A KENSTON TEAM WITH A SENSE OF URGENCY AND A PRIDE IN WHAT THEY HAVE ACCOMPLISHED AWAITS SAINT IGNATIUS, AS THE BOMBERS AND THE WILDCATS MEET IN A SECTIONAL FINAL ON FRIDAY NIGHT IN THE TALENT-LADEN SOLON DIVISION I SECTIONAL/DISTRICT.

COACH O’TOOLE IS LOOKING FOR HIS ‘CATS TO PLAY WITH THE SAME SENSE OF URGENCY IN WHAT WILL BE A MATCH UP OF THE AREA’S EIGHTH (SAINT IGNATIUS) AND 16TH-RANKED TEAMS.

*ST. EDWARD DEFEATS SHAKER HEIGHTS, 2-1, IN OVERTIME ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND ADVANCES TO SATURDAY'S OHSAA STATE-QUALIFYING HOCKEY GAME VERSUS THE WILDCATS AT BROOKLYN'S JOHN M. COYNE RECREATION CENTER. THE PUCK WILL DROP AT 3 P.M. SEE THE CORNER'S TUNEUP ON THE HOCKEY GAME AND A STATE WRESTLING REMINDER FOLLOWING THE BASKETBALL PREVIEW.

BY EDDIE DWYER, COPYRIGHT MARCH 2012

When you look at the respective schedules, there is no doubt that the 15-5 and fourth-seeded Saint Ignatius Wildcats have been tested more times, have seen more of a variety of offenses and defenses and have to defend more prime-time players than that of their opponent on Friday night, the 20-1 sixth-seeded Kenston Bombers.

The Bombers and the ‘Cats will meet in the sectional finals at Solon, with the tipoff at 6 p.m.

If you bring up the strength-of-schedule factor with Saint Ignatius head coach Sean O’Toole ’87, he won’t disagree with you.

However, this corner has never seen Coach O’Toole more direct or more respectful in his evaluation of an opponent than when he discussed Coach Josh Jakacki’s Bombers following Wednesday’s practice and film session.

“When you look at a team’s attributes, first of all you look for great senior leadership, and they have it,” O’Toole said of a Kenston squad whose only setback came to the area’s top-ranked Mentor Cardinals, 85-58 at Mentor on Feb. 3. “They have three seniors who start and obviously this is a community where these kids all grew up playing together. You can tell that they have a great will to win and have great camaraderie. They are on a mission.”

Leading that mission are three of the top players in the Northeast Lakes District – 6-foot-10, 250-pound senior post Eric Truog, 6-7 senior wing/forward Pierce Cumpstone and 6-3 junior point guard Darryl Richards.

Truog is averaging 23 points and 12 rebounds per game, Cumpstome is averaging more than 14 points and pulling down 10 rebounds a game, and Richards is dishing out 6.7 assists and tossing in nearly 10 points per contest.

As his size would indicate, Truog is a strong, physical post who attacks hard and tries to overpower his opponents. Cumpstone is an outstanding shooter who can bury 3-pointers from beyond NBA-range. He is exceptional with his quick catch-and-shoot ability and can also put the ball on the floor. Truog and Cumpstone combined for 48 points in Kenston’s 64-57 victory over Euclid during Tuesday night’s sectional semifinals, 30 of those points coming courtesy of Truog.

The unsung Richards brings a nice combination of quickness and strength to the floor. He will draw fouls while attacking the rim. Some of the Bombers’ role players to take note of are 6-1 senior Cody Shell, 6-5 junior Austin Lamb and 5-10 sophomore Peter Rozman.

“You look at their pieces and they have a very, very good point guard in Richards,” said Coach O’Toole. “He’s big, athletic and can really push the ball. He creates a transition issue and obviously an issue on the offensive glass.”

Coach O’Toole said that while watching Cumpstone warm up for the Euclid game, the versatile Bomber was hitting shots three feet beyond the NBA range. “He’s got the long arms, is very skilled and has a high basketball IQ,” O’Toole said of Cumpstone, who also has 40 steals and more than 20 blocks on the season.

In Truog, said O’Toole, Kenston not only has the wide body, but a player with quick moves and good footwork in the post. Truog has scored more than 1,200 career points.

“Our goal coming in is to play a consistent 32 minutes,” said Coach O’Toole, whose team’s five losses have come by 3 points, 4 points, 1 point, 3 points and 5 points. “We don’t want to be playing from behind, which we have been doing often. We want to jump out of the gate, play our game and see what we can do to limit some of their strengths. It’s a tough sectional final, which a lot of sectional finals aren’t.”

At Solon, there are few, if any, gimmes. And while Coach O’Toole and his staff have been utilizing more players the past month, they know who their horses are and will ride them a long way if necessary.

Leading the way for the Wildcats with their averages and totals in parenthesis are 6-6- junior post Alec Papesch (12.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, 14 charges taken, 11 blocks and 11 steals); 6-5 junior forward/post Derek Sloan (12.5 points, 8.6 rebounds and a get-that-weak-stuff-out-of-here 32 blocks); 6-1 junior guard Francisco Santiago (9.5 points, 15 blocks and 14 steals); senior point guard Jack Tupa (6.1 assists per game and 19 steals); senior guard Brian Joseph (27 3-pointers and 13 steals) and senior wing/guard and Yale University-bound Eric Williams (24 offensive rebounds and a solid defender).

S-I-B-N!: Friday night’s sectional final from Solon will be brought to you with live audio over the Saint Ignatius Broadcasting Network. Hoping to avoid the tournament trail’s “Heartbreak Highway” will be the golden tones of John Fanta ’13, Greg Ziton ’13 and Paddy White ’14.

*NOTE: If I may, the corner would like to say congratulations to coaches Larry Arthur, John Cooney ’67 and Chris Fletcher ’90, and the entire 2011-12 Wildcats junior-varsity basketball team, on their outstanding 18-2 season. The JV ‘Cats closed their season with an 11-game winning streak.

WILDCATS VS. THE EAGLES, ROUND FOUR: "The Big Barn on Memphis," a.k.a. Brooklyn's John M. Coyne Recreation Center, will be rocking on Saturday afternoon, as for the fourth time this season the Saint Ignatius Wildcats and the St. Edward Eagles will take their storied rivalry to the ice.

The top-seeded Wildcats, who own an all-time, state-best record of 39-0, will face off with the Eagles (18-12-3) in the OHSAA Brooklyn District state-qualifying game at 3 p.m. That means you should probably arrive at noon. Hey, it's the 'Cats and the Eagles my friends.

In their previous three meetings this season, Saint Ignatius won, 4-3, in overtime at Winterhurst back in mid-December with Mike Abood providing the game winner. The Wildcats prevailed at Progressive Field in January, 4-2, as Liam Geither, Colton Rimenschneider and Abood rallied the 'Cats to three goals over the final three and a half minutes. Saint Ignatius also won the third meeting, 4-1, as part of the Meadville (Pa.) Tournament.

St. Edward, the third seed, advanced to Saturday's showdown by defeating second-seed Shaker Heights, 2-1, in overtime in Wednesday night's district semifinals.

Saint Ignatius will be making its fifth state-qualifying game appearance since 2007. The Wildcats, who captured state championships in 2000 and 2010, lost to St. Edward in the 2008 and 2009 state-qualifying games, with the 2009 game going six overtimes.

The gifted threesome of Paul Martin '10, Zach Weinreich '12 and Trent Kennedy '13 will provide audio coverage on Saturday's game over the SIBN.

*AND JUST A REMINDER THAT WE WILL BE PROVIDING UPDATES TOMORROW NIGHT AND THROUGHOUT THE WEEKEND ON THE PROGRESS OF SAINT IGNATIUS WRESTLERS GEORGE DICAMILLO AT 120 POUNDS, JIM FERRITTO AT 106 AND TOMMY ZEIGLER AT 113, AS THEY COMPETE IN THE 75TH OHSAA STATE WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS AT THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY. THE DIVISION I PRELIMS GET UNDER WAY ON THURSDAY EVENING.

GEORGE WILL BE TAKING A 70-MATCH WINNING STREAK AND A 33-0 RECORD INTO HIS FIRST MATCH (SEE THE CORNER'S PAIRINGS THAT WERE POSTED ON MONDAY MORNING), AS HE IS TRYING TO BECOME THE ONLY TWO-TIME UNDEFEATED STATE CHAMP IN SAINT IGNATIUS' WRESTLING HISTORY. GEORGE WON THE 112-POUND STATE TITLE LAST YEAR.

THE CORNER WISHES NOTHING BUT THE BEST TO COACH MARK SULLIVAN, HIS STAFF AND THE ENTIRE WILDCATS WRESTLING PROGRAM.