By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
Every team has a clock. On the professional stage, those ticking hands are determined by contract negotiations, egos and success over spans of a handful of years. In high school, the window for opportunity is much shorter. In Pennsylvania, two basketball teams find themselves at different hours of the countdown.
For the past few years, the Otto-Eldred boys basketball team has been an absolute powerhouse. Each season has come with undefeated regular seasons, North Tier League titles and all star selections. However, come postseason, the road to greatness leads to a hill yet unclimbed. In 2022, the Terrors made their way to the District 9 championship but were ultimately sent packing by Clarion-Limestone. The following year, heartbreak struck in the final seconds of the semifinals against Karns City, once again leaving their title aspirations just out of reach.
“You can never get where you want without failure and we’ve endured some failure,” said Otto-Eldred head coach Derrick Francis, who was selected as the Big 30 Coach of the Year last season. “We’ve had a ton of success too, don’t get me wrong. We’ve had a lot of prizes but we want the big one and it’s just going to be a grind this winter. Hopefully all the failures the last two, three years will make us tougher and make us ready for it.”
Coming into this season, the Terrors look to make another run at their coveted D9 championship with the help of their star duo of Landon Francis and Manning Splain. The tandem, who were both selected to the Big 30 All-Star First Team last season, routinely fill out the Terrors’ stat sheets. Francis averaged 15.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 6.3 assists a season ago while Splain contributed 16.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists nightly. While these weapons are sharpened and ready to go, they are entering their senior season, meaning if O-E wants to raise a banner, it will have to be this year.
Over the years, the success has not fallen just upon Landon Franics’ and Splain’s shoulders. Rather, the team has produced a cast of several supporting cast members that have turned what would be a scoring-first squad into a robust and dynamic team. With that being said, the Terrors did lose a key member in Brax Caldwell, who was selected to the Big 30 All-Star second team, due to graduation.
“Brax is a huge loss. He was a two-year starter and bought in,” said Derrick Francis. “We’re going to have to get a tough guy, and it may be all of them. It may be five guys getting tougher.”
Missing his physical presence defending the paint as well as cleaning the boards, O-E will turn to Davey Schenfield to fill the void in the middle. Last season, Schenfield posted five points and two rebounds per game as the Terrors’ fifth or sixth man. In the time between touching the hardwood, Derrick Francis has seen Schenfield’s altethic ability and prowess grow into something he can weaponize.
“Davey has put a ton of work in. It takes everybody different times to mature and come into their own body and seeing the improvements he made on the football field from last year to this year, if he can mimic that in basketball, the sky’s the limit for him,” said Derrick Francis. “He’s put a lot of work in. He’s definitely matured. He’s ready to play. He’s ready to step in. He’s ready.”
Having a swath of talent and supporting members as well as years of battle-tested experience, the Terrors could be in prime position to seize their long awaited trophy.
Just over 10 miles to the west, Bradford is gearing up for a different approach to the season. While O-E may be sitting in the eleventh hour, Bradford’s clocks are just resetting.
After a season that produced a playoff berth and eventual trip to the District 9 finals, the Owls are looking to build out their depleted roster. In the offseason, Bradford lost seven seniors to graduation. This includes the scoring efforts of Jake Franz and Wyatt Stark, as well as the defense and rebounding of Chase Wineberg and also the scrappy, grittiness of Adam Ward. The idea of returning to the title game is only made harder knowing that the Owls have just four upperclassmen returning to their ranks.
“We basically lost 90 percent of our scoring, so we’re expecting a lot of guys to take the next step,” said Bradford head coach John Bennardi. “I think we’re bigger than you think. We’ve got some size and length. I think a lot of guys have been working in the post and we’ll get a lot of good play out of every position. There’s big shoes to fill but it’s a next man up mentality.”
Looking for leadership, Bernardi will turn to their trio of returning big men in Talan Reese, one of the team’s two seniors, Danny Marasco and Marcus Terwilliger. While Reese has earned a starting spot over the past few years, the latter two have shown an ability to earn varsity minutes with hardwork. Just as with the rest of his younger players, Bernardi is confident in the team’s ability to learn and grow.
“I think our biggest advantage right now is that these guys work hard in practice and they retain things very easily,” said Bennardi. “The big thing with these guys is they’re a team. They’re always together. If I see one of them, I see four or five of them. They get along and I think they’re very unselfish.”
While many things remain uncertain as far as the direction and identity of the Owls, one thing is for sure: they want to get back to the championship.
“(Last year) the younger guys saw what could potentially happen,” said Bennardi. “I think it set things in motion that we want to go back. We want to be there, we want to be a part of it and I think these guys have really bought in.”
