(3-8-20) The Parkway boys basketball teams in the last 58 years, since the consolidation between Willshire and Rockford, have never won a District title. That all changed when the Panthers knocked off MAC rival Marion Local Friday night in Wapakoneta D IV Championship Game 41-31.
photos courtesy www.pantherzden.com
In the win All-MAC and All- NW District Caleb Kinney (Sr) led all scorers with 17 points, while Caden Slusher (Soph) and Dylan Hughes (Jr) each added 10 points.
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The Panthers who have never won a Midwest Athletic Conference championship, now have a District Championship trophy.
This year they were up to the challenge. They remain as the only MAC team still playing in the tournament, that is a big accomplishment in this conference. This season they were 2nd to Versailles in the MAC and they beat Marion Local (twice), Coldwater and St. Henry all in the same season.
Parkway Head Coach Doug Hughes told presspromagazine.com after the District win –
So this means a lot to Parkway and everyone who’s ever graduated from Parkway. This was a first…we’d never played in a district tournament, and after winning tonight we’re tied for the most wins in the school’s history. When Roger Craft coached here in ’79-’80 he was 18-6, but they never won a district title. They lost in the district semis. This makes us 18-7, and you know it means a lot by the number of people that were here to see it.
Note – Roger Craft was a key player on the 1980 team, Dwain Meckstroth was the head coach
1979-80 Parkway Panthers
Tiffin Calvert had to beat the #1 and #2 seeds to win its first district title since the 2004-05 season. In this year’s District Championship game they beat Arlington 53-36 led by a balance attack thanks to Nolan Beeker (17 points, 5 rebounds) Garrett Spaun (Soph) (16 points, 6 rebounds) and Nick Seifert (10 poinst, 7 rebounds).
Arlington Head Coach Jason Vermillion told The Courier after the game –
“Tiffin Calvert did a great job tonight of passing the basketball against our stuff. They were just smart.
“Every time we needed to have a next rotation, they made us pay for not being there. They got some easy scores because of that.”
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Tournament Trail
Parkway (18-7) (#2 seed) at Wapakoneta District
2/28 Upper Scioto Valley 
63 – 39
3/3 Minster 48 – 43
3/6 Marion Local 41 – 31
Tiffin Calvert (19-6) (#4 seed) at Findlay District
2/26 Vanlue 72 – 50
2/28 Fremont St. Joseph Central Catholic(W) 51 – 39
3/3 Old Fort (#1 seed) 67 – 52
3/6 Arlington (#2 seed) 53 – 36
D IV Sweet 16 – Complete Bracket
Regional Semifinals
- Antwerp (25-0) vs Columbus Grove (25-0) Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. at BGSU Stroh Center
- Tiffin Calvert vs. Parkway Tuesday at 8 p.m. at BGSU Stroh Center
Related:
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