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IF THE KIDS who play basketball for Bentley-vi 11 e-Ellsworth High are walking around with their chins dragging the ground, they can come up/AH the way up, as the man who does that cigaret commercial on television says.When they saw their hopes of annexing their first Class B WPIAL championship go agJimmering in that 54-45 loss to Avonworth the other night, they looked like they had been run over by a truck.Actually, it was a band of Antelopes from the1 suburban Pittsburgh school that flattened B-E to live up to pre-game notices as a come* from-behind team and earned the right to battle highly-regarded Edgewood in the title game.The Bearcats* disappointment is quite understandable, After all, they played it real coot . while making the speedy and taller Antelopes play their game, deliberate and methodical as it was, while building up a handsome 27-16 lead before taking a breather at the halfway mark.On top of that, the Bearcats owned the reputation of being strong finishers (they proved it against Perryopolis in the quarter-finals) and e\rerything was going according to the plan devised by coaches Steve Telleck and Johnny Svlvester. In short, they■ aJ • +Jlooked like money in the bank.But, alas, the round ball still takes funny bounces. The Antelopes, led by a snorting blond bull-, moose named Joe Smith, proved it beyond the shadow of a doubt by overcoming the 11-point deficit in a complete reversal of form and won going away — as they say at the race track.FOB A BUNCH OF kids playing as a unit lor the first time, the Bearcats asserted themselves in a manner far more successful than most people ever dreamed possible.As most folks hereabouts know, Bentleyville-EHsworth is a jointure effected less than a year ago by the consolidation, of school districts in Beniley-viile and Ellsworth,In such cases, there’s usually a lot of red tape trying to put all the' pieces together, to say nothing of a natural resentment the people of each community held for each other because of the intense athletic rivalry between the schools and petty jealousies.But Telleck Co. proved equal to the task. They got off on the right foot by winning the Sec. 18-B title and posted a gaudy 22-2 record in the school’s first year of existence. It wasquite an achievement In this book.Nobody felt worse about losing to Avonworth than Dewey Wilkens, B-E’s marked center, who’s so proficient it takes two and sometimes three defenders to hold him in check. Against the Antelopes, the slender six-footer experienced one of the worst nights of his scintillating career, hitting on only two of 1? shots from the field and cashing in only four of 11 fouls for eight points.*T guess I let the team down/* he murmured afterwards in the dressing room.There’s a good chance Dewey and three of Ms teammates will get a chance to prove the last-half collapse against Avonworth was a horrible mistake. He, John Adams, Ed Perri and Jerry Blackburn are only juniors, with playmaker John Hamilton the lone senior who won’t be around when the Bearcats try to redeem themselves next season. *-THE NEW BREED in the EHsworth-Bentley-viSe area probably doesn’t know it but John Adamson, who passed away the other day in Waynesburg, was a member of the first football team in Ellsworth High history.Handsome John, only 52 when he was cut down unexpectedly by a heart seizure, was just a sophomore when he quarterbacked the 1925 Tigers, a team made up entirely of undergraduates who got their feet wet by playing an informal schedule. They were coached by Olaf Taylor, a Monongahelan who attended Ohio Northern and who now sells books for a living.The following season they posted * 8-5 record in their first year of inter-scholastic competition. Ironically, one of the defeats was a 5-0 loss to arch-rival Bentleyville on a field goal by Fred Cristina, currently B-E principal.Adamson’s strong suit was basketball and Be ranks as one^of the best in ESsworth history.He was a member of the classy 192$ - 27 team which gave the school its first Washington County Class B championship. He later played at Waynesburg College and coached the sport at Ellsworth and Waynesburg Highs.The center on the 1926 Ellsworth grid team was Frank Docktor. a lawyer and former Washington * County district attorney, who died several months j ago. Lewis Angotti. supervising principal of Bent-j leyville-£iisworth schools, and Alex Ufema. one-* time Waynesburg ^ College standout now coaching ; football and basketball in Lewistowu. were the ends..In addition to Adamson, the backfaeld consisted lt;of halfbacks John Ufema. Alex's brother, and Bill : Rimbaueh and fullback A1 Bella sario who one rates -
Newspaper Details
Monessen Valley Independent
Monessen, Pennsylvania, US
Fri, Mar 09, 1962
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Gerald B.
USA 28 Apr 2023
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