Senior forward Mike Seibold of the Dover St. Joseph Ramblers seems to be roped in by 3 Midvale Blue Devils, as Mike was only battling for possession of the ball when this photo was taken by Ralph McKee of the Daily Reporter. From left to right the Blue Devil hoopsters trying to grab the leather are Junior guard John Beans, Senior center Chuck Seldenright, and Junior forward John Colombo, while at the right is the Ramblers Junior guard Bill Reiger. Columbo popped in 29 points as the Diablos downed the Saints handily.
DOVER - The Dover St. Joseph Ramblers were ready to put its basketball equipment in mothballs for another year after the Midvale Blue Devils, the Tuscarawas County Tournament standard-bearer, eliminated the Ramblers from the Class B Sectional Tournament at Dover's Memorial Hall last night. Down by only 6 points at intermission, the Saints couldn't keep up with Johnny Columbo and his radar-eyed Blue Devil mates in the 2nd half and they went down to defeat 87-68.
The Port Washington Purple Riders, surprise team of the county tournament, was the 1st to leave Memorial Hall battling as the Purple Riders fell victim to the tough Killbuck Bucks by an 80-73 count after a stirring struggle which marked the opening of the lose-and-out warfare. At least one more county team is destined to be on the sidelines after tonight. The winners will advance to the co-finals.
The Berlin Panthers , Runnerup to the Bucks in Holmes County, takes its 18-5 record against the Dennison Railroaders (5-13) at 7:30, while in the nightcap the once-beaten Strasburg Tigers do battle with the other Dennison team, the St. Mary Blue Waves (4-14). Strasburg must be rated a strong favorite over St. Mary's which hasn't played as rugged a schedule as the Tigers who won 19 in a row before being clipped by Midvale in the county finale.
Dennison St. Mary's, with only one 6-footer in Freshman Paul Smolak, will be out-reached as the Bengals boast a lot of rebound power in Ron Gray, Willie Rieger and Jerry Froman. Froman and Jim Kuecher, All-County stars, are the club's ace point-makers. Berlin has the 2nd best record in the Sectional and a standout scorer in Wilford Conn, but Dennison, which has been the county's hard luck team...the Railroaders lost a half-dozen games by only a few points...may carry too many guns. "Chick" Maurer's club has scoring balance in 6-3 Jerry Hill who has scored 292 points. Allan Kennedy who has canned 210 and Tom Maitland who has made 222.
Killbuck returns to action against the Malvern Green Hornets and Midvale will meet the Millersburg Knights in semi-final jousts on Friday night. The winners of these 2 games will meet the victors in tonight's skirmishes for berths in next week's District competition at Brilliant.
Little Junior forward John Columbo took over the spark-plugging chores for the Midvale Blue Devils (4-0) (19-5) as the county tournament titlists raced to their impressive triumph over a dangerous Dover St. Joseph Ramblers (10-9) aggregation. With Senior forward Larry Swinderman and Junior guard Dick (Dandy) Leggett unable to hit with their usual consistency, Columbo burned the nets for 13 actions shots and 9 free throws for a total of 35 points, with 22 coming in the 2nd half, to cop individual laurels for the 1st night of Sectional Tournament activity.
Swinderman, who fouled out in the 3rd stanza, and Leggett turned in commendable performances and came through with points at crucial moments, each finishing the contest with 17 points. Junior guard Bill Reiger, who sat out part of the 3rd period with 4 personals and then fouled out in the final canto, topped St. Joseph's with 18 points, followed by 6-2 Senior center George Milyiori and Senior Sub Bob Barkett with 16 and 11 respectively.
Although never able to catch up to Midvale, the Ramblers threatened throughout the 1st half and the Blue Devils were in constant danger of being overtaken until cutting loose with a 28 points spurt in the 3rd quarter. In an opening period, marked with numerous personal fouls the Diablos outscored the Saints 21-15 as Swinderman led the way with 9 points...5 at the charity stripe.
The Devils had a 10-point lead early in the 2nd frame, but the scrappy Dover St. Joseph Ramblers, with Reiger starring, narrowed the gap to 38-32 at intermission as 6-3 Senior center Chuck Seldenright and Junior guard John Beans sat part of the period on the bench. With Reiger and Junior forward George "Sonny" Zifer sidelined temporarily on 4 personal fouls, Columbo spurred the Blue and Gold with 11 points in the 3rd stanza and with help from Swinderman and Junior Sub Dave De Mattio, the Midvale Blue Devils took a commanding 66-51 advantage into the closing chapter.
Zifer and Reiger fouled out for St. Joseph early in the last quarter and with Columbo continuing his hot pace with 11 more markers, Midvale contented themselves with matching points with the Ramblers. Milyiori was ejected from the game with 1:10 remaining for intentional fouling Columbo. A total of 44 personals were assessed with 23 against the Saints. The Dover St. Joseph Ramblers made good on 16 of 35 free throws, while the Blue Devils made 27 of 42.
MIDVALE BLUE DEVILS - 87
John Columbo 13-9-35 (262))
Larry Swinderman 6-5-17 (520)
Chuck Seldenright 2-4-8 (106)
John Beans 0-1-1 (248)
Dick (Dandy) Leggett 6-5-17 (447)
Lonnie Wolfe 0-2-2
Gary Haney 0-0-0 (67)
Dave De Mattio 3-1-7
DOVER ST. JOSEPH RAMBLERS - 68
Mike Seibold 0-1-1
George Zifer 4-1-9 (327)
George Milyiori 7-2-16 (315)
Don Pace 3-1-7 (149)
Bill Reiger 7-4-18
Bob Barkett 3-5-11 (132)
Joel Spiker 2-2-6 (154)
Ed Young 0-0-0
Leonard Zuchegao 0-0-0
Leonard Marglotta 0-0-0
Tom Contini 0-0-0
Ron Contini 0-0-0
MIDVALE 21-38-66-87
DOVER ST. JOSEPH 15-32-51-68
Thursday, March 1, 1956
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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