The Archbold Bluestreaks, behind Bryce Williams’ 20-point performance, and Marion Local’s lack of offense, advanced to the Division III Final Four with an easy 48-24 victory.
It was a telling tale as Marion Local, after scoring seven points in the first quarter, scored 17 over the final three as their offense abandoned them in a most inopportune time.
Archbold, on the other hand, was 7 of 25 from the field and 5 of 12 from three-point land to build the first half score to 20-10 at the intermission.
During second half action, the Bluestreaks were good on 18 of 23 foul shots propelling them to the easy championship win. The third quarter saw the Streaks continue to pull away. Williams scored the half’s first bucket at the 6:14 mark expanding the Archbold score to 22-10. During the remainder of the quarter, Kaiden Bedsole sank two free throws followed by a two-point make to grow the lead to 26-12 with 3:04 left.
Caleb Wooley scored Archbold’s final points with 2:35 remaining. Marion Local’s third and final point came with a foul shot by Nathan Bruns. Williams added two free throws of his own as the Archbold advantage increased to 15 at 28-13 as the quarter ended.
Archbold’s strong guard play continued during the final period as Williams and Eli Miller supplied the offense with Williams scoring 10 points and Miller seven points over the final eight minutes. “This is amazing, this is a great team, and I love these guys,” Archbold junior Bryce Williams said after scoring a game-high 20 points. “I’m trying to savor every moment with them.”
Archbold, with the win, joins Wauseon in their trip to Columbus. The Streaks will play Friday at 2pm when they take on the tenth rated team in Division III in the 24-4 Cincinnati Roger Bacon Spartans.
When asked how he felt about being the second NWOAL team to advance to Columbus in a matter of a few hours, Archbold’s coach, Doug Krauss summed it up by saying, “We have a pretty good league. Why not us? We have a bunch of great coaches and athletes in our league.”
Bill Bray may be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com