BricksCenter

As the sun begins to set on the Fall sports season, the action & excitement are kicking things into high gear!! This past week alone brought Northwest Crossroads Conference and IHSAA SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS to H-town! Over the next few weeks, the IHSAA post-season continues as we move into FALL MADNESS for the state tournament series!! Hold onto your hats ... not just because the wind will start blowing leaves off trees, but because this ride is going to be AWESOME!!

The wait is over ... it's time for BricksCenter!

For the 10th year in a row, Hobart served as the host site for the IHSAA Boys Tennis Sectional. Participating schools included Andrean, Lake Station, Merrillville and our hometown Brickies.

Wednesday night, opening round matches took place with the 59ers defeating the Pirates 4-1 and our own Brickies earning a 4-1 VICTORY over Lake Station! Senior Cam Gonzalez (#1), junior Jacob Lewis (#2) and sophomore Levi Snyder (#3) all won in straight sets in singles action. On the doubles side, the junior tandem of Kaden Miller-Lane & Gavin Pettit scored a win for Hobart at #2. Junior Conner Niemann & freshman Cash Salunga played a grueling 3-set match against their Eagle counterpart that last well into the night. Ultimately, Lake Station won the marathon of tennis, but our boys literally gave it absolutely everything they had and played each point like it was their last - an INCREDIBLE EFFORT!

With Andrean & Hobart each winning in the semi-finals, the championship was set - Brickies vs. '9ers for the title!!

On Thursday afternoon, play began at 4:30 and both squads were dialed-in! At #3 singles, Snyder won in straight sets ... and then Lewis did the same at #2 singles!! Andrean battled back to win at #1 singles and #2 doubles, which meant the game was knotted at 2-2 and the winner of the #1 doubles match would win the 'ship! With the Brickies leading 1-0, the two teams were tied at 6-6 in set 2 and played a 7-point tiebreaker!! Every time our boys got close to sealing the deal, the 59ers had an answer and eventually it was Andrean who won the tiebreaker to set up a 3rd set ... winner take all scenario!! In the 3rd and final set, Niemann & Salunga jumped out to a commanding 4-1 lead and closed up shop with a THRILLING 6-2 VICTORY to deliver the TITLE!!! WHAT A MATCH!! WHAT A NIGHT TO BE A BRICKIE!!

YOOOOOUUUUUUUUUURR HOOBBAAAAAAAARRTT BRRRRRIICKIEEEEEEESS are the 2022 IHSAA SECTIONAL CHAMPIONS!! This is Hobart's 5th boys tennis crown in school history and 1st since 2016!

CONGRATULATIONS to Coach Walsh, Coach Brumley and all of our boys for representing the Brickie Nation so well!!

Hobart will now compete in the IHSAA Regional over at Munster High School starting on Tuesday. GOOD LUCK BOYS!!

#ACES

With just two weeks left in the regular season, the Lady Brickies are trying to fine-tune the machine as best they can in preparation for the post-season.

Monday, the Lady Brickies traveled to Chesterton to face the Trojans. Chesterton controlled the net throughout and won in 3 games, 25-11, 25-11, 25-20. Junior Cailey Weber had 4 blocks at the net against the taller Trojans and senior Addy Klemm & sophomore Brooke Cawthon combined for 56 digs in the loss.

On Tuesday night, former NCC foe Griffith visited The Friendly City for a non-conference game. In the 1st game, Hobart caged up the Panthers and won in convincing fashion 25-11! Griffith tried to keep pace with the Lady Bricks in the 2nd, but our girls kept up the pressure and won 25-17 to take a 2-0 lead!! In the 3rd, play was INTENSE as each team tried desperately to gain an advantage. In the end, it was Hobart who took control and won 25-19 to claim the 3-0 VICTORY!!! Senior Gabby Tomich led the offensive attack with 13 kills ... junior Abby Roper had 5 blocks at the net ... and Klemm registered 40 digs as libero to help our girls earn the win!

Thursday night, Hobart hosted the annual DIG PINK night against Lowell. Having already lost to the Red Devils twice this fall, our girls came out FIRING on ALL CYLINDERS looking to offer some payback! The Lady Brickies were FANTASTIC in the 1st game and WON 25-22!! Lowell battled back in the second game for a 17-25 win. The 3rd game may have been the MOST EXCITING as each squad served notice that they would not go down without a FIGHT!! Lowell surged ... then Hobart surged back ... the crowd was ELECTRIC and LOUD!! Unfortunately, it was the Red Devils who were victorious by the narrowest margin, 23-25 for a 2-1 lead and they would go on to win the 4th and deciding game 14-25. Our girls left it on the court with a TERRIFIC EFFORT. Cawthon had 8 kills at the net for Hobart and junior Layla Carroll led the Lady Bricks with 27 digs from the back row in the loss.

Hobart is now 13-15 on the year with 3 games remaining before IHSAA Sectional play begins. With one more victory, the Lady Brickies would have their best season record since 2012 when Hobart won 17 games. Plus, SENIOR NIGHT is Monday against Hammond Central. Looks like a GREAT opportunity! LET'S GO LADIES!! YOU CAN DO IT!!

#GIRLSJUSTWANNAHAVEFUN

Girls

On Tuesday night, Hobart hosted Highland for a Northwest Crossroads Conference showdown at The Brickyard! The Trojans entered the contest at 3-1 in NCC play and still in the hunt for a conference crown ... meanwhile the Lady Brickies were more than happy to play the spoiler role! Highland got on the board first with a goal midway through the 1st half and then tacked on another a few minutes later to take a 2-0 lead into the break. Coach Provins made some halftime adjustments in an attempt to jump-start the Lady Brickie offense and all I can say is VRRROOOOOOOOOMM!! The Hobart offense went CRAZY in the 2nd half! Senior Viv Garcia got it started with a GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAL to cut the Trojan lead in half .... then classmate Jayla Lacny and junior Caitlin Roscoe each added another to give our girls a 3-2 advantage with 18 minutes remaining in the game!! Over those final minutes, the Lady Brickies held on with every ounce of energy they had and when the clock struck zero ... it was a Hobart VICTORY!!! WHAT A GAME!!!

Thursday, our girls played their final home game of the regular season against Merrillville. The Lady Brickies wasted no time in setting the tone for how this contest would go ... scoring 2 first half GOOOOOOOOOAAAAALLS to lead at the break. As Coach Provins rotated all seniors in throughout the second half, Hobart was able to find the net 3 more times and after each senior got an individual curtain call on Don Howell Field for the final time, the scoreboard showed a 5-0 VICTORY!! Senior Rylee Cotton netted 2 goals ... Lacny added 2 more and junior Ella Freimuth scored the 5th to help our girls win their 2nd game in a row!!

On Saturday, Hobart traveled to Portage for the regular season finale. With Portage also being the site of the 2022 IHSAA Sectional beginning this upcoming week, it was a great chance for our girls to play on that field against a challenging opponent. In a back-and-forth contest, the scoreboard showed all zeros through 40 minutes of play. During the second half, each D-D-D-DEFENSE continued to show its strength! Lady Brickie keeper Rylee Cotton was simply AMAZING in goal and this one finished in a 0-0 tie.

Hobart finished the regular season with a record of 7-6-3 and will begin IHSAA Sectional play against Merrillville on Tuesday. GOOD LUCK LADIES!!

Boys

On Monday night, the Brickies hosted the Merrillville Pirates in the final regular season home contest for our boys. Hobart entered the game riding high on a 10-game winning streak looking to keep the momentum going with the IHSAA Sectional looming next week. Well ... you know that song, "Sweet Home Chicago"? Monday, the Brickies were singing "Sweet Home The Brickyard" because it was a home finale to remember!! I'm not sure these eyes have witnessed such precision on the soccer field before - an INCREDIBLE performance was on display by the team from H-town!! Junior Liam Deel got it going early with a GOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAALL nearly two minutes in!! Classmates Carlos Gayton & Luke Weinman were next to send the ball into the back of the net and before the end of the 1st half, sophomores Gavin Guess & Eddie Udave also hit nothing but net!! Hobart took a commanding 5-0 lead into the break and played keep-away over the final 40 minutes to secure the VICTORY!!

Wednesday night, our boys headed over to Highland for their final regular season game. This was a BIG one. Not only were the Brickies looking for their 12th straight victory ... they were also looking to close out an UNDEFEATED NCC season and win their 2nd consecutive conference championship. Early on, play was INTENSE as usual anytime the Brickies & Trojans do battle! Still, it was Hobart who found nylon first and led 1-0 at the break. As as been the case most of the year, the Brickies came out of the halftime locker room READY TO ROCK and scored 3 more GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAALLSS before the final clock showed zeros to earn the 4-0 VICTORY!!! Weinman, Deel & classmate Carson Bell ... along with freshman Adrian Stojkoski ... all scored goals for Hobart in the win and junior Parker Glass recorded 7 saves to help post the shutout!!

CONGRATULATIONS to Coaches Weinman, Harris, Cartagena, Walker & Erwin and to all of our boys for winning the 2022 Northwest Crossroads Conference CHAMPIONSHIP!!! WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU!!!!

Hobart finished the season with a record of 14-1-1 and 5-0 in NCC play! The Brickies will HOST the IHSAA Sectional next week! 1st round action begins Monday night and our boys will take on Crown Point at 5pm on Tuesday. DON'T STOP NOW BOYS!!

#WEAREONE

On a B-E-A-UTIFUL Saturday morning for some racing, the Brickie Harriers were in DeMotte for the Northwest Crossroads Conference CHAMPIONSHIP meet! It seems only fitting that Hobart began the regular season @ KV back on August 16th and were wrapping it up on the same course with a conference title on the line!

Girls

It was ladies first on Saturday and our girls ran well through the course that twisted through the woods & wrapped the KVHS practice fields. Freshman PHENOM Cassie Cohen ... who had already won 4 individual titles this season ... raced to the finish line in 19:42.57 to claim her 5th and the OVERALL INDIVIDUAL NCC TITLE!! Cassie is the FIRST Hobart runner to win the individual NCC title since Mindy Whidden back in 2013!! Her time was nearly a minute faster than the 2nd place finisher - INCREDIBLE!! Cohen wasn't the only Lady Brickie to earn all-conference honors as classmates Joanna Cantu (8th place, 1st-team All-NCC) and Millie Massey (20th place, Honorable Mention All-NCC) joined her in the top 20!! In fact, the top 6 finishers for Hobart were all 9th graders running in their first ever NCC championship. Delaney Williams (34th), Audrey Turley (38th) and Alissa Trail (41st) rounded out the top 6 for Hobart and senior Haylie Skripac (42nd) was the final varsity place for the Lady Bricks.

In the team standings, Highland won their 2nd straight NCC title and Hobart finished 5th out of 6 schools competing.

Boys

Let's hear it for the boys! In one of the closest races in NCC history, only 5 points separated the top 3 finishing teams. Hobart was FANTASTIC in putting all 5 scorers in the top 20 ... and our 6th & 7th were 21st and 22nd, but it wasn't quite enough to earn the boys 1st NCC championship. Lowell won the overall title with 51 points ... Munster was next with 54 ... and the Brickies finished 3rd with 56. SOOOOOOOOOO close ... WHAT A RACE ... our boys ran their hearts out! A heart-breaker for sure, but SOOOOOOOO much to be proud of and excited about!! ALL 7 varsity runners for the Bricks are underclassmen with sophomores Felix Lopez & Kolin Gladney ... along with junior Owen Stankich leading the charge!! Felix, Kolin & Owen placed 6th, 7th & 8th respectively ... each earning 1st-TEAM All-NCC honors!! Freshmen Lu Cohen (17th) and Durgon Click (18th) also finished in the top 20 to earn Honorable Mention All-NCC recognition!! Junior Vinny Gutierrez (21st) and freshman Ethan Murchek (22nd) rounded out the Hobart top 7.

After an exciting day of racing, Coach A was PROUD, GRATEFUL and EXCITED about the future! Not just the next few weeks in the IHSAA tournament series, but potentially the next few years with such a young core group WORK WORK WORKing hard and developing together!!

The Brickies will race in the IHSAA SECTIONAL next Saturday at Hebron High School. Top 5 teams advance to the Regional. WE BELIEVE!!

#PRIDEANDTRADITION

On a crisp Friday night in DeMotte, the Brickies faced the Kougars looking to bounce back after last week's heartbreaking loss to Andrean. Well ... our boys didn't just bounce back ... they throttled forward towards a DOMINANT 45-8 VICTORY!!! HOLY SCHNIKES!!!!

After a KV 3-and-out on their first possession, the Brickies got the ball at the 24 yardline. On Hobart's 1st play, senior back Trey Gibson followed his blockers around the right side, found daylight, and scampered 76 yards for a TOUCHDOWN! A few minutes later, the Brickies were again in attack mode and sophomore QB Noah Ehrlich scored on a keeper to make it 14-0!! Then ... with less than a minute remaining in the opening quarter, Ehrlich found Gibson fading into the endzone for another score!!! When senior kicker Ryan Pimentel sent the extra point through the uprights, it was 21-0 BRICKIES!!!

To open the 3rd quarter, Hobart received the kickoff with a 24-2 advantage. Gibson went left this time and raced 68 yards to PAYDIRT to open a 31-2 cushion for the Bricks!! A quick turnover by the Kougars turned into ANOTHER GIBSON TOUCHDOWN and a 38-2 LEAD!!! HAVE MERCY!!

In the end, the Brickies looked really good in all 3 phases and improved to 4-3 on the season and 2-1 in NCC play. HUGE shout out to the Hobart offensive line for continuously opening holes for Gibson who made the most of each carry on his way to a 5 TOUCHDOWN performance!! WOW!!

Hobart will return home on Friday to face the Highland Trojans for SENIOR NIGHT @ The Brickyard!

#PLAY15

2021 HHS graduate Zach Vode is currently a redshirt freshman for the Broncos football team at Western Michigan University. Western Michigan competes at the NCAA Division 1 level and is a member of the Mid-American Conference.

On Saturday, Zach made his 1st career start and contributed 2 tackles on special teams as the Broncos throttled New Hampshire 44-7! AWESOME!!!

#ONCEABRICKIEALWAYSABRICKIE

#NEXTLEVEL

Monday

Volleyball vs. Hammond Central (SENIOR NIGHT)

Tuesday

Boys Tennis @ IHSAA REGIONAL (Hosted by Munster High School)

Girls Soccer vs. Merrillville @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (Hosted by Portage High School)
Boys Soccer vs. Crown Point @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (Hosted by Hobart High School)

Volleyball @ Munster *

Wednesday

Boys Tennis @ IHSAA REGIONAL (If advance on Tuesday)

Boys Soccer @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (If advance on Tuesday)

Thursday

Girls Soccer @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (If advance on Tuesday)

Volleyball @ Andrean *

9th Football vs. Highland *

Friday

Football vs. Highland * (SENIOR NIGHT)

Saturday

Girls Cross Country @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (Hosted by Hebron High School)

Boys Cross Country @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (Hosted by Hebron High School)

Girls Soccer @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (If advance on Thursday)

Boys Soccer @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (If advance on Wednesday)

JV Football vs. Highland *

* = NCC Opponent