NEW BUFFALO – For the second time in three years, the Brandywine Bobcats and Class C District champions.

The Bobcats defeated host New Buffalo 3-1 to claim the championship Friday night.

Brandywine and the Bison played a spirited match in which the Bobcats posted a 25-22, 23-25, 25-22 and 25-20 victory.

Brandywine coach Carl Greulich was both emotionally spent and elated with his team’s performance as he and his team celebrated a championship on the court.

“I’m really proud of this group,” he said. “They came together as a team throughout the year and started making plays and that’s what we did, we made more plays down the stretch tonight and we won. It was incredible.”

Seniors Mackenzie Shelton and Jessy Cooper paced the Bobcats’ efforts with Shelton delivering 25 kills and 27 digs, while Cooper added 17 kills, 25 assists and three blocks.

“We connected really well as a team tonight, coach stayed on us to keep up our intensity and everything worked out. This feels very good, very good,” a jubilant Shelton said.

The match itself was played in a thrilling fashion with long rallies, brilliant shots and the undertone of urgency one would expect in a playoff game and it showed. The biggest lead held by either team was a six point advantage which the Bobcats accomplished three times.

Brandywine hopes that the lessons learned and the belief in itself that the huge win gave them can carry over to their first round regional game against No. 1-ranked Schoolcraft.

“I’ll tell you what, we are going to prepare for them (Schoolcraft) the way we’ve prepared for any team we’ve played this season. We’ll practice hard and keep this group focused and see what we can do,” Greulich said.

“We’ll go hard at practice and see what tomorrow brings,” Shelton said.

Schoolcraft and Brandywine will meet on the court with a birth in the regional final at stake Watervliet at 5:30 Tuesday night.

 

Brandywine d. New Buffalo 3-1

Brandywine Stats

Kills

Mackenzie Shelton 25

Jessy Cooper 17

 

Assists

Cooper 25

Ashley DeJonge 15

 

Digs

Shelton 27

Abby Cole 26

 

Aces

Cooper 2

Cole 2

 

Blocks

Cooper 3

Brooke Smith 2