In a very ragged game that neither team should be especially proud of, the Staunton Storm took advantage of two first half scoring spurts to build an 18 point halftime lead and ultimately prevailed over the Gladiators 69-50. With the win, the Storm finishes 11-1 in district play with their only blemish being a two point home loss to Wilson early in the season. Since there is no district tournament, they are to be considered this year's champions and now we wait to see where the various teams will go for post-season play.
Neither team was especially disciplined tonight and the game resembled street ball at times with plenty of turnovers and bodies constantly hitting the floor. As is often the case, fans howled at the refs as it appeared they were unable to keep the game under control. By the end of the rough-and-tumble contest, Riverheads had lost one player to fouls, and two others finished the game with four. With only a nine-man roster, things could have gotten a little dicey if the game had gone on much longer. For the Storm, their additional depth kept them from having any such issues.
Things started off decent enough for RHS as senior Bennett Dunlap drilled a triple on the Big Red's first possession to put the visitors ahead 3-0. But the rest of the first quarter was a nightmare for Riverheads as Staunton went on a 15-point binge to take control of the game. Riverheads would not find the range again until early in the second period.
However, Dunlap and his fellow senior Gabe Milo went to work in that second period to get the Big Red back into the game, at least temporarily. When sophomore Henley Dunlap joined the party and dropped in a corner triple that hit every part of the rim before falling in, that made the score 24-17 and we had a ball game again. But Staunton went on Spurt Number Two and closed the half on an 11-0 run, including a buzzer beating banked in triple that just proved that Senior Night had some magic in store for the home team.
With the score 35-17 to open the second half, Staunton gave Riverheads every opportunity to get back in the game by experiencing their own five minute scoring drought. But RHS was not hitting either so the closest they could get was 35-20. Soon Staunton heated up again and the second half was pretty much even the rest of the way.
If there was any drama worth mentioning in the second half, it involved the fans. You see, Staunton had decided on Senior Night to let a couple of other seniors serve as guest P A announcers. Well a couple of the more rabid Riverheads fans were not pleased with the job they were doing as it appeared that they were being much more cheerleader than announcer and that they spent too much time trying to rev up the home crowd, even at times when Riverheads had the ball and was trying to run its offense. (At least that was my perception of the issue they had with the two guys.)
So at one point, a Gladiator fan went down to the scorer's table to express that opinion and a few minutes later, another went to find an administrator to voice the same concern. Since I was not privy to either of those discussions, I can't offer any first hand information but in both cases, the complaining parties reported back to the rest of us that they were told (and I am paraphrasing here) "we can say anything we want and fans should stay in their seats." The regular announcer, who is quite good by the way, did come back late in the third quarter to finish out the game.
A few minutes after that, in what I assume was an unrelated matter, the Staunton AD took the mike and made a very forceful announcement about artificial noisemakers not being allowed. But as near as I could figure that warning was directed at some home fans.
The game ended without anybody getting folded, spindled, or mutilated, and each team will move on to post-season play. Staunton will presumably get to host a Region 3-C game whereas Riverheads, as the number six seed, will travel next Monday for a first-round Region 1-B game. The opponent for that game is yet to be determined but the smart money is on Carver Academy.
As for tonight's scoring, Milo and Bennett Dunlap led Riverheads with 13 and 12 respectively as the four Gladiator sophomores had a quieter night tonight than they had been having lately. But two of them, Henley Dunlap and Will Gardner, warmed up late in the game and finished with seven points each. Balance has been a key for Riverheads this season and tonight eight of the nine players scored, and the Big Red finished with a respectable seven three-pointers, which came from four different players.
Tonight's JV game ended as expected with Staunton's sensational JV squad capping off an unbeaten season with a 66-26 win over the Gladiators. But at least Riverheads had its moments as the Big Red led for most of the first quarter and things were still tied at 12-12 very late in the quarter before the Storm's superior depth and quickness took over. That team is good enough to beat most varsity teams I have seen and most likely Staunton will be the (varsity) team to beat again next year. in fact, looking at their rosters, they will either have to cut some folks or carry about 20 on the team next year. Nice problem to have!
Good luck to both teams moving forward, as well as Buffalo Gap and Wilson, two others that will definitely be playoff bound. Not sure about anyone else, but whoever gets to keep playing next week, let's represent the 'Doah proud and bring home some regional and maybe even state hardware!
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