Wellston’s historical season ended in district semifinal against Chesapeake
By: Jackie VanHoose
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — The Chesapeake Panthers and the Wellston Golden Rockets met in the district semifinal inside of the Convocation Center to fight for a chance in the Region 19 finals. After a hard fight, the Golden Rockets fell to the Panthers 65-43.
Starting off strong, Golden Rockets junior Wes Briggs took off, scoring five points in the first few minutes. Chesapeake would fire right back, with buckets from Philip Thacker and Karson Freka helping them to take an early lead.
The Golden Rockets were getting shut down repeatedly on defense but were putting up a good fight on offense. The quarter would end 18-13 in favor of Chesapeake, but it was still anyone’s game.
The rampage of the Panthers would truly begin in this quarter, with perfect shooting from Thacker and Freka during the second quarter from inside the arc. A six-point contribution from Maddox Kazee would also help to secure their lead.
Chesapeake easily took advantage of shooting mistakes from Wellston and made them into steals, rebounds and points. While Wellston continued to fight, Chesapeake began to run with their lead with a score of 34-19 going into halftime.
The Golden Rockets came back out with some new zeal, putting some needed grit into the game. Fouls began to pile up, with Wellston having 14 team fouls by the end of the third as opposed to just four from Chesapeake.
The Panthers continued their dominance on the scoreboard, with a perfect shooting quarter from Kaden Perkins helping to push their lead even further out to 52-25 Chesapeake.
The Golden Rockets tried rallying at the end to some success, but Briggs ended up fouling out, sealing the nail in the coffin for Wellston’s historical season with a score of 65-43.
The Chesapeake Panthers will play the winner of the game between Eastern Brown and Zane Trace in the Convocation Center on March 7.