A Midvale cager drives in toward the Blue Devils goal last night at Memorial Hall where the defending District Champions edged the Berlin Blue Jays 55-54 in a thriller. Berlin players on the defensive are center Gene Oswald (28), 6 foot guard Art Rottman (22) and guard Gene Yoder (23). The Diablos will collide with the winner of the Dover St. Joseph's and Bolivar Cardinals game on Saturday night in the lower bracket qualifying round.
DOVER - The Midvale Blue Devils and Strasburg Tigers, 2 Tuscarawas County represenatives advanced into the Saturday qualifying round of the Class B Sectional Tournament at Memorial Hall Thursday night. But, both teams had to come from behind to win stirring battles which had a crowd of 1,300 on its feet and roaring in the final minutes. Midvale's deliberate Blue Devils, defending District Champions, edged a great Berlin team 55-54 in the final 5 seconds of play and Strasburg rallied to defeat a smooth working Malvern Green Hornet quintet 47-41.
In tonight's round, the Dennison Railroaders and Dennison St. Mary's Blue Waves collide in the upper bracket at 7:30PM and the Dover St. Joseph's Ramblers clash with the Bolivar Cardinals Cinderella team at 8:30PM in a lower bracket battle. The winner of the Dennison-Dennison St. Mary's contest will meet Strasburg in the qualifying round Saturday night and the winner of the St. Joseph's-Bolivar game will take on Midvale in a lower bracket qualifier. Both Saturday winners will advance to the District meet in Steubenville next week.
Tonight's games promises to be as torrid as last night's thrillers since Bolivar, a big surprise on the tournament trail, will be seeking to avenge a former defeat at the hands of St. Joseph's and Dennison and St. Mary's will settle an inter-city feud.
Anything that happens tonight; however, will be anti-climatic to that Midvale-Berlin story-book finish last night. Head Coach Wilbur Yoder's Berlin Blue Jays (15-9), Holmes County Champions and conquerors of the Walnut Creek Cardinals, entered the classic battle as underdog to the Champion Midvale Blue Devils (4-0) (17-7).
The Blue Jays, brilliantly clad in their uniforms and exhibiting an offense as flashy as their attire, dumbfounded the odds-makers as they played the Champion Blue Devils off their feet in the 1st three quarters and held a lead at the close of each one of the 1st three periods. Deep in the final canto; however, Midvale, their backers silently pleading for a rally, launched a last-ditch drive for which Head Coach Bill French's teams have become famous.
Berlin was out in front 51-43 and already attempting to coast when the lightning struck just after the automatic timeout period. When play was resumed, Senior center Bob Sherrell, 6-4 Blue Devil pivot man, scored from the free throw line to make it 51-44 and forward Dwight Voltz of Belin matched this point, making it 52-44.
Before any more scoring was possible, Sherrell left the game via the personal foul route and Midvale fans all but gave up. Not the Blue Devils, however. Junior forward Harry Rennicker, who had watched most of the game from the bench after the 1st quarter, came in and fired an attack which may not be equalled for some time at Memorial Hall.
Twice Rennicker drove down under the Midvale boards through a relaxed Blue Jays' defense and twice he scored on layups to make the count 52-48. He tallied 2 points from the free throw line and the Blue Devils were down 2-points with the seconds ticking away and the fans on their feet screaming.
It was Rennicker again who sent the stands in complete uproar with another layup shot which knotted the score at 52-52. Berlin revived its hopes for a second as guard Gene Yoder sent the Blue Jays back into the lead with a field goal 54-52, but Rennicker, playing the greatest game of his scholastic career, tied it up 54-54 for the 2nd time on a fast break shot.
It remained for Junior guard Carl Pissocra to put the clincher in with a free throw that fell through the nets with just 5 seconds left 55-54. Midvale took the ball out of bounds and stalled successfully; although, Berlin raged through and grabbed the ball twice, missing both attempts at the nets.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Blue Devils' fans, restrained on the sidelines in those last breathless seconds, came pouring out onto the court to stage one of the wildest celebrations seen at Memorial Hall this year.
The smooth-working, sharp passing Berlin Blue Jays, handicapped by the illness of their captain, Wayne Yoder, home in bed with the mumps, controlled the battle all through the 1st three quarters. They riddled the Midvale zone defense with the side court shooting of Dwight Voltz, Oswald and Gene Yoder, 3 fine performers. Forward Orlin Voltz further added to the Blue Devil defensive problems as he hooked in 8 field goals cutting across the keyhole in front of the Diablo defenses.
Midvale trailed 12-10 at the close of the 1st quarter and 32-25 at intermission. They were down 8 points, 47-38, going into the payoff period. Sherrell poured in 21 points for the Blue Devils, 9 of them coming from the free throw line. Rennicker's game breaking effort in the final quarter brought his total to 16 points. Pissocra also hit double-figures with 15 markers, all for Midvale. Dwight Voltz and Gene Oswald each had 10 points for the losing Berlin team, while Orlin Voltz was high for the team with 16 markers.
MIDVALE BLUE DEVILS - 55
Harry Rennicker F 7-2-16
Rudy Ruffini F 1-0-2
Kay Ford F 0-0-0
Bob Sherrell C 6-9-21
Carl Pissocra G 6-3-15
George Wilson G 0-1-1
Darrel Davis G 0-0-0
BERLIN BLUE JAYS - 54
Wayne Engel F 1-2-4
Orlin Voltz F 8-0-16
Dwight Voltz F 2-6-10
Gene Oswald C 3-4-10
Art Rottman G 2-1-5
Gene Yoder G 4-1-9
Friday, March 3, 1950
Rex Ridenour, Sports Editor
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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