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BENNETT'S MINUTES: It’s award time for a short year
On a day which originally would have seen softball sectionals entering the semifinal round at most sites and the girls’ track regionals being contested, instead we will take a look back at the highlights of what was permitted to happen during the 2019-20 school year in Putnam County sports.
We will try not to rehash in their entirety some of these topics previously discussed, but some of this should sound familiar for regular readers.
In no particular order, here are some “Bennett’s Minutes” awards:
• Breakout star — Ella Szczerbik, Cloverdale.
The Cloverdale freshman was a semistate qualifier in cross country and looks to be on her way to an outstanding running career.
• Best rule change — The “running clock” in football
I know some coaches don’t like it, but once a football game has a 35-point margin in the first half it’s over. There is no sport more difficult to overcome a huge deficit in than football, and as the season wore on there are more and more of these games.
The last five games I covered all were shortened by the running clock, and all deserved to be. (I still have an issue with teams continuing to have starting quarterbacks keep throwing touchdown passes once the 35-point threshold has been reached, however.)
• Best rule change NOT made — A shot clock for high school basketball
You can read a much more thorough summary of this topic in a recent blog on www.bannergraphic.com, but the gist is that the class state tournament has evened the playing field and “stall ball” games of single-digit scoring just don’t happen.
• Swiss Army knife award — New Cloverdale volleyball coach Jim Spencer
Spencer will take over the Clover program from the departed Sam Jones next year for the second time in three years, but will have a little more notice this time around. Two years ago, Spencer filled in admirably when Jones was injured in an automobile accident.
• Veteran coach of the year — Brian Gardner, South Putnam girls’ basketball
It’s hard to argue with Gardner, who won his third sectional title in the last four years — the only one won by a Putnam County team this year.
• Rookie coach of the year — Kellie Kirkhoff, Greencastle girls’ basketball
Kirkhoff started off the season with a majority of her expected starting lineup sidelined due to injury, and the Tiger Cubs struggled to a 2-11 start.
The state’s youngest girls’ varsity basketball coach got things together one the calendar flipped to 2020 and led her squad to a 9-2 record over the final two months.
• Best decision — Steven Schnepp, South Putnam
The Eagle senior wasn’t even going to run cross country last fall, but made the switch from football pay off bigtime by qualifying for the state finals.
• Best decision (honorable mention) — Allison Stevens, Greencastle
Stevens admitted after the girls’ sectional championship game that she almost didn’t play basketball this year, as she recovered from an ankle injury and had travel volleyball on the horizon when she was recovered.
She played, though, and perhaps the only person more happy with that decision than her was Kirkhoff.
• Red Ribbon award — North Putnam teams
The Cougars had their best athletic season during our four years in Putnam County, winning the inaugural “Putnam County Cup” standings for performance in county tournaments.
However, the Cougars advanced to five sectional championship games (football, volleyball, girls’ soccer, boys’ soccer and boys’ basketball) and were defeated each time.
As the old saying goes, though, you can’t win a sectional title unless you’re in the championship game. Look for the Cougars to break their long sectional drought with at least one victory next year.
• Fallen Friend award — Anyone who knew Steve Fields
Steve’s passing during the past school year was not unexpected, but that doesn’t make it any less sad.
He had hoped to hang on long enough to see his son, Joe, graduate from college — and he hung on a lot longer than that.
• Best structural change — Western Indiana Conference
Gone are the crossover games which were necessary, but impossible to be valid due to the inequities between the divisions.
Even better is that football is now separated into large and small school divisions, and the unfair mismatches which previously existed on the gridiron will no longer take place.
• Most puzzling trend — Teams losing double-digit leads in basketball
Although this situation is part of what makes the unpredictability of basketball so appealing, the number of games in which teams lost after leading by more than 10 points (sometimes even in the second half) is puzzling.
There were several different kinds. I saw teams (both ours and opponents) with big leads that quit attacking the basket and made it too easy for the other team to get back in it. I saw some where the team that was behind really picked it up and just played better once falling behind. There were also some in which the team leading by a big margin got complacent and just didn’t play as hard for the rest of the game.
• Most competitive sport — Volleyball
No sport in the fall or winter season saw all four county teams as closely grouped together in talent and performance than volleyball. The tournament series was simply outstanding, from the WIC championship game through the sectional.
• Best individual alumni performance in college — Jalen Moore, Cloverdale/Olney Central
Moore was nothing short of amazing in earning third-team All-American honors during his final year of junior college. He also achieved his goal of playing Division I basketball when he signed with Oakland University.
• Best team alumni performances in college — Marian University volleyball and football
Greencastle’s Maggie Meyer and North Putnam’s Taylor Nauert paced the Knights to the NAIA national volleyball championship last year, while Cloverdale’s Tyler Lotz earned All-American honors for the school’s national runnerup football team.
• Biggest disappointment — Cancellation of the spring sports season
Enough said.