Old Fort Stockaders News/Sandusky Bay Conference News

Defense Does it For Old Fort

Click here to listen to an interview with coach Eric Hoover

          Old Fort held Sandusky St. Mary’s to only five points in the fourth quarter and they beat the Panthers (40-29) in a division VII district semifinal at Oregon Clay High School on Thursday night.

          They face longtime rival Tiffin Calvert in the district final.

          The Stockaders (16-8) trailed (24-23) entering the final quarter, but they were able to get the upper hand in that final stanza.

          Coach Eric Hoover they have been working hard on the defensive end and it showed Thursday night.  “We did a good job of you know making everything pretty tough on them.  Even in the first when we were struggling to score too, we held them to 17 in the first half.  You got to be pretty happy about that.  So, we've been working pretty hard at it defensively.  We know that we have got to be able to get that done come tournament time.  You can't count on being able to score a lot and even if you have a bad shooting night and you just have got to be ready to win it with defense,” said Hoover.

          Henry Beisner led Old Fort with 13 points on Thursday night, but Hoover says in games like this you have to have a lot of kids step up their game.  “It’s a lot of times there's people that maybe you don't even expect to make plays.  They're focused on taking away your main guys and other people have to be able to step up and a lot of times that’s the difference in a tournament game,” he told Swankonsports.com after the in Thursday night, “ We had our six man come in and have a really good fourth quarter and make some plays defensively got himself to the to the free throw line and really made some big plays and stepped up for us.  So, somebody probably that wasn't heavy on their scouting report stepping up at the end and making a big difference.”

          Issac Gallagher added eight for Old Fort and Dimitri Carter had six.

          Calvert (16-7) beat Plymouth (48-42) in a district semi play at Galion High School on Thursday night.  Logan Ritzler had 18 for the Senecas in that win.

          Now, the district final will be Saturday night at Galion.

          Old Fort won both of the meetings in the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division this year winning (65-58) at Calvert on December 20 and then (54-46) at Old Fort on February 3.

          Hoover says playing their archrivals in the tournament is kind of a tradition if you will.  “I think we know each other pretty well. We've played two or three times a year for a decade now.  Last year was the first time we haven't played in the tournament for a long time.  So, here we are again getting a third match up with them.  I think both teams will be ready to go and pretty familiar with each other and whichever team can go out execute the best will come out on top,” he said.

Published 3/06/26

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Old Fort to Play its Game

          Old Fort plays host to Fremont St. Joe in a division VI sectional final on Thursday night.

          Last Friday, they played one of the best teams in this region in the Margaretta Polar Bears.

          They lost (72-53), but coach Eric Hoover says it was a good learning experience.  “They're obviously outstanding and they're going to give us challenges that we’re not going to see probably or little more difficult than we're going to see.  So, it was a good way to get a tune up in.  I thought we played pretty well for the most part.  I mean certainly had a really good first quarter.  We didn't come out intimidated at all.  Last year, I felt like we were not confident in ourselves when we played them, but that wasn't really the case this time.  We gave up too many layups ultimately in the end.  Kind of letting them see mistakes happen over and over again, but that's why we did it.  For teams like that to be able to find weaknesses that maybe we weren't sure about so we can clean those up before the tournament,” said Hoover.

          The Stockaders (14-8) overwhelmed St. Joe (1-21) when they played them in the regular season to the tune of (74-15) on January 6.

          Hoover says they Crimson Streaks are going to play hard.  “I think coach (Jabryis) Heidelberg does a great job with them.  I think he's in a tough situation for sure.  One thing when we played them the first time is they play hard.  I mean they're not going to lay down for you.  They're going to go out there and play hard.  They played hard the entire game.  They went out there and battled,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “That's what he can expect from them and that's what we expect from them.  So, you're going to have to be ready to go.  If you don't take care of business, you don't want to create any bad habits either.  Even if you get a lead, you have still got to be able to play with the lead and just have that mentality of tournament basketball.”

          Hoover says they want to play to their standards.  “I think that's something we talk about in our program a lot.  We always want to play to our standard.  We don't judge a game based on whether we win or lose.  We judge it based on how we played in comparison to what we're capable of.  So, I don't think Thursday will be any different,” he said.

Published 2/25/26

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Old Fort to Play Talented Margaretta

          Old Fort will host “SBC” Bay Division champion Margaretta in a non-conference game on Friday night.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they want to play really good teams because that’s how you get better.  “That's the hope.  We have had a tough non league schedule and Margaretta is as good, if not better than all of them.  So, it’s going to be a challenge for sure.  One of the best teams in Ohio with one of the best players in Ohio.  There will be things that we can work on as far as being able to slow down a big scorer like Julian (Washington) and to give yourself a chance to win the game.  They do a lot of different things and play very good defense too, so we're going to have to really improve on the things that we've been working on.  We’ll have to show improvement in the game.  It's good opportunity to show some of the things we've been working on this week.  So, we'll see where we are and how much more we need to focus on those things and or if we can start to look to do other things,” said Hoover.

          Margaretta (18-3), #2 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, walloped Willard (90-45) to win the outright Bay title last week.

          Hoover says they are very athletic and their press is hard to prepare for.  “They're long and athletic at every position really.  Julian (Washington) poses a different threat.  That's not something that we can emulate in practice.  We could put more guys out there, but we can't be bigger and more athletic.  Some passes that we are able to make in practice are not going to work,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “You try to express that to them in practice.  We have played them before.  We've played every year, so we have some experience with that.  We'll try some different strategies and we tried last year, but certainly something that we're going to have to really be able to do.  They score a ton of points in transition off of steals and off of their defense.  So, we're going to have to be able to eliminate that to give ourselves a chance to win.”

          Hoover says the timing of the game, right at the end of the regular season, is a plus too.  “It certainly will help prepare us and give us a better look than probably we would see, maybe ever, I don't know in division VII.  That’s why we scheduled and I was glad that we were able to move it to the end.  We both had a week off would hold this whole week off, which I think would have been awful and with only one game again next week.  So, I was glad we were able to move it to this this time of year and really should help us both out,” he said.

Published 2/19/26

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Old Fort Has Goals

          Old Fort is at Lakota on Thursday night in a game in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference.

          They are at home for Northwood in their final division game on Saturday night.  They have a chance to finish in second place in the 11 team division.

          They beat Carey (69-57) in a non-league game on Monday night.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they shot very well, but they have some other things to clean up.  “We played a pretty good game, really well offensively as far as shooting, we shot the ball really well.  We were 5-8 from three and had a really good percentage from two.  We were making a lot of shots, so that makes you feel better.  We didn't take care of the ball very well though.  I am always looking for things to improve and we really let them hang around in the game when we had opportunities to get stops.  We were giving them too many easy ones on turnovers.  So, something we worked on (Tuesday) and we'll keep working and try and get better at it.  So, always looking for things improve going towards the tournament,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (13-6,10-2) is at Lakota (11-8,7-4) on Thursday night. The Raiders beat North Baltimore (73-59) in a non-conference game Tuesday night.

          The Stockaders upended Lakota (50-27) on January 9.

          However, Hoover says they will face a lot different team on Thursday night.  “They're a little different this time.  They lost their leading scorer to an injury and so he's out for the season unfortunately, but they still have a lot of talented guys.  They have people are four year letter winners leading the way for them right now.  They're extremely athletic and they've got a couple young guys that they were solid on the JV team and now they're coming up and they're excited to play,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “They've been doing well.  One of them had 22 (Tuesday) night the other had 15 as a freshman and sophomores moving up.  So, they're really stepping into the role and getting more opportunities.  So, maybe a little different style of game this time around with the chemistry of their team changing a little bit.  It's a big game essentially playing for second place in the in our league.  I think they're going to be ready to go for us.”

          Hoover says Thursday night is very important when it comes to the tournament.  “We're looking to play well and we're still playing for a seed.  This is the last game for us that will count towards the RPI when it comes to seeding and our group of eight in that district is very tight right, within thousands of a point between first and third place.  So, it will come down to the wire for sure, so it’s a huge game for us,” he said.

Published 2/12/26

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Old Fort Has to do it

          Old Fort is in a must win situation as they host Tiffin Calvert in a game in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference on Tuesday night.

          They are a game behind Gibsonburg in the standings.

          That came after they lost (56-52) in overtime to Gibsonburg last Friday.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they just didn’t make the plays at crunch time.  “I'm still processing that one.  We led for 90% of the game and just had opportunities to have much bigger lead.  We let them hang around and they made us pay for letting them be within striking range.  So, ultimately, we didn't handle it well enough when it came down to the last couple of minutes of regulation and the last couple minutes overtime and they made us pay.  We kind of had a rough weekend for sure,” he said.

          They also lost (47-42) to Van Buren in a non-league game on Saturday.

          The Stockaders (10-6,8-2) plays host to Tiffin Calvert (9-5,5-3) on Tuesday.  The Senecas are coming off a (67-26) drubbing of winless Fremont St. Joe on Friday night.

          Old Fort won the first meeting (65-58) on December 20.

          Hoover says Calvert really is a lot like them.  “They're very talented.  They are very similar to us.  They don’t play a lot of guys.  They have their main five or six, that’s what they go with.  I think we’re in a similar situation and we’re very familiar with each other.  I think they have a outstanding individual scorer in Ritzler at 19 a game.  He can win a game and go out there and score a bunch of points to win himself,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “I think defensively, we have got to be able to slow him down.  They have got three other guys right around double figures that could go off at any point, so they pose challenges in that way.  I think coach (Jon) Otterbacher and I know each other very well and what we're going to do.  Our systems are known to each other, so I think that's going to be who goes out there and executes the best (Tuesday).”

          Hoover says because of the “SBC” league rules determining the league champion by winning percentage they can’t tie Gibsonburg, who plays two more league games, and get a share.  “We have to win, we can't lose anymore.  Honestly, because even if we tie with Gibsonburg, we lose.  We don't get a share even if we tie, so that's just the way they set the league up this year.  Essentially for us barring something crazy happening it would be nearly impossible to come back.  Either way we're going to go out there and we're playing hard.  We're preparing for the tournament.  It's huge game for the tournament.  For seeding for us and every game is really important at this point.  So, still fighting for the number one seed in our in our pool in the tournament, so we still have a lot to play for,” said Hoover.

Published 2/03/26

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Old Fort to Play Hopewell Again

          Old Fort is going to play Hopewell-Loudon for the second time in three days as they host the Chieftains this time in a game Tuesday night in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference.

          The Stockaders won the game Saturday (52-46) at Hopewell.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they were able to grind out a win.  “We went over there and it’s a tough place to play and had a really intense game.  It was close back and forth the whole time, lead changes, and it was most of the time at one possession game.  We were able to kind of pull away there in the fourth quarter.  I mean nothing too much, I think we end up with a six point win or something like that, but it was just back and forth and a very well played game on both sides,” he said.

          It is different to play regular season games like this so close, but Hoover says there are advantages.  “With them going so deep in the football playoffs it was just a place that schedule where it worked out for both of us.  I guess this can be an advantage a little less prep time.  You know what you're getting you just played them, which could be good because neither of us were probably able to practice (Monday) either,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “That will be an advantage that way.  It was a clean game, there wasn't anything chippy don’t have to worry about anything like that any of that carrying over to the next game.  So, that's good.  I thought both teams played very well and we'll have a good idea what to expect (Tuesday).”

          Then on Friday Old Fort (9-4,7-1) entertains Gibsonburg (12-2,8-1) on River Division play.

          Hoover says Golden Bears are really good.  “They were 1-2 and they've won a whole bunch in a row.  They were probably the favorite coming into the league this year.  They have nearly everyone back from last year.  They lost one starter I believe and then have everyone else back.  So, they just have a lot of ways they can beat you.  They have got good size on the inside and really good guard play too.  They can really defend, protect the paint with their size and find lots of ways to beat you with their leading scorers both averaging over 15 a game,” said Hoover.

Published 1/27/26

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Old Fort Faces Two Tough Ones

          Old Fort, a co-leader in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, plays at New Riegel on Thursday and at Hopewell-Loudon on Saturday in division games.

          They played Sunday in a Martin Luther King Jr. weekend game at Fort Loramie and lost (57-52) to Toledo Christian.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they certainly had a chance to win.  “It was up and down, a game of runs.  They got out early in the first quarter and we came back and took the lead at half and then they made a run on the fourth.  We just couldn't get enough defensive stops in the fourth quarter.  We had some opportunities when they were pressing to try to get back in a little bit.  We had some fast breaks that we didn't cash in on that ended up coming back to bite us.  In the last two minutes they got the lead and that's a different game with the lead there at that time the game.  So, it was fun though.  It was a good experience. We played with the shot clock, so that was different.  It didn't really impact the game a whole lot.  Actually, only a couple times did it even really come into play, but it was a fun experience for the kids,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (7-4,5-1) makes the cross county trip to New Riegel (4-8,2-5) on Thursday to take on the Blue Jackets.  New Riegel lost (80-61) to Ridgedale in a non-conference game Tuesday night.

          The Stockaders won the first match-up (69-36) December 9.

          Hoover expects a bigger challenge this time around.  “They're going to be more prepared this time than they were the first time.  I think we really handled them in the first half first time around and took a huge lead into the half while pressing them.  I think they'll be a lot more prepared this time.  They are playing hard.  They've got five guys averaging about 10 points a game.  So, you never know who it's going to be on each night, so it makes it kind of difficult to prepare for.  I think they're going to be much better prepared this time,” he said.

          This will be the first meeting with Hopewell-Loudon (6-5,3-2) so far. Thgey play again Tuesday.

          Hoover says the Chieftains have more of an offensive game this year.  “It’s kind of unique back-to-back with their football run and that's where it kind of ended up.  So, we can really start in the second round kind of our league here in our division.  I've seen them a few times.  I think they're more little more athletic than they were last year, a little more able to score,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “They're shooting much higher percentage than they did last year.  So, I think they're starting to get a lot more confidence and playing better right now too.  They had a good game against a good Arcadia team.  Then of course they beat New Riegel last week.  So, they're really starting to just kind of figure things out after their late start and starting to play better basketball right now.”

Published 1/21/26

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Old Fort Must Play Transition Defense

          Old Fort is up at Woodmore for a game in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference on Tuesday night.

          The Stockaders (6-3,4-1) downed Lakota (50-27) in a division game last Friday.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they were very good on defense.  “We did a really good job making everything tough.  I think we were able to really anytime they got the ball near the basket did a great job doubling and making them kick them out and still getting out and being able to contest at the three-point line for the most part.  So, we did a really good job on defense and that good situation to be able to win the game,” he said.

          Old Fort has won five of its last six and Hoover says they are finding their identity.  “We’re playing pretty well.  Those young guys are getting in there and contributing.  You always have things throughout the season even as we are I thinking we’re getting our point guard back here this week.  He's going to take some time to practice for a little while.  We will kind of be back to full strength for now.  Those guys are still able to get out there and contribute with the experience that they have,” said Hoover.

          Woodmore (5-6,3-2) comes in off a (67-36) loss to Gibsonburg on Friday night in division play.

          Hoover says they have to slow the Wildcats down.  “They score a lot of points.  They've been putting up a pretty big point totals for most of the year here.  They're very much guard oriented.  Kind of the opposite maybe of Lakota.  They shoot a lot of threes and they have really good point guard and really handle it well, do a good job attacking the basket and shooting threes,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “They spread you out and they really push the pace.  We tend to play fast, but they really even push it faster than us I would say.  So, we're going to have to be really great in transition.”

Published 1/13/26

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Old Fort Has to Defend the Rim

          Old Fort and Lakota, who share the lead in the South Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division, clash on Friday night at Old Fort.

          The Stockaders destroyed Fremont St. Joe (74-15) in the River Division on Tuesday night.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they got on the gas right away.  “Went out from the beginning and took care of business right away and we're able to build a lead early and then were able to work on some things so after that,” he said.

          It was (28-6) after the first quarter and the route was on.

          Hoover says they did get a chance to get some kids some extended playing time.  “You want to go out strong and make sure that you're ready to go and playing hard from the beginning and then we were able to build a lead we wanted.  Then we can focus on getting some other guys more experience and trying maybe some different things that we want to work on.  Try to make it as positive as it can be,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (5-3,3-1) plays host to Lakota on Friday night.  The Raiders (5-3,3-1) lost their first league game (43-40) to Gibsonburg on Tuesday night.

          Hoover says the Raiders has a lot of height, more than they do, and they’re big.  “They're a good team.  They've got off to a good start this year.  They have a lot of size and athleticism.  They have got a couple guys that can knock it down.  I think they had some offseason injuries.  I think they're still putting some pieces together,” he told Swankonports.com on Wednesday night, “I guess similar to us.  Some guys we thought were going to be counting on that aren't there yet.  So, we're kind of in the same boat in that regard.  A lot of times we have a height advantage that will not be the case on Friday.  They're do a good job of getting the ball inside and scoring, so we're going to have to be able to defend that.”

Published 1/08/26

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Old Fort Trying to Find Itself

          Old Fort will play Upper Sandusky on Tuesday night in a non-conference game that will be played at Heidelberg University.

          The Stockaders are coming off a (63-45) loss to talented Colonel Crawford last Tuesday.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they have some issues trying to stop Crawford from scoring.  “Crawford obviously gives you a lot of challenges.  I thought we played pretty well for the first three quarters and then we kind of let their studs take over the game.  We just couldn't stop them from scoring.  So, we had a lot of good shots I thought and had chances to stay in the game, but kind of let it get away from us there at the end of the third,” said Hoover.

          Hoover says they need some of their younger kids to step up to the plate and give them some solid minutes.  “We've had a tough schedule to start out, but I think we've just been pretty inconsistent.  Felt like there's a couple of them that we definitely could have, should have, won and we have just got to find that consistency.  We've been a little banged up and whatnot already early in the season and so we have got some young guys that have got to start picking it up and doing a little more to carry their weight a little bit,” he said.

          Old Fort (2-3) plays Upper Sandusky (2-5) on Tuesday night.  Upper lost (56-50) to Seneca East in an “N10” game on Saturday.

          Hoover says Upper is kind of an explosive team.  He says they will show them some pressure.  “They play a lot of guys, they're going to press all the time, so you got to be on your toes at all times because they're always hanging around to get steals and they put a lot of pressure on you,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday evening, “They definitely can get hot from the outside and shoot the ball well from the outside.  So, it's just going to be a fast paced game and it should be exciting when to watch.”

Published 12/30/25

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Old Fort With Tough Games

          Old Fort, the defending champion in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, plays two competitive division games this week as they are at Sandusky St. Mary’s on Thursday and Tiffin Calvert on Saturday.

          They haven’t played since last Tuesday, a (69-36) win over New Riegel in a division game.

          Coach Eric Hoover thinks they played pretty well.  “I can barely remember it, it was so long ago, seems like we're starting the season all over again, but we came out and really established ourselves defensively from the beginning.  Really took the lead once we got going offensively we really couldn't be stopped,” he said.

          Old Fort (1-1,1-0) visits Sandusky St. Mary’s (2-0,2-0) on Thursday night.  The Panthers won a big one on the road last Friday in beating Gibsonburg (71-65) in division action.

          Hoover says they have some depth and they will pressure them.  “They return a lot.  They were young last year and they've been getting better and better.  Kyle (Hammond) is doing a great job with them.  They beat Gibsonburg, who was one of the favorites I think, returned everybody, one of the favorites in the league,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “They went in to Gibsonburg and got a big win.  I think they're playing really well.  They have a lot of guys that contribute.  They play 10 guys consistently.  They all get a lot of minutes, so they stay fresh and they keep the pressure on the whole game.  So, it's going to be a big challenge going in there.”

          Rival Tiffin Calvert (0-1,0-0) lost last Friday to Columbus Grove (68-57) in a non-conference game.

          Hoover says Calvert is more athletic than they were last season.  “They're always going to be solid, well coached and they're going to have some guys who can score the ball and that's where they are now.  Overall very athletic.  They don't have the size that they had last year, but overall more athletic.  They’re going to be able to put pressure on and they're very fundamental and can beat you in a lot of different ways,” said Hoover.

Published 12/18/25

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Old Fort Opens River Schedule

             Old Fort is the defending champion in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference and they open defense of the title at home against the New Riegel Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.

             This season with addition of Northwood, the River Division will further divide into a north and south division.  Old Fort and New Riegel are both in the south.

             Additionally, both the Stockaders and the Blue Jackets with leave the “SBC” after this season to join the expanded Northern 10 Athletic Conference, which will grow from eight to 14 teams next season.

             Old Fort lost their first game to Bellevue, of the “SBC” Lake (46-43) last Wednesday.

             Coach Eric Hoover says they played pretty well in the game.  “We battled with them for sure.  We had an opportunity to win the game at the end and couldn't quite finish them off.  They were a lot more physical than us, but we battled hard and did some good things.  I think we learned some things, so it should have made us better going forward,” said Hoover.

             Hoover says he believes that learning lessons from losses is vital or they are just losses.  “You have to learn from losses no matter how it goes down you have got to learn from it and make yourself better otherwise it's just a loss.  So, the goal is continuous improvement, so we have to learn from those things,” he said.

             New Riegel (1-1) blasted Vanlue (72-44) in their last outing.

             Hoover says they are going to play hard and play together.  “It's a typical New Riegel team.  They're going to play really hard, they’re going to rebound the ball very well, they're going to have a couple guys that can make shots.  They have played together for forever,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “They're going to know each other, where they're going and work well together.  They're playing with a lot of energy.  They have got a new coach this year.  A young coach and you can just see the energy that he brings and the whole staff and with the kids.  So, it's going to be a going to be a tough battle.”

Published 12/09/25

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Old Fort Getting Healthier

          Old Fort, the reigning champion of the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division, tips off its season on Wednesday night by playing at Bellevue of the Lake Division.

          There have been some issues with injuries so far for the Stockaders, but coach Eric Hoover says they are going to get at least one guy back.  “We are ready the best we can, I guess, we'll find out (Wednesday) if we’re ready or not.  My point guard had surgery, so he's out till the middle of January.  We should be able to have my post player back a little bit (Wednesday).  He hasn't practiced much, so not sure what he'll be able to do, but we'll see,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “We got some good experience for the young guys that are going to have to play in our scrimmages.  So, at least they should be much more ready that way, so that's good.”

          Bellevue lost to a very good Margaretta (74-49) in their opener, but Hoover knows they will be a challenge to them.  “Bellevue, we saw them play, they opened last week with Margaretta, so we're able to watch that.  Obviously, Margaretta is a very good team, so they're going to be able to do some things to them that we won't be able to do.  I thought Bellevue was pretty solid, big and athletic, and they will definitely give us some challenges,” he said.

          Old Fort also the likes of Colonel Crawford, Upper Sandusky, Troy Christian and Margaretta in their non-league games.

          Hoover says they like to be tested.  “We try to do that with our non league.  Really try to help prepare ourselves for the tougher league games and the tournament.  So, we've got a really tough schedule with bigger schools and some very good programs.  We like to take on that challenge and (Wednesday) will be one of those days,” said Hoover.

Published 12/03/25

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Old Fort With Some Adversity

          Old Fort, the defending champion in the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division, is facing some challenges going into the season.

          Coach Eric Hoover says going into the season they were going to have some inexperience.  “We’ve already got some challenges.  He had three returning letter winners coming back.  So, solid, not the most experience we've had, but not the least probably.  We had some good strengths.  I thought we had a good summer.  We don't have any juniors, so we have a kind of a gap there,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “I figured coming in we'll be all right.  We're just going to have to get some experience for the younger guys because you know at some point you're going to need them.  We have six seniors and then everybody else is guys who would normally be JV guys.  They're going to have to be able to contribute the varsity level, so that's where we were going in.”

          Now, this fall, the Stockaders have suffered some injury problems that coach Hoover says will force those younger kids to play more.  “We kind of had some injury problems, so they're going to get thrown in the mix real quick right away.  Our point guard broke his wrist during soccer.  So, he had surgery (Wednesday), so he'll be out for a couple of months.  So, we are looking forward to getting him back in the end of January, February.  Plus, we had a pretty bad sprained ankle out of another senior.  So, the young guys are getting in there.  I'm glad that at least now they've been able to get in scrimmages.  They're getting these scrimmages and getting a lot more varsity time so can see what they can do and how they're going to fit in and how they can help us,” said Hoover.

          They open the season on December 3 at Bellevue.

          Hoover says they are not changing their standards at Old Fort.  “I think we played good competition this summer.  We play good scrimmages, but it'll be different for sure.  We open with Bellevue, a much bigger school.  So, it'll be good for them.  We have high expectations and we're not changing that.  They have a lot of ability, so I'm confident they'll step up.  Our three letter winners are going to help them along.  They all have bigger roles this year than what they had last year and so they need to figure that out too for themselves.  So, that's all part of the process of putting this team together,” he said.

Published 11/20/25

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Old Fort Wants a Quick Pace

          Old Fort, the top seed in their division VII district, will play New Riegel for a third time, this time in a district semifinal on Thursday night at Fostoria High School.

          The Stockaders (21-2) won both games played in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference.  The beat the Blue Jackets (73-49) on January 14 at Old Fort and (65-54) at New Riegel on February 14.

          Coach Eric Hoover says these two teams know each other very well.  “We know each other about as well as you can know anybody.  We played each other twice already.  We played three times last year and I feel like we played three times quite a bit.  We end up seeing them in the tournament a lot.  Both coaches have been around for a while too, so very similar systems as what we've had.  So, we’ve got a pretty good idea what each other is going to do.  It's just going to come down to finding some mismatches and being able to make runs at the right time and build the lead,” he said.

          Hoover says the two teams have a lot in common except New Riegel (16-6) has some size in the post.  “I think they're very similar to us as far as very much open type of offense with a lot of guys sharing the ball, a lot of guys touching it and being able to do things for them.  They move the ball well, play well together, they're a good passing team, they get a lot of assists and things like that.  They play good defense.  They’re defensive average is right about the same as ours.  Right around 45 points a game.  So, it's very similar in that way.  They do have two bruisers on the inside that we do not have, so that's going to be something that they can go to on offense to score some points for them on the inside that we're going to have to contend with,” said Hoover.

          Hoover says they want to make the pace a little chaotic and they need to finish possessions with a rebound.  “I think we have got to get them out of control a little bit.  We were able to do that the first time we played them, not so much the second time, so it was a lot closer.  I think we have got to try to get them out of control and make it a full court game.  I think that’s where we're at our best,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday afternoon, “It's something that we got to look to.  We have got to be able to finish possessions there.  That's historically a very good offensive rebounding team.  They're athletic, they have got some good size and they go after it.  So, we have got to be able to finish possessions and limit them to one shot per trip.  They play good solid defense.  Like I said, they know what we do very well, so we're going to have to be able to adapt to how they're defending us.”

Published 2/27/25

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Old Fort Looking to Take Advantage

          Old Fort, the champion of the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, will host McComb Friday night in a sectional final in division VII.

          They opened tournament action on Tuesday night by destroying Fremont St. Joe (101-31) in a semifinal.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they were hitting on all cylinders.  “We got off to a nice quick start and got contributions from everybody.  I think we were able to play 10 guys in both halves and really get a lot of guys with good quality time and tournament experience.  They all produced, so it was fun to get out there and work together as a team to get that done,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (21-2), #5 in the final Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, meets McComb (4-18) on Friday night.

          Hoover says the Panthers, more known for their football success, is a very young team this year.  “They're young, they only have one senior.  So, they're young and hungry.  Their leading scorer is a freshman too.  So, a lot of freshmen and sophomores on that team.  They're athletic, but they don't have a lot of size and we're going to be bigger than them at nearly every position.  So, we're looking to take advantage of that.  We just kind of continue to refine what we've been doing and play our game,” he said.

          Basketball is about matchups and Hoover says when your scouting report shows you something, you need to take advantage of it.  “You're going to have different matchups, or different mismatches I guess, against different teams.  I think we're versatile enough that we can play in some different styles and find mismatches in different ways,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “That’s certainly what we try to do come tournament time to see what we can do.  All you have got to do is survive and advance.  So, you're just trying to find a way to win the game.  Taking advantage of those mismatches throughout the game can build up over time for a win.”

Published 2/21/25

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Old Fort Wants it All

          Old Fort claims an outright title in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference if they beat Lakota on their home floor on Thursday night.

          They lead Tiffin Calvert by two with two to play and are already assured of no less thana share of the title.

          They destroyed Carey (81-21) in the non-league game on Tuesday night.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they were outstanding.  “We really put it together Tuesday against Carey.  We were just rolling the whole first half.  A lot of guys doing good stuff and working well together at both ends of the floor.  We really made everything difficult for them the full length of the court.  We really shared the ball and got a lot of kind of like easy ones, made the outside shots and really put it all together,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (18-2,16-0), #5 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, is at home for Lakota (10-10,7-9) on Thursday night.  Lakota is coming off a (41-40) loss to New Riegel on Friday night.

          Hoover says they have a lot of size.  “They're big and athletic.  They're young and they're up and coming.  They've had some really close games here.  So, they're not too far from having 13, 14 wins,” he told Swankonports.com on Wednesday night, “I think they give people problems with their size.  We're not overly big, so it's something we will have to focus on.  They hurt us there a little bit the first time inside, so we'll really have to focus on keeping the ball out of the paint.  We're ready to go and we want to win this title outright.”

          Hoover says they have a great opportunity on Thursday night and want to take advantage of it.  “A piece of it's better than nothing, but we have great opportunity here to go win it outright and not leave any doubt as to who the champions are this year.  So, we're focused on getting that done,” he said.

Published 2/13/25

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Old Fort Motivated

          A win Friday night at Hopewell-Loudon will give the Old Fort Stockaders no less than a share of the title in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference.

          They lead Tiffin Calvert by two games in the standings.

          Tuesday night, they smoked Gibsonburg (71-39) in a division game.

          The Golden Bears had taken them to overtime in the first meeting and coach Eric Hoover says they were ready to played better.  “That was one that we marked that we had to do much better than we did the first time.  I didn’t feel like we played great over there, so we were looking to do much better.  It was helpful there their point guard, who's their best player, he's outstanding player, was out on Tuesday.  So, they struggled a little bit.  It certainly would have made a difference.  You just play who's there.  So, we did a good job staying focused and didn't let that affect how we played and did a good job defensively really shut them down and just continually building the lead throughout the game,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (16-2,15-0) plays at Hopewell-Loudon (6-11,5-9) on Friday night.  The Chieftains lost (58-46) to New Riegel on Tuesday night in division play.

          Hoover says Hopewell doesn’t score much, but the don’t give up much either.  “There a really strong defensive team.  I think they have the lowest defensive average in the league.  So, they really make you work for everything that you get.  They really have struggled to score.  So, we really have to stay focused on defense and make sure they don't get easy ones,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “I always try to get the kids to think that they're going to have their best shooting night they've had all year.  You have to go into it with that mentality that they're going to play better than they have.  So, it’s a big game as far as clinching the league right, so that's important for us and it's a big game for tournament draw also.  Our district is really tight between the top three teams and so there's absolutely zero room for any error.”

          Hopewell has had four games this year where they have not scored 30 points in a game.

          Hoover says there should be no need for a motivational speech before Friday night’s game.  “We've talked about it just being Hopewell.  We've had some battles with them over the years and had a lot of close games over the years.  So, in addition to the league and what's going on in the district I think just being Hopewell should be all the motivation that we need,” he said.

Published 2/07/25

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Old Fort Looking to Bounce Back

          Old Fort, the leader in the River Division of the Sandusky Bauy Conference, hosts Woodmore in a division game on Tuesday night.

          They play at Danbury-Lakeside on Friday.

          They maintained their two game lead on Tiffin Calvert with a (90-16) destruction of Fremont St. Joe on Friday night.

          Saturday night, they were hammered by unbeaten Margaretta, the Bay Division leader, (80-43) in a crossover.

          Coach Eric Hoover says Saturday was kind of a nightmare.  “It was definitely two opposites from those two games for us.  On Saturday, just about everything that we needed to go, we needed to do, we did the opposite.  So, you see the result you saw.  We just didn't execute at all against their press.  We were really unorganized and just could never really put it together until it was too late.  It was unfortunate because it was a really great atmosphere and a lot of fun.  Really early on it became not so fun and we were just treading water the whole time,” he said.

          Old Fort (13-2,12-0) plays at home against Woodmore (4-9,3-7) on Tuesday night.  The Wildcats spilt their division games last week in beating Lakota (55-39) on Friday and losing (63-25) to New Riegel on Saturday.

          Old Fort smoked Woodmore (66-39) December 19 in the first round.

          Hoover says the Wildcats gave them fits with a combination defense.  “We have played them forever.  I know we used to play them even back when I was in school a long, long time ago.  They played us tough the first time.  It was within 10 just a couple of minutes to go in the third quarter.  They are really the only ones who have run a box and one for extended period of time on us,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “It was my fault we were not prepared for that.  It took us a little while to figure it out.  If they want to do that this time, we'll be a little more prepared.  They had a big win last week beating Lakota and played really well.  So, they're playing well right now and we have got to be ready to go and bounce back from Saturday.”

          Old Fort also leads its district RPI in division VII and Hoover says wins at this time of the year are vital.  “We have six league games left and only one non league.  It is every night when you're playing for the league championship and a lot of teams that are capable of knocking you off on a given night, so you have got to be ready to go.  It is also tournament seeding time.  We have got a tight district with Arlington, us, and Calvert all and at the top right now.  So, nobody can really afford to slip up or you're going to find yourself moving down in the in the rankings.  So, really have got to be sharp this time of year,” said Hoover.

Published 1/28/25

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Old Fort in Good Spot

          Old Fort had taken a two game lead in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference and they play Fremont St. Joe in a division game on Thursday night.

          After sweeping second place Tiffin Calvert (66-53) on Friday and Sandusky St. Mary’s (78-40) on Saturday, the Stockaders have built a two game lead.

          Coach Eric Hoover likes their position, but he knows there is still a lot of basketball to play.  “We have seven league games left and a two game two game lead, so we're definitely in a good spot.  We did have some close games with some of those people that we have left.  We're just trying to keep improving.  Our goal is always to do better the second round than we did the first.  So, we want to play better the second time against people than we did the first,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “If we get more of our team goals.  Not necessarily win by more points, but get more of our team goals.  Just play better throughout the game than we did the first time.  So, we're going to keep plugging away.  There are definitely things we can improve and we're going to keep working on those every day.”

          Old Fort (12-1,11-0) plays at home against Fremont St. Joe (1-12,1-9) on Thursday.  The Crimson Streaks lost (77-43) to New Riegel in a league game last Friday.  Old Fort overwhelmed them (93-26) on December 10.

          Hoover says St. Joe is improved.  “That's the kind of game where you probably judge yourself on how you do.  They do have some different guys than they had the first time.  Some bigger guys that didn't play the first time.  They will be physically a definitely a better challenge.  They scored a lot more against New Riegel last week than they had.  New Riegel an outstanding defensive team, probably has the lowest defensive average in the league.  Certainly, they're doing some good things and they have improved, so we're going to have to be ready to go,” he said.

          They play Margaretta (15-0), #1 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, on Saturday.

          Hoover that will be a tremendous, but fun challenge.  “That's always a fun game.  We've had a lot of close games with them over the years.  They’re one of the better teams probably, I'm not sure where their ranked in division V, but have got to be up there.  They have a outstanding individual player in Julian Washington, who is probably going to be playing Division I basketball here in a couple of years.  So, you don't get that too often at our level when you get to play against a player like that.  We're going to go out there and compete and enjoy that experience,” said Hoover.

Published 1/22/25

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Old Fort Looking to do it Again

          Old Fort, the leader in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, is at home for second place Tiffin Calvert in a huge mid season game in the division on Friday night.

          The Senecas trial by just a game.

          Old Fort destroyed a good New Riegel team (73-39) in a division game on Tuesday night.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they got a really good start.  “We really came out of the gate well.  We're up 13-0 and didn't really relax.  That was probably the most complete game we've had offensively and defensively.  We did a great job making everything tough.  We created a bunch of turnovers and did a great job moving the ball.  So, I was very happy with the effort on Tuesday,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (10-1,9-0) hosts Tiffin Calvert (10-2,8-1) on Friday night.  Calvery also had a blowout win on Tuesday night when they smoked Danbury Lakeside (70-25) in a division game.

          Hoover says the Senecas are sound led by play of post player Gavin Wagner.  “They're very good, very disciplined, they can score inside and out.  That makes them very challenging.  An outstanding big man in the middle in Gavin Wagner, he is averaging 19.5 a game.  He is really just having a great year.  He has continued to improve every year and really improved his athleticism in the off season.  So, he's a load to deal with.  So, they give us a lot of different challenges,” he said.

          Old Fort won the first meeting (67-65) at Calvert on December 30 on a layup with less than a second.  Calvert got back in the game with a number of threes and Hoover says they must adjust their defensive game plan.  “It is certainly something we have to adjust just to.  We played a lot of zone the first game and they had some actions that we just struggled really to guard out of it,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “We're going to have to do that better.  We'll probably mix it up a lot more defensively, so they don't get too comfortable.  We had built a nice lead offensively.  We played well in that game, but then we just didn't get it done defensively in the fourth quarter.  We let them back in, but found a way to win there in the end.”

Published 1/17/25

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Old Fort Has to be Ready

          Old Fort plays at Lakota in a game in the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division on Friday night.

          The Stockaders are the clear leaders in the division early.

          After a couple of nail biters last week, Old Fort hammered Hopewell-Loudon (60-25) on Tuesday night.

          Coach Eric Hoover says those first few minutes of the third quarter were big for them.  “It’s always good to have a little more breathing room this time, a little easier on my stress level.  We did a good job of really building the lead as the game went on.  We had a rough second quarter.  We got outscored in the second quarter.  My leading scorer was in foul trouble and then a couple of guys who weren’t feeling good that were having trouble getting their air,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday, “We were a little short handed at the time, but they battled and keep a double digit lead at the half.  Then really came out in the third and did a good job of taking control and putting them away and not letting them get any momentum.”

          Old Fort (8-1,7-0) plays on the road at Lakota (5-5,3-4) on Friday.  The Raiders lost (68-40) to second place New Riegel on Tuesday night.

          Hoover says thy are young, but they have great size.  “They're young, they don't have any seniors.  They're big, they have got 6”3”, 6’4”, 6’5” and they're big and athletic and they're young and hungry.  So, they've had been having a pretty successful season so far.  They're trying to turn the corner as a program and get back on track.  So, they're hungry.  We know that they have us marked on their calendar.  We're going to have to go over there.  They play a match up zone and they cover a lot of ground with their size.  So, it makes it pretty tough, so we're going to have to go over there and be ready to go,” said Hoover.

          Hoover says because of the success they have had in the River Division, most teams probably circle them on the schedule.  “We've had success recently and that gets the bullseye on your back.  I guess I'd rather be in that position than otherwise, but you do have to be ready to go.  You know you’re going to get everybody's best.  We look at scouting reports and stats and I always try to tell kids assume they're going to play better than what than what they have.  Don’t look at those kind of things because they want you more than maybe some of these other games.  So, we just have to be more prepared,” he said.

Published 1/09/25

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Old Fort Takes Act to Gibsonburg

          Old Fort, the leader in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, heads for Gibsonburg for a meeting with the Golden Bears in a division game on Saturday night.

          Monday night, Tyson Frisch scored with less than a second to play to lift the Stockaders to a (67-65) win over archrival Tiffin Calvert in River Division play.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they made the biggest play of the game.  “It was an exciting game for sure.  We had an 18 point lead at one point and kind of gave it away.  They made a lot of tough shots to get back in it.  They really picked up the pressure and we didn't handle it very well, but we made the last play.  So, luckily we had the ball last and made a play to win the game.  It was a really big win for us in the league,” said Hoover.

          Hoover says it wasn’t what was drawn up, but his kids were able to make a play.  “When it comes down to it we made enough plays and that one at the last second it was kind of, I don't know, I guess a little bit of a broken play, and a couple seniors stepped up and made an unselfish pass and were able to finish the tough contested shot,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “That's how you end up winning close games.  We're going to need that.  Those add up throughout the year.  We have got to do a better job of finishing games, but we found a way to win it.”

          Old Fort (6-1,5-0) is at Gibsonburg (5-3,2-2) on Saturday night.  The Bears lost their last time out (65-34) to Mohawk in non-conference game on Saturday night.

          Hoover says they are young, but they have a nice combination of players on the floor.  “They're young and upcoming.  They've been improving the last couple of years with some young guys.  I think they're going to continue to improve throughout the year.  They play very, very hard and they're very athletic.  They have a good combination athleticism and some big guys.  So, it’s going to be a challenge going over there,” he said.

Published 1/03/25

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Old Fort to Tangle With Calvert

          Old Fort locks horns with Tiffin Calvert in a game in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference on Monday night.

          First, they play Toledo Christian in a non-conference game on Saturday.

          Coach Eric Hoover says Toledo Christian has a tremendous player.  “They've had an outstanding program over many, many years.  I think they were in the regional final last year.  They did graduate a number of guys, but they still are very good.  They have one understanding individual player.  Karter Koester is his name.  I have watched a few of their games and he's one of the best offensive players that I've seen in all my years of coaching.  He just knows how to score the ball in any way.  He lets the game come to him.  He's not flashy, but he's really tough to guard.  I've seen people box and one him, double team him, and it doesn't seem to ever slow him down.  So, he's certainly going to be a be a tough guy to deal with,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort and Calvert have been the standard bearers in the River Division for the last while now.

          Hoover says Calvert is good again.  “They’re again very good program, always solid, well coached.  They are going to be competitive year in year out.  They have an outstanding big man in Gavin Wagner, who's playing very well.  They have a lot of good athletes to go around him.  They play physical, they play very good defense, they control the tempo of the game.  So, it gives us a lot of challenges,” he said.

          Old Fort would like this game to be up tempo, but Hoover says that is difficult, especially at Calvert.  “That's generally our M.O.  You're not going to be able to do that all the time, especially at their place.  It's a smaller court, a little tighter confines.  Even if you can get out there's just not as much court there to work with.  So, generally is a little slower pace there.  We try to take advantage of it as much as we can and we try to look at it as an advantage for us to be pressuring in smaller areas,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “You have got to go in with that mindset.  You can't go in there thinking that it's tougher for you to play there.  So, we try to kind of reverse that and make it more of a mental advantage for us.  They're going to control the pace.  We have got to be efficient, we have got to be very efficient in getting stops and slowing them down and being able to find ways score against their tough defense.”

Published 12/27/24

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Old Fort Finding a Way

          Old Fort will play two more games in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference this week as they are at Woodmore on Thursday and host Danbury Lakeside on Saturday.

          Last Friday, they pulled away in the second half to beat Sandusky St. Mary’s (64-48) in a division game.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they had to really grind that one out.  “That was a good one for us.  They've been like we said they've been in every game and it was no different.  They shot really well as a team, 45 percent.  We were able to eventually get enough stops and really push the lead in the second half to double figures most of the half.  So, that was a good win.  We're going to have to probably grind it out a little bit more than we have the last couple of years, but there are lots of different ways to win basketball games,” he said.

          Old Fort (2-1,2-0) is at Woodmore (1-3,0-2) on Thursday night.  The Wildcats lost (64-56) to New Riegel in a division game last Friday.

          Hoover says they have strong guard play.  “They have a lot of back from last year.  They lost their leading scorer, but they have got a new point guard transferred in from Oak Harbor and he's done well for them.  They played New Riegel really tough last weekend,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “They have got a lot of experience and are guard oriented.  I think we'll have some size advantages in different places, but coach (Aaron) Clouse always has them playing very hard.  They're going to be able to match up guard wise and they shoot the ball pretty well from the three point line.”

          On Saturday, they are at home for the Danbury Lakers in the second half of their double weekend.

          Hoover says they need to contain one Tyler Harris.  “It's a little different style for sure with a new coach, but they got a number back from last year also.  Tyler Harris being the main one, but he's been the leading scorer in the league last couple of years.  He's a big, athletic kid and has the ability to shoot the three and score inside.  So, he's definitely a challenge.  We're going to have to do a good job slowing him down and really put the pressure on the other guys,” said Hoover.

Published 12/17/24

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Old Fort Has to Have Focus

          Old Fort will be at home for Sandusky St. Mary’s on Friday night in a game in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference.

          On Tuesday night, they destroyed Fremont St. Joe (93-26) in a division game,

          Coach Eric Hoover says they got started early.  “That was a nice comeback.  We played a little bit more of our style and really took control early on and just kind of continued to build the lead all throughout the game,” he said.

          Ryan Adelsperger had 30 points and didn’t play in the fourth quarter.

          Old Fort (1-1,1-0) hosts Sandusky St. Mary’s (0-2,0-1) on Friday night.  The Panthers lost (64-43) to New Riegel in a division game on Tuesday.

          Hoover says there are a lot of league games and they all have to be taken seriously.  “18 out of the 22 are league games, so you can't take any off because they're all they're all going to matter here come the end of the season.  So, you have got to be ready to go.  Coaches are going to have their teams prepared.  If you're not ready to go then you're going to find yourself on the wrong end of one that you don't want to be,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “St. Mary's is no different. Coach (Kyle) Hammond is going to have them ready to go.  They been playing hard.  They've been in the games.  They were in the game with Huron the first game.  They were in the game with New Riegel the other day halfway through the third quarter and then they just kind of weren't able to finish.  So, they're chomping at the bit to get in the win column, so they're going to be ready to go.”

          Hoover says the Panthers are a little younger this season, but they are still athletic in their play.  “They're a little younger.  They've got some sophomores playing, but some of them played varsity last year too.  They're a little more guard oriented and they are athletic.  They try to play fast and they play really hard.  So, you can't go in there and fall asleep or you're going to blow one,” said Hoover.

Published 12/13/24

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Old Fort Must Defend

          Old Fort, a regional qualifier last season, opens the season on Saturday night in North Robinson against the Colonel Crawford Eagles in a non-conference game.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they are definitely ready to go.  “We've been talking about it practice.  We're just ready to play a game.  We've been practicing as a full squad since day one.  We weren’t missing people and things like that.  We've been at it for a while, so we're tired of playing against each other we're ready to play somebody else,” he said.

          Colonel Crawford (0-1) lost to (56-48) to Crestview in their first game last Saturday.

          Hoover says they are very good again this year.  “They're always good, we know that well.  I don't think we've ever played them, at least certainly not since I've been here, but I know a lot about them being involved with the “N10” too and just paying attention.  I know they're not generally in our division or anything, but pay a lot of attention to them and they are always good,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “They have a really good post player back in DeGray, so he's a load to deal with from what I've seen.  The point guard looks to be pretty good too.  So, definitely those two guys that could go out and probably win a game by themselves.  You really have got to focus on them, let alone all the other athletes they have out there on the court.  So, they're going to be well coached and well prepared and we're going to go out there and give it a battle.”

          Crawford did not shoot very well in their loss to Crestview, but Hoover says they can’t count on that happening again.  “I kind of hope they shoot really well on Friday night. Get the law of averages in our favor a little bit because they're going to definitely shoot the ball better than they did that night.  So, you can't count on that especially early on.  You have no stats to go by, averages, or anything like that.  So, you have got to believe they're going to shoot better than that.  You have got to make everything tough.  That's one of our goals defensively anyways no matter what we're trying to make every shot tough for them.  That's definitely going to be one of our keys come Saturday,” said Hoover.

Published 12/05/24

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Old Fort is Remaking

          Old Fort, a district champion last year, will have a lot less experience on the court this winter.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they really only have one guy, Ryan Adelsperger (11.5 PPG), that played a lot for the Stockaders last year.  “I don't know if we're younger, we don't have a lot of varsity experience.  We have got three guys returning that were letter winners, but two of them were just rotational guys that didn't really play a whole lot.  Then we have got one back that is a three year letter winner.  We have four guys average double figures last year and he was one of them.  He missed half of the year with an injury, so he was out for a little while.  We have got him back and a whole bunch of new guys.  So, a lot of learning and adjusting to the to the varsity level,” said Hoover.

          Hoover says they are going to need to do some different things this year if they are going to be successful like they have been for the last decade.  “We've seen some good things and some bad things.  A lot of things that we need to work on.  I was just giving everybody opportunities to see what they can do and see how we need to adapt.  Mold our offenses and defenses to fit this group,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday evening, “We’re probably not as quick as we were last year, but we're a little taller, so I think there's some things we can adapt there.  We're going to have to adapt to be successful at both ends of the floor.  I don't have the guys that really can create on their own like we've had the last couple of years.  So, we have to do some different things offensively also.”

          Hoover says it’s the job of the coach to design the kind of schemes that will lead to wins.  “I can't go recruit new guys.  This is what I’ve got.  We take what we have and try to change what I do to fit what they can do you.  I think that's how you continue to be successful and find ways to get them in positions to succeed with the skill set that they have,” he said.

Published 11/19/24

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LCC Outguns Old Fort

          Lima Central Catholic never trailed and they downed Old Fort (65-44) in a division IV regional semifinal at the Stroh Center at Bowling Green State University on Tuesday night.

          The Thunderbirds scored seven of the first nine points.  Old Fort cut it (7-6) with 4:42 to play in the first quarter on a hoop by Konner Ernsberger, but by the end of quarter it was (20-8) LCC.

          The Stockaders (21-6) made just 38% of their field goals and Lima Central Catholic coach Sean Powell felt they did a solid job defending the Old Fort shooters.  “I felt like we were prepared for (Tuesday).  We understood Old Fort with a very good three point shooting team.  They put out five guys that can dribble, pass, shoot and to defend them you had to get out there on the perimeter.  It was key that Billy Bourk guarded the perimeter very well.  He's that fifth guy that I felt like they were going to attack because he's a traditional big.  I felt like as a team we did a great job of having a hand up on the shot.  I think the first half they went 1-9 or something like that and that allowed us to create a lead for us to ride out in the second half,” said Powell.

          Old Fort coach Eric Hoover says LCC forced them to take quick shots and they did not take them from spots that they normally would shoot them.  “That's one of our strengths generally.  We’re a good shooting team, 38% from three on the year and couldn't get any go.  I think we rushed, we settled for ones that we don't normally take probably and that leads to a lower percentage for sure.  We were going deeper, we were little quicker, I think than normal shots we get.  The few we got we actually got some inside, out and we knocked those down.  We just needed to get more of that.  That was definitely one of the keys.  I thought going in we were going to have to shoot the ball well because they were going to be tough for us, a tough matchup, so I thought we were going to have to shoot the ball well and we just didn’t get that done,” said Hoover.

          This season, Old Fort has gotten a lot of easy scores off their pressure defense and that did not happen on Tuesday night.  They got just 15 points from turnovers.

          Powell says they were able to get the ball down the floor.  “In the film they did a lot of pressing, a lot of trapping.  So, what you don't want to do is go into a brawl and allow them to punch you first.  So, if a team is going to press us, then we look to get up and down the floor early and try to get that two or three possession lead and then play the way we want to play,” he said.

          The Thunderbirds scored 18 fast break points.

          Old Fort certainly kept battling and they were able to cut their deficit to 11 points at (46-36) with 6:45 to play in the game after a basket by Ernsberger.  LCC got an old fashion three point play from Jordan Priddy to make it (49-36), but Ernsberger counted with another hoop to male it (49-38) with 6:11 to play.  The Stockaders missed a shot that would have cut it to nine and again, it was Pritty to score and it was (52-38) Birds.

          Hoover says they had to try press full court and LCC beat them from the layups and pulled away down the stretch.  “They came right down an and one I think right after that.  At that point we had to pick up full court, which I was hoping to try to avoid, but we were in a situation where I thought we had to.  They didn't seem overly comfortable with our half court trapping, so I was hoping we could get some, but ultimately, they got it in too fast and passed it out before we even really got set up and we couldn't get into the pressure that that we that we went to,” he told Swankonsports.com after the game, “They got some easy ones after that.  If we got one more stop and score, maybe put a little more pressure on them.  Get one more good trap you might be able to change it.  Knock down one of those shots and we could have had a chance to really make them think a little bit harder and maybe turn the tables on them.”

          Priddy lead LCC with 22 points, Carson Parker and Willie Foster both had 13.  Ernsberger had 16 for Old Fort.

          The Stockaders made just 25% of their three points attempts (4-16) on the night.

          Hoover says the Thunderbirds made them start their offense too far from the basket and that made it difficult for them to get good shots.  “We knew that was going to be a thing watching a film they pressure you out and try to make you start your offense from too far away.  We talked about it and we didn't really execute it very well.  They know we can shoot the ball a little bit and they're out on us, so maybe that was the reason that we're pressured out a little further to shoot.  I have got four outstanding three point shooters.  Coming in I thought I just need one of them one to go off, one of them to have a good game.  We've had that a number of times, and sometimes it's two or three of them.  (Tuesday) night we couldn't really get anybody going.  They did a great job of making everything difficult for us and pushing us out further,” said Hoover.

Published 3/13/2024

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Old Fort Doing Their Stuff

          Old Fort will meet Lima Central Catholic in a division IV regional semifinal on Tuesday night at the Stroh Center at Bowling Green State University.

          They finished as runner-up in the River Division of the Sandusky Conference, but beat division winner Hopewell-Loudon (67-56) in overtime last Friday.

          Coach Eric Hoover believes their tough non-conference schedule with wins over Carey and Genoa and losses to Margaretta and Toledo Christian has prepared them.  “That's why we kind of made sure our four non league games we're going to be good teams and they all were outstanding.  I think every one of them were league champions.  We played Margaretta is also in the regional in division III. We played Toledo Christian, who is also in our regional at Bowling Green.  So, I think we've challenged ourselves and competed well in most of those games.  I think hopefully that will have us prepared,” said Hoover.

          The Stockaders (21-5) have won their last seven and eight of their last nine.  “I think we're playing the best we have all year.  We had a rough spot there at the beginning of February where the first couple of weeks we lost three out of four.  Then we really regrouped and came together and got healthy and really have put a good run together,” said Hoover.

          Ryan Adelsperger, Konner Ernsberger, Isiah Perez and Carter DuBois are all double figure scores for Old Fort and all four have more then 30 threes made on the season.  Perez had 28 in the district final win over Hopewell-Loudon.

          LCC (24-2) beat Marion Local (41-35) in their regional final.

          Hoover says the Thunderbirds are very athletic.  He says they need to keep them out of the paint.  “They're very athletic.  They don't make many mistakes.  They take care of the ball, have some very, very quick guards handling the ball.  They're going to be a little bigger than us, but they don't seem to go inside too much, as far as a post player, but they get into the paint with penetration and find ways inside that way,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “It's going to be a big key for us to really do a good job controlling the ball and keeping them out of the paint.  With their athleticism they can really turn up the pressure too.  So, we have to do a good job of attacking that pressure and looking to take advantage and score out of it.”

          Lima Central Catholic the likes of Lima Shawnee, twice, and Lima Senior in overtime.

          Hoover says they are excellent, but the Stockaders are going to try and do what got them here.  “We've talked about that and we have worked on that.  We're not changing anything.  We've made some adjustments within what we've already done and it's not anything new.  We don't want to make them start thinking too much.  If we do what we've done all year they can do it with confidence and not be trying to think and slow down and make bad decisions.  So, we're going to go out there and we're going to play our game and see where that gets us,” said Hoover.

Published 3/12/2024

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Old Fort Has to Find a Way

          Old Fort clashes with longtime rival Tiffin Calvert on Tuesday night in a division IV district semifinal at Liberty-Benton High School.

          These programs have met in a number of big games, both regular season and tournament, over the last decade.

          Coach Eric Hoover says there won’t be surprises.  “We both know each other very well.  Coach (Jon) Otterbacher has been there been there a while too.  He has his system and I have mine and so we've played against each other many times over the last few years.  So, it's going to come down to who's probably going to get it done defensively first of all.  Who is able to kind of get the pace of the game the way they want it and who's able to get some easy ones to try to build a lead,” he said.

          Hoover says Calvert overall is bigger than them and they will need to use their speed and quickness as an advantage.  “They have good size across the board.  Their leading scorer is a really good post player Gavin Wagner and he’s had an outstanding year really, just continues to improve.  I've seen improvements in his post play even throughout the year, so he's a challenge for us.  I think we're going to have to work together to get it done, it’s not going to be a one man job.  Their point guard coach Otterbacher’s son Kaden has good size, he’s a 6’2”, 6’3” point guard too.  So, they're probably bigger than us across the board and we're going to have to use our speed and quickness to make things happen,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (19-5) beat Calvert (18-5) twice during the regular season, winning (56-39) on January 6 on the road and (51-43) February 16 at home.

          Hoover knows that doesn’t mean anything now.  “It's a separate game from the other ones.  The other ones don't mean anything.  I mean you probably have learned something from each other.  Things that worked for you and didn't work with this particular group.  It is it's own separate game and it comes down to who's going to possession by possession, just like any other any other game,” he told Swankonsports.com, “You have got to get it done at both ends of the floor and find ways to make that happen.  It might be different ways than it was either of the other two games.  So, I think it's just going to come down to who can do that better on Tuesday.”

Published 3/05/24

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Old Fort Wants to Get Going Early

          Old Fort opens tournament play at home on Wednesday night as they play the McComb Panthers in a division IV sectional semifinal.

          The Stockaders (17-5), #4 in the final Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, takes a three game winning into the game after a (92-54) destruction of Fremont St. Joe in a “SBC” River Division game last Friday.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they are back to playing good basketball.  “We've kind of been able to put it back together after a little bit of a rough patch there about 3/4 the way through the season.  So, it's good to see them work through that and kind of come together and start playing well at both ends of the floor,” said Hoover.

          McComb (3-19) has struggled this season finishing next to last in the Blanchard Valley Conference.

          However, Hoover says they have a very good player.  “They're athletic and they play hard.  I mean it's tournament time and you never know what could happen.  I know there's been upsets already in other divisions.  They have an outstanding individual player in Mason Holman,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “I remember him the last time we were able to host games back in 2020 we played McComb at home.  He was a freshman and I knew he was going to be good and he's impressive on film.  So, he's one who can certainly keep them in the game.  So, we have got to come out and take care of our own business.”

          Old Fort scored 34 points in the first quarter last week against St. Joe and Hoover says they are going to need the same kind of effort on Wednesday against McComb.  “We're really an outstanding first quarter team.  We've been able to really come out and get on people early quite often this season.  A team that maybe isn't coming in with a lot of confidence because of the record and if you can get on them early you might be able to just get him out of the game.  If you can do that, then you're going to be in good shape,” he said.

Published 2/28/24

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Old Fort Wants to End Season on Good Note

          Old Fort wants to continue their good play as they host Fremont St. Joe in a Sandusky Bay Conference River Division game on Friday night.

          The Stockaders (16-5,14-3) downed rival Tiffin Calvert (51-43) in a division game last Friday.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they made some plays late to secure that win.  “Yeah, we had a couple good wins last week at Genoa and then versus Calvert at home, both good games.  It was a close game Friday.  It was close all night back and forth you know, just two or four points here and there, and we were able to make a run just in the last two minutes.  We got some steals and got some layups to really push the lead there at the end, made some free throws,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “It was good to see us be able to close that out on a night when we didn't really shoot particularly well, but we played good defense enough to you know give ourselves a chance to win at the end.  So, two encouraging wins last week and now we're just looking at closing out the season on positive note on senior night.”

          Fremont St. Joe (7-14,5-12) beat Arcadia (48-40) in a non-conference game on Tuesday night.  They lost (53-47) to New Riegel in division play last Friday.

          Hoover says they need to force turnovers.  “I mean they have a lot of experienced players.  They have some seniors that have been four year starters, they have three seniors that are four year starters.  They were competitive with Hopewell, they we're within a point with New Riegel within two minutes to go in the game last Friday.  So, I think they've improved and if they can handle the ball and handle pressure then it's going to be a tough game.  If we can get them out of control then we should be able to really push the lead,” he said.

          Old Fort is in a tough division IV district that includes Hopewell-Loudon, Calvert and Mohawk, of the “N10”.  Hoover says they have to keep getting better and they want to do that on Friday.  “We always really try to play out to our capabilities no matter who the opponent.  We want to end on a positive note and have a positive attitude going into the into the playoffs and not questioning anything that that we're doing.  We're still looking to make improvements.  There are things that we can still do better and that's we're working on right now in practice.  I think Friday is just another opportunity to do that as well as celebrate the seniors,” he said.

Published 2/22/24

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Old Fort Must Play Defense

          Old Fort hosts rival Tiffin Calvert in a game in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference on Friday night.

          After losing three of four, the Stockaders dominated a good Genoa team (50-31) on Tuesday night in a non-conference game.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they got back to playing good defense.  “Yeah, that was a really good win for us.  We knew they were going to be good coming into the season when you look at your schedule and they've had a really good year themselves.  So, we kind of we're coming off of a little bit of a rough patch I guess, I don't know what it's called, but so it was important for us to go out there and play well.  We really got back to playing good defense and being determined to get stops on defense and did a good job making everything difficult on them.  They're a good team and we held them to about 30, so I was very happy with our performance,’ said Hoover.

          Old Fort (15-5,13-3) hosts Tiffin Calvert (16-4,14-2) on Friday night.  The Senecas blasted Danbury Lakeside (66-26) last Friday in division play.

          The Stockaders won the first matchup (56-39) on January 6.

          Hoover says they have to play good team defense.  “They have a lot of ways they can beat you.  I think the most dangerous is they're leading scorer is Gavin Wagner, a post player, and that's maybe something that we have been hurt by is good post play, so that's always a concern for us,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “We need to be able to make sure that we're able to get enough pressure on him and make things difficult for him and not just let their guards get wide open shots.  So, we got to have that mix of being able to help inside and not have to count on one person to be able to get it done and play good team defense.  I think that's going to be our focus.”

          With the tournament starting in a little over a week, Hoover says you want to tested at the end of the regular season like this.  “It’s definitely a good time to be playing some good competition now.  We had Genoa and it was a good time to schedule them and it just happened to be how our league schedule worked out.  You want to be challenged and you know help yourself to stay sharp.  With good teams you are going to be more likely to find some weaknesses that maybe you weren't aware or that you need to work on come tournament time.  We like having this competition late in the year,” he said.

Published 2/16/24

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Old Fort Looking to Rally

          Old Fort, now a game behind Hopewell-Loudon in the race in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, plays at home against New Riegel in a division game on Friday night.

          They blew out Kansas Lakota (73-29) in a division game on Tuesday.

          However, last weekend they lost two tough ones.  On Friday night, Hopewell beat them (38-36) on a tip in at the horn and they lost (62-59) to Bay Division leader Margaretta on Saturday night.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they certainly had their chances.  “I'm still bitter about it.  We had opportunities to win both games and just you know didn't make enough plays in the end.  We just couldn't get anything going offensively against Hopewell other than the first four minutes.  We just couldn't put it together.  We played really good defense, I mean you give up 38 points you should win the game.  Still even there were lots of breakdowns I thought that could have been easily avoided in in that.  So, it was disappointing because it was a great atmosphere, it was a great game and we had opportunities even down to the last play we had opportunities and just didn't find a way,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “The next night coming in on a back-to-back, which is rare, and then two emotional ones too, we knew it was going to be a big game with Margaretta.  That night we really didn't get it done defensively.  We had a much better night offensively, but you didn't find a way to stop Julian Washington as an individual player and we just kind of let him take over the game.  Still had a chance to win at the end.  So, I mean overall against two outstanding teams you have a chance to win at the end.  It’s hard to be disappointed, but I am because I know what we are capable of.  You just move on a learn from it.  We play those teams to try and prepare and get better and that’s what we’re going to do.”

          Old Fort (14-4,13-2) hosts New Riegel (11-5,9-5) on Friday night.  The Blue Jackets lost (54-52) in overtime to Tiffin Calvert on Tuesday night.  Old Fort won the first game against New Riegel (72-65) on January 4.

          Hoover says New Riegel is good inside and out.  “They've been in every game with the top teams in our league.  They were up on us by nine going into the fourth quarter when we played them the first time.  They are going to be tough, they play very physical, they have a couple good post players, they have good guard play, they have got some guards that can score the ball a little bit.  So, they're just trying to get over that hump and I'm sure they're getting frustrated being in every game and they're ready to try to get over the top.  So, they're going to be ready and we have to be ready to match that intensity,” said Hoover.

          With the postseason starting in couple of weeks, Hoover believes they are going to tested going in.  “We've had a good non league schedule and we got some of better teams here like Hopewell last week, New Riegel this week, Calvert next week leading up to the tournament.  So, I think we should be able to be sharp come tournament time with some good competition we've been there and that's really what you hope for,” he said.

Published 2/08/2024

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Old Fort and Hopewell-Loudon Battle for First Place

          Old Fort and Hopewell-Loudon share the lead in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference and they play each other Friday night at Old Fort with first place on the line.

          Old Fort coach Eric Hoover says this is the kind of game you want to be playing in February or March.  “I mean you want to be playing important games at the end of the year and be in a position where you have a chance to take the lead in the league late in the season.  So, I mean we have a number of games left, but obviously this is a very, very important one,” he said.

          The Stockaders (13-2,12-1), #4 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, have won their last seven despite injury problems.  Hopewell-Loudon (13-2,12-1), #3 in our poll, lost to Tiffin Calvert in a league game (38-24) on December 8, but later avenged that loss by beating the Senecas (45-41) on January 19.

          Hoover says the Chieftains have a lot of experience, they are big and they handle the ball well too.  “They are very experienced.  They have got everyone back from last year, their starting five.  They're a very athletic group.  They've had success in a lot of different sports, not just basketball.  They've been outstanding for the last couple of years in basketball as well.  They have good size, they handle the ball really well, they have good guard play, and they're shooting the ball better.  I mean they have just a lot of different ways that they can beat you,” said Hoover.

          In the first meeting, Hopewell-Loudon beat the Stockaders (62-56) in double overtime on December 19.

          This time, Hoover says they must rebound better and they can’t send the Chieftains to the line like they did in December.  “We have got to rebound the ball better than we did the first time.  We gave up a lot of second and third chances and they got they got a lot of points off that.  We have to play defense without fouling so much.  We got guys in foul trouble and they scored a ton of points at the free throw line,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “Part of that was because of the rebounds we gave up we're following at the hoop after they get a rebound.  We have to do a better job of cleaning that up and contesting shots without fouling and giving them the easy ones at the line.”

Published 2/02/24

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Old Fort Needs to Improve

          Old Fort, a co-leader in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, plays a couple of division games this week as host Danbury Lakeside on Thursday and travel to Gibsonburg on Saturday.

          On Monday, they hammered Woodmore (67-19) in a division game that had been moved from Friday.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they had a business like attitude.  “I was glad that we could get it in and didn’t have to push it back till later in the season.  I mean first of all because you never know when you have got to make up more and you don't want to get jammed up.  So, we went over and took care of business, got out early and you know just continued to build the lead throughout the game,” he said.

          Old Fort (11-2,10-1), #4 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, hosts Danbury-Lakeside (3-10,1-9) on Thursday night.  In the first meeting, Old Fort won (81-32) on December 14.

          Hoover says when you play them it’s a different kind of game.  “They are very up tempo.  They get a lot of pressure on steals.  So, there are going to be a lot of shot attempts on both sides I imagine. It seems to be their M.O.  So, they did back off a little bit the first time we played them and didn't press the whole time, moved it back to more half court,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “I anticipate that probably being part of the case.  It's definitely just a different game when you play them and you don't get to run a lot of your normal stuff, so you just have to be good in transition.”

          Gibsonburg (8-6,6-5) has won seven of its last nine games and were competitive in losses to Tiffin Calvert (59-52) and Hopewell-Loudon (64-47) this month.  The Stockaders beat them (57-43) on December 16.

          Hoover hey better be ready to play.  “They're a little bit young, but they are much improved over last year.  They are playing everybody well.  They are I think set to knock off one of the one of the top teams.  They just haven't been able to get over the hump yet, so you really have to play well.  They played well against us the first time and we struggled with them a little bit, so I think we're going to have to play much better over at their place this round,” said Hoover.

Published 1/24/2024

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It’s About Old Fort

          Old Fort, a tri-leader in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, plays at Woodmore in a division game on Friday night.

          The Stockaders (10-2,9-1), #4 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, beat Sandusky St. Mary’s (65-42) in a division game last Friday.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they were better in the second half.  “We did okay, it wasn't an overwhelming performance.  We came out and got the job done.  I was a little disappointed in the first half.  We didn't do a very good job of handling just the regular zone defense.  We haven't seen really zone in a while.  We weren’t really mentally into it like we should have been.  We came out in the second half in the third quarter and really put the game away,” he said.

          Woodmore (2-10,2-8) is part of the River Division for the first time this season.  Old Fort gave a baptism (70-25) back on December 8.

          Hoover says they were good on defense in that first game.  “We came out and took away their best player.  I think the second leading scorer in the league and we held him to zero and he's still averaging more than most people in the league.  We just want to make other people have do things and get them going to our pace, that’s we want,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “Hopefully we can you know push the lead that way.  I'm sure we'll see a lot more of that zone like we saw last game.  They saw it work for St. Mary's.  We were working at it a little bit to hopefully handle it a little better this time.  If we keep the pressure up and create some turnovers and get the easy ones that we're used to and then we should be in good shape.”

          Hoover says it can be difficult to inspire the kids to play in a game like this.  He says they want to live up to their standard.  “It is a mental challenge sometimes.  We had a really big win over them the first time and it's hard to get the kids ready to play honestly.  That's what you have got to look at.  I was telling them, I don't compare you to the team on the other side, I compare you to what we're capable of and that's how we have to look at it.  It doesn't matter who you're playing you're going against yourself as much as you are against your opponent.  You have to play up to your expectations, so that's our goal every night,” said Hoover.

Published 1/19/24

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Old Fort Finding Ways

          Old Fort, now back in a share of the lead in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, plays at Fremont St. Joseph on Tuesday night and hosts Sandusky St. Mary’s on Friday night.

          They beat New Riegel (72-65) on Thursday and then moved back into a share of the lead by downing Tiffin Calvert (56-39) in Tiffin on Saturday, handing the Senecas their first league loss.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they really came together as a team.  “Those were great team wins.  Two tough teams and both on the road and we were we were kind of short handed both nights.  Our leading scorer Brian Adelspeperger got a foot injury going on, so he didn't play at all Thursday,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “Our point guard Perez was out half the game because he had the flu leading up to that game, so he was out half the game Thursday.  We had a JV player get his first start and come in play good minutes and everybody stepped up.  So, we were able to get that done on Thursday and then had a great win at Calvert on Saturday, another good team win.”

          Hoover says other players have gained confidence that they can contribute at the varsity level.  “I mean everybody knows that they can step up.  Every team faces some adversity throughout the year and we were able to step up and it really helps I think also makes you a better team and build you together as a team there's a lot of camaraderie that builds up in those kind of situations and that should really help us going forward,” he said.

          Old Fort (8-2,7-1), #4 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, travels to Fremont St. Joe (4-5,3-5) on Tuesday night.  The Crimson Streaks beat Lakota (56-46) on Thursday and lost to New Riegel (68-50) on Saturday.

          Hoover says they have good guard play.  “That's another tough place to play going over there.  They have got a veteran crew.  I mean they have got two guards.  They are two of the top scorers in our league who have been varsity players for three years.  So, they have got a lot of experience and they've been playing well and very competitive in all their big games.  So, it's going to be tough.  We're just going to need people to continue to step up and go over there and be ready for a little bit of a hostile environment,” said Hoover.

Published 1/09/2024

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Old Fort With Two Tough Games

          Old Fort, right now a game back in the standings in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, has a tough assignment as they play New Riegel on Thursday and Tiffin Calvert on Saturday in division games, both on the road.

          After a loss to Toledo Christian (68-36) last Saturday, coach Eric Hoover says this is a tough stretch for them, no question.  “We're in the middle of a tough stretch of a bunch of road games and they're all good competition.  So, Calvert’s currently in first place in the league undefeated and New Riegel is right behind us with just two losses to Hopewell and Calvert and playing very well.  Both teams are going to be a tough challenge,” he said.

          Old Fort (6-2,5-1), #3 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, plays at New Riegel (4-2,4-2) on Thursday night.  The Blue Jackets lost (58-48) to Calvert in their last game on December 22.

          Hoover says they have a lot of weapons.  “They're very athletic.  They play nine guys that all can make good contributions.  They have good size, so they’re bigger than us on the inside.  They play so hard and rebound the ball very well.  They just don't make a lot of mistakes and they have got a lot of different ways that they can hurt you.  They shoot well from the three point line, about 38% on the year.  So, they're going to be a tough challenge inside and out,” said Hoover.

          Tiffin Calvert (6-2,6-0) leads the division standings and their rivalry with Old Fort has defined the River Division since its exception. 

Hoover says they are hard to score on.  “Just their style of play and again they don't make many mistakes.  They are always going to be in games.  They control the tempo with some good half court pressure.  They have an outstanding post player this year that's leading the league in scoring.  They just really don't make a lot of mistakes and have a lot of solid guys.  They play very good defense.  The last few years they've been holding people right around 40 points per game.  So, it's always a challenge to find ways to crack their defense.  We're going to be in their environment too, on their home court, so that's even an extra challenge.”

Published 1/04/2024

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Rebounding a Key for Old Fort

          There is an important early season matchup in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference on Tuesday night as Old Fort hits the road for Hopewell-Loudon.

          Those two schools shared the division title last year, along with Tiffin Calvert.

          The Stockaders (5-0,4-0), #2 in the first Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball poll in the small school division, claimed two division wins last week in beating Danbury-Lakeside (81-32) on Thursday and Gibsonburg (57-43) on Saturday.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they did what they had to do both nights.  “We took care of business like we want to do.  Certainly, at Danbury we went out and got on them early.  A little slow rolling on Saturday, Gibsonburg came out and played really well and we just were out of sync for the first time and still had to battle through that.  We really locked it down on defense in the second and third quarter to get through the rough spot that we were having on offense and we were able to build the lead that way.  So, I was pretty happy with what we were able to do,” said Hoover.

          Hopewell-Loudon (4-1,3-1) beat Kansas Lakota (62-21) on Thursday and New Riegel (55-45) on Saturday.  Their only loss comes to Calvert (38-24) the week before.

          Hoover says they can do a lot of things.  “I mean they have everybody back from last year after having an outstanding year last year.  They were one of the ones that shared the league title with us.  They're going to be very tough, even tougher on the road, probably even tougher that they're one back in the league already,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday evening, “We have 18 league games and there's a long, long way to go, but I'm sure that they have a little extra motivation not wanting to fall back two.  They have great size, really good guard play, so they can cause you problems in a lot of different ways.”

          When it comes to defending the Chieftains, Hoover says they have to keep them off balance.  “We're just going to keep mixing it up like we normally do and throw different things at them and try to keep them off balance and not to get too comfortable doing one thing.  They're very good at going and getting the ball back, offensive rebounding.  We have got to make sure we're able to end possessions and get the ball back and kind of limit their possessions a little bit.  I think those would be the keys for us,” said Hoover.

Published 12/19/23

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Old Fort Has to Handle it

          Old Fort, one of the leaders in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, plays at Danbury Lakeside of Thursday night and will be at home for Gibsonburg for division games this week.

          Last Friday, they destroyed Woodmore (70-25) and coach Eric Hoover says again they got off to a good start and that was key for them.  “We came out and from the beginning and set the tone and really made a good run in this in the second quarter to put the game away early,” he said.

          Old Fort (3-0,2-0) is at Danbury-Lakeside (1-2,0-2) on Thursday night.  the Lakers are coming off a (80-37) loss to New Riegel in a division game last Friday.

          Hoover says the Lakers are going to press you all over the floor for 32 minutes.  “It's just a different game and you have to prepare for it differently than you prepare for other games and that’s probably part of their idea.  I mean you have to run different stuff, you're not going to be able to get into your normal offense that you get into,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “They're going to press and trap after makes, after misses, in the half court, all the time, so you just have to really be on your toes all the time taking care of the ball so you don't turn it over 25 times a game.  So, it's just going to be a different style game and we're trying to get prepared for it.”

          Gibsonburg (1-2,1-1) smoked Lakota (62-33) in league play on Friday night.

          Hoover says they are going to be a challenge.  “I think they look improved over last year.  They have got some key guys back and they were young last year, so they got a lot of good experience.  Thy were tight with Hopewell for a long time and have looked good from what I've seen so far.  So, I think they're playing with some confidence and that'll be another challenge in our league,” said Hoover.

Published 12/13/23

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Old Fort Wants to Get up and Go

          Old Fort plays its home opener on Friday night as they entertain the Woodmore Wildcats in a game in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference.

          Tuesday night, the Stockaders (2-0,1-0) beat Sandusky St. Mary’s (68-29) in a River Division game.  They had smoked “N10” defending champion Carey (62-43) in their first game.

          Coach Eric Hoover is pleased with how they have played.  “I'm pretty happy with our start so far off to a good one.  A tough win on the road at Carey to open the season.  We went over there and played well, so it was good to see.  Then just took care of business at St. Mary's in the first league game also on the road.  So, glad to get back home (Friday),” he said.

          Just like this week, there are going to be a lot of weeks when there are two league games in the River Division.

          Hoover says you have to be on top of things.  “In our league we play 18 league games.  You're always preparing for that league game.  They come twice a week often, so it makes it a little harder to prepare, at least the first round until you know everybody well and who's got everybody back.  So, Woodmore (Friday), they're new to the league.  We have been playing them in the non league, so we are a little familiar with them.  It'll be to be a little different having a new league team this year,” said Hoover.

          Woodmore (0-1,0-1) lost to New Riegel (62-53) on Tuesday night.

          Hoover says the Wildcats will be aggressive on defense and they have an excellent point guard.  “They play very hard on defense and they really get after it and pressure on the wings.  Us being guard oriented we have got to be able to handle that pressure and find ways to score and still get by them and get into the hoop,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “They run everything through their point guard, who had an outstanding game their first game of the year against New Riegel.  He really shot the ball well and controlled the game and really gave them a chance to win there.  I think we're going to try to the use are normal MO and get out and make it a full court game and hopefully we can slowly, but surely build the lead.”

Published 12/8/23

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Old Fort to Play Very Good Carey

          Old Fort, one of the defending champions in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, will play its first game on Saturday night at Carey, the defending champion of the Northern 10 Athletic Conference.

          It’s one of only four non-conference games on the Stockaders schedule with 10 teams now in the River Division.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they he saw a lot of good things in the preseason, but he saw some bad too.  “Sometimes I liked it, sometimes I didn't.  We had some good scrimmages, we were kind of up and down.  We are still trying to find our way I guess with everybody kind of fitting into to new roles or different roles.  I brought some guys back, but we lost a couple key starters too, so just kind of seeing where everybody fits in and what's going to work for this team and what's not.  Trying to make up for everything that that those two seniors that graduated did provide us,” said Hoover.

          Hoover says you spend a lot of time in the preseason to see what combinations work best for the team.   “I mean you get some of it done in the summer, but it's little different the summer.  You try to get out and play competitively in the summer, but it's hard to get everybody there and other teams are in the same boat, so really you're just trying to get that this fall and put it together here in this few weeks,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “People need to learn what their role is within this group that we have and coaches need to figure out where everybody fits best and get the right groups on the floor together and find out who can do what for us.”

          Hoover says Carey is going to be very good again this year.  He says this is going to be a big test for them.  “They're very athletic.  They were “N10” champs last year and they have a lot of guys back.  So, they're going to be tough.  They shoot the ball well, they're going to be strong and physical.  So, it's going to be certainly a big challenge right out of the gate,” he said.

Published 11/28/23

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Old Fort Wants to Start Quick; Run Fast

          Old Fort, one of three champions in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, meets Hardin-Northern on Wednesday night at Tiffin Columbian High School in a division IV sectional semifinal.

          The Stockaders (19-3) laid claim to their part of the division title with a (77-48) win over New Riegel last Friday.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they came out and controlled the game defensively and rebounded it well.  “We came out right from the beginning and played well and got it done defensively.  I think we were up like 16-1 and really made it tough on them and scoring the ball and did a great job rebounding to end possessions and they're a very good offensive rebounding team.  So, we knew what we needed to do and got a couple of guys shooting the ball well and built a lead you know right from the beginning and cruised from there,” he said.

          Hardin-Northern, of the Northwest Central Conference, (7-15) has lost four of its last six.

          Hoover says they are young, but they have some good athletes on the roster this season.  “Yeah, they're an athletic group.  They're young, so they're a little inexperienced, but they're athletic.  I think what I've seen they're physical on defense, they get up in you and put good ball pressure on and they're going to make things tough for us scoring wise with their tough physical defense,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “We have got to do a good job of really pushing the pace and pushing the ball out after defensive stops.  They like to press a little bit too, so breaking that press and being very efficient with our possessions and try to build a lead that way.”

          Hoover says they don’t want to let Hardin-Northern hang around.  “I think if you end up in a closer game than what you think and then you start questioning things and makes things a little more difficult on you.  So, getting off to a hot start, not only for your mentality, but really for the other teams mentality too. You don't want then to think they're still having a chance.  The longer they hang around, the more confidence they're going to build and that's just going to make things a lot tougher,” said Hoover.

Published 2/22/23

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Old Fort Can Get a Share

          Old Fort stands in a three way tie for the lead in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference along with Tiffin Calvert and Hopewell-Loudon.

          So, a win over Friday night over New Riegel would give them no less than a share of the banner.  Calvert plays at Danbury-Lakeside and Hopewell entertains Sandusky St. Mary’s.  Of the three, the Stockaders have the most difficult challenge.

          Coach Eric Hoover says when you begin the season one of your goals is to win the title and that’s what they want.  “Yeah, this what we are looking for at the beginning of the year.  Being in position to have a chance to make this game mean something for the league.  So, we've done well enough, consistent enough all year to be in a position to have a chance and now we're just have to go finish it off,” he said.

          Old Fort (18-3,13-2) plays at New Riegel (12-9,10-5) on Friday night.  The Blue Jackets lost to Calvert (53-39) last Friday night.  The first meeting between the Stockaders and the Blue Jackets it was Old Fort winning (74-54) on January 10.

          Hoover says New Riegel is physical and they are going to play hard for four quarters.  “I think it's a typical New Riegel team.  They play very hard.  They're going to work hard, they're going to play hard from beginning to end.  They're a very tough defensive team, they're going to be physical, they're going to rebound the ball very well at both ends and they're going to make you work for everything you get.  So, they have got a few guys that can shoot the ball and they're going to be a tough matchup,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort has been a team this year that pressed a lot and made it difficult for other teams to run their offense.  Hoover says Friday night that have handle the New Riegel pressure and defend the paint.  “We have to take care of the ball and handle their pressure.  They get physical, they get up in you and we have got to handle that,” he told Swankonspors.com on Thursday night, “They have a good post player and Reese Goshe and we've got to do a good job of not letting him catch it too deep.  We let him catch it too deep in the paint the first time and he hurt us, so we're going to do a much better job helping each other out and making sure we make things difficult on him.”

Published 2/17/23

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Old Fort has to be Good on Defense

          Old Fort faces a must win game as they travel to Hopewell-Loudon to lock horns with the Chieftains in a game in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference.

          They trail Hopewell by a game and must have a win if they are to any chance at the title.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they understand the assignment.  “I mean this is a huge game for us and our only chance to get back in the league race.  Hopewell has a one game lead, so we have got to win this or we're way too far behind.  I think we're playing better than we were a month ago and I think they are too.  They've been playing very well.  They've won nine in a row and they're looking really good, so we're going to have to be ready to go and play well,” he said.

          Hopewell-Loudon (15-3,12-1) has not lost since Christmas time.  They beat New Riegel (63-46) in a division game last Friday.

          Hoover says they handle the ball well and they have size too.  “They're just good all around.  They don't they don't make a lot of mistakes.  They have good guard play and they have good size.  It’s tough to match up with, tough to find the right lineups to match up with,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “Obviously, we can't get bigger, so we're just going to have to maneuver them I guess.  We have got we got a lot of good guards ourselves and we're able to really push the pace and that's what we need to do.”

          Old Fort (14-3,11-2) lost (64-58) to Hopewell-Loudon back January 5 at home.

          Hoover says this time they are going to have to play a lot better defense if they are going to win this time.  “We didn't execute defensively very well at all in that game.  We gave up way too many easy ones.  A lot of them in transition really not pressing in transition, but just after they made a defensive stop, we didn't do a very good job getting back and then giving a lot of layups and just a miscommunication and just those easy ones ended up coming back to bite us,” said Hoover.

Published 2/07/23

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Old Fort Wants to Work on Stuff

          Old Fort, in a tie for second place in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, plays at home against last place Gibsonburg on Friday night in a division game.

          After losing to Tiffin Calvert a couple weeks ago, the Stockaders have gotten healthy and have played better.

          Coach Eric Hoover is pleased with their progress.  “You always want to bounce back from hard times.  We had a rough one there at Calvert.  It’s tough place to play and little wounded and it was nice to get everybody back and playing well together.  Basically, last week was a big week for us getting closer to the tournament draw and needed to get those two wins and played outstanding at Margaretta and got the job done there,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “Then went on the road at Danbury, we honestly played pretty bad.  We couldn't make a shot, but we got it done defensively much better than we did against them the first time.  We had trouble stopping them the first time we did much better defensively this time.  It's a good thing because we probably would have lost the game if we didn't.”

          Old Fort (13-3,10-2) trails Hopewell-Loudon by a game and plays them next Tuesday.

          Hoover says they control their own destiny in the league.  “We've had a good week of practice this week with only one game and I think we we've done some things to improve and get better.  We're still trying to battle there for that league.  We control our own destiny.  Got the help we needed to be back in control to get a shot at the title here coming up next week.  So, (Friday) will be a good day to practice a lot of things that we've been doing to try to get better at them and put them in game situations and be ready to go for next week,” he said.

          Gibsonburg (1-15,0-13) has had its struggles this season.  Old Fort smoked them (71-23) in December 20.

          Hoover says Friday night is more about them playing well.  “We really try to make the other team adjust to what we're doing most of the time anyways.  We don't really want to change too much of what we do.  We have the system that we're running and that's what we're going to do.  We have a lot of different options out of it, a lot of different things that we can do to adapt to a team we're playing, but we're not going to change too much.  We're going to get out there and use it as another opportunity to improve and that's the only way to look at it,” said Hoover.

Published 2/03/23

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Old Fort Has to Keep Going

          Old Fort remains a game behind Tiffin Calvert and Hopewell-Loudon in the race in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference.

          They play a crossover game with Margaretta on Thursday and a division game with Danbury-Lakeside on Saturday.

          They picked up two division wins last week in beating Fremont St. Joe (75-44) on Tuesday and Sandusky St. Mary’s (64-32) on Friday.  The win on Tuesday night symbolized coach Eric Hoover’s 200^th coaching win.

          Hoover says they did what they needed to do.  “I was pretty happy what we're able to do.  Getting some guys back healthy and in the lineup and I thought we just went out and took care of business on both nights,” he said.

          Old Fort is at Margaretta (11-6), of the Bay Division, on Thursday night.  The Bears beat Clyde (75-69) on Saturday.  The fell to Huron (62-39) in a Bay Division game on Friday.

          Hoover says they do a good job of executing their game plan.  “They're pretty good.  They've been impressive in every game I've seen.  I know they beat a really good Genoa team.  I mean just they're well coached.  They execute their offense very well, I think.  They are very much under control.  They play well together.  They move the ball pretty well.  I have been very impressed with everything I have seen from them,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (11-3,9-2) takes the trip to Danbury for a Saturday night game in the River Division.  The Lakers (9-7,6-5) beat Kansas Lakota (58-15) in a division game last Friday.  They beat Plymouth (85-64) in a non-conference game on Saturday night.  Old Fort won the first meeting (72-60) on December 17.

          Danbury has won six of its last eight and Hoover says they have to handle their big guys.  “They've had a good year so far, I think.  They have two really outstanding individual players and those two hurt us the first time and really it what was a pretty close game,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “I think we have got to do a much better job on those two guys this time than we did the first time.  Going there on a Saturday night and we have got to be mentally ready to go.”

Published 1/25/23

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Old Fort has to Have the Right Mindset

          Old Fort, now a game back in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, plays at home against Fremont St. Joe in a division game on Tuesday night.

          They play at Sandusky St. Mary’s on Friday night.

          Tiffin Calvert knocked the Stockaders out of a share of first place by beating them (51-42) last Friday at Calvert.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they just didn’t execute very well.  “It didn't go the way we wanted, for sure.  We just made too many mistakes.  We were, of course, short handed, but we have a lot of good players and we just made too many mistakes.  We were not as deep as we would like to be on that night, but that's the that's what happens, there is nothing you can do about it.  I just felt like if I had changed some things up.  We just didn't execute very well.  Calvert made a lot of good plays and they took advantage and did a great job and came out on top,” he said.

          St. Joe has won three of its last five games, but they lost (66-48) to New Riegel in their last game on Friday night in division play.

          Hoover says they are an improved team.  “They've been playing better.  They're improved.  They have got a young coach who kind of came in a tough spot there right as a season starting, so I anticipated them as they grew together with him that they would continue to improve throughout the year and I think they've shown that.  They're playing well right now,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “We handled them at their place.  We're still trying to get back healthy and we kind of lost our mojo a little bit, so we're trying to get that back.  We are going to have to go and execute and get the game the pace that we want (Tuesday) and force turnovers.”

          Old Fort (9-3,7-2) hosts Fremont St. Joe (4-8,2-6) on Tuesday night.  The Stockaders beat St. Joe (75-35) on December 6.

          Hoover says they have to sort of forget that game.  “It's hard when you beat somebody like that then you play them again.  It's a mental challenge as much as it is a physical challenge.  They've improved and actually we we've been struggling a little bit the last couple weeks.  Hopefully that couple of losses we've had recently will help to eliminate that.  We're just hungry to get back out there and start playing well.  It is definitely a mental challenge in some of these games that you're playing people twice,” said Hoover.

Published 1/17/23

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Old Fort Faces Calvert in Big One

          Sandusky Bay Conference River Division co-leaders Old Fort and Tiffin Calvert lock horns on Friday night at Calvert is a crucial game for both sides.

          On Tuesday, night Old Fort beat New Riegel (74-54) in a division game.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they were able to make their pressure a factor even with some backups in the game.  “We did a good job again of pressuring the ball and forcing turnovers and making things difficult for them on defense.  Just building the lead early and continuing to kind of push that lead from the beginning all the way through.  So, they made some runs, but we did a good job answering anytime that that they made a little run.  We got a lot of contributions from some other guys.  We're a little banged up.  Our point guard wasn't available to play and got some contributions from guys that normally don't get as many minutes or they started and are normally coming off the bench and they all stepped up and did well,” he said.

          Old Fort (9-2,7-1) is at Tiffin Calvert (9-3,6-1) on Friday night.  After losing their first two, the Senecas have won nine of their last 10, including a (75-51) win over Danbury Lakeside in a division game on Tuesday night.

          Hoover says they are going to want to slow the game down.  “They were in the same boat as us as far as lacking some varsity experience coming in.  They really, I think, after that first time they've really played very well and got some really good wins.  They're playing with a lot of confidence.  They play good defense and they're going to make things difficult on you,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “They play the opposite style of us I would say probably.  They like to slow it down and they want probably a lower scoring game than what we like to have.  So, it'll be that battle of who can get the pace the way they want it and who's going to step up and make big plays.”

          Old Fort won the first meeting (57-38) on December 2.

          Hoover says they want to make Calvert play faster than they want to and force some turnovers.  “We were able we were able to do that the first time.  We really were able to get the pace our way and get some turnovers and get some easy ones and build a lead.  Then force them to maybe do some things that they're uncomfortable with in trying to get the lead back.  We were able to hold on and really keep pushing that lead after that just because of that.  So, I think getting off to a good start especially on the road is going to be very important,” said Hoover.

Published 1/12/23

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Old Fort Has to Pressure Hopewell-Loudon

          Two of the better teams in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference play on Thursday night as Old Fort is home for Hopewell-Loudon.

          Right now, the Stockaders, the division leaders, lead Hopewell by a game in the standings.

          On Tuesday night, Old Fort beat Seneca East (73-47) in a non-conference game.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they put together a nice second half.  “It was a sloppy game on both sides.  I thought there was a lot of turnovers both ways.  Probably both teams knocking some rust off after the New Year's break and I think it's kind of a common time for games of that nature.  So, we were able to really kind of dig in in the second half and get it done at both ends of the floor to really build the lead.  So, came out with a nice win there,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (7-1,5-0), #4 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, hosts Hopewell-Loudon (6-3,4-1) on Thursday night.  The Chieftains were the odd team out Tuesday and did not play a division game.  A (49-37) win over New Riegel on December 20 was their last River Division game.

          Hoover says they will be bigger than them.  “They're outstanding team.  I mean they have good size.  They have some really good guard play.  So, it'll be a challenge.  I think little different than what we saw (Tuesday) night probably a little more like Genoa with the combination of the size of the guards.  So, it'll be different challenge for us defensively and, but we're ready to just step up and meet it,” he said.

          One of the keys to Old Fort’s success this year has been their ability to pressure and force turnovers.  Hoover says that will be a goal again Thursday.  “We have to do a good job pressuring the ball, which is I think is one of our strengths.  So, we need to do a good job pressuring it to keep them from getting it inside.  If we let them get it in there easily, they're just they're just going to be a lot bigger than us,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “So, that's one thing we can do is to not let them get it in there so easy by pressuring their guards.  I think they have got a couple guys that get really shoot it.  We're going have to get out and pressure them as well.  We have got to get it done on defense because our defense really creates a lot of our offense.  So, if we can get it done at the defensive end we'll give ourselves a good chance.”

Published 1/05/23

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Old Fort Must Defend

          Old Fort, the leader of the River Division of Sandusky Bay Conference, plays a non-conference game on Tuesday night as they host the talented Genoa Comets.

          Last Tuesday, the Stockaders demolished Gibsonburg (71-23) in division game.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they had the right mindset.  “We went out and you know took care of business like we had the right mindset going into the game and came out and did what we needed to do to build a lead early and just continue to build the lead,” he said.

          Old Fort (6-0), #3 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, plays host to Genoa (6-1) on Tuesday night.  The Comets lost their first game of the season (59-22) to Wauseon last Thursday.

          Hoover says Genoa balances the floor well.  “They're outstanding, they have good size.  They have a 6’5” freshman, who's really talented and four guards then they play with him that are skilled and extremely athletic.  They are going to be a tough challenge for us.  They really get after it on defense and shoot the ball pretty well from the outside, so it'll be a good challenge for us this time of year,” said Hoover.

          Hoover says it is going to be a defensive challenge because they have to contain the big kid and not lose Genoa’s perimeter shooters.  “We're going to have to slow down that freshman post player and he's a good scorer. He’s going to go outside quite a bit, so he’s the best big guy we've seen so far.  We really haven't had too many big guys to you know focus on, so we'll see how we can handle it with us being smaller and double teaming and working our way after that to get back and recover,” he told Swankonports.com on Monday night, “So, I think that'll be a good challenge for us and good for us to see and I think that's going to be a big key.  Then we have to get out and defend the three-point line. They have three guys that can really shoot it too.  So, it'll be a good challenge to see if we can continue playing our style and make some adjustments and find ways to continue to build the lead.”

Published 12/27/22

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Old Fort Wants to Outrun Danbury

          Old Fort hosts Danbury Lakeside in a River Division game in the Sandusky Bay Conference on Saturday night.

          They blasted Sandusky St. Mary’s (82-51) last Friday in a division game to remain unbeaten in the River Division.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they got off to another quick start.  “We came out and really established the pace that we wanted and got a lot of pressure going and created some turnovers and got a lot of good open looks and layups and made shots.  We were able to build a pretty good lead and in the first quarter,” he said.

          When it comes to scoring points Danbury is right up there with anyone in the area, including Old Fort.

          Hoover says they have the leading scorer in the division Taylor Harris, and like Old Fort, they are going to push the pace of the game.  “They're a dangerous team for sure.  They have two outstanding offensive players.  They have the leading scorer in the league right now at 25 a game and then have a senior who I believe is a first teamer last year coming back, so you know he's playing well.  He's had to move to the point guard this year, but he's running that position and doing well,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “They're averaging 75 points a game as a team, so I mean that's pretty rare anymore.  They like to push the pace, like us, and pressure.  So, it will be a challenge for us to be pressured usually right and we're the ones handing it out, so it'll be interesting who handles it better and is able to find ways to build a lead.”

          Hoover says this will not be a tempo game, but instead one where execution will be called for.  “I mean we both kind of have the same the same MO and you know hopefully we're going to be better at creating turnovers and handling pressure than them.  It should be a fun game to watch, should be exciting game to watch if you like offense because there's kind of a lot of it going on and it'll be fast-paced and I hope the referees bring their running shoes,” said Hoover.

Published 12/15/22

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Old Fort Going to Pressure a lot

          Old Fort is at home for Sandusky St. Mary’s in a River Division game in the Sandusky Bay Conference on Friday night.

          Old Fort (3-0,2-0) hammered Fremont St. Joe (75-35) in a division game on Tuesday night.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they came out playing their game and took an early advantage on Tuesday night.  “We came out and got off to a great start and just took control right away.  I think it was like 11-0 and we never looked back.  We really just kept the pressure up and were able to establish the pace we wanted.  WE did a great job converting on turnovers and made everything difficult for them.  We really pushed the lead the whole first half,” said Hoover.

          Hoover says the Stockaders don’t have a lot of height this year, but they do have some athletes.  So, they are going to feature a lot of pressure defense this season.  “We have a lot of good quick athletes.  That is just something that fits this team very well.  We are going to be undersized on most nights.  This is just another way to keep them form getting the ball inside.  Make them have to work all of they way down the floor.  Pressure the ball and make it difficult to make those passes inside.  It is just something we are going to have to do and we have been able to do so far,” he said.

          Sandusky St. Mary’s (1-3,1-1) is coming off a (46-41) loss to New Riegel in a division game on Tuesday night.

          Hoover says they are going to be athletic and they play pretty good defense all over the floor.  “They are very athletic.  They have some good size and they are very quick and athletic.  They play great defense so far in every game I have seen.  They are holding their opponents in the 40’s,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “It is going to be tough finding a way to get through their different types of presses.  They throw some different defenses in in the half court and have some very good individual defenders.  So, we are going to have to work together and find ways to penetrate that defense.”

Published 12/09/22

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Old Fort to Battle Calvert

          Old Fort and Tiffin Calvert have dominated the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference in recent years at they meet at Old Fort in the first division game for both on Friday night.

          The Stockaders hammered Oak Harbor (83-48) in an “SBC” crossover on Tuesday night.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they played pretty well in that opener and they played hard.  “It was a good way to get started.  The score was probably misleading.  It was pretty close.  With four minutes to go it was 12-15 points and we just kind of put together a huge run in a three minute span and really blew it open.  The effort was great.  We were pretty much in control the whole game,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “We had close to a 20 point lead in the first half at one point, but we let them back in.  The effort was great.  We got contributions from a whole bunch of guys.  We had four or five guys in double figures and more with nine and eight.  Everybody was doing very positive things in the game and they played well together and moved the ball and it was fun to watch.”

          Calvert (0-1) lost (59-39) to Cardinal Stritch last Saturday in their first game of the year.

          Hoover says they will have a lot of new faces on the floor too.  “It will be a different squad than they have had the last couple of years, just like us.  It will maybe be a little feeling out period.  The coaches are the same, so we are probably going to run similar stuff that we have been doing just with new people.  I think we can expect to see a lot of the same stuff.  It will be a high intensity game with the two of us being the first league game and all of that.  I think it will be a fun one,” he said.

          Hoover predicts another hard fought game with the Senecas that will come down to who executes in the end.  “We have had a lot of close games the over the last four or five years.  We have had a lot of them come down to the last couple of minutes.  Whoever executes better in those times is probably going to come out on top.  We are going to try and make the game the way we want it and they are going to go the same as far as pace goes.  We will see which guys can get it done,” said Hoover.

Published 12/01/22

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Old Fort Won’t be as Big

          Old Fort has been one of the better small school basketball teams in North Central Ohio over the last half decade and time will tell if they can continue that trend.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they are going to be a team that doesn’t have that much varsity experience, but he likes how hard they are working to improve.  “We are a completely different team.  We graduated a lot of guys and not a lot of guys with varsity experience, but I like their work ethic. I like their energy.  They have been practicing hard and learning a lot.  So, I think they will just continue to improve if they can keep that work ethic,” said Hoover.

          Hoover says at Old Fort they don’t just do walk throughs.  He says they want the kids to have to put out the effort in practice.  “We try to make practices difficult.  Try to make them more difficult than a game that are going to challenge you.  You have to get through that adversity.  If you an do that in practice, then it makes the games a lot easier.  I think they have done a good job challenging each other in practice and trying to make each other better every day,” he said.

          Old Fort hits the floor first this season when they play Oak Harbor on November 29 in an “SBC” crossover game.  Their first Sandusky Bay Conference River Division game is December 2 against rival Tiffin Calvert.

          Hoover says over the next 10 days they will be working on sharping how they run their offense.  “The last few years we have had a lot of size and were getting the ball inside a lot.  We have to kind of flip it.  We are small now and we have to play with a whole different style.  Just learning a whole new offensive strategy that better fits these guys that we have.  It is going to be a little different than have been doing, a little different process,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “I think that is one thing.  We are inexperienced.  We have to get that in game experience.  These scrimmages have been really important for us.  The rest of the way heading into the season it is going to be important for us to get that game experience as much as we can before the season starts.”

Published 11/18/22

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Old Fort Must Score More

          They hope the third time is the charm, as Old Fort plays unbeaten Tiffin Calvert Friday night at Liberty-Benton High School in a district final in division IV.

          On Tuesday, Old Fort beat another fellow Sandusky Bay Conference River Division member in Gibsonburg (54-38) to advance.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they had to make some adjustments.  “We got off to slow start.  They came out with a lot of confidence and playing well and took control early.  We couldn’t get anything going offensively, maybe a little tight in that first quarter and could get any shots to fall.  We let their best player get going a little bit too, so he had a good first quarter.  They built the lead.  We were able to change up our defense in a couple of ways.  We stated pressing a little differently and switched who we were guarding.  The defense then sparked our offense,” he told Swankosports.com, “We started creating a lot of turnovers and getting a lot of offense and put together a really good second quarter and were able to take the lead before half.  So, we had a good three quarters.  We did a great job defensively and held them in the 30’s.  We have been playing better defense the last few weeks and we were able to do that and get control of the game.”

          Calvert won the regular season games in River Division play, (50-47) on December 3 and (65-46) on January 18.

          This time, Hoover says they must cut down on their turnovers that led to easy scores for the Senecas.  “We have to take care of the ball.  They create a lot of turnovers and easy points with their defense.  Not only do they make everything difficult, they get their hands on a lot.  Anytime you are trying to do the dribble drive they do a great job of getting in passing lanes and anticipate.  They are going to get a few runouts a game.  A lot of times that is the difference in the game when they are just getting 10 easy ones.  You can’t afford to let them get those easy ones in transition off of your mistakes.  So, we have to do a great job taking of the ball in that situation, so we are not giving them those easy ones,” said Hoover.

          Also, Hoover say they need to score points, something that everybody has trouble doing against Calvert.  “They make things difficult, so we have to be efficient in other ways to score.  Nobody has scored 50 points on them this year.  We have maybe scored the most, but it wasn’t enough either time.  We have to find ways to be more efficient and take advantage of some of their strategies on defense,” he said.

Published 3/04/22

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Old Fort Must Guard Three Point Line

          Old Fort plays Gibsonburg for the third time this season in the division IV district semifinal at Liberty-Benton High School on Tuesday night.

          It will be either Tiffin Calvert or Carey for the winner in the district final Friday night.

          The Stockaders beat Gibsonburg twice this year in play in the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division.  They won (62-43) on January 25 and (61-32) on February 14.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they know each other pretty well.  “I don’t think there is going to be a lot that we are not both aware of.  Both teams returned a lot of guys from last year.  All of the same coaches so we do similar things.  Similar strengths and weaknesses.  Both games this season did get moved, so we have played them recently twice.  We played the in the last week of the regular season and then we played them just a month before that.  So, they are all pretty close together to boot.  We are very familiar with them and preparing for them a lot here just in the last six weeks,” said Hoover.

          Hoover says the Golden Bears are strong on defense and they have a big guy in Aidan Mcgough that can matchup pretty well with their leading scorer in Colin Nutter.  “They play really good defense.  They are very physical.  They have good athleticism.  They have good size.  Their best player is a 6’7” post also that matches up well with our size.  So, as far as size matchups they have been the best matchup for us.  They are the most like us in that regard.  They are very experienced.  They play all seniors.  I think they have nine seniors, so they have a lot of good varsity experience,” he said.

          Tuesday night, Hoover says they need to force turnovers and be able to get out on the perimeter and guard the Gibsonburg three point shooters.  “We have been able to get them out of control the first couple of time we played them.  We are going to keep the pressure up and make them play 94 feet and that works to our advantage.  I think we have to defend the three point line well.  They have been shooting the ball pretty well here these first two tournament games.  We have played in the same place,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “I have seen their games.  As a team, they have a lot of different guys making shots and shooting the ball with confidence.  I think we have to get out and defend the three point line well.  Do a good job individually on defense of taking responsibility for your own man where you are not requiring a lot of help.  I think those will be keys for us.”

Published 3/01/22

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Old Fort Peaking For Tournament

          Old Fort, the runner-up in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, plays Arlington at Tiffin Columbian High School on Friday night in a sectional semifinal in division IV.

          The Stockaders (18-4) have won their last seven and 10 of their last 11.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they are right where the want to be in terms of their quality of play.  “I think we have been playing pretty well these last few weeks.  We have a lot of guys making contributions and really stepping up in their role.  I think defensively we have done a pretty good job here the last few games of making everything difficult on teams.  That is where you want to be going into the tournament,” he said.

          Arlington (13-10) beat Valnue (65-45) in a battle of Blanchard Valley Conference teams on Tuesday night in a semifinal game.

          Hoover says the Red Devils are a very good team.  “They are solid.  I think they are better than their record.  They play a tough schedule.  Their non-league schedule is pretty good.  Their best player was out almost half of their games this year.  At least seven or eight games.  I think that is going to make their record a little deceiving too,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “They are young.  They don’t have any seniors.  They have a lot of good guards.  They shoot the ball very well.  Coach (Jason) Vermilion does a great job.  They have a good tradition over there.  They are very disciplined and they execute everything very well.  They play hard and they are going to make everything tough.”

          Hoover says to win tournament games players have to make plays and that is going to be the case on Friday night.  “Somebody is going to have to step up and make things happen.  We have seen a few games already in the first round where the team that ends up winning has players step up and make plays at big times, at important times, because they have all been important games that we have seen.  I think that is what it comes down too.  You have to be confident in what you are doing.  I think we are playing with some confidence and have people ready to step up,” said Hoover.

Published 2/25/22

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Old Fort Plays Rival New Riegel

          Old Fort, the runner-up in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, will play at New Riegel against the Blue Jackets on Friday night.

          Form Friday through Tuesday they played four games in five days, winning them all.

          Coach Eric Hoover was pleased, especially with his bench.  “We played four games in five days and did pretty well in all four and got a lot.  We got a lot of guys making contributions and played a lot of team basketball.  We had some foul trouble, and injuries again, with some of our veteran guys.  The young guys really stepped up and got it done,” he said.

          Hoover says their younger guys have got a lot of experience this season and that is paying off now.  “They have gotten quite a bit of time throughout the year.  We have had a lot of games where they have been able to get in.  We have had a lot of injuries and illness to deal with and they have played significant minutes and significant part of the game as well.  They have played mostly JV.  They practice with us everyday and they are battling those top five, six guys and the improvement they have made throughout the season is really starting to show right now,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (17-4,12-3) plays at New Riegel (13-8,9-6) on Friday night.  The Blue Jackets have won four of their last six.  The Stockaders won the first meeting of the year (57-41) on January 14.

          Hoover says the Blue Jackets have been shooting better and that makes them dangerous.  “They are always tough.  They always give us a good game.  I think they are playing really well right now.  They are shooting the ball better now than they were the first time around.  They have consistently been getting better percentages from the three point line with more guys making shots out there,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “They always play so hard.  They have a good senior group that I think is really coming together at the right time and they seem to be playing their best ball.  It’s going to be a challenge.”

Published 2/18/22

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Old Fort Needs to Pressure Hopewell

          Old Fort is looking to avenge loss earlier in the season to Hopewell-Loudon as they host the Chieftains in a Sandusky Bay Conference River Division game on Tuesday night.

          The Stockaders, and the rest of the River Division, play a lot of Tuesday night games, but coach Eric Hoover says that is kind of common place for them now.  “I think we are pretty used to it.  We have had a lot of Tuesday games.  We don’t have a lot of Saturday games.  So, we are able to work it out schedule wise and the kids get used to it.  As long as it’s not a Monday.  During the week isn’t bad.  I prefer it not be on a school night, but you can’t get all of your league games in if you not playing those nights.  It is good I think at this point for our schedule to be that way because it’s the way the tournament is set up.  The tournament is Tuesday-Friday, so I that prepares us for that semifinal, final in the tournament,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (12-4,9-3) hosts Hopewell-Loudon (11-6,8-5) on Tuesday night.  Hopewell lost (39-31) to New Riegel in a rare Sunday game in the River Division.

          Hoover says they are very disciplined in what they do.  “They play outstanding defense.  They do a great job holding everybody and making everything difficult for everybody.  They really held us down the first time.  I think we only ended with 41 and they were really physical with us.  They just did an outstanding job controlling the game.  They controlled the ball on offense and a lot of time off the clock, so we didn’t get near the possessions we normally get,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “They have some really good young players to go with Ried Jury, who is able to control the game as a point guard.  He really keeps them in their offense and keeps them under control.  They play three sophomores that are really good up and coming players.  They are tough to deal with.”

          Hopewell-Loudon won the first matchup (45-41) on January 8.

          Hoover says this time they have to be more aggressive from the beginning.  “I don’t know what the deal was the first time, but we were very laid back on defense and we just left them pass the ball around.  It was like we were okay with it and we really didn’t get up and pressure them as much.  We have to force the issue, that is kind of been our M.O. most of the time anyway, but we just didn’t really get after it that night until it was too late, until we were down 11 or so and it was too late to come back.  So, we have to force that issue and be the aggressor from the beginning,” he said.

Published 2/08/22

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Old Fort Returning to Old Ways

          Old Fort is getting its grove back and just in time with the postseason tournament on the horizon.

          They play at Gibsonburg in a Sandusky Bay Conference River Division game on Friday night.

          They hammered Danbury-Lakeside (80-50) in a River Division game on Tuesday night and they have won four of their last five, the only loss a one-point loss to talented Margaretta (64-63) last Saturday.

          Coach Eric Hoover says you can see they are better.  “We seem to be doing thigs a little better here recently.  Sometimes it is harder to see because I see them every day, so it’s harder to see the differences.  People from the outside that don’t see them every day are getting that impression, so I hope they are right.  I think we are improving.  We are doing some things better.  We are just being more consistent with getting other people involved in the offense and getting more consistent shooting.  We have had a lot of home games recently, so I think that helps as well.  Our schedule was front loaded with away games and now we are getting a lot of home games and I think just being in the comfort of our own home has helped as well,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (12-4,9-3) visits Gibsonburg (9-7,6-6) on Friday night.  They just beat the Golden Bears (62-43) last week, but Hoover says they are going to be a lot different.  “If we play Friday, it will be just 10 days since we played them, so it makes it easier as far as scouting and those things go, but actually their point guard was hurt the first time we played them.  I think he is back now, he played (Tuesday) night.  He will be a big difference maker for them.  We were able to get them out of control and force a lot of turnovers the first time.  He is going to help with that and everything is going to be more difficult for us this time around,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “They have a senior laden group and they have a good post player.  He 6’7” and averaging about 18, 19 a game and skilled from all ranges.  So, that always poses a problem.  I think just having a couple of games with their point guard back will help them feel more comfortable and get back to the way they were playing well at the beginning of the year.  I think they are going to get back to that here really quickly.”

          Hoover says they have returned to pressuring the ball a lot more and trying to force a lot of turnovers.  “That has kind of been our M.O. for a while.  We kind of got away from that at the beginning of the year.  We had a lot of injuries and illness.  We are a little bigger and we kind lost our identity for a bit.  We have kind of gotten back to it and we have created a lot of turnovers the last two, three weeks.  I think it is something the kids are really buying into and have been doing a great job of improving pressure and making everything difficult and creating those turnovers,” he said.

Published 2/03/22

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Old Fort Beats Gibsonburg; Needs to Improve

          Old Fort got 29 points from Colin Nutter and they buried Gibsonburg (62-43) in a Sandusky Bay Conference River Division game on Tuesday night.

          It keeps them in a share of second place with Hopewell-Loudon, but three games behind leader Tiffin Calvert.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they were able to get some takeaways that led to instant offense.  “We did a really good job of creating turnovers (Tuesday) night.  I think they had close to 30 turnovers.  We really pressed them pretty hard the whole game.  I was a little worried conditioning wise because we have had the last two days off.  We couldn’t practice (Monday) because of the snow.  It’s amazing how you can get tired after just a couple of days off.  We were able to move enough guys in and out to keep everybody fresh enough.  The kids played really hard and they did a great job creating turnovers.  We were able to keep the pressure on them and Colin (Nutter) was able to finish inside and that was enough,” said Hoover.

          However, despite the good performance, Hoover knows they have to continue to improve and that’s on both ends of the court.  “As you are later in the league and everybody knows everybody better and in the tournament when everything is heavily scouted I think it is important to really be at your best executing your offense and be able to read and have alternatives.  When they are taking something away they are giving you something else.  You have to be able to make those reads and make those plays and not do exactly what the play is drawn up for,” he told Swankonsports.com after the win, “Defensively, we have to get better at one on one defense.  We work a lot on team defense and helping everybody out.  We have to be better and not getting beat.  We can’t rely on help all of the time every time down the floor.  We have to do a better job of locking your man up when you are on the ball and not letting your man do what they do best.”

          Old Fort (10-3,7-3) plays at home against Sandusky St. Mary’s (4-11,4-6) on Thursday night.  The Stockaders won the first meeting (47-41) in Sandusky on December 16.

          Hoover says the Panthers always seem to play them tough.  “St. Mary’s always gives us a tough game.  We played at their place earlier this year and we were really fortunate to come out with a win there.  They were leading the majority of the game.  So, they always give us a tough one.  Coach (Chris) Ceccoli does a nice job.  It is just going to be another challenge on Thursday in the middle of a busy week,” he said.

Published 1/26/22

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Old Fort Knows the Assignment

          Old Fort and Tiffin Calvert shared the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division title last season and if Old Fort is to get a piece of it this year they must beat Calvert Tuesday night at home.

          It’s that simple.  A loss would drop them three games behind and that’s too many.

          Calvert (13-0,8-0), #3 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, has had a tremendous season.

          Old Fort coach Eric Hoover says they don’t make mistakes and they take advantage of yours.  “They don’t make any mistakes.  They do a great job of everybody doing their responsibility defensively.  I don’t think they have given up 50 points in a game yet this year, so everybody is doing their job defensively.  They are pretty physical with you.  They do a great job getting in passing lanes.  They just make everything difficult for you,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “I think have a good senior group that just works very well together.  I think there are some things you just can’t teach.  They just know where each other is going to be.  They are a very good passing team.  So, they take advantage when you just have tiny breakdowns on defense.  I think that has kind of set them apart.”

          Colin Nutter just scored his 1,000^th career point last week in a win over New Riegel and he is a 6’7” senior.

          Hoover says they need to use their height advantage.  “We generally try to do that with everybody.  With Colin (Nutter) alone we generally have bigger size.  They have three kids that ate 6’1” to 6’4”, so they are not small by any means.  Their guards are a little smaller, I guess.  That is something we always try and do against them.  They did a good job last time of really  double teaming and slowing our offense down a little bit after the first quarter.  Hopefully our offense has improved since that time a month ago,” said Hoover.

          Calvert won (50-47) on a Garrett Spaun three as time expired back on December 3.

          Hoover says to have a chance at the title this year the Stockaders (8-2,5-2) have got to win Tuesday night.  “We definitely have to have it.  We have to win out and hope for some help.  We are not in control of our own destiny when it comes to the league.  It’s a rivalry game.  For us to keep any hope alive it’s a must win,” he said.

Published 1/18/22

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Old Fort Has to be Ready to Play

          Old Fort knows they are in a position now where they don’t control their own destiny in the race in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference.

          All they can do is keep winning and that assignment begins Tuesday night at home against Lakota.

          They fell two games behind division leading Tiffin Calvert after a (45-41) loss to Hopewell-Loudon on Saturday night.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they frankly did not play up to their standards.  “We didn’t play very well.  We let them come out and take it to us really from the beginning.  The game was close the whole time.  I think they had a nine point lead at one point.  We were up two in the fourth quarter.  We just didn’t play well and still had a chance to win at the end and just didn’t close it out.  They made the plays and we made the mistakes.  So, we ended up on the wrong end,” said Hoover.

          There are 16 games in the River Division for each team, but with the season especially unbeaten Tiffin Calvert is having Hoover says they cannot afford any more losses.  “There is zero room for error at this point.  There was a very little room as it was.  We are beyond the point of controlling our own destiny.  We would require a little bit of help.  I know there are a lot of good teams in the league and there will be a of close games.  You just control what you can control and take care of your business and keep getting better and whatever happens you live with,” he said.

          Old Fort (6-2,3-2) plays at home against the Lakota Raiders (0-8,0-6) on Tuesday night.  Lakota is coming off one its best performances of the season in a (47-42) loss to New Riegel on Saturday.

          Hoover says his kids better come ready to play.  “They had a very good game I thought with New Riegel on Saturday.  They have been in a lot of games.  They have a good athletic group there.  They have a lot of speed.  They are not real big and hopefully we can take advantage of that,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “They play extremely hard.  They do some different things on defense.  They do a little trapping in the halfcourt.  If you are not careful with the ball you can get yourself in some trouble and give them some easy points.  You have to come out and be ready to play.”

Published 1/11/22

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Old Fort Plays Talented Gibsonburg

          Old Fort has a Thursday-Saturday double dip in action in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference this week.

          They play at home against Gibsonburg of Thursday and at Hopewell-Loudon on Saturday in division games.

          They have not had a game since December 22 as their non-conference game was cancelled last week because Woodmore had COVID.

          Coach Eric Hoover says that is a little concerning.  “Yeah, a little bit.  You are not sure how you are going to come out.  Maybe they get a little complacent practicing over and over again.  We were able to have some days offs obviously for Christmas and New Year’s at that time.  Those are days we would have had off anyways, so maybe it’s a little less of a deal than it would be in the middle of the season.  I don’t like to have that many days off between games that’s for sure,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (6-1,3-1) and Gibsonburg (6-2,4-1) share second place in the River Division, a game behind Tiffin Calvert.  The Golden Bears lost for just the second time last week when Elmwood rallied to beat them (53-52) in a non-conference game.

          Hoover says they have some height and they have some talent, especially Aiden McGough.  “They are very good.  I have seen them a few games now and they play with a lot of confidence.  They are very strong and physical.  They have a 6’7” kid that is very talented.  He shoots the ball well from all ranges, very good footwork, he is a good passer, he is an outstanding player.  He can win a game by himself,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “So, they are vastly improved over last year.  They are senior laden.  They have nine seniors that they play.  I have been very impressed every time I have seen them.”

          As far as Hopewell-Loudon (4-2,2-2) is concerned, Hoover says that scouting report is a work in progress.  “I honestly have seen them play yet.  They got a late start because of football, so they were a little backed up, so I really haven’t had a chance to see them.  They haven’t played any of the teams that I have been watching.  I will be watching them this week.  They always play us tough and are a challenge.  They are always well coached and give us a good challenge, so I’m sure this year will be no different,” he said.

Published 1/05/22

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Old Fort Wants to Take Advantage of Size

          Old Fort, always one of the better small school basketball teams in this area, plays at Woodmore in a non-conference game on Wednesday night.

          Last week, in another non-league game, they beat Genoa (57-53) on Wednesday.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they did a good job controlling things.  “We did a good job of just staying in control the game.  They play up tempo and do a lot of pressing the whole game.  So, we did a good job handling the pressure and getting good shots afterwards, whether we finished on fast breaks or whether we got into our offense if they did a good job in transition.  We were just in control of the game the whole way,” he said.

          Old Fort (6-1) is at Woodmore (1-6) on Wednesday.  The Wildcats have lost their last four, but haven’t played in almost two weeks, last losing to Genoa (42-29) on December 17.

          Hoover says they are young and the Stockaders want to take advantage of their height in the post.  “They are young.  Their best player is a senior and he is really good, but they are young surrounding him.  They have kind of changed up their style of play.  We have played them in past years and they are much more up tempo and they are kind of slowing down a little bit and just trying to get better shots and find ways to get him the ball,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “We have a pretty good advantage I think inside with our size.  If we can keep finding more ways to get the ball in there whether it is with pass or dribble penetration, I think we will be in good shape.”

          When you look at the records, you might anticipate a mismatch, but Hoover says they have to stay focused, which can be difficult during the holidays.  “That is always an issue.  I remember that even back when I played and it has just always been an issue.  We talk about it and work on staying focused and have good practices in the times that we are together over break.  We are focused on personal improvement to try and get ready for the meat of our season.  So, hopefully we will be ready to (Wednesday),” said Hoover.

Published 12/29/21

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Old Fort Wants to Attack

          Old Fort heads for Sandusky St. Mary’s for a game in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference on Thursday night.

          The Stockaders stand a game back in the division standings.

          They hammered Fremont St. Joe (65-28) in a River Division game last Friday.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they came ready to play.  “We really came out and set the tone defensively from the beginning and were able to build a big lead and did a great job of keeping that intensity up,” he said.

          Old Fort (3-1,2-1) plays at Sandusky St. Mary’s (1-2,1-1) on Thursday night. The Panthers lost (56-37) to conference co-leader New Riegel on Friday night.

          Hoover says there are a lot of new faces on the roster, but they understand at the varsity level you have to play hard.  “They have a whole new team for last year.  They graduated a bunch of good seniors.  They return Brock Gill, who is having a good year so far averaging about 18 points per game.  Just from the films that I have seen hey play so hard,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “They play really hard.  That has me concerned.  They are very fast and very physical.  Just that effort is going to keep them in a lot of games and they are going to make everything difficult.”

          Hoover says their goal is not to match St. Mary’s intensity, but to exceed it.  “You have to try and out do their intensity.  It is going to hard to do because they do play so hard from the tip-off the final buzzer.  I don’t think you can just try and match it.  You have to be the more attacking, intense team,” said Hoover.

Published 12/15/21

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Old Fort Needs More Intensity

          Old Fort needs a win to stay near the top of the standings in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference and they are at home Friday night against Fremont St. Joseph.

          After losing at the horn (50-47) to rival Tiffin Calvert last Friday, the Stockaders played a poor first half, but rallied to beat Danbury-Lakeside (66-48) in a league game on Tuesday night.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they did not have their head in the game.  “It was a struggle actually.  We didn’t come out ready to play and we really had to challenge them at halftime and we came out and got it done.  Danbury played great and really took it to us in the first half, so it was a challenge to get back in there and get the lead.  We had some young guys step up and show some leadership on the court.  It was good to go in there and get a win after a tough loss.  We are still looking to keep improving and that is what we have been trying to do the last two days,” said Hoover.

          If the Stockeders are going to be as good as Hoover believes they can be, he says they can’t just mail it in no matter who they are playing.  “It is tough mentally sometimes.  We were just coming off that loss and it was a Tuesday night and a longer road trip.  That’s all mental and you still have to be ready to play the game.  Our success we have had the last few years has put a target on our back.  Everybody wants to beat us and I don’t think we are all looking at it that way,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “We have to come to play every night.  It doesn’t matter who it is. You have to come ready to play otherwise you are not getting better and you want to get better every day.  You are going to end up disappointed if you don’t come with that mentality.”

          Old Fort (2-1,1-1) plays host to Fremont St. Joe (1-2,0-1) on Friday night.  The Streaks lost (62-36) to New Riegel in a division game on Friday night, but beat Norwalk St. Paul (43-34) in a non-conference game on Saturday.

          Hoover says the Streaks are inexperienced and he says they want to take advantage with their big guys.  “They are young this year.  They had an outstanding senior group last year, so they are young.  They are always prepared.  I think they do a good job challenging us.  They are going to show some different things from what we have seen so far this year.  Again, we have to come ready to play.  We have a pretty distinct size advantage over them that we are going to try and use.  If we get some more activity out of our guys we should be in good shape,” he said.

Published 12/10/21

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Old Fort Squares off with Tiffin Calvert

          Old Fort takes its act south to clash with Tiffin Calvert in a huge early season game in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference on Friday night.

          Last week, Old Fort hammered Wynford (71-38) in non-conference game.

          Coach Eric Hoover says their defense led to some easy opportunities on offense.  “I was pretty happy.  Our defensive intensity was very good.  I thought we made everything difficult for them.  We played man to man, half court defense.  Came out with a lot of intensity and got in the passing lanes and did a great job helping.  We executed defensively what we worked on in practice that we had seen from Wynford in their scrimmages.  That defensive effort led to a lot of runouts and easy points and got us a lot of layups.  So, we were able to build a lead.  I couldn’t have been more happy,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort and Calvert shared the River Division title last season and played some intense regular season and tournament games in recent years.

          Hoover, says, yeah, they’re rivals.  “We have had some pretty good battles over the last three, four years.  We shared our league championship last year.  I think we are probably the two favorites this year.  So, for that to be our first league game of the year it is as big as you can have it for early December,” he said.

          Both schools lost big scorers from last year, but have a lot of returning players too.

          Hoover says they can’t afford to make many mistakes, because Calvert makes so few.  “They have a lot coming back from last year.  They lost Nick Seifert, who was an outstanding player.  We lost Zach DeWeese, so it is a wash, we have a lot coming back as well.  They don’t make many mistakes,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “They have an outstanding point guard, who is really going to take on a lot of the scoring for them.  He really enjoys taking on that role form what I have seen, he really wants to do that and has been very good.  Garrett Spaun, he is just an outstanding player.  He keeps everybody under control.  They don’t make many mistakes.  They have good size.  They have a couple 6’3”, 6’4” guys.  They are well coached.  We are just going to have to play sound in every aspect of the game.”

Published 12/01/21

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Old Fort Opens Wednesday With Improved Wynford

          Old Fort is one of the area teams to open the season on Wednesday night as they travel to Wynford to meet the Royals in a non-conference game.

          Coach Eric Hoover says he likes playing that day before Thanksgiving for a number of reasons.  “I think that was a good change that the state made allowing us to start on Monday rather than Friday.  One, you hate to practice on Thanksgiving Day and if you are playing a game on Friday, it is pretty hard not to practice on Thanksgiving Day, so you avoid that conflict.  Plus, it is pretty hard to play the day after Thanksgiving as anybody that has tried to play or the practice the day after will find out how quickly they get slowed down.  I think the quality of the game will be better on Wednesday and it will be better for families and everything else.  So, I like the change,” said Hoover.

          Hoover says the Stockaders, the defending champion of the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, has made some important improvements during the preseason.  He says they have made it difficult to know who to play.  “I have seen some improvement here recently.  We had a really tough scrimmage schedule.  We kind of put them through a gauntlet of really good basketball teams here for the last month.  So, hopefully in the long run that will pay off,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “We are still trying to find with some young guys what they are doing well and we are dealing with some injuries.  It seems like every day somebody else in playing well and finding seven, eight guys to go with in a game right now is difficult.  It’s a good problem the have.  We are starting to see some improvements and we have had much better practices these last few days.  Hopefully, we are ready to go on Wednesday.”

          Wynford has a new coach in former assistant Mike Smith and Hoover says they Royals want top pick up the tempo of their game.  “He has been a Wynford guy for a longtime I believe.  I have seen a little bit and I have read a little bit and they are looking to play a little faster pace that they have in the past.  They have quite a bit returning.  I have been able to see a couple of scrimmages.  I think they look really good.  They are shooting the ball really well from the perimeter and they look very much in control, disciplined and pretty darn athletic.  So, we are looking at a good challenge,” he said.

Published 11/23/21

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Old Fort Poised for Another Solid Year

          Old Fort, the defending champion in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, certainly looks to have the horses to be right in the thick of the race again this year.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they have a number of returning players with skill and also some younger players that are new to the varsity level.  “We have a lot of good pieces.  We have a lot returning from last year.   We have a good senior group, who have a lot of experience.  Most of them are at least three year lettermen.  That’s always good to have back when you have had good success.  I think we have been able to spend less time putting things in.  They know a lot of the stuff that we are doing in our game plan, so I think that is an advantage.  We also have a lot of new pieces to put together, who are also very good basketball players,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “We have some new faces in there that are going to have to play a bigger role than they are used to.  We have had some trouble getting everybody healthy.  We have a few injures, so we have had to bring up maybe some more young guys that we didn’t anticipate.  So, we are getting everybody put together and finding out what’s working and what’s not and just refining everything that we have.”

          Hoover says they are trying to put together the right mix and find out what offenses and defenses work for this group.  “Everything changes very year.  Every year is different it is a new team.  Some things that worked for you last year might not work as well.  Last year, we had Zach DeWeese that was a four year letter winner and a thousand point scorer.  You don’t easily replace someone like that even if you are returning a lot.  He took a lot of pressure off Colin (Nutter) and gave us another scoring threat.  Other people are going to have to step up and fill that.  We have found some guys that can step in and do those things for us.  That is just the challenge every year,” he said.

          Hoover says the expectations are again high for the Stockcaders, but he says they have to keep their success and maybe failures in perspective.  “Definitely we expect to win and have high expectations for ourselves year in and year out.  I have found over the years with different sports, especially with myself, I’m not complacent, you don’t enjoy your successes as much as you should because you are trying to be perfect.  You think you could win every game, so you should win every game and when something doesn’t go right you are too disappointed.  These are high school kids and we are going to have mistakes and we are going to have off nights and we are going to have injuries and everything else to deal with.  So, you have to stay in the moment the best you can with what you have got at the time.  As long as we keep that focus in mind, I think we will be alright,” said Hoover.

Published 11/19/21

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Old Fort Has to Handle Carey’s Aggressiveness

          Old Fort locks horns with Carey in a division IV district semifinal at Liberty-Benton High School on Tuesday night.

          In the second game Tuesday night it’s Tiffin Calvert versus Mohawk.  Friday night, the winners return to play the district title game.

          The Stockaders (20-3), co-champions of the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, hammered McComb (62-29) in a sectional final on Friday night.

          Coach Eric Hoover says the kids approached the game just like he was hoping they would do.  “The kids came out just like I was hoping they would come out.  We came out very aggressive and just took control from the very beginning.  Did a great job defensively making everything difficult on them and forcing turnovers and they had a hard time getting shots off.  We were able to build the lead right from the beginning.  It was a kind of intensity you like to see from your team in the tournament,” said Hoover.

          Carey (18-5) beat Hopewell-Loudon by almost the same score (62-28) in their sectional final.

          Hoover says their shooting was lights out.  “They looked really good doing it.  They came out with that same intensity and they made a lot of shots in that first quarter there, a lot of outside shots.  Anybody that shoots like that in the tournament is going to be pretty tough to knock out, so we have to be ready defensively from the beginning and get all your assignments with everybody doing their job and not let them get open shots like that and hopefully do that and battle with them from the beginning,” he said.

          Hoover says thy must be ready for the Blue Devils physicality and that is something they have been working to improve for a while.  “They are probably the most physical team that we have played all year or pretty close to it.  They are extremely athletic, fast and strong.  They have a lot of different guys that can hurt you.  They play a lot of guys and a lot of guys have been their leading scorers in different games, so they have a lot of different ways to hurt you,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “That is something we have focused on and tried to work on playing better against those kinds of teams.  We have to come out and handle their pressure.”

Published 3/02/21

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Old Fort Wants to Take Control Early

          Old Fort, the co-champion of the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, is at home Friday night for a division IV sectional final against McComb of the Blanchard Valley Conference.

          As the number one seed Old Fort (19-3) chose to play a semifinal and beat Arcadia (68-29) on Tuesday.

          Coach Eric Hoover hopes they worked out some butterflies that he believes has hurt them in past tournaments.  “It has worked out so far.  We have played pretty well on Tuesday.  Like I have said, in the past in our first game I feel like maybe we were a little tight.  When we took a bye the first game was a sectional final.  Now, maybe having that first game it will loosen you up a little bit.  When we were playing that game a little less tight, a little less nerves, so hopefully it will keep paying off here as we are moving on,” he said.

          McComb (6-16) has lost its last three and 11 of its last 13.

          Hoover says they are a young team.  “They are young, they play a few sophomores and they only have one senior.  They are athletic.  I have had a chance to see four of their games and they have done some different things in each one of them.  We will just have to adjust to whatever they decide to do (Friday),” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “Who knows, they could throw something else in there.  They are young and they chose the bye and they know they have one game to try and win the sectional title.  I am sure they are going to be excited about it and ready to go.”

          Old Fort is the one seed and McComb is the 11^th and Hoover says they need to get up in this game early.  “I think that is definitely going to be a key for us.  We don’t want them getting any confidence.  When a team gets some confidence going and gets some momentum the everybody feeds off each other and you find yourself in a ballgame that could go either way.  You really have to be efficient at the beginning of the game, especially defensively.  I think we can make it very difficult on them to score if everybody does their job and executes well.  I think that is going to be a key for us to get out early,” said Hoover.

Published 2/26/02

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Old Fort With Big One With St. Mary’s

          On the final week of the regular season, Old Fort shares first place in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference with Tiffin Calvert, a game in front of Sandusky St. Mary’s.

          They host St. Mary’s on Thursday night.  The Panthers also travel to Calvert on Wednesday.

          Old Fort also plays at Lakota on Friday in a division game, a team they beat last Saturday (85-28) at home.

          Coach Eric Hoover says it is good to play meaningful games this week.  “It is good to have something to play for, a championship at the end of the year.  It’s makes everything a little more exciting, a little more intense.  It will have a tournament like atmosphere.  We are glad to be in that position to have games to play for.  It helps motivation at this time things can kind of drag on a little bit.  It keeps the kids working hard and having something to look forward to,” he said.

          Old Fort (16-3,12-2), #5 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, hosts St. Mary’s (11-5,9-3) on Thursday.  St. Mary’s fell out of a share of the lead when they lost to Calvert (60-48) on Saturday.

          Hoover says the Panthers are guard oriented and rely on perimeter shooting, which might lead to some inconsistency.  “They have a lot of good guards, so when they gave good shooting nights, they are going to be better like anybody is, but maybe they rely a little more on their shooting than other teams because they have so many guards.  Even their biggest player goes out and he is one of their better three point shooters.  They don’t get a lot inside, so they rely on perimeter shooting more than others.  When they shoot well, they play well and they shot it well against us and really put it to us all night long,” said Hoover.

          Back on December 17, St. Mary’s beat Old Fort (65-54) to hand them one only two league losses.

          Hoover says they allowed the Panthers to control how the game was played and they can’t do that again.  “We let them dictate the game.  We let them come out and play with confidence from the very beginning.  We were down a little bit.  We just lost Garrett Havens the night before in practice and we still didn’t have Casey Clouse, he actually played in that game for the first time all year in the season half coming off an injury,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday evening, “I don’t know if mentally we just weren’t there to begin with and they came out with all kinds of confidence.  They would get to the basket anytime they wanted and they shot the ball with great confidence.  Even as we kind of started to chip away at it they would just make play after play.  If there is an offensive rebound or get a steal and we couldn’t get close.”

Published 2/17/21

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Old Fort Needs to Keeping Winning

          Old Fort continues to share of the lead in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference with Tiffin Calvert and Sandusky St. Mary’s, all have two division losses.

          The Stockaders host a pair of division games this weekend, with Hopewell-Loudon visiting on Friday and Lakota on Saturday.

          Coach Eric Hoover likes playing important games late in the season.  “I think playing important games really helps you prepare for the tournament.  In theory it makes it a little more tournament like atmosphere when you are still playing for something in the end rather than just going out there and going though the motions.  There are four big league game left here in the last week and half, so week need to be ready to go,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (14-3,10-2) plays host to Hopewell-Loudon (11-7,8-5) on Friday night.  The Chieftains were upset by New Riegel (44-40) in a division game on Tuesday night.

          However, they did hand Old Fort one of their losses in the division (56-54) on January 9.  Hoover says they have to get better looks.  “We had a lot of trouble moving the ball against their zone.  They played a 2-3 zone defense and we couldn’t move the ball around and get the ball where we needed to.  We ended up with 20 plus turnovers I believe.  We were able to create some with our pressing, but we weren’t able to convert it into anything,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “So, we have to do a better job this time around of moving the ball in the zone and get the ball positioned where we want to get it and converting what we are able to create form our defense.”

          Saturday night marks the first of two meetings with the Lakota Raiders (3-13,2-10) for Old Fort.

          Hoover calls Lakota dangerous.  “They are really athletic and they have been in a lot of games.  They haven’t won a lot, but they have been in a lot of close games.  We haven’t even seen them yet.  We have them twice in a week.  So, we really have to ready to go. There is no room for falling asleep at the wheel and not being ready.  You can’t overlook anybody.  We have a target on our back with some success we have had in the past.  Everybody would love to beat us, so you have to ready every night,” he said.

Published 2/12/21

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Old Fort Has Business to do

          Old Fort, in a share of first place with Sandusky St. Mary’s and Tiffin Calvert, in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, plays a pair of division games this week, both at home, with Kansas Lakota Tuesday and Danbury Lakeside on Friday.

          Their showdown with St. Mary’s last Thursday was postponed due some COVID issues with the Panthers.

          The Stockaders did play Saturday and lost a tough crossover game (58-57) to Margaretta.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they had their chances.  “It was close the whole time.  We pretty much led the whole game.  I think we had at nine at one point and had it at seven a couple of times.  We could never just get away from them.  Every time we would build a lead, they would make a shot.  We would have a breakdown on defense and they would get a wide open shot and you can’t do that against a good shooting team like Margaretta,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “They made us pay multiple times and they found a way to win at the end.  We had opportunity after opportunity to get it done, but just didn’t make the plays needed and they did.  It was a good competitive game, a high intensity game here in the second half of the season, so hopefully we learn from it and get better.”

          Old Fort (12-3,8-2) plays host to Kansas Lakota (2-9,1-7) on Tuesday night.  The Raiders lost (50-41) to Gibsonburg in a division game on Saturday night. 

          Hoover says they need to make the Raiders guard them in the paint.  “They are really fast and athletic.  They play fast.  They have been in a lot of games and have had some close ones here recently.  They are going to play hard from wire to wire, there is no doubt about that.  We ae going to have to make sure our defensive transition is in order and do a good job of getting the ball inside, where we will have an distinct size advantage,” he said.

          Danbury Lakeside (2-12,1-9) also lost to Gibsonburg (83-49) on Thursday night.  Old Fort beat them (90-38) in their first meeting on December 22.  They have problems on defense as their opponents make 54% of their two point attempts.

          Hoover says they have potential because they can score.  “If they can do a little better job defensively.  They are pretty athletic too, they have some good athletes and if they can slow you down defensively and not give up layups like we got the first time they can stay in the game because they have some guys that can put the ball in the basket too.  You always anticipate them being a closer game the second time around as you learn more about each other.  They usually are closer, so I expect that to be a battle too,” said Hoover.

Published 2/02/20

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Old Fort Locks Horns With St. Mary’s

          There are three leaders right now in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference in Old Fort, Tiffin Calvert and Sandusky St. Mary’s and two of them play each other on Thursday night as Old Fort hosts St. Mary’s.

          The Stockaders got back into the lead when they beat Calvert (52-50) last Tuesday and then added a win over Fremont St. Joe (71-37) on Friday night.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they must look ahead not in the mirror.  “We had a really good week last week with two tough games.  Calvert is always tough and St. Joe is having another good year and playing at St. Joe.  Going over there and getting a win at that place was a good way to cap off the week.  Every game in our league now is a must win.  We can’t celebrate too long, we have to move on and try and get ready for St. Mary’s,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (12-2,8-2), #5 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, is at home for Sandusky St. Mary’s (10-4,8-2) on Thursday night.  The Panthers earned a (61-40) win over New Riegel in a division game Friday night.

          The first game between the two happened on December 17 and the Panthers won it (65-54) at their place.

          Hoover thinks they were never really in the game.  “The first time they just really came out very confident and really put it to us from the beginning.  They built a lead right out of the gate and held on.  We could not really break into it.  I don’t think we ever got within five points.  Since then, hopefully we have gotten a little better that really hurt us that day.  I think we learned some things and hopefully we can get out there and take it to them early on this time,” he said.

          To win this time, Hoover says they must play better overall defense and when they have the ball they have to get some ball reversal, which they did not get in the first meeting.  “We didn’t do a whole lot right the last time.  Defensively, we gave up a bunch of open shots and they made them.  We have to do a much better job defending the three point line if we are in zone and we have to do a much better job of keeping them out of the paint in man to man.  They have two guys that are really good at attacking and we didn’t do a good job keeping them out of the paint.  They just kept scoring all night long or creating for other people.  We definitely have to tighten that up defensively,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “Offensively, they played a zone, and we could not get any movement.  I feel that we have been working really hard at it since they really kind of exposed that for us that we needed to improve and we have been putting a lot of time and effort into that.”

Published 1/27/21

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Old Fort Needs to Seize the Moment

          Old Fort has beaten Sandusky Bay Conference River Division leading Tiffin Calvert once this season and they are going to need to do it again on Tuesday night when host the Senecas at their place.

          They trail Calvert by a game in the standings.  Although, it is just the Stockaders second game on the second round of division play they don’t want to fall two games back.

          After losing (54-52) Hopewell Loudon January 9 to drop a game back, Old Fort hammered New Riegel (72-37) last Friday in a division game.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they got better all around.  “We got back to executing offensively.  We had gotten sloppy and so we got back to executing.  New Riegel played a lot of zone as did Hopewell the game before, but we are going to see a lot of man to man (Tuesday) night.  I haven’t seen Calvert play any zone.  We were just doing things the right way as far as everybody doing their job whether it was in our presses or defensive rotations or offensive execution,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (10-2,6-2) plays at home against rival Tiffin Calvert (10-1,6-1) on Tuesday night.  Calvert destroyed Danbury (91-46) in a division game last Friday and added a (68-37) win over Riverdale Saturday in non-conference play.

          Hoover says Calvert adjusts well to what you show them.  “They don’t make a lot of mistakes.  They are well rounded.  They have good size, they have good speed, they take care of the ball, they have very good instincts,” he told Swankonsports.com Monday night, “They don’t do a lot of pressing, but they still create about 10 steals a game because they anticipate well.  If you run something once, they do a good job adjusting to it on the fly.  You have to find a lot of different ways to beat them, so that is a very difficult thing teams to do, so that is why they have been a success.”

          Old Fort won the first time (65-64) at Calvert on December 8.

          Hoover says they want to control their own destiny and to do that they must win Tuesday night.  “We don’t want to leave our destiny in other people’s hands and have to count on help to get back in the league race.  If we get the job done (Tuesday) night we can control our own and be back all square with them.  I don’t know if it is necessarily a must have, I think we have a pretty well rounded league, but there is no way we can go in looking at any other way, so that is how we are going to approach it that it’s a must win,” said Hoover.

Published 1/19/20

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Old Fort Needs Confidence Booster

          Old Fort has now slipped a game behind both Tiffin Calvert and Sandusky St. Mary’s in the standings of the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference.

          They play at home against New Riegel on Friday night.

          They were upset by Hopewell-Loudon (56-54) in a division game last Saturday.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they just didn’t play very well at all.  “I really have not stopped thinking about it since it happened.  We have to get better.  They came out and put it to us from the beginning and we could never really recover.  There are just things we have to do better, move the ball better, things I have to do better.  I think we have a had a good week of practice.  We went back and looked at everything together on film and I thought the kids really responded at practice this week.  So, sometimes I think that losing makes you better and hopefully we can learn from that and be better in the long run,” said Hoover.

          Old Fort (9-2,5-2) plays host to New Riegel (0-9,0-7) on Friday night.  The Blue Jackets lost (60-37) to Calvert on Tuesday night.  The Stockaders belted New Riegel (68-37) on December 4 in their first meeting this year.

          Hoover says they will be a lot more competitive this time around.  “They have always given us tough games.  They are a little down in just numbers in their school and it is a very small school to begin with, they are going to have stretches like this, but they have their best player back.  It was his first game back on Tuesday against Calvert, he had a knee injury earlier in the season.  He instantly makes them more athletic.  He is a good defender and just a good all around player.  So, he is definitely boost their confidence,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “You could see in just watching them against Calvert that they were a lot more confident having him on the floor.  They are very familiar with us.  We played them three times last year and they gave us fits last year.  I anticipate it being a very competitive game.”

          Considering the loss on Saturday combined with New Riegel’s lack of success, Hoover feels the first quarter is going to be important for them to establish control.  “We have done a pretty good job in first quarters of coming out strong for the most part.  We have outscored our opponents quite a bit in the first quarter.  The way last Saturday went we need to come out and build confidence in ourselves early as well as not let them get any momentum or you are in a tough battle to the finish.  It is going to important to come back home and get a good start in the second half of the league,” he said.

Published 1/15/21

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Old Fort With Another Tough One in River Division

          Old Fort and Gibsonburg, two of four Sandusky Bay Conference River Division schools with one division loss, play on Thursday night at Old Fort.

          Tiffin Calvert and Sandusky St Mary’s are the other schools with one loss.

          The Stockaders have not played a division game since beating Danbury Lakeside (90-38) on December 22.

          Coach Eric Hoover says its good to get back to a league schedule.  “It means a little more to the kids just working toward some of our goals as far as wanting to win the league.  They have some rivalries with some of these league teams.  They know nothing about some the non-league teams.  Being over break is always a little different too to get people ready to play.  Getting back to the league is back into the routine and I think it is good for us,” he said.

          Old Fort (8-1,4-1) plays host to Gibsonburg (2-2,2-1) on Thursday night.  The Golden Bears saw their first action since December 11 on Monday when they downed New Riegel (59-52) in a division game.

          Hoover says they kind of know what to expect.  “They hadn’t played since December 11 before (Monday) night, so they have been off for a while.  I don’t know too much about them.  They have a lot back from last year and that is beneficial as far as what they are going to do.  Of course, they still have coach (Brent) Liskai, who has been there a long time.  I don’t imagine they are going to change things up too much,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “I was able to watch the game (Monday) night, so that was good.  They have a pretty good post player, somebody with some size that we really haven’t seen yet.  That is good for us because we need to seem some of that size and it will force us to do some other things other than pound the ball inside.”

          Old Fort is the defending division champ, but Hoover says getting another banner won’t be easy.  “It’s a tough night every night.  Gibsonburg played us really tight last year over there at their place.  They are going to play physical, in your face defense and they are going to make everything tough.  They are going to muddy up the game and make you work for everything you get.  Nobody is going to come in and lay down and give up before the game.  There have been close games all over the league.  Calvert and St. Joe had another close one (Monday) night.  There have been a lot of tough, close games and you have to expect a battle every night.” said Hoover.

Published 1/05/21

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Another Big Game for Old Fort

          Old Fort and Sandusky St. Mary’s share the early lead in the standings in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference and they meet on Thursday night in Sandusky.

          The Stockaders beat Fremont St. Joe (72-47) in a division game last Friday.

          They have won all four of their games so far and coach Eric Hoover believes they are improving, but there are a lot of things they can execute better.  “I feel like we played better on Friday than we did on Tuesday, so there is some growth there in some areas.  I can see some people with things in practice that we are talking about after games and in film that they are putting it to use, so, yeah, I think we are getting better,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “We still have some injuries and they should be back in a couple of weeks hopefully and that will help make us better.  I still don’t think that our inside game has developed the way that it will throughout the year.  So, I think we still have a long way to improve.”

          Old Fort (4-0,3-0) is at St. Mary’s (4-1,3-0) on Thursday night.  The Panthers beat New Riegel (52-38) last Friday in a division contest.

          Hoover believes the Panther players are competing with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder.  “I think the kids take it personal sometimes when they graduated a bunch of guys in front of them and so people will overlook them and I think, I have seen some of their games, and they are taking it personal.  They play very hard and they are a guard oriented team.  A lot of times maybe even five guards on the court.  They still have some length to them.  They attack the basket hard.  They have a really good outside shooter.  They have good versatility.  They have been able to put some pressure on.  They have made it to 4-1, so they have done an outstanding job so far this year,” said Hoover.

          With St. Mary’s sometimes playing with five guards, Hoover says that can create some interesting matchups.  “I always look at it the other way that they are going to have a hard time matching up with us, but I look at the other side, and okay, who is he going to guard?  We mix it up quite a bit anyway between man and zone.  My 1-4 are athletic enough they could be guards anyway for us.  It is not too big of a problem for our bigger guys to guard guards, but it does create a little bit of a problem as I’m looking at it,” he said.

Published 12/16/20

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Old Fort Wants to Turn up the Pressure

          Old Fort and Tiffin Calvert are likely the two best teams in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference again this year and their first of two regular season meetings comes on Tuesday night in Tiffin.

          The Stockaders have won the division title the last two years, but Calvert has eliminated them from the division IV postseason tournament in both years.

          Old Fort (2-0,1-0) dominated New Riegel (68-37) last Friday in a division game.  They had beaten Wynford (82-39) in a non-league game the week before. 

          Coach Eric Hoover says it was good to work some kinks out before having to play Calvert.  “Anytime we get to play somebody else it is going to benefit us.  We didn’t end up having any scrimmages, so thankfully the other teams and us were healthy enough to get a couple of games in because this is one of the best, if not the best team, we will play all year in the regular season.  Being this early we needed to have some other competition other than ourselves in practice.  We can simulate a lot in practice.  There is really only so much you can do.  Getting in those game situations hopefully prepares us for (Tuesday),” he said.

          Calvert (2-0,1-0) smoked Danbury-Lakeside (95-64) in a division game last Friday and followed that up with a (63-47) win over Clyde on Saturday.

          Hoover sys they have a balanced team and you must play solid defense against them.  “There overall athleticism is very good, they are highly skilled and they have two players that can dominate a game, so you have to really focus on them.  Everybody else they put in the game can score 10 or 12 too.  So, there are a lot of different things you have to worry about.  If you are focusing on one or two too much the other ones can really hurt you, so you really have to find that balance.  Defensively, you have to focus on the two main guys, but there is no one you can ignore, double team off of, or anything like that, so it makes it a little harder on defense,” said Hoover.

          Calvert’s gym is a historic venue going back many years and it is smaller than most.  Hoover says that has an impact on the game.  “Their facility compared to ours really is a big difference.  We are used to playing on a huge floor.  Theirs’s is the opposite, so it does make a difference.  Usually, we have five people stepping out of the sidelines in the corner.  They are just looking at the basket, their don’t look behind them and they always end up stepping on the sideline and that cost you one or two possessions a game.  Width wise it isn’t so bad, but it really shortens the court,” he told Swankonsprts.com on Monday night, “Since we are kind of a fastbreak team it can slow down our ability get out and get down the floor too.  Usually we try and take advantage of it and add pressure to put that pressure on them in that smaller area.”

Published 12/08/20

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Old Fort Beings Defense

          Old Fort won the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference last season and they tipoff defense of that title on Friday night as they travel to New Riegel to face the Blue Jackets.

          Last Wednesday, they destroyed Wynford (82-39) in a non-conference game.

          Coach Eric Hoover says they really played well in the second half.  “It was good to just get out and play after having no summer and not having much preseason and whatnot it was just good to get back out and play.  Even though we were going on a short time frame with little preparation I expected it to be kind of a bumpy road, which it was in the first half, but we were able to wear them out and just continue to build the lead and we really locked it down defensively in the second half and held them to 11 points I think in the second half.  I was really happy with the defensive effort in then,” said Hoover.

          Last year, the Stockaders just kept running guys in and out of games and just wore down other teams.  Hoover says they were able to do that last week too, but with a different level of experience.  “Once we all get healthy, we will be able to do that.  I have two guys out with ankle and foot injuries right now, so we are a little thin.  That is kind of what we were able to do to Wynford is to wear them out.  They were a little shorthanded and I had 10 healthy guys to get in there.  Maybe not quite experienced deep, I had guys coming off the bench that were three year lettermen last year and I don’t have quite that experience, but I do have guys that I feel confident putting in the game,” he said.

          This will be New Riegel’s first game of the season, but Hoover says they know each other pretty well.  “It is their first game.  They were supposed to play Mohawk and that got cancelled, so this is their first game.  I was able to see a couple of scrimmages from them.  We know them very well we played them three times last year, including in the tournament.  We know each other very well.  We have a lot of guys back, they have a lot of guys back.  I think we both know pretty well what to expect from each other,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “They did a great job defensively on us last year.  They were one of the teams to hold us to the fewest points all year in two of the three times we played them.  We know it’s going to be a physical battle.  They are going to play well in their home opener.”

Published 12/04/20

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Old Fort With Limited Preparation

          Old Fort, the defending champion in the River Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference, will play host to Wynford, of the Northern 10 Athletic Conference, in a non-conference play on Wednesday night.

          Coach Eric Hoover says due to the COVID-19 pandemic they have had precious little practice time this month.  “Well, it has been a lot like everybody else.  We had our first four days of practice and then the whole varsity team was quarantined.  We had positive cases on the team and myself, so we were off for two weeks.  We just got back last Wednesday, we started practicing again.  We finally just got (Zach) DeWeese cleared (Tuesday), so he has had only one day of practice the last three weeks.  It has been much different.  We have not had a single scrimmage.  We have kind of lost the preseason conditioning that we did have being off that long.  So, it has been much different, but the kids are handing it pretty well,” said Hoover.

          The Stockaders do have some experience back this season and Hoover says that has been a plus when working through these unprecedented times.  “If this if going to happen there are worse years for it because we do have a lot back.  DeWeese will be a four year letterman.  I have two juniors that are who are three year lettermen and the point guard was my point guard last year too.  So, we do have a lot of experience coming back returning five out of the top eight from last year.  At least we can go back to what they already know and just start with that and build from there.  It is a lot easier to go from things that were just a review for them then try to put new stuff in in a short time in practice,” he said.

          When it comes to Wynford, Hoover they really don’t know much about their personnel other than what they have back from last year and really they wouldn’t have had time to prepare much for them anyway.  “We don’t know a whole lot honestly.  I don’t know how many scrimmages they ended up having.  I know they had a couple and I wasn’t able to watch any film yet.  I just went back and watched last year.  I know they lost Josh Crall and some other seniors that were playing last year at the time,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “Being the opening game, I know at the end of the season they were playing some different guys.  I know traditionally playing against them for many years when I was at Mohawk they are very good.  They are going to be skilled, they are going to have good athletes, they are going to be well coached, coach (Steve) Mohr does a great job.  We are just going to have to go off what they did last year and they are probably doing some similar things.  We couldn’t focus too much time on them anyway because we have had such a short time in practice really we have been focusing on us being able to do some things well that will be strengths for us.”

Published 11/25/20

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Old Fort Meets Defending Champs

          Sandusky Bay Conference River Division leader Old Fort plays host to defending champion Sandusky St. Mary’s in a division game on Friday night.

          Yes, I know that isn’t quite right as last year it was the Sandusky River League, but it is the same teams plus Tiffin Calvert.

          The Stockaders beat Calvert (75-58) last Saturday to remain unbeaten in “SBC” play.  Coach Eric Hoover says it was one of their better performances of the season.  “We had a really good game Saturday night.  Probably the most complete game that we have played all season so far.  We came out with a lot of confidence and get ahead early and just kind of controlled the game the whole time,” said Hoover.

          Although they have been good all year, Hoover believes the players are still working hard to improve on both ends of the court.  “It is good to see that we are continuing to get better at certain things that we are working on in practice.  We are still only halfway through the season, so we have a long way to go.  We want to keep getting better and be at our best at the end of the season come tournament time,” he said.

          St. Mary’s (7-3,4-1) scores points in bunches and they blew out Kansas Lakota (87-56) last Saturday and remain a game behind Old Fort. 

          Hoover says the Panthers have two explosive scores on the court.  “We have been in the league with them two years now.  They won the Sandusky River League both years, so they have been outstanding.  They still have two very good individual offensive players,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday, “They have the two leading scorers in the league in Luca Mormina and David Miller.  They are going to be a difficult team to stop offensively.”

          The Panthers are a team that likes to force the pace and run the floor and Hoover says for then it will be a key to the slow they down and make somebody other than Mormina and Miller beat them.  “We need to focus on those two guys.  They score 65 to 75 percent of their points just out of those two players.  It is going to take a team effort and do our best to take away their individual strengths and just try to make them feel uncomfortable.  They like to push the ball offensively.  We have to limit their opportunities that they get in transition for us taking quick, bad shots or turning the ball over.  If we can do those things I think we can have a good competitive game,” said Hoover.

Published 1/12/17

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