BricksCenter
DaDaDa DaDaDa
December 22, 2019
21 Sports ... 1 Team ... WE ARE HOBART!
As classes were wrapping up this week before winter break, the sports schedule was actually pretty hectic with TWWWOOOOOO events each for girls & boys swimming, girls & boys basketball and wrestling. Throw in a diving invite & a partridge in a pear tree and it must be almost Christmas! Across the board, "the stars are brightly shining" as our student-athletes continue to represent us well with their WORK WORK WORK ETHIC and ATTITUDE. No need to go looking under the tree or in your stocking to find BRICKIE PRIDE this year - come out and watch a winter sports event ... our kids and coaches wear it on their sleeve every night and MAKE US PROUD!
Merry Christmas ... TOOOOOOOOO you :)
I don't know about you, but all I want for Christmas ... is BricksCenter!
Wrestling
On Wednesday night, Hobart hosted Andrean in their 1st NCC contest of the season. The match was also the home opener for the Brickies and PINNING IT TO AUTISM night. Three honorary captains were recognized before the game - Tommy Williamson, Julian Padilla and Jaxon Gibbs - and a donation was collected for the Autism Society of Indiana. The goals for the evening were to raise some awareness about what services are available AND to watch the Brickies WIN! Guess what ... we were TWWWOOOOOOO for TWWWOOOOOOO!!
Hobart DOMINATED - wait, dominate isn't a strong enough word - ANNIHILATED the NINERS by the final score of 80-0. Yes, that was really the score ... 80-0 ... WOW!!! Only 4 weight classes wrestled with Hobart winning two by fall and two by score. Every other weight class was a win by forfeit for the Brickies as Andrean did not field a full team. All in all, it was a GREAT NIGHT to be a Brickie and Hobart improved to 2-0 in Northwest Crossroads Conference play!
Saturday, the Brickies hosted their annual SUPER DUALS meet. This year's field featured some heavy hitters with state ranked #6 Chesterton, Lake Central, Valparaiso, Highland, Hammond Gavit, Whiting, & Knox! Hobart faced Highland, Lake Central, Hammond Gavit, Valpo ... going 4-0 ... and then faced Chesterton (also 4-0 on the day) for the CHAMPIONSHIP! I can't think of a better way to finish an exciting day of wrestling than to watch the state's #10 team - Hobart - face #6 for a title! This one was SOOOOO CLOSE in just about every weight class ... the action was GRIPPING to say the least! EVERY POINT mattered. Chesterton won the first 6 matches, then Hobart came back with 3 of their own and it was back and forth the rest of the way. As well as our boys wrestled throughout the day, the Trojans had too much on Saturday and won a TOUGH one 39-20.
So far, Hobart is 11-1 on the 2019-2020 #BRICKRODE ... including a 3-0 mark in NCC action and a #10 ranking in the STATE! Adam Sandler voice, "Not too shabby".
The next test will come after Christmas at the Al Smith Invitational - the largest invite in the state of Indiana! GOOD LUCK BOYS!!
#BRICKRODE
Check out what the local papers are saying about the Brickies!
Swimming & Diving
Girls
On Tuesday, the Lady Brickies traveled to Highland for their NCC opener of the season and they were SWIMMING FAST! Hobart placed 1st in EVERY SINGLE EVENT and DOMINATED the Lady Trojans to win 140-28!! Senior Becky Lozano, junior Emma Wright and sophomore Morgan Sanchez were all DOUBLE-WINNERS in individual events! Junior teammates Delaney O'Brien, Alivia Ahner and Anna Tepavcevich also took first in individual events for our girls!One highlight of note came in the last event with the Lady Brickies taking both 1st and 2nd in the 400 Free Relay!
Here are some other results from Tuesday's meet:
200 Medley Relay - 1st = junior Emma Wright, junior Ana Tepavcevich, senior Becky Lozano & junior Delaney O'Brien
200 Free - 1st = Lozano, 2nd = sophomore Paige Solivais, 3rd = Tepavcevich
200 IM - 1st = sophomore Morgan Sanchez, 2nd = sophomore Brooke Blanchard, 3rd = sophomore Chelsea Chavez
50 Free - 1st = Wright, 3rd = O'Brien, 4th = senior Hailey Kerlin
Diving - 1st = junior Alivia Ahner, 2nd = sophomore Sydney Arias, 4th = sophomore Autumn Turley
100 Fly - 1st = Lozano, 2nd = sophomore Brennis Carillo
100 Free - 1st = O'Brien, 3rd = Solivais, 4th = sophomore Bridget Chavez
500 Free - 1st = Sanchez, 2nd = C.Chavez, 3rd = Carillo
200 Free Relay - 1st = Wright, Tepavcevich, Lozano & O'Brien
100 Back - 1st = Wright, 3rd = Ahner, 4th = B.Chavez
100 Breast - 1st = Tepavcevich, 2nd = junior Julie Hunt, 4th = Blanchard
400 Free Relay - 1st = Solivais, Sanchez, C.Chavez & Hunt, 2nd = Blanchard, B.Chavez, Carillo & junior Addison Kasch
Thursday, the Lady Brickies were at Hammond Morton for another dual meet. Unfortunately, the timing system was not working and there were no hand-timer back-ups ... and the diving board was broken ... sooooooo, we have no official results to share from the meet. What we CAN share is that OUR GIRLS SHINED and CRUSHED the Lady Governors across all lanes!
The Lady Brickies improved to 5-1 on the season and 1-0 in NCC action! Next up for Hobart is the Winterfest Invitational held at Hobart Middle School on Saturday, January 4th. GOOD LUCK LADIES!!
Boys
Highland was the destination on Tuesday as our boys looked to begin Northwest Crossroads Conference competition with a 'W'! Despite only taking 1st in 5 of the 12 events, YOOOUUURRR HOBBBAAAARRRT BRRRRICKIEEEESS WON a nail-biter 85-73!! Hobart's DEPTH helped secure the victory as our boys BATTLED for EVERY POINT!! It was an EXCITING FINISH in a tightly contested meet! Sophomore Ethan Ferba won the diving competition by 80 POINTS, classmate Jeydan Fifer won the 50 Free by less than 0.4 seconds and junior Chad Tomaga took 1st in the 100 Breast by 0.6 seconds! As you can see, each race was SO CLOSE and Hobart needed EVERY POINT to escape with a HUGE NCC WIN!!
Here are some other results from Tuesday's meet:
200 Free - 2nd = senior Zach Gubricky, 3rd = freshman Owen Finch, 5th = sophomore Elijah Puente
200 IM - 2nd = freshman Noah Bailey
50 Free - 1st = sophomore Jeydan Fifer, 3rd = sophomore Ivan Balboa, 5th = sophomore Ethan Sy
Diving - 1st - sophomore Ethan Ferba, 4th = sophomore Hayden Maggio, 5th = freshman Eian Ferba
100 Fly - 2nd = Balboa, 3rd = Bailey
100 Free - 1st = Fifer, 2nd = senior Jay Murphy, 3rd = Sy
500 Free - 2nd = junior Chad Tomaga
200 Free Relay - 2nd = Balboa, Finch, Sy & Gubricky
100 Back - 2nd = Murphy, 3rd = Finch
100 Breast - 1st = Tomaga, 3rd = Gubricky
400 Free Relay - 1st = Tomaga, Balboa, Gubricky & Fifer, 3rd = Bailey, Sy, Murphy & Finch
Thursday night featured a trip to Hessville (neighborhood in Hammond) to take on Hammond Morton. Remember what I said about the girls meet at the Governor's Mansion? Well, the same holds true for the conditions experienced by our boys. The other thing that is the same is the 'W'!!! No official results is disappointing, but picking up the victory on the last day of finals for the 1st semester is pretty AWESOME!
The Brickies are 3-1 on the year and 1-0 in the NCC! Their next competition will be the Hobart Winterfest Invitational on Saturday, January 4th. LET'S GO BRICKS!!
#JUSTKEEPSWIMMING
*Diving Extra
Speaking of SHINING BRIGHT - our kids were PHENOMENAL over at SBW!! The boys (sophomore Ethan Ferba, sophomore Hayden Maggio and freshman Eian Ferba) placed 2nd overall! The girls (junior Alivia Ahner, sophomore Sydney Arias, sophomore Autumn Turley & freshman Gabby Tomich) took 3rd place! EVERY DIVER SCORED A PERSONAL BEST FOR 11 DIVES!! THAT'S INCREDIBLE!!
Here are some comments from Coach Katie Rinas on our top individual placers:
"Junior Alivia Ahner took home 5th place today and dove the best in her career getting ever so close to Hobart's 11 dive school record! Her 11 dive personal best increased by 70pts from her last meet! She's on fire 🔥""
Sophomore Ethan Ferba also earned the best 11 dive score in his career increasing his total by nearly 50pts from his last meet, and nearly 90pts from last season. His score of 379.2 earned him the Hobart High School Sophomore 11 dive record and a 3rd place! So proud of his mental toughness today!"
The next 11-dive meet is also the Winterfest Invite at HMS - sounds like a great opportunity to see these kids in action close to home!
#LICENSETODIVE
Basketball
Wednesday, the Lady Brickies played @ #3-ranked Portage in a make-up game from an early season postponement. The Lady Indians are LOADED with shooters and have a ton of experience all over the floor ... but our girls SHINED!! After falling behind 17-12 after 8 minutes of play, Hobart came CHARGING BACK in the 2nd frame and closed the gap to just 3 points at halftime, 35-32!! The 1st half excitement was unfortunately diffused by a strong 3rd quarter for Portage as they put together a 23-8 run that Hobart couldn't recover from. In the end, it was the Lady Indians over the Lady Brickies 79-52. Senior Grace Nestich led Hobart with 13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Freshman Asia Donald recorded a double-double with 12 points to go with her team-high 11 rebounds. Sophomore Claudia Torrico-Ledesma chipped in 10 points and 5 rebounds ... and senior Paige Cooper showed off her range connecting on 3 out of 4 three-pointers to finish with her season high of 9 points.
On Saturday night, Hobart hosted Andrean in an NCC SHOWDOWN! Anytime these two schools get together, you know it's going to be fun! In a lot of ways, this contest mirrored the Portage game on Wednesday ... Andrean got out to an early 16-11 lead, then the Lady Brickies BATTLED BACK to cut the gap to only 2 points, 23-21, at halftime ... the lid on the hoop reappeared for Hobart in the 3rd quarter and the 59ers were able to extend the lead to 10 going into the last frame of the night ... down the stretch, as much as the Lady Brickies WORKed WORKed WORKed to stay close, eventually they had to foul and Andrean hit 13 out of 16 FTs to put the game away. Final score - Andrean 54, Hobart 39. It was a TOUGH loss for Hobart, but one that our girls can learn from ... one that our girls can use to improve as we head into the 2nd half of the season. Freshman Asia Donald led the Lady Brickies with 11 points and sophomore Claudia Torrico-Ledesma added 8 in the loss.
Hobart is even at 6-6 at the halfway point and 0-3 in NCC play. Next up is the Wildcat Winter Classic Holiday Tournament next Thursday & Friday at Hanover Central. GOOD LUCK LADIES!!
Boys
On Tuesday night, Hobart headed East to play Morgan Township out of the Porter County Conference. After a well-played, close first half of action, the Brickies GOT IT GOING in the 2nd half fueled by a trio of seniors! Senior Caleb Banjoff knocked down 4 3-pointers on the night on his way to a game-high 22 points ... senior Tyler Schultz connected on 9 of 13 FT attempts and tallied 15 points to go along with his 5 rebounds and 4 assists ... and senior BIG MAN Trevor UNNNNDERDAHL went on his own personal 10-0 run down the stretch to put the game away and help Hobart secure the 65-47 VICTORY!! Underdahl added a team-high 6 rebounds and sophomore Miki Djankovich also reached double-figures with 10 points in the win.
Friday night, the Brickies opened Northwest Crossroads Conference play with a road game at Lowell High School. The Red Devils boast one of the area's top juniors in 6'6" wing Chris Mantis and he opened the game with an alley-oop slam to ignite the home crowd and give Lowell an early 2-0 lead. Hobart went toe-to-toe with the Devils, but couldn't quite match the Devils and trailed 14-8 after one stop and 27-16 at the half. In the 3rd, Lowell tried to get away from the Brickies and when the lead ballooned to 42-22, things looked bleak for our boys. Fortunately, that's when senior Caleb Banjoff WENT OFF!! Banjoff connected on 4 consecutive 3's and when classmate Tyler Schultz buried one of his own, the Red Devil lead was down to 8 at 52-44 with 5 minutes to play! A layup by Schultz at the 3 minute mark cut it to 6 ... a turnover by Lowell and another Banjoff basket with 2:26 left got the Brickies within 4, 52-48!! CALL IT A COMEBACK!!! Our boys BATTLED ALL THE WAY BACK and had 2 chances to get the game within 1 possession in the closing moments, but unfortunately the ball bounced out instead of in and Lowell was able to sink enough FT's to escape and send Hobart home with a 58-48 defeat.
It was an INCREDIBLE EFFORT from our guys - playing without normal starter Sean UNNNNDERDAHL due to an injury and playing against one of the area's best players in Mantis. Sophomore Miki Djankovich ... along with the rest of Hobart ... did a PHENOMENAL job defending the superstar junior and held him well below his season average, which gave our boys a chance to win. Despite the loss, these guys are fun to watch and getting better EVERY TIME OUT!
The Brickies are 2-2 and 0-1 in the NCC. Next up is the holiday tournament on 12/28 ... LET'S GO!!
#RISETOTHEOCCASION
Bowling
Sectional play begins in January.
GOOD LUCK!
#KINGPINS
Alumni Update
Hayley Collins - senior women's basketball player at Calumet College of St. Joseph ... Hayley was a standout student-athlete for the Lady Brickies in both basketball and track during her days at HHS and has continued her career at the collegiate level in women's hoops. During a recent game for the Crimson Wave, she corralled her 500th CAREER REBOUND!! WHAT A MILESTONE!! CONGRATULATIONS HAYLEY!!
Matt Plesac - senior kicker for Marian University ... Matt was a multi-sport athlete for the Brickies while in H-town and has continued his career at Marian. On Saturday, the Knights played in the NAIA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME held in Grambling, LA. Marian lost a HEARTBREAKER to defending champion Morningside 40-38 after an incredible comeback fell 2 points short. Matt was 5 for 5 on extra points and connected on a 34-yard FG in the game.
David Kostbade - junior offensive lineman for Marian University ... David was an anchor for the Brickies offensive line while at HHS and has continued his career at Marian. Like Plesac, David also participated in the NAIA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME yesterday.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THESE BRICKIES FOR THEIR OUTSTANDING ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN ATHLETICS AFTER HIGH SCHOOL! CLEARLY ALL THE WORK WORK WORK IS PAYING OFF!!
#ALLMYLIFE
Check out the article below for more info on the NAIA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!
Sports Schedule This Week
No Events Scheduled
Tuesday
No Events Scheduled
Wednesday
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Thursday
Girls Basketball @ Wildcat Winter Classic (Hanover Central)
Friday
Girls Basketball @ Wildcat Winter Classic (Hanover Central)
Wrestling @ Al Smith Invitational (Mishawaka)
Saturday
Wrestling @ Al Smith Invitational (Mishawaka)
Boys Basketball - Hobart Holiday Tournament