BENNETT'S MINUTES: Half of WIC schools still alive in fall sports tourneys

A few odds and ends from here and there:

• Six Western Indiana Conference teams will be competing this weekend in state tournament action.

Five of those teams will be competing in football, with North Putnam playing at Western Boone, Traders Point Christian playing at South Putnam, East Central playing at Edgewood, Tri-West playing at Sullivan and Indian Creek hosting Bishop Chatard of Indianapolis.

In volleyball, Northview (36-2) will meet New Castle (34-5) for the Class 3A state title after beating Silver Creek 3-0 last week in the semistate. New Castle was ranked first in the final Indiana High School Volleyball Coaches Association poll, with Northview holding down the fifth spot.

Barr-Reeve (33-5) meets Pioneer (30-9) in the Class A title match, while Christian Academy (30-9) meets North Judson (26-7) in the 2A finals and Avon (33-3) meets undefeated Yorktown (33-0) in the 4A match.

Former Northview boys’ basketball coach Ernie Maesch will be an interested spectator at Muncie on Saturday.

Maesch teaches advanced physical education at Northview and has helped several of the Knight players to improve their strength and speed.

His daughter, Abby, is a sophomore standout for Avon. Abby attended school in Vigo County until the Maesch family moved to Avon in the summer of 2017.

Both Avon and New Castle will be looking to defend their state titles.

• Football teams involving coaches with Putnam County connections have also been busy in state tourney action.

Troy Burgess’s Evansville Central Bears, after eliminating Northview 35-21 last week, will host undefeated Boonville for the Sectional 24 title.

Evansville Central is the defending champion of the sectional.

Former South Putnam quarterback Tony Lewis finished his first season as head coach at Richmond with a 2-9 record after taking over a program that was winless a year ago.

Lewis coached five years at Evansville Reitz, then coached at Henderson (Ky.) for three years and Crystal River (Fla.) before returning to Indiana.

Former Greencastle assistant coach Nate Bryan was an assistant at Parke Heritage this fall.

The Wolves were ranked in the top 10 of the final Class A poll and won their first sectional game 37-21 over Covington before falling to Attica 20-16 in the semifinals.

Cloverdale grad Mark Osmialowski is teaching and coaching at Wawasee following his career at Manchester University.

Osmialowski was the quarterbacks coach this year for the Warriors, who finished the season 1-9.

North Putnam grad Brett Stoker is a long-time assistant coach at Tipton, and would have coached against his alma mater for the second straight year tonight had the Blue Devils beaten top-ranked Western Boone last week.

The Stars edged Tipton, which was ranked in the Top 10 all year and only lost one regular-season game, by a 28-20 margin.

Tipton came to North Putnam last year and beat the short-handed Cougars 49-7.

• John Harrell’s football sectional predictions were even sharper last week than the week before.

Harrell went 84-12 in the sectional semifinals, bringing him to 195-28 for the tournament (87.4 percent).

Not too shabby.

• Congrats to former Greencastle girls’ basketball coach Bradley Key for picking up his first win at Greenfield-Central.

The Lady Cougars won 67-50 at Greenwood. We’ll keep you posted on how he and his team do this year.

• Congratulations to Greencastle junior Ben Wilkerson for being named honorable mention academic all-state by the Indiana Soccer Coaches Association.

Wilkerson helped lead the Tiger Cubs to a successful defense of their sectional title.

• The girls’ basketball preseason rankings by the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association contained several nearby teams who appear on the schedules of Putnam County teams.

Cloverdale received votes in the Class 2A poll.

In Class 3A, Danville — a Greencastle opponent on Dec. 4 — was in a tie with Angola for fourth place. Hamilton Heights, where Greencastle sophomore Ella Shields played last year, was ranked No. 9 but lost its season opener 60-35 to Brownsburg.

Owen Valley and Benton Central — Greencastle’s two opponents next week — also received votes.

Triton Central, which beat South Putnam in last year’s 2A regional, is ranked No. 5 this season. Covington, which plays North Putnam on Nov. 13, also received votes.

University, which will be in the Monrovia Tourney with South Putnam, also received votes in Class A.