It’s one of those times of the year again when I really need to be in several places at once; I almost pulled that trick off on Saturday.
Being needed in a lot of areas is a good thing, because the only time it happens is when so many of the Wabash Valley high school athletes are being successful at one sport or another.
But that’s also a bad thing for me, because there’s so much stuff I miss.
For as much fun as I had over the weekend watching the state wrestling championships and Turkey Run finally getting that elusive girls basketball regional championship, for example.
I also would have loved to have seen whether or not my niece Abby’s foot was really on the line for that last-second shot in Clay City’s one-point regional loss, or maybe Terre Haute North’s overtime win over Indianapolis Cathedral, West Vigo’s win over North Central, Terre Haute South’s near-upset at Warren Central or the Braves’ first-ever sectional swim championship.
The referees’ decision on Abby’s shot means I won’t be seeing the Eels at all this year, getting all my information from Chris Ames’ Monday night phone calls and the occasional e-mail from Abby’s dad. Fortunately, most of them — including Abby — are sophomores that I might still watch play in the future.
I’m not going to be as lucky with the boys basketball player who intrigued me this season, because Martinsville lost its Illinois Class A regional opener on Monday night.
I think I may have seen Jared Higginbotham briefly during his freshman season at the Marshall Regional, but there were a lot of Higginbothams on that team and I can’t be sure if my memory is correct. But I do know that Jared’s not very big to be amassing all the statistics — particularly in rebounding — that he did as a senior. I would have loved to watch him do that.
We get our Martinsville information here through e-mails from coach Kyle Shelton, and he has a pretty long list of addresses. As Jared reached the school’s single-season rebound record, that address list included Barry Wolfe, who had the previous record. And when Jared finally broke the record, Barry replied to that list with his congratulations.
Which, of course, gave me a way to send an e-mail back to Barry.
“But can he play defensive end?” is what that e-mail said.
I don’t know if Jared played football for the Streaks, but I know Barry did. He and his brother were part of one of the most entertaining high school football teams I’ve been privileged to cover. Teams who played against the Bluestreaks, I remember writing, had to decide whether to run one way and encounter the Wolfe brothers or run the other way and tangle with the Cribelars.
I probably saw them three or four times, my favorite being a playoff game against Kankakee Bishop McNamara. (Yes, there was once a time in Illinois when little Martinsville was in the same football class with Bishop Mac, now a perennial powerhouse in Class 4A or 5A.)
Martinsville won, something like 28-26, even though time of possession was at least three or four to one in Bishop McNamara’s favor. The visitors would march down the field for eight or nine minutes at a time, get inside the 20-yard line, score or give up the ball — and Martinsville would score on the next play or two. I remember at least two Martinsville runs of at least 85 yards, and that wasn’t because the offense was fresh from waiting on the sidelines. If you didn’t go both ways at Martinsville (Barry was a heck of a tight end too, I recall) you probably didn’t go either way.
I don’t know if Barry got to see much of Jared’s pursuit of his rebound record, by the way. He was a little busy too this winter, coaching the Casey eighth-graders to a state championship last week.
• Gatorade award — Indiana’s boys soccer player of the year is A.J. Corrado of Zionsville’s state championship team. He’s the second straight Eagle to win the Gatorade award.
Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. for comments or news items 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 hard to take in all the great athletic feats going on in the Valley
- Amey Takes Aim
-
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: Getting ready for the dance
Terre Haute North got the good news Sunday night — or did it?
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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?).
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
AMEY TAKES AIM: Head to the high seas: Ameys’ vacation cruise
It’s good to be king. Abdication? Not so good.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Amey Takes Aim: Wabash Valley is a softball powerhouse
Greetings from the high school softball capital of Indiana. Your Tribune-Star will be spending all day Saturday at Ben Davis, dominating the press box and elbowing those other newspapers to the back row where they belong. No other paper has as many teams to cover as we do (go Panthers, go Miners and go Patriots); The Times and Post-Tribune get off to a good start with Whiting (against Riverton Parke) and Wheeler (versus Linton), but couldn’t get anything going among the bigger schools (now that my cousin Keith Hauber no longer coaches at Lake Central).
-
Amey Takes Aim: NHL playoffs > NBA playoffs
Eavesdropping, as I often do, at a couple of sporting events recently, I heard conversations that warmed my heart. At both the Rose-Hulman baseball game recently and the Terre Haute North-Terre Haute South girls tennis match a week ago, I heard spirited arguments involving — the NHL playoffs.
-
Amey Takes Aim: Amey family travels to Astros land
I have an uneasy feeling that I know what I’m getting for Fathers Day. Not sure how your family celebrates that holiday, but mine uses it to get me things I wouldn’t otherwise buy for myself. It’s probably the only reason I ever got a cell phone, and a couple of years ago it was a good excuse for a flat-screen TV for the living room. Yes, I use both of them now.
-
Amey Takes Aim: Favorite group for boys basketball Amey Awards ... Most Improved team
As much as I enjoyed the girls high school basketball season this past winter, I liked the boys season even better; something about a team winning its last game — or another team practically becoming the 2010 version of “Hoosiers” — will do that for you. Maybe that’s the excuse for having a record number of captains for some of the Andy Amey teams, as you are about to see.
-
ANDY AMEY: Butter your popcorn! It’s time for the Amey Awards!
Yes, you’re right. The high school girls basketball season has been over for awhile, which can only mean the Andy Amey teams are getting out a little late this spring.
- More Amey Takes Aim Headlines
-
Raw Video: Biden Greets Chinese VP for Visit
Authorities: Houston Found Underwater in Tub
Whitney Houston Funeral to Be Invitation Only
Raw Video: Heavy Shelling in Homs, Syria
New Details in Search for Missing Utah Mom
Bacteria Keep Swimmers Off Some Fla. Beaches
Raw Video: 5 People Injured in Bangkok Blasts
Trial Opens for Ala. Man in Bride's Diving Death
Raw Video: Kim Jong Il Statue Unveiled
Baltimore's 'Crime Stopper' Is a Basketball Star
Raw Video: Hearse Arrives at N.J. Funeral Home
Raw Video: Houston Body Flown From L.A. to N.J.
Arm Wrestler Not Guilty Plea in Wife's Death
Raw Video: Protesters, Security Clash in Bahrain
Obama: Good US-China Ties Help the Whole World
First Person: Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
School Pays Students to Attend Class
And the Winner for Best Super Bowl Ad Is...
Obama's New Budget: The Winners and Losers
Raw Video: Whitney Houston's Last Performance
Kim K. Wet, Wild and Natural
Ultimate Tazer Ball is a Shocking New Sport
Shakira Attacked By Sea Lion
Modern day treasure hunter searching for $3 billion prize
What Happened Inside Whitney's Hotel Room?
Saying 'I Love You' With a Sewage Plant Tour
VS Models Wow for V-Day
Olympic Swimmer Proposes on Podium After Big Win
Kate Upton MLB 2K12 Commercial
Watch: Whitney Houston's Golden Hearse
Scarlett Johansson's Bikini P-D-A
Man Allegedly Drowns Wife While Scuba Diving
Glee Pays Tribute to Whitney
Wash. becomes 7th state to okay same-sex marriage
Romijn's 60 Pound Weight Loss
The 'Celebrity Apprentice' Cast Meets Donald Trump
Kissing contest heats up
Hugh Hefner's Son Arrested
Jacqueline Kennedy's personal papers released
Did Tyler Perry Have a Secret Wedding?
