Things are moving toward spring

I just thought I would hit on a few things early in the week and try to round up some loose ends as thing are bound to get busy.

The Hatchet wrestling team had a successful sectional and will advance eight wrestlers to the Castle Regional on Saturday. Brady Byrd was an individual champion at 106 lbs. and is something like 35-1 so far this year. That program continues to show growth and I believe they are expecting good numbers with the youth this spring.

The Hatchet baseball pancake breakfast is this weekend and it means spring is just around the corner. They will also have a new scoreboard up at the Complex this year. As you may have seen, there are big changes at Hatchet Hollow and it looks like that project is well under way and should provide a first-class facility.

The fundraising for Hagen Knepp continues. On Sunday they completely sold out of chicken dinners, around 600 of them in about an hour. If one wonders what “community” means, all one has to do is look at how Montgomery and Daviess and surrounding counties, along with the many other parts of the state, have rallied around this special young man. I just received an e-mail from Grace College and they are having an event on Wednesday called Hoopin’ for Hagen.

The e-mail read:

“Wednesday’s 7 p.m. game between the NAIA No. 7-ranked Grace Lancers and Mt. Vernon Nazarene will seek to raise funds for the Knepp family. “Hoopin’ For Hagen” t-shirts will be sold for $15, and a raffle for a firework package will also be given away.

At halftime of Wednesday’s game, donations will be collected in the arena for the Knepps. Those wishing to donate online can give on the GoFundMe webpage at www.gofundme.com/hoopin-for-hagen, which has raised nearly $2,500 already.”

We won’t have full previews this week, but 3A No. 5 North Daviess will play No. 1 Bloomfield on the road Thursday. It will be the Cougars fourth No. 4 team this season. ND will also play No. 13 Connersville on Saturday afternoon. Loogootee also has a tough game with No. 1-2 Orleans. That game will have a lot of sectional implications. Washington will host Vincennes on Thursday in the Hatchet House, Lincoln is 2-13, but does have a surprising win over Jasper. Jasper will host Barr-Reeve on Thursday, hoping to get their first win over the Vikes in six years. WC (3-13) with host 8-8 North Central in the Birdcage. WC did pic up a third win over Cannelton last week, but still have some tough games on the schedule with Loogootee and Shoals.

Girls’ sectional gets underway this week, but we won’t know much by the time this is published. I will say the IHSAA didn’t do this area any favors with hosts in Eastern Greene, Springs Valley and Princeton. According to John Harrell’s prediction, WHS has been given a 44% chance of winning its sectional, ND got a .06% chance, B-R got a 23% chance, Loogootee a .52% and WC was less than .01%. However, as they say, that’s why they play these games on the hardwood and not on a keyboard.