Greensburg Daily News

 

Gary Dudgeon
Greensburg Daily News

After Greensburg claimed its first regional title in 25 years at the Shelbyville Regional tournament, a large crowd gathered in the high school gymnasium to welcome the victors home.

Twenty minutes before the team was due back from Shelbyville, there were as many people seated in the bleachers as you would find in the same seats for a weeknight basketball game.

When the cheer squad made its appearance about five minutes before 11 p.m., the crowd sensed the time was near. The cheer leaders ran through their drills and set up a passage way to guide the victors in.

At the appointed hour the squad made its entrance through the makeshift aisle while the fans stood and offered their acclamation.

Once in the gymnasium, they quietly sat on the floor under the near basket and the cheer squad took its place next to the players.

Athletic Director Bill Edwards thanked the fans for their attendance at William L. Garrett Gymnasium, commenting on the sea of blue that Pirate fans exhibited Saturday night despite the fact that so many people were out of town for spring break. The west side of Garrett Gymnasium was nearly packed with Pirate supporters and the opposite side had a sizable blue presence in what was largely a sea of orange.

After explaining that he still did not know where the semi-state game will be played, Edwards introduced Coach Stacy Meyer. Meyer too commented on the sea of blue and the favorable impact that it had on the Pirate team.

He also said “You earned your paint again” as junior varsity coach Jason Simpson displayed the stencil reading “Regional Champs 2009.” The honor was to be painted on the wall that night and the fans were invited to check out the holiday tournament, conference, sectional and regional championships that Greensburg has claimed over the years.

After acknowledging the wall, Meyer took time to laud the focus of the Pirates.

“After today’s game, we came back here to review the film and go thorough a ‘walk through’ of what we wanted to do tonight,” Meyer said. “There were no distractions, simply a focus on what we had to do.”

The same thing holds in the huddle.

“During a time out, there is no jawing, no desire to know how any individual is doing, just a focus on what we have to do to get better collectively,” he added.

He then took the time to single out a pair of individuals - Elijah Harter and Andrew Dougan.

“These two players have the assignment of defending the other teams No. 1 player. It doesn’t matter who it is,” Meyer said. “Against Batesville, it was Colt Ryan. The next night was a totally different player. This afternoon it was a point guard and this evening it was DJ Byrd. We knew he would get his points. We wanted to make sure that he had to work to get them. They did the job today against two totally different types of player.”

Although they were offered the microphone the two senior captains made but brief remarks and Athletic Director Edwards and Principal Phil Chapple finished the pep rally with short remarks.

 

Although this championship is the first that Greensburg has had since the 1984 team won at Connersville, it is the sixth time that the Pirates cut down the nets at a regional tournament.

The first two teams to advance past the regional tournament were the 1930-31 team and the 1936-37 team. Neither team was able to get past the initial round of the semi-state so their runs ended with the Sweet 16.

Three decades later Greensburg won the regional contest in back-to-back years under Coach Keith Greve who took one of his two squads into the Elite 8. The final squad to win a regional title was the silver-anniversary team of 1984 coached by Phil Snodgress.

With the advent of class basketball, neither the semi-state nor the state championship are decided with two games in a day as the regionals still are.
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