51 - Right Down The Line

Sports Editor
February 19, 1951
Dover, Ohio


REMEMBER THE OLD ARMY QUIP:  They're going to separate the men from the boys?  That is just what has happened in the Class B Tournament at Memorial Hall now and this week's action promises to be more torrid (if possible) than the firing last week.

The 4 top teams, so defined as a result of the recent County League scramble, are still around.  The Midvale Blue Devils (1-0) (17-4) (51-24), Tuscarawas Broncos (2-0) (13-7) (36-35), Dundee Bulldogs (2-0) (13-9) (24-42) and the Strasburg Tigers (1-0) (15-6) (79-20) appear to be headed for a terrific show-down session on Wednesday night with the Gnadenhutten Indians (2-1) (15-9) (45-38) still very much in the picture as a Consolation Division contender.

First-Year Head Coach Fritz Jacobs' Indians had the misfortune to collide with the Blue Devils 61-59 in the 2nd round and so were relegated to the Consolation Division bracket.  This does not mean; however, that the Tribe is finished.  They could drive through to the Sectional Tournament meet by copping Consolation Division honors.

As for the 4 unbeaten tournament contenders, the road ends for 2 of them on Wednesday.  The Bulldogs and Diablos will battle it out in the top bracket, while the Tigers and Broncos collide in a lower bracket headliner.

All of which means that, in a tournament already saturated with thrills, more thrills are promised.  To date, all of the favorites have had trouble, Midvale with Gnaden, Tusky with the Sugarcreek-Shanesville Pirates (0-2) (11-10) (54-34) and Strasburg with the Port Washington Purple Riders (1-2) (6-12) (16-42).

On the other hand, Dundee whipped the Baltic Eagles (0-2) (13-7) (24-44), the team which won 6 League games in a row before tasting defeat.

Play in the 1st week produced some bright stars.  Rich Tolotti (30 points), Midvale's sparkling Sophomore - Baltic's 2 aces, Junior Dean Huprich (31 points) and Sophomore Jim Syler (28 points) - Dundee's Junior Loris Hostetler (44 points) and Junior Curt Beamer (14 points) -  Gnaden's Senior Ron Kohl (55 points), Junior Jerry (Ted) Martin (23 points) and Senior Bob Wilbarger (26 points) - Strasburg's Senior Dale Renner (20 points) and Senior John Zeigler (9 points) - Sugarcreek-Shanesville's Dale Rehard (17 points) - the power-packed Tusky Broncos' Senior Bill Tharp (29 points), Jerry Rausch (43 points) and Senior Bob McPeek (28 points) - Port Washington's fine pair, Ken Houston (47 points) and Bill Jones (21 points) - Stone Creek's Sophomore Jerry Gasser (47 points) and Junior Willis Ridenour (43 points) - Bolivar's Senior Junior Geers (18 points) and Mineral City's Ellsworth Tope (Sophomore Ellsworth Tope (37 points).

These men have sparkled for their respective teams and some of them will be around to lead their quintets this week.

A scoring mix-up crept into the picture Saturday night following the Gnaden-Baltic game.  The game ended 56-52 Indians, but a few minutes after the end, an announcement came over the public address system that Baltic had scored 54 points.  Officials Harold Johnson and Max Kister were the source for the correction.  A check with the official scorers; however, revealed that they had 52 points for Baltic as did the sports editors in the press box.  The score stood at 56-52.