Dale boys win state; girls fall in semis
When the final buzzer sounded last Saturday night in their state championship game against Cashion, the Dale High School boys basketball team made history.
Coach Jeff Edmonson’s Pirates captured the first Gold Ball in the history of Dale boys basketball. They defeated Cashion 65-58 at the Big House at the State Fairgrounds.
Edmonson, asked what he felt like as that final buzzer sounded, said, “Just excitement for all the players and coaches. We worked so hard and achieved our goal.”
He added, “Every coach dreams of it.”
The veteran head coach further commented, “I thought we had a great game plan, the kids believed and bought into and executed it.”
The Pirates completed the season with a 29-2 record. “We won every tournament we were in,” Edmonson noted, pointing to the Dale, Kingston and Cashion tourneys during the regular season, and the district, regional, area and state tournament in the playoffs.
In the state championship contest Dale found itself down 11-3 early in the first quarter. The Pirates were only down by three at the end of the initial period and trailed by two at intermission.
Edmonson said he told his team at halftime, “We just have to keep with our game plan, keep executing and we’ll start hitting shots and they’ll start missing shots and that’s what happened.”
Edmonson said he thought sophomores Deken Jones and Dayton Forsythe “really stepped up their game, especially in the second half.
“It’s a great season, the first Gold Ball. They get to go down in history,” he added.
“Our two sophomores, Deken and Dayton, each made the All-Tournament Team and Dayton was the Most Valuable Player. They really stepped up and played well in all of the tournament games,” he noted.
“Deken averaged 13.3 points for three games and Dayton averaged 29. Deken had 16 and Dayton 37 in the state championship contest,” Edmonson continued.
The coach had plenty of praise, too, for his four freshmen. “Trey Chambers, Jett Higdon, Levi Kelly and Easton Edmonson all played great in the tournament,” Edmonson believes.
“I’m really proud of all of them,” he said.
Asked about what was the key to a 29-2 season, the coach responded, “The accomplishments were great, but the journey even better. The practices, the games and even the road trips were good.
“They were all hard workers and they gave us their very best,” he further stated.
In the pursuit of the Gold Ball, the Pirates defeated Hooker 60-43 in the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals the Pirates ran by Silo 66-36.
The Dale girls team suffered a onepoint overtime loss to Pocola in the semifinals of the state tournament.
Coach Eric Smith’s team defeated Silo 67-55 in the quarterfinals. Brook Rutland had 24, Makenzie Gill 18, Makenzy Herman 10 and Faith Wright had 8 in that win.
It was the third win over Silo this year for Dale. Smith had said prior to that clash, “The first one we won 52-42 and the second one 57-39. We also played them three times last year,” Smith said, noting, “They beat us in the semi-finals of the state tournament 49-48.”