Rockets three points behind Bethel after winter season
By Dick Maloney
Clermont Northeastern High School remains very much in contention for the Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference National Division All-Sports Award as the spring season gets under way.
The Rockets trail Bethel-Tate by three points overall - 59-56 – after the winter season that was highlighted by a co-championship in boys basketball, a second-place finish (and sectional final berth) in girls basketball and a third-place finish in girls bowling. CNE also had a girls state wrestling champion (the first in school history, boys or girls), three other state qualifiers, and three student-athletes who signed letters-of-intent to continue their careers at the collegiate level.
Here is a look at each of the CNE winter sports:
Boys basketball
16-8 overall; 10-2 (tied for second) in SBAAC National
After a 2-4 start, CNE won 13 of 14 games from Dec. 13 through Jan. 31, and added another victory in the postseason, 62-51 over Cincinnati Country Day. The only setback during the 14-game stretch was by one point, 43-42, Jan. 10 at Fayetteville. Defense fueled the rockets, as they allowed only 43.7 points per game overall, and 40.8 in SBAAC games. Ten times they limited opponents to 40 points or fewer.
Head coach Cory Moore, in his third season, said a 49-35 win at Whiteoak Dec. 16 began the turnaround. CNE trailed the Wildcats 22-21 at halftime, in danger of falling to 3-5.
“After the halftime discussion the boys came out the second half and it was like a switch was flipped. We held them to 12 second-half points and after the game (I) was talking to my coaches and said this team is going to be dangerous if we play like this consistently,” Moore said. That game, a 49-35 CNE victory, was the second of a seven-game win streak.
Sophomore Connor Yeager was the top scorer, averaging 13.5 points per game, good for 11th in the SBAAC. He scored 10 or more points in all but two games, with a season-high 23 in a 46-35 win at Batavia Dec. 23. Yeager also had 21 “double-doubles,” with a season-high 10 rebounds Dec. 9 in a 32-27 win at Felicity-Franklin. His 14.0 rebounds per game was five more than the next-best rebounder in the league, Bethel-Tate’s Austin Brookenthal, and he was third in the SBAAC in blocked shots, at 2.2 per game.
“Connor is the glue on this team. He just leads by example and has such a high basketball IQ,” Moore said.
Senior Jake Mott was the “defensive enforcer. He has the role of guarding the opponent’s best player, whether he is a (5-foot, 8-inch) guard or a 6-4 forward. Jake is type of player who would run through a brick wall for you,” Moore said.
CNE also played at The Hoosier Gym in Knightstown, Indiana, where the movie “Hoosiers” was filmed. The Rockets defeated Cambridge City Lincoln 63-62 Jan. 14.
SBAAC National Division All-Stars: Coach of the Year, Cory Moore. First-team, C.J. Boothby, Symon Mattes, Connor Yeager. Second-team, Jake Mott. Honorable mention, Grant Brown.
All-District Honorable Mention: Connor Yeager.
Girls basketball
14-10 overall; 8-4 (second) in SBAAC National
CNE won seven of its first eight games before hitting a lull in mid-season. They finished with seven wins in their last 11 games. it was the program’s most successful season since at least 2007, according to head coach Doug Portmann.
SBAAC National Division All-Stars: Coach of the Year, Cory Moore. First-team, First-team, C.J. Boothby, Symon Mattes, Connor Yeager. Second-team, Jake Mott. Honorable mention, Grant Brown.
Six seniors set the tone for the Rockets – Anna Best, Molly Brown, Tiffany Drewry, Molly Brown, Madie Gilley, Jasmine King and Bryana Captain.
“They've had a great year, this group of seniors. I can't say enough about them,” Portmann said. “You know when they come in as freshmen, and I can be a driving coach you know, and that they bought, they stayed together, and I just can't say enough for the kids … the effort they put in for all this year.”
Drewry and freshman Emma Yeager shared the scoring lead, each averaging 10 points per game. Yeager was the top rebounder at 8.7 and Gilley led in assists (2.0 per game). Yeager blocked 3.6 shots per game, most in the SBAAC.
“She has got so much upside. She had a phenomenal year, almost averaged a double-double for a freshman, was the only freshman on the first team all-league team, and she's just got a huge feature,” Portmann said about Yeager.
The Rockets defeated Cambridge City Lincoln 57-17 in their trip to The Hoosier Gym.
SBAAC National Division All-Stars: First-team, Tiffany Drewry and Emma Yeager. Second-team, Anna Best.
All-District: Tiffany Drewry (honorable mention).
Bowling
Girls: 6-7 overall, 6-6 (fourth) SBAAC National; qualified to Division II district tournament
Boys: 0-13 overall; 0-12 SBAAC National
Senior Haley Eifert was the top bowler for the Rockets with a 160.1 average in 29 games. She had a high game of 273 and a high two-games series of 414 Dec. 7 vs. East Clinton at Royal Z Lanes – both were school records. Juniors Kimberly Lighthall, Addie O’Dell and Lucy Sullivan also bowled in 29 games, with freshman McKenzie Hinson (18 games) and junior Julia Patterson 911 games) also seeing varsity action.
Coach Tony Gettler said Eifert set school records for high game (273) and high two-game series (414) this season.
The boys team had only three varsity members, all freshmen – Dylan Franz, Palmer Landis and Brandon Phelps.
SBAAC National Division All-Stars (girls): First-team, Haley Eifert and Lucy Sullivan.
Boys wrestling
Third among National Division teams in SBAAC Tournament.
CNE had one league champion – sophomore Josh Groeber at 175 pounds, and one runner-up, senior Colby Johnson at 144. Johnson went on to qualify for the Division III state tournament, and finished his career with the most wins in CNE history.
Five Rockets qualified to the Division III district tournament out of the Blanchester sectional. Champions – Colby Johnson, 144. Second place – Mitchel Braden, 157; Josh Groeber, 175. Fifth place – Wesley Wilson, 165. Sixth place – Brad McIntyre, 132. At the Troy district tournament, Johnson was third at 144.
SBAAC National Division All-Stars: First-team, Colby Johnson.
Girls wrestling
There is no league for girl wrestling, but CNE distinguished itself as one of the top programs in Southwest Ohio, qualifying three wrestlers to state.
Junior Jesse Foebar was the individual Ohio champion at 145 pounds, the first state champion in school history, boys or girls. Freshmen Liberty Johnson and Janelle Donahue also qualified.
Foebar is in her third year as a wrestler, as she was a member of CNE’s first varsity team in 2020-2021. Her coach saw something special in her from the beginning.
“We've been telling her this for years now. And that was one of my first questions to her was, ‘Do you believe in yourself yet?’ As we all did, that was cool. That was a cool moment to where not everybody gets to see exactly what we see,” Scott Wells said. “We all knew that you could. That's a special feeling as a coach when they actually finally get to see what we've been seeing.”
Liberty Johnson and Colby Johnson are brother and sister; Janelle Donahue’s father, Tom Donahue, is the CNE girls coach.
“Unbelievable … brother sister, qualifying for the state tournament … getting to wrestle next to each other the only time that that could have even possibly happened,” boys coach Scott Wells said. “He's down on the floor screaming for his sister … it was cool. It was … it was just unbelievable.”
College signees
Three seniors signed letters-of-intent with colleges earlier this year.
Anna Best will play soccer at Mount St. Joseph University, Madie Gilley will play softball at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, and Noah Bunting will run cross country at Morehead State University.
Best scored 56 goals and added 36 assists, for a total of 148 points, during her four-year soccer career. She was selected first-team All-Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference National Division as a sophomore, junior and senior. Best also played basketball and was second-team All-SBAAC National Division this past season.
Gilley, catcher and outfielder, has played in 45 games the last two seasons (the 2020 season was cancelled), hitting .426 (63-for-148) with two home runs, 12 doubles, four triples, 22 runs batted in and 55 runs scored. She was first-team All-SBAAC National Division in 2021 and 2022. Gilley also played basketball for the Rockets.
Bunting was the SBAAC National Division Runner of the Year, winning the league meet in a time of 17 minutes, 6 seconds.