KSAC SET TO CROWN CHAMPIONS SATURDAY AFTERNOON

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By Chris Rossetti

CLARION – The KSAC will crown its champions Saturday afternoon when Rocky Grove meets Union for the boys’ title and Keystone faces Union for the girls’ championship with both games slated for Clarion High School.

The boys’ game starts at 1 p.m. followed by the girls’ game at 3 p.m.

It’s the second year of the two-division format in the KSAC and thus the second KSAC Title game. Union’s teams won the KSAC-East division titles this year, while the Rocky Grove boys and the Keystone girls won the KSAC-West.

Here’s a closer look at each game.

BOYS’ GAME (1 p.m.) (Go to top of page)

Union (16-7, 15-4) vs. Rocky Grove (23-1, 18-1)

Union and Rocky Grove have to be getting sick of each other.

This is the third time in 13 days the two have met with Rocky Grove taking the first two encounters 69-62 at Union Jan. 28 and 82-57 at Rocky Grove Tuesday.

While the second score would indicate a major advantage for the Orioles, it must be pointed out that Union’s second-leading scorer A.J. Ethriedge (16.6 ppg) didn’t play in that contest because he was serving a PIAA mandated one-game suspension after picking up two technical fouls and being tossed out of the Knights win over North Clarion Saturday.

Without Ethriedge, who scored 22 points in the first meeting between the teams, Rocky Grove was able to concentrate on shutting down Union’s other big offensive threat Scott Booth (19.7 ppg). Booth, only a sophomore, still scored 16 in the game but only two in the middle two quarters when the Orioles took control of the game.

Thanks in part to the two losses to Rocky Grove, Union enters the game limping a little bit. Karen Davis’ Golden Knights are just 2-3 in their last five games after seeing their seven-game win streak halted in the Jan. 28 game vs. Rocky Grove.

Steve Cutchall’s Orioles, on the other hand, haven’t lost since suffering their lone defeat of the season 63-43 at home to Keystone Jan. 11. Since then, Rocky Grove has won 11 straight including getting some revenge on Keystone with a 68-53 win Jan. 30.

The Orioles are led by senior Ethan Gravatt’s 19.0 ppg. Gravatt played at Franklin his first three seasons before it was realized that he actually lived in the Valley Grove School District of which Rocky Grove is the high school. Gravatt was a member of Franklin’s 2006 PIAA Class AAA state championship team.

While Gravatt has added a dimension that Rocky Grove didn’t have in the past with an ability to slash to the basket, he is by far the Orioles lone weapon. After all, Rocky Grove is averaging 68.3 ppg, the second most in District 9.

Sharpshooter Cruz Mietus is adding 15.1 ppg for the Orioles including 19.3 ppg in his last four contests, while Travis Melhuish added 9.3 ppg, Aaron Luce 7.1 ppg and Andrew Setzkorn 7.1 ppg. Freshman Dylan Gravatt, the younger brother of Ethan, has also started to provide key minutes as of late for Rocky Grove and is averaging 7.1 ppg as well including 9.4 ppg in his last seven contests.

Spencer Varner is adding 8.8 ppg for Union, while Clay Burns chips in with 7.4 and Neil Scott 6.3.  

In addition to this being the teams’ third meeting in 13 days, there are a couple of other elements that make this a compelling match-up.

This will be Rocky Grove’s last game as a member of the KSAC. The Orioles, after four years in District 9, have decided to go back to District 10 where they played before entering District 9.. That could cause the crowd to be overwhelmingly pro-Union.

In addition to that, neither team has played particularly well in Clarion High School’s gym the last few years. In fact, Rocky Grove is 0-3 at Clarion as a member of the KSAC, and Cutchall has not seen the ending of either of the two games he has coached their as head coach of Rocky Grove being tossed out of both the 2006 and 2007 contests against Clarion. Union, meanwhile, has lost three straight at Clarion including a 53-51 loss to the Bobcats this season when Booth missed the first of three free throws with less than five seconds on the clock and Union down three.

Rocky Grove has never won the KSAC title, while Union is looking for its second title in four years having taken home the crown in 2004.

GIRLS’ GAME (3 p.m.) (Go to top of page)

Union (17-7, 14-5) vs. Keystone (21-2, 18-1)

This is the second year in a row these two have met for the KSAC Title. Last season, heavily favored Union had to hold off a furious comeback attempt by Keystone to get a 43-42 win. The Lady Panthers nearly erased a 7-point deficit in the final 1:21 but saw a last-second, open 12-foot jumper by Cassy Hinderliter miss the target.

Now the tables are turned, as Keystone comes in the heavy favorite and Union the upstart underdog.

Keystone returns five players who played in last year’s title contest including sophomore Sam Schwabenbauer who tied for the team-leading in scoring that day with 11 points.

Union, meanwhile, has just one player back who played in last year’s game, Torri Smith, who didn’t score. Josh Meeker’s Golden Damsels have reached the title game despite graduating three of the school’s top eight all-time scorers in the last two seasons – Bethany Koch, Andrea Mortimer and Tiffany Corle – as well as a host of other good players.

Keystone probably enters the game with some revenge on its mind. Union was the lone KSAC team to beat Bruce Turk’s Lady Panthers this season handing them a 46-44 loss Jan. 4 at home. Since then, Keystone has won 11 straight, and few of them have been close. The average margin of victory of the Lady Panthers in that span has been 18.6 ppg and only three times – East Forest by nine, Karns City by three  and West Forest by six – has Keystone even won by less than double digits.

Union, on the other hand, has played a ton of close games since the win over Keystone. The Golden Damsels are just 8-5 since that victory but three of the wins and two of the loses have been by eight points or less including two wins by four or fewer points including an overtime game.

Schwabenbauer, just a sophomore, is the leading scorer for Keystone at 14.1 ppg. She is ranked in the top 15 in District 9 in scoring and has already scored 673 career points.

Hinderliter is adding 13.0 ppg for Keystone, while Caitlin Turk chips in with 6.6 ppg, Britt Mohney 6.0 ppg and Amanda Rodgers 5.2 ppg.  

Union, which is looking for its fourth straight KSAC title and the 16^th league crown in school history, is led by Smith’s 14.1 ppg. Courtney Frederick is second with 10.0 ppg, but the 5-2 junior point guard has missed time recently with a foot injury and her status for the title game is uncertain. Freshman Tina Lipps is adding 7.6 ppg and is also a good rebounder.

Keystone is looking for its first win over Union since Dec. 21, 2001, when it got a 59-54 double overtime victory. Since then, Union has won 10 straight, although seven of those games have been decided by seven points or less including one by a point, one by two points, two by four points and one by five points.

Both teams return to action Tuesday in the District 9 Class A playoffs with Keystone hosting DuBois Central Catholic and Union hosting East Forest.