32 — Thursday, December 6, 2012
New-look Hiland gets old results
Yes, they’re that good After West Holmes rolled over Dover by 61 points last Thursday, coach Lisa Patterson tempered her enthusiasm. She noted that the Knights will get a true test of where they stand on Saturday when they travel to Shaker Heights to take on the four-time defending state champion Blazers of Hathaway Brown, a team that returns its entire starting five from last year’s champions. If the 49-45 win posted by the Knights over the Blazers is any indication of how good this West Holmes team is, opponents better look out. Junior Laina Snyder turned in a monster game, pouring in 23 points and grabbing nine rebounds to lead the Knights. The 6-foot1 post hit a pair of free throws with eight seconds remaining to give West Holmes the lead, and she iced the game with two more freebies with less than a second remaining when she grabbed a rebound off an errant last-second attempt to tie by the Blazers’ Vanessa Smith. The Knights jumped out to an early lead, scoring the first eight points of the game. Snyder hit a 3-pointer and scored inside, pumping in nine first-quarter points as the visitors opened up a 17-7 advantage with just
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under a minute remaining in the first period. The Blazers clawed their way back into the game, scoring the final five points of the opening frame, and then scoring the first 11 of the second stanza to take a 23-17 lead midway through the second. Paiten Strother stroked a 3-pointer, and after Hathaway Brown split a pair of free throws, Snyder scored on back-toback trips down the floor to knot things at 24. Rachelle Morrison answered a Blazer bucket to pull West Holmes even at 26-26 at intermission. The Knights continued to surge ahead on baskets by Mallori Vess and Snyder to start the second half. Morrison swished a triple to give the visitors a 33-26 lead before the hosts scored back-to-back baskets to pull within 33-30. Alex Starr came off the West Holmes bench and hit consecutive layups to stretch the lead back to seven. A three-point play by Morrison, who joined Snyder in double digits with 10 points, gave the Knights an eight-point edge inside the final minute of the third quarter. Smith, who paced the Blazers with 19 points, scored the final bucket See Pg. 33 — LYNCH
By KEVIN LYNCH Staff Writer The new-look Hiland Hawks were unveiled on the road in the Wigwam at Coshocton Saturday night and the result was very familiar, as the Hawks posted a 47-32 triumph over the Redskins. After riding the Dylan Kaufman Express to nearly 100 wins and two state titles over the past four seasons, Hiland features a team of one senior and minimal experience. Yet when those players don the red, white and black uniforms of Hiland High School, even the youngest birds take flight. Hiland played defense with the same intensity as ever, as the scoreless second period would indicate. And Hiland’s players have never been shy about shooting. Freshman Brady Schlabach stroked three 3-pointers and teamed with Todd Ropp to lead the Hawks with 11 points apiece, while six different players scored for the balanced Hiland attack. But the tale of this game was the second period. “The second quarter, defensively, I thought we did a great job,” said Hiland coach Mark Schlabach. “We made some shots and it actually looked like we had some flow to our game. That was the game. The second quarter was the game.” Coshocton led 11-10 after the first quarter, scoring twice on wide open back-door cuts. The Hawks slammed that door shut in the second period. Brennan Coil (eight points)
scored inside on the opening possession of the period to give Hiland a 12-11 lead and the Hawks never looked back. Hiland picked up its defensive intensity and held Coshocton scoreless until the second half. After Coshocton (1-1) missed two triple tries, Jordan Yoder didn’t at the other end and Hiland led 15-11. A driving layup by Eric Miller off a missed 3-point attempt by Coshocton and the Hawks led 17-11. Schlabach stroked his second 3-pointer of the first half to give the Hawks a 20-11 lead early in the second quarter. A steal and a nifty no-look pass by Schlabach to Coil led to another Hiland score. A three-point play by Miller and a stickback by Yoder had the Hawks up 28-11 at the break. The Redskins went 0-for-7 from the field, 0-for-1 from the foul line and turned the ball over four times in the second quarter. Things didn’t go quite so well in the third quarter, but Hiland maintained an 11-point lead into the final frame. “It’s hard for a young team, it’s hard for any team, to learn to put teams away,” Schlabach said. “We got really stagnant offensively in the third quarter. Fortunately, for us, I don’t think Coshocton played its best game.” The Redskins were coming off a 30-point win on Friday night and looked a bit sluggish, while Hiland had its youthful buoyancy. “We feel we’re pretty balanced.
We’ve got seven guys who can lead us in scoring,” Schlabach said. “And once the scouting report gets out on Brady, he won’t get so many open looks. But he showed tonight what he’s capable of doing.” The Hawks turned the ball over 21 times, most of those coming in the second half against hard man pressure by the Redskins. “We’ve done OK against zone pressure in scrimmages,” Schlabach said. “That type of man pressure we struggled with a bit. We’ve just got to be more confident in what we’re doing. And learn to put people away. We have to attack instead of being passive. A lot of our turnovers were passive type turnovers.” Curtis Blake kept Coshocton in the game, drilling four 3-pointers and leading all scorers with 18 points. The Redskins only had three players score. Tanner Cognion added 12. Miller and Yoder finished with seven points apiece to help Hiland’s attack. The Hawks won the battle of the boards 28-16, with Ropp ripping down seven rebounds and Yoder and Coil each grabbing six. “We win, that’s a good thing for these kids,” Schlabach said. “We need to learn how to win. For those guys in that locker room, that’s the first time where they’ve won after a varsity game. Any win for this group early in the year, we’re going to let our kids feel good about it, because they need to build their confidence and learn that they can win.”
Knights’ Rohskopf MVP, frosh Woods champ It was the season-opening weekend for wrestlers, but West Holmes senior Max Rohskopf showed he’s already in state-caliber form. Rohskopf won the Most Valuable Wrestler award in leading the Knights to
third place at the 16-team Cambridge Invitational Saturday. In a rematch of a state tournament match, Rohskopf won over Canal Fulton Northwest’s Kyle Harris, the NC State recruit Rohskopf pre-
vailed again with a pin in 1:29 to finish 5-0 at 145 pounds. Also winning a title for West Holmes was freshman Cole Woods (106). Woods stuck his first two opponents and then beat Josiah Hrusch 8-6 to
SPORTS FANS! Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles has rushed for more yards than any other quarterback in NFL history – more than 5,000 and counting as of the start of the 2012 season. Vick is the lone active player among the top 10 running quarterbacks ever. Among the other nine, can you guess which three are in the Hall of Fame? At number number three all time, with 4,239 rushing yards, is Steve Young, Fran Tarkenton is fourth with 3,674, while John Elway is sixth with 3,407. In case you’re wondering, Randall Cunningham is second all time with 4,928, while Steve McNair is fifth with 3,590. When the 2012 NFL season began, which individual player and which team were the leaders in total sales of officially licensed merchandise? Peyton Manning’s new Denver Broncos jersey was number one among all players, while the Pittsburgh Steeler were tops among all teams. The Steelers not only led in overall merchandise (the Super Bowl champion New York Giants were second), but in all sales to men, all sales to women and all sales to kids. Take a wild guess at the total gross revenues of all four major North American team sports combined, as of 2012. Hold on to your helmets – the grand total each year is more than $25 billion. Here’s the breakdown. Leading the way, at approximately $9.5 billion in annual revenue, is the NFL. Next, at about $7.7 billion, is Major League Baseball. Third, at more than $4.3 billion, is the NBA. Finally, at a mere $3.3 billion, is the NHL. From all of us fans – you’re welcome!
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PP&K COMPETITION — Madison Kandel, and her brother Bo, display their hardware earned at the State Punt, Pass & Kick competition held Sunday, Nov. 25, at the Cleveland Browns Training Facility in Berea. Madison won the 13-14 year-old girls division and Bo placed third in the boys 13-14 bracket. Madison now must await the results from all 32 NFL teams, with the top four moving on to compete at a playoff site to be determined.
reach the finals., where he scored a 4-2 decision over Anthony Heavlin of Harrison Central. Josiah Allison (113) took second. Matt Schlegel finished fourth at 160. Minerva (194.5) won the team title, followed by Thornville Sheridan (191.5) and West Holmes (162.5). “It was a good start to the season for us,” West Holmes coach Jeff Woods said. “It’s getting to be a better and better tournament. There are four pools of four to make 16-man brackets. “It’s nice for our young guys because everybody’s able to get five matches. We definitely know what we need to work on now.” Allison scored pins in his first three matches and added a pin in the semifinal. He suffered a first-period fall in the finals against Josh Henderson of Lisbon Beaver. Schlegel posted pins in his first two matches and added a 3-2 decision to reach the finals. He got stuck in his match against Cambridge, and fell 6-5 in the battle for third.