INDIANAPOLIS – The third and final player to represent Hamilton County in the 2019 Indiana Football Coaches Association All-Star game is Nicholas Burnell. Burnell spent his four years playing for one of the most storied football programs in the state, The Sheridan Blackhawks. The Blackhawks are led by hall of fame Coach Larry “Bud” Wright who is the winningest coach in Indiana High School Football History with over 400 career wins.

Burnell was a four year starter for the Blackhawks where he played outside-linebacker. He said that he really didn’t see himself playing in this game, yet there he was.

“I really had no idea that I would even be able to play in this game,” he said. “It’s just a great honor, and a huge accomplishment in my career. I’m just proud to be able to represent Sheridan.”

INDIANAPOLIS – The second Hamilton County player to play in Indiana Football Coaches Association All-Star game was Westfield’s Franklin Bohannon. Bohannon is a ball-hawking cornerback and led the Rocks this past season with five interceptions.

Along with those five interceptions, Bohannon helped anchor the Rocks secondary and even help them capture a state championship back in 2016 when the team went 12-2. This past two seasons have seen Westfield post a 4-6 record but that hasn’t stopped Bohannon from showcasing his talents which earned him a spot on the South All-Star team.

Bohannon became the 25^th player from Westfield to play in the All-Star game. He saw the opportunity to play in the game as a chance that most high school players don’t get during their career.

The Noblesville swim club hosted the 2019 Enchanted Forest swim meet at Forest Park Aquatic Center this past weekend. The meet hosted 962 swimmers from 33 different teams. The meet even included a swim team from Toronto, Canada participate.

Meet director Chris Berger talked about the things that are required to put on a meet this size.

“We started setting up for the event around 6:30 Thursday evening,” Berger said. “We didn’t get done setting up until roughly 10:30. We had 27 tents that needed to be put up to make sure the event ran as smooth as possible.”

INDIANAPOLIS – The annual Indiana Football Coaches Association North South All-Star game is a tradition that has been dating back to 1967. The game offers a chance for High School seniors to play in one final game in the high school career.

For Noblesville Senior Defensive End Dalton Davis, he was selected to represent the Millers in the game. For Davis, not only was he representing his the Millers and his program, but he was representing the entire Noblesville community.

“It’s always great to represent your community,” Davis said. “This is the longest running high school all-star game in the country, so for me this was a tremendous honor and privilege to be out here on this field tonight against the best competition the state of Indiana has to offer.”

Noblesville golfer Clay Merchant recently was invited to participate in the United States Golf Association (USGA) Jr. Amateur Championships at the Inverness Club in Toledo Ohio. Unfortunately for Merchant he will be forced to miss the tournament which will take place July 15-20 as he is currently nursing a broken foot.

Merchant was one of only four kids in the entire state to qualify for the tournament. The field of 156 golfers was determined through sectional qualifying which took place from June 10-25 at 56 locations across the country and in 39 states. Merchant already had received a spot in the tournament as he was in the World Amateur Golf Rankings top 50 age-eligible points leader.

Week six of the Sheridan Horseshoe league is in the books. Noblesville’s very own Jeff Ogle and Mitch Dwigans of Price Heating helped push their team into second place claiming some much needed wins. The rest of the league stayed roughly the same with equal wins. Team Ashpaugh is pulling ahead and sitting nicely on top of the leaderboard at first place. Don Dwigans and Rick Downs helped their teams with solid pitching nights as well.

This weekend the league will be hosting another tournament that O’Reilly AutoParts of Westfield is sponsoring. Anyone and everyone is welcome to pitch, the entry fee is $10. It starts at 9 am at Biddle’s Memorial Park. As mentioned before, O’Reilly has donated money to the prize fund for our winners. Come on out to the pitch on Saturday and have a good time.

INDIANAPOLIS – Players from all across the state will converge on to North Central High School in Indianapolis on Friday night to play in the annual Indiana Football Coaches Association All-Star Football Classic as the North All-Stars will face off against the South All-Stars.

Dating back as far as 1967 the annual All-Star game showcases some of the state’s best talent. Nominations for the All-Star game are made by members of the Indiana Football Coaches Association.

This year three players from Hamilton County will get the chance to play in the game as they will be members of the South All-Star team

WEST LAFAYETTE – After two days and 36 holes of golf at Purdue University, the battle for the Boys State Junior Championship is heating up at Ackerman-Allen and Kampen Course. The event which started on July 8 saw a total of 114 golfers compete for the title including 20 boys from Hamilton County.

The 64 boys that made the cut will now face off in a bracket style tournament which will then eventually be down to the final two golfers to determine the champion.

Nicholas Hoffman earned the number one overall seed after shooting a five under par through the first two rounds. 17 of the 20 boys from Hamilton County advanced to the field of 64 including three from Noblesville and Westfield respectively, four from Fishers and seven from Carmel.

CARMEL – It’s no secret that high school athletes have to maintain a certain grade point average to stay eligible to compete in their respective sport. For Junior Suhas Chundi who wrestles with the Carmel Greyhounds, and just placed fourth this past season at the state championships at 106 lbs., he is getting the opportunity of a lifetime to compete at the 2019 International Biology Olympiad which will take place in Szeged, Hungary July 14-21.

Chundi competed this past spring in a national competition with over 2,000 entrants from across the country. Because of the top 20 finish, he earned the chance to go compete with the other top 20 finalists for a spot on the United States Biology Olympiad team. Chundi placed in the top four and earned a spot on Team USA.

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?