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| The cheerleaders lined up together before the game, then Luke Kennard (L) and Nick Cross (with Evan Crowe defending) put on the show... |
The history books will forever say tonight’s basketball game was a 77-62 Franklin victory over Springboro. They will say it was only a 2-point game with 5 minutes remaining, when the ‘Cats showed why they are regarded as one of the best free throw shooting teams in the state, nailing one free throw after another down the stretch to pull away. Luke Kennard led all scorers with 43.
The books will say Franklin finished the regular season 19-3 and ranked fifth in Ohio Division II. Meanwhile, they will say the Panthers finished 12-10, not too bad for having graduated four starters from a year ago
But if you ask me, tonight’s game was about so much more than just numbers.
Regardless of the scoreboard and the record books and all the statistics, this game was about everything that is good about high school basketball.
It was about really good kids. For the evening, the players either wore a black jersey or a white one, but deep down, inside their hearts, they were all very likeable, intensely competitive young men who work hard to be the best that they can be. They succeed in the classroom, and play ball with class. If life’s battle is to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem, they are all on the same team…helping to make the world a better place. And our communities are the better for it.
It was about history. I looked around, and I saw six men in the stands who have at one time or another been the head coach for one school or the other. Way up top, I saw Gerald Saunders, and just below him sat Harry Hall – two former coaches for Springboro. Across the way I saw Troy Holtrey, Boro’s head coach for 21 years. Meanwhile, former Wildcat coach Dave Creech had an aisle seat in the Franklin section, while Tim Crowe sat nearby. And Tom Benjamin, who is now Springboro’s girls’ basketball coach, worked the house because he is known and loved by everybody. Good stuff.
It was about divided loyalty. The Daliboa family is Springboro royalty, since Cain and Seth were part of outstanding Panther teams in the 90s. But the Daliboa family was there tonight because Austin Daliboa is a starting forward for the Wildcats. They had a mini-reunion at midcourt after the game. Meanwhile, John Aregood sat behind the Springboro bench. He’s the winningest football coach in Wildcat history, but he lives in Springboro and was an assistant coach there for a few years. And Danny Griffith, pastor of a Springboro church (Horizon Pointe), sat among the Franklin faithful, because he was a starter for one of the best Wildcat teams ever, in 1977-78. Like me, they have reasons to cherish both communities. I like to think there’s nothing wrong with that.
It was about tradition. For more than 50 years, Springboro and Franklin have played one another on the basketball court. In the 60s and 70s, the games were either in the old Springboro gymnasium in what they now called the Intermediate School, or they were in what is now the Franklin Junior High. Since then, they’ve been played in the high schools. A highlight reel would run for hours, I am sure.
It was about a small town connection to the big time. Ben Ballard was there, and his son Jake – a 2006 Boro grad – played football 4 years at Ohio State, then won a Super Bowl ring with the New York Giants. He played for Arizona last fall. Just a few rows over, Mark and Jennifer Kennard are on speed dial with all the big college basketball coaches in the country. Who will Luke play for, Coach K, Coach Cal, or maybe OSU, Michigan, Louisville or UNC? No one knows for sure.
It was about current coaches who respect one another. “Great guy, awesome guy,” Wildcat head coach Brian Bales says about Boro’s Mike Holweger. “They’re going to be really good in the years to come, too.” Holweger is just as gracious. “I tell you something. Franklin doesn’t get enough credit for being a really good TEAM.” While a lot of the media attention is on Luke, deservedly so, what gets lost is how well Franklin works together as a team, and that’s where Bales and his coaches deserve credit, Holweger said.
It was about excellent performances. As he does after every game, Bales points out the highlights of how each individual player contributed to the win – Daliboa for his rebounding, Matt Thompson for his toughness, Jake Daniels for his outside shooting, and Evan Crowe for doing everything and then some. “He’s the glue who holds us together.” On the other side, Holweger noted the tough inside play of all of his big men – Jordan Rigg, Evan Wilbert, Nick McGrail, Elijah Cunningham and especially Bryce Crosen. He would have liked to have seen a little better rebounding effort, though, especially down the stretch. But this Boro team fought hard all season long.
It was about goodbyes. Sydney Walker is a Springboro cheerleader, and her parents, Tim and Shelley, were in the stands as she cheered her last home game for the Panthers. There were other seniors on both sides who were involved in their last regular season game ever.
Most notable about tonight, however, was how it featured community pride. The place was packed before the JV game even started. This game has been rescheduled twice because of bad weather. Tonight was selected as the date only five days ago, and yet the communities turned out as if they had had it circled on their calendars for months. The Boro Blue Crew was out in force, but the Wildcat Nation outdid itself. It proved how much school athletics can unite a community.
Tonight was one of those nights I’ll always remember.
It was a night of music, of cheer chants, of smiles and of enthusiasm.
It was high school basketball at its finest.
Anyone have a statistic for enjoyment?
-- by Jeff Kirby
“Once A Wildcat, Always A Wildcat”
“The Heart of the Panthers”