The Mail-Journal, Volume 23, Number 57, Milford, Kosciusko County, 28 January 1987 — Page 8

THE MAIL-JOURNAL — Wed., January 28,1987

8

Sports

Warriors second —

Wawasee matmen fall short in NLC tourney

I By MARK WEINSTEIN Sports Editor NAPPANEE - Wawasee seemed to be in the right position entering Saturday’s Northern Lakes Conference wrestling tournament at North Wood High School. The Warriors, winners of the dual-round championship in the NLC, needed to finish ahead of second-place Goshen to win the overall crown. But the Redskins turned a , previous loss to the Warriors into incentive to scalp Wawasee, 210%-190%. The loss dropped Wawasee into a first-place tie in the NLC with Goshen. Plymouth, with 156 points, placed third in the event, while Warsaw finished fourth at 141. North Wood (105), Rochester (96%), Concord (90%), and Bremen (72), rounded out the scoring. “We had a great opportunity,

GOSHEN — Friday’s Northern Lakes Conference boys’ basketball game at Goshen was not a pretty sight for Wawasee fans. The Warriors, 10-3, managed to play their worst basketball of the season the same evening Goshen,

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EFFECTIVE PASS — Darrin Atwood kneels to get this pass around Westview’s Steve Stacey during first half action against Westview. The Warriors dropped the contest, their third straight, 74-63. (Photoby Mark Weinstein)

Wawasee basketball — down but not

It could be a long season for Wawasee’s boys basketball team. The Warriors have lost three straight games — dropping their record to 10-4 — their second leading scorer, 6-3 Fred Steffen, and a little confidence. Those three factors would sideline many high school basketball teams. But I don’t look for Wawasee’s team to fqld up and call it a season. In fact, the recent problems will make the Warriors a better basketball team. I’ll guarantee it! The character of Wawasee’s basketball team will carry the Warriors through the final five weeks of the season. They have too much pride in their playing abilities to let three minor problems slow them down. Don’t get me wrong, though, the Warriors will miss Steffen’s inside game. But one player does not make a basketball team. Wawasee head coach Gary Goshert has been preaching that ever since he came to Wawasee. Since Steffen’s departure, the Warriors have struggled to score inside the paint. At Goshen, the Warriors just struggled to score. But the following evening against Westview, Wawasee’s

but we just didn’t pull together as a team,” said Wawasee’s Dave VanLue after the match. “This was the ultimate choke.” Wawasee, trailing throughout most of the match, entered the final round 2% points behind Goshen. However, it looked like the Warriors would surpass the Redskins early in the final round when Trung Nguyen and Merze Solis both lost in the championship match. Rochester’s Bumie Hayes pinned Nguyen, while Warsaw’s Mike Davis did the same to Solis. But the momentum changed suddenly a few minutes later. Wawasee’s Kevin Lepola, at 112, was in control of his match with Goshen’s Keith Whittern came back in the final seconds to force an overtime period Whittern won the extra session, 2-0, as the Warriors started sliding backwards. Jody Miller won the 119 title, defeating Wawasee’s Eliseo Roa, 7-4. After Plymouth’s Tim Roahrig outdistanced the War-

Redskin defense scales Warriors

7*7, enjoyed its finest showing on the campaign. The result —a 57-33 Redskin victory — was obvious right from the start. Goshen’s victory was its first victory over a Wawasee team since the 1981-82 season. And with

game improved — at both ends of the court. The intensity that sent the Warriors to a 7-1 record at the midway point of their season almost helped the Warriors defeat a very good Westview team. Keying the effort was Wawasee’s determination to play hard. Everyone that played, did so in that fashion. The starters played well, especially Brian Rensberger. A role player in the past, Rensberger has been pressed into full-time duty He led the team in rebounds, and played adequate defense The other players particularly the reserves, tun in a stellar performance . .hn Erasure, Brett Harter, James Braggs and Matt Dick did everything Goshert expected of them. Erasure was solid underneath, while Harter played well in the frontcourt. Braggs’ specialty — defense — was very important to the Warriors. Although he got out of control late in the game,* be was able to create some problems for the visiting Warriors. The final reserve, Dick, was the most spectacular. The sophomore guard, inserted for shooting purposes, canned four-

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WORKING HARD — Wawasee’s Jeff Welborn works to defeat Warsaw’s Kelly Frank in the championship round of the Northern Lakes Conference wrestling tournament. <•

the loss, Wawasee falls into a second place tie with Warsaw in the Northern Lakes Conference. The Warriors stumble to 2-1 in the NLC while Goshen raised its mark to 2-2. “We played a solid game,

On The Mark

-VW Igt

MARK WEINSTEIN

of-five long-range field goals in the final quarter. With Dick’s accurate touch from the perimeter, the Warriors may have found someone that can take some pressure off of Mangas’ shoulders. However, the next couple of weeks will be character tests for the Warriors. It will be a time for the Warriors to see what they are made o(. The results will be interesting to watch. Anyway, Wawasee’s boys basketball team is far from dead. They are struggling, for sure, but with the group of athletes

especially in the first half,” insisted Goshen head coach Mike Sorrell, following the Redskins’ impressive victory. “When you can single out your mistakes, you know you’ve played 16 minutes of good basketball. That’s what we did in the first half.” The Redskins took the game away from the Warriors right at the start. Connecting on its first four fielders, Goshen raced out to a 10-2 lead. Mike Essig did the damage early for Goshen as he scored six of the Redskins’ first 10 points. He finished the contest with 19. However, Wawasee showed some signs of coming back late in the period. Trailing 14-5, Darrin Atwood and Nathan Rhoades temporarily brought the War riors back with a field goal each. But Wawasee’s ending in the period was simply that — its ending. From that point, the Redskins dominated every phase of the game. They shot the ball extremely well, and played exceptional defense. The Redskins’ defensive performance shut down Wawasee’s offensive attack the entire game. The Warriors were unable to generate any offense inside the paint, and very little from the perimeter. Jason VanCuren, although failing to score, was the Redskins’ most valuable player in this contest. He, along with Essig, stopped Wawasee’s scoring ace, Tim Mangas, cold. Mangas/ entering the contest with a 23.6 scoring average, collected six points in the game — all from the foul line. He missed

Wawasee swimmers breeze past North Wood

NAPPANEE — Wawasee’s boys swim team improved its record to 7-1 Saturday, Jan. 24, with an easy 123-49 victory at North Wood. In claiming the victory, Wawasee won nine individual events. The only two events the Warriors failed to win were the 100-yard butterfly and 500 freestyle.

Goshert has on the team, it is only a matter of time before they recover and start thumping the opponents. Well, back by popular demand is an update of former Northern Lakes Conference athletes. This week I am focusing on former NLC swimmers. Former Wawasee swimmer Pam Foyle set a new school record in the 500 freestyle for the University of Indianapolis. Foyle finished in 5:24.43, eclipsing her former record of 5:26.46. Foyle broke another one of her records — the 1000 freestyle. She finished in 11:09, smashing the former mark of 11:14. Also at the University of Indianapolis, North Wood’s Abby Lelle finished first in the 50 free and 100 free during a meet with the University of Evansville. Lelle won the 50 free with a 25:30 clocking, then won the 100 free with a 56:70 effort Meanwhile, for Evansville, former Wawasee swimmer Jennifer Darr placed second in the 200 freestyle. She won the 400 IM witha4:4stime. In men’s competition, two former Concord swimmers had good meets against the Universi-

Welborn defeated Frank 11-2 as his father, Richard Welborn, looks on in the background. (Photo by Mark Weinstein)

his eight field goal attempts in,, the game. While Van Curen and Essig took turns guarding Mangas, Goshen increased its lead in the second quarter. The Redskins, in scoring the first eight points in the period, used a balanced attack to widen the margin. Kevin Wilfong started the Goshen run with a nifty 15-foot jumper from the right baseline. After Brian Vanderßeyden and Thad Holden added fielders, Wilfong capped the spurt with another baseline jumper. Wawasee, similar to its play in the first period, mounted a mild comeback late in the stanza. But the Warriors could only 'slice Goshen’s largest lead, 14 points, by two at halftime. The Warriors, trailing by a dozen at the break, could only come within eight, 39-31, early in the final period. But the Redskins closed the contest with a 18-2 spurt to win the game with ease. “The reason we lost was the way we played in the first two quarters,” said Wawasee head coach Gary Goshert after the embarrassing loss. “I’m very disappointed in the way we played. We were not ready to play tonight.” What an understatement. The Warriors failed to execute at either end of the court. Wawasee’s offense struggled, as its 11-of-51 effort from the field (21%), tells the story. At the defensive end, Wawasee couldn’t control Goshen’s offense, especially Essig and Wilfong. “There weren’t many things that we executed very well,” insisted Goshert. “I don’t care if you talk about offense or

Winning for the Warriors were Brad Smith in the 200-yard freestyle with his 1:55.9 showing. Other winners include Matt Fry back, 50 freestyle; Dave Keener, diving; Mark,Rich, 100 freestyle; Darin Keim, 100-yard backstroke; Glen Guimond, 100-yard breaststroke; and both relay teams. The Warriors won the first

ty of Evansville. John Ham won the 200 free and 200 IM. Rob Hirt placed second in the 200 IM and third in the 200 butterfly. □ Basketball statistics from Grace College arrived this week, and, as I expected, several former Northern Lakes Conference athletes are doing well for the Lancers. Worth Packer is shooting the best from the field (among NLC players) with a 45% accuracy. The leader is former Penn standout, Paul Zeltwanger (55%). From the charity stripe, Packer is tops among former conference players at 81%. Zeltwanger leads the team with his 84% shooting. Joe Graham leads the Lancers in scoring with a 16.6 average, but, Packer is averaging 10.4 points a contest. Tylor Coley, Concord, averages 5.5 points, while Seth Swihart average 2.3 points. Without a doubt, Jeff Welborn is Wawasee’s outstanding wrestler this season. Welborn leads the Warriors with 99 takedowns, most two-point nearfalls (53) and three-point nearfalls (19). He also leads Wawasde

defense.” Although the Warriors played poorly, some of the problem, even though it did not cost the Warriors the game, was the absence of 6-3 junior, Fred Steffen. Injured in a snowmobile accident the day before, Steffen is expected to be on the sidelines from four-to-six weeks with his broke collarbone. Steffen is Wawasee’s second leading scorer, and top rebounder. “Our offense is not geared for one person or two,” added Goshert. “That’s not our concept. If we execute our offense, we’re going to score. If we don’t execute, we’re in trouble.” For Goshert, execution includes making strong cuts, good picks, getting good passing, and good ball movement. All of those items were missing from Wawasee’s play at Goshen. Although Goshert failed to point any fingers, Sorrell felt the Warriors sorely missed Steffen’s offensive skills. “There’s no question that offensively, Steffen is a superior player to those who replaced him,” said Sorrell. “But, we’d like to think that we could have beaten them anyway.” Essig paced the Redskins’ attack with 19 points. Wilfong chipped in 12, while Vanderßeyden finished with 10. Wawasee was led by senior Nathan Rhoades' 14 points and seven rebounds. Brian Rensberger, substituting for Steffen, failed to score, but pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. John Erasure added eight rebounds for the Warriors.

event, the 400-yard medley relay in 1:51.8. David Ridings, Guimond, Steve Rozow, and Paul Morel led the effort. Meanwhile, the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, also went to Wawasee. Fryback, Morel, Brian Neff, and Smith performed the victorious swim in 3:34.48.

with 16 technical falls and has the teams best record, 26-0-0. Other statistical leaders for Wawasee are Garrett Poncioroli, most escapes (13), Bob Doerr and Josh Lantz, most reversals (16), and Scott Shoemaker, most falls and fastest fall. Shoemaker has 14 falls, with the quickest coming in 17 seconds. □ . I don’t know about yoy, but I thought the Super Bowl was one of the better ones in many years. Both teams played the style of football that brought them to Pasadena. But the main reason why I enjoyed the game was the both teams are the ones that I predicted to play in the super bowl at the start of the season. What a lucky guess I!! Wouldn’t it be nice for fans in the midwest to have two teams in next years Super Bowl? How about the Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions in Super Bowl XXII? * Maybe another lucky guess! □ Joining the panel as this week’s guest is Wawasee assistant basketball coach Neal Frantz. Frantz, a former baseball and basketball standout at Whitko

riors’ Josh Lantz in the 155 championship bout, 8-7, the Pilgrims’ Dean Dodson whipped Chris Yoder 7-1. “We lost two close matches at 112 and 119 to Goshen. That’s two champs for them and no points for us,” added VanLue. “Then we got beat at 132 to them. Those are the ones we had to have.” By then, Wawasee’s chances at claiming the overall Northern Lakes Conference title were very slim. Brett Traviolia preceeded to drop the 138 class, 14-7, to Plymouth’s Steve Feliciano. In the match, Traviolia nearly pull,ed out the victory in the final seconds, but Feliciano held on for the championship. Jeff Welborn was the lone Wawasee champion on the day. The 145-pounder had little trouble in gaining the championship. He opened the day-long affair by defeating Bob Suhanosky, 26-11. He followed that victory with a technical fall victory over North Wood’s Phil Hahn. [Welborn claimed the championship with his 11-2 decision of Warsaw’s Kelly Frank. With the win, Welborn raised his season mark to2B-0. Scott Shoemaker was the only other Wawasee finalist. At 185,

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NLC CHAMPION — Jeff Welborn holds the card showing his Northern Lakes Conference championship during the conference tournament held Saturday at North Wood High School. Welborn, 28-0. easily won the 145-pound weight class.

Medley Relay — Wawasee (David Ridings, Glen Guimond, Steve Rozow, Paul Morel), 1:51.6; Wawasee; North Wood. Freestyle — Brad Smith (W), 1:55.9; Mark Rich (W); Shane Maust (NW). 200 Medley — Steve Schmahl (W), 2:23.4; Scott Berkey (W), Glen Guimond (W). 50 Freestyle — Matt Fryback (W), 24.1; Paul Morel (W); Nate Lelle (NW). Diving - David Keener (W), 232.1; David Neterer (W); Ken Ferguson (W). 100 Butterfly - Nate Lelle (NW), 1:00.7; Eric Hood (W); Scott Rozow

High School, was the logical choice this week. However, it seems like Frantz has cut the ties between his former high school — at least that’s the way it looks by his selections. Without hesitation, Frantz selected the Warriors to defeat the Wildcats Friday evening. The same can’t be said, however, about his ties to Grace College. The former Lancer gave Grace the edge over Marion College in this weekend’s Mid-Central Conference clash. [Anyway, nine games highlight our picking this week. Included in the card is Wawasee’s home contest against Bill Patrick’s Whitko Wildcats. The other games include Bremen at Warsaw, Plymouth at North Wood, Rochester at Concord, Goshen at Penn, Fairfield at Westview, Grace at Marion, Goshen College at Huntington* and the tie-breaking game, Purdue at Indiana, and the score. Last Saturday’s Northern Lakes Conference wrestling tournament was not very enjoyable for Wawasee fans. It seems like the past couple of weeks, everything that can go wrong for

— i Goshen’s Harold Schmucker* decisioned Shoemaker 4-3. “We needed more intensity. We didn’t get it, and Goshen did,” concluded VanLue. “We fell short all along the way. We’ve fallen short in almost every tourney this season. Now it is time to pull it all together.” The Warriors enter post-season action this weekend at the East Noble Sectional. Team Scores — Goshen 210'6, Wawasee 100'6, Plymouth 150, Warsaw 141, North Wood 1:5, Rochester 96'6, Concord 90'6, Bremen 72. Championship Round 98 — Burnle Hayes (R) p. Trung Nguyen (G), 5:33. 105 — Mike Davis (Wr) p. Merze Solis (G), 1:21. 112 — Keith Whittern (G) d. Kevin Lepola (Ww), 2-0, overtime. 119 — Jody Miller (G) d. Eliseo Roa (Ww), 7-4.126 — Andy Ecklebarger (G) d. Dan Moon (W), 6-4.132 — Kent Schooley (P) (G) ts. Bob Doerr (Ww), 150-0.138 — Steve Feliciano (P) d. Brad Traviolia (Ww), 14-7. 145 — Jeff Welborn (Ww) d. Kelly Frank (Wr), 11-2. 155 — Tim Roahrig (P) d. Josh Lantz (Ww), 8-7. 167 — Dean Dodson (P) d. Chris Yoder (Ww), 7-1. 177 - Ron Coffel (B) d. Ryan Miller (NW), 6-2. 185 — Harold Schmucker (G) d. Scott Shoemaker (Ww), 4-3. Hwt. — Dan Boyd (R) d. ron Telschow (G), 5-2.

(W). 100 Freestyle - Mark Rich (W), 51.8; Steve Rozow (W); Matt Fryback (W). 500 Freestyle - Keith Bush (NW), 5:18.4; Shane Maust (NW); Brad Smith (W). 100 Backstroke — Derin Keim (W), 101.7; David Ridings (W); Mike Lawrence (W). 100 Breaststroke — Glen Guimond (W), 1:09.0; Doug Berger (NW); Steve Ensinger (W). Freestyle Relay — Wawasee (Fryback, Morel, Brian . Nett, Smith), 3:34.4; Wawasee; North Wood.

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any Wawasee athletic team, will. Anyway, reflecting on the positive, Wawasee’s matmen have gone 20 consecutive NLC dual matches without a loss. The streak started in 1984 with a Wawasee victoryover Bremen. The Warriors closed out the 1984 campaign with two straight wins. Since then, the Warriors have been perfect in conference action. What an impressive record!! MARK WEINSTEIN (.825) — Whitko, Warsaw, North Wood, Concord, Penn, Westview, Grace, Goshen, Indiana (78-69). DERK KUHN (.756) —Wawasee, Warsaw, North Wood, Concord, Goshen, Westview, Grace, Huntington, Indiana (51-50). HOMER MILLER (.738) —Whitko, Warsaw, Plymouth, Concord, Penn, Marion, Huntington, Purdue (83-75). ♦NEAL FRANTZ (.713) —Wawasee, Warsaw, Plymouth, Concord, Penn, Westview, Grace, Huntington, Indiana (85-79). MARK HUFFMAN (.688) —Wawasee, Warsaw, Plymouth, Concord, Penn, Westview, Grace, Huntington, Indiana (72-69). ♦Denotes Guest Panelist