TERRE HAUTE —
I won’t get to know the kids from Casey and North Putnam until they come to Terre Haute in droves next June for the Wabash Valley Football Coaches Association All-Star game, so I guess it’s not too early for the high school football awards from this space.
We got to enjoy winning seasons at West Vigo and Terre Haute North, the Patriots’ success coming with a series of miraculous comebacks that had to be seen to be believed; maybe seeing them wasn’t even enough. Except for about one play per game, we probably could have enjoyed a winning season on the South side too.
Because the Tribune-Star now has the services of a correspondent at Indianapolis, I didn’t get to see as much of the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference as usual, but that freed me up to travel around the neighborhood and see other teams. And for all the thrills at North, the most exciting game I saw all season was at Paris, when the Tigers held off Charleston to start the turnaround from 0-3 to a playoff season.
I also saw the last game in the fabulous careers of Trent Lancaster, Zac Niehaus, Andrew Butts and all the other seniors at Northview, and I couldn’t pull the Miners through to a fourth straight sectional championship on Friday despite wearing my lucky Linton shirt that had worked so well the last time Perry Central had come to town.
Those who know me well are, of course, not at all surprised I have clothing so vintage. We won’t talk about my Christmas sweater, although former Casey coach Bob Durham got to see it a couple of times.
So first of all, the Vigo County awards:
Seniors of the year — Dylan Aff, Mats Alexander, Nick Brownfield, Jacob Cobble, Matt Flesher, Lance Garrett, Luke Kernstein, Cole Lydick, Dustin Montgomery, Ryan Roach and Casey Sereno of West Vigo; Jeremiah Argudin, Elijah Beard, Joel Blakely, Doyle Bledsoe, Kevin Bracken, Antoine Burks, Logan Buske, Dustin Galenski, Nate Hutchinson, Zack Lewis, Tommy Moore, Nate Schuster, Michael Shouse, Tre Stephens, John Story and Aaron Sullivan of Terre Haute South; and Jabari Bradshaw, Daniel Gabbard, Cam Grim, Dillon Hare, Chad Holler, David Knight, Jacob Lunstrum, Michael Mace, Garrett Peabody of Terre Haute North. Now that his senior year is complete, do you think we should tell Jabari Bradshaw he’s really not big enough to be a two-way lineman in the MIC?
Juniors of the year — A.J. Baker, Enreque Brown, Stewart Dagnon, Tyler Evans, Leon Hill, Zach Horstman, Thomas King, Tyler King, Cole Langenfeld, Tsali Lough, Lucas Steward and Gabe Valadez of South; Nick Basile, Scott Finzel, Brian Gehrich, A.J. Hughes, Cayleb Knox, Tyler Lawrence, Dakota Vermillion and Dylan Wilson of Haute North; and Ben Bird, Brandon Blystone, Harley Elkins, Matt Green, Nathan Gregg, Brandon Lorance, Chase Silcock, Jacob Soliday and Cody Thornton of West Vigo.
Sophomores of the year — Dylan Banks, Dillon Bell, Bobby Bennett, Danny Etling, Nic Keller, Howie Lawson, Tyler Seibert, Logan Steward and Derik Whalen of South; Vasco Billberry, Calvin Blank, Lee Davis, Charles Dillahunt, A.J. Grady, Patrick Hart, Austin Lewis, Luke May, Sidney Moore, Brother Scank, Cole Seward, Chris Spencer and Kane Wilford of North; and Ethan Boatman, Danny Creasey, Jacob Creasey, Daniel Mackey, Chris Neidlinger, Jacob Riley, Andy Velazquez and Austin Wallace of West Vigo.
Freshmen of the year — Junior Berry of North and Jacob Johnson of South.
Senior good guys — Hodari Brown, Taylor Collins, Zach Hoke and Ian Kull of South; Joe Gray, Zane Mann and Brentin Owen of West Vigo; and Andrew Fox, Justin Loveland, Johnathon McElroy and Logan Payton of North.
Now a few special awards.
Mr. Clutch — All those Patriot comebacks came with Chad Holler performing miracles.
Competitor of the Year — Dylan Aff.
My All-County Offensive Line — David Knight and Dakota Vermillion of North, Zack Lewis and Nate Schuster of South, Casey Sereno of West Vigo.
Play of the Year — Daniel Gabbard’s one-handed catch for the Patriots on third-and-15 in the sectional win over Zionsville.
Interview of the Year — Zack Lewis.
Manager of the Year — Myra Wright of South; sorry I missed Senior Night.
Penalty of the Year — Linton’s Dyllanne Deischer, even though the referee said he’d called on a different Miner. It did answer any questions I had about how a girl could play for Linton.
And finally, the most dubious honor of all:
The Next Andy Amey — Sophomore lineman Tyler Bouslog of the Tigers played the tuba for the Paris band — in his football uniform — at halftime of the Charleston game, something he probably did all season and something I had to do as a senior at Lowell many years ago.
Tyler is going to turn out to be a better player than I was. If he’d like to confirm that, I can probably get him the telephone number of one of my former coaches.
• Just like old times — Grand Valley State won its ninth straight Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men’s cross country championship Saturday in Hillsdale, Mich., getting the top five places for a team score of 15.
Shakamak graduate Anthony Witt led the Lakers — yes, he’s still one — and earned GLIAC Runner of the Year honors. Grand Valley competes Nov. 20 at the Division II regional at Louisville.
Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. at (812) 231-4277 or at 1-800-783-8742; by e-mail at andy.amey@tribstar.com; by mail at P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute, IN, 47808; or by fax at (812) 231-4321.
Amey Takes Aim
AMEY TAKES AIM: It's the fall 2010 Amey Awards
- Amey Takes Aim
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Amey Takes Aim: NHL playoffs to put TVs to good use
If Jenny had known, she probably wouldn’t have bought that TV.
But four or five years ago, my Fathers Day present — for those unfamiliar with Amey family traditions, the Fathers Day one is “let’s get something we all really want and pretend it’s a gift for Dad” — was a 42-inch Vizio. It’s been used even more than the cell phone I never would have bought for myself, or the TomTom that disappeared since Jenny’s smartphone arrived.
And it came with high-def.
I’m not going to insult you by telling you how great high-def is, because to do so would be to imply that you are even farther behind the technological curve than I am. I’m guessing, however, that not all of you have yet discovered what it does for hockey. -
Amey Takes Aim: Can’t bottle the joy of Amey vacations
The first bad sign was the Gatorade bottle.
In the Bataan-Death-March drive to Orlando that got the Amey family spring break vacation off to a bad start, seeing it between lanes of I-24 — as we zipped along at a 100-miles-in-five-hours clip — filled with an ominous yellow liquid was a little bit scary. And although we didn't stop to check for sure, I'm fairly certain I knew about its contents.
And the person stuck in the same traffic jam with us, the one with the existential license plate YMIHR4, couldn’t have asked a more pertinent question.
But, after seeing a lot more of Oak Grove, Ky., than we’d planned, and after enduring more traffic slowdowns in Nashville, we were on our way. Even some rain in the dark in the Smokies didn’t slow us down much, so you would think our first-day troubles were over.
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ANDY AMEY: Farewell to basketball
I believe you’ve heard me say before — just about a year ago, perhaps — that a boys high school basketball season that ends with the Tribune-Star in Bankers Life Fieldhouse can’t be considered a bad one, which is why we have a little celebrating to do thanks to the Linton Miners.
Lover of irony that I am, I’ve also got to point out that this season was another branch sprouting from the Wabash Valley’s most legendary coaching tree, that of Joe Hart.
Joe never got much credit for his work at Dugger, but he took Brody Boyd, Clark Golish and the Bulldogs to a state championship game in 2000, and since then three of his former players — Joe Pigg, Clint Swan and now Joey Hart, his son — also have coached teams in the final game of the season.
Joe probably wishes he could take credit for Doc Nash, another down-home type who gave a banjo lesson earlier Saturday in leading Borden past a bigger, more athletic Triton team (banjo lesson is a Howard Sharpism, for you younger readers), but his lineage is still the best I can think of around here. -
AMEY TAKES AIM: Maroons, Rox final a true Classic
I don’t make predictions nearly as often as I used to, but I had one several months ago that was proven correct last week.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Nitpicking aside, West Vigo Hall of Fame selections spot on
I can’t imagine a better first class of inductees into the West Vigo High School Athletics Hall of Fame than the one that was feted Saturday night in the Jim Mann Green Dome.
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Tough bunch of people
I’m getting my warm clothes ready for a trip to Linton this week, and if a few thrills from the Miners, Casey or North Vermillion happen the next couple of weeks, I hope I get to see them.
But high school football is over in Vigo County for the season — as coach Chris Barrett of Terre Haute North said, prematurely — and I’m sadder to see it go than usual.
Walking the sidelines and doing midweek or postgame interviews enables me to meet quite a few of the guys whose names you are about to read, and haven’t been more impressed than I was this fall. What outstanding groups of young men. What a tough, tough bunch of people.
Many know that one of my favorite athletic adjectives appeared consecutively in the previous sentence. -
AMEY TAKES AIM: A weekend to remember with ISU’s ’72 football team
They’re all still pretty hale and hearty, the boys of the fall of 1972 who returned to campus over the weekend to honor their former football coach.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: ISU reunion raises more questions than answers
One of the wrestlers I used to hang out with occasionally claimed to be a pretty good second-story man — although he may have just been talking, since I never saw any of the goods — and it was with him in mind that I was able to get access to the Indiana State Wrestling Alumni Reunion late Saturday night.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Deciding not to ‘vacate’ during ‘vacation’ – & other ventures
Flaunting the law, setting a bad example for the kids in other ways, grooming and acquiring dogs … not a typical Amey family vacation, but an appreciated one just the same.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Huntsville’s Stars, Havoc take back seat to GGS
The second-best thing about the Amey family’s spring-break trip to Huntsville, Ala., is that we left a lot of things on the table to do the next time we’re down there.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Rox well represented on Amey teams
If having the state finals in town makes it a successful girls high school basketball season, then certainly having a team to follow at the state finals makes it a very successful boys high school basketball season . . .
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AMEY TAKES AIM: A feeling of pride, not disappointment, comes from watching Rox play
It’s not going to come as a startling admission that I — once the rest of the local opposition has been eliminated from consideration — am an unabashed fan of whatever team the Wabash Valley sends onward in postseason high school sports competition.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: This private school plays basketball the right way
Any girls high school basketball season that ends with state championship games in Hulman Center is a pretty good one — even though I wished I’d seen Riverton Parke and Seeger knock off a couple of private schools the week before to even the public school-private school battle a little bit.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Even 2 of state’s best once had doubts
Look at them now.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Getting ready for the dance
Terre Haute North got the good news Sunday night — or did it?
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Harrowing path for state hopefuls
The bad news is that the winner of Class 4A Sectional 13 in boys basketball heads northeast instead of southeast for regional play in March — to Hinkle Fieldhouse instead of Seymour as a result of Indiana High School Athletic Association’s changes.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: A superior all-star arrangement
I don’t work on Wednesdays, so I wasn’t able to attend the first Wabash Valley Football Coaches Association draft last week to set up the annual all-star game that will be June 23 this year.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: The biggest & baddest of a holiday classic
There are more things to love about the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic than could fit in this newspaper, but one of this year’s best things was that for an hour or so on Wednesday, it was Justin Paddock’s world and we were just living in it.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Taking note of ISU’s latest football win
The biggest difference I’ve noticed, as I transition from the high school football beat to quasi-official status as the Indiana State football beat writer for a few weeks, is the length of the games.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: IHSAA playoff draw not as bad as it could have been
First reaction to the Indiana sectional football pairings drawn late Sunday by the Indiana High School Athletic Association? It could have been a lot worse.
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ANDY AMEY: Between the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & a hard place
Just in case any of you noticed — with some anticipation — the recent lack of my bylines, I can tell you that your wish (and mine) did come true. It was vacation week for the Amey family.
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Amey Takes Aim: UFC fighter’s bloodines traced back to ISU brothers
As a mild-mannered reporter from a great metropolitan newspaper — or thereabouts — I admit I haven’t paid much attention to the burgeoning mixed martial arts scene.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Predators’ win is music to new fan’s ears
For many, many years, the number of live games televised on WGN has been cited as perhaps the main reason for the popularity of the Chicago Cubs (it’s got to be something besides masochism, right?).
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AMEY TAKES AIM: You’ll be having a good ol’ time on vacation with the Ameys
When one of the first people you meet is Tammy Wynette’s stepdaughter, when you’ve stepped on the feet of people you haven’t met while trying to navigate Ernest Tubbs’ old Silver Eagle tour bus, and when the activities director of your resort is, well, Elvis, you might be vacationing in Nashville.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: The Annual All-Amey basketball teams close out the prep season
The most encouraging boys high school basketball event I’ve attended so far in 2011 has been the Lafayette Semistate a couple of weeks ago.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Family remembers Cheryl Weatherman as caring grandmother
As far as Riley and Keely Davis are concerned, Cheryl Weatherman was simply their grandmother, and a pretty darn good one at that.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Honor to see Turkey Run girls close out memorable career
I don’t know if anyone in this part of the state could actually say they enjoy going to Fort Wayne and back, but I was glad to see the Turkey Run Warriors play one last time during the girls basketball state finals Saturday.
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So many matches, so many favorites
Go ahead, ask me anything about the 224 wrestlers who competed last week at the Indiana state finals — or at least about the 112 wrestlers who survived Saturday’s first round.
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ANDY TAKES AIM: A sportwriters’s lament: Oh, the games we missed
I was already tired of winter by the time that first bitterly cold snap passed through in mid-December, so it’s safe to say the season hasn’t grown on me.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Time of the season for teams to tough it out
In the last month or so I figure I’ve seen at least four boys high school basketball teams with legitimate state-championship dreams as the season heads into its dog days.
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