Brad Miller, Armondo Poncé, Don
Waldron and Randy Yoder; juniors
Ron Kauffman, Steve Pletcher, Myron
Mast, Ken Weirich, Todd Woodworth
and sophomore Gary Wright.
The ‘73 Warriors blitzed through
the regular season with only two losses. One of the losses coming against a
talented Hamilton team in the ninth
game of the season. The second was
a controversial loss at Central Noble,
which precipitated a heated discussion
between coach Foster and the game’s
referees, after the game, in the underground locker room at the old Wolf
Lake gymnasium.
No worse for the wear, Coach
Foster’s team finished the regular season, in impressive fashion with seven
straight wins. During that winning
streak, Yoder scored 51 points twice.
His first 51 point performance came
against Hamilton and the second came
at the hands of a shocked Fort Wayne
Wayne team, which saw Yoder hit 25
of 25 free throws (Westview school
record) to go along with 13 field goals.
(Bear in mind that the three point
line didn’t exist in 1973). The War-
riors scored 226 points in those two
games, defeating Hamilton 116-51
and FW Wayne 110-79. Westview
finished their regular season notching
their 17th win, with an 80-55 win over
Eastside.
The Warriors now faced their biggest challenge of the year, the field of
teams in the East Noble sectional.
The 1973 sectional field was comprised of East Noble, Central Noble,
West Noble, Fairfield, Lakeland and
Westview. Westview sported the best
record going into sectional action with
a 17-2 record, West Noble was 17-4,
Fairfield 16-4, East Noble 14-6, Lakeland 7-13 and Central Noble 6-14.
In the first game of the 1973
sectional at the “Big Blue Pit,” the
Warriors got revenge on Central Noble
from an earlier season 1-point loss to
the Cougars. Gary Yoder, poured in
33 points. Yoder was joined in doublefigure scoring by Ron Kauffman who
scored 15 points and Chuck Haarer
contributed 14, in the Warrior’s 74-57
win.
The next game, on Westview’s road
to the sectional crown, was against
tourney host and perennial favorite
East Noble (the biggest school in the
sectional field). Both teams were sizzling in the first half with East Noble
holding the edge at halftime, 42-41. In
the second half East Noble stayed hot
and the Warriors got into foul trouble.
Early in the fourth quarter, Westview’s
second leading scorer, Chuck Haarer
(16 points per game), fouled out. Less
than a minute later, Yoder picked up
his fourth foul on a very questionable
call, which elicited the familiar Coach
Foster walk onto the court to have a
“discussion” with the officials. Foster
was charged with two technical fouls
for charging the court and arguing
with the officials. East Noble’s 6’ 1”
forward, Stan Kostielney, then stepped
to the free throw line and sunk two
of four free throws to give East Noble
a 64-59 lead. East Noble extended its
lead to 68-61, but the scrappy Warriors weren’t finished. Sophomore Gary
Wright hit a free throw and junior Ron
Kauffman hit a 15-foot shot from
the baseline and then, after a steal
by Yoder, Wright scored on a drive to
the bucket cutting the East Noble lead
Hoosier Hysteria
The Hometown Treasure · March ‘13 · pg 15