Chillicothe (2-5) takes its two game winning streak to New Philadelphia for the Quaker Holiday Classic Friday and Saturday nights. Chillicothe will face Millersburg West Holmes in the tip off at 6pm and Sugarcreek Garaway plays host New Philly in the nightcap. The losers will square off at 6pm Saturday with the winners meeting for the championship at 8pm.

Cavs Coach Drew Meister says the play will be very similar to what his team faced in the Grove City Tip-Off Classic to start the season with “…high-caliber teams in the field. It gives us a chance to go on the road and stay overnight,  give that experience to our guys… and It’s an opportunity to extend our chemistry.”

Meister says he’s happy his kids will get a chance to hit the road, into a region that’s just minutes from his old stomping grounds (Uhrichsville). The new Cavs coach is a graduate of Claymont High School.

“They’ve earned the opportunity. They’ve gone through a good bit of a transition and we’ve made some strides of progress.  I’m real happy we’re gonna be a part of this.”

So, what about the teams lacing up to face the Cavaliers?

Meister on West Holmes: Number one, they’ve got a size advantage at three spots. They’ve got a corps of seven guys coming back and six of those are seniors. They’re pretty interchangeable with what they can do. They’re led by one of the best guards we’ll see throughout the season (Brady Arnold). He’s a little bit undersized kid, but he’s a high blue-chip type caliber kid.” Just a junior, Arnold is being courted by a number of the high D2 level schools in the Great Lakes League.  

Meister on Garaway and New Philadelphia: “Garaway’s a pretty balanced group. They’ve got some versatility in how they approach the game, but it comes down to some pretty good execution in the end. (New Philadelphia)”is kind of the same. Coach Spurgeon does a good job. You can expect a wide variety of defensive schemes thrown at you from each of these two programs when you face them the next day. We’ve been mixing that into our practice preparation, gone reps against zone and man and added a few wrinkles here and there but really we’re still fine tuning what we’re trying to do in in late game situations on a daily basis. A couple of our “go to” sets that we want to have in our pocket so that we know the counters and the adjustments we have to make based on how the defense plays it.”

The Cavs will begin their trek to New Philadelphia Friday morning about 9am, have a shoot around on the Quakers’ home floor then get some rest before the 6pm tip-off.

Friday’s game coverage begins about 5:45pm on WBEX (1490AM/92.7FM) and online at wbex.com through iheartradio. If the Cavs win Friday, Saturday’s broadcast will start around 7:50pm. If they drop Friday’s battle, coverage of Saturday’s game will pick up after the Buckeyes and Chicago State around 6pm.