Thursday, March 17, 1955
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
THE SPECULATION as to the chances of the Strasburg Tigers getting past the Kent Regional Tournament has run the gamut from "not a chance in the world" to "the best chance of any of the teams." We refer to the conversations among sports fans in the past few days. We can't remember when any one subject has caused so much discussion or when there has been so much disagreement.
As we view the situation, the Tigers have an excellent chance of going on to Cincinnati. We will confess that we haven't seen the Boston Township Bulldogs play nor have we seen the Vienna Mustangs or Liberty in action this year. We did see the Mustangs last year at Youngstown and from what we have been able to piece together from competent scouts who have seen the 3 teams which came out of the Kent District, Strasburg could be the team to represent the Northeastern Ohio Regional Tournament in the State finals at Cincinnati.
The Mustangs of Vienna is the No. 1 Class B team in Ohio according to the final Associated Press ratings which appeared a few weeks ago. The Mustangs are a very potent ball club for many more reasons than Rex Leach. The offensive punch Vienna has is not in the least as impressive as the defensive strength which the undefeated Mustang club evidently has stored away. Leath and Co. usually operate from a press on defense.
Vienna permitted an average of 48.7 points per game to be scored against it during the regular campaign. In the tournament thus far, the average is 51.7. The press has usually rattled the Mustangs' opponents and this has opened the door for a fast-breaking attack. Leach is undoubtedly one of the best Class B players to come down the pike in quite some time. He can shoot with either hand accurately and rebounds with the best of them. Defensively he may not be outstanding, but he is tagged as being better-than-average.
THAT VIENNA WILL DEFEAT LIBERTY seems to be a foregone conclusion in many corners. When one glances at the 3 decisive defeats pinned on Liberty by Vienna thus far, it is easy to see why the Mustangs are tagged as the favorites. The Bulldogs of Boston Township, like Liberty and Vienna, is adept at employing the fast break. The Bulldogs aren't as tall as many teams, but they can run land they can shoot accurately. The front men can bother the ball-handlers and aggressiveness usually pays off in the long run.
When teams get past the District meet, they usually have something on the ball. There are no really decisive favorites when the field is narrowed down to 16. Any one team is usually capable of beating the other on any given night. Therefore, we won't say that the Tigers are the favorite to take the Bulldogs even though we firmly believe that the Bengals are a much better ball club. The superiority will have to be proved on the tournament floor and we're sure that Straburg can do it.
THE 1954-55 TIGERS TEAM is probably the best balanced club in the history of the school. That's saying quite a bit in view of the fact that good basketball is a rule rather than the exception at Strasburg. We have seen 4 Bengal teams which went to the District finals in the last 6 years. Two of these 4 teams won, 2 finished as runner-ups. We think this year's team is the best of those four.
We were not privileged to see the outstanding 1946 Regional finalists in action since we weren't around this area at the time. We have heard of the prowess of the members of that team, one of the best in Strasburg History. Head Coach Ken Newlon's outfit this year has speed. It has scoring power. It has rebounding potential. It has ball-handling ability and it has defensive sharpness as well. Coach Newlon stepped into a situation where he was required to build his team around the talents of 2 veteran regulars and the No. 6 man on last year's team.
THE STRASBURG team was a heavy favorite to walk away with the Tuscarawas County diadem this season and only the 68-58 win over the Tuscarawas Broncos and the 97-93 squeaker over the Midvale Blue Devils could be classed as close ball games in the League campaign. The Tigers were defeated twice during the regular season. Neither one was really decisive and in both, the personal fouls played a big role.
The Bengal team that we saw in the tournaments at Memorial Hall looked like the smoothest one we have seen in this area in many years. And there have been some good teams in this area. Coach Newlon's lads have been placed in the position where they would have to give it that extra ounce of drive or be dropped by the wayside only once. Strasburg had that reserve drive and we think they can call upon it should they need it again.
THERE ARE NO PUSHOVERS once the preliminary tournaments are over. The Tigers got a taste of what a battling ball club can do when they ran into the Baltic Eagles last Saturday night. Exactly what turned the tide in favor of the Bengals is something we can't pin down, but the fact that Strasburg has scoring potential in each man on the club was perhaps the biggest factor.
This year's Tiger aggregations will be out to do something that no previous Bengal team has ever accomplished. A District Crown has become rather common to Strasburg. Advancing to the Regional finals has been done by previous Tiger Clubs. From there on the trail is still to be blazed by the Orange and Black.
From this corner, Strasburg appears to have the potential to accomplish that task. Boston Township is the 1st target that must be taken care of; however. They're all tough from here on in.
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