Growing up in a small town, and the local YMCA being shut down, the Tyrone youth seeks out for sports during the winter season. For the fifth year now, Tyrone is holding its annual Mid-Winter Tournament for the fifth and sixth grade athletes. It is a great opportunity for the youth basketball program to continue on with the performance and study of the well-known sport.
The tournament is this coming Thursday, Friday and Saturday on the 20, 21 and 22 of January. Games will be held in the Tyrone Elementary gymnasium on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning.
Thursday and Fridays games will start at 5:00 p.m. and the last game at 8:00 p.m. A swing in the schedule starts on Saturday morning as the games will be announced for a morning time after the teams play on the first two days. The finals will be held in the Tyrone Area High School gymnasium at 12:00 p.m.
Pat Campbell, tournament director, has set up the tournament each year for the young teams including brackets for the three days of games.
State College has brought in three teams this year: Geisinger, the 76ers, and Affinity Mortgage. Clearfield, Bellefonte, Blacklick Valley, Philipsburg and Tyrone all have one team posted in this years tournament. These teams all are very competitive and have played each other in several leagues through the Summit and the Mo Valley YMCA in Philipsburg.
The Tyrone fifth and sixth grade boys are looking to win this year’s tournament as they lost in last years finals to State College in a heartbreaker by one point. In all five of the tournaments, Tyrone has yet to finish below third place, placing in each Mid-Winter Tournament.
Tyrone has played all of the tournament teams, including a tough game against State College’s Geisinger who had beat Tyrone by four points in the Summit league earlier this year. Geisinger is a heavy favorite in the Mid-Winter Tournament, but don’t count the Little Eagles out, they have a strong lineup of their own and a lot of experience through traveling to tough tournaments and playing successfully.
The Tyrone Elementary roster includes the following players: Rich Stever, Jordan Faretta, Derrick Emigh, Richard Crabtree, Kevin Seiner, Zach Burke, Kaleb Chronister, J.D. Dorminy, Jimmy Ferguson and Coach Dick Stever.
The boys are looking forward to seeing more Tyrone fans at the tournament to support them as if they were playing in the big games as high school athletes. They really deserve a show of faces in the crowd, having the YMCA down and only playing on the road constantly. This is appreciated greatly by the players, coaches, and tournament director, Pat Campbell for a big support in the Elementary basketball program.
“We really appreciate the support we had in past years, and hope to see the Tyrone locals come back to see these young men play for their hometown,” tournament director, Pat Campbell said. “Tyrone brings out the talent through the Elementary sports programs, and with the YMCA shut down, the kids really need your support at the games they are limited to. We want to thank the fans and all the teams that are playing in this years Mid-Winter Tournament. We would also like to thank our sponsors, DelGrosso’s and Sheetz, for helping us maintain our fifth Annual Mid-Winter Tournament, being a reliable and greatly appreciated sponsor for the tournament.”
Tyrone will play at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday night in their first game of the tournament. We hope to see a lot of Tyrone support in the stands behind the youth locals of Tyrone.
