Newton Falls Sports

NEWTON FALLS — It is a popular debate in sports whether defense wins championships, but the when the final buzzer sounds, a team’s offense still must score more points than its opponent.

John F. Kennedy played solid defense, but its offense stalled late in a tight contest when points were needed the most as the Eagles fell, 47-38.

‘‘The third quarter we give up eight points, and the fourth we give up 18,’’ Kennedy coach Shawn Pompelia said as he scratched his head perplexed. ‘‘I don’t know if it was a hangover from last nights game against Rayen, or what it was. I don’t know.’’

Things change. Just ask Newton Falls coach Roy Sembach.

At one point, his Tigers were 2-4 and struggling defensively as they allowed more than 60 points per game.

But Sembach made a change.

“We had to make a major adjustment on defense,” Sembach said. “I had been coaching man and match-up zone for 20 years, but we had to change to a 2-3 zone. A lot of that had to do with personnel.”

Since the change the Tigers are allowing about 15 points fewer per game. Also, they’ve won seven of their past 10 games including three in a row as Newton Falls is now 9-7 and 7-4 in the Trumbull Athletic Conference-8. This past week Newton Falls defeated LaBrae and Brookfield on the road before toppling Champion at home.

NEWTON FALLS — Not too many teams in the Trumbull Athletic Conference-8 have looked forward to playing Newton Falls and Champion this year.

The two are in the middle of the pack in the TAC-8 in terms of records, but on any given night either team can play like the best in the league.

One attribute they certainly don’t have in common is style of play. Newton Falls likes to slow the tempo down while the Golden Flashes try to force a fast pace.

And each team executed their style in Saturday’s game. But the Tigers played to their advantages late in the second half while Champion didn’t, and it was the reason they defeated the Golden Flashes, 66-50.

LEAVITTSBURG — Coaches preach the cliche, ‘‘it’s a game of inches.’’ On Friday night at LaBrae High School, that cliche was never more true as the Newton Falls Tigers defeated the LaBrae Vikings, 61-52.

After a fast-paced first quarter which ended tied at 18, Newton Falls coach Roy Sembach told his players to pull their defense in just a little.

The result was glaring as the Tigers closed the passing lanes and shut out the Vikings in the second quarter, 16-0. The Tigers weren’t through as they pushed their lead to 37-18 early in the third quarter. Overall, Newton Falls used a 21-0 run that started late in the first quarter and spanned into the third.

Tribune Chronicle: Brookfield’s Morgan Bonekovic, top, tries to take the ball away from LaBrae’s Lindsey Higgins during their game Thursday night. The Warriors defeated the Vikings, 49-21, as Bonekovic fell just short of scoring her 1,000th career point.LEAVITTSBURG — It’s a major accomplishment for a high school basketball player to score 1,000 points. It’s even more impressive when it happens during the junior year.

Brookfield’s Morgan Bonekovic had the chance Thursday night at LaBrae High School to reach the 1,000-point mark, needing 21, but fell just short with 16 in the Warriors’ 49-21 victory over the Vikings.