North Crawford’s boys basketball team continues to reign victorious in the Ridge and Valley Conference, their latest victory being over the Pirates of DeSoto last Thursday, Jan. 17.

Having soundly defeated the Pirates in December, the Trojans found things a bit trickier this time around. North Crawford had to dig out of an unexpected 6-2 hole early on, but after doing so, went on to outscore the Pirates in three of four periods, relenting only slightly in the fourth. But a fourth period push by the Pirates was too little too late, and DeSoto sunk to fifth in conference with a 3-4 record. Scoring by period was 14-8, 19-9, 19-8, and 9-14 to make it 61-39 North Crawford at the final buzzer.

North Crawford senior Joe Childs led the Trojans in scoring with 24 points. Childs averages 19.5 points per game this season, and is the leading scorer for North Crawford. Junior Cody Hershberger added 11 of his own against DeSoto. Hershberger is the number two scorer on the team and has been averaging 12.2 points per game this season. Hershberger also had 11 rebounds, while Childs saw six.

Junior Eric Friar also added eight points to the scoreboard, and seniors Joe Bedessem added seven and Jordan Barr contributed four points to round out scoring for the team.

The North Crawford victory further emblazons the Trojans’ position as kings of the conference with their perfect 7-0 record. North Crawford is 10-3 overall.

The Trojans took on number two in conference Wauzeka-Steuben (6-1) on Tuesday, Jan. 22. The results of that exciting match-up will be in next week’s paper.

The Trojans will also face the Ithaca Bulldogs in Ithaca this Friday, Jan. 25. Ithaca is currently ranked sixth in the Ridge and Valley Conference.