Local teams play in Clash at The Coliseum
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VINCENT -- There was a lot of action Friday during the inaugural Clash at The Coliseum at Warren High School.
Day one featured six varsity basketball games and six JV games.
In the first game of the day, the Union Local girls defeated Logan 63-21 to give head coach Lou "Scooter" Tolzda his 500th career victory.
That was followed by the first boys game of the day, which saw Fairfield Christian take down Frontier 49-41.
Frontier (0-2) held a 26-25 lead at halftime but was outscored 15-4 in the third quarter. Ben Hobble led all scorers with 22 points for Fairfield Christian (1-0). The Cougars got 16 points from True King, nine from Lucas Cox and seven from Avery Powell. Frontier will play host to Waterford next Friday.
The Marietta Tigers opened the 2022-23 season with a 48-31 win over Trimble. It was the first win for first-year head coach Austin Gardner.
"It's a team game," Gardner said. "More than anything the guys were really excited because it's an opportunity to play. We've got a kid in our program (Ashton Harris) who's got some health issues. I think we're playing inspired because of what he's going through. I think it motivates guys to not take every day for granted.
"He's got myeloid sarcoma. He's going through heavy chemo treatment right now. Thoughts and prayers with him and his family and hopefully he can get back to campus and back to Marietta."
The Tigers (1-0) were led by AJ Graham and Isaac Koast, who tallied 12 points apiece. Graham added five assists while Koast finished with three steals. Andrew Hawkins chipped in eight while Alex Kendall netted six. Eight different players scored in the Tigers' deep rotation.
"We've got a lot of guys where your three through 11 and 12, guys can play in a rotation," Gardner said. "It depends on the night. Just because you're a starter doesn't mean you play starter minutes. Tonight was one of those nights to find out under the bright lights for the first time. That was a true test of being at a neutral site, not comfortable in our home gym, and I thought it was a great first game."
The Tomcats (0-1) got a team-high 12 points and seven rebounds from Levi Weber.
Trimble, which committed 14 turnovers in the first half and 21 total, trailed 28-12 at halftime, but competed hard in the second half.
"I thought the first two-and-a-half quarters we were good," Gardner said. "I thought our press was really good and we pressured the ball. Second half we got sloppy and started playing Trimble's game, a physical style. We need a complete four quarters if we want to be a great team down the road."
Marietta, which opens the season with five games in 12 days, pays a visit to Athens Tuesday.
In the Warren Warriors' season-opener, the duo of Julian Stadelman and Trent Taylor put together a monster performance.
Stadelman had a game-high 24 points to go along with five assists and three steals while Taylor added 22 points, eight rebounds and four dimes as the Warriors defeated Athens 75-47.
"Two super players and super teammates," said Warren head coach Blane Maddox. "They look for each other. All of them contributed. Wasn't happy with the defense in the second half, or really the play in the second half. Maybe our immaturity showed a little bit. We didn't keep that intensity. Maybe it was conditioning. Maybe we need to hit that a little harder this week."
Athens (0-1) was led by Nathan Shadik's 19 points and seven boards. The Bulldogs watched Warren pull ahead to a 22-4 lead after eight minutes. Athens matched the hosts in the second and third quarters to make it 55-37 going into the fourth, but the Warriors put it away from there.
"They started attacking and our discipline got lost a little bit on defense," Maddox said. :We were scrambling around too much, but a great effort to come out and start like that. Happy about that."
Chase Lupardus chipped in seven points and six board for the Warriors. Hayden Wells and A.J. Criss tallied eight and seven points, respective, off the bench.
"I like the way they look for each other," Maddox said. "They've got their head up and they don't care who scores. They know Trent's going to score, Julian's going to score. They're just hoping to get a piece of it. Great group, I've just got to figure out rotations."
Warren is back at the coliseum Saturday when it plays host to Belpre.
"First game of the season, new team, new guys," Maddox said. "We know what we've seen in practice but it's got to carry over in front of people. I thought they came out really strong. They're a fun group."
Portsmouth West was all over Waterford in boys action, 61-39.
The Senators were led by Jeffery Bishop with 14 points. Ryan Sissel and Mitchell Irwin added 10 points apiece.
Waterford (0-1) was paced by Jarrett Armstrong's 11 points and Alec Johnson's 10 in head coach D.J. Cunningham's debut.
The final matchup of the day pitted Warren against Waterford in girls action.
It was the Warriors who prevailed over the defending Division IV state champion Wildcats by a score of 39-27.
Warren, which improved to 2-0, led 23-19 after three quarters in a hard-fought battle. Up six in the fourth, Sophie Cochran and Alex Frazee knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to stretch the lead to 12 and give the Warriors plenty of cushion.
Frazee led all scorers with 14 points while Raylen Shotwell added eight to help give Brad Venham's squad the win.
The Jerry Close-coached Wildcats were paced by Kendall Sury's eight points. Avery Wagner added six.
Saturday's action will kick off at 11 a.m. with the Belpre and Morgan girls squaring off. The Morgan boys take on Fairland at 12:45 p.m. followed by Fairland and John Glenn girls at 2:30, Warren and Meigs girls at 4:15, Caldwell and Federal Hocking boys at 6 and finally Warren boys vs. Belpre at 7:45 to close things out.