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Franklin
Monroe’s Trey Mong and Mississinawa Valley’s Dane Bloomenstock
go up for the ball during
action at Franklin Monroe Friday. The Jets
picked up their second win of the year posting a 51-23 victory
over the
Hawks. Mississinawa Valley is 0-5 on the season. CNO Photos by George
Starks.
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Jets christen ‘The
Hangar’
Homecoming a success
By George Starks
Sports Editor
PITSBURG- The season home opener for Franklin Monroe had two things
working in its favor. A new Hangar brought some excitement by itself.
Homecoming was the topping on the cake... so to speak.
Mississinawa Valley didn’t have enough of what was needed to ground the
Jets and spoil the Franklin Monroe homecoming. The Jets, in a
dominating game, routed the Blackhawks 51-23 Friday in Cross County
Conference action.
“This was sweet,” said Jets coach Marcus Bixler. “Opening night at home
and homecoming on top of that. It doesn’t get much better. There were a
lot of factors that went into this game tonight though. I told the kids
before the game, we have a lot of people in this community that got
involved and allowed us to be able to play in a facility like this.
It’s more than just us out there playing. It’s a whole community that
spent a lot of money, time and a lot of preparation to make this what
it is.
“We need to make sure we show our gratitude for everything they’ve
given us. Tonight, we did that. We won on our homecoming night and the
first ever home game for the boys. We gave the community a win and
something to remember.”
Before the start of the game, homecoming saw Jet senior player Jaden
Horner crowned king for 2011-12. Horner responded with 14 points to
lead all in scoring.
“It was a special night all around,” said Bixler. “We had the king and
we were kind of joking about that before the game but that brought on a
lot of emotion and energy for the guys and we fed off that”.
Franklin Monroe got out of the gates a little on the slow side, holding
a slim 11-7 lead after eight minutes of play. By the break, the four
point lead had ballooned into a 23-14 advantage.
The icing came in the third as the Jets held MV to just three points
while building a 36-17 lead.
“We got off a little slow but we started to turn things on in the
second quarter,” Bixler said. “We were able to do what we wanted to do
on both ends of the floor.”
By games end, the Jets held nearly a 2-1 edge on the boards, had just
11 turnovers and had three players in double figures. Along with the 14
scored by Horner, Travis Fietshans and Trey Mong had a dozen each in
support.
“It was fantastic,” said Bixler. “We have gotten better and we are
progressing.”
While the Jets evened their record to 2-2, the Hawks fell to 0-5 and no
answers.
“We did some good things tonight,” said Hawks coach Jason Burkholder.
“We did what we needed to do in the first half. We played a great first
half. We struggled on offense but we were only down nine at the half
and we were playing good defense.”
It was the third quarter monkey that got the Hawks.
“We came out in the second half and fell apart,” Burkholder admitted.
“They (FM) are a good team and they made us pay for our mistakes and
that’s the difference. We only scored three points in the third
quarter. Maybe I need a little more fire and brimstone in the locker
room at half-time. I don’t know.”
The Jets junior varsity posted a 37-27 victory.
Franklin Monroe will play at Bradford Friday while the Hawks will host
the Roaders Tuesday in their home opener.
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Franklin
Monroe crowned its 2011-12 homecoming king and queen Friday at
the Hangar. This
years queen is Katria Walker and the king is Jaden
Horner. This years prince is first
grader Blake Addis and the princess
is kindergardner, Kaylee Adams.
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