Hauser Eliminates Regional Champion Bloomfield 54-40 in Class A Semistate

Bloomfield arrived at the Hatchet House in Washington on Saturday as regional champions for the first time since 2019. They left with a season-ending 54-40 loss to Hauser, whose Jets advanced to the Class A semistate title game on March 21.

The result continued Hauser's surge through the tournament. The Jets entered at 25-2, having cruised past South Decatur in the regional round at Seymour, and brought the momentum of back-to-back regional championships into the noon semifinal at Washington. Bloomfield, at 19-8, had ridden the production of Blake Neill to that regional crown, with Neill scoring 28 points in the Cardinals' win over Northeast Dubois the week prior. The senior has surpassed 2,000 career points, a milestone that made him one of the more decorated players left in the Class A field. Hauser held Bloomfield 14 points below their regional-round output.

The loss ends Bloomfield's run just one win short of the semistate final, capping a season that had genuine stakes after the program's long wait to return to this stage.

For Hauser head coach Trent Moorhead, the win deepened a program trajectory he has been building since taking the job in 2022. A 2014 South Ripley graduate, Moorhead knows the weight of this tournament stage: last season, his Jets lost 69-67 to Orleans in the semistate, a team that went on to win the state title. Saturday's 14-point margin offered a sharper result.

Moorhead had spoken directly about the challenge Bloomfield posed before the game. "All teams playing at this stage of the tournament are great teams, and Bloomfield has proven that," he said. "They have a very high-profile scorer in Blake Neill and other veteran pieces around him. We'll have to put together a solid 32 minutes of Hauser basketball."

The venue itself carried meaning for Moorhead. "Very excited to get to play in a historic venue like the Hatchet House," he said. "We know Hauser fans would drive anywhere to come support us, so we're not worried about traveling a bit further this year. We are just incredibly excited for the opportunity to compete for a trip to the state championship."

Basketball runs deep in the Moorhead family. His grandfather Gus played at Hanover College before coaching at Versailles High School and South Ripley, compiling a 253-177 record across 17 seasons. His father Rob, now South Ripley's superintendent, coached 11 years at South Dearborn and led the Knights to a sectional title in 1995. His brother Brad currently serves as South Dearborn's head basketball coach.

Hauser's win set up a semistate title game at 8 p.m. Saturday, with Barr-Reeve and Liberty Christian meeting in the earlier 10 a.m. semifinal to determine the other finalist. Barr-Reeve entered at 25-1, Liberty Christian at 19-7.