A good time was had by all on Sunday afternoon at West Union High School as the Venture Production Hawks continued their dominance of the Sheriff’s Department Eagles, downing the Eagles 60-57. (Photo by Kimberly Browning)
Sheriff’s Eagles take another ‘L’
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
A lot of basketball fans in Adams County might tell you that the biggest rivalry on the hardwood is when Peebles and North Adams face off with each other. But others will certainly tell you that is not the case and that the biggest hoops rivalry in the county was renewed on Sunday afternoon, ironically at North Adams High School.
That Sunday battle once again featured the Venture Production Hawks defending their total domination of Sheriff Kimmy Rogers and his Eagles before a capacity crowd, the large majority of whom where on hand to again root for the heavily favored Hawks. As is the norm each year, Sheriff Rogers pulled whatever he could out of his bag of tricks, even going so far as to bring in the county’s all-time leading scorer, Beau Justice from Peebles, as an assistant coach. Perhaps, though, Rogers should have had Beau suit up for the game as once again the futility of the Eagles’ efforts were on display as they remained winless in their annual imitation of the Washington Generals, falling again to the Hawks by a final score of 60-57.
It was the Hawks who took the early momentum in Sunday afternoon’s contest, taking a 16-11 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Eagles showed a little spunk in period number two and rallied to tie the game at 27 apiece at halftime, giving false hope to the few Eagles’ fans in attendance.
The third quarter belonged again to the Hawks as they flew to a 44-39 lead after three and then continued the barrage into the fourth period, opening up a commanding 60-47 lead with two minutes left in the game. At that point, Sheriff Rogers must have given his troops a bribe or some kind of extra incentive as the Eagles went on a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to three as the clock wound down. The Eagles got a steal in the final seconds but a desperation three-pointer was embarrassingly off the mark and the victorious Hawks celebrated and again collected the rivalry trophy for their growing collection.
Once again, the Eagles had no answer for the hardwood skills of one “Dunking” Darrell Grooms, who led the Hawks and all scorers in the game with 18 big points, though the Eagles can take some solace in holding Grooms about 30 points below his average. (Just ask him.) Michael Bailey scored 13 for the winners with fan favorite T.J. Liston adding 8.
The Eagles were paced by 12 points from John Shope, 10 from Kyle Merz and 8 from Rick Phillips.
“This gives us something good to do and show everything isn’t bad,” said Sheriff Rogers after the game. “If I had to pick one group of people in Adams County as my favorites, it would be the Venture Hawks. They come here to win every year.”
Rogers also allowed a little glimpse into what he might have up his sleeve for next year’s contest.
“You can write this down as fact. I’ve got one more year as Sheriff and if we have this game, I will be the winning coach and I’m not talking smack”
