CLARION, Pa. – The history of Otto-Eldred boys’ basketball and the District 9 title game could be summed up with one year prior to Wednesday night.
1997. Twenty-six years ago. That was the last time the Terrors had reached the D9 title game doing so in Class 1A (they lost to Keystone). Prior to that, one needed to go back to World War II and the old Otto Township High School to see any kind of real D9 success in that small corner of District 9.
Until now.
At PennWest Clarion’s Tippin Gym, Otto-Eldred knocked off defending D9 2A champion Ridgway, 41-35, in the 2A semifinals.
“It’s pretty cool,” Otto-Eldred first-year head coach Derek Francis said. “That has been our goal since we lost on this court last year to DCC (in the 1A semifinals). It’s really cool for our community. We had a lot of people make the trip down, and I think there will be a lot more here Saturday.”
Rewatch the game
Also see: D9 1A semifinal recaps
The Terrors led wire-to-wire, but Ridgway never made it easy getting Otto-Eldred to play “Elker basketball” at a slower pace than O-E would have liked.
“It’s just a different style of basketball,” Derek Francis said. “And they really make you play it.
Ridgway may have made the Terrors play its game, but Otto-Eldred showed it could play that style.
“I like up-and-down basketball,” Derek Francis said. “I want a shot clock. I wanted one three years ago. But, hey, we had to do what we had to do. I told the kids if we scored 40, we win. Everybody talks about Ridgway’s defense, but that Otto-Eldred defense is pretty darn good.”
Otto-Eldred led 24-16 at halftime and got the lead to 11, 29-28, in the first two-and-a-half minutes of the second half on a 3-pointer by Manning Splain and a bucket from Brax Caldwell, who had a big first half with 10 points.
But showing the heart of the champions they were, Ridgway fought back ending the third quarter on an 8-0 run, including four points from Aaron Sorg, who scored a game-high 20, to get within three, 29-26, going to the final eight minutes.
Sorg continued to help Ridgway push in the early part of the fourth quarter, and his 3-pointer with 5:03 to play got the Elkers within two, 33-31.
But Ridgway turned to Thomas, and he hit a jumper to push the lead back to four, 35-31.
Thomas and Caldwell played large roles in the win combing for 24 points as Ridgway shut down the Otto-Eldred guards.
“The guards do all the work,” Thomas said. “They get us open. All we have to do is catch it run fast and score that’s it.”
Thomas bucket started a 6-1 run that all but sealed the win.
Caldwell also had a basket during the spurt catching a home run pass from Manning Splain, letting the Ridgway defender commit, and then laying it up to make it 37-31 with 1:27 to play.
Ridgway had once last gasp when Alex Merritt hit an off-balance 3-pointer with 46 seconds left to get the Elkers back within four, 39-35, but Francis hit two free throws to salt the game away.
A real key to the late run was Thomas’ defense on Sorg.
After the senior scored 19 points through 27 minutes, he was held to one in the final five after Derek Francis moved Thomas on to him.
“I pretty much had to faceguard him and not let him go back door and not let him get an inch of breathing room,” Thomas said.
Otto-Eldred will face Clarion-Limestone in the title game at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 4, at Tippin Gym.
“It feels amazing,” Thomas said. “But we will have one more to get.”
Watch Thoma’s full interview
Ridgway’s season isn’t over. The Elkers will battle Kanrs City for the third and final PIAA playoff berth awarded to D9 in Class 2A Friday, March 3, at a site and time to be announced.
CLARION-LIMESTONE 47, KARNS CITY 43
CLARION, Pa. – Using a game-ending 13-4 run, Clarion-Limestone advanced to the District 9 Class 2A championship game with a 47-43 win over Karns City at PennWest Clarion’s Tippin Gym.
The Lions, who trailed most of the night, were down 39-34 after a Taite Beighley basket for Karns City with just under six minutes to play.
But C-L turned to its two leading guards – Jordan Hesdon and Jase Ferguson to lead them into a D9 title game for the first time since winning the 2015 Class 1A crown.
Hesdon scored seven points down the stretch and Ferguson added four.
The game’s biggest basket came off a Hesdon offensive rebound off a missed shot by Alex Painter.
“It was kind of a blur,” Hesdon said of the play. “I know we needed to get those two points to go up by one. Thankfully, my teammates blocked out just as well as I did, and I got the rebound and put it back up.”
Watch Hesdon’s full postgame interview
The putback gave C-L the lead for just the second time since holding a 7-5 first-quarter advantage.
Hesdon was responsible for a 42-41 lead with two free throws with 2:04 to play, but Karns City answered back with a Micah Rupp jumper in the lane with 1:15 to go.
After Hesdon’s basket gave C-L the lead for good, Karns City turned the ball over on the inbound play, and Ferguson hit two free twos to give the Lions a 43-40 lead.
Ferguson then came up with a big offensive board of his own off a missed free throw by Jack Callen with nine seconds left setting up Hesdon’s game-sealing free throw with 3.5 seconds to play.
“Those (Ferguson and Hesdon) are two of my guards,” C-L head coach Joe Ferguson said. “They are in their crashing. We got the boards when we needed to have the boards. They were fighting. They were just in there fighting for boards. I am just really proud of the kids overall.”
Most of the first half belonged to Karns City, as the Gremlins built a 12-point lead, 25-13, with under two minutes to go in the half.
“We were flat,” Joe Ferguson said. “And they (Karns City) were own. Their intensity level was much higher than ours in that first half.”
C-L, though, started to right the ship in the final minutes-and-half of the half going on a half-ending 7-0 run to get within five, 25-20, at halftime.
Jack Craig punctuated the run with a 3-pointer from the right wing with just over 15 seconds left in the half.
“It was huge,” Joe Ferguson said. “It did not go unnoticed by me. We were just struggling offensively and defensively. We needed points. When he hit that three, I was just like that closes the gap.”
C-L extended the run to 10-0 with the first three points of the second half to get within two, 25-23, but a 3-pointer by Beighley and a basket by Rupp got the Gremlins’ lead back to seven 30-23, with just over five minutes left in the third quarter.
Painter, though, answered with a 3-pointer at the other end, and the game was never further apart than five points the rest of the way.
“I felt like all we needed to do was get out defensive intensity up,” Joe Ferguson said. “But then, the ball sometimes doesn’t bounce your way either. They are probably feeling the same way, to be honest. Karns City played a heck of a game.”
Hesdon led C-L with 13 points with Ferguson adding nine and Rylie Klingensmith eight. Hesdon also had six assists, three rebounds, and two steals, while Ferguson added four steals, four rebounds, and two assists.
Rupp paced Karns City with 14 points with Beighley and Hobie Bartoe each adding 10.
This is just the third title-game berth for C-L in the last 50 years. In addition to winning the 1A title in 2015, the Lions were runner-up in Class 1A in 2001.
“There are reasons why you don’t get there,” Joe Ferguson said. “It goes to the kids. It isn’t about me. It is very exciting. What is really exciting is the team play. We don’t have that standout player.”
C-L will face Ottto-Eldred in the title game at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 4, at Tippin Gym.
Karns City’s season isn’t over. The Gremlins will battle Ridgway for the third and final PIAA playoff berth awarded to D9 in Class 2A Friday, March 3, at a site and time to be announced.
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