The 38th Annual Tuscarawas County Class "A" Tournament was like a Civil War last night in the Dennison High gymnasium where it opened with 3 skirmishes. "Yankees" Tuscarawas Valley, Strasburg and Baltic swept through 3 "rebel" opponents in much the same manner as Sherman's march through Georgia. Strewn in the path of the full scale invasion were Port Washington (82-71 loser to Tusky Valley), Midvale (a surprise 59-53 victim of Strasburg) and Stone Creek (64-49 loser to Baltic). Two more teams, Gnadenhutten and Tuscarawas, will get their opportunities to uphold the good name of the "south" tonight. Gnaden will tangle with "northern" neighbor Garaway, Tuscarawas County Class "A" League Champion, at 8:45 in the feature of a 2-game program. Tuscarawas and Baltic will clash in the 7:30 opener. At stake are semi-final berths. Garaway, which has lost only to Hiland in 18 games, is cast as pre-tournament favorite. Tonight it finds itself opposite a team that it defeated twice in regular season play. The Pirates hold nods of 71-51 and 57-46 over the Tribe. The latter has an 11-9 record. During regular play, Baltic was a 73-52 victim of Tuscarawas. The Broncos enter the tournament with a 10-8 record. There is no return for the vanquished. Contrary to the long hope, the "South" will not rise again--at least not this season. Strasburg's win over Midvale, and a just as surprising fiery bid by Port Washington to upset Tuscarawas Valley, left a crowd of "first nighters" with the thought that it was well worth the trip despite hazardous highway conditions. Generally "opening night" is just the beginning of a long tournament haul for Midvale teams. But it was not so this season. Writing an obituary for the defending county, sectional and district Class "A" tournament champions would be out of line at this time. Coach Pete Hilliard has the makings of another future tournament kingpin and it wouldn't be too surprising to see them bounce back to the top of the heap next season. The Blue Devils ended with an 11-8 record. Port Washington no doubt will also be right near the top next season. The Riders, who bowed out with a 9-12 record, are another of several young promising teams in the county. For Stone Creek, it was a season which saw Coach Ernie Lukens begin with nary a single letterman and the rough job of molding raw, young players into a 5-man team. That he succeeded. But it takes more than one season to do the job properly. This year's Panthers had the cellar all to themselves. They ended at 0-21. Tuscarawas Valley and Strasburg both gained semi-final berths as a result of their victories last night. Baltic has a much rougher row to hoe and must defeat Tuscarawas tonight to gain the "top 4." The Trojans will be paired opposite the Tusky-Baltic victor at 7:30 next Friday night and Strasburg tangles with the Garaway-Gnadenhutten winner at 8:45.*
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Saturday, February 20, 1960
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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