Austin Hough: What a fall sports season for TGN area athletes

Nov. 28—A few weeks ago, once I had settled down from Northridge's upset win over Leo in the Sectional 19 football final, I had a chance to think about just how amazing this fall has been for our Goshen News athletes. At that time, we had a lot to celebrate and enjoy as a local area.

Little did I know the Raiders would win two more games and end their season playing for a state title in Indianapolis, giving us even more to cheer for.

That's a lot to say that this column has been a thought I've had in my head for a few weeks now, but was waiting for the end of the fall sports season to write it. It feels pretty cool to write it from the press box of Lucas Oil Stadium, not going to lie.

Of the eight fall sports the IHSAA sponsors, we had teams competing at the state level in six of them. Just think about that — 75% of the time this fall, we had at least one team make it to the last day of their respective season. For context, we only had two teams in the fall of 2020 — NorthWood girls golf and Goshen boys cross country — make it that far.

This incredible stretch of success for our area teams this fall began with NorthWood girls golf, who made its fourth-straight state tournament appearance on the first weekend of October. Senior Cybil Stillson finished 11th individually and won the Mental Attitude Award, setting the tone for what was to come of TGN athletes the next two months.

While NorthWood was playing at state, the Westview boys tennis team was winning a sectional championship. The Warriors then won regional and semistate titles to advance to the state tournament for the second time in three seasons. Although they lost in the state quarterfinals to Jasper, Westview finished the season with a 23-2 record and cemented itself as one of the top programs in the state in recent years.

The Warriors' tennis team was then one-upped by its boys soccer classmates, as Westview went on a drama-infused run to the Class 1A state championship. They beat three teams ranked higher than them to win regional, semistate and state titles, pulling off comebacks in all three of those contests in the process. Jadon Yoder's goal to tie the championship contest with 1:30 to go, then two more tallies in overtime capped off one of the more improbable state championship runs of an area team in recent history.

Not only did the Westview boys team make it to state, but Northridge send an individual doubles duo of Collin Seegert and Evan Nay to the individual state tournament. It really showed the depth of this area's tennis scene and the continued growth our area has had in the sport.

A day after Westview boys soccer walked off the field with a state trophy, three total teams competed in the boys and girls cross country state championship meets. The Northridge boys finished eighth, Goshen boys 10th and Northridge girls 16th in the final team standings, with three boys individuals — Northridge senior Jack Moore (8th) and Goshen seniors Drew Hogan (12th) and Cole Johnston (18th) — earning all-state honors. There was a lot of success in the cross country area this fall, and those performances punctuated what they did throughout the season.

And then there's the Northridge football team. A team going nowhere at the end of the regular season, they converted their starting running back to quarterback in week nine to see if it would work. It did and then some, as behind the dynamic play of Tagg Gott — and a stingy defense — the Raiders turned a 5-4 regular season record into a Class 4A state championship game appearance. Five-straight postseason wins over teams they "weren't supposed to beat" put them on the state's biggest stage in the home of the Indianapolis Colts.

Although Northridge lost to a really talented Mount Vernon team Saturday, it put a bow on one of the best fall sports seasons we've ever seen from our area. The two sports we didn't have teams make the state finals — girls soccer and volleyball — still saw teams make it to regional finals in Westview and NorthWood, respectively. That's the final eight of their sport, which is not a small feat.

What has been the best part of these last two months has been seeing the communities rally around their respective teams and athletes. Whether it be cheering at games, decorating their cars or sending them to state with community-organized send-offs, they have truly embraced what these student-athletes have been doing. It's been cool to see the "small towns" of our area give these kids the attention and support they deserve.

It's been one crazy fall sports season; one I won't soon forget. I've been lucky to have a front-row seat to all of it, reminding me every step of the way why I have one of the coolest jobs in the world.

Thanks for an eventful fall, everyone. I can't wait to see what the winter sports season brings.

Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.