Wilmington takes early lead in SCOL in '78-79
By
Bob Patton-
Many changes were evident when SCOL schools started preparations for the 1978-79 basketball season.
Ron Hall, back for his second year at Miami Trace, would have a tough act to follow. The Panthers were defending league, sectional, district and regional champs. Hall had lost four starters, playmaker Art Schlichter, center Bill Hanners and forwards Tom Richardson and Dave Glass. His only holdover starter would be Scott Grooms.
Bill Newland, at Hillsboro, was returning all five starters from the previous year; but the Indians had finished 1-17. They would be led by All-SCOL Jon Cole, who averaged more than 17 points per game. The supporting cast would include guards Jeff Gilliland and Duke Jackson, each of whom averaged over 10 points per game, along with forwards Gary Schraw and Brad Storer who could both hold their own under the basket.
At McClain, Coach Sam Snyder won only one game in ’77-78 and then graduated the best two players he had. Only two lettermen were returning and the veteran coach would have to fill in with players off last year’s reserve team, which was 3-15. The Tigers would also be very small. It could be a bleak winter in Greenfield.
At Circleville, second year coach Dennis Stewart would pin his hopes on a load of talent coming up off last year’s 14-4 reserve team. Two starters were returning, but they would face tough competition for starting roles on this year’s team.
Coach Jim Hoover, at Teays Valley, had two full-time starters returning, along with three other players who started at one time or another last season. The league coaches looked for TV to be a dark horse in the race for the title.
At Wilmington, Coach Jim Staley had posted a two-year record of 23-3 in the SCOL, but the Hurricane lost Gary Williams, David Nared and John Elliott to graduation. This could be a challenging season for them. They had Barry Turner, this year.
Turner starred at Leesburg Fairfield as a sophomore and East Clinton as a junior. This year, it was Wilmington’s turn. Would he be enough to turn the fortunes of the Hurricane around?
Coach Gary Shaffer, at Washington, would be without record-setter John Denen for the first time in four years. Denen, the class AA SE District “Player of the Year” was on the squad at Middle Tennessee State University. In addition, Shaffer lost center Michael Turner, floor general Tom Bath and forward Jeff Elliott. He would have senior forward Steve Pritchet, an All-SCOL performer back.
Madison Plains would have a new head coach – Dan Hughes. Hughes returned practically the entire team from last year, including Scott Joslin, who broke the MP single game scoring record last season, and a host of players from the MP reserve team, which had posted a record of 31-5 over the past two years. One of the top players coming up from the reserve team would be “Downtown” Dickie Brown, who it was said, could shoot the ball from another time zone.
SCOL play opened Nov. 28, when Wilmington got even with Madison Plains who upset the Hurricane in the first round of play last season. This time, the Hurricane got 22 points from Barry Turner as they edged the Golden Eagles, 52-50. In other games, Washington visited Circleville, where they outlasted the Tigers, 47-46, Teays Valley clipped stubborn Hillsboro, 60-57 and Miami Trace defeated McClain, 67-49.
On Dec. 1, Washington C.H. jumped out to an early 17-4 lead and went on to upset favored Madison Plains, 62-56; Circleville pounded McClain, 89-45; Wilmington burned previously unbeaten Teays Valley, 61-53; and Miami Trace took an easy win from Hillsboro, 62-45, as John Persinger racked up 23 points on the Hillsboro court. After only two league games, Miami Trace, Wilmington and Washington were all 2-0, while Circleville and Teays Valley were 1-1, and Hillsboro, McClain and Madison Plains were all 0-2.
Hillsboro’s Jon Cole and Miami Trace’s John Persinger were the early individual scoring leaders in the league. Cole was leading in all games with a 25 point per game average. In league games only, Persinger led with a 21 ppg average. Barry Turner of Wilmington and Mark Morrison of Circleville followed, along with Steve Pritchet of WCH.
On Dec. 8, Coach Ron Hall of Miami Trace returned after an illness that kept him sidelined for the first two games of the season. He was in the MT gym when the Panthers retired Art Schlichter’s uniform. No Miami Trace player would wear the familiar number 10 again. In the basketball game, though, visiting Circleville employed a full-court press and pushed the Panthers to the wall before Scott Grooms and John Persinger were able to pull it out for the Panthers, 52-46.
Washington C.H. posted its third victory of the young season, beating Teays Valley, 68-55, and the Wilmington Hurricane, 70-64 winners over Hillsboro, ran their SCOL record to 3-0, while Madison Plains ran out to an incredible 32-8 lead over hapless McClain, went on to a 47-17 halftime lead and coasted to an 86-44 win. On Dec. 12, Miami Trace and Wilmington squared off in the Richardson Place gym, in Wilmington. Both teams sported 3-0 league records, and somebody had to lose. In two years, Wilmington coach Jim Staley had won one SCOL championship and finished second one time. In the two years, the Hurricane had lost only three times on their home court – to Xenia in the ’76-77 season and in ’77-78, and to Miami Trace in March of 1978.
When the smoke had cleared, it was the Hurricane coming out on top, 64-56. Miami Trace was a young, inexperienced team, and the Panthers were just not able to keep up with the bigger and stronger Hurricane. The same night, WCH hammered McClain, 55-37; Madison Plains blitzed Teays Valley, 86-65; and Circleville downed Hillsboro, 78-64. After only four SCOL games, Washington C.H. and Wilmington were 4-0, Miami Trace was 3-1, Madison Plains and Circleville were 2-2, Teays Valley was 1-3 while Hillsboro and McClain were both 0-4.
On Dec. 15, the two league leaders met at Washington to settle the issue, for the first half of the season, anyway. Madison Plains would travel to Miami Trace, Circleville would play at Teays Valley and Hillsboro would entertain their cross-county foes, the McClain Tigers.
At WCH, Wilmington shot only 37 percent from the field, but the Blue Lions were even worse, shooting a dismal 28 percent. The result was a low-scoring, 45-40 win for the Hurricane. Barry Turner, of Wilmington led all scorers in this game with only 13 points. Hillsboro notched their first league win of the season by beating McClain, 65-54. This was the seventh consecutive loss this season for the Tigers.
Pete Harrison, of Circleville was on the sidelines with a severely sprained right ankle, which may have contributed to Teays Valley trouncing the Tigers 61-42. Trace whipped Madison Plains, 57-44, but lost junior all-leaguer Scott Grooms to a serious knee injury in the final minute of the game. Wilmington’s win over WCH put the Hurricane in the catbird’s seat in the SCOL with a 5-0 mark, while the losing Blue Lions dropped into a second place tie with Miami Trace.
(Continued next week.)
Bob Patton is a Highland County sports historian and a contributing writer to The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
Ron Hall, back for his second year at Miami Trace, would have a tough act to follow. The Panthers were defending league, sectional, district and regional champs. Hall had lost four starters, playmaker Art Schlichter, center Bill Hanners and forwards Tom Richardson and Dave Glass. His only holdover starter would be Scott Grooms.
Bill Newland, at Hillsboro, was returning all five starters from the previous year; but the Indians had finished 1-17. They would be led by All-SCOL Jon Cole, who averaged more than 17 points per game. The supporting cast would include guards Jeff Gilliland and Duke Jackson, each of whom averaged over 10 points per game, along with forwards Gary Schraw and Brad Storer who could both hold their own under the basket.
At McClain, Coach Sam Snyder won only one game in ’77-78 and then graduated the best two players he had. Only two lettermen were returning and the veteran coach would have to fill in with players off last year’s reserve team, which was 3-15. The Tigers would also be very small. It could be a bleak winter in Greenfield.
At Circleville, second year coach Dennis Stewart would pin his hopes on a load of talent coming up off last year’s 14-4 reserve team. Two starters were returning, but they would face tough competition for starting roles on this year’s team.
Coach Jim Hoover, at Teays Valley, had two full-time starters returning, along with three other players who started at one time or another last season. The league coaches looked for TV to be a dark horse in the race for the title.
At Wilmington, Coach Jim Staley had posted a two-year record of 23-3 in the SCOL, but the Hurricane lost Gary Williams, David Nared and John Elliott to graduation. This could be a challenging season for them. They had Barry Turner, this year.
Turner starred at Leesburg Fairfield as a sophomore and East Clinton as a junior. This year, it was Wilmington’s turn. Would he be enough to turn the fortunes of the Hurricane around?
Coach Gary Shaffer, at Washington, would be without record-setter John Denen for the first time in four years. Denen, the class AA SE District “Player of the Year” was on the squad at Middle Tennessee State University. In addition, Shaffer lost center Michael Turner, floor general Tom Bath and forward Jeff Elliott. He would have senior forward Steve Pritchet, an All-SCOL performer back.
Madison Plains would have a new head coach – Dan Hughes. Hughes returned practically the entire team from last year, including Scott Joslin, who broke the MP single game scoring record last season, and a host of players from the MP reserve team, which had posted a record of 31-5 over the past two years. One of the top players coming up from the reserve team would be “Downtown” Dickie Brown, who it was said, could shoot the ball from another time zone.
SCOL play opened Nov. 28, when Wilmington got even with Madison Plains who upset the Hurricane in the first round of play last season. This time, the Hurricane got 22 points from Barry Turner as they edged the Golden Eagles, 52-50. In other games, Washington visited Circleville, where they outlasted the Tigers, 47-46, Teays Valley clipped stubborn Hillsboro, 60-57 and Miami Trace defeated McClain, 67-49.
On Dec. 1, Washington C.H. jumped out to an early 17-4 lead and went on to upset favored Madison Plains, 62-56; Circleville pounded McClain, 89-45; Wilmington burned previously unbeaten Teays Valley, 61-53; and Miami Trace took an easy win from Hillsboro, 62-45, as John Persinger racked up 23 points on the Hillsboro court. After only two league games, Miami Trace, Wilmington and Washington were all 2-0, while Circleville and Teays Valley were 1-1, and Hillsboro, McClain and Madison Plains were all 0-2.
Hillsboro’s Jon Cole and Miami Trace’s John Persinger were the early individual scoring leaders in the league. Cole was leading in all games with a 25 point per game average. In league games only, Persinger led with a 21 ppg average. Barry Turner of Wilmington and Mark Morrison of Circleville followed, along with Steve Pritchet of WCH.
On Dec. 8, Coach Ron Hall of Miami Trace returned after an illness that kept him sidelined for the first two games of the season. He was in the MT gym when the Panthers retired Art Schlichter’s uniform. No Miami Trace player would wear the familiar number 10 again. In the basketball game, though, visiting Circleville employed a full-court press and pushed the Panthers to the wall before Scott Grooms and John Persinger were able to pull it out for the Panthers, 52-46.
Washington C.H. posted its third victory of the young season, beating Teays Valley, 68-55, and the Wilmington Hurricane, 70-64 winners over Hillsboro, ran their SCOL record to 3-0, while Madison Plains ran out to an incredible 32-8 lead over hapless McClain, went on to a 47-17 halftime lead and coasted to an 86-44 win. On Dec. 12, Miami Trace and Wilmington squared off in the Richardson Place gym, in Wilmington. Both teams sported 3-0 league records, and somebody had to lose. In two years, Wilmington coach Jim Staley had won one SCOL championship and finished second one time. In the two years, the Hurricane had lost only three times on their home court – to Xenia in the ’76-77 season and in ’77-78, and to Miami Trace in March of 1978.
When the smoke had cleared, it was the Hurricane coming out on top, 64-56. Miami Trace was a young, inexperienced team, and the Panthers were just not able to keep up with the bigger and stronger Hurricane. The same night, WCH hammered McClain, 55-37; Madison Plains blitzed Teays Valley, 86-65; and Circleville downed Hillsboro, 78-64. After only four SCOL games, Washington C.H. and Wilmington were 4-0, Miami Trace was 3-1, Madison Plains and Circleville were 2-2, Teays Valley was 1-3 while Hillsboro and McClain were both 0-4.
On Dec. 15, the two league leaders met at Washington to settle the issue, for the first half of the season, anyway. Madison Plains would travel to Miami Trace, Circleville would play at Teays Valley and Hillsboro would entertain their cross-county foes, the McClain Tigers.
At WCH, Wilmington shot only 37 percent from the field, but the Blue Lions were even worse, shooting a dismal 28 percent. The result was a low-scoring, 45-40 win for the Hurricane. Barry Turner, of Wilmington led all scorers in this game with only 13 points. Hillsboro notched their first league win of the season by beating McClain, 65-54. This was the seventh consecutive loss this season for the Tigers.
Pete Harrison, of Circleville was on the sidelines with a severely sprained right ankle, which may have contributed to Teays Valley trouncing the Tigers 61-42. Trace whipped Madison Plains, 57-44, but lost junior all-leaguer Scott Grooms to a serious knee injury in the final minute of the game. Wilmington’s win over WCH put the Hurricane in the catbird’s seat in the SCOL with a 5-0 mark, while the losing Blue Lions dropped into a second place tie with Miami Trace.
(Continued next week.)
Bob Patton is a Highland County sports historian and a contributing writer to The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]