Eagles primed for a tournament run
UPPER SANDUSKY — David Sheldon has stressed all season long after a loss how it will help his team grow.
Now that the regular season is over, it's time to focus on the tournament. Following the 63-36 loss to Upper Sandusky in the final game of the regular season on Friday night, Sheldon took a moment to look back at the regular season and says his team is more than ready for the tournament to begin.
"There is nobody that has played a tougher schedule than us in D-IV, not even these guys in D-II," Sheldon said. "Nobody has played a schedule like ours and that's what I tell these guys, these games prepare you for the tournament."
Looking back at the progress the team has made since week one and the quality of the six losses they finished with, Sheldon can say he has seen the Eagles grow from each one. Not only have they grown, but every loss was to a team in a higher division than the Eagles, so they won't face many teams better than the ones they have already gone up against this season.
"We lost to Spencerville who won the Northwest Conference, lost to Northmor who won the MOAC, we lost to Ontario who was second in the NOL behind Sandusky, the top echelon, we lost to Carey who is 15-7 and Upper Sandusky who is Division II, we haven't lost to any of our division schools," Sheldon said. "We've won five straight sectionals, nobody in our league has won five straight sectionals, we're the small dog in this big pound here.
"That's what excites me about going into the tournament next week at the No. 2 seed, there's nobody in our league that has played a tougher schedule with the division we're in."
Harley Shaum gave the Rams credit for being a great team and shared his coach's sentiment about how a loss like this, even in the final game of the season, will help the team heading into the tournament.
"They're just as good, if not better, than anyone we're going to play on our tournament run and I think we're going to grow," Shaum said. "It toughens us up a little, I think we're going to be good ... this helps us see what it's going to be like."
CC needs minimal work heading into the tournament
The only thing the Eagles struggled with against the Rams was something that can be fixed easily, limiting turnovers.
After dominating the boards in the first half, Colonel Crawford proceeded to turn it over a dozen times in the final two quarters and Sheldon thinks that's what helped Upper Sandusky go on a few runs.
"It's tough to get an offensive rebound when you turn it over," Sheldon said.
The Eagles should be just fine with playing smarter heading into the sectional championship game on March 3 and it'll surely be something they stress in practice next week.
Winnable sectional games ahead for the boys
Eagles primed for next season
There's still a lot to play for this season with the tournament beginning next week, but after yet another impressive season for Sheldon's Eagles, it's hard to imagine they could be even better next season.
Considering they're only losing one player, that could be quite plausible.
"We're second in the league with four freshmen, three juniors and one senior out there, the key is sticking together," Sheldon said. "Our time will come, we just need to keep working."
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Twitter: @Zachary_Holden