All roads will lead to Gnadenhutten Friday night. The reason is simple. It will be the scene of the year's most important Tuscarawas County Class "A" League contest between host Gnadenhutten and invading Midvale, which will decide the current league leadership. Gnadenhutten has won six straight league battles, while Midvale, which dumped previously-unbeaten Tuscarawas Valley 81-56 last Friday night in another crucial test, has been victorious in five league starts. Tomorrow night's victor will gain, at least temporarily, undisputed league leadership. Gnadenhutten will have one league game left, that at Tuscarawas Valley January 23, while Midvale must yet face up-and-coming Strasburg and Port Washington. Tuscarawas Valley, still very much in contention for the loop laurels despite its loss to Midvale, invades Stone Creek tomorrow night, while other league frays include Garaway at Stasburg and Tuscarawas at Baltic. Port Washington is idle in loop warfare. Gnadenhutten and Midvale have met previously this season. The Indians took a 78-76 decision December 16 on the Midvale court for one of their 10 wins this season. They've lost two. Midvale enters the clash with an excellent 11-1 mark, the only blemish being the Gnadenhutten setback. There's very little to choose from when you check comparative scores against seven common opponents. Gnadenhutten has topped Tuscarawas 46-45 and 78-75, Strasburg 65-47, Stone Creek 62-60, Port Washington 72-45 and 81-46, Garaway 73-69 in overtime and Baltic 51-50, while losing to Tuscarawas Valley 74-60. Overall, Midvale will hold a slight edge. The Blue Devils have averaged 69.5 points a game, while the Indians are moving at a 65.4 clip. Defensively, there isn't much difference. Midvale opposition has averaged 58.5 and Gnadenhutten foes have averaged 58. Coach Pete Hillard's club will be bolstered by the return to full-time duty of veteran Tom Krocker, who made his first start Tuesday night after being out since football season with a broken ankle. Krocker has hit for 38 points in the three games he's seen action. Krocker is expected to team with Dave Belknap at the guards in the opening lineup, with Bill Housel at center and Hanes Hairston and Ron Brensier at the forwards. Breniser has been the offensive kingpin for the Blue Devils this season. In 12 games, Ron has poured in 242 points. Belknap has totaled 164, Housel 143 and Hairston 126. Gnaden will bank most of its hopes on the scoring of veteran Senior Ron Bradley, the county's leading schoolboy scorer this year. Bradley has dumped in 327 points to date, including 182 in the six previous league games. Bradley will team with diminutive Ron Clark at the guards against Midvale, while Coach Bob Gaume is expected to rely on John Hall at center and Ray Rank and Paul Gooding at the forwards. Clark has 153 points and Hall has 105. An extra set of portable bleachers were to be installed at Gnadenhutten tomorrow afternoon in preparation to accommodate an anticipated overflow throng. Doors will open at 5:15PM with a Junior High game slated to start at 5:50.*
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RIGHT DOWN THE LINE with Norm Singleton - For the first time since inception of the district basketball tournament, the possibility exists for Tuscarawas County to have two representatives in the northeast regional tournament this season. W.E. Laws, county superintendent of schools and a member of the Eastern District Board of Control, said yesterday that runnersup in the Eastern District tournaments at Dover and Marietta will collide in a special game to deside a regional representative. Winners in the Dover and Marietta district jousts automatically gain a coveted regional berth. The Dover district event is scheduled at Memorial Hall March 2-3-6 and the special "playoff" will be March 7 at Dennison High. The new ruling was made recently after the Eastern District Board had already set up its sectional and district meets. Rather than add a third district meet, which may be done next year, it put the third regional berth up for grabs between the two district runnersup. The move came after the state board had reapportioned the tourney setup, cutting the Northeast district to two representatives instead of the three it had qualified in previous campaigns. Here's how Tuscarawas County could possibly have two regional qualifiers. The Dover sectional tournament will be made up of two quintets from the county tourney, two from Holmes County, one from Carroll County and the winner of the newly-established area exempted village and parochial school event which is slated to include Dover St. Joseph's, Dennison St. Mary's and Dennison High. The sectional tournament qualifies two teams for district play, and since county teams are placed in opposite brackets in the tourney, both could well be Tuscarawas quintets. The same procedure is followed in district play when the field will include the two Dover sectional winners and two from Brilliant. Should two county teams be involved in Dover district championship play, as they were in 1956-1957 when Midvale and Gnadenhutten battled fora regional berth, the possibility would exist for the district loser to still gain a regional spot by winning in the Dennison runnerup battle. Incidentally, the Dennison "play-off" certainly would be one of few times in tournament history when a once-disposed team would get another crack at continuing along the tournament path after county play is completed.
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Thursday, January 15, 1959
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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