'I've never seen it like this'

Last week, six teams in the Blanchard Valley Conference had a chance at the league title. Going into the final games of the regular season tonight, that number has dropped, because of recent losses by Leipsic and Arlington. Now, it's four. Cory-Rawson, Riverdale, Pandora-Gilboa and Liberty-Benton each head into their games tonight with 7-2 conference records. It gets better. Riverdale travels to Pandora-Gillboa tonight. Cory-Rawson comes to Liberty-Benton. So despite a season-long logjam at the top of the conference, for those four teams, it's all relatively simple. You win, you get a share of the 2020-21 BVC crown. "There's very few times that a team who's ever had two losses ever wins our league," said Liberty-Benton coach Ben Gerken. "Most of the time you've got to go undefeated, or just have one loss to share. So, in my 22 years at Liberty-Benton, I've never seen it like this." Pandora-Gilboa coach Mike Lee agreed, and added that he thinks that's a positive. "It's been good for the kids, and I'm sure it's been good for the kids in the other programs as well," he said. "I guess they call that word 'parity.' You just never knew what was gonna happen on Friday nights." Riverdale coach Craig Taylor called the situation in the BVC 'crazy.' But he had a feeling things could be tight. "I remember mentioning to our coaches in the preseason that every Friday night in the BVC was gonna be kind of special, because I really didn't have a clear cut favorite to win the league." This season has been special for Cory-Rawson and coach Al Thomas. Riverdale shared the conference crown with Arlington last season. Pandora-Giboa's last league title was in 2017-2018, and L-B's was the year before that. For the Hornets, the BVC championship drought is longer. C-R's last BVC crown came in 1978-79. "We're really excited about the opportunity," Thomas said. "We just talk about the urgency, the magnification of trying to win a championship, and what champions look like and how they prepare, how they act, and how we play." Standing in the way of that championship are the Eagles, who are 10-9 overall. "We're just looking to go over there and compete. It's fun for us," Thomas said. "Our kids have earned to be in this position. We know Liberty is a good ball club, and all the other teams that are tied with us are good ball clubs." Gerken said he's impressed with C-R, which is 10-7 overall. "What you notice is they are very fundamental. They don't hurt themselves very often," said Gerken of the Hornets. "This is a championship game, and we need championship effort from our guys." Riverdale (13-8 overall) has won its last two games – including a 47-40 win over Arlington Wednesday. That Falcon victory dropped the Red Devils from title contention. "Hopefully, we can play well (Friday) and give ourselves a chance to win that, a share of it," Taylor said. Pandora-Gilboa is coming off a 50-40 loss to Continental Thursday night, and sit at 10-11 overall. But a win over Riverdale, and the Rockets will have a piece of a title. "It comes down," Lee said, "to one basketball game." Or two.