49 - Right Down The Line

Thursday, February 24, 1949
Dover, Ohio


THE MIDVALE BLUE DEVILS WERE VERY CLOSE to becoming the victim of an unprecedented upset last night in the county tournament.  In fact, had 2nd-Year Head Coach Ray Blickensderfer's Gnadenhutten Indians been able to move in the 1st half, the Blue Devils might be coming up through the Consolation Division bracket tomorrow night.  Indian power has been threatening to assert itself all season.  Blickensderfer's team has good potential and last night, the Braves gave the record crowd a brilliant show.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT'S SESSION  was outstanding for 2 other reasons.  It saw 2 of the county's highest scoring performers throttled completely.  The Mineral City Tigers handcuffed the Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates' Glen Zimmerman and Gnaden put the Indian sign on All-County Senior forward Jack Ford.

If those Tigers can shackle Ford as effectively as did the Braves there will be no joy in Midvale Saturday night.  After watching 1st-Year Head Coach Don Hamilton's machine in operation against the Bucks, we feel that the Blue Devils are going to have a full night of it.

During regular season play, Midvale defeated the Bengals 58-49.  That today, is not decisive in basketball.  Another outstanding feature of Mineral City's triumph was the agility and ease with which 6-3 Senior forward Dick Lindsay sifted through the Pirate defenses.

Six-Foot-Two Senior center Dan Lechner only added further proof to what we already knew, Lechner is one of the county's outstanding performers.  In some ways, Dan is the peer of them all.  There was a tendency in some quarters to call that Mineral City victory an upset.  We do not agree.

The Tigers called the turn on the Pirates during the regular season 61-43.  Last night they arrived at the peak again.

20 YEARS AGO - The Bolivar Cardinals defeated Midvale 26-24 to win the County Tournament Championship...Midvale, a tournament dark horse coached by W.E. Laws, upset the Straburg Tigers 27-11 after eliminating Mineral City, County League Champs the night before.