By STU SWARTZ
Goshen News Sports Editor
The curtain falls on the Goshen High School boys basketball home season tonight with a formidable foe invading the Maple City.
South Bend St. Joseph’s 16-4 Indians, coached by former Notre Dame player Keith Kurowski, will be in town to battle the 10-8 Redskins of ninth-year GHS coach Brian Bechtel.
Goshen finishes the regular season Friday night at West Noble in Ligonier and then prepares for a Class 4A sectional opener against Concord next Tuesday at 6:30 at Elkhart’s North Side Gym.
It’s “Senior Night” in Redskin boys basketball with six players and two student managers, along with cheerleaders, to be honored prior to the varsity tipoff.
The players are Jordan Short, Cam Snyder, Ryan Bartley, Brad Sink, Nathan Stegelmann and Josh Randall. Managers are Tyler Miller and Jeremy Bontrager.
“We challenge everyone on the team to step it up and send these seniors out with a great feeling,” said Bechtel.
“This is a special group. They didn’t enjoy much in the win column the previous three years, but have stuck with it and worked extra hard in the offseason. Now, they are being rewarded with what we hope will be a winning season.
“They have put the program in a winning mode and come together as a team due to their closeness and accepting roles.
“We still have goals to meet and the main one is to get that 11th win and assure us of a winning season. We continue trying to gain momentum for that sectional next week.
“Against a team as good as St. Joe, we must play as a team. It’s a win-win situation for us and that’s the way it will take to win the sectional.”
St. Joseph’s Indians had not enjoyed a winning season in eight years until going 16-6 last season and now they have followed that up with another winning round.
There are eight seniors on the Indians’ roster, including all five starters, led by dynamic 6-1 guard Marcus Johnson and 6-7 muscleman Marcus Macellari.
St. Joseph’s shared the Northern Indiana Conference regular season championship with Washington and Riley.
The Indians topped Riley, 52-46, last Friday with Johnson scoring 21 points.
“They present huge problems because of that inside-outside presence,” said Bechtel. “Marcus Johnson is a great passer, slasher and finisher.
“This is the biggest team on our schedule and we became smaller when Marshall Crawford (6-2 junior) was lost for the season (knee surgery).
“St. Joe mixes defenses to keep teams off balance. It will take a team offensive effort on our part.
“We need a lot of assists, setting each other up for shots and then we have to hit them. We did that in the first half of the Westview game, but didn’t hit the shots.”
It will also be a home finale for Goshen’s junior varsity team which takes a 17-1 record into a game against a St. Joe JV team with only three losses.
Sports
Home finale for Redskins
St. Joseph's is 'Senior Night' opponent
- Sports
-
-
SUNDAY SPOTLIGHT: Leaders of the pack
Leadership doesn’t always have to come from seniors.
-
SEMISTATE GIRLS TENNIS: Raiders fall to Canterbury, 4-1
A great high school girls tennis season for the unranked Northridge Raiders came to an end with a 4-1 loss to the No. 14 Fort Wayne Canterbury Cavaliers Saturday in the semistate at Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran.
-
PREP SOFTBALL SECTIONALS: Raiders get it done
When you get base hits in softball is at times just as important as how many safeties you accumulate.
-
PREP BASEBALL SECTIONALS: Minutemen romp
Concord moves on while the season is over for both Northridge and Goshen.
-
BOYS PREP TRACK AND FIELD: Area athletes headed to state meet
A total of eight individual athletes and a relay from The Goshen News coverage area qualified for the state meet Thursday night at the Kokomo regional.
-
PREP SOFTBALL: Lakers power way to championship
Lakeland’s Lauren McKibben has been through more than her share of adversity during her high school athletic career: She suffered two torn ACLs and missed the past two softball seasons.
-
PREP SOFTBALL SECTIONALS: On to the finals
Northridge and Elkhart Central are not that far apart from each other, but when the two local high schools clash in the Class 4A softball sectional championship Friday night at Elkhart Memorial it will be the first meeting between the two during the last two seasons.
-
PREP BASEBALL SECTIONALS: Chargers rally, nip Warriors on walk-off single in 7th
There aren’t many ways to improve on a complete-game pitching victory in a sectional quarterfinal game.
-
GIRLS PREP TENNIS: Raiders rally, edge Hornets for title
Momentum hung in the balance Wednesday and Northridge certainly seized it.
-
Raider redemption
This one went to Northridge in what has become a very competitive high school girls tennis rivalry with Fairfield.
- More Sports Headlines
-
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
