CONARD: Carroll fans celebrate end of drought

By GENE F. CONARD
Tribune columnist

March 06, 2008 11:07 pm

— FLORA — The shock is still reverberating, but the hysteria and satisfaction are even more overwhelming and satisfying.
Carroll basketball diehards will never forget Saturday, March 1, 2008. It was then with the Class 2A Fountain Central Sectional championship up for grabs, junior Riley Eller — who tore an ACL back on Dec. 7 and was out most of the season — nailed a 24-footer for his seventh 3-pointer in nine attempts with just :13 to play to stun Seeger, 56-54.
Coach Jeff Hodson’s Cougars were suddenly the ecstatic owners of Carroll’s first-ever boys sectional title, and this proud, small-town community of 2,200 instantly had good reason to throw inhibition to the wind and celebrate — ending a sectional championship drought of 58 years.
The Carroll community had not enjoyed such basketball craziness since the 1949-50 season when Flora’s Badgers won their seventh sectional title. Burlington had previously won sectionals in 1943 and 1927, and Cutler had prevailed in 1940 and 1922.
But the Flora, Burlington and Cutler successes had come before they had joined Deer Creek and Carrollton in the consolidation of 1958 to become Carroll High School.
If there’s irony in such a stunning turn of events, perhaps it is that Eller’s sister, Quinci, was a standout freshman on the Lady Cougar team who suffered a torn ACL during in the spring, rehabbed all summer and then came back to score 24 points against Fountain Central to lead her team to the girls sectional, title.
To further carry the point, Riley’s father, Rick, was a 1984 Carroll graduate who played for Cougar teams that were coached by Moe Smedley, now coach of the Northfield team Carroll will face in Saturday’s Tipton Regional.
Hodson, finishing his seventh season as Carroll coach devoured the Cougar frenzy.
“I coached several years in Augusta, Georgia, at Butler High School [2,200 enrollment] and Elbert County High School [1,100]. We made the Sweet 16 once at Butler and twice at Elbert High, but neither could compare to the excitement and enthusiasm of Carroll [350 enrollment].
“The students, the parents and the entire Carroll community are excited, and the support has just been unbelievable. The players have been incredible. They aren’t the quickest, biggest or most talented, but nobody outworks them or has a bigger heart, which proves if you work hard good thing happen,” he added.
The sudden winter storm wiped out Tuesday’s practice.
“Talk about dedication and desire, the kids got together at the YMCA and held their own practice,” he said.
Pat Meade, who along with her late husband Charlie, have operated Pat’s Country Barn, one of Hoosierdom’s most unique basketball museums, noted the community’s excitement.
“This is the most excited Flora has been since Carroll won the state in football in 1994. This is just like the movie ‘Hoosiers’ — maybe they ought to do a movie on Flora,” she said with a laugh.
Several Flora basketball veterans were caught up in the frenzy although unable to make the historical Cougar event. Steve Mills was a junior on the last Flora sectional championship team — the 1949-50 Flora squad — and later taught 31 years at Carroll. Dick Bishop also played on that championship squad and is now a successful attorney in Flora and a loyal Cougar fan.
Asked what he expects Saturday when Carroll faces favored Northfield (14-8), winner of eight of its last 11 games and a 36-34 winner over Wabash in the Lewis Cass Sectional title game, Hodson replied: “I just want them to come out ready to play, and not just sit there and be satisfied or intimidated.”
The Cougars won four games by a total of 12 total points in the 2007-08 campaign and lost four by the same margin including a one-point overtime tilt. Cougar fear and intimidation are conspicuously absent.
The question remains, if Carroll does a Milan rerun of 1954, what do they call the movie?
Gene F. Conard covers high school sports for the Tribune.

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