Defense delivering for Arlington during postseason run

ARLINGTON – There's always a good-sized crowd of red-and-black-clad supporters when Arlington hits the hardwood.But the Red Devils bring something else with them every time they take the floor, whether it's at home or on the road."Like they say, defense travels," senior guard Ayden Cavinee said after Arlington's 73-36 win over South Central in Saturday's district championship game."If we can hold teams under 40 points, we know we have a good chance."Defense has become a trademark for an Arlington team that today begins its quest for a second straight regional championship. The Red Devils (22-3) face Montpelier (23-2) in the second of two Division VII semifinals games at Bowling Green State University. Kalida (14-11) and Pettisville (16-9) clash in the 6 p.m. opener, with today's winners returning Saturday at noon for the regional title and the trip to the state semifinals in Dayton.Arlington had a Blanchard Valley Conference best 34.1 defensive average for the 2025-26 regular season. During its current 18-game winning streak that has earned the Red Devils their spot in the Sweet Sixteen, they have lowered that averaged to 30.3."Defensively, the kids have been phenomenal," said Arlington coach Jason Vermillion."They trust each other, they trust us as coaches … As coaches we feel we're on the second year in it, and these guys, these returners, understand the coverage a little better.(Defensively) they've bought into it. They've really come together and we've just fed offit."Arlington's defense starts with a trapping three-quarter court press designed not only to try to steal the ball from the ball handler, but more likely to anticipate and intercept the quick, careless or off-target passes created by that pressure.Once past that challenge, teams then face a "no-3" 2-3 zone. It's the perfect alignment for an Arlington team that has the quickness and athleticism on the perimeter to deny dribble-drive penetration and still hustle out to harass shooters in the corners and the presence in the middle in 6-10 senior Calvin Willow. Unofficially, Willow had seven blocks in Saturday's win over South Central and affected at least that many shots and more with his length.Offensively, it starts in the middle as well.Willow, who over the past two years has developed into one of the state's top big men, upped his averages to 18.8 points and 7.5 rebounds a game this season. His assists numbers – 3.5 per game – are also up, a credit to his knack for finding the open man on the perimeter after being double- and triple-teamed inside."That's been a lot of team's defensive strategy," Willow said after drawing enough fouls to convert 7-of-8 free throws, just in the second quarter, of Saturday's game."We've learned to adapt to that though, and work through it."Arlington's inside-out game was working well Saturday. Willow scored inside to put Arlington on the board. When South Central collapsed on the senior center, Willow kicked it out to Ayden Cavinee, who knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers.Willow scored three more baskets in the first quarter, Cavinee, a senior guard averaging 14 points a game, hit another 3, and Drew Metzger and Hunter Rausch kept the long-range artillery firing as the Red Devils led 29-8 after one period of play and 51-20 at the half.While the writing was not yet on the wall, the paint cans were primed and the BB's were rattling louder and louder as Arlington's lead grew, eventually triggering a running clock in the second half."Obviously, Calvin is the focal point," Vermillion said."But our supporting cast this year has been awesome. Truly, our success is really a tribute to them."There was a time, though, when a trip to the regional tournament looked less promising. Arlington did start the season 4-1 – its one loss being to Kalida, the Cinderlla of this year's Division VII regional field – but in the span of three days that record fell to 4-3 following losses to Van Buren (55-47) and Indian Lake (65-53)."All three of those losses are legit losses to three really good basketball teams," Vermillion said."When we were sitting at 4-3 … We had a lot of returners from last year's team and I think they got together and, well, I think they understood that that was unacceptable."Arlington ended its mini-skid by beating Toledo Emmanuel Christian in the McDonald's Holiday Tournament in Bluffton. Prophetically, it was the defense that dominated in a 77-17 win.The Red Devils picked up some hardware by beating Bluffton 44-31 in the tournament final. Sixteen games later the winning streak continues, fueled by a lock-down defense and a desire repeat last year's regional run."After we lost those two games, I think we realized that we really needed to come together and figure out what we wanted to accomplish," Cavinee said."We figured out what we wanted was to get back to the Stroh (BGU's Stroh Center), so that's what we're doing right now and that's where we're headed."