SECTIONAL FINAL … George Allendorf glides in for a layup as part of his 22-point night in the Evergreen 81-57 win.
(PHOTOS BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
MID-RANGE JUMPER … Evergreen’s Quinten Eisel takes a shot in the second half of the Vikings sectional final win over Elmwood.
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
METAMORA (February 21, 2025) – Just a short time ago, Evergreen’s regional bound boys’ soccer team and Elite 8 basketball team copped the moniker…#CreateChaos, #WreakHavoc.
That slogan has reared back to life as once again, the Vikings created plenty of disarray, forcing 15 first half turnovers to take a 26-point halftime on their way to a devastating 81-57 win over Elmwood to win a Division VI Sectional championship.
“We said this is now phase 3 starting tournament time,” Viking coach Kyle Bostater said. “We believe these guys can go on a run and make some noise in the tournament.”
“We need to take it game by game and we will have very good opponents from now on. Elmwood was a quality opponent, but we have a lot of faith in our guys, and we are playing with a lot of confidence right now.”
The large Viking following had barely found their seats, and didn’t stay there long as it took just 65 seconds for Evergreen to take an 8-0 lead and put them on their feet.
George Allendorf tripled from the corner eight seconds into the game, then followed with a swipe-and-score 12 ticks later, and John Herdman nailed a deep three with 6:55 on the clock to give the Vikes an early lead.
Landon Snow’s three baskets helped get Elmwood (6-17) back to 12-10 but in the span of 90 seconds, Evergreen rang off eight more to take a double digit lead.
Troy Manz found Quinn Eisel for a layup and then got a ‘pick 6’ of his own, Allendorf hit a floater and Will Johnson got 2-2 from the line to make it 20-10 with 3:01 still remaining in the first.
A third eight-point spurt extended the margin to 28-14 at the quarter. Wil Ruetz hit Johnson for a layup, then Manz and Allendorf drilled triples in the last 29 seconds to create the 14-point lead.
“That was one of our keys to the game, getting off to a quick start,” Bostater explained of the first quarter explosion.
“Elmwood has been known to hang around in games and we saw them beat a good Eastwood team a couple nights ago.”
“We wanted to get them turned over and get people involved hitting shots right away and again our defense created some offense.”
The lead grew to 35-15 at the 6:16 mark of the second when Ruetz tripled in transition off a Royal turnover and the bulge continued to grow through the last six minutes.
Ruetz scored three more times, one on yet another steal, and Manz radar ranged one from way outside the arc at the horn to make it 49-23.
Evergreen shot 19/39 in the first half for 49 percent while harassing the Royals into 15 turnovers.
The lead grew past the 30 point mark in the third as Allendorf got two more runout hoops off Ruetz passes after steals, and Eisel scored a putback and 2/2 from the line to open up a 59-28 gap with 4:16 still to play in the third before the Vikings began rotating players like hockey line changes the rest of the night.
Snow tried to close the gap in the last 12 minutes, scoring 11 of his team leading 20 points, but the Vikings countered as Alex Fritsch became the fifth Viking to hit a three-ball, Sean Rafferty and Brendan Rafferty each had a put back and Brogan Eisel scored off the last of the Royals 25 turnovers late.
Evergreen didn’t exactly shoot it well for the game, just 42 percent, but was guilty of just six turnovers and took a whopping 27 more shots because of the havoc created defensively.
Allendorf led the way, scoring wise with 22. Ruetz had 16 and eight assists, Manz 12 with five more dimes, and Eisel had 10, as 10 Vikings scored overall.
“There were multiple times in transition that guys could’ve tried to score and made the extra pass for an easier shot,” Bostater said of his team’s balance.
“They were very unselfish, the ball was really moving, especially in the second quarter when guys were moving the basketball like that, we are going to be pretty tough to beat it we keep that up.”
Evergreen (16-7) advances to play Van Buren in a district semifinal on Wednesday night at Defiance.
ELMWOOD (57) – Hammer 2; Seedorf 15; Sanchez 0; Gross 6; Keiffer 0; Snow 20; A. Traxler 0; Bardall 0; Simon 0; Meyer 0; O. Traxler 8; Savage 0; Mendoza 2; Barringer 4; Totals: 18-4-9 – 57
EVERGREEN (81) – Manz 12; Ruetz 16; Herdman 6; Farley 0; Allendorf 22; Q. Eisel 10; Fritsch 3; Sanford 0; Gillen 0; S. Rafferty 2; Johnson 6; B. Rafferty 2; Woodring 0; B. Eisel 2; Totals: 23-9-8 – 81
EHS 14 9 16 18 – 57
EHS 28 21 13 19 – 81