Streaks, Indians play key contest Each team has just 1 NWOAL loss
1/28/2005Archbold travels to Wauseon tonight for a game that will go a long way in determining who grabs control of the Northwest Ohio Athletic League race.
Archbold is tied for the league lead with Liberty Center at 5-1 while Wauseon stands at 4-1.
Archbold coach Doug Krauss and Wauseon coach Ken Burgei recognize what's at stake.
"I'm looking forward to a much closer game this time around," said Krauss, whose Blue Streaks knocked off the Indians by double digits earlier this season. "It may be in their favor playing at home this time, but you can't worry about it."
"It's a big game for us and Archbold and that's really the kind of position we'd like to be in at this point in the season," Burgei said.
Sharpshooting guard Dan Borcherdt leads the way for Archbold, which has been defeating opponents by approximately 20 points. Borcherdt is averaging 22.5.
However, the Indians do not intend to concentrate their defensive efforts solely on Borcherdt.
"We can't let him just go off and have a career night," Burgei said. "At the same time, they've got other kids that can step up and score."
Krauss agrees his team's 12-1 is due to more than one player.
"Dan Borcherdt gets a lot of attention and rightly so, but others have stepped up for us," Krauss said. "We've been really good defensively this season. We're holding teams to 40 points and we're scoring around 60, so that's been good."
Archbold's Gene Goering averages 10.1 points and a team-best 7.8 rebounds. The 6-2 freshman is enough of a threat around the basket that Borcherdt finds space outside.
"We felt he was very capable of stepping in and being a fine player for us this season," Krauss said of Goering.
Wauseon, 9-4 overall, is led by Jake Reckner (16.0 poiints per game) and Chris Villalovos (9.0).
"It all still comes down to, you have to be able to play the game and you have to be able to execute," Burgei said. "It's going to be fun."
Contact Donald Emmons at
demmons@theblade.com
or 419-724-6302.