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Springfield’s new coach has Tigers off to 2-0 start
By DAN HINER
NEW MIDDLETOWN
After Friday’s 64-61 victory over Western Reserve, the Springfield High School boys basketball team is two games into the Steve French era.
French was an assistant coach at the high school level for six years before becoming the head coach at Jefferson Area High School.
He coached the Falcons for four years, going 75-20 while at Jefferson. French took the Falcons to the district final in each of the last two seasons, but he was unable to win the title.
“I grew up in a rural community, this is like home for me,” French said. “I’m used to this, but you gotta be creative. We’ll bring in older guys — actually our all-time leading scorer came into practice yesterday. I got guys from Jefferson to come help out to give us a look.
“Sometimes you need that just with the depth. We just gotta be creative.”
French said he’s taking over a “solid” boys basketball program which has a rich tradition.
He said there were changes and the team will continue to adapt even after the start of the season.
“[We’re] a little sloppy with execution on some plays but it just takes more reps,” he said. “The guys’ effort has been tremendous. If we keep up that effort, we will be alright.”
French’s system involves an up-tempo offense and “solid half-court” defense. He said the goal of the offense is to “make it fun” for the players to move in transition.
The effort and solid defense helped the Tigers (2-0) break a tie game late against the Blue Devils.
Springfield shot 0-6 from the free throw line in the first half, but the Tigers turned things around to 15-16 in the second half.
Brandon Walters made four free throws in the fourth quarter, including the go-ahead shots to give the Tigers a 59-57 lead with 1:08 remaining.
French said the tempo of the game helped the Tigers come back from a 29-22 deficit at halftime.
“We want to be the most in-shape team every night,” French said. “We don’t play a lot of guys, we don’t have a real deep bench. Guys got to be in shape, guys got to play with fouls. And I think, by the end, they started to foul a little bit as we got the ball to the rim. Maybe we outlasted them.”
With two minutes to play, Western Reserve’s Kade Hilles left the game with a leg injury. He tried to return, but was pulled shortly after.
“When [Hilles] went down, he’s our leader, he does a lot of stuff for us,” Western Reserve head coach Patsy Daltorio said. “That did hurt.
“Jack [Cappabianca], on a bum wheel, came back in and did a nice job. When he’s not out there, as much as we want to say it’s ok when your best players not on the floor, it’s not always the best scenario.
“Like I said, both teams [played a] hard-fought game. Tip our hats to them and move forward.”
Hilles was the leading scorer for the Blue Devils (1-1) with 21 points.
Springfield’s John Ritter led the Tigers with 14 points. Evan Ohlin and Drew Clark each had 13 points.
“We missed a lot of shots in the second quarter, missed a lot of free throws,” French said. “We made our free throws in the end and that was really the difference.”