Chieftains down Arlington, will take on Old Fort Friday

FINDLAY – In what seemed like two pretty even matchups going in Tuesday night at Liberty-Benton, they actually were a bit lopsided. Old Fort led Calvert 32-27 at halftime, but a 17-2 third quarter blew the game open as the Stockaders took it to the rival Senecas 62-47 in the first Division IV district semifinal. In the nightcap, Arlington came out hot with a 15-10 advantage over top-seeded Hopewell-Loudon. However, the Red Devils couldn't sustain it as H-L had one of the best shooting nights of the season as Blake Berrier and Carter Yarbrough combined for 49 points in a 74-55 rout.It will be another Old Fort/H-L showdown back at L-B Friday at 6 p.m. – this time with a district title at stake."We have to be ready to go. Hopewell has size, some athletic guys," Old Fort coach Hoover said. "Ultimately we have to take care of our own business and get it done defensively no matter what their strengths are, we have to be able to slow them down."Hopewell-Loudon's seniors will have at least one more game as the Chieftains started a little slow, but really turned it on outscoring Arlington 64-40 in the last three quarters.One key was the aggressive play of Berrier and Yarbrough either getting into the paint to score or dish out for open shots.Berrier tallied 27 points and Yarbrough finished with 22."The (Calvin) Willow kid played a lot tonight and he's going to be really good for them and I think he played more because we were starting to play well," H-L coach Roger Jury said. "We originally were going to emphasize the post players even more than we have before, but when he came in and they pressured, we then talked to our guards about driving to the rim to score or look for a teammate."Carter Yarbrough is a really good player for us … and I say this a lot, but I think we have the nicest kids and sometimes that's their problem. Carter shot when he was open and he did a great job tonight too. We don't worry about points per game or who scores what, so our scores are different, but we knew we had to pressure them tonight because they were pressuring us so far out. It's what we had to do tonight to win."Arlington (18-7) got out to a 6-2 lead after a Jase Vermillion layup in the first period. After H-L (22-2) knotted it up at 8, Arlington responded with a 7-2 run to end the first as Caden Russell had five points in the run.The Red Devils kept a lead in the early part of the second quarter with a 19-14 edge with 6:00 on the clock, but then the Chieftains started making shot after shot. Berrier had 10 points and Yarbrough had seven in the second period as both contributed mightily to H-L's 35-27 lead at the half.Berrier swished a 3-pointer out of the half and Yarbrough made a layup to give H-L a quick 40-27 advantage to start the second half.Arlington tried to stay within striking distance, but the Chieftains were on fire as Yarbrough drilled a triple to end the third as H-L led 53-39."We had a good start and did some good things we wanted to at the basket and then the shots they were making … it didn't matter what defense we were in. It was a night they put on a pretty good performance," Arlington coach Jason Vermillion said. "We tried to change some things up defensively, but it didn't matter in the second half as the ball barely hit the rim when they shot it behind the arc. "We're happy with the effort, but I think they did some things that exploited some areas and stuff hopefully our young kids can learn from in the coming years."Arlington didn't give up as it got within 61-45 after a Jase Vermillion 3 and then to 63-51 at the 3:45 mark after a pair of Vermillion free throws, but the Chieftains did enough down the stretch to close it out.Behind Berrier and Yarbrough was Evan Kreais with 14 points for the Chieftains.Arlington's Vermillion had 18 points, while Brady Griggs added nine and Ayden Cavinee and Russell each ended with eight points. Old Fort (20-5): Konnor Ernsberger 7-5-20; Isiah Perez 3-2-10; Carter DuBois 7-0-16; Ryan Adelsperger 3-1-8; Blake Bender 1-0-2; Carter Cleveland 2-0-6. Totals: 23-8-62.Calvert (18-6): Logan Ritzler 3-0-9; Harry Shultz 3-0-8; Kevin Ardner 0-0-0; Carter Wolph 0-0-0; Jacob Rombach 6-0-12; Gavin Wagner 4-4-12; Caden Otterbacher 2-1-5. Totals: 18-5-47.Old Fort&emsp;&emsp;22&emsp;&emsp;10&emsp;&emsp;17&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;– 62Calvert&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;14&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;2&emsp;&emsp;18&emsp;&emsp;– 47Field goals: Old Fort 23; Calvert 183-point goals: Old Fort 8 (DuBois 2, Cleveland 2, Perez 2, Ernsberger, Adelsperger); Calvert 6 (Ritzler 3, Shultz 2, Otterbacher)Foul shots: Old Fort 8-12; Calvert 5-12Turnovers: Old Fort 7; Calvert 8 Arlington (18-7): Jase Vermillion 5-5-18; Brady Kin 0-0-0; Luke Metzger 2-0-4; Caden Russell 3-1-8; Brady Griggs 3-3-9; Elijah Frysinger 1-1-3; Ayden Cavinee 3-1-8; Calvin Willow 2-1-5. Totals: 19-12-55.H-L (22-2): Blake Berrier 10-3-27; Owen Suter 1-0-2; Carter Yarbrough 6-7-22; Donovan Elmore 2-0-4; Braylon Martinez 1-3-5; Jack Colatruglio 0-0-0; Evan Kreais 5-4-14. Totals: 25-17-74.Arlington&emsp;&emsp;15&emsp;&emsp;12&emsp;&emsp;12&emsp;&emsp;16&emsp;&emsp;– 55H-L&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;10&emsp;&emsp;25&emsp;&emsp;18&emsp;&emsp;21&emsp;&emsp;– 74Field goals: Arlington 19; H-L 253-point goals: Arlington 5 (Vermillion 3, Russell, Cavinee); H-L 7 (Berrier 4, Yarbrough 3)Foul shots: Arlington 12-17; H-L 17-22Turnovers: Arlington 4; H-L 5