Half for the ages: SW Valley is a district champ

SHENANDOAH — Southwest Valley doesn’t win pretty. It doesn’t fit the Timberwolves’ style.

So when the Timberwolves fell behind 18 to Fremont-Mills in the third quarter of Thursday’s Class 1A District 14 final, there was no panic in the Timberwolves.

Southwest Valley stormed back to earn a 62-59 win that went down to the wire and left Shenandoah’s High School gym splitting at the seems from the noise.

Southwest Valley (15-10) will play Grand View Christian (23-1), Saturday in Afton at 7 p.m. in the substate 7 game. The Thunder got there courtesy of a 61-24 win over Earlham.

“We’ve always played crazy,” Southwest Valley senior Scott Palmer said. “We’re never calm. It’s not the way Southwest Valley plays.”

When Palmer found the ball in his hands off a Chance Cobb pass with under four minutes remaining in the fourth, he hesitated, bounced the ball once and fired.

The ball found its way through the net, and made the hundreds of Timberwolf fans in attendance ballistic. It was the first lead of the game for Southwest Valley, 55-54, with 3:33 to go in the fourth.

It was Cobb, a junior guard who has been a three-year starter, who was the catalyst to the miraculous comeback.

“He knew we needed points and he went to work,” Southwest Valley coach Andrew Focht said. “Very proud of everybody on our team but he’s a leader and he went and got the job done.”

Cobb scored 23 second-half points, 29 in all, to rally the pack to victory.

“We said we could play with them. We just got to fight back, play hard defense and knock down our shots,” Cobb said. “It was tremendous. Best feeling ever.”

The Timberwolves’ core group of Cobb, Trenton Drake, Wyatt McAlpin, Palmer, and Maurer all made plays in some form or another to fuel the comeback.

Parker Powers, who scored 21 points, grabbed the lead back for the Knights after the Palmer trey with a bucket of his own to make the score 56-55.

Following that, through a thick of bodies, came McAlpin who scored at the rim to grab the lead back. After a defensive stop, Jace Petersen, who was a bundle of positive energy throughout the second half with five steals, drove hard to the rim and was hacked.

On the second of two missed free throws, Petersen charged the lane, caught the ball, went back up with it and sank the shot to give Southwest Valley a 59-56 advantage with 54.7 seconds remaining.

Southwest Valley picked up another defensive stop, and Grant Maurer was fouled intentionally. He sank both free throws to give Southwest Valley a five-point lead with 33 seconds left, 61-56.

After a missed shot by the Timberwolves, Fremont-Mills’ Powers hit another 3-pointer to bring the tally to 61-59 with 12.9 seconds left and Southwest Valley took a timeout.

After Cobb made one of two free throws, Fremont-Mills had one last chance to draw closer, but missed a shot on the other end.

Up 62-59 with 0.9 seconds left, Palmer missed a free throw, but the Knights were unable to get off a shot, sending the Timberwolf fans into jubilation.

That was a far cry from where Southwest Valley stood early in the game.

The Timberwolves had trailed 30-18 at the half after a slow start to the game that featured an early 9-0 run for the Knights and an 18-4 lead after the initial period.

Powers and multi-purpose threat Sam Phillips combined for 44 points for the Knights. The Timberwolves overcame a lot to supplant the performances of the two Fremont-Mills stars.

“We fight we fight we fight. That’s basically been our motto,” Palmer said. “We scrap a lot. We never got down on ourselves. We couldn’t buy a bucket in the first half. Second half we started hitting and it changed everything.”

Only in the second when Southwest Valley began pressuring the ball, picking Fremont-Mills up full court, and playing relentlessly, did the Timberwolves find any wiggle room for success.

“We put our press on and we got it helter skelter and I think that helped us get more in the flow,” Focht said. “When that happened it helped our defense, it helped everybody.”

The win marks the school’s third win in district play since it became Southwest Valley four years ago. All three have come this postseason.

Focht has expected much of this group since October, but the accomplishments of this team have been years in the making.

“It’s about building the program the way we wanted to,” Focht said. “It started three years ago. Chance Cobb got a lot of minutes as a freshman as my starting point guard. That helped him grow, that helped him and I know each other better.”

He cited the leadership of players like Palmer and McAlpin as keys to how the team got itself to this point.

Wyatt as a four-year player in the program, Palmer as a floor general of sorts, unique in his high basketball IQ. McAlpin scored 12 and Palmer scored seven with several heads-up plays in the second half.

It has all come together for a first district title.

“We set so many firsts this year. it’s great. It’s unbelievable,” Focht said.

Cobb was ecstatic for his coaches.

“It’s well-deserved. Our coaches have worked hard for a long time for this,” Cobb said. “Had to go through a lot of downs to get up but they’re great coaches and I can’t credit them enough.”

The fans helped spark the Timberwolves, most of whom made the hour-long drive with the intention of being noisey.

“Once our comeback started, the crowd just got into it and it felt like home here,” Cobb said.

“Our crowd was awesome. They make a difference,” Palmer said.

The Timberwolves don’t win pretty. Don’t tell that to their fans like they should care. That identity of scrapiness has propelled them to substate.

More pictures from the game can be found within the local sports section of the website under a post titaled "Photo Package: Southwest Valley district final victory"

SWV — Totals — 25 7-16 62. Scoring — Chance Cobb 11 3-4 29, Wyatt McAlpin 6 0-1 12, Scott Palmer 3 0-3 7, Grant Maurer 1 4-6 6, Jace Petersen 2 0-2 4, Trenton Drake 2 0-0 4. 3-pt. goals — 5 (Cobb 4, Palmer 1.) FG Shooting — 25-55 (45.4 percent). Rebounds — 26 (Palmer 9, Cobb 6, Petersen 4). Assists — 10 (Palmer 3, Cobb 3, Petersen 2) Steals — 13 (Petersen 5, McAlpin 4, Cobb 2). Fouls — 11. Fouled Out — None.

FM — Totals — 21 9-12 59. Scoring — Sam Phillips 23, Parker Powers 21, Carter Jennings 11, Dalian Melgoza 2, Beau Malcolm 2. 3-pt. goals — 8 (Powers 4, Phillips 4). Fouls — 14. Fouled out — none.

SWV (62) — 4 14 22 20

FM (59) — 18 12 17 12