Thomas Worthington contains Scioto's Crum, has 29-22 advantage in rebounding


Thomas Worthington senior Austin Kizzee stands 6 feet 4 but weighs only 170 pounds.

In football, he plays receiver. His body is not built for the trenches.

But that's where he and his teammates knew they had to be last night if they were to win their Division I district semifinal against Dublin Scioto, which featured 6-7, 265-pound Clark Crum.

Kizzee, along with similarly built Luke Mehling and Kyle Coolman, couldn't match Crum's beef. But the Cardinals' inside players were determined to counter with effort.

At times, the action in the paint resembled rugby, but the Cardinals contained Crum enough to pull out a 53-46 victory in the Ohio Expo Center Coliseum.

Thomas Worthington (16-7), the No. 11 seed, will play top-seeded Westland in the final Saturday.

"Our goal was to not let Crum get the ball," said Mehling, who scored 16 points.

The Cardinals often had players draped over Crum. Whenever the center got the ball, Thomas Worthington tried to throw as many bodies as possible at him.

"They were banging on me pretty good," Crum said. "They were rotating two or three guys on me."

At one point, the jostling between Crum and Kizzee became so intense that they were called for a double-foul. That call could have been made several times.

"We're not sure who wore down whom," Thomas Worthington coach Bob Miller said. "They were battling each other real good. They're a very aggressive team. We wanted to be aggressive as well."

Crum scored 15 points, his lowest total of the postseason. His teammates were unable to pick up the slack.

The Cardinals took control in the second quarter when, after switching to a zone, they held the Irish to two points to take a 21-16 halftime lead.

"They're pretty athletic in that zone, and we've struggled penetrating zones at times this year," Scioto coach Tony Bisutti said. "They went to it at the right time tonight."

An 8-0 Cardinals run early in the third quarter extended the advantage to 29-18 and the Irish (14-9) didn't get closer than six points.

Particularly disappointing to Bisutti was the way Thomas Worthington outrebounded his team. The Cardinals had a 29-22 advantage.

"In the latter third of the season, we've been rebounding like the ball was ours," he said. "Tonight, they did that. I think they had four stickbacks. In a game like this, you can't have that."

Rebounding often is a matter of effort, and even Crum said the Cardinals won that category.

"They played harder than we did," he said. "We as a team aren't that talented. We have to play harder than the other team, and that wasn't the case tonight."

Thomas Worthington has lost twice to Westland this season, 65-47 on the road and 58-54 in overtime at home.