Match Reports, August 18

NOMINATE FOR MENNO LANDS MEMORIES or ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Boys soccer
Bethany opened its season with a goal from Jesse Ramer in the first thirty seconds, then used five goals in twenty minutes to trounce Culver Community 8-0 and move into the Northern Indiana Soccer Conference lead.
CULVER, Ind. — Bethany 8, Culver Community 0.

• B — Jesse Ramer (1').
• B — Andrew Snyder (Joel Yoder assist) (16').
• B — Eder Paez (Ramer) (36').
• B — Femi Hollinger-Janzen (Ramer) (44').
• B — Ramer (Hollinger-Janzen) (47').
• B — Matt Weaver (Snyder) (48').
• B — Paez (Kevin Hawkins) (54').
• B — Josh Stoltzfus (74').

Shots on goal — Bethany 26, Culver 3. Goalie saves — Bethany: Seth Kauffman 2, Jeff Yoder 1; Culver: Zach Loehmer 18.
Around The NISC: Lakeland Christian 5, Elkhart Christian 2.

Girls soccer
After an auspicious start as Taylor Christophel scored 21 seconds into the game, the Bruins used two goals from Emma Caskey and four from Emma Gerig to knock off the South Bend Riley 7-2 at Bodiker Field.
GOSHEN — Bethany 7, South Bend Riley 2.

• B: Taylor Christophel (Sharisse Yoder assist) (1').
• B: Emma Gerig (Emma Caskey assist) (25').
• B: Caskey (Karli Graybill) (36').
• R: Nicole Konkey (46').
• B: Gerig (52').
• B: Gerig (60').
• B: Caskey (Yoder) (61')
• B: Gerig (Caskey) (64').
• R: Breanna Ferency (penalty kick) (68').

Shots on goal — Riley 3, Bethany 13. Goalie saves — Riley: Rosemary Kozak 6, Bethany: Kelly Snyder 1, Caitlin Fecher 0.

Referee — Daniel Nava. Linesman — Dante Ortíz, Arnold Willis.

Lineups

Riley — Rosemary Kozak; Kayla Schultz, Alicia Goldstone, Katie Weldy, Breanna Ferency; Nicole Konkey, Sarah Mee, Melissa Menting, Sydney Szymanowski; Katrina Gamble, Lupe Perez.

Bethany — Kelly Snyder; Anna Nafziger, Malaina Weldy, Karli Graybill, Emma Gerig; Marissa Weldy, Sharisse Yoder, Gina Gautsche; Elyse Hooley, Emma Caskey, Taylor Christophel.

Volleyball
GOSHEN — Jimtown def. Bethany 25-18, 25-10, 20-25, 25-18.

Aces — Jimtown: Riley Eaton 4, Alicia Ward 2; Bethany: Mattie Lehman 2. Assists — Jimtown: Eaton 23; Bethany: Mandy Schlabach 18. Kills — Jimtown: Katie Goward 22; Bethany: Schlabach 8, Marla zumFelde 7. Blocking — Jimtown: Rachel Klosinski 4, Alexis Cook 3; Bethany: zumFelde 4. Digs — Jimtown: Taylor Crowell 18, Goward 14; Bethany: Lehman 14.
JV: Jimtown def. Bethany 25-8, 25-12. Aces — Bethany: Rachel Schrock 2. Assists — Bethany: Elise Romero 4. Kills — Bethany: Maria Thomas 3. Digs — Bethany: Amber Heydon 3, Elise Romero 3.

Boys tennis
For the second consecutive year, the #3 singles match was decided in three sets, though the team winner was decided before that match ended, as the Bruins fell to Northridge 4-1.

MIDDLEBURY, Ind. — Northridge 4, Bethany 1. JV: Northridge 7, Bethany 2.
Ben Mast lost to Nick Myers 2-6, 5-7. Seth Krabill def. Jeremy Runge 6-3, 6-3. Mikey Kelly lost to Dave Long 6-4, 3-6, 3-6. Austin Loucks/Kyle Miller lost to James Brandenburger/Dylan Pieri 2-6, 2-6. Russell Klassen/Blake Shetler lost to Jeff Eash/Cole Wogoman 3-6, 2-6.

JV: Matt Ebersole lost to A.J. Thielking 7-9. Claude Stickler lost to Nate Brendle 1-8. Ike Lehman lost to Dylan Wengerd 3-8. Stickler def. Ian James 8-3. Jake Gerig def. Byron Slabach 8-6. Evan Grimes lost to Alex Radelich 0-8. Gerig/Grimes lost to Kyle Metcalfe/Chris Robbins 1-8. Ryan Minter/Wade Troyer lost to Connor Cameron/Doug Jakubowicz 2-8. Minter/Troyer lost to Andrew Gingerich/Michael Eash 4-8.

The Saturday Evening Post

(Stats complete through game(s) of Friday, Jan. 16)

• Aided vastly by the Bruins' 10 games played, Seth Kauffman has more rebounds and steals than any player in Elkhart County. The other county teams with a 10-game completed slate are Goshen (7-3) and Elkhart Central (3-7). NorthWood's Skyler Titus is second in rebounds with 77, followed by Josh Riikonen of the Blue Blazers with 76. The steals leaders are as follows:
  1. Kauffman (Bethany) 24/2.4 per game
  2. Ethan Hussey (Goshen) 21/2.1
  3. Jordan Weaver (Bethany) 20/2.0
  4. Luke Slagel (Bethany) 19/1.9
  5. Sean Cooper (Elk. Memorial) 18/2.6
• Kauffman also leads the county with 74 two-point field goals, shooting at a clip of 66.1% from inside the 19'9" semicircle. Hussey is second at 69.
  
• Weaver, with 31 assists, trails only Goshen's Ethan Hussey (34) in that category.
• County free throw percentage leaders:
  1. Ethan Hussey (Goshen) 86.4%
  2. Elliot Smith (Northridge) 86.0%
  3. Koby Eldridge (Concord) 84.2%
     • Eldridge won the free-throw shootout at the Elkhart Sports Center Hoop Challenge in 2005, and advanced to the three-point finals a year later.
  4. Micah Horner (NorthWood) 84.0%
  5. Mark DeLeeuw (Bethany) 82.8%
  6. Tyler Forgey (Jimtown) 82.8%
• The girls basketball sectional draw will be held Thursday, January 29 at 7:00 p.m. EST. The sectional will be hosted by favorite Canterbury; Bethany will be favored against ECA (-9.5), Hamilton (-16.5), and Keystone (-28.5). Elkhart Christian travels to the Menno Lands for a 7:30 varsity-only tipoff on Monday, Feb. 2.
  
• The boys sectional draw is Thursday, February 19 at 6:00 p.m. EST. The Bruins will travel to favored Blackhawk for the sectional; Hamilton, Blackhawk, and Howe Military remain on our regular season schedule.
• As ECA and Bethany fared oppositely in the first round of the holiday tournament, the two parochial IHSAA schools of Elkhart County will not meet in the regular season. The last time this happened was 1984-85. That year, Elkhart Baptist was not in the IHSAA, the Bruins were led in scoring by Royce Schrag and Myron Bontreger, and Walter Mondale carried a grand total of one state and the District of Columbia in getting steamrolled by incumbent president Ronald Reagan.
• On Thursday, Abe Thorne played the first minute-plus of the Bethany/Jimtown 7th-grade game wearing a wristwatch. He was reminded to take it off by an official who I know I've seen, but whose name I can't remember. A brief history of illegal apparel and Bruin basketball:
  • Nov. 2004: In the first Bethany basketball game after Lance Armstrong's Tour de France win sparks a flurry of silicone bracelets, no fewer than three Bruins, including Hamilton Thorne, take the floor with them. Within the first two minutes, one official decides that they constitute jewelry. (The other official that day was Kurt Bullard (see below), who was also wearing one. He is not the official who makes the decision.) This was also Matt Miller's first game as a Bethany basketball coach.
    
  • Dec. 8/9, 2005: During a Bethany-Stanley Clark eighth-grade game, an unidentified Stanley Clark player checks in wearing four or five bracelets. This fact is discovered by official Michael Robinson immediately after beckoning the substitute.
  • Dec. 13, 2005: Bruin Dylan Downing checks into an eighth-grade game wearing earrings. He is sent back to the bench by an official (not Robinson or Bullard) and replaced with a different substitute.
  • Feb. 2006: During play in a sixth-grade girls game, Sarah Brew loses her hair band. After picking it up during a stoppage in play, she drapes it around her neck. The illegality of this is pointed out, and Brew tosses it back toward the bench. (Official may have been Robinson again; he was here a lot that year.)
    
  • Dec. 14, 2007: In the ECA-Bethany boys JV game, two Eagles start the game on the bench, wearing white undershirts in tandem with the road purple jerseys. They are sent to the locker room to change, passing directly across a bleacher railing from yours truly on the way out of the Menno Lands.
  • Jan. 15, 2009: Abe Thorne plays the first minute-plus of a seventh-grade game at Jimtown wearing a wristwatch. Further details can be found in the match report from Thursday.
  • Jan.-Mar. 2009: MS girls basketball team sets itself up for many more of these, with team photos showing nine off-color undershirts and five hair ties on wrists out of 25 people.
    
  
  
• For the second time in the last five years, Kurt Bullard is not coaching the MS girls basketball "A" team. This year's team is being coached by Sarah Moyer while Bullard handles the "B" and "C" teams, the reverse of last year's staff; in 2006, Mike Goertzen and Teri Marlow, respectively, filled those positions. The 2007 teams were coached by Bullard and Marlow, while Bryan Kehr coached the lower-level teams in 2005.
  

Game Reports, January 15

Girls basketball

GOSHEN — Northridge 54, Bethany 34.
Northridge: Kendra Cundiff 1 0-0 3, Emylee Smith 1 2-2 4, Alisha Christner 1 0-0 2, Lauren Adams 3 2-4 8, Sydney Sample 2 1-2 6, Chanel Wengerd 5 2-2 12, Leah Meyer 4 4-4 12, Cedes Clifford 2 0-0 5, Tori Roberts 1 0-1 2. Tyann Schlabach, Kelsi Bowman, Kerri Doutlick all 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 11-15 (73.3%) 54.
Bethany: Jenae Rupp 4 7-8 15, Sarah Lederman 0 0-3 0, Marla zumFelde 7 0-0 14, Mattie Lehman 0 0-1 0, Chris Minter 1 3-4 5. Jodi Stutzman, Erin Helmuth, Twila Albrecht, Ali Hochstetler, Gina Gautsche, Malaina Weldy all 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 10-16 (62.5%) 34.
Scoring By Quarters
N 16 15 09 14 — 54
B 11 07 08 08 — 34
Three-point goals — Northridge 3 (Cundiff, Sample, Clifford), Bethany 0. Total fouls — Northridge 14, Bethany 11. Fouled out — none.

Officials — Steve Arko, Steve Nusbaum, Wes Yoder.

JV lost 33-18.
Northridge: Kendra Cundiff 3 0-0 7, Kerri Doutlick 1 0-0 2, Jen Willey 1 0-0 2, Tori Roberts 8 0-0 16, Devon Aragona 2 0-0 4, Kayt Coulter 1 0-0 2. Megan Bontrager, Amanda Western, Kelsi Bowman, Katie Mahaffa, Katie Reed, Cedes Clifford all 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 0-0 33.
Bethany: Malaina Weldy 3 0-2 6, Ali Hochstetler 2 0-0 4, Mattie Lehman 1 0-0 2, Alena Yoder 1 0-0 2, Sarah Brew 2 0-0 4. Gina Gautsche, Twila Albrecht, Clarissa Lora, Lauren Hooley, Caitlin Fecher, Chris Minter, Megan Schmucker all 0 0-0 0.Totals 9 0-2 (0.0%) 18.
Scoring By Quarters
N 12 2 11 8 — 33
B 02 6 06 4 — 18
3-point goals: Bethany 0, Northridge 1 (Cundiff)
Total fouls: Bethany 3, Northridge 5. Fouled out: none.

MS boys basketball

BAUGO TWP., Ind. — Jimtown 47, Bethany 29.


"B"
Bruins can't make shots fall, fall in Baugo
Jimtown outplays Bethany en route to victory
Visitors unwittingly endorse chronometer industry

"All who draw the sword will die by the sword." Matthew 26:52 (NIV)
BAUGO TWP. — Bethany has drawn the sword on numerous occasions this year in the form of a three-point shot. Entering Thursday's action against the Jimmies, the Bruins had drained at least 27 long-range baskets while missing countless non-recorded others. In the absence of starting guard Tanner Fervida, post play would prove to be a crucial element.

Defense rules first sessions
The game started inauspiciously for both offenses, as a driving layup from Keion Johnson accounted for the entirety of the 2-0 first quarter score. Johnson and Tristan Wickham would combine for ten of Jimtown's twelve second-quarter points, while a lack of ball control on the boards crippled the visitors' offensive effort. As the teams left the floor for the halftime intermission, the Bruins trailed by six.

Jimtown control slips
The third quarter would yield a bit of a Bruin comeback, including a rattling 22-foot field goal by Sol Brenneman, as the defense stifled Jimtown's attack enough to cut the margin to one. On March 27, 2004, Jimtown coach Kyle Johnson led his team to the 2A state championship, capturing the Trester Award for mental attitude as Brownstown Central outscored Jimtown 18-8 off a 20-10 turnover advantage. The statistic was no different in this quarter, as Bethany scored its six points from three fast breaks after Jimtown lost the ball.

Case closes in fourth
Jimmie point guard Case Hoeflinger had been quiet for 18 minutes, contributing only two free throws to the hosts' cause. His Bruin counterpart, Ethan Folker, had performed similarly, frequently failing to play defense after a bad pass or an overly complex missed layup. The difference in these two characters would contribute enormously to the final difference. Hoeflinger capitalized on the mistakes of an undermanned, undersized Bethany defense, going a perfect 4-for-4 when sent to the line in the final stanza. Folker, on a completely opposite hand, failed to convert in the entire second half, including missing both free throws in a 22-19 game with 48.7 seconds to play.

Mistakes cost Bruins down stretch
Despite these flaws, the Bruin defense remained passably strong, excepting several mental mistakes which put Jimtown on the charity stripe. Offensive ineptitude reigned on the other end: in fact, the Bruins, forced to resort to forcing the ball inside, turned the ball over multiple times in the final two minutes, while their only fourth-quarter points were scored by reserve guard Joseph Mumaw with approximately 2:45 to play. Ultimately, the visitors' lack of ability to play in the paint would cost them a five-point decision at the hands of a more elite squad.

Hey, Dave: Watch this!
In road games this year, Abe Thorne's uniform has not been one to disrupt: blue number 40 jersey trimmed in white, sleeves of a powder blue T-shirt protruding through the armholes, royal blue shorts with a Bruin paw on the left thigh, low socks, tied shoes. In a plague spreading throughout the gymnasium from the time the Bruins took the floor to warm up, before 4:15, to after the 4:30 tip-off, that was not the case on Thursday. Thorne picked up a start in the absence of Tanner Fervida, and the game began without incident. Within seconds of the opening tip, however, the circumstances would change: this reporter noticed a foreign object taking up residence on his left wrist. Soon determined to be wearing (illegally) a wristwatch, becoming the first illegally attired male Bruin since a group that included his brother Hamilton, playing against Jimtown, four-plus years earlier. This problem would continue for approximately five percent of the game, until coach Norm Cender called Abe to the bench, removing the offending timepiece after 71 seconds of free Armitron publicity.

(Box Score)

Jimtown 24, Bethany 19
Bethany: Ethan Folker 1 0-6 2, Joseph Mumaw 1 0-0 2, William Schrock 2 0-0 4, Sol Brenneman 2 0-0 5, Trent Yoder 2 0-1 4, Abe Thorne 1 0-0 2. Ryan Miller, Joel Gerig, Parth Patel, Bryan Nguyen all 0 0-0 0. Totals 9 0-7 (0.0%) 19.
Jimtown: Case Hoeflinger 1 6-6 8, Nate Thompson 1 0-0 2, Cody Spurgeon 1 0-0 2, Tristan Wickham 3 0-1 6, Luke Crocker 0 0-2 0, Keion Johnson 3 0-2 6. Jacob Meert, Justin Newand, Zack Roeder, Jacob Gongwer, Marcus Bickel, Agustin Rubalcava, Tylis Jarvis, Marques Mardis all 0 0-0 0. Totals 9 6-11 (54.5%) 24.
Scoring By Quarters
B 0 08 9 2 — 19
J 2 12 4 6 — 24
Three-point goals: Bethany 1 (Brenneman), Jimtown 0. Total fouls — Bethany 9, Jimtown 11. Fouled out — none.