Mike Mathews
CUMBERLAND — The Allegany Campers, who peaked at the right time and rode a wave of momentum all the way to the Maryland state tournament, were voted Cumberland Times-News Area high school boys basketball champions.
It was the sixth area title for Allegany, and fourth under head coach Tedd Eirich. Only Rick Harris, with seven, has coached more teams to area titles in boys basketball.
The four members of the Times-News sports staff voted each week throughout the season. Ratings points were awarded on a five-point scale, with a first-place vote worth five points and a fifth-place vote worth one.
A unpredictable season led to three teams — Allegany, Bishop Walsh and Mountain Ridge — holding the No. 1 ranking from the midway point to the end of the regular season. City champion Bishop Walsh held it throughout February, and Allegany moved to the top in the final regular-season poll, on March 4.
A fourth, Keyser, made a strong case for itself with a late-season 10-1 surge that included a pair of wins in a three-week span over BW, the No. 1 team at the time.
Of the top four teams, Bishop Walsh swept Allegany, Allegany swept Keyser, and Keyser swept Bishop Walsh. Mountain Ridge went 1-1 against BW, Allegany and Keyser during the regular season, then lost to Allegany again in the playoffs.
This year Eirich, 171-52 in nine seasons, moved to No. 2 in coaching victories at Allegany, behind only Walter L. “Bill” Bowers (29 years, 566-166). Eirich believed the turning point for his team came after a 73-64 loss at Bishop Walsh on Feb. 10. The Campers didn’t lose again until facing Digital Harbor in the state semifinals.
“After that game, something seemed to click in the kids’ heads,’’ he said. “They understood we had to change how we looked at things, and how we work in practice, if we wanted to reach certain goals.
“Attitudes changed and practice habits changed. They knew they weren’t doing the correct things and weren’t working as hard as they needed to.”
In the end, the Campers added the Area title to their Appalachian Mountain Athletic Conference, West section and West Region championships by receiving three first-place votes and one second for 19 ratings points.
Mountain Ridge finished second with 14 1/2 points. City champion Bishop Walsh, which received the other first-place vote, was third with 11 1/2 points, and Keyser was fourth with 11.
“At the beginning of the year I wasn’t sure what we had, and it turned out this group was a very resilient group,’’ said Eirich. “At times in the year I didn’t know how we’d respond to situations. At the end of the year, when the going got tough, we responded to those situations very well.”
The signature game of the season was likely the region championship game with Brunswick. Played in Frederick, in front of a packed house and pep band awaiting their arrival for a rare Saturday morning game, the Campers dominated the Railroaders in every phase of a 77-56 victory.
The Campers had four returning players in Cody Ellsworth, Casey Roberts, Dustin Wharton and Jordan Grady. Justin Hymes returned from an injury to play center, and a host of juniors had moved up after having gone undefeated on the previous year’s jayvee team.
Roberts averaged 20.5 points, four assists and four rebounds per game. Ellsworth averaged 11.8 points, six rebounds and 3.2 assists, and Grady averaged a double-double with 13.3 points and 10.6 rebounds.
“To have won four area championships in six years means we have had great talent,’’ Eirich said. “And I’ve always had loyal, hard-working coaches on our staff, from freshman to varsity. Dennys Salas, Jon Irons, Brian Miller and Chris Stewart worked their tails off for these kids and the kids really responded well.”
Year-by-year area champions are listed in today’s Scoreboard section.
Mike Mathews is a Cumberland Times-News sportswriter. Contact Mike Mathews at mmathews@times-news.com.
