By: Eddy Gifford, Publisher

Dade County opened play in the Region 7-AA Tournament last Friday night knowing they already had a spot in the state tournament locked up but seeding in that tournament would be very important.

The Wolverines faced the Model Blue Devils, a team they had beaten by only one point just a week ago.

The Wolverines got off to a quick start and up 18-13 at the end of the first quarter as six different players put points on the board early in the game.

Dade outscored Model 10-2 in the first three minutes of the second quarter to build a 28-15 lead but the Blue Devils rallied back, scoring 10 unanswered points to close the gap to 31-25.

The Wolverines’ Cole Birchfield hit a three point shot at the buzzer to increase Dade’s lead to 36-30 at the end of the first half.

The Blue Devils opened the second half by burning up the nets from the free throw line, hitting seven of eight in the first two minutes.

Late in the third quarter the Wolverines found themselves trailing 46-44 but rallied to lead 48-46 heading into the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter turned out to be a wild one as there were 13 lead changes and the game was tied four times.

Dade was up 70-67 with 6.1 seconds remaining but the Blue Devils’ Tyler Dean hit a long three point shot at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.

The Blue Devils continued their hot shooting from the free throw line in the overtime period hitting 15 of 16 and took the game away from the Wolverines 89-79.

For the game the Blue Devils hit 38 of 44 free throws.

Birchfield led all scorers with 46 points including the last 29 Wolverine points over the final 10 minutes of the game. Clynt Bell was the only other Wolverine to score in double figures as he finished with 12 points.

Models’ Davy Fisher finished with 37 points.

Model  13  17  16  24  19  89

Dade    18  18  12  22    9 79

Dade (79)-Cole Birchfield 46, Clynt Bell 12, Howard 4, Gaddis 5, Chitwood 3, Page 7, Sharp 2, Smith, Walden

Three Point Field Goals:  Dade 8 (Birchfield 3, Chitwood, Bell 2, Gaddis, Page)

Other highlights:   Howard 12r; Birchfield 6r; Page 6r

The loss put Dade in Saturday afternoon’s consolation game against the Coosa Eagles, a team the Wolverines lost to 109-89 just a week ago.

The Wolverines jumped out to the early lead, up 19-15 at the end of the first quarter.

Things fell apart for the Wolverines in the second quarter as the Eagles rallied for 30 points in the quarter and took a nine point lead into half, 45-36.

A different Dade team came out in the second half as they dominated the Eagles and took a two point lead after three quarters, 57-55.

It was more of the same for the Wolverines in the fourth quarter as the Eagles managed only four points while the Wolverines cruised to a big 72-59 win and the third seed for the upcoming state tournament.

Birchfield again led Dade in scoring as he finished with 23 points followed by Bell with 20 and Nic Gaddis with 19.

Coosa   15   30   10    4   59

Dade    19   17   21   15   72

 Dade (72)-Cole Birchfield 23, Castleberry, Howard 4, Chitwood 2, Sharp, Smith, Clynt Bell 20, Nic Gaddis 19, Walden, Page 4

Three Point Field Goals:  Dade 7 (Birchfield 2, Bell 2, Gaddis 2, Page)

Other highlights:  Birchfield 8r; Page 15r (DC)

Birchfield was also named Region 7-AA Player of the Year and Bell was named to the All–Region Team.

The Wolverines will travel to Wesleyan today to face the Wolves in the first round of the state tournament. The Wolves are the second seed from Region 6-AA and finished the season with an overall record of 11-15.

The winner advances to the second round with teams to be determined on Wednesday night.