PHOTOS FROM FIRST EDGEWOOD: http://smu.gs/2t72cNX
It was but a short few days ago that the Edgewood Warriors thumped the Chardon Hilltoppers in a regular season game in Chardon.
The rematch came along in a sectional final contest for Division II on the Edgewood home floor, and the Hilltoppers showed everybody in a packed gym an example of the heart of a warrior before coming up a bucket short in a thrilling 63-61 Edgewood win.
The athletic Warriors of the All American Conference had given Chardon a lesson in finishing plays in the 84-65 win in Chardon two weeks ago. In the early going, it looked like a repeat effort as Edgewood (21-3) opened a double digit lead midway through the first quarter.
Chardon had suffered a big setback before the game was a minute old when Mike Laudato suffered a shoulder injury that finished his night early. A plethora of scorers appeared to be in Edgewood’s favor, and when Hilltopper all time leading scorer Alex Sulka went down with a hip injury late in the game, it looked bleak for Chardon (14-10).
They didn’t see it that way. Overcoming a double-digit Warrior lead in the third period by scoring the last five points of the third period for a 50-45 Edgewood, Chardon tied the game when Sulka put in a layup early in the last period.
A Joe Scerbo free throw with 5:09 left tied the score at 53-53 when a pair of Jake Skilton 3-pointers cut the gap to 62-59 with 27.9 seconds left.
Aaron Anderson hit the front end of a one and one with 22.2 seconds left, and a Jake Niehus hoop and a couple of scrums for loose balls in the waning seconds ended the game.
“We battled hard all night again,” Niehus said. “When somebody goes down, we all feel it’s our duty to pick it up for them. It was tough losing Mike (Laudato) early with a shoulder injury, but without Alex at the end, we knew we all had to step it up and we almost got it done. I hate to lose, but I’m proud of all my teammates.”
For Chardon coach Chad Murawski, the early part of the game was the difference.
“You just can’t give up a 15 point lead early in the game like we did,” he said. “Edgewood is one quality team, they finished us off at the end at our place and got an early start tonight. We played hard, for sure, and I’m so proud of each of these guys, but you can’t give up an early lead and think you can come back every time.”
Losing Laudato early caused confusion. “In a full gym, with a good team like Edgewood has, taking them on in a hostile environment is no easy chore,” Murawski said. “We didn’t change anything, I just told the kids to do what we do better, and they sure did a great job of it.”
Alex Sulka, the Hilltopper career leader in scoring, again led the way with 25 points, but he missed the last three plus minutes after injuring a hip earlier, and his teammates almost climbed the long hill back.
“It’s a weird feeling that my high school career has ended now, and I couldn’t even finish it up on the floor with my teammates,” Sulka said, “but these four years have gone by so fast, I have a really good feeling the guys I’m leaving behind can continute getting our team to the upper levels.”
Jake Skilton fired home five 3-pointers to keep CHS in the game, and Joe Scerbo picked up some slack as well in the fourth period.
“In any game, you have to go with the flow of the game,” Skilton said. “If I need to hit some long shots, I try hard and tonight I had some success.”
“With any team, each man needs to step up when the opportunity is there,” Murawski said. “We did it a lot this season, and tonight we did it again, and I can’t be prouder of all these great kids. Losing two top scorers like Mike and Alex could stop some teams in their tracks, but our kids fought hard to the last second.”
Chardon had some success stopping Hayden Kanicki, who torched them for 44 points in Chardon. In this game, he only tallied 18 of the 21 first-period points for the Warriors (21-3), but tight a Hilltoppers’ defense slowed him down a lot until he hit a 3-pointer with 1:48 left to play for a 60-53 Warrior lead, and they held on for dear life the rest of the way to earn the right to go again Lake Catholic.