Not what I was expecting at all last night

Steve Dunford – franklincounty-news.com

CRAB ORCHARD, IL-  I have been asked the question so many times over the years, why do you like sports?  I can throw the news, and days like yesterday it applies to the weather.  Last night was one of the great reasons why, you don’t know what to expect.

In a movie or TV show, you know what to expect.  I was expecting a down to the wire battle between the two Franklin County rivals playing in Willamson County.

Class 1A Crab Orchard Regional Champs, the Christopher Bearcats.

Going into last night’s Class 1A Boy’s Regional Championship game against Crab Orchard and Sesser-Valier, I was expecting a close game similar to the overtime war that took place on Valentines Day.

Sesser-Valier has been peaking at the right time during the stretch run of the season. There were a few times that Christopher was stumbling entering the road to Peoria.

What I witnessed was a 71-41 win by the Christopher Bearcats last night, in a game that was not in question, from about the middle of the third quarter.

With very few personnel changes, both these kids have faced each other probably 100 times going back to their early grade school days and during the summer.  They know each other well.

I was asked this question several times after last night’s game for people that are outside Franklin County.  What was the huge difference between the overtime by S-V on Valentines Day and the big win by Christopher last night?

I answered the bottom line was that Christopher was red hot and Sesser-Valier was ice cold.  One glaring difference though between the two games Devils killed the Bearcats on the offensive boards in the game ten days ago at Christopher.  Last night, the Bearcats owned the glass.

S-V had good looks.  They took good shots. they just had one of those nights.  Either on film or live, I have watched both teams play at least a dozen times this season.  .

There was nothing either Christopher coach Eric Stallman and Sesser-Valier coach Shane Garner could draw up  much on the X’s and O’s last night that would have been any surprise to the either.

With very few personnel changes, both these kids have faced each other probably 100 times going back to their early grade school days and during the summer.  They know each other well.

The only thing X and O wise was minor.  Eric Stallman came out in a 2-3 zone the first few possessions.  Tyler Winchester hits a deep three about the 2:55 mark in the first quarter, and gives the Devils a 9-7 lead.  That was their last lead of the night.  Christopher goes back to man to man, which they play 90% of the time.

Christopher goes on a 10-3 in the closing seconds and has a 17-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Both teams were uncharacteristically patient to open the second quarter.  Off of a Kaeleb Pedigo steal, Young gets a monstrous dunk at the 4:03 mark to put Christopher up 26-16.

Pedigo and Jared Curry both had two fouls and Christopher starts taking the air out of the ball.  They got a couple Princeton style back cuts to go up 33-18 at the half.

In the opening seconds of the second half Charlie Farmer bombs a 22 footer form the baseline to cut the Red Devil deficit to 12.  The Bearcats then go on an 8-3 run to go up 41-24 on Gabe Schimpf hitting Young in the post to go up 41-24.

That possession is where I began to see the frustration set in with the Devils.   They began to play defense with their arms instead of their feet.

From that point on the Bearcats lived at the free throw line, scoring 14 of their 19 points from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter to turn the game into a blowout. The Bearcats improve to 17-12 and the Devils finish their 2016-17 campaign.  Coach Shane Garner is always a class act and gave the maroon clad the chance to give Jamie Lance, Charles Farmer, and Addison Baxter a standing ovation.

Kaleb Pedigo led the Bearcats with 22 on the night for four Bearcats who were in double figures.  Jared Curry added 17.  I mentioned Young’s 14 points already.  Bryce Pratt (cool hand Luke) had 11 points.

Lukas Gunter (The Red Baron) was the only Red Devil in double figures with 13 points.  Tyler Winchester had eight, Charles Farmer seven, and Jamie Lance added six on the night.

Christopher will play in the Norris City-Omaha-Enfield sectional against the Gallatin County Hawks Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.  The Hawks are an opponent that I am very familiar with from following the GEC, and I will have a preview out on Tuesday.

The Hawks were 74-64 winners over Cairo in OT at the Hardin County regional last night.  I understand that Pilot Coach Brian Brantner put on quite a show in the overtime period, similar to what he did against Herrin in the WF Midwinter Classic.

Wednesday night will feature the Woodlawn Cardinals (15-14) against the  Meridian Bobcats (13-14) in the Wednesday night game at Norris City.

Woodlawn (15-14) beat their Jefferson County and Midland Trial rival Webber Township 49-43 last night at the Wayne City Class 1A regional.  The Trojans finish the year 17-12.  In the regular season the four W’s of the Midland Trail beat up on each other in barn burners.  If you would have thrown Grayville in the mix , it would have been an old school Mid South conference tournament.

The Cardinals face the Meridian Bobcats on Wednesday Night.  The Bobcats (13-14) were 75-69 winners over the Goreville Blackcats (20-10) last night.  My prayers is going out to Meridian Coach Erik Griffin who is in the hospital because of illness.

Thank you to Crab Orchard Coach John Brown and AD Keith Johns for your hospitality last night.  I want to spend an extra special thank you for the ones who complimented me on my feature story about Dee Ozment last night.  I was more than humbled.

A special thank you for Benton/West Frankfort Gazette writer William McPherson for giving me the chance to see it last night.

BOX SCORE:

CHRISTOPHER  (71)  Kaeleb Pedigo 6 1 7-7 21, Jared Curry 4 1 6-6 17, Bradley Young 4 0 6-9 17; Bryce Pratt 5 0 1-2 11;  Gabe Schimpf 2 1 0-0 7; Zach Snell 0 0 0-0 0; Gabriel Motsinger 0 0 0-0 0; Andrew Dunford 0 0 0-0 0

SESSER-VALIER (41)  Lukas Gunter 6 0 1-2 13; Tyler Winchester 1 2 0-0 8: Charles Farmer 1 1 2-2 7; Jamie Lance 3 0 0-0 6 Joshua Gunter 1 0 0-0 2; Seth Boles 1 0 0-0 2; Addison Baxter 0 0 0-0 0 Reed Basso 0 0 0-0 0; Eli Gunter 0 0 0-0 Addison Page 0 0 0-0 0

SCORE BY QUARTERS: 

CHRISTOPHER:      17    16   19    19 –  71 

SESSER-VALIER:    12     6    12    11 –  41