Wabash County’s girls basketball teams tipped off the 2019-20 season last week, going 2-2 for the week.

Southwood 52, Blackford 40

The Southwood Knights kicked off its season with a 52-40 win over Blackford Wednesday, Nov. 6.

The Knights took control of the game early outscoring Blackford 17-2 in the first quarter.

Blackford cut the lead to 29-21 at halftime never got closer in the second half.

MaKenna Pace led the Knights with 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals, while Erin Lehner had 17 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and two steals, and Sydney Heflin had eight points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Aleia Sweet had four points and four rebounds, followed by Ella Haupert with three points and three rebounds, Bailey Wyatt with three points, and Maggie Ball with six rebounds.

The JV team also pulled away early from Blackford and cruised to a 32-15 win.

The Northfield Norsemen started the 2019 football season with an 0-4 record that included a 20-6 loss to Southwood on Sept. 13. Since that loss, the Norse have won seven straight contests, including a stifling 14-6 win over the Class 1A No. 3 Knights Friday, Nov. 1.

“[Our guys] did exactly what we told them to do,” Northfield coach Brandon Baker said after the game. “We had to attack on offense and our defense up front did their job.”

Sticking to the offense the Norse have utilized all year, they ran the ball and ran the clock on the opening drive of the game.

Quarterback Levi Fulkerson, who finished the game with 109 yards on the ground on 37 carries, led a steady and deliberate Northfield offense in its opening drive.

Starting at their own 38-yard line, Northfield rushed on its first eight plays.

They took to the air on a fourth and five play when Fulkerson hit Graydon Holmes for six yards to keep the drive going.

After five more rushing plays led to a fourth and two on the Southwood six-yard line, Fulkerson pitched the ball to Holmes who found the end zone with 4:27 left in the first quarter. The extra point from Trent Osborn made it a 7-0 Northfield lead.

“We told them that getting three yards a play was enough,” Baker said. “The clock would keep rolling and our offense stays on the field. In all my [18] years of coaching, this was the best execution of that.”

The Three Rivers Conference recently announced the all-conference teams for volleyball, boys soccer, girls soccer and boys tennis for the 2019 fall seasons.

The football all-conference team will be announced once all member teams' seasons are complete.

Volleyball

First Team

Northfield – Addi Baker, Abigail Hunter

Southwood – Marissa Metzger

Wabash – Alivia Short

Maconaquah – Emily Nowyer, Lilly Maple, Avery Miller

Peru – Courtlynn Crowe

Rochester – Aliva Riegle, Christina Towne

Tippecanoe Valley – Hannnah Engstrand, Makenzi Woodcox

Whitko – Morgan Howard

Southwood's Braden Sweet capped off a strong season with a 35th place finish at the IHSAA Cross Country State Finals in Terre Haute Saturday, Nov. 2.

The junior finished with a time of 16:20.9 the field of 214 runners.

Sweet stayed in the pack of the first 50 runners, then at the 3000m mark, shifted gears to push to the 35th spot.

By Eric Dewberry and Marcus DiNitto, BetIndiana News

The Irish, still in contention for a 10-win season and a New Year’s Six bowl invite after a close call last Saturday, is road chalk at Duke on Saturday.

Purdue, meanwhile, is a rare road favorite at Northwestern, last winning at Ryan Field in 2010.

In Big Ten action, oddsmakers opened No. 3 Ohio State as 44-point chalk over Maryland, the Buckeyes’ largest B1G spread in recent history.

Southwood's Braden Sweet and Wabash's Dereck Vogel extended their cross country seasons one more week as they both qualified for the IHSAA State Meet Saturday, Nov. 2.

Sweet, a junior, placed eighth overall and was one out of 10 runners moving on without a qualifying team advancing.

He finished the raced with a time of 15:54 at the New Haven Semistate at The Plex in Fort Wayne Saturday, Oct. 26.

Vogel, a senior, will be making his second straight appearance individually at the state finals finishing 19th overall with a time of 16:07.2.

Vogel competed with his team as the Apaches finished 10th, missing the cut for state by just under two seconds.

Blakley Cole was second to cross the line for the Apaches in 54th place with a time of 16:52.5, followed by David Ford in 79th place with a time of 17:11.5, Caleb Callahan in 91st place in 17:17.2, Jarrett Wilson in 97th place in 17:19.0, Ethan Kocher in 147th place in 17:59.6, and Wyatt Davis in 163rd place in 18:17.2

Northfield junior Andrew Burns ended his season with a 169th place finish in 18:32.8.

Northfield senior Alyssa McKillip ended her cross country career with a 61st place result with a time of 20:03.5.

The Emmanuel Eagles volleyball team attended the state tournament in Muncie this week and dominated the competition for the fourth consecutive year.

Emmanuel started the weekend in a round-robin tournament against Grace Baptist of Plymouth, where they lost the only set of the competition. They went on to sweep the rivalry of Emmanuel Baptist of Valparaiso, Cornerstone of Indianapolis, and Fishers Baptist of Fishers.

On Saturday, the lady eagles battled for the state championship against Valparaiso and were victorious within three sets; the scores were 25-13, 25-12, 25-12. 

The Southwood Knights traveled to Churubusco in the opening round of sectional play and came away with a 21-12 win over the tenth-ranked Eagles Friday, Oct. 25.

Northfield, meanwhile, won a 21-8 sectional road game over Triton to set up a match-up with the county rival Knights Friday, Nov. 1 in the second round of Class 1A Sectional 44.

Class 1A No. 3 Southwood (10-0) will travel to Northfield (6-4) Friday for a 7 p.m. kick-off.

Southwood 21, Churubusco 12

Southwood overcame a 12-0 first-half deficit for the come-from-behind win Friday night.

The Eagles got on the board after a blocked punt led to a score three plays later for a 6-0 lead with 2:25 left in the first quarter.

The Knights moved the ball into Churubusco territory on its next drive but an interception gave the ball to the Eagles, who then scored on an 83-yard touchdown with 10:50 left in the half for a 12-0 lead.

Minutes later on a key play, Churubusco's star running back Jake Fulk left the game with an injury.

Meanwhile Southwood cut the lead to 12-7 with 1:59 left in the first half on a 49-yard touchdown pass from Alex Farr to Jackson Simons.

The Knight's defense forced Churubusco to punt on the next drive but the punt was blocked with 28 seconds left in the half.
Farr and Simons hooked up again, this time for 20 yards with 15 seconds remaining in the half, to give Southwood a 14-12 lead.