By Terry Boehmker
NKy Tribune sports reporter
Covington Catholic and Holmes have been the dominant teams in the 35th District boys’ basketball playoffs for several years, but there’s been a bit of a power shift this season.
Holy Cross and Beechwood, two small-school teams in the district, established themselves as viable contenders by beating those two traditional powers during the month of January.
Holy Cross upset CovCath, 73-68, on Jan. 12 and Beechwood stunned Holmes, 49-46, last week in a game that triggered a lot of excitement at a school that gets most of its notoriety in football.
Beechwood coach Erik Goetz said the last time the Tigers won a boys’ basketball game against Holmes was 1968 in the district playoffs. He knew that because his father played on that Beechwood team and so did the grandfather of Joe Robbins, a senior guard on this year’s roster.
Both of the former players were in the stands last week when the Tigers ended their team’s long losing streak against the Bulldogs.
“It was a pretty cool experience,” coach Goetz said. “It ranks up there with one of my great nights in coaching. It’s been three years in the making and to finally get a big win like that shows our progress.”
In Goetz’s previous two seasons as Beechwood’s head coach, the Tigers were knocked off in the district playoffs and finished with losing records. This year, they’re 13-9 and have a shot at earning the top seed in the district playoffs. Beechwood’s final two district seeding games are Friday at CovCath and Feb. 13 at home against Holy Cross.
“We’re certainly not the favorite, but at least we feel like we can be competitive,” Goetz said of the district. “We’re the usual bottom-feeder, but at least our kids after winning the other night don’t feel like a bottom-feeder anymore. There’s a sense of confidence that you gain when you win some games like that one.”
Beechwood’s senior starters are Robbins and 6-foot-5 center J.T. Toebbe, who’s averaging 13 points and eight rebounds per game. oebbe Toebbe was shooting 58.4 percent (101 of 173) from the field after the Holmes game.
“J.T. has really progressed into a nice basketball player,” Goetz said. “He’s been extraordinarily consistent, every night he’s right around a double-double (in points and rebounds). He could probably play college basketball if he chooses to, but he doesn’t need to. He’s an excellent student and just a great kid.”
The other three starters have been juniors Gannon Huff and Owen Alcorn and sophomore Ben Toebbe, who’s averaging 12 points and five rebounds per game.
“The sophomore is without question our most versatile player,” Goetz said of Ben Toebbe. “Against Holmes, he was the man. He just took over for us at the end.”
After beating Holmes, the Tigers lost their next three games by margins of 13, five and nine points. But Goetz expects his players to do better in the two big district games coming up.
“The confidence is growing in our program,” he said. “We have basketball players now. It’s a priority for them and not just an after-thought. They put a lot of work into it during the off-season and it’s paying off.”