On Wednesday, March 5, the Paoli Rams faced off against conference opponent Crawford County in the first round of the 2025 Sectional.
Going into Sectionals with a 21-2 regular season record and undefeated in Conference play, the Rams beat the Wolfpack 54-33. When the schools competed in the regular season, Paoli scored 64 points compared to Crawford’s 35. In the second match-up of the night, the Clarksville Generals were defeated by the Eastern Pekin Muskateers with 76-38, setting up a match-up between the Rams and the Muskateers on Friday.
Despite a rough start, the Rams battled their way through against the Wolfpack, never letting up and outscoring the Wolfpack in each quarter of play. Junior Dane Padgett did not see any action against the Wolfpack due to an injury; however, he plans to return for Friday night’s matchup against the Musketeers.
In the first quarter, Paoli outscored Crawford 10-8 and outscored the Wolfpack 14-10 in the second quarter. Paoli went into halftime with a 24-18 lead.
“A lot of our guys didn’t have much tournament experience, so once they got the first half jitters out of the way, I knew we would be good,” said senior Fletcher Cole.
The second half was no different than the first for the Rams, leaving no room for hope for the Wolfpack. Paoli scored 18 in the third quarter and held Crawford to 5. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Wolfpack saw some success. However, Paoli came out victorious, outscoring Crawford 12-10. Overall, the Rams won 54-33.
The Rams’ leading scorers were senior Fletcher Cole, who scored 16 points and had four assists; juniors Kirk Hughes and Treighlin Minton, who scored 7 points each; Chad Sullivan; and sophomores Justin Thornton and Ian Sullivan, who each scored 6 points. Chad Sullvan pulled nine rebounds for the Rams, and sophomore Dakota Apple added eight rebounds for the night.
The Rams’ leading scorer, senior Fletcher Cole, who has the most Sectional experience, noticed the team did not play its best game. Cole said that to beat Eastern on Friday, the team needs to play its game at its pace.
“We didn’t play nearly as good as we are capable of playing but we won and no tournament win is easy. We just need to play our game. If we play like we can we are as good as anyone,” said Cole.
Head Coach Dusty Cole saw nice things in his team but noticed they did not have their best game offensively; they struggled with shooting.
“We were pleased with our effort, intensity, and defense. It was good for 32 minutes. Offensively we did some nice things, but overall we didn’t shoot the ball as well as we are capable of shooting. It worked out well that we were able to play every guy on our bench so that we could get everyone a little bit of ‘Sectional Atmosphere’ playing time. Fletcher is the only player on our team that has played and won a tournament game for us, so it was important to get that first one under our belt and ready to move on to the next one. We are now focused on extending our current win streak and beating Eastern Pekin,” said Coach Cole.
On Friday, March 7, the Rams will face the Eastern Pekin Musketeers in Game 2. When Paoli and Eastern Pekin last played each other in the regular season, Paoli won with a 65-25 game total. Tip-off for tonight’s Sectional game is scheduled to be at 7:30 p.m. or after the completion of the first game between the Mitchell Bluejackets and the Providence Pioneers.
