Sports
Fed Hock Boys Still Searching For First Win While The Lady Lancers Look Towards TVC Title Run
By: Will Collins
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Over the past two weeks the Lancers of Federal Hocking have played some close non-league and TVC-Hocking matchups, and the Lady Lancers went on a five game win streak from December 7th until their loss on the 21st to the Lady Eagles of Eastern.
Boys (0-5), (0-4 TVC)
Five games into the season, the Lancers remain winless under first year head coach Kevin Dunigan, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. The boys from Federal Hocking have suffered 3 losses in the last 10 days, but there are some positives that come out of each loss.
On December 15th when the Southern Tornadoes came to town they lost 76-35. According to Coach Dunigan, the Lancers wanted to use their size to their advantage against the Tornadoes, but Southern came out with some speed that Federal Hocking was not prepared for.
Dunigan said that the Tornadoes shot lights out the entire night and that his team was, “just not ready to defend Southern’s speed or the three pointer all night.” Southern hit six threes in a row that really blew the game open for the Tornadoes after a close first quarter.
Federal Hocking also committed 30 turnovers in the loss to the Tornadoes, and could have played a closer game if they didn’t make that many mistakes, said Dunigan.
Four days later on December 19th, the Lancers traveled to Waterford to take on the Wildcats. This game was a thriller from the start according to Coach Dunigan. The Lancers would go point for point with Waterford the entire game, and with 16 seconds to go they found themselves up by four. The Lancers were called for traveling and Waterford took two short possessions and forced overtime with six seconds to go in regulation.
Dunigan said that going into overtime he told his players, “We have the ability to play with anyone out on that court.” After the overtime period though, the Lancers had fallen to the Wildcats 60-50. Dunigan attributes the loss to the amount of mistakes made by his squad, who committed 20 turnovers. Without the mistakes, the Lancers may have been able to win the game.
In their last game before Christmas, the Lancers traveled to Belpre to take on the Golden Eagles on December 22nd. The Lancers fell to Belpre, 56-48. In a game that started 26-8, the Lancers battled back into the game and managed to get within four points with two minutes to go in the game. Coach Dunigan said that the Lancers struggled to get going offensively in the first half and that they had trouble getting shots to fall.
A couple of bright spots in this game were that the turnovers committed by the Lancers improved, and they did not commit near as many in the second half as they did in the first half.
Another bright spot was Freshman Nate Massie, who hit 8 three pointers, what Dunigan says could be a school record in a single game, and finished with 28 points on the night. Hunter Smith added 10 points as well.
Girls (5-3), (5-2)
The Lady Lancers currently sit at third in the TVC-Hocking behind Waterford and Eastern respectively. Federal Hocking went on a five game win streak from December 7th through December 18th, and it ended in a loss to the Eastern Lady Eagles on December 21st.
On December 11th the Lady Lancers traveled to South Gallia and came out of the contest victorious with a 46-29 matchup in which the offense was flowing well all night long.
On December 14th, the girls from Federal Hocking hosted the Lady Golden Eagles from Belpre. The Lady Lancers and Lady Golden Eagles played a close game all night long in which each team traded bucket for bucket. The Lady Lancers got the win in their home gym 46-41 in the final minutes.
December 16th the Lady Lancers hosted the Southern Lady Tornadoes at home, and pulled off their third victory in a row at home 48-32. This game was highlighted again by Federal Hocking’s potent scoring offense, which came to life early, and they converted Southern’s mistakes into points.
The Lady Lancers final win of their five game winning streak came on December 18th at Trimble High School when they took on the Lady Tomcats. This matchup showed that the Lady Lancers can not only score well, but also play excellent defense, as they held Trimble to under 20 points in the contest. This game was the Lady Lancers largest win during the win streak, 43-17.
The Lady Lancers win streak came to an end in their last game before Christmas to the Lady Eagles of Eastern on December 21st. The Lady Lancers hung with the Lady Eagles for the majority of the contest, but Eastern pulled away as the second half progressed. The Lady Lancers ended up falling in the contest 59-46.
Both of Federal Hockings squads will be back in action three days after Christmas on December 27th and hope to finish out 2017 strong. They boys will travel to South Gallia, and the girls will take on St. Joe at home. The boys are looking to pick up their first win, and the girls look to make a run at the TVC-Hocking crown.