Josh Barnett - Sports Editor

The last time the South Ripley Raiders won the sectional tournament tie-die and teasing your bangs was in style and the class of 2004 was so young they probably didn't even know what a basketball was. Some of the players on this year's SR roster weren't even born yet and their parents may have just been fresh out of high school, but last Saturday the Raiders broke their streak.

South Ripley defeated the Milan Indians at Milan in the sectional championship to get their first sectional title since 1988, just one year after present coach Scott Holdsworth graduated from South Ripley. The Raiders defeated the Switzerland County Pacers in the semifinals to advance to the championship game. The Indians had a little harder route to advance to the championship game, defeating Lawrenceburg in the first round and North Decatur in the second round.

In the championship game the Raiders trailed only once, which was in the third quarter but soon retook the lead the next trip down the court.

South Ripley started the game off with an 8-0 run with All-Sectional Co-MVP's Chris Buchanan and Joel Pflum scoring all 8. Milan finally got on the board when Sean Custer hit a free-throw followed by a Rex Parker lay-up. At the end of the first quarter the Raiders were leading the Indians 12-8.

In the second quarter the Raiders pushed their advantage to 7 early when Tyler Ester hit a three-pointer. From there the Indians cut the lead to three but South Ripley pushed it to 8, which is the most they would lead by in the quarter. After two quarters of play the Raiders were winning 28-22.

Milan's Stephan Laub nailed a three-pointer to start the second half cutting the Raiders lead to just three points. SR's Tyler Ester followed Laub with a three-pointer of his own. Laub went down the court and nailed another three-pointer to cut the lead to three points again. Laub scored again to cut the lead to one at 31-30 with 6:30 left in the third quarter. After the Raiders scored again Laub hit one more three-pointer to tie the game up for the first time. Joel Pflum scored to give the Raiders the lead back but Milan's Matt Swisher gave the Indians their one and only lead with a three-pointer followed by Rex Parker's field goal to
push their advantage to three points. South Ripley soon regained the lead and would never lose it again. At the end of the third quarter the Raiders were winning 44-41.

The Raiders opened the fourth quarter with a 4-0 run to push their lead to 7. Milan battled back and cut the lead to one with just under 5:00 left to play. Again the Raiders added to their lead pushing it to five and again the Indians cut it to one with just over 3:00 left, but it was the closest Milan would get. The Raiders closed out the game with a 10-2 run to claim the sectional title.

Chris Buchanan led the Raiders in scoring with 22 points followed by Joel Pflum with 16 and Tyler Ester with 14. Pflum finished the game with a double-double grabbing 14 rebounds to go with his 16 points. Michael Fear finished with a team high 5 assists.

Rex Parker led the Indians with 21 points followed by Stephan Laub with 17 and Brandt Green and Matt Disbro with 5 apiece. Stephan Laub led the Indians with 10 rebounds.

South Ripley will be playing in the second game of the Alexandria Regional against Centerville. That game is scheduled to start at 12:00 pm.

JOSH BARNETT PHOTO

South Ripley Raiders win Sectional #44 at Milan

The South Ripley Raiders won their first sectional title since 1988 on Saturday night after defeating the Milan on the Indians home court. Pictured above are front row: Mgr. Tyler Hensley, Mgr. Paul Miller, Cheerleaders Erika Burress, Sarah Hartman, Stephanie Miller, Kelly Yocum, Casey Payne, Liv Moistner, Kristen Jolly, Ashley Burress, Bridget Adams, Leann Wilson, Jennifer Mann and Andrea Lauber. Back row Michael Mathews, Andrew Kreutzjans, Neil Bolton, Jacob Lemon, Chris Buchanan, Josh Grossman, Tony Lloyd, Joel Pflum, Tyler Ester, A.J. Phillippe, Michael Fear, Brandon Seabolt, Head Coach Scott Holdsworth, Chance Holdsworth, Macy Holdsworth, JV Coach Kendall Sheets, Asst. Coach Jason Gambrell and Cheerleading Coach Tammy Hartman.

Josh Barnett - Sports Editor

Just like their counterpart South Ripley the Jac-Cen-Del Eagles picked up a sectional title at South Decatur on the same night the Raiders did. The title was the Eagles second in four years, with their last coming in 2000 when they went to the Semi-State.

The Eagles defeated the Rising Sun Shiners 50-38 in the sectional championship to advance to the Regional Tournament. Before facing Rising Sun in the final game the Eagles defeated Shawe in the semifinals 56-55.

Against the Hilltoppers the Eagles had to play catch up in the fourth quarter to get the victory. JCD went into the quarter trailing by seven and managed to outscore Shawe 14-6 and get the victory.

In their game against Rising Sun the Eagles didn't have to play much catch-up but wasn't able to get a big lead until the second half.

Jac-Cen-Del was leading after one quarter by one point when they outscored the Shiners 13-12. Three Eagles contributed to the scoring in the first quarter with Tyler Einhaus chipping in 6, Kyle Hackman scoring 4 and Adam Peetz scoring the other 3.

In the second quarter the Eagles again outscored the Shiners by one point, 14-13, to take a two point lead going into halftime. Again just three Eagles scored in the quarter with Einhaus and Chip Schuler scoring 5 apiece and Hackman scoring the other 4.

The Eagles defense helped them pull away in the third quarter as they were able to hold the Shiners to just four points in the quarter. Jac-Cen-
Del added 13 more to their total to take a 40-29 lead going into the final quarter. In the fourth quarter the Eagles outscored the Shiners by one to end the game with a 12 point advantage at 50-38.

Adam Peetz led the Eagles with a double-double performance scoring 15 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Kyle Hackman was next with 14 points followed by Tyler Einhaus
with 11. Einhaus led the team with 3 assists and Peetz led with 2 blocked shots.

Curtis Fogle led the Shiners with 11 points followed by Nathan Keith with 10.

The Eagles will be playing against the seventh ranked Henryville Hornets in the first game of the Edinburgh Regional Tournament. That game is scheduled to start at 10:00 am.

JOSH BARNETT PHOTO

Jac-Cen-Del Eagles win Sectional #58 at South Decatur

The Jac-Cen-Del Eagles defeated the Rising Sun Shiners in Saturday night to win their second sectional title in four years. The Eagles defeated the Shawe Hilltoppers in the semifinals before beating the Shiners in the championship game. The Eagles are made up of front row: statisticians Alyssa Habart, Tiffany Downey, Emily Linville and Amanda Harmeyer. Second row: cheerleaders Abby Coyle, Danielle Konradi, Olivia Moistner, Amber Lunsford, Kayla Harmeyer, Abbie White, Lindsey Hardy, Amy Fry, Lindsay Horan, Leslie Gilland and Kalenia Simon. Back row Tom Youngman, Head Coach David Bradshaw, JV Coach Steve Narwold, Kyle Horan, Keith Konradi, Matt Hicks, Chris Bultman, Derek Jones, Brent Pettit, Adam Peetz, Kyle Hackman, Chip Schuler, Tyler Einhaus, Damon Simon, Mgr. Craig Mergenthal, Andrew Huntington, Mgr. Joe Andrew, Ray Ratledge and Roy Thomas.