by North Olmsted, OH-
The Cardinals from Brookside High School in Sheffield invaded the friendly confines of the North Olmsted High School gymnasium this evening. This hotly contested game opened up the season for both the Cardinals and the Eagles.
The North Olmsted Eagles had a lot of changes in the off season with the addition of new head coach Kyle Johnson. The Eagles also bring in alot of new faces after losing a large 2022 class to graduation.
The opening quarter was dominated by the Eagles due to their size and they were able to continuously get the ball inside to F Miles Ciulla. He finished the first quarter with 8 points and 5 rebounds and F Nick Tepper complimented him with 6 points and 4 rebounds in the first quarter. G Eggie Cordero for the Eagles was able to control the pace early on and dish out 4 assists in the first quarter as well. The score at the end of the first quarter was Eagles 17 Cardinals 9.
The Brookside huddle was very intense between the first and second quarter as head coach Larry Babics laid into his team about moving their feet, keeping their hands up straight and to stop reaching on drives. The huddle invigorated the Cardinals and they stepped up their defensive pressure and slowly brought themselves back into the game. The Cardinals were able to double and triple team the Eagles ball handlers and caused frequent turnovers throughout the second quarter. The Cardinals comeback was helped by F Nolan Waechter and his shooting and he hit three 3 pointers in the second quarter to let the Cardinals take the lead 35 to 28 going into the half.
The third quarter was back and forth and the Cardinals maintained their lead through the entire quarter. Eagles F Miles Ciulla continued his great night by scoring 11 points in the quarter. The Cardinals were paced by G Shalom Simpson who’s speed and dexterity were hard for the Eagles to stop and finished with 9 points in the quarter. The score at the end of the third quarter was Cardinals 56 Eagles 48.
The fourth quarter saw a great comeback by the Eagles sparked by G Eggie Cordero who scored 11 points in the final frame. The Cardinals countered with G Avery Young who could not be stopped on countless drives and finished the final frame with 9 points mostly on free throws. The Eagles were forced into many turnovers by the Cardinals and they were not able to overcome that.
Final Score Cardinals 71 Eagles 66
My player of the game was Eagles F Miles Ciulla who finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks.
North Olmsted will entertain Sandusky Perkins on Friday December 2nd
Brookside will host Firelands on Friday December 2nd
Great article , eagles are improved over last year
Great first game by North Olmsted, these young me play with heart . The coach makes adjustments and does a fine job. You can’t have 31 turnovers and expect to win . All fixable stuff … Go NO Eagles 🦅