Junior High Boys Basketball: A-Team Goes 4-1 During Four Game Stretch (02/21/15)

(By Coach Jess Quinn – Thursday, February 19th)

The Clarion Area Junior High Boys Basketball A-Team finished a long week! Playing 4 games in 4 days is a tall order for our boys. We emerged with a 3-1 record for the week. It all started off with a 38-15 win over the Forest Fires. Many boys were able to get into the scorer’s book. Zach Bauer, Austin Hummell, Nich Cherico, Jacob Selker, Brendan Zerfoss, Marshall Powers, Drew Whren, and Gavin Brinkley all scored for the Bobcats. Zach Bauer led all scorers with 12 points in the contest. Austin Hummell netted 9 all the rest scored in single digits.

The second game of 4 in a row was with the Karns City Gremlins. The Bobcats emerged victorious 32-15 win. It was a very good defensive effort by all the boys holding KC to single digits in each of the four quarters. The Gremlins only scored one bucket in each quarter. The other points came from the foul line. Zach Bauer netted 11 points in the contest and Drew Wrhen put in 9. Many of the boys had several steals and the team worked well offensively to keep their record perfect at 4-0.

Next up for the Clarion Bobcats are the North Clarion Wolves. The boys upped their record to 5-0 with a 42-35 victory. Many boys were able to score for us, as we scored double digits in each of the first three quarters. The two biggest quarters were the 2nd and 3rd. We put a great deal of pressure on the wolves and were able to turn the steals into quick points. The fourth quarter saw the Bobcats only score two points as were held a 42-20 lead, and were stalling on offense. We also pulled the press off knowing the win was in hand. North Clarion pulled within single digits as time expired with a few desperate three pointers. Next up for the Cats, the Cranberry Berries.

The Bobcats added another victory to their total, beating the Berries 31-21. Again many boys got into the book Bauer and Hummell paced the Cats with 8 and 9 points respectfully. Archer Mills put in 5 points and Drew Wrhen added 4. Brendan Zerfoss had a nice 3 pointer and Nick Cherico put in a bucket. Our boys used a great defense in the 4th quarter to really pull convincingly ahead. Austin Hummell was able to get to the foul line 3 different times and was 3-5 from the stripe. We were able to post a 12 point quarter that pushed the lead to 10. The final game of the week was a showdown with the cross-town rival Clarion-Limestone Lions. They too were sitting at 6-0.

The Clarion Boys A team got a little taste of humility as we ran into the buzz-saw that was the Clarion-Limestone Lions. The total ended up CL 44 and Clarion 22. C-L used a high pressure defense and several nice 3 point shots by Julian Laugand and Ian Callen to push C-L to a 26-16 halftime lead. It was the pressure in the first quarter that caught our boys off guard. The Lions were able to stick 20 points on the board in the first quarter! That is very close to the total number of points we have given up in each game this year and they put it up in one quarter.

We were able to settle down and claw our way back into the game by the half, holding C-L to 6 points and put up 10 of our own. We were not able to put much on the board at all in the second half. However we hit the first bucket and got 2 foul shots by Archer Mills to cut the lead to just 6, but C-L again applied that great pressure defense and were able to put quick scores up the rest of the 3rd.

David Ferguson, C-L’s coach pulled the full court pressure off in the fourth quarter as the Lion team had a commanding lead, 38-20. At that point, the score at the end had he kept that pressure on us, might have been a little worse than it was.

Austin Humell and Nick Cherico led the Cats with 7 and 6 points. The big guns for C-L were Ian Callen with 16 including 3 three pointers, and Julian Laugand with 11 point, including 2 three pointers. C-L did to us what we like to do to other teams… put pressure on them so they turn the ball over for quick and easy scores. We got a little taste of our own medicine. The rematch with the Lions is set for March 3rd. We will gather ourselves and look forward for a chance at redemption. Clarion’s record stands at 6-1 on the year. The game with Union Golden Knights was scheduled for Friday, February 13th was rescheduled for Thursday, February 26th.

The Clarion A Team was able to get back on the winning track with a 43-35 victory over the North Clarion Wolves. I would like to begin this article by thanking a young man who started to volunteer his time with our young boys and that person is Brad Larson. I had the opportunity to coach Brad when he was a Senior Bobcat and had a great experience as we won the KSAC title in the 1999-2000 season.

Brad has generously volunteered his time and his impact on the boys was immediate! The play of our BIG guys, Nick Cherico and Zach Bauer has been greatly improved only after one practice with Coach Larson. He was able to sit on the bench with us and give expert advice to the boys as the game progressed.

Contributions to the book in the game were as follows, Austin Hummell took over the game and it pleased his coach. He scored 11 points in the contest, but it was the way he went about his business that was very satisfying to watch. He moved the ball very well and took command of our offense. Great Leadership Austin. Sometimes the best leaders, lead by example. Austin did that today. Zach Bauer had a strong performance netting 10 points and also grabbed several rebounds in the contest. He and his teammates were also relentless on defense! Nick Cherico did a nice job on the boards and was able to put in 6 points all in the first half. It was Nick and Zach’s court awareness and position that was the key to the victory. They put themselves into position to get much needed rebounds and played great as BIG MEN and that was the difference.

Jacob Selker had one of his best defensive games of the year. He was told he would not start the game because we were trying a different defense. Jacob handled that news as a mature young man and when he got his chance, which was early in the game he came out gangbusters for us! He had several steals and rebounds that helped lead his team to victory! Way to go Selchy! Two 8th graders scored 4 points for us in the contest, Gavin Brinkely and Drew Wrhen. Gavin was the guy on the spot and hit two buckets and Drew did the same. Marshal Powers Brendan Zerfoss also added points for the Cats.

Looking at the scorebook, I am very pleased to see 8 of the boys put points up for their TEAM. I am very pleased, as their coach, to see their resolve as they bounced back from the C-L game and to learn from it and put that behind them. I have to mention Oscar Suzuki, and Harrison Porter. These boys did not get in the book with points, but they each had great games on defense! Great job boys. The last to be mentioned, HANK! Henry Baldwin did a very nice job handling the ball in the fourth quarter for the Bobcat team. Way to go Hank, and all the boys. As their coach, I was very pleased with the effort they gave. Win or lose, the boys will be successful in like if they approach everything the way they approached that game today. Boys, I am very proud of you.

Next up, AC Valley. We play at the elementary gym on Friday (February 20th), I believe the A-Team will play first… but I could be wrong! ha ha

(Thanks to Coach Quinn for this article. Great Job Bobcats!!!!)