Before we get to the Outside the Huddle All-Area Team and our end-of-year awards, Bounce wanted to take some time and take a last glance at area conferences and hand out some league-specific hardware.
We move on to the NE8 boys.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jack Scheumann, Bellmont
With Bellmont grabbing a share of the NE8 title, a lot of the focus has to go to Scheumann who had a steady progression through his high school years but was a through the roof scorer and leader as a senior to help get Bellmont a bit of a mountaintop with the NE8 title.
Scheumann was one of the best scorers in the entire area, posting 18.4 points per game including an area best 42 points near the end of the season in a loss to Bishop Luers. The 42 point outing alone was enough to show how dominant that Scheumann could be but throughout the season he was an incredibly difficult defensive assignment for the area with his ability to shoot leading defenders right into his ability to drive downhill aggressively through most who opposed him.
HONORABLE MENTION: Jackson McGee (Leo), Ashton Federspiel (Norwell), Brady Hartman (Columbia City), Ajani Washington (New Haven)
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Jackson McGee, Leo
If you know Bounce’s awards and OTH history, you know MVP means something different than Player of the Year. MVP to us is someone who is legit the most valuable to their team and overall success of that program.
McGee’s ability to create on the offensive end was a stellar part of what led Leo in some fairly critical games. He shouldered an offensive load for a second straight season and even with some bright spots around him from others in an evolving Leo offense, he was the one that the Lions had to lean on a lot. It showed as his 19.1 points per game led the NE8 and was the sixth highest scoring average in Northeast Indiana.
McGee also added 7.6 rebounds per game for the Lions, often helping the team convert defensive stops into offensive opportunities with his ability grab aggressive rebounds and immediately be able to push into transition with solid tempo.
HONORABLE MENTION: JC Cottrell (New Haven), Brady Hartman (Columbia City), Caden Pettis (DeKalb), Ryker Quake (East Noble), Kobe Ritchie (East Noble), Zach Nash (Huntington North)
BREAKOUT PLAYER: Ashton Federspiel, Norwell
What an outstanding season for Federspiel, who came in as one of the most seasoned players for Norwell but it was a team without a ton of seasoning overall. He took over in the early part of the season and was certainly in conversation as Northeast Indiana’s best overall player during the 2023-24 season for a big chunk of his senior year.
Federspiel was a difficult to guard big man with some guard like quickness that helped in spurts to spin around or out maneuver whoever was defending him. And as he showed what he could do early as a double double potential monster, those defenders became tougher and better. But Federspiel rarely relented as he used his physicality and versatility to keep Norwell in the NE8 title conversation far longer than those outside of the Ossian area expected them to.
In the end, his averages dipped a little but he still scored 17.5 points per game with 5.8 rebounds and was one of the area and NE8’s more prolific overall offensive talents.
HONORABLE MENTION: Ethan Zahn (Huntington North), Solomon Richard (Leo), Kobe Ritchie (East Noble), Landon Ruoff (Leo)
COACH OF THE YEAR: Matt Schauss, Columbia City
Credit to the co-NE8 champions who overcame losing one of the best players in the recent and not so recent history of their program and still claimed a share of the title in what was the Wild West of the NE8 this season.
Schauss helped develop a burgeoning lineup, balancing seniors and underclassmen well to keep Columbia City on top of their game in big moments, including buzzer beating wins over Carroll and Bellmont, as well as statement victories opposite Leo and Homestead.
In his fourth season leading Columbia City, you could really tell this was a year when Schauss’ program reflected his own likeness the most. He was able to help jell young players like Owen Marshall with unestablished leaders like Brady Hartman and Matt Mulligan, among others, to make a bit of a perfect storm as the Eagles finished 16-8 with wins in 9 of their final 11 games.
HONORABLE MENTION: Peyton Selking (Bellmont), Mike McBride (Norwell)
GAME OF THE YEAR: Bellmont at Columbia City, January 6
In the game that helped determine the NE8 race, the host Eagles came out on the winning end thanks to a tremendous final play that got the ball into the hands of Aiden Denning for a 57-54 win over a Bellmont team that looked all but unbeatable in the conference race up until that point.
The inbounds pass was great, the assist from Stratton Fuller (who usually hits the buzzer beaters in those parts) to Denning was quick and spot on and it all added a lot more energy to what was already a really good basketball game.
Matt Mulligan (29 points) and Jack Scheumann (25 points) did battle all night to make the game already the most compelling in the NE8 all season before the theatrics at the end. In the end, Scheumann hit a three with 1.3 seconds left to tie the game at 54 after Owen Marshall had hit one of his two on the other end for Columbia City. And then the Eagles got the win on the Denning three and we had all of the makings of an instant classic.
EARLY 2025 NE8 CHAMPION PREDICTION: East Noble
With two of the best breakout players of the conference returning, including one who was First Team All-NE8, the Knights have a big and bright future ahead of them.
The top five scorers from the 2023-24 Knights all return and this is one of those teams where you feel like they have the right coach to push into the next level next season as many of the teams around them are going to be searching for new identities.
Not so much scrambling for East Noble, who welcomes back first team all-conference player Ryker Quake, team leading rebounder and crucial centerpiece Kobe Ritchie and well as three diverse combo guards who can all handle the ball and be fire starters for EN with Nathan Bowker, Mason Treesh and Landon Swogger.
These opinions represent those of Bounce and Outside the Huddle. No opinions expressed on Outside the Huddle represent those of any of our advertisers. Follow Bounce on Twitter at Bounce_OTH
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