Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Just keep it simple. You could say that’s the motto for the Genoa Comets boys basketball team, who find themselves at 14-4 and 9-1 in the Northern Buckeye Conference, with a legitimate shot at winning another league title and making a run in the postseason.
Coach Jon Sandwisch’s club has a focus that is predicated upon getting better each day and trying to focus on what it can control while blocking out the noise.
“If you’re looking at wins and losses, you’ll never get better. Coaches talk about the process. We have to control ourselves and keep getting better,” Sandwisch said. “I talk to the players about the outside noise; we focus on practice and getting better and our next opponent. I’ve been pretty happy with our improvement for the year.”
It starts in the post with 6-8 forward Walter Plantz. The junior is averaging 15.3 points and 9.6 rebounds. Junior point guard Ryan Routson, who is just 5-6, is putting up 14.6 points per game.
The three starting wings are Myles Mollenhauer (6-2), who is averaging 12.2 points, Ty Asman (6-3) and Jake Woollard (6-2).
“Walt is obviously very important to us, but we have a lot of other guys who do other things for us. They’re fulfilling a role within our program, understanding the role (because) not everyone can be the leading scorer or rebounder, and buying into their roles (because) they might just play for a little bit,” said Sandwisch. “It’s important that we have roles –– sometimes in high school, it’s hard to accept that role. Sometimes, you might not play a lot, and we have a lot of selfless guys who accept their role. A lot of teams focus on taking Walt away, and our guys have stepped up and are playing well.
“I equate Ryan being the point guard like being quarterback of the football team –– you’re going to receive too much blame (when we lose), and too much praise (when we win). That comes with the territory. We put a lot on his plate for him to make a lot of decisions. A lot of our offense is predicated upon where the ball goes. For our wings, everything is a read –– how the defense is playing, what to do, and how the defense is playing Walt. We’re relying on a lot of guys that are sophomores and juniors.”
Jaxon Magnone, a 6-5 forward who averages 9.3 points and 7.1 rebounds, is one of the first guys off the bench, as are two guards, Logan Routson (5-6) and Gavin Goodman (5-10).
Sandwisch counts Goodman and Logan Routson as two of the team’s unsung heroes.
“Our reserves might only play eight to 10 minutes per game; it can be hard to stay locked in and practice hard,” said Sandwisch. “In today’s age, when you don’t get what you want, it’s easy to quit. I’m proud of how they focus on their roles and do the best they can.”
Sandwisch referenced a quote from legendary Connecticut Lady Huskies coach Geno Auriemma, who talked very highly of role players.
“Everybody’s role is really, really important, and you’ve just got to play it to the best of your ability,” said Auriemma. “If you’re going to be a role player, you’ve got to be a star player in your role.”
After winning their first four games, the Comets lost three out of five but responded by stopping the bleeding with a 67-48 victory over Maumee, the start of seven consecutive victories. During its recent run, Genoa beat Eastwood, 61-51, and Lake, 80-31, avenging an earlier loss to the Flyers, the lone blemish on the conference record. The Comets’ most recent game saw them defeat the Eagles again for the season sweep, 58-50.
In that game, Genoa held a steady lead, though not too big, behind Plantz’s 17 points and Woollard and Logan Routson, who finished with 13 points apiece.
The win over Lake saw Asman score a game-high 21 points while Plantz contributed with 20 points and Mollenhauer finished with 17 points.
“The wins that stick out are the ones that are tough. Against Eastwood, we didn’t play our best, but we had to grind out a win, and those wins are enjoyable as a coach,” said Sandwisch. “The Lake win – they’re a rival –– and they beat us earlier, so for us to come out and play that well was pretty awesome.
“You learn more from your losses. We take these losses lightly (but) don’t dwell and see what can be learned from them,” he said.
If the Comets want to win their second league title in as many years, they’ll likely have to beat Otsego both times. The first meeting, which comes on Feb. 11, is in Genoa, and the two teams face off again in Tontogany in the season finale on Feb. 15.
The Knights are 16-1 and 10-0 in the NBC.
“Year in and year out, it’s a grind, an absolute grind,” Sandwisch said of coaching in the NBC. “The players are obviously very good. I coached AAU, and I saw a lot of those guys during the offseason. The NBC has some of the best coaches in Northwest Ohio, and it’s an honor to coach against those guys. Any given night, we’ve been able to play well, and our guys get up for how important these games are.”
Now in his third season coaching the Comets, Sandwisch holds a record of 50-19 (.725), including a 32-6 mark in the NBC.
It wasn’t that long ago that Sandwisch, an Elmore native, was playing quarterback at Heidelberg University. That was after he graduated from Woodmore in 2012.
“Genoa is blue-collar, it’s a great place to be. I love Genoa, they’ve accepted me, and I’m proud to work there, teach there, coach there,” he said. “What’s pretty awesome is it’s like Hoosiers. You go into the barbershop, and they might tell you what you’ve done wrong, (but) you want to coach where people come out to the games and know they care. It’s a place where you want to coach, the kids, parents and the community cares, people who aren’t related to any of the players, and they come out to the games. My wife teaches at Genoa, and our kids will go to Genoa Schools.
Jon’s brother, Zach, is probably known to local sports fans for winning a state championship with Central Catholic and then playing collegiately at West Virginia University.
