New Philadelphia DIV Sectional Finals

6 pm- Hiland vs Strasburg

8pm- Malvern vs Tusc. Central Cath.

Picks: Strasburg by 7
TCC by 5

Hiland by 9
Malvern by 5

Hiland by 12
TCC by 7

Hiland by 15
Malvern by 15

Hiland & Malvern survive and advanvce to the Meadowbrook district

TCC and Strasburg will surprise people tonight......one of these teams will make a good run once they win tonight.......

Hiland by 16
Malvern by 9

Ill go with Hesston, particularly the word Survive

Hiland wins by about 10. They pulled away late in the game, it was back and forth throughout.

malvern in OT by 3.
wes was the closest--good picks.

Damn him. I wasnt that far off. Had both winners. One by double figures and the other by single figures?

WOOT!!

Congratulations to Hiland and Malvern.On to the districts again!
I guess if Strasburg insists on picking our (Hiland's) bracket we'll gladly oblige to send them home early.
By the way: a note to Strasburg's #14: the old Strasburg gym may be "your house" (and by the way you can have it), but New Philadelphia's gym must be our house (as in Hiland's house) at least come tourney time. You're obviously a very good player, but Maybe spend a little less time whining and carrying on like a Sportscenter wannabe, and you might eventually know what it feels like to win in New Phila.

agree talon, was nice to be able to beat Strasburg, especially when they picked our bracket to go up against (tho I'd have done the same thing). But, yikes, calling out their best player? He's very very good--antics or not--very hardto stop anywhere within 10-12 ft of the bucket. I thought he played very well. Don't think he got a rest all night--maybe he wore down a tad. But , whatever--glad to eke out a win and advance.
Thought Hiland played one of their better overall games--pretty good team ball. Luke had a nice game, and thought we played pretty good D. Took a good game to get past the Tigers. Hats off to them--a very good team. One of the tougher DIV sectionals in the state I would say. 2 very good teams (Strasburg and TCC) go home.
A rematch with Shadyside for Hiland, and Malvern gets another old nemesis in Rosecrans. The more things change the more they stay the same it seems!

Talon,
Maybe if Strasburg would have a Strasburg Guy Ref the Game Like the Hiland Guy did last night for Hiland---(Yoder) they would have won. To me thats not right to have a Native of Hiland for how long...coaching baseball there....be aloud to Ref a Strasburg/Hiland Tournament Game.....now he was not the main reason Strasburg lost but he did make some bad calls....and Many Hiland people know it to.......Also to talk about # 14 from Strasburg is Crap....that kid is one of the nicest, laid back kids i've ever seen....and for you to call him out and say the things you did are wrong.....Maybe you should look at your Coach during the game and watch him.....Never stopped complaining the whole night....but wait he's from Hiland soooo he can do no wrong..........Good Luck next Game vs Shadyside....if Yoders on the game you will survive another game in Tournament..... Go Shadyside.....

I agree ---wasn't very impressed with the refs. I personally didn't think we got any breaks from them (or him--yoder). thought they were equally bad, or at least inconsistent ( but of course I'm looking at things through hiland eyes. since we fired Yoder--wouldn't think he'd be partial to us. guess you'd need an impartial observer to get their opinion). in any event--agree with darkblue, in that i don't think the reffing influenced the outcome of the game. just seemed to aggravate the fans and coaches[more one than the other apparently] it was a heck of a competetive game. pretty equally matched teams. again hats off to Strasburg

DukeBlue wrote: Maybe if Strasburg would have a Strasburg Guy Ref the Game Like the Hiland Guy did last night for Hiland---(Yoder) they would have won. To me thats not right to have a Native of Hiland for how long...coaching baseball there....be aloud to Ref a Strasburg/Hiland Tournament Game.....

There are three refs out there I doubt it matters. The only reason I would not allow it so I would not have to listen to people like you complain. If you can't prove he showed any bias why complain about it.

DukeBlue wrote: now he was not the main reason Strasburg lost but he did make some bad calls....and Many Hiland people know it to.......

If Yoder is not the main reason you lost why insinuate bias? He made bad calls. Every ref does nearly every game. I have yet to witness the perfectly reffed game. There were a couple of bad calls by Yoder that went in Strasburgs favor.

DukeBlue wrote: Also to talk about # 14 from Strasburg is Crap....that kid is one of the nicest, laid back kids i've ever seen....and for you to call him out and say the things you did are wrong....

I like the kid. Good attitude and a solid player. My guess is Hawktalon viewed the game from the Hiland student section so I would take his comments with a grain of salt.

DukeBlue wrote: .Maybe you should look at your Coach during the game and watch him.....Never stopped complaining the whole night....but wait he's from Hiland soooo he can do no wrong..........

I witnessed both coaches complaining quite a bit. Were either one out of line?

DukeBlue wrote: Good Luck next Game vs Shadyside....if Yoders on the game you will survive another game in Tournament.....

And again you mention Yoder in the context that he is responsible for Hiland's victory. Yet above you claim he was not the main reason Strasburg lost. Which is it?

DukeBlue wrote: Go Shadyside.....

As I suspected all along you appear to be a sore loser.

I was at this game tongiht and I saw a LOT of bad calls both ways! Yoder did not get fired from Hiland, his coaching contract was not renewed and he chose to leave on his own since he could not coach anymore. Yoder hated Hiland for years and probably still does! Numer 14 is a good player I agree but he got away with more than any other player in the game for example when he pushed a Hiland player to the ground and nothing was called! It was a great game to watch and the better team won. Also, coach Bonifont's outburst was very unprofessional as a head coach and someone the town and schol looks up to. Very classless on his part. The Hiland coach was complaining and almost got a technical, I was sitting behind the bench and know this for a fact. But it's just HS basketball, life goes on. GO HAWKS!!

I think Major said pretty much what I was going to...

A few things, though:


#1: don't assume we all feel that way about Bonifant... Kid plays hard and his work is certainly paying off. Dads behavior was more memorable than his, IMO...

#2: I would NOT assume that Yoder feels any bias towards Hiland. In fact, I really doubt it. If the ED officials were worried, they wouldn't have allowed it. I do feel that he maybe did a bit too much to dictate the tone early ( heard somewhere that the best ref's are the one's you forget as soon as the whistle blows) - but after seeing how the girls game Friday got a little chippy, and knowing how these games CAN tend to get, personally I'm kinda glad they did set the tone. On one hand, let them play. On the other, could well have avoided some "issues".

#3: we do watch our coach - we watch him and smile and get great enjoyment out of what he does from an entertainment standpoint. Probably cuz in most cases, he's as soft spoken and unassuming as they come. But we're not oblivious.

#4: if defense is mentioned, even though Bonifant ended up with 22, Noah Boyd made him work very very hard for it.

#4: if defense is mentioned, even though Bonifant ended up with 22, Noah Boyd made him work very very hard for it.
[/quote]

Wish Boyd would have pushed him around in the post like J. Miller did, can't really complain what Bonifant did to Miller as far as shoving him to the ground at least Miller didn't get up crying, went right back to pushing and shoving which is exactly what this Hiland team has been missing the past couple wks...IMO - Hilands wkness is a lack of Mental toughness and they needed someone to show a little grit and metal and fight, maybe they found it last night...but i thought the difference in this game came from Miller and Burch....the latter can get up and down the floor faster with a basketball in his hand than most kids can sprint...

I was at both games, but to read on here you would think only one game was played. First game was quite entertaining. The three straight baskets by Birch real sealed the deal for the Hawks.

Game two was actually a bit boring until the four minute mark in fourth. Malvern got tentative on both ends of court and TCC took advantage. Saints did a great job the entire night on Wackerly, but Tucci and Kapron were too much inside for TCC to overcome. Fourth straight Sectional title for Hornets on that gym floor. Four Hornet seniors went 8-0 on that court in their careers.

Rooting for an all IVC District Final next Saturday.

Those tournament games are emotional and it colors how things like officiating are perceived, especially if junior is playing. When my junior played I thought the officiating was terrible in a particular game, but it was televised and once I was able to sit down and watch it without emotion, there were several calls that I thought were horrible live that looked pretty good on tape. It's something to try to keep in mind. Sometimes what we think we are seeing isn't what really happened.

What conference has 3 sophs the quality of Kaufman, Bonifant, and Tucci? And you can throw in Burch too. Those kids are tremendous.

The Malvern TCC game was fun to listen to on the radio. What was the deal with Adam Wackerly? Was it an off night or good defense?

Biggest thing I want to know is what the TCC fan did to get escorted out by some of New Philly's finest. Anyone know?

Baseball wrote: Burch....the latter can get up and down the floor faster with a basketball in his hand than most kids can sprint...

I literally laughed out loud watching the replay when I heard Triplett say that in doing his scouting for TCC - he had never listed Burch as being "quick." How in God's name did he EVER manage to miss that??? Yes, he doesn't always turn it on for huge stretches like he did Saturday, but the first step on that kid is insane. And yea, it was even more evident on the replay his ability to be able to blow by everybody - teammates included - in the later part of the game.

TCC did a great job defensively on Wackerly. His defender never left him to help or sagged when ball was across the court. That was a Malvern fan that got the escort from gym. He had been on that ref all night long and during a dead ball sitution voiced his opinion a bit too loudly with some strong use of the English language.

How about Kaufmann, Bonifant and Tucci being on the same AAU team...I feel sorry for the other two guys on court if those three are on court together

it was a malvern fan that got escorted pariah, and i was too far away to see what he did...whatever it was he knew it was coming and got up and out before the coppers got to him lol

and i know this isnt gonna be a popular opinion but i stand by it 100%...ive seen bonifant several times (although not saturday) and almost everytime ive seen him whine and pout and act like a baby, more to himself then vocally to the refs tho...