Photo by Keith Stewart
St. Teresa’s Christian Williams drives past Layne McMahon Tuesday evening. Williams finished with 24 points, 10 of which came in the final period.

February 25, 2015

Poor third quarter along with Williams’ 24 points hands Redskins season-ender

By Matt Kracht
& Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

It was all Redskins Monday night in the first game of the ISHA class 2A regional at St Teresa, but the same performance could not be repeated Tuesday as Sullivan fell to no. 1 seed and host 51-32 in the regional semifinal.
The night before, Sullivan had their best shooting performance of the season with Zach Hrvol knocking down five three pointers tallying 24 points including three money balls in the first quarter. Nick Frerichs and Alec Ballinger added three deep treys apiece and both finished with 11 points. Head coach Chester Reeder has watched his team go from struggling to score early on in the season to filling up the bucket on a seven game win streak.
“It was by far our best shooting effort. We were 11-17 from three-point; the most we had in a game before this was five. The second quarter was where we won the game, especially defensively holding them to five points and really put it on them.” Read More

Photo by Keith Stewart
Emily Neuhauser eyes the basket from below Tuesday. Neuhauser finished with 25 points as did Brittin Boyer.

February 11, 2015

Will take on T-Town Thursday in Pana

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Tuesday night’s regional semi-final in Pana was never much of a contest as Sullivan defeated Shelbyville for the third time this year, 66-24. But the landslide victory did afford a little practice for both Sullivan’s bench and defense, should either need to get creative further into the post-season.
“We switched our defense up most of the night trying to kind of practice different things that we may have to use down the road,” said head coach Sheri McCain. “We were trying to keep them out of the paint. I thought we played pretty well.”
Sullivan switched between man, a 3-2, and a 2-3 zone most of the night, during almost all of which they kept Shelbyville outside the paint where the Lady Rams’ shots struggled to fall. Read More

Photo by Keith Stewart
Pictured are this year’s Okaw Valley girls’ varsity basketball seniors who were celebrated Monday night. From left to right: Kali Forsyth, Amy Orris, Paige Harlin, Amanda McClain, and Savannah Birch. The Lady Timberwolves fell to Arcola 35-28.

February 4, 2015

31 giveaways help Arcola overcome Lady T-Wolves

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Considering Okaw Valley had already committed 15 turnovers at the half and still led 16-14 over Arcola had a lot to do with boxing out and their typical stalwart defense. But given the chance to correct their course in the second half, OV failed to do so, instead committing another 16 turnovers that would prove too much to sustain a lead as they fell 28-35 on senior night.
“Unforced errors, that’s what killed us tonight,” said head coach Don Gardner. “And I don’t know if it was the whole senior night thing with emotions running high– not to take anything away from Arcola, they’re a very good team. Obviously they’re very well-coached, but I thought we played with them tonight, and it was a very winnable game. We just let it slip out of our grasp.” Read More

Photo by Brandi Denton
Pictured are members of the 93’ Findlay eight grade boys’ basketball team. Back row, left to right: Coach Herb Bricker, Anthony Scott, Zac Atkinson, Travis Park, and Nick Berry; Front row: Curtis Shinn, Brock Nichols, cheerleaders Robin Perry and Jamie Martinski, and Michael Williams.

January 21, 2015

‘93 team remembered for Elite 8 run

By Matt Kracht
NP Sports Reporter

Herb Bricker has been coaching basketball in the area for more than 15 years. But there’s one game in particular that still sticks out to him–one where he enjoyed having a pair of scissors in one hand and a net in the other.
And last Thursday night that game, in part, along with the 1993 Findlay 8th grade boys’ basketball team was recognized almost 20 years after their Elite 8 run in the state tournament. That year the team coached by Bricker went 18-4 with Bricker winning IESA coach of the year.
“After our win, the president of the IESA stayed in our hotel, and he made a point to tell me the defense we played was the most impressive he had since Andy Kaufmann in the mid 80s,” recalled Bricker.
Travis Parks confirmed just how important defense was to that team.
“Herb coached us from fourth grade that defense wins games,” he said. “That is just what it takes to win games.”
Bricker noted the team would try to hold opponents to 15 shot attempts per game and actually held a team to just four shot attempts in one contest. Read More

Photo by Keith Stewart
Peyton Hagerman (left) stands with Okaw Valley high school Principal Matt Shoaff (right) after scoring his 1000th career point Friday.

January 7, 2015

Game also marks Hagerman’s 1000th career point

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

The Timberwolves re-emerged in the regular season Friday evening and used a surging third quarter performance to pull away from Stewardson-Strasburg and ultimately win 67-53.

After Chandler Ballinger struck from deep to pull the Comets within five, Okaw Valley went on a 12-0 run that was capped with a Peyton Hagerman bucket to put the Timberwolves up 47-30.

The Comets’ freshman guard Brady Hansen would knock down a trey, but OV went unfazed. Devon Still’s putback was followed by Hagerman’s final bucket of the game, a drive from the right of the paint that also marked his 1000th career point. Read More