Weekend roundup

Girls soccer: New Palestine 2, Westfield 2
The Dragons are competing in a huge invitational at Zionsville this weekend, and opened with a tie. Lauren Joray scored both Dragon goals, on assists from Kalli Shepler-Tucker and Lindsay Meyer. Holly Hilton made five saves in goal for NP. On Thursday, the Dragons defeated Yorktown 2-0, behind two goals from Lauren Kehrt -- both of which were assisted by Jordan Barton.

Boys soccer: Mt. Vernon 6, Anderson 1
The Marauders had a big offensive night. Alex Sayre scored twice, while Caleb Young and Kyle Cansler both had a goal and an assist. Jake Brown and Trevor Johnson also scored for the Marauders, who are 4-2 on the season.

Big week starts well

County Tournament week is always a big week for Hancock County's basketball teams.

It signals the start of the 2nd half of the season -- and replicates the old Greenfield-Central sectional of single-class yore. It brings the rivalries we all know and love into a tournament atmosphere.

However, the 10th-ranked Mt. Vernon Marauders will be going into the tournament already coming off one title -- winning the prestigious Hall of Fame Classic on Wednesday. MV (6-2) beat previously-unbeaten 4A No. 5 Munster 56-42 in the opening game, and then knocked off Zionsville 50-38 in an impressive defensive performance in the championship game, using its size to suffocate the Eagles' offense with a well-played zone defense. As is custom for the Marauders, they had different players carry them at different times -- Daniel Turner, Jake Stafford and P.J. Hubert all scored in different spurts to lead the Marauders in the title game.

Congrats to the Marauders for winning the state's most prestigious invitational tournament -- making it an HHC sweep. Rushville won the girls tournament by beating Mooresville and Jay County.

MV faces New Palestine (4-2) in the opening game -- a rematch of the last three county champinship games. NP is coming off a sectional title, and the two teams played a one-point game in their last meeting in February, won by the Marauders. NP is 2-0 against county competition, having defeated both Greenfield-Central and Eastern Hancock so far. The Dragons haven't played since a Dec. 18 victory over Morristown, which they won 52-50 when Trevor Baker hit a shot at the buzzer.

The other New Year's Day game pits Eastern Hancock (6-2) -- coming off a big 65-55 victory at Blue River on Tuesday -- at Greenfield-Central (1-6), a team with a very deceptive record. The Cougars have an OT loss to Whiteland and a one-point loss to New Palestine on their docket, and are rapidly-improving under first-year coach Josh Johnson. This game will feature some outstanding guard play -- G-C's Jordan Conley and Wes McQueeney can fill it up from long range, as can EH's Dustin Smith, Zach Kissick and Steven Stunda.

Each game is at 6 p.m., with a girls game to follow.

We will be broadcasting the championship game from New Palestine on Jan. 2, again with a 6 p.m. tipoff. You can listen here. The consolation game will be going on simultaneously in the NPHS auxiliary gym, with girls games again to follow.

Enjoy the county tournament. If you can't make it in person, join our webcast on Saturday night.

It's county tourney week

We haven't been as up on things on the blog side as we'd like to be, largely because of time pressures of late.

However, the Game of the Week contests have been barnburners so far -- the last 3 have been decided by a total of 7 points, all with the outcome in doubt in the last 60 seconds. Now, we're getting ready for a busy second half of the season, which begins with the traditional mid-season Hancock County Tournament. Our next Game of the Week broadcast will be the tournament title game on Saturday night. There is an early 6 p.m. tipoff, so we'll be on at approximately 5:40 p.m.

This year, it's on Jan. 1-2, for two reasons. The most obvious is the weekend date, but the less obvious is the fact that Mt. Vernon is playing in the Hall of Fame Classic on Wednesday, therefore giving the Marauders a day of rest before diving back in. MV is 4-2 so far, and has played a brutal schedule, with the two losses coming to HSE and Tipton, teams that have a combined record of 10-3. It doesn't get any easier Wednesday, as the Marauders take on an unbeaten Munster team in the opening 11 a.m. game. Defending 3A champ Princeton and Zionsville are the other two teams competing at New Castle.

The County Tourney has become a much-anticipated event in its six years of existence. Greenfield-Central won the inaugural tournament, but since, New Palestine (thrice) and Mt. Vernon (twice) have dominated the action, meeting in the title game each of the last three years. MV is the defending champ. That can't happen this year, as the Marauders and Dragons -- both posting 4-2 records coming into the week -- meet in the opening round on New Year's Day at MV. Eastern Hancock (5-2) visits Greenfield-Central (1-6) in the other opening-round matchup. All boys games are at 6 p.m. -- all games are boy/girl doubleheaders.

New Palestine will host the finals Saturday night -- boys at 6, girls at 8 -- with championship games in the main gym and consolations in the auxiliary gym across the hall. We will have the boys final as our Game of the Week webcast. Listen here.

The schedule
(boys @ 6 p.m., girls @ 8 p.m.)
Friday, Jan. 1: New Palestine @ Mt. Vernon; Eastern Hancock @ Greenfield-Central
Saturday, Jan. 2: Championship games @ NPHS Main Gym (LISTEN LIVE TO BOYS FINAL), consolation games @ NPHS Auxiliary Gym

Hancock County Tourney results
BOYS
2008-09
Mt. Vernon 65, @Eastern Hancock 64
@New Palestine 60, Greenfield-Central 54
Greenfield-Central 52, Eastern Hancock 51, OT, consolation
@Mt. Vernon 51, New Palestine 19, championship
2007-08
New Palestine 75, @Greenfield-Central 69
@Mt. Vernon 54, Eastern Hancock 46
Eastern Hancock 59, Greenfield-Central 56, consolation
@New Palestine 41, Mt. Vernon 39, championship
2006-07
@Mt. Vernon 70, Eastern Hancock 43
@New Palestine 61, Greenfield-Central 38
@Eastern Hancock 53, Greenfield-Central 43, consolation
Mt. Vernon 74, New Palestine 55, championship
2005-06
New Palestine 62, @Eastern Hancock 47
@Greenfield-Central 51, Mt. Vernon 50
@Mt. Vernon 50, Eastern Hancock 31, consolation
New Palestine 59, Greenfield-Central 57, OT, championship
2004-05
New Palestine 41, @Mt. Vernon 38
Greenfield-Central 53, @Eastern Hancock 49
Mt. Vernon 52, Eastern Hancock 45, consolation
@New Palestine 51, Greenfield-Central 50, OT, championship
2003-04
Greenfield-Central 67, @New Palestine 53
@Eastern Hancock 53, Mt. Vernon 47
New Palestine 59, Mt. Vernon 49, consolation
@Greenfield-Central 75, Eastern Hancock 63, championship

All-time record
Eastern Hancock: 3-9 (1 2nd, 2 3rds, 3 4ths)
Greenfield-Central: 5-7 (1 1st, 2 2nds, 1 3rd, 2 4ths)
Mt. Vernon: 7-5 (2 1sts, 1 2nd, 2 3rds, 1 4th)
New Palestine: 9-3 (3 1sts, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)

GIRLS
2008-09
Greenfield-Central 55, @New Palestine 42
Mt. Vernon 61, @Eastern Hancock 22
New Palestine 48, Eastern Hancock 31, consolation
Greenfield-Central 40, @Mt. Vernon 39, championship
2007-08
@Greenfield-Central 62, New Palestine 38
@Mt. Vernon 53, Eastern Hancock 42
@New Palestine 55, Eastern Hancock 29, consolation
Greenfield-Central 54, Mt. Vernon 38, championship
2006-07
Greenfield-Central 52, @New Palestine 33
@Mt. Vernon 55, Eastern Hancock 30
New Palestine 59, @Eastern Hancock 29, consolation
Greenfield-Central 62, Mt. Vernon 43, championship
2005-06
New Palestine 65, @Eastern Hancock 34
@Greenfield-Central 56, Mt. Vernon 39
@Mt. Vernon 47, Eastern Hancock 31, consolation
New Palestine 78, Greenfield-Central 75, 2OT, championship
2004-05
@Mt. Vernon 69, New Palestine 61
@Eastern Hancock 55, Greenfield-Central 50
@New Palestine 63, Greenfield-Central 44, consolation
Mt. Vernon 42, Eastern Hancock 35, championship
2003-04
Mt. Vernon 48, @Eastern Hancock 43
@New Palestine 72, Greenfield-Central 47
@Greenfield-Central 64, Eastern Hancock 54, consolation
Mt. Vernon 63, New Palestine 47, championship

All-time record
Eastern Hancock: 1-11 (1 2nd, 5 4ths)
Greenfield-Central: 8-4 (3 1sts, 1 2nd, 1 3rd, 1 4th)
Mt. Vernon: 8-4 (2 1sts, 3 2nds, 1 3rd)
New Palestine: 7-5 (1 1st, 1 2nd, 4 3rds)

Week 6 lookahead

We're on the home stretch of the 2009 football season -- the HHC race really heats up this week. Every team will have played at least half its conference schedule by the time the gun sounds on Friday night, and the conference race really begins to heat up this week.

Two of the three unbeatens in conference play -- Shelbyville and Mt. Vernon -- match up on Friday night. Two other teams in the upper part of the conference standings -- Yorktown and New Palestine -- also match up.

The matchups should be good and the games interesting this Friday. Obviously, things will really shake out with who plays whom.

There are really a couple of Games of the Week this week. The Shelby-MV game is obviously going to break part of the three-way tie atop the league standings. Our goal at CCSN is not just to bring you some of the best live sports coverage, but also to bring you as much access to football as possible. To that end, we're going to allow our friends at WSVX-1520 in Shelbyville to bring you the Shelby-MV game, and we'll have the other "Game of the Week" -- New Palestine at Yorktown -- on Friday night.

Of course, you can listen to the NP-Yorktown game here, with myself & Jim Ryan on the call. Read on for a preview of that game and all of the HHC games.

CCSN/TGD Game of the Week broadcast
New Palestine (3-2/2-1) at Yorktown (3-2/2-2)
Broadcast: 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 25 (Andrew Smith/Jim Ryan)
Listen LIVE here

The coaches
NP: Tim Able (1st year at NP, 3-2; 18th year overall, 98-94).
Yorktown: Mike Wilhelm (5th year, 27-21)

Scouting the Dragons: New Palestine has alternated wins and losses so far, but the Dragons' two losses are to a pair of unbeatens -- 4A No. 7 Delta and a Batesville team that's lurking just outside the 3A Top 10. NP's offense has shown signs of explosiveness, and a big reason for that is wingback/running back Pat Feeney, who is averaging close to 180 yards from scrimmage this season and has nine touchdowns on offense. He also has four interceptions on defense. He suffered a hamstring injury in last week's win over Rushville, but has been practicing this week. He had 146 yards on the ground, 55 through the air and a combined three TDs in that contest, a 34-13 victory for the Dragons. His big night was a 300+ yard performance against Pendleton Heights, which also included an interception. NP has shown quite a few other weapons this season, with Michael Phelps and Brett Jackson combining for 74 yards on 12 carries last week. QB Cary Albrecht is a run-pass threat -- he was 3-for-9 for 62 yards last week -- but Jackson, a QB who plays running back, also tossed a 55-yard TD pass on a halfback pass. The week before, Albrecht was 15-of-22 passing against a solid Batesville defense. The Dragons lost 37-0 to the Tigers last year, but had won eight straight in the series prior to then. A win for the Dragons would be the 99th in head coach Tim Able's decorated career.
Scouting the Tigers: The Tigers found out Delta is as good as advertised last week in a 56-13 defeat at the hands of the Eagles. Yorktown's two conference losses have come at the hands of two-thirds of the league leaders -- Delta & Mt. Vernon. NP's only conference loss has come to Delta. Yorktown is led by its defense, which had produced four takeaways and a touchdown in its last victory -- a 28-14 win over Greenfield-Central two weeks ago. Joe Journay has led the way with 42 tackles, including 7 sacks. He had a school-record five in a shutout win over Muncie South in Week 3. On offense, Yorktown features a powerful running game out of multiple formations, much like NP. The main difference is, while NP will spread the ball around to several backs, the Tigers will feature bruising junior Derek Kundenreich. He ran for 118 yards last week -- his fourth 100-yard game of the season -- and he ranks among the HHC leaders in rushing yardage with an average of 106 yards per game. His 530 yards account for 62% of the Tigers' rushing total. Speedy wingback Brendon Barnes is a dangerous threat. He's Yorktown's leading receiver (141 yards) and second-leading rusher. The Tigers are quarterbacked by Kyle Weiss, who has completed 41% of his passes for 267 yards.

Other HHC games
Mt. Vernon (4-1/3-0) at Shelbyville (5-0/3-0): Wow. What a matchup. Both of these teams have been lighting up the scoreboard with their Wing-T offenses -- averaging 37-38 ppg in conference play. The Marauders have posted some impressive victories -- a 32-0 win over Yorktown in Week 2 and last week's 38-14 win over Pendleton Heights in which the Marauders scored all of their points in the middle two quarters and didn't allow the Arabians a first down until late in the third quarter. Shelby's defense was impressive last week, too, in a 19-0 shutout of Greenfield-Central. The Marauders' attack is led by FB Trey Ross, who scored three first-half TDs last week and totaled 84 yards rushing. He has 10 TDs on the year and averages a shade under 500 yards per game. The Golden Bears also have a multi-headed monster. Halfback Patrick Ellis totaled 99 yards and two TDs last week, while QB Kevin Prosch ran for 96 and threw for 62. Shelby outgained G-C 329-70 last week. The winner gets at least a piece of the HHC lead, with both teams still having games looming with Delta. MV faces the Eagles in Week 8, Shelby in Week 9.
Rushville (1-4/0-3) at Greenfield-Central (1-4/0-4): The Cougars play their final conference game before heading into play against their county rivals. The one thing that impressed me about the Cougars two weeks ago when we saw them was their hitting on defense. Led by Eric Roberts and a lot of fleet players up front, G-C has a defense that hits hard and flies to the football. That showed two weeks ago when they forced four turnovers against Yorktown, and again last week, when they became the first team to hold Shelbyville to under 35 points this season. G-C also has a couple of offensive weapons in sophomore playmaker Matt Dickerson, senior wideout Kevin Bordenkircher and senior slot John White. All three made big plays against Yorktown -- the latter two with TD catches -- while White had two catches for 22 yards last week. Rushville counters with a very good veer-option running offense that can be very difficult to defend. Against NP last week, Joe Hunter ran for 77 yards and QB Spencer Comer ran for 48 and threw for 53, completing 8-of-16 passes. G-C's strength is its defense. Rushville's is its offense. It'll be interesting to see what happens when they're matched up.
Delta (5-0/3-0) at Pendleton Heights (1-4/1-4): The Eagles have been on fire so far, winning by an average of 42-6. They're the HHC's top offensive AND defensive team. They held up that end with a 56-13 win over Yorktown last week. Running back Teddy Dawson ran for 248 yards last week and is among the HHC's top rushers. He had a 90-yard run for a TD against the Tigers. Delta's Logan Young had a 76-yard touchdown catch, and QB Ozzie Mann threw for two TDs despite attempting only five passes. Needless to say, the Eagles are a pretty well-oiled machine, both on the ground and through the air. PH has struggled a bit to get started the last few weeks. The Arabians fell behind 38-0 and didn't get a first down until late in the third quarter last week against MV. When they did get going, QB Grant Hendershot came on in relief and threw two TD passes to Dezmon Nunn in the fourth quarter. Two weeks ago against Shelbyville, Mitch Patishall came off the bench and led the Arabians to 22 second-half points. The Arabians have some weapons on offense -- Patishall and Hendershot are both solid QBs, and Hendershot also has a 125-yard receiving game. RB Ravaughn White has a ton of speed -- he has a long KOR for a TD this year, and also had a 71-yard touchdown catch against New Palestine.

Other area games
Eastern Hancock (0-5) at North Decatur (1-4): Our base is Hancock County, and we always try to keep an eye on what the Royals are doing. They're 0-5, but had their best game last week in a 33-12 loss to a 4-1 Knightstown team. QB Steven Stunda has been spreading the ball around in the Royals' spread offense, and their early schedule should have them prepared. Four of the Royals' first five opponents have combined records of 17-3. The other foe was Scecina, which is 1-4 against a pretty tough Indianapolis schedule. EH's next two foes (ND & Wes-Del) are both 1-4, while Week 9 opponent Edinburgh is currently winless and hasn't won a game on the field since 2002. So, the Royals are hoping that early meat-grinder will lead them to be prepared to have some success in the latter half of the season. This game will be a league game for EH next year, as the school will join ND in the Mid-Indiana Football Conference.

HHC Standings
Delta 3-0/5-0 (#7 AP/#6 IFCA)
Shelbyville 3-0/5-0 (#10 IFCA)
Mt. Vernon 3-0/4-1
New Palestine 2-1/3-2
Yorktown 2-2/3-2
Pendleton Heights 1-4/1-4
Rushville 0-3/1-4
Greenfield-Central 0-4/1-4

Looking ahead
Upcoming CCSN broadcasts
Oct. 2: Mt. Vernon at Greenfield-Central, 7 p.m. broadcast start (other big HHC games that weekend: Shelbyville at New Palestine).
Oct. 9: Eastern Hancock at Shenandoah, 6:30 p.m. broadcast start
Oct. 10: HHC Classic at Lucas Oil Stadium. New Palestine vs. Greenfield-Central, 10:30 a.m. broadcast; Mt. Vernon vs. Delta, 6:45 p.m. broadcast.
Oct. 16: The Boundary Rail Game: New Palestine at Mt. Vernon, 7 p.m. broadcast start (other big HHC games that weekend: Shelbyville at Delta)

Week 2 recap

I was really intrigued by tonight's matchup that we had for you -- a Mt. Vernon team that took some lumps but gained some valuable experience last season (and got better as the year went on) playing a Yorktown team that went 10-3, but graduated a lot of key players (but returned its leading rusher and some key offensive line spots). I was expecting a close, back-and-forth battle that would be enjoyable to watch.

It was enjoyable to watch -- if you wear black & gold. And if you want to listen all over again, click here.

If you'd have told me either team would win 32-0, I'd have thought you were nuts. But MV was very good on both sides of the ball. Jim Ryan had a great analogy during the game -- absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the Wing-T offense that has been a staple of MV football since 1994 was back after a one-year hiatus. It produced the big plays MV is known for. The Marauders didn't run a lot of plays in Yorktown territory -- matter of fact, Yorktown drove into MV territory on several of its drives -- but they had the quick strike, usually right after big defensive stands. Yorktown drove into MV territory on its first three drives, but still trailed 7-0 afterwards. Trey Ross went 98 yards up the middle for a TD one play after James York's pick stopped a scoring threat. After that, Yorktown was a bit back on its heels. The Tigers were really back when Austin Parker hit Jake Davis for a 47-yard TD midway through the second. Throw in a 77-yard kick return by sophomore Corey White -- who looked like a rocket after he broke loose -- some big runs by Zach McKinney and a 61-yard TD by running back Brandon Lockart, and you have a 32-0 win.

MV ran for 344 yards (12.3 ypc), with Ross netting 116, McKinney 94 and Lockart 99. All three averaged more than 10 yards per carry.

Meanwhile, the MV defense never broke. Yorktown drove into MV territory on 7 of its 9 possessions -- excluding end-of-halves -- and yet was held out of the end zone. Marauders were in the backfield all night -- Jason McCalley, Corbin Bundy, Jose Cortez, David Reimlinger, Dominique Cazares and Sam Balbach were all names that kept coming up on the broadcast, but there were many others often around the ball. They had three sacks and held Yorktown to 9 negative-yardage plays while allowing only five plays that carried for 10+ yards in the game -- none longer than 17. RB Derek Kundenreich was Yorktown's top offensive threat with 84 yards on 20 carries.

Impressive victory for Mt. Vernon, on both sides of the ball. They looked like the Marauders of old this evening.

Other HHC/county games
Delta 23, New Palestine 0: The Eagles jumped ahead 17-0 at half and claimed the upper hand in the HHC race. That's not a surprise, given their state ranking and array of offensive weapons. Delta has long been one of the HHC's premier programs, but NP was coming off a big win and it'll be interesting to see how the Dragons fare next week.
Pendleton Heights 28, Greenfield-Central 0: This score was a head-turner. PH is one play away from being 2-0 in the conference, with a defense that pitched a shutout. G-C has a tough way to regroup next week, facing Delta.
Shelbyville 41, Rushville 13: Sure, Shelby graduated David Brown. But Pat Parks has built a program, and put a lot into building it. The Bears have consistently been an HHC power, and they make quite a statement tonight.
No score yet on EH-Scecina.

Read about all of these games in Saturday's Daily Reporter.

HHC Standings
Delta 1-0 conf., 2-0 over.
Shelbyville 1-0 conf., 2-0 over.
Mt. Vernon 1-0 conf., 1-1 over.
Pendleton Heights 1-1 conf., 1-1 over.
Yorktown 1-1 conf., 1-1 over.
Greenfield-Central 0-1 conf., 1-1 over.
New Palestine 0-1 conf., 1-1 over.
Rushville 0-1 conf., 1-1 over.

Next week
TGD Game of the Week: Pendleton Heights (1-1, 1-1) at New Palestine (1-1, 0-1), 7 p.m. airtime, 7:30 p.m. kickoff
Other HHC games:
Delta (2-0, 1-0) at Greenfield-Central (1-1, 0-1), 7:30 p.m.
Mt. Vernon (1-1) at Connersville (0-2), 7 p.m.
Franklin (1-1) at Shelbyville (2-0), 7 p.m.
Greensburg (0-2) at Rushville (1-1), 7 p.m.
Muncie South (2-0) at Yorktown (1-1), 7 p.m.
Hancock County: Eastern Hancock at Indian Creek, 7 p.m.

Welcome!

CCSN would like to introduce a new addition to our team in football analyst Jim Ryan. Jim brings a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of experience to the booth from his days as a high school and college football player. Jim was an All-County and All-HHC player at Mt. Vernon High School. Jim has also been around the HHC as a coach -- as he assisted the track and field teams at Yorktown and Delta. After graduating from Ball State University, Jim served as a youth minister and currently works with churches.

Jim Ryan and Andrew Smith will have the call of all of CCSN's football games this season, with Tim Adams making a few appearances, starting with the Aug. 21 opener between the Whiteland Warriors and New Palestine Dragons. We hope you'll listen: www.crosscomsports.com.

Countdown to kickoff

It's scrimmage week this week ... we're not on-air this Friday night, but we'll be out and about around the county watching the local teams scrimmage and getting ready for our Opening Night broadcast of Whiteland at New Palestine on Aug. 21.

This Friday's local scrimmage schedule:
Eastern Hancock vs. Centerville, 7 p.m.
Greenfield-Central vs. Tri-West, 7 p.m.
Mt. Vernon at Speedway, 7 p.m.
New Palestine vs. Scecina, 7:30 p.m.

CCSN is an advertiser-supported enterprise. If you want to promote your business to a growing number of Hancock County residents for a very low cost, please contact Andrew Smith.

Two-a-days upon us

The high school fall sports season is officially here, as two-a-day practices began statewide Monday, and will culminate in most schools -- including all of the Hancock County schools -- at the end of the week.

Everybody is getting ready for the Aug. 21 openers -- we're gearing up, too, for the maiden broadcast of CCSN's sophomore season. This year, we'll open with the New Palestine Dragons taking on the Whiteland Warriors. We'll have an in-depth preview the week of the game, but both teams will have a new look this season. The Dragons have a lot of familiar faces -- Hancock County Defensive Player of the Year Pat Feeney is one of several returning players on defense, while leading rusher Michael Phelps and quarterback Cary Albrecht are two of several veterans back on the offensive side. But they'll have a new look, as they'll be running schemes and systems employed by new head coach Tim Able. Feeney is also armed with some hardware -- he was the second-fastest quarter-miler in the IHSAA Track and Field State Finals in June.

Pardon the pun, but the Dragons are in more-than-able hands, as their coach led East Noble to a 4A title a few years ago, and has been successful at every stop along the way. Closer to home, that includes leading Decatur Central to the only sectional championship in school history at his last stop. He's familiar with Whiteland, having coached against the Warriors in the Mid-State Conference. However, Whiteland graduated more than 30 seniors from an 11-1 team last season, and so the Warriors will have a new look for coach Darrin Fisher this fall.

There are a lot of other stories throughout the county that we'll touch on throughout the year. At Mt. Vernon, the Marauders went through the growing pains of a 2-9 season last year, but the experience gleaned by a host of varsity newcomers should begin paying off soon. There is a lot of talent -- running back Zach McKinney showed flashes last season, while receivers Jake Davis and Jesse Reed both were deep threats as the year went on. Quarterback Austin Parker will also feel a lot more comfortable, even if his favorite target from last season -- Brad Voltz -- has moved on to college football. MV is also seeking to give coach Doug Peacock his 100th win in black and gold this fall. We'll air several Marauder games this season, starting with a Week 2 matchup against Yorktown.

Greenfield-Central has been getting better and better under coach Roger Dodson. They Cougars had this same trajectory a few years ago -- 0 wins to 1 win to 4 wins -- and the next year netted a 7-3 season and an HHC championship. Of course, that 7-win team was loaded with seniors and had a mammoth line blocking for workhorse back Josiah Sears, who later became a standout at Indiana University and is now a rising star in the college coaching ranks. This year's team is younger, but has a handful of key players returning and has the largest player turnout the Cougars have experienced since the years surrounding that HHC title. The fruits of G-C's commitment to the feeder system put into place by Trent Grider a decade ago are beginning to get to the varsity level, which are paying dividends. The first of our three G-C football broadcasts will be on Sept. 11, when the Cougars travel to Yorktown.

Eastern Hancock is entering its second year under coach Mark Reddy. The Royals are also in a transition year as they're a team without a conference. The White River Athletic Conference disbanded after last year, as Wes-Del bailed for a better geographic fit in the Mid-Eastern Conference (which has no football), Lapel went to the Indy-based Indiana Crossroads Conference, and there really are no football-playing small-school independents around. Heck, there are very few small-school independents in the area to form a conference. The three remaining WRAC refugees tried to join the Eastern Indiana-centered Tri-Eastern Conference with no luck (the 8-team TEC only had room for 2 teams, so it rejected them all). EH did catch a break, as it did gain admission into the Mid Indiana Football Conference -- made up of the football-playing members of the Mid-Hoosier Conference plus Milan -- for 2010. EH will compete this year as an independent as it rearranges its schedule, as the Royals currently play five of the six MIFC teams, and will add South Decatur next season. EH will continue to compete as an independent in all other sports, as its application for membership was turned down by the Mid-Hoosier Conference. We get a look at the Royals this fall when they visit ex-WRAC rival Shenandoah on Oct. 9. To say the Royals and Raiders have had their share of donneybrooks over the years would be an understatement. I'd expect this to be no different.

We're looking forward to bringing you the 2009 Hancock County football season on CCSN. Keep tuned to this blog during the week and the games on Friday nights!

Welcome to CCSN!

Welcome to the CrossCom Sports Network (aka Crossroads Communications Sports Network) blog. This will be a regular feature that we will use to feature our upcoming broadcasts and pass along other news about the teams we cover and the games they play. We'll also have some fun & interesting stuff from our partners and sites.

We are a broadcast company that currently produces the Hancock County Game of the Week, which airs weekly during football and basketball seasons through our partners onAudio Sports Online to a very large audience.

Our passion is high school sports -- we are a Central Indiana-based company run by two people who have been involved in high school sports for a long time. Play-by-play announcer Andrew Smith was a sportswriter in Indiana for nine years, and is beginning his fourth year as a high school sports announcer. Smith was at the Daily Reporter in Greenfield from 1998-2006, becoming the sports editor in 2002. He now is a teacher and coach at New Palestine High School in addition to his announcing duties. Tim Adams is the other owner. A veteran of 27 years of coaching football and softball, Adams is also the webmaster of The Gridiron Digest and Indiana coordinator for Scout.com. Chris Lambert is the basketball analyst. A veteran of radio in Southern Indiana, Chris will be in his second season with CCSN this winter.

We want to provide a positive experience for Hancock County student-athletes, parents, fans and followers, and will bring you high-quality, professional coverage.

Also, follow us on Facebook!

While waiting for the season opener, you can listen to our 2008-09 archive.

We are currently in the process of finalizing the 2009-10 broadcast schedule, but we are excited about what we will be bringing you. It will begin with Tim Able's debut as New Palestine football coach as the Dragons face Whiteland on Aug. 21. The schedule also includes three football games from Lucas Oil Stadium, and the 2009-10 Hancock County basketball tournament. We are looking forward to you being a part of it!