Hardwood Heroes Sports
Eastern Eagles Unable to Spoil Southern Senior Night
By: Dylan Thompson
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RACINE, Ohio- It was rivalry week for the Eastern Eagles on Friday as they raced to Racine to take on the Southern Tornadoes. Coming off a double overtime loss to Federal Hocking, it’s safe to say that the Eagles were on a mission on the Tornado’s senior night.
The first quarter the Eagles came out super aggressive. Hitting four of their first five shots, it looked like the Tornadoes were going to have a long night down 10-2 inside six minutes. But the Tornadoes came fighting back, getting rebounds, steals, and keeping the Eagles at bay; the Tornadoes had a game plan for the Eagles and executed it to perfection.
The second quarter was more of the same in the game. The Eagles went on a huge scoring drought while the Tornadoes consistently caught up, eventually tying the game up and even taking the lead. A huge component to Southern’s first half success was foul trouble for the Eagles. Senior Garrett Barringer caught two early fouls and Coach Kight decided to sit him for the remainder of the half. But a positive for the Eagles was that Barringer was off the floor, and the team was still only down one point going into halftime.
Heading into the third quarter, it looked like the Eagles were coming out on a mission, but rest assured, the Tornadoes were up for the challenge. A very scrappy game, it just seemed to be the Tornadoes night. A big player for the Tornadoes was Senior Trey McNickle who grabbed 15 rebounds throughout the game and made turned the tides on the boards for the game.
The fourth quarter was a nail-biter in Racine. Exchanging leads multiple times, it was a flip of the coin to decide the winner. The Tornadoes were clicking on all ends, going to the free-throw line multiple times and stopping Eastern from scoring. In the end, Southern won 41-33 and the seniors walked out the gym one last time with that winning feeling.