By Staff

            WAKEFIELD – Thanks to a career game by Ty Romero, the Elyria Christian boys literally buried Wakefield on the road Tuesday with a 63-point, 77-14 win.

            Now 11-2 for the season and ranked number 10 in Class 1A Division I, the Eagles will play host to Herington on Friday.

            “We are building good habits right now, and learning how to play each possession,” explained Eagle head coach Zach Goodrich. “There are plenty of opportunities to learn throughout the game, and I feel we are starting to understand how to play.”

            The Eagles jumped out to a 21-point, 23-2 lead by the end of the first quarter and the rout was on as they build their advantage to 43 points at 51-8 by the halftime break before cruising in for the final 63-point victory by outscoring Wakefield 26-13 in the final two quarters.

            It was an outstanding job on offense as a team for Elyria as they recorded 22 assists on 33 field goals made as the team seemed to always find the open player with Johnny Unruh and Caleb Laney leading the offense by dishing out nine and eight assists, respectively.

            Ty Romero led the Eagles scoring as he connected on eight three-pointers while scoring a career high 40 points. All nine Eagles that played scored at least two points with Alex Robertson getting nine and both James Schott and Blake Robertson hitting for eight.

            Coach Goodrich continued his post-game reflections by noting, “Ty (Romero) had himself a night. He is a special talent and is learning every game how to be efficient. He was able to score around the basket and still catch fire going deep. He had a stretch where he hit six or seven three-pointers in a row. The team was excited to watch him find great rhythm.”

            On defense the Eagles forced Wakefield into making 32 turnovers while recording a whopping 23 steals led by Romero and Johnny Unruh with five each.

            Concluding his reflections on the rout, coach Goodrich said, “We did a fantastic job finding the open man as Johnny (Unruh) was solid dishing out nine assists and Caleb (Laney) finished with eight while doing a great job getting into the paint. We had several boys just miss on double figures scoring as Alex (Robertson) got us going early by connecting on two threes in the first quarter and finishing with nine points on 3-of-4 shooting. James (Schott) and Blake (Robertson) provided strong interior play for us. It was great to see everyone get, in and get into the scoring column. Overall, I am very pleased with where we are at and looking forward to our next few games as we continue to build momentum.”

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN EAGLES at Wakefield

SCORING: EAGLES > 23-28-20-6 = 77;  Wakefield > 2-6-4-2 = 14.

TEAM STATS:   EAGLES > 2-FGs – 22/30; 3-PTs – 11/19; FTs – 0/0; AST – 22; REBs – 16; TO – 6; STLs – 23; BLKs – 1; FLs – 13.  Wakefield > 2-FGs – 6/16; 3-PTs – 05; FTs – 2/7; AST – 0; REBs – 16; TO – 32; STLs – 4; BLKs – 1; FLs – 4.

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN EAGLES INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS: Scoring > Ty Romero – 40; Alex Robertson – 9; James Schott – 8; Blake Robertson – 8; Dominick Lundberg – 4; Caleb Laney – 2; Johnny Unruh – 2; Gavin Robertson – 2; Aston Fields – 2.

(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)