Trojans, Raiders have experienced similar campaigns (03/11/04)

PORTLAND — They may have started out with different expectations, but the two teams which will play in the first NorthWood regional semifinal game Saturday have had mirror-image seasons.

The Fort Wayne Elmhurst Trojans — the 2003 Class 3A runner-up — opened the season ranked No. 1, but hardly looked like a top-ranked team early on. It lost three of its first five games, including a 71-43 thrashing at Huntington North.

Through 12 games Elmhurst was just 6-6, but it has won nine of its last 10 games.

The Northridge Raiders didn’t have the same preseason recognition as Elmhurst after falling out of the tournament in the sectional championship game in 2003. They won their first three games this season, but lost seven of their last eight and hardly looked like a sectional contender at 4-7.

Since then Northridge has won 11 of 12 games, with the only loss coming to Class 4A No. 6 Columbia City (20-3).

One of the teams will suffer just its second loss in more than a month when they face off at NorthWood Saturday at 10 a.m. Jay County plays No. 7 Bellmont in the second regional semifinal game at noon, and the winners will meet in the championship contest at 8 p.m.

Coaches for both the Trojans and the Raiders said it took a while for their teams to adjust.

“I think one of the things was whenever you’re trying to replace the players we lost it takes time,” said Elmhurst coach Keith Edmonds. “We wanted to take some time and take a look at ourselves after 10 games.”

The best of the departing players was Joe Poindexter, who scored 14 points in last season’s regional championship game against Jay County. He was even more impressive against Lakeland in the 2003 semifinals, hitting four 3-points and scoring 22 fourth-quarter points as he led the Trojans with 33 points.

Edmonds lost several other seniors from last year’s squad, and said other players had some trouble adjusting to being leaders instead of role players. One of those was his son, senior Chad Edmonds, who is now third on the team in points, rebounds and assists.

Brandon Stuckey, another senior, has also had made great strides and is second on the team in each major category. And, senior James Hardy continues to be the leader of the team.

The Indiana University recruit and Mr. Basketball candidate is No. 1 in scoring in Class 3A and fourth in the state overall with 27.5 points per game. He is second in Class 3A in rebounding at 10.5 per game — behind fellow regional participant Adam Arnold of Bellmont — and also leads Elmhurst with 55 assists and 61 3-pointers this season.

“We knew that it would take us some time before it came together,” said Edmonds, adding that the move of senior Adrian Dance to point guard was what really got the team clicking. “Once you get your point guard stable that makes things a whole lot better.”

Jay County is more than familiar with Elmhurst. If the teams met late Saturday it would be a rematch of last year’s championship game in which the Trojans topped the Patriots 62-59.

“They’re just very athletic and they play such a tough schedule,” said Jay County coach Craig Teagle. “They’re battle tested.

“(Hardy) can go inside out. He’s typically outside, but last year in the regional he took us inside and I think that was the difference.”

“We know they’re well-coached,” said Edmonds of the Patriots. “We were kind of surprised that they shot the ball so well (last year).”

Several Northridge players have also emerged, allowing the team it to explode in the second half of the year. Since the abysmal start is has defeated defending sectional champion Lakeland twice and knocked off No. 8 Wawasee.

Lance Weirich has been the big scorer for the Raiders down the stretch. He averaged just 12.2 points during the season, but has been around 17 points per game down the stretch.

He hit five 3-pointers and scored 21 points in leading the sectional championship win over Lakeland. He is now shooting 56 percent from beyond the arc.

Weirich is joined by two more double-digit scorers with Eric Eaton hitting for a team-best 13.3 points per game and 6-foot-9 junior center Ronnie Thomas scoring 10.8 per game.

“I think No. 1 was we just did not losing sight of what we were and what we were doing,” said Northridge coach Steve Austin of the slow start. “A lot of the games we lost were on some last second shots or in overtime.

“What we’ve been preaching all year and never gave up on was playing good man-to-man defense.”

Defense has been emphasized because of the Raiders’ recent sectional experience, having lost by one point in the championship game to New Prairie last year and by two the previous season. Austin said his team’s problem in those losses was that it could never get a defensive stop when it needed one.

This year Northridge allows just 45 points per game defensively, the best mark among the four regional teams. Keying the defense is Nick Crawford, who was moved into to the starting lineup as the defensive stopper midway through the season.

Teagle expressed nothing but respect for Austin and his team.

“There program is always strong,” he said. “They’re fundamentally sound and always well-coached and disciplined.”

As for a possible meeting with Jay County in the finals, Austin was in the gym a season ago and remembers how the championship game played out.

“We were impressed with them last year,” he said. “They came in and almost won that thing last year and I don’t think anyone gave them any credit.”[[In-content Ad]]