Arrows Shoot Down Patriots

Preble Shawnee has been a juggernaut to start the season. The Arrowheads steam rolled in their first two games 50-0 and 34-0, and next up was Tri-Village, who had won its first game decisively but had stumbled in the next game, losing 18-6...

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Franklin Monroe Volleyball Over North

Franklin Monroe volleyball defeats North in 3 straight sets.

South Soccer Over Dixie

South Boys 3-2 win over Dixie.  Hunter Bennett and Ian Kurtz scored.  Aaron Clark scored the final goal for the panthers of an assist from Jacob Wells. The panthers improved their record to 2-2-2 on the season. 

TVS girls soccer wins 4-2. Abby Robertson 3 goals Sydney Vorhis 1 goal.

South Soccer - 3-3 Tie Against Miami East

Twin Valley South tied Miami East 3-3.  TVS struck first with a great free kick from Hunter Bennett. East then scored to make the game 1-1 heading into the end of the half. East struck first in the second half to take the lead. Then Travis Lovely ripped a shot from about 35 yards out to tie it back at two. East then took the lead back in the last ten minutes of the game.  TVS kept pushing and got a goal within the last 3 minutes of the game to end the game 3-3. Daniel page took the ball down the right side and got a cross to Jesse Woods who put the ball in the back of the net. Zach Guehring had 19 saves for the panthers.

Coach Young commented, "I was very proud of the boys.  I know we really wanted to get the win, but considering they beat us 6-0 last year we can be happy with 1 point in the league.  I really thought we were the better team tonight we just couldn't catch a break. One of our better players had to sit out most of the first half with a pulled muscle, and then one of our kids shoes broke, so we just couldn't catch a break.  Hunter Bennett stepped up and moved to defense, a position which he has never played before.  He came up big for us and showed great leadership.  Overall I was happy with the effort we showed tonight, and I think we took a huge step in the right direction." 

South Ready for Football

Twin Valley South scrimmaged Middletown Madison this past weekend in their final scrimmage before starting the regular season next Friday at Dixie.  This season the team is under new head coach Clint Bartlett who takes over the helm from coach Tyler Cates.   Cates left South to take over the head coaching job at Covington after a 6-4 season.

Under Bartlett the team is running a different style of offense - a pro set offense with two backs in the back field and wide receivers.  Madison ran a wing T offense at first and later in the scrimmage ran some plays with a single wing.  In the early going the South offense had a tough time sustaining drives.   They had some decent runs at times but were thrown for loss or had penalties that put them in long yardage situations.

The Panthers had a tough time passing.  They threw sparingly but couldn't make critical catches when they were needed.  Madison mostly ran the ball as well, but they were a little more effective with their passing attack.  In the first half, Madison was able to score 4 times and in the second part of the scrimmage they were able to kick a decent field goal.  The kick was at least 35 yards, so not bad for a high school kicker.

South did have a respectable drive after the break.  First the defense stood up Madison, holding them to 3 plays and forcing them to give up the ball.  The offense seemed to feed off of that energy and put together their best drive of night going the distance and punching the ball in for their score.  The drive had to finish with the back up quarterback as the starting quarterback appeared to be having some sort of problem with his leg.  Still it was nice to see the team have the spirit and the ability to come back after being down.  After this the two teams began to substitute in the second half of the scrimmage - giving the reserves some field time.

South graduated some talent and are learning a new system under a new coach.  So there is a lot for new players to absorb in a short period of time. So inexperience at varsity play and with the new scheme will be factors for South to overcome. Their first game is a against Dixie, a team hungry for wins, coming off of a 1 win season last year.   The Hounds are down a little on numbers this season, while South has a deeper roster so fatigue could be a factor in this first game. The weather will be warm and players that have to go both ways will wear down fast. Since this game is against a SWBL school the start time will be 7pm.

Baseballs Dilemma

Recently FC Cincinnati drew over 35,000 fans to an exhibition soccer game against a British Team Crystal Palace.   Even though this was a unique event, the soccer club has been drawing well this season - over 16,000 a game.   Moreover these are young fans - the average attendee is in their mid-thirties.   Also something to note - this is not even major league soccer.   FC Cincinnati is probably the equivalent of an AA baseball team in their sport.   You have to wonder what the numbers would be if this was a major league soccer team.

My generation has always looked down their noses at soccer.   I can recall Pele being signed by the professional soccer league mainly as a PR stunt to get fans interested in their league.   It was partially successful as he did help the Cosmos win a championship, but soccer never really took off in the 1970's.   But soccer did gain inroads as youth leagues were set up and youngsters began to play soccer. So now that these players are adults, they understand the game and can follow it as my generation cannot.

Baseball was the nations pastime for the longest time.   It was the countries only professional sport for decades until football and basketball gained traction.   They have caught up with and pretty much passed up baseball.   There is more action in these two sports compared with the slow pace of baseball. You have to admit that there is a lot of standing around in this sport.   And I think that with our shorter attention spans we gravitate to events with more action.

This is proven out as baseball has the oldest fans of any of the major sports.   The average baseball fan is in their 50's.   The oldest fan demographic in professional sports.   Basketball and Soccer have the youngest fans interest while football is somewhere in between.   So baseball has to be worried.   They are not attracting so many in the youth leagues as they once did.   Once this generation of fans fades away, who will replace them?

The Reds are averaging over 24,000 paid attendance in a lackluster season.   But they have to be looking over their shoulder at this young upstart team that already is drawing about 2/3 of the fans that they are as a 1st year club in a mid tier league.   There are only so many sports dollars to go around and it looks like the younger generation is spending their money on soccer.   Once this current generation of baseball fans is gone there is a problem where fewer people will be around to spend money on baseball if they don't do something to get more young people interested in the game. 

The game needs to be sped up and have more action to appeal to a younger fan base.  There needs to be a limit on the number of foul balls and time outs are two quick changes that would speed things up a little.  I am sure that there are other means of speeding up games too. Traditionalists would not like toying with the sport, but it needs tinkering or risk gradually going into oblivion.

History Repeats Itself - South Coach to Covington

The last time that Covington had an opening for head football coach, they looked to the South for a replacement - Twin Valley South that is.  Dave Miller, who at that time had taken TVS to their deepest playoff run ever, was tapped for the position at Covington.  He has had great success there - making Covington a perennial playoff contender and a fixture as an upper echelon team in the CCC.  The Buccaneers had great success under his tutelage.

Dave Miller was a graduate of Centerville - where his father coached.  He is remaining in the Dayton area and will be coaching at Kettering Fairmont where he hopes to be coaching his sons.  So it is the end of one era for him and the beginning of another.

So Covington has decided to see if history will repeat itself by selecting another coach from TVS - Tyler Cates as Millers replacement.  Cates is a graduate of Arcanum where he was a running back.  So he has local roots in this area.  He has had success at South and ironically is one of the few coaches to beat Covington in back to back seasons.  He runs a positive program, He features the run offensively, but as we saw this last season, he is not afraid to utilize a passing based offense when he has the talent to do so.  Those are big shoes to step into in Covington, but I think that the young coach will fare well.

And for South it is back to square one as they begin anew to search for a coach. The program has been cyclical, for one they need some continuity at head coach in order to have continued success from year to year.

Dixie - Franklin Monroe Part Duo

It was just a week ago that Dixie overcame Franklin Monroe in a hotly contested game that went into overtime. This week the two teams met on a neutral court – Northmont High School in the first round of the state tournament. The contest did see some momentum swings and again it was a close game that was decided in the final minutes.

But first up for Dixie this week was Milton Union. This was a make up league game from the regular season that had been canceled because of snow. Dixie won their first game against Milton Union by double digits. And maybe the team was looking forward to the tournament game at the end of the week or maybe they were over confident from their earlier win, but Dixie started slow in the 1^st quarter.

The Bulldogs accumulated a double digit lead 17-7 in the 1^st quarter and kept that lead for most of the game. The Greyhounds went on a rampage in the last quarter and mounted a furious comeback that fell short. They ended their regular season on a down note 57-53.

But against Franklin Monroe, the Greyhounds raced out to an early lead. Seemingly not wanting to repeat their earlier mistake. Franklin Monroe started the game defensively in a zone defense and Dixie was able to find seams and score. They went on a little run in the last half of the 2^nd quarter and had a 34-22 lead at the break.

Dixie's defense allowed them to keep their lead in the 3^rd quarter. The team made steals and converted them into points. However, playing aggressive defense can also lead to fouls. And so early in the 4^th quarter Dixie was giving up bonus and also Cody Grubb had 4 fouls - hamstringing his playing time.

Dixie was up 45-34 entering the final quarter, but their shooting was cold. Franklin Monroe was in an aggressive man to man defense and Dixie found the scoring tough. Meanwhile Franklin Monroe went on a 12-0 run and briefly lead before Cody Grubb broke the Greyhound scoring drought with a 3 point shot. Now it was a battle to the wire as the 2 teams exchanged the lead several times. Franklin Monroe got a 3 point advantage with about 2 minutes left and Dixie went into a press to try and get a turnover.

Finally Dixie had to resort to fouling to get the ball back. The Jets shot well enough from the foul line and withstood Dixie's attempt at a comeback to win the rematch 61-57. It was a disappointing loss for the Greyhounds.

“We played our identity and that is man to man,” stated the Jet's coach Myer after the game, “That is the biggest change we made in the 2^nd half. They were getting good looks and making shots off our zone in the 1^st half. It seemed to disrupt their rhythm and they weren't making all their shots. And when we started the 4^th quarter, you could see in their eyes that they wanted this. We've played some really close games that we lost - tonight the team became unified when it mattered. We got stops on defense, we pulled down rebounds, and we were able to seal the win with free throws.“

“Franklin Monroe was the better team tonight,” stated Dixie's coach Williams, “Down the stretch we did not execute. We gave up too many points in the 4^th quarter. We also got into foul trouble and that took Cody Grubb out of the game. We could not get a good flow going in the 4^th quarter like we did in the first 3 quarters. You have to credit Franklin Monroe for that.”

Finally he was asked about the senior class, “Our senior class was solid. In my 3 years here, these are the guys that I met as sophomores. They play hard, they are hard willed, they are hard nosed. Blake Miller was phenomenal for us this year – he was all district. Cody Grubb had a good year. Justin Keirns – all those guys played well for us. Our sophomore, Devon Worley was amazing – I am looking forward to next year. Our success is dependent upon what we do in the off season.”

Scoring for Dixie: Cody Grubbs 16, Austin Simpson 3, Devon Worley 12, Blake Miller 17, Ethan Arnette 3, Dustin Petry 2, Dakota Grise 4.

South Comeback Falls Short

As they have so often this season, South started slow in the 1^st quarter in their state tournament game. The Cedarville Indians took advantage and captured the early lead. So South had to dig themselves out of a hole. The scoring was slow in the 1^st quarter as the two teams sized each other up. So it was 11-7 at the first break.

Coach Augspurger had taken a time out late in the 1st quarter and changed defenses from a man to man to a trapping zone in a bid to break up the lethargy. South got some turnovers, but didn't really get the momentum change they needed. Cedarville was rebounding well, which meant that South was not getting many 2^nd chance shots. And at the other end of the court, the Indians were hitting their shots.

South made a little run to start the 2^nd quarter. Mike Myers tied the game at 11-all and it looked like South was going to gain momentum. But Cedarville responded and that was the mode for the remainder of the quarter. South would make a small run and Cedarville would re-extend their lead. At halftime it was 26-18 in the favor of the Indians. The Indians Jacob Gannon had done the most damage scoring 15 points against the Panthers.

With the Indians holding Jacob Bassler in check, the Panther were needing someone to step up. Mike Meyers stepped up the challenge and had a monster second half. He lead South in scoring with 27 points – and lead the charge as the South tried to overcome the deficit.

The Panthers allowed the Indians to go on a run in the second half and then settled down and began to chip away at the lead. They made a few good runs at the Indians – closing to within 3 points, but the Indians did their job at the foul line and that was as close as they would get as the Indians staved off the Panthers for a 56-52 win.

After a huge late season win over Carlisle (2^nd place team in SWBL), South seemed to fade as the season came to an end. After that win they dropped 2 games to teams with losing records – Arcanum and North and lost any momentum that they could have carried over from that game. Still the team ended the regular season with a 13-9 record and were in the top half of the CCC.

“Unfortunately we entered the tournament headed in the wrong direction,” Tony Augspurger stated, “It's too bad because our seniors did a good job of leading us this year. Coming off of the Carlisle win, we felt good and I think they did too. So it's too bad we couldn't have finished better for them.”

He speaking about the seniors, “JJ Utz and Jacob Bassler were 3 year starters and they both did good things for us. Jacob did a lot of good offensively and JJ was one of the better defensive players that I have coached, he was tenacious. Chad Ehler and Winston Crossier did a lot of positive things for us. Our 4 senior starters helped make our program strong.”

Scoring for South: Mike Myers 26, Jacob Bassler 8, JJ Utz 7, Travis Lovely 7, Chad Ehler 4,

Dixie Wins in Overtime

Two teams playing for pride left it all on the court Saturday night. They represented their respective leagues - the CCC and the SWBL, and their schools – Franklin Monroe and Dixie. No league title on the line, or district trophy – just two teams battling into the night for the right to walk out of the gym a winner. Intensity is the first word that describes this game. It was the last game of the season for both teams and either team could have take the night off and focused instead on the state tournament next week. But that is not in the DNA of these players – instead they left skin on the floor diving for loose balls and banged bodies under the boards fighting for rebounds.

The first quarter set the tone for the night. It was senior night for Dixie and they put 5 seniors on the floor to start the game. Dixie marched out to an early lead, but the Jets went on a 7-0 run and were up 14-8 at one point. In a theme that would run true the entire night – when one team grew a lead, the other would make a run and catch up. Dixie responded, closed that gap and it was 14-12 at the end of the quarter.

Dixie mixed up their defenses during the night. Using either a man to man or a zone. Meanwhile the Jets used a man to man defense and would alternately apply full court pressure to the Greyhounds. Dixie pulled ahead in the last part of the 2^nd quarter. They did a good job of not letting the Jets score in the paint during this run and had a decent 25-20 half time lead.

The second half saw both teams offenses wake up and accelerate the pace. Franklin Monroe more than equaled their 1^st half output in the 3^rd quarter alone, putting up 21 points. Dixie clung to the lead at the end of the frantic 3^rd quarter, but now it was a 1 point game – 42 to 41.

Both teams were playing defense vigorously in the 4^th quarter, but Dixie was racking up the fouls and were giving up bonus before the midway point of the quarter. In the 4^th quarter and the 2 overtimes Franklin Monroe was a respectable 14 of 16 from the line – that helped keep them in the game. Dixie was up by 2 with about 30 seconds left in the final quarter of regulation, but the Jet's Mason Conley hit a layup to tie the game and send it to overtime – keeping the Jets hopes alive.

In the first overtime it looked like Dixie was going to seal the win when Blake Miller hit a layup with less than 20 seconds left. But the Jet's Ethan Conley knotted the score at 67-all when he scored on a put back as the clock ran out. In the last overtime Franklin Monroe got a little sloppy with their ball handling and gave up some easy turnovers to Dixie who converted them into points. It was senior night for Dixie, but a sophomore cemented the Dixie win. Dixie was up by a point with under a minute left but were able to pad their lead when sophomore Devon Worley was fouled twice in the waning seconds of the game. He sank 2 free throws each trip to put the game out of reach of the Jets 76-71.

“It was an intense game,” remarked coach Williams afterwards, “Franklin Monroe came with some fire. I liked the battle, I liked that the kids dug deep, and in the end we got the stops that we needed and we got the shots that we needed. Blake Miller has been playing phenomenally the last half of the season. He's been playing to his potential and thats what we need for him to do. This is the first time in my 6 years of coaching that I have beaten Franklin Monroe. And it took overtime to beat them.”

And this game was just a precursor – they meet again next week in the 1^st round of the state tournament. Dixie and Franklin Monroe will have another battle royale at Northmont Saturday at 6pm. So be prepared for round two, another toe to toe fight to the finish.

Scoring for Dixie: Caleb Rutledge 4, Cody Grubb 8, Austin Simpson 2, Devon Worley 21, Blake Miller 28, Joey Gengler 3, Ethan Arnett 6, Dakota Grice 4.

Upset - North Defeats South in Overtime

North has been on the wrong side of many close games this season. They have had a lot of games slip away from them. It took overtime, but North was able to win a close game and defeat South in a heated contest to end the regular season. The two teams had met at the Shawnee Holiday Tournament earlier in the season where South narrowly beat North. Both teams main scorers – Jacob Bassler for South and Kurt Brinson for North, got their points but it was the players who normally play a secondary role who stepped up for their teams and made a difference.

TCN utilized zone defenses and focused on stopping Jacob Bassler who was held to 10 points. And South focused on stopping Kurt Brinson who had put up 25 points when the teams met the first time. Brinson still put up 16 points – but had to fight hard to get every basket. So both squads needed other players to step up and score.

For North it was sophomore Gabe Brinson just back on the team after an injury. He stepped up his game with 13 points (9 of them in the 2^nd half) – and he also had a great 4^th quarter when both teams were battling for the lead. Both Mike Meyers and JJ Utz made an impact for South scoring 18 and 16 points respectively. Meyers kept South in the game in the opening round – he was the only South player to score in the 1^st quarter.

Coach Augspurger has been troubled with South's slow starts this season. And again South was sluggish in the opening quarter. North took advantage and raced out to an early lead. Augspurger took a timeout and changed up defenses going from a man to man to a trapping zone defense. North meanwhile was using a box and 1 to take Bassler out of the game. North opened up a double digit lead and were up 17-7 at the end of the 1^st quarter.

But South's defense began to take it's toll – capturing several turnovers from North. And North must have thought there was a bungee cord on the rim as they failed to hit their shots. South went on a 9-2 run and made up ground rapidly. The South crowd felt the momentum shift and became very vocal during this run. Gabe Brinson finally broke the 4 minute scoring drought for North by hitting a pair of free throws. This sparked North who began to fight back. With 1.8 seconds on the clock Jacob Bassler was fouled and he hit from the line to send South to the locker room with a 26-25 lead.

The second half had several lead changes as the two teams fought for the lead. It looked like North would have the lead going into the last quarter when Zach Edgin hit a 3 point shot. But JJ Utz knifed to the basket for a layup before the buzzer to knot the game at 38 – all.

South started the 4^th quarter strong, getting baskets from North turnovers. And midway through the quarter South had a 6 point lead – their largest lead of the quarter. But coach Spitler took a timeout and North gave South some of their own medicine with a 1-3-1 trapping defense. South did not adjust quickly to this and North closed the gap as the clock wound down.

Garret Woodyard was a hero in the end game for North, but came close to being a goat. The gutty senior hit a layup with 8 seconds left to tie the game at 47 apiece and the gym erupted in pandemonium. The overtime was hard fought and again it came down to the last minute with North having to battle back from behind. Gabe Brinson put North on top with a foul shot 53-52. With 16 seconds left Woodyard was fouled – but missed both shots. Amazingly he was fouled a second time and again bricked both shots.

This left the door open for South. Any shot they made could win it and just a free throw would tie it. But on their last possession of the game they failed to get a shot off and the North squad swarmed the court in celebration.

Coach Augspurger commented after the game, “I talked to the team before the game and told them that we had the opportunity to end the season on an upnote, or if we don't then this game would make North's season. North's kids and coach Spitler did a great job – they played with tenacity and made big shots. We also talked about the fact that we are not playing well in the 1^st quarters of games. We have not been shooting or defending well in the 1^st quarter and we have to play from behind. Tonight we played the defense we were expecting – but we still didn't hit open shots. After the game I told the kids that we are ultimately judged by what we do in the tournament. So we will prepare next week for that.”

“I was happy with the way we competed, we had some good senior leadership,” stated coach Spitler, “Gabe Brinson had a good game, it was his first game coming back from injury. We shot well for the most part, although our free throws got a little shaky at the end. But our defense was key to our win there in the end. It's been a long time since North beat South, so it was a good way to go out for our seniors. It's a good win – we have been on the wrong side of a lot of close games, but our guys did not give up.”

Next he was asked about Garrett Woodyard “He played really well tonight. He did not let those missed free throws get him down. He made some big plays on defense. He's a competitor and has been a factor for us all season.”

Next Saturday both teams will play their opening round tournament games at Troy high school. North plays Tri-Village at 11:00 and South plays Cedarville at 5pm.

North Notches Win

This has been a tough season for North. But this week was the best week for North to add one to the win column as they had 3 league games – all against CCC teams who were struggling as well. So it was a busy week and when equally matched teams play, it can lead to exciting games. And 2 of North's games this week were decided by just 2 points. So there was 4^th quarter drama as well.

The Ansonia game was a fierce battle with 16 lead changes. North had problems hitting their shots on the road as they only shot 27% from the field. Still they kept the game tight. With seconds left in the game North caught up to Ansonia due to 2 Zach Edgin free throws only to see them go the length of court and execute a pick and roll for the lead with 5 seconds left. North had no time outs left and hastily tried to inbound the ball and get off a desperate shot. They threw up a shot from midcourt, it did hit iron – but bounced away. And so Ansonia was able to post a 47-45 win. It was the hard luck Panther's 6^th game decided by 5 points or less.

But the Panthers did not have much time to nurse their wounds as they had to play Bradford next. Both teams were fighting to stay out of the basement of the league. But this game found North in an unfamiliar position – playing with double digit lead. Bradford opened in a 2-3 zone and North took advantage as Damon Nelson and Garrett Woodyard connected on 3 point shots to give North an early lead. And when they put more pressure on the wings, Kurt Brinson began to score in the paint – he would score 16 of his 22 points in the first half.

So at halftime North had a comfortable 29-13 lead. But the Railroaders went to work in the 2^nd half and began to chip away at the North lead. They began driving to the basket to score. North had been playing a 1-3-1 zone and switched to a 2-3 zone to put more bodies in the paint. But offensively North got a little sloppy with the ball and gave up some turnovers. Bradford started the second half with a 9-2 run and when the last quarter started the lead had shrunk to 10 points, 40-30.

At the 4 minute mark the Railroaders had the lead down to 6 points and North was having a rough time making their shots. But defensively the Panthers were making plays. With about a minute and a half left in the game Bradford began fouling. And on the next 4 Panther possessions it was senior Zach Edgin who was their target. On this night Bradford picked on the wrong person as Edgin coolly sank 7 of 8 chances to keep the Panthers ahead. With seconds left, Bradford scored to make it a 2 point game, but the Panthers were able to keep the lead and the ball as time expired for a thrilling 53-51 win.

“We started out playing well and had a nice lead,” stated coach Spitler after the game, “They clawed back into it and made for an interesting finish. I am glad that we hit those free throws at the end to hang on. Zach Edgin was clutch in the 4^th quarter. Brinson scored well for us and rebounded well. Woodyard had 10 points. I was happy to get this win – it took awhile to get it, but it feels good.”

The Panthers finished their week against National Trail whom they had beaten earlier in the season. Maybe the team was mentally and physically exhausted from playing their 3^rd game in a week, but the Panthers could not figure out the Blazers. It seemed like the team used up all their shots the night before against Bradford. They did not score in double figures in any single quarter.

The game was close at halftime 22-16 in favor of Trail. But the Panthers were cold coming out of the locker room while the Blazers caught fire and built a double digit lead that they were able to ride out to the end of the game. The Blazers were able to avenge their earlier loss with a 43-30 win.

Next week will be a battle of the Panthers as North hosts South on Friday night to close out the regular season. The two teams met earlier in the season at Shawnee's holiday tournament where South won 56-52.

State Champ Aaron Deaton to be a Bearcat

Twin Valley South's Aaron Deaton - a state champion at shot put, is continuing his throwing career at the University of Cincinnati where he will be studying business.  He is pictured here signing his letter of intent with his track coaches Richie Faber and Jim Wells.  Deaton was also prominent on the Twin Valley South Football team where he was named the Cross Country Conference lineman of the year.

At Cincinnati, he will focus on the shot, but will have opportunity to try his talents at events that high schoolers generally do not have a chance to try – the hammer throw and maybe even the javelin. Events where his explosiveness and athleticism can be utilized. His football coach, Tyler Cates, remarked during the football season that at a larger school it would not be a stretch for Deaton to have been used as a fullback with his power and speed. But at Twin Valley South, a player with his size almost had to play the line – but South did use him in the backfield successfully several times during the football season.

There were some small schools that were interested in Deaton as a football player. But at the Division I level, there was scholarship money available for his skill at the shot put. He settled on the University of Cincinnati because of the campus and atmosphere. He also liked the coaches that he would be working with and the athletic facilities.

However he is not resting. The senior is working hard this winter to pick up where he left off last season. He is doing winter track and recently competed at a meet held January 23rd at Ohio State. He won the shot at the meet with a 49' throw. So he seems to be in winning form once again. He also had a throw of over 50', but fouled. Souths track coach Faber remarked that, “He is well ahead of where he was at this time last year.”

He further said that he looked like he was in midseason form already when you look at where he was at a year ago. Souths boys and girls track teams won district titles a year ago and Deaton was a big factor in South's success. South boys only lost a few athletes to graduation and return a solid team.

Coach Faber was asked for comment on this story and was asked to continue his thoughts about this year's track team, “I am extremely excited to get it going. We have a lot of our talent coming back. We lost a couple of good guys, but most of them are back. We should have similar results – maybe even better than a year ago.”

On the girls side Coach Mabry will return some decent runners, but he is worried about depth. “We need runners to fill out the relay teams, and we need athletes to get us extra points besides just 1^st or 2^nd place. We will see how many go out this spring when the season starts, that will determine our strength as a team.”

Barring injury it looks like Deaton and the rest of Souths teams are on schedule for another record breaking season.

TVS Wins in Triple Overtime

Twin Valley South notched 2 victories this week, but it took 3 overtimes to get that first win over Franklin Monroe. It was a heated defensive battle that lasted deep into the night and it took superior effort by South's seniors to pull off the win 57-53. South was able to get their second win over Bradford. It was another defensive struggle early but South pulled ahead in the second quarter and held off a few Bradford challenges to win again 52-42.

The junior varsity game between South and Franklin Monroe set the tone for the evening as their game also went into overtime. South would win this game 60-57. The varsity game was knotted 11 all at the end of the 1^st quarter as Jacob Bassler sank a basket at the buzzer to tie the game.

The 2^nd quarter began with the Jets going on a 10-2 run to open up a lead. The Jets were playing in a zone, but South's players were not hitting their shots on the perimeter. Coach Augspurger took a time out about mid way through the quarter to make a change. South began trapping on defense. South played man to man most of the night, but would ambush the Jets by double teaming the ball.

The defensive change seemed to slow down the Jets, while Souths shooters began to hit their shots again. Still South found themselves down at the half 26-21. The second half had too many lead changes to count. Neither team could hold an advantage for long.

As the clock wound down in regulation, each possession became more and more critical. South was up 44-41 with 2 minutes left and went into a slowdown. This forced the Jets into man to man defense in order to get pressure. The Jets got it to within 1 with 40 seconds left. The Jets went to the foul line with about 8 seconds left with a chance to win it. It was a shooting foul – but the Jets missed the 1^st shot, but made the second one to tie the game at 44 apiece.

In the 2^nd over time Franklin Monroe popped out to an early lead and it was their turn to play slowdown. But South was able to get the ball back and senior Jacob Bassler hit a big 3 point shot as the clock was winding down to tie the ball game back up at 48-all.

Amazingly neither team was able to score in the 2^nd overtime – maybe they were all just too tuckered out. But Mike Meyers, who had not been shooting well on the night, hit a big three point shot to put South in front. This rallied the hometown crowd – and they got more vocal. Seniors JJ Utz and Jacob Bassler seemed to feed off of this energy and made drives for layups into the teeth of the Jet defense. The Jets tried to mount a comeback, but made some turnovers. And South was able escape with the win.

“I challenged my team at halftime – I said that sometimes I think we don't hate losing enough.” stated coach Augspurger afterwards, “You have to hate to lose – it has to mean something to you. And the team responded to that. I thought we defended better in the second half. We took some gutty shots and made them. ”

Next he commented on the overtimes, “They played really well in the overtime. JJ Utz made some big shots in the last overtime. Mike Meyers hit that big 3 that got us started in that last overtime. And Jacob Bassler hit that big 3 in the first overtime to keep us alive and helped in that last overtime. He has had one heck of a year.”

North Late Rally Falls Short

Tri-County North dropped two league games this week. Mississinawa Valley has been playing good basketball this season and they are firmly in ensconced in the top half of the league. North had a tough time gaining traction against the Blackhawks and fell 65-37, But their next game was at Franklin Monroe, where the Panthers fell behind early but mounted a furious comeback attempt in the 4^th quarter that fell short.

The Jets play well on their home court – the Hanger, and they shot comfortably in the first quarter. North played in a zone and the Jets hit from the outside and were able to gain an early advantage. The Jets played man to man almost the whole night and were able to rebound defensively – limiting North to one shot on most possessions. The Jets finished out the quarter with nice run and were up 18-11.

North spread out their offense in an attempt to open things up in the 2^nd quarter. But they had a hard go of it making any headway. And things got more difficult for North when post man Kurt Brinson got his 3^rd foul and was benched about half way through the quarter. He does the bulk of the scoring for North and coach Spitler would remark after the game that when Brinson returned to floor he could not be as aggressive on defense with the fouls hanging over him and so he was not as effective.

So North was down 31-23 at the half. North was not able to make up ground when they got back on the court and the frustration boiled over when the North bench was called for a technical foul. Adding even more to the Panthers woes.

The 4^th quarter began with a double digit lead for the Jets. And the Jets were probably starting to make their plans for after the game. But North had other ideas. They altered their defensive set and went into a 1-3-1 trapping zone. That defensive change lead to steals by the Panthers. At the other end of the court, the Panthers found their mark and began making shots. Zach Edgin scored 8 of his 10 points during this stretch. Brinson would foul out, but North kept the pressure up.

The Jet lead evaporated and it was 5 point game, and then a 3 point game with 2:24 left on the clock. But the Jets woke up and made some key shots to pull ahead. They went into a slowdown around this time. North tried to hard to catch up but their efforts fell short and the Jets would win 55-45.

“I thought we played pretty hard, we played well,” commented coach Spitler after the game, “We battled, we didn't give up, and that 1-3-1 worked for us in the end and made things interesting. I am proud of the guys – I think we are making progress, teams can't sleep on us. Losing Brinson did effect us, he is one of our leaders, one of our captains. He does so much on offense and defense for us. But even before he got his 5^th foul he had to play tentatively.”