By Cody Marshall-The Sultan of Sports

BERNE, NY–Every year, the Western Athletic Conference hosts its annual Exceptional Seniors Game. The WAC North Seniors, consisting of players from Canajoharie, Fort Plain, Galway, Mayfield, Northville, Saratoga Catholic, and St. Johnsville, play together against the WAC South Seniors, players from Berne-Knox-Westerlo, Duanesburg, Mekeel Christian Academy, Middleburgh, Schoharie, and Sharon Springs. Over the last few years, the South has taken the game with relative ease. However, last year, the South won by just 4 over the North. This year, the North looked to pull off the upset of the heavily favored South.

To give you a better understanding of how much of an advantage the South had over the North, here is a few stats. The top 5 South seniors in scoring had 834 more points combined than the top 5 North seniors in scoring combined. Also, the starting lineups for last night’s contest were uneven when it came to height. The South starters averaged a height of almost 6’3″, while the North was an average 6’1″. The starters for the North were Ryan Hodge (Canajoharie), Harold Dettmer (Fort Plain), Andrew Haschytz (Mayfield), Joe Horning (Canajoharie), and Casey Cohan (Saratoga Catholic). The South started Collin Stewart (Mekeel), TJ Smith (Schoharie), Brett Ullman (Sharon Springs), Dan Schilde (Sharon Springs), and Nate Krimsky (BKW). The rest of the North Seniors included Cody Marshall (Galway), Rob Jaikin (St. Johnsville), James Looman (St. Johnsville), Dante Binotto (Canajoharie), Thom Perham (Mayfield), and Cameron Hendrix (Saratoga Catholic). The North was coached by Casey Russom (Fort Plain) and Rick Palumbo (Canajoharie), while the South was coached by Chad Bowman (Mekeel) and Chris Smith (Sharon Springs).

After a fast-paced first quarter, the North trailed just 12-7 to the South. Heading into the second quarter, many expected the South to pull away and begin to blowout the North. However, at the break, the South led just 31-24 with 16 minutes to go. The North managed to get to within 27-24, but couldn’t quite manage to put a larger run together. Later in the contest, the North was once again within 4 points of the South, but couldn’t manage to tie or take the lead. The South took advantage and stretched the lead to 17 at one point, before the North battled back to make it an 11 point game when the final horn sounded.

Harold Dettmer (Fort Plain) led the North in scoring with 18 points. Dettmer was also named the WAC North MVP for the season. Brett Ullman (Sharon Springs) led the South with 16 points, while Collin Stewart was named the WAC South MVP. Cody Marshall, Galway’s lone representative, scored 5 points in the contest.