BricksCenter

As nice as it would be to re-enter the world around us slowly after a 5 day break, Brickie winter sports were in action 4 out of 6 days this past week and our kids were FANTASTIC! Girls hoops and our swimming & diving teams played the role of host while wrestling and boys basketball had the wheels on the bus going 'round and 'round! H-town saw a little bit of everything over the last 6 days ... concluding with wrestling at Lake Central, a diving invite near Kokomo (... Aruba, Jamaica, oooh I wanna take ya) and an NCAA College football game!

The countdown to Winter Break is 9 school days ... the countdown to BricksCenter ends now!

Girls

On Tuesday night, the Lady Brickies hosted an NCC double-dual meet with Kankakee Valley and Lowell for the 1st conference competition of the year. The Lady Brickies SHINED in front of a great crowd and earned a split in the W-L column! Hobart lost to KV (113-72) but squeaked by the Red Devils 94-92!! Earning a 1st place finish was junior Kacey Fleming in the 1-meter dive! In fact, the Bricks swept the top 3 places in diving with senior Alyssa Meinert taking 2nd and freshman newcomer Abigail Rinas finishing 3rd! Senior Brogan McDonald (200 Free & 500 Free) and sophomore Cassie Owens (200 IM & 100 Back) each placed 2nd in two individual swimming events, and junior Cassie Cohen finished 2nd overall in the 100 Breast! Overall, it was a GREAT first competition in the water for our girls!!

Here are results from Tuesday's NCC opener:

200 Medley Relay - 4th = McDonald, Cohen, Owens and freshman Jurnee Woods

200 Free - 2nd = McDonald, 5th = sophomore Marisa Salamanca, 7th = sophomore Kylie Bulatovich

200 IM - 2nd = Owens, 5th = sophomore Trinity Garcia, 6th = Woods

50 Free - 4th = sophomore Marin Ray, 5th = freshman Bella Cawthon, 7th = sophomore Love Jimenez

Diving - 1st = Fleming, 2nd = Meinert, 3rd = Rinas

100 Fly - 4th = Cohen, 6th = Woods

100 Free - 3rd = Salamanca, 6th = Bulatovich, 9th = Freshman Payton Knestrict

500 Free - 2nd = McDonald, 6th = senior Evangeline Clay

200 Free Relay - 3rd = McDonald, Cohen, Salamanca & Owens

100 Back - 2nd = Owens, 5th = Garcia, 7th = Clay

100 Breast - 2nd = Cohen, 7th = Cawthon, 8th = Jimenez

400 Free Relay - 5th = Woods, Garcia, Ray & Salamanca

Thursday night, Hobart was @ Knox High School for another meet. The Lady Brickies were AWESOME and literally left the Redskins in their WAKE for another VICTORY! OUTSTANDING!!

The Lady Brickies are 2-1 on the season ... 1-1 in NCC action ... and will be back in the water on Tuesday at Crown Point!

Boys

Tuesday's 1st conference meet of the season was coed as our boys joined the girls in facing KV & Lowell. Seeing as how this was also our 1st overall meet of the winter, the Brickies were anxious to compete! Much like the girls, our boys SHINED! Hobart defeated the Kougars 98-75, but lost a heartbreaker to the Devils 93-91 to finish with a split in the W-L column. Sophomore Evan Harness was ON FIRE in winning two individual events (200 IM & 500 Free) and junior Jaden Cano took first in the 100 Back! Harness & Cano also teamed up with senior Christian Kertz & junior Durgon Click to win the 200 Free Relay!! Also earning a relay "W" were Kertz, classmate Antonio Mandich, junior Lu Cohen & freshman Landon Neace in the 400 Free Relay! WOW!! Click also placed 2nd individually in both the 50 Free and 100 Free! Lots of potential in this group ... they are clearly putting in the WORK WORK WORK to be their best!

Here are some results from Tuesday's meet:

200 Medley Relay - 2nd = Cano, Kertz, Harness & Click

200 Free - 4th = sophomore Zeb Clay, 5th = sophomore Jerry Theodorakos, 6th = freshman David Tirado

200 IM - 1st = Harness

50 Free - 2nd = Click, 4th = Kertz, 8th = Mandich

Diving - 4th = sophomore Aiden Bailey, 9th = freshman Terrie Maddox

100 Fly - 3rd = Cano, 4th = Cohen

100 Free - 2nd = Click, 3rd = Kertz, 5th = Tirado

500 Free - 1st = Harness, 4th = Neace

200 Free Relay - 1st = Cano, Harness, Kertz & Click

100 Back - 1st = Cano, 6th = Clay, 7th = Theodorakos

100 Breast - 3rd = Cohen, 7th = Mandich

400 Free Relay - 1st = Cohen, Mandich, Neace & Kertz

Thursday's meet @ Knox was also coed and our boys were able to match the Lady Brickies with a DOMINANT VICTORY! AWESOME!!

The Brickies are 2-1 on the season and 1-1 in NCC action ... they will join the girls at Crown Point on Tuesday. LET'S GOOOOOOO!!!

#JUSTKEEPSWIMMING

On Saturday, Hobart took 12 divers to Western High School near Kokomo to compete in their 1st 11-dive meet of the season. In diving, dual meets are only 6 dives, but once the post-season begins, everything involves making 11 dives ... so getting some experience early in the year should prove beneficial when February and March role around.

Oh ya ... and the Brickies finished 3rd overall in the team standings!! Rinas placed 7th overall among the girls with Fleming on her heels in 8th and Bailey finished 2nd overall for the boys! WHAT A PERFORMANCE!!

#BOARDOFDIRECTORS

Girls

On Wednesday night, the Brickies hosted both Rensselaer and future Northwest Crossroads Conference member Illiana Christian for a tri-meet! In the first match of the night, our girls squared off with the Illiana Christian Vikings. Back on November 9th, these two teams got together at the Illiana Duals and Hobart WON by a score of 48-36. This time around, it was ALL BRICKIES!!! Starting at the 145-lb class, the Bricks won the first two matches by forfeit, and then freshman Bailey Varella earned a PIN in just 34 seconds over her counterpart! Hobart won the next 5 matches in a row including another PIN in just 12 SECONDS by junior Joanna Cantu! The Vikings were able to get on the board, but ultimately Hobart WON the match 63-18 and our girls had 6 PINS in 36 seconds or less!! AMAZING!!

In the second match of the night, Illiana defeated Rensselaer 36-35 in a barn-burner!

To wrap things up, our Bricks faced the Rensselaer Bombers in the final dual of the evening ...and once again, it was ALL BRICKIES!! Hobart won 11 of 14 weight classes and CRUISED to a 66-18 VICTORY!!

Seniors Roxy Dominguez & Alicia Salamanca ...along with sophomore Ashley DeBusk ...were the only 3 Brickies that had to wrestle twice ...and they all went 2-0 on the night!!

Hobart is now 6-4 on the year and will be back on the mat next Thursday @ Boone Grove! GOOD LUCK LADIES!!

#BRICKIESTRONG

Boys

Well Brickie fans ... boys wrasslin' is back! Hobart had TWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOO meets this past week and our boys SHINED in both!

Thursday night, the Bricks opened the 2024-2025 season on the road at Hammond Morton ... that's right, they were wrestling in the Governor's Mansion! Out of 8 matches wrestled, our boys won ALL 8 ...6 by fall ... and coasted to a DOMINANT 81-0 VICTORY!! Hobart also picked up 6 wins by forfeit to earn the shutout win!! Perhaps the most impressive "W" of the night was by senior Cole Weber, who pinned his opponent in just 46 seconds! WOW!!

On Saturday, the Hobart grapplers headed west on US 30 to St. John ... the destination was Lake Central High School for the Harvest Classic! This was just the second meet of the season for our boys and with area powerhouse programs like Portage and Lake Central competing ... along with the monster from Mishawaka (Penn High School) ... our boys were put to the test! After over a month of practice, the Brickies were hungry (... isn't that always the case for wrestlers?) and competed extremely well! Hobart put wrestlers on the podium in 9 out of 14 weight classes and had 3 individual CHAMPIONS!! Seniors Daniel Mata (120), Seth Aubin (126) & Aidan Costello (165) all WON their divisions ... Mata doing so with a 1-0 THRILLER over his counterpart from Portage! Hobart also got a 2nd place finish from senior Luke Juris (285) and a 3rd from junior Aiden Granger (190)! Overall, the Brickies finished with 207.0 team points to place 2nd overall in the 16-team field! Portage won the overall title with a team total of 246.5 points.

Here is the breakdown by weight-class for those who made the medal stand:

120 - senior Daniel Mata - CHAMPION

126 - senior Seth Aubin - CHAMPION

132 - freshman Jacoby Moore - 6th

144 - senior Daniel McGill - 4th

157 - senior Dominic Rivera - 5th

165 - senior Aidan Costello - CHAMPION

175 - junior Hayden Mancilla - 4th

190 - junior Aiden Granger - 3rd

215 - senior Malcolm Manuel - 7th

285 - senior Luke Juris - 2nd

The 1st week of competition was a good one! This upcoming week the Brickies host Lowell for the first NCC dual meet of the year and then head to Calumet for the Traicoff Invite. Looks like a great week to be a wrestler! LET'S GO BRICKS!

#WORKWORKWORK

Girls

On Tuesday, Hobart hosted Portage in non-conference action. It was a chance for the Lady Brickies to even up their record after THUMPING Calumet last week. The Indians were hot from 3-pt range early on and jumped out to a 12-4 lead after 1 quarter of play. Trailing 15-8 late in the second quarter, the Brickies rattled off 8 consecutive points to end the half!! The exclamation point of Hobart's run came when senior Hallie Pendleton BURIED a 3-pointer with less than 10 seconds remaining to put our girls ahead 16-15!! Throughout the second half, play was INTENSE and Hobart held a slim lead at 29-27 halfway through the 4th period when Portage went on a 9-1 run to move in front 36-30 with only 28 seconds remaining. Our Bricks NEVER GIVE UP!! Hobart scored on a putback by junior Riley Weber ... got a steal ... scored again on a layup by Pendleton and called timeout with 12 seconds left trailing by only two at 34-36!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! A Brickie foul put Portage at the line, but the Indians missed both shots to give our girls one last chance!! Unfortunately, sophomore Kurah Krucina's desperation heave from half court was on line but fell short as the buzzer sounded. It was a GREAT EFFORT from our girls in a very competitive contest against a Duneland Conference school. Definitely something to build on as the Brickies continue to gain experience and improve! Weber finished with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds. Pendleton added 9 points, 6 rebounds & 5 steals ... Krucina had 3 points, 5 rebounds & 3 steals in the loss.

Hobart is now 3-5 overall and 0-1 in NCC play. The Bricks will be back in action twice this week with road games @ Illiana Christian on Wednesday and @ Kankakee Valley on Friday. GO GET 'EM LADIES!!

#SHEGOTGAME

Boys

With only 1 game on the slate the past week, Hobart was ALL-IN on Wednesday night at South Central! The Satellites entered the contest with a record of 0-1 ... the goal for our boys was to add another "L" to the spelling of their mascot :). In the first stanza, the host Satellites were orbiting on all cylinders, hit nothing but the bottom of the net on most of their shots, and held a 16-8 advantage. Over the next 16 minutes of play, our boys BATTLED HARD and clawed their way back into the game! Heading into the final quarter, the score was knotted up at 42-42! Halfway through the 4th, Hobart held a 52-46 lead, but South Central made a run to get within 52-51 with just 2 minutes left! A HUGE basket by junior Jordan Johnson put the Bricks up 3 at 54-51 and our boys were able to hold on for an EXCITING 54-53 VICTORY!! Sophomore Paxson Hicko and junior Ryan Basham each scored 13 points ...senior Felix Lopez added 9 points and classmate Aidan Leonard pulled down 9 rebounds in the win!

The Brickies are now 2-1 on the year and will FINALLY play their first home contest of the year on Tuesday against Calumet! DON'T STOP NOW BOYS!!

#BALLISLIFE

Congratulations to our November Brickie Athletes of the Month!

Hallie Pendleton - Girls Basketball

Lena Raygoza - Girls Wrestling

Ryan Basham - Boys Basketball

Aidan Leonard - Boys Basketball

Keep working hard, Bricks!

#EXCELLENTONPURPOSE

On Saturday, December 7th, Hobart High School ... partnering with the City of Hobart and the South Shore Convention & Visitors Authority ... hosted America's Crossroads Bowl (ACB) for the 4th time!

The ACB is an NCAA Division II game that matches a top team from the GLVC with a top team from the GMAC. This year's edition featured Truman State University from the GLVC (Great Lakes Valley Conference) and Tiffin University from the GMAC (Great Midwest Athletic Conference). Each team narrowly missed out on the NCAA Division II Playoffs, which earned them an invite to this one-of-a-kind experience! The teams arrived in town on Thursday night ... had a walk-through practice on Friday morning @ The Brickyard along with breakfast at the Hobart Community Center ... joined SCOH elementary students for some fun before lunch ... attended a banquet on Friday night ... enjoyed a Saturday breakfast at HHS ... and FINALLY got to play some football on Saturday afternoon!

It was sunny & cold @ The Brickyard, but those in attendance were treated to ONE HECKUVA FOOTBALL GAME!! On Pearl Harbor Day, Vietnam veteran Tom Bainbridge delighted fans with a STUNNING rendition of the National Anthem! Truman State, who won the first three ACB's, led from start to finish! Tiffin battled in the 2nd half and scored to cut the deficit to just 16-10 with 6 minutes to play, but an interception by Truman State sealed the W! This is the 4th Crossroads Bowl CHAMPIONSHIP for the Bulldogs of Truman State in their 4th appearance!

Many thanks to the City of Hobart, the SSCVA, the SCOH, and EVERYONE else who played a role in bringing this event to LIFE! It was AWESOME!!

#COLLEGE

9th Girls Basketball vs Chesterton

9th Boys Basketball vs Chesterton

9th Girls Wrestling @ Crown Point

9th Boys Wrestling @ Crown Point

Tuesday

Boys Swimming & Diving @ Crown Point

Girls Swimming & Diving @ Crown Point

Boys Basketball vs Calumet

Wednesday

Boys Wrestling vs Lowell *

Girls Basketball @ Illiana Christian

9th Boys Basketball vs River Forest

Thursday

Girls Wrestling @ Boone Grove

9th Girls Basketball @ Crown Point

Friday

Girls Basketball @ Kankakee Valley *

Saturday

Boys Basketball @ River Forest

Boys Wrestling @ Traicoff Invite (Hosted by Calumet High School)

JV Boys Wrestling @ LaPorte Invite

* = NCC Opponent