All season long, the Dover boys’ basketball team has fought tooth and nail. Their reward was an impressive 16-6 record and an ECOL Scarlet Division Championship. Personally as a coach, a my biggest goal is to have my team get as close to its potential as possible. I would say that the 2016-17 Tornadoes did just about that.
The Tornadoes faced a tall task in their tournament opener when they traveled to Green High School. The Bulldogs season struggles in their inaugural Federal League season had them battle tested for March. This past weekend to end the regular season, Green handed Copley their first regular season loss since the 2014-15 season on Friday night. The next night, they beat Stow, which had a record of 17-4.
Dover drove up to Green and gave the Bulldogs everything they had. Of course, Tornado fans have come to expect nothing less with coach Bob Von Kaenel at the helm. (Check out my recent article giving insight to Coach Von Kaenel’s style.) Dover scratched and clawed all game, but came up just short, 49 to 45. The officiating style, which tended to allow heavy hand checking and grabbing, favored Green’s aggressive defensive play. But Dover fought through that adversity to give them a chance to win in the final minutes. Unfortunately, the breaks did not fall the way of the Crimson and Gray.
Nonetheless, thank you the the entire squad and its coaches for a great season. A big shout out in particular goes to the two seniors on the team. Tyler Bardall overcame some early-season shooting struggles to become a huge force each night. In both the league championship clincher at New Philadelphia, as well as the tournament game, he led all scorers with 17 points. Kyler Ruegsegger was steady and solid all season long. He averaged 12 points a game while being very unselfish and efficient with the ball. He didn’t take a lot of shots, but tended to make a majority of the ones he did take. He always seemed to come up with a big basket when the team needed it most. His pull out jumper was a pretty sight for hoops purists!
I also want to salute the Dover fans. They had to travel 35 miles for this tournament game, but probably had at least as many fans, if not more, than the host team. Dover, like most every Tuscarawas County school, greatly supports its teams.
My son was on the Dover JV team this year, so I was at plenty of Tornado games. That being said, I have to give another big shout out to the Dover student section. They had big numbers and great enthusiasm all year. Additionally, they had some great themes for each game. Here is my countdown of their best themes…
#10: Black Out–One minor hiccup with this one. You probably don’t want to dress in all black when you play a team whose main color is black (Massillon)
#9: White Out–Penn State would be proud
#8: Military night–plenty of Red, White, Blue, and Camo
#7: Neon–I should have brought my sunglasses
#6: College–saw some fraternity sweatshirts. Plenty of shorts and flip-flops. I didn’t see any preppy sweaters tied around the neck, though.
#5: Beach night–included an inflatable palm tree
#4: Sports Teams–Great variety! It included a few baseball uniforms, but a few too many Steeler jerseys
#3: Part the Red Sea– a gray-bearded Moses showed up to part the all-Crimson-clad student section
#2: Christmas Sweaters–definitely put the fans in the Christmas mood. I think they even sang a few carols while the opponent shot foul shots
#1: Superheroes/Star Wars– the added bonus was a lightsaber duel during the timeout
I guess it is now time to get the sunscreen, lawn chair, and umbrella out for spring sports!
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