The Mail-Journal, Volume 27, Number 48, Milford, Kosciusko County, 11 January 1989 — Page 8

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THE MAIL-JOURNAL — Wed., January 11,1989

Sports

Warriors score back-to-back ° • * victories over Plymouth-West Noble

(By SCOTT DAVIQSON Sports Writer “We’re starting to play with more and more confidence and we’ve got a good combination of seven to eight players going right now,” remarked Wawasee boys' basketball coach Gary Goshert after seeing his squad raise its record to 4-6 after putting together back-to-back victories this past weekend for the first time during the 1988-89 campaign. The Warriors, playing without leading scorer Matt Koble (sidelined with a pulled muscle), captured their first road victory of the year last Friday as they defeated Plymouth 53-49 with Pete Bonner sealing the win with a lay-up at the buzzer after a beautiful inbounds pass. “The key for us was that we were able to maintain our patience and execute offensively (get good shots) in crucial situations,” said Goshert following the victory on the Pilgrims home

Cogers to face Raiders, Vikings in action this week

(By SCOTT DAVIDSON Sports Writer “We are gaining more and more confidence with our play and we just have to continue working on maintaining our poise in crucial situations during games,” stated Wawasee head coach Gary Goshert after watching his Warriors move to 4-6 on the season with a pair of wins against Plymouth (53-49) and West Noble (71-55) last weekend. This weekend finds Goshert and His troops involved in another high school double-dip as they will host the 3-6 Northridge Raiders on Friday evening before treking to Mentone on Saturday night to face the 6-3 Vikings of Tippecanoe Valley. “Northridge’s record may not show it but they’re a team that plays well and that will play an uptempo style of game especially on defense where they’ll apply pressure all over the floor,” stated Goshert. First year Northridge coach Mike Lord stated that his team has been very competitive and very close in their games thus far during the season. “Maintaining a consistent four quarters of play has been our problem and we've had to try to come back after falling behind in a lot of our games,' said Lord. Lord commented that his team likes to run on offense when the opportunity presents itself although his team has been working to execute on offense in a halfcourt game more lately because of their lack of size. “We like to press on defense and the key to our success is to have everyone playing as a team,” emphasized Lord. “Coach Goshert has done a great job with his team and I think that they’ve shown a lot of improvement with their play and their won-loss record isn’t indicative of the team that they have,” commented Lord. He added that his goal for his Raider squad is to get rid of one of the team’s weaknesses during each contest. The probable starting line-up for Northridge on Friday night, according to Lord, will be 6’o’ Jeremy Lord and 5’9” Gareth Troyer in the backcourt,with 6’2’ Eric Call, 6’2* Tim Troyer and 6’o* Tim Burkholder up front for the Raiders. The Raiders, coming off of a . 73-34 thumping of Jimtown and a defeat at the hands of Elkhart Central (69-61) last weekend, are led by the 17.8 scoring average of senior Lord. “Lord is a very good player who can score, shoot and pass,” commented Goshert about the son of Northridge’s first year coach. In addition to Lord, juniors T. Troyer and G. Troyer are collecting an average of 11.7 and 10.3 points-per-game respectively for the Raider squad. On Saturday evening beginning with the junior varsity contest which is scheduled to tip-off at 6:30 p.m., the Warriors will do battle with a squad of Tippecanoe Valley Vikings led by sixth year coach Bob Dußois. “Tippe Valley is a very strong team in terms of their talent and their physical make-up and they will present some difficult obstacles for our team,’-’ remarked Goshert. , The Vikings, currently 6-3 on the 88-89 campaign, defeated Southwood 64-62 while dropping a 53-50 decision to Argos last weekend. Two of the Vikings starters, Dion Anglin and Steve

court. Wawasee was able to control the game from the outset as a Chris Conkling lay-up gave the Warriors a 4-2 lead early into the first quarter. The Warriors were able to maintain their lead throughout the entire contest, leading the host Pilgrims 10-4, 21-16 and 34-26 and 53-49 at each of the quarter stops. Wawasee received a fine performance from senior Matt Dick who collected 22 points including 3 three-point shots, to match Pilgrim Pat Dragani for game high scoring honors. “Matt took a lot of good shots tonight and that’s the kind of player that he can be for us," commented Goshert. Although Dick was the only Warrior to reach double figures, teammates Bonner, Rob Huey and Cdhkling chipped in with eight, seven and six points respectively. “We still have some work to do but I feel that we’re gaining on the situation after seeing the way that we were able to handle the good pressure that Plymouth threw at us tonight,” emphasized

Dunnuck were injured in last weekend’s action, but according to coach Dußois both of them have been cleared by doctors to resume practice this week. “Hopefully by Saturday Dion and Steve will be able to perform but we’re still going to be nicked up,” stated Dußois. The Vikings present a balanced attack with the probable starters 0 for them on Saturday being Scott Smith (11.2), Anglin (13.5), Pete Terpstra (13.8), Dunnuck (9.8) and Craven Lynn (14.1). “We have very good balance on our team and we like to play what you would call an uptempo game on both ends of the floor," stated Dußois. Dußois, who admitted that he doesn't know that much about the Wawasee squad that he will face on Saturday, remarked that his team will have to play hard and rebound well to be successful against the Warriors. “I haven't seen Wawasee play since back in November but it’s obvious that they’re playing better now,” added Dußois. “Tippe Valley has a lot of athletic talent and we’ve had some very close games with them the past two years so I’m expecting a dogfight when we face them this Saturday,” emphasized Goshert. “We have a nice combination of seven or eight players . going right now and we just have to continue this weekend to take care of our own performance," concluded Goshert. _

Freshman eagers win two of three, now 6-5

I By SCOTT DAVIDSON Sports Writer ‘q’m happy with the way that the team has progressed since our 0-4 start but we realize that we still have a long way to go," remarked Wawasee boys’ freshmen basketball coach Roger Brady after seeing his team improve its record to 6-5 on the year by winning two of three contests in the past week. The freshmen Warriors went to 5-4 on the season (their fifth win in a row) with a “marathon", 68-62 triple-overtime victory at Whitko last Thursday (Jan. 5). Leading the way for the freshmen eagers against the Wildcats was Arie Dewees who pumped in 21 points. Also tallying double figures for Wawasee were Thanh Tran with 15, Mason Robbins with 13 and Jamie Stambaugh with 10, while teammate Aaron Sincroft chipped in with seven markers. “The win at Whitko was really a total team effort and the guys really hung in there and didn't quit,” emphasized Brady. He added that the team played some outstanding defense up front and that they were able to hit their foul shots under pressure (they connected on 18-25 for the game) Wawasee was able to get some “revenge” on Saturday (Jan 7) as they extended their winning streak to six games with a 42-35 win over host Manchester (a team that had defeated the Warriors 54-42 on Nov. 28) in the Manchester Tourney “This was a game that we really wanted since they had beaten us earlier in the year and I think that it was one of

a happy Goshert after. Friday’s game. Friday night’s contest saw Wawasee connect on 18-35 (51%) from the field while limiting Plymouth to 18-38 (47%). The Warriors hit 14-21 (67%) from the free throw line and Plymouth hit on 13-16 (81%). Plymouth snared 24 rebounds to 22 for Wawasee (Huey led the team with five) while each squad was guilty of

BB * A I* I - .— . . ' I - r. * J-* ’ f -jM? ---- —- -™ TIP-OFF TO VICTORY — Senior Rob Huey (right!, Wawasee’s starting center, stretches to outreach center Ken Hartsough of West Noble during the opening tip-off of the Warriors 71-55 victory over the Chargers last Saturday evening at Wawasee High School. Huey was one of four Warriors to score in double figures on Saturday as he tallied 11 points to help Wawasee raise its record to 4-6 on the season with the easy w in. (Photo by Scott Davidson)

our biggest victories of the season,” commented Brady. The Warriors raced out to a 13-6 advantage after the first quarter against Manchester and never looked back as Dewees led the team once again by connecting for 16 points. Tran and Sincroft aided the Wawasee win with seven points each while Jamie Conkling scored six for the victors “We were able to concentrate and do a good job with our defense (especially up front) and even though we didn’t shoot the ball well (12-42 from the field > we were able to get good shots,” stated Brady. . After defeating Manchester on Saturday morning, the Warriors dropped a 54-48 decision to Fort Wayne Homestead in a Saturday afternoon contest to go to 6-5 on the year. “We were very tired when we played Homestead and our kids just weren't fresh,” said Brady about the team’s first loss after six consecutive victories The Warriors, who trailed the Spartans by just a single point 23-22 at halftime, received a balanced scoring effort versus Homestead as Sincroft led the team with 12 points, while teammates Tran. Dewees and Robbins added 10, eight and seven points respectively. “Homestead had some good height and some good players on the inside and we weren't able to do a good enough job with our post defense against them,” said Brady. Brady remarked that the Warriors were also hurt by the fact that they were only able to connect on 11-21 attempts from the free throw line. Additionally, the freshmen eagers missed 21 field goal attempts from inside 10 feet

committing 16 turnovers. The Warrior junior varsity squad improved to 5-4 on the season as they also defeated the host Pilgrims last Friday, scoring a 54-51 verdict in overtime. The JV squad received a balanced scoring attack in the win as Keith Hardy led the team with 14 points while teammates Dennis Garland and Jason Mickley also reached double figures with 12

during Saturday afternoon's defeat. “We’ve been getting good shots the entire season but the ball's just not going in the hole for us,” emphasized Brady, adding that the team will continue to work on their shooting in practices. The freshmen Warriors will begin a five-game homestand tomorrow night when they serve as hosts to the Concord Minutemen in a contest scheduled to get underway at 6:30 p.m “I expect Concord to have some very good athletes, as usual,and to be a quick and good shootihg team.” Brady stated He added that he also expects the Minutemen to be a good post-up team that will present a challenge for the Warriors because of the athletic skills that their players possess. After hosting Concord tomorrow evening. Wawasee will face Fairfield next Tuesday (Jan. 17) in a game also scheduled to tipoff at£:3o p.m. at Wawasee High School . “Fairfield will probably be a very fundamentally -sound team and the key for us will be that we'll have to play harder than they do," said Brady. With the NLC Tourney now less than a month away for his squad 'the tourney will be held on Feb. 9 and 11), Brady remarked that his team's defense, which he has been pleased with for. the most part, has to continue to help the team's offense which has struggled because of poor shooting. “I'm happy that we've won six of our last seven, but the team realizes that we stilt have some areas (like shooting the ball) that we have to keep working on to im-. prove," concluded Brady

and 11 points respectively. Wawasee’s balance in the scoring column offset a fine performance by the Pilgrims Kevin Combs who bombed in 26 points including five three-pointers before he fouled out shortly into the overtime period. The Warriors returned to their home floor on Saturday evening and proceeded to rip the 5-3 West Noble Chargers by a final count of 71-55. “In certain spots tonight we executed the best that we have the entire season,” commented a very satisfied Goshert after collecting his first two victory weekend of the year. A field goal by Huey got the ball rolling for the host Warriors on Saturday and they never looked back leading 17-5, 42-25, 58-39 and 71-53 at the conclusion of each of the quarters. Wawasee was able to rip the nets at an outstanding 70% clip (26-37) from the floor while holding the visitors to just 16-47 ( 34%). “We were able to come out hotter than they did and 1 thought that we played well at both ends of the floor especially in the first half,” said Goshert, who watched his squad limit the Chargers to just one field goal in the game’s first quarter. Dick continued his hot hand for Wawasee on Saturday, tallying 17 points including three more three-pointers, as he led a quartet of Warriors in double figures. Conkling scored 12 in Saturday’s victory while* teammate Tim Lilly came off the bench to also score 12, with Huey adding 11 markers for the winners. Goshert was happy with the play of the team’s bench on Saturday as he received 22 points from the reserves as well as a contribution of five rebounds from substitute Dan Wuthrich. “We receiveci a lot of positive help from our bench tonight and that’s what we like to see," said Goshert. "Our inside-outside game was working well tonight.and we were also able to do some good things in the flow of the game when we weren’t in our set offense,” commented Goshert, adding that he felt that the players have gained more confidence with their shooting in each of the team’s recent contests. Wawasee’s junior varsity team made the weekend a clean sweep (4-0) for the Warrior eagers as they held off a determined West Noble team 39-36. Balanced scoring was once again the case for the JV squad as Garland and Randy Cesco scored 10 points each with teammate Mickley tallying eight. After raising their record to 4-6 with last weekend’s pair of victories, the Warriors will face an NLC foe (Northridge; and the defending Triton sectional champions (Tippecanoe Valley) this weekend as they try to push their season mark to the .500 level. Wawasee will host the 3-6 Northridge Raiders on Friday night beginning with the junior varsity contest at 6:15 p.m. before traveling to Mentone on Saturday to face the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings who are currently 6-3 on the 88-89 campaign.

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PRIMED FOR ’B9 — Wawasee High School’s defending sectional gymnastics champions will open their season on Tuesday, Jan. 17, when they host West Noble at 6 p.m. Pictured in the front row doing the splits are: Britani Stoller!<left) and Dawn Firestone. Sitting back-to-back in the second row are: Mel Hobbs (left) and Fantasi Wagoner.

***** PINNED — Wawasee heavyweight wrestler Fred Garza is shown just moments away from pinning North Wood’s Ed Whitmer Thursday, Jan. 5. Garza recorded the pin at 2:37 of the match and the Warriors won the overall competition 36-18. (Photo by Mitchell Stinson)

Grapplers place third at invitational four Warriors win tourney titles

I By MITCHELL STINSON Sports Writer. » 8’ The Wawasee Warriors Wrestling squad turned in another fine tournament performance Saturday, Jan. 7, when they took third place in the East Noble Invitational. Four Warriors put in championship performances in their respective weight classes to lead a Wawasee grappling squad that seems to be hitting its peak as sectionals loom on the horizon. “I was real pleased," said Warriors coach Dave VanLue. "We certainly met our goals at that tournament.” Shawn Jones was champion at the 119-pound class while teammates Chad Jones, Tom Mangas

■r T ▼ /■ ■ \ ' JSJ I ? Hk ■ 1 w I ISw / HHMHHHHHi YOV-GOTTA HAVE HEART — This group of fitness enthusiasts will perform an advanced aerobics routine at halftime of Wawasee’s boys’ varsity basketball game oii Friday, Jan. 13. The performance is designed to promote cardiovascular and general fitness, and heralds the coming of National Heart Month in February. ' , Pictured in the front row, from left, are: Michelle Katsanis, Sierina Bartow, Angie Smith and ♦- Marci Wright. Pictured in the back row are: Annette Weisser. Deb Miller, Kristi Bartow, Barb Trobaugh and Kathy Yoder.

and Garrett Ponciroli captured titles in the 130-pound, 140-pound and 189-pound classes respectively. Other Warriors who put in strong performances were Jason Douglas, who finished third in the 103-pound class, and Rick Weaver, the third-place finisher of the 112-pound class. Lakeland won the tournament with 175' 2 points and Carroll was second with 161'/2. The Warriors scored 155 points en route to their third-place finish and DeKalb finished fourth with a 99'*2 point total. Rounding out the rest of tournament field was Prairie Heights, East Noble, Columbia City and Garrett. Wawasee’s effort at East Noble followed a strong performance at the Mishawaka Invitational on

Kneeling shoulder to shoulder in the third row are Angela Kistler (left) and Stacy Carlin. Pictured in the fourth row from left are: Karen Butt, assistant coach Nika Prather. Barb Signorelli, coach Tracy Sumpter and Anne Pohl, ? The back row consists of Brandi Wagoner, Diane Karst, Nikki Marsh and Darcey Smith. (Photo by Mitchell Stinson)

December 28 and 29. The Warriors finished 11th out of 28 there and the team looks like it may be hitting its stride when sectionals begin on Jan. 28. “It looks good fight now if we stay healthy for sectionals,” VanLue said. Earlier in the week the Warriors pounded the North Wood Panthers 36-18 in' a.. Thursday, Jan. ,5, contest and raised their dual meet record to 8-5. Wasasee’s grapplers dominated the upper weight classes, winning matches in the 152-pound, 171-pound, 189-pound and heavyweight classes. “I was really kind of surprised,” VanLue said: “I thought it would have been a tougher match.