Miracle is a 2004 American sports film about the United States men's ice hockey team, led by head coach Herb Brooks (portrayed by Kurt Russell) that won the gold medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics. Near the end of the film, Coach Brooks delivers a motivating speech prior to the semifinal game between team USA and heavily favored Soviet Union. He opens that speech with a memorable quote,

"Great moments ... are born from great opportunity ... and that's what you have here tonight. That's what you've earned here tonight."

Fast forward to 2023 and it's like he is talking directly to our winter sports teams. This time of year is SOOOOOO EXCITING because of the post-season!! Wrestling sectional next weekend ... girls swimming & diving and girls basketball the next ... and so on - the next 4 weeks will provide GREAT OPPORTUNITIES for the Brickies!! Our kids have WORK WORK WORKed HARD to turn those great opportunities into some GREAT MOMENTS!! If you haven't gotten out to see the Brickies in action this winter, NOW is a GREAT time to do it!!

You know what else it's a GREAT time for? ... BricksCenter!!

It was a HUGE week for the Brickies in the water ... by the way, our bricks float :). The final regular season home meet followed by HOSTING the Northwest Crossroads Conference CHAMPIONSHIP meet! Like I said ... HUGE!!

Girls

On Thursday, the Lady Brickies welcomed Calumet and Hammond Morton to The Friendly City and SHINED BRIGHT on Senior Night! Our girls DOMINATED Calumet (124-48) and Morton (107-67) to wrap up the regular season! The Lady Bricks won 9 of 12 events: sophomore Brogan McDonald & freshman Cassie Cohen each won two individual events ... sophomore Peyton Leonard & junior Yola Fritz each won one ... and the diving crew of seniors Daeges Morgan, Gabby Tomich & Maci Luchene swept the top 3 places on the diving board! WHAT A PERFORMANCE!!

Here are some other results from Thursday's meet:

200 Medley Relay - 1st = senior Marie White, sophomores McDonald & Evangeline Clay, and Cohen

200 Free - 1st = Leonard, 2nd = Fritz, 6th = sophomore Nela Robles

200 IM - 2nd = senior Hailey Blood, 3rd = White

50 Free - 2nd = Clay, 3rd = junior Sydney Johnston

Diving - 1st = Morgan, 2nd = Tomich, 3rd = Luchene

100 Fly - 1st = Cohen, 2nd = White, 4th = Blood

100 Free - 1st = McDonald, 6th = freshman Maliah Christopher

500 Free - 1st = Cohen

200 Free Relay - 1st = Blood, Cohen, Johnston & McDonald

100 Back - 1st = McDonald, 3rd = Clay, 4th = Leonard

100 Breast - 1st = Fritz, 4th = Johnston, 8th = Robles

Saturday, Hobart served as HOST for the 2023 NCC Championship meet! The Lady Brickies wrapped up the conference regular season with a 1-3 record in NCC dual meets and were looking for a big finish in our last meet before the IHSAA Sectional! Our girls were simply FANTASTIC on the day as the touchpads in the Hobart Aquatic Center saw a lot of season-best performances from the Lady Brickies!!

The day began with diving and senior Daeges Morgan was MAGNIFICENT in winning her 2nd CONSECUTIVE NCC CHAMPIONSHIP in the 1 meter diving competition!! The volleyball player, high jumper and former gymnast exploded for 384.40 points ... nearly 40 more than she scored a year ago in this same meet ... and defeated her top competitor from Munster by almost 30 points!! UNBELIEVABLE!! Sophomore Brogan McDonald is another BRICKIE TO BRAG ABOUT as she found the podium in 4 events ... placing 3rd in both the 200yd Free & 500yd Free to earn Honorable Mention ALL-NCC Honors!! Some other podium finishers include freshman Cassie Cohen (6th in the 100yd Fly & 100yd Breast) & junior Marie White (5th in the 100yd Fly) who joined Brogan on the podium in both the 200 Medley Relay & 200 Free Relay!!

In the end, Hobart finished 4th in the team standings at the NCC Championship meet and when combined with the regular season, conclude the 2022-2023 conference season in 4th place!!

Here are the podium spots from Saturday:

200 Medley Relay - 4th = junior Marie White, sophomores Brogan McDonald & Evangeline Clay, and freshman Cassie Cohen

200 Free - 3rd = McDonald

Diving - 1st = senior Daeges Morgan, 6th = senior Gabby Tomich

100 Fly - 5th = White, 6th = Cohen

500 Free - 3rd = McDonald

200 Free Relay - 5th = White, McDonald, Clay & Cohen

400 Free Relay - 4th = senior Hailey Blood, juniors Yola Fritz & Sydney Johnston, and sophomore Peyton Leonard

Hobart finished the regular season with an overall record of 6-10 and will now turn attention to the post-season. The Lady Brickies host the 2023 IHSAA Sectional in 11 days. LET'S GOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Boys

Thursday, Hobart welcomed Calumet and Hammond Morton to the Aquatics Center. Something else that the Brickies "welcomed" on Thursday were TWO VICTORIES!! Our boys SANK the Warriors and Governors by earning 1st place in 9 out of 12 events! Senior Owen Finch took 1st in two individual events ... junior Brett Herrin, sophomore Christian Kertz and freshmen Lu Cohen & Durgon Click each won one ... and the boys diving crew matched the girls with a sweep of their own as senior Eian Ferba set a PERSONAL BEST score of 283.8 - the 6th highest score in Brickie history - and junior Ethan Robles & senior Jose Torres placed 2nd & 3rd!! AWESOME!!

Here are some other results from Thursday's meet:

200 Medley Relay - 1st = senior Owen Finch, junior Brett Herrin, sophomore Christian Kertz & freshman Dylan Whetstone

200 Free - 1st = Herrin, 2nd = junior Connor Crofton, 4th = sophomore Antonio Mandich

200 IM - 1st = Kertz, 2nd = freshman Jaden Cano, 3rd = Whetstone

50 Free - 1st = freshman Lu Cohen, 3rd = freshman Durgon Click

Diving - 1st = Ferba, 2nd = junior Ethan Robles, 3rd = senior Jose Torres

100 Fly - 1st = Finch, 2nd = Herrin, 3rd = Cohen

100 Free - 1st = Finch, 2nd = junior Ayden Witting

500 Free - 1st = Click

200 Free Relay - 1st = Kertz, Cohen, Herrin & Finch

100 Back - 2nd = Whetstone, 3rd = Witting, 4th = Mandich

100 Breast - 3rd = Crofton, 4th = junior Travis Balding

On Saturday, the Brickie Boyz joined the girls in hosting the 2023 NCC Championship meet. During the regular season, Hobart finished an even 2-2 in conference competition ... matching our finish from a year ago ... and Saturday offered an opportunity to FINISH STRONG and secure a top 3 overall place.

In the water, senior Owen Finch was a MONSTER on the day - making the most of this opportunity and placing on the podium in 4 events including a 2nd place finish in the 200 Medley Relay with junior Brett Herrin, sophomore Christian Kertz & freshman Jaden Cano!! Herrin also stepped onto the podium with a 3rd place in the 500 Free earning him ALL-NCC in two events!! FANTASTIC!!

On the board, senior Eian Ferba showed why he is the new CHAIRMAN in the NCC as he registered a new PERSONAL BEST score of 420.60 to earn the title of CHAMPION with a 1st place finish!!! Junior teammate Ethan Robles also earned ALL-NCC Honors with a 3rd place finish in the 1-meter dive ... narrowly missing a 1-2 finish by just 8 points. INCREDIBLE!!

In the end, our boys team competed extremely well, earned 4th place in the team standings ... combining it with the regular season finish puts the Brickies in a tie for 3rd place with Highland in the overall standings! OUTSTANDING!!

Here are your podium finishers from Saturday:

200 Medley Relay - 2nd = senior Owen Finch, junior Brett Herrin, sophomore Christian Kertz & freshman Jaden Cano

Diving - 1st = senior Eian Ferba, 3rd = junior Ethan Robles

100 Fly - 5th = Finch

100 Free - 5th = Finch

500 Free - 3rd = Herrin

200 Free Relay - 5th = Finch, Herrin, Kertz & freshman Lu Cohen

100 Back - 5th = Cano

400 Free Relay - 5th = Cano, junior Ayden Witting & freshmen Durgon Click & Dylan Whetstone

The Brickies finished the regular season with a dual meet record of 5-11. Now they begin the home stretch of training towards the IHSAA post season. Train ... taper ... triumph!

#JUSTKEEPSWIMMING

The Brickie cagers faced some of their toughest competition of the season this past week on the hardwood.

Girls

The Lady Brickies played their last home game of the regular season on Tuesday against the Merrillville Pirates. In an INTENSE 1st quarter of action, Hobart held a slim 1-pt lead at 10-9. The game continued to go back-and-forth until late in the 2nd quarter when our girls BLEW OPEN a close game to lead 28-15 at the half!! The Brickie D-D-D-DEFENSE continued to impress in the 3rd quarter and with just 8 minutes left, it was ALL BRICKIES 46-23!!! WOW!! Over the final period of play, our girls FINISHED STRONG and earned a 65-35 VICTORY!! This marked the first time Hobart has defeated Merrillville in girls hoops since 2011 and just the 2nd time since 2002!! FANTASTIC!!! Senior Asia Donald dropped a DOUBE DOUBLE with 28 points and 10 rebounds ... junior Emma Ortiz scored a career high 17 points to go along with 4 steals ... and classmate Jesse Neace added 10 points in the win!

On Thursday, Hobart was on the road at future NCC opponent Hanover Central. After torching the nets at home against the Pirates on Tuesday, the offensive firepower went cold for the Lady Brickies playing in the Wildcat Den. Along with lids on the baskets, our girls also battled some foul trouble throughout the contest and lost a tough one 42-38. Neace tallied 11 points and junior Cailey Weber chipped in 9 in the loss.

The Lady Brickies are 11-10 overall and 1-4 in NCC play with two games remaining before the IHSAA Sectional begins. Hobart will need to be ROAD WARRIORS this week with contests @ Wheeler and Hammond Central. GOOD LUCK LADIES!!

#SHEGOTGAME

Boys

Tuesday night, the Brickies traveled east to Porter County to face the Chesterton Trojans ... 2022 IHSAA Class 4A State Finalist. Playing on Chesterton's Senior Night, it was Hobart who played with more INTENSITY and EMOTION than the hosts over the 1st 8 minutes as our boys led by 1 (17-16) at the end of the first quarter on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by senior Gabe Dickerson! The two teams traded baskets throughout the 2nd stanza and Hobart again scored at the buzzer to head into the halftime locker room ahead 30-28!! The Brickies really got it going in the 3rd and held a 9-point advantage (42-33) when the Trojans found their stride - scored 11 points in about 90 seconds and took a brief 44-42 lead. Our boys responded with a quick score from senior Vonzell Strayhorne and then junior Anthony Hnilo banked-in a HALFCOURT BOMB that just beat the 3rd quarter buzzer to give the Bricks a 47-44 cushion!!! In an INTENSE final period of play, the two teams were all even at 55-55 with just 2:31 remaining!! Unfortunately, it was the hosts who made just enough plays down the stretch to send our boys home with a gutsy 61-58 defeat. A tough loss for certain, but WHAT AN EFFORT by the Brickies against one of the area's best teams! Senior Keith Mullins (16 points, 7 rebounds) & sophomore Felix Lopez (15 points) led the offensive attack for Hobart. Dickerson added 10 and Hnilo 8 points in the loss.

Friday, the destination was Munster for an NCC showdown. The Mustangs entered the contest with a record of 12-2 and ranked #2 in the area & #13 in Class 4A. Facing an uphill climb against one of our area's best teams on the road, the Brickies fell behind 19-11 in the first quarter ... then BATTED to stay even in the 2nd to trail just 31-22 at the break. Unfortunately, that was as close as our boys would get as Munster controlled the tempo throughout the final 16 minutes of play and won 63-41 in a game that was actually much closer than the final score would indicate. Strayhorne and sophomore Jayme Hairston each reached double figures in the scoring column for Hobart with 12 & 11 points respectively in defeat.

Hobart is now 5-8 overall and 1-1 in the NCC. The Brickies will return home to face Hammond Morton on Friday night. BE THERE!!

#RISETOTHEOCCASION

With the Brickies competing at the IHSAA Sectional next weekend, the varsity wrestling team had the week off from competition to fine tune training & techniques for the post-season. Still, that doesn't mean there wasn't some wrasslin' taking place in H-town! On Saturday, the Brickies hosted the JV Invite and welcomed 12 schools to The Friendly City. With weight classes broken down into 14 different blocks, Hobart had 6 competitors earn a spot on the podium!

100-108 lbs = freshman Joanna Cantu - 4th place

135-147 lbs = junior Caden Smith - 6th place

163-179 lbs = freshman Preston Perez - 2nd place

195-214 lbs = junior Michael Babcock - 3rd place

216-235 lbs = sophomore Andrew Martinez - 2nd place

237-259 lbs = senior Diego Verduzco - 2nd place

Next Saturday, the Brickies will travel to Portage High School for the IHSAA Sectional ... aka, the 1st stop on the #BrickRode to Indianapolis! WEEEEEEEEE ... WE BELIEEEEEEEVE ... WE BELIEEEEVE THAT ... you know the rest :)

#BRICKRODE

After opening the competition season with two meets last week, the Lady Brickies had the week off to prep for two more opportunities to SHINE next week! Senior Haylie Skripac & sophomore Elizabeth Crespo will venture to Valparaiso & Merrillville over the next 6 days to tumble and twist. GOOD LUCK LADIES!!

#STICKIT

SHOUT OUT to our HHS Bowling teams for their STELLAR PERFORMANCE a week ago at the IHSB Sectionals!! The Brickies knocking pins down and taking names en route to advancing to the REGIONALS!! Our boys finished 2nd to advance as a team and we had two girls qualify as individuals ... freshman Emily Thiel & senior Eve Klawiter who placed 1st & 2nd!!

Emily & Eve finished 20th & 21st out of 35 individual qualifiers and the boys placed 8th overall as a team at the IHSB Regional on Saturday in Michigan City. Unfortunately, only the top 12 individuals & top 4 teams advance to the Fort Wayne Semistate, which means the 2022-2023 Brickie season has come to an end.

CONGRATULATIONS to our REGIONAL QUALIFIERS and all of our Brickies on an OUTSTANDING SEASON in the lanes!!

#STRIKEAPOSE

Monday

9th Boys Basketball vs. Morton

Tuesday

Girls Basketball @ Wheeler

Wednesday

9th Boys Basketball vs. Lowell *

Thursday

Gymnastics @ Valparaiso

9-10 Wrestling @ Chesterton

Friday

Boys Basketball vs. Morton

Girls Basketball @ Hammond Central

Saturday

Wrestling @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (Hosted by Portage High School)

Gymnastics @ Pirate Pride Invite (Merrillville High School)

* = NCC Opponent