and Highland was able to escape with a 25-19 win to defeat the Lady Brickies 3-1.
DAY 3 - @ Hanover Central
After 2 hard fought matches in 2 days ... Hobart was back at it on Wednesday down in Cedar Lake against the Lady Wildcats. Would the Lady Brickies have enough left in the tank to tangle with a tough Hanover Central team? YES! This one came down to the wire as both groups were fiercely competing for every point! Hobart opened up the match with an extra point win in the first set 26-24! Hanover shook off the 2 point loss and controlled the 2nd game ... winning 25-14. A pep talk from Coach Yanez got the Lady Brickies regrouped and our girls were LIGHTS OUT in the 3rd set, winning easily by the score of 25-12 to go up 2-1!! I'm pretty sure someone in the home crowd was overheard yelling "What team? Wildcats!!" because Hanover came out firing in the 4th set and won 25-19 ... sending this one to a 5th and deciding set! The 5th set was INTENSE and featured multiple EDGE OF YOUR SEAT volleys and points! This one was SO CLOSE, but unlike Monday, Hobart was unable to come out on top as the Lady Wildcats hung on to win an exhausting 15-12 final set to earn the 3-2 victory. WOW - what a game. Even though the result was a disappointing bus ride home for the Lady Brickies, their heads should be held high for how well they represented H-town with the ENERGY and EFFORT they exerted on the court.
DAY 4 - vs. Kankakee Valley
The Quadruple Lindy ... 4 days - 4 games ... and all of them against such tough competition. The Lady Kougars proved to be the toughest of them all coming in ranked #9 in the area. Unfortunately, the Lady Brickies were simply out of gas on Thursday night. Hobart gave everything they had left in the tank and pushed the Lady Kougars to the brink in set #3, but it wasn't enough as KV left town with a 3-0 win.
After navigating such a difficult gauntlet over this past week, the girls are 11-13 overall on the season with 6 games left before sectional play begins. The Lady Brickies survived the Quadruple Lindy and continue to show collective improvement. The next two weeks are BIG as fine tuning for the post season begins. LET'S GO BRICKS!
#WEBELIEVE
Boys Tennis
On Monday, Hobart traveled to Merrillville to face the sectional rival Pirates. Merrillville has won the past 2 IHSAA sectional titles on our home turf and the Brickies are certainly looking for some payback this fall. In a grueling battle that went the distance and made EVERY score count, Merrillville was able to squeak by Hobart 3-2 to "hold court" west of I-65. Based on Monday's finish, the competition this week at the HOBART sectional should be exciting if these two teams end up in a rematch.
Wednesday, the Brickies were "one the road again" (thank you Willie Nelson) traveling to Valparaiso to face one of the better teams in the area. The Vikings presented exactly the kind of challenge Hobart needed at this stage of the season ... a top team with great talent to test our guys into finding out 2 things: how far have we come this year and how far can we go in the post-season. The end result of the match was an L for Hobart, but the showing by the Brickies was something to be very proud of as OUR BOYS SHINED facing some of the best competition of the season. We BATTLED in every match and hopefully learned something about what we are capable of ... playing at a CHAMPIONSHIP LEVEL!
On Thursday, DeMotte was the location and Kankakee Valley was the opponent as the Brickies closed out the regular season and conference season at the same time. After the 1st set, Hobart was off to a great start, leading at 3 of the 5 scoring spots! Unfortunately, the Kougars "called it a comeback", made some adjustments and sent the Brickies home with a 4-1 defeat. The Brickies season-long improvement has been remarkable - it just wasn't enough to overcome how well KV played.
Overall, Hobart finished the regular season with an 8-6 record. The tournament pairings show airs live on IHSAAtv.org starting at 6 PM on Monday night. Sectional play begins at HOME on Wednesday ... DON'T STOP NOW BOYS!!
#PLAYLIKEACHAMPION
Football
Thanks to some RIDICULOUS thunderstorms, Friday night's Hall of Fame game was postponed until Saturday night with a 6 PM start time. The Brickies were wearing some THROW BACK jerseys in honor of the 1979 State Runner-Up football team in attendance to be honored at halftime for induction into the Hobart Athletics Hall of Fame. Things definitely did not go Hobart's way early as a fumble on the first play from scrimmage resulted in a KV touchdown and a 7-0 Kougar lead. The Bricks failed to score on their next possession, but when KV got it back, senior Matthew Benton intercepted a pass to the flat (his 1st of 2 on the night) and took it TO THE HOUSE for a TD and a 7-7 tie!! That play seemed to "wake up the echos" of past Hobart teams and our boys never looked better the rest of the way! The Brickies scored again near the end of the 1st quarter on a 27-yard TOUCHDOWN pass from junior QB Riley Johnston to senior Tyler Schultz to make it 14-7 and the route was on! Senior DJ Lipke scampered in from 21 yards out in the 2nd quarter to give our boys a 21-10 halftime lead.
The D-D-D-DEFENSE was AMAZING once again - intercepting 3 passes on the night and holding the Kougars scoreless in the 2nd half! In the last 24 minutes, Hobart POUNDED the ball on the ground with a heavy dose of Lipke and Johnston, who each finished the night with 2 TD's! Sophomore Marc Enslen got in on the action for Hobart's final score as the Brickies CRUISED to a 49-10 VICTORY!
Hobart DOMINATED the game by totaling 364 yards of total offense to the Kougars 55 ... WOW!! Johnston was 8-13 through the air for 122 yards and a score to go along with his 8 carries for 44 yards and 2 scores. Lipke was a WORK HORSE with 18 carries for 124 yards and 2 scores. Junior Zach Vode led all Brickie receivers with 57 yards receiving and classmate Haidyn McLamb registered a team-high 5.5 tackles.
The 'W' extends the Brickie win streak to 4 games and keeps our boys UNDEFEATED in NCC play at 2-0. This train is starting to roll - better get on board now ... this ride could get really fun :)
#PLAY15
Check out this article on junior Bobby Babcock!
Soccer
It was SENIOR WEEK for boys & girls soccer as both recognized the commitment , dedication and meaningful contributions of our senior student-athletes and their parents. We have some TERRIFIC seniors on both teams ... kids who perform in the classroom and on the field.
Girls
On Tuesday, Hobart hosted conference rival Andrean at The Brickyard. Based on last year's OT shootout, this one looked to be a good one. Early on it was Hobart on the attack ... keeping pressure on the Lady 59ers throughout the first half and continuing into the 2nd. The Lady Brickies were relentless, but could not slip anything past the Andrean goalie, who had an amazing 20 saves on the night. On the other side, the Lady '9ers were able to sneak two past the Hobart defense and leave town with a 2-0 win. Hobart played well and was right there with a chance in the end, like they've been all year, but couldn't quite get over the hump.
Wednesday, the Lady Brickies hosted #6-ranked Boone Grove on SENIOR NIGHT. After an exhausting match the night before against Andrean, the Lady Brickies bounced right back thanks to the energy in the stadium on SENIOR NIGHT! In fact, Hobart got on the board first thanks to freshman Kyla Robinson's goal midway through the 1st half! Boone answered almost immediately and was able to tack on 2 more before the half ended to make it 3-1 after 40 minutes were complete. To begin the 2nd half, the Lady Brickies once again put a barrage of shots on goal and freshman Vivianne Garcia was able to put one in on a corner-kick header to cut the lead to 3-2! Shortly after, Boone again answered with one of their own to stretch the lead back to two goals at 4-2. The last 15 minutes were FRANTIC with the Lady Brickies desperately trying to come back, but ultimately our girls ran out of time ... and ran out of gas after back-2-back games. The final tally was a 5-2 Hobart loss as Boone tacked on one for good measure in the closing minutes.
At week's end, Hobart dropped to 3-8 on the year and 1-3 in NCC play. Don't let our record fool you ... these girls can play and have been SO CLOSE to turning the corner ALL YEAR. One more week remains in the regular season before we host the IHSAA Sectional. The Lady Brickies have 4 games left to fine tune the machine ... can't wait to see it all come together!!
Boys
On Monday night, the Brickies hosted Rensselaer, who came in sporting a 9-2 record on the season. It was SENIOR NIGHT, so naturally the emotions were running a little high for the Brickies ... you could see it in the INTENSITY our boys played with! Hobart was ALL IN trying to earn a victory and send our seniors out in style. After 40 minutes of edge-of-your-seat action, the score was knotted at 0-0 to finish the first half. During the 2nd 40 minutes, it felt like the Brickies had 15 shots on goal as our boys were attacking constantly with everything they had! Unfortunately, every one of those shots sailed high, went left, were saved ... it was as if Rensselaer's goal had a protective bubble around it and Hobart just could not penetrate the net. Since this was a non-conference game, no overtime was played and the final score ended in a 0-0 tie. Both teams displayed OUTSTANDING EFFORT in the contest.
Wednesday, Hobart traveled to 5959 Broadway to face the Andrean 59ers in NCC action. As much as the emotions were surely flowing on SENIOR NIGHT, I'm not sure anything gets the Hobart Brickies more energized than a date with the '9ers! That enthusiasm translated into a GREAT effort from our boys and a THRILLING 2-1 VICTORY over our arch rivals!! Senior Shaun Mirr and junior Daniel Flores Jr each found the back of the net for Hobart in the win.
Saturday's scheduled game at Kouts was unfortunately washed out as Mother Nature took the 'W'.
With 1 week left before sectional play begins, the Brickies are 5-3-3 and 3-1 in the NCC!
#WEAREONE
Cross Country
As the season winds down, the # of meets decreases as the # of meaningful workouts increases. The Brickie harriers had a GREAT week of practice in preparation for the Highland Invitational on Saturday ... their only competition in the last 7 days.
Eminem ... take it away ...
"Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted, in one momentWould you capture it, or just let it slip?
Girls
The Lady Brickies persevered the less than ideal conditions at Highland High School and turned in an OUTSTANDING performance! They definitely CAPTURED the moment! Sophomore Sydney Belk was DYNAMITE with her 10th place overall finish! It was a SEASON-BEST time for Belk to pace Hobart's pack to a 7th place finish out of 22 schools represented!
Also turning in AWESOME times were senior Hailey Kerlin and sophomore Mikayla Fuentes, who both ran faster than they've ever ran in their lives!! INCREDIBLE considering the muddy terrain. Junior Lily Butler also ran her best race of the year! All in all, THESE GIRLS WERE ON FIRE!! (Thank you Alicia Keys)
Boys
After the girls race went so well, Coach A was listening for some more sweet music to be played watching the boys race. They definitely weren't RUNNIN' ON EMPTY (Jackson Browne) with an AMAZING 6th place team finish out of 23 teams!! Junior Bruce Leipart ROCKED THE CASBAH (The Clash) as he placed 9th overall to lead all Hobart runners!!
Turning in season best performances for the boys were junior Mark Perez and sophomore teammates Kaiden Click, Johah Wells and Jacob Marcayda!! The finish by Perez and Click were also LIFETIME BESTS!! These guys ran so well that when Coach A was asked how he felt about our chances in the post-season, he said "I'M SO EXCITED!" (Pointer Sisters) :)
The improvement our kids have made since the beginning of the year is tangible ... which is a credit to our coaching staff (Ty Artherhults & Sydney Curatolo) and the work ethic & dedication of our student-athletes. The NCC Championship meet is next Saturday ... and then the IHSAA Tournament Series begins. Another great week of practice should have all of the Brickies READY TO RUN (Dixie Chicks)!
#PRIDEANDTRADITION
Hall of Fame
1974 HHS Graduate and Indiana Sportscasters Hall of Fame member Paul Condry and the 1979 Class 3A State Runner-up football team were scheduled to be inducted into the Hobart Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday night. Mother Nature had other plans.
Fortunately, Paul was able to return on Saturday night, along with his RRSN (Regional Radio Sports Network) crew, to be recognized in front of the hometown fans prior to kick-off and still broadcast the football game! As for the gridiron legends ... in spite of Friday night's INSANE thunderstorms, the '79 state runner-up football team still enjoyed some laughs in the fieldhouse that evening and most were able to come back Saturday night to be recognized at halftime of the Brickies 49-10 victory over KV.
It is always a special occasion when we get the opportunity to welcome back Hobart's very best. We are forever grateful for the contributions they have made to this school city and the impact they made on this town! THANK YOU to all who came out to honor these fine individuals!!
#ALLMYLIFE
Purple & Gold Panic
Due to outside conflicts, there is no reschedule date ... however, all pre-registered participants will not only receive their money back, but also get to keep the run kits with the hope that they return when we try all of this again in the future.
Thank you to everyone who put time in and helped organize this attempt at some community fun. Hopefully the next attempt will have more color and less water :)
#PGP
Sports Schedule for This Week
Volleyball vs. Chesterton
Boys Soccer vs. River Forest
JV Football @ KV
Tuesday
Girls Soccer @ Highland *
Volleyball @ Griffith
Wednesday
Boys Soccer vs. Highland *
Girls Soccer @ Bishop Noll
Boys Tennis @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (@ Hobart)
Thursday
Volleyball @ Lowell *
Girls Soccer @ Merrillville
Boys Tennis @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (@ Hobart)
9th Football vs. KV
Friday
Football @ Highland *
Boys Tennis @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (@ Hobart)
Saturday
Girls Cross Country @ NCC Championship (@ Lowell)
Boys Cross Country @ NCC Championship (@ Lowell)
Girls Soccer vs. Portage
Boys Soccer @ Merrillville
JV Football vs. Highland
* = NCC Opponent