Tigers nip Wildcats by one point
Stratford senior guard Braeden Schueller led the Tigers with 19 points, 12 rebounds and two steals in the team’s 45-44 road win against Edgar on Tuesday. Eleven of his 12 rebounds were on defense.
No other Stratford player achieved double digit scoring or rebound totals against Edgar. The Tigers shot 40 percent from two-point field goals, threepoint field goals and overall from the floor which aren’t great numbers but they were good enough to defeat Edgar by one point.
Stratford jumped out to a 10-point halftime advantage and then held on for the win, despite being outscored by Edgar, 23-24, in the second half.
Junior guard Brady Schmidt paced the Tigers with five assists while junior Henry Zaleski and seniors John Seitz III and Ashton Wrensch obtained two assists each in the Marawood South Conference victory. Stratford improves its overall record to 4-3 this season.
Curt Schmidt is in the midst of his 19th season as Stratford’s head varsity basketball coach and he maintains the same assistant coaching staff again this season including Cory Heckel as a varsity assistant coach, Bill Knetter as the JV1 head coach and Derek Austin as the JV2 head coach. Stratford lost its entire starting five players from last year’s squad to graduation. Last season, the Tigers avenged a pair of regular-season losses to Marathon to upend the Red Raiders in its home WIAA Division 4 regional championship. It will be a learning curve for Stratford’s new starting players this season, but Tuesday’s one-point road win against Edgar is a step in the right direction.
Stratford’s new starting lineup this season consists of Wrensch, Schueller, Seitz III, Brady Schmidt and senior forward Izaiah Hadlock. Besides Zaleski, top newcomers to this year’s varsity team are senior center Ben Zuelke, sophomore guards Drew Bruesewitz and Reid Miller and junior Payton Glenn.
Coach Schmidt said his team is doing great, considering its late start with the varsity football team winning the state championship this year.
