by Gary Andrews

The Wabash County wrestling invitational was held at Northfield Saturday. Dec. 7, with Northwood taking the overall title with a 5-0 record, while the Southwood Knights won the county title, going 4-1.

The Southwood Wrestling team repeated as county champions this season by defeating Northfield 48-33, Wabash 65-11, and Manchester 42-33.  The Knights also defeated Bremen 45-34, but fell short of the County Invitational title falling to Northwood 33-48.

Southwood had four County Invitational Champions:  Brandon Simpson 5-0 at 106 lbs.; Tristyn Howell 4-1 at 182 lbs.; Nick McCown 5-0 at 220lbs.; Jake Smith 5-0 at 285lbs.

Other place winners were:  Colton Dawes 4-1 second at 120lbs.; Chris Adams second 4-1 at 170lbs.;  Chance Enyeart 3-2 third at 145lbs.; Nicholas Rebholz 3-2 third at 152lbs.; Robby Garrett 2-3 fourth at 113lbs.; Brenden Schleining 2-3 fourth at 160lbs.; Zachary Ball fifth 1-4 at 125lbs.; Asher Teague fifth 1-4 at 132lbs., Dustin Curless fifth 1-4 at 138lbs.; Dylin Porter fifth 1-4 at 195lbs. Other champions from the county were Bryce Zook of Manchester, going 5-0 at 120lbs, Adam Strickler of Wabash, going 5-0 at 160lbs and Neil Snep of Manchester, going 5-0 at 195lbs.

The Western Invitational will be held on Dec. 14.

by Gary Andrews

The Wabash boys basketball team returned the favor to Peru from a year ago Friday night. Last year the Tigers nipped the Apaches on a last second shot and this year the Apaches got even. Roger Davis drained a last second three pointer to send the game to overtime, as the Apaches hit key free throws in the second OT to slip by Peru 70-63.

The game was a back and forth affair the entire night as one team would score with the other answering the call. The Apaches led 15-8 after the first quarter with Peru responding to out score Wabash in the second 14-11. Wabash led 26-22 at the half.

Peru would get the upper hand in the third, winning the quarter 13-8 to lead Wabash 35-34 with a quarter to go. The fourth quarter would be as close as the final score, as Wabash trailed by 3 when Roger Davis connected from behind the arch at the buzzer to force overtime tied at 48-48.

by Gary Andrews

The Wabash Lady Apache basketball team opened TRC play with Tippecanoe Valley Saturday, picking up a 56-44 win to start conference play 1-0.

Wabash got off to a great start, doubling up on Valley in the first quarter 16-8. The Apaches would do the double again in the second quarter 12-6 to open a 28-14 first half lead.

Valley would try to get back in the game in the third quarter, out scoring Wabash 12-8 to close the gap to 36-26 with a quarter to go. The Apaches would not falter, putting up 20 fourth quarter points in route to the 56-44 win.

by Gary Andrews

The Southwood boys varsity basketball team did the same thing to Southern Wells in their opening game that the football team did in the sectional, DOMINATE.

Southwood jumped on the Raiders in the first quarter and never let up, winning on opening night 70-42.

After Southern Wells got the first bucket of the game, senior Jackson Blair said that's enough. Blair would hit a bucket and three free throws to give the Knights a 5-2 lead. The Raiders would answer with three points to take a 5-4 lead and the game was tied at 7 when the Knights took over. Blair and Noah Kirk would drain back to back three's to go up 13-7 and was followed by two Corey Phillipy free throws for a 15-7 lead. The Knights led 15-9 after one.

The Knights would start the second quarter with a 12-0 run to open things up. Blair connected on his second three pointer, then stole the ball, feeding Ross Phillipy for a deuce. Corey Phillipy would then hit two free throws and a bucket around a Blair bucket to make it 26-9. Alex Harmon ended the run with a free throw and the Knights were in control. A bucket and a free throw from Harmon built the lead to 32-13 when the Knights went cold and the Raiders got hot. Southern Wells would score 9 straight points to close the gap to 32-22 at the half.

by Gary Andrews

The Northfield wrestling team lost to Western in their first match of the season by a score of 12-70. Drew Clark won by pin  in 2:27 and Adam Smalley won by forfeit.  Also wrestling for the Norse were Logan Carey, Matthew Carey, Drake Heitz, Dayon Waldron, Jake Stephen, Jensen Frieden, Cole Persinger, Josh Smalley, Zach Shadden and Sean Griffith.

Coach Norman said "This first match showed us where we stand as a young team.  We still have many things to work on and perfect this season."

by Gary Andrews

Saturday was Manchester's annual four-game clash with Oak Hill, as the host Squires went 2-2 on the day, winning both boys games while falling in the girls’ games.

The junior varsity girls got things going first with the Lady Squires trailing 16-10 at the half before falling 29-20.

Leading  Manchester was Emily Haecker with 4 points. Hanna Olk, and Bailey Sewell added 3 points each.  Bethany Collett, Rae Bedke, Kaitlyn Andritsch, Brooklyn Howard and Tiffany Johnson had 2 points each. Haecker would add 4 rebounds and 2 steals. Sewell had 3 rebounds and 1 steal. Thompson added 1 assist.

Next up was the junior varsity boys who dominated the first half, leading 22-12.  The Squires went on to handle the Eagles 47-28.

Leading the Squires was Bailey Ness with 10 points. David McAtee and Austin Brewer added 9 points each. Zach Hill had 6, Keelan Norwood 5, Matthew Pegg 4, Kane Gable 2, Levi Hicks 2.

In the girls varsity game, the Lady Squires jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a bucket from Cierra Carter and again had the lead 4-2 on two free throws from Tabby DeWitt and 6-4 on a bucket from DeWitt. Oak Hill would then go on a 7-0 run to go up 11-6 when Sydney Snep hit. Manchester trailed 12-8 at the first stop.

Oak Hill would extend their lead to 14-8 to start the second quarter before DeWitt hit to make it 14-10. The Eagles would increase their lead to 18-10 when DeWitt hit again. Down 20-12 Kaitlyn Parrett would find the bottom of the bucket, followed by a free throw from Emily Haecker to make it 20-15. Oak Hill would get the final bucket of the half and led 22-15.

by Gary Andrews

The Southwood Lady Knight basketball team suffered their first loss of the season Tuesday in a 51-39 loss to Oak Hill on the road.

Southwood led at the first two stops before a turnover plagued second half did them in.

Amy Bowman got the scoring started with two free throws and with the Knights leading 8-4 after buckets from Brooke Elliott and Katie Stouffer, Oak Hill would hit five straight free throws to take an 11-10 lead. Trailing 13-10 after two more Eagle free throws and two Knights on the bench with foul trouble, Abby Houlihan would come off the bench to hit two straight buckets and give Southwood a 14-13 lead. After an Oak Hill bucket, Elliott would connect with 15 seconds remaining and the Knights led 16-15 after one.

by Gary Andrews

The Wabash Apache boys’ varsity basketball team did something Wednesday they hadn't done since 1972; they won at Oak Hill. The Apaches used a balanced scoring attack with 10 players scoring in a 68-55 opening night win.

The game started like a track meet, with high tempo and plenty of shots fired. After the dust settled Oak Hill led 22-20 after the first stop.

Wabash would turn up the heat on defense in the second quarter, holding the Eagles to just 6 points, scoring 12 and leading 32-28 at the half.

The Apaches maintained their lead in the third quarter, winning the quarter 17-15 to lead 49-43 with a quarter to go.

Wabash would build their lead to double digits early in the fourth before Oak Hill chipped away, cutting the lead to four points before Wabash took control. With the Eagles trailing and having to foul, the Apaches would convert at the free throw line to seal the deal in a 68-55 win.