Runnin' Red Hurricanes Report 12/12/01By Hurricanes Assistant Coach Ron DePorzio
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12/12/01 The season is into full swing and so are the Canes. The Red Hurricane remains undefeated through six games. Since the last report the Canes have won four games. This has many people wondering how good this team is and how far they will go, but that depends on how hard they work and how well they play. The possibilities are endless for this year’s team, they just have to put it all together and continue working harder everyday to achieve their goals.
The first game of the four the Canes traveled to Ellwood City to take on a new Ellwood City under command of former coach Bob Kerr. The Wolverines played hard the whole game and didn’t give up, but in the end the Canes were just too over powering and defeated Ellwood 99-60. The Canes came out and took it right to the Wolverines. Dom Joseph had a game high 21 pts. Chris Cain, Dante Spino, and Mark DeMonaco scored 19, 17, 12, respectively.
Next the Canes returned to the field house to take on the very talented Warren Harding. This was Warren’s first game of the season. Warren was a fast, quick, and physical, team. The pace of this game was fast. The Canes were up to the challenge though, realizing this was the type of team the needed to beat to get a gauge on where the team stood. Joe Carter returned to the line-up coming of the bench. Joe played a solid game for his first game back and the coaching staff was glad to see him out there contributing. The game was close but a 2nd half run allowed the Canes to pull away and take the victory 82-66.
The following evening the Red Hurricane traveled to Ambridge to play Plum in the Block Party shoot-out. For the Canes this would be there 5th game in 8 days. So as you could imagine the Canes were a little fatigued and their play showed it. They came out sluggish in the first half and found themselves in a ball game. With the hard working Plum team right behind the Canes they came out in the second half and stepped it up a notch. Plum made a late fourth quarter run, but a diving steal from Ralph Currie gave the Canes a margin and held on for a 54-48 win. Dante Spino led the Canes in scoring with 18. This was Dante’s best game as a Red Hurricane. When everyone else was lagging he picked up the pace and had many impressive drives to the hole. Dom Joseph pitched in 12 points. In the game Dom also passed cousin and coach Ralph Blundo on the New Castle All-time scoring list.
Next the Canes were off to Pine-Richland to open Section 3 play. The Canes again came out lethargic. They lead 20-9 after one. Although they were winning they were not playing their best ball and that was a major concern to the staff. Leon Ward returned to the line-up coming off the bench very impressively to score 12 points including a mid-air three with .5 seconds remaining in the 2nd to give the Canes a 38-26-halftime lead. After a fiery talk at halftime, the Canes came out more aggressive in the second half. Sometimes teams do not realize they have to play their best basketball all the time. They were playing well enough to beat Pine-Richland, but that effort certainly wouldn’t have been the premiere teams in Quad-A. Yet again that is a learning process and hopefully we learn that before it comes back to hurt us. But any win is a good win, and the Canes did just that defeating the Rams 70-47. Dom Joseph scored 22 and Dante Spino had 15. Hoover Gibson continued to rebound and hauled in 9 boards. Joe Carter came off the bench and play very solid.
The Canes stand at 6-0 and welcomes Erie Central to the field house Friday and the travels to Westminster to take on Franklin at 8 p.m. The players realize what is in front of them. They are continuing to work hard at achieving their goals. On thing I have noticed about this team is that they are very close. They are always doing things together and that’s good for a team. Another thing about this group is they are not too concerned with who scores or who doesn’t, they are just happy winning, no matter how it happens. That is a good quality to have as a team; if they kept that mind set it will benefit them in the future.
NOTES: The 7th grade team defeated Beaver Falls Tuesday 49-39 improving their record to 3-0.
The 8th grade team also defeated Beaver Falls Tuesday. Their record is 1-2.
The 9th grad tem fell to Pine-Richland Tuesday and are also 1-2.
On a personal note I would like to apologize for not keeping up with the coaches reports. I was in finals week this week and didn’t get a chance to write an article until now, so to all the fans sorry for the delay.
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