Sports Round-Up by Paul Beitler

Norwell spikers top East Noble
The Norwell volleyball team outlasted East Noble 3-2 in the battle of Knights on Tuesday in a Northeast Hoosier Conference match.
Norwell rallied to win the five-game match 25-23, 16-25, 25-14, 18-25, 15-12.
Lauren Klansek led Norwell with 15 kills. Amanda McAfee had nine kills, Jessica Louison seven and Olivia Geiger five. Laken Chaney had 31 assists. Elizabeth Ault had four service aces. Brittany Barger, Louison and Klansek each had two aces and Geiger one. Chaney also had 14 digs and Ault 11.
Lauren Fulk had 12 kills for East Noble. Tawni Stech and Alex Timmerman each had seven. Casey Allen had six kills. Stech also had 30 assists. Rachel Fulk had 27 digs. Stech and Allen each had two aces.

Wear pink to support cancer research
The Norwell volleyball team will recognize Breast Cancer Awareness Month Thursday night with a “Dig Pink” night to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research. The Knights will be hosting Northeast Hoosier Conference rival Homestead. The varsity match is slated to begin at approximately 7:30 p.m.
Fans who wear a pink shirt will be entered into a drawing to win free Subway, Pizza Hut or Dairy Queen items. Monetary donations also will be accepted during the evening.

Garrett, AC win volleyball matches
The Bluffton volleyball team lost to Garrett 2-1 in the first round of the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament Tuesday night at Heritage High School.
Garrett advances to the semifinals. Game scores were 25-18, 24-26, 26-24.
Adams Central defeated Heritage 25-22, 25-18.

Crusader runners finish 15th
The Crusader Running Club boys’ cross country team competed at the Indiana Middle School Cross Country Championship in Indianapolis on Saturday finishing 15th out of 27 teams.
Austin Boucher finished 33rd in 10:59 to lead the Crusaders. Nathan Garver was 43rd in 11:08, Noah Steffen 112th in 11:49.2, Duke Wang 115th in 11:51.7, Cody Shively 146th in 12:15, Seth Cole 161st in 12:26 and Hunter Searle 186th in 12:51. There was a total of 227 runners in the small school varsity race.

Zimmer, Worden lead
Norwell elementary runners
Evan Zimmer and Hannah Worden were top finishers in the fifth Northern Wells Community Schools elementary cross country meet Tuesday.
Zimmer was the overall winner in the K-2 division. He finished the half-mile loop in 2:54. He was followed by Kolton Allen and Eli Riley to round out the top three in the boys’ division. The top three finishers in the girls’ K-2 division were Zoe Duffus, Hailey Gallant and Rachel Spangler.
Worden won the girls’ 3-5 division in 6:39. Ashley VandenBoom finished second in 7:00 and Kaylah Detrich was third in 7:11. In the boys’ 3-5 divison, the winner was Cole Wilson in 6:01. Garrison Brege was second in 6:03. Ian Gerber and Dylan Felger tied for third in 6:17.

7th-grade Crusaders blank Summit
The Norwell 7th-grade football team shut out Summit 22-0 on Tuesday to increase its season record to 5-1.
Brody Myers ran Norwell’s first play 34 yards for a touchdown. Hunter Ingle caught a 70-yard touchdown pass from Carson Gerber. Trevor Eichler tackled a Summit ball carrier in the end zone for a safety. On the ensuing drive Myers scored on a three-yard touchdown run and Ingle added the extra-point kick.
The offensive line of Chase McGrew, Austin Miller, Colt Rinkenberger, Devin Helmke, Conner Nash and Nathan Loker opened huge holes all night for the Crusaders. Jaron Stoppenhagen, Zach Kintz, McGerran Clouser, and Bray Wilson had nice runs. Noah Tobias connected on a pass with Danny Bullock. Defensive leaders were Austin Bishop, Alex Friend, Bradley Kelley, Peyton Laley, Drew Pietosi, Chad Randen, Chandler Schoeff, Seth Serafini, Stoppenhaggen, Eichler and Ingle.

Norwell 8th-graders top Summit
The Norwell 8th-grade football team increased its season record to 5-1 with a 20-13 victory at Summit Tuesday night.
Defense was the name of the game as the Crusaders’ Andrew Oakes stripped the ball from a Summit running back and scampered 40 yards to the end zone. Piercen Harnish returned a Falcon punt 63 yards for a touchdown and intercepted a pass to halt a Summit drive.
The defense was sparked by numerous Crusaders, including Joey Wilson, Michael Barnes, Zach Wesley, Hunter Lazarek, Brandon Norman, John Dathe, Dalton Cochran, Ashton McCune, Anthony Richard, Nathaniel Mayer, Dillon Brooks, Coty Mitchell, Caleb Hartman, Reggie Hayes, and Jake Brown.
The offense scored its only touchdown on a two-yard run by Jake Aschliman. Jay-Ar Kobryn and Adam Nahrwold recorded some nice carries for positive yardage. Jeremy Davis kicked a PAT conversion, while Jace Geiger threw a nice 15-yard to Chandler Shady.

Imel ties for 9th at Penn State
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Kaylee Imel, a member of the Western Michigan University women’s golf team, tied for ninth place individually at the Penn State Nittany Lions’ Invitational last weekend.
Imel, a 2009 Norwell graduate, finished with a 10-over-par 226 (70-75-81) for the tournament.

Ties abound in senior golf league
Dick Moser, Bill Amburn and Jerry Moss tied for the low gross score each with a 43 in the Tuesday Senior Golf League at Green Valley Golf Course in Bluffton.
Rex Somer and Moser tied for the low net score with each posting a 29.
Members of the winning team were Paul Perry, Fred Pernell, Bud Frauhiger and Moser. Amburn was the closest to the pin and Tom Antrim made the longest putt.

Ilitch to buy up Pistons, too
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Pistons have decided to sell the team to Detroit Tigers and Detroit Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch, a person involved with the process said.
Forbes last year valued the team at $479 million, but a weak economy, the threat of an NBA lockout next year and a motivated seller — Karen Davidson — likely mean the price is lower.
If the sale goes through, the 81-year-old Ilitch — the Little Caesars Pizza mogul — would be the only person to own and control teams in three of North America’s four major professional leagues. Ted Turner once owned the Atlanta Braves, Hawks and Thrashers.

IRS asked to ‘thoroughly’
investigate major football bowls
WASHINGTON (AP) — Four lawmakers are urging the Internal Revenue Service to “thoroughly examine” a tax complaint filed against three premier college football bowls.
Playoff PAC, a political action committee that wants the bowls replaced with a championship playoff system, recently filed the IRS complaint against the operators of the Fiesta, Sugar and Orange Bowls. They are three of the five games that constitute the Bowl Championship Series (the other two are the Rose Bowl and the BCS title game).
The complaint accuses the three bowls of violating their tax-exempt status by paying excessive salaries and perks, providing “sweetheart loans” and doing undisclosed lobbying.