by Gary Andrews

All four county schools will be represented in next Saturday’s cross-country regionals as several teams and individuals had a great day at the sectional. Northfield, Wabash and Southwood were at the Marion sectional while Manchester was at Culver.

In each race the top five teams advance to the regional plus the top ten runners who were not on a qualifying team.

At Marion the day got started with the girls race with Northfield’s Jenna Halderman winning the race in 18:38.5 to lead the Lady Norse to a third place team finish.  Brittany Sloan placed 7th,  Karla Singer 11th,  Jacklyn Peas 18th,  Natasha Leland 20th, Olivia Thompson 23rd, Attie Schuler 43rd.

Southwood was fourth behind a 10th place finish from Emily Lehner.  Ellie White was 24th,  Haley Heath 27th,  Kassidy Atwood  39th, Taylor Heath 47th,  Brooke Elliott 52nd,  Emma Peebles.

Wabash had an incomplete team with  Carli Henderson leading the way in 49th.  Chelsea Archer was 55th, Courtney Davis 60th,  Angela Davis 67th.

At Culver in the girls race if anyone ever wondered how important the sixth and seventh runners are they found out as Manchester tied Tippecanoe Valley for the fifth and final qualifying spot and winning the spot because Squire sixth runner Sophia Reifeltshammer beat Valley’s sixth runner by seven spots.

Leading Manchester was Clara Burdette in 22nd place. Kaitlyn Blum was 29th, Emily Lynn 30th, Natasha Niccum 32nd, Alexis Vernon 41st, Sophia Reifeltshammer 42nd, Alexis Wagoner 52nd.

by Gary Andrews

It was the annual metro bowl with Northfield visiting Southwood and each team sitting 1-0 in the county round robin. A win by either team would let them decide their own destiny next week as they chase the county title. Northfield dominated early and built a 20-point lead, only to have to hang on in the last few seconds for a thrilling 34-28 win over the Knights.

On their second possession of the game Northfield would strike. Carter Frieden would connect with Jarred Short on a quick hitter up the middle for a 64-yard scoring strike to give the Norse a 6-0 lead with 5:04 to go. The Northfield defense would then step up big, stopping Southwood on a 4th and 5 and taking advantage. On 3rd and 1 Frieden would find Shane Vigar, again on the quick hitter for a 51-yard strike and the Norse led 13-0 after the first quarter.

After botching a Norse kick off the Knights survived a missed field goal, but on the 4th play of their drove fumbled with Northfield recovering. Five plays later Carter Frieden would take it in from 11 yards out and the Norse were in control 20-0 with 8:10 left in the half. The potent Southwood offense needed to get something going before the half and did just that. With 5:23 on the clock Robbie Cole found Nathan Hollars from 9yds out to cut the lead to 20-7. The Norse would answer however when Jackson Beery broke loose from 55 yards out with 2:44 left to open a 27-7 lead. As long as there is time on the clock the Knights have a chance to score and did just that twice the last 2:00. After a long completion to Danny Goff, Nathan Hollars would score form 4 yards out with 1:41 left to cut the lead to 27-14. The Knight defense would then come up big, forcing a fumble and recovering to give Southwood one more shot. The Knights mounted a quick drive and with 1.8 on the clock Hollars would find the end zone and the halftime score was 27-21.

The third quarter would be the exact opposite of the first two as both teams mounted drives a couple times with the defenses stepping up as neither team could find the end zone.

by Gary Andrews

The Northfield Lady Norse volleyball team won the Norse Classic on Saturday. The Norse started out the day facing Eastside. The scores were 25-19 and 25-21. The second game was against South Adams with the scores 25-14 and 25-21. Third was Fremont with scores of 25-5 and 25-19.

For the championship game, Northfield faced Woodlan and went three games with the scores 21-25, 25-17, and 16-14.

”The championship game we really never gave up the entire time. We lost the first game but realized that we were fully capable of winning so we fixed the little things that went wrong in the first game and came back and won in three. The girls played so hard all day and everyone was having a great day. We just keep making the right steps forward and just improve every single game,” said Coach Mast.

The Lady Norse are now 20-5 and are traveling to Oak Hill on Monday.

by Gary Andrews
The sectional football season gets underway Friday, Oct. 24 with the tournament draw being held this past Sunday. Northfield and Southwood will play in the 1A tournament while Manchester and Wabash play in 2A.

Football Sectional Draw
Class 1A
Southwood @ Fremont.
Northfield draws a bye and will play the winner of the South Adams/Adams Central game

Class 2A
Wabash @ Manchester

Volleyball Sectional Draw
Sectional 37 at Southwood
Match 1: Oak Hill vs. Cass
Match 2: North Miami vs. Wabash
Match 3: Northfield vs. Southwood
Match 4: Manchester vs. Winner of Match 1
Match 5: Winner of Match 2 vs. Winner of Match 3

Championship: Winner of Match 4 vs. Winner of Match 5

By Bill Barrows

We have reached week #9, the final regular season game of the high school football season.  This week, the Wabash Apaches travel to Southwood to take on the Knight, with Manchester traveling to Northfield to take on the Norse. Both will be celebrating Senior Night and are 7 p.m. kickoffs.

Rick Harness and I will lead the broadcast from Wilbur Dawes Field at Northfield High School. We will begin broadcasting at 6:45 p.m. with the set up of this long time long time county match up.

Then on Tuesday, join us for volleyball action as the Southwood Lady Knights host Tipp Valley. It is a TRC match up. We will be on the web around 7 p.m.

Next Week’s Sectional first round pairings will provide some great match ups for the county teams to prepare for. In 2A Sectional #34, Wabash will travel to Manchester for a rematch of last week’s thriller at Alumni Field, In 1A, Southwood travels to Fremont in Sectional #43. Northfield drew the bye. They will face travel to the winner of Adams Central/South Adams winner in week 2.

Join Wabash WebTV for exciting action of Indiana High School football every Friday night and on select weeknights for volleyball, swimming, wrestling and baseball in season. If you are at a game or cannot watch it live, an archive of the featured game is available on the website shortly after the completion of the games.

by Bill Barrows

The TRC varsity football schedule rolls on. This week, the Metro Battle takes place at Southwood with the Knights hosting Northfield.

The other one is Manchester traveling into Wabash to take on the Apaches. Both are 7 p.m. kickoffs.

Jim Landrum and Chandler Jones  will lead the broadcast from Alumni Field at Wabash High School. The broadcast will begin at 6:50 p.m. with the set up of this long time long time county match up. We hope you will join us!

Join Wabash WebTV for exciting action of Indiana High School football every Friday night. If you are at a game or cannot watch it live, an archive of the featured game is available on the website shortly after the completion of the games.

The Wabash County Little League is starting an adaptive baseball charter, called the Challenger Division, for special needs athletes, ages 5-22. Any parents interested in having their child play in the Challenger Division should attend a Parent Interest meeting on Oct. 22, at Southwood Elementary School, 840 E. St. Rd. Wabash, from 5:30-6:30 pm. 

Any volunteers interested in helping out should attend the meeting also.

Registration will take place in 2015. If you have any questions, please contact Joy Ruse at wabashchallengerlittleleague@gmail.com.

by Gary Andrews

Although the Manchester tennis team fell in the Peru sectional Wednesday, the number one doubles team of Branden Scott and Noah Cain won the sectional in exciting fashion to move on to the Culver regional on Tuesday, Oct. 7.

Cain and Scott started out up 3-2 but lost 4 of the next 5 games and set one, 4-6. The Manchester duo regrouped with improved service returns and more energy to take the next set, 6-4. The final set saw Manchester lead until 5-4 when Peru mounted a last stand to win 2 games. Down 5-6, Noah Cain powered the team back even at 6-6 forcing a deciding tiebreaker to 7 points. Manchester would fight off two match points at 4-6 to get a match point at 7-6 and again at 8-7. Finally, at 9-8, Manchester prevailed 10-8.

“Branden brought the energy and Noah proved steady and the most consistent player on the court to earn the win,” said Coach Eichenauer.

The duo is now 17-1 for the season with their lone loss coming from Norwell on Sept. 8 and will face Culver Academies at the Culver regional.