Redbank rips Moniteau, lands in Class AA final

By Rich Rhoades

CLARION — They’re going to states for the first time since 1991 and they’re a win away from capturing their first district title since 1980, so the Redbank Valley Bulldogs were pleased with their 49-27 rout of Moniteau in the District 9 Class AA semifinals at Clarion University’s Tippin Gymnasium Tuesday night.

The 19-6 Bulldogs now face Cranberry in Saturday’s final at Tippin at a time to be announced.

This year, D9 qualifies its finalists for states. That wasn’t the case a year ago when the Bulldogs lost to Brookville in the finals.

“I kept that quiet about the district taking two teams to states this year,” said Bulldogs head coach Greg Bean. “Our guys didn’t know that until I pulled them and finally said that it clinched us a state berth. It was neat to see some relief come off. That’s been the goal all year.”

The Bulldogs put three players in double-figure scoring. Jake Dougherty scored 17 points, Devin Shumaker finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, and Zach Westover turned in a double-double with 10 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Defensively, the Bulldogs limited the Warriors (10-14) to a lowly 24.4 percent shooting (11-of-45). James Bair led the Warriors with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Cody Skiver, averaging 14.1 points per game coming into the game, finished with two points on 1-of-10 shooting.

“We’ve been a zone team all year and we’ve played man the last two games and we’ve really done that very well,” Bean said. “We can switch defenses if we need to, but we stayed in the gaps and really controlled Skiver and Bair. They’re very good and I thought we kept them in check.”

The Bulldogs never trailed, just like their win against Brookville in last week’s semifinals. They were up 10-4 after the first quarter, 27-16 by halftime and its biggest lead when the final buzzer rang.

Redbank Valley led 31-23 at the 3:50 mark of the third quarter before holding Moniteau scoreless for the next 10:05. A 12-0 run during that long stretch gave the Bulldogs a 43-23 with 1:57 left in the game.

NOTES: The Bulldogs improved to 3-0 against Moniteau. They won regular-season meetings by scores of 48-41 and 59-45. … The Bulldogs shot 46.3 percent (19-for-41) from the field and made just six turnovers. Moniteau only committed 10 turnovers. The teams combined for nine turnovers in the first quarter alone. … Redbank Valley’s other trips to states: 1980 and 1975 as district Class AA champions and 1974 and 1979 as the third seed in Class AA. The Bulldogs also reached the finals in 1983 and lost to Elk County Christian, but only the champion advanced to states that year.

REDBANK VALLEY 49, MONITEAU 27

Score By Quarters

Moniteau        4          12       7          4            –           27

Redbank         10       17       8          14           –           49

Moniteau – 27

Jake Fullerton 0-0 0-0 0, Aaron Marterella 1-7 0-2 2, Cody Skiver 1-10 0-4 2, James Bair 5-13 2-2 13, J.J. Waid 2-8 0-0 5, Zack Jewart 0-1 0-0 0, Derek Boben 1-5 0-0 3, Shawn Giddings 0-0 0-0 0, Lake Pry 0-0 0-0 0, Jake Jewart 0-0 0-0 0, Dalton Anderson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 11-45 2-8 27.

Redbank Valley – 49

Devin Shumaker 4-10 4-4 12, Sam Heeter 3-7 0-0 6, Jake Dougherty 7-14 2-2 17, Zach Westover 3-5 4-10 10, Dalton Dougherty 1-4 0-0 2, Kaleb Reed 1-1 0-0 2, Bracket Scott 0-0 0-0 0, Greg Nolf 0-0 0-0 0, Jarrett Bailey 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Hawk 0-0 0-0 0, Khorey Neiswonger 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-41 10-16 49.

3-pointers: Moniteau 3-16 (Bair 1-2, Waid 1-3, Boben 1-4, Marterella 0-2, Skiver 0-5), Redbank Valley 1-9 (J. Dougherty 1-6, Shumaker 0-2, Westover 0-1). Rebounds: Moniteau 35 (Bair 12), Redbank Valley 33 (Westover 12). Turnovers: Moniteau 10, Redbank Valley 6.