Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 104, Number 35, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 28 January 1981 — Page 13

First in NW history Girls unbeaten

The girls varsity basketball team became the first undefeated team in North Wood athletic history Monday with a 55-22 romp over West Noble. The triumph in the last regular season contest gave the girls a record of 18-0 entering sectional play tonight (Wednesday) against' Bethany Christian. Brenda Ervin led the way for the Panthers with 17 points, going 5 for 6 at the line. Steph Beck also hit double

Wrestlers qualify ... • _.j .> ". . seven to regional

In a day filled with some pleasant surprises and a couple of disappointments the Panther wrestling team advanced seven boys to regional competition hext Saturday in Goshen. The team finished the day in third place in the team competition behind first place Bremen and second place Goshen. “We knew the competition would be tough and we would need some upsets to finish the day on top," Coach Louis Bonacorsi said. “We had our chances at Bremen in the final round pairing up five times and only behind 12' 2 points.” In the last session the Panthers were able to win only one of these bouts which allowed the Lions to spread the final score to 171-148. “I was most pleased with our lightweight wrestlers," Coach Bonacorsi said. “Two boys, Fred Johnson and Steve Hummel, came up with big wins in the first round to keep our hopes alive in the team scoring.” Two big disappointments came when both Jeff Kirkdorffer and Kevin Mullet, two seniors hnd number one Seeds in the tourney, were both beaten by their Bremen foes. At 98 pounds Jon Flickinger continued his winning ways and boosted his record *to 19-1 while winning his fourth tournament this season! ( In the first round Flickinger pinned Jeff Lorenz of Fairfield in 5:-24 and in

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Jeff Fervida was oneof three sectional champions for the North Wood wrestlers las He defeated last year’s champion Brock Rose of Goshen 6-4 in the championship bout. His record is 14-6, the best record a freshman has had in varsity wrestling at North Wood.

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Sectional champions North Wood's three champions at the sectional meet last Saturday were (from left) Jon Flickingej at !IX. I.arry Misher at 126. and Jeff Fervida at 105. (AN photo)

digits with 11 points. Ann Van Dyke and Candy Bontrager each had eight points while Val Walter contributed six. Rounding out the Panther scoring were Patsy Wenger with three and Kelly Gessinger with two. Vonda Mullet was lost to the Panthers with an ankle injury. The rebounding game was led by Gessinger with 10 caroms and VanDyke with nine. Asa team the Panthers hit 23 of 56

the title match he defeated Randy Eveler of Goshen 12-1. “Jon has wrestled well all season and should have a good shot at the regional title," Coach Bonacorsi said. At 105 Jeff Fervida was also a champion as a freshman. Fervida opened his day by pinning Sergyo Augayo of Bremen and in the championshfp bout defeated last years champion Brock Rose of Goshen 6-4. Fervida improved his record to 14-6 which is the best record a freshman has had in varsitv wrestling at North Wood. Again this week Larry Mishler, senior 126 pound wrestler, brought home the championship honors. Mishler easily won the NLC last week and defended his last year’s sectional title with a 32 second pin over Don McCann of Goshen. In the finals Mishler s Bremen opponent did not show because of a rib injury. Mishler,,a second place finisher in the regional last season, is a hopeful champ this time around.. Second place finishes were earned by 112 pound freshman Fred Johnson. Johnson defeated Paul Taylor of Bremen, last year's sectional champion, by a 2-0 score. Johnson scored a reversal with two seconds left in the match to advance into the finals where he was defeated by Tracey Baley of Goshen 10-3. At 119 pounds Steve Hummel, a

from the floor for 41 percent while West Noble connected only 8 of 46 for a frigid 17 percent. West Noble, winless in 16 games, hit 6 of 11 free throws while the Panthers canned 9 of 26. The Panthers jumped out to an 11-6 lead at the first stop and extended it to 28-11 at halftime. It was sealed in the third quarter as the Panthers outscored their hosts 17-4 to take a 45-15 lead at the third stop.

sophomore, advanced into the finals with a big win over Eric Taylor of Goshen 9-0. Taylor had beaten Hummel 6-4 the week before in the NLC tournament and Humme4''was up for this match. In the finals Hummel lost to Dave Kopke of Bremen 19-4. At 167 Jeh' Kirkdorffer easily won his opening match over Jeff Holden of Goshen with a pin. In finals Kirkdorffer lost to Todd Hand of Bremen. The two had met twice earlier which ended in a tie and a win for Kirkdorffer. At 185 Kevin Mullet opened his day with a pin over Brent Leatherman of Fairfield and advanced into the finals where he met Curt Main of Bremen. Like Kirkdorffer, Mullet had also beateruMain and lost to him in earlier season. Mullet led 5-4 going into the final 20 seconds of the match when Main scored a takedown to win 6-5. Other place winners were: 145 Roland Rohrer, third; 155 Greg Urednick, third; heavyweight Keith Morin, third; 132 Brian Ramer, fourth; 138 Carl Reinhardt, fourth; 177 Todd Eby, fourth. The regional will be at Goshen Saturday with sessions at 9:30, 2:30 and ,6:30. The champions will meet a second place finisher from another'sectional while our second place people will meet a champion.

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Yeater in action ) North Wood’s Mike Yeater (50) reaches to block a Pilgrim shot during basketball action against -f Plymouth at the Panther Pit Friday. Yeater led the Panthers with 23 points against the Pilgrims and hauled down 14 rebounds. (AN Photo)

Close encounters: Pilgrims triumph in overtime

By Dallas Bean For the second game ina row. Northwood’s Panthers were involved in a close encounter of the worst kind, and for the second time in a row, the Panthers lost their concentration, and the game—this one an overtime NLC battle with Plymouth's Pilgrims, Friday night in the Pit. Plymouth needed the conference win badly, to stay in the race for the top position With Warsaw. The Pilgrims were down by two points twice in the extra period, but fought back to tie the score, and finally outscore the Panthers to win 6-2 in overtime, and 74-70 in the contest. The game was played before a super Hoosier crowd Plymouth will battle Warsaw for,the conference championship this Friday, in Pilgrim country. The Pilgrims, who came alive in the South Bend Holiday Tourney, are now 4-0 in the NLC and 8-5 overall. % North Wood is getting close to that big

Third time charm at LaYrHe

By DALLAS BEAN There is an old saying that goes: the third time is the charm North Wood proved that Saturday night dt LaVille as after three close encounters the Panthers, finally won a close one. defeating the Lancers 5tF54 in overtime before a good crowd. ' The Panthers lost .'to Elkhart "Memorial 74-70 on the 17th after leading by four late Then on Friday Plymouth defeated the Panthers 74-70 in overtime again after the Panthers had a chance to win in regulation time but couldn't get the job done But in their second back-to-back overtime North Wood kept cool and won its ninth victory in 13 starts LaVille. in losing to Argos for the second time in six days on Friday, and losing to North Wood now has a record of io-5. The key to North Wood's victory was the hot shooting of Kevin Riley for a season high of 24 points Rilev. hot from

tenth victory, but will have to wait until this week. The Panthers are 2-3 in the conference, and 8-4 overall. The game’s scoring honors went to Plymouth super guard Scott Skiles. The 6’ sharp-shooter hit for 55 percent, connecting on 10 of 18 from the field and eight of 10 from the line, for a gamehigh 28 points. Two other Pilgrims were in double figures. Phil Wendel hit eight of 12 buckets and added two of three free throws for 18, and Rick Vancza finished with 15. Vancza was hot from both the field and the line, hitting on four of five, and seven of eight Asa team, Plymouth shot 56 percent, on 28 of 50 from the field, and added a nifty 18 of 23 from the stripe, for 78 percent. The Panthers placed three players in double figures. Mike Yeater led the attack with 23 points. The 6’6" junior center went nine of 16 from the field, and added five of eight from the line.

the field, shot 85 percent by drilling 11 of 13 on nice soft jumpers The'6-0 junior guard made 2 of 5 free throws Todd Beer, also red hot. shot at,an 87 percent clip hitting 8 of 9 attempts from the field The 6-1 junior forward added two big free throws in the overtime for a night's total of 18 points North Woods floor general. Tim W'eaveF. did an outstanchngijob both nights in setting the offense and defense The 5-10 junior may not score many points but does his job setting shbts for his fellow players The Panthers shot a red hot 67 percent by burningThemets. hitting 26 of 39 shots Add 50 percent at the line, on 6 of 12. and North Wood has an oustandmg win on the road LaViHe placed two Lancers in double figures at 14 apiece Tom Dvkstra made 4 of 12 shots w hile hitting 6 of 7 at the line Rich Whiteman, who had a sizzling fourth going 4 for 4. 1 for 1 in the overtime plies j of 4 in the other

Mike was five for nine in the first half, and four of seven in the second half. Todd Beer finished second in the Panther scoring column, hitting six of 14 from the field, and two of three at the line, for 14 Kevin Riley found the range again, going five for six from the floor, and hitting two for two at the charity stripe, for his 42 point total. North Wood shot 52 percent as a team, on 29 of 56 from the field, and 12 of 17 from the line. Plymouth also won the rebounding game. 25-23. Vancza. a 6’2" forward, was high with eight, and Skijes and Sissel each added seven. The Panthers were led in rebounding by Yeater, with 14. One pari of the game North Wood didn't want to win, was turnovers, but the Panthers, who only had five in the second half, led the race. 25-23. In the first 2:30 of play, the Panthers comturn to pg. 63

three periods to finish 6 for 9. The 5-11 junior guard added 2 of 2 at the line. The Lancers, a very patterned team, attempted 45 shots while making 19 for 42 percent LaVille, a sharp shooting free throw*team, made 16 of 20 for 80 percent. North Wood won a low battle of the board 23-21. The Panther's leading rebounder was 6-1 Todd Beer with six. Kevin Riley had four while 6.6 center Mike Yeater blocked five shots LaVjlle's top board man was 6-2 senior center Craig Miller with 10. It appeared to be a Mike Yeater night as the junior center had made four of North Wood’s first six points as the Panthers led 6-0 a minute and a half infb the game LaVille came back slowly with their slow pattern game to trail 6-4 at 4:19 Todd Beer made it 8-4 at 3:46. Tom Dvkstra cashed in a two-shot* fouPxm Please turn to pg 6B