Basketball Preview 2017

Familiar Face Back at Helm for Tyler Boys

By TRACY WATSON KIDWELL — It’s “Back to the Future” for the Tyler Consolidated boys’ basketball program as the Silver Knights welcome back former, ultra-successful coach Rick Leach. Leach was the coach at Tyler Consolidated between 1994-2008, a stretch in which the Knights captured eight sectional titles, four regional titles and made a trip to the state final four. Since then, Leach has been the athletics director at Parkersburg South High School for the last 10 years. “Honestly, I probably left coaching too early,” Leach said. “And I still have the bug. I joked ...

Baker Begins 17th Season at MC

By KIM NORTH WOODSFIELD — Troy Baker begins his 17th year at Monroe Central with only three returning letterwinners, but the veteran head coach likes the potential his squad possesses. The Seminoles were 10-13 last winter and lost three mainstays in Allison Kuhn, Taryn Burkhart and Gracie Gardner. “We have some girls with some size and have a few who can shoot it pretty well, but we’re very young and inexperienced. We only have three girls, and they combined to average 10 points last year,” Baker said. “We will have to play much better team ball than we did last year and ...

Soos Takes Over At Buckeye Local

By SETH STASKEY CONNORVILLE — Joe Soos arrives at the Buckeye Local gymnasium each afternoon the same as he did for the last several years without much difference. But, the long-time coach is in a slightly different role this season. Soos was hired as the Panthers coach late in the summer, replacing Greg Haberfield who departed following last season to become the head coach at Philo High School. “I am the head coach in title alone because we’re really operating as if it’s a three-man staff,” Soos said. “And I think that’s the way it should be. We all offer a lot ...

Time Is Now for Panthers

By SETH STASKEY CONNORVILLE — These are good times for Buckeye Local. Buckeye Local has been on a steady upward climb during the course of the last four years, but Tom Figurski realizes his team hasn’t come anywhere near its ceiling. “We have set some lofty goals for ourselves,” Figurski said. “We want to compete well in the OVAC, qualify for the tournament, compete for the Buckeye 8 championship and also take it a step further and compete more in the sectional and district. I think we have the talent to accomplish those things, too.” With a solid nucleus back, ...

St. C. Back To Playing Fast

By SETH STASKEY ST. CLAIRSVILLE — To say Kim Clifford has been around the block and back probably isn’t giving him enough credit. The veteran St. Clairsville basketball coach has experienced a boatload of success during his career, which has spanned more than four decades total and more than three as a head coach. With more than 400 career victories on his resume, a nine-win season like he experienced in 2016-17 is certainly a rarity. But, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and Clifford took away several positives from a campaign, which was plagued by injury. “It was ...

Devils Return 6 Letterwinners

By SETH STASKEY ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The St. Clairsville girls’ basketball team turned a few heads when it went on a late-season terror to reach the OVAC Class 4A championship game. Though the Red Devils fell in that game to Union Local and eventually lost in the opening round of the Division II sectional, Coach Stacey Agnew had a lot of reasons to be encouraged. First and foremost, his team showed resolve to bounce back from a slow start and every player — except for Sydney Freeman — who contributed in that surge is back as the new season commences. “We’re ...