Jennings County’s Carter Kent, shown in last year’s All-Area boys All-Star game at Columbus Christian, will play in this year’s game on Saturday night.
The Republic file photo
When Ron Bridgewater, Kevin Roth and Kendall Wildey put together an All-Area All-Star Game in 2015, they were hoping it would be something that would become a yearly tradition.
Now it its 10th year (minus the COVID cancellation in 2020), the boys and girls basketball games featuring players from The Republic’s All-Area teams is still going strong. This year’s games will be at 6 p.m. (girls) and 7:30 p.m. (boys) Saturday at Columbus Christian.
“That’s great, especially on something that was decided just last minute like it was that first year,” said Bridgewater, the former girls basketball coach at Columbus Christian. “That first year, to get players like Ali Patberg was phenomenal. To get players like Blake Barker, Division I athletes, is pretty solid.”
One of the reasons the game was started in 2015 was as a benefit for a family in need. At that time, Josh Speidel was fighting for his life, recovering from a traumatic brain injury sustained in a car accident.
Since then, there has been a beneficiary each year. This year’s beneficiary will be the Shewmaker family. Kole Shewmaker was a sophomore at Columbus North who died in a car accident just before the start of this basketball season.
“Not only was connected here to our school, but also at Columbus North, where Kendall is on the coaching staff,” Bridgewater said. “We felt like that was a family that could really benefit.”
Jewell-Rittman Funeral Home is sponsoring the game for the second year in a row and is buying t-shirts and pizza for the players. So far, 24 boys and 15 girls from The Republic’s All-Area first team and honorable mention lists have committed to play. The All-Area girls and boys teams and Player of the Year stories will appear in The Republic at a later date.
This will be the first time the games are being played on a Saturday. They have been played on Monday nights in previous years.
“With so many families that work and spring sports, we thought Saturday was a better option for us,” Bridgewater said. “Plus, we had basketball teams that had banquets on Monday.”
