DOVER - The undefeated County League Champions Strasburg Tigers and the up and coming Midvale Blue Devils will battle it out for the 24th Annual Tuscarawas County Crown and the Tuscarawas Broncos and surprising Gnadenhutten Indians will meet for the Consolation Division title at Memorial Hall tonight.
Strasburg and Midvale won their way into the finals by winning the semi-final games, Tuscarawas topped the Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates 49-44 in a bitterly contested game and Gnaden edged the Baltic Eagles 30-29 last night.
With the County League title already tucked under their belts and a season record of 22 straight games without a loss, Head Coach Emmet Riley's Strasburg club, will be out to make it a clean sweep. The Tigers dropped Midvale 36-20 and 40-23 during the season games, but tonight's game is a little different. The Blue Devils, winners of 17 out of 23 starts, have turned in 2 sparkling tourney games and Head Coach Pete Wolf's club, always a tournament contender, is definitely on the upgrade.
Strasburg has turned in 3 tourney victories, playing good steady ball and turning on the heat when it met Tuscarawas with a 31-16 victory last week. But, the Tigers have plenty to worry about. An undefeated record hangs heavy on any team's shoulders and the pressure plus the danger of over-confidence has stopped many a good team long before it reached 22 straight.
Tuscarawas is favored to cop the Consolation Division from Gnaden, but anything can happen. Tusky has lost 3 games this year, all to Strasburg, while Gnaden had only a fair season, but gained momentum as it came into the tournament. Both clubs were hard put to win last night's Consolation games. Gnadenhutten barely edging by the Baltic Eagles in a game which ended with the Eagles' getting a tough break.
Sugarcreek-Shanesville didn't put up much of a fight against Midvale, but the Pirates were fairly bristling with it last night and gave Tuscarawas a hard time.
Tusky leaped to a 13-7 lead at the end of the 1st quarter, and held on 23-20 at halftime. At the end of the 3rd stanza, the Broncos maintained their 3-point edge 37-34. During the final quarter the whistle ended the game with Senior center Fred Walton and Junior guard Bill Dessecker out on fouls and Senior forward John Vesco ready to go. The Pirates lost guard Bill Kuhn in the last quarter. Tusky drew 22 fouls, while the swordsmen escaped with 14 in the rugged battle.
Kuhn and center Doran Immel led Sugarcreek-Shanesville, getting 15 and 12 points, respectively, by sinking some nice shots, while Vesco and Senior forward Rich Donahue led Tuscarawas' attack with 13 and 10 markers each.
Only 479 paid admissions were present to witness the games, but that figure topped the 372 who saw the same session last year. Frank Cox and Jim Morgan of New Philadelphia referred.
Saturday, February 23, 1946
John Stratton, Editorial Staff
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
SATURDAY NIGHT 2-23-46
Gnaden vs Tusky 7:30PM (CC)
Midvale vs Strasburg 8:30PM (TC)
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