by Gary Andrews

The Manchester boys basketball  team got off to a hot start Friday, holding on for a 45-44 win over Wawasee. With the win the Squires got off to their first 3-0 start since 2002.

The Squires jumped on the host Warriors right from the opening tip. Manchester had five different players score in the quarter, with four of the players hitting from behind the arch. Chase Fierstos, Claudell Dickantone, Clayton Petrie and Cameron Brandenburg all hit the long ball with Dickantone finding the bucket inside the arch twice and Braydon Sewell once as the Squires led 20-9 after one.

The Squires would cool down a little in the second quarter, scoring 10 points. Petrie drained his second three of the night while Chase Fierstos scored 6. The Squire defense also held the Warriors to just 10 points as Manchester went to the half leading 30-19.

by Gary Andrews

After opening the season with an impressive win over Southern Wells the Southwood boys’ basketball team had the task of taking on the hot 4A Huntington North Vikings Friday. Huntington came in 2-0 with impressive wins over Homestead and Mississinewa and flexed their muscle early in a 74-41 win over the Knights.

For the first four minutes the Knights hung with the Vikings with a bucket from Alex Harmon and two free throws from Jackson Blair to make it 4-4. After two Corey Phillipy free throws made it 7-6 Huntington, the Vikings would get a little breathing room with three straight buckets, two being three pointers to take a 15-6 lead. Logan Paris would stop the run with a three of his own to make it 15-9, when Huntington would score the last seven points of the quarter to lead 22-9 at the stop.

by Gary Andrews

The Manchester and Northfield girls basketball teams hooked up in an inter county battle Saturday that was also the first TRC game for each team with the Lady Norse coming out on top 55-27.

Things started a little sloppy the first two minutes until Cherish Leming broke the ice with two free throws and a bucket to give the Norse a 4-0 lead with 4:03 left on the clock. Arie Kennedy would hit two free throws and the Norse got a bucket from Kylie Echard to increase their lead to 8-0 before the Squires responded. Tabby DeWitt would connect twice before the end of the quarter and Northfield led 8-4 after one.

The Northfield experience and heavy pressure would start to pay off against the young lady Squires in the second quarter as Sidney Reed would hit to start an 11-1 run the first four minutes. Reed and Leming would hit two free throws each and the Norse got two buckets from Katie Stephan wrapped around two more Leming free throws to take a 19-5 lead. Tabby DeWitt would then get busy, hitting two buckets and a free throw along with a free throw from Rae Bedke to cut the Northfield lead to 19-11. Stephan and Echard would each get a bucket in the last minute to give Northfield a 24-11 lead at the half.

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."