SCOL Sports History: Van Matre takes helm of McClain basketball
By
Bob Patton-
The 1981 high school football season was over. It was a great season for the SCOL, since Washington C.H., a charter member of the league, played in the state championship game in Div. III. But now, football season was over, and the SCOL schools were preparing for the upcoming 1981-82 basketball season.
There were several new coaches in the league this season. Gary Shaffer left Washington C.H., after 13 years, to return to West Virginia. He was replaced by Bob Jacoby, a veteran coach, who had most recently headed up the basketball program at Southern State Community College. Jacoby had been an outstanding high school player in Clinton County and had played for Coach Tom Blackburn at the University of Dayton in the 1950s.
Jim Staley left Wilmington for Trotwood Madison, near Dayton.
Arnold Sutter was the new head coach at Wilmington. Sutter, who hailed from northern Ohio, had most recently been JV coach at Sycamore in the Cincinnati area. At McClain, Ted Downing had departed and had been replaced by a young fellow named Rick Van Matre.
Van Matre was from the Middleport/Pomeroy area and had been an assistant coach at Gallia Academy under legendary mentor Jim Osborne.
Dennis Stewart was out at Circleville. He was replaced by Tom Hamman, who had been head coach at Williamsport Westfall for the past few years. So, there were a lot of new faces around the league.
Washington got off to a rather late start because of the deep run in the football playoffs. Three of the Blue Lion starters were football players, along with a couple of key substitutes. But the Lions were able to get a win in their first SCOL game – a 56-53 overtime victory over Madison-Plains.
Junior guard Tim Redman led WCH with 15 points. Seth Lucas and Mike Brayfield collected 11 and 12 points, respectively, for Madison-Plains.
The same night, Teays Valley edged Circleville, 55-54, and Rob Munyan racked up 22 points for McClain, as the Tigers nosed out Wilmington, 56-54.
Meanwhile, the Hillsboro Indians served notice that they would be in the race by downing Miami Trace, 64-49.
The following Friday night, WCH traveled to Teays Valley, where the Vikings got their second straight one-point league win by coming from seven points behind in the final three minutes to down the Blue Lions, 53-52.
McClain shot 51 percent from the field and grabbed a 57-43 win over Madison-Plains. Plains defensed Rob Munyan well, holding him to 11 points. But guard Danny Shelton totaled 16 points and Gary Purdin added 12 for the Tigers. Seth Lucas led MP with 12 points, as the Eagles continued to get balanced scoring in a losing effort.
Hillsboro dropped another key SCOL game to Wilmington on the Richardson Place court, this time, 60-56. And Circleville edged Miami Trace, 54-49.
On Dec. 11, McClain met the Blue Lions in Washington C.H. Rob Munyan hit 11 of 17 from the field and 14 for 19 from the line for a total of 36 points, and the Tigers took a 68-55 win over the Lions. The Lions were trying to find some consistency. They looked very good at times but played some ragged basketball at other times.
Miami Trace invaded the Richardson Place court, where Steve Cluxton nearly outscored the entire Panthers team, as he racked up 35 points and the Hurricane rolled, 61-37. Trace had nobody in double figures.
McClain was enjoying life at the top of the SCOL heap, but Wilmington and Hillsboro were both just a game back. At Madison-Plains, the Eagles trailed Teays Valley, 40-27, at halftime and 56-47 at the third quarter mark. But the Eagles came soaring back in the final stanza to nose out TV, 72-69.
Hillsboro barely survived against the Circleville Tigers, taking a tough 56-54 overtime battle to remain in the running for the league championship.
After four rounds of league play, the SCOL standings were:
McClain — 4-0, 5-0
Hillsboro — 3-1, 4-1
Wilmington — 3-1, 3-2
Teays Valley — 2-2, 2-2
Circleville — 1-2, 1-2
Washington — 1-2, 1-2
Mad. Plains — 1-3, 3-3
Miami Trace — 0-4, 1-5
Steve Cluxton of Wilmington was running away with the SCOL individual scoring race. Against Trace, on Dec. 11, he had racked up 35 points. A week later, on Dec. 18, the senior sharpshooter pumped in 19 of 22 field goal attempts and three of four from the line for 41 points against Teays Valley. Over the past two weeks, he had averaged 17 of 19 from the field (a truly amazing 89.5 percent) as the Hurricane trounced the Vikings, 85-69. Nobody was close to Cluxton in individual scoring.
The SCOL did not sponsor individual scoring and did not give any rewards to the top scorers, basketball being a team sport. But the sports writers followed it and kept a pretty good tab on it.
Also on the 18th, Circleville hammered Madison-Plains, 70-46, and Washington took advantage of Miami Trace’s inability to hit the basket and walloped their Fayette County rivals, 52-26.
Hillsboro was scheduled at McClain, but the game was rescheduled, due to dangerous road conditions, for the following Tuesday evening. When the game was finally played, red-hot McClain jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter. But Coach Sam Snyder regrouped, and the Indians came storming back and actually took a one-point lead with three seconds remaining in the game. Hillsboro lost a heartbreaker when McClain’s Danny Shelton banked in a 30-foot, off-balance shot at the buzzer to defeat
the Indians, 53-52, keeping the Tigers undefeated and in the SCOL Catbird's seat. Dusty Miller and Washburn set the pace for the Tigers with 10 and 11 points. Doug Price scored 17 for Hillsboro, with Mark Snyder adding 16.
McClain traveled to Teays Valley Jan. 8. Washington met the Hillsboro Indians in Hillsboro the same night. Also, Miami Trace visited Madison-Plains and Circleville met the Hurricane at Wilmington. At Hillsboro, Washington put up a good battle but managed to hit only four of 15 free-throw attempts, good for 26.7%. The Indians came out on top, 65-54. A bright spot for WCH was the play of sophomore and future Major League pitcher Jeff Shaw, who tallied 17 points, hitting 8 of 11 attempts from the field. This was Shaw’s best game of the season thus far. But Hillsboro had four men in double figures. The Indians were playing better each time out.
Meanwhile, Madison-Plains took Miami Trace, 71-57, leaving the Panthers 0-6 in the SCOL and 1-9 overall. McClain hit 30 of 37 free-throw attempts at Teays Valley and clipped the Vikings, 72-61.
At Wilmington, Greg Nared scored ten points and had 12 assists, while Steve Cluxton continued to lead all SCOL scorers by racking up 24 points.
On Jan. 12, WCH made the short trip down Route 22 to Wilmington. The Hurricane jumped out to a 10-0 lead and held on to beat the Blue Lions, 68-52. The big difference was in rebounding, as the taller Hurricane controlled the boards on both ends of the court. The same night, McClain traveled to Circleville, where they fought back from a nine-point
deficit in the final quarter to edge the red and black, 55-52.
(Continued next week.)
Bob Patton is a Highland County sports historian and a contributing writer to The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
There were several new coaches in the league this season. Gary Shaffer left Washington C.H., after 13 years, to return to West Virginia. He was replaced by Bob Jacoby, a veteran coach, who had most recently headed up the basketball program at Southern State Community College. Jacoby had been an outstanding high school player in Clinton County and had played for Coach Tom Blackburn at the University of Dayton in the 1950s.
Jim Staley left Wilmington for Trotwood Madison, near Dayton.
Arnold Sutter was the new head coach at Wilmington. Sutter, who hailed from northern Ohio, had most recently been JV coach at Sycamore in the Cincinnati area. At McClain, Ted Downing had departed and had been replaced by a young fellow named Rick Van Matre.
Van Matre was from the Middleport/Pomeroy area and had been an assistant coach at Gallia Academy under legendary mentor Jim Osborne.
Dennis Stewart was out at Circleville. He was replaced by Tom Hamman, who had been head coach at Williamsport Westfall for the past few years. So, there were a lot of new faces around the league.
Washington got off to a rather late start because of the deep run in the football playoffs. Three of the Blue Lion starters were football players, along with a couple of key substitutes. But the Lions were able to get a win in their first SCOL game – a 56-53 overtime victory over Madison-Plains.
Junior guard Tim Redman led WCH with 15 points. Seth Lucas and Mike Brayfield collected 11 and 12 points, respectively, for Madison-Plains.
The same night, Teays Valley edged Circleville, 55-54, and Rob Munyan racked up 22 points for McClain, as the Tigers nosed out Wilmington, 56-54.
Meanwhile, the Hillsboro Indians served notice that they would be in the race by downing Miami Trace, 64-49.
The following Friday night, WCH traveled to Teays Valley, where the Vikings got their second straight one-point league win by coming from seven points behind in the final three minutes to down the Blue Lions, 53-52.
McClain shot 51 percent from the field and grabbed a 57-43 win over Madison-Plains. Plains defensed Rob Munyan well, holding him to 11 points. But guard Danny Shelton totaled 16 points and Gary Purdin added 12 for the Tigers. Seth Lucas led MP with 12 points, as the Eagles continued to get balanced scoring in a losing effort.
Hillsboro dropped another key SCOL game to Wilmington on the Richardson Place court, this time, 60-56. And Circleville edged Miami Trace, 54-49.
On Dec. 11, McClain met the Blue Lions in Washington C.H. Rob Munyan hit 11 of 17 from the field and 14 for 19 from the line for a total of 36 points, and the Tigers took a 68-55 win over the Lions. The Lions were trying to find some consistency. They looked very good at times but played some ragged basketball at other times.
Miami Trace invaded the Richardson Place court, where Steve Cluxton nearly outscored the entire Panthers team, as he racked up 35 points and the Hurricane rolled, 61-37. Trace had nobody in double figures.
McClain was enjoying life at the top of the SCOL heap, but Wilmington and Hillsboro were both just a game back. At Madison-Plains, the Eagles trailed Teays Valley, 40-27, at halftime and 56-47 at the third quarter mark. But the Eagles came soaring back in the final stanza to nose out TV, 72-69.
Hillsboro barely survived against the Circleville Tigers, taking a tough 56-54 overtime battle to remain in the running for the league championship.
After four rounds of league play, the SCOL standings were:
McClain — 4-0, 5-0
Hillsboro — 3-1, 4-1
Wilmington — 3-1, 3-2
Teays Valley — 2-2, 2-2
Circleville — 1-2, 1-2
Washington — 1-2, 1-2
Mad. Plains — 1-3, 3-3
Miami Trace — 0-4, 1-5
Steve Cluxton of Wilmington was running away with the SCOL individual scoring race. Against Trace, on Dec. 11, he had racked up 35 points. A week later, on Dec. 18, the senior sharpshooter pumped in 19 of 22 field goal attempts and three of four from the line for 41 points against Teays Valley. Over the past two weeks, he had averaged 17 of 19 from the field (a truly amazing 89.5 percent) as the Hurricane trounced the Vikings, 85-69. Nobody was close to Cluxton in individual scoring.
The SCOL did not sponsor individual scoring and did not give any rewards to the top scorers, basketball being a team sport. But the sports writers followed it and kept a pretty good tab on it.
Also on the 18th, Circleville hammered Madison-Plains, 70-46, and Washington took advantage of Miami Trace’s inability to hit the basket and walloped their Fayette County rivals, 52-26.
Hillsboro was scheduled at McClain, but the game was rescheduled, due to dangerous road conditions, for the following Tuesday evening. When the game was finally played, red-hot McClain jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter. But Coach Sam Snyder regrouped, and the Indians came storming back and actually took a one-point lead with three seconds remaining in the game. Hillsboro lost a heartbreaker when McClain’s Danny Shelton banked in a 30-foot, off-balance shot at the buzzer to defeat
the Indians, 53-52, keeping the Tigers undefeated and in the SCOL Catbird's seat. Dusty Miller and Washburn set the pace for the Tigers with 10 and 11 points. Doug Price scored 17 for Hillsboro, with Mark Snyder adding 16.
McClain traveled to Teays Valley Jan. 8. Washington met the Hillsboro Indians in Hillsboro the same night. Also, Miami Trace visited Madison-Plains and Circleville met the Hurricane at Wilmington. At Hillsboro, Washington put up a good battle but managed to hit only four of 15 free-throw attempts, good for 26.7%. The Indians came out on top, 65-54. A bright spot for WCH was the play of sophomore and future Major League pitcher Jeff Shaw, who tallied 17 points, hitting 8 of 11 attempts from the field. This was Shaw’s best game of the season thus far. But Hillsboro had four men in double figures. The Indians were playing better each time out.
Meanwhile, Madison-Plains took Miami Trace, 71-57, leaving the Panthers 0-6 in the SCOL and 1-9 overall. McClain hit 30 of 37 free-throw attempts at Teays Valley and clipped the Vikings, 72-61.
At Wilmington, Greg Nared scored ten points and had 12 assists, while Steve Cluxton continued to lead all SCOL scorers by racking up 24 points.
On Jan. 12, WCH made the short trip down Route 22 to Wilmington. The Hurricane jumped out to a 10-0 lead and held on to beat the Blue Lions, 68-52. The big difference was in rebounding, as the taller Hurricane controlled the boards on both ends of the court. The same night, McClain traveled to Circleville, where they fought back from a nine-point
deficit in the final quarter to edge the red and black, 55-52.
(Continued next week.)
Bob Patton is a Highland County sports historian and a contributing writer to The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]