DISTRICT CHAMPIONS - The Midvale Blue Devils, "comeback team of the year," snared their 6th District Basketball Crown on Saturday night by defeating the Gnadenhutten Indians 73-59. The team, coach and managers let off steam in the locker room after the victory as they clutch the coveted trophy. (Photo by Jim De Mello of The Daily Times)
The Gnadenhutten Indians of 1957, ends their basketball year as the District Tournament Runner-up, with a fantastic season record of 23-4. FRONT: Ron Bradley - Eldon Miller - Tom Roth - Larry Gooding - Larry Biggs and Ed Shull. BACK; Head Coach Dick Scott - Larry Clark - Jerry McKeown - Stephen Hamilton - Manager Everette Dixon and Manager Larry Bradley.
DOVER - Tuscarawas County's pride of the hardwood, The Midvale Blue Devils, will clash with the Vienna Flyers, rated 3rd in the State according to the final Associated Press Poll, in the 1st game of the Regional Tournament at Canton on Friday night. The Blue Devils, boasting a record of 19 wins and 9 losses and the Flyers carrying a record of 23 victories and only 3 losses, will square off at 7:15 at the Canton Memorial Fieldhouse.
The Aviators, of Trumbull County, and Midvale, Tuscarawas County, will enter the tournament with Savannah (20-3) and the Ridgeville Falcons (14-8) which will clash in the nightcap at 8:45 Friday night. Head Coach Pete Hillard's cagers wrapped up the North Eastern District Championship by whipping the Gnadenhutten Indians 73-59 Saturday night to qualify for the Regional Tournament joust. The other 3 teams in the Regional qualified through victories at Canton's Memorial Auditorium also on Saturday night.
Vienna squeezed past the Windham Bombers 60-58, while the Falcons nipped Liberty 50-49 and Savannah blasted the Wellington Dukes 79-62. In semi-final District play, the Vienna Flyers had downed Warren St. Mary 66-46, the Ridgeville Falcons had edged the Fairport Harbor Skippers 52-51 and Savannah had defeated the Chagrin Falls Tigers 70-56. Supt. Joseph Zack said about 850 tickets would be on sale at Midvale High School with 350 adult Reserved Seat ducats selling for $1.50 each and general admission adult and students tickets selling for $1.00 and 75 cents respectively.
The Flyers gained previous tournament recognition during the 1954-55 campaign when the Aviators, sparked by All-Ohio Rex Leach, now starring at Bowling Green University, advanced to the State semi-finals before losing out. En route, the Vienna Flyers met the Strasburg Tigers in the Regional Tournament finals at Kent State University and after trailing badly the 1st half, rallied to eliminate the Tigers 60-53.
The Trumbull Countians are led by 6-5 center Ken Mishorich, who has scored 544 points for an average of nearly 21 per game. Four other Flyers are usually in double figures with Tom Wilson the 2nd high scorer with 412 points followed by Jim Mizicko and Bob Rappach. In Saturday night's win over the Wellington Dukes, Mizicko scored 18, Mishorich 16 and Rappach 11 as Wilson was limited to seven. Winners Friday night will return at 8:00 Saturday night to decide the Northeastern Regional entry in the State playoffs on March 22nd and 23rd at St. John Arena on the campus of Ohio State University.
A new Class A State Champion is assured. The Arcanum Trojans, last spring's title winner, was ousted on Saturday night 49-42 by Bradford in the District final at Springfield.
A combination of three's was the Midvale Blue Devils (9-1) (18-9) "bread and butter" during the county, Sectional and District Tournaments. The cagers of Head Coach Pete Hilliard have proven to be "Blue Devils" for 3 county quintets...all on the 3rd meeting.
First it was the Strasburg Tigers in the County Tournament. They defeated the Tigers 62-54 to gain a finals berth in the Consolation Division bracket of the tournament and eventually the 3rd berth in the Sectional Tournament fracas. The Bengals had edged the rampaging Devils twice during the regular season. The next "third time" victim for Midvale was powerful the little Stone Creek Golden Panthers, which defeated the Diablos by 11 points in the regular season to hand them their worst beating of their 9 losses, also knocked them from the Championship bracket in the County Tournament. Then the 2 teams met in the Sectional Tournament for the 3rd time and the Blue and Gold of Midvale came up with a thrilling 76-71 verdict.
Finally the Gnadenhutten Indians felt the hex of the Midvale Blue Devils. Head Coach Dick Scott's Indians took 2 close decisions from the Blue Devils during the regular season. They didn't meet again until Saturday night...and that for the Eastern District Crown. The Diablos posted a lopsided 74-59 victory. It was the 6th District Crown for the Devils of Midvale, which is also Divisible by 3 and the 1st since the 1948-49 season when Bill French coached the Blue and Gold to the Regional at Youngstown. They also copped the District toga in the 1947-48 campaign.
The easy victory came as the result of an almost amazing 1st quarter. The Midvale Blue Devils potted 12 of 20 action flings in the initial period, while Gnadenhutten, experiencing one of their worst nights on the hardwood this year, connected for only 3 of 18 attempts. Four players sparked the winners in the 1st quarter with sizzling 6-0 Senior Dick (Dandy) Leggett pacing the way with 8 points of his big total of 30 for the evening. The Blue Devils commanded a 24-9 lead at the buzzer and were never in trouble from there on out.
Falling off their torrid 1st period pace, Midvale could find the mark only 4 times in the 2nd, but added 6 points via the free throw line and held a big 38-24 intermission lead. Leggett added 6 more points to his mounting total. Leggett took complete command of the 3rd stanza for the winners, snuffing any chances of a comeback on Gnaden's part.
The red-headed lad potted 7 field goals of 11 attempts to score all of the Diablos' points from the field, while his mates picked up 5 more via the charity stripe. The Tribe outscored the Devils by one point and trailed 57-39 going into the final canto. With only 5:15 to go in the contest, the Scarlet and Gray of Gnaden narrowed the score to a 59-47 count, the closest they came since the opening quarter.
Leggett hit for one more fielder in the final canto and ended the contest by tallying 14 field goals on 22 attempts. Assisted by Senior guard John Colombo, leading scorer on the team, was a given as he added 14 points and Senior forward Lonnie Wolfe dumped in another 14. Senior forward 6-0 Eldon Miller, leading scorer for the Gnadenhutten Indians, topped the losers scoring with 24 markers, 9 of them in the 2nd, while 5-7 guard Larry Clark had 12 and 6-2 Junior center Tom Roth 10.
The Blue and Gold of Midvale hit for a remarkable 50 percent even from the field as they attempted only 52 action shots and connected on 26 of them compared to Gnadenhutten's rather cool 24 field goals in 71 attempt for a 33.9 percent. Personal fouls were almost even as 39 were called, 29 of them against the losers. Midvale added important points at the free throw lane as they hit on 21 of 31 charity tosses, wh;ile the Indians tallied only 11 of 23.
Leggett also led in rebounding by pulling in 14 loose ovals. Colombo followed with 8 and 6-2 Junior Russ Hobart 7. The Midvale Blue Devils out rebounded the Gnadenhutten Indians 35-28 both on offense and defense. Miller, Roth and Biggs each snared 7 rebounds apiece for the losers. Thus, the Indians, County Champions and a Sectional Tournament winner, ended the season with a brilliant season.
MIDVALE BLUE DEVILS - 73
Dick (Dandy) Leggett 14-2-30
John Colombo 5-4-14
Russ Hobart 2-4-8
John Beans 0-5-5
Lonnie Wolfe 4-6-14
Gary Haney 1-0-2
Tom Krocker 0-0-0
Dave Belknap 0-0-0
Lornis Fulp 0-0-0
Dave De Mattio 0-0-0
Harry Housel 0-0-0
GNADENHUTTEN INDIANS - 59
Eldon Miller 10-4-24
Larry Biggs 0-1-1
Tom Roth 4-2-10
Larry Clark 6-0-12
Ed Shull 3-0-6
Larry Bradley 0-0-0
Larry Gooding 0-0-0
Jerry McKeown 1-0-2
Stephen Hamilton 0-2-2
Bill Wallace 0-0-0
Alvin Cappell 0-2-2
MIDVALE 24-38-57-73
GNADEN.... 9-24-39-59
Monday, March 11, 1957
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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