DOVER - The Gnadenhutten Indians, possessors of 2 victories over the Midvale Blue Devils in the regular season, will be favored tonight when the 2 teams clash for the 3rd time with the Dover Northeastern District Class A Tournament Crown at stake. The fracas, which is slated to start at 8:00, should be a thriller on the basis of the much improved and "tournament hot" Blue Devils and the steady play of the Indians throughout the county Sectional and District Tournament jousts.
Gnadenhutten, boasting a record of 23 victories and only 3 losses and Midvale, winners of 17 games as against 9 losses, will also be battling for a Regional Tournament berth slated to be held at Canton's Memorial Fieldhouse next week. Head Coach Dick Scott's Scarlet and Gray disposed of the undefeated Springfield Local Flying Tigers 67-58 and Midvale trounced the Adena Blue Wave 94-68 to gain berths in the finals of the District Tournament event. Both of the teams were Jefferson County quintets.
Thus, it will be either the Gnadenhutten Indians or the Diablos of Midvale after tonight carrying the banner of Tuscarawas County into the Regional Tournament this season. The last Class A Team to make the Regional in the county was the Strasburg Tigers in the 1955 season. They were ousted by the Vienna Mustangs 60-53 in the semi-final round. The Devils made the Regionals in 1949 and the Indians in 1942. The Midvale Blue Devils lost out in the 1st game to the North Canton Vikings 37-29 and Gnadenhutten also dropped it's 1st tilt to the Ottawa Hills Green Arrows 49-46. Although there weren't regional tournaments when Gnaden went in 1942 there was a 16-team State Tournament which is analogous to the Regional and State events now.
The Scarlet and Gray owns 66-64 and 87-81 victories over the Blue Devils during the regular season. The 2 teams did not meet in the County or Sectional Tournaments. The Gnadenhutten Indians lost 2 games to the Port Washington Purple Riders, then their archrivals and a tilt to the Strasburg Tigers all in the regular season, while the Blue and Gold dropped 2 contests to the Stone Creek Golden Panthers, Strasburg and the Indians and one to the Baltic Eagles, the Purple Riders and the Tuscarawas Valley Trojans. All of the Diablos losses came in the regular season except the 2nd loss to the Golden Panthers which was in the 1st round of the County Tournament.
Head Coach Pete Hilliard will probably start 5-11 Senior Dick (Dandy) Leggett and 6-0 Senior John Colombo at the forwards, 6-2 Junior center Russ Hobart and 5-10 Senior guard Lonnie Wolfe and 5-9 Senior guard John Beans. Head Coach Dick Scott will probably go with 6-0 Senior forward Eldon Miller and 6-1 Senior forward Larry Biggs, 6-1 Senior center Tom Roth, 5-8 Senior guard Larry Clark and 5-9 Junior guard Ed Shull. Colombo and Leggett are the 1-2 punch of the Devils as each cager has tallied well over 500 points to lead the scoring. Miller is top point-maker for Gnadenhutten and has over 500 points for the season. Clark, Biggs and Roth all have tallied over 300 points to round out the scoring for Gnaden.
Saturday, March 9, 1957
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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