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February 12, 2012

Tonkawa faithful add to atmosphere

Enid News & Eagle

ENID — Fact and opinion.

• Laurel to all the fans who came from Tonk-awa for the battle of the Northern Oklahoma Colleges Thursday.

The Mabee Center finally had a true college basketball atmosphere, with both sides trying to do outdo each other.

There were some serious signs of a rivalry.

The NOC Tonkawa fans actually booed the NOC Enid cheerleaders and were shouting “you’re in our house’’ midway through the men’s game when the Mavericks had a big lead.

That cheer proved to be premature since the Jets rallied for a 66-63 victory.

For the first time this season, one could hear the crowd holler “defense, defense ...’’ Of course, it was the NOC Tonkawa fans who were sitting behind the scorer’s table. And for the first time this season, the bleachers were pulled out.

There were a few more NOC Enid fans, though. Hopefully, the rivalry can continue to grow.

One advantage NOC Tonkawa has in this rivalry is the number of students it has on campus. That makes for a better identification.

A majority of NOC Enid students are commuters and do not come out for games. Some of that is out of necessity (i.e. jobs).

Here’s still hoping more local basketball fans come to see the Jets. The women are nationally ranked, and the men are in a good position to win the Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference.

It’s difficult to have the same passion for a junior college than a four-year school like OU or OSU or NWOSU, but the games have been exciting lately, and who knows — you might see a future Division I player or two.

• We were bragging on the mild winter we have had and how it’s too bad NOC Enid’s baseball team couldn’t have played some games in January.

Wouldn’t you know, the season opener was marked with sub-40 degree temperatures and rain. Let’s hope it’s not a sign of things to come.

Basketball went so much smoother this year without having any games canceled or postponed because of the weather (cross your fingers for today).

Still, don’t be surprised if a baseball game or two isn’t postponed because of some snow in March. It’s was only a few years ago the Gladys Winters Tournament — held in the later stages of March — was snowed out, except for one day.

Of course, one of the charms of baseball is snuggling up in a blanket in the stands.

David Allen Memorial Ballpark continues to be one of the local gems. An Internet radio crew from Butler (Kan.) Community College was raving about the ballpark during its broadcast Thursday of the opening day game.

• Laurel to Enid’s Zach Overbeck, who won the state junior high wrestling championship at 200 pounds recently. It will be interesting to see if he follows in the footsteps of Jason Glenn — another former junior high champ who was the state heavyweight champion as a junior and the runnerup as a senior.

Coaches have always said just the presence of a state champion can increase the amount of intensity in a wrestling room.

Overbeck had both his mom-ents of joy and moments of frustration on the high school varsity. However, that experience paid off when he wrestled the junior high kids.

It will be interesting to see how well Overbeck does in the high school regionals this upcoming weekend. Remember, high school programs are built first on the feeder level. Keeping the 40 kids who came out for the middle school team could hold the key for the future of the high school program.



Campbell is a News & Eagle sports writer.

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