The home stands at Pete Henry Gym were almost full and the electricity in the building was palpable.

The city’s basketball fans turned out en masse to catch a glimpse of Mansfield’s Next Big Thing and they didn’t go home disappointed.

Final score: Mansfield Senior 52, New Philadelphia16.

That Senior High won the seventh-grade Ohio Cardinal Conference regular season and tournament championships in boys basketball isn’t especially noteworthy. It’s the way this team stormed to the titles that has basketball fans in town buzzing.

The Tygers roared to a perfect 17-0 record, punctuated by Monday’s OCC tournament championship win over the Quakers. They outscored those 17 opponents by a combined 871-314 (51.2 to 18.4).

Remarkably, not a single game was decided by fewer than 10 points.

“This is a talented group,” said Senior High varsity coach Marquis Sykes, who stuck around after practice to catch a glimpse of the future. 

Make that a multi-talented group.

Roster

  • Prince Phillips
  • Trenton Mitchell
  • Jashaun Mitchell
  • Messiah Rodgers
  • Tristyn Johnson
  • Terriuan Hammock
  • David Phillips III
  • Josiah Bradley
  • Jojo Butler
  • Cameron Fuller
  • Christian Jordan
  • Mathew Mata

The 12 players who make up the basketball roster were all members of an undefeated football team in the fall. That team averaged 44 points a game.

“It’s a special group. They’re very athletic,” said David Phillips, the coach of the basketball team and offensive play-caller for the football team.

“They all played soccer together when they were younger and they were good at that, too.

“They were 22-1 in baseball last year.”

There have been previous classes that have created a stir before they stepped foot in the high school.

The Class of 2006 that included Shabby Reed, Javario Byrd and Mel Sutton, had the town talking when they were winning championships at Simpson Middle School. That class was instrumental in Senior High’s 2005 run to the Final Four.

The Class of 2014 that included Jalen Reese, Malon Samuel and Mario Davison, among others, was talked about well before they went undefeated during the 2013 football season and reached the regional final in basketball the following March.

The Class of 2020, headlined by Division I football recruits Angelo and Ty’Lheir Grose, Anthony Hawkins and Clay Caudill, were so good so early that several of them were varsity starters on the football team as freshmen in the fall of 2016. That crew led the Tygers to the Division III state championship game in 2019.

The Class of 2030 appears to be next.

“These guys remind me of the Angelo Grose class,” Phillips said. “They were all tight with each other and these seventh-graders are the same way.

“These kids love hanging out together and they will spend the night at each other’s house.”

A 2004 Senior High grad and the football program’s one-time career rushing king, Phillips has a vested interested in the group. His sons, David III and Prince, are both in the class.

“Coaching your own children can be challenging, but we’ve all embraced it,” said Phillips, a 2002 All-Ohio second-team running back. “They’re a little older now, and they understand what I expect of them.”

Predicting the athletic futures of 13-year-olds is an inexact science. Talented groups in the past have splintered because of unrealistic expectations put on them at an early age.

“This group of kids already has had a lot of success. There’s added pressure that comes with that, but they have accepted it,” Phillips said.

“The most important thing, and the thing I stress to them, is to go out there and have fun. Just go out there and play the game, no matter what game it is, and have fun.

“When kids are having fun, it makes things a lot easier.”