BricksCenter

Vincent Lombardi was an American football coach and executive in the NFL. He is considered by many to be the greatest coach in American football history. Some even say that he is one of the greatest coaches and leaders in the history of all American sports. In the 1960s, he led the Green Bay Packers to 5 NFL Championships during a 7-year stretch ... including winning the first two Super Bowls ever held.

With the IHSAA Football Tournament getting underway this weekend and Cross Country on the doorstep of State, it seems appropriate to draw some inspiration from one of Lombardi's famous quotes ...

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."

Couldn't say it better myself Coach! After all, as Brickies, we are all trying to catch excellence on purpose!!

Right now, let's catch this week's edition of BricksCenter!

For the 2023 Cross Country season and beyond, the IHSAA adjusted the Post-Season tournament series. For longer than I can remember, student athletes competed to advance 4 times ... Sectional, Regional, Semistate & State Finals. This fall, the Semistate level was eliminated ... making XC more closely resemble the track tournament in the spring.

After advancing last weekend in the Sectional, the Brickie boys team and 4 of our girls were in action on Saturday morning at the IHSAA Regional looking to finish strong and hopefully punch a ticket to next weekend's STATE FINALS in Terre Haute!! The Regional host was New Prairie, exactly where the Semistate level used to be run. The Snyder & Smith Championship Cross Country Course is LEGENDARY and after a rainy few days, it was even more challenging to traverse on Saturday against 250 of the BEST runners in this part of the state!

At 10:30am CT, the gun fired and our boys were off and running!! After completing the 3.1-mile course, junior Felix Lopez was the first Brickie across the finish line in 60th place with a time of 17:20 ... 10 seconds faster than he ran at the New Prairie Semistate a year ago!! Classmate Kolin Gladney (93rd) was next into the chute followed by senior Owen Stankich (117th), sophomores Durgon Click (164th) & Lu Cohen (177th), senior Vinny Gutierrez (194th) & freshman Nolan Shaginaw (222nd). Overall, the Bricks finished 19th out of 25 teams competing. Unfortunately, only the top 5 teams and top 15 individuals from non-advancing teams advance to Terre Haute ... and the Brickies did not finish in either of those categories. Still ... watching our boys give it EVERYTHING they had and compete extremely well on the doorstep of the state finals gave this sports reporter GREAT PRIDE in being a Brickie! Hobart can walk off the course with chins up and heads held high for their terrific effort and outstanding representation of this blue-collar town!!!

At 11:15am CT, it was the girls turn! A quartet of sophomores ... Cassie Cohen, Millie Massey, Joanna Cantu & Audrey Turley ... sprinted from the start line with high hopes for a season best performance!! On Indiana's 2nd biggest stage, our girls SHINED BRIGHT!! They ran like warriors ... Millie placed 137th in a near lifetime best race with a time of 22:29, Joanna was next in 164th - her time was her second fastest of the season, and Audrey finished 217th to round out the Brickie competitors for the day! Cassie was 12th at the mile ... 10th at the 2-mile ... and raced across the finish line in 9th with a time of 19:20 ... 3 places better than she finished a year ago and 8 seconds faster!! With her time & placement, Cassie was among the top 15 individuals on non-advancing teams and QUALIFIED FOR STATE!!! This will be the 2nd year in a row that Cassie will represent H-town in Terre Haute!!

CONGRATULATIONS to all of our harriers on a fantastic season and to Cassie for punching her ticket to Terre Haute for the 2nd consecutive year!! She will race at the LaVerne Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute next Saturday in the IHSAA STATE FINALS! Girls start at 2:30pm ET. LET'S GOOOOOOO!!!!!

#PRIDEANDTRADITION

On Friday night in New Carlisle, our #14-ranked Brickies squared off with the #10-ranked New Prairie Cougars. A rematch of the 2022 IHSAA Sectional Final on a crisp Fall night in October had all the BIG GAME feels ... throw in a muddy field after 2 days of rain and this one had all the makings for a storied contest.

Hobart got the ball first and junior Connor Stafford returned the opening kickoff all the way to the 40-yard line! Classmate Willy "The Jet" Shearer raced outside for a HUGE gain on 2nd down and 1 play later, senior QB Jonny Sorensen scampered around the right side for a 24-yard TOUCHDOWN and a 7-0 Brickie lead!!! WOW - WHAT A START!!! The host Cougars came right back with a quick score of their own and less than 3 minutes into the contest, the scoreboard showed a 7-7 tie. After a Hobart 3-and-out, New Prairie scored again to move ahead 14-7 at the 6-minute mark. Our Bricks responded with a long drive all the way down to the Cougar 12-yard line. With the endzone and a tie game in sight, the Brickies turned the ball over on downs. New Prairie turned the tide quickly and after completing a long pass down the sideline, scored their 3rd TD of the opening period and held a 21-7 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

To open the 2nd quarter, the two squads traded D-D-D-Defensive stops and our boys got the ball back on our own 8-yard line. A LONG pass completion from Sorensen to classmate TJ Caldwell put Hobart in scoring position at the NP 27-yard line and brought the Brickie crowd to their feet!!! Unfortunately, the Bricks lost their footing on back to back running plays on the muddy field and turned the ball over on downs in the red zone for the 2nd time. New Prairie would go on to score two more times before the first half ended and held a commanding 34-7 lead at the break.

The Brickies came out swinging in the 3rd quarter and continued to battle throughout the remainder of the game. Hobart scored once in the 2nd half - a 41-yard pass completion from Sorensen to junior Aidan Leonard - to close the deficit. Unfortunately for Brickie fans, it would be the last score of the fall as New Prairie ran the clock out and ended Hobart's season with a 49-14 defeat. Sorensen finished the game completing 12-of-22 passes for 191 yards and a touchdown ... The Jet had 23 carries for 125 yards ... Caldwell caught 4 passes for 73 yards ... Leonard also caught for passes for 79 yards & a score ... seniors Bradley Gibson & Zach Bloom led the Brickie D with 6 & 5 tackles respectively.

After 4 consecutive years of playing in a Sectional Championship game or further, the Brickies 2023 season came to an end sooner than we all hoped it would. Looking back, it was another EXCITING YEAR on the gridiron for Hobart - one that included a state ranking for the 6th straight season, a dominant Homecoming victory over rival Lowell, and a thrilling come-from-behind win at Father Eckert Field against Andrean.

The Brickies finished 7-3 overall and 5-1 in NCC play. This group of seniors saw our varsity football team play for a State Title in Lucas Oil Stadium as freshman and over the last 3 years, they've witnessed and played a pivotal role in helping our varsity achieve two NCC Championships and win 23 games. CONGRATULATIONS to Coach Osika, his outstanding staff, and all of our boys for a job well done - WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU!

#BRICKIEPRIDE

Our wrestling coaches were recently named the 2022-2023 NWCA Indiana Assistant Coaching Staff of the Year! We'd like to congratulate Zack Johansen, Frankie Porras, Nate Harrell, Alex Boatright & Hayden Homoky for their hard work earning this well-deserved award! We are so proud and look forward to the 2023-2024 season!

#BRICKRODE

#BUILTBRICKIETOUGH

CONGRATULATIONS to our JROTC Raiders team for their OUTSTANDING showing at the Indiana State Championship held at Camp Atterbury! Our Raiders are STATE CHAMPIONS in 2 individual events and overall US Army Cadet Command 2023 Indiana State Runner Up! WOW!!!

#EXCELLENTONPURPOSE

On Saturday, November 4th, the Hobart Moose Lodge will host a Charity Bingo Night for HHS Athletics! This will be the 3rd year for this event and it presents a GREAT opportunity to play bingo & have some fun supporting both The Moose and Brickie Athletics!

We hope you can join us on the 4th!

#BRICKIEPRIDE

That's right Brickie fans ... the Winter Sports Season is upon us!! Over the next three weeks, ALL 7 of our winter sports will be underway with competition officially getting going as early as November 1st!!

GOOD LUCK to all of our student athletes & coaches for a FANTASTIC winter season!!

#WEBELIEVE

Monday

No Events Scheduled

Tuesday

Girls Swimming & Diving - First Official Practice

Boys Swimming & Diving - First Official Practice

Wednesday

No Events Scheduled

Thursday

Girls Basketball Scrimmage

Friday

No Events Scheduled

Saturday

Cassie Cohen @ IHSAA Cross Country STATE FINALS (LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, Terre Haute, IN)