Tyler Putney with his family.

With just one victory left standing between the Fredonia Hillbillies and the blue patch given to the Sectional Champions, the moment loomed large for both Fredonia and their opponent, the Roy-Hart Rams. And while the Rams battled Fredonia all the way down the stretch, Fredonia reached the peak of their 2020-21 basketball season.

Fredonia topped the Rams 69-58 at Fredonia High School on Saturday afternoon to find themselves as the Class B-3 Champions. In what has been a difficult year for everyone all around due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Fredonia coach Nick Bertrando is especially proud of his team for doing what they had to do all year to get to this point.

“Before the game, we talked about how this is a challenging year,” Bertrando said. “We asked them to do something I’m not sure anyone has ever had to do before. To stay safe on top of getting ready for a season in less than a week, then knowing it would be a sprint and not having the normal ability over the summer to do the offseason stuff is a testament to their work. From day one they got after it. It wasn’t a clean road, but for us to prevail and get through it all is special.”

The Hillbillies started off slow in the first quarter, which is something that had plagued them throughout the course of the season. Though they had righted that ship over the last few games, the team’s achilles heel showed itself again, but for a slightly different reason.

“I’ll be honest, it was nerves,” Bertrando said. “You could tell they were playing timid and tense. We talked about how it’s a full, 32-minute game. You can’t win or lose on one play, and we had to ride the highs and lows and stay true to our defense, which will put us in position to win the game.”

Fredonia's sectional title team.

So with the rest of the team struggling early, Fredonia leaned on the guy they’ve leaned on heavily all season: senior Tyler Putney. Though he missed a couple threes early on, Putney attacked aggressively in the first quarter, scoring 11 of the team’s 13 first quarter points, including burying a three at the buzzer to take a 13-12 lead heading into the second.

“To start out, I knew I had to attack,” Putney said. “I told the boys I was going to, and we did a good job right away. It wasn’t our best quarter, but we still led.”

Putney shouldered the early load, which gave his teammates time to put their name in the scoring books. Senior Michael Berg and sophomore Ethan Fry joined Putney in the scoring brigade, as they each buried a pair of three pointers each in the second quarter, while Berg added another two-pointer of his own. Putney knocked down a pair of free throws, and junior Gave Schrader hit a bucket at the end of the second, as it looked like Fredonia began to extend their lead to 31-23 heading into halftime.

Right out of the halftime break, Fredonia caught fire. Putney drained back-to-back triples to open the quarter, which set off a spark for the rest of the team. Junior Nick Creeley knocked one down in between two Roy-Hart baskets, and then Berg followed Putney’s lead and hit two back to back. According to Putney, knocking down the three ball was an emphasis during the halftime break.

“At half, we didn’t have a lot of threes yet,” Putney said. “We had 14 last game, and knew we had to hit a few. Once I hit two, then everybody started hitting them.”

Fredonia's sectional title team.

The blitz of long range jumpers extended Fredonia’s lead all the way out to 46-27, over halfway through the third quarter. Fredonia looked to be well on their way to rolling over the Roy-Hart Rams.

Shortly after though, Putney picked up his third foul. He stayed in the game, but it changed how aggressive he could be on defense. On top of that, Fredonia went ice cold on the offensive end as the third wound down, as after the flurry of threes, there was suddenly a lid on the basket for Fredonia.

“We did hit 12 threes for the game, and we hit several in a row at the start of the third,” Bertrando said. “But then we missed several in a row. I wasn’t particularly thrilled because we were coming away empty handed, but shooters have to shoot. I told them we don’t want them to hesitate.”

And Fredonia didn’t hesitate, but they also didn’t capitalize on the looks they had. Roy-Hart, however, started to heat up. The Rams, led by stellar senior bigman Tom Ragonese, began to heat up. Ragonese scored four baskets in the third quarter, while junior Gavyn Boyle had a couple of his own, as those two together combined for a 10-2 at the end of the third, which only featured a Fredonia basket because of a Michael Berg shot right at the end of the quarter. The run put Roy-Hart within striking distance, as they now trailed 48-37 at the end of the third.

And the run continued into the fourth. Roy-Hart’s Jon Gillings cashed a three to start the final frame, while Aiden Petrine and Ragonese followed him up with a basket each, and another fast Rams run had Fredonia nearly on the ropes, with the deficit now just 48-44.

From left are Coach Nick Betrando, Nick Frazier, Dom Gullo, Tyler Putney, Michael Berg, and Troy Lemiszko.

“That’s a testament to Roy-Hart,” Bertrando said. “They have a good program and position themselves well. That’s a sign of a sectional finalist team. They’re not going to give up. They might be down but not out.”

Fredonia was walking a tightrope, as their once comfortable 19 point lead was now all the way down to just four points in only a few minutes of game time. They desperately needed a spark. And when the moment called, it wasn’t Putney, Berg, or Fry the moment called upon. It was senior Nick Frazier.

Frazier, who has served as a highly valuable three-point specialist off the Fredonia bench this season, found himself wide open on the left wing. When the ball left his hand and struck nylon, the Fredonia bench and gym got the jolt it needed.

Frazier’s three was Fredonia’s 11th of the game and put their lead back up to seven, 51-44. Following that, Putney hit a silky smooth turnaround jumper to the left of the free throw line, and Fry buried a putback after, amounting to what was a 7-0 run, jump started by Frazier’s three. The run could not have come at a better time, as it pushed the Fredonia lead back to 55-44.

“We badly needed that run,” Bertrando said. “At that point we were getting close to really tensing up because that lead we had was being chipped away and was almost overtaken. Without that, things could have gone badly for us.”

Coach Bertrando cuts down the net after the victory.

But Roy-Hart wasn’t done fighting. Ragonese scored five more of his game-high 27 quickly, pushing the deficit back to 55-49. When Fredonia needed another big shot, a different Nick got the call: Nick Creeley.

Standing in almost the same spot where Frazier hit his, Creeley hit his second three of the game, and Fredonia’s 12th to quell the Rams’ run. Fredonia hit nine out of 10 free throws after that to ice the game away, but they may have not had the chance if it weren’t for Frazier and Creeley’s huge shots.

“It’s a testament to Nick Frazier and Nick Creely,” Bertrando said. “They stepped up at the moment of opportunity. They consistently work on those shots every single day, and we told them if they’re in there, and they get a clean look, to take it. I’m proud of those guys for being able to step up in the moment.”

Ragonese led the way for the Roy-Hart Rams scoring 27, while senior guard Rhett Goodwin scored 16. Putney led Fredonia with 23, while Berg scored 18, and Fry added 13.

Fredonia went through the gambit this season. On top of every single uncertainty COVID-19 caused, they also lost their star athlete Nick Whitfield in their first game of the season. But because of the contributions from Fredonia’s entire roster, and the dedication of all the seniors, they accomplished the most they could during the 2020-21 season.

“It’s a testament to those guys,” Betrando said. “The choices and sacrifices they had to make put us in this position. When Nick (Whitfield) went down, we could have felt sorry for ourselves and waited for next season but we didn’t . We had seniors that devoted four years to this program that wanted to go out on top and everyone else did too. Without all 15 of these guys, we wouldn’t have been able to do what we did today.”

“The seniors all left it all out there,” Bertrando said. “You never know what hand you’re going to be dealt, but this senior class is special. It’s been a goal of ours over the last four years to go out with the blue patch. In this crazy season, to go out with a win, especially in front of our home fans is huge. We’re excited to be Class B-3 champs.”

As Dominic Gullo, Michael Berg, Troy Lemiszko, Nick Frazier, and Tyler Putney all walk off the court at Fredonia High School for the final time in uniform, they do so as Sectional Champions.