It’s crazy to think I’ve already been here for an entire calendar year, but time continues to fly by as we all got older and hopefully wiser. I wanted to write something about this past year and my first season of covering sports in southern Indiana.

Over two years ago, I had trouble finding a job writing about sports. It forced me to move to another state, away from family.

It didn’t bother me that much, considering I had already moved away to Orlando, Florida, for college in August of 2018. It is not that I did not love or enjoy my family, I just had to take the offer if I wanted to make a career in this field.

Me and my now fiancé Lacy had just begun to date, and our lives were becoming one. I worked as a sports editor for the Spencer Daily Reporter in Spencer, Iowa, for about a year and a half.

In June of 2023, we came back to Indiana on a vacation, going down to Friendship around Versailles for Father’s Day weekend.

I began thinking about moving back during the 11-hour trip back to Iowa, simply because of my siblings and family. At the time, my two youngest sisters were 17 and 11 and my older siblings on the other side of my family were 21 and 20.

I realized if I only came back twice a year for a vacation, I would only see my siblings a handful of times before they graduated high school or college. It scared me to think about it, simply because I just wanted to be there for them if they needed me.

Fortunately, I began working for The Tribune at the end of July in 2023. After a series of phone calls and interviews with our editor in Aubrey Woods, who I cannot thank enough for giving me this opportunity.

I had not been in this area here a whole lot, but I began to learn the area and started off with the Jackson County Fair as my first assignment, covering tractor pulls and a monster truck event.

I’ve learned that southern Indiana is different than central Indiana where I’m from, but to be honest with you, I’m a fan of the area and I’m glad to be here.

I wanted to go over some highlights from this year as there was plenty to celebrate

In terms of working as a sports reporter, it was a memorable one.

My first season in fall of 2023 was exciting. Covering multiple sports throughout the week, always leading to Friday nights following the Owls football team. It was everything I could’ve asked for in terms of excitement. Seymour never failed to provide plenty of offensive outbursts and racked up plenty of highlight plays to count.

Bret Perry, Jaylan Johnson, Jack Pennington and Kyle Hileman put up video-game numbers on some occasions, racking up hundreds and hundreds of yards each week through the air.

Brownstown Central also captured the crown jewel of high school basketball, defeating Wapahani in the Class 2A State Championship, led by the greatest boys’ player in county history in Jack Benter. Benter is on his way to play for Matt Painter at Purdue University in West Lafayette.

The Lady Braves also had an unforgettable season in multiple sports. Brownstown volleyball finished second in the state, falling to Muncie Burris in the final. The team flew through sectionals, before defeating North Decatur and downing Linton-Stockton in the Regional Final. Brownstown then defeated Indianapolis Scecina in the Columbus East Semistate Final.

The girls’ basketball team also put together a state final run, dropping the championship game to Fort Wayne Luers by eight points. Brownstown defeated Southwestern (Hanover), Henryville and Austin for the sectional, then downing South Spencer in a double-overtime game for the regional final.

I attended the semi state games at Shelbyville High School, as they defeated Linton-Stockton in the semifinal. Brownstown then faced Eastern Hancock, a school I attended from first-seventh grade and the current school of my sisters.

All season, a lot of chatter had been about how the Royals were going to win state, until the Lady Braves shut them down, holding them to half of their season scoring average. A couple of Eastern fans blamed me for the loss, and I was happy to take the blame.

It is so much fun to see the area kids’ band together and work their tails off for something bigger than themselves.

In softball, Brownstown was so close to a state final appearance on the diamond. Falling to Class 2A State Champion Cascade in the semistate final.

The Lady Braves used stellar defense, just like basketball, to have a magical postseason run. They defeated Southwestern (Hanover), South Ripley and Hauser for the sectional, then defeated Providence for the regional title.

Brownstown then matched up with Eastern Hancock again in the semistate semifinal, defeating the Royals 7-5 to get to the semistate final.

The Seymour Owls boys’ basketball team also put together their best season in a long time, finishing 18-5 and capturing their first boys’ basketball Hoosier Hills Conference title. Two of their losses came to state champions in Brownstown Central and Scottsburg. They also defeated Jeffersonville thanks to an ‘insane’ buzzer beater from Bret Perry during the regular season.

AnnMarie Shuler advanced to state in girls’ wrestling for the Owls, winning her regional and finishing second in semistate. Jesus Aguilar made the regional for the Owls on the boy’s side.

Trinity Lutheran also had plenty of sectional titles to go around. Winning one in volleyball, girls’ and boys’ basketball, and baseball.

A decade of dominance for the Lady Cougars volleyball team as they secured the school’s 10th straight sectional title.

In girls’ basketball, Trinity defeated Medora, New Washington and Rising Sun to capture their fifth straight sectional.

It has been awesome to cover these area schools, and I’m excited to continue covering these kids during my ongoing tenure in Jackson County. I also just wanted to say that I can’t complain about anything, every person, athlete, coach, athletic director and parent has treated me with respect, and I really appreciate that.

I’m also super curious how the area feels about our job in the last year. If anyone has any concerns or questions, please feel free to email me at [email protected].

Also, the pictures I used in this story are from games I covered.

Personal

As you know, reporters are never supposed to put their opinion or bring their own lives into a story, but since this is a column, I figured I would open a little bit to all of you. There was a couple week period during last winter where I didn’t get a lot done.

This year was the worst of my life in terms of heartbreak. My household was close, five of us in two different cities in central Indiana, throughout most of my lifetime. It was me, Lindsay and Lauren and my stepmother (Lacey) and father (Matthew).

We never went without, even if it was not the most luxurious place, it was more than enough.

My mother (Monica), who I saw every other weekend, always encouraged me to follow a career that I wanted. But this isn’t a life story, it’s about the past year.

I went home last November after covering a game on Tuesday, a few days before Thanksgiving, looking forward to a weekend of enjoyment, a holiday we hadn’t all celebrated in a few years. It was great, enjoying family, football and friends.

It was awesome to experience, and it was a great weekend until suddenly it became the worst of my family’s lives.

Me and my fiancé had to go to one more family gathering with my mother before we planned to head back to Seymour.

We left the house on Sunday afternoon after saying our goodbyes and went to our family event.

No thought crossed my mind of it being the last time I would see her. I enjoyed the gathering, never even questioning the safety of my sister, before I headed south, thinking everything was fine.

I got to Carthage, which is a super small town outside of Knightstown, where I received a call, not thinking much of it. I was then relayed the news that Lindsay had been in a bad car accident that afternoon and was no longer on this earth with us.

It completely shattered our family, left speechless, breathless and unable to grasp what had just happened. We couldn’t do anything but cry and be around each other.

I felt defeated. I didn’t want to do anything; I had never felt so empty. I’ve never felt my stomach churn until I heard the news.

I missed a few weeks of work, missed games and missed information for the paper, during those weeks. I wasn’t sure how to feel, other than empty and broken.

Nothing has been the same, Christmas was one of the weirdest things, and I couldn’t enjoy any of it, simply because it was wrong to have it all without her.

Me and Lindsay have always shared birthday parties, with my birthday being May 25th, and hers being May 23rd. This year, I had my birthday alone for the first time, and I didn’t like it one bit.

Lindsay was driven to get things done and it has been tough not having her around. She was on her way to becoming a veterinary technician and taking care of animals.

I truly miss her sassy remarks and her random calls about God knows what.

There is such a high-and-low feeling in life, it is unexplainable, something I do not fully understand yet. I am a grown man, but still just 24 years old, and very much connected with my younger siblings, since I am the oldest.

Now, we will have to continue navigating our lives without her. We will always keep her name living on in my household.

I am looking forward to more years here in Jackson County.