Last week, Conference Indiana entered into an alliance with the Circle City Conference to help ease the scheduling of football games once Conference Indiana drops to six teams in the 2018-19 school year.
The move is a good one, according to Columbus North football coach Tim Bless. His team, which is a member of Conference Indiana, will face Roncalli and Guerin Catholic from the CCC in 2018 and could see some of its other four teams — Bishop Chatard, Brebeuf Jesuit, Covenant Christian and Heritage Christian — in the future.
“I think it’s a great move for our school and our conference to have that alliance to be able to fill up your nonconference games,” Bless said. “I think it’s a great challenge. We want to play as strong a schedule as we can play.”
Also announced last week were plans for the Bull Dogs to play this year’s Oct. 6 home game with Bloomington South at Lucas Oil Stadium. The game will be the second of a doubleheader and likely will begin around 8 or 8:30 p.m.
The change of venue will leave North with only three home games this fall.
“That’s the downside to it,” Bless said. “We’re only going to get to play at Max Andress (Field) three times this year, but this is an opportunity we certainly didn’t want to pass up. It will be a great experience for our program.”
The Bull Dogs do have a couple of home scrimmages this month. They will scrimmage Tuesday against Shelbyville and July 18 against New Albany and Martinsville.
North hurler added to roster
Recent Columbus North graduate Kevin Thompson has been added to the South team for next weekend’s North-South All-Star Series at Ball State.
Thompson had been the first alternate and was added when another pitcher had to withdraw. He will join Bull Dog second baseman Cooper Trinkle on the South squad.
“That’s a big deal for a kid that didn’t throw his junior year at all and had only thrown one high school game,” North coach Ben McDaniel said.
Thompson sat out his junior year at Columbus East so he could have eligibility at North as a senior. He went 6-3 with a 1.69 ERA and batted .308 with 15 RBIs in helping lead the Bull Dogs to sectional and regional titles and a berth in the final four in Class 4A.
Thompson will play collegiately at Olney Central (Illinois).
Locals set for showcase
Three area girls basketball players will participate in the Girls Underclass Showcase on Tuesday at Ben Davis, and three area boys will play in the Boys Underclass Showcase on Wednesday, also at Ben Davis.
Britney Ballard and Kristen Lyons, both of whom will be seniors at Columbus East; and Chelsi Giesige, who will be a sophomore at Columbus North, are the local girls. The event starts at 2 p.m. Tuesday, and games begin at 3:35 p.m.
The boys are Max Nolting, who will be a senior at East; Mason Sherman, who will be a senior at Hauser; and Matt Cornett, who will be a senior at South Decatur. The event starts at 3 p.m. Wednesday, and games begin at 3:35 p.m.
North football to host outing
The Columbus North football team will host its Fourth Annual Golf For the Gridiron outing at 1 p.m. July 21 at Harrison Lake Country Club. Registration will begin at 11 a.m., and lunch will be at noon.
Cost is $100 per player or $400 per team and includes greens fees, cart, range balls, lunch, refreshments and the chance to win prizes. Sponsorships are available, ranging from $125 to $800.
For more information, contact Carol Behling at 812-371-3325 or [email protected] or Karen Redding at 812-371-6565 or [email protected].
