The Opening Drive: Week 6

“The Windup:” “The Opening Drive” Week 6 Script

We start “The Windup” today with a brand new edition of our “Opening Drive” segment.  This is where we highlight some of the sport stories making news in the Grant County area. 

We start in college basketball as the Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats and Taylor Trojans Men’s and Women’s basketball teams wrote the latest chapters in the county’s great college basketball rivalry.  On Valentine’s Day, the Trojans upset #14 Indiana Wesleyan, 77-66 to snap the Wildcats 6-game winning streak.  Sophomore Ben Raichel only averages just over 5 points per game but led Taylor with a career-high 24 points as the Trojans dominated the majority of the game.  The Trojans improved to 19-10 overall and 8-9 in Mid-Central College Conference Action.  The next night, an instant classic happened inside Luckey Arena as the #1 IWU Lady Wildcats squeaked away with a 2-point win, 62-60, in a very tight match-up.  The game featured 11 ties and 15 lead changes but a Stephanie Burtch 3-point basket with just over a minute to go put the Wildcats in front for good.  IWU improves to 27-2 overall and 16-1 in the always tough MCC.  All four teams will finish the regular season on Saturday afternoon as the IWU teams will play Goshen and the Taylor teams will play Grace.

In college soccer, a former Marion High School standout is taking to the coaching ranks in the sport he once played.  The Chronicle-Tribune is reporting that Wheaton College named 2007 Giant Graduate Garrett Bireline as the assistant coach of the men’s college soccer program at the school.  The Division III College located in Illinois went 10-8-2 in last season’s action.  Bireline helped the Giants win a sectional in soccer in 2006 which actually started Marion’s current streak of six consecutive soccer sectional championships that is still active today.  He later played college soccer at Bowling Green University where he was an outside back and center back defender for the team.  The Giants graduate says he’s excited for the opportunity but is really looking forward to the administrative side of coaching as well. 

The drive finishes off today with cheerleading as another group from Grant County will be heading to a national competition. The group known as Pazazz qualified for the U.S. Finals Cheer and Dance competition in Virginia Beach, Virginia this season and will participate in the event coming in May.  The 35 members are primarily composed of students from Grant County schools ranging from age four to eighteen.  Pazazz Coach Brandy Horn says the season’s competition pushed them a bit harder than in previous years but it has helped them become more of a team this season because of the competitions.  The cheerleader team will have plenty of time to prepare as it does not have another competition until these nationals which are on May 5^th and 6^th at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. 

That does it for the drive today.  Make sure you listen for the Fortress Sports Update airing throughout the week updating you on all the local Grant County high school sporting events.