The Mattoon 7th Grade Boys Basketball Team is loaded and they showed it as they defeated Newton Jasper County 42-3 on Monday, November 9, 2009 in Mattoon.
After playing each other for several years now in youth and city leagues, it was simply pure pleasure getting to see the boys finally getting the chance to play together as a team, and they were clicking on all cylinders. After the first quarter of play ended they led 16-0, and as the halftime buzzer sounded they had increased their lead to 28-1. Mattoon only had 1 defensive rebound in the first half, and that was because Newton was only able to get off 2 shots from the field in the entire first half . . . and the first of these was rejected by Payton Hartbank. As it turned out, Mattoon did not allow a single field goal for the entire game.
Mattoon was able to play 15 players (only Austin Warrem did not play due to a broken finger he injured during practice last week), and 9 players got into the scoring column. It could have been much worse for Newton: Three of Mattoon’s biggest offensive threats did not even figure in the scoring (Austin Warrem, Zach Armstrong and Daniel Ferguson). Armstrong was 0 for 2 from the field while Ferguson did not even attempt a shot. Daniel had 1 steal and 2 offensive boards in 8 minutes and 14 seconds of game play. He also caused 5 more steals for his teammates as he deflected passes into their hands.
The 1-2-2 swarming zone defense and three quarter zone press was just too much for Newton to handle as Mattoon had 23 steals for the game. They also caused at least a dozen more turnovers on top of that with errant passes, traveling and double dribbling. In spite of their very solid defensive performance, they only had 1 player, Jack Raboin, commit more than 2 fouls, and Raboin had 3. As a team, they only committed 7 fouls in the game.
This club is really loaded. They have the potential to go very far this season. There is no perceptible drop-off in talent until you get to about number 14 on a 16-man roster. The entire 4th quarter for Mattoon was played by the third string for Mattoon.
When I was in 7th grade, we had a very good basketball team that got knocked out in the district championship, just missing going to state and finishing with a very strong 14-3 record. This team is so good that kids who tried out and did not make the squad were as good as our second unit.
After playing each other for several years now in youth and city leagues, it was simply pure pleasure getting to see the boys finally getting the chance to play together as a team, and they were clicking on all cylinders. After the first quarter of play ended they led 16-0, and as the halftime buzzer sounded they had increased their lead to 28-1. Mattoon only had 1 defensive rebound in the first half, and that was because Newton was only able to get off 2 shots from the field in the entire first half . . . and the first of these was rejected by Payton Hartbank. As it turned out, Mattoon did not allow a single field goal for the entire game.
Mattoon was able to play 15 players (only Austin Warrem did not play due to a broken finger he injured during practice last week), and 9 players got into the scoring column. It could have been much worse for Newton: Three of Mattoon’s biggest offensive threats did not even figure in the scoring (Austin Warrem, Zach Armstrong and Daniel Ferguson). Armstrong was 0 for 2 from the field while Ferguson did not even attempt a shot. Daniel had 1 steal and 2 offensive boards in 8 minutes and 14 seconds of game play. He also caused 5 more steals for his teammates as he deflected passes into their hands.
The 1-2-2 swarming zone defense and three quarter zone press was just too much for Newton to handle as Mattoon had 23 steals for the game. They also caused at least a dozen more turnovers on top of that with errant passes, traveling and double dribbling. In spite of their very solid defensive performance, they only had 1 player, Jack Raboin, commit more than 2 fouls, and Raboin had 3. As a team, they only committed 7 fouls in the game.
This club is really loaded. They have the potential to go very far this season. There is no perceptible drop-off in talent until you get to about number 14 on a 16-man roster. The entire 4th quarter for Mattoon was played by the third string for Mattoon.
When I was in 7th grade, we had a very good basketball team that got knocked out in the district championship, just missing going to state and finishing with a very strong 14-3 record. This team is so good that kids who tried out and did not make the squad were as good as our second unit.
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