It’s a season to be jolly and Open Door embraces the notion as it holds hold its Fourth Annual Christmas Classic Dec. 18 and Dec. 19, which will consist of teams from Heritage Christian, First Baptist and Kingsway Christian.
“it just seems to be that bringing each other together right around Christmas time would be a great time to do it, rally our school community around that,” Open Door coach Todd Wright said. “It’s something that we look forward to every year and something our school and community looks forward to every year, which is kind of special for us, especially tomorrow night’s game.”
In their game against First Baptist Dec. 18 Open Door will perform its “Silent Night” ritual, which stems from the inaugural year of the tournament and is a takeoff from Wright’s alma mater Taylor University, which is in Upland, Ind.
“The crowd comes in, they are typically dressed in a silly outfit or pajamas or whatever and are silent until we score 10 points and as soon as we score 10 points, they kind of go crazy and get all excited and the gym just erupts and is extremely loud,” Wright said. “Obviously they are cheering for the rest of the game and then with about two minutes left in the game, they all get together, and in this case our music director is going to come out and lead the entire crowd in the singing of ‘Silent Night’ as the game ends.”
ESPN did a feature last week and was on site for Taylor’s yearly tradition that started 19 years ago. Wright took his team to the game that took place Dec. 11
“Our varsity team got to see the original one at Taylor last weekend just to get them even more pumped up for ours,” Wright said. “It was great. A lot of the guys haven’t even been on a college campus before so to be on a college campus, they got to stay in a dorm, we did an official college visit and then went to the game that night and we actually got to meet with the coach before the game so he talked to the kids. Going to the game, it was just an unbelievable atmosphere … They (Wright’s team) were just pumped up to be in that environment.”
Record unblemished
A surprise can be good, but in the case of North Olmsted coach Jason Frolo, it was stupendous. The Eagles are off to a 6-0 start but the way they have managed to earn wins is a little different as opposed to last season.
“The way we have done it is a bit surprising. We were hoping to have a good year with the amount of returning players we had and the caliber returning players we had. It was a little unpredictable. We’ve had a lot of balance scoring across with (Andy) Lucien, (Ryan) Coleman, Paris (Villanueva) and (Josh) Hufstetler,” Frolo said. “Last year a lot of the time it was Andy having big games and the supporting cast around him and this year it has been well balanced and every one of our starters has taken turns of having big nights, which is nice to see.”
Four starters are averaging double-digits in points with Villanueva leading the way with 15.5 points per game. Coleman and Hufstetler follow with 13.8 and Lucien rounds it out with 12.3 points per game.
Frolo noted that the team’s ability to combine their athleticism and basketball skills has made them a difficult team to face.
“They can do that along with doing basketball plays, making smart decisions, playing together. It’s tough for opponents to prepare for us and hopefully that will continue. So far it has worked to our advantage.”
North Olmsted faces Amherst Dec. 18 in a Southwestern Conference matchup and, on Dec. 22, the Eagles play at Lorain in a much anticipated game. As of Dec. 18, Lorain is 4-0 and North Olmsted will seek to avenge its loss from last season in a 88-75 defeat Jan. 9.
“If we are still undefeated at that point, it’ll be a really exciting game. I know our guys believe they can play with them and last year we proved that. I think we played them tough as anybody up until that time of the season. It should be a lot of a fun going over there. It’ll probably be a hostile crowd, two undefeated teams in the area, two good teams and I know the kids will be looking forward to it,” Frolo said.
And-1
Elyria Catholic senior guard Jake Kuchta is one of the most pure shooters in the area. He showcased his shooting ability on Dec. 11 in a 87-76 win against Holy Name. He scored 17 in the fourth quarter and was 13 of 15 from the free throw line, which included hitting nine straight to end the game. He finished with 35 points, five rebounds and was a pest on defense, coming up with eight steals. In a 61-58 win against Parma on Dec. 15, he scored 16 and had seven rebounds and six steals to help Elyria Catholic improve to 5-1.
Game to watch
Clearview at Elyria Catholic: The Clearview Clippers come into the matchup with a 5-0 record and the Elyria Catholic Panthers come in at 5-1. The game is intriguing because Elyria Catholic managed to keep pace with Lorain on Dec. 8. Don’t let an 83-69 loss to the Titans deceive you because the Panthers led by as many as 12. Clearview’s style of play is similar to Lorain’s – full-court pressure on defense end and great ball movement offensively that transitions into good looks. This will be Clearview’s toughest game yet this season and will prove their legitimacy if the can obtain the win. For Elyria Catholic, a win against Clearview will be a nice touch to their resume and will pad their winning streak to three games.
