BricksCenter
DaDaDa DaDaDa
January 20, 2019
21 Sports ... 1 Team ... LET'S GO BRICKS!
BricksCenter's back with a brand new edition
Snow fell all around us heavily ...
Bricks still did battle both daily and nightly
Will we ever stop - yo, it's not time ...
Check us out at night - 'cause we shine
To the extreme we rock these sports like champions
Light up the stage and never stop til the game's won!
With the current weather situation outside, I thought a little play on "Ice Ice Baby" was fitting ...
It's time for BricksCenter baby .. too cold, too cold :)
Basketball
Anyone remember how Chuck Woolery used to say, "Be back in two and two" before a commercial break while hosting the dating game? Just me? Ok, I see how it is. Anyway, our basketball teams PLAYED "two and two" as both the girls and boys had two games this week ... the girls wrapping up their home schedule with senior night and the boys putting on snow shoes and hitting the road!
With two weeks left in the regular season, the Lady Brickies played their final two home games this week ... a Tuesday tilt with perennial area powerhouse Merrillville and a Thursday night/SENIOR night contest against #7 ranked Gary West Side
Tuesday ... the Lady Pirates showed up in H-town for a potential pre-sectional showdown. Merrillville, winners of 5 of the last 6 Class 4A sectional titles, brought a young and athletic group that was planning to run our ladies out of the gym. I guess they underestimated the phrase BRICKIE PRIDE! Our girls FOUGHT HARD and completely OUT-PLAYED the pirates in the first 16 minutes ... taking a 17-16 lead into the halftime break! Unfortunately, during the pivotal 3rd quarter, it was Merrillville that seized the momentum with a barrage of 3-point shots - beating Hobart 21-7 over the 8 minute span to gain control of the contest. Our ladies continued to BATTLE until the final buzzer - losing a tough one 46-30. The actual game was MUCH CLOSER than the final score as Hobart gave a GREAT EFFORT for 32 minutes. Juniors Grace Nestich (10 pts) and Gabbie Ramirez (8 pts) led Hobart in the scorebook. Nestich was pretty much EVERYWHERE as she also corralled 10 rebounds, dished out 3 assists and notched 4 steals!
Thursday ... it was SENIOR NIGHT for two HARD WORKING Brickies - Amaya Shinkle and Samantha Vode. The #7 ranked Gary West Side Cougars showed up fashionably late for the 5:30 JV start time, but no matter - this night was all about our girls. Hobart was READY from the first whistle as the Lady Brickies scored the 1st 13 points of the game and led 15-6 after one quarter of play! The middle two quarters were back and forth as West Side tried to mount a comeback - cutting the deficit to 2 points entering the 4th quarter. It was a 1-possession game until about a minute to play ... when West Side gained an edge and hung on to win by the score of 52-46. Against one of the area's top 10, our girls were TERRIFIC ... playing one of their best games of the year and showing the kind of COMPETITIVE FIRE that we can take great PRIDE in! Junior Grace Nestich was again the catalyst for Hobart on the offensive end - scoring a team-high 14 points! Sophomore Lexi Williams backed her up with 13 ... junior Kora Neace scored 6 on a pair 3-pointers and senior Samantha Vode tallied 6 pts in her final game on Hobart's home floor.
The Lady Brickies seem to trending UP at the right time ... taking two of the areas better teams TO THE WIRE this past week ... 2 more games until the Sectional
#BRICKIEUP
Boys
Our boys cagers were ROAD WARRIORS this week with trips to north Hammond on Wednesday and through Winter Storm Harvey to Munster on Saturday
Wednesday ... Hammond Clark was the opponent as Hobart traveled to the Robertsdale neighborhood in north Hammond. Hobart graduate Jason Hill is currently in his 2nd year leading the Pioneers and Hobart graduate Michael Brown is doing the same for our own Brickies! They say that DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS ... well, it certainly paid HUGE dividends for Hobart on this night as the Brickies jumped out to a 29-7 halftime lead thanks to some LOCK DOWN D-D-D-DEFENSE against the Pioneers. In the 2nd half, Hobart snuffed out any possibility of a Clark comeback with more suffocating defense and came home with a hard-earned 48-30 WIN! Junior Caleb Banjoff (5th in the area leaders in 3-pt FG's) led the Brickies in scoring with 25 ... sophomore David Brown scored 8 and junior Trevor Underdahl and sophomore Cameron Stojancevich each chipped in 6.
Saturday ... some snow shoes and gloves were needed to traverse Winter Storm Harvey on the way to face off with the top team in the NCC, #2 ranked Munster. Against one of NWI's top teams, Hobart BATTLED for 4 quarters, but couldn't stay within striking distance against the Mustangs and came home with a 60-38 defeat. Once again it was junior Caleb Banjoff serving as Hobart's top scorer with 14 points.
The last 2 weeks have been challenging for our boys to say the least ... facing 3 top 10 teams in 4 games and simultaneously trying to fight off injury and illness to some of our top players. The good news is that Coach Brown has kept them VERY COMPETITIVE and it appears we may be getting healthy at the right time - with a month left in the season, our boys WILL continue to SHINE as they gear up for a HOMECOMING SHOWDOWN with the Hammond Morton Governors this FRIDAY NIGHT!
#MAKETHEMBELIEVE
Swimming & Diving
The Hobart swimmers pulled off a TRIFECTA this week with meets on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday! This section may look a little different than previous weeks because official meet results were hard to come by ... but reasons to CELEBRATE were NOT!
Tuesday night at Lowell, it was an NCC clash between the Brickies and the Red Devils. Unfortunately, Lowell out-touched the Brickies and secured a 2nd place finish in the conference regular season with a 3-1 mark. Hobart dropped to 3rd with losses against the Red Devils and Munster.
Thursday night was a lot more fun :) ... celebrating SENIOR NIGHT and RECORDS BROKEN is my kind of swim meet! Calumet and Hammond Gavit were the victims on Thursday as Hobart DOMINATED from the start and enjoyed sending our seniors out in style!
Sophomore diver Alivia Ahner tried to steal the show on senior night as she broke the SCHOOL RECORD for DIVING!
With the wins on Thursday night, Hobart improved to 11-3 on the season in dual meets!
Saturday took Hobart to Munster High School for the Northwest Crossroads Conference CHAMPIONSHIP MEET! It was a GREAT DAY TO BE A BRICKIE as Hobart represented this city extremely well across the board (diving of course) and in the water! The New Kids on the Block would be proud because the Brickies once again had the WRIGHT STUFF as sophomore Emma Wright won both the 50 and 100 freestyle races and in the process, broke the NCC record in the 100 free!
Here are some results from the NCC Meet:
200 Medley Relay - 2nd place finish!
50 Free - sophomore Emma Wright - 1st place; sophomore Delaney O'Brien - 6th place
100 Back - sophomore Delaney O'Brien - 5th place
100 Breast - sophomore Ana Tepavcevich - 3rd place
Diving - sophomore Alivia Ahner - 3rd, freshman Sydney Arias - 5th, senior Mackenzie MacRoberts - 10th
#GIRLSJUSTWANNAHAVEFUN
Boys
Tuesday night at Lowell, the same unfortunate script played out for our boys team ... just like our girls, the pool water could not cool off the fiery Devils as they handed Hobart it's 2nd loss in NCC action. Despite the loss, freshman Ethan Ferba provided the highlight of the night as he set a new FRESHMAN DIVING RECORD by posting a massive score of 220.9!
Again, just like the girls ... Thursday night was a lot more fun! The boys were TERRIFIC in defeating both Calumet and Hammond Gavit on senior night! There were plenty of "firsts" in the last home meet for the season :) Senior Wyatt Decanter showed off his diving skills as he fulfilled a career-long dream of walking the plank and splashing below!
With the wins on Thursday night, Hobart improved to 8-4 on the season so far!
On Saturday, Munster High School played the role of host for the Northwest Crossroads Conference CHAMPIONSHIP MEET! Missing some key contributors, the boys were MAGNIFICENT as they rallied together and were able to pull off a 4th place finish!
Here are some results from the NCC Meet:
200 Medley Relay - 4th place finish
200 IM - senior Brad Goben - 5th place
50 Free - senior Wyatt Decanter - 5th place
100 Free - senior Wyatt Decanter - 5th place
100 Back - senior Brad Goben - 2nd place
Diving - freshman Ethan Ferba - 2nd, freshman Hayden Maggio - 4th, sophomore Chad Tomaga - 5th
#BOYSAREBACKINTOWN
Sophomore Emma Wright - New NCC 100 Freestyle Record!
Check out the NWI Times article on sophomore sensation Emma Wright!
Lifelong dream fulfilled for senior Wyatt Decanter!
Gymnastics
#GYMNASTSALUTE
Wrestling
It's been another stellar season for the Brickies ... their journey down the #BrickRODE has earned them a 2nd place finish at the Harvest Classic, another NCC Championship, and a 15-1 dual meet record!
The Wrestling state tournament series begins next week as the IHSAA Sectional is slated for Saturday at Portage High School - time to SHINE boys!
#BrickRODE
Dutch Farms Athlete of the Week - Wrestling
The Athletes of the Week are presented by Dutch Farms, A Family Tradition of Quality.
#DONTMESSWITHTHEBESTCAUSETHEBESTDONTMESS
WINTER HOMECOMING
The theme is WINTER WONDERLAND ( ... special thanks to Winter Storm Harvey for supplying the "wonderland" portion)
Here are your dress-up days:
Tuesday – “Tacky Tourist Day” (Dress like you visiting a faraway place)
Wednesday – “Meme/Vine Day” (Dress as your favorite vine or meme character)
Thursday –“ Winter in Space” (Winter attire)
Friday –“All things purple & gold”
Pep Session Friday should be LEGENDARY!
#1 ... #1 ... # # # # #1!!! (fist pumping in the air)
Sports Schedule This Week
No Events Scheduled - MLK Day
Tuesday
Girls Basketball @ Wheeler
Wednesday
9th Boys vs. Lowell *
Thursday
Gymnastics @ Valparaiso/Lowell
Friday
Girls Basketball @ Hammond
Boys Basketball vs. Hammond Morton - HOMECOMING
Saturday
Wrestling @ IHSAA Sectional (Portage High School)
Gymnastics @ Merrillville
* = NCC Opponent