Girls
After posting the best regular season in school history with a record of 13-2-1, the Lady Brickies began the IHSAA Tournament Series over at Portage High School on Thursday night! Our girls drew a bye in the first round and faced the host Indians in Thursday's first semifinal contest. Just a few minutes into the game, Portage scored on a breakaway opportunity to take an early 1-0 lead. Hobart responded a few minutes later with a GOOOOOOOOOAAALL by sophomore Kurah Krucina to tie things up at 1-1! 10 minutes later, it was Krucina AGAIN who sent a shot into the back of the net to give the Bricks a 2-1 advantage ...which is where the score stayed for the remainder of the first half. In the second half, Hobart maintained control and had multiple shots on goal, but just couldn't find the net. Portage kept hanging on hoping to get the game tied and sent into overtime. As the clock wound under 10 minutes, play was FRANTIC as the Indians became more and more desperate to score and the Brickies became more and more determined to hold on! Every time Portage threatened down the stretch, our girls came through with some STELLAR D-D-D-DEFENSE and when the final buzzer sounded, it was a 2-1 BRICKIE VICTORY!!! WHAT A GAME!! WHAT AN EFFORT!! With the win, Hobart advanced to the IHSAA Sectional Finals!
In the 2nd semifinal contest, Valparaiso throttled Merrillville 9-0.
Saturday afternoon, it was ALL ON THE LINE as Hobart faced the Valparaiso Vikings for the 'ship! A year ago, these two teams met on Don Howell Field @ The Brickyard in the IHSAA Sectional semifinals with the Vikings winning a close one 2-0. This time around, Hobart entered the contest with a school record 14 wins ... Valpo had 12 ... both finished 3rd in their respective conferences ... Hobart ranked #46 in Indiana and the Vikings were #34. No doubt about it - this game would be close. Throughout the first half, it was JUST AS ADVERTISED with both D-D-D-DEFENSES keeping the opposing offenses at bay and after 40 minutes, the scoreboard showed a 0-0 tie. At halftime, both squads made some adjustments, but the D-D-D-DEFENSE was still STELLAR for the first 20 minutes and the score remained tied at 0! Around the 19-minute mark, Valparaiso finally broke through the strong Brickie defensive front and scored from about 25 yards out to take a 1-0 lead. As the clock ran down, play became more and more INTENSE as the Bricks worked hard to get things tied up again. A Hobart shot even ricocheted off the top of the goal with under 2 minutes remaining and then got cleared by the Valpo defense ... so close! Ultimately, time ran out on Hobart and their quest for the first sectional crown in school history as Valparaiso celebrated their 21st with the 1-0 win.
Our girls played their hearts out on that turf ... literally giving every ounce of energy they had on a warm Saturday afternoon in October. This one hurts for sure ... ending the season always does - particularly when it's been filled with such joy and excitement. Still, there is no disappointment - only PRIDE ... PRIDE in how our girls played with heart, determination and grit ... PRIDE in how well they represented this blue collar town on the biggest stage in the area ... PRIDE in how amazing this season was ... PRIDE in watching the blend of senior leadership and youthful skill help embody what it means to be a Brickie and create the best season in girls soccer history at Hobart!! I know there were a lot of tears out there yesterday, but soon those tears will be replaced with smiles as our girls look back on this magical 2024 run!!
THANK YOU to our seniors - Laila Perschau, Annabelle Mauries, Piper Ellenberger, Alicia Salamanca, Natalie Hostetler, Addy Williams, Makenna Rotz & Gabby Reyes ... and to our FANTASTIC coaching staff - Toby Provins, Chanler Rosenbaum, Gervea Sison, Justin Tinoco & Alex Trajkovski for such an AMAZING YEAR!! WE ARE SO PROUD!!
The Brickies finished 14-3-1 on the year ... most wins in SCHOOL HISTORY!
Boys
If you recall, our boys futbol team won the 2023 IHSAA Sectional over at Merrillville last fall ... the first in school history for boys soccer. The 2024 Brickies entered sectional play this past week after showing INCREDIBLE improvement over the course of the season - going 6-3-2 in their final 11 games! On Tuesday, our boys faced Kankakee Valley in a quarterfinal game over at Crown Point. After the Kougars took an early 1-0 lead, sophomore Spencer Provins launched a shot from about 30 yards out that found NOTHING BUT NET to tie it up at 1-1!!! Classmate Cameron Guess added another GOOOOOOOOAAALL before the end of the half and Hobart took a 2-1 lead into the locker room! In the 2nd half, junior Gabe Rodriguez was ON FIRE as he scored two GOOOOOOAAALLLS ... one on a PK and the other after a SPECTACULAR MOVE to give Hobart a commanding 4-1 cushion!! KV was able to cut the deficit to 4-2 with a late score, but that's as close as it got as the Brickies earned the come-from-behind VICTORY!!
*This is the 5th consecutive year that our boys have advanced past the first round of the IHSAA Sectional! WOW!!
The Bricks were right back at Crown Point on Wednesday night to face the Valparaiso Vikings in the semifinal round. Hobart was ON THE ATTACK early and had a few chances to score in the first 15 minutes of play, but just couldn't find the net. The Vikings finally broke through the Brickie D-D-D-DEFENSE and scored on a corner-kick to take the lead and then scored again less than a minute later to move in front 2-0. Before the end of the first half, Valpo was able to add 3 more goals to make it a 5-0 game at the break. Over the final 40 minutes of play, our boys NEVER GAVE UP and played with TREMENDOUS HEART ... definitely leaving everything they had on the field. Ultimately, the Vikings were the better team on this night and held off every Hobart scoring attempt to win 8-0. Freshman goalie Michael Klaich had about 20 saves as the Vikings consistently put pressure on the net throughout the contest.
The Bricks concluded the 2024 season with a record of 7-7-3 ... bowing out in the IHSAA Sectional semifinals to a strong squad from Valparaiso. On Saturday night, the Vikings defeated Crown Point in overtime for the championship.
THANK YOU to our seniors - Gavin Guess, Adrian Chavez & Marcos Macias - and our coaches Rakim Ali, Charles Richardson & Steven McDowell - for a TERRIFIC season!
The end is always tough, but Hobart has a lot to be proud of! After graduating 9 seniors in 2023, this group of youngsters grew up and gained valuable experience against a very challenging schedule this fall. That experience will no doubt help them in the years ahead. If I were you, I'd wear some shades when you're around these guys ... their future is BRIGHT!
#WEAREONE
