DOVER - A tremendous group of boys who like the game of basketball and play together as a team. These are merely words by themselves, but apply them to the Strasburg High Basketballers and they give the reason the Tigers are unbeaten after 11 outings. "This team has the proper attitude, desire and determination," hard-working first-year Coach Bob Shahan said. "It's been teamwork all the way through. The boys love to play this game and work hard." "A great deal of experience garnered over the past 3 and 4 years helps tremendously and their former coach, Warren Binder, did a fine job of bringing them along," the modest head Tiger commented.
What has been the strong point of this year's Tiger team? This answer is partially supplied by the statistic book which shows the Tiger offense has erupted for an average of 80.9 points per game. And, it undoubtedly could have been higher had Shahan not "held down" the score on occasion. While the offense has been great, it must share laurels with a stingy defense that has permitted foes only 57.1 markers. This makes the Tigers 23.8 tallies a battle better than their opponents. The best single game offensive output was a school record-breaking 122-point mark against Baltic December 6. The top defensive mark was 45 in that same engagement. "My main concern at the beginning of the season was the defense," Shahan continued. "I figured the offense could take care of itself as the boys are accurate shooters. We employed a man-to-man defense and it has worked well thus far. The boys work together both ways."
Do the Tigers have any ideas about finishing this campaign perfect? "The statement 'one at a time' is overworked, but that is exactly how we're playing this season." Shahan said without hesitation. "Certainly we've set our goals high as we feel we have a good team. But,we're not looking ahead past Friday when we visit Garaway. We know every team we meet will play inspired ball and we will have to be on our toes and give it all we have all the time. I will say this; however, the boys seem to play better as the competition gets tougher. This is especially true of John Peters. he's a tremendous athlete." Peters, a 6-1 Senior and an All-Tuscarawas County Class A League performer a year ago,tops the Tiger point-makers with 270 for an average of 24.5 a tussle. A strong candidate for All-Ohio honors this season, he has hit on 48 percent of his field goal attempts. Most are field goal attempts. Most are jump shots from 15 to 20 feet away from the basket. While Peters' percentage is great, classmate Don Wallick has done 3 better at 51 percent. The team's leading rebounder with 77, Wallick has 189 markers for an average of 17.1 per contest. The other 3 starters also are capable of finding the nets. Senior Vic Gessner has canned 41 percent of his floor shots, Junior Rock Van Fossen 42 percent and Rick Hall 43 percent. Although the Tigers have been impressive in nearly every outing, Shahan says their best performance was last Friday against Midvale. "You can't sell Midvale short," Shahan offered, "it has a fine team. But I've never seen a better high school performance than the Tigers had in that game." Strasburg won 76-58 to take over the top rung in the league chase. That victory, by the way, was Strasburg's 18th straight on its home wood. "The boys have confidence in themselves," Shahan continued, "and while we realize the road ahead won't be smooth, if we get a few breaks we could go a long way." Strasburg, ranked 8th among Ohio's Class A schools in the 1st Associated Press poll of the season Tuesday, will face Garaway Friday and then Stone Creek, East Canton, Tuscarawas Valley, ConottonValley, Tuscarawas and Garaway again in that order.
Wednesday, January 15, 1964
Dan Kopp, Sports Editor
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
COUNTY LEAGUE SCORING (Dan Kopp)
1. John Peters, Strasburg Tigers 109 27.2
2. Dean DeMattio, Midvale Blue Devils 109 21.8
3. Don Wallick, Strasburg Tigers 66 16.5
4. Gary Ferren, Tuscarawas Valley Trojans 65 16.2
5. Phil Caldwell, Tuscarawas Broncos 65 16.2
6. Ken Gay, Port Washington Purple Riders 80 16.0
7. Randy Miller, Garaway Pirates 58 14.5
8. Don Deetz, Garaway Pirates 57 14.2
9. Leonard Cameron, Port Washington Purple Riders 71 14.2
10. Dan Kohler, Midvale Blue Devils 67 13.4
11. Bruce Kohl, Gnadenhutten Indians 66 13.2
12. Gene Bates, Gnadenhutten Indians 48 12.0
13. Bill Kohl, Gnadenhutten Indians 24 12.0
14. Verle Endlich, Stone Creek Panthers 50 11.8
15. Jim Wherley, Stone Creek Panthers 57 11.4
16. Dave Widder, Tuscarawas Valley Trojans 46 11.2
17. Gus Regula, Baltic Eagles 42 10.5
18. Paul Shipbaugh, Tuscarawas Valley Trojans 50 10.0
STANDINGS
1. Strasburg Tigers 4-0 (11-0)
2. Midvale Blue Devils 4-1 (10-3)
3. Garaway Pirates 3-1 (6-5)
4. Tuscarawas Valley Trojans 3-1 (5-6)
5. Stone Creek Panthers 2-3 (7-4)
6. Port Washington Purple Riders 2-3 (3-7)
7. Tuscarawas Broncos 1-3 (5-5)
8. Gnadenhutten Indians 1-4 (2-10)
9. Baltic Eagles 0-4 (0-10)
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