CONTESTED SHOT … Archbold’s Jarrett Rufenacht puts up a shot with a Wauseon defender challenging.
PHOTOS BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
FULTON COUNTY RIVALS … Collin Mennetti works toward the baseline in Wauseon’s matchup with county rival Archbold.
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
WAUSEON (December 18, 2025) – To put it very kindly, Archbold did not shoot the three-ball very well at all against Wauseon.
However, the one that Isaiahs Gracia canned to begin overtime was the shot that put Archbold ahead for good, as the Bluestreaks went on to take a 50-46 victory over the Indians before a raucous crowd at Wauseon.
“What I was most proud about is that our kids kept competing even when the ball wasn’t going through the hoop,” Archbold veteran coach Joe Frank said. “We rebounded much better down the stretch.”
“Credit them for going at it, but our kids, at the end of the day, we kept our composure enough and made enough foul shots to end up winning the game, but we have plenty to work on.”
Morgan Harris’s putback off a missed free throw and a Gracia triple got Archbold off to a 6-0 lead two minutes into the game, but despite six first-quarter turnovers, the Indians responded.
Xzavier Molina’s scoop, then seven straight points from Riley Riegsecker off the bench, including a deep triple from above the top of the key, boosted Wauseon up 13-10 with two minutes left in the first.
Maddox Pinter’s three-ball tied it at 13-13, but Molina’s drive gave Wauseon, who shot 8-10 to offset the barrage of turnovers, a 17-15 lead at the end of the quarter.
It would take nearly the next three quarters for both teams to match their point output of the first. Wauseon went 1-7 in the second and committed another half dozen turnovers. Archbold was 1-9 in the next stretch, including 0-6 outside the arc as the team went into the locker room deadlocked at 20-20.
Aranjer Krieger hit a triple to start the third to give Archbold a three-point lead. Collin Mennetti answered with a three-ball from the corner with six minutes left to bump Wauseon ahead and begin a back-and-forth rest of the quarter in which the teams were again knotted up at 29-29 heading to the fourth.
Riegsecker’s drive and two free throws gave Wauseon a 34-31 margin with 5:52 on the clock. Bodie Vasvery’s basket in the paint put the Indians on top 38-33 with 2:55 to go.
Wauseon never scored again for the next five minutes as Archbold trapped and harassed the Indians all over the floor.
“We decided we were going to start running a second guy at Riegsecker or (Molina) when we wanted to get the ball out of their hands a little bit,” Frank explained of the defensive pressure. “(We wanted) someone other than him to make plays if we could.”
“They kind of hurried up a little bit more than they wanted to, and we were hoping we could get it up and down a little more.”
Pinter hit a three-pointer to bring Archbold within 38-36, then Harris went 2-2 from the line with 1:54 left.
Both teams had chances to take the lead; the final one was Mennetti’s baseline jumper that hit the side of the board as time ran out.
To that point, Archbold was 4-25 from the three-point line and missed another to begin overtime. But Gracia stuck the big one with 2:52 on the clock to give the Streaks the lead for keeps.
“I guess if you shoot enough threes, one of them is going to go in once in a while,” Frank said tongue-in-cheek.
After Wyatt Gericke’s hoop off Gracia’s dish put the Streak in front 43-39 with 1:40 to go, Wauseon got no closer than a deuce the rest of the way, the last time being when Riegsecker hit the first of two, then intentionally missed the second, hoping for a putback attempt with 3.3 on the clock.
Pinter was fouled on the rebound and knocked home both to put away the win. Gracia was the only Streak in double figures with 14. Riegsecker had 14 for Wauseon and Vasvery added 12.
Archbold (4-0) was 15-47 from the field and 5-28 from the three-point line. Wauseon (3-3) hit 16-40 but was guilty of 21 turnovers.
ARCHBOLD (50) – Gracia 14; Short 0; Krieger 9; Pinter 8; Rufenacht 0; Langenderfer 1; Harris 9; Cline 1; Gericke 8; Totals: 11-5-13 – 50
WAUSEON (46) – Molina 8; Mennetti 7; Alstaetter 3; Willson 2; Riegsecker 14; Vasvery 12; Rodriguez 0; Totals: 15-2-10 – 46
AHS 15 5 9 9 12 – 50
WHS 17 3 9 9 8 – 46