It was a perfect sweep for Fairfield in hosting Eastside Friday night in a boys/girls doubleheader.
Fairfield held Eastside without a field goal for the first 11:16 of the game, taking a 17-1 lead in the process, but Eastside chipped away to trail by just one, 48-47, after Lucy Kitchen hit a three-pointer with under 30 seconds left. Kaylee Dillon hit a pair of free throws and the Lady Falcons held Eastside without a shot as the buzzer sounded, keeping Fairfield undefeated in the conference (14-2, 7-0 NECC) while Eastside (14-3, 6-1 NECC) now has to chase with the defending conference champs.
Madison Jones led Fairfield with 14 points and four rebounds while Eva Herbert had 10 points and five boards. Lily Kreischer led Eastside with 24 points and seven rebounds.
A hot start propelled the Fairfield JV girls to a 38-28 win. Fairfield opened on a 13-4 run to stay comfortably ahead through the remainder of the contest. Hayden Minder and Aubrey Wogomon combined to hit five three-pointers and total 18 points. Maddie Treat added seven points in the win.
Additionally for the girls in NECC play, Dillon made just one field goal from the floor, but was a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line to help Fairfield get past host Garrett, 43-37, Tuesday. Fairfield as a team shot just 24 percent from the floor, but went 12-16 from the free throw line while the Railroaders were just 2-5 from the charity stripe. Fairfield also won the turnover battle, 18-6, and had 14 points and nine rebounds from Herbert in the win.
The JV didn’t have a holiday lull, holding Garrett without a field goal in the first half of a 40-10 win. Treat was the high scorer for the Lady Falcons with 11 points and Minder scored seven of her nine points in the first quarter.
In the boys first game since upsetting then Class 4-A No. 6 Fort Wayne North on Dec. 23 at Trine, Carson Smith scored 11 of his game-high 17 points in the first quarter as Fairfield pulled away for a 55-31 win over Eastside in Friday’s nightcap. Fairfield (6-3, 3-0 NECC) led by 17 points at the half and used nine of Mitchell Miller’s 13 points in the second quarter to separate. Tyson Frey and Brant Garber combined for 14 points in the win.
The JV game was all Falcons as they stormed past Eastside, 64-26. Nathan Holsopple was too much for Eastside to handle in the post, scoring a game-high 20 points while Brady Park got hot in the second half, scoring 15 of his 17 points. Grady Garber added 10 points.
Of note, the NECC basketball tournaments begin Tuesday. Fairfield opens in hosting Churubusco, the girls starting Tuesday’s festivities at 6 p.m. with the boys to follow. Wins would have Fairfield hosting either Prairie Heights or Fremont on Wednesday and either Westview or Lakeland on Friday. The championship games are scheduled for Saturday night at Lakeland, girls starting at 6 with the boys to follow.
Wrestling got back into competition after a lengthy hiatus with five matches at the West Noble Super Duals on Saturday. After having to cancel its appearance at the Matt Koontz Invite at Whitko on Dec. 29 due to mass illness, the Falcons returned to work with a mostly-assembled group in Ligonier.
Fairfield won three of its five duals, beating Winamac (42-40), Bishop Luers (48-27) and St. Joe (48-33) while dropping matchups with Duals champion NorthWood (55-15) and White Pigeon, Mich. (60-24).
Breckan Maran had a standout day, going 5-0 with three pins, a forfeit win and a decision. Two of those wins were notable as Maran pinned Luers’ Mickey Daring and beat NorthWood’s Keith Miller in sudden victory, Daring ranked second in the Fort Wayne Semi-state and Miller coming off a fourth-place finish at 190 pounds at the prestigious Al Smith Invite. Matthew Senn was also unbeaten in five matches, all five ending in pins for the Fairfield 138-pounder. Both Dirk Rumfelt and Aldahir Ortiz were 4-1 on the day and combined for five pins.
Kayla Hochstetler’s individual run to the IHSGW girls semi-state came to a halt in the quarterfinals at Rochester on Friday. Paired against Caylee Clark of Whitko, Hochstetler couldn’t get any offense going in an eventual 15-0 tech fall at the hands of Clark.
At the Goshen Girls Regional, Hochstetler started her journey guaranteed to advance as just four were registered in the 130 bracket, but Hochstetler would win her final match with a fall over West Noble’s Mylee Johnson to place third. The top four in the regional round were automatic qualifiers for the semi-state.