Fairbanks’ Cade Ziegler (10) attempts to drive against North Union’s Owen Davis (background). Also pictured is Grant Rausch (2) of FHS.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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Fans of the Fairbanks High School boys basketball team might have been a little nervous after watching the squad tip off the 2021-22 season a couple of months ago.
Traveling to play what has turned out to be a pretty darn good neighboring Jonathan Alder outfit, the Panthers managed to score just 12 points over 32 minutes of action.
The fans’ thoughts might have ranged from “Uh-Oh” to “What’s Going On” to “Help!!!!”
First-year head coach Zach Brown may have had those same thoughts.
Brown, however, had a simple message for his team after that opening-game disaster … “stay the course.”
Not only have the Panthers done that, but they’ve also done a very good job of righting the ship over the long season.
Fairbanks sports an overall record of 11-8 and is one game ahead of West Liberty-Salem and West Jefferson for the lead in the Ohio Heritage Conference North Division.
The Panthers are 8-5 in the division, while West Liberty is 8-6 and West Jefferson is 7-6.
FHS has made the remarkable turn-around with basically an entirely new team from what took the floor in 2020-21.
“We’ve only got three guys who saw minimum varsity minutes last year,” said Brown in reference to Dylan Tobe, Andy Higinbotham and Grant Rausch.
The Panthers were senior-laden a year ago and Brown, who formerly served four years as the head coach at London High School, basically had to start over from scratch.
Brown said saw glimmers of hope last summer.
“This year’s seniors came in and worked very hard to get better,” he said. “All of them had a fierce resolve to get better every day.”
As he was breaking in eight-to-10 new varsity players, Brown said the biggest improvement has been in how the Panthers approach the final minutes of any contest.
“As the year has progressed, we’ve learned how to close out and win games during the fourth quarter,” he said.
A prime example of that came in late December when the Panthers upset Marysville.
Senior Tanner Ufferman, in particular, seemed to take the team on his shoulders and willed it to win that game.
“Tanner is one of our bigger guys at 6-0,” said Brown. “He has to go up against taller players every game and has done a great job.”
Ufferman is averaging 7.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
One of the key factors to the Panthers is that on any given night, someone new can step up and be relied upon for offensive firepower.
Ufferman, Tobe, Rausch, Higinbotham, Alex Crowe and Cade Ziegler have all scored in double figures on occasions.
Although the team went into the season with some unknowns, Brown has never questioned the heart and desire of Panther athletes.
He currently is in his second year as a health and physical education instructor at FHS and has gotten to know students and athletes at the school during that time.
“I already knew the caliber of students and athletes we have at Fairbanks before I became the basketball head coach,” he said. “They give you all they have during every game and practice.”
The biggest learning curve from the team has been what Brown calls the “day-to-day grind” of competing in practice sessions.
“They have been able to take that sense of competition and turn it into intensity during games,” he said.