ScoresBroadcast.com Approaches 1500th Webcast
Lacal, AAG, Wilson Health Sports Medicine were key to the launch of the online service 15 years ago
Release in SDN March 4, 2020
“At a basketball practice in December 2016, our daughter Marissa went down with a knee injury,” said Kevin Meiring, father of the Fort Loramie High School senior.
“The diagnosis of ACL and meniscus tears was devastating to hear because Marissa had begun her freshman year so strong.”
But as ScoresBroadcast.com shares with its large listening audiences to each and every webcast of high school sports, “In six months, thanks to Wilson Health Sports Medicine, Marissa was healthy and back in the game.”
Wilson Health Sports Medicine (WHSM) “success stories,” as they are termed by the free, online, play-by-play service, began in late 2010 soon after Wilson Memorial Hospital Sports Medicine was conceived. Today, the popular services provided by WHSM offer physicians, athletic trainers and physical therapists, who are specially-trained to deal with injuries unique to student athletes.
“Wilson athletic trainer Ryan Castle played a major role in Marissa’s full recovery,” stated Betsy, Marissa’s mother. “He was there supporting her every step of the way—from her injury, to the assessment, to successful surgery, through rehab, and all the way to her full recovery.”
Just as Wilson Health helped Marissa overcome a major obstacle in her high school hoops career, ScoresBroadcast.com benefited from the Wilson Health partnership ten years ago, when it was faced with the challenge to respond to the need for “expanded” coverage of high school sports.
“That was an important stretch of time just a few years after our inception,” said Jack Kramer, who had free-lanced with Jeff Bray on the local radio station before it broke five decades of tradition and cut high school sports programming.
“Jack and I launched on a lark in 2006 and 2007, well ahead of the curve. We couldn’t even spell ‘Innernet,’” recalled Jeff. “We filled a void right away, and slowly but surely listeners discovered the online technology worked. But they wanted more.”
The timing of the Wilson Health partnership then assisted ScoresBroadcast in its new growth which included weeknight and Saturday afternoon webcasts of girls high school basketball.
SCORES, the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System, is, of course, online this month with high school tournament basketball and is likely to produce its 1500th webcast of local high school sports at the girls state tourney. WHSM is highlighted in a lengthy segment during every halftime.
“I’ll never forget the day when Dr. Heckler gave us the diagnosis of Marissa’s injury. She was in tears, but we all had full confidence in him,” said Betsy in the SCORES audio infomercial. “He handed her a box of Kleenex and said, ‘It’s going to be okay. I’m going to get you fixed up, and we’ll get you back on the court.’”
Marissa responded. After a solid sophomore season, she excelled as a junior and was named Shelby County Player of the Year. She was honored as a Southwest District first team member last year and second team member this year.
Meiring’s senior leadership, 16 total points, and 9 of 11 free-throw shooting paced Fort Loramie to a hard-earned district championship over Franklin-Monroe last Saturday.
One of the more than 2,000 listeners to that key tourney game on SCORES was Roger Detrick, who has spent 38 years at Lacal Equipment in Jackson Center, including the last 16 as president.
“SCORES and its coverage of our superb academic and athletic programs in Shelby County and the region add to our quality of life,” stated Detrick. “The hearts of parents and grandparents are filled with joy when SCORES highlights their kids who excel in class and on the court.”
Lacal is a SCORES founding sponsor and is in its 15th calendar year supporting a portion of each webcast that recognizes cheerleaders and players, their grade point averages, favorite school subjects, extracurricular activities, and possible college and career choices. Lacal also sponsors college scholarship programs at a couple Shelby County high schools.
Detrick said his brother-in-law and sister-in-law can’t get to the county games nearly as often as they would like. But he remarked that they and thousands of others are thankful that SCORES is “the radio on your phone for high schools sports.”
“Chuck McBee and I have a passion for what we do. We love it,” said Kramer. “We couldn’t have gotten off the ground without the support of Lacal. It gave us the jump-start we needed.”
“Lacal came to Jackson Center in 1982 from LA, California, thus the name Lacal,” continued Kramer. “It’s one of numerous unique industries in the upper Miami Valley that help make the area a great place in which to live, work, raise families, and receive an education.”
The firm manufactures quality replacement parts for road and highway maintenance equipment used by communities and contractors all over the United States and around the world.
Like Kramer, Detrick noted that he, too, craves high school sports. He laughed when he said his only claim to fame at Jackson Center was guarding Houston’s Amos Johns in 1962 and “holding him” to 36 points.
Mary Lee Smock, Lacal’s vice president and chief financial officer, played volleyball and basketball at Botkins HS and was an outstanding volleyball performer at Wilmington College.
“Jack and Chuck are professional and so complimentary of our student athletes,” she said. “They are also dependable. We listeners count on them, night after night after night.”
Counting on additional business and industry for participation, SCORES sought assistance from American Architectural Glass, Inc., (AAG) in Clayton within 18 months after Lacal’s partnership kicked off the play-by-play service. Owner Jim Moore of Fort Loramie was supportive. And so were Jason and Crissy Meyer, also of Fort Loramie, who bought the business in 2010 and moved it to Fort Loramie six years later.
“We are fortunate to have such a wide variety of firms on board with us,” said Kramer. “It’s so much fun to invent creative audio messages that spotlight AAG and its many, major, precision glazing projects.”
SCORES is currently developing fresh audio for AAG that focuses on its highly praised work at the $35-million FC Cincinnati soccer training facility in Milford.
AAG installed 14,000 square feet of exterior aluminum framing and glass, and also installed 10,000 square feet of interior glazing including a variety of mirrors and custom glass. The project prompted the Major League Soccer commissioner to comment that the work was “absolutely spectacular.”
Last year, AAG completed a major project at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, the home of the Buckeyes. A large portion of the B- Deck was renovated and converted into club suites, requiring the installation of a 500-foot long sliding glass and aluminum framing system.
“It’s the goal of SCORES to conclude the pre-production and finish up this fresh AAG message ASAP. This one is going to be a slam dunk,” said Kramer. “As the state basketball tourney continues and the state championship gets closer and closer, our online audience gets larger and larger.”
During every single year of its 15-year existence, SCORES has followed at least one or two area sports teams to the State Final Four: in baseball--Fort Loramie, Minster and Russia; in football--Anna, Fort Loramie, Lehman Catholic and Minster; in volleyball--Fort Loramie, Jackson Center, Lehman Catholic and New Bremen; in boys basketball--Anna, Houston, Jackson Center and New Knoxville; and in girls basketball--Anna, Fort Loramie, Jackson Center, Minster, and Versailles.
Quite a few teams are still alive this week as the boys tourney enters district play and the girls tourney enters regional play. In fact, SCORES webcasts at least seven contests from Wednesday through this Saturday. It covered ten last week in five days.
The live, online service is available at no charge to listeners, and completed audio streams of games are archived for listening pleasure at anytime—all thanks to support from area business and industry which have helped to sustain SCORES through nearly 1500 webcasts.
ScoresBroadcast.com Begins a Long Tourney Run Starting Friday Night
14 webcasts featured through the end of the month
Release Friday, February 21, 2020, in the SDN
On Saturday at 4 PM, the Fairlawn and Covington boys tangle for the second time after an overtime thriller in their initial meeting. And, tonight at 6PM, Lehman Catholic takes on Mississinawa Valley again after their close tussle in the regular season.
These are just two of the headliners on the ScoresBroadcast.com webcast schedule over the next three days, during which the online service covers six Division-IV boys and girls high school sectional contests. Between February 20 and 29, SCORES features a total of at least 14 tournament webcasts.
The series of games began last night with coverage of the Houston-Boktins girls clash at Sidney High School (SHS). Jack Kramer and Matt Zircher were courtside.
SCORES stands for the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System, which was conceived in 2006 and 2007 when the local radio station broke five decades of tradition and ceased coverage of high school athletics.
The free online streaming of tournament basketball usually spans close to 40 games depending, in part, on how far area and Shelby County schools advance in the post-season.
Coming off recent upset victories, both Fairlawn (15-7) and Covington (9-13) look to advance on Saturday in a sectional contest at Piqua High School (PHS). This SCORES webcast starts at 3:45 PM.
The Jets surprised Fort Loramie, 51-50, on Monday. Covington scored a 57-55 triumph on the road at Tri-Village on February 7. Fairlawn’s win several days ago mirrored its game at Covington on January 25. Ashton Piper hit buzzer-beaters to seal both contests for the Jets.
Meanwhile, Mississinawa (11-11) nipped Lehman Catholic (12-10), 33-29, on January 11 and faces the task of topping the Cavaliers a second time in this evening’s tourney tilt. Webcast time is 5:45 PM.
“Beating a club on multiple nights in the same year may not be an easy task,” said Kramer, SCORES play-by-play announcer. “The Jets could have a chance to prove how difficult this can be if they and Jackson Center square off for a third time in a sectional championship next Saturday.”
The Tigers clipped the Jets twice by close margins in the regular season.
Interestingly, Jackson Center may have to beat another team three times in a row before it gets to the final. With a win over heavy underdog Bradford tomorrow, the number-one seeded Tigers will try to tame Russia in a third meeting after sweeping the pair of regular season contests.
SCORES webcasts the two sectional games at PHS tonight. It streams the first and third contests tomorrow night.
Next Wednesday marks the only time in the week when SCORES takes a night off. The online service is at courtside at SHS on Monday for upper and lower bracket sectional finals in girls Division IV. It returns to PHS for boys sectional semi-finals on Tuesday and Thursday.
The longest-tenured and founding sponsor for SCORES is Lacal Equipment located in Jackson Center. It underwrites a halftime segment during each webcast that highlights two student athletes or cheerleaders for their academic excellence.
Local and regional sponsorships enable SCORES to offer its live and archived webcasts, without charge, to all listeners.
ScoresBroadcast Features the Classic in the Country on Saturday morning
Unbeatens Fort Loramie and Tri-Village are in action at 9 & 10:30 AM
Release in SDN January 17, 2020
Division IV Fort Loramie and Tri-Village girls teams are on the same court this weekend. But have to wait until tournament time if they are to meet head-to-head.
The two programs compete in the Classic in the Country at Berlin Hiland in back-to-back contests at 9 and 10:30 AM versus Division III powerhouses Loudonville and Margaretta.
ScoresBroadcast.com begins coverage of the Fort Loramie (13-0) - Loudonville (11-3) tilt at 8:45 AM. The webcast of the Tri-Village (15-0) - Margaretta (13-1) clash starts at 10:20 AM.
SCORES, the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System, features Redskins head coach Carla Siegel in the game-one opening segment. Patriots head coach Brad Gray is interviewed in the pre-game portion of the second contest.
The Patriots would seem to have a date with the more challenging opponent. The Margaretta Polar Bears thumped the Loudonville Redbirds by 42 points earlier in the season.
Fort Loramie is ranked number one in Ohio in Division IV; Tri-Village is close behind at sixth. Margaretta is rated the second best girls team in the state in Division III.
Pace will be a big factor in both contests on Saturday. Fort Loramie wants to apply pressure on defense and push the ball up and down the floor against a good Loudonville club which lacks depth this season, detailed Chuck McBee of SCORES. He added that Tri-Village wants to use its size advantage when attacking a talented Margaretta squad in the second game.
Loudonville under seven-year head coach Tyler Bates won 20 or more games each of the last three years and is averaging 18 wins per season during his tenure. However, the team graduated eight letter winners and two outstanding 1,000-point scorers last spring.
Current senior star Emily Seboe, a 5-11 power forward, is a big-time scorer for Loudonville at 27 points and 15 rebounds per outing.
In contrast, Fort Loramie features five girls-- Marissa Meiring, Taylor Ratermann, Dana Rose, Ava Sholtis, and Kenzie Hoelscher-- averaging between 8.6 and 10.8 points per game. Ratermann is hitting three-pointers at a 48 percent clip. Kennedi Gephart is a defensive stopper. Point guards Caitlyn Gasson and Corynn Heitkamp combine to average only two turnovers per contest. The Redskins bench is deep and offers experience.
“Plus, Fort Loramie’s defensive rotations are rock solid,” McBee pointed out. “Carla can pressure with various combinations and there is no drop off.”
The Redskins are allowing only five points per quarter. Opponents are making two-pointers at a feeble 28 percent. Meanwhile, Fort Loramie, as a team, is just shy of a red hot 60 percent.
Coach Gray of Tri-Village hopes starters Maddy Downing, a 6-1 senior post player, and Riley Sagester, a three-point specialist, lead the way for his club against Margaretta. The two have combined to tally 35 points per game. Morgan Hunt, a 5-10 freshman, comes off the bench to add another 14 points.
Both Tri-Village and Fort Loramie are averaging 73 points per four quarters of play.
Margaretta starts four girls in double figures. Taylor Malson, a superb senior shooting guard, scores 17 points per outing, hits 60 percent of her shots, and drills 90 percent of her free throws.
Third year head coach Eric Kochendoerfer has beefed up his school’s hoops schedule, which includes a number of Division I and II foes.
This season, the four schools competing in the Classic’s first two games on Saturday have combined to square off against more than 30 higher division opponents.
ScoresBoadcast.com Covers Anna State Title Game on Saturday at 9:35 AM
Rockets’ Coach Marino featured in pre-game
Release in SDN December 6, 2019
The Anna Rockets joined the Midwest Athletic Conference in 2006 and became the tenth member for football at that time.
“Former 15-year head coach Bryan Rioch and one of his former outstanding quarterbacks, Wes Hunsucker, have been defensive and offensive coordinators, respectively, under 5-year head coach Nick Marino,” said Jack Kramer of ScoresBroadcast.com, which covers today’s D-VI state championship game at 9:35 AM. “In the long run, that continuity has made a big difference.”
Jack and Chuck McBee describe the state title clash. Kick-off is at 10:07 AM.
Kramer added that a program that has been competitive in the MAC the last fourteen years is on display in Canton this morning attempting to become the eighth different MAC program to win a state football title.
“It will be a challenge,” Kramer said. “New Middletown Springfield has won 19 consecutive games dating all the way back to September 2018.” In fact, since 2011 Springfield owns a 69-29 record with four playoff appearances, missing the postseason last year by a fraction of a percentage point.
The state championship webcast is ScoresBroadcast.com’s first in high school football. The free, online play-play service has covered numerous state baseball and basketball championship contests.
In late November and here early in December, SCORES – the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System – has been blending action on the gridiron with girls hoops coverage, which started on November 23 with the Minster-Fort Loramie game. The Russia at Anna girls tilt on Saturday afternoon, December 7, is on the webcast schedule this weekend.
“We hope everyone in the Anna gym on Saturday is beaming after the Rockets state championship victory the night before,” Kramer said.
Coach Marino and Anna athletic director Mike Muehlfeld join Kramer in Friday morning’s football pre-game segment. Superintendent Andy Bixler is a halftime guest. Geron Stokes, head coach of Minster which has won two state titles during his tenure, provides some game analysis at halftime.
McBee & Kramer hit the 500-mark for hoops tourney webcasts on ScoresBroadcast.com
Release on Saturday, February 23, in the Miami Valley News
When the Lehman Catholic and Fairlawn boys step on the floor for what should be a good Division-IV tournament game in Piqua at 4:30 PM today, Jack Kramer and Chuck McBee step to the microphones on ScoresBroadcast.com to exceed the 500-mark for their coverage of high school basketball tourney tilts.
Since Chuck joined Jack in 2010, the duo has averaged performing play-by-play and color of 45 to 60 post-regular season contests each year via the free online service.
Kramer and McBee opened 2019 tourney webcasts on Wednesday when they described the Russia-Lehman Catholic and Houston-Legacy Christian games from the Sidney Girls D-IV Sectional.
“Each year, we look forward so much to the start of high school hoops in November,” beamed McBee, of Piqua, a former coach and long-time radio and online announcer. “When the regular season ends, Jack and I are just getting started.”
He pointed out that close to one-half of the ScoresBroadcast.com webcasts take place in late February and March during the sectional, district, regional and state tourneys.
“Hardly seems like 500 for Chuck and me,” said Kramer, the former 25-year director of marketing at Edison State Community College who has done play-by-play of high school sports and officiated multiple sports since the early 1970’s. “As they say, time flies when you’re having fun.”
And the pair’s passion-- and joy-- for what they do are evident in each webcast-- game after game.
Back in December, in the last minute of a Sidney contest at Vandalia-Butler, the Yellow Jackets’ Keith Lee took a quick, long three-pointer with his team trailing by five. McBee could be heard in the background, “No, no, no,” as Kramer responded, “Yes, yes, yes. It’s goooood!”
“We laughed with each other after that hasty 25-footer and then almost missed the next play-- a steal, a run out, and a big time flush at the other end by Andre Gordon,” recalled Kramer, who said the laughter carried over into the post-game summary.
“Good thing the Sidney player was listening to me and not you,” Kramer chuckled, as he and McBee chatted at the game’s end.
Jack and Chuck have “no favorite team or teams” when they are behind the microphones, as McBee pointed out.
“Our goal is to be objective and describe each contest with some flair and excitement to help the listeners envision the action,” he said. “We also try to give credit to the student-athlete who makes the good play and, at the same time, refrain from elaborating on the poor play that results.”
Kramer and McBee stay in touch with former area resident Jeff Bray, who co-founded ScoresBroadcast with Kramer a dozen years ago.
“Jeff still has those upper Miami Valley contacts and updates us on other games each night we are on the air,” McBee said.
The occasional humor displayed by Jack and Chuck was also present during early Bray-Kramer webcasts.
In February 2008 on a snowy Saturday afternoon, Kramer arrived behind schedule for a girls tourney game at Twin Valley South, which sent broadcast media to a crow’s nest a dozen rungs on a ladder above the top row of the bleachers.
Afraid of heights, Kramer missed the start of the contest, as he eventually got up the nerve to make the climb, prompting Bray to say to the audience that “Jack’s arrival is up in the air.”
“We threw puns back and forth at each other the rest of the day,” Kramer remembered.
Those two, together, cranked out webcast after webcast during tourneys for a few basketball seasons. Today, Jack and Chuck have totaled 500 tournament webcasts on ScoresBroadcast.com and are in the midst of their tenth calendar year.
“None better than my first,” McBee detailed. “The Houston boys coached by John Willoughby went 20-6 and advanced all the way to the state final four in 2011, while playing superb defense, making clutch plays late in games, and sinking nearly every single free throw.”
The Wildcats beat Minster and Franklin-Monroe in the regional after losing to both in December and January. Fort Loramie was a Houston victim in the sectional final after the Redskins won at Houston to end the regular season.
“It was a thrilling experience for me to be along for the ride to Columbus during my initial year with Jack,” McBee stated.
On Saturday, March 16, 2013, they concluded their most incredible series of post-season basketball webcasts. The Anna girls walloped Columbus Africentric for the Division-III state crown. And the Fort Loramie girls routed Berlin Hiland for the Division-IV state title.
“Ohio high school back-to-back state championships on the same afternoon, same league, same county, two different divisions,” noted Kramer. “And Chuck and I were so very fortunate to be a very small part of that history-making day.”
The two covered 62 tournament games that year on ScoresBroadcast.com, including 15 of the Rockets’ and Redskins’ contests during their terrific state championship journeys.
SCORES stands for the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System. It covers football, boys and girls basketball, volleyball, softball and baseball for schools in the Shelby County League, Midwest Athletic Conference and Greater Western Ohio Conference.
Listeners number well in excess of a thousand for the online stream of tournament contests. While joining the radio on their phones for high school sports in western Ohio, the audience has nearly doubled in the last four years.
“During webcasts, we receive texts and emails from all over Ohio, the US, and even outside the country,” Kramer said.
Saturday’s boys triple-header from Piqua, just like another 50 or so SCORES tourney games over the next four weeks, will include shots heard literally around the world.
League leads and tourney seeds are on the line in upcoming ScoresBroadcast.com games
Anna boys, Minster and Fort Loramie girls aim for league titles in big home contests
Release on Thursday, January 31, in the Sidney Daily News
League standings, state rankings, unbeaten seasons and conference championships are all on the line in upcoming high school hoops games presented by ScoresBroadcast.com, starting with the scheduled Versailles at Minster girls battle tonight.
The undefeated Anna boys, number one rated Fort Loramie girls and number two Minster play significant contests that “we look forward to webcasting,” said Jack Kramer, online play-by-play announcer who teams with Chuck McBee.
“It’s the time of year when teams get tournament ready and, in some cases, try to seal conference crowns with victories over arch-rivals,” Kramer said. “The projected high tourney seeds are also jockeying for the best draws that may lead to the most advantageous tracks through the sectional and district.”
Girls tournament draws are set for this Sunday; boys draws take place on February 10.
Minster (16-1, 6-0) ranked right behind number one Fort Loramie in Ohio girls Division IV, battles for the Midwest Athletic Conference (MAC) lead this evening versus Versailles (13-4, 7-0). The Tigers are number six in Ohio in girls D-III.
The Lady Wildcats are playing extremely well right now, having recently thumped New Bremen and Anna by a combined 55 points. Meanwhile, Versailles has dropped four games in five weeks and was edged at West Liberty-Salem on Tuesday.
ScoresBroadcast.com provides play-by-play and color from Minster. Webcast time is tonight at 7:10 PM, weather permitting.
Meanwhile, the Fort Loramie girls (18-1, 10-0), who survived an overtime scare at Miami East last Saturday, attempt to clinch the Shelby County Athletic League (SCAL) title with a victory at home over Anna (14-3, 9-1) on Saturday afternoon. Anna must defeat Russia tonight to set up the weekend league showdown.
The Anna-Fort Loramie webcast begins on Saturday at 2:10 PM.
Anna boys (15-0, 9-0), ranked third in Ohio in D-III, have an imposing weekend. On Friday, the Rockets tangle with Jackson Center (12-3, 7-2) at home. On Saturday, they travel to Versailles, which routed Russia (9-6, 5-4) last weekend. Webcast times are 7:40 PM and 7:10 PM on Friday and Saturday, respectively. An Anna triumph on Friday ensures an outright SCAL crown with two games remaining.
Strong performances could vault Anna to a number one seed in the Dayton-area sectional tournament. Purcell-Marian, which ousted the Rockets in the district last March, is state-ranked once again.
Jackson Center, Russia and the Fort Loramie boys (11-5, 5-4) are maneuvering for the top three seeds in the D-IV Piqua sectional. Idle in the SCAL on Friday, the Redskins are at defending state champion Marion Local on Saturday.
The long weekend of webcasts on ScoresBroadcast.com concludes on Monday night with a rematch of last year’s state championship game in girls D-IV when Minster journeys to Ottoville. The Big Green have lost only twice this year, climbed to tenth in the recent state poll, and even earned a first place vote.
Monday’s webcast kicks off at 6:45 PM. The contest’s early start time is approximately 7 PM.
The Sidney boys (13-3) hope to continue their winning ways into February. The Yellow Jackets are on a collision course with GWOC North rival Vandalia-Butler (15-2) in a game SCORES webcasts on February 12.
SCORES stands for the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System and is the radio on our phone for high school sports. The free, online service webcasts more than 100 games each school year, primarily involving teams in Shelby County and the MAC.
ScoresBroadcast.com Highlights Minster, Fort Loramie Girls
The two schools are featured in six upcoming webcasts
Release on Thursday, January 24, in the Sidney Daily News
Key girls contests on the hardwood dominate the upcoming ScoresBroadcast.com schedule. One tilt matches a couple Midwest Athletic Conference (MAC) schools which squared off twice a year ago.
When the Minster girls battled rival New Bremen last January, the Cards gave the eventual state champs a serious scare as Kelly Naylor’s game-tying, mid-court shot rimmed at the buzzer, recalled Jack Kramer, play-by-play announcer for the online service.
“I can remember describing the horn-beating, 40-footer as ‘in, out, and then back in and back out,’” Kramer said. “The game and the shot were both cliffhangers.”
Minster hung on to win, 47-44, in a ScoresBroadcast.com thriller that might repeat itself tonight (Thursday night) when the two meet again. ScoresBroadcast is courtside for the 7:30 PM tip-off. Webcast time is 7:10 PM.
The Wildcats then dealt New Bremen an 18-point defeat in the second game of the 2018 sectional tournament. That victory was one of a dozen straight for the ‘Cats in route to the Division-IV state crown.
New Bremen (11-4) and St. Henry (10-5) are the two 3-2 clubs in the Midwest Athletic Conference (MAC) trying to catch MAC unbeatens Minster (14-1, 5-0) and Versailles (12-3, 6-0), which collide on Thursday, January 31, in another 7:10 PM webcast.
Number two state-ranked Minster is also featured versus the Anna Rockets (12-2, 7-1) this Saturday, January 26, at 2:10 PM on SCORES, the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System. The Rockets, who are a loss behind Fort Loramie in the Shelby County Athletic League (SCAL), stunned Minster a year ago.
Minster and the number one-ranked Fort Loramie girls (15-1, 9-0) are in action a total of six times over the next ten days or so in webcasts offered by the online service.
In Fort Loramie contests covered by SCORES, the Redskins are home to St. Henry in a Tuesday, January 29, 7:10 PM webcast and home to SCAL challenger Anna in a Saturday, February 2, 2:10 PM webcast.
A rematch of the 2018 state championship in D-IV takes place on Monday, February 4, when Minster journeys to Ottoville for a 7:10 PM live stream. Minster also edged the Big Green in the 2017-18 regular season.
In an upcoming non-GWOC North contest for the Sidney boys (11-2, 8-1), the Yellow Jackets travel to St. Mary’s on February 2. The webcast starts at 7:10 PM.
Important SCAL boys games on SCORES pair Fort Loramie (9-4, 5-3) and Jackson Center (10-3, 6-2) on January 25 and Anna (13-0, 8-0) and Jackson Center on February 1. Webcast times for both are 7:40 PM.
The Rockets are rated number four in Ohio in the latest D-III boys poll and garnered a first place vote.
Russia-Fort Loramie Boys Rivalry Decided by Only a Basket Over the Last 20 Years
ScoresBroadcast.com Covers Tuesday’s Tilt as the Close Series Continues Release on Monday, January 7, in the Sidney Daily NewsHealthy and highly competitive describe the Russia-Fort Loramie basketball rivalry. Most often, such games are very well-played.
They have also been wildly exciting in the past, like the last March regional semi-final when Russia had a chance to tie at the buzzer after a Fort Loramie missed free throw with less than ten seconds left in the game.
Jack Kramer of ScoresBroadcast.com, which is at courtside for Tuesday’s battle between the two programs, noted that about every other Raiders-Redskins clash over the last decade has been extremely close, many times decided by a possession or two at the game’s end.
In fact, during that span, Fort Loramie is averaging 51 points per game; Russia, 49.
ScoresBroadcast.com has become very familiar with this hoops series; it has covered 22 of the previous 28 contests between the two schools. These games have produced numerous critical showdowns with league championship and tournament draw implications. And several decided sectional titles.
Tomorrow’s first Russia-Fort Loramie meeting in the 2018-19 season is important because they are both trying to stay within striking distance of Anna, the Shelby County League (SCL) leader.
Russia, league champs for five straight years, and Jackson Center have one loss in SCL play to date and trail first place Anna which is unbeaten. Fort Loramie has dropped two league tilts at home, but led Anna for 29 minutes on the road on December 28 before falling behind very late.
Webcast time is Tuesday at 7:10 PM on SCORES, the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System.
“Incredibly nip and tuck” is how Kramer highlighted the Russia-Fort Loramie series. A dozen of the last 23 hardwood tilts between the Raiders and Redskins have been decided by seven points or less and eight of the last 20 have resulted in margins of four points or less, he said.
“You can’t get much tighter than that,” added Chuck McBee, Kramer’s online partner. “One extra good play or a lucky break is usually the difference.”
McBee continued, “SCORES has no rooting interest in the league contests. Jack and I have a passion for what we do. It’s a win-win for us no matter which team comes out on top.”
The two have tried hard to fill the void left by the Sidney radio station when it discontinued local sports 12 years ago.
Russia and Fort Loramie high schools are located only “12.73 miles” apart, noted Kramer, who has made that drive along Routes 66 and 47 time and time again.
“The players from the two programs know each other pretty well. In many families, the parents were once a part of the rivalry, too,” he said. “You would expect these games to be extremely well-contested.”
The league in Shelby County is one of only two Ohio high school conferences in which the schools in one county comprise the complete league, which is named for that county.
SCORES travels to Botkins on Friday night for the Rockets-Trojans game and to St. Henry on Saturday night for the Rockets-Redskins game.
The 11-1 Fort Loramie girls and the 12-0 Minster girls collide on Saturday. The live play-by-play stream begins at 2:10 PM.
ScoresBroadcast.com Covers the Anna-Marion Local Boys and Anna-Fort-Loramie Girls Contests This Week
SCORES Features Top Games, Unbeaten Teams Release on Thursday, January 3, in the Sidney Daily NewsTwo high-powered offensive basketball teams that have amassed 18 wins and perfect unbeaten records to date are part of the ScoresBroadcast.com play-by-play schedule this Saturday.
On Thursday, two one-loss Shelby County schools collide in a girls contest offered by the free Internet service, which streams coverage of high school sports eleven months of the year.
SCORES, the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System, covers boys and girls basketball action in Sidney, the Shelby County League (SCL) and the Midwest Athletic Conference (MAC), including February and March tournament contests.
The 10-0 Minster girls, who are averaging 60 points per game and allowing only 28, travel to Van Wert Lincolnview for a 1:45 PM tip-off this Saturday, January 5. SCORES commences its live stream at 1:30 PM.
On Saturday evening, the 8-0 Anna boys host Marion Local in an 8 PM start at the Rockets gym. Webcast time is 7:40 PM. Anna is scoring at a clip of 74 points per game and is giving up only 47.
“It’s hard to say if this Anna team is stronger than last year’s 21-5 club which tied for the league title and lost four games by a total of only eight points. There’s a lot of basketball to be played,” said Chuck McBee, SCORES color announcer.
“Keep in mind, Anna won at Marion Local, the 2018 Division-IV state champs, last January,” McBee continued. “Nate Barhorst’s Rockets get a chance to duplicate that big win almost one year later to the day.”
Anna is idle on Friday. Marion Local tackles St. Henry in an MAC battle on Friday after dropping a 52-47 decision to the Redskins last weekend in a non-league holiday tourney.
The Minster Lady Wildcats, who have a showdown at Fort Loramie on January 12, are the defending state champs in Girls D-IV. Minster head coach Mike Wiss is in his third year leading the program.
Lincolnview, Saturday’s opponent for Minster, is 2-6 and dropped an early season tilt to Ottoville. The Big Green fell to Minster in that 2018 state final.
Fort Loramie and Anna girls squads, both 9-1 overall and unbeaten in the SCL, square off on Thursday. The SCORES webcast opens at 7:10 PM.
“The two clubs are performing at high levels,” said Jack Kramer, the SCORES play-by-play man. “Each recorded a recent win over Versailles, the 2018 D-III state runner-up.”
Carla’s Siegel’s Redskins have averaged 58 points per game and yielded only 27 per outing in the current five-game win streak. Four sophomores and a freshman represented the quintet on the floor in parts of December victories. The Redskins varsity roster has no seniors; Anna’s roster has only one.
Jeff Maurer’s Rockets are fresh off an eight-point, come-from-behind triumph over Miami East on Saturday. Ella Doseck’s buzzer-beater nipped Versailles on December 27.
A pair of fast-improving boys teams meet on Friday when Botkins travels to Fort Loramie. The Redskins led Anna for 3½ quarters last Friday before falling behind in the closing minutes. Botkins shredded the nets for 16 three-pointers in routing New Knoxville. That Redskins-Trojans webcast kicks off at 7:40 PM.
ScoresBroadcast.com features the 7-1 Fort Loramie Girls and 6-2 New Knoxville on Thursday Night, December 27
SCORES has covered four very close games between the two schools in thelast six years Release on Thursday, December 27, in the Sidney Daily NewsIf history repeats itself, ScoresBroadcast.com will celebrate the holiday season with a very close hardwood battle between Fort Loramie from the Shelby County League (SCL) and New Knoxville from the Midwest Athletic Conference (MAC) in a girls hoops contest on Thursday night.
Jack Kramer and Chuck McBee call the action at 7:10 PM from Fort Loramie.
The 7-1 Redskins are fresh off a resounding 56-33 thumping of Division III Versailles last Saturday. The 6-2 Rangers have beaten Marion Local, Lima Bath and Spencerville. New Knoxville dropped a three-point decision at Anna earlier this month.
“If Thursday’s contest is anything like the last several tussles between the two schools, Chuck and I will be on edge to the final buzzer,” said Jack Kramer, ScoresBroadcast.com’s play-by-play announcer. “The Rangers often play very well against the Fort Loramie girls.”
SCORES-- the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System-- webcasts games in the SCL and occasionally contests in the MAC. The Fort Loramie-New Knoxville girls hoops rivalry has created numerous, tight head-to-head confrontations.
In fact, Fort Loramie has won the last four games by a mere dozen points-- 44-41, last season; 38-36 in 2016-17; 39-36 in 2015-16; and 44-40 in 2014-15. In the final minute, Fort Loramie also nipped New Knoxville in the 2012-13 season, 55-51.
The Rangers have not beaten the Redskins in the Carla Siegel head coaching era at Fort Loramie. This is her 20th campaign.
“SCORES covered four of those five thrillers,” Kramer recalled. “Each one was very exciting and attracted big audiences in person and online.”
In a dozen years, SCORES has drawn more than 900,000 listeners to its live and archived webcasts. Users benefit from the unique Internet service without cost. Next month, SCORES launches its 13th calendar year of existence.
Another key SCORES game this weekend features the unbeaten Anna boys. The Rockets attempt to remain atop the SCL standings when they square off with Fort Loramie on Friday evening. Webcast time is 7:40 PM.
Botkins and New Knoxville meet in a contest of evenly matched boys teams on Saturday evening at the Trojans gym. SCORES also begins coverage on that night at 7:40 PM. The Trojans 1994 state tournament basketball team is recognized at Saturday’s game.
A Pair of Area Media Professionals Step to the Microphone on ScoresBroadcast.com this Weekend
--Dayton TV’s James Rider and Girls Hoops Promoter Jim Dabbelt Call Saturday’s Fort Loramie-Versailles Games; Kramer and McBee Webcast Anna at Jackson Center Tonight
Release on Friday, December 21, 2018, in Sidney Daily NewsTwo area print, online, and electronic media professionals with play-by-play experience pinch-hit for ScoresBroadcast.com’s Jack Kramer this Saturday on the Fort Loramie-Versailles boys and girls basketball games.
James Rider of Dayton, a WRGT TV-45 sports reporter for five years, teams with Chuck McBee, ScoresBroadcast’s color announcer, on the 7:40 PM webcast of the boys game. Jim Dabbelt of Tipp City, whose website has promoted girls high school hoops for 15 years, works with McBee on the webcast for the girls matinee at 2:10 PM.
Dabbelt and Rider step to the microphone for Kramer, who has completed play-by-play for more than 3,000 college and high school contests since being a broadcast journalism major at Indiana University (IU) and assisting on the IU radio network during the 1968 Rose Bowl. Later, for a dozen years, he announced Ohio State football on Saturday afternoons for flagship station WOSU TV-34, which provided 15 public television stations statewide with the Saturday night and Sunday morning game replays.
An avid IU and OSU fan, the 1970 Indiana graduate visits the Indiana campus this weekend and attends the Hoosiers men’s basketball game in person at Assembly Hall.
Also a close and long-time follower of Ohio high school sports, Kramer served as the play-by-play voice on the Sidney radio station from 2001 to 2007 and then joined with former Sidney and Russia resident Jeff Bray to launch SCORES, the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System.
Dabbelt is a regular listener to SCORES, which has enabled him in recent years to follow more closely the progress of girls basketball players and their teams. Today, he is considered to be a key media source in the Buckeye state for girls high school basketball. Through his website, The Dabbelt Report, he highlights girls hoops in the west central Ohio region and throughout the state, including the game’s premier performers.
“For a long time, women’s sports were not considered mainstream in the United States,” Dabbelt said. “But female coaches and athletes have made tremendous strides in the last ten to 20 years.”
He added that he enjoys marketing the contribution female athletes make to high school basketball in Ohio by ensuring most everyone is made aware of their access to the “positive power of sports.”
Nearly 30 years ago, Dabbelt first developed the Ohio Girls Basketball Update and was the sole writer on the topic of girls hoops for the Ohio High School basketball magazine. For a number of years, he served as an informational link between Ohio and national publications such as the USA Today newspaper and Street and Smith magazine.
Dabbelt coached girls AAU basketball from 1988 to 1994. He is the sports editor of the Tippecanoe Gazette.
Rider, too, has promoted high school sports through his feature and human interest coverage in eight years of employment at television stations in Lima and Dayton. While working in TV, he preferred field reporting on location over anchoring in the station’s studio.
“I always liked reporting on far more than the grind of the season and post-season,” Rider said. “The feel-good stories of the young players dig deeper than wins and losses and capture the hearts of the viewers.”
He added that the west central Ohio student-athletes whom he and SCORES have covered possess a unique and high-level work ethic that warrants communicating through the media.
A telecommunications graduate from Ball State University, Rider performed play-by-play in college. At TV-45, he reported “live at the scene” of Ohio high school state title contests, the Ohio State Buckeyes national championship victory in football, and numerous Ohio State-Michigan regular season-ending football clashes.
Rider grew up in a military family which traveled across the country and overseas, before its eventual connection to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
He and Dabbelt said they both are looking forward to “painting a picture” of the Tigers and Redskins in action on Saturday as they provide “the real-time play-by-play stream” for the huge ScoresBroadcast.com listening audience.
After Christmas, Kramer and McBee return to team up for the Fort Loramie-New Knoxville girls game on December 27. The two also provide coverage for the Anna at Jackson Center encounter on Friday night, December 21. Webcast time is 7:40 PM.
Jack Kramer covers his 500th football game on Saturday, November 10, when Lehman meets Fort Loramie
Kramer and Chuck McBee also team for their 100th football tilt on ScoresBroadcast.com
Saturday’s Lehman Catholic-Fort Loramie regional semi-final marks the 500th football game of play-by-play coverage for ScoresBroadcast.com’s Jack Kramer, who began announcing high school and college contests regularly in fall 1970. The Redskins-Cavaliers match-up is also Football Game #100 for Jack and Chuck McBee of Piqua since the two were united on the free online service in 2010. Saturday’s webcast time is 6:35 PM. The kick-off is at 7 PM. Interviews with coaches are featured in the pre-game segment on ScoresBroadcast.com. The Redskins are 10-1 under first-year head coach Spencer Wells. The Cavaliers are 8-3 and led by 13-year veteran Dick Roll. “I can remember my first high school play-by-play stint nearly 50 years ago in Preble County. A memorable mud bowl,” Jack said. The field conditions were so bad they were the worst the graduate of Indiana and Miami of Ohio ever experienced in his entire broadcast career. Jack has covered Ohio State football on television, plus football for IU on the university’s radio network and for Miami on TV channels 14 and 16. His free-lance radio work throughout western Ohio has taken place at radio stations in Middletown, Springfield, Piqua, Greenville and Sidney. About his first-ever radio assignment, Jack recalled vividly that the wet, soft earthy matter from the rain-soaked gridiron quickly turned to brown both the high school home team’s white pants and the visiting team’s gray jerseys. The situation was more challenging because the home squad wore black shirts and the visitors wore black pants. Each had similar-looking black and white helmets. “Very green” was the best way Jack could describe his on-air skills after graduating from Indiana University. “So I was already handicapped,” he stated. To make matters even worse, Jack’s “broadcast booth” was a platform perched ten feet off the ground attached to a light pole at the 30 yard line. “It was a glorified tree house,” Jack recalled. “I wasn’t sure if I knew which team scored when. I might even have had the wrong school winning when the game ended. The storm knocked out the scoreboard.” On Saturday night, at Alexander Stadium-Purk Field on the campus of Piqua High School, PHS Athletic Director Chip Hare rolls out the red carpet for media covering the Fort Loramie-Lehman Catholic battle. A heated press box on the west side and another on the east side sit high above the beautiful artificial surface playing field. This terrific venue right off I-75 seats 8200 fans. Jack said that, in Ohio, the Piqua and Sidney stadiums “might be the state’s two very best facilities so close together in neighboring counties,” separated by only a dozen miles or so. He noted that Dave Ross and Sidney AD Mitch Hoying are also “pros” at preparing a press box for the media. “Chuck and I are spoiled,” Jack smiled. “Unlike my first nightmare broadcast, we will call Saturday’s game from our easy chairs.” Sidney could be the site for a playoff game SCORES covers later this month. SCORES stands for the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System. It was conceived in 2007 by Jack and Jeff Bray when the Sidney radio station said “goodbye” to local sports and local news. SCORES webcasts high school contests featuring Lehman Catholic and Sidney high schools, all schools in the Shelby County Athletic League, and Minster and Versailles in the Midwest Athletic Conference. Occasionally, SCORES webcasts Piqua and Troy contests. As the 25-year director of marketing and media relations at Edison Community College from 1985 to 2010, Jack became very familiar with high school sports in Miami and Shelby counties and throughout west central Ohio. His family reminded him last week that November 3rd would have been his 500th. However, the health of his 97 year old mother-in-law declined sharply, and he, wife, and adult children stayed closed to home and helped her rebound. “We kept telling Myrtle she was 97 going on 79, and she came through,” Jack beamed. Chuck said he was unaware that on Saturday he and Jack hit the century mark covering games on SCORES. “I guess time flies when you’re having fun,” he said. SCORES typically attracts more than 700 IP addresses for playoff football from the kickoff to the game’s final minute. The peak concurrent count of 400 to 500 usually hits in the second half. Knowing so many listeners are depending on Jack and Chuck, this webcast pair’s “true passion” for play-by-play and color really shows when they webcast football, boys and girls basketball, volleyball, softball, and baseball on SCORES. “We don’t favor one team over another. We love what we do. And enjoy providing this free, unique service that is available to everyone, everywhere,” Chuck noted. And when Chuck described SCORES’ availability as being “universal,” he wasn’t exaggerating one bit. Jared Hoying, a member of Fort Loramie’s 2010 state championship baseball team and formerly a major leaguer, texted the SCORES announce team from South Korea during this year’s Redskins state tourney baseball games. Now a member of the Hanwha Eagles in the Korean Baseball Organization, Hoying still maintains an avid interest in his Skins back home. “Jared messaged from a restaurant near Seoul, I think, to let us know we were coming in loud and clear,” Chuck said. When the Redskins came from behind to win the state title, Chuck said that Jared’s new text read, “Thank you very much for sharing the state championship with me. And thanks for what you do on the worldwide Internet. Great job. Over and out.” What an endorsement! And Jack and Chuck could very well hear from Jared again on Saturday night during their 100th football webcast on ScoresBroadcast.com.
Large ScoresBroadcast.com Audience Hears the Finish of Botkins’ Two Exciting Tourney Games; Heavy Online Coverage Set for Friday and Saturday
Release March 2, 2018
ScoresBroadcast.com’s Jack Kramer thought about exclaiming that Wednesday night’s game was “over” when Brett Meyer’s young Botkins Trojans trailed by 16 points with just over four minutes to play.
“At that time, Chuck McBee and I did say that, if Ansonia played against Fort Loramie like it had for 3 1/2 quarters against Botkins, the Redskins would have their hands full in Saturday night’s sectional final.”
Well, as it turned out, the game was far from over. In fact, the Trojans outscored Ansonia 30 to 16 in the final half of the fourth period, only to lose by one field goal. Ansonia needed to sink 16 of 17 free throws in the fourth period to barely hang on.
“Unbelievable and, for sure, unpredictable,” said Jack, play-by-play announcer for the online service. “But because of the major significance of year-ending tourney games, the fans in the stands witness amazing, come-from-behind rallies they may not see in the regular season.”
The ScoresBroadcast.com listening audience heard the comeback, too, on Wednesday, after Botkins had flipped a very late six-point deficit into a one-point victory over Riverside last Saturday. A total of more than 1600 IP addresses joined the Internet for the close of both games.
“So far, a number ten seed has played the most exciting and most entertaining contests of the sectional tournament,” McBee, Jack’s sidekick, added. “These two late night Botkins games were supported by the great listenership numbers.” McBee also said that “the future is bright and very promising” for hoops at Botkins, which in February won the Shelby County League eighth grade boys tournament.
SCORES, the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System, expects more thrilling boys action on Friday night in the Division IV upper bracket sectional final when Russia tangles with Jackson Center. The Raiders won two close encounters over the Tigers during the season.
The other Tigers, Ansonia, battle top seed and state-ranked Fort Loramie on Saturday night in the lower bracket final. Five different sharp-shooters for Ansonia sank three-pointers versus Botkins.
Both sectional championship contests at Piqua are covered by SCORES at 6:45 PM.
The Russia girls meet 11th ranked Tri-Village in a district final at Troy on Saturday. Fort Loramie squares off against Cedarville in another district final on that day. SCORES will webcast these two games at 10:45 AM and 2:45 PM, respectively.
Free of charge, listeners can enjoy the online streaming of high school tourney basketball via ScoresBroadcast.com. Most all games are archived on the website for listening pleasure at any time.
ScoresBroadcast.com Webcasts 8 Tourney Games This Week
Release on February 26, 2018
“It’s over. It’s over,” screeched ScoresBroadcast.com’s Jack Kramer on Saturday night, as the clock ticked down to zero at the end of Botkins’ triumph over Riverside in the boys Division IV sectional.
The Pirates missed a game-winning shot just before the buzzer and after Botkins, behind Ethan Butcher and Spencer Heuker, rallied from a late 38-32 deficit for the thrilling victory.
However, it’s actually far from over for the ScoresBroadcast crew of Jack and Chuck McBee, who webcasted seven games in 27 hours spanning last Friday and Saturday. They will call at least eight more contests this week on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and likely at least 40 total in the upcoming five weeks.
“This time of year, we own stock in Halls, Ludens and Vicks,” Jack laughed. “The throat might get a little sore and raspy. But with each passing tourney game, our interest soars with interest and excitement.”
Saturday’s Botkins-Riverside contest was a special treat for Jack and Chuck. They enjoyed covering the young Trojans team coached by Brett Meyer, At the same time, they reunited with Riverside coach Seth Bodenmiller, a former Jackson Center player and Bowling Green graduate, who participated in the first ever ScoresBroadcast audio commercial for Lacal Equipment. Lacal of Jackson Center is a founding advertising partner for the unique online service.
“Seth chuckled that his claim to fame is the 4.5 seconds of air time in the middle of the sixty second Lacal message.” Jack said. “As a Jackson Center student, he commented in the spot about the success of the Lacal scholarship program.”
Lacal, the longest running SCORES sponsor, is one of 24 organizations assisting in the support of webcasts of sports teams at Minster and Versailles high schools, and all the schools in the Shelby County Athletic League, plus Sidney and Lehman Catholic. SCORES stands for the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System.
“Chuck and I can’t sustain the coverage of high school sports unless businesses lend a helping hand. We want to continue to make the online webcasts free of charge to our listeners,” Jack said.
Todd VanTasel, CEO of Christian NetCast, which performs the web hosting for SCORES from its Virginia location, said the Internet program provides a “one-of-a-kind” service that is not duplicated. “Today, it’s the radio on the phone for high school sports in west central Ohio,” he stated.
The Sidney radio station dropped coverage of local high school sports in 2007. SCORES was then conceived. More than 700,000 online users have since taken advantage of the online streaming.
This week, SCORES webcasts boys sectional tourney games from Piqua on Tuesday and Wednesday at 5:45 PM and on Friday and Saturday at 6:45 PM. A pair of girls Division IV district games from Troy will also be covered this Saturday.
During the current 2017-18 school year, SCORES has already offered webcasts of 63 football, volleyball and boys and girls basketball contests.
ScoresBroadcast.com Heats Up as Tourney Fever Picks Up
Online Streaming of Seven Webcasts Set for This Weekend
Release on February 22, 2018
The “still-alive” area high school basketball tournament teams know both the path ahead of them and their prospective opponents as they practice virtually each day to stay warm for “February tourney fever.”
Meanwhile, the announce team for ScoresBroadcast.com has been laying low for a few days, resting the vocal cords while not knowing for sure the journey ahead.
“We do know we begin a heavy schedule this weekend that may not end until high school March Madness subsides on Saturday, March 24, in Columbus,” said online color announcer Chuck McBee, who was joined by Jack Kramer on 50 regular season webcasts.
“Our slate for the coming weekend spans three games this Friday night, two on Saturday afternoon and a pair on Saturday night. But after Sunday, it’s wait and see. As long as our programs keep playing, we’ll keep pumping out the play by play.”
McBee teams with Kramer on ScoresBroadcast.com, which is in its 12th calendar year of webcasting high schools sports since the local radio station dropped coverage of such contests in 2007.
This time of year, ScoresBroadcast tries its very best to stream online the key contests involving Minster and Versailles boys and girls hoops teams, plus, of course, the boys and girls squads at Shelby County Athletic League (SCAL) schools, along with Sidney and Lehman Catholic.
Regular season webcasts concluded last Friday night when the Fort Loramie boys defeated Russia to create a three-way tie atop the SCAL standings. Three days before, the Sidney boys nipped Vandalia-Butler in the final 2.5 seconds to earn a share of the GWOC North championship.
“In late February and in March, a few seconds can determine whether or not a team plays another game,” McBee stated. “Jack and I will be at courtside to try and paint for our listeners a verbal picture of each second and minute of each contest.”
SCORES, the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System, has already experienced far more listeners in the 2017-18 school year than in any past season. Its tournament coverage is launched on Friday and Saturday at 5:15 PM both days with a total of five games from the Division IV boys Piqua sectional. The girls Division IV sectional finals at Sidney are set for Saturday at 11:45 AM.
Next Wednesday night, SCORES will cover Anna boys action in the Division III tourney or will cover Division IV contests at Piqua.
“We expect the tourney to be very exciting,” McBee said. “If contests match the closeness of some of the games we covered during the regular season, Jack and I may be repeating the same on-air story lines.”
McBee noted that the two covered a series of “buzzer beaters” and “photo finishes” from December to last week. He said that the tourney, like the regular season, will offer its share of surprises.
“The Botkins girls have already pulled off a tourney upset turning around a 20-point season loss to Mechanicsburg,” McBee said. “The Trojans will try to rebound from a pair of season setbacks to Russia in this Saturday’s upper bracket Division IV final at Sidney.”
SCORES will cover at least 40 tournament games, providing webcast after webcast until all area schools are eliminated.
ScoresBroadcast.com’s Jack Kramer announces 3,000th game on Friday at Fort Loramie
Technology during Kramer’s career has greatly expanded the listening audience and enhanced how coverage is delivered
Release on February 7, 8 or 9, 2018
When ScoresBroadcast.com’s Jack Kramer got his start on the airwaves announcing college and high school sports, he filled in briefly at the 1968 Rose Bowl for a member of the Indiana University radio crew who developed laryngitis during the game.
Having held Southern Cal’s O.J. Simpson to less than 70 yards on his first 20 carries, the Hoosiers defense was playing very well, prompting Jack to say to the network play-by-play guy, “IU has bottled up the Juice.”
That memorable beginning, which momentarily cracked up Max Skirvin, the voice of IU athletics, marked Jack’s first-ever on-air stint.
The rest as they say is history.
Fifty years and a month later, Jack calls his 3,000th game this Friday, February 9, when Jackson Center plays at Fort Loramie in Shelby County Athletic League (SCAL) basketball.
According to his family’s count, the number might be off a few games because Jack blended in some occasional coverage of Edison State Community College basketball with his high school broadcasts on WPTW-AM radio right after launching 26 years of service at Edison. He was employed as the college’s director of marketing in 1985 following eight years in a similar position at Clark Tech, now Clark State, in Springfield. He said “ten to 15” Chargers games played at Piqua’s old Roosevelt Fieldhouse were on the radio way back then.
“I liked that small, cozy gymnasium several blocks from downtown,” Jack said. “I could comment that every single contest was ‘darn near a sell out’ and be spot on.”
“Promotion” and “marketing” are synonymous with Jack. He said his most rewarding years professionally were his last ten at Edison, enhancing image by creating media success stories about graduates and faculty and also expanding enrollment by targeting direct mail media and later social media at specific audiences. “Boosting Edison was in my blood,” he remarked.
Averaging at least 60 games annually on radio, television or the Internet for five decades and in excess of 100 in each of the last dozen years on ScoresBroadcast.com, Jack covered the Hoosiers as an undergraduate student and covered the Miami University (MU) Red Hawks while completing his master’s degree. His studies at Miami led to a connection with a fellow graduate student, Ed Clay, who soon after finishing at MU served as the executive director of Ohio State University Radio and Television.
In 1980 Clay selected Jack as the television play-play play voice for the delayed broadcasts of Ohio State football. For eleven years, the games were re-played statewide via twenty PBS stations on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings. The halftime OSU marching band performance was also shown in its entirety. For the final eight years of the coverage, Jack teamed with former Buckeye Paul Warfield, who starred for the Browns and Dolphins.
“Good fortune. Great friendships. And right place, right time,” said Jack, noting how he luckily landed the OSU gig. He tried to pattern some of his style after IU grad and the legendary network announcer, Dick Enberg, who offered a fairly deliberate approach that made every word count.
“Look at the shoeless Byars go,” was Jack’s succinct call of the 67-yard, zig-zag, touchdown run by the Buckeyes tailback versus Illinois in 1984. Missing his left cleats 20 yards downfield, Keith Byars still blew right past several Illini defenders. In recapping, Jack announced, “Illinois caught up with Byars’ left shoe, but not his right.”
Clay, Jack’s boss and stadium production manager, was a task-master, always demanding a professional presentation. In fact, the first former player to fill the color announcer role alongside Jack didn’t last.
“He liked to describe a kick-off through the end zone as a ‘beer can kick-off,’ or a ‘non-returnable,’ Jack remembered. “Needless to say, he got the boot.”
Through the 1980’s and 1990’s, Jack’s announcing of high school sports for the Piqua and Greenville radio stations included the Versailles state football championship in 1995. With his voice squeaking after 3 1/2 hours, he managed to weakly bark out the fourth-down scoring run by the Tigers who beat Bellaire in two overtimes.
“Another overtime would have outlasted me,” said Jack, revisiting that title game in Massillon. “I didn’t have any squeaks left.”
Among Jack’s most favorite experiences covering high school sports online are Jackson Center, Fort Loramie and Lehman Catholic state championships in volleyball; Anna, Fort Loramie and Versailles state championships in girls basketball; Fort Loramie and Minster state championships in baseball; and Minster state titles in football.
“I also enjoy chatting with coaches and players of other sports and inserting those conversations into the halftime breaks,” Jack stated.
For five years starting in 2002, Jack free-lanced for WMVR-FM in Sidney, which broke its long-standing tradition in fall 2007 and dropped high school sports. At that time, Jeff Bray, Jack’s radio sidekick, said that “we can fill this void by providing the service online.” Jack said he doubted the “Innernet” initially. “I didn’t even spell it correctly at first,” he laughed. “I was fearful our voices would fade away in space and never be heard again.”
Clearly ahead of the curve, Jack and Jeff marched on with a passion for delivering high school sports on the airwaves.
“On a lark, we launched SCORES -- the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System -- not knowing if there was a future or even a second game,” recalled Bray. A pioneer of the online service, Bray has since moved to South Carolina after living in Sidney and Russia.
More than 1300 Internet webcasts later, Jack and Chuck McBee of Piqua are sharing play-by-play and color with listeners at 500 IP addresses, consistently, for each match or contest. Jackson Center boys and girls state semi-final basketball games on weekday afternoons in 2016 and 2017 attracted 2000 IP addresses. Recent regular season games in 2017-18 involving Anna, Russia, Fort Loramie and Versailles boys drew in excess of 1600 IP addresses for exciting fourth quarter action.
“I got the bug for Internet webcasts of Sidney and Shelby County High School sports real fast,” McBee pointed out. “During my first year on the web with Jack, John Willoughby’s Houston Wildcats got red hot and reached Columbus. I have been hooked ever since.”
Jack and Chuck’s webcasts include schools in Sidney, the Shelby County Athletic League, the Midwest Athletic Conference, and occasionally Miami County. The two travel to tournament venues and local teams’ road games which have required journeys to cities including Columbus, Dayton, Canton, Lima, Toledo, Springfield, Zanesville, and Muncie, Indiana. A $5000 budget is required to meet the needs of the Ohio High School Athletic Association which charges media for their presence at post-season events.
Numerous major founding sponsors still partner with ScoresBroadcast after twelve years. These include Lacal Equipment, US Bank, Barker Insurance, Wilson Health Sports Medicine, and American Architectural Glass. Additional key supporters are Frisch’s, Bambauer Fertilizer and Seed, and Dickman Electrical and Industrial Supplies. In Fort Loramie, partners for nearly ten years include M & A Muffler and Tires; Gaier’s Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Ram; and Tom and Jerry’s Plumbing, Electric, Heating and Air Conditioning.
Thanks to the Internet and all of the SCORES partners, the webcasts have extended the coverage of games to local high school graduates away at college, former area residents living elsewhere, and upper Miami Valley folks vacationing inside and even outside the United States.
Several years ago, SCORES covered a Sidney High School (SHS)-Bellbrook girls soccer match in the district tournament. When the visitors bus arrived at SHS, Jack met the coach who was quickly joined by a Bellbrook player wanting to know the domain name for the website that was webcasting the match.
“My parents are traveling and wish to follow the game’s progress,” she said, Jack recalled. “My Mom and Dad promised me they will set an alarm and listen at 3:30 AM from Helsinki, Finland.”
Christian Netcast in Virginia performs the hosting and serving for SCORES and facilitates online streaming for nearly 100 additional schools, churches, and businesses in the eastern half of the country.
“There’s no online play-by-play media outlet that duplicates the uniqueness of ScoresBroadcast in Ohio,” said Todd VanTasel, the CEO and VP for Technology at Christian Netcast.
“It’s free of charge for all listeners. It’s supported by business and industry. It’s dedicated to coverage of the schools in its region. It archives all games for listening enjoyment at anytime. And its live webcasts originate from a single-page, attractive website that is easy to navigate by anyone, anywhere.”
VanTasel added, “ScoresBroadcast.com is your radio on the phone for high school sports. It has come a long way.”
So has Jack.
The sandbox was the home for Jack’s first “neighborhood” play-by-play calls. At age five, he hosed down the sand and molded it into a bowl, or a “miniature stadium.” He remembered using toothpicks as football players and taping two together to serve as offensive linemen. His mom’s flour denoted yard lines in the sand. A brown-tinted marble was the game ball.
“My parents often tried to calm me down from the back porch,” he said. “They wondered how every single play could sound so exciting.”
Jack marvels at how the live media coverage of high school sports teams during his career has evolved and been advanced many times over as a result of the World Wide Web and constantly updated streaming technology.
“I can remember in the early 1970’s setting up a six-foot tall antenna on top of the football field pressbox so that a part of Preble County could hear my radio coverage of the Gratis-West Alexandria contest,” Jack recollected about one of his first play-by-play broadcasts at commercial station WPFB-AM.
However, here in February 2018, people located most everywhere on planet earth can hear the coverage of west central Ohio’s important upcoming battles between the Fort Loramie Redskins and Jackson Center Tigers on Friday, the Fort Loramie Redskins and Anna Rockets on Saturday, and the Sidney Yellow Jackets and Vandalia-Butler Aviators on Tuesday.
Some 50 years and 3,000 games after his start, Jack is now describing the play-by-play of high school basketball as “shots literally heard around the world.”
ScoresBroadcast.com Kicks Off Hoops on Dec. 1 and 2 as Listenership Continues to Climb
Webcasts open with SCL games: Jackson Center & Russia girls / Anna & Fort Loramie boys
Release on Thursday, November 30, 2017
What a way to get the ball rolling.
The first webcast of girls basketball to help launch ScoresBroadcast.com’s twelfth year features two Shelby County schools coming off superb campaigns in 2016-17.
On Saturday, December 2, at 2:10 PM, Jackson Center -- 23-5 and a state semi-finalist the last two seasons -- battles Russia -- 21-6 and district champs a year ago. Announcers Jack Kramer and Chuck McBee call the action online.
Anna and Fort Loramie boys, two Shelby County League (SCL) favorites this year, open SCORES’ online webcasts on Friday, December 1, at 7:40 PM. In a big non-league girls clash, Minster hosts Fort Loramie on Tuesday, December 5, at 7:10 PM. Minster was the outright hoops champion in the Midwest Athletic Conference (MAC) last year for the 15th time.
SCORES is the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System. It covers high school sports spanning Sidney, Lehman Catholic, and schools in the SCL and MAC.
“It’s your radio on the phone in west central Ohio,” said Todd VanTasel, CEO and VP for Technology at Christian Netcast in Virginia, which performs the hosting and serving for the area’s high school Internet sports coverage. “Some 300 to 400 IP addresses join ScoresBroadcast every game with big spikes in listenership for football playoff and basketball tourney contests.”
Given Jackson Center’s recent outstanding success on the court and, as a result, SCORES’ regular coverage of the Tigers, the Habitat of the Cat is a good place for our first Saturday of webcast coverage, Kramer alluded.
Jackson Center (JC) boys and girls were featured in46 SCORES basketball webcasts the last two seasons, including the Lady Tigers two state semi-final games.
“That pair of contests on weekday afternoons produced more than 2,000 listeners,” VanTasel said. The JC boys reached the state semi-final in March 2016 and attracted “close to one thousand online users,” he also pointed out.
During the Tigers’ terrific runs to two straight state volleyball titles, the state semi-final victoriesalso soared listenership counts when no television coverage was available.
“Hoarse for hours and hours,” Kramer recalled, describing how he felt after ‘calling’ the Tigers long streaks of tourney wins from 2015 to 2017. “For me, there’s nothing more exciting and entertaining than covering high school sports in the upper Miami Valley.”
In additional December SCORES coverage, second year Sidney head coach John Willoughby leads his team’s attempt to avenge a loss at Tippecanoe last year. The Yellow Jackets travel to Tipp City on Friday, December 8.
When Willoughby coached Houston to the state tourney in 2011, McBee came on board as SCORES’ color announcer. “My first year was fantastic. What a great introduction to closely following Shelby County sports teams,” McBee remembered. “The Wildcats knocked off three rivals in the tourney that beat them in the season.”
In a competitive rivalry started several seasons ago, the Fort Loramie girls host Tipp in a SCORES webcast on Monday, December 11.
The month’s coverage begins to wind down with the Russia girls and boysplaying at Botkins on December 21 and 22, respectively. Kramer and McBee will enjoy a new webcast perch in the first row of the mezzanine above the team benches and the Botkins gymnasium floor.
Fort Loramie’s girls are at Vesailles on Saturday afternoon, December 23; Versailles’ boys are at Anna on December 27.
During the four upcoming months, ScoresBroadcast.com will likely cover more than 80 basketball contests, including 40 tournament games. Team records, league standings, sponsorship location, and game listenership results impact SCORES’ contest choices.
The unique service is available free of charge to high school sports fans. Webcasts are supported only by area business and industry.
ScoresBroadcast Follows Area teams on the Road
SCORES leaves the county to cover Fort Loramie boys and girls
Release on Thursday, December 21, 2017
ScoresBroadcast.com primarily focuses its coverage on high school sports teams located in Shelby County. At the same time, the online service enjoys providing the play-by-play of local squads when they leave the area and perform in counties throughout west central Ohio.
In fact, ScoresBroadcast has already hit the road to cover the Sidney boys and does so again this Friday at Greenville. Webcast time is 7:10 PM. Sidney games at Piqua, St. Mary's, Fairborn, Bellefontaine and Greenville were webcasted a year ago. Contests at Stebbins, Vandalia-Butler and Trotwood-Madison will likely be covered later this season.
"Providing Shelby County and upper Miami Valley listeners with coverage of local clubs when they are away from home is a goal of ScoresBroadcast," said Jack Kramer, play-by-play announcer for the free online service. "Big jumps in listenership take place when we travel with the area teams."
He added that some high school sports fans simply don't have the time to attend away games, especially on weeknights and around the holidays. “As the radio on the phone," he said, “ScoresBroadcast can be a convenient option.”
On Saturday morning of Martin Luther King weekend, ScoresBroadcast intends to follow the Minster girls team when it travels nearly 350 miles round-trip to eastern Holmes County for the Classic in the Country. Coverage of the St. Henry at Anna boys game that evening will be offered when Kramer and color announcer Chuck McBee return to west central Ohio.
"You might say it can work both ways," Kramer noted. "Our webcasts from gymnasiums in the upper Miami Valley are often heard by those traveling around the country and even the world. Last winter, employees from Honda of America were among our listeners to a few webcasts while they were five time zones away conducting business in London."
Local fans, who vacation to enjoy spring training baseball in Florida and Arizona, often join ScoresBroadcast for tournament webcasts in March. Through the convenience of the World Wide Web, 300 to 400 IP addresses and more than 500 listeners join SCORES for most every game.
SCORES stands for the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System. It was conceived in 2007 by Kramer and Jeff Bray, a long time Shelby County resident and Sidney HS grad who has since moved to South Carolina.
This Saturday, webcasts originate in Darke and Mercer counties.
The Fort Loramie at Versailles girls game is at 2:10 PM. The Fort Loramie at St. Henry boys game is at 7:10 PM.
During this 2017-18 high school basketball season, SCORES will webcast close to 80 regular season and tourney contests.
SCORES Describes Shots Heard Around the World at Anna
Enormous audience in multiple states and countries enjoyed the Bensman-Ahrens air show
Release on January 5, 2018
Last Wednesday at Anna High School, the 3-point basket by Wyatt Bensman with 12 seconds to go to tie the game and the 2-point basket by Justin Ahrens at the buzzer to win it were like “shots heard around the world” – literally. Thanks to ScoresBroadcast.com!
According to Todd VanTasel, CEO and VP for Technology at Christian NetCast in Virginia, the online listening audience for that thrilling Anna-Versailles boys basketball game was a regular season, single game record for ScoresBroadcast.com in its dozen-year history.
VanTasel’s firm performs the hosting and serving for ScoresBroadcast. He said that “more than 1600 IP addresses” joined the down-to-the-wire Versailles victory for most of the fourth quarter. He added that listeners from the United States and Europe, including Florida, Arizona, New York, and California along with the countries of France and Spain, listened to parts of the online webcast.
“We’re certainly not limited by geography,” said Jack Kramer, play-by-play announcer, noting he received emails after the webcast from both inside and outside the US. “That’s the beauty of the Internet. Our service can be local and even international.”
Descriptions of the late field goals by the two Anna and Versailles sharpshooters were heard with great clarity around the globe on the live webcast, as both buckets captured the imagination of world wide listeners.
“The ScoresBroadcast digital format offers an intelligible and unobstructed, crystal clear sound for online users no matter where they happen to be,” VanTasel stated. “Last Wednesday’s live stream originating at the Anna gymnasium was a perfect example.”
SCORES stands for the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System. Annually, it webcasts more than 100 sports contests involving schools in Shelby County and in the Midwest Athletic Conference.
The webcasts frequently attract local people who are traveling or vacationing, former area folks who have left the region, high school graduates away at college, and local business men and women on the road completing work for their west central Ohio firms.
Kramer said that Wednesday’s enormous listenership was somewhat of a surprise given the ScoresBroadcast.com website didn’t promote the webcast until the day of the contest.
But the high school fans’ increasingly popular game time search on the web for a good hoops battle and the 12-1 combined record of the two clubs captured a large audience and made it stick. It then grew quickly throughout the night as the two teams, and Ahrens and Bensman, traded baskets.
Plus, a late start to the varsity tilt enabled those who attended other area games to get hooked on SCORES for the Tigers-Rockets photo finish.
“The contest remained nip ‘n tuck and was highlighted by excellent offense and even better defense,” said Chuck McBee, Kramer’s webcast partner. “Anna and Versailles will be lofty D-III tourney seeds and could meet again. We simply had to cover round one.”
It almost didn’t happen, however.
“Our family holiday schedules were making it challenging to webcast the important games in late December,” Kramer said.
In addition, Kramer said he “ran out to the end of the driveway to meet FedEx” on Wednesday afternoon to receive a critical delivery-- a major technical component that takes two or more audio signals from the SCORES webcast, merges them together, and provides a single output signal.
“No upgraded audio mixer, no webcast,” he said. “FedEx came through and the Rockets and the Tigers delivered, too.”
To kick off 2018, SCORES covers the Delphos St. John’s-Minster girls game on Thursday, January 4, and the Russia-Fort Loramie boys and girls games on Friday night, January 5, and Saturday afternoon, January 6.
The free online streaming service supported by local business and industry was conceived in November 2007 by Kramer and former Shelby County resident Jeff Bray. SCORES launches its twelfth calendar year as the new year begins.
Berning’s Bucket on ScoresBroadcast Heard Far and Wide
Huge audience listened to the Versailles-Fort Loramie thriller
Release on Friday, January 12, 2018
The Wednesday, December 27th basketball game on ScoresBroadcast.com featured made shots in the final ten seconds by Justin Ahrens of Versailles and Wyatt Bensman of Anna that were enjoyed by listeners inside and outside the United States.
On Tuesday this week at the Tigers’ gym, the game-tying three-pointer by Fort Loramie’s Evan Berning with only .9 of a second left in the game was also “a shot heard around the world” on SCORES.
In addition, the play-by-play description of Berning’s 22-footer connected with more listeners “at the end of a game” than SC0RES has ever attracted in the regular season in its dozen year history. Only the close of the Jackson Center girls state semi-final last March drew a bigger audience, according to Todd VanTasel, who coordinates the hosting and serving for the online website at Christian NetCast in Virginia.
SCORES is the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System. Annually, it webcasts 120 games online featuring teams in the Shelby County League and the Midwest Athletic Conference.
VanTassel detailed that nearly 1800 IP addresses listened to the terrific finish of the ScoresBroadcast.com audio stream on Tuesday. A packed house of 2200 fans witnessed the contest in person at the beautiful Versailles gymnasium.
Emails from Tuesday night’s online users in Europe and throughout the US were received by the website’s published address late that evening and on Wednesday and Thursday.
Two weeks before, approximately 1600 IP addresses joined SCORES for most of the second half and the final moment of the great Anna-Versailles game.
“Justin’s game-winning basket in late December and Evan’s triple that tied up Tuesday’s contest were a play-by-play guy’s dream,” said Jack Kramer of ScoresBroadcast.com. “In calling the exciting last seconds of each game, I probably made many, many syllables out of the phrase, ‘It’s gooooood. It’s gooooood,’” he beamed.
The Internet would have spread the word ‘touchdown” far and wide if it existed back in 1995 when Versailles edged Bellaire, 50- 44, in two overtimes. Brad Schuette scored on a fourth down, one yard run to break the tie and win the three-and-a-half hour thriller for a Tigers’ state title.
“That was the most fun and enjoyment I have ever experienced covering a high school football game. For sure, the most hyped up I’ve ever been,” Kramer said. “My voice paid for it, too.”
The laryngitis, which returned two weeks ago after Ahrens’ buzzer beater at Anna, has returned again this week.
“Thank goodness, today’s Internet -- without any extra effort on the announcer’s part -- makes the voice travel loud and clear to west central Ohioans who might happen to be thousands and thousands of miles away,” Kramer smiled.
He and Chuck McBee, the other half of the SCORES announce team, plan to be many miles from home this weekend covering local teams. Weather permitting, they are at Berlin Hiland near Canton on Saturday morning for the Minster-Sheridan girls game at the Classic in the Country. Webcast time is 9:45 AM.
On Sunday at 1 PM., ScoresBroadcast.com is present for the Sidney-Versailles boys contest at the Flyin’ to the Hoop event in Kettering.
A Shelby County League showdown between Anna and Fort Loramie is set for Friday night, January 12. The Rockets return to play another band of Redksins, St. Henry, in a game covered on Saturday evening.
One or more these webcasts could be affected by a possible winter storm.
ScoresBroadcast Features SCL Leaders in Boys and Girls Friday/Saturday Showdown Match-ups
Tuesday’s webcast-- Fort Loramie at Versailles boys
Release on Wednesday, January 4, 2018
ScoresBroadcast.com often has a difficult time selecting the potentially best and most important games to webcast on a weekend. But for January 5 and 6, it’s a “slam dunk.”
As a result of the four teams’ unbeaten Shelby County League (SCL) records and their standing at the top of the league, the Russia and Fort Loramie boys and girls squads headline online action Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Fort Loramie hosts the two games. Webcast times are 7:30 and 2:10 PM.
“By virtue of a Russia boys’ one-point win over Anna in December, the Raiders can leap frog into the league driver’s seat by knocking off the Redskins on the road,” said Jack Kramer, ScoresBroadcast play-by-play announcer.
However, the co-called “home court advantage” has not been a big factor in this series. Russia has won five of the last seven at the Redskins gym. In battles going back to 2009, Fort Loramie recorded a stretch of five wins in six tries at Russia. League champs the last four seasons, Russia was upended by Fort Loramie in the sectional finals in 2016 and 2017.
“Right now, these two schools comprise the biggest boys and girls rivalries in the league,” said Chuck McBee, online color man and game site engineer. “Although, several years ago the Anna-Fort Loramie girls contests took a back seat to no one in the county, boys or girls.”
Last year, the Russia girls whipped Fort Loramie three times by an average margin of 17 points. The Redskins had won the previous 19 straight. Prior to that streak, Russia last topped the Skins in 2007.
By other numbers, too, the Russia-Fort Loramie game choices make sense for SCORES, the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System. Nine of the 24 underwriting businesses supporting the online service are located in the two communities. Sponsorships continue to expand as listenership climbs.
The Fort Loramie at Versailles boys clash on Tuesday night is another “no doubter” for SCORES coverage. Starting the weekend, each team is undefeated and will be highly ranked in the first state polls early in the new calendar year.
“On the heels of Versailles’ thrilling two-point win at Anna that featured Justin Ahrens and Wyatt Bensman matching baskets, that game next Tuesday shapes up as another crowd pleaser,” said McBee, noting that this time Ahrens goes head-to-head with Skins sharpshooter Dylan Braun.
Versailles has thumped Fort Loramie in seven straight meetings by an average of 15 points. The Redskins last triumph was in the 2009-10 season when the red and black finished 17-7 and advanced to the regional tourney.
Webcast time for the Tuesday Fort Loramie at Versailles showdown is 7:10 PM.
ScoresBroadcast.com Features Three of the State’s Top Games
Fort Loramie and Minster collide on Saturday; Skins and Rockets on Tuesday; Minster and Versailles girls meet in a Thursday showdown
Release on Saturday, January 20, 2018
High school hoops contests on tap over the next several days are a “dream” for an online website or radio station that covers such games on a regular basis.
The unbeaten number oneboys team inthe league tangles with the team right behind it. The number one boys team in Ohio battles number nine. And the state’s number one and number two girls teams in separate divisions also collide.
ScoresBroadcast.com begins its high-powered schedule of webcasts on Saturday, January 20, when the Minster and Fort Loramie boys continue their Route 66 rivalry at the Redskins gym. Expect a full house for the 8 PM tip-off. The online pre-game begins at 7:40 PM with Jack Kramer and Matt Zircher calling the action.
Todd VanTasel, CEO and Technology VP at Christian NetCast which performs the hosting for the online play-by-play service, said that there is a chance Saturday night’s contest might top listenership for the Versailles-Anna and Versailles-Fort Loramie games in recent weeks.
VanTasel noted that nearly 3500 IP addresses combined to join those two webcasts for a pair of fourth quarter buzzer beaters.
“Better weather might attract more people to the Fort Loramie venue and cut into listenership a little,” he said. “Nonetheless, for those viewing in person or listening online, it should be a great game between Ohio’s top ranked Division IV team and its close rival also rated in the first ten.”
In contests through January 18, Fort Loramie is 12-0, and Minster, 7-2. Each club is coming off a solid victory at the Flyin’ to the Hoop event in Kettering last Monday.
The schedule gets no easier for the Fort Loramie boys who meet Anna for the first time this season on Tuesday, January 23. Webcast time is 7:10 PM on SCORES, the Shelby County Online Radio Entertainment System. The Rockets are one loss behind the Redskins in the Shelby County League standings and have been ranked in Ohio’s Division III top ten this year.
“Our girls game on Thursday should be a classic,” said play-by-play announcer Jack Kramer, highlighting the showdown between Minster, number one in Ohio D-IV, and Versailles, number two in D-III. “This contest likely decides the Midwest Athletic Conference championship.”
SCORES begins its coverage of the Wildcats and Tigers at 7:10 PM on Thursday, January 25. Chuck McBee assists Kramer in this webcast.
More than 500 IP addresses joined the online service two nights ago when the Minster and New Bremen girls clashed. The Cats won a terrific game, 47-44. A game-tying three-pointer by the Cards missed, after hitting the rim twice as the final buzzer was sounding.
