Published: February 19, 2008 02:26 pm         

Home finale for Redskins

St. Joseph's is 'Senior Night' opponent

By STU SWARTZ

Goshen News Sports Editor

The curtain falls on the Goshen High School boys basketball home season tonight with a formidable foe invading the Maple City.

South Bend St. Joseph’s 16-4 Indians, coached by former Notre Dame player Keith Kurowski, will be in town to battle the 10-8 Redskins of ninth-year GHS coach Brian Bechtel.

Goshen finishes the regular season Friday night at West Noble in Ligonier and then prepares for a Class 4A sectional opener against Concord next Tuesday at 6:30 at Elkhart’s North Side Gym.

It’s “Senior Night” in Redskin boys basketball with six players and two student managers, along with cheerleaders, to be honored prior to the varsity tipoff.

The players are Jordan Short, Cam Snyder, Ryan Bartley, Brad Sink, Nathan Stegelmann and Josh Randall. Managers are Tyler Miller and Jeremy Bontrager.

“We challenge everyone on the team to step it up and send these seniors out with a great feeling,” said Bechtel.

“This is a special group. They didn’t enjoy much in the win column the previous three years, but have stuck with it and worked extra hard in the offseason. Now, they are being rewarded with what we hope will be a winning season.

“They have put the program in a winning mode and come together as a team due to their closeness and accepting roles.

“We still have goals to meet and the main one is to get that 11th win and assure us of a winning season. We continue trying to gain momentum for that sectional next week.

“Against a team as good as St. Joe, we must play as a team. It’s a win-win situation for us and that’s the way it will take to win the sectional.”

St. Joseph’s Indians had not enjoyed a winning season in eight years until going 16-6 last season and now they have followed that up with another winning round.

There are eight seniors on the Indians’ roster, including all five starters, led by dynamic 6-1 guard Marcus Johnson and 6-7 muscleman Marcus Macellari.

St. Joseph’s shared the Northern Indiana Conference regular season championship with Washington and Riley.

The Indians topped Riley, 52-46, last Friday with Johnson scoring 21 points.

“They present huge problems because of that inside-outside presence,” said Bechtel. “Marcus Johnson is a great passer, slasher and finisher.

“This is the biggest team on our schedule and we became smaller when Marshall Crawford (6-2 junior) was lost for the season (knee surgery).

“St. Joe mixes defenses to keep teams off balance. It will take a team offensive effort on our part.

“We need a lot of assists, setting each other up for shots and then we have to hit them. We did that in the first half of the Westview game, but didn’t hit the shots.”

It will also be a home finale for Goshen’s junior varsity team which takes a 17-1 record into a game against a St. Joe JV team with only three losses.