BELLVILLE, Ohio — The hottest team in north central Ohio won five regular season games, staggered through a 10-game losing streak to close out the year and entered postseason play as a pedestrian No. 6 seed.
Welcome to March Madness.
Clear Fork (7-16) won an unlikely sectional championship last week — its first since 2004 — and will play third-seeded Western Reserve in the Division III district semifinals at 8 p.m. Thursday at Norwalk High School.
The catalyst for Clear Fork’s postseason success was a a 71-64 loss at Wooster on Feb. 10. The Colts played with one of the top-ranked Division I teams in the state.
“In the locker room after that game, I didn’t have to say anything,” Clear Fork coach Steven Bechtel said. “Justice Rebman said, ‘If we play like this, we can play with anybody.’
“The kids were in a good place mentally going into the tournament. We have been close in so many games. Last year we lost by an average of 22 points a game. This year it was seven.”
That the Colts won a sectional title was a bit of a head-scratcher. That Clear Fork captured the crown in such overwhelming fashion defies logic.
Clear Fork opened tournament play with an 81-51 win over Galion. The Colts connected on 31 of 51 field goal attempts (61 percent) and five players scored in double figures.
“We’re shooting the ball well, making the extra pass and getting open looks” Bechtel said. “It seems like everybody is making shots right now.
“That has been our Achilles heel all year. We’ve had open shots, we just weren’t hitting them.”
Two days later, Clear Fork hit them again. The Colts converted on 25 of 40 floor shots (63 percent) in a 61-41 win over top-seeded New London.
Chance Barnett has led a balanced Clear Fork offensive attack in the tournament with 35 points, including 24 against New London. Jared Schaefer is averaging 14 points, while Brennan South is averaging 10.5.
While the offense has been firing on all cylinders, Bechtel has been most pleased with Clear Fork’s stingy defense. The Colts outscored Galion 24-4 in the second quarter of the sectional semifinal victory and limited New London to nine second-half points in the sectional championship game.
“We have been active in the passing lanes,” Bechtel said. “We are getting a lot of deflections and we are coming up with the 50-50 balls.”
Western Reserve advanced to Thursday’s district semifinals with a 58-56 win over No. 8 Willard. Colton Puder scored 23 points in the victory.
“In tournament basketball, your best players step up and rise to the challenge and(Puder) did that,” Western Reserve coach Chris Sheldon told the Norwalk Reflector. “We get to survive and live another day and that’s sort of how it goes in March.”
