Saturday's Semistate Will Be One To Remember
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Roger Grossman, Lake City Radio-
It’s not often anymore that an event comes along like the one that is coming to the Tiger Den in Warsaw Saturday.
Sure, Warsaw hosts two girls semistate games every year and it’s a great day of basketball and a lot of fun to be a part of.
But this Saturday will be different … really different.
Outside of Warsaw hosting their own semistate games in 2004 and 2013, the building will not have had this kind of buzz for girls basketball since it was built 25 years ago.
Game No. 1 will feature Wabash and Canterbury for a trip to the Class 2A final at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Wabash has been a strong program in recent years but kept running into trouble in the regional and just couldn’t over the hump – until last Saturday.
The Wabash community has been hoping for a day like this, and the Lady Apaches’ fans will be here in big numbers.
Canterbury is led by guard Darby Maggard, who grew up a Whitko Wildcat before starting her freshman year on the south side of Fort Wayne. I would guess a few people in Whitko colors will be there Saturday.
The second game will pit two rivals who were strong from the start of girls basketball in 1975 – Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley.
Who could have dreamed that these two old foes would find themselves in this place at this time?
I mean, think about it: Valley had to beat NorthWood in the tournament.
The Lady Vikings did just that.
They had to win a regional semifinal game against an athletic team from Muncie Central.
Check.
They had to go where no Valley girls team had ever gone … to break that mythical glass ceiling and win a regional championship.
Done!
All while winning three of their last four tournament games in overtime. Plenty of time to crack. Plenty of time to slip up. Plenty of chances to have it get away like it had for so many other Lady Viking teams in the past.
These “Cardiac Kids” of Chris Kindig wrote a different ending.
And then there is Rochester. All the Lady Zebras had to do was beat No. 2 St. Joe and No. 1 Benton Central on their road to the semistate. And they were pretty convincing.
And so here they are …Valley and Rochester… their paths crossing once again, but the stakes have NEVER been this high.
It’s like it HAD to be this way, didn’t it? Fate? Destiny? The basketball gods?
So the hype for this day started Saturday night around 9:30 p.m., right after the four teams fates were secured in the night session of the regional. Three teams from the Three Rivers Conference rendezvousing in Warsaw.
How good is this day going to be? Tippecanoe Valley AD Duane Burkhart says he sold 1,350 tickets in less than two hours.
Chew on that for a second.
The roughly 5,000 seats in Warsaw’s gym will no-doubt be all accounted for, but for most of the day and night those seats will only be a place for their owners to occupy during halftimes and time outs.
As is the tradition, as people leave after the first game, additional tickets will be sold for the second game. But I am not sure who is going to leave! Whitko people who will be there to see their former schoolmate will stay to watch their TRC comrades, and we can assume that most of the Wabash fans will stay too, right?
It’s hard to imagine that this day can live up to the build up, but how can it not?
I will be working with the media on Saturday again this year. So many schools help me and our stations broadcast games all season and this is a way for me to give back by helping other stations and media at the Warsaw Semistate.
It’s an honor every year, but this year, well, I have goosebumps just thinking about it.
Two tips: Get there early, and arrive knowing that you are about to participate in something very special.[[In-content Ad]]
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It’s not often anymore that an event comes along like the one that is coming to the Tiger Den in Warsaw Saturday.
Sure, Warsaw hosts two girls semistate games every year and it’s a great day of basketball and a lot of fun to be a part of.
But this Saturday will be different … really different.
Outside of Warsaw hosting their own semistate games in 2004 and 2013, the building will not have had this kind of buzz for girls basketball since it was built 25 years ago.
Game No. 1 will feature Wabash and Canterbury for a trip to the Class 2A final at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Wabash has been a strong program in recent years but kept running into trouble in the regional and just couldn’t over the hump – until last Saturday.
The Wabash community has been hoping for a day like this, and the Lady Apaches’ fans will be here in big numbers.
Canterbury is led by guard Darby Maggard, who grew up a Whitko Wildcat before starting her freshman year on the south side of Fort Wayne. I would guess a few people in Whitko colors will be there Saturday.
The second game will pit two rivals who were strong from the start of girls basketball in 1975 – Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley.
Who could have dreamed that these two old foes would find themselves in this place at this time?
I mean, think about it: Valley had to beat NorthWood in the tournament.
The Lady Vikings did just that.
They had to win a regional semifinal game against an athletic team from Muncie Central.
Check.
They had to go where no Valley girls team had ever gone … to break that mythical glass ceiling and win a regional championship.
Done!
All while winning three of their last four tournament games in overtime. Plenty of time to crack. Plenty of time to slip up. Plenty of chances to have it get away like it had for so many other Lady Viking teams in the past.
These “Cardiac Kids” of Chris Kindig wrote a different ending.
And then there is Rochester. All the Lady Zebras had to do was beat No. 2 St. Joe and No. 1 Benton Central on their road to the semistate. And they were pretty convincing.
And so here they are …Valley and Rochester… their paths crossing once again, but the stakes have NEVER been this high.
It’s like it HAD to be this way, didn’t it? Fate? Destiny? The basketball gods?
So the hype for this day started Saturday night around 9:30 p.m., right after the four teams fates were secured in the night session of the regional. Three teams from the Three Rivers Conference rendezvousing in Warsaw.
How good is this day going to be? Tippecanoe Valley AD Duane Burkhart says he sold 1,350 tickets in less than two hours.
Chew on that for a second.
The roughly 5,000 seats in Warsaw’s gym will no-doubt be all accounted for, but for most of the day and night those seats will only be a place for their owners to occupy during halftimes and time outs.
As is the tradition, as people leave after the first game, additional tickets will be sold for the second game. But I am not sure who is going to leave! Whitko people who will be there to see their former schoolmate will stay to watch their TRC comrades, and we can assume that most of the Wabash fans will stay too, right?
It’s hard to imagine that this day can live up to the build up, but how can it not?
I will be working with the media on Saturday again this year. So many schools help me and our stations broadcast games all season and this is a way for me to give back by helping other stations and media at the Warsaw Semistate.
It’s an honor every year, but this year, well, I have goosebumps just thinking about it.
Two tips: Get there early, and arrive knowing that you are about to participate in something very special.[[In-content Ad]]
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