NORTH ROBINSON (Crawford County Now) — Colonel Crawford has knocked on the door of the state basketball tournament before.
This year, the Eagles finally kicked it in, making the first state tournament appearance in school history.
After losing its first game of the season, Colonel Crawford has strung 25 straight victories, gathering up sectional and district titles, and finally a regional crown. They shattered the glass ceiling by defeating Maumee Valley Country Day, 48-41.
That punched their ticket to the Division VI Final Four, where they will face Maria Stein Marion Local at 6 p.m. on Friday evening at the Stroh Center at Bowling Green State University in the state semifinal.
In the past six seasons, the Eagles have made four regional appearances. The last best chance to make their first state tournament was in 2021-22.
“A few years ago, we were there (regional final), and we ran into a guy named Colin White from Ottawa-Glandorf,” veteran Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said. “It was tied going into the fourth over at Bowling Green and Colin sort of took over the game and that was special.”
White is currently a freshman on the Ohio State University basketball team. Obstacles like that deny many teams a state tournament berth, which is why making it there is so difficult — and not to be taken for granted.
For that reason, Sheldon doesn’t single out this team as any of his previous teams.
“Every year is special. We’ve won 31 championships here in 19 years,” Sheldon said.
Sheldon and his charges are not satisfied with just getting to the state tournament.
“There’s no accomplishment yet,” Sheldon said. “The sectional was a one-game tournament. The district was a two-game tournament. Now the regional was a two-day tournament. We’ve got a two-day tournament (at the state). The first game is Friday night with Marion Local.”
The Flyers will present a challenge, sporting a 25-2 record. Both losses were to Division VII powers — fellow Midwest Athletic Conference member and league champion Delphos St. John’s, which lost to Arlington in the regional final, and Russia, which will play the second game Friday at BG in the DVII state semifinal.
Having been at the Stroh Center twice in the regional tournament, the Eagles are not blinded by the light of the state tournament atmosphere.
“We’ll go through the same exact routine as we would a regular season game,” Northern 10 Athletic Conference leading scorer Brayden Holt said. “We’ll go through scouters, watch film on them, go through a lot of practice throughout the week.”
Marion Local is like Colonel Crawford in many ways, starting with veteran coach Kurt Goettemoeller, who has piloted the Flyers for 14 years. Marion Local plays a physical brand of basketball, reflecting their success on the football field over the years.
“It’s a spittin’ image of ourselves,” Sheldon said of the Flyers. “Every one of my kids is a football guy and they’re tough kids. They’re very well coached. They’re very disciplined. It’s going to become a grind it out type of game. You’ve got to fight through the physicalness.”
The Flyers are led by 6-foot-8 post Austin Niekamp, who signed to play at Division II Malone next year. Payne DeGray, at 6-5 not equal to Niekamp’s size, will carry much of the defensive responsibility against the big man.
“We’ve played against multiple big guys this year, Connor Flood from Mohawk being one,” DeGray said. “We played against him twice. It’s just all about the shots you take. You can’t just throw up something and I think that’s what this team does really well. We take our shots that we can take. We’re not selfish with the shots we take.”
Helping to neutralize Marion Local’s size is Colonel Crawford’s threat from the perimeter. Logan Goddard hit 43 3-point shots in the regular season and Holt added 42. The Eagles hit 36 percent of their shots from beyond the arc.
“In shooting, you’ve just got to get the open shots you have and take them,” Goddard said matter-of-factly. “If they fall, they fall. If they don’t, you come back and shoot the next one.”
Familiarity with the gym is a benefit in that regard according to the coach.
“We’ve played there twice. This is great,” Sheldon said. “These guys love that place (the Stroh Center). They’re familiar with it — the shooting, everything.”
He noted that playing in large arenas is not foreign to his team.
“All summer, we played in different colleges at shootouts,” Sheldon said. “Brayden’s played big time AAU all over the place. They’re used to playing in different venues. It’s nice that we’ve already played (at BG) twice.”
Holt is looking forward to the challenge the Flyers present.
“All those guys are football players over there,” Holt said. ‘They’ve won a bunch of state championships in football. We always try to be the most aggressive team on the court. That’s always been a push for us and it’s also what we do in practice here. We go very hard. It’s been like that all year.”
Sheldon isn’t worried about his team being intimidated by Marion Local’s size and physicality, noting that all of his kids play football too.
“(Rebounding) is going to be a major key because they go to the glass hard,” Sheldon said. “We’ve got to put bodies on them all night Friday and limit their second shots. They’re the leader in the MAC in offensive rebounds.
“The thing about our kids is they won’t back down to anybody, no matter who it is. I’ve seen that their entire season.”
Sheldon described his team as battle tested. He said that the schedule CC played Old Fort and Fredericktown — both champions of their respective leagues — and Cardington, which made it to the regional tournament. N10 foe Mohawk only had two losses in the regular season, both in overtime to Colonel Crawford.
It is an experience the players will never forget.
“It’s special for these guys,” Sheldon said, who started going to the state basketball tournament with his father in the third grade. “Right now, the most important thing is Marion Local. A month from now, you’ll look back through this whole thing.”
This year’s Division VI Final Four is what the tournament is all about, in Sheldon’s view.
“What’s neat about Division VI for me is, look at the four communities left,” Sheldon said. “That’s what high school athletics are supposed to be about. I don’t see any parochials. It’s four great communities left in the Final Four.
“The OHSAA is going to make a lot of money from our communities,” he quipped.
Friday’s winner will meet the winner of Kirtland and Woodsfield Monroe Central on March 22 for the championship at the University of Dayton.