DIVISION III DISTRICT SEMIS … Jayden Seiler of Archbold tries to avoid the defense on a drive to hoop at Napoleon High School. (PHOTOS BY KEVIN EIS)
DIVISION III DISTRICT SEMIS … Swanton’s Charlie Wood puts up a shot down low in the Bulldogs district semifinal game versus Wayne Trace.
By: Dan Cooley
NAPOLEON: Both Archbold and Swanton put forth valiant efforts on Wednesday night at Napoleon.
However, both saw their seasons come to an end in the district semifinals.
In the first game, Archbold lost a close one to the number one seed, Emmanuel Christian, 58-51, meanwhile in the nightcap, Wayne Trace topped Swanton 41-29.
In the opener, Archbold had just one lead, at 2-0 and trailed by as much as 13 points but rallied back to keep the game close.
In the opening quarter, Cade Brenner’s three-pointer cut the Warriors’ lead to 8-7. But Emmanuel finished the quarter on a 5-0 run, on Jerry Easter’s basket and a three pointer from Jalen Brown.
In the second stanza, Brenner’s three-pointer cut Emmanuel’s lead to 18-17. But Emmanuel answered with six straight points to go up 24-17.
However, Archbold tallied the last four points of the quarter to close the Emmanuel lead to 24-21 at the half, on two free throws and a basket from Jayden Seiler.
In the third quarter, Emmanuel put forth its biggest lead at 45-32, after Easter’s two-pointer.
Archbold rallied back again, with buckets by Brenner and Seiler to cut Emmanuel’s lead to 45-36, after three quarters.
Archbold then scored the first five points of the fourth quarter, on a Brenner basket and Seiler three-pointer to cut the Warriors’ lead down to 45-41.
Emmanuel answered with an 8-0 run to take a 53-41 lead. Undaunted, Archbold picked up a Sunny Phillips basket, a Seiler three-pointer and a Phillips trey to cut Emmanuel’s lead to 53-49 with one minute left.
Emmanuel then put the game out of reach with an Easter free throw and basket and two free throws from Nate Miles to go up 58-49 with 35 seconds left.
Seiler then added two free throws to bring the final score to 58-51.
Archbold (13-12) was paced by Seiler’s 16 points and Brenner added 15 points. For Emmanuel, Easter put in 24 points, while Jalen Brown added 13 points and Miles chipped in 11 points.
“(We were heavy underdogs), but I just told the guys to compete for 32 minutes and we’ll see what happens,” said Archbold coach Joe Frank.
“All of a sudden, they would get a couple of runouts and go up by 12 points and then our guys would come back.”
“We got it down to four with about one minute left. Our ability to fight back says a lot about our character and I couldn’t be more proud of this team.”
In the nightcap, Swanton played on even terms with Wayne Trace the second half (each team scored 20 points), but Swanton couldn’t buy a bucket in the first half and found a 21-9 halftime deficit too much to overcome.
Swanton trailed by just 6-5 after one quarter but was outscored 15-4 in the second stanza.
In the third quarter, Swanton finally hit some shots and made a comeback. Trailing 27-14 after a Brooks Laukhuf basket for Wayne Trace, Swanton went on a 9-0 run.
Charlie Wood hit a jumper, Hayden Callicotte hit a three-pointer and another basket and Woods tallied a layup to cut Wayne Trace’s lead to 27-23.
Cole Winans then made a free throw to put the Raiders up, 28-23, after three quarters.
Wayne Trace quickly answered Swanton’s run to start the fourth quarter with two Laukhuf baskets and a Stoller basket to go up, 34-23.
Wood hit two free throws and a Drew Smigelski putback cut Wayne Trace’s lead to 34-27, with 1:46 left.
But Wayne Trace put the game away by scoring the next seven points.
Laukhuf made a three-point play after a basket and free throw, followed by two free throws each from Stoller and Tyler Davis for a 41-27 lead.
Keyon Johnson then tallied the final two points for Swanton, bringing the final score to 41-29.
For Wayne Trace, Laukhuf tallied 20 points and Stoller added 15 points and 16 rebounds. Luc Borojevich led Swanton (18-6) with seven points.
“Wayne Trace played a triangle and two defense and forced us to shoot from the outside,” said Swanton coach Bruce Smith.
“It’s one thing getting the open looks, but it’s another thing knocking them down. We were one for nine shooting the three-pointer in the first half.”
“In the second half, whenever we made a run, it was either Laukhuf or Stoller, who would answer for them.”
“We just couldn’t make shots tonight and we needed to do that to make this a more competitive game. They were better than us tonight.”
“It did mean a lot for us to win a sectional title and it meant a lot to the community,” Smith continued.
“We were able to beat Liberty Center, who beat us bad during the regular season, for the sectional title.”
“We thought we had a chance to win the league, but we lost one game at the buzzer and another in double overtime. But we finished the last two years with a 38-9 record and not many teams can say that.”
ARCHBOLD (51) – Phillips 7; Brenner 15; Wendt 6; Seiler 16; Diller 2; Miller 3; Bickel 2; Totals: 10-8-7 – 51
EMMANUEL CHRISTIAN (58) – Easter 24; Patterson-Davis 4; Brown 13; Miles 11; Rivers 6; Totals: 18-3-13 – 58
THREE-POINT GOALS: Archbold – Brenner 2, Wendt 2, Seiler 2, Phillips, Miller; Emmanuel Christian – Easter, Brown; REBOUNDS: Archbold – 22 (Miller 4); Emmanuel Christian – 23 (Rivers 9). TURNOVERS: Archbold – 10; Emmanuel Christian – 11
ARCHBOLD 7 14 15 15 – 51
EMM. CHRISTIAN 13 11 21 13 – 58
WAYNE TRACE (41) – T. Laukhuf 2; Winans 1; B. Laukhuf 21; Davis 2; Stoller 15; Totals 14-2-7 – 41
SWANTON (29) – Smigelski 5; Mitchey 4; Johnson 2; Callicotte 5; Borojevich 7; Wood 6; Totals: 9-3-2 – 29
THREE-POINT GOALS: Wayne Trace – B. Laukhuf 2; Swanton – Smigelski, Borojevich, Callicotte; REBOUNDS: Wayne Trace – 28 (Stoller 16); Swanton – 30 (Mitchey 9); TURNOVERS – Wayne Trace 3; Swanton 8
WAYNE TRACE 6 15 7 13 – 41
SWANTON 5 4 14 6 – 29
Dan can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com