TERRE HAUTE —
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.
My favorite group this year? The Most Improved team, for all that was embodied by several of its members.
Start with two guys who were already assured of Division I scholarships, yet turned their games up by many, many notches. That’s how Meyers Leonard of Robinson helped lead the Maroons to a state title (if you haven’t googled “Meyers Leonard dunk” yet, you are missing out) and how Justin Gant of Terre Haute North turned into a team leader in his own right.
But we can’t stop there. I can’t ignore Ike Worrell of Terre Haute South, who Mike Saylor and I agreed was the most improved player we’d seen between his junior and senior seasons; or Austin Karazsia of Linton, who made the biggest strides from December to March; or even one of my all-time favorites, David Parsons of Rockville, who prior to his season-ending injury had become an unexpected offensive threat.
Other guys who came a long way were Ethan Blankenship and Colin Carver of Casey; Tommie Bolden and Chase Jones of North; Josh Cary and Cory Cunningham of Paris; Dylan Christenberry and Sean Hollows of Owen Valley; Ryan Crowther, Jordan Houser and Zach Kent of West Vigo; Kyle Daugherty and Garrett Lientz of Riverton Parke; Andrew Davidson and Andre Strohm of Marshall; Ben Denker, Tyler Jenkins and Jake Tiefel of Clay City; Bryce Doran of Martinsville; Joey Etling of South; Ethan Fettig of Union; Robert Horn and Tyler Howkinson of North Central; Caleb Mershon and Chance Talbot of Northview; Jon Sowers of Turkey Run; and Jarred VanHorn of Shakamak.
Or how about the Competitors Team? After watching Taylor Duncan of Marshall and Tyler Wampler of West Vigo guard each other for the better part of 32 minutes this winter, I told both of them that if they’d guarded each other all season no one would have heard of either one of them. “We’d never survive,” Wampler agreed.
But the team can’t get along without recognition for two others either: South’s John Michael Jarvis, an award clinched by his phenomenal first quarter and his many floor burns in the sectional championship game, and the all-game, every-game efforts of South Vermillion’s Andy Walsh.
Others who brought it on a regular basis were David Bedwell and Caleb Turner of Sullivan; Lane Clark of North Vermillion; Blake Eaton of Linton; Seth Gambill and Dustin Howard of Union; Derek Hannahs of Robinson; Jeremy Helton of Riverton Parke; Jared Higginbotham of Martinsville; Cody Jeffries, Caleb McMullen and Clint White of Rockville; Josh Karr and Seth Marshall of Turkey Run; Trent Lancaster of Northview; Ethan Mason of Paris; Anthony McGill of South; Chris O’Leary and Logan Shipley of North; Dylan Reyher and Cody Mumaw of South Vermillion; Tyler Richardson of Shakamak; Riley Scales, Clinton Scott and Chris Unzicker of Casey; Jordan Stefancik of North Central; Cody Thornton of West Vigo; and Woody Worland of Owen Valley. There are least a half dozen more potential captains in that group.
The Clutch Team starts with the guy who led the Wabash Valley in game-winning shots, some of the unbelievable variety — Dreyson Boyd of Sullivan — and the guy who sometimes made his team very competitive all by himself — Jake Weaver of Turkey Run.
Others who could be counted on were Logan Cannady and Jacob Duncan of Marshall; Andy Cochrane of Bloomfield; Patrick Harpenau of South Vermillion; Zach Henn and Dalten Temples of Paris; Logan Higgins of Clay City; Ben Jones of Robinson; Scott Leigh and Jacob Rankin of North Vermillion; Billy Newton of Shakamak; Chase Rhoten of Linton; Rhett Smith of Sullivan; Bobby Swaby and Ethan Stanifer of North Central; Tyler Talpas of Union; Cody Vest of Owen Valley; and Bryant Washburn of Martinsville.
The Unsung Team, on the other hand, has just one captain: Jonathan Bradshaw of Northview was a glue guy all season long for a team that really needed one.
Others like him are Kaleb Barnhart, Kruz Kusterman and Lucas McVey of Casey; Cody Chamblin, Devan Dirks and Austin Siler of Robinson; Trent Collins and Jacob Phegley of Union; Austin Cook, Jake Hayn and Eric Newton of Turkey Run; James Craigmyle, Logan Laswell and Dion Scott of South Vermillion; Josh Cribelar and Matt Sanders of Martinsville; Josh Decker and Matt Moore of Clay City; Brock Dowell, Jordan Langford and John Smith of Shakamak; Lance Ellett, James Lisman and Kaleb Pirtle of Sullivan; Derek Engle and Cody Vauters of Riverton Parke; Matt Flesher, Dalton Mix and Scott West of West Vigo; Stephan Franklin and Tim Scott of Linton; Andrew Gauer and Ross Sponsler of North; Caleb Gilman and Matt Hinesley of North Central; Jarrod Gilstrap, David Ray and Aaron White of Owen Valley; Josh Griffin of Paris; Jordan Grooms, Dustin Morey and Jake Tucker of Marshall; Zach Jumps and Dalton McCool of North Vermillion; Eric Lear and Kyle Wheeler of Rockville; Bobby McKenna and Jacob Tanoos of South; and Dillon Reynolds and Jordan VanHorn of Northview.
One player stood above the crowd to lead the Unselfish Team too — Thomas Anderson of North, who never worried about his stats if his team was playing well.
Other team-first guys were Jordan Allen, Damon Hyatt and Dalton Rohr of Northview; Tyler Bishop, Dalton Sanders, Nolan Schaefer and Austin Wetnight of Marshall; Ethan Clark, Steven Clouse and Jacob Harrison of North Vermillion; Ryne Davidson and Caleb Vincent of Martinsville; Daniel Hardesty and Josh Helton of Riverton Parke; Jerret Hastings of South Vermillion; Drew Kelley of Rockville; Sterling Langley and Adam Morrill of Union; Brodey McCalister of West Vigo; D.J. Newton of Clay City; Gunnar Passen of Linton; Corbin Rehmel and Nathan Russell of North Central; Bryn Schwartz and Tyler Weishaupt of South; Ryan Shull of Casey; Tyler Sparks of Shakamak; Jimmy Stevens of Robinson; and Bret Tappan of Turkey Run.
Captain of my Most Promising Team has been written about here before — Jeff Woods of Turkey Run. Others to watch for in the future are Zach Birdsong and Brandon Duncan of Union; Calvin Blank and Jake Newton of North; Drew Bolin of Casey; Jared Boyll of Marshall; Tyler Bridgewater and Ethan Shaw of Clay City; Brad Chambers, Dylan Haltom and Scott Johansen of South Vermillion; Adrien Corenflos, Cade Lindsey, Zach Lyon and Kyle Stewart of West Vigo; Justin Crody and Brodie Crowe of Shakamak; Dess Fougerousse and Clayton French of Linton; Lane Mahurin, Jordan McFall and Joel Wittenmeyer of Rockville; Kyle Perisho and Blaine Washburn of Martinsville; Aaron Siler of Robinson; Jermaine Smith, Jeffrey Turner and Gary Ulrich of South; and Dalton Vest of Owen Valley.
Just as on the girls team, too many guys turned up injured this year, so we missed a lot of potential good work by Blake Eaton, Dess Fougerousse and Chase Rhoten of Linton; Daniel Gabbard and Jake Newton of North; Jordan Langford of Shakamak; Garrett Lientz of Riverton Parke; Cole Lydick and Scott West of West Vigo; Caleb McMullen and David Parsons of Rockville; Cody Mumaw of South Vermillion; and Jacob Musgrave and Hunter Robertson of Northview.
But left-handers? We’ve got plenty, led by Bobby Swaby of North Central and Seth Marshall of Turkey Run (seeing Seth play quarterback early in the football season helped his chances a little too). Their teammates are Ben Brown of Linton and Kole Smith of Clay City (those two go together, you may remember); Ryan Crowther, Cade Lindsey, Cole Lydick and Kyle Stewart of West Vigo; Brock Dowell, Raven Martin and Jarred VanHorn of Shakamak; Taylor Duncan of Marshall; Dylan Haltom of South Vermillion; Zach Henn of Paris; Ethan Hoadley of Owen Valley; Cory Slaven of Bloomfield; Caleb Turner of Sullivan; Tyler Weishaupt of South; and Tyler Yando of Riverton Parke.
• • •
• More basketball news — Allow me to add my congratulations to Rick Shaw, selected recently as one of the Most Distinguished Athletic Trainers by the National Athletic Trainers Association.
Lots of people know Rick was one of the heroes behind the scenes of the 1979 Indiana State basketball team. Not as many realize that those stretching techniques he taught me — free of charge — many years ago are among the reasons you can still see me dragging my weary bones around the streets of town two or three times a week.
• Sweet season — And finally, another basketball season can’t end without me acknowledging a pair of LONG-time Terre Haute South season ticket holders, Mr. and Mrs. Moody. I might not have to run as much were it not for the fudge they bring me two or three times per season — but in this case, running has never been more worthwhile.
Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. for comments or news items at (812) 231-4277 or 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: Favorite group for boys basketball Amey Awards ... Most Improved team
- 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.
You would be wrong. -
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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