Champions of the cardinal by Adrian Curry
My 5th game of the week took me to Thomas worthington as the cardinals and the Hilliard Darby panthers. The stakes couldn’t be any higher as with a win the panthers could clinch their first-ever occ-cardinal championship while Thomas worthington was playing spoiler because a loss by Darby coupled with a win by Dublin scioto would only allow Darby to share with scioto. This was a game that went back and forth tied at 22 at the half. Darby took over in the 3rd quarter as their stars started to take over and put thier stamp on the game. As has been the case all season Darby has been led by the tremendous play of Annie Rauch and Sydney wyngarden. Darby turned a closed game into an 8-point lead at the end of the third quarter. They also got great play from Sophia iosue. Thomas made a run with great play from Breanna Beatty and Sarah charley who has been a great revelation as a freshman all season as they cut it to 5 but Darby had an answer with baskets by Sydney wyngarden and Annie rauch as well as great defense down the stretch. Darby was able to close it out and win their last game of the season 50-41. With the win they conclude their season at 17-5 and 12-2 in the cardinal, with the loss Thomas falls to 12-7 and concludes league play at 9-5 with 3 games remaining at central crossing and home games vs new Albany and Desales next week. Hilliard Darby’s senior class has seen it all. As freshmen they only won one game and now as they are about to close their careers as league champs for the first time in school history. This team will be a tough out during the tourney.