Retrospect: A trio of teams won tournaments

Thirty years ago this week, three local teams celebrated championships on the same day as the Jay County and Fort Recovery high school boys basketball teams earned sectional titles while the FRHS girls won their first district championship.

The Jay County boys championship came by way of a 51-47 victory at home over the Delta Eagles. The Indian boys defeated New Bremen 53-48 at Parkway in Rockford, Ohio, and the Tribe girls topped St. Henry 46-35 in Lima, Ohio.

Diane McClung coached her Tribe girls squad to its 13th straight victory as it advanced to the regional for the first time. Val Gaerke led a trio of Indians in double figures as she scored 14 points. Amy Sutter and Sarah Obringer added 11 points apiece.

Patriot boys coach Mike Lederman was tossed in the JCHS swimming pool following his team’s victory, which marked its first championship in four seasons. Aaron Williams scored 17 points to lead Jay County to the win. Matt Painter, now the men’s basketball coach at Purdue University, led the way with 16 points for Delta before fouling out with 3:19 remaining.

Fort Recovery’s boys won their first sectional championship since 1981 thanks to their perimeter offense as Parkway did its best to shut down center Chris Bihn. The result was 20 points from Gregg McClurg, 11 from Todd McAbee and nine from Eric Schoenherr, all guards.

Each of the three teams would close their season in the next game, with the Tribe girls falling by one to eventual state champion St. John’s in the regional semifinal. The Jay County boys lost by 15 to Carmel in the regional at Anderson, and the FRHS boys fell 63-58 to Upper Scioto Valley.