D7 REGIONAL FINALS … Montpelier’s Wesley Hartsock races to the hoop in the first half at the Stroh Center.
PHOTOS BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
MONTPELIER SENIOR … Hayden Sharps powers up a shot against Kalida’s Logan Kerner. Sharps had a team-high 15 for the Locos. VIEW 213 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
BOWLING GREEN (March 14, 2026) – The really horrible thing about high school sports is that unless you win a state title, you are going to end up on the wrong end of the scoreboard in your last game.
Montpelier may have ended up on that wrong end in a Division VII Regional Final at Bowling Green State University, but the Locos didn’t lose.
Kalida ran nine players in and out of the game at will and used a 24-0 scoring advantage off the bench to beat Montpelier 66-53 to punch their ticket to the Division VII Final Four next week.
Early in the first, Wesley Hartsock’s fast-break hoop gave Montpelier a 6-2 lead at the 5:05 mark.
Gavin Leis came off the bench to hit a triple that put Kalida up 7-6, but CJ Fidler countered with a floater to regain a Loco lead.
Hayden Sharps’ basket off a Wildcat turnover put Montpelier on top 15-13 with 10 seconds left in the quarter. However, Owen Grime put back a Kalida miss at the horn to even the game.
Sharps’ three-point play 39 seconds into the second gave the Locos an 18-17 advantage. That would be the last time Montpelier led.
Nate Kahle’s basket with 7:04 left in the half gave Kalida the lead for good and started a 15-2 burst that put Kalida in control.
Grime nailed a long triple, then notched four assists, feeding Kahle for a layup, Leis twice for wide-open triples, and Jaxon Hoffman for a three-point play that boosted the Wildcats ahead 32-20.
The Locos sliced into the gap before halftime when Hartsock scored a three-point play and Fidler drilled a long three-pointer with 4.5 seconds left to get the Locos within 35-28 at the break.
Montpelier shot 10-20 in the first half and 6-6 from the foul stripe to keep in contact with the Wildcats, who went 14-27 from the floor and 5-7 from outside the arc.
The Locos got closer when Malachi Smeltzer hit a three-ball and Fidler fed Sharps for a layup with 3:51 left in the third to close the gap to 39-35.
However, the Locos went 2-6 from the foul line during that stretch, then missed their last six field-goal attempts, and Kalida took full advantage of the scoring drought.
Paul Stechschulte became the second Wildcat to make a huge contribution off the bench when he hit a triple from the corner and put back a teammate’s miss to open a 44-35 lead.
Logan Kerner pushed the margin to double figures when he tripled after a Montpelier turnover with 39 seconds left to make it 47-35 going into the fourth.
Kenneth Smeltzer’s drive — the first of his 11 fourth-quarter points — along with a steal-and-flush from Fidler brought the Locos within eight, but Kalida had an answer.
Grime found Kerner for his second triple of the half, then Kerner hit 2-2 from the stripe to give Kalida its largest lead at 54-39.
One last time the Locos got within single figures at 54-46 when Kenneth Smeltzer scored off a steal and tripled on the next possession, but the Locos never got closer.
Grime dumped to Hoffman for a layup, scored on his own drive, then notched his eighth assist of the night to Leis with 1:24 left to make it 60-48.
Grime scored 17 to go with his eight assists, leading four Wildcats in double figures. Leis added 13, Kerner 11, and Hoffman 10.
Sharps got 11 of his 15 in the first half to pace Montpelier. Kenneth Smeltzer finished with 14 and Hartsock 12.
Kalida (16-11) was 24-44 from the field for the day. Despite going just 2-10 in the third quarter, Montpelier (24-3) still shot 19-42 from the floor.
After being perfect from the foul line in the first half, the Locos were just 4-10 in the second. Kalida had nine turnovers, Montpelier 11.
MONTPELIER (53) – Stahler 0; Stewart 0; Sharps 15; Fidler 7; M. Smeltzer 5; Hartsock 12; Bass 0; K. Smeltzer 14; Totals: 14-5-10 – 53
KALIDA (66) – Leis 13; Kahle 4; Grime 17; Recker 0; Kerner 11; Remlinger 2; Vorst 0; Hoffman 10; Stechschulte 9; Totals: 16-8-10 – 66
MHS 15 13 7 18 – 53
KHS 15 20 12 19 – 66