MONDAY, MARCH 27, 2000
Fort Jennings: The little school that could -- and did
By Pat Magers
Sports Writer
COLUMBUS -- Ohio High School Athletic Association assistant commissioner Duane Warns drew a comparison to the movie "Hoosiers" when he presented the Division IV state basketball championship trophy to Fort Jennings Saturday afternoon.
Warns, who coached at Hopewell-Loudon in the 1960s, no doubt has a real feel for the little guys of the prep basketball world. But the Hopewell-Loudon of today, with its enrollment of 103 boys in the upper three grades, drarfs Fort Jennings, a school which, with 45 boys, is much more like Milan, the legendary Indiana high school about which the movie was made.
To be sure, Fort Jennings was one of two feel-good stories to develop from the three-day showcase of Ohio's postseason basketball standouts. The other was Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary's Dru Joyce, the ultimate little guy.
Joyce, a 5-foot-2, 95-pound freshman, was a fan favorite of the first order when he knocked down 7-of-7 from 3-point range to spark the Irish in their Division II title-game win over Jamestown Greenview. But Joyce, one of four freshmen to play major roles for St. Vincent-St. Mary, will no doubt be the subject of many more stories to come.
For Fort Jennings, this may well be a one-shot deal. Even if that isn't the case, this is a story worth telling. With all due respect to the Calvert basketball family, once the Musketeers gained the regional championship, they were a team around which it became easy to rally.
For one thing, the performance on the basketball floor was, for the most part, a five-man job. We're not just talking about five at a time; we're talking the same five -- Scott Gasser, Aaron Utrup, Kyle Liebrecht, Kevin Grothause and Matt Metzger -- virtually all the time. Metzger was the well-rested player of the bunch. He only played 28 minutes out of 32 in the championship game.
More than that, there wasn't any slash-the-throat, in-your-face, look-at-us nonsense that, sadly, is beginning to invade our precious high school game after having already cheapened that which is played on a "higher" level.
Instead, just like the game against Calvert in the regional final, the Fort Jennings-St. Henry showdown was nothing more than a good old-fashioned basketball war, the winner determined simply by the sound of a buzzer. If the buzzer goes off a little earlier or a little later, the other side may well celebrate. You just play hard and live with the result, which, in this final case Saturday, was a 64-58 Fort Jennings victory.
And if the Musketeers are a group that was easy to back, a big part of their appeal can be traced to coach John Von Sossan. This guy is no Gomer Pyle hayseed, but clearly he is one who prefers to keep things simple.
"We felt bad last year (falling to Edgerton in the regional title game), but I can't say that we made any conscious promises to ourselves to get here this year," Von Sossan said. "Too many things that are out of your control can happen and all of a sudden, your outlook is changed just like that. But we've always strived to do our best and we felt our best could carry us a long way.
"Once we made it here, a lot of people back home were afraid that, because we were so thrilled about this, that we'd forget why we were here," he said. "I understand that. Every kid in the stands here today dreams about getting to play in the state tournament. Every kid dreams of making the winning basket.
"But it's the hard work that goes with those dreams that makes the difference," he said. "These guys didn't forget why they came here. And they never ever forgot about the hard work."
Von Sossan himself is no stranger to hard work. He operates a construction business in Putnam County in addition to his "second" career as basketball coach. And while his work by day is far removed from the classroom, he recognizes the additional teaching duty that goes with coaching.
"People talk about the disadvantage of the lack of numbers at such a small school," he said. "But there is an up side. We're simple folks in a small town and therefore, we don't deal with a lot of the problems bigger schools have.
"But I think part of my job is to somehow prepare our guys for the ways of the world they haven't seen," he said. "And there is a lot they haven't seen. Some of them, maybe a lot of them, will stay in the hometown they're used to, but some of them will not. Some things in life you just have to experience, but they don't have to come as a total shock."
One could hardly blame Von Sossan if he decides to hang up his whistle while he's on top. Along with Richard Kortokrax, Von Sossan is one of the elder statesmen in the Putnam County League. He says it is too early to tell, however.
"The one who has suffered the most through all this is my wife," he said. "She keeps asking me, "When is it enough?' and I keep saying, 'Oh, one more year,' " he said. "Now is not the time to decide. There is too much emotion involved right now.
"I know whenever I decide to give it up, I'm always going to remember these guys and all the other guys I've coached," he said. "I didn't coach to win a state championship; I just love being around guys like this. A state championship was never a lifelong dream, but I'll never forget them for bringing it to the community."
It just feels good.