The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
From gridiron to hardwood
Elyria Catholic hoping recent success of football team, girls basketball team translates to the court
Last season, it was the girls basketball team at Elyria Catholic that earned a trip to the state tournament.
This year the football team went from 3-7 to a nine wins and a regional semifinal appearance.
The culture around Panthers athletics is certainly shifting, and now the boys basketball team wants a little piece of that success.
Elyria Catholic ended its 2017-18 season in heartbreaking fashion, losing, 68-63, to Beachwood in a district semifinal — a game the Panthers walked away from feeling like they let slip away — but with the return of four starters including one of the area’s most well-rounded players in senior Jarred Logan, and the residual effects of a successful football season, the basketball team is hungrier than ever to make an impact this season.
“With those guys (from the football team), they went far in the playoffs, they know what the feeling of being hungry for wins is,” Logan said. “They got a new coach over there. Coach (Brian) Fox taught them a new culture, a winning culture. Hopefully if he brought that to them, they can bring that to us.”
Encouraging that drive and determination is firstyear coach Rob Palmer. After longtime coach Phil Kuchta resigned in the summer to take an assistant job at Baldwin Wallace, Palmer was promoted to head coach in a transition that’s been virtually seamless.
“It could’ve been hard but I feel like our guys, we’re transitioning well into basketball and everyone’s getting into it,” Logan said. “I feel like our mindset coming in is making sure we find ourselves, we find our identity and just kind of get in the flow of things as quick as we can.”
Having a leader like Logan, a 6-foot-6 forward and three-year letterwinner, has made Palmer’s life a bit easier, too, especially considering the loss of 2017-18 Lorain County Mr. Basketball and Elyria Catholic alltime leading scorer, Dorian Crutcher.
Crutcher dominated the Panthers’ offense last season, taking nearly twice as many shots as the next leading shooter — Logan — and now Palmer is tasked with retooling the lineup and fostering a new identity for the team.
“Losing Dorian right now, the impact he made on the program lives on. In practice every day, some of the things Dorian did live on to this day,” Palmer said. “Having a leader like Jarred on the floor really makes that transition easier.
“We have a ‘we over me philosophy,’ they know it’s a process. We’re not trying to change everything in one minute or one quarter, we’re looking all the way to Game 23 and making sure we’re ready for Game 23.”
Filling the void left by Crutcher is no easy task, but the team feels like experience is on its side and a productive offseason has set the Panthers up for success.
Along with Logan, Elyria Catholic returns three twoyear starters including Edward Wright, David Griffin and 6-foot-8 center Branson Taylor.
“We have a lot of returning players and with that we have a lot of leadership,” Wright said.
“We lost pieces but I feel like we’ve gained pieces, too. We gained athleticism, defense, people that understand the team aspect so I feel like this team will come together and we can go farther in the tournament than we did (last season).”