The Press-Dispatch

March 3, 2021

The Press-Dispatch

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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, March 3, 2021 A-9 SPORTS Submit sports items: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: sports@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg Hanselman leads Chargers to victory Goeppner competes in state competition Corey Goeppner competed at the Indiana (USA Folkstyle) Frosh/ Soph state wrestling tournament which was February 27 and 28 at Southport high school in Indianap- olis. Goeppner was 1-2 on the week- end. In the first round Corey wrestled Keaton Loudermilk of Crown Point and won a 3-1 decision. In the second round he faced Dae- veon Cheeks of Lafayette Jefferson High School and lost by a 10 -5 de- cision. He then wrestled Jonathan Taylor of Westfield in the third round and lost by a major decision. There were 31 wrestlers compet- ing in the 195 weight class, and more than 600 wrestlers participating for the weekend. Goeppner qualified for state finals by placing second at the south qual- ifier hosted by Mater Dei on Febru- ary 14. To qualify for state finals, wres- tlers competed at either the South, North or Central Indiana qualifying meets. Wrestlers who advanced to the IHSA A semi-state level automati- cally qualified for the Folkstyle state finals. He was coached by his father, Jason Goeppner and by his brother, Brandon Goeppner . "This was a great opportunity and experience to wrestle at a higher lev- el and compete with wrestlers from all over the state of Indiana," said Goeppner. Middle school wrestlers hosted four teams Pocket Athletic Conference teams from Boonville, Heritage Hills, Southridge and South Spencer took to the mat at Pike Central High School this past Saturday morning. Boonville claimed a 77-24 win while South Spencer came away with a 54- 33 victory. Heritage Hills won 76 -6 and Southridge claimed a 96 -3 win. Billy Like wrestled at 102 pounds and claimed a late third period fall over Boonville's Landon Boyer. Like added a first period pin against South Spencer's Aleck Byruns but fell to Raider Jack Boeglin in the first pe- riod and then Patriot Dalton Pledg- er in the first period. By Mike Sandifar "Hanselman, Hanselman, He's our man, if he can't do it, no one can! " Remember that old cheerleader, sideline cheer? Well, Hanselman, "could, and he did" Friday night in Charger Gym- nasium in a performance that will not soon be forgotten by those in at- tendance. Hanselman had plenty of help in every phase of the game by every Charger who played, but it most cer- tainly looked like the "Sean Hansel- man Show" in the fourth quarter of the game Friday night, as the 5'11" senior put on perhaps the greatest performance ever seen over the last 3:50 of ANY game ever played in Charger Gymnasium—and the result was a come-from-behind, heart-stopping, 46 -43 Pocket Ath- letic Conference (PAC) victory for Pike Central over Tecumseh in boys' high school basketball action. In a game that was close from start to finish, fans from both teams were on the edge of their seats from the beginning. Hanselman rammed home 15 points over the final eight min- utes, including the last 11 Charger points in the final 3:50 of the phys- ical, hard-fought hardwood battle. He also grabbed a pair of rebounds, and had two steals in the last four minutes of the contest to almost sin- gle-handedly give the hosts the win. With the Chargers trailing 41-35 with 3:50 remaining, Hanselman stepped to the charity stripe and calmly sank a pair of free throws to move Pike Central within 41-37. A fter a miss by each team, Hansel- man pumped in a three-point basket from deep in the corner on the oppo- site side of the court from the Char- ger bench to narrow the Braves' lead to a single digit at 41-40 with 2:41 left in the game. Playing both ends of the floor, Hanselman came up with a steal with 2:07 remaining in the encoun- ter and was then fouled going to the basket with 1:54 on the score- board. He put home the first of his two shots to knot the score at 41-41, and with the entire Charger bench standing and holding their breath, Hanselman tossed in the second to give Pike Central a 42-41 lead. With 1:38 to go in the game, Te- cumseh's Zach Kolley, a 6'4" ju- nior, was fouled on a shot from un- der the basket and went to the free throw line for a pair of free shots. He missed the first attempt, but he made the second try to tie the score at 42-42. Freshman Julian Gish missed a three-point attempt with 1:29 to go in the fray, but Hanselman stole the basketball from Kolley on the Te- cumseh end of the floor with 59.2 seconds showing on the clock. With 35.2 ticks left in the game, Hanselman was fouled driving to the basket and went to the free throw line with a one-and-one op- portunity and the scored still knot- ted at 42-42. He made both shots to give the eventual winners a 44-42 lead. The Braves quickly moved the ball down court, and with 15.9 sec- onds left in the contest, 6'1" sopho- more Dax Bailey went hard to the basket for Tecumseh and was fouled on the shot, sending him to the char- ity stripe for a pair of free throws. He missed the first try, but he put home the second shot, moving the visitors to within one at 44-43. Tecumseh put on full court pres- sure on the inbounds and fouled Gish with 12.8 seconds left. The 6' first-year varsity performer missed the first of the one-and-one oppor- tunity, and 5'10" sophomore Drew DuPont grabbed the rebound for the Braves. With 8.8 seconds remaining, Te- cumseh Coach Kevin Oxley called a time out to set up a final play for the Braves with the ball in the Braves' frontcourt. Kolley missed on a shot from eight feet and Hanselman (who else) was fouled with just 2.8 ticks left on the slow-moving scoreboard clocks. Hanselman, with a huge smile on his face, sank both one-and-one chances to put PCHS up 46 -43. A mid-court heave by Tecumseh dropped harmlessly three feet short of the Braves' basket—and the game was over! "We have been in this position so many times this year," breathed PCHS Coach Hunter Elliott, after the game, "and we always dropped the basketball—but not tonight! " "We got the job done on both ends of the floor for the entire 32 minutes." "We put it all together tonight. We scored under pressure, and we got defensive stops when the game was on the line. "I could not be prouder of our guys for the way they played tonight. "Everyone contributed to this win, but without question, Sean Hanselman was unbelievable down the stretch in the last four minutes. It seemed like he was everywhere, scoring, rebounding, defending, stealing the basketball, just every- thing! " "We just made big plays, time af- ter time, and this is a great win for us heading into Friday's IHSA A Sec- tional Tournament game with Vin- cennes. "This win could give us real mo- mentum in the tournament. Records don't count when the tournament starts. Anything can happen! " Friday's contest was close throughout the entire game. Pike Central jumped out to a 12- 7 lead at the end of the first quar- ter, but Tecumseh stormed back to take a 25 -17 advantage into the dressing room at the half intermis- sion, outscoring the Chargers 18 -5 Corey Goeppner Pike Central's senior Sean Hanselman (13) gets fouled tak- ing the basketball to the hoop in Friday's Pocket Athletic Con- ference (PAC) outing with Tecumseh. Hanselman rammed home a perfect 12 of 12 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, along with a three-point field goal to score 15 points in the final period in the Charger's come-from-behind 46-43 vic- tory. Hanselman led all scorers with 19 points. Kylee Baker worked to get up out of a half nelson while wrestling at 110 against South Spencer. PIKE COUNTY YOUTH BASKETBALL Skill Sessions Current 3rd-4th-5th Grade Boys and Girls $40 - for 8 skills - 1 hour Sessions - TBD Ball Handling - Passing - Shooting - Footwork & Agility 2-Sessions per week- Tuesdays and Thursdays starting April 6 Sign up at Winslow Community Center March 7 - 3:00–4:00 pm Billy Like went 2-2 Saturday with wins over Boonville and South Spencer. Gage Morton won matches over Southridge and South Spencer on Saturday. See VICTORY on page 11 See WRESTLE on page 11

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