McClain off to fast start in '84-85
By
Bob Patton-
As the SCOL prepared for the opening of the 1984-85 basketball season, most coaches were putting the hat on the McClain Tigers as the class of the league this season.
New coach Mike Leffel, at Miami Trace, was optimistic because of his team’s overall size. The Panthers would feature 6’4” seniors Kevin McCoy and Ryan Higgins along with 6’4” junior Tracy Reisinger. Leffel had been an All-State basketball player at Piqua High School and played on University of Dayton’s N.I.T. championship team in 1968. Since then, he had played three years in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ minor league system.
At Hillsboro, Coach Gary West would have Hugh Ballein, Britt Cluff and Tyrone Cumberland returning from last year’s squad, along with Mark Roberts, David Collins, Greg Nartker and David Williams. The Indians were capable of playing some good basketball but were given to inconsistency.
The Wilmington Hurricane, under Coach Norm Persin, would feature very strong rebounding, an excellent running game and great team quickness. Greg Nared was the heart of the team and was perhaps the best athlete in the SCOL this year. He would be accompanied by outstanding shooter Cam Storer and tough rebounder John Lambcke. The Hurricane figured to challenge McClain for the league championship.
John Denen was back as head coach at Washington. He would have four of his top seven players back this season and looked for the Blue Lions to be a dark horse in the SCOL. “We’ll surprise some people,” he promised. But he, along with most other SCOL coaches, was picking McClain as the favorite to take the top spot.
Rick VanMatre, at McClain, would have Jeff Coleman, Jeff Peyton, Sam Page, David Mischel and Charlie Swift. In addition, they had tough Tony Jackson coming off the bench. Anything can happen in high school basketball, but this appeared to be the nucleus of an excellent team.
Circleville had Eddie Sims, Gary Pfeifer and Tom Royster. This could be a rebuilding year for them.
Madison-Plains, under Coach Brad Ellis, featured 6’0” Andy Pettit and Aaron Cox. The Eagles had several kids who could play, but they were the smallest team in the league, and rebounding would be the big challenge for them. They would have to play very strong defense, a conservative offense and avoid turnovers in order to win many games in the SCOL.
Beginning in the fall of 1985, there would be only six schools in the South Central League, and the member schools were desperately attempting to find a couple more schools who were interested in becoming members.
Due to contractual obligations, the league would be “frozen” at six members for the next two years. But how about after that? Dayton Stebbins was interested in joining the league. That would not be a bad trip for Wilmington, Miami Trace and Washington. But, it would be a long bus ride for Hillsboro, McClain and Circleville. London and West Jefferson had been suggested, along with East Clinton, Clinton-Massie, Jamestown Greeneview, Westfall, Waverly, Adena, Logan Elm, Jackson, Unioto, Kenton Ridge, Springfield Greenon, Springfield Shawnee and Springfield Northeastern, along with several others.
But how many of these schools would even be interested in becoming a member? And how many would be simply too distant for some of the present league schools? How many of them would be competitive in the South Central League? There were many things to consider.
In the meantime, SCOL games began on Nov. 30, and surprisingly, Madison-Plains opened their league competition at Miami Trace, where the Golden Eagles walloped the Panthers, 52-39. Andy Pettit, MP’s 6’0” scrambler, led the scoring with 17 points, while teammate Aaron Cox added 11.
The 1984-85 basketball season was absolutely annihilated by the weather. Nearly as many league games were postponed and rescheduled as were played. This resulted in much confusion, as some schools had played most of their scheduled games and others had not.
As the season wound down in late January and early February, everybody was scrambling to get their league games in before tournament time. Generally speaking, it was a mess. I will do my best to outline the league race as well as possible.
On Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, the Hillsboro Indians had two tough SCOL games. On Friday, they got a narrow two-point win over Circleville, but they were edged by Washington on Saturday night, 55-54. The league had changed from the normal Tuesday – Friday arrangement to scheduling league games on Friday and Saturday. This made absolutely no sense, because the teams had no time to prepare for the Saturday night game, but it is the type of thing school people frequently do.
Both McClain and Wilmington got off to terrific starts, Wilmington blitzing Miami Trace on Dec. 8, 68-46, as Greg Nared hit 12 of 14 attempts from the field and five of six from the line for 29 points. The next night, Trace dropped another game, a hair-raising 56-55 decision to the Chillicothe Cavaliers.
December 14 found the Blue Lions taking down the Circleville Tigers, as Vernon Smith and Daryl Saunders scored 15 points, and Richard Spears added 11. Meanwhile, at Greenfield, McClain pounded Miami Trace, 58-38, giving the Panthers their sixth consecutive loss. The same night, Wilmington downed Madison-Plains, 58-43. The league standings on Monday, Dec. 17 – with some of the league teams having played five SCOL games, one only four games and some only three (league) games, were:
McClain – 4-0, 7-0
Wilmington – 4-1, 4-3
Washington – 2-2, 3-3
Mad.-Plains – 2-3, 2-6
Hillsboro – 1-2, 3-3
Circleville – 1-2, 2-4
Miami Trace – 0-3, 0-6
The following week, McClain played two non-league games with Athens and Bishop Flaget, taking Athens, 59-48, and Bishop Flaget, 58-35. This gave the unbeaten Tigers an overall record of 9-0. It also earned them a state ranking, as they were ranked ninth in the state after these games. Coach Rick Van Matre was unimpressed, recalling that the Tigers were 7-0 last season in late December – then lost five of the next six SCOL contests.
Washington participated in an invitational tournament at Kings Mills on Dec. 28-29.
The first night, the Lions dropped a 65-49 game to host Kings Mills, as Jackson clipped the Miami Trace Panthers, 70-46. Hillsboro edged Fairfield, Wilmington torched East Clinton and McClain finally met their Waterloo when they were nosed out on their home court by (undefeated) Gallia Academy, 54-50.
(Continued next week.)
Bob Patton is a Highland County sports historian and a contributing writer to The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
New coach Mike Leffel, at Miami Trace, was optimistic because of his team’s overall size. The Panthers would feature 6’4” seniors Kevin McCoy and Ryan Higgins along with 6’4” junior Tracy Reisinger. Leffel had been an All-State basketball player at Piqua High School and played on University of Dayton’s N.I.T. championship team in 1968. Since then, he had played three years in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ minor league system.
At Hillsboro, Coach Gary West would have Hugh Ballein, Britt Cluff and Tyrone Cumberland returning from last year’s squad, along with Mark Roberts, David Collins, Greg Nartker and David Williams. The Indians were capable of playing some good basketball but were given to inconsistency.
The Wilmington Hurricane, under Coach Norm Persin, would feature very strong rebounding, an excellent running game and great team quickness. Greg Nared was the heart of the team and was perhaps the best athlete in the SCOL this year. He would be accompanied by outstanding shooter Cam Storer and tough rebounder John Lambcke. The Hurricane figured to challenge McClain for the league championship.
John Denen was back as head coach at Washington. He would have four of his top seven players back this season and looked for the Blue Lions to be a dark horse in the SCOL. “We’ll surprise some people,” he promised. But he, along with most other SCOL coaches, was picking McClain as the favorite to take the top spot.
Rick VanMatre, at McClain, would have Jeff Coleman, Jeff Peyton, Sam Page, David Mischel and Charlie Swift. In addition, they had tough Tony Jackson coming off the bench. Anything can happen in high school basketball, but this appeared to be the nucleus of an excellent team.
Circleville had Eddie Sims, Gary Pfeifer and Tom Royster. This could be a rebuilding year for them.
Madison-Plains, under Coach Brad Ellis, featured 6’0” Andy Pettit and Aaron Cox. The Eagles had several kids who could play, but they were the smallest team in the league, and rebounding would be the big challenge for them. They would have to play very strong defense, a conservative offense and avoid turnovers in order to win many games in the SCOL.
Beginning in the fall of 1985, there would be only six schools in the South Central League, and the member schools were desperately attempting to find a couple more schools who were interested in becoming members.
Due to contractual obligations, the league would be “frozen” at six members for the next two years. But how about after that? Dayton Stebbins was interested in joining the league. That would not be a bad trip for Wilmington, Miami Trace and Washington. But, it would be a long bus ride for Hillsboro, McClain and Circleville. London and West Jefferson had been suggested, along with East Clinton, Clinton-Massie, Jamestown Greeneview, Westfall, Waverly, Adena, Logan Elm, Jackson, Unioto, Kenton Ridge, Springfield Greenon, Springfield Shawnee and Springfield Northeastern, along with several others.
But how many of these schools would even be interested in becoming a member? And how many would be simply too distant for some of the present league schools? How many of them would be competitive in the South Central League? There were many things to consider.
In the meantime, SCOL games began on Nov. 30, and surprisingly, Madison-Plains opened their league competition at Miami Trace, where the Golden Eagles walloped the Panthers, 52-39. Andy Pettit, MP’s 6’0” scrambler, led the scoring with 17 points, while teammate Aaron Cox added 11.
The 1984-85 basketball season was absolutely annihilated by the weather. Nearly as many league games were postponed and rescheduled as were played. This resulted in much confusion, as some schools had played most of their scheduled games and others had not.
As the season wound down in late January and early February, everybody was scrambling to get their league games in before tournament time. Generally speaking, it was a mess. I will do my best to outline the league race as well as possible.
On Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, the Hillsboro Indians had two tough SCOL games. On Friday, they got a narrow two-point win over Circleville, but they were edged by Washington on Saturday night, 55-54. The league had changed from the normal Tuesday – Friday arrangement to scheduling league games on Friday and Saturday. This made absolutely no sense, because the teams had no time to prepare for the Saturday night game, but it is the type of thing school people frequently do.
Both McClain and Wilmington got off to terrific starts, Wilmington blitzing Miami Trace on Dec. 8, 68-46, as Greg Nared hit 12 of 14 attempts from the field and five of six from the line for 29 points. The next night, Trace dropped another game, a hair-raising 56-55 decision to the Chillicothe Cavaliers.
December 14 found the Blue Lions taking down the Circleville Tigers, as Vernon Smith and Daryl Saunders scored 15 points, and Richard Spears added 11. Meanwhile, at Greenfield, McClain pounded Miami Trace, 58-38, giving the Panthers their sixth consecutive loss. The same night, Wilmington downed Madison-Plains, 58-43. The league standings on Monday, Dec. 17 – with some of the league teams having played five SCOL games, one only four games and some only three (league) games, were:
McClain – 4-0, 7-0
Wilmington – 4-1, 4-3
Washington – 2-2, 3-3
Mad.-Plains – 2-3, 2-6
Hillsboro – 1-2, 3-3
Circleville – 1-2, 2-4
Miami Trace – 0-3, 0-6
The following week, McClain played two non-league games with Athens and Bishop Flaget, taking Athens, 59-48, and Bishop Flaget, 58-35. This gave the unbeaten Tigers an overall record of 9-0. It also earned them a state ranking, as they were ranked ninth in the state after these games. Coach Rick Van Matre was unimpressed, recalling that the Tigers were 7-0 last season in late December – then lost five of the next six SCOL contests.
Washington participated in an invitational tournament at Kings Mills on Dec. 28-29.
The first night, the Lions dropped a 65-49 game to host Kings Mills, as Jackson clipped the Miami Trace Panthers, 70-46. Hillsboro edged Fairfield, Wilmington torched East Clinton and McClain finally met their Waterloo when they were nosed out on their home court by (undefeated) Gallia Academy, 54-50.
(Continued next week.)
Bob Patton is a Highland County sports historian and a contributing writer to The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]