I'm not going to dwell on it... we had a team that rose to the occasion, a very good basketball team and an extraordinary basketball team enter round one of the playoffs. One team probably didn't have much of a chance, one team was a toss-up if they could advance and one team looked destined, but drew an unfortunate situation.
All three teams had a chance to move on if they could put together a game.
One team just couldn't get out of the gate, one team just didn't quite have what it took and one team walked off the court bloodied and stunned.
Oil City was eliminated by a pretty good margin on Tuesday night down in McKees Rocks. Rocky Grove ended up losing by 10 in what was a much closer game than the final score indicated. And Franklin just could not get their usual buckets to fall in the second half of a physical game against the very good third seed Ellwood City, who pulled out ahead at the end and held on despite Easton Fulmer draining a half-court three with one second left.
Final scores Carlynton over Rocky Grove 48-38 and Ellwood City over Franklin 65-63.
It was a sad end to an extraordinary season with three Venango teams all advancing to the state championship round. These teams were just fun to watch and photograph this season.
Below are some moments from Rocky Grove and Franklin games Wednesday night.
All three teams had a chance to move on if they could put together a game.
One team just couldn't get out of the gate, one team just didn't quite have what it took and one team walked off the court bloodied and stunned.
Oil City was eliminated by a pretty good margin on Tuesday night down in McKees Rocks. Rocky Grove ended up losing by 10 in what was a much closer game than the final score indicated. And Franklin just could not get their usual buckets to fall in the second half of a physical game against the very good third seed Ellwood City, who pulled out ahead at the end and held on despite Easton Fulmer draining a half-court three with one second left.
Final scores Carlynton over Rocky Grove 48-38 and Ellwood City over Franklin 65-63.
It was a sad end to an extraordinary season with three Venango teams all advancing to the state championship round. These teams were just fun to watch and photograph this season.
Below are some moments from Rocky Grove and Franklin games Wednesday night.
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Final thoughts from Eight & 322.
It really was a treat watching these two teams this year. Both showed tenacity and drive to be better. We truly thought we'd be photographing Rocky Grove at least one more game and expected we were going to try to figure a way to afford a weekend in Hershey to document Franklin in Giant Center.
This night just wasn't their night.
We get it.
Sports are played and not determined on paper and certainly not in our dreams.
The other team has the same dream to win and on any given night can find a way to win.
That is life.
It really was a treat watching these two teams this year. Both showed tenacity and drive to be better. We truly thought we'd be photographing Rocky Grove at least one more game and expected we were going to try to figure a way to afford a weekend in Hershey to document Franklin in Giant Center.
This night just wasn't their night.
We get it.
Sports are played and not determined on paper and certainly not in our dreams.
The other team has the same dream to win and on any given night can find a way to win.
That is life.
The final frame we're going to share from this season is coach Jason Fulmer getting a hug from his youngest son at the end of the game. That encapsulates what is truly the essence of high school sports. We might be in it to win, but we are family more than anything else. And there is so much to look forward to in the future.
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