CRESTLINE — Colonel Crawford was a matchup nightmare for the Crestline Bulldogs.
The Eagles are long and athletic, something the Bulldogs simply can’t match up with.
Crawford scored the first 13 points of the game and never looked back in drubbing the Bulldogs, 68-23, in the season opener for both teams Wednesday night.
Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said that the Eagles’ ultra-successful football season pushed basketball back several weeks. Six of the Eagles’ top eight players played football.
He added that just getting onto the floor while the coronavirus has been expanding in Ohio has been an issue for his team.
“It’s just great for these kids,” Sheldon said. “It’s just an opportunity for these kids to compete. You look in the fall and what we did in football season, we just want to continue to do that for the kids’ mental health. We just want to play games.
“Our big talk is that we have to be smart off the floor,” he added. “We have to follow everything. We need to stress that we do what we need to do.”
The Eagles were without Brock Ritzhaupt, coming off an injury, but Sheldon was pleased with his team’s performance, despite the team’s only having been together for a short time.
“Saturday was the first time we had everybody back,” Sheldon said. “I’m proud of our effort, especially at the defensive end. I think you see that physicalness come out from our football team, this is one of our more physical teams. That’s the best thing. You see that physicalness from our football team and that’s what started our offense and everything.
“You worry about conditioning, we had guys off and some of the guys were doing things on their own and you can tell it,” he added. “In that quarantine at home, they were shooting on their own. You have to have that discipline right now. Even in the off-season, when we got to go in June, our guys were at individual workouts with what we were allowed to do, busting our tails in the weight room and the gym. “
Sheldon said that this was the first time his team has been on the floor since the Division III regional semifinal game at Bowling Green, a game the Eagles lost to Ottawa-Glandorf, 66-34.
Crestline coach Tyler Sanders said that he was not pleased with his team’s effort and felt that the Eagles worked harder.
“The scoreboard really doesn’t matter to me,” Sanders said. “Our effort, that is the most embarrassing thing I have ever seen in my life and it’s 100-percent inexcusable. We’re going to correct it tomorrow at 7 a.m. and that’s the way it’s going to be.
“That’s the Crestline of old,” Sanders added. “We went 13-11 last year and the expectations are to win 15 or 16 basketball games this year, win the conference.”
Carter Valentine scored 20 points for the Eagles and Mason Studer added 16. Crawford led 21-7 after one period and 35-9 at the half.
Sheldon said that he wanted to make sure that his younger players got experience.
“With Brock (Ritzhaupt) being out, you’re anxious to see. CV, Mason Studer, and Chase (Walker), they’ve been to the regionals and we know what to expect from them and we have high expectations,” Sheldon said. “But it was great seeing those jayvee players coming off a 19-win season getting time at the varsity level. It’s huge just to get that experience, they did a good job that first night out.”
Sanders felt that Crawford’s effort was superior.
“I know it’s Colonel Crawford and it’s a good Colonel Crawford team, I’m not taking anything away from Coach Sheldon, he does a great job and has great players and good kids,” Sanders said. “Studer is quick as all get-out, Carter can shoot the basketball, but that’s not one of his best teams in the last five or six years.
“For our kids to come out like that. (Sheldon) has a phenomenal program and he still has great basketball players but what they did tonight was they out-worked us, they out-hustled us and they just proved that you don’t have to have five kids that are overly talented, you just have to have five kids that work harder than their opponents. And that team is going to win 18 or 19 games this year.”
Brock Noblit led the Bulldogs with seven points, but the Eagles took away Crestline starters Calvin Reed and Ethan Clark, limiting them to seven points.
“Colonel Crawford did a great job,” Sanders said. “They did the same thing to us this year that they did to us last year. That’s just what it is.
“That’s what is good about Dave,” he added. “He takes out the part of your team that you need the most and they are so effective at that. We couldn’t do what we were hoping to do. They just took full advantage of it and it became such a mental thing, it was hard for our kids to want to fight.”
Sanders added that his team will get better.
“What I just told the kids there was that our expectations this year are to be good,” Sanders added. “We’re going to correct our effort tomorrow morning. That is never going to happen again.
“I can live with the loss, I can live with losing by 45, If our effort is not there and we’re gonna walk back, that’s just not going to happen.”
Colonel Crawford won the junior varsity game, 61-24. Adam Howard paced the Eagles with 14 and Jacob Maddy added 13. Ethan Holt scored 12 and Trevor Vogt added 11. R.J Johnson led Crestline with 13.
Box score
Colonel Crawford 21 14 21 12 — 68
Crestline 7 2 6 8 — 23
Colonel Crawford (1-0): Shots 24-51; 3-pt shots 8 (Mason Studer 3, Carter Valentine 3, Carson Feichtner 2); Free throws 12-15; Rebounds 31; Turnovers 9. Scoring: Mason Studer 6 1 16, Nolan McKibben 2 0 4, Carter Valentine 6 5 20, Mason McKibben 3 0 6, Drayton Burkhart 1 2 4, Chase Walker 3 2 8, Carson Feichtner 3 2 10.
Crestline (0-1): Shots 7-36; 3-pt. shots 2 (Brock Noblit, Ethan Clark); Free throws 7-11; Rebounds 20; Turnovers 30. Scoring: Brock Noblit 3 2 9, Josh Hall 1 1 3, Connor Lusk 2 0 4, Calvin Reed 0 3 3, Ethan Clark 1 1 4.
JV: Colonel Crawford 61-24.