Recap: East Canton 75, Heritage 53 (Or, Burfield, Hornets Roll Easily)

Overview: After jumping out to an early 20-point lead, East Canton finished rather lackadaisical

Summary: It didn't take long for the Hornets to establish their superiority in this contest. They jumped out to a 21-2 start and ended the first quarter up 26-4. I attribute the fast start to two things: a very passive, lazy 2-3 zone played by Heritage, and an extended trapping press slapped on by East Canton. The zone, which didn't last too long, was torched by 3-pointers and offensive rebounds. Burfield dropped 3 early 3's on way to a 19 point first half and Smith tallied up 6 rebounds and 9 points in the first quarter. The press caused frequent turnovers and forced Heritage's weaker players to handle the ball. It was effective until the lead was built up enough that it was no longer in good taste to be pressing.

Then things changed. With a big lead, the Hornets seemed content to coast to the end of the game. A killer instinct was noticeably absent. This can be shown by comparing the score differential per quarter. The first quarter ended 26-4, East Canton +22; The second quarter finished 49-17, East Canton +10 for that quarter; the third 65-30, East Canton +3 in that quarter alone; and the final quarter ended 75-53, Heritage +13. This shows a steady decline in score, but more importantly it was a steady decline in intensity, instinct and dirty work.

The leading scorer for the Hornets was Burfield with 23 points. He also led the team with 6 steals. Rebounding was distributed equally among three Hornets who all grabbed 8 boards: Campbell, Bradley and Smith. Heritage had two players get twenty or more points: Davidson with 22 (9 in the 4th) and Hill with 21 (11 in the 4th). That is an astounding 81% of their points coming from 2 players.


The JV team got back to their winning ways with a convincing victory over Heritage, 56-11. Scoring for the JVs was Kennedy 12, Shultz 11 and Taylor 10

Favorite Play
Personally, I enjoyed when a Heritage player got frightened mid-shot and managed to shoot the ball off the safety cord that hangs above the basket. If not for the cord, the ball would have easily cleared the entire backboard without question.


Bits Of Randomness
Only 4 Heritage players got in the scoring column

East Canton made 11 3-pointers compared to Heritage's 1

No foul outs tonight. My guess, this probably breaks a double digit streak of consecutive games with someone fouling out

A Free-Press article recapping the game
http://www.the-press-news.com/news/article/4742228


Some pics submitted of our student section. These submissions are encouraged and will be recognized

Celebrity Look-A-Likes, Installment #1

Some of you may know that Coach Spurgeon is an avid fisherman and often goes on long outdoor vacations during the summer. Some time without a good shave and Coach Spurgeon resembles more of a hall of fame wrestler than the Spurgeon we see on the sidelines. (Editor note: This really is Coach Spurgeon, no joke) EWWW, YEAHHHH!!!!




The picture says it all. For those who don't know, Ed Reed is an NFL safety for the Baltimore Ravens and a perennial Pro-Bowler



Sophomore Duke Taylor resembles The Hulk in appearance and has been known to give some Hulk-like performances in the weight room. You be the judge.



This is all for fun so I hope you got a good laugh. Feel free to send any future look-a-like suggestions to EastCantonHive@gmail.com

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The Rep had a nice write about about the girls coach, Tom Davis

http://www.cantonrep.com/sports/x1689182390/Tom-Davis-The-Wizard-of-Osnaburg-nears-600th-win

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from The Hive

Don't forget to buy The Hive a Christmas present! Now accepting late gifts

At home against Heritage next Tuesday

Recap: East Canton 66, Sandy Valley 63 [OT] (Or, Another Overtime, Another Win)

If cats have nine lives, the East Canton Hornets have at least six by my count. Seemingly dead to rights in another tough battle the Hornets found a way to win Tuesday night and move their record to 5-0.

The Sandy Valley duo of Welker and Mozden gave the Hornets fits all night. Despite frigid temperatures in the gym, these two did their best to heat things up. Mozden led the game in scoring with 24 points including three 3's. Welker had 19 points total including a 12 point flurry in the 3rd quarter. The Hornets had more of a balanced attack. Bradley ended with a team high 19 points, Burfield hit for 16, and Slater gave a much needed scoring boost with 15 points.

After 3 quarters the score broke down like this:

EC-SV
1) 9-10
2) 23-26
3) 39-42

The first lead in the 4th quarter came when Burfield knocked down a FT to put the Hornets up one, 43-42. Sandy Valley took back control of the game but East Canton never got out of striking distance. With the game tied, East Canton took a 2 point lead with :15 on a Josh Smith offensive rebound and put back. After a Sandy Valley timeout, Cody Welker found a seem and hit a running layup with :03 left. On to overtime.

With Cartwright already fouled out, the Hornets were looking for some much needed leadership. Sandy had the ball and the lead with under two minutes to go on overtime. A missed Welker 18 foot jump shot was rebounded by Slater and a foul on Sandy Valley was assessed. I would seriously question the shot selection of the Cardinals at this point. With the lead, the Hortnets were at the mercy of Sandy and the Cardinals bailed us out with a passive, long two-point attempt. Slater hit both free throws to put East Canton up one but Mozden answered back with 2 clutch free throws of his own.

With 1:05 remaining, Burfield nailed a 3 from the corner to put East Canton up two points. Sandy called timeout but had their inbound pass stolen by Bradley who was fouled. He knocked down 1 of 2 to give the Hornets a 3 point lead. Another inbound pass was stolen by Burfield off of an Elseser deflection. Burfield hit both FT's to give East Canton a 5 point lead. Mozden then hit a running shot off one foot from the top of the key. Play was stopped and refs conferred. They decided it was a three point shot even though multiple confirmed sources were adamant that he was full foot in front of the three point line.

East Canton got the ball in and Bradley was fouled with 16.1 seconds left. He hit the first and missed the second, unable to ice the game. Sandy missed a shot attempt but got their own rebound and got fouled. Mozden went to the line and netted the first free throw.

In an interesting play, Mozden tried to miss the second intentionally by throwing it directly at the rim. The ball somehow still went in but the point was waived off when Sandy was called for a lane violation. So Mozden's only FT miss of the night came because a violation waived off a made attempt that he was really trying to miss. Go figure.

Slater was fouled on the inbound with 4.1 seconds. His first attempt was left short but he buried the second. Sandy was down only 3 but their 3/4 court attempt at the buzzer was no good.

The JV team lost in the preliminary match-up, 36-50. Aaron Kennedy had 11 and Brandon Shultz contributed 10 for East Canton.

Bits of Randomness
Another trend with Burfield (See previous post for first) seems to be scoring 16 points, no more or less. In five games his point total has landed ended with 16 on 3 separate occasions

Slater had 8 of his 15 points in the second quarter

Smith and Slater each pulled down 10+ rebounds. This is the first time this season that two players have had double-digit rebounds in the same game
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Canton Rep Links:
http://www.cantonrep.com/highschool/x1055575399/High-school-boys-basketball-results-for-Dec-22

http://www.cantonrep.com/highschool/x1107767813/High-school-boys-basketball-report-for-Dec-22


HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Recap: East Canton 67, Woodridge 62

Even though it seemed that East Canton dominated the majority of the game, it came down to the wire. The Hornets jumped out to an 11-0 lead to start the game and didn't give up a single point until 1:45 remaining in the first period. A run by Woodridge and a tight lid on the East Canton's goal let Woodridge get back in the game. Into the half the score was East Canton 24 to Woodridge's 23.

The Hornets came out strong in the second half with a 10-0 run to push their lead up to 11. But Woodridge made another run of their own to keep the game tight all the way until the finish. It came down to free throws and after shaky attempts by a myriad of Hornets, Joe Cartwright stepped up to ice the game with 3 of 4 in the clutch. Coach Spurgeon had this to say, "We left quite a bit of points at the free throw line tonight. We missed 3 front ends of 1 and 1's and didn't shoot with confidence late in the game until Joe did his thing."

Smith played a man size game when he wasn't in foul trouble, pouring in 19 points and 10 rebounds. The leading scorer for the game was Woodridge's Derek Morgan with 20. Burfield had a quite 16 points and did his best to hold together the team free throw performance by going 7 of 8. Bradley had a rough night from the field but contributed in other ways, getting his hands on countless passes and tough rebounds. He finished with 8 points, 7 assists and 7 steals.

The Jv lost in their 2nd consecutive outing. Leading the way in the 55-35 loss was Shultz with 14 and Taylor with 8.

Bits of Randomness
#21 for Woodridge swatted away plethora of Hornet attempts to score. He also wore Chuck Taylor shoes which I haven't seen personally in a high school game since... well, ever

Burfield got fouled on yet another 3 point attempt. My count has him being fouled on a 3 point attempt 3 times in 4 games

East Canton forced 4 turnovers by Woodridge to start the game. Their 11-0 run at the beginning of the 1st period was aided by allowing only 1 FG attempt in the first 5 possessions

Joe Carwright's one dribble pull-up move looked silky against Woodridge. This would be expected since he currently holds the Hornet practice title for "King of the Wing", a 1 on 1 drill played against the other Hornet wing players


Next up is Sandy Valley on Tuesday. Another away game for the Hornets.


Here is a picture Sam Gilbert submitted of himself modeling a pair of Chuck Taylor All-Stars during his playing days:


Thanks, Sam

Getting Technical About Our Mascot, The Hornet

What exactly is a hornet? I wasn't positive so I'll let National Geographic tell you. People, don't be afraid to learn a little. It's good for you.


Type: Bug
Diet: Omnivore
Average lifespan in the wild: Several months (the queen lives through winter)
Size: 1.25 in (3.2 cm)
Group name: Grist or hive

Hornets are wasps of the genus Vespa, closely related to (and resembling) yellowjackets. There are about 20 hornet species. Most live in tropical Asia, but the insects are also found in Europe, Africa, and North America, where the European hornet was introduced by humans.

These social insects construct hives by chewing wood into a papery construction pulp. They mature from egg to adult inside the community hive.

Queens dominate hornet hives and are the only females to reproduce. Most other hornets are asexual female workers that perform essential community duties such as building the hive, gathering food, feeding the young, and protecting the colony. Males are few and they have only one real role—mating with the queen. Males typically die soon after their sexual task is complete.

In colder climes, hornet nests are abandoned in winter and only new, young queens (and their eggs) survive the season by finding protected areas under tree bark or even inside human dwellings. In the spring, such a queen will begin a new nest, and soon her young will become workers and take over the chores of the new hive—leaving the queen to tend to reproduction. She will produce more workers to expand the hive and then, before she dies, yield a breeding generation of new queens and males (drones) to restart the cycle of life.

These insects eat some tree sap but they are also accomplished predators. A hornet hive will eliminate many flies, bees, and other insects.

Workers defend their hive with potent stingers. Though these insects do not sting humans unless provoked, some people are allergic to their venom and can have very dangerous reactions to a sting.

Hornets are often considered pests, particularly when they nest near humans, because they will defend a nest aggressively if they feel it is threatened. Though many people fear their sting, hornets usually get the worst of such encounters when their nests are poisoned or destroyed. In some areas, such as Germany, they are granted protection to preserve their role in the ecosystem.


These are not my words. National Geographic is to thank.
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/hornet.html



Tomorrow is game day. Woodridge article should go up Saturday mid-morning

Recap: East Canton 64, Waterloo 44 (Or, Hornets Give Vikings A Proverbial Black Eye)

The Hornets defended their home court for first time this season, successfully edging the Vikings from Waterloo 64-44. An incremental increase of score margin through the first 3 periods left the 4th quarter as a mere formality. Aggressive defense, improved free throw shooting and rebounding dominance pioneered the way to the win.

After shooting 23/45 from the foul line against Windham, the Hornets shot a solid 25/32 tonight. Burfield dropped 13 of 15 through the net and Bradley hit 8 of his 9. Things get a lot more interesting if the Hornets shoot as poorly as they did in their previous game.

Offensively the Hornets were paced by Burfield's 26 points, a game high. Three 3 pointers and FT's galore aided his large output. Cartwright knocked down 2 threes early in the game and finished with 10. Bradley's 10 had an impact but his constant harassment of the passing lanes is where he made his greatest impact. Nathan Franks led Waterloo in scoring with 18.

Late in the 4th quarter, after each team had put their younger players in to get some experience, Aaron Kennedy was able to get in the box score for the first time in his varsity career. After missing the first of two free throws, he went to his Gilbert Arenas free throw routine which helped him knock down the second.

The JV team took a loss for the first time this season, losing to Waterloo 41-49. Brandon Shultz had 11 points for East Canton and Duke Taylor added 10

Things I Ihink I Think
I think East Canton has an engaged and obnoxious student section. They came all decked out in Hornet attire and consistently had creative things to do and chant. Keep it up

I think the Hornet offense is showing much improvement from just 2 games ago. They look less robotic and more willing to free lance when necessary

I think East Canton must have a phenomenal hospitality room. I overheard 2 of the refs raving about the pot roast before the start of the 3rd period

Player Profile: Josh Smith

Smith, a senior honor roll student may arguably do his best athletic work on the baseball diamond. The slugging 1st baseman earned 1st team all PTC honors, as well as Offensive Player of the Year for the his team. On the hardwood, Smith combines an inside/outside threat with a s strong desire to dominate the boards. His 6'1" frame is not very imposing but at the end of the play, his teammates and coaches are confident he'll come down with the rebound. His basketball achievements include Honorable Mention All-Ohio, PTC All-Star, First Team All District IV and finishing in the top 3 in the entire county with 11.2 rebounds per game. Get to know him a little better through the first installment of player profiles.


Favorite food? Wings

What other sports do you play? Baseball, 1st base

Favorite sports team? Cavs

Favorite class in school? Calculus

Last book you read for entertainment? Lebron James' Biography

Favorite movie? The Hangover

What's in your CD player right now? Mostly rap, rock and country

Who is your role model? My late grandpa

Lebron or Kobe? Lebron

What's your favorite Spurgeon quote? When he claimed he could kill a bear with his bare hands

Most memorable moment in athletics? Zell's shot against Columbiana

What are you post high school aspirations? Go to college for CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist)

Recap: East Canton 74, Windham 51 (Or, The Night The Whistles Never Stopped)

Undoubtedly there were three stars in Fridays game, none of which scored a point. The men in stripes took center stage from beginning to end. To their credit, they were consistent all night. However, on this occasion, consistency meant calling fouls early and often. A total of 60 fouls were called throughout the game, 27 on East Canton and the remaining 33 on Windham. All these fouls led to 73 free throws and an undeniably slow game.

Both teams were constantly scrambling to make substitutions to protect their foul plagued personnel. At the half, with East Canton leading 29-21, East Cantons foul dilemma broke down like this:

Cartwright, Slater and Smith (all seniors) had 3 fouls before even the 3:00 minute mark of the second period. Elseser and Stu Campbell also had 2 fouls

During the 3rd period East Canton started to break the game open. They stretched out their lead to between 15-20 points for the majority of the quarter. The most entertaining part of the game to me, an anxious spectator waiting for the two teams to go up and down the court twice without a foul call, came when a player for Windham got off their bench, made a straight line for their locker room, proceeded to not make it into the locker room before he got sick and threw up all over the baseline and padded wall, and then slipped and fell in his own bile. A five minute delay ensued for the mess to be cleaned up. I almost enjoyed this break in action because it simply broke the monotony of refs controlling the game by calling an endless supply of fouls.

After the clean up, play continued but several players slipped and fell in the same spot the mess had been made. At this point, the refs began to feel upstaged by the slippery court and went back to calling even more fouls.

Going into the 4th quarter, East Canton had four players with 4 fouls. And as you can see, Windham was whistled for more fouls than East Canton so you can only imagine what their substitution limitations were. But despite the foul trouble, East Cantons killer instinct set in and put the game out of reach. They cruised to victory, 74-51.

Leading scorers for East Canton: Bradley 21, Smith 18, and Burfield 12

The JV rolled to another win, topping Windhams JV 46-37. The East Canton JV is 2-0 in this young season. Leading the way in scoring in the win was Brandon Shultz with 12 and Justin Whitacre and Aaron Kennedy with 9 each

Bits of Randomness

Sophomores Duke Taylor and Aaron Kennedy got into their first varsity basketball game and Taylor scored his first two varsity points of his high school career

With all the fouls and foul trouble, Brandon Slater was the only Hornet to foul out. Deflation level was very minimal

The leading scorer for Windham was their elusive PG Rico Hall with 12 points

Smith was an absolute beast on the boards. I'm not sure what his rebound count was but it was impressive to watch

Zell Bradley attempted 19 free throws, converting only 11
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Canton Rep game capsules for 12/11
http://www.cantonrep.com/highschool/x2010179745/High-school-boys-basketball-results-for-Dec-11

Canton Rep game box scores for 12/11
http://www.cantonrep.com/highschool/x1769698179/High-school-boys-basketball-box-scores-for-Dec-11

Hornets Start Slow, Need OT To Secure Win In Opener

The Hornets took on Tusky Valley in their opening game on Tuesday. In this back and forth contest, many fans, including a large East Canton contingent, could not have left disappointed. Early on the offense for the Hornets was ineffective, scoring only 8 points in the first quarter and 4 more in the second. Tusky Valley also started slow but pounced on the Hornets lack of firepower in the second quarter, putting up 13 points of their own. The Trojans took a 10 point lead into half, 22-12.

Coming out for the 3rd quarter the Hornets looked like an inspired team. They quickly erased the ten point deficit behind a rally led by Sr Zell Bradley and Jr Ryan Burfield. Burfield did his best Reggie Miller impression by hitting a three pointer, stealing the ball in the back court, and hitting another 3 pointed in a span of 10 seconds. With just :49 elapsed in the 3 quarter the Hornets had the game dead even. The Hornets momentum continued for few minutes but could not be sustained long enough to truly put Tusky Valley out of the game. But using the 23-7 scoring run in the 3rd quarter, the Hornets took a 35-29 lead into the 4th quarter.

A pesky Tusky Valley team would not go away in the fourth. They hung around until finally making their move, capitalizing on a sputtering Hornet offense. A Clay Shelter 3 pointer gave Tusky Valley their first lead of the 4th quarter. They pushed the lead out to 5 before the Slater to Smith high-low combination gave the Hornets two consecutive scores. A Tusky Valley free throw put the Trojans up 2 when Brandon Slater got fouled. He calmly knocked down the first shot but left the second shot short. The Hornets had to foul. Missed FT's aided the Hornets comeback attempt. Like a cat with nine lives the Hornets had the ball down 2 with :08 remaining and chance to tie or win. Zell Bradley went the length of the court and got up a running floater that missed everything. However, Brandon Slater was there to score the rebound as time expired.

The Hornets scored the first 4 points of overtime and held off Tusky with some pretty stingy defense. The nail in the coffin came when Sam Elseser stole the ball, hit Justin Whitacre on a pass, and received it right back for a lay up. It was one frizzy-haired sophomore connecting with another frizzy-haired sophomore for the score. After some clutch FT shooting the Hornets held on to win 53-49.

Leading scorers for the Hornets: Burfield 16, Bradley 11, Slater 9, Cartwright 8

The JV team also pulled out a come from behind win. Down 11-17 at half, Coach Barnett's team came back to win 46-38. Aaron Kennedy led the team in scoring with 13 and Brandon Shultz was close behind with 11, including 5-6 FT's.


Bits of Randomness
Clay Shetler of Tusky Valley led all scorers with 23 points

Tusky Valley had 27 tournovers in the game

The Hornets were +15 in field goal attempts, a staggering difference that could explain why they attempted 9 more FT's than Tusky Valley

Josh Smith and Zell Bradley both fouled out. The deflation level for the team was moderate in both circumstances

The Hornets shot 12/21 (57%) on FT's, Tusky Valley was 8/12

Zell Bradley had 8 points in the 3rd quarter and Ryan Burfield had 9 in that same
period, all coming in a :13 span

________________________________________________

The following is the box score of the game taken directly from The Repository's website:

http://www.cantonrep.com/highschool/x1964355398/High-school-boys-basketball-results-for-Dec-8

EAST CANTON Burfield 5 2-5 16, Bradley 4 3-4 11, Slater 2 5-8 9, Cartwright 3 1-2 8, Smith 3 1-2 7, Elseser 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 12-21 53.
TUSKY VALLEY Shetler 8 2-3 23, Graham 4-8 0-0 11, Dozier 1 5-6 7, McGonagle 2 0-0 5, Felgenhauer 1 0-1 2, Robinson 0 1-2 1. Totals 16 8-12 49.

East Canton 8 4 23 10 8 — 53
Tusky Valley 9 13 7 16 4 — 49

3-point goals—Shetler 5, Burfield 4, Graham 3, McGonagle, Cartwright. Fouls—East Canton 18-17. Fouled out—Bradley, Smith, Shetler, Robinson. Rebounds—East Canton 23 (Bradley 6, Smith 6), Tusky Valley 34 (Robinson 11).
JV—East Canton 46-38.

Around The Portage Trail Conference - County Division

The Record-Courier Newspaper ran a preview of basketball teams in that area in their Tuesday November 24th publication. Six teams in the PTC County Division are located in the geographical region the paper covers. Besides giving a basic overview of each of these 6 teams, The Record-Courier asked each team's head coach to predict how they thought the league would shake out. The following are excerpts from the predictions that were made.


Waterloo Head Coach John Herchek
“On paper, you've got to look at East Canton. They are probably the number 1 favorite because they return everybody, and they came on strong at the end of last year and had a nice tournament run. Mogadore and Rootstown are going to be much improved because they played a lot of young kids last season and they got better as the year went on.... I really think that the league is going to be more balanced than it has been over the last 3 or 4 years. Anybody can beat anybody, especially early in the year.”

Streetsboro Head Coach Todd Muckleroy
“East Canton has everyone returning from last year and they're a pretty feisty team. Waterloo has a pretty good team, you can't count out Windham, and I think Mogadore has some good athletes and some competitive kids.”

Garfield Head Coach Mark Rado
“East Canton returns everybody and they should be pretty good, Streetsboro is always athletic while Windham always brings a good team. Mogadore and Rootstown will also be better with a lot of talent returning.”

Mogadore Head Coach Russ Swarts
“East Canton and Streetsboro are going to be very solid, and Waterloo and Windham, with their tradition and the fact that both of them are always very well-coached teams, you can never count them out.”

Rootstown Head Coach Andrew Vlajkovich
“The league is wide open, but Streetsboro and East Canton are the front runners.”

Windham Head Coach Marty Hill
“Even though they lost a lot of people, I think Waterloo will be a lot tougher than people think. East Canton returns just about their entire team so they'll be tough, and Streetsboro will be good, especially if (Jay) Lugo ends up playing for them. That would add another dimension to their team.”


Things I Think I Think
I think the league has more parity than usual. The teams typically at the top are in a transition year, while some of teams not accustomed to being at the top of the league have the experience from playing more underclassmen the last few years. Could a few unexpected upsets be brewing?

I think East Canton received a lot of respect from the other coaches in the league. The core returners have earned that respect. Almost all coaches mentioned East Canton as the first or second team to beat in the conference.

I think no one is betting on Streetsboro or Waterloo to have a "down" year. Yeah, they lost a lot of good players off of teams that had huge records, but the majority opinion is that the systems and coaching philosophy will prevail.

Hornets Have Final Scrimmage Before The Regular Season Begins

The Hornets got their first look of the season at zone defense in their latest scrimmage on Saturday. They traveled up to Mantua, Ohio to play the Crestwood Red Devils in a 6 period scrimmage. The Hornets were able to come out on top of the score differential in 5 of those periods. The first four periods (what would constitute the length of an actual game) was won by the Hornets 65-44.

Coach Spurgeon had this to say about the match up, “I specifically wanted to scrimmage Crestwood because they play mostly zone defense. Were going to see a few zones this season so it was valuable experience for us.” The Red Devils' near exclusive zone defense, mostly of the 2-3 and 1-3-1 variety, gave the Hornets little trouble. They got off quality shots against either type of defense and the Hornets physicality lead to an abundance of offensive rebound conversions.

The two teams will not meet during the regular season. The opening game for both the JV and Varsity of East Canton is a week from today. They will take on Tusky Valley in an away contest.

Other Notes: The JV had a good outing in their first scrimmage of the season, winning the majority of the periods against Crestwood.

______________________________________________________________________________________


Here is a copy of the team capsule from the Canton Repository's 11/30 paper . It was taken directly from the Canton Repository's website:

http://www.cantonrep.com/highschool/x1792916241/Independents-Other-boys-basketball-capsules


East Canton Hornets

HEAD COACH Chad Spurgeon, third season, 17-27.

LAST YEAR 13-10 overall.

RETURNING LETTERMEN Zell Bradley, Sr., 5-8, guard; Joe Cartwright, Sr., 5-8, guard; Josh Smith, Sr., 6-1, wing; Ryan Burfield, Jr., 5-11, wing; Stuart Campbell, Sr., 6-5, wing; Sam Elseser, Soph., 5-10, guard; Brandon Slater, Sr., 6-1, wing.

TOP NEWCOMERS Justin Whitacre, Soph., 6-1, wing; Brandon Shultz, Soph., 5-9, guard; Aaron Kennedy, Soph., 5-9, guard; Duke Taylor, Soph., 6-0, wing.

ABOUT THE HORNETS Everyone is back and the Hornets have designs on a Portage Trail Conference title.

An Interview With Head Coach Chad Spurgeon

I recently had a chance to sit down with Coach Spurgeon and talk about this years team, as well as, some current projects evolving that relate to the basketball program. This is the transcript from that interview.


Talk to me about your returning group?

CS: The returning core are very talented and very hard working. They have shown a lot of dedication since I’ve been here. They are kids you want to be in the foxhole with. Slater, Sammy and Stu really round out the group nicely.


Define your team in a few words?

CS: Hard-nosed, unselfish


What kind of expectations do you have for this years team?

CS: I have high expectations for this year’s group. They work hard and play right. As our ball-handling and fundamentals improve, we could become a “giant-killer.”


Can you talk to me about the seniors of your team this year?

CS: There are 5 Seniors total. Very good group. Joe, Zell and Josh have been at the center of the basketball programs’ turnaround. Slater and Stu play valuable roles.


How competitive will the Portage Trail Conference be this year? Where are we positioned?

CS: We are positioned in the top half of the league. I’ll be curious to see how it all pans out. I think the championship runs through defending champs Streetsboro. Streetsboro made it to the regional finals in Division 2 last year. A lot of parity.


Describe your coaching philosophy?

CS: My coaching philosophy is simple. Go find the 7 toughest kids you can and teach them to D it up, take care of the ball and shoot it. Zone/man/motion/set offense/fast break….. all that stuff is nice. But, if you don’t have kids who are tough – you’re in trouble. You can’t teach toughness retroactively. You have to find it. East Canton is a good place for me because a lot of parents here have raised some tough kids.

East Canton basketball is in its 75th year. What is the program doing to celebrate that?

CS: We have a very rich tradition and plan to celebrate it throughout the 09-10 season. Things being planned include but are not limited to:
• a 75th year glossy edition of Hornet Hoops
• the formation of a Basketball HOF committee
• Alumni Weekend 2/19/10-2/20/10

Alumni Weekend will feature Alumni Recognition Night at Friday night’s game followed by a mixer in the Davis Gym and an Alumni Game(s) Saturday night.

Can you talk some about the youth program at East Canton?

CS: This year we have 73 kids grades 3-6 playing in our Saturday league. It’s a ton of work setting teams, covering the site, running concessions and as of right now coaching a 5-6 grade team, but I know it’s good for kids and pays off in the long run at the Varsity level. The community is a huge help. Larry Wilson was phenomenal with his youth program and that’s what I’m trying to recreate with the league and camps.



How would you compare the players of today with the players during your playing days?

CS: The good ones are the same or better. They’re tough and they have trade craft. The average ones aren’t as good. We only played the major sports. Average kids had to really work to role players in the major sports. Today, there are so many other things for kids to do. The OHSAA is doing a great job of getting more kids involved by adding sports, but it dilutes the major sports by pulling the moderately talented kids who used to be role players away into the smaller sports though a promise of easier success. It’s a double-edged sword… success is good for self-esteem but it borders on false praise.


Who are your coaching role models?

CS: My father, Larry Wilson and the entire Perry Staff, Bob Dukiet, Rich Venuto, Tom Mcbride and Joe Bogdan. There are a ton of guys that have influenced me. I’m not sure I’ve ever had an original thought. My entire philosophy is a conglomeration of those I’ve been around.


How many years have you put in coaching? How many as an assistant and how many as a head coach?

CS: I started coaching a boy’s club team for Tim and Dave when I was in high school. Worked camps in college. I have 1 year of Jr. high, 8 as JV/Assistant Varsity, and this is my 3rd year as a head coach.


Your a teacher, what classes to you teach?

CS: Physics, Physics FV, Physical Science, Physical Science CP, Sepup, Genetics, Ecology, OGT Prep… East Canton is a small district – so you have to wear a lot of hats. I really love teaching here.


The program recently moved from D4 to D3. can you Elaborate on the affects of that?

CS: It really doesn’t matter to me. If I had my way, we’d go back to one division.


Talk about the new facilities being built?

CS: Awesome! Our community really came through. We took advantage of the state paying 2/3 of the bill and are in the process of building a top notch facility. It’s a wonderful thing for the kids of this community. Basketball-wise, we’ll have an advantage.


What's your favorite pre-game meal?

CS: Potato soup at John’s


Do u still keep in touch with your high school teammates?

CS: Yeah. We were a lot like this team (only much bigger – I was the smallest starter)…. a band of brothers. We have all spread out since high school, but when you spend the amount of time together under those circumstances – it’s a bond that never fades. We still run into each other at camps, state tourneys, etc… and we always pick up right where we left off.

East Canton Falls Short In Foundation Scrimmage

In a game full of scoring runs, Strasburg had the last and most decisive. After jumping out to a quick 8-2 lead to start the game, East Canton's offense stalled. Down 17-20 at half, East Canton had some rallying to do. In the second half, a tenacious full court trap by East Canton led to three consecutive scores without Strasburg crossing half court. This put East Canton up 30-27. Strasburg quickly hit a three pointer to tie the game and the Tigers never looked back after that, rallying for 7 more unanswered points.

East Canton attempted a comeback but the closest they could get was within 4 points. Plagued by foul trouble, East Canton truly became deflated when Sr. Joe Cartwright fouled out with 3 minutes and change remaining. Brandon Slater's lay-up right before the final buzzer left East Canton short 44-51.


Look for my interview with Head Coach Chad Spurgeon to be posted in the next few days. I
found it to be informative and interesting.

Hornets Impressive In Second Scrimmage

The Hornets went to Ravenna to face the Ravens in their second scrimmage today. East Canton won 3 of the 5 ten minute periods but that does not tell the true story of the match. The first three periods were dominated by the Hornets to an accumulative score of 51-14. The last two periods were won by Ravenna by a total score or 31-20. The large disparity in score through three periods was mostly due to a swarming defense generating easy buckets in transition for the Hornets. Early on, Ravenna had trouble running their sets or even getting a quality shot at the basket. This trend continued for 3 periods until each team's rotations widened and fatigue set in.

Ravenna was clearly the deeper team, but that would be expected with the large difference in school sizes (Ravenna has around 480 boys in the high school compared to East Canton having 160). Coach Spurgeon had this to say about his teams effort, "The intensity was there. I was proud of that aspect. We have a lot of small things to correct but we have plenty of time to address those issues before our first game." Though both teams are members of the Portage Trail Conference, The Hornets (County Division) and Ravens (Metro Division) will not meet in the regular season. Next up for the Hornets is another scrimmage on Tuesday against the Tigers of Strasburg.

The 09-10 Schedule

The inaugural post...

The focus of The Hive is to spotlight the 2009-2010 East Canton Hornets. There will be analysis, game recaps, player profiles, a lil bit of humor and some useful general information regarding the team. I plan to post every few days from here on out. So tell your friends, tell your neighbors, heck, tell your barber, because this has just become your one stop shop for anything you want to know about this years team.


Here's the schedule...

Tue 12/8 @ Tusky Valley
Fri 12/11 @ Windham
Tue 12/15 Waterloo
Fri 12/18 @ Woodridge
Tue 12/22 @ Sandy Valley
Tue 12/29 Heritage Christian
Tue 1/5 @ Mogadore
Fri 1/8 James A Garfield
Tue 1/12 @ Rootstown
Fri 1/15 @ Streetsboro
Fri 1/22 Windham
Tue 1/26 @ Waterloo
Fri 1/29 Woodridge
Tue 2/2 Tuslaw
Fri 2/5 Mogadore
Tue 2/9 Minerva
Fri 2/12 @ Garfield
Sat 2/13 @ Malvern
Fri 2/19 Rootstown
Fri 2/26 Streetsboro




Please feel free to comment, note needed corrections or make suggestions for future posts in the comments section below