CLARION — Entering Saturday, Ridgway had allowed the fewest points in District 9, while Coudersport had scored the most. Something had to give.
That something was the Elkers’ defense, as Coudy scored at will for most of the night and rolled to a 66-46 victory to claim their second consecutive Class AA title at Clarion University.
The Falcons jumped all over Ridgway early, as senior Hunter Ricke hit a trio of 3-pointers in the first quarter to give Coudy a 19-9 lead after one.
The stunned Elkers didn’t have any time to recover from that first quarter barrage as the Falcons’ kept Ridgway on their heels for the remainder of the first half. The Elkers failed to get within single-digits again after the first quarter, and Coudy took a 36-22 lead into halftime before closing the door with a 30-14 run in the second half.
Ridgway had held opponents to fewer than 40 points an astonishing 17 times this season, but the Falcons played a dominating style of basketball on both sides of the ball to hand the Elkers their first loss of the season and repeat as champs.
“Amazing,” Coudy head coach Brian Furman said. “To come up against a great Ridgway team and play like this. Our goal this year was to get to the finals and have an opportunity to win the game. It is just great how hard these kids play and practice all year long and to come out and perform like they did tonight.”
After Ricke’s dominant first quarter, Owen Chambers took over for Coudy. The junior scored 30 points in the Falcons’ semifinal game win on Tuesday, and responded with 27 more against the Elkers. Seventeen of his 27 points came in the first half as he helped Coudy go 7-of-10 from beyond the arc in the game’s first 16 minutes.
Coudersport’s offensive outburst was even more impressive considering that Ridgway had held its semifinal opponent, Clarion, to just 24 points on Tuesday.
“When you make shots, your offense looks really good. Hunter came out on fire to begin the game with knocking down shots, and other guys filled in behind,” Furman said.
Saturday’s outcome was a solid dose of redemption for Coudy, who narrowly lost to Ridgway 59-57 earlier in the season. At the time it snapped a 14-game win streak for the Falcons, but Coudy knew that they would most likely be on a collision course to play Ridgway again this weekend. This go around, they were more than ready for it.
For as well as the Falcons played on the offense side of the ball, they were also firing on all cylinders defensively.
Ridgway went just 2-for-14 in the third quarter from the field while trying to mount a comeback, and went without a single make from the field for the first 4:30 of the fourth quarter, as well.
“Defensively, we played zone the whole game,” Furman said. “They’ve got guys that can score the ball, and they are really patient offensively. They won’t settle for a hard shot, but our guys did a good job of contesting everything.”
The Falcons win is the first time Coudersport has won back-to-back D-9 titles since the 1950s, and marks the only time in school history that the team has appeared in three straight championship games.
Staring out at the floor at both the Coudersport girls and boys holding up their medals and soaking in victory after the conclusion of the second game on Saturday, Furman was seemingly at a loss for words for what the last 12 months has meant for the school.
“This same thing happened last year,” he said. “Wow. Just quite an accomplishment.”
Coudersport will face Wilmington, District 10’s third-place finisher, on Saturday at 5:30 p.m., at St. Marys High School in the first round of the PIAA state playoffs.
AT CLARION
Coudersport (66)
Owen Chambers 6 11-14 27, Hunter Ricke 6 0-0 17, Keck 1 7-8 10, Green 3 1-4 7, De. Keglovits 1 1-2 3, Crosby 0 2-2 2. Totals: 17 22-30 66
Ridgway (46)
John Mitchell 4 6-6 17, Neil MacDonald 6 3-7 13, Briar 1 2-4 4, Thorwart 1 0-0 3, Young 1 0-0 3, Zameraski 1 1-1 3, Hinton 1 0-0 2, Rohr 0 1-2 1. Totals: 13 14-20 46
Coudy 19 36 49 66
Ridgway 9 22 33 46
Three-point goals: Coudy 10 (Ricke 5, Chambers 4, Keck 1) Ridgway 5 (Mitchell 3, Thorwart 1, Young 1); Total fouls: Ridgway 20, Coudy 13; fouled out: none
