Ethan Ferba had big plans for the offseason.
The Hobart diver got a taste of competing against the best when he finished 26th at the IHSAA state swimming and diving competition last February in Indianapolis.
When Ferba returned to Northwest Indiana, he sat down with Hobart diving coach Katharine Rinas and the two put together a summer workout plan that would allow the then-sophomore to take his diving to the next level.
Then COVID-19 hit and pools around the Region shutdown, including Hobartâs sparkling new swim facility.
âWhen everything with COVID happened, it was bad,â Ferba said. âWe had a whole summer planned out for workouts. It made all those plans go away.â
Nothing could ve prepared him for the news he would receive during his shift. I actually got a text that morning from a college coach saying, Dwayne, congratulations! I saw you on (TV), Johnson said. It caught me off guard because I wasn t even aware of it. I just asked him, Where did you see it? And then I ended up getting a video sent to me by my mother.
On Saturday, Calumet s standout defensive back was announced as the recipient of the NFL s Way to Play award for a tackle he made on a kickoff against River Forest on Oct. 9.
It was the seventh rejection that proved to be the most important.
In the closing seconds of yet another tight matchup with Penn, Crown Point s 6-foot-4 forward swatted a running right-handed shot by Kingsmen guard Grace Schutt to seal the Bulldogs 44-42 home victory Dec. 5.
The Purdue commit fell to the floor as the final buzzer sounded, while the rest of her teammates jumped for joy. I was actually on the ground when everybody else was celebrating, but they all lifted me up. They re great teammates, Stoddard said. The entire game they just funneled everybody into me, which helped me get blocks.