DOVER - It will be a pair of Tuscarawas and Jefferson County Class "A" high school quintets battling for District Honors at Dover's Memorial Hall this week after final action in the Sectional Tournament play on Saturday night. The Gnadenhutten Indians zoomed into the District Tournament by breezing past the Augusta Blue Devils 86-71 Saturday night and last night drew the undefeated Springfield Local Flying Tigers, Jefferson County Champions and Co-Sectional winner at Brilliant, for the 1st District joust slated to start on Wednesday night.
One of the county's "comeback teams of the year," the Midvale Blue Devils, again proved they are tournament "tried" by whipping the Walnut Creek Cardinals 77-58 to gain the other District berth. Thus, the Indians, with 22 victories and 3 defeats, take on the Flying Tigers which is boasting 23 straight verdicts in the upper bracket. The Blue Devils, in the lower bracket, clashes with the Adena Warriors, Jefferson County runner-ups and the other Co-Sectional winner at Brilliant. The Warriors have a record of 14 wins and 7 losses, while the Blue Devils have 17 victories and 9 losses.
Springfield Local gained the District Tournament last Friday night by defeating Conotton Valley 63-57, while Adena edged past the Freeport Raiders 66-62 for the other District berth. At the drawings last night at Heimkamp's Restaurant here, the Flying Tigers and Warriors drew for the upper and lower bracket first since teams from each Sectional were required to be in different brackets. Springfield Local took the upper and Adena the lower brackets after the draw. Midvale and Gnaden then drew for choice of the 2 brackets after selecting order of the draw.
Head Coach Dick Scott of the Indians drew the No. 2 spot which pitted his Tribe against the Flying Tigers and Head Coach Pete Hilliard of the Blue Devils got the No. 4 spot to meet the Warriors. Action will open on Wednesday night at 8:00 with Gnaden and Spring Field Local, while on Thursday night Midvale takes on Adena. Saturday night the winners will clash for the single Northeastern Regional berth which will be held at the Canton Memorial Field House starting on March 15th and 16th with 4 teams entered.
There will be no advance sale of tickets for the District joust. All tickets will be sold at the door with adults being charged $1.00 and students admitted for 75 cents.
For 3 quarters the Walnut Creek Cardinals (15-7) stayed on the heels of the "mighty" Midvale Blue Devils (7-1) (16-10). The young Cardinal crew trailed the entire distance after a low scoring 1st period saw the 2 squads tied up 4 times as they each matched baskets for an 8-8 score at the end of the initial stanza. The Blue Devils eased out to a 17 point lead midway in the 2nd frame, as Senior guard Lonnie Wolfe paced the way for Midvale with a 26-17 lead and Walnut Creek never came closer then 7 markers after that.
Although Wolfe and Senior guard John Beans were the only Diablos who could find the hoop in the 1st quarter, at least 4 cagers tallied in every period after that, while 5 scored in the 4th canto when the Devils out-scored the Red Birds 29-18 for the lopsided victory. Senior 6-1 forward John Colombo, after a frigid 1st quarter, came up with 21 points in the balance of the contest for Scoring Honors to bring his season's total to 560 points, while Wolfe had 20 and Senior forward Dick (Dandy) Leggett's season total is now at 508, giving the one-two punch of the Blue and Gold a total of 1,077 points between them. But, just as was the case in the thrilling battle with the Stone Creek Golden Panthers on Friday night, it was again Sophomore guard Tom Krocker who really came through in the clutch, getting 10 points in the last frame to clinch the contest.
Phil Horrisberger, 6-0 Walnut Creek center and the only Senior on the squad, paced the Cards with 21 points; although, he fouled out with 3 and one-half minutes to go, while 5-6 "little"guard Gene Gerber, followed with 20 points, getting 10 of 14 free throw tosses and 13 points in the final canto.
MIDVALE BLUE DEVILS - 77
Dick (Dandy) Leggett 5-2-12
John Colombo 8-5-21
Russ Hobart 1-2-4
Lonnie Wolfe 8-4-20
John Beans 2-0-4
Gary Haney 1-1-3
Dave De Mattio 0-0-0
Lornis Fulp 0-0-0
Tom Krocker 2-9-13
WALNUT CREEK CARDINALS - 58
S. Gerber 2-0-4
Gene Gerber 5-10-20
Phil Horrisberger 8-5-21
Yoder 2-2-6
Miller 1-0-2
Ahjewych 2-1-5
MIDVALE ..............8-30-48-77
WALNUT CREEK 8-22-40-58
Monday, March 4, 1957
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
NOTE: DISTRICT TOURNAMENT
The Gnadenhutten Indians and the Midvale Blue Devils are on their way to the District Tourney.
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