South Putnam Eagles | Archive | February, 2008

Michael Sebanc hoists a three in the second half of South’s loss to Tri-West. Sebanc closed his career with a 13-point performance.

Every senior dreams of going
out on top, but that doesn’t happen for many of them.

The next best thing is for a senior to go out fighting. South Putnam’s
Michael Sebanc did exactly that Wednesday evening.

With his team falling behind Tri-West in the second half, Sebanc scored 8 of
his 13 points in the second half.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, as the Eagles fell to Bruins 57-49.

“Michael Sebanc is our only senior. I was proud of him tonight. He played one
of the best games he’s played all year,” South Putnam coach Brian Gardner said.
“I thought Mikey walked out with one of the greatest games he’s played.

“He tried to single-handedly carry us through. As a senior, you can look back
on that,” he continued. “I’m just really proud of him that he showed up and
said, ‘I’m going to do everything I can.'”

For the first half, the Eagles (4-17) hung with the Bruins (9-12).

Cameron Chestnut came off the bench early and sparked the Eagles, scoring
five first-quarter points to lead South to a 10-9 lead after a period.

In the second, the two teams traded the lead a number of times. A Nathan
Welty three-pointer tied it up for South at 24 with about 45 seconds remaining.

However, Tri-West’s Sam Groth put the Bruins ahead by two with a late tip-in.

In the second half, though, the Bruins, led by sophomore Randall Lowe, slowly
took control in the second half.

“I thought in the second half, we got in a position where we lost Groth and
Lowe. And Lowe hit some shots on us. It seemed like those were always
possessions where they were almost backbreakers to us,” Garnder said. “We would
hit a shot and when we had a chance to make a play, we never did.”

South’s big problem after the break was its free throw shooting. The Eagles
finished the night 7-of-18 from the line.

“When we got to the free throw line we didn’t hit our free throws. When you
get yourself in a position where you get to the line and you don’t hit them, and
then they go down and hit shots, it puts you behind the eight ball. I thought in
the second half, especially, that showed,” Gardner said.

Lowe finished the night with 32 points.

For South Putnam, Sebanc and Noah Boswell were co-leaders with 13 points
each.

Sebanc is the Eagles’ only senior, though, and Gardner is happy to see the
rest of the squad returning.

“As the year went on we got closer and closer to being a better team. I
thought this year we got in the position sometimes to win games, but we could
never get over that hump,” Gardner said. “I think they kind of understand now
where they’ve gotta go.”

“Our season for next year gets to start now,” he said. “It’s not a bad
feeling as a coach when you know that 90 percent of your team is going to be
back.”

The Eagles finish the season 4-17.

At South Putnam

IHSAA Boys’ Basketball Sectional

First Round

Tri-West 9 17 12 19 — 57

South Putnam 10 14 11 14 — 49

Tri-West (9-12) — Lowe 12-20 7-9 32, Mcvicker 4-8 3-4 11, Groth 3-7 1-2 7,
Smith 2-4 0-0 4, Pierle 1-4 0-0 2, Keck 0-0 1-3 1, Pfeifer 0-1 0-0 0,
Skudrovskis 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 22-46 FG, 12-18 FT, 57 points.

South Putnam (4-17) — Sebanc 6-10 0-0 13, Boswell 4-12 4-6 13, Chestnut 2-6
3-6 8, Cash 2-4 0-3 6, Welty 2-6 0-0 5, Masters 1-1 0-0 2, Frame 0-4 2-3 2.
Totals: 17-43 FG, 7-18 FT, 49 points.

3-pt FG–TW 1-10 (Lowe 1-4), SP 6-20 (Cash 2-4, Boswell 1-2, Sebanc 1-4,
Chestnut 1-4, Welty 1-4). Turnovers–TW 11, SP 17. Total fouls–TW 17, SP 17.
Fouled out–None.

Next game — Tri-West will face Cascade at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the second
semifinal of the South Putnam Sectional.

Unfortunately Friday evening, powerful 3A Edgewood was not about to let the
Eagles can a pittance of confidence.

Manhandled and outplayed in every facet of the game, South could not hold a
candle to All-State Candidate Garrett Butcher and the rest of the
sharpo-shooting Mustangs, as they soundly defeated the Eagles, 76-38, in a game
that could have had considerably more disparity.

At the 2:16 mark of the first quarter, Edgewood held an 18-4 lead. It was
obvious then, this would be a long night for the home team.

By halftime, Butcher had collected 10 points and Jacob Thornton netted 10,
more than the entire South lineup. At intermission, the score was 41-17,
Edgewood.

After the break, the pace seemed to slow a bit, until around the three minute
mark, when the Mustangs went on a 14-2 run to take a commanding 63-29 lead going
into the final eight minutes.

Butcher sat for the entire fourth period, much as he had done against
Greencastle and Cloverdale earlier in the year. Consequently, South was able to
stop the profuse bleeding a bit in a turnover-plagued fourth quarter, leading to
the 76-38 final.

Gardner tried to extrude some positives from the shellacking: “Tri-West (the
Eagles’ sectional opponent does a lot of the same things that Edgewood does, so
we were able to learn from that tonight. We’ve had five different guys sick this
week, so it was hard to get any consistency in practice. They’re just a very
good team,” Gardner concluded.

At South Putnam

Edgewood 20 21 22 13 — 76

South Putnam 6 11 18 9 — 38

Next game — South Putnam hosts Tri-West in game three of the South Putnam
sectional at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

South Putnam’s Bailey Birt goes up and over Covenant Christian’s Catherine Watkins in the first quarter of Friday’s game. The Eagles lost 50-36. [Click to enlarge]

CLAYTON — Losing at any point during the
season is painful but dropping a contest to end your season in which you led at
the half is more than painful — it’s heartwrenching. South Putnam bowed out of
the Class 2A Cascade Sectional with such class that any fan occupying the stands
should have been impressed by.

The Eagles came up short, 50-36 to the Lady Warriors of Covenant Christian
but a gutsier performance out of the Eagles could not have been found this
season. Their will to compete almost overpowered a much quicker Covenant
Christian squad.

“I can’t fault our kids,” South’s head coach Debbie Steffy said. “I’m so
proud of them. They fought through a lot of adversity tonight. In the second
half we were tired, in the first half we ran and stayed up with them; we just
didn’t have anything left in the second half. Our shots were short and things
like that. They fought through a lot in the second half.”

At the break the Eagles had shocked a confident Lady Warrior’s team and led
by five points 19-14. The third quarter would prove to be South Putnam’s
shatterpoint, the point where everything falls apart.

Covenant Christian began its scoring eight seconds into the half and
continued to add to its total. Buckets from Mackenzie Pheifer, Audrey Liddil and
LaNayah Pollard dug the Lady Warriors out of its hole but it was Micah Pollard’s
two bombs from downtown that broke the game open.

South managed two field goals in the quarter from Bailey Birt and Oceaia
Boetjer and a pair of free throws from Meghan Canary, but Covenant Christian has
seized a 33-25 lead going into the fourth. The Eagles would never challenge the
lead again.

The fourth quarter saw the Eagles put up some more points but the damage had
been done. As their coach stated, South Putnam battling in the fourth quarter on
will and little more.

“We were gassed there in the second half with short shots and things like
that. We only had so many timeouts,” Steffy observed.

Fatigue, coupled with an unrelenting Warrior presence kept the Eagles down
and helped out them from the tournament.

South Putnam opened the game with a sense of the moment. They attacked the
rim and aggressively went after loose balls, which helped them build an 11-6
lead after one. Physical play from senior Liz Mink resulted in a couple quick
offensive rebounds and four points.

The Eagles controlled the second quarter again by pressuring the Lady
Warriors on the defensive end and finding a way to put points up.

“Their quickness bothered us, not from the standpoint of pushing the ball up
and down the court, but their quickness on the defensive end really bothered us.
Whenever we did get to the basket there was someone always there,” Steffy
commented.

Although Covenant Christian displayed a quickness the Eagles faced in limited
amounts this season, their defensive pressure was there. In the first half, that
pressure was what kept South Putnam in the driver’s seat. Steffy commented on
the play of her seniors and how they came up big in their final game.

“When we had our legs and all, I thought we did a really good job. I told
them that at halftime and at almost every timeout “you guys are working really
hard, battling — you just have to keep doing it”. We gave up a lot of offensive
rebounds and that was something that was a kind of a concern but like I said I’m
proud of them.

“Our three senior got to leave on a good note in terms of we worked hard and
they all three did a good job too,” Steffy said.

The Eagles end their season with a record of 10-12.

At Cascade

South Putnam 11 8 6 11 — 36

Covenant Christian 6 8 19 17 — 50

South Putnam — Boetjer 12, Birt 11, Canary 5, Mink 4, Butts 2, Searles 2.
Totals: 11-46 FG 13-16 FT 36 TP.

Covenant Christian — M. Pollard 16, Polliam 15, L. Pollard 7, Liddle 4,
Pheifer 4, Owen 4. Total: 16-51 FG 16-22 FT 50 TP.

3pt. FG — South Putnam (Birt), Covenant Christian (M. Pollard 2).

The game was a hard-fought contest, as all North Putnam/South Putnam
basketball games have been throughout the schools’ 38-year history.

South Putnam led North Putnam at the end of the first quarter, 11-10, and the
game was tied at 23-23, with 3:18 left in the first half, but the Eagles
steadily pulled away during the rest of the game, defeating the Cougars, 73-53.

The game was practically even statistically close in every category, except
rebounding and free throws attempted and made.

South Putnam attempted and hit 20 more free throws, and grabbed 15 more
rebounds than North Putnam, and that turned out to be the difference in the
game.

“One of the things that were really big for us today was our post play,”
commented South Putnam coach Brian Gardner after the game. “Our post players
sealed-off the defense, and our guards did a nice job of getting them the
basketball.

“Earlier this season, we had trouble doing that, but today, our guards did a
nice job of looking for the pass, and when our inside guys weren’t open, they
did a nice job of attacking the basket.

“I am really proud of how hard our kids played today,” added Gardner.

“We had opportunities early in the game to either take control and build a
lead, or keep the game within one or two points, and we allowed them to
continually get second shots with offensive rebounds and that was ultimately,
what got us behind” commented North Putnam coach Wes Peek after the game.

“They shot 38 free throws simply because they were more aggressive than we
were today and that was the difference in the game,” added Peek.

South Putnam had five players scoring double figures, Noah Boswell, the
leading scorer of the game with 21, Cameron Chestnut with 13, Conor Frame with
11, and Drew Cash and Nathan Welty with 10 each.

Michael Sebanc followed with five, Dayne Nelson had two, and Adam Masters
closed out the Eagle scoring with one point.

Chestnut and Boswell had double-doubles as they grabbed 10 rebounds each and
Sebanc had two assists.

North Putnam had two players scoring double figures, Griffen Dahlstrom with
17, and Brock Jones with 11.

JT Francies followed with eight, Jerrett Ban added six, Kyle Adams had five,
and Kyle Alcorn and Mitch Hadley closed out the Cougar scoring with three points
each.

Dahlstrom led the Cougars in rebounds with seven boards, and had game-high
statistics in three categories; blocked shots with four, assists with three, and
he and Alcorn had game-high two steals each.

The Eagles (4-14, 1-5 WCC) host Owen Valley at 7:30 p.m. Friday night.

The Cougars (1-15, 0-6 WCC) host Tri-West 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night.

At North Putnam

South Putnam 11 23 19 20 – 73

North Putnam 10 17 9 17 – 53

South Putnam (4-14, 1-5 WCC) — Nelson 0-0 2-2 2, Sebanc 1-5 3-4 5, Cash 4-6
1-2 10, Chestnut 5-11 3-4 13, Frame 3-4 5-6 11, Welty 0-5 10-10 10, Dean 0-0 0-0
0, Boswell 8-13 5-7 21, Masters 0-2 1-3 1. Totals 21-46 FG, 30-38 FT, 73 TP.

North Putnam (1-15, 0-6 WCC) — Alcorn 1-7 0-2 3, Ban 1-4 4-6 6, Jones 5-14
0-1 11, Adams 2-3 1-2 5, Dahlstrom 7-12 3-6 17, Francies 3-9 2-2 8, Hadley 1-4
0-0 3, Lasiter 0-0 0-0 0, Franklin 0-1 0-0 0, Heron 0-0 0-0 0, Hutcheson 0-0 0-0
0. Totals 20-54 FG, 10-19 FT, 53 TP.

3-pt. FG–SP 1-7 (Sebanc 0-1, Cash 1-1, Chestnut 0-2, Welty 0-3), NP 3-18
(Alcorn 1-5, Jones 1-8, Dahlstrom 0-1, Francies 0-2, Hadley 1-2). Rebounds–SP
35 (Sebanc 1, Cash 2, Chestnut 10, Frame 5, Welty 4, Boswell 10, Masters 3), NP
20 (Alcorn 1, Ban 4, Jones 3, Adams 4, Dahlstrom 7, Hadley 1). Blocks–SP 2
(Chestnut 1, Masters 1), NP 7 (Dahlstrom 4, Franklin 1, Hutcheson 2).
Assists–SP 4 (Sebanc 2, Chestnut 1, Boswell 1), NP 7 (Alcorn 2, Jones 1,
Dahlstrom 3, Hadley 1). Steals–SP 5 (Nelson 1, Frame 1, Welty 1, Boswell 1,
Masters 1), NP 6 (Alcorn 2, Ban 1, Jones 1, Dahlstrom 2). Total fouls–SP 20, NP
23. Fouled out–Ban. Turnovers–SP 16, NP 16.

Next games — The Cougars (1-15, 0-6 WCC) host Tri-West at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
night. The Eagles (4-14, 1-5 WCC) host Owen Valley at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

South Putnam’s Adam Masters (50) battles for a rebound in Friday’s game with Northview. [Click to enlarge]

When a team is in the process of building
its program, taking positives from losses is a must. On Thursday the South
Putnam Eagles (3-14, 0-5 WCC) lost to Northview 76-45 but head coach Brian
Gardner believes the loss will lift his team to a higher level.

Quickness was something Gardner spoke at length about. The Eagles seems a
step behind the Knights all evening and that translated into a rough outing.
Northview’s ability to head off the passing lanes and create turnovers in the
backcourt was significant in building its 25-9 lead in the first quarter.

“When they’re quick and they play hard and get in the passing lanes, you’ve
got to be really strong with the ball. When they get into you have to be more
physically sound. Tonight their quickness really hurt us,” Gardner said.

In the opening minutes of the game, the Eagles were point-for-point with the
Knights but a three-pointer from Jered Timm opened the floodgates as Northview
went on a 16-0 run in the latter part of the first.

The Eagles recorded nine points in the second quarter as well and managed to
cool the Knights’ hot hand. Northview shot a blistering 61 percent in the first
half to extend its lead to 43-18 at the half.

After the break, the eagles managed to break into the double-digit column,
scoring 13 in the third. Cameron Chestnut led the Eagles with six points in the
quarter, with Noah Boswell adding four.

Gardner saw a shift in his post players that impressed him. Their ability to
see the defense, adapt and attack is a factor Gardner hopes to utilize in the
future.

“Our post had to adapt in the middle of the game, which is something they
have had to do,” Gardner said. “Our guards at times we able to get them the ball
and in the second half I thought we did a good job of attacking the rim. When
you attack the rim, I don’t care who you are, that puts the defense on their
heels.”

In the final stanza, the Eagles were outscored by a mere two points and when
they went head-to-head with what Gardner believes to be Northview’s team for
next season, the Eagles came out on top.

“In the second half it was a 33-27 game and if you look at when they put in
next year’s team, we beat them. For me, that was a positive for us,” he said.

The Eagles will travel to North Putnam for a varsity only game beginning at 4
p.m. Saturday.

At South Putnam

Northview 25 18 17 16 — 76

South Putnam 9 9 13 14 — 45

Northview — Timm 8 2-2 23, Akers 5 0-0 14, Whitman 4 5-6 13, Lancaster 2 3-4
7, Coltharp 2 1-4 5, Kirby 2 0-0 4, Robertson 1 1-1 3, Bradshaw 1 0-0 3, White 1
0-0 2. Totals: 27-51 FG 15-22 FT 76 TP.

South Putnam — Boswell 6 4-7 17, Chestnut 3 4-4 10, Frame 2 3-3 7, Masters 2
1-2 5, Cash 2 0-0 4, #10 1 0-0 2. Totals: 17-49 FG 12-16 FT 45 TP.

Next game — The Eagles will travel to North Putnam for a varsity-only game
beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday.

“I’d like to point out Phil Kass. He’s a senior and this is his first year
swimming. He’s one of the slowest guys on the team, but he had a great meet
today and broke 30 seconds in the 50 for the first time,” Bretscher said.

Senior Phil Kass, dubbed Greencastle’s “hardest worker” by Coach Daniel Bretscher, completed his swimming career Thursday night.

The coach was obviously as
proud of Kass as he was of his swimmers who broke three meet records on Thursday
night. The senior placed ninth in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:29.23 and 14th
in the 50 free with a 29.83.

However, having watched Kass’ determination throughout the season, his
teammates and coach have come to appreciate his work ethic.

“Phil’s possibly the hardest worker on the team and being his first year
swimming, people don’t really notice him as much as the fast guys,” Bretscher
said. “But he really has become the heart of our team and this was his final
meet ever swimming and he had a really great meet. The team really rallied
around him.”

South Putnam finished second to the Tiger Sharks, while North Putnam was
third.

Junior Nick Stevens was central to all three of the Sharks’ record-breaking
performances. His 200 free time of 1:51.24 broke his coach’s record by more than
two seconds. Bretscher wasn’t too troubled about it, though.

“It had to go sometime. At least it was one of my guys,” Bretscher said. “He
was also part of the two freestyle relays that broke the records. He’s really
thinking ahead to next week. He wants to have a really good sectional and I
think he will.”

The other two record-breakers came in the 200 free relay and 400 free relay.

In the 200 relay, the team of Luke Smith, Stevens, Miles Salman and Luke
Crimmins swam a 1:34.30 to break the old record set by a Greencastle team in
2004.

In the 400 relay, it was Austin Woodall, Stevens, Salman and Crimmins
swimming a 3:29.97 and breaking the 2005 record by nearly two seconds.

Greencastle also won the 200 medley relay. Crimmins, Ryan Payne, Jesse Elkins
and Stevens swam a 1:46.06.

Stevens and Crimmins were each four-time county champions. In addition to the
three relays, Crimmins won the 50 freestyle in 23.26.

Adam Clute won two individual events for the Tiger Sharks, taking the diving
with 212.00 points and the 100 backstroke in 1:06.44.

Diving coach Mike Bostic continues to be impressed by how Clute, who was not
diving at the year’s start, is improving.

“I think he dove real well. The way the meet turned out for him, it builds
his spirits for the sectional meet,” Bostic said. “With him being a senior and
never having a coach, it’s exciting him. It’s exciting me, but for him it’s just
a big builder.

“It doesn’t stop from there. We have one more big meet and I want him to
carry that on into that meet,” Bostic continued.

The diving coach feels even better when he thinks about how Clute will
perform when he has to do 11 dives at sectional

“The last meet that he had, he did the easy dives that are going to add to
what he did tonight. The boy’s looking pretty good for regional. He has it in
him. Now we just need to let it loose,” Bostic said. “I think the 11-dive meet
is going to pump him up.”

Other individual champions for the Tiger Cubs were Salman in the 200 IM
(2:15.41), Elkins in the 100 butterfly (59.54), Woodall in the 500 free
(5:23.14) and Payne in the 100 breaststroke (1:08.22).

“I was very pleased. Our mindset is that we’re 100 percent thinking about
next week.” Bretscher said. “For us, the county meet is our last chance to tune
up before we do it for real next week.”

All three teams are looking toward next week’s sectional at this point. For
South Putnam, the focus was on dropping times at this point.

“Several kids did really well,” Eagle coach Joe Condon said. “They dropped
significantly. Some of our kids who’ve been working didn’t have the drops they
thought they’d have, but we’re okay.

“I think with a week to go until sectional, we’re right where we need to be
with our front runners. And our younger kids had some good drops. I was
pleased,” he continued.

Although South had no county champions, they placed second in the meet by
filling lanes and giving solid performances across the board.

The Eagles were paced by second-place performances from their sprinters and
their lone diver.

Clark Becker was second in the 50 free with a 24.13. Chris Smiley was second
in the100 free, swimming a 54.65.

Thomas Butts placed second in diving with 130.45 points.

Condon has a very young team this season and says the youngsters are coming
along well

“I’ve seen them figure out how to do the work and I’m starting to see how
it’s paying off,” Condon said. “Hopefully, the future looks bright for them.”

Heading toward sectional, Condon is stressing relays to his team and
emphasizing the team aspect of it all.

“I always like to pay attention to relays at sectional because those are your
scoring events, but also that’s where the kids get to work as a team,” he said.
“We’ll work hard on relay starts and figuring out who will be on the relays.
We’ll be ready to go next Thursday.”

North Putnam’s third-place finish was highlighted by a county championship
for senior Kyle Smith, who won the 100 freestyle in 55.49.

“I was really pleased with Kyle on that. I know he was very upset with his 50
time, but he pulled it out in the 100. I was really happy with that,” Cougar
coach Wesley Richardson said.

Besides Smith’s championship, North had a pair of second place finishers. The
medley relay of Patrick Byrd, Jon Taggart, Smith and Justin Zurawski placed
second. Byrd was also runner-up in the 100 butterfly.

While Richardson knew Byrd was disappointed with his night, the coach looks
forward to sectional for the senior.

“Patrick, I don’t think was too happy with some of his performances tonight,
but come sectional I think he’s going to do 100 percent better,” Richardson
said.

“I was happy with how they performed. I’d like to see them do a little better
for sectionals, of course,” Richardson said. “I think they need to get a little
bit more rest.”

Greencastle is especially concentrating on sectional, though, as they come
into the meet in an unfamiliar position. As last year’s champion, the Tiger
Sharks, not Crawfordsville, have the targets on their backs this year.

“We’re in a brand new position this year, in that last year we won the
sectional for the first time in 22 years. So for the first time ever,
Greencastle is the team to beat,” Bretscher said.

The coach went on to say it is sometimes a worry that a team in this position
might have a tendency to mail it in. He thinks this team will remain focused,
though.

“I think winning the sectional last year has made them that much hungrier
this year. They’ve responded well to the pressure that’s been thrown at them. I
feel good heading into next week,” Bretscher said.

All three squads will be back in action at the preliminaries of the
Crawfordsville Sectional. The meet begins at 5:30 p.m. next Thursday.

At Greencastle

Boys’ Putnam County Meet

Greencastle 290.5, South Putnam 163.5, North Putnam 130

Individual Results

200 Medley Relay — 1. Greencastle (Crimmins, Payne, Elkins, Stevens)
1:46.06, 2. North Putnam (Byrd, Taggart, K. Smith, Zurawski) 1:56.61, 3.
Greencastle (Clute, J. Kass, Chiarella, Smith) 1:57.35, 4. South Putnam
(Grundlock, Gould, Russell, McKinney) 2:03.55, 5. North Putnam (Ban, Pierce,
Werner, Zuver) 2:17.88.

200 Freestyle — 1. Stevens Gr 1:51.24*, 2. Woodall Gr 1:58.74, 3. Grivas Gr
2:04.68, 4. Taggart NP 2:08.08, 5. Ban NP 2:11.82, 6. Whitman SP 2:21.50, 7.
Kelly SP 2:21.53, 8. Davis SP 2:22.56.

200 IM — 1. Salman Gr 2:15.41, 2. Chiarella Gr 2:27.35, 3. Grundlock SP
2:33.17†, 3. Watson Gr 2:33.17, 5. Russell SP 2:42.30, 6. Werner NP 2:44.37, 7.
Gould SP 2:47.81.

50 Freestyle — 1. Crimmins Gr 23.26, 2. Becker SP 24.13, 3. Smith Gr 24.22,
4. Smiley SP 24.71, 5. Guffey Gr 24.78, 6. K. Smith NP 24.81, 7. Ashcraft SP
25.52, 8. Pierce NP 26.16, 9. McKinney SP x27.51, 10. J. Kass Gr x28.07, 11.
Campbell Gr x28.36, 12. Bowen SP x29.23, 13. Alig SP x29.41, 14. P. Kass Gr
29.83, 15. Phillips Gr x30.63, 16. Wilson Gr x32.22, 17. R. Arnold SP x33.19,
18. S. Arnold SP 33.51.

Diving — 1. Clute Gr 212.00, 2. Butts SP 130.45.

100 Butterfly — 1. Elkins Gr 59.54, 2. Byrd NP 59.58, 3. Salman Gr 1:03.18,
4. Russell SP 1:10.26, 5. Huck SP 1:10.29, 6. Campbell 1:16.00, 7. Wilson Gr
x1:22.77.

100 Freestyle — 1. K. Smith NP 54.49, 2. Smiley SP 54.80, 3. Guffey Gr
55.14, 4. Payne Gr 55.27, 5. Smith Gr 56.54, 6. Ashcraft SP 59.92, 7. McKinney
SP 1:04.08, 8. Davis SP x1:05.92, 9. Bowen SP x1:08.57, 10. Zuver NP 1:12.08,
11. S. Arnold SP x1:15.28.

500 Freestyle — 1. Woodall Gr 5:23.14, 2. Grivas Gr 5:47.18, 3. Ban NP
6:08.42, 4. Whitman SP 6:29.46, 5. Kelly SP 6:34.70.

200 Freestyle Relay — 1. Greencastle (Smith, Stevens, Salman, Crimmins)
1:34.30*, 2. Greencastle (Payne, Guffey, Woodall, Grivas) 1:42.64, 3. North
Putnam (Ban, Byrd, K. Smith, Taggart) 1:43.40, 4. South Putnam (Ashcraft,
Becker, McKinney, Smiley) 1:45.63, 5. North Putnam (Pierce, C. Smith, Zuver,
Zurawski) 1:53.98, 6. South Putnam (Huck, Davies, Kelly, Whitman) 1:58.32.

100 Backstroke — 1. Clute Gr 1:06.44, 2. Elkins Gr 1:06.88, 3. Grundlock SP
1:09.43, 4. Byrd NP 1:09.68, 5. C. Smith NP 1:12.08, 6. R. Arnold SP 1:20.41, 7.
Phillips Gr 1:22.45, 8. Butts SP 1:38.48.

100 Breaststroke — 1. Payne Gr 1:08.22, 2. Chiarella Gr 1:13.64, 3. J. Kass
Gr 1:14.34, 4. Watson Gr x1:15.59, 5. Zurawski NP 1:16.68, 6. Taggart NP
1:18.20, 7. Gould SP 1:18.51, 8. Alig SP 1:19.39, 9. P. Kass Gr x1:29.23.

400 Freestyle Relay — 1. Greencastle (Woodall, Stevens, Salman, Crimmins)
3:29.97*, 2. Greencastle (Grivas, Guffey, Clute, Elkins) 4:01.82, 3. South
Putnam (Ashcraft, Whitman, Grundlock, Smiley) 4:09.42, 4. South Putnam (Russell,
Davies, Huck, Kelly) 4:17.29, 5. North Putnam (Pierce, C. Smith, Werner,
Zurawski) 4:21.75.

*–Meet record.

†–Tie.

x–Exhibition.

Next meet — Greencastle, North Putnam and South Putnam will swim in the
preliminaries of the Crawfordsville Sectional at 5:30 p.m. next Thursday.

As the seconds ticked away, time was running out for South Putnam. In the
chaotic final minute, neither team could do much that was productive. But the
Clovers seemed to be holding on to their lead.

South Putnam guard Oceaia Boetjer (24) brings the ball up the floor against the defense of Cloverdale’s Chelsie Haltom. [Click to enlarge]

The Eagles turned the ball over twice.
Cloverdale turned the ball over twice and hit one out of four free throws.

Time had ticked down, but the Eagles had one last shot. Oceaia Boetjer took
the ball near the top of the key, dribbled to the right wing and drained a
three-pointer to put the Eagles on top 40-39 with 4.5 seconds remaining.

When Kristin McCammon’s three-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark, the
Eagles had finally beaten the Clovers when it counted — in a sectional game.

Of Boetjer’s shot, Eagle coach Debbie Steffy said, “I don’t think we’ve had
any bigger shot this season than that one. know this is sectional and everybody
would say, ‘Oh yeah, this sectional; that’s a big one,’ but was a big shot.”

Ironically, the plan had been for the Eagles (10-11) to go for the tie.
Sometimes plans change.

“We had talked about the fact that we had to take it to the basket on that
last play and as Oceaia got it, she was coming towards our bench on the dribble
and we’re all yelling at her, ‘Hit it! Hit it!’ and she launches it and it goes
right in,” Steffy said.

Cloverdale coach Bruce Cook had also expected a two-pointer, as the Eagles
had attempted just two three-pointer to that point.

“I was a little surprised that Oceaia shot the three when they only needed
two to tie. But that’s a ball player,” Cook said. “They hit one three for the
night and it was a big shot.”

Before the chaos of the final minute, though, it had been a closely-contested
game, but one the Eagles had controlled most of the way.

Bailey Birt began the game for the Eagles, scoring 10 of their 12
first-quarter points.

“Bailey Birt came out on fire. We needed that. She got us going early,”
Steffy said.

Although the Clovers (15-6) struggled to find their offense early, they kept
pace with the Eagles by hitting three shots from beyond the arc.

The score was tied at 12 after one.

In the second, things slowed down considerably for both squads. However, I
theme emerged for the South Putnam defense: they were not going to let Elizabeth
Cheatham, who had scored more the 20 points in each of the Clovers’ last two
contests, beat them.

“(Cheatham) was the focal point the last time we played them and this time,”
Steffy said. “We can’t let her get the basketball because what happens is if
they’re able to throw the ball in to her, then everybody starts to double down
or sag into her and that opens up their outside game.”

Cook saw the same thing from his own bench.

“I didn’t think we ever got anything in sync offensively and they did a good
job of bottling us up on the inside,” he said. “We hit some threes that kept us
in the game, but usually we have to sprinkle that with some inside play and we
didn’t have that tonight.”

Cheatham finished with just five points, while forward Ashley Koosman was
scoreless until she put in seven fourth-quarter points.

The key to the effort on Cheatham was Eagle senior Liz Mink.

“Mink just did the job on Cheatham all night long,” Steffy said. “She missed
a couple of passes underneath the basket and was so disappointed. I said, ‘Hey,
just do your job playing defense and you’ll get the next one. To her credit, she
came back in and did a good job on Elizabeth.”

After a low-scoring second, the team were once again tied at the half with 19
points each.

The Clovers remained cold in the third, but the Eagles began to build a lead.
Mink had a bucket and Birt and Canary each added a pair in the period.

Cloverdale, on the other hand, could manage just five points in the third and
South led 30-24 after three.

Early in the third, South built the lead further. When another Canary bucket
made the score 35-27, Cook knew his team was in trouble.

That’s when the Clovers’ never-say-die attitude kicked in again. Koosman led
the charge to pull the squad within two at 35-37. Then Haltom’s three with 55
seconds left gave the Clovers their first lead since early in the third quarter.

But down the stretch, Boetjer ultimately made the play that made the
difference.

“We hit some runners on the inside. Chelsie hit the big three on the outside.
We got them where we wanted them,” Cook said. “The inbounds pass went
over-and-back and we had two missed free throws.”

Steffy was simply proud of how her team built its lead and of how it battled
back after losing the lead.

“I’ve just got to hand it to our kids. We came out and played well and got to
a big lead. Cloverdale came back and took the lead and our kids just wanted to
win. They just worked hard and they had to in order to get the victory in that
last minute,” Steffy said.

While Boetjer, a junior, hit the big shot, Steffy gave much of the credit to
her three seniors. Birt got the offense started in the first quarter. Mink
defended Cheatham all night. Canary, normally the team’s leading scorer, fought
through some tough defense in the first half, making plays to help teammates
score and finally getting her own chances in the second half.

“Canary’s always going to come out big,” Steffy said. “She’s a gamer. She
wants to score, but not to the point of being selfish. She just wants to win.
She did a job nice tonight of handling the pressure, handling the basketball and
getting people where they were supposed to be.”

Cook, likewise, was proud of his three seniors and what they’ve done for his
program.

“Chelsie Haltom has meant so much to this program. She’s been at it for four
years and in that time I’ve never seen her come in down. I’ve never seen her not
smile. She’s just a great kid to coach,” Cook said.

“You can’t say enough about Koosman’s hustle. She just comes out and plays
hard. We knew she might not be at full strength, but I think she played the
whole second half,” he added.

But on Wednesday, perhaps the biggest accomplishment of any Clover was senior
Kristen Schroer simply making it into the game. Having missed two months with an
ankle injury, she made her return just in time to contribute ina sectional game.

“Kristen worked real hard to come back. After that ankle injury, she gave us
20 to 22 minutes tonight and did a nice job,” Cook said. “It was tough for her
to do that. She didn’t have her move on the inside, but she rebounded, played
some defense and gave us some time where Koosman and Cheatham to get on the
bench a little bit.”

Cook has watched the Cloverdale program grow in his five years as coach, and
he gave much of the credit to the trio he is graduating this year.

“Those three seniors have meant everything to our program. They set the tone.
You’ll see in the next two or three years that will still hold true and that all
started with their attitudes and their work ethic,” Cook concluded.

Birt led all scorers with 16 points. Boetjer was next with 14. Haltom was the
only Clover in double figures, with 12.

The Eagles will be back at Cascade at 7:30 p.m. Friday for the second
semifinal game against Covenant Christian. The Warriors defeated Monrovia 51-42
in Wednesday’s second game.

At Cascade

IHSAA Girls’ Basketball Sectional

First Round

Cloverdale 12 7 5 15 — 39

South Putnam 12 7 11 10 — 40

Cloverdale (15-6) — Haltom 4-11 2-4 12, Shepherd 2-9 2-4 8, Koosman 2-7 3-6
7, Cheatham 2-4 1-2 5, McCammon 2-16 0-2 5, Franklin 1-2 0-0 2, Schroer 0-3 0-0
0. Totals: 13-52 FG, 8-18 FT, 39 points.

South Putnam (10-11) — Birt 6-13 4-6 16, Boetjer 5-12 3-5 14, Canary 3-6 1-2
7, Mink 1-3 1-2 3, Butts 0-3 0-0 0, Searles 0-0 0-2 0. Totals: 15-37 FG, 9-17
FT, 40 points.

3-pt FG–Cl 5-23 (Haltom 2-4, Shepherd 2-8, McCammon 1-10, Franklin 0-1), SP
1-3 (Boetjer 1-3). Turnovers–Cl 13, SP 16. Total fouls–Cl 16, SP 16. Fouled
out–None.

Next game — South Putnam will face Covenant Christian at 7:30 p.m. Friday in
the first semifinal of the Cascade Sectional. Cloverdale finished its season at
15-6.

B.J. Brewer

By CAINE GARDNER

Sports Writer

MOORESVILLE — 13 seconds.

That is all that stood in the way of North Putnam wrestler B.J. Brewer and a
slot in the IHSAA Wrestling Semi-State tournament. Injury and a grueling rematch
against sectional opponent Trevor Morgan halted Brewer’s charge.

It was a rough day altogether for Putnam County wrestlers, as nine of 10
qualifiers fell in the first round.

Brewer found himself competing for third place after picking up a first round
victory over Merrick Heitkamp, then was defeated by eventually regional champ
Briar Runyan in his second match.

In the consolation round, Brewer and Morgan went at each other like two caged
animals. At one point Brewer slammed hard against the scorers table and then
moments later hit the deck hard out of bounds. During the battle, Brewer
suffered an injury to his chin that required the match to be stopped twice
through its duration.

“It was great — an outstanding match,” North Putnam head coach Kenny Kerns
said.

Outstanding would be an understatement.

Brewer held a 7-6 advantage as the clock ticked away but with 13 second left
Morgan leaped into the air after which he shot Brewer and managed to reverse him
to gain two points to win the match.

When asked after the match about the ‘jump’, Kerns thought it played no part
in the contests outcome.

“No it didn’t bother B.J.,” he said. “He’s so focused the guy could have done
cartwheels and it wouldn’t have bothered him.”

Brewer talked after the match about his advancement in the tournament and
acknowledged the injury but said it was a non-factor.

“It definitely feels good because I know how big these other schools are,”
Brewer said. “It’s obviously a big challenge and I’m proud I could do my best.

“I thought it went well. At sectional I lost but I rebounded from that in
practice. I realized that his weakness was shooting on him, so I started
shooting on him and really took that to him. I was ahead but he had enough
energy to pull one last trick out and I couldn’t get around it,” brewer
commented.

North Putnam’s Jim Davis and Josh Keyt both fell in the first round.

Greencastle wrestlers Brian Winslow, Jacob Wright and Kyle Buchanan all fell
to their first round match-up but head coach Matt McComish was nothing but
positive thing to say about his team after the match.

“I know they’re disappointed and I am as well, but we have to learn from it
and keep working,” McComish said. “They’re all coming back next year; we have
everybody from our team coming back so I’m looking forward to next season.

“As a team, we came a long way and we still have a lot of things we need to
improve on but looking at us from the beginning of the year until now, we’ve
come a lot farther that I thought we would. We’ve done a good job,” McComish
said.

With the season at it ends, McComish and his GHS team moves its focus to next
season. He commented on how he hopes off-season workouts for other sports and
sticking to their conditioning program will benefit the team for next season.

South Putnam head coach Todd Crosby was also looking ahead to next season as
his trio of Antonio Hernandez, Seth Green and Chris Hurst bowed out early of
Saturday’s competition. In the competition, two wrestlers fell in their first
round match-ups while one failed to make weight.

Although his wrestlers came up short, Crosby was proud of them making it to
regional and the effort they put forth during their matches.

“It felt good,” Crosby said. “I was pretty impressed, you have a junior and a
sophomore, so they should be able to get back here next year. I feel bad for
Seth (Green) it was his last match. He looked pretty good; he had a No. 1 seed
kid and wrestled well against him.

“I was happy also that we had a lot of guys come out to cheer them on and
support them, so I’m looking forward to next year,” Crosby said.

Echoing the sentiment of his colleagues, Crosby hopes to have his team
hitting the mat and getting more exposure to more experienced wrestling
programs.

Cloverdale wrestler Lee Secrest rounded out the Putnam County representative
at regional. Secrest fell to Shelby Mappes in the first round of competition.
Mappes qualified for semi-state by finishing in second place.

“This kid (Mappes) is pretty tough,” CHS head coach Brian Siddons said. “It’s
always disappointing to lose but he stayed in there the whole match, fought off
his back a few times out of tough positions.

“Hopefully we’ll be here next year and have a better showing. They’re going
to do a lot of wrestling club stuff so they are going to have a lot of
opportunities for summer wrestling. Hopefully we’ll see a big improvement
there,” Siddons concluded.

At Mooresville

Individual results

(County wrestlers only)

First round

103 — Raley (Indian Creek) def. Winslow (GHS)

130 — Hernandez (weight)

135 — Vanhorn (Franklin) def. Green (SP)

152 — Brewer (NP) def. Heitkamp (Danville)

160 — Mappes (Center Grove) def. Secrest (CHS)

189 — Vires (Center Grove) def. Jacob Wright (GHS)

189 — Waters (Greenwood) def. Davis (NP)

215 — Mathews (Franklin) def. Buchanan (GHS)

215 — Vandeman (Whiteland) def. Keyt

285 — Lane (Franklin) def. Hurst (SP)

Second round

152 — Runyan (Martinsville) def. Brewer (NP)

Consolation round

152 — Morgan (Plainfield) def. Brewer (NP)