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INDIANAPOLIS – When entering Parke County, signage prominently displayed along several major roads highlight what most visitors likely already know.

The small, rural western Indiana county sitting along the Wabash River is considered the “Covered Bridge Capital of USA.”

Parke Heritage coach Rich Schelsky, a 1993 Rockville graduate, is no stranger to this fact, but there’s one county sign, in particular, that routinely garners his attention.

A sign which Schelsky and his fourth-ranked Class 2A Wolves (26-4) are determined to occupy after the 116th annual IHSAA Boys Basketball State Finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday.

“When you drive into Parke County that’s the first thing you see, so you can’t miss it. There’s a lot of athletic pride in our county,” Schelsky said. “All the signs are up of all the past teams in various sports that have won state championships. We take a lot of pride in that, and that’s something we want to bring back to our community this weekend.”

On the sign, Riverton Parke, and former schools Turkey Run and Rockville, which consolidated eight years ago into Parke Heritage, are recognized.

If the Wolves can continue to “knock down the door,” like their season-long mantra emphasizes, then their place on the county hallmark would require some enthusiastic alteration.

However, nothing is guaranteed.

Something the Wolves firmly understand after finishing 2A state runner-up in 2021 during their first and previous State Finals appearance.

To become the school’s first state champion in any sport, the Wolves will need to slow down the third-ranked Westview Warriors (27-1), who haven’t lost a game since Dec. 1 at 4A No. 6 Northridge, 68-56, while averaging 65.96 points per game.

Parke Heritage has the defensive prowess to challenge, allowing just 43.10 ppg, which ranks ninth best in 2A and 19th overall.

“To be here right now, it just feels great, but we got one more to go,” Parke Heritage senior guard Treigh Schelsky said. “Each weekend we’ve been fighting just to have one more week with the guys, one more week of practice. Now that we’re here, it is a weird feeling, but obviously, I’m super excited. You want to enjoy every moment, but you also want to focus in on the game plan and do whatever you can to win.”

Winning the Southport Semi-State proved the biggest hurdle for Parke Heritage the past three years after losing in the semifinal round in 2023 and the finals in both 2024 and 2025. Breaking through in their fourth consecutive attempt, the Wolves eliminated No. 6 Triton Central, 44-38, and No. 8 Linton-Stockton, 66-53, to return to downtown Indianapolis.

The last time Parke Heritage reached state, the sports world was still in active COVID protocols, limiting attendance, as coach Schelsky led the Wolves to a 27-4 finish with his son Treigh serving as the team’s manager.

“I was a seventh grader at the time, water boy,” Treigh Schelsky reminisced. “Not really any crowd and a bunch of masks. To me from what I can remember, obviously, a sad day when we couldn’t get the job done, and I feel for those guys that they didn’t get the full experience. That’s something my dad talked about to our team. We talked about making the most of this week and enjoying it.”

Treigh Schelsky, a Huntington commit, and 6-foot-9 senior Isaac Pickel (7.6 rebounds per game) aren’t losing sight of the main goal either with both providing 15.8 and 10.4 ppg, respectively.

The duo in addition to 6-4 junior forward Carter Crum (13.5 ppg), junior guard Brenden Goins (7.5 ppg), and sophomore Joel Miller (8.9 ppg) fuel Parke Heritage’s inside-out balanced attack.

“Everyone talks about our big three, me, Isaac and Carter Crum, but we have a lot of guys that can score in many ways,” Treigh Schelsky said. “For a 2A team, that’s very unique. We are a unique team in a way that we play two post guys. That’s hard to guard, but we also put three guards out there that can shoot and get downhill at the same time.”

The Class 2A State Championship featuring Parke Heritage (26-4) and Westview (27-1) will stream via PPV on IHSAAtv.org this Saturday at approximately 12:45 pm ET / 11:45 CT!

Westview, a four-time state finalist and two-time 2A state champion (1999, 2000), intends to counter with a speedy, guard-heavy lineup that has rattled off 26 straight wins to return to state since finishing runner-up in 2014.

“The good part about going on a run this long is we have seen a lot of different things and been able to weather the storm through whatever it was, so we’ve got several different ways that we could guard that (post),” Westview coach Chandler Prible said.

“We’ll be able to bounce through a few different things to try to make it tougher on them. I think our guys will be ready to adjust.”

Led by senior guard Kaden Grau (18.5 ppg) and junior guard Auston Schlabach (19.7 ppg), the Warriors defeated No. 7 Gary 21st Century, 63-59, to win their seventh regional title all time and later outlasted No. 9 Lapel, 65-62, to open the Muncie Central Semi-State.

Junior guard Daniel Yoder (11.7 ppg) converts 40 percent of his 3-point attempts just behind Grau, who buries long-range jumpers at 51 percent efficiency.

“That’s the thing about having that big guy when you’re playing a team of all guards is he does have to guard somebody as well,” said Prible, who owns a 112-43 record in six seasons of coaching overall. “It’ll be an interesting matchup because we are two very different teams.”

While contrasting in style, both programs have been building toward this opportunity with Parke Heritage posting a 94-25 record the last four seasons compared to Westview’s 82-24 mark over the same time.

“You always have to bring your best game, especially in the postseason because any bad game, you can be done,” Schlabach said. “It would mean everything to win because of the amount of support that we get. To bring that back for the community and to be in the history books, it’d mean a lot and something I always dreamed of doing.”