MIDDLEBURY — Heading into the 2025-26 season with 24 years of experience and more than 330 wins as an Indiana high school boys basketball head coach, Scott Radeker had never won an IHSAA regional championship until Northridge beat South Bend Saint Joseph 73-67 Saturday, March 14 at Plymouth High School.
As the final buzzer sounded and his players celebrated at midcourt, Radeker lifted both arms above his head and pointed both index fingers to the sky. He ran past his players toward the Northridge student section to momentarily cherish the biggest win of his career with the Raiders’ faithful fans.
After going through the post-game handshake line with the Huskies’ coaches and players, as well as his post-game interview on Sports Michiana, Radeker finally celebrated with his own players and coaching staff. The highlight of Radeker’s celebration came when he ceremoniously cut down the remaining net after the rest of the Raiders got their individual pieces, swinging his portion around in the air while standing atop a ladder.
It’s not often a head coach shows as much emotion after a victory as Radeker did that night, but it wasn’t because the win was a milestone for himself, it was because he knew how important a triumph it was for Middlebury. The Raiders had just won the first regional crown in program history.
“It’s a big deal to people around here,” Radeker said. “People have been waiting for this for years, and now they get to live it through the kids and this team. We don’t take that lightly. You never know whose life you’re impacting.”
Radeker said he tries to bring that energy and positive mindset into each game or practice, hoping that his players feed off it. More than that, he wants the Raiders to know that it’s okay to celebrate their wins both on and off the court.
That’s something senior Hayden Johnson is trying to take to heart, even if he isn’t outwardly as fiery as Radeker. The St. Francis (IN) commit fouled out of the regional championship with four minutes left, and after a few moments of frustration and stress, he turned himself into a pseudo-coach on the Northridge bench.
Moments later, he was helping hoist a regional title trophy.
“It felt super surreal; I honestly still haven’t processed it fully,” Johnson said. “All of the happiness throughout the gym was amazing.”
Northridge is 25-1 heading into an IHSAA 4A semi-state semifinal vs. Homestead (20-6) at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 21 at Elkhart’s North Side Gym. The Raiders’ 19 straight victories make for the fourth-longest winning streak of the 32 teams remaining in all four classes.
Radeker said the Raiders’ lone loss (to Goshen) not only has served as motivation for the rest of the season, but the way Northridge responded to defeat marked a shift in the season as a whole. The next three games were at the Phil Cox Memorial Tournament in Kokomo, where the Raiders went 3-0 to win the invitational, including a 40-point outburst from senior Brady Scholl vs. Merrillville and a victory vs. South Bend Riley in the championship.
“Success breeds success; when you win, you want more of it,” Radeker said. “You have to stay hungry. You have to stay driven, and that’s the rallying cry.”
Should Northridge beat the Spartans in the semifinal, the Raiders will compete for the semi-state championship against the winner of Crown Point (23-1) vs. Fort Wayne Snider (20-7). That game would tip-off at 7 p.m. ET, in the same gym where Northridge won its first sectional crown since 2020 just two weeks ago.
If the Raiders are able to make the state finals, it would be the first time any Northridge basketball team did so — boys or girls. It would mark the first time an Elkhart County boys program has done so since NorthWood in 2023.
“At this point, we’ve already made history,” Johnson said. “We still feel like we’re going to keep making history.”
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at ksmedley@usatodayco.com or follow him on X @KyleMSmedley.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Northridge boys basketball motivated to make more history at semi-state
Reporting by Kyle Smedley, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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