Teams battling for control

at midpoint of Fall Men's season

by Mark Butcher

Sports Writer

Tonight is the midpoint of the Bremerton Parks & Rec Men’s Fall League. Yes, three games into the season.

In the first game, at 6 p.m., Heavy Hitters (1-1) is looking to return to their winning ways against Casey’s Under Dogs (0-2) in Div. I play. Casey’s will take the floor hoping to garner their first win of the season. Last Wednesday, the Hitter lost their first game of the season, a 64-to-59 affair to O.R.N. (2-0) andnd Casey’s lost their second in a row, a 23-point drubbing by Unguardable, 69-to-46.

Then, at 7:05 p.m. tonight, the Div. I players will have the opportunity to see the top Div. II team in action, as Boat Shed (2-0) laces them up against Honey Badgers (0-2). Div. II games are typically played Thursday evenings. A final seconds three-point basket last week by Teni Vaoifi allowed Boat Shed to remain undefeated with a 69-to-68 win over Casey’s Bail Co (1-1). Honey Badgers dropped their second contest, 58-to-53, to McClouds after leading by six at halftime.

“Playing on Wednesday night gives Boat Shed an opportunity to see what the Div. I competition is like,” said Parks & Rec Sports Director Scott Evans. “Usually, one or two teams from the lower division team get moved up for the Post-Season Tournament, if I think they can compete with the upper level teams.”

Finally tonight, at 8:10 p.m., Suquamish (0-2) has aspirations of knocking O.R.N. (2-0) off their undefeated perch. Last week Admirals Rec handed Suquamish their second loss, 70-to-54, and O.R.N. remained undefeated behind the strong performance of Duke Hamiel.

“I added a men’s Post-Season Tournament in 2002,” Evans explained. “When I took over recreation sports there was a lot of excitement surrounding the youth Kiwanis Goldenball Post-Season Tournament. As a former player, I wanted to bring that same excitement to the men’s leagues.”

For each Parks & Rec basketball year, which encompasses a Men’s Fall, Winter, and Spring league, two teams receive championship tee-shirts. One for winning the league championship and the other for taking the post-season tournament. The league championship, a single game affair, happens the sixth week of the season. This fall, that will be Wednesday (Nov. 14^th) for the top two Div. I teams and Thursday (Nov. 15^th) for the 1^st place and 2^nd place Div. II teams. The Fall Post-Season Tournament, scheduled for Nov. 20^th thru 29^th, is a single-elimination affair that will pit #1 vs #6, #2 vs #5, and #3 vs #4.

Thursday’s (Oct. 25^th) Div. I game between Unguardable (2-0) and Admirals Rec (1-1), at 7:05 p.m. in the Bremerton Brick Palace, will have the greatest impact on the league standing and the race to the league championship. A win by Unguardable will solidify their undefeated 1^st place standing, as they head into the final weeks of the league schedule with challenging games against O.R.N. (2-0) next week and Heavy Hitters (1-1) the final week of the season. A win by Admirals Rec puts them right back into league championship contention with 2 wins and 1 loss. Next week they take on slow starting Casey’s Under Dogs (0-2) and then top running O.R.N. (2-0) the following week to close out league play. A loss, on the other hand, would drop Admirals Rec to 1-2 and out of contention for the champion.

Div. I players to keep an eye on this week are: Steffan Collins (Unguarable), who leads the league in scoring averaging 21.0 points per game; Hamiel (O.R.N.), who set the new Fall single-game scoring mark with a 27-point performance last week in a win over Heavy Hitters; and, Adrian Harper (Heavy Hitters) and Tyler Parker (Unguardable), who are the top three-point shooters, having dropped seven threes through two games.

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