MCC didn’t let rough start derail season
By MATT WENZEL
Sports Editor
Published:
Saturday, March 12, 2011 12:26 AM EST
ONEKAMA — After an 0-3 start,
something had to be said.
Manistee Catholic Central coach Dale Edmondson Jr. could have lit
into his team for missed free throws that proved costly in
back-to-back overtime losses to start the season, or a lackluster
performance in a home-opener drubbing.
But, instead of delivering a fire and brimstone speech at the next
practice, Edmondson simply listened.
MCC senior Nick Doyle shoots
over Frankfort’s Adam Plumstead (30) and Owen Stratton. (Matt
Wenzel/News Advocate)
“I didn’t have to say anything,”
Edmondson recalled. “I walked up to the team and said, ‘what do you
think?’ and they all talked to me. Nobody was pointing fingers.
Everybody said we’ve got to do this, we need to focus on that, we need
to work on this a little better, we need to do this or do that. I went
into it with the idea that I was going to have to do all of the
talking," he added. "They showed a lot of character and told me what
they have to do." |
Simply put, the Sabers (16-6) had to
play better and it would be hard to argue that they haven’t. Friday’s
41-38 Class D district championship win against Frankfort was MCC’s
eighth straight victory and 16th in the last 19 games.
“Of course we were down,” Doyle said of the early struggles, “but our
team goal before the season is to win districts, so we never gave up. We
played well when it mattered.”
Since winning its first district title in 25 years last season, the
Sabers took their lumps. They lost in overtime of a regional semifinal
to Leland and dropped their first three overtime games of the season.
However, playing in tight games seems to have paid off for MCC, which is
4-0 in the last four games decided by 10 points or less.
“It helps so that when it comes down to it,” Doyle said of experience in
close game, “you know what to do.”
And MCC came through when it counted Friday night. After Frankfort took
its biggest lead of the game at 28-23 midway through the third quarter,
the Sabers responded with a 9-0 run while holding the Panthers scoreless
for 6:24.
“In these championship games with the big crowd, the nerves are going,
but you’ve got to play over that,” Doyle said. “Sometimes it will have
an effect on you but you’ve got to work on it.”
It was a much-different scenario for the Panthers, who had won their
first two district games against Onekama and Bear Lake by a combined 54
points.
“It’s fun when you’re winning by 20, 30 points and there’s no pressure,”
Edmondson said. “We came in tonight knowing it was going to be a good
ballgame, but we also knew they hadn’t been in a lot of tough games.”
Although Friday’s win wasn’t the best game the Sabers played all season,
they did enough to win and record back-to-back district titles for the
first time since 1982-83.
“I only asked one thing of the kids,” Edmondson said. “Look in that
mirror when the game is over with and that guy won’t lie to you whether
you played good or bad or whether you played hard. That guy in the
mirror knows if you took a play off or not. You can’t lie to that guy.”
Those guys also know that a bumpy start — if handled properly — can lead
to a smooth finish.
|