Game against Wapakoneta is about more than getting a win.
Win vs. Wapakoneta would be another box checked for St. Marys program
It’s that time of the year again. Not only is it Christmastime, but it’s also time for St. Marys and Wapakoneta to renew its annual rival.
Thursday’s matchup at Memorial High School features a Wapakoneta team who is coming off a 73-37 loss to Ottawa- Glandorf last week in the team’s Western Buckeye League opener.
For St. Marys, Thursday’s WBL opener is a chance to get the monkey off its back against the Redskins — a team St. Marys has had a hard time beating in nearly a decade.
“I can’t describe how much we need to beat Wapak,” Roughriders coach Jon Burke said. “I felt we dropped the lead in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter [in last year’s matchup at Wapakoneta], they took us to overtime and we lost. We know it is going to be a fight no matter what.
“Both teams are well-coached and well prepared and we know each other really well.”
The Roughriders enter Thursday with 11 consecutive losses against the team directly east on U. S. Route 33, including seven postseason defeats. The program’s last win against Wapakoneta? Jan. 21, 2011.
But the Roughriders (3-1) have been oh so close to snapping that dreadful losing skid against the Redskins (1-1) and this game is more than a feeling of a team who is anxious for a much-needed win against an opponent — it’s about continuing to build on a level of success that has already been instilled in a program that was previously down for years.
And this rivalry illustrates that point.
In three games the teams played each other from 2013-14, St. Marys lost by a combined 82 points, an average of 27 points per game.
In three games from 2016-17, that point differential decreased significantly to 21 combined points, seven points per game, and the last four games, St. Marys has lost by a combined 21 points — including an overtime loss last season where the Roughriders entered the fourth quarter with a seven-point lead.
Two of the last three games between the two teams have gone to overtime as St. Marys has closed the gap between the two programs — now it needs that signature win to get over the hump.
“It’s going to be a really tough possession-by-possession game,” Burke said. “It’s a game that we would really like to get. It’s our WBL opener too so it would be a nice way to open the WBL to get a win against Wapak.
“We respect that team a lot but we’ve let the last two slip away and we would like to finish this one.”
But a win Thursday would mean much more than just a “W” in the win column for the Roughriders, bragging rights for the first time in nearly a decade and a snapped losing skid — it would be another example of how far this program has come under Burke in the coach’s fourth year in the program.
Once a program that had not won a sectional title in nine years, the Roughriders girls basketball team is coming off three straight sectional crowns and were one game away from only its second regional appearance last season.
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And along the way, the program has slowly, but surely, checked off those boxes that have haunted the program for several years to lead them to this point.
Before Burke became head coach, the goal was for the program to compete in games — and accomplished that by notching a win against Bath during the 2016-17 season for the first time since 2011 and eclipsed the 10-win threshold in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 2009-10, 2010-11 seasons.
The next step was to win a sectional title in Burke’s first year, and the Riders did that.
The next season, St. Marys earned its first winning season since 2010-11 on its way to winning its second straight sectional crown and last year, the team built a model of consistency with wins in 16 of the team’s final 18 games — including wins against state- ranked Marion Local and road wins against talented Arlington and Russia.
That run eventually led to a third straight sectional championship and loss to eventual state-qualifier Napoleon — another school Burke’s team is idolizing.
But with stability in the program, a team no longer hanging out in the bottom of the WBL and a program built for success for the long haul, the Roughriders are turning their attention to tying up some long loose ends within the league as they look to claim the program’s seventh WBL title and first since the 2010-11 season.
And for a program that has methodically
checked the boxes for a few years, checking the next one begins with beating Wapakoneta.
“It is a game we are looking to avenge,” Burke said.
A team that finished 10-13 last season and 4-5 in league play, coach Rusty Allen returns five guards from last year’s team, including seniors Casey Minnig and Taylor Jenkins. Returning junior Addy Allen will lead the charge for the Redskins.
For once this season, however, Wapakoneta does not have the same size in the paint that it is accustomed to having. That could be an advantage for St. Marys on Thursday.
But a loss to the Redskins does not end the Roughriders’ season. Not by a long shot.
Those boxes that have been checked over the years will still need to be kept up this season — another winning season, still a chance to win the league, another sectional title and a long playoff push — to maintain that level of consistency. Not to mention, there is still a lot of season left.
But a win on Thursday sure would be nice.
“Wapak is one of those programs that you strive to be,” Burke said. “They are always at the top of the league, they play hard every night, it doesn’t matter what kind of talent they have on the roster. I like to think that we are that program.
“It’s never good to lose to your rival 10 or 11 years in a row and I am a Michigan fan so I know how that feels too. So we need to turn the page here and knock off a rival here on 33 that we are long overdue for.”