Sports

The aces were wild Wednesday night at Linton. And in the first two sets of Linton-Stockton’s Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference volleyball match against White River Valley the Lady Miners dealt enough aces to break the house. No fewer than 20 unreturnable serves in the first two sets led to 25-12 and 25-9 wins for the Lady Miners. The Lady Wolverines regrouped and played better in the third set. But WRV still came up short, 25-20 completing the sweep for Linton-Stockton...

BLOOMFIELD - Bloomfield started the 2017 volleyball season strong extending Terre Haute South to five sets in its season opener Saturday. Tuesday at Guy Glover Gymnasium the Lady Cardinals kept their early momentum going, outlasting a fiesty Shakamak Lady Lakers squad...

Several years ago the Linton-Stockton athletic department began the gradual process of upgrading its football schedule. Upgrading the schedule was a necessary step to better prepare the Linton Miners for postseason play - and winning championships. In 2013 Linton-Stockton added perennial Class A power Sheridan to the schedule...

Which bird will be superior when the final whistle blows Friday night? Eastern travels to Springs Valley at 7:00 p.m. Friday in the season opener for both football teams. Last year, the Thunderbirds blitzed Springs Valley twice, beating the Blackhawks 34-6 in the 2016 season opener and trouncing them 41-7 in the first round of the sectional...

BLOOMFIELD -- Four matches proved to be close Tuesday night, but there were no cigars for Bloomfield’s tennis team in its season opener with visiting Vincennes Lincoln. The Alices swept Bloomfield (0-1) 5-0. Bloomfield coach Mike Canty noted every Cardinal was playing a new position since the team lost Chris Gilmore, Brennan Hughes, and Adam Dean to graduation, and they just couldn’t overcome a veteran Vincennes squad...

LOCAL SPORTS ROUNDUP VOLLEYBALL The Linton-Stockton Lady Miners volleyball team opened the 2017 season on the road at Monrovia Monday night. After winning the first set the Lady Miners dropped the next two to go down 2-1 in the match. But the visitors regrouped, taking the final two sets and coming away with a 25-19, 24-26, 17-25, 25-22, 15-13 win...

LITTLE CINCINNATI -- Visiting Barr-Reeve exploited Eastern’s serve receive errors Monday night to whip the Lady Thunderbirds in three sets. Eastern fell 13-25, 5-25, 11-25 as the Lady Vikings jumped out to huge advantages in each set, leading 14-6 in the first set, 13-3 in the second, and 14-4 in the third. Eastern coach Whitney Russell said her players needed to do a better job of returning the ball...

JASONVILLE - Shakamak volleyball coach Amy Robertson hoped to see her Lady Lakers start the season off on the right foot in Shakamak’s quest for its first winning season since 2009. The first step in that direction will have to wait for another night...

Linton-Stockton unveiled its brand-new tennis courts in Monday’s rgular season opening match against Vincennes Lincoln Monday. And the visiting Alices must have found the new facilities to their liking. Lincoln swept every match defeating the Miner netters 5-0, spoiling the debut of the new courts...

After a slow start, the Dugger Union Lady Bulldogs showed they had some fight in them Saturday afternoon. In the volleyball season opener at Dugger the Lady Bulldogs fell behind early. But Dugger Union fought back to make a match of it before ultimately going down in three sets 25-11, 25-13 and 25-22 to visiting Columbus Christian...

This article has been updated to add statistics and pictures. Some other minor changes have been made, including correcting the number of freshmen on the team.

Last year it was the Linton-Stockton Miners who were the opportunistic ones, forcing turnovers and capitalizing on opponents miscues on the way to the Class A State Championship. In Friday’s scrimmage against Evansville Bosse at Roy Williams Field the tables were turned on the Miners...

SWITZ CITY -- White River Valley soccer coach Matt Settle liked what he saw Thursday night when the Wolverines took on North Knox in a scrimmage. He said the team, including seven players in their first high school action, put forth a solid effort. North Knox is a possible post-season foe as it will host Sectional 61 in October...

LINTON -- Two matches equaled two chances for the Lady Miners to improve their golf game. Three Linton girls ventured to Owen Valley Monday night for a match. Linton hosted Cloverdale and Northview Tuesday night at the Phil Harris Golf Course. Both matches were nine holes...

The Linton Miner football helmet is a simple yet iconic design. The blue center stripe flanked by two white stripes on either side on the red shell and the plain white block letter “L” come together to create a timeless classic look. And every year a handful of Miners earn the right to attach a blue face mask to the classic headgear rather than the standard-issue white face shield worn by all the other players...

A preseason scrimmage doesn’t necessarily reveal everything about a football team. But the controlled format in which teams trade possessions starting at their own 35-yard lines and in the red zones, does allow teams to experience live game action. It isn’t quite the same as the games played on Friday nights. There is no kicking game and no field position battles. Turnovers merely result in a new set of downs...

Local historian and longtime Linton Miners football fan Rex Tuttle has been watching the Miners for some 80 years. “I actually started going to the games in the 1930s about 1937 or ‘38. I was just six or seven years old then,” Tuttle said. “I like to say I’m entering my ninth decade right now of watching Linton football,” he laughed...

LITTLE CINCINNATI -- The Thunderbirds cannot wait for the 18th to roll around, the day when they take the field for the 2017 season. “I can’t wait,” said Joel Weimer, who will start on the right as wideout. Last year, he snagged 17 passes for 165 yards. “It just seems like I’m counting down the days. I’m looking at the calendar every day, waiting for the 18th to come up.”...

The good news for the Linton-Stockton girls golf team and coach Noah Hawkins is the Lady Miners will have just enough players - four - to post a team score and compete in matches as a team. Hawkins, who is starting his sixth year in charge of the Lady Miners golf program had his doubts initially...

LITTLE CINCINNATI -- More players would equal more wins for Eastern’s softball team. The Lady Thunderbirds finished the 2017 campaign with a 2-17 mark, the first time in three years the team had won a game. Eastern coach Mike Prince said he thinks the team could win more games if more girls would come out to play. Only 10 girls were on Eastern’s roster this year...

SWITZ CITY -- White River Valley will launch tennis programs this fall for its elementary and junior high schools. WRV high school tennis coach Jimmy Beasley, Sr., said the school board approved creation of the programs last winter as part of its efforts to allow teams for all sports in the lower grades. He said he has been recruiting players, and he expects boys’ tennis teams to take the courts this fall...

LITTLE CINCINNATI -- The gridiron season begins in 17 days, and Eastern will try to build on the success of the best year in the school’s brief football history. Last season, Eastern posted a 10-3 record, the best in its history, defeated West Washington 34-32 to win the Thunderbirds’ first-ever sectional title, and won the Southwest Football Conference championship with a perfect 3-0 mark in conference play. ...

Two Linton girls shot a full 18 holes Tuesday afternoon at Terre Haute South’s annual Lady Braves Invitational. Taylor Riggleman shot a 120 while Isabel Meek posted a 129 in the season opener for all teams. Vincennes Rivet won the tourney with a 342, followed by Jasper, 345; Terre Haute South, 369; Terre Haute North Blue, 419; North Knox, 429; Greencastle, 433; and Danville, 461...

Every year the Linton-Stockton football program adopts a team slogan. Players and coaches put their heads together and collectively come up with a theme for each upcoming season. In 2015, the team slogan was “All In.” In 2016, it was “Earn It.” And “Earn it” they did as the Miners brought home the first Class A State Championship in the long and storied annals of Miner football...