Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

MCDERMOTT — There has been a lot of rain outside, but the Green Bobcats have been without a reign for 15 seasons.
The Bobcats rallied from a halftime deficit and held on to beat the St. Joseph Flyers 60-56 in the Division IV sectional finals on Tuesday to give Green its first reign as sectional champions since 2005.
The Bobcats will play Glouster Trimble at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday in the district semifinals at Ohio University’s Convocation Center.
“I love this group and we played great team defense and we played together tonight. I’m so proud of this group,” said Green coach Dirk Hollar.
Tanner Kimbler scored 17 points, Caden Blizzard had 14 and Tayte Carver 11 for the Bobcats.
But Hollar said there were other contributions to the win besides just scoring points.
“Every kid who entered the game made an impact. Caden Blizzard had his best game of the year. He is very, very smart and did great job of staying in front of his man and took care of the ball,” said Hollar.
“Gage Sampson battled inside all night, grabbed some key rebounds and knock down his free throws. Zach Huffman switched to McDavid in the second half and held him to two points. Kimbler did a great job attacking the rim and made one of the best game’s passes I’ve seen all year with a no look in the paint to Huffman.”
The Bobcats trailed 34-26 at the half but took a 45-40 lead after three quarters.
Green opened up a 10-point lead with 1:40 to play only to have the Flyers get within 56-54 with 30 seconds to go.
Sampson made a foul shot, Carver hit a layup to lead 59-56. But a foul shot by Blizzard made it 60-56 with six seconds left to seal the win.
Hollar had a special notation of praise for the Bobcats’ lone senior Rylee Maynard.
“He did not want to end his career tonight and I told him after the game he made the biggest impacts of this game. Rylee and I have been through a lot of butt whoopings, so I hugged him about a thousand times. I love that kid,” said Hollar.
Joey McDavid scored 14 points to lead a balanced St. Joseph offense. Chase Walters had 12 points and Zac Roach scored 11.