Bulldogs, Cardinals, and catching up with an old Wolverine
Congratulations to the Dugger Union Community Bulldogs on their first homecoming win in eight years.
The Bulldogs' last homecoming win came in 2007 against Eastern Greene.
Dugger football on a Saturday is unique and special. There's nothing quite like it.
One reason for that of course is, teams rarely play on Saturdays anymore. Unless Friday Night Lights is postponed by lightning, or a team is playing at Lucas Oil Stadium, it just doesn't happen anymore.
Somehow the Saturday atmosphere seems more relaxed, more carnival-like. It's reminiscent of a bygone era when high school teams did play on Saturday afternoon.
I really enjoy the total experience.
Where else do people back their pickups and SUV's right up to the field, drop their tailgates or raise their hatchbacks, and watch the game from there?
That's what you call "tailgating."
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The Eastern Greene football team faced its stiffest test of the year at Class 3A Mount Vernon and came away with a 39-20 loss. That was the season's first loss for the 6-1 Thunderbirds who host 6-1 Linton-Stockton Friday.
I don't know much about Mount Vernon High School but they sure do have some nice athletic facilities.
You never know who you're going to run into on one of these road trips.
I had the pleasure of meeting Mount Vernon varsity basketball coach Marc Hostetter Friday.
I was setting up my laptop in the pressbox and he was up there, asking me if I needed anything. I introduced myself, told him I was with the Greene County Daily World, so you can imagine where that conversation went.
Many folks around Greene County will remember Marc from his days at White River Valley.
The Lyons native and 1993 WRV graduate starred for the first three Wolverine teams after the consolidation.
Those teams won three sectional championships, two regional titles and played in a single-class semistate in 1993.
Marc went on to play collegiatly at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville.
He played for USI's 1995 Division II national champions and is still the school's all-time career leader in assists.
Marc has been in the coaching profession 15 years, with stints as an assistant at Longwood College in Virginia and USI.
He enters his fifth season as head coach at Mount Vernon with a 39-57 overall record.
Small world, isn't it?
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Congratulations also to the Bloomfield Cardinals and coach Mike Canty on another successful tennis season.
And congratulations to No. 1 singles player Brennan Hughes. Hughes reversed a regular-season loss to Northeast Dubois' Patrick Betz with a 6-3, 0-6, 6-4 win. Hughes advances to the Individual regional Saturday, October 17 at Bedford North Lawrence.
The season didn't end quite the way the Cardinal netters and their coach hoped. The Cards lost to Northeast Dubois for the second time, this time in the Jasper Regional Tuesday.
Bloomfield finished with a 19-5 record.
But as Coach Canty said, "At the start of the season I didn't know we'd even be here. We lost a lot from last season but these guys worked hard."
Last season's team finished with an all-time best season mark of 20-2, losing 3-2 to Washington in the Jasper Regional.
The Cardinals won their fourth consecutive North Daviess Sectional title. It was the seventh sectional championship in coach Canty's 22-year tenure.
It was another outstanding season for the No.1 doubles team of Hunter Heaton and Alex Chestnut. The pair finished 22-2, with both losses coming to the Northeast Dubois duo of Cayden Knies and Case Eisenhut.
Last year Heaton and Chestnut posted a 20-4 mark, losing in the individual regional to the team from Clarksville Providence.
Great season, Cardinals!
Terry Schwinghammer is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 27. He can also be reached via email at tschwing32@yahoo.com.
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