Well Brickie fans, we are 8 school days away from winter break and exactly two weeks away from opening presents ... as long as we've been good this year :)

If you've been listening to 93.9 Lite FM, you may have heard some holiday music over the last few weeks. One of my favorite songs is by legendary singer-songwriter Johnny Mathis. It goes something like this ...

On the mat ... sweat is glistenin'

A beautiful sight

We're happy tonight

Walkin' in a winter sports wonderland

Gone away ... are the fall sports

Here to stay ... are some new sports

They swim a new song

And tumble along

Walkin' in a winter sports wonderland

Catchy ... isn't it?

Ok, let's turn the holiday music down for a few ... it's time for BricksCenter!

The Lady Brickies were in action twice this past week with the wheels on the bus going 'round and 'round to Illiana Christian and Kankakee Valley.

Wednesday night, Hobart faced Illiana Christian in non-conference action. After suffering their first loss of the year a week ago, the Lady Brickies were looking to bounce back ... and OH MY GOSH, WHAT A RESPONSE!!! This one was ALL HOBART ... ALL THE TIME as our girls started fast and CRUISED to an easy 71-16 VICTORY over the Vikings!! Hobart had great balance on the stat sheet with senior Asia Donald (24pts, 8rebs) & junior Jesse Neace (17pts, 4steals) reaching double figures in the scoring column and senior Niko Latinovic & junior Emma Ortiz each adding 8pts! Freshman Riley Weber had her best (... I say her best) performance of the season contributing 7pts and 7rebs in the win!!

On Friday, the Lady Brickies were down in DeMotte to take on the KV Kougars in a HUGE NCC match-up. Kankakee Valley entered the contest with a record of 8-2 and unblemished in conference play at 2-0. Early on, the host Kougars jumped ahead 11-4, but Hobart BATTLED back to trail just 17-16 after 1 quarter of play. The next 8 minutes was just as INTENSE ... KV extended the lead and then our girls fought back to go into the halftime locker room ahead 30-29! The 2nd half looked like two heavyweight fighters slugging it out (not literally of course) as each team gave it EVERYTHING THEY HAD! The Lady Bricks clung to a slim 42-39 advantage heading into the final stanza and over the last 8 minutes, the EDGE-OF-YOUR-SEAT action was crazy! Back-and-forth these two squads went ... eventually tied at 50-50 with just 1:22 remaining on a reverse layup by Latinovic. Hobart took the lead on a layup by Ortiz ... KV tied it and then went up 1 with less than 30 ticks left. The Lady Brickies had 1 final possession, but were unable to get a shot off and as the buzzer sounded, heartbreak set in as our girls lost a tough one 53-52. WHAT A GAME - WHAT AN EFFORT by our girls on the road in a hostile environment. Three Lady Brickies finished in double figures - Donald scored 19, Ortiz 17, and Latinovic added 12. The final score was not what we hoped for, but the collective effort, energy and drive our girls displayed shows that we are capable of doing some special things!

The Lady Brickies are now 8-2 on the year ... with their two losses coming by a combined 6 points. Our girls will have their work cut out for them over the next two weeks as they face Class 2A #6 Andrean, Class 4A #8 Lake Central and Class 1A #11 Washington Twp. YOU CAN DO THIS GIRLS - WE ... WE BELIEVE ... WE BELIEVE THAT ... you know the rest :)

#SHEGOTGAME

Boys

The Brickie boys cagers started the 22-23 season with three straight road games (... which resulted in 3 straight W's) and FINALLY got to play in front of the home fans on Tuesday night when the Portage Indians visited The Friendly City. This was the first road test for the Indians after earning a split in their opening two games. Sophomore guard Felix Lopez drilled an open 3-pointer on Hobart's 1st possession to give our boys an early lead! Unfortunately, it would turn out to be our only field goal of the first half. The Brickies played TOUGH D-D-D-DEFENSE, but went ice cold from the field. As the 2nd half got underway, the Indians began to find their rhythm offensively and blew the game open. After a great start, our boys continued to WORK WORK WORK ... just couldn't get much going the rest of the way and lost a tough one that was much more competitive than the 59-17 final score would indicate. Seniors Keith Mullins & Vonzell Strayhorne ... along with sophomore Felix Lopez ... all scored 5 points in the loss. Strayhorne & Lopez also tied for a team-high in rebounds with 4 apiece.

Hobart is still 3-1 on the season and will open up NCC play Friday in the friendly confines against arch rival Lowell. GO GET 'EM BOYS!!

#HOOPITUP

Girls

On Thursday night, the Lady Brickies were in The Hub City to face the Crown Point Bulldogs. The Lady Bulldogs were stacked, did more than doggy-paddle across the pool and beat our girls to the touchpads more than we would've liked in route to the non-conference win. Still, our Lady Brickies swam some FANTASTIC times and senior Daeges Morgan delivered a PERSONAL BEST in the 1-meter dive with a score of 213.25 to place FIRST!!

Here are some other results from Thursday's meet:

200 Free - 3rd = sophomore Brogan McDonald, 4th = junior Marie White

200 IM - 4th = junior Sydney Johnston

50 Free - 3rd = freshman Cassie Cohen, 4th = sophomore Evangeline Clay, 5th = senior Hailey Blood

Diving - 1st = Morgan, 3rd = senior Gabby Tomich, 5th = senior Maci Luchene

100 Fly - 4th = White, 5th = Blood

100 Free - 4th = junior Yola Fritz, 5th = sophomore Peyton Leonard, 6th = sophomore Nela Robles

500 Free - 2nd = McDonald

100 Back - 3rd = Clay, 4th = Leonard

100 Breast - 3rd = Cohen, 4th = Fritz, 6th = Johnston

The Lady Brickies are 1-3 on the season so far, but are showing consistent improvement each week! Up next is an NCC double-dual with Munster & Lowell followed by a road trip to Valparaiso. GOOD LUCK LADIES!!

Boys

The boys were also visiting the Lake County seat to face off against the Dawgs on Thursday. Similar to the girls, the CP boys were fast and used their lineup depth to register the non-conference win. In spite of the team loss, sophomore Christian Kertz was ON FIRE! He DOMINATED the 50 Free ... winning by nearly 2 seconds ... and then came back in the 100 Free and WON AGAIN by edging out the second place finisher by a mere 0.14 seconds!! AMAZING!! Not to be outdone was senior diver Eian Ferba who matched Daeges with both a WIN and a PERSONAL BEST score in the 6-dive, 1-meter competition!!

Here are some other results from Tuesday's meet:

200 IM - 3rd = senior Owen Finch, 5th = freshman Dylan Whetstone

50 Free - 1st = sophomore Christian Kertz, 3rd = freshman Lu Cohen, 4th = freshman Durgon Click

Diving - 1st = Ferba, 2nd = Robles, 3rd = Torres

100 Fly - 4th = Finch

100 Free - 1st = Kertz, 3rd = junior Ayden Witting, 5th = freshman Jaden Cano

500 Free - 2nd = Finch

100 Back - 3rd = Whetstone, 4th = Cano, 5th = Click

100 Breast - 2nd = junior Brett Herrin, 3rd = Cohen, 6th = sophomore Antonio Mandich

The Brickie boys record matches the girls at 1-3 so far this winter. Our boys are putting plenty of WORK WORK WORK into improving and as times drop, W's will increase! A busy week ahead includes Munster/Lowell and Valparaiso ... along with a diving trip to Warsaw on Saturday morning. LET'S GO BRICKS!!

#JUSTKEEPSWIMMING

Wednesday night, the Lady Brickies got some special recognition at our boys varsity match against Lowell. On Thursday, they hit the road for Illiana Christian for a double-dual meet with the host Vikings and Rensselaer. If you recall, Hobart's first EVER meet took place at Rochester High School back on 11/19 and our girls brought home the W! Well ... it looks like the extra practice time PAID OFF as the Lady Brickies went TWWWWOOOOOOOOOO and 0 on the night with VICTORIES over the Bombers (42-24) and Vikings (54-18)!!

Here are some results from Thursday:

Freshman Joanna Cantu, 2-0, 2 pins

Freshman Maddie Lams, 2-0, 2 pins

Junior Jillian Wilkinson, 2-0, 2 pins

Senior Emma Spinks and Juniors Keirys Click & Adriana Arauz each earned 1 win by pin!

On Saturday, Hobart was at LaPorte for some more wrasslin'! Results were not in at the time of this edition, but no doubt our girls did an AWESOME job!

So far this winter, the Lady Brickies are currently 2-0 in dual matches and will be back at it on TWWWOOOOOOOOOOOsday against Lake Central and Portage!

Boys

The Hobart grapplers made TWWWWOOOOOOOOO stops on the #BrickRode this past week ... opening Northwest Crossroads Conference action on Wednesday against rival Lowell and then crossing I-65 over to Merrillville for the Tom Cameron Invite on Saturday!

Wednesday night, the Brickies hosted arch rival Lowell in the first Northwest Crossroads Conference meet of the season. Sophomore Aidan Costello got things going with a VICTORY at 170lbs! The Red Devils responded with Ws in the next 3 weight classes before sophomore Luke Juris won a THRILLER at Heavyweight in QUADRUPLE OT!! Luke literally hung on for dear life in the final seconds to earn the edge-of-your-seat WIN!! These teams went back and forth all night in a VERY competitive meet. Unfortunately, it was the Devils who hung on for dear life at the end and secured a 1-point team win 35-34.

On Saturday, the destination was Merrillville High School for the prestigious Tom Cameron Duals. The Brickies faced Fort Wayne Carroll, Plymouth, Highland, Lafayette Harrison and the host Pirates in a long day of competition ... and our boys SHINED!! Hobart went 4-1 on the day with their only loss coming to the 4-time defending IHSAA Regional Champion Merrillville Pirates.

Here are the scores from the Hobart Ws:

Hobart 43, FW Carroll 36

Hobart 39, Highland 36

Hobart 37, Plymouth 36

Hobart 43, WL Harrison 30

Not too shabby :)

2022 State Qualifiers Costello and Seth Aubin both went UNDEFEATED on the day at 5-0 to lead the Brickies!!

Overall, Hobart is 5-2 on the season and 1-1 in NCC action! The Brickies will be back at it TWWWOOOOOOOOOOOO more times this upcoming week - both at home as our boys host Andrean on Wednesday and the annual Super Duals on Saturday! WE ARE HO-BART!!

#BRICKRODE

Cody Johnston will be taking his Academic & Athletic talents to the University of Illinois! The ILLINI compete at the NCAA Division 1 level and are members of the BIG 10 Conference. After placing 3rd overall at the IHSAA State Championship in the pole vault and earning All-State honors in 2021, Cody had a 2022 season to remember! First, he was a 2-time Indoor pole vault ALL-AMERICAN (New Balance Indoor Nationals & Adidas Track Nationals). Then he WON the Hoosier State Relays Championship (unofficial "Indoor State"). Next, he broke the school record @ the LaPorte Invite ... setting the new mark at 17'0". Finally, he WON the NCC Championship, IHSAA Sectional Championship, IHSAA Regional Championship and capped it all off with the IHSAA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP on June 4th ... becoming the 6th Brickie vaulter to win the coveted title! The good news? We get to watch him try to do it all over again this upcoming spring!!

CONGRATULATIONS CODY! WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU!!

*This is also just the beginning as several Brickie student athletes are signing their letter of intent (NLI) or giving their verbal commitment to compete at the NEXT LEVEL! STAY TUNED for more of these posts!!

#ALLMYLIFE

9th Girls Basketball vs. Portage

9th Boys Basketball @ Boone Grove

Tuesday

Girls Wrestling vs. Lake Central/Portage

Girls Swimming & Diving vs. Munster/Lowell *

Boys Swimming & Diving vs. Munster/Lowell *

Wednesday

Wrestling vs. Andrean *

9th Girls Basketball @ Hanover Central

9th Boys Basketball @ Hanover Central

Thursday

Girls Swimming & Diving @ Valparaiso

Boys Swimming & Diving @ Valparaiso

Friday

Boys Basketball vs. Lowell *

Saturday

Wrestling - Hobart Super Duals

Girls Basketball @ Andrean *

Diving @ Warsaw Invite

Girls Wrestling @ Lafayette Jeff

Boys Basketball @ Champions of Character Classic (vs. Huntington North, Hosted by Grace College)

* = NCC Opponent