{"id":113290,"date":"2019-02-13T04:35:58","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T09:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=113290"},"modified":"2019-02-13T04:36:37","modified_gmt":"2019-02-13T09:36:37","slug":"coaches-corner-collins-and-gregory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/02\/13\/coaches-corner-collins-and-gregory\/","title":{"rendered":"Coaches Corner: Collins and Gregory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week\u2019s Coaches Corner features comments and thoughts from Van Wert head wrestling coach Ben Collins and Crestview girls\u2019 basketball coach Mark Gregory. Both coaches are winding down the regular season and preparing for sectional competition next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ben Collins<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cougars wrestled their final dual match of the season on Tuesday, falling to Celina (see results below). Van Wert will return to action Saturday at the WBL championships at Wapakoneta, followed by the postseason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabe Steyer and Isaiah Bretz have been the leaders for the Cougars and Collins praised both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ben Collins<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

“Steyer (138) is currently 31-2 and Bretz (145) is currently 27-0,\u201d Collins said. \u201cBoth of these athletes have put in a tremendous amount of work leading up to this point in their seasons and careers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBoth guys are very focused when it comes to wrestling. They have been to the State meet and know what it takes to get there: extra workouts, running and lifting. Both athletes come from wrestling families so their families also understand what it takes to be successful in wrestling and have really supported their children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe good thing about both of these guys is that they are not afraid of good competition, they seek it out. All of these extras things are paying off for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Steyer and Bretz have enjoyed a great deal of success, Collins noted other wrestlers have been key contributors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of our guys have worked very hard this season and we have seen a big improvement from last year to this year for those guys that are back this season,\u201d Collins explained. \u201cA couple that stick out are senior Lloyd Eutsler (195) who is just getting back into the swing of things after an injury.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven though he was out for a good portion of the season he was at practice every day working hard at what he could to be ready for when he was healthy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Sophomore Macein Bigham (152, 160) is kid we have seen a lot of improvement from over the last year. He is one of those kids our coaches talk about after every time he wrestles about how he has progressed. Those are just a couple of examples on a team of very hard workers who like to get after it in the wrestling room.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As is the case with other wrestling programs around the area and the state, numbers have been an issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we have traveled around the state we have seen many teams not being able to fill complete lineups,\u201d Collins said. \u201cI would say that the hardest weight class to fill around this area is 106 which is hard for me to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere aren’t too many sports where high school students who weigh 106 can have an opportunity to excel like in wrestling. With that being said we have a bunch of holes in our lineup and I don’t really know the reason why many of our students do not give wrestling a try.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have always said I would rather have a team with holes in it if my athletes are going to work hard and try to improve each time they get to wrestle and that is what we have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All things considered, Collins said he\u2019s pleased with how things have gone this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the beginning of the year I really thought with what we had returning and what was coming up that we had a shot to contend for a league title if we could stay healthy,\u201d the coach said. \u201cWe haven’t been 100 percent healthy yet this season, but I am very pleased with our team’s attitude and effort and their willingness to work hard, compete and get better everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Gregory<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday\u2019s 51-46 loss to Wayne Trace ended Crestview\u2019s nine game winning streak, but head coach Mark Gregory believes a lot of good came from the successful string of games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe best part of our win streak was how the girls grew together on and off the court,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cI am so proud of how they support each other and have each other\u2019s back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mark Gregory<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

While it\u2019s sometimes necessary to adjust coaching styles and game plans between seasons, Gregory said that wasn\u2019t necessary with this Lady Knight squad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t adjusted anything with this year\u2019s group,\u201d Gregory explained. \u201cThey work really hard and we continue to grow. We are smaller than every team that we play, so we have had to get tougher with the basketball and rebound better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the constant size differential, Crestview has out-rebounded opponents 461-311, or an average of 24-16 per game. In addition to being the team\u2019s leading scorer (13.5 ppg), Lexi Gregory is the leading rebounder (4.6 rpg), while Bailey Gregory, Haley Speith, Reagan Hammons and Olivia Cunningham each average three rebounds per game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crestview (13-6, 5-2 NWC) will close out the regular season Thursday at home against Spencerville and the Lady Knights still have a slim chance at sharing the conference title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can only control what we can control with our conference,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cWe have one more game left and we are going to try and win it and hope that some other teams take care of business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday\u2019s game will be the final home contest for four seniors \u2013 Haley Speith, Codi Miller, Lizzie Bowen and Emma Bowen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a great group of seniors that have worked really hard and are so appreciative of their opportunities,\u201d Gregory said of the group. \u201cThey have been great role models for our younger players.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crestview will begin Division IV sectional tournament competition against Continental at 8 p.m. Tuesday, February 19, at Paulding High School. A win would set up a rematch with Wayne Trace on Saturday, February 23, with the winner of that game advancing to the Van Wert district. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur district has some very good teams,\u201d Gregory noted. \u201cPeople always ask \u2013 would you rather be Division III or IV \u2013 I say neither, they are both very difficult. Northwest Ohio basketball is great and we are very blessed to have the opportunity to play here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor This week\u2019s Coaches Corner features comments and thoughts from Van Wert head wrestling coach Ben Collins and Crestview girls\u2019 basketball coach Mark Gregory. Both coaches are winding down the regular season and preparing for sectional competition next week. Ben Collins The Cougars wrestled their final dual match of the season on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 19:30:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}