By Gary Andrews

The Southwood volleyball team hosted their own VolleyKnight Invite Saturday, going 3-1 and finishing runner up.

Southwood started the day defeating Blackford 25-7, 25-11, then topped Kokomo 25-13, 25-17 and Maconaquah 25-15, 25-22 to advance to the championship. The Lady Knights then fell victim to Leo 17-25, 17-25 to finish second.

Lexi Brickner led the offensive attack with 29 kills and 4 blocks on the day. Drew Rhamy added 24 kills. Sami White controlled the attack with 48 assist. The lady Knights served 25 aces on the day.

by Gary Andrews

The Southwood and Manchester football teams hooked up Friday in night one of the county round robin. The Knights defended their home turf, defeating the Squires 38-21.

The Knights did all the scoring in the first quarter when quarterback Robbie Cole connected with Noah Kirk for a 33 yard scoring strike and with the Zach Hobson kick led 7-0 after one.

The Knights would extend their lead to 13-0 in the second quarter when after a drive Nathan Hollars took it in from 4 yards out with 6:07 to play. The Squires would then get the goose egg off the board with 3:55 left on a Lucas Schilling 4 yard TD and after the Ross Messer kick it was 13-7. The Knights would answer right before the half when Cole found Jackson Blair for a 10-yard scoring strike and the Knights led 20-7 at the half.

by Gary Andrews
It was homecoming night at Wabash as the Northfield Norsemen came to town. In night one of the county round robin the Norse would spoil the Wabash special night, defeating the Apaches 41-22.
For the first 11:00 of the game it was a defensive battle as both teams chewed up the clock keeping the ball on the ground. After each team had a possession, the Norse took the ball over on the 12 yard line after a great Roger Davis punt with 4:29 on the clock. The Norse kept the ball on the ground, mounting a drive that had two big runs, one from Shane Vigar and one from Alec Wells to get to the Wabash 22. Two plays later Carter Frieden went to the air, finding Wells from 18 yards out with 1:08 on the clock to take a 7-0 lead after one.
After holding the Apaches to start the second quarter, the Norse wasted no time in finding the end zone again. On an 8-play drive the Norse marched 54 yards when Frieden found Jarred Short from 14 yards out with 8:05 remaining to take a 14-0 lead. The Norse would score one more time in the quarter. Alec Wells would run an Apache punt back to the Wabash 13 and two plays later Shane Vigar found pay dirt from 7 yards out to give Northfield a 21-0 lead at the half.

By Gary Andrews

The Northfield Lady Norse volleyball team beat Blackford in three games Thursday night. 25-8, 25-17, 25-18. Holly Dyson led the game with 22 points, 5 aces, 2 kills, and 4 digs. Liz Howenstine set up 27 assists on the night, and Kylie Echard connected for 13 kills and Tori Snyder added 7 kills. Elaina Terrell added 4 kills and Cassidy Miller added one. Echard also had 5 solo blocks, 1 assist block, 10 digs, and 8 receptions. Arie Kennedy added 2 kills, one ace, 10 points, 12 receptions, and 15 digs. Abigail Poole tallied 13 points, 7 receptions, and 5 digs. Marlee Stefanatos picked up 2 digs and 4 receptions. Snyder added 2 aces on the night and Terrell added an assist block. Howenstine also had 4 digs. Paige Holley added a kill as well; Cherish Leming added an assist and Dyson had 2 assists.

By Gary Andrews
The Manchester and Wabash boys’ tennis teams trekked to Peru Thursday to battle for the sectional title. After a half hour delay because of rain the Squires topped the Apaches 4-1 for the crown.
The win was the first sectional crown for Manchester since 2006.
One singles Connor Eichenauer, Manchester Def. JD Boone, Wabash 6-0, 6-2
Two singles Max Karg, Manchester Def. Edward Dillard, Wabash 6-2, 6-0
Three singles Kody Fuller, Wabash Def. Brayton Spann, Manchester 6-3, 6-2
One double Noah Cain and Morgan Metzger, Manchester Def. Aaron Hartley and Thomas Grier, Wabash 6-1, 6-3
Two doubles Dalton Day and Branden Scott, Manchester Def. Taylor Vigar and Jalen Grier, Wabash 5-7, 7-6, 6-2

By Gary Andrews

The Wabash Varsity Volleyball team placed 2nd at the Peru Invitational on Saturday.  The Apaches were the top seed after pool play going 3-0 in the morning.  More impressively, they did this without any seniors on the floor, as Lyndsie Thomas, Kyleigh Hampton and Shai Parrett were all gone taking the S.A.T.s.  The seniors did arrive in time to play the championship match against Huntington North.  Scores and stats for the day are as follows:

By Gary Andrews

The Northfield and Wabash junior high and high school cross-country teams took the long trip to Adams County Saturday to run in the South Adams Invite. Plenty of hardware was brought back as the Wabash junior high boys and the Northfield varsity girls won. Adding to the hardware was the Northfield junior high girls and Northfield varsity boys, both placing second.

The top finishers on the day were Derek Vogel of Wabash and Luke Mattern of Wabash taking 4th & 5th in the junior high boys race, Natasha Leland and Michelle Hunt of Northfield going 6th & 8th in the girls junior high race. In the boys high school race Devin Tracy and Joe Burcroff were 5th & 10th with Wabash’s Sam Hall placing 15th.

Northfield’s Jenna Halderman won the girls race with Brittany Sloan and Karla Singer placing 3rd and 4th. Carli Henderson was 64th for Wabash.

By Bill Barrows

     The four Wabash County varsity football teams now begin the phase of the season where they begin playing each other, during the latter stages of the regular season as the Three Rivers Conference schedule winds down. 

     The Manchester Squires travel to the southern end of the county to play the Southwood  Knights. Manchester will be coming off of a disappointing loss at Rochester. Rochester’s strong running game and stiff defense put an end to the Squires hopes fairly early. The Knights won on the road at North Miami, but will be looking to play more consistent football this week. This match-up could be a good one as both teams lay it on the line.