By Nicholas Huenefeld

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

PEMBERVILLE — The inaugural season of the Monday Night Lights playground basketball league at Memorial Park completed its first week of postseason play this week.

“The first week was great,” said Drew Kachmarik, who co-founded the league along with Quinten Farmer. “We saw a lot more defense I would say. We saw great competition. Next week, I think will be even better.”

The first of two weeks in the league’s 12-team postseason tournament saw Luckey Hills and Meat Locker advance to next week’s winner’s bracket final, which will take place at 9:30 p.m.

The winner of that game will advance to the championship round of the double-elimination tournament later that night.

Cade Boos led top-seeded Luckey Hills to a 21-7 win over FCA Boyz with nine points and five rebounds in the first winner’s bracket semifinal. Ben Buehler led FCA Boyz with five points and three rebounds.

“We just play really hard,” Boos said. “That’s all we do. We’re really athletic. Jacob Plantz is one of the best athletes around here. Our game plan is just to work harder than everyone else and use our athleticism to our advantage.”

Lake and Case Boos have joined Cade and Plantz this year on Luckey Hills, which will take a 10-0 record into next week.

“It’s so fun,” Cade Boos said. “To get 100 to 200 people to watch every week is a good time. It gets really competitive and really fun, and we’ve known each other for a long time. The rivalries really come out and shine.”

In the other winner’s bracket semifinal, Meat Locker defeated the Otsego Boyz 22-11 behind 16 points and one rebound from Matt Cline. Kaidyn Hutton led Otsego Boyz with seven points and four rebounds.

Thurman Lawniczak, who helped Cline and company pick up three wins on Monday, said his team has surpassed expectations so far.

“I thought we played great,” he said. “We know what we’re capable of, but a three-game stretch with how old we are is kind of tough.”

The team’s veteran mindset helped in the winner’s bracket semifinal win, according to Lawniczak.

“(The) young kids getting frustrated and not going their way (was important for us),” he said. “You just have to suck it up and get through it. They weren’t willing to do that, (and we were).”

In the top half of the opening round of the winner’s bracket, the Backyard Ballerz defeated Getzy Elite. Ben Cameron had nine points for the Backyard Ballerz. Jacob Meyer led Getzy Elite with eight points.

The Backyard Ballerz ended up falling to Luckey Hills in the winner’s bracket quarterfinals.

FCA Boyz defeated JV Demonz behind 12 points from Charlie Woods. Following that, they took down the Pink Plumbers in the winner’s bracket quarterfinals before falling to Luckey Hills.

The Otsego Boyz defeated the Big Nutters in the opening round behind 15 points from Kaidyn Hutton before taking down Team Biggie in the following round.

The Meat Locker defeated The Masters in the final opening round game behind 13 points from Logan Frobose. Following that, seventh-seeded Meat Locker took down second-seeded Hoosier Daddy.

“This is awesome,” Lawniczak said. “The whole league. The atmosphere is fun. It brings young kids and older guys together. It’s just cool to blend everyone together.”

Six teams remain in loser’s bracket play, and they’ll battle it out beginning at 9 p.m. next week. The championship is slated for 10:05 p.m. with the if necessary game at 10:25 p.m.

“The community has been great,” Kachmarik said of the league’s growth. “Every week we’re seeing new faces. It’s awesome. The amount of compliments, text messages and phone calls has just been unreal.

“If it wasn’t for the other people here, this wouldn’t be possible. Even the other teams, they’re bringing the energy. It’s just been awesome.”