PERRYSBURG — Perrysburg’s boys may have made a statement Wednesday night.
The Yellow Jackets built a 20-point lead by halftime and never looked back, as they went on to defeat
Rossford 77-45 in a Northern Lakes League contest.
Perrysburg played solid defense all night and spread the ball around evenly, resulting in four different
players scoring at least nine points.
“We needed that. We needed a win where we felt good about ourselves,” said Perrysburg head coach Dave
Boyce. “Jason Meyer played well, and Scott Milne had some solid contributions off the bench. We got in a
little bit of foul trouble and we needed all of those guys so that was good.”
The Yellow Jackets’ stingy defense was evident right from the beginning of the game.
Rossford won the opening tip, but an almost instantaneous steal by Perrysburg junior Jake Pfleghaar led
to an easy layup for the Yellow Jackets.
The same was true on the next Bulldog possession where yet another Rossford turnover led to an easy
layup, this time by Karter Sell, putting Perrysburg up 4-0 just 27 seconds into the game.
That was merely the story of the game as Rossford finished with 21 total turnovers, which turned into 25
points for Perrysburg.
“The start was big,” Boyce said. “I thought our defensive pressure was big early. We converted in the
open court and we shot it well early. I thought we mixed it up fairly well, and we had some good
pressure on their (Rossford’s) guards. I think those two things helped us get a lead. We finished when
we had a chance. We picked up some loose balls, we deflected the ball, and we turned it into points.”
“We didn’t come to play tonight, and our seniors didn’t lead us,” was all Rossford head coach Brian Vorst
had to say.
Vorst’s team falls to 3-6 overall and 1-4 in the NLL.
The Yellow Jackets’ offense was also effective throughout the game.
Perrysburg used its speed to get many fast-break layups, but also pulled up and knocked down shots from
the perimeter.
Overall the Yellow Jackets shot 51 percent for the game (29-57), and 44 percent from 3-point territory
(7-16).
“Rossford, they’re well-coached. And defensively they’re going to take away some things,” Boyce said.
“They took away some of the things in the paint, so the three is what was there a lot of times.”
Milne was the 3-point specialist off the bench for Perrysburg, knocking down three field goals from
beyond the arc en route to scoring 12 points.
Pfleghaar was the leading scoring for both teams, tallying 13 points.
“I think our defense was a big part of it. Fast-breaks helped obviously, and the big start helped,”
Pfleghaar said. “We just kept a lot of pressure on the ball and jumped in the passing lanes, and that
helped us get steals.”
Alec Schmenk and Jason Meyer contributed for Perrysburg, adding 11 and nine points, respectively.
“I think a lot of guys contributed,” Boyce said. “We moved the ball around and found the open man. It
wasn’t the same guy all the time, so a lot of guys were able to get some numbers on the board.”
Rossford, which was held to just 15-43 (35 percent) shooting, was led by senior post Mitchell Stewart’s
12 points. Josh Perry added 10 points.
Perrysburg, now 5-4 overall and 4-1 in the NLL, will look to stay in contention for an NLL title Saturday
night in a home game against Anthony Wayne.
“Now we’ve got Anthony Wayne who’s tough, scrappy, well-coached, and they have one of the big kids
around,” Boyce said. “We need to get to work to get ready for him and get ready for their defense. And
they’ve got two nice shooters we’ll have to look out for.”
Perrysburg won the the junior varsity game 61-27. Shane Edwards led the Yellow Jackets with 20 points,
while Bryant Bird added 14 points. Derek Mack led Rossford with eight points.
PERRYSBURG 77, ROSSFORD 45
ROSSFORD
Perry, 1-1-5—10; Brock, 1-0—2; Mack, 0-1-0—3; Hotz, 0-0—0; Lydy, 2-0—4; Miller, 0-0—0; Haddad, 1-0—2;
Sloan, 3-0—6; Jones, 2-1—5; Stewart, 3-6—12; Thompson, 0-1—1. TOTALS: 13-2-13—45
PERRYSBURG
Milne, 1-3-1—12; Gordon, 0-2—2; Schenk, 1-1-1—6; Sell, 1-0—2; Meyer, 1-1-4—9; Yant, 2-0—4; Pfleghaar,
6-1—13; Dunbar, 3-0—6; Schimmoeller, 1-1-3—8; Schmenk, 4-1-0—11; Edwards, 2-0—4. TOTALS: 22-7-12—77
ROSSFORD
10
7
14
14
—45
PERRYSBURG
18
19
20
20
—77
Junior varsity: Perrysburg, 61-27
