Penn High School - Bittersweet Yearbook (Mishawaka, IN)

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104 Big wins balance mediocre start A lot of changes dotted the 1975-76 edition of the Penn basketball team: new coaches, new opponents, and a new hol- iday tourney Steve Yoder, former head caoch at Plymouth high school, took the reins at the beginning of the year. Rick Bowen assisted him along with B-team coach Bruce Coffman All was not the proverbial bed of roses as Yoder saw himself faced with prob- lems trom the start, Penn dropped their first four mainly because of the team’s inconsistent tendencies. The Kingsmen played great ball with the tougher teams and lost, but couldn't keep it going against the lesser foes, losing these also. All coaches must recognize the need for change. Hoping for improvement, Yoder elevated three junior varstiy mem- bers which resulted in back-to-back wins over tough Goshen, St. Joe, Marian and Gary West squads, with a 10 point loss to powerful Elkhart Central sandwiched between the double wins. While it was a year of changes, it was also a year of heartbreaks. The Kingsmen had suffered two one-point losses and one by just a basket with two games Temaining in the season. Also in the hard knock category would have to be the loss of senior Scott Laidig for the entire first stanza because of a knee operation. His improvement with each game was wel- comed by fans and coaches alike An upset-minded Kingsmen with noth- ing to lose almost had a sectional crown for the first time since 1973. In their opener, the Penn Kingsmen defeated a scrappy but small Jimtown squad by the score of 45-40. In the 1976 sectional's closest game, Penn edged out the Goshen Redskins, 51-50, on some last second heroics. Facing one of the state's top 20 teams in Elkhart Central, the Black and Gold placed well before succumbing, 65-51 Top left Mark Zeltwanger scores two with a corner shot. Top right Fighting to get the shot off, Dave Shellito scores tor the Kingsmen. Right Coach Yoder tells them what's fo be done on the floor.

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Kingsmen place five in sectionals While only advancing one wrestler to the state competition, the 1975-76 Kings- men grapplers placed five in the section- als. Kent Schmeltz was the only one to survive regionals as Scott Covert, Mike Christofeno, Dan Hoffman and Greg Cunningham were all defeated in early competition Senior Schmeltz handed +1seeded Larry Hall of Mishawaka his first defeat on the way to regional wrestling. Hall had defeated Schmeltz three times in the reg- ular season Juniors Christofeno and Covert were seeded first along with senior Cunning- ham before their upsets. While this year's varsity squad com- piled a very respectable record of 6-3-1, with their only losses being to LaSalle, Mishawaka and Goshen, the B-team coached by Wally Yoeman, certainly added to coach Dave Geyer's hopes for improvement next year as they were undefeated and captured firsts in two area B-team tournaments Top Heavyweight Greg George stays on top of a tough opponent Bottom left With the lift of an arm, Senior Kent Schmeltz is the official winner. Center Bob Troup tries to turn his opponent over for the pin. Below Varsity coach Dave Geyer awaits the final decision ina close match: 103

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