The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Olmsted Falls loses in D-I district final
Senior Sarah Balfour receives a strong ovation from fans in her final game as the Bulldogs lose a district final to Strongsville, 51-45.
Battle-tested Olmsted Falls gave Strongsville everything it could handle until the final seconds, but the Mustangs prevailed on March 1 to earn the Elyria Catholic District title with a 51-45 win.
In a rematch from late in the regular season, Olmsted Falls coach Jordan Eaton knew his team had what it takes to knock off the top seed in the district when the Bulldogs beat Strongsville, 54-51, on Feb. 14. With two teams familiar with one another, the Mustangs’ defense played on another level and fended Olmsted Falls off for the win.
“I just give Strongsville credit for what they did because a lot of teams have a first half where they try and pack it into the paint and we get deflections and steals and turnovers and they abandon it. so I give Jeff (Eicher) and their coaching staff a lot of credit and their kids a lot of credit for not abandoning it,” Eaton said. “For the most part, I thought we played really, really hard, did a ton of things right. Strongsville did more things right tonight than we did.”
Leading at the end of the first and taking a fourpoint lead into the half, Olmsted Falls struggled to get the offense in gear in the second half with the bigs of Strongsville filling the paint and preventing the dribble-drive.
Leading, 32-27, with 1:40 left in the third, the Mustangs put it all together offensively for a 14-0 run that spanned almost five minutes of game time into the fourth quarter.
“Strongsville just did a really good job. We could have done a few things better here or there and that’s obviously the case,” Eaton said. “From a game plan standpoint, we really executed our game plan in the
first half. I didn’t necessarily do a good enough job of reiterating at halftime how important that was that we did that and in that regard, I can take the blame and our kids. They listen, they follow all direction and they’re really, really coachable.”
Looking to build on all of this success with a team that will send off one senior, the original building block of Eaton and the Bulldogs’ success was Sarah Balfour, who played her final game and leaves behind a lasting impression on anyone that saw her play.
“I spent a lot of time talking about how Sarah was here my first year as a freshman and we were really bad and she could have said, ‘This guy doesn’t know what he’s doing’ and ‘This coaching staff doesn’t have a clue, we were 3-20, what are we doing?’ ” Eaton said. “She trusted us and she trusted me, and I told her how proud I was of that.”
There might not be a better example of the reach of Balfour’s meaning to her team than when she fouled out against the Mustangs.
With just over a minute to play and her team down eight, Balfour picked up her fifth and final foul with the clock winding down, just to give her team a shot at a comeback.
“Even at the end of the game when she knew that time was so valuable, there was 1:25 left, she knew she had four fouls, she didn’t want any more time coming off the clock. She went and fouled just because she’s that selfless,” Eaton said. “She knows that time running off the clock was such a detriment to us, that she just said, ‘I know that I’m going to be done, but the others can get it done if we stop the clock right now’ and that was one of the coolest things and I told her when she came out I was so proud of her for that.”
Embracing her coach with a hug as the entire Olmsted Falls side rose to its feet to send off the senior, Balfour sat at the end of the bench knowing she just gave her team the best chance of a comeback.
“I knew that with time, we could definitely keep going on a run. The less time we have run off the clock, the better, so I just had to go after the ball and try and help my team,” Balfour said. “I’m really proud of how we played the whole entire season and even this game. It’s been so fun to be a part of such a great program. Olmsted Falls, I can only speak great things about it. The coaches are awesome, the girls are awesome, it’s just really awesome.”