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Andy Amey: Can you cover sports? Here's a test

andy amey, the tribune-star, terre haute, ind.
·6 min read

Jun. 16—Here's a test of whether or not you have what it takes to survive in the exciting, lucrative world of high school sports journalism.

It's also a test of your memory, unfortunately. And you can probably scratch the word "lucrative" from the previous paragraph.

The memory test is necessary because yours truly has finally completed the list of Andy Amey Teams for 2021-22 boys high school basketball. This is not a new enterprise, despite the fact that it takes longer to complete every year, and you are probably aware that one of the teams rewards clutch performances.

It was, in many cases, a surprisingly wonderful season that wound up in March. Linton, Sullivan and Terre Haute North can legitimately say their teams were this close to winning state championships, and if the state runner-up trophy was awarded to the team that came closest to beating the champion, all three would have one.

So who are the captains of the Clutch Team? If your answer didn't include Mark Hankins of North and Randy Kelley of Sullivan, you have failed the test. The Patriots' excellent season could have gone another direction if Hankins didn't hit late, game-winning free throws against some of North's toughest early opponents, and Kelley may simply be the best last-minute hero — the closer, if you will — I've ever seen.

Their teammates this past season included Evan Alexander of Greencastle, Landon Boatman of Marshall, Conor Breneman of Paris, DeShawn Clark of North Central, Drew Cook of Northview, Joey Hart of Linton, Wesley Jackson of Robinson, J.T. May of Shakamak, Landon Naylor of North Vermillion, Jackson Parcel of Casey, Zeke Tanoos of West Vigo, Kyle Thomas of Cloverdale and Lucas Uselman of South Vermillion.

Top competitors? More of my favorites here, led by Ian Beaver of West Vigo (best 5-foot-9 power forward since Tom McGinley, stories available on request), Coy Gilbert of Shakamak, Baylin Graf of Bloomfield, Jackson Hills of Sullivan and Amariyae Wilson of Terre Haute South.

Their teammates include Luke Adams, Rocco Roshel, Koby Wood and Javyn Woodard of Sullivan; Braden Allen, Braxton Sampson and Nolan White of Northview; Noah Betz of Cloverdale; Brayson Chrysler, Grant Cochenour, Cole Livingston and Rece Overbeck of Casey; Peter Combs of Bloomfield; Carson Cox, Derron Hazzard, Ashton Hines and Jacob Hopton of Riverton Parke; Kody Crampton of Paris; Carter Edney of North Vermillion; Kaden Evans and Ethan Kesler of West Vigo; Wrigley Franklin, Drew Smith and Logan Webb of Linton; Anthony Garzolini and Easton Terry of South Vermillion; Trevor Hadley and Tyler Vaughn of North Central; Cole Hutcheson of Greencastle; Christian Johnson of Parke Heritage; Parker Mahurin of South; Logan Medsker of Marshall; Brody Shaw and Zach Swearingen of Clay City; Damon Sturm of North; Nathan Wernz of Robinson; and Brady Yeryar of Shakamak.

Players who went from pretty good to indispensable lead the Most Improved Team: Whyatt Easton of West Vigo, Colin Frank of North and Peyton Hawkins of South Vermillion.

Others who got better were Noah Atkinson and Reilly Myers of Clay City; Justin Beard and Quentin Ross of Bloomfield; Adam Carrington and Max Dowd of Parke Heritage; Eli Gettinger of Sullivan; Gus Glotzbach, Connor Martin and Grayson Porter of West Vigo; Guyler Gorby, Carson Jernigan and Oscar Pegg of Shakamak; Austin Hassler, Tyler Rodgers and Kiefer Wilson of Greencastle; Levi Hilton of Cloverdale; Wyatt Ison and Peyton Seay of North Central; Rylan King of Robinson; Bryce Maxwell, Chris Owens and Ethan Scott of North; Jude McCoskey and T.J. Wilson of South; Pierson Robins of Riverton Parke; Christian Roembke of Northview; Connor Sullivan of Casey; and Dalton Thomas, Cody Tryon and Jerome White of North Vermillion.

Captains for the Unsung Team, by definition, can be hard to identify. Not so this year, with Bryson Carpenter of North demonstrating his value by the way the Patriots played in the games he missed, and with Linton's Braden Walters putting on defensive clinics.

Others who could have been talked about more were Colin Barber and Kayne Wade of Shakamak; Atticus Blank and Noah Scott of North Vermillion; Landon Carr, Jacob Fowler and Hunter Johnson of Northview; Jacob Clement of Casey; Kyle Cottee and Xsa'Zion Rowe of South; Ethan Dick, Bryan Kohlmeyer and Reed Stuck of Paris; Boyd Ensley and Holton Miller of Greencastle; Nathan Frady and Jaxon Walker of Linton; Noah Gilmore of Robinson; Grant Harkrider, Nick MacDonald, Mathew Mullins and Brandon Todd of Riverton Parke; Levi Jennings, Joshua Roberts, Nathan Scott and Gavyn Tryon of North Central; Brady Koosman, McGuire Lee and Zach Thomas of Cloverdale; Calvin Livvix and Nathan Swan of Marshall; Seb Ortiz and Jack Ridgway of Sullivan; Elliott Rogers of Clay City; Christopher Royal, Ryan Schulte and Hank Skomp of Bloomfield; Jaden Wayt of North; and Anthony Wood of Parke Heritage.

Captains of the Promising Team were two players who could explode offensively at any time. Zayvion Baker of South was the youngster of the two, while Cooper Loll of Robinson was simply a newcomer who made himself at home very quickly.

Others to look forward to in the future include Anthony Adams and Jacob Simmerman of Greencastle; Drake Bartos, Jackson Rigdon and Drew Rogers of Paris; Talen Boehler, Karson Fosdick, Jacob Likens and Jensen Turner of West Vigo; Luke Bush, Dallas Coleman, Dylan Conder, Brayson Shoults and Aden Wallace of South Vermillion; Dylan Butts and Russell Butts (still waiting for a real debut) of Clay City; Owen Edwards of North Vermillion; Cole Gilbert, Jackson Maulding, Hayden Parcel and Ryan Richards of Casey; Carson Granby of North Central; Renn Harper, B.T. Luce and Trey Milner of Parke Heritage; Imer Holman of Northview; Tayt Jackson of Cloverdale; Linden Jenkins and Will Miller of Shakamak; Jayden Moore, Alex Ross and Isaac Ross of North; Judson Pinkston and Owen Schmidt of Robinson; Marcus Roshel of Sullivan; Rielly Wallace of Marshall; and Brady Wilson of South.

One of my favorite do-whatever-is-needed kids, Noble Johnson of Parke Heritage, is captain of the Unselfish Team.

His teammates include Jacob Adams of North Central; Wyatt Adams and Blake Patterson of Clay City; Nick Brown of Marshall; Treyton Brown of Robinson; Jace Collier and Brayson Shipman of Shakamak; Brady Crippes and Braylon Nugent of Paris; Ben Fossi and Colton Wallace of South Vermillion; Hunter Gennicks, Japheth House and Ayden Riggleman of Linton; Joel Gooch and Mason Howard of Parke Heritage; Cole Higham of North; Hayden Martin and C.J. Odell of Parke Heritage; Brasey Neill of Bloomfield; Jared Parkey and Peyton Reinoehl of Northview; Brady Rhoads and Joe Short of Casey; and Rylan Schneider and Arnick Shouse of South.

Captains for my Lefthanded Team are two kids I really need to see play next season: Conor Breneman of Paris, because he's a really good player I haven't seen yet, and Blain Loll of Robinson, for an entirely different reason.

My other southpaws are Anthony Adams and Boyd Ensley of Greencastle; Luke Adams of Sullivan; Peter Combs and Baylin Graf of Bloomfield; Ian Gilmore and Duke Thompson of Robinson; Linden Jenkins of Shakamak; Mathew Mullins of Riverton Parke; Joshua Roberts of North Central; Elliott Rogers of Clay City; and T.J. Wilson of South.

Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. at 812-231-4276 or 812-231-4277; by email at andy.amey@tribstar.com; or by mail at P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute, IN, 47808. Follow TribStarAndy on Twitter.