North Vermillion looks to cut down semi-state nets

For the first time since 1969, the North Vermillion Falcons find themselves on the brink of a state championship appearance.

The Falcons (16-11) turned back Rossville, 59-54 in overtime and advanced to the Lafayette Semi-State, where they will take on Monroe Central (21-4) at 10 a.m. The game can be caught on GIANT fm WREB 94.3, beginning with the pregame show at 9:30 a.m. and tipoff following. 

The other game in the Lafayette semi-state features Tri-County (16-10) taking on Triton (23-3) at noon. The winners will play in the championship game with a shot to represent the North next week in the Class A state title game. 

On the bottom half of the bracket, Barr-Reeve (25-1) takes on Liberty Christian (19-7) and Hauser (25-2) takes on Bloomfield (19-8) with both games at Washington High School.

For first year head coach Phil Leonard, the opportunity to cut down the nets after the regional was the result of grit and toughness the Falcons have shown since starting the season 5-8. 

"It feels great, obviously. It has been a goal to go deep in the tournament. We are close to being deep, but want to get deeper in the tournament. This is an exciting time for our school and our community. Our community has been outstanding. We had a great crowd there t the regional. Rossville is 13 miles down the road, and they may have a little bigger crowd, but our crowd was so loud," Leonard told The Parke County Post. 

At the end of January, North Vermillion found success and the Falcons were able to post six straight wins. More importantly, Leonard said that success showed his team what it was capable of and helped propel them for a postseason run. 

"Things started to come together for us. It is all due to the dedication of the kids. We got off to a rough start, and they stuck with it. They have stayed tough. I have been a part of other programs and it is such as a long season, and there have been times as a coach where it's tough to come to practice, but there has not been that this season. Our kids have just fought and are really clicking at the right time," Leonard said. 

The first year head coach said the turning point could be when Teegan Dowers scored 37 points in an 82-45 win over Paris (IL). 

"He said, "I'm tired of losing." He is our senior leader, and that mentality just caught with all the guys and since then, they have come together. They have fought tooth and nail, and it is tremendous to see," Leonard said. 

As for what a regional title means for North Vermillion, Leonard said, "It means a lot. Obviously, you talk about the time put in during the offseason. Those kids are so committed. The seniors have led all through the offseason, spring and fall without missing. They committed to that. Graham Young and Teagan Leonard are just gym rats."

Leonard credited a good "team defense" as the reason the Falcons were able to knock off Rossville. 

"We jumped up at seven at the half, and we knew they were going to come after us in the second half. They took the lead late, but credit the kids for staying with the game plan. Defense wins championships. I don't know if it was that great at the beginning of the season, but we have tried a lot of things this season. We try to listen to our kids, but it is a team effort," he said. 

Monroe Central is a "quality" team, according to Leonard. The Golden Bears defeated Blue River Valley, Randolph Southern and Union City to win a sectional and then knocked off Southwood, 64-48, last week in the regional.

"They are on a 10 game win streak and finished out their season real strong. They have had quality wins throughout the season. They are a good team. We have to focus on a couple players, I think. The Morgan kid is a sophomore, and is a nice player who can attack the rim and shoots the ball well. Then they got a 6'4" kid that is about 240 in the middle. He's an animal on the boards. It will take a lot of of help on him in the post," Leonard said. 

Leonard admits he always wants to see the opponent live, but maintains his team will be ready regardless.

"We are watching a lot of film of Monroe Central. We were fully prepared for Rossville, and Rossville was fully prepared for us, calling each other's plays out. Both of us have so much film on each other, it will be no different this week. It's a player's game, and our guys made more plays than Rossville did last week. We will do what we do in terms of defense, and we will clean some things up with our offense. Our focus will be a little bit more on us and then we will focus on them and practice at Lafayette Jeff to get ready. We like our opportunities and we feel like we can come out and play for a state championship next week," he said.

Doing something that hasn't been done since 1969 is something that is, obviously, new for North Vermillion, but Leonard said his team will be ready and the stage won't be too big.

"I think this past week's experience, to get a win there, momentum builds and the kids become more comfortable. We are challenging them and they know it has been since 1969. We challenge them that they have an opportunity right in front of them to be one of the best teams to ever come out of North Vermillion, and now they have to go take it," Leonard said.

What will it take?

"We are defensive minded. We have to play good, team defense on their two studs. We have gotten better rebounding game in and game out. We have to win the battle on the boards and take care of the ball. Those are things that bring about championships. It would be huge to get to the night game. We are in the same place as that 1969 team. We don't want to settle for that. We are capable of playing next week, but we have to take it one game at a time and we have to focus on Monroe Central first," Leonard said.