BricksCenter
DaDaDa DaDaDa
October 18, 2020
21 Sports ... 1 Team ... WE ARE HOBART!
College basketball has "MARCH MADNESS" every spring to celebrate the NCAA Men's basketball tournament. In Indiana, they call the high school basketball tournament "HOOSIER HYSTERIA". I'm thinking we could rename this time of year in H-town as "BRICKIE MADNESS"? How about "HOBART FALLSTERIA"? Whatever you want to call it, it's FANTASTIC and we LOVE IT!
Three weeks ago, two Lady Brickie golfers advanced to the IHSAA REGIONAL for the 1st time in 8 years ...
Two weeks ago, the Hobart boys tennis team pushed Merrillville to the brink before falling in the IHSAA SECTIONAL FINAL ...
Last week, BOTH soccer teams reached the IHSAA SECTIONAL semifinal round and BOTH cross country teams placed in the top 5 @ the SECTIONAL to advance to the IHSAA REGIONAL ...
This week, it was volleyball competing in the SECTIONAL and BOTH cross country teams racing @ the REGIONAL ...
Combine it all with our football team winning 3 in a row to close out the regular season, outscoring their opponents 138-23 in the process and you can see what I mean! It really is BRICKIE FALLSTERIA!!!
Grab a blanket and get comfortable ... it's time for BricksCenter!
Cross Country
Girls
The Lady Brickies were looking to advance to the semi-state for the 9th time in 10 years yesterday. Conditions were less than ideal ... it was cold, it was windy, it was October in DA REGION! Still, our Lady Brickies put all they had ON THE LINE for each other in a THRILLING race from start to finish! In one of the closest races in recent memory ... 3 points separated the 5th-7th place teams ... all vying for the coveted final qualifying spot for next week's IHSAA SEMI-STATE. Despite a PHENOMENAL effort across the board, our ladies finished a heartbreaking 7th, two spots (... and only 3 points) away from advancing ... bringing a truly GREAT SEASON to an end a week earlier than all had hoped. A tough pill to swallow without a doubt, but this group IMPROVED so much over the last 11 weeks ... 3rd place finish in the NCC, 3rd place finish at the IHSAA SECTIONAL, and an eyelash away from qualifying for the semi-state ... WOW - we are VERY PROUD of them!
Freshman PHENOM Ella Hornak led the charge with a 5th place finish in 19:44.2 ... junior Mikayla Fuentes (28th), freshman Adriana Arauz (30th), senior Lilly Butler (38th), and freshman Kylee King (48th) were AMAZING as the top 5 Hobart runners to cross the finish line. Freshmen teammates Addy Black and Melanie Paterson rounded out the regional line-up for the Lady Brickies. That's right folks, there were 5 freshman in this BAND OF BRICKIES that were within reach of a semistate berth - pretty AWESOME!!
REASON TO CELEBRATE!!
Hornak, Fuentes & Arauz all QUALIFIED as individuals for the SEMI-STATE next weekend at New Prairie High School! H-town will have representation at NPHS with an opportunity to punch a ticket for the STATE FINALS!!
GREAT JOB LADIES and GOOD LUCK next week!
Boys
After squeaking into the regional with a 5th place finish at last week's IHSAA sectional, the Brickie harriers were looking to extend the season another week against the best in Lake County. More importantly, our boys were looking to run their BEST on arguably the toughest course in the 219. It was a GREAT RACE from start to finish ... one where OUR BOYS DID SHINE! In another EXTREMELY close finish between the 5th-7th place teams, our guys matched our girls in the heartbreaking 7th spot, 13 points shy of advancing. This group began the season with more question marks than a guess-who game, but these fine young men stayed the course and should feel GREAT about what they accomplished - a 3rd place finish in the NCC, a 13th consecutive IHSAA REGIONAL ... they represented the PRIDE & TRADITION of Hobart XC extremely well and made us PROUD!!
Senior "BRUCE ALMIGHTY" Leipart was OUTSTANDING in leading the Brickies by placing 14th overall in a time of 16:44 - 8 seconds faster than a year ago!! Freshman Ryan Mattel (22nd), junior Joe Meagher (34th), senior Mark Perez (36th) and freshman Owen Stankich (53rd) rounded out the scoring for Hobart and freshman Thomas Martin & junior Kaiden Click completed the regional line-up for the Brickies.
REASON TO CELEBRATE ...
Leipart will be heading back to the SEMI-STATE for the 4th CONSECUTIVE YEAR ... Mattel's HUGE PR punched his ticket for the SEMI-STATE as an individual ... Meagher secured the 10th and final individual qualifying spot for next week's race at New Prairie!! All 3 of these guys ... along with the three advancing Lady Brickies ... will get to race for a spot in the IHSAA STATE FINALS!!
GREAT JOB and GOOD LUCK GUYS!
These kids were AMAZING yesterday ... out of the 14 Hobart competitors, 8 ran LIFETIME BEST performances on the toughest course in NWI with their season on the line and ALL gave it everything they had - SO PROUD OF THEM!!!
#PRIDEANDTRADITION
The Hobart High School Cross Country page on Facebook gives even more details on what an INCREDIBLE fall of racing our kids had! Check them out!!
Football
Munster tried an on-side kick to start the game, but the Brickies recovered and scored 3 plays later on a 9-yard run from senior tailback Tyler Turley! After a Mustang 3-and-out, Hobart drove to midfield and senior quarterback Riley Johnston connected with classmate Zach "HIGHLIGHT-REEL" Vode on a short pass ... Vode shook off a HERD of Mustang defenders and sprinted the last 25 yards to paydirt and another BRICKIE SCORE! Junior Miki Djankovich booted both extra points through the uprights and after 1 quarter of play, it was Hobart 14, Munster 0.
Early in the 2nd quarter, a sack by the BRICKIE D-D-D-DEFENSE caused a FUUUMMMMM-BBBBLLLEE! Junior Jake Simpson picked it up and raced into the endzone for the SCOOP & SCORE!! Another Mustang punt on their next possession gave Hobart the ball close to midfield. Two plays later, junior tight-end Anthony Williams got behind the Munster secondary and Johnston found him for a 45-yard score!! When Djankovich's point-after sailed through, the Brickies were in complete control with a commanding 27-0 cushion! The BRICKIE RUMBLE continued when senior Bobby Babcock recovered another Mustang FUUUUMMMMM-BBBBLLLEE and after a short drive, Johnston scooted in from 12 yards out for a 33-0 halftime advantage!
A 3rd quarter INTERCEPTION by Turley gave Hobart the ball inside Munster territory ... a few plays later, junior Marc Enslen ran it in from 5 yards out to put the Brickies on top 40-0, thanks to another Djankovich extra point!
Normally, with Hobart up by nearly half the century mark, we would just sum up some statistics at this point, but on Munster's next possession, sophomore lineman Noah Miller recovered yet another Mustang FUUUUMMMMM-BBBBLLLEE and RUMBLED 30 yards to the promised land! This was actually Miller's 2nd TD of the year as he intercepted a screen pass earlier this fall and returned it for a score to help our JV team secure a hard fought VICTORY over Mishawaka Marian!! UNBELIEVABLE!!
The final tally ended up 53-0 as Hobart finished the regular season with a 6-2 mark and ranked #7 in class 4A. In all, the Brickies accounted for over 300 yards of offense and 8 touchdowns scored by 8 different players!!! Junior running back Chase Homoky scampered in from 15 yards for the final score of the night! On the D-D-D-DEFENSIVE side of the ball, Hobart had 12 tackles for loss (5 by Babcock) and turned the Mustangs over 4 times!
IHSAA Sectional play begins NEXT FRIDAY as Hobart travels to Hammond to face the Gavit Gladiators. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 PM. As Brickie assistant coach Bob Foster stated, "Championship season starts now!" ... GIDDY UP!
LET'S GO BRICKS!
#PLAY15
Check out this article on senior lineman James Lewis from the NWI Times!
Volleyball
Our volleyball team faced a tough draw for the IHSAA Sectional ... playing Valparaiso in the 2nd game on Tuesday night for the 2nd consecutive year. The Lady Brickies previously faced Valparaiso on September 9th and lost in 3 sets by the score 13-25, 24-26 & 16-25 in a contest that was much closer than the final 3-0 margin. On Tuesday night, our girls BATTLED TOGETHER and CHALLENGED the Lady Vikings with everything they had!
Down 20-7 in the 1st game, the Lady Brickies STORMED back scoring 7 unanswered points to cut the Viking lead to 20-14! Valparaiso would regroup and take the set by the score of 25-17. In the 2nd game, Hobart jumped ahead early 5-3, but the Lady Vikes scored the next 7 to take a 10-5 lead. After basically trading points for the remainder of the set, Valpo won 25-16. In the 3rd game, Hobart WORK WORK WORKED, but couldn't catch a break or sustain any momentum and ultimately fell 25-10 to bow out of the IHSAA Tournament Series in the 1st round effectively ending the season for our girls.
Valparaiso would lose to eventual champion Crown Point in the sectional semifinals Saturday morning.
Alas, the slipper did not fit for our ladies in their attempt at a cinderella story, but we are VERY PROUD of the EFFORT, WILL, and PERSEVERANCE they illustrated throughout the season!
THANK YOU to our 6 seniors - #1 Sasha Thomas, #4 Abby Dumbauld, #7 Haley Pint, #8 Emma Misecko, #11 Jessica Fazekas, and #15 Ava Martinez! These fine young ladies finished the season together on the court at Valpo on Tuesday night. THANK YOU to Coach Yanez and her staff for representing H-town with PRIDE!
#SIDEOUT
Shout Out
Hayley Borman, Aoife Combs, Aubrey Good, Emma Hendricks, Faith Hillan, Faith Kietzman, Emma Lewis, Samantha Paterson, Brianna Paulson, Cecilia Provins, Dulce Rabadan, Caryssa Roark, and Ruby Winn.
The Criteria for inclusion on this team are the following:
- Player must be in their Junior or Senior year
- Player must maintain 3.7 GPA or better (4.0 scale)
- Players must be Varsity rostered.
THANK YOU LADIES for representing the BEST ... I SAY THE BEST of what being a true STUDENT-ATHLETE is all about!!
#BRICKIEPRIDE
Sports Schedule This Week
Girls Basketball Practice Begins
Tuesday
No Events Scheduled
Wednesday
No Events Scheduled
Thursday
No Events Scheduled
Friday
Football @ Hammond Gavit in IHSAA SECTIONAL 1st ROUND
Saturday
Cross Country @ IHSAA SEMISTATE (Hosted by New Prairie High School ... 10:30am CST)
Girls Competing = Ella Hornak, Mikayla Fuentes, Adriana Arauz
Boys Competing = Bruce Leipart, Ryan Mattel, Joe Meagher