by Gary Andrews

Two Wabash County seniors, Kylie Echard of Northfield and Amy Bowman of Southwood have been selected to the Academic All-State first team.

Echard helped lead Northfield to an 18-7 regular season record, ranking 13th in the TRC in serve percentage (91.7), 3rd in kills (248), and 6th in blocks (62.5).

Bowman was a key factor in Southwood’s run to the semi-state, leading the TRC in setting with 935 for a 99.5 percent success ratio. The Lady Knights finished at 22-10 in the regular season.

by Emily Armentrout

emily@thepaperofwabash.com

Tune in to Wabash Web TV to check out our new website powered by Ustream.

The Paper is constantly striving to make our services as functional and hassle-free as possible.

“Ustream is more user friendly, with better viewing quality,” said Mike Rees, general manager of The Paper. 

Viewers can access Wabash Web TV broadcasts by going to www.thepaperofwabash.com and clicking the black and yellow Web TV logo on the right hand side of the page. The new site can also be accessed directly at thepaperofwabash.com/webtv.html. Live broadcasts will start automatically. If you experience difficulties, refreshing the page is recommended.

By Gary Andrews

The Southwood football team took on Southern Wells for the second time this season Friday, with the stakes a lot higher the second time around. The Knights beat Southern Wells 29-22 in the first game of the season on Aug. 23, but Friday night a win would put Southwood in the sectional championship game. Leading 7-0 after the first quarter, the Knights put the gas pedal to the floor in route to a 42-22 win and will host South Adams Friday, Nov. 8.

Southern Wells tried to catch the Knights off guard on the opening kickoff, pooching a kick that the Knights recovered. The Knight offense would put Southern Wells’ defense with their backs to the wall right away when they fumbled on the second play, giving the ball to the Raiders on the 46. The defense would respond, forcing a three and out.

By Gary Andrews

Northfield junior Jenna Halderman had a day she will remember for life Saturday, Nov. 2. Halderman was running in the cross country state finals for the third time in her career, this time finding the podium as she ran an 18:29 to finish 13th. The top 20 runners earned ”all state” honors.

“At the start I’m going to get out with the front pack and then run my race from there,” said Halderman before the race.

Jenna did just that, finishing just six seconds out of 10th place and 23 seconds from the top 5.

Manchester’s Matthew Fahs-Brown also ran in the state finals, finishing 60th in the boys race in a time of 16:27 to cap off a fantastic junior season.

by Gary Andrews

It was not the day the Southwood Lady Knight volleyball team had hoped for. Just three days after winning their sixth straight regional title, the Knights were playing Woodlan in the second game of the Bremen semi-state Saturday. Battling some health issues and a much taller Woodlan front line, the Warriors dominated the net as they hit over the Knight defense, ending the Southwood season 10-25, 23-25, 26-24, 10-25.

Lexi Brickner and Drew Rhamy would get kills early for the Knights as they held a 2-1 lead before the Warriors would take control. Woodlan scored three straight when Sami White stopped the mini run to make it 3-4. At that point the Warriors would feed the tall front row, scoring nine straight points to take a 13-3 lead that the Knights could never recover from. Woodlan would have a four point and a five point run down the stretch as they defeated Southwood 10-25.

by Gary Andrews

It was the much anticipated volleyball sectional final at North Miami Saturday night with the upset minded Northfield Lady Norse taking on the six time defending sectional champion Southwood Lady Knights. Northfield would make it to the championship by defeating Oak Hill 25-9, 26-28, 25-14, 25-8. Southwood got to the final game by getting by county rival Wabash 25-22, 25-15, 25-20. Southwood would get off to a good start, flexing their muscle most of the night, winning their seventh straight title 25-16, 25-18, 25-15.

Southwood would get game one started with a Drew Rhamy kill that got a 5-0 run started to jump out to a quick lead. Tori Snyder would stop the run with a kill, but the Knights responded with three straight and led 8-1. The Norse would then find power hitter Kylie Echard who pounded two kills and the Norse cut the lead to 8-4. Amy Bowman would then get a kill as the Knights scored five of the next six to increase their lead to 13-5. Lexi Brickner had two kills during the spurt. Echard and Elaina Terrill would trade kills with Brickner and Sami White and the Knights held a 17-9 lead. The Knights would continue the pressure, building the lead to 21-12, going on to the 25-16 game one win.

By Gary Andrews

The Southwood Knight football team showed Friday what has been building all year, an explosion. The Knights put up 24 first quarter points on their way to a 58-19 sectional win over Fremont.

Southwood led 24-0 after the first quarter with the second quarter becoming a shootout. Southwood would out score Fremont 21-19 in the second quarter and the route was on as the Knights led 45-19 at the half.

With things getting a little ”chippy” the Knights would hold their composure, tacking on 13 more points in the third quarter in route to the 58-19 win.

By Gary Andrews

It was a tale of two halves for the Northfield football team Friday, falling behind 21-0 before rallying back and being 18 yards in the third quarter from tying things up in a 28-14 loss to South Adams.

South Adams would take the first possession of the game, attacking the Norse line with runs up the middle and to the right, marching 65 yards down the field in less than four minutes to take a quick 8-0 lead. After forcing a Norse punt on their first possession the Starfires would go again. With the ball on their own 27, South Adams would mount a 10 play drive, punching it in with 1:19 on the clock and led 14-0 at quarters end.