Union County’s students celebrate during the Hagerstown Sectional. Photo by Ryan Tincher.
LIBERTY, Ind. – Win or lose on Saturday, there is one certainty as the Union County boys basketball team plays in its first regional since 2013.
Union County’s students and other fans will show up and be very vocal as the Patriots (20-6) face Indianapolis Scecina (17-9) in the Class 2A regional at Greenfield-Central at 10 a.m.
Cloverdale (20-6) and Shenandoah (21-4) meet in the other semifinal at noon with the winners squaring off at 8 p.m.
Last Saturday, near the end of Union County’s 56-32 victory over Northeastern in the sectional title affair the student section began chanting the name of Patriots Head Coach Jesse Moses.
“It is home on the road,” Moses said last weekend. “I would challenge any student section in the state to be as rowdy and hard-nosed as our student section is.”
“We feed off their energy,” Moses continued. “What a cool place to be in.”
Moses then referenced the 1986 movie “Hoosiers” that was based on the story of Milan’s 1954 state championship.
“We’re still Hoosiers,” he said. “We’re still living it. We are what people talk about how Indiana basketball used to be.”
“I’m happy for our community that they get another one of these to celebrate,” he added. “It’s all of us. It’s our community that’s earned this. I’m proud of everybody and I’m happy for them.”
Union County Tournament History
The sectional victory over the Knights gave Union County its sixth overall title.
Union County also won Connersville Sectionals in 1976, 1977 and 1979 with the other two at Hagerstown in 2012 and 2013. However, the Patriots have never won a regional title.
In their five regional appearances, the Patriots have won only one contest. In 1977 at the Connersville Regional, the Patriots beat Jac-Cen-Del 66-51 in the semifinals before they fell to Aurora 64-60 in the finale.
Earl Jarvis led the Patriots with 26 points in the victory, while Carl Dowler had 22 points in the championship battle.
Prior to the consolidation of the schools that now make up Union County, there is one regional championship and that came in 1967 when the Liberty Lancers made it into the Sweet 16.
Liberty won the Connersville Regional by defeating Morristown 76-64 and Jac-Cen-Del 64-42.
Denny Roach had 21 points versus Morristown in the opener. Ralph Hughes led the Lancers with 22 points and Greg Phenis added 19 in the championship game against Jac-Cen-Del.
The Lancers lost 88-61 to New Castle the following week in the Indianapolis Semi-State at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
There are six additional sectional titles that can be claimed with all of them played in Connersville.
Liberty won in 1938, 1945 and previously mentioned 1967 season.
Kitchel was victorious in 1942 and 1943, while Brownsville took the title in 1946.
In the regional round, Liberty won three contests, Kitchel won twice and Brownsville lost in its only affair.
Some of the top individual efforts in the regional during the 1940s were by Kitchel’s Darrell Bostick and Brownsville’s Ted Kaufman.
Bostick had 16 points in both contests in 1942 as the Cowboys beat Arlington 33-29 before falling to Aurora 55-33. The following year he tossed in 17 in the opening 43-33 victory over Aurora.
Kaufman scored 27 points as the Lions made their only regional appearance in 1946. He scored all 11 points in the final period as Brownsville’s comeback against Milroy fell short at 40-39.
All-Time Regional Scores
1938 at Rushville – Liberty 40, Lawrenceburg 35; Rushville 25, Liberty 22.
1942 at Rushville – Kitchel 33, Arlington 29; Aurora 55, Kitchel 33.
1943 at Rushville – Kitchel 43, Aurora 33; Batesville 37, Kitchel 25.
1945 at Rushville – Lawrenceburg 26, Liberty 20.
1946 at Rushville – Milroy 40, Brownsville 39.
1967 at Connersville – Liberty 76, Morristown 64; Liberty 64, Jac-Cen-Del 42.
1976 at Connersville – Rushville 86, Union County 77.
1977 at Connersville – Union County 66, Jac-Cen-Del 51; Aurora 64, Union County 60.
1979 at Connersville – Rushville 40, Union County 50.
2012 at Connersville – Park Tudor 41, Union County 33
2013 at Connersville – Broad Ripple 52, Union County 35