The South Gibson Star-Times serves the towns of Haubstadt, Owensville and Fort Branch.
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South Gibson Star-Times B-1 Tuesday, November 1, 2022 SPORTS END OF THE MAGIC See PREVIEW on page 2 See MAGIC on page 2 Jr. Titans Soccer Club seeks support, sponsors The Junior Titans Soccer Club seeks support to raise funds for expanding facilities. They plan to build a conces- sion stand and storage area, and add field lights and a scoreboard. You can choose to adver- tise your company on one or several locations on the fields. Additionally, for each addi- tional sign you purchase you can save $25/sign. The only limit on the amount of signs you can purchase is based on space available. This opportunity is also available to friends and supporters of the Jr. Titans Soccer Club. Show your support by having your name on the banners. For more information, email info@jrti- tans.org or contact Darrel Edwards at 812-484-6280 with any questions about the sign program or to discuss creat- ing a customized advertising program for your business. The Gibson Southern Jr. Titans Soccer Club is a not-for- profit charitable organiza- tion training and developing middle school soccer players, the organization serves chil- dren in the 5th through 8th grades feeding into Gibson Southern HS. The club is run and managed by community volunteers and promotes char- acter, courage, teamwork and loyalty. Through the gener- ous donations and support of community businesses, the Jr. Titans Soccer Club maintains a standard of excellence for all our participants each year. The program on average fields more than 30 teams annually and the fields at John- son Twp. Park draws in over 3,000 unique visitors each year, through our middle school soccer and the Gibson County recreational soccer programs. Spindler places 67th out of 204 at CC state finals By Andy Heuring Star-Times Sports sports@sgstartimes.com Gibson Southern junior Alex Spindler placed 67th at the Indiana Cross Country State Finals in Terre Haute on Saturday competing against the 200 best runners in the state. "Alex ran a fantastic race," said Titan Coach Jeremy Aydt. Spindler said it was a little intimidating going into the meet which included the state's top 24 plus the 10 top individual runners not on one of those teams from four semi- states. "The start was a lot faster than I'm used to, but I knew with all the good runners there I had to get out to a good start," said Spindler. "He got out quickly from the start and ran very strong," said Aydt. Spindler was in front for the first 600 meters. "I didn't realize how fast I was running until I saw I was in front after about 600 meters," said Spindler. "Despite his first kilometer being very fast, he maintained a consistent pace from the second kilometer to the end. We are very proud of Alex and his performance," said Aydt. "I was able to keep up with everyone else as long as I stayed in a group and I was able to finish strong," said Spindler. His performance surprised him. They were competing on the Lavern Gibson Champion- ship Cross Country Course, which not only hosts the state finals, it also has hosted the NCA As. "It is a very hard course. Going in I was hoping to break 17 minutes," said Spin- dler. Instead he ran a 16:31.5 averaging 5:19 a mile. He has run similar times, but not on a course this difficult. Kole Mathison, a senior from Carmel, won the race in a time of 15:02 running a pace of 4:50 per mile. Spindler was only 11 seconds out of the top 50. "I just thought it was really good. Hope I can go back next year and do better," said Spin- dler, who also was a state final- ist in the high jump last year as a sophomore. Carmel won the team state championship. Other area teams who placed included Jasper 20th and Evansville Reitz 23rd. In the girls races, Princ- eton finished 18th. Heidi Meade placed 11th in 18:18.2 and Haley Meade placed 12th in 18:18.6. Spindler is the eighth Gibson Southern runner to make the state finals. The others were: Elaine Spindler 92nd in 1987; Todd Penning- ton 50th in 1992, Jeremy Aydt 63rd in 1993, 90th in 1994 and 24th in 1995; Matt Schmitt 66th in 1996, 59th in 1997; Jennifer McIntyre 65th in 1996 and 36th in 1997; Seth Aydt 63rd in 1998, 30th in 1999 and 20th in 2000 ; Tabitha Titzer 69th in 2007. Lady Titan basketball has brutal schedule, but talent is up to the task By Mike Sandifar Star-Times Sports sports@sgstartimes.com Coach Kyle Brasher's 2021- 22 Gibson Southern Lady Titans finished with a 19 -8 record enroute to the 2022 Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSA A) 3A Sectional Championship, a runner-up spot in the IHSA A 3A Regional, a second-place finish in the Pocket Athletic Conference (PAC), with an 11-1 mark. Their only confer- ence loss was to Washington in an 81-75 heart-breaking double overtime loss. Wash- ington finished 12-0 in confer- ence play. The Lady Titans' accom- plishments also included a 63-52 win over league rival Forest Park, the 2022 IHSA A 2A State Champion, and a 58 -54 victory over PAC oppo- nent Tecumseh, the 2022 IHSA A Class 1A State Cham- pion. The 2021-22 hardwood campaign was an "unbeliev- able ride" for the Lady Titans, and with four returning start- ers, the 2022-23 Lady Titans will have high expectations from media, from fans, from the coaching staff, and from themselves. However, all is not "roses" for the Lady Titans… Coach Brasher has put together what "must be" the toughest Class 3A girls' basketball schedule in the state of Indiana! It is BRUTAL! Gibson Southern's non-con- ference schedule is daunt- ing… The Lady Titans open the Titans' season comes to an end at Owen Valley By Andy Heuring Star-Times Sports sports@sgstartimes.com Gibson Southern's amazing football season came to an end Friday despite a 14-0 start in the first quarter. Owen Valley stormed back to outscore the Titans 28 -7 over the last three quarters for a 28 -21 win. It was the Titans' first loss this season. In what was supposed to be a rebuild- ing year, the Titans lost 16 starters from their 2021 State Champion squad that included Brady Allen, who was Indi- ana's second in all-time career passing and Rory Heltsley, who was in the top 10 season receiving, and a long list of All-State and All Conference players. In spite of all the new faces, the Titans kept exceeding people's expec- tations all season, whether it was beat- ing a strong 5A Terre Haute South team in their opener, or storming back from an 11-point deficit with 3:24 left against the Kentucky 5A State Champion South Warren, to running the table on several strong PAC teams to finish the regular season 9 -0. But Friday the magic finally ended. "From the outside it may have looked that way," said Titan Head Coach Nick Hart about rebuilding. "But we always have the goal to advance deep into the tournament. It was a great season up until Friday. I think a lot of people had us in a rebuild mode, we were inexpe- rienced, but we still had high expecta- tions," said Hart. Gibson Southern looked well on their way to another Sectional Championship in the first quarter. They took the opening kickoff and marched 60 -yards in 13 plays. It started with a 14-yard pass to Michael Herren and finally finished with a do-or-die 14-yard touchdown pass by Tanner Boyd to Isaac O'Neal facing fourth and seven for a 7-0 lead. The defense swamped Owen Valley on the first series that saw the Patri- ots assessed two penalties including an intentional grounding on third down that left them facing fourth and 30. The Titans took over at the 33-yard line and were called for holding on the first play. They overcame it with a 14-yard pass to Sean DeLong, followed by a second down pass to DeLong for seven. A fter a short run the Titans chose to go for it on fourth and three from the Owen Valley 41. A hard count by Boyd caused the Patriots to jump offside, giving the Titans a first down at the 36. It was just the break they needed. Beau Rose ran for 12 yards on the first down, then Devan Roberts went for nine yards. Boyd again hit O'Neal in the end zone for a 14-0 lead with 4:35 remaining in the first quarter. Owen Valley picked up two first downs and got the ball to near midfield before the Titans defense shut them down, forc- ing a punt. Gibson Southern took over at their own 11-yard line, but Boyd went right to work and completed two 12-yard passes to DeLong. A series of short runs by Roberts and Boyd gave them a third first down at the Titan 45 -yard line. Gibson Southern moved into Owen Valley territory, but on first and 15 from the 46 Boyd's pass was intercepted by Owen Valley's Tim Harden, who returned it for a touchdown. The Titan offense would struggle for most of the next three quarters. On the next series they were forced to punt following three consecutive plays for minus yards with them facing fourth and 36 from their own nine yard line. It gave Owen Valley great field posi- tion at the Titans 40 yard line. They took advantage. Four plays later Christian McDonald, who had run for more than 1,200 yards this season, broke free for a 21-yard touchdown to tie the game with 3:30 left in the half. Gibson Southern initially moved the ball to midfield but Owen Valley contin- ued to bring more pressure on Boyd than the Titans could handle. Consec- utive sacks left the Titans facing fourth and 21 from their own 40. A fter a Titan punt Owen Valley took a knee and the half ended 14-14. "They are a good team. I just thought we were up 14-0 and driving in to make 21-0 then they get a pick six and we make Gibson Southern's Alex Spindler runs up front ear- ly in the Indiana Cross Country state finals on Sat- urday at Terre Haute. Spindler ran a time of 16:31 to place 67th out of 204 runners in the state finals. Senior Titan receiver Isaac O'Neal goes up over an Owen Valley de- fender to pull in one of his two touchdown catches in the Titans' 28-21 loss on Friday.