Saturday, March 12 – Regional Day for Indiana high school boys basketball. 16 schools are hosting a regional, and all of them feature some great games. We at Southern Indiana Sports Network are a small crew, we’ve been asked to attend several different regionals, but our crew of 2 can only attend one. For this year’s regional, we will be travelling to Southridge high school to spend all Saturday watching Regional 12.
And for the first event ever, we have a sponsor! We’re excited to announce that this weekend’s trip is sponsored by Rominger Farms of Paoli Indiana. Rominger Farms is a top agricultural producer in Orange County, and a huge supporter of all things Paoli Athletics. Rominger Farms believes in Southern Indiana Sports Network’s vision and has made it possible to charge forward. We will continue working with Rominger Farms going into the 2022 football season, where we have agreed to offer complete coverage Rams Football season.
Southridge High School sits on the south side of Huntingburg, a few miles south of Jasper on highway 231, and is the sponsoring site of Regional 12. The Memorial Fieldhouse holds up to 5,932 people in its impressive dome, built in 1951. The 10am basketball game features a season rematch between Forest Park Rangers and the Paoli Rams, the second game, a battle of juggernauts in 2A, Linton-Stockton Miners and Providence Pioneers. The Southridge Regional championship will take place around 7:30 pm Saturday night.
Forest Park Rangers (14-10) vs. Paoli Rams(16-9), 10 a.m. – Indiana Regional Basketball
We have watched Paoli a few times this season, but none of the others teams at Southridge. Paoli can be a very, very good team when they’re playing with high confidence, but we’ve also watched them struggle. Paoli is a young team, with some quick and aggressive players. If Freshman Fletcher Cole and Sophomore Trey Rominger are in their groove, we don’t see Forest Park stopping them, especially with down low support coming from Senior John Moon and Junior Issac McBride. Paoli has won 3 Sectionals in 4 years and have won 6 of their last 7 games.
Forest Park is led by Senior Drew Howard, who became Forest Park’s All-time leading scorer this season. Forest Park also has 7 Seniors on the team, so they’ll have a lot of experience on the court Saturday night. Forest Park plans to focus on defense to shut teams out in the Regionals, but their 53 average points a game against them is the highest of any team in the Regional. Forest Park is on a 7-game winning streak.
The game between Paoli and Forest Park is a rematch of a regular season win for Forest Park 54-49 on Jan. 29th, 2022. John Harrel is predicting a win to Forest Park at 56-49, but I think Paoli is going to come out strong and pull out the close win. Both teams are hot, but it will be the young talent of Paoli that out last the veterans of Forest Park. Cole will have close to 25 points, and Rominger will put up 18.
Providence Pioneers (17-6) vs Linton Stockton Miners (22-4), 11:30 a.m. – Indiana Regional Basketball
The second game of the Southridge Regional is the one all the media sources are hyping up the most. The third ranked Linton Miners will take on the ninth ranked Providence Pioneers. This game will be a rematch of the 2016 Regional matchup between the teams, where Linton won 50-44. This year, John Harrel is predicting that Linton wins 54-45.
The Linton-Stockton team is lead by Junior Joey Hart. As a junior, he’s already receiving interest from major D1 schools and is putting up 20 ppg, 5 rpg, 2 assists, and 42% from the three-point line. Linton also has Junior Logan Webb and sophomore Braden Walters. The IndyStar is picking Linton as the favorites in the South to make the state tournament, and the hype is real. This team is good. Linton has the highest Points per Game then any other team in the Southridge Regional (59) and the lowest points against (41). Linton-Stockton beats teams by an average of 18 points this season. They know how to score and will be scoring plenty in the second game of the Southridge regionals.
Coach Miller of Providence compared the Linton team to the Brownstown Central team, who is led by Sophomore Jack Benter. Providence lost to that Brownstown team early in season 82-68 and feels that Linton has similar weapons. Providence will be prepared for the onslaught this time, or they hope so. Providence is led by junior Casey Kaelin and senior Grant Williams. Many considered Providence to be one of the best defensive teams in 2A. Their defensive prowess will be up to the test, but we think Linton will prevail and take the win and move on to the Southridge Regional championship to face the young and rowdy Paoli Rams.
What to do in Huntingburg, Indiana between the Games?
It’s going to be a cold one in Huntingburg on Saturday, but there’s still some things to do between the morning games and the championship game at 7:30 p.m. If you would like to brave the cold, we found some interesting things to do in between the games:
- League Stadium
203 S Cherry St, Huntingburg, IN 47542-1486
The League Stadium is the baseball field in the “League of their Own” movie starring Tom Hanks. I honestly did not know this was down there, and I may have to stand near the dug out and scream, “There is no crying in baseball!” I just hope the windchill isn’t too bad.
- Jasper Riverwalk
A couple miles North is Jasper, where there is plenty to do. The Riverwalk is a scenic location on the water. I believe there’s some restaurants and walking paths along the water. Probably going to be really cold for this adventure.
- Jasper Train Depot
While you are up in Jasper, and if you like Trains, make sure to visit the Jasper Train Depot. You may even be able to get a ride in on one of the trains. They used to do wine and dinner cruises, so you may want to look up if they’re still doing that.
- Mama T’s Italian Steakhouse
Everyone will be looking for a place to eat lunch between the games. Trip Advisor rates Mama T’s Italian Steakhouse as the number 1 stop in Huntingburg to eat.
- Schintzelbank
If you’re going to be going up to Jasper, then the German restaurant Schnitzelbank is a must. Just go if you haven’t been, you won’t be disappointed.
We look forward to watching the games tomorrow. If you say us, don’t hesitate to say hi! We wish all teams in the Regionals good luck. The words above are just our opinions, and they really don’t mean much. Remember to have fun and enjoy the game!
