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.
The obvious highlight game of the first night of competition Oct. 21 is in Class A’s Sectional 38, where Rockville travels to North Central. There are only three top-10 teams from the Wabash Valley in the state polls, and the Rox and Thunderbirds are two of them.
The third of them, Linton, is looking like such an obvious favorite in Class A Sectional 40 that it probably didn’t matter who the Miners drew, but at least their first-round game against Perry Central is in Linton and not in Leopold, wherever that is (Steve Fields claims to have seen it, but I prefer to think of it as something like Brigadoon, or Shangri-La).
Again, it could have been worse.
Because I was unable to see the Terre Haute North-Terre Haute South game this fall (my class reunion; I’ll let you guess the number), I’ve told both Chris Barrett and Mark Raetz that the two of them have to meet in Class 5A Sectional 6 play. That won’t be an easy task, but if it happens it will be for the championship.
Both test some of the Hoosier Crossroads Conference powers, the Patriots starting at home against Avon (coached by former Patriot assistant coach Mark Bless) and the Braves traveling to Brownsburg. Determining the strength of that conference is tricky, because it has 10 schools — no nonconference games for any of its teams, in other words. But it’s not the MIC.
Not only are the Braves on the road to begin sectional play, but they are in arguably a tougher half of the bracket, with Ben Davis looming in the second round. A second-round North foe would be either Pike — not as strong as it was a year ago — or Decatur Central.
Northview got a relative break in its Class 4A Sectional 14 draw. Not only are the Knights at home for the first round — against a solid but not spectacular Greenwood team — but a win would put them in the second round against either Lebanon or Owen Valley.
Indianapolis Cathedral and Roncalli, therefore, are in the other bracket. Repeat after me: it could have been a lot worse.
If there’s a sectional-draw winner, it might be West Vigo. The Vikings should have been hoping for a home game against one of the Indianapolis public schools in Class 3A Sectional 21 (not one of the Indianapolis Catholic schools, of course), and they’ll be on Jay Barrett Field against Indianapolis Northwest. Indianapolis Chatard — no, the Vikings don’t seem to ever be able to shake the Trojans out of their sectional — is in the opposite bracket, starting with a trip to Greencastle.
Wabash Valley news isn’t quite as good in Class 2A, where in Sectional 30 injury-plagued South Vermillion will have to visit a South Putnam team that isn’t likely to be particularly merciful. Sullivan has a bye in Sectional 32, but the reward for that will be a road game Oct. 28 against either North Posey or Evansville Mater Dei.
Class A draws were a little kinder to the struggling teams. You’ve already noticed that Union didn’t draw a rematch with Linton, or Riverton Parke another trip to Farmersburg. The Bulldogs actually have a potentially winnable game against Wood Memorial — which gets to come to Dugger twice in two weeks, including Friday’s regular-season finale — while the Panthers play at Cloverdale. Turkey Run gets a home game with Covington.
One more time? No, you know the drill by now.
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. Follow him on Twitter @TribStarAndy.
Amey Takes Aim
AMEY TAKES AIM: IHSAA playoff draw not as bad as it could have been
- Amey Takes Aim
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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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AMEY TAKES AIM: It's the fall 2010 Amey Awards
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.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: An early look at Indiana prep football playoffs
I wasn’t at all surprised to watch Linton pick up a 20-point win over previously unbeaten North Knox in high school football last Friday, one week after the Miners had lost by 40 to North Daviess.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Baseball season rounding third for an exciting ending
Major League baseball is coming down to an interesting week for the National League, then a couple of interesting weeks for the American League.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Look for me in the yellow shirt
I won’t be wearing pink or blue tonight for the Terre Haute South-Terre Haute North volleyball match at North, but I’m anticipating that plenty of you will be.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Little QB had big moments in ISU blue
You won’t find his name easily in the Indiana State record book, but for my money the best quarterback the Sycamores have ever had was Verbie Walder.
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Amey Takes Aim: Biggest baseball pet peeve … Nibbling
Having seen some outstanding baseball — and some not-so-outstanding baseball — at literally every level of play this spring and summer, I have identified what without a doubt is my main pet peeve with the sport. Nibbling. I’m not referring to popcorn or pretzels or nachos or cheese sticks or corn dogs or snow cones or candy or ice cream. Those can also be a serious problem — particularly if the kids are with me — but one that can be solved by simply running out of money.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Head to the high seas: Ameys’ vacation cruise
It’s good to be king. Abdication? Not so good.
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World Cup replaces void opened when Stanley Cup ended
It’s niche sports day here at the Tribune-Star, so we’ll start with a test of how much you learned while watching the recent National Hockey League season.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Win or lose, a softball season to remember
Well, this is awkward. I’m writing this late Monday night, with my Tuesday and Wednesday days off in the future, not knowing entirely how happy I am with state-finals softball.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Huntsville’s Stars, Havoc take back seat to GGS
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