By Codey Emerson 

codey@thetimes24-7.com

Noblesville Schools announced today that head varsity football coach Justin Roden has accepted another position and will be relocating back to his home in the Cincinnati area. Roden shared that the decision was based on personal family needs. 

"I want to thank Coach Roden for his service to our Noblesville High School students and to the Millers football program overall, and wish him happiness and success in his new role,” said Leah Wooldridge, Noblesville High School athletic director. 

Roden has been head varsity football coach for the Noblesville Millers since 2018 and is also a wellness teacher at the high school. 
Noblesville will begin the process of identifying a replacement for him immediately and will announce their selection at a later date. 

Roden during his two seasons as the Millers head coach compiled a 5-15 record. 

He will now take over the head coaching position at Oak Hills High School in Cincinatti, OH. 

With Week-1 of the girls basketball season in the books, four ladies have been cited as the first IBCA/Subway Player of the Week recipients for the 2019-2020 campaign.

North Judson-San Pierre Junior Lilliann Frasure, Northwestern Senior Madison Layden, Noblesville Freshman Ashlynn Shade, and Heritage Hills Junior Rebekah Gordon have been selected as honorees for Nov. 4-Nov. 9 in the recognition program coordinated by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association. Frasure is the recipient for District-1. Layden and Shade are co-winners for District-2. Gordon is the honoree for District-3.

FISHERS - The Lady Royals started off the season with a great win against a tough Ben Davis team.

The Lady Royals continue to find ways to win games. In a game that points were slim, the Lady Royals fought hard on the defensive end to pull out their first victory of the season. The Lady Royals led most of the game; however, Ben Davis took the lead late. A couple tough defensive stands turned into offensive points and the Royals were back on top. In a game that came down to a few possessions in the final minutes, the Lady Royals were able to withstand the defensive pressure Ben Davis brought.

Leading Scorers for the Lady Royals were Senior Sydney Parrish with 33 and Jackie Maulucci with 13. Leading rebounders were Parrish with nine and Bailee Poore with seven. 

The win for the defending class 4A champs gets their season started off with a record of 1-0. The Lady Royals will be back in action on Saturday as they host the Southeastern Shootout. The team will first play Center Grove at 10 a.m.

The Noblesville Millers opened up sectional play on Friday night with a tough opponent in the Homestead Trojans who came into the game ranked No. 11 in the state. 

The Millers however did not back down from the challenge and played their best game of the season as they hung in wiht the Trojans all game long. 
If not for a touchdown on the last play of regulation, the Millers would have advanced and pulled off the stunning upset. 

However both teams headed into overtime tied at 21 and Homestead was able to kick a game-winning field goal to survive and end the Millers season in heartbreaking fashion as they won by a final score of 24-21. 

WESTFIELD - The Fishers Tigers traveled to Westfield for the opening round of the IHSAA Sectional 4. 

The last time these two teams met back on Oct. 11 which saw the Tigers come away with a 19-14 win. 

This time around the Rocks got their revenge as they dominated the Tigers and ran away with a 42--14 victory. 

FISHERS - The Carmel Greyhounds and Hamilton Southeastern Royals met up on Friday night in the opening round of the Class 6A Sectional 4, with the winner advancing to the sectional championship game next week. 

The Greyhounds who are looking for the chance to go back to the state title game got their post-season started off right as they were able to come away with a 28-14 win over the Royals. 

The Guerin Catholic Golden Eagles came into Friday night’s game as they hosted the West Lafayette Red Devils and thier high powered offense in the second round of the Class 3A Sectinoal 28 tournament. 

The Golden Eagles were able to hold their own against the Red Devils all night long as both teams traded the lead and were tied for most of the night. 

As in most close games, it usually seems whichever team gets the ball last will win. 

That proved to be true as the Red Devils were able to kick what would be the game winning field goal with 1:38 left in the game as they defeated the Golden Eagles by a final score of 34-31. 

The Indiana Members Credit Union is now taking votes for their “athlete of the month”. 

Every single athlete listed is from attends a Hamilton County school. 

To cast your vote you can visit  https://vnnsports.net/indiana-members-credit-union-athlete-of-the-month/. 

Listed below are information about each athlete and a quote from their head coach. 

Noblesville Boys head soccer coach Ken Dollaske was honored by the Indiana Soccer Coaches Association as he was nmaed Big School (> 1,000 students) coach of the year by the ISCA. Dollaske also was recognized as the overall Coach of the Year for District two. 

This season Dollaske guided the Millers to an overall record of 16-2-2. The Millers also claimed the sectional and regional titles. 

The Miller boys team now will compete in the semi-state championship game on Saturday at Kokomo High School as the Millers take on Lake Central for a chance to advance to the state championship. 

Can you feel it in the air? 

You can almost taste it. No, it’s not pumpkin spice, everything nice . . .  it’s tournament football!

The IHSAA playoffs get under way at several sites with sectionals on Friday night.

So are you ready for high school football when it really counts?

The one-and-done format will be a heart-breaker for many schools. But it is what it is: Lose and you can start thinking about 2020; win and those advancing still have another shot at a title.

The Lady Royals were able to win a pair of matches on Saturday to capture the Class 4A Sectional 8 championship. 

In the first match The Lady Royals defeated Zionsville 25-12, 25-23, 25-15 to advance to the sectional final. The Royals were led by Delaney Garner with 16 kills and Abby Weber with 12 kills., ten digs and two aces. Defensively, Carly Mills had 20 digs and two aces. Kyla Berg added ten digs and two aces. Lillian Leiner collected 11 digs of her own.

Records were made to be broken — and another just happened over the weekend.

Take a bow Sydney Parrish!

I remember when Zach Gunn broke the Hamilton Southeastern boys career career scoring record, set by  2012 Indiana Mr. Basketball Gary Harris. Gunn surpassed the current NBA star’s all-time scoring record in 2017. Gunn 1,660 points . . . Harris 1,552 points.

That was big. 

So is Parrish’s accomplishment, adding a page in the school’s girls record book.

The Oregon-bound Hamilton SE senior has totaled 1,404 points so far for her career. That broke the school mark last weekend for HSE girls basketball, held by 2013 graduate and Indiana All-Star and Naismith Award winner Taya Reimer, who had 1,374 points.

Former Guerin Catholic boys basketball coach Pete Smith, who retired from teaching, and then left coaching two years ago to work full time on his business career, likes to reminisce.

The two-time Golden Eagles Class 3A state-championship coach (2012 & 2015) says he does miss this time of year when the balls are bouncing in the gymnasiums and basketball is about ready to start.

“I do get a little sad this time of the year,’’ he said while taking time to talk basketball the other day . . . “When so many of my old coaching buddies are starting up their season and are so excited.

“I loved that rush.’’

Time for some notes along the football trail:

And then there were two!

Already on the sidelines and probably already thinking about 2020 are Hamilton County schools Fishers (7-3), Guerin Catholic (6-5), Hamilton Heights (2-8), Hamilton Southeastern (5-5), Noblesville (1-9) and Sheridan (6-4).

Westfield visits Carmel this evening to determine the Class 6A Sectional 4 championship.

Notes on the high school basketball trail:

Can you hear those bouncing balls around Hamilton County gymnasiums?

The girls teams began official practices earlier this week.

The boys begin practices on Nov. 11, with first contests set for Nov. 25.

The girls can tip it off for real beginning on Nov. 4. Not too far away, you know.

Can you feel it in the air? 

You can almost taste it. No, it’s not pumpkin spice, everything nice . . .  it’s tournament football!

The IHSAA playoffs get under way at several sites with sectionals on Friday night.

So are you ready for high school football when it really counts?

The one-and-done format will be a heart-breaker for many schools. But it is what it is: Lose and you can start thinking about 2020; win and those advancing still have another shot at a title.

One thing I think about on occasion is what took place nine years ago.

That’s when we celebrated 100 years of Indiana high school basketball. 

The State Finals were still played at Conseco Fieldhouse back then. Now, of course, it’s now Bankers Life Fieldhouse. And word has it that the field house could soon have even another new name! The NBA Pacers, of course, have played in their current facility since 1999 after the losing of Market Square Arena.

Time to note some high school football as we head down the stretch for the the postseason:

Football is alive and well!

That’s what a participation survey released this fall revealed, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
I would have never had any doubt. How ‘bout you?

Football is big, and it continues to grow and grow.

Friday Night Lights. Quite a tradition, for sure!

In his first year coaching East Central High School football, Justin Roden probably felt like he had been blindsided and plowed over during a blocking drill.

He went from an assistant to head coach quicker than was expected, and then lost his job rather quickly after that season.

“My first year running the program, the head coach just upped and quit, even though the plan was that he would coach 2 more years. The majority of staff quit, just walked away….just ran for the hills. The middle school was in a bad place and they knew what was coming,’’ said the second-year Noblesville football coach.

“And we had graduated 21 of 22 starters in 2012. Then the one returnee tore his ACL during our first practice,’’ said the second-year Noblesville High School football coach.

“I was called in by the principal and athletic director. Under the circumstances, I told them I thought a 4-7 record was pretty good. They looked me in the eye and told me it was not good enough.

It was the school’s first losing season in 23 years.

Take a drive throughout Hamilton County in the spring, summer and fall and you’ll come across many youth baseball and softball and soccer fields.

Grand Park, which features astro turf fields, is quite popular. There’s also a huge infield center for various sports, including soccer.

In Noblesville, the Field of Dreams ballpark is always busy, same for the massive Billericay Park baseball complex in Fishers, and Grand Park, which has been a major addition to the county sports landscape in Westfield.

In the cold weather season when the snow is flying, most high school teams work out in their school gyms.

I’ve lived in Fishers and Hamilton County since 1989, and only recently has high school baseball stood out in a big, big way.

Right now, our county baseball is as good as it gets. Maybe even the best in Central Indiana!

It all started with Noblesville’s state title in 2014, followed by Fishers HS winning in 2018 and Hamilton Southeastern and University stating their cases in 2019….and, guess what, two of the state’s biggest high schools don’t even offer 7th/8th baseball in the City of Fishers.

By the way, Noblesville does have a middle school baseball program, which Noblesville High School head varsity coach Justin Keever is thrilled about.

And first-year HSE coach Jeremy Sassanella would be all in for middle school baseball if it was offered . . . and if he could be involved in the selection of coaches.

Sure, we have middle school football and basketball in Fishers  . . .

But again, no baseball at the middle school level at the Fishers and HSE junior highs.

It’s not for a lack of fields!

So why, then?