By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
CLARION, PA – Four years came down to 0.7 seconds.
After constant failure and constant persistence, the Otto-Eldred boys’ basketball team’s dreams of capturing the programs first-ever District 9 championship rested on just a few precious moments. Three and a half quarters of battling the prolific Elk County Catholic Crusaders, a team that has 26 D9 banners hanging from their own rafters, had produced a tied game and now, after a crucial defensive stop, the Terrors had a chance to take down Goliath.
Tied at 51 with less than a second left on the clock, Manning Splain grabbed a hold of an offensive board. On the second attempt, Splain drew contact and a trip to the free throw line. Sinking the first, O-E pulled ahead and although ECC was able to call a timeout and draw up on last-ditch Hail Mary, the game was already decided.
The Terrors had completed the mission, taking home a 52-51 victory, redemption and their first championship.
“It means everything. I mean, this is what we’ve worked towards since day one. We were close two years ago and it hurt so badly walking out of this place,” said Splain. “We didn’t want to do that again.”
While the Crusaders are no stranger to the championship stage – ECC has been to seven of the last eight D9 finals – O-E had only one game to draw from. Two years ago, during the 2022-2023 Class 2A campaign, the Terrors’ undefeated season culminated in a trip to Tippin Gymnasium, the first finals appearance for O-E since 1997. Facing Clarion-Limestone with a roster led by sophomores, the Terrors were unable to rise to the occasion. In the following year, their coveted banner would stay elusive as they failed to return to the finals.
But this season, they would not be denied. Led by a core of now-veteran seniors, the Terrors dominated the regular season again before downing Cameron County in the D9 semifinals. In the last year of this group’s tenure, they had earned one final shot. However, dropping down to Class A had put them face-to-face with the Crusaders.
“I feel like for once the pressure wasn’t on us. We came in free and just had to play 100 percent on every possession and give it our all,” said Landon Francis. “It was our last year and we wanted to come out on top. That was the main message, play as hard as we could and play for each other.”
Even from just the first few minutes of action, it was undeniable that there wasn’t going to be a run-away winner. Taking two different approaches to the game, with O-E trying to ramp up the pace and ECC trying to slow it down, both teams battled back and forth. Straying away from their usual and prolific 3-point shooting, the Terrors instead attacked the paint.
“I think for once we had the height advantage. We play Cameron County and they’re 6’7, 6’5, 6’4. Finally our guards could operate in the paint,” said Otto-Eldred head coach Derrick Francis. “We do a lot of big man moves for our guards in the paint with their backs to the basket and that helped us.”
Landon Francis attacks the rim during the Terrors’ win over Elk County Catholic in the District 9 Class A championship. Francis would lead O-E with 21 points. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
Using back-door cuts and pick-and-rolls along with head-down drives to the rim, O-E spurred a 10-2 run led by Shene Thomas, who scored the final six consecutive points. However, a 3-pointer from Lance O’Neill and eventual O-E turnover in the final seconds would cut the lead back down to four at the end of the first quarter.
ECC would continue to chip away at the lead with a three-point-play from O’Neill at the start of the second. From there, both teams traded baskets, swapping leads without ever getting more than a four-point advantage.
Although they eventually leaned back on their outside shooting, the Terrors shots failed to draw iron, leaving Thomas to collect several offensive rebounds and second chance scores as he kept O-E afloat – Thomas would score six of the Terrors’ 15 second-quarter points.
ECC, in the meantime, kept feeding the hot hand. O’Neill, who scored 37 points in the Crusaders’ previous D9 finals appearance, carried his team with buckets inside and out as he contributed 10 of the Crusaders’ 16 points.
Yet through nearly eight full minutes, neither team could find an edge as the game was knotted at 26. However, ripping down a rebound, Landon Francis sped down court before throwing up a last second 3-pointer. As the buzzer sounded, the shot went in, giving O-E the lead heading into halftime.
Coming out of the break, the Terrors looked to exploit their guards’ height once again. Finding Landon Francis in the post, he scored O-E’s first four points of the quarter. However, ECC was ready to turn the tables.
Ditching their slow-ball strategy, the Crusaders began running up the pace with long outlet passes and fast run outs. In an attempt to cover ground and ward off easy looks at the rim, O-E left several outside shooters open who knocked down consecutive triples as ECC broke out on an 8-0 run.
Finding themselves down by four, the Terrors responded with four made shots at the charity stripe before a second-chance score from Thomas would give them the lead once again. They would hold that lead through the final minute, entering the final quarter just narrowly ahead.
Shene Thomas rises above an ECC defender during the District 9 Class A title game on Saturday. Thomas would end with 20 points during the win. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
To no surprise, the final eight minutes began with another round of tick-for-tack scoring. Both had chances to garner momentum, yet neither would give an inch, let alone more than a one-possession gap on the scoreboard. With just under four and a half minutes remaining, the game still lay deadlocked.
Getting the ball at the four minute mark, ECC began slowing the game down to the extreme. Patiently passing around the perimeter, they burned nearly three full minutes off the clock as they looked for either an open lane or a chance to take the final shot.
“Knowing a team like Elk, without a shot clock, sometimes that affects us. We knew we couldn’t be down six or eight or nine. We had to be within three or four,” said Derrick Francis. “Elk’s changed their style of play. They like to get up and down more than they have in past years, but I knew deep down they were going to go to a zone defense and I knew they would slow it down because at the end of the day, there’s not a lot of teams that can run up and down like our kids.”
As the final minute broke and the seconds quickly drained from the clock, O-E felt the pressure mounting. Rising to the occasion, Davey Schenfield rushed in for a double-team on Wil Wortman, forcing a turnover, stopping the stall and giving the Terrors a chance at a game-winner.
After a timeout, O-E had just 18 seconds left to run what could be the final play of the game. Using almost all of the time remaining, their first shot missed the mark, sending the board careening through the air and into the hands of Splain. Taking a one-bounce dribble towards the rim, he found contact on the way up, putting the weight of the Terrors’ championship at the line.
“Going from not being able to walk for a week, on crutches, wondering when I’ll be able to play, missing three games, missing Senior Night, every one of these starters came up to me and said, ‘we love you, just go do it,” said Splain, who was sidelined late in the regular season from an ankle injury. “They trusted me. I trusted myself. I trusted my shot.”
Splain would make the first and intentionally miss the second. Despite a split-second timeout from ECC, the 0.4 seconds clinging to the clock just wasn’t enough. It had been four years, but the Terrors had finally earned their championship.
“We’ve come up short so many times. It just hurt so badly,” said Schenfield. “To beat ECC here at Tippin Gymnasium is just the best feeling.”
Shene Thomas and head coach Derrick Francis embrace after the final buzzer of their District 9 championship win. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
Landon Francis and Thomas combined for 41 points through the win, with Landon scoring 21 and Thomas ended with 20. Splain tallied seven points followed by Schenfield and Hunter App, who both scored two points.
While they will temporarily get to rest on their laurels, the Terrors’ season continues next with the PIAA State Tournament. On Friday, they will host Nazareth Prep (D7-3) as they march towards a different title.
“We’ve stuck together. Not everything has been perfect. There’s been times where we’ve fought, times where we’ve been mad at each other, but at the end of the day, we travel up and down the roads, hours, miles and we stick together,” said Landon Francis. “We knew it was our last year and we wanted to make history for this
community.”
Manning Splain dons his freshly acquired District 9 championship medal after the Terrors beat Elk County Catholic in the final seconds of the Class A title match. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
AT CLARION
Otto-Eldred (52)
Francis 8 4-4 21, Thomas 10 0-1 20, Splain 1 5-6 7, Schenfield 1 0-0 2, App 0 2-2 2. Totals: 20 11-13 52
Elk County Catholic (51)
O’Neill 10 3-5 28, Wortman 4 1-1 9, Briendel 3 0-0 8, Simbeck 3 0-0 6. Totals: 20 4-6 51
Otto-Eldred 14 29 43 53
Elk County C. 10 26 41 51
Three-point goals: O-E (1) Francis, ECC (6) O’Neill 4; Briendel 2 Total fouls: O-E 11, ECC 17; fouled out: None.
