(2021) PF Curt Hopf

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Rangers 60, Commodores 44:   Forest Park made sure to break their two-game losing skid by jumping out to a quick start en route to a victory over Perry Central.  The Rangers led 27-20 at halftime and opened up an even bigger deficit after outscoring the Commodores 22-10 in the third quarter.  Curt Hopf led Forest Park with 16 points while Drew Howard added 11. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Forest Park over South Spencer  68 - 44.  Curt Hopf had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Forest Park (9-6) over Jasper (9-4) 54 - 51.  Hopf with 9 pts. and 8 reb.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Southridge (Colson Montgomery) defeated Forest Park 56 - 51.  Colson Montgomery led Southridge with 23 points and eight rebounds.   Hopf with 15 pts. for Forest Park in a losing effort.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Wildcats 69, Rangers 48: Evansville Mater Dei jumped out to a seven-point lead immediately and never looked back as they defeated Forest Park in Ferdinand on Thursday.

The Rangers were still in striking distance as they headed into the final quarter of play, trailing 55-42. But Mater Dei used a 14-6 advantage in the final period to pull away for good and end any hopes of a Ranger comeback.

Curt Hopf led Forest Park with 15 points and eight rebounds while Simon Jacob also finished in double-figures with 11 points.

Zach Schoenstein led Mater Dei with 21 points (five three-pointers) while Logan Carter and Andy Heldman added 15 and 13, respectively.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Forest Park beat Ev. Wood Memorial 62 - 43.  Hopf with 24 pts.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Forest Park (11-9) beaten by Blake Sisley and Heritage Hills (19-1)  69-55.  Hopf with 20 pts. and 9 reb. for FP.

[SlamaJamaSisley]

I believe I saw Hopf behind the bench for the OSU game.  Can anyone confirm?

[Brass Cannon]

10 minutes ago, InArchWeTrust said:

I believe I saw Hopf behind the bench for the OSU game.  Can anyone confirm?

I believe he was going to be there

[ap2345]

1 hour ago, Brass Cannon said:

I believe he was going to be there

The only names I heard about included Franklin, TJD, Leal, Galloway, Furst, and Montgomery. Never heard anything about Hopf being in attendance. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Rangers 55, Pioneers 46: After a tough PAC loss last Friday to Heritage Hills, the Forest Park boys basketball team bounced back with a road victory over Boonville on Tuesday evening.

The Rangers came out of the gate with a fiery intensity as they held the Pioneers to just two first quarter points and went into the halftime break ahead 20-14.

The Pioneers had a 17-10 advantage in the third quarter to take a 31-30 lead into the final quarter but Forest Park wouldn’t goa way easily.

Drew Howard’s three-point shot early in the quarter made it 37-36 Rangers and they’d never surrender the lead from there, scoring 25 points in the quarter to seal the deal.

Curt Hopf led the Rangers with a 19-point, 16-rebound performance while Drew Howard added 14 points. Simon Jacob also added nine points and 12 rebounds.

[Geometry Hoosier]

Rangers 55, Pioneers 46: After a tough PAC loss last Friday to Heritage Hills, the Forest Park boys basketball team bounced back with a road victory over Boonville on Tuesday evening.

The Rangers came out of the gate with a fiery intensity as they held the Pioneers to just two first quarter points and went into the halftime break ahead 20-14.

The Pioneers had a 17-10 advantage in the third quarter to take a 31-30 lead into the final quarter but Forest Park wouldn’t goa way easily.

Drew Howard’s three-point shot early in the quarter made it 37-36 Rangers and they’d never surrender the lead from there, scoring 25 points in the quarter to seal the deal.

Curt Hopf led the Rangers with a 19-point, 16-rebound performance while Drew Howard added 14 points. Simon Jacob also added nine points and 12 rebounds.

Took a drive over to Boonville to watch this game. I talked to some FP fans who told me their best shooter was taken out Friday and was done for the year with a bad knee injury. They also told me Curt likes to shoot a lot from the outside but isn't real accurate from there. Boonville' biggest guy was 6'4", but the coach took a chapter out of Crean's playbook and put a 6' guy on Hopf for a while. No matter who was on him though he got to the basket at will on Boonville's defense and had no trouble rebounding over them. I believe he was 0-4 from 3 and if I had to guess was probably 60% from the line (I should have kept better stats).


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

7 hours ago, Geometry Hoosier said:

 

 (I should have kept better stats).
 

 

Don't let that happen again!    

Just kidding.  That's the kind of info we want to see.  Way too often all we can ever get is simple point and maybe rebound totals.  

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Another double-double from sophomore Curt Hopf helped lead Forest Park to victory over Pike Central in Petersburg on Saturday evening.

Hopf finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.

The Rangers jumped out to a 7-0 start thanks to buckets from Hopf and Elliott Rothgerber and led 12-5 at the end of the first quarter.

They jumped out to a 23-9 lead in the second quarter thanks to more buckets from Hopf and Reid Steffe.

The Chargers hung around as they only trailed 23-14 at halftime and had the lead cut down to just six points in the third quarter. However, a three-pointer from Steffe late in the third period helped push Forest Park’s lead up by double-digits once again.

Forest Park finished strong by holding Pike Central to just six fourth quarter points en route to the 47-30 victory.

Hopf led the way with 19 points and 11 rebounds while Simon Jacob finished with 11 points and seven rebounds and Reid Steffe added 10 points.

Ethan Scott led Pike Central with 11 points.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Forest Park sectional team rankings

FOREST PARK
SECT. RANK	STATE RANK	TEAM	OVERALL RATING	SCHEDULE STRENGTH  RANK		RECENT   RATING   RANK		GOLDEN MEAN    RATING   RANK
1	93	Tell City	75.37	63.54	182	75.67	88	75.54	91
2	111	Evansville Mater Dei	73.10	67.60	135	70.27	133	73.22	112
3	162	Forest Park	68.06	65.04	165	68.31	153	68.05	163
4	242	Tecumseh	59.24	59.36	251	59.73	227	59.93	238
5	284	Perry Central	54.53	62.06	201	53.47	291	55.14	275
6	293	North Posey	54.14	63.07	186	55.56	271	53.88	291
7	294	South Spencer	53.93	61.57	207	54.09	285	54.28	287

[SlamaJamaSisley]

Tell City is sitting pretty in this one.  Tough road for Hopf and the Rangers with Mater Dei (most likely) lurking in the 2nd round and probably Tell City in the championship game.  

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Rangers 49, Titans 43: After a sluggish start, the Forest Park boys basketball team responded with intensity to defeat Gibson Southern in Fort Branch on Tuesday evening.

The Rangers found themselves down 17-11 at the end of the first quarter but they used a 10-2 advantage in the second quarter to pull ahead 21-19 at the halftime break.  While the third quarter was neck-and-neck, the Rangers used a 15-9 advantage in the fourth quarter to seal the victory. Curt Hopf broke a 33-33 tie early in the quarter and Forest Park never looked back from there.

Hopf finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds while Drew Howard also added 18 points.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Forest Park was down 40 - 33 at the end of the 3rd Q but came from behind to beat Perry Central  54 - 50.  Hopf with 17 pts.         

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Down by seven heading into the fourth quarter, the Forest Park boys basketball team knew it needed a spark to avoid a first round sectional exit.

While those situations can be stressful for some, freshman guard Drew Howard accepted the challenge.

In his first career sectional appearance, Howard knocked down six three-pointers (four in the fourth quarter) for a career-high 20 points in the Rangers 54-50 comeback victory over Perry Central on Tuesday night in the Class 2A sectional in Huntingburg.

“We were kind of getting down on ourselves so I knew we had to get a spark so I just hit a shot,” Howard said. “I was like alright, I’m going to keep shooting and then I just was able to keep making them.”

At the beginning of the season, Howard wasn’t even officially on Forest Park’s varsity roster.

However, it wasn’t a surprise to head coach David Welp that he ended up working his way into the Rangers rotation — and eventually, the starting lineup.

“We knew he was capable of becoming a phenomenal athlete,” Welp said. “I can’t expect any more out of him than what he did tonight. He led us in more ways than scoring —he runs the point, takes care of the basketball and gets us in our offense. I’m just very proud of his performance.”

Howard, who finished with seven rebounds and four assists to go along with his team-high 20 points, admits he was a little nervous for his first ever sectional game.

But once he got into his rhythm and the Forest Park student section got behind him, it was smooth sailing.

“I was nervous but then I hit the first couple of threes and that got the nerves out,” Howard said. “Once the crowd got into it that pumped up and just got me confident.”

Another player that had his fair share of big plays for the Rangers was sophomore forward Curt Hopf.

Hopf finished with 17 points and had two big dunks — the first one put Forest Park (15-9) ahead 24-15 before the Commodores (8-16) made a 7-0 run prior to halftime while the second one came during the Rangers late 5-0 run that gave them lead for good.

The big man had his fair share of key plays during his first-ever sectional last year but he’s giving the upper edge to Howard’s performance this season.

“I don’t know if I did that good in sectional,” Hopf said with a laugh. “I’m extremely proud of him coming in as a freshman and knocking down those huge shots — there’s nothing more you can ask of him.”

Forest Park led 25-21 at the halftime break but the Commodores started to gain momentum midway through the third quarter thanks to sophomore forward Patrick Mitchell. The big man hit two big three-pointers to give the Commodores a 32-30 lead. Tate Mullis, Cain Hohne and Ryan Hubert helped push Perry Central up 40-33 to end the quarter.

Howard started the fourth quarter off with a three-pointer for Forest Park and tied things up at the 4:51 mark. Sophomore forward Simon Jacob was aggressive late and was able to get to the free-throw line six times where he made five of his shots.

Forest Park seniors Claire Mehling, left, Emily Clifton, and Katelyn Englert react to a play on the court during Wednesday's class 2A boys basketball sectional in Huntingburg. The Rangers student sectional was out in full force on Tuesday evening and there's no denying that the strong backing of the crowd helped push Forest Park to a fourth quarter comeback.

While the Rangers and Commodores exchanged buckets, and therefore the lead, Forest Park controlled it for good after Howard’s two three-pointers and Hopf’s monster dunk with 3:06 remaining made it 50-44.

Perry Central got back within four points but free throws from Jacob and seniors Elliott Rothgerber and Garret Jochem sealed the deal for the Rangers.

With the victory, Forest Park advances to Friday’s semifinal round where they’ll face Evansville Mater Dei (16-7) at 8 p.m. — the Wildcats defeated the Rangers 69-48 in Ferdinand earlier this year.

The Rangers are prepared for whatever the Wildcats may throw their way come Friday.

"Mater Dei is a tough opponent — they're going to exploit us at times and challenge us in a lot of way different ways," Welp said. "We're going to take it possession by possession with a next play mentality. We're going to have to step up again to compete with them."

Hopf added: "We're underdogs right now and we knew that coming in. We want to keep this Cinderella story going."

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Hopf and Forest Park's season ended with a 63 - 55 loss to Ev. Mater Dei.   I think Hopf finished with 21 pts.