Blue Lions team to beat in 1991-92

(Continued from last week.)

The 1991-92 SCOL basketball season was rapidly approaching, as all the league teams worked feverishly to whip their respective squads into shape. It was hard to realize that the coming season would be the last for one of the oldest and most prestigious loops in the state of Ohio.

Most of the league coaches were picking Washington as the favorite to grab the championship trophy this season. The Lions would have four of their top six players back, including 6’ 3 senior Jason Pittser, an All-SCOL selection the previous year. He would be coming back 15 pounds lighter,
which might make him more maneuverable and more productive. He would be joined by 6’ 5” center Monte Smith, guards Tyrone Baker and B.J. Kline along with Mike Patton and Shawn Smith.

This would be Coach Gary Shaffer’s 18th season at Washington C.H. He believed that this would be a very good team – possibly a champion.

But of course, Kirk Hardman was entering his third varsity season at nearby Miami Trace, and the Panthers would not be a pushover, either. Hardman had lost some very good seniors through graduation, most notably leading scorer Todd Henry, a first-team All-SCOL choice and the SCOL’s only representative to the Ohio North-South All-Star game. Henry would be tough to replace, but returning starters Tobin Hoppes and Terrell Baker would be among the SCOL’s best performers. Both were outstanding players, but Hoppes had broken his leg in football and would not be able to return for a few weeks.

Junior Jason King (6’3”) and 6’ 4” senior Scott Butts would give the Panthers some size and strength inside. Trace figured to be in the thick of the race, this season.

Coach Rick Van Matre’s final go-around in the SCOL would be his 11th season at McClain High School. The expectations were not high for this team. The Tigers would be very young and inexperienced. There would be practically no height and very little speed. In addition, the schedule did not favor the purple-and-gold.

Five of their first seven games would be on the road, against such formidable opposition as Miami Trace, Washington C.H., Albany Alexander, London and Gallipolis.

Rob Snavely, a 6’ 0” junior guard would be back this year, along with last year’s sixth man, Jimmy Vanzant. Also, guards Chad Fairley and Eric Spangler would return, along with 6’ 1” junior forward Pat Coleman.

This would be a rebuilding year at McClain, and the immediate prospects were not bright.

Van Matre, however, had been known to put together a pretty good team, at times, when everybody thought they would be pushovers.

Last year’s Hillsboro team finished the season with a 4-16 record and only 1-7 in the SCOL.

Last season, Coach Rick Earley had only one experienced player back from the year before.

This year, he had a solid nucleus of experienced players, particularly guards Damon Bolden and Tim Parry and forwards Derrick Lyons and Brian Fulton. Also, sophomore guard Chad Downing transferred from McClain during the summer.

On the dismal side, however, is that the 5’ 10” Downing suffered a separated shoulder during football season. So, Earley wasn’t sure whether he would have the promising transfer guard or not.

The one really big albatross around the Indians’ necks was lack of height. Other than Sean Longstreth (6’ 1”) the red-and-white had no size at all. Could they rebound well enough to stay in games? That remained to be seen.

At Wilmington, Coach Carlos Roberts was back for his second year at the helm. Last year, the ‘Cane had a 13-7 overall record, but were just 4-4 in the SCOL – good for fourth place in the league, after being picked, by the coaches, to win the league title.

The Hurricane had won the league championship in 1987-88, but finished higher than fourth place only one other time in the past five years.

This year the orange-and-black had some formidable size inside.

Jon Sharp at 6’ 3” and 200 pounds would hold down the middle, alongside 6’ 5” junior forward Casey Croust and 6’ 1” Richie Medley, who Roberts described as “strong as an ox.” Senior David Hunt would play the point guard position, with Brian Long being the shooting guard.

If the ‘Cane had a weakness it might be a very inexperienced bench. They were an unknown quantity, for the 1991-92 basketball season.

The non-league season opened Saturday, Dec. 7, with Washington downing Jamestown Greeneview, 62-52, Northwest thumping Wilmington, 61-48, London walloping McClain, 64-50 and Miami Trace taking a 45-37 win over Adena at Frankfort. Hillsboro was not scheduled.

McClain hosted the Paint Valley Bearcats Dec. 10. This was a low-scoring game with the emphasis on defense. Jimmy Vanzant tossed in a last-second jumper to give the Tigers a hair-raising 30-29 win – their first of the season.

Hillsboro traveled to Lynchburg, where they were thumped, 65-46, by one of Lynchburg’s best teams ever. Rodney Captain led Hillsboro’s scoring effort with 10 points, but Paul Cluxton totaled 21 for the Mustangs.

At Wilmington, visiting Goshen hit for 30 points in the second quarter, and hung on to capture an 87-81 victory, leaving the Hurricane 0-2 for the young season.

(Continued next week.)

Bob Patton is a Highland County sports historian and a contributing writer to The Highland County Press.