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Sembach achieves milestone
By Jim Flick
GIRARD
The Newton Falls High boys basketball celebrated coach Roy Sembach’s with a 69-39 victory over Girard.
Friday’s win was Sembach’s 322nd, giving him the school record.
But the coach downplayed the milestone, saying that more importantly the game was the first All-American Blue conference win for the Tigers (4-0, 1-0).
“All that other stuff is nice, but frankly if you coach long enough like I have, you’re going to reach some milestones along the way,” said Semach, who is in his 25th season at Newton Falls’ varsity coach..
“It’s nice, but the focus of our team was to win this game tonight,” Sembach said. “We’ve had a lot of really good players in Newton Falls over the last 25 years. Our kids work really hard.”
Sembach admitted he was nervous before the game, but not about the record number of his coaching victories.
“Every game, no matter who you play, if you don’t feel something in the stomach before the game, it’s time to get out,” Sembach said.
Three players scored in double figures for the Tigers, led by junior Dale Kernan and senior Chase Nichols with 14 points each.
Kernan “is a steady scorer for us,” said Sembach, adding that Nichols “comes off the bench and gives us whatever we need, rebounding, defense, and tonight it was scoring.”
Cody Dillon, a senior, tallied 12 points.
Sembach said Dillon “is probably the premiere player in the area. He had a rough scoring night tonight, but he had a lot of long passes for baskets.
“Girard played hard,” Sembach said. “Girard always plays hard.”
Girard (2-2) scored the game’s first points and led 4-2 in the first quarter on field goals by seniors Michael Bornemiss and Doug Thomas.
The Tigers took their first lead, 8-6, on a field goal by Nichols and led 15-11 at the end of the first quarter.
Newton Falls poured it on in the second quarter, outscoring Girard 21-10.
The score was even more lopsided in the third quarter, when Newton Falls blitzed Girard 24-9 and led 60-30 after three quarters.
Girard was led by Bornemiss, who tallied 15 points.
Despite the 30-point loss, Girard coach Nolan Cubellis said, “I didn’t see any quit in our guys. We’d just like to see the results a little better.”
“We thought we were prepared for them,” Cubellis said.
“I thought we came out in the first quarter.”