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Written by John Schaffner
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Wednesday, 05 March 2008 |
PC's Josh Francis goes high for a rebound against Ontario. (Photo by Bill Migala)
The Port Clinton boys basketball team began the season with hope and a big future. They ended their season the same way Wednesday night as they lost a 69-57 decision to 9th ranked Ontario in the District Semi-Finals at Mansfield Senior High School.
The Redskins came roaring back at the end of the 2nd quarter after falling behind early. It was certainly nothing new to this team, but when your playing a 20-2 squad, the hill is pretty steep. “We found ourselves in an early deficit, but give these kids credit, they fought back from 13 down to tie the game going into the 4th quarter,” said Troy Diels on Thursday. He added, “Ontario did a nice job of making free throws to seal the game. We got behind and had to foul to try to get back into it. 19 of their 29 points in the 4th quarter came from the free throw line. We were 12 for 12 from the free throw line for the game, which is good for the kind of pressure game it was.” Ryan Hicks led the Redskins with 17 while another sophomore, Tory Horne added 13 in the loss.
So, suddenly, the season has come to an abrupt end. That is how it is in tournament play. The Redskins finish their season at 16-7. “After the game, I told the team I was extremely proud of the season they had,” said Diels. My staff and I feel very fortunate to coach this group of young men. We are extremely sad to see our two seniors (Jarrod Cox and Kyle Millinger) go. Our young kids get a lot of the credit for the season, but the job that our seniors did this year was tremendous. They were the glue that held things together for us so many times.”
The future is really bright for the players that will be returning. Josh Francis, Ryan Hicks, Allen Tigner, Tory Horne and Cory Brown are all sophomores. Derek Colston is a freshman. 6’3” Junior Kyle Patrick will also be back.
So now what? Does the 2008-2009 season begins now? Has the PC Coach set goals for next year already? “We set our goals for this year quite high,” says Diels, adding “next year will be no different. From game one, we will have a bulls-eye on us and nobody will take us lightly. We will need to get physically stronger and improve our weaknesses over the course of the next eight months. For most of these kids, they will get back at it in 30 days. For those involved in spring sports, they will start in late May.”
There will be no rest over the summer. “We will try and face the toughest competition we can find this summer and in the preseason to get us ready for next season,” says Diels. High Expectations will no doubt be the theme from now until March of 2010 for Port Clinton basketball.
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