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Kyle Hoying, left, gets some advice from Mercer County Bobcats assistant coach Jamie Stachler. The Bobcats basketball team will compete this weekend in the Ohio Special Olympics Indoor Winter Games at Bowling Green State University.
CELINA - Last fall, the Mercer County Bobcats Special Olympics team brought in Scott Brunswick, a St. Henry basketball legend, to take the helm. This weekend, they're going to the state tournament.
The Bobcats play in the semifinals Saturday at the Perry Field House at Bowling Green State University, then return to BGSU on Sunday for a gold or bronze medal game, with the championship game at the Stroh Center.
"These guys have taught me more about the game of life and how to love than I could ever teach them about basketball," Brunswick said. "That's the motto that I've used. These guys are full of life, these guys are full of character, full of fun."
The Mercer County Bobcats basketball team celebrates after winning the regional tournament and earning a spot at the Ohio Special Olympics Indoor Winter Games to take place this weekend at Bowling Green State University.
The Bobcats are led by guards Justin Bockrath and Luke Ketcham, who starts at shooting guard. Inside, center Stephen Coakley handles the post and Keith Hollman and Greg Schema start at forward.
Bockrath, in his second year playing with the Bobcats, runs point and is averaging about 20 points per game.
As for his individual strengths: "My 3-pointers, and 2-pointers," Bockrath said with a laugh. "And stealing the ball, getting more points that way."
Brunswick said they usually play an eight- or nine-man rotation, with 13 players on the roster. The team usually practices Mondays and Wednesdays after everybody gets off work, then picks up games against CYO teams or other Special Olympics teams whenever it can.
Ketcham, in his 10th year playing with the Bobcats, said that Brunswick was doing a good job getting them ready for the state tournament.
"He's working us hard," he said. "He's a really good coach."
Brunswick, an All-Ohio wide receiver on St. Henry's Division V state football title team in 1990, played basketball for Hall of Fame coach Fran Guilbault and was the point guard on the Redskins' back-to-back state title teams in 1990 and 1991, earning first team All-Ohio honors. After playing football at the University of Toledo, Brunswick took up coaching and coached the St. Henry girls basketball team in the early 2000s, earning The Daily Standard's Dream Team Coach of the Year award in 2002.
Brunswick was asked to get involved with the Bobcats last fall after last year's coach switched over to volleyball, and he tries to run the Bobcats' practices the same way he ran the high school girls team.
"We try to prepare our guys to be ready for games mentally, physically," he said. "We work on our plays, we work on our inbounds plays. From when I used to coach girls basketball, we do a lot of similar things to get them ready."
The Bobcats lost just one game before heading into the tournament, and in the regional, they faced off against a Logan County team that had played them close the year before. Going in, Brunswick was expecting a similarly tight contest.
Instead, the Bobcats rolled to a 43-22 victory to secure their spot in the state tournament.
"Thought it would be a pretty even game of two evenly-matched teams," Brunswick said. "But on the day, we were just able to hit some shots and get a pretty good win, and now we're off to state. I give all the credit to the team, because we put in a couple new plays and everybody bought in."
"We were passing the ball more, and got to watch our turnovers," said Bockrath, who scored 15 in the game.
Justin Bockrath of the Mercer County Bobcats shoots the ball during a recent practice.
They head up to Bowling Green on Friday, then kick off the tournament at 9 a.m. Saturday against the Medina County Flash.
If they win, they play the winner of Pickerington and Sandusky County in the gold medal game at 1 p.m. Sunday. If they lose, they play the loser of the second game at 9 a.m. Sunday for the bronze medal.
"I don't want to make this game bigger than it is, but it doesn't matter if you're at the high school, the college level or a pro level: when you get to a situation where you get a chance to play for a state title - I mean, if we win two games, we're state champions - if you look at that from that perspective, it's one of those things that you need to put emphasis on, because it's a great accomplishment," Brunswick said. "I'm not sure this has ever happened before."
With three weeks between the regional and the state tournament, Brunswick arranged for a friend to bring his son's team up from St. Henry for a Monday night scrimmage.
Otherwise, Bockrath said they were doing the same thing they always do and maintaining the same intensity in practice before the state tournament. Ketcham said their priorities are "defense, working hard, passing, looking for open shots and playing with intensity."
"I think the strength of this team is, everybody gets along very well," Brunswick said. "They're all playing for each other. Nobody cares who scores, nobody cares who does this. The whole concept is to win. Team, that's the mentality."
Correction:
Mercer County Bobcats roster. Keith Homan's name was incorrectly spelled as Hollman. The roster has been corrected. The error was due to reporting.
