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Yappi.com writer PERRY TWP.—There was a buzz floating around the gymnasium at Perry High School. Before the singing of the Star Spangled banner, and without notification from the United States Secret Service, a very distinguished and honorable citizen, with very little fanfare, silently strode with dignity and grace to his upper level seat, to take in the game. “It’s the Gipper!” “Hello Mr. President.” “How are things at the ranch?” These are all common questions for Larry Sanford who has been told many times, that he looks like President Reagan. He is actually the Grandfather of Geoff Marsh, the outstanding Senior standout basketball player for the Perry Panthers. In from Georgia to take in a game, nothing makes him happer than to see the Panthers and his grandson take home a victory. Tonight’s campaign had all the struggle for positioning and mudslinging that goes along with any Presidential campaign. Late in the fourth quarter with Canton South holding a 10-point lead, it would have been easy for the Perry Panthers to fold up the tent. “I remember having that feeling of here we go again,” Panthers floor conductor Rob Toth said. In a span of one quarter and overtime period, the Panthers turned what might have been another devastating loss and turned it into a positive as they ended the regular season with a well-needed 53-47 win over the Wildcats. Last week, the Panthers trudged off of the Canton Civic Center floor faced with more questions than answers after their 85-49 Federal League championship game loss to two-time defending Division I AP poll landlord Canton McKinley. They seemed headed down the same familiar path of defeat for most of the game against South. But Perry showed something that might be a major asset to them in the Canton Division I sectional-district tournament: heart and resolve. “I knew our players could come back against the Wildcats. It was a matter of them being willing to do that,” Toth said. “We practiced harder this week and it showed tonight as our players battled for loose balls, came up with rebounds and made free throws down the stretch.” “This is what Perry is all about. We’re down for most of the game and we still find a way to win. We don’t give up, ever.” Canton South bench engineer Henry Cobb was dejected that his team failed to come away with the win but he was regardless proud of his team’s effort. However, when asked did he feel that Perry was exposed as a one-dimensional team based on last week’s debacle against the Bulldogs, he came to the defense of the hosts. “Exposed? No, not at all,” he said. “You have to understand that Perry is a great basketball team. Canton McKinley did not expose Perry for the team you think they really are. You can’t judge a team based on one loss especially last week.” “This was a great high school game. It would have been nice to come away with the win but they made the plays down the stretch to win it. My hat is off to them.” The Panthers led early on at the start of the opening quarter and held an 11-8 lead after the first quarter as they were led by the four points of 6’11’’, 245 lb. center Kenny Frease. However, the Wildcats started to turn up the heat in the second quarter as they assumed a one-point lead at halftime by a score of 19-18. The third quarter shaped up to be a disastrous quarter for the Panthers. They were riddled with seven turnovers in the quarter and though they shot 60% in the quarter, they were down 32-26 at the start of the fourth quarter. Two baskets in the fourth quarter by senior Wildcat guards Antwon Ervin and Cory Bourquin pushed the lead to 10. However, Cobb didn’t feel comfortable with the lead even though the game was winding down. “We knew it was going to be a close game and that was obvious in the fourth quarter,” he said. The fourth quarter was one of desperation for the Panthers. Following an Ehmer three-point basket from the right wing, guard Matt Kolic intercepted an inbounds pass under the basket and a three-pointer by Brent Wilson triggered a brief Perry 6-0 run. As the game came down to the end with the Panthers down 45-43, Frease missed a running jumper but grabbed his own rebound and put in a point-blank shot off the backboard, sending the Perry gym into pandemonium. The Panthers used the momentum in overtime to their advantage. After Cory Bourquin made two free throws to give the Wildcats the lead, it was the last time the visitors were in front. Perry used a 6-0 run aided by a basket from center Kenny Frease and four free throws by John Marshall to emerge victorious in this all-out cat-fight. “That 6-0 run was huge and it was a great way to end the regular season. The tournament is now upon us and now that we have had a great regular season, it’s time to compete in the tournament and turn up the intensity,” Toth said. Frease led the Panthers with 21 points while Ervin led South with 16 points. Cobb leads his Wildcats into the dangerous Canton Division II sectional-district tournament. Having won district titles several times in this district, he knows the importance of coming to play against teams who knock each other off on a consistent basis. “The Division II tournament is balanced and there are about five or six teams who can win that sectional-district,” he said. “We’re one of them.” Perry is located in the Massillon bracket of their Division I setting. When asked if he thought a second meeting with the Tigers would decide the Lincoln Way East championship, he smiled with interest. “Massillon? If we see them again, it will be for the Lincoln Way East championship,” he said with a smile. “That would be the sectional-district semifinals. But we have to win two games first for that to happen.” You never know who will show up for these games whether Presidents or future NBA stars. One thing’s for sure, the Perry Panthers showed up big last night. JV game—Perry 42, Canton South 40 PERRY TWP.—Trey Thomas two free throws late in the fourth quarter of regulation proved to be the difference as the Panthers reserve team, which is compiled of 10 sophomores completed a 17-3 season by turning away Jeremy Noll’s Wildcats. “Two years down the road, this team will be a dangerous team. They play to win and I love these guys,” head coach Aaron Shaffer said. |
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