Column: The Golden Bear Way paves path to perfection

GIBSONBURG – Throughout Gibsonburg High School’s gym, t-shirts and signs proclaim “The Golden Bear Way.”

Boys basketball coach Brent Liskai calls the Golden Bear Way a commitment to playing fast, with emotion and for the player next to you on the bench and in the lockerroom.

But senior Derek Angelone broke the Golden Bear Way down to its core: Winning.

Gibsonburg has known little else since the start of the school year. The football team compiled a 9-1 record and the basketball team completed a perfect regular season, 22-0, with a 70-46 win over Hopewell-Loudon Friday.

“There is a way we do things,” Liskai said. “We’ve had a lot of groups buy into it, but it’s kind of come to fruition this year.”

Friday night’s win over the Chieftains completed a quest for the Golden Bears that began long before the season tipped off Dec. 5. While going undefeated requires coming ready to play for three months’ worth of games, the process is much longer than that.

“This happened in the summer,” senior Jordan Kreglow said. “We came in just about every day in the summer and worked our butts off. It started in the summer and we kept working and working and by the time the season started, we stuck with each other and we love playing with each other.”

Gibsonburg entered the season among the favorites to contend for a Toledo Area Athletic Conference title. Just two games in, with season-opening wins over its top two league rivals, Toledo Christian and Cardinal Stritch, the Golden Bears were poised not just for a league crown, but much, much more.

“I work with incredible kids who allow me to get after them and push them every day,” Liskai said. “It’s a tribute to them. Looking back at it, it’s not a ‘this year’ thing. From the time they were little, they were working and pushing on and on.”

It didn’t take long, however, to see this Golden Bear team had the tools for a special season. Kreglow became the area’s most lethal perimeter shooter, leading Sandusky and Ottawa counties in scoring with 21.7 points per game.

Bryce Ernsthausen, the area’s third-leading scorer and top rebounder, provided Gibsonburg with an inside presence opponents have yet to match.

Then there’s clutch shooting from Derek Angelone and TJ McGough’s versatility – grabbing rebounds in the post and shooting from the outside. Marcus Tille keeps defenses honest with abilities to drive to the basket or shoot. Mateo Flores has been terrific as the first man off the bench, bringing an extra wave of energy and defense with him. Depth players such as Erik Jahna, Josh Dyer and Josh Ernsthausen proved vital Friday, bailing Gibsonburg out of potentially dooming foul trouble.

All pieces that that fit together for the Golden Bears.

“We banded together, we’re so much of a tight-knit group,” Angelone said. “We’ve been playing together since fifth-grade and we had a dream for this for a long time, not just this year. We got that goal tonight.”

Gibsonburg did reach that goal.

A perfect season.

The Golden Bear Way.

rmcgowan@gannett.com

419-334-1043

Twitter: @RMcGowan1