LAPEL — The Lapel Bulldogs enter the 2009-10 boys basketball season with hopes of competing for a sectional championship and possibly more.
Lapel returns seven letter winners from last season’s 18-5 sectional finalist squad.
Among the returning are three starters from last season. Guard Chandler Guion is back after averaging (14 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds) and frontliners Logan Ingle (15 points, 7 rebounds) and Jeremy Reed (12 points, 7 rebounds).
Reed won’t be available at the start due to a broken ankle suffered mid-football season.
“We’ve got three really nice players back,” said Howell. “Reed has to see the doctor and get released then get his 10 practices. It’ll take him a month to get him where he should be. Until then we’ll have a few people playing out of position.”
“I hope I can get back as soon as possible,” said Reed. “I just want to be a part of this team so badly. It’s a privilege to be a on this team, and I want just want to play so bad.”
Newcomers to the Bulldogs include freshman Tanner Watkins and senior Austin Gardner, who played for Pendleton Heights last year. Watkins is the grandson of former Highland Scots coach Alan Darner.
Dylan Hobbs, Chase Needler, Andrew Gibson, Logan Wyant and Boston Fields round out one of the deepest teams in Howell’s six seasons at Lapel.
Among the losses to graduation were Michael Pritchett and Ryan Scott. And gone with them was some outside shooting and inside toughness, but more importantly was the leadership that they provided.
“We must get better leadership from our players,” said Howell. “They’re better than they were last year. But that’s going to be a key for us; getting leadership out there on the floor.”
“We just need a couple of players to keep everybody in gear,” said Reed. “Just to keep everybody positive. If that happens we’ll have a really good bond.”
“We have a lot of young guys on the team, and we just need someone to step up and help the young guys develop the confidence they need,” said Guion.
Lapel’s new conference provides a boost in its strength of the schedule. Lapel has replaced the teams that it has had some recent one-sided success against with the idea that a step up in competition will help the team come March, when the state tournament rolls around.
“There were always a couple of games where going in we thought we’d win by 25 or 30. We don’t have those this year. We have a schedule where we might not have as good a record, but it should help us come tournament time.”
“I think we’ve got a tough task in front of us. I know we have a tough schedule, but I just want to leave it out on the floor,” said Chandler Guion. “I’m looking at it as one game at a time, but to be honest I want that sectional.”
The Bulldogs will be featured in the Wigwam Classic on Jan. 23 when they play Park Tudor. Another highlight trip will come on Jan. 30, when they play Pendleton Heights at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
The Bulldogs will be playing in both the White River Athletic Conference and the Indiana Crossroads Conference.
“We’ll have eight conference games this year,” said Howell. “That may sound like a lot, but not as much as the baseball team will have. They’ll play 16 conference games.”
The goal for the Bulldogs in the long term remains winning the sectional championship.
“I hope we’re going to do well. We’re playing new competition and I think we’re going to do well,” said Reed. “I think we’ll have a good year. The (schedule) gets us ready for sectional and that’s the goal.”
“I think we should be in position to where we can contend for the sectional,” said Howell. “Once you’re there, anything can happen.”
Lapel opens the season Wednesday at Mount Vernon.
High School Sports
Lapel sets sights on championship
- High School Sports
-
-
Tipton bedevils Madison-Grant
The Madison-Grant softball team dug a deep hole on Friday night in the championship game of the Class 2A, Sectional 39 at Eastern High School in Greentown. Trailing 5-0 after four innings, the Argylls scratched their way back into the game, but were on the short end of a 5-4 decision against the Tipton Blue Devils.
-
Indians’ Dabney headed to state
The North Central Boys Track Regional is traditionally one of the toughest in the state with powerhouses Lawrence Central, Ben Davis, Pike and the host Panthers among the competitors
But that didn’t faze Anderson senior Derrick Dabney, who turned in two brilliant performances in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles at Thursday’s regional to advance to the state meet at Indiana University in Bloomington next Saturday. -
Roller coaster ride comes to end for Lapel
The Lapel Bulldogs couldn’t overcome one more hurdle in their roller-coaster season on Thursday as they fell to Wapahani 4-1 in the softball championship game of the Class 2A, Sectional 40 at Shenandoah High School.
-
Mason powers Bulldogs into final
The Frankton pitching staff opened the door just a tick Thursday with occasional bouts of wildness. Lapel sophomore Dane Mason blew the door off its hinges with the first multi-homer game of his high school career — including a walk-off grand slam — and the third-ranked Bulldogs stomped the rival Eagles 14-3 to reach this Class 2A baseball sectional final.
-
Panthers upset Tigers in sectional
Elwood used a seven-run third-inning to stun Alexandria 11-5 and advance to the semifinals of the Class 2A baseball sectional at Eastern.
-
Shenandoah bows out with loss to Wapahani
Wapahani’s Red Raiders advanced to the championship game of the Class 2A Frankton Baseball Sectional with a 7-2 win over Shenandoah.
-
Arabians defend softball title
The Pendleton Heights softball team seemed determined Wednesday to both learn from the past and repeat the parts of it that it found favorable.
That combination resulted in a 7-1 victory over Greenfield and the 4A sectional championship.
The Arabians will play the champion from the Roncalli Sectional in Tuesday’s regional at Pendleton Heights at 7 p.m. -
Pendleton Heights survives round one
The bottom of Pendleton Heights’ batting order came up big Wednesday, and the Arabians survived to fight another day in this Class 4A baseball sectional.
Brandon Schnepp, Skyler Reis and Augdan Wilson — PH’s seventh, eighth and ninth hitters — combined to hit 6-for-8 with two doubles, four runs scored and four RBIs. That was enough to keep the Arabians one step ahead of upstart Connersville until a five-run sixth-inning rally broke open the 10-4 victory. -
Tribe snaps out of long sectional funk
The Anderson Indians baseball team didn’t just get a monkey off their collective backs, they knocked it out of the park ... three times.
Behind a trio of home runs and a strong pitching performance by Curtis Wilson, Anderson won its first sectional baseball game in three years. -
Eagles, Bulldogs reach semifinals
Wednesday was a good night if you were a fan of the Frankton-Lapel Community Schools baseball teams as Frankton knocked off Winchester 17-7 and Lapel routed Muncie Burris 5-1 in Class 2A baseball sectional play.
- More High School Sports Headlines
-
