Middletown Christian Selects New Head Coach For '09 Season

Six year coach Eric Gwinn has stepped down as the head varsity basketball coach at Middletown Christian. Gwinn, who led the team to a 14-8 season last year, will continue to teach at the school.

Stepping in to take over for Gwinn is 18 year coaching veteran Ed Davis. According to athletic director Ray Cox, "We had seven applicants for the position. After discussing things with our board and several other coaches. we decided Davis was the best fit for us." Davis has spent a good portion of his coaching career in Christian schools, coaching two seasons at Cincinnati Christian and three seasons at Landmark Christian. I love the Christian school environment" said Davis, "When this opportunity became available I decided to go for it."

Coach Davis had his first face-to-face meeting with his players for next season and their parents. Davis gave a brief testimony in his life and his coaching experience, which includes a sectional and district championship, an induction into the Lockland High School Hall of Fame for coaching, and numerous Coach of the Year awards. Coach Davis then gave a quick rundown of how he coached and how he wanted to play the game. Davis likes to play a more fast paced get-up-and-go style game.

The varsity squad graduated seven of its eight players this year, giving Davis a fresh start with the team. Next year's team will be made up of primarily sophomores. I asked coach Davis how he felt about the younger team, "I'm excited. I know we are young and with that inexperience comes some mistakes, but I feel that all the guys are hard workers and that if they work at it then we can do some great things this season." Another way the MCS team will differ from previous seasons is in its size. The past two seasons for MCS has yielded a strong post presence and having players with some good size about them. This years players are on the smaller size, being made up of primarily guards and shooters. When asked about the drop in size in the players, Davis was optimistic. "I think we are going to be o.k. MCS has had some good post players in the past but in my experience, some big guys have trouble getting up and down the floor. These smaller guys have a lot of speed and quickness, which goes along perfectly how I like to play. I plan on using that speed and quickness to our advantage."

Nate Cox, who is the only returning player from last year's varsity squad and who played under Gwinn for the last three seasons, is happy with the decision made in choosing coach Davis. "I like him, I think he's a good coach and that he is going to be good for our team. I look forward to playing with him." Cox said. When asked about the season, Cox was also optimistic. "I think we are going to have a good season. We have a lot of good players and we all seem to fit together pretty good and play well together."

It is going to be a different season for the Eagles next year. Players and fans have become accustomed to Gwinn and his style of coaching and it will be interesting to see how the season goes.

Former Graduate Hits $1,000 Shot at Alma Mater

For the past 3 or 4 years, Middletown Christian High School has ended each half time of their varsity boy's basketball home games with a small competition: a shoot out. Each home game at half time 4 people are randomly chosen from a list they willingly sign up for to perform in a shoot out. The premise is simple: each person has 30 seconds to make a layup, a free throw, a three pointer, and a half court shot. Their prize? The person who completes all shos in 30 seconds wins a cash prize. Now the pot, which grows by $25 each game nobody wins, started out as $100. For 3 years people tried and for 3 years nobody one, until last Saturday night.

Peter Highly, a former graduate and basketball player for Middletown Christian, stepped up to take his turn. He was the last to go of the night and he was determined to win. Peter made the layup and free throw easy but missed his frist three pointer. Things looked slim for Peter but he quickly made his second attempt at the three point shot and moved on to the final half court, money winning shot. He had around 12 to 15 seconds, enough time for two shots if he hurried but his strategy was to take his time and do it right the first time, and thats exactly what happend. With 3 seconds left Highly let the ball fly and........swish! Right in the net! The crowd, which packed the entire gymnasium, erupted into thunderous applause. "I've been waiting for that sound all year." said Middletown Christian Coach Eric Gwinn, who heard the enormous reception by the fans from the locker room. Peter Highly had just won a grand total of $1,075 dollars!

Since its conception 3 years ago people have watched Peter try his luck multiple times. Always a crowd favorite, Peter attempted this challenge one time last year, two times the year before that, and a few times the first year. Always Peter would make it to the half court shot but was stoppeed there each time.

Speaking to Peter after the game I asked him what he was going to do now, jokingly he said, "I'm going to Disneyworld!" I asked him how he felt, "I'm just excited. I've tried this a couple of times and $1,000 is a lot of money, I mean, who couldn't use an extra $1,000 bucks in their pocket?" He also joked about all the friends and family asking for dinner dates.

Peter will recieve his check at Middletown Christian's next home game.

Middletown Christian Eagles Soar to Victory Over Emmanuel Christian Lions

The Eagles of Middletown Christian matched up against the lions of Emmanuel Christian last night at Middletown Christian. The Eagles, coming off a win last week against Summit Country Day, the Eagles were eager to keep their win streak going.

Both teams played well in the first half. The Eagles capitalized on some easy buckets around the rim while Emmanuel Christian worked well on the perimeter and with jump shots. Throughout most of the first two quarters the teams were neck and neck with the Eagles holding on to a tight lead going into half time.

Senior Kenneth Gaynor, the leading scorer for the Eagles averaging 23 points and 9 rebounds, was capped at 14 points for the night. This, however, was not due to a superior defensive performance by the lions, but was the result of other Eagle players stepping up and making baskets. Senior Tim Knorr supported the Eagles with 12 points while Ross Green, also a senior, lead the team with a game high of 15 points. "I'm really proud of how Ross played", stated Gaynor after the game, "He did a nice job of hitting open shots and finishing around the basket." Green had this to say about the team, "I'm pleased with how we pulled together as a team to come out strong in the second half and finish the game. I think that's our biggest problem. We have a lot of talent on the team but we have trouble closing out games."

Coach Eric Gwinn had this to say about his team's performance, "I thought we did a nice job of limiting Emmanuel Christian's shots and performing well on defense." Gwinn was especially pleased with the overall unity of the team. "We had a lot of guys step up and start playing like Green and especially Tim Knorr, he did a really nice job of making open shots around the basket and really came through for the team."

The Eagles finished the night with a 60 to 48 victory over the Lions. The Eagles play again next Tuesday night away at Xenia Christian, varsity game starts at 7:30 p.m.

Middletown Christian v.s. Dayton-Jefferson 1-16-09

Last night my old high school basketball team from Middletown Christian faced off against one of the toughest teams in their conference, Jefferson High School from Dayton. Many people were excited about this game for two reasons: it was a big conference game for both teams and because both teams have two outstanding players. Im talking, of course, about Jefferson's Adreian Payne and Middletown Christian's Kenneth Gaynor.

Both players are fun to watch and both can do an amazing job with the ball. Through out the night the game seemed less like a game between the two teams and more like a game between Gaynor and Payne. Both are among the leading players in their Metro-Buckeye Conference and in the area. The battle between Gaynor and Payne was hard fought but in the end neither was the victor as both players had an astounding team high of 28 points a piece. Both players made some big plays for their teams during the game. Gaynor, who hit his 1,000 point career mark a few games ago, had two shot blocks against Payne along with a couple of steals and some huge rebounds and Payne had two dunks.

The Eagles, who entered the game with a record of 7 wins and 4 losses, stayed with the Broncos most of the game holding the Bronco's lead to two most of the second half. But late in the fourth, with the Broncos up by two, the Eagles made some key turnovers which Jefferson capitalized on. The Eagles ended up losing the game with a final score of Jefferson 65 to the Eagles 52. Lucky for the Eagles they get another shot at the Broncos later in the season. The eagles record moves to 7-5 and the broncos move up to 8-2. The Eagles play again Tuesday night, January 20, away at Summit Country Day.