Over many of the last 50 years or so, when Chardon and Kenston teams have battled in any weather or any sport, you could safely expect a donnybrook.
Over many of the last 50 years or so, when Chardon and Kenston teams have battled in any weather or any sport, you could safely expect a donnybrook.
No matter the record for these two highly successful programs at the time, it’s been all but certain to happen.
Both teams move to different leagues next school, which may cool the rivalry. But being neighbors has meant a lot.
Both teams are also off to a good start this season under new coaches, though nothing can deter expectations or diminish any big moments each team may be facing.
Jan. 30 in The Barn in Chardon, the Bombers were ready for a challenge, despite a super-good start under Head Coach Josh Jakacki.
Ultimately Kenston won by a 55-47 score and were also there for a special moment, as Chardon junior Luke Galfidi needed only two points to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career.
Galfidi has shown the ability to score in a hurry, but the Bombers tried to slow him down from the opening tipoff by keeping his Hilltopper teammates from helping him out.
“We wanted to contain Luke as much as we could from the get-go,” Coach Jakacki said. “He’s just such a super player, you know he will get his points, so slowing him down while limiting his teammates was huge.”
First-year Hilltoppers head coach Shane Quin knew what was at stake as well for his team.
“This has been a great rivalry for so many years — so many great players have been part of it, too — so you know the effort will be great for both teams,” Coach Quin said. “We didn’t rebound well in the first half, they hit some big shots. After tightening our 2-3 zone in the second half, we did well to close the gap, but didn’t have enough at the end to win.”
Chardon shot the ball well in the first period, hitting on five of 12 shots, but those misses proved to be costly. In dominating the backboards by an 18-7 count in the first half, Kenston moved to 14-2 on the season by using tight defense, that rebounding edge, and the deadly outside shooting of Pierce Brown, who nailed five shots from beyond the arc in the first half for 15 points.
Those baskets helped open a 39-24 halftime edge for the Bombers, but first, with 6:14 left in the second period, Galfidi finally got free from the defense to score his first points and reach the milestone.
After a brief ceremony celebrating the achievement, Kenston proceeded to hit on seven of 13 shots in the second period for that halftime edge.
Chardon’s tight 2-3 zone defense cut into the lead slowly and surely until early in the final period. Limiting Kenston to six of 18 shooting in the second half — and stopping Brown entirely — got Chardon (10-6) back into the game.
After Luke Stupica hit a pair of free throws with 19 ticks gone in the final quarter, Chardon got six points from Galfidi and seven from Tarantino to cut the gap to 47-45 with 3:30 to play.
But Kenston’s Stupica and Kahlil Hinton each hit a bucket thereafter, and Adam Barr’s only points of the game, a pair of free throws with 9.5 seconds left, made the verdict clear.
“This is a special night for me,” Galfidi said. “I love this community, I love my teammates, and I never could have reached this great time without all of them. The points are cool for me, but we are all about being a team all the time. If I play, and all the guys play their own games, we expect to win every time out.”
Only a few years beyond his own playing days as a Hilltopper, Coach Quin understood the importance of the game for Galfidi, but stressed his team’s normal effort as a key.
“Win or lose,” he said, “our high energy level efforts are the key to our game. Tonight we had issues on the rebounding part of things, but our defense in the second half helped a lot, and that is how we go at things every game.”
As these teams go separate ways in league play, real fans can only hope they keep playing.
Brown’s 15 points led his team, Hunter Yates tallied eight of his 10 in the first half to help open that lead, and Stupica scored six of his nine in the fourth period to keep Chardon at bay.
Galfidi finished with 17 points, Tarantino added 16, and Luke Evans added nine, but in winning the boards by a 29-17 count, eight from Hinton kept the ball out of Topper hands enough for a thrilling win.
