Sports Round-Up by Paul Beitler

Norwell boys tie Heritage in soccer
The Norwell boys’ soccer team tied the Heritage Patriots 2-2 on Tuesday at Monroeville.
Luke Batdorff and Brandon Johnson scored first-half goals to lead the Knights (5-7-1). Drew Burch assisted on Batdorff’s opening goal against Heritage goalkeeper Bryan Shuler.
Heritage gained the tie with a goal by Carson White in the second half against Norwell goalkeeper Justin Eberle.
Norwell won the junior varsity match 1-0.

Knights fall to Homestead netmen
Norwell’s Ross Mathews and Kyle Fillman kept their undefeated No. 1 doubles record intact Tuesday night, but the Knights fell to the Homestead Spartans 4-1 in Northeast Hoosier Conference boys’ tennis at Fort Wayne.
Mathews and Fillman defeated Zach Vessels and David Libbing 6-2, 6-0. As a team, the Knights are 12-3 overall and 4-2 in NHC matches.
Norwell won the junior varsity match 6-4 to remain 6-0 in NHC play. The Knights are 14-2 overall.

HOMESTEAD 4, NORWELL 1
At Fort Wayne
VARSITY SINGLES: Connor Andrews (H) d. Reid Imel 6-1, 6-1; Austin Overlander (H) d. Kyle Isch 6-1, 6-1; Michael Thompson (H) d. Tanner Bowen 6-1, 6-4.
VARSITY DOUBLES: Ross Mathews/Kyle Fillman (N) d. Zach Vessels/David Libbing 6-2, 6-0; Alex Shin/Tanner Crandall (H) d. Tanner Mathews/Brandon Taylor 6-2, 6-1.
NORWELL 6, HOMESTEAD 4
JV SINGLES: Michael Peters (H) d. Mitchell Wilson 8-2; Michael Haffner (H) d. Tyler Smith 8-3; Drew Shively (N) d. Emmett Elizondo 8-7 (7-3), Jake Price (N) d. Ryan Stephens 6-1; Damon Gerber (N) d. Drew Zimmerman 6-1; Luke Hunter (N) d. Christian Meintel 6-3.
JV DOUBLES: Mitch Gray/Joey Shin (H) d. Price/Gerber 8-2; Andy Stumpf/Steven Cookley (H) d. Hunter/Jordan Dickey 8-6; Wilson/Smith (N) d. Ross Johnson/Alec Cunningham 6-0; Shively/Dickey (N) d. Jacob Yankosky/Habib Hussain 6-1.

Eagles sweep Norwell spikers
Columbia City defeated the Norwell Knights 3-0 in volleyball on Tuesday at Columbia City.
The Eagles won the Northeast Hoosier Conference match in games of 25-23, 25-21, 25-21. The Knights’ record slipped to 13-7 overall and 0-2 in NHC action.
Lauren Klansek led the Knights with 18 kills, one ace, 12 digs and two blocks. Olivia Geiger added five kills, Jessica Louison four, Amanda McAfee three and Catrina Zepke one. Elizabeth Ault and McAfee each had two aces. Laken Chaney had 23 assists. Chaney and Geiger each had one ace. Ault also had 15 digs.

Jets strike down Bluffton spikers
Adams Central topped Bluffton 3-0 in Allen County Athletic Conference volleyball action Tuesday night at Monroe.
The Jets (10-5), who are 4-1 in the ACAC, won the games 25-16, 27-25, 25-17.
Bluffton’s Maggie Garrett had eight kills, two assists, one ace and four digs. Kara Fiechter had four kills, eight assists, one ace and four digs. Natasha Patterson had three kills, eight digs and 1.5 blocks. Felicia Prible and Gina Eisenhut each had two kills. Eisenhut also had one block and two digs. Megan Evans had seven assists. Shelby Taylor had one kill, one assist and one dig. Sammy Gilliam had four digs.
Adams Central won the junior varsity match 25-15, 25-4.

8th-grade Crusaders dump Bellmont
The Norwell 8th-grade football team defeated Bellmont 30-6 Tuesday night at the Courtyard to push its season record to 3-1.
Jake Aschliman scampered 48 yards on the opening drive to put the Crusaders ahead for good. Reggie Hayes found Jeremy Davis for a 13-yard touchdown pass later in the quarter.
Piercen Harnish bulldozed for a 22-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. In the third quarter, Hayes found Davis again with a 19-yard TD pass. Nathan Allison converted on two PAT kicks, while Davis made another PAT conversion kick later in the game.
Other outstanding plays on offense came from Chandler Shady who caught two Jace Geiger passes. Geiger also connected with Ashton McCune for a 27-yard pass play. Other nice runs on offense came from Andrew Oakes, Anthony Richard, Adam Nahrwold and Jay-Ar Kobryn. The offensive line, consisting of Michael Barnes, Caleb Hartman, Hunter Lazarek, Dalton Cochran and Brandon Norman, also were praised by the coaches.
Oakes was the big hitter on defense as he recovered a fumble and recorded a quarterback sack. Other QB sacks were posted by Nahrwold and Davis. Additional big hitters on defense were Nathaniel Mayer, Geiger, McCune, Allison, Richard and Harnish.

Crusader spikers lose two matches
Maple Creek defeated the 7th-grade Crusaders’ volleyball team 25-18, 25-20 on Tuesday.
Quinn Shelton had one ace and one kill. Jessica VandenBoom had one assist. Stephanie Stronczek had two aces and a dig. Mackenzie Sawyer had an ace.
On Monday, the Crusaders lost to Adams Central 25-9, 25-15. Makayla Tipton and Stronczek each had two aces.

Ramseyer leads SW Jr. High girls
The Southern Wells Junior High School girls’ cross country team scored a double victory Tuesday over Garrett and Woodlan at Woodburn. The Raiders beat Woodlan 15-50 and Garrett 17-48.
Sam Ramseyer led the Raiders by winning the girls’ 3,000-meter race in 12:23. Other finishers for the Raiders were: 2. Meghan Yencer; 3. Chloe Maddox; 4. Autumn Stevens; 7. Shelby Skidmore; 8. Timber Tucker; 9. Brooke Penrod; 11. Chloe Elam; 12. Jordan Sills; 13. Tori Wiese; 16 Kennedy Rhodes; 21. Mikayla Oswalt.
Paul Renner was second for the Southern Wells’ boys in 11:55. Wyatt Maddox was third and Ian Klowetter 10th.

Sign up now for Future Tigers
Registrations are being taken for the Bluffton Future Tigers basketball program for boys in grades 3-6. Forms are available in the Bluffton High School office and must be returned by Oct. 1. Cost is $25, which includes a shirt. The league runs on Saturdays from Oct. 23 to Dec. 18. For more information, call coach Kevin Leising at 824-3724.

Fan appreciation at Montpelier track
Montpelier Motor Speedway will be hosting fan appreciation night on Saturday. General admission tickets will be $5 each. Hot laps begin at 6 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m.

Moss, Gerbers lead senior golfers
Jerry Moss and Dennis Gerbers were the low individual scorers for the Tuesday Men’s Senior Golf League at Green Valley Golf Course in Bluffton.
Moss had the low gross score of 38 and Gerbers the low net score of 29. Paul Perry, Bob Trussel, Jack Decker, Bill Amburn and Gerbers were members of the winning team. Joe Gilbert was closest-to-the-pin winner and Joe Baur made the longest putt.

I.U. to play Franklin in exhibition
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Indiana will play Franklin College in a men’s basketball exhibition game Nov. 3.
The Hoosiers have not played Franklin since 1935-36, but coach Tom Crean said in a statement Tuesday that he thought it was important to schedule games with nearby schools.
It will the first time the Grizzlies play an exhibition game against a modern-day Division I program, and the game will be streamed on the Internet at Bigtennetwork.com.
The Hoosiers are scheduled to play another in-state school, Evansville, on Nov. 21. They open the season Nov. 12 against Florida Gulf Coast.