Photo by Keith Stewart
Meridian athletic director Eric Hurelbrink hands Sullivan's four seniors the Okaw Valley Tournament championship trophy Saturday night after the Redskins beat Meridian 53-46.

Sullivan battles through OV Tourney, defeating host in Championship Saturday

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

“Why not us.”

What had been a rhetorical question and even mantra became a simple statement Saturday night, when Sullivan, the no. 5 seed, upended no. 7 seed and host Meridian in the Okaw Valley tournament championship 53-46.

After 12 long years, the trophy came back to Sullivan in what is the final year of the Okaw’s existence. Sullivan last won the conference tourney in 2002 when they defeated Monticello 51-43. But it was 14 years ago that a young Chester Reeder, then a jr. on the basketball team, was a part of the 99' Sullivan group to win the trophy.

Now in his first year as head coach, Reeder and company signed off on the irony with Saturday’s win.

“It means so much. I’m just so happy for these kids, especially these seniors,” said an emotional Reeder after Saturday’s game. “They’ve been told their whole life that they aren’t going to be successful. I was told when I took the job that it was going to be a struggle, that we weren’t going to win very many games. I just kept telling them, ‘Don’t believe what you hear. Buy into being there for each other. Play tough, play together, and worry about the 30 guys that we have in the program and see what happens. Play as hard as you can and see what happens.’”
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