I've got to say that Owen-Gage impressed me last night. That might seem like an odd statement since they lost by 28-points (74-46).But the Bulldogs played a real gritty game and battled hard to make it interesting.
They trailed at one point 20-0 after the quarter and I began talking to one of the other nearby reporters about how out of hand he thought the game would get. He guessed 31, I thought the Cardinals might win by as much as 45.
However, two interesting things happened. Owen-Gage outscored the Cardinals 16-11 in the second to pull within 15. At that point, I'm sure not many people were under the allusion that the Bulldogs would win, but I think everyone in attendance (except the Kingston fans obviously) was glad it wasn't a blow off.
A 24-15 advantage in the third by Kingston put the end to any hopes of a miracle comeback by the Dawgs.
But the story of the game in my estimation is how the Cardinals seem to take plays and whole quarters off at a time or at least it seems that way. Kingston coach Mike Rea touched upon that in the post-game interview, noting that his team seems to kick it into safe-mode when things get too comfortable. He believes that is one of the ways that having an easy time during the regular season has hurt this team.
As for Owen-Gage, losing to Kingston in the Regional semis takes nothing away from what has been an amazing season. Coach Arnie Howard said he felt blessed to have been a part of this team, which won both league and District titles in the same season for the first time since 1971.
I'll be back either later tonight or tomorrow morning with an update on tonight's Sandusky/USA match-up.
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