BricksCenter
DaDaDa DaDaDa
September 20, 2020
21 Sports ... 1 Team ... WE ARE HOBART!
They make us laugh, cheer, scream, and cry. If we're lucky, we get to experience all of those emotions at the same viewing! They feed us tales of the human spirit triumphing over adversity ... Good overcoming Evil ... or for us here in H-town, the Brickies going to battle against any opponent! This past week, Hobart coaches and student athletes faced a little bit of everything. If you were in attendance, you probably laughed, cheered, screamed, and even cried a little ... in a good way!
In acknowledging the bond shared between sports and the cinema ... and just for fun ... we thought we'd blend the two in this week's edition to show how our love of movies runs just as deep as our love for the BRICKIES! See if you can figure out the movie(s) we tried to bond with our teams :).
BricksCenter 80 ... Take 1 ... Action!
Soccer
*Return of The Bricki*
Girls
On Tuesday, the Lady Brickies welcomed Lowell for an NCC match-up. Prior to the start of the varsity contest, 9 seniors were recognized for their OUTSTANDING contributions to Hobart soccer. In a well-played 1st 40 minutes, the Lady Brickies hung tough and trailed just 1-0. As the 2nd half played out, both squads moved the ball and threatened the net. In the end, it was the Lady Red Devils tacking on 2 more late goals to earn a hard fought 3-0 conference win. Sophomore Rylee Cotton backed up her 17-save performance against state-ranked Chesterton last weekend with 9 more saves against Lowell to help keep Hobart in it.
Saturday, Hobart again played the role of host ... this time to the Munster Lady Mustangs in a make-up game from one postponed in early September. Munster, the pre-season NCC favorite, entered the game undefeated in conference play while the Lady Brickies were still looking to make some noise in the standings. Early on, the two teams were locked in a stand-still on the scoreboard ... 0-0 ... until Munster finally put one in the net around the 20-minute mark. The Red Mustangs put two more in the goal before the half ended and led 3-0 at the break. During the 2nd half, Munster was able to get away from our girls and ended up heading home with a 9-1 victory in a game that was much closer than the final score would indicate. Senior Faith Hillan scored the lone goal for the Lady Brickies with a SPECTACULAR MOVE from the left side that sent the ball past the Mustang goalie and into the back corner of the goal!
Hobart is 2-6 on the season and 0-2 in conference. Two HUGE NCC contests dot the landscape over the next 5 days ... and with 2 weeks remaining before IHSAA Sectional play begins, there is still time to FINISH STRONG! Varsity coach Toby Provins believes in them ... you can almost hear the Lady Brickies saying, "Help us Tobi-wan ... you're our only hope." We believe in you too girls - YOU CAN DO IT!!
Boys
After picking up a W and a tie last week, the Brickies Futbol team was looking to secure a 2nd consecutive NCC victory on Wednesday @ Lowell, celebrate a special senior class on Thursday, and then take their talents to Michigan City for a non-conference game on Saturday.
Wednesday, our boys got plenty of rest on their trek down I-65 to Lowell because they ran circles around the Red Devils for 80 minutes and returned home with a 3-0 WIN!! Scoring goals for Hobart were senior Avione Lane, freshman Thomas Martin, and sophomore Lucas Kietzman! Dropping dimes (aka - assisting) on those goals were junior Cade Mangel and freshman teammates Jack Harris & Carlos Gayton.
The FORCE is strong with this team :)
On Thursday, the Brickies welcomed Hanover Central to town for SENIOR NIGHT! This one wasn't just about celebrating a single class as EVERYONE got into the act against the Wildcats. Hobart DOMINATED from start to finish in the 7-0 VICTORY! Freshman Jack Harris got the party started 4 minutes in when he sent a LASER past the Hanover goalkeeper to put the Brickies up 1-0! About 15 minutes later, junior Ian Freimuth put one in the back of the net for a 2-0 lead ... and with the half nearing a close, senior Avione Lane shook off a Wildcat defender with a KILLER CROSSOVER and delivered his 2nd goal in as many games to give Hobart a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes of play!! The score remained 3-0 through the first part of the 2nd half until Harris AGAIN found PAYDIRT and the rest was history! Scoring for the Brickies were Harris (2 goals), sophomore Phil Jovanoski (2 goals), Freimuth (1 goal), Lane (1 goal), and senior Jonathan Hernandez-Valdez (1 goal).
Saturday, Hobart traveled to Michigan City looking to sweep all 3 games for the week! Junior Ivan Garcia put two in the goal early in the 1st half and a TREMENDOUS D-D-D-DEFENSIVE EFFORT did the rest as the Brickies returned to the Friendly City with a hard-earned 2-0 VICTORY! Sophomore Goalie Ryan Pimentel was once again PHENOMENAL in protecting the net with 6 saves!! In fact, the stingy Brickie D has only surrendered 1 goal over the last 5 contests and the offense has outscored their opponents 15-1!!!
Remember how much you cheered when the rebel alliance defeated the Empire? Same thing happens when fans watch our boys soccer team - THESE KIDS CAN PLAY!! The Brickies are currently 6-1-1 on the year and 2-1 in NCC action! Three more games this week will continue preparing them for a potential IHSAA Sectional run the first week of October. DON'T STOP NOW BOYS!
#WEAREONE
Girls Golf
*The Course Awakens*
"Do or Do Not ... There is no try". This is something Coach Roach always tells his girls ... or was that Yoda ... I can never tell them apart :). Either way, the focus was on "DO" this week and it led to something special for the Lady Brickies!
On Wednesday at River Pointe Country Club, Hobart hosted Wheeler for SENIOR NIGHT! Led by SENIOR Alivia Ahner's even 50, the Lady Brickies BLASTED the Lady Bearcats 222-268! SENIOR Claire Duca completed the 9-hole course with a 58 and was joined in the Hobart top 4 by juniors Brooke Blanchard and Autumn Turley, who each shot a 57! The "W" gave the girls a 12-8 record for the regular season, which marks the first time the Lady Brickies have posted back-to-back winning records since A long time ago in a galaxy far far away!!
Friday, Hobart traveled to the Valparaiso Country Club for the IHSAA SECTIONAL! In order to advance to next week's IHSAA REGIONAL, the Lady Brickies needed to finish in the top 3 teams or shoot well enough to be a top 3 individual not on an advancing team. Make sense?
Hobart played REALLY WELL and shot a team score of 436! Unfortunately, it was 19 strokes shy of the coveted 3rd place finish and the Lady Brickies had to settle for 4th in the 10-team field. Valparaiso, Chesterton, and Portage took the top 3 advancing spots. Ahner, Duca, Blanchard, Turley and junior Morgan Sanchez were FANTASTIC in representing Hobart on the links!
Ok, but what about those 3 individual spots that advance?
Do or Do Not, There is no try. Well ... SENIORS ALIVIA AHNER AND CLAIRE DUCA DID IT! Ahner shot a 101 and Duca was right on her tail with a career best 103 to QUALIFY for next weekend's REGIONAL!! They will travel to Lafayette next Saturday morning to play in the IHSAA REGIONAL at Battle Ground Golf Club! Alivia and Claire are the FIRST Regional Qualifiers from Hobart in Girls Golf since Aimee Pope represented the Lady Brickies back in 2012!!
CONGRATULATIONS LADIES!! WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU!!
#BETHEBALL
2020 SENIORS CLAIRE DUCA & ALIVIA AHNER
2020 IHSAA REGIONAL QUALIFIERS!!
Cross Country
*May The Course Be With You*
Maybe I should've used The Course Awakens for this one instead ... the Brickie Harriers left school at 5:15am on Saturday to compete at New Prairie in the largest invitational in northern Indiana! All of our wrestlers can relate to an early Saturday wake-up :). In order to follow COVID guidelines, the New Prairie High School Athletic Department did an admirable job reorganizing the event into 16 total races starting at 7am and finishing at 2:30pm. Hobart was competing in the large school division with races at 7, 7:30, 8 & 8:30am. Well ... when the moon went down and the sun came up - OUR BRICKS DID SHINE!!
Girls
Yobi-han Kenobi made sure the Lady Brickies knew that the course would be with them ...always. The girls trusted him and were AMAZING on Saturday!! Freshman PHENOM Ella Hornak cut over a minute off her lifetime best to finish 23rd overall with a RIDICULOUS time of 20:07.2! In fact, it was pretty much PRs across the board for Hobart with junior Mikayla Fuentes cutting 40 seconds off her lifetime best (68th in 21:17.7), classmate Sydney Belk shaving 35 seconds off her season best (86th, 21:54.1), freshman Adriana Arauz dropping a minute (98th, 22:32.3), senior Lilly Butler slashing almost 30 seconds (99th, 22:33.9), and freshman teammates Kylee King (24:01.9) and Addy Black (24:40.7) combining to drop nearly 5 minutes from their previous lifetime best performances!! If these girls were flying an X-wing fighter, the DeathStar would be destroyed right now!!! WHAT A PERFORMANCE!!
Rounding out the Lady Brickies line-up on Saturday were sophomore Nevaeh Chavez (25:44, 30-second PR) and freshman Melanie Paterson (26:38, 2 minutes faster than she ran on the same course 10 days earlier).
Boys
Yobi-han offered the same advice to the boys as they looked to build on last week's OUTSTANDING race at Lowell where their 2nd place team finish showed an average PR over 30 seconds per Brickie! At New Prairie on Saturday, senior BRUCE ALMIGHTY Leipart (I know, different movie) ran faster than the Millenium Falcon making the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs! He was AWESOME in finishing 11th overall with a LIFETIME BEST time of 16:32.4!! Junior Joe Meagher ran a 40 second PR to place 63rd in 17:41.6 ... freshman Ryan Mattel had another strong showing in 93rd with a time of 18:16.7 ... senior Mark Perez matched a lifetime best (19:02.3) ... freshman Owen Stankich (19:36.4) and junior Kaiden Click (19:37.2) also crossed the finish in a PERSONAL BEST TIME ... and freshman Thomas Martin battled for 3.1 miles to sneak into the shute in just under 20 minutes (19:59.5) for his first 5k of the season!! Rounding out the Brickie lineup, junior Jonah Wells "used the course" and finished in 19:13.0 - a full minute faster than his lifetime best, freshman Vinny Gutierrez also ran a lifetime best, sophomores Ryan Wein finished strong, and classmate Tommy Williamson ran his 3rd consecutive PR!
To put it into perspective for you, out of 20 Brickie competitors on Saturday at New Prairie, 15 ran a lifetime best and 3 more turned in a season best!! Coach A and staff are clearly getting it done with this group and all the WORK WORK WORK is paying off for our student athletes!! WHAT A GREAT DAY TO BE A BRICKIE!!
#PRIDEANDTRADITION
Boys Tennis
*The Fanof Tennis* (... instead of The Phantom Menace ... are you with me yet?)
On Monday, Hobart brought both their rackets and BROOMS as our boys SHINED by sweeping the Griffith Panthers right off the court 5-0!! The Brickies were so DOMINANT that Griffith only managed to win 6 of the 66 total games the entire match!
Wednesday, the Brickies welcomed Porter County neighbor Wheeler to the Friendly City.
After CRUISING through Monday's match, Hobart continued to roll! Straight set W's from senior Max Jancich (#1 singles), junior Ethan Cover (#3 singles), seniors Chad Tomaga & Nick Kolopanis (#1 doubles) and the combo of junior Jaydon Hence and sophomore Cameron Gonzalez (#2 doubles) clinched the 4-1 VICTORY!
On Thursday, NCC and IHSAA Sectional rival Andrean drove over from 5959 Broadway to face the Brickies. Jancich may have been using a lightsaber instead of a tennis racket as he DISPATCHED of his #1 singles opponent 6-0, 6-4! The #1 doubles team of Tomaga & Kolopanis were also BIG winners by sweeping their Andrean counterparts 6-1, 6-2! Forfeit wins at #3 singles and #2 doubles gave the Brickies another 4-1 WIN!!
Clearly, the FORCE is STRONG with this team too! A hat-trick of W's this week puts our boys at 6-4 on the year and 2-2 in the NCC with 3 total matches remaining ... Merrillville, Highland and Crown Point. The Brickies will host the IHSAA Sectional starting on Wednesday, September 30th and look to bring home the trophy for the 1st time since 2016.
#ACES
Volleyball
*A New Hope*
The Lady Brickies opened the week with 2 consecutive matches ... after playing 7 times the week before ... to finally put an end to an EXHAUSTING stretch for our girls.
Tuesday, the Lady Brickies hosted one of the NCC front-runners and state #20-ranked Andrean. Our girls BATTLED and were able to challenge every point, but just couldn't quite get over the hump and lost 20-25, 20-25 & 21-25 in a match that was more competitive than the final 3-0 score. Clearly, Hobart BELIEVED they could play with Andrean and pushed the state-ranked 59ers to the limit!
The Lady Brickies are 5-14 on the season with 3 weeks remaining before IHSAA Sectional play begins over at Valparaiso. THERE IS STILL TIME! WE CAN DO THIS!! This week is HUGE for Hobart with 2 NCC match-ups sandwiched around a non-conference game against Hanover Central. LET'S GO BRICKS!! SERVE - VOLLEY - SPIKE!
#WEBELIEVE
Football
*The Virus Strikes Back*
Friday night, the Class 4A #4-ranked Brickies were scheduled to travel to Class 4A #9-ranked Lowell for the Northwest Crossroads Conference opener for both schools. Unfortunately, a positive test for COVID-19 on the Lowell varsity football team caused a quarantine of 15 additional players based on Health Department protocols for contact tracing. Combine that with the 5 Red Devil players already under quarantine and it added up to a Thursday night cancellation of Friday's contest.
As disappointing as the cancellation was, it was made with the safety of all players in mind. It also served as a stark reminder of how quickly the rug can be pulled out from underneath us due to one COVID-19 issue. With the fall season rolling along and the IHSAA post-season just around the corner, it's important to remember to do our part to stop the spread so our kids can play.
Wear a mask ... Wash your hands ... Watch your distance
The "no contest" ruling on Friday keeps the Brickies at 3-1 on the season with Class 2A #1-ranked Andrean visiting The Brickyard next week for Homecoming. Time to go to WORK WORK WORK!
#PLAY15
Homecoming - Fall 2020
Here the skinny on pretty much everything.
Theme:
None needed ... it's Homecoming, let's show our BRICKIE PRIDE!
Spirit Days: (In combination with COLLEGE GO WEEK)
Monday - College gear
Tuesday - 'Merica or Camo
Wednesday - Future Career
Thursday - Pajamas
Friday - Purple & Gold
Competitions:
Tuesday - TikTok Challenge
Wednesday - ESports tournament (Super Smash Bros) during Power Hour
Thursday - Virtual Locker Bays
*Spirit Day participation
**Winning class engraved on NEW SPIRIT BRICK!
Court:
Vote this week - winners announced Friday night!
Sports Schedule This Week
Boys Tennis vs. Merrillville
Boys Soccer @ Rensselaer
Tuesday
Girls Soccer @ Andrean *
Volleyball vs. Highland *
Boys Tennis vs. Highland *
Wednesday
Boys Soccer vs. Andrean *
Volleyball vs. Hanover Central
Thursday
Girls Soccer @ Kankakee Valley *
Boys Tennis @ Crown Point
Volleyball @ Kankakee Valley *
9th Football @ Merrillville
Friday
Football vs. Andrean *
Saturday
Alivia Ahner & Claire Duca @ Girls Golf IHSAA REGIONAL (Hosted by Lafayette Jeff HS)
Girls Cross Country @ Highland Invitational
Boys Cross Country @ Highland Invitational
Boys Soccer vs. Kouts
JV Football @ Andrean *
* = NCC Opponent