Skip to main content

Fairfield wins in finale of Chad Hodson Classic; moves to 20-0 overall

Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — Continuing to take their season “one game at a time,” Saturday night in the finale of the inaugural Chad Hodson Classic, the Fairfield Lions played in honor of Chad Hodson and won on their home court, winning 65-29 over Ironton St. Joseph. 

The game was the last of five games played Saturday to raise money for the Chad Hodson Memorial Scholarship. Hodson, a graduate of FHS class of 1998 and a coach of numerous local sports including FHS boys and girls basketball, passed away Nov. 28, 2019 after battling cancer.

The Lions stayed undefeated at 20-0 overall with their victory and did so in convincing fashion, but the moment in the game that will be remembered for a long time was when Fairfield sophomore Dane Hodson — the son of Chad Hodson — was placed into the starting lineup and scored the first basket of the game uncontested, as the entire gymnasium cheered on the two points scored by Hodson. 

After Ironton St. Joseph regained their two points, a timeout was called as the fans in attendance continued to cheer on the gesture of the two points scored by Hodson in honor of his father. 

Game play resumed, and it wasn’t the quickest of starts for Fairfield. With a slow start on offense, as Fairfield held a 4-2 lead with 3:45 left in the opening quarter, first-year head coach Quentin Williams called a timeout to get some things sorted out. 

After a one-minute discussion during the timeout, the Lions returned to the court and outscored St. Joseph 10-4 for the remainder of the first quarter. 

“For the most part, defensively, I thought we had a good effort, especially in the first half,” Williams said. “We adjusted and were more physical in the second half. We’ve gotten to the post a little more, and we were just more physical and played through contact. So I thought we did a better job on offense in the second half.”

With the first four points of the Lions scored by Hodson and Larkin Friend, the remainder of the first-quarter scoring for the Lions included a layup from TJ Mootz, a jumper by Trey House, and at the end of the frame House sank two 3-pointers within 20 seconds of each other, including one nearly at the buzzer, close to a half-court 3-pointer for a 14-6 Fairfield lead. 

The Lions showed why they have been kings of the jungle this season in the second quarter, outscoring St. Joseph 20-5 in the quarter for a 34-11 halftime lead. 

Fairfield scored the first 11 points of the second frame, with the first nine by Mootz off two 3-pointers and a three-point play. Next was a fast-break layup from House, leaving the Lions ahead by 19 points at 25-6 with St. Joseph calling a timeout with 3:59 left in the quarter. 

Ironton St. Joseph reached the scoreboard in the second with a 3-pointer, but Mootz scored the next five points for the Lions, with Mootz hitting a 3-pointer and two shots from the free-throw line. 

St. Joseph scored two points off a basket with 1:27 left in the second, only to have that feat doubled with a put-back basket from Friend and two free throws made by Mootz, giving the Lions a 34-11 halftime lead. 

Fairfield won the third frame at 16-11 and the fourth quarter at 15-7 for their 36-point win. In the third, the Lions had four points each from Mootz and Gunner Bennington and two points each from Friend, House, Wyatt Collins and Gabe Fouch. 

The fourth-quarter scoring for the Lions included five points by House (including a 3-pointer), one point by Logan McIntosh, two points by Hodson, five points by Mootz (including a 3-pointer) and two points by Bennington. 

Mootz was the game MVP for Fairfield, scoring 27 points in the win, finishing with four two-point baskets, four 3-pointers and he was 7-of-7 from the free-throw line. Mootz also added five rebounds and two assists. 

House totaled 17 points in the win, with three 3-pointers and four two-point baskets, and he added two rebounds, one assist and two steals. 

Other scoring totals for the Lions included six points by Bennington (who also collected 14 rebounds and two blocks), Friend with six points (plus six assists and five rebounds), four points by Hodson, two points by Collins, two points from Fouch and one point by McIntosh. Also for Fairfield, Cade Miller had two rebounds. 

In the win, the Lions totaled seven 3-pointers as a team and were 10-of-11 from the free-throw line. 

“I’m pretty proud of them, obviously, to get where we're at, but at the same time, I just don't want to get complacent,” Williams said of the team’s 20th victory of the season. “We’ve still got to work, and we’ve still got to get better at some things. The biggest thing I probably want to get better at is always being under control offensively and playing with pace and not letting people speed us up.

“I think if you try to overlook anybody, you could lose every single night, and it's hard to try to remember that whether you're high school, college, NBA, whatever it is. It's hard to do that to take things one day at a time. So that's the thing I'm most proud of my kids. I don't think we've ever overlooked anybody. We've always come with a good game plan, and they've done a really good job executing and buying in.”

Williams also spoke about his memories of Chad Hodson, as he said they were both assistant coaches during Williams’ first season as a coach in the Fairfield program.

“We had a lot of fun together,” he said. “We were always joking around on the bench, me, Matt [Hodson] and Chad. I used to keep the stats when I first started here, and Josh [Howland, former head coach], was real adamant on keeping stats correctly. And by correctly, I mean usually you have to add a few here and there because he was mad, and in the locker room he thought we'd given up seven, eight, nine offensive rebounds.

“So one time I get in there, and he asked me how many offensive rebounds we gave up, and I think I said three. He said ‘there's no way that we only gave up three,’ and he started kind of ripping me into me. Chad started laughing over there in the corner so hard he had to walk out. So then every time it was always an inside joke, I had to add at least a few when I went to the locker room.”

Williams added that the local community “really rallied around and we've had a great day” for the inaugural event.

“It’s fun, but it’s been a little bit hard too, especially because I coach his kid, and you know, I resonate with that,” he said. “It's hard, especially being a young age and losing someone, obviously your dad, or losing anybody close to you.

“It’s been fun celebrating this and starting this tradition, but at the same time, you feel for his son, his family. I know there's really not a better person, and I know he's proud of all his kids. His kids excel at so many different things, and I know he's so proud of them looking down.”

Fairfield is next scheduled to face the McClain Tigers in a non-conference game on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at FHS. 

[[In-content Ad]]

Add new comment

This is not for publication.
This is not for publication.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
Article comments are not posted immediately to the Web site. Each submission must be approved by the Web site editor, who may edit content for appropriateness. There may be a delay of 24-48 hours for any submission while the web site editor reviews and approves it. Note: All information on this form is required. Your telephone number and email address is for our use only, and will not be attached to your comment.