ATTACKING THE INTERIOR … Kenneth Smeltzer looks to put up a shot over Arlington big man Calvin Willow.
PHOTOS BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
DIALING LONG DISTANCE … Gavyn Bass (above) drilled three triples off the bench in the first half for Montpelier. VIEW 107 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
BOWLING GREEN (March 10, 2026) – Deep tournament runs are usually led by seasoned senior players who are three-year starters and the like. Montpelier’s CJ Fidler is a player beyond his years.
The Loco sophomore, who has already scored over 1,000 points in his career, tacked on 24 more while making big play after big play as Montpelier won a Division VII regional semifinal over Arlington, 56-48, at the Stroh Center in Bowling Green.
“We trust CJ,” Loco coach Nick Ramos said. “The whole team trusts CJ to make good decisions.
“We trust him to take the shots he needs to take. We trust him to pass the ball when he needs to pass it. With the ball in CJ’s hands, we know he is going to make the right decisions.”
Read more: Fidler, Sharps Power Montpelier Past Miller City For D7 District Title
Arlington started out white-hot from the field, hitting 7-of-9 in the first quarter, including four triples, to take an 18-13 lead.
Ayden Cavinee hit twice from long range while Hunter Rausch and Drew Metzger each notched one. However, Fidler kept the Locos close as he nailed two from beyond the arc and found a wide-open Gavin Bass for a third three-pointer.
The teams traded scores in the second until 6-foot-10 Calvin Willow hit Lukas McIlroy on a back cut, then scored himself to expand the Arlington lead to 28-20 with 2:29 on the clock.
The Locos made a last-minute run to chop the Arlington lead to four. Bass canned his third triple of the first half, Kenneth Smeltzer scored on a stickback, and then came Fidler, draining a long-distance three-ball with 4.7 on the clock to bring the Locos back to a four-point halftime deficit at 32-28.
Fidler erased that four-point margin in the first minute of the third. First he fleeced Willow in the post and hit a baby hook, then scored on a steal-and-slam to knot the game at 32-all.
Willow and Cavinee countered, but the Locos answered back. Smeltzer’s third-chance hoop got Montpelier within a deuce, then Fidler’s floater over Willow forced a 36-36 tie.
Wesley Hartsock gave the Locos the lead for good on the next trip down the court when he bagged a three-pointer from the left side with 3:15 on the clock. Fidler’s three-pointer 16 seconds into the fourth made it 43-36.
“We switched a little bit defensively there in the second half,” Ramos said of the Locos’ run.
“We put Wesley Hartsock on Willow and we felt that Wesley might have been getting him a little frustrated by doing a better job physically, bodying him up. I think that was a little bit of the difference, getting the big man frustrated.”
Willow scored on a shot in close, then a three-point play to bring Arlington within 43-41, but one more time Fidler held them off.
The sophomore guard nailed a baseline jumper and Hayden Sharps canned another from the foul line to push the Locos back ahead by two possessions.
Montpelier hit 7-of-10 from the foul line in the final 79 seconds to close it out. The win puts Montpelier into its first regional final in school history and makes them 24-2 on the year.
“I don’t know that very many people gave us a chance to get this far,” Ramos said. “We believed it in that locker room, and we sure as heck believed it today.”
“Everyone doubted us,” Fidler added. “I think the big thing all year was to prove everyone wrong.”
Smeltzer was the only other Loco in double figures with 11. Willow had 20 to pace Arlington.
ARLINGTON (48) – Metzger 3; McIlroy 2; Rausch 5; Heacock 10; Cavinee 8; Willow 20; Totals: 14-5-5 – 48
MONTPELIER (56) – Stahler 0; Sharps 5; Fidler 24; M. Smeltzer 1; Hartsock 6; Bass 9; K. Smeltzer 11; Totals: 12-8-8 – 56
AHS 18 14 4 12 – 48
MHS 13 15 12 16 – 56