Chieftains sweep Blue Jackets, claim Battle of Bullfrog Road trophy

BASCOM - In a rivalry that is about as old as time, there is one game that is all about playing solid basketball.The Battle of Bull Frog Road which involves Hopewell-Loudon and New Riegel.In the battle this year, the Chieftains ultimately came away with a win, just not in overtime as it took down the Blue Jackets 30-27 in Sandusky Bay Conference River Division play.This year though, the battle meant a little more to the coaches and players. It was the first time since H-L alum Jordyn Jury became head coach of the Blue Jackets that he stepped onto his home court and that Roger Jury, his father and head coach of the Chieftains, faced off in front of a standing room only crowd at H-L. It also marked the end of an era as both teams will be leaving the SBC to move it into the Northern 10 Athletic Conference."It was a great game," coach Roger Jury said. "New Riegel came in prepared and did a great job. We tried to put a couple of new wrinkles in and they tried to pick it apart and see what it was. They didn't act nervous, which I thought they would show emotion or confusion. It's just a testament to Jordyn and his coaching staff,"H-L (12-10, 8-6) and NR (6-16, 4-10) kept the score within a one to two-point margin throughout the game until late into the fourth quarter.After timeouts were called by both teams, and with 1:04 left on the clock, Kellen Frankart made a trip to the free throw line. He knocked down his pair of free throws, putting the Chieftains up 28-24 over the Blue Jackets.NR called a timeout to figure out what to do next."We executed our game plan very well," Jordyn Jury said. "We knew what we wanted to do, and that was to hold one of their guys down point wise. They had some other guys make shots and credit to them for utilizing a game plan to not use Ashton Miller as much. Our offense was to put the ball into the basket a few more times. It comes down to that."Coming out of the timeout, Collin Smith made the second and only other trip to the charity stripe that produced results, and made his pair, making it 30-24, which was the biggest margin all game.The Blue Jackets thought quickly on their feet with only 19 seconds remaining in the game.Alec Hohman drilled a triple and cut H-L's lead down to three, and the final score."We missed some shots that we could have made," Jordyn Jury said, "and we got rushed in our sets a little bit and couldn't get good looks."In the third quarter, there was a set that the Blue Jackets ran that allowed for Aiden Faeth to score after an inbounds pass from Hohman to tie the game at 14.Within two minutes however, Frankart found himself able to nail a deep 3 to break the tie.A little later in the quarter, Hohman knocked down a bucket pulling NR temporarily ahead by one point, 18-17.But with 1:23 remaining, Smith drilled another triple to right the ship for the Chieftains, 20-18.At the start of the fourth quarter, Smith opened it with another triple, but Faeth had a response back of a bucket, pulling the Blue Jackets close, 23-20.The battle intensified though as Hohman knocked down a basket less than two minutes later to 23-22 to pull NR closer.Miller, who was kept to only three points all night long, nailed down his triple for H-L, making it 26-22 with 4:33 left. Miller normally averages 17 points per game.Coming back to H-L as a coach vs. as a player was a bit different for Jordyn Jury."I told a couple of radio guys this week, its a unique experience being on the other side of the court, and to sit on that side was different." he said. "I just wish I could have given something more to the Blue Jacket fans to celebrate."For Roger Jury, it wasn't just about focusing purely on coaching, but rather about family."As a father, the game being this close, and knowing what Jordyn has done with that team, was hard," Roger Jury said. "His kids don't quit, and they haven't won as many games, but his kids are so good that they were able to read the plays and just the reaction to the new stuff."Next up for the teams are tournaments. NR will be headed to South Central and H-L will be facing Allen East next week.