It's a bird. No, it's a plane. Wrong again, these fans are just watching the action at Dover's Memorial Hall as the Midvale Blue Devils and Brilliant Blue Devils met for a berth in the District Class A finals set for Friday night. Who are they? Which team are they supporting? Well, this picture was taken in the 2nd quarter when things weren't exactly rosy for the Blue Devils of Midvale. Fear not...they all went home happy. (PHOTO...The Daily Times by Bob Fisher)
Fleet of foot, strong of limb, 5-9 Senior Dave Belknap (5), the Midvale Blue Devils top playmaker and high scorer last night looks for daylight. He found it too, faking the Brilliant Blue Devils 5-11 Dale Degenhardt (43) out of position and laying one up for the victorious Midvale club. The Blue Devils of Midvale's 6-3 Senior Bill Housel (12), doing a commendable defensive job on the Blue Devils of Brilliant's big 6-3 Jim Presley (55) is also caught in the jam. The 77-58 victory pits the Diablos of Midvale with the winner of tonight's Conotton Valley Rockets-Hiland Hawks game for the District Championship Crown on Friday night. (PHOTO...The Daily Times by Bob Fisher)
Senior 5-9 Dave Belknap of the Midvale Blue Devils scored 22 points in leading his team to a 77-58 important victory against the Brilliant Blue Devils in last night's contest. Belknap has scored 71 points in 5 games for a 14.2 tournament average. (PHOTO...Yearbook)
NEW PHILADELPHIA - Five cylinders were stoking evenly once again for the Midvale Blue Devils last night as they earned the finals of the Eastern Ohio District Class A Tournament at Dover. In gunning down the Brilliant Blue Devils 77-58; although, the clubs tied at 56-all midway in the final quarter. Midvale thus gained its 21st victory in 22 starts and its 15th straight decision.
The Devils of Head Coach Pete Hilliard will meet the winner of tonight's star battle between the Conotton Valley Rockets (16-6), Champions of Harrison County and the Hiland Hawks (20-2), king-pins of Holmes County. The victor of this evening's contest and Midvale will go at it on Friday at Dover in the District finals with the winner getting the nod to the Regionals at Canton, booked for next week. Although leaving no doubt about who was the winner at the end, the Blue Devils of Midvale were nevertheless pushed hard before breaking it wide open in the 4th canto. In fact, the Blue Devils of Brilliant held the lead from the outset of the 2nd quarter until the last minute of the 3rd as well as leading 56-55 with 5 minutes remaining in the final quarter.
But, with the constant pressure exerted by a good defense and 5 men in double figures, Midvale remained alive. Both teams had that inevitable bad quarter. But the poor one appeared at the right time for the Blue and Gold, while a reverse of this was the case for Brilliant.
In the 2nd frame the Middies potted only 3 of 18 chances from action for 16 percent, during which time Brilliant went into a 31-27 lead that was finally whittled to a 33-31 count at the half. The Devils of Jefferson County had made 5 of 16 for 32 percent to hold the pole. Leading only 50-46 going into the final canto, Midvale started hitting well from the field, making 8 of 16 tosses for 50 percent, while Brilliant found the hoop only 3 times in 21 chances for 14 percent. This spelled the difference; although, Midvale's defense played its definite part in making the Devils of Brilliant shoot from the outside. In the last 5 minutes of the game the Blue Devils of Brilliant missed no less than 15 shots, going without a single field goal.
Midvale broke into the lead early in the 1st quarter and found itself ahead 14-7 with 2 minutes to go. Brilliant, which had won out in a good Sectional Tournament in its home gym, was not out of it yet; however, firing back to cut the margin to 2 at 19-17 when the first half was buzzed. Before 30 seconds had elapsed in the 2nd period, the game was deadlocked on an outside push by Brilliant's fine center Jim Presley. Presley, a 6-3 Senior, played a great game for the losers before fouling out with 2:55 remaining in the game, which was also a turning point.
Matt Kessler, a 5-8 guard, who had already potted 4 outside swishers in the 1st quarter for Brilliant, again found the range from the side early in the 2nd and the Blue Devils of Brilliant went into the lead for the 1st time in the game 21-19. From that point, until late in the 3rd stanza, Midvale never led. Junior 5-11 Ron Breniser, Midvale's high-scoring forward hit after a perfect feed from Dave Belknap to put the Devils of Midvale in front late in the third 48-46. Belknap, who almost individually kept the Hilliard-boys in the game with his fine faking shots and good feed-ins, added his 4th basket of the period with 5 seconds remaining to take a 50-46 advantage going into the final quarter.
Junior 6-3 Hanes Hairston, playing his usual good game on the boards, especially in the 3rd quarter, hit from action and the free throw line to open the final canto, followed by a free throw toss by Breniser to give the Midvale Blue Devils a 54-46 lead. It appeared that Midvale's constant pressure and balanced scoring had at last paid off. The Blue Devils of Brilliant; however, rallied back quickly to take a 56-55 lead by the time the clock read 5:15.
But on Brilliant's leading bucket, made by a powering drive-in by big Presley, who tops 200-pounds, Tom Krocker was fouled and he canned it to give the Devils of Midvale another deadlock at 56-all. That proved to be the "real" turning point once and for all as Brilliant then went scoreless for almost 3 minutes. Meanwhile, Midvale went in front 65-56 before 5-9 Dennis Cook finally proved the man of the hour as he coolly sunk an action shot from the side and 5 free throw shots for 7 of the 9 points garnered in the uprising. After Cook's shot, Bill Housel and Hairston each dropped in spin-shots followed by a pair of free tosses for a 71-57 lead. The clock showed only 1:25 minutes remaining. Cook again hit for Brilliant, but Midvale added 6 sudden points on fast breaks for the 19 point victory.
Again it was 5 men in double figures for the Midvale Blue Devils with Belknap leading the assault with 22 points. Breniser hit 17, Hairston canned 14 and both Krocker and Housel dropped in 12. The Brilliant Blue Devils, which lost 3 men in the final quarter on personal fouls, was led by Presley and 5-8 Matt Kessler who each had 19 points. Shooting wise, Midvale hit 28 of 70 from action for 40 percent, while Brilliant canned 22 of 70 for 30 percent. Thirty-six personals were whistled with 20 against Brilliant.
MIDVALE BLUE DEVILS - 77
Dave Belknap 8-6-22
Tom Krocker 5-2-12
Bill Housel 6-0-12
Hanes Hairston 5-4-14
Ron Breniser 4-9-17
BRILLIANT BLUE DEVILS - 58
Dale Degenhardt 3-3-9
Jack Hoover 4-0-8
Jim Presley 6-7-19
Matt Kessler 9-1-19
Dennis Cook 0-3-3
Tarr 0-0-0
MIDVALE 19-31-50-77
BRILLIANT 17-33-46-58
Tuesday, March 3, 1959
Don Wagner, Sports Editor
The Daily Times
New Philadelphia, Ohio
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