Tom Reck
Special to the Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE —
The Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference has been one of the best, if not the best, Class 5A conferences in football in recent years and it appears it will be at the top or close to it again this fall.
MIC teams had some nice victories in the opening week of the season, Carmel turning back tough 4A rival Indianapolis Cathedral 28-21 with backup quarterback Brandon Denning rallying the Greyhounds from a third-quarter deficit.
In other games, Center Grove defeated Perry Meridian 21-7, Ben Davis bested South Bend St. Joseph’s 53-14, Warren Central was a 49-14 winner over Merrillville and Terre Haute North defeated Castle 35-31.
Lawrence North lost to Lawrence Central 19-6, Terre Haute South lost to Martinsville 31-6 and Indianapolis North Central lost to Pike 49-13.
In the first USA Today prep football rankings of the season, Warren Central is ranked 23rd in the country and third in the Midwest. The Warriors are the only Indiana team in the rankings.
In other football last week, North Putnam was impressive in a 40-14 winner over Edgewood while Bedford North Lawrence beat Bloomington South 29-27.
• Nice week — Chad Collins had another nice week on the PGA Tour with four subpar rounds for a 13-under-par 267 score in the Wyndham Championship.
The Cloverdale native earned $33,915 and ranks 100th on the money list. The top 125 on that list automatically make the tour the following year.
Collins is 86th in FedEx points, up one spot from the previous week.
• Friendly rivalry — Jacob and Lyndsey Cummings were married this summer and met last week as rival coaches in a volleyball match played at Shakamak between the Lakers and North Central.
Jacob is the North Central coach and his wife coaches the Lakers. North Central won the match 3-0.
The Thunderbirds won the South Putnam Invitational on Saturday and are off to a 5-0 start.
• Nice tribute — We wrote of the death of former Indiana State basketball player Basil Sfreddo last week.
He coached at Indianapolis Washington High School for 30 years and George McGinnis was one of the players on the team that won the state in 1969.
McGinnis penned a very nice tribute to Sfreddo and wife Carolyn that was published in Monday’s Indianapolis Star.
Two speakers at his funeral last week were Indiana State Hall of Famers: Sfreddo’s former teammate Dick Atha and Sfreddo’s former player John Sherman Williams.
• Tom-Cattin’ It — Vincennes University has hired Todd Franklin, 43, as its men’s basketball coach.
He compiled a 329-97 mark at Southeastern Illinois College the past 13 seasons and took four teams to the JC finals.
He succeeds David Ragland, now on the staff at ISU.
• The Associated Press had Alabama in its first college football poll last week, joining The Sporting News, Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine in ranking The Tide first.
Playboy Magazine’s poll is a bit different. To wit: 1. Ohio State, 2. Texas, 3. Alabama, 4. Boise State, 5. Iowa, 6. TCU, 7. Florida, 8. Wisconsin, 9. Oklahoma, 10. LSU.
• Thanks to Tom Newlin and associates, we were able to join Stark, Tanoos, Fleschner and Newlin employees on a bus trip to Chicago last week to watch the Cubs play Atlanta.
Ryan Dempster pitched great baseball for the Cubs and they took a 3-2 lead into the ninth, but Carlos Marmol couldn’t throw strikes and Rick Ankiel’s triple gave the Braves a 5-3 victory.
• Ron and Sandy Timberman recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
Ron, of course, coached Clay City boys basketball teams for many years and was on the sidelines when the Eels went to the semistate in 1974.
Congrats.
Tom Reck may be contacted by telephone at (812) 232-3231, by email at tm_reck@yahoo.com or by mail at 4284 South 5th Street, Apt. 3, Terre Haute, IN 47802.
