ABV ALL-SOUTH TEAMS - 2015-16
Owens, Kohrmann earn ABV "POY's"
Coaches Shubert, Witzel nab COY's

03-14-16
BY JACK BULLOCK
The ABV POY's and COY's were on TV this past weekend. And FYI these two awards were never TBD, just TBA.

In case you didn't understand all of the acronyms, the “Player of the Year” awards in both 1A and 2A for A Baseline View.com were really not in doubt at any point of the 2015-16 season.

To Be Announced was just waiting on career stats after the final day of the season at the state tournament.

For both Ross Owens of Woodlawn and Logan Kohrmann of Breese Central, their contributions to their team's getting to Peoria this season are easy to explain.

It is of certainty that neither of these teams reach the promised land of Carver Arena without these kids in a uniform.

The numbers are easy to add up, but the impact they have had on their team, teammates and communities are immeasurable.

Leading by example these two senior guards got the job done, leading their respective powerhouse programs to the Final Four of both 1A and 2A.

Woodlawn lost two heartbreaking decisions at Peoria in 1A to finish fourth while Breese Central rebounded from a semifinal loss to win the third place game in 2A.

For Ross Owens, this 6-foot-5 senior guard, he has had success on the hardwood at every step up the ladder.

As an eighth grade standout, his Woodlawn Grade School team won the SIJHSA state tournament.

As a freshman he was part of a regional championship team for the Cardinals.

Two straight seasons, though, he and his teammates suffered through the disappointment of watching their rivals and football partners Sesser-Valier win regional titles at their expense.

That feeling helped spur he and his cohorts into a very motivated 2015-16 season that added three more state tournament plaques and another large state tourney trophy for the school to display.

This season Owens led the Cardinals in every category, offensive and defensive.

He averaged 16.3 points per game this season and had he played in a more free-wheeling offensive style that number would have been much higher.

But if you look at the way he came about these numbers, you can understand how his senior season became so special.

Owens hit 100 3-point shots in 34-games, hitting 43.9 percent of his long range attempts.

Add to it the fact that he was an 81.5 percent free throw shooter (97-of-119) and hit 51.1 percent for all of his field goal attempts showed he was one of the best offensive threats in the South.

He also dished out 188 assists (5.5 a.p.g.).

On the other end of the floor, Owens led the Cardinals in rebounding (6.3 r.p.g.) and steals (2.9 per game) while blocking 50 shots in 2015-16.

For a player who handled the ball nearly every trip down the floor, his assist to turnover ratio was nearly 3-to-1.

For his career, he became the only player in the long history of this school to score over 1,000-points, grab 500-rebounds and have over 500-assists.

The exact numbers read 1,381-points, 588-rebounds and 510-assists.

Owens broke the school record for assists in a season (188), steals in a season (101) and his career assist total is also a school record.

Owens excelled on the defensive end with 259-steals in his prep run, also the most in school history.

This postseason, Owens stepped up his game.

Woodlawn is unbeaten in five sectional title games and Owens helped bring home number five as he hit for 28-points in the sectional championship game win over Christopher at Gallatin County.

He finished the supersectional win over Patoka with 21-points in leading the Cardinals back to Peoria for the fourth time.

He ended up with 18-points against Chicago Leo in the semifinals at Peoria and his 3-pointer gave the Cardinals a lead late in the game before a Leo score at the buzzer sent Woodlawn into the third place game.

"Although he is a very skilled and athletic player it is his understanding of the game, his ability to make players around him better, and his versatility that makes him special," said Coach Shane Witzel. "He is a great player but he is an even better person."

Owens' head coach for the past four seasons gets the nod as the ABV 1A “Coach of the Year” after taking yet another fine squad to Peoria.

Although they lost two very close games at Carver Arena, the fourth place trophy will sit next to the other three state tournament trophies won from the previous trips in Class 1A.

If you look at this in baseball terms, the Woodlawn Cardinals have hit for the cycle with a first, second, third and a fourth.

Although I'm sure everyone involved would have liked another home run last Saturday.

When it comes to the coaching career of Shane Witzel, the numbers speak for themselves.

In his 20-seasons as the head coach, this former Woodlawn High School sports standout has led this program to nearly unimaginable heights.

Seven regional championships, five sectional championships, four supersectional titles and the previously mentioned hardware haul from the finals.

This season, after the disappointment's of two previous regional title game losses, the Cards stayed focused for the run at Peoria.

Even a brief hiccup of a weekend back in February, where they lost back-to-back games to Christopher at home and Flora on the road, couldn't derail the Woodlawn momentum towards the state finals.

Coach Witzel's team rolled through the postseason to get to Peoria, winning six-games by an average margin of 20.1 points a game, outscoring the opponents 329-204.

It is one thing to win games with talented players, but keeping everyone focused on the big picture has been this coach's distinction throughout a stellar career at Woodlawn.

Coach Witzel has a staggering .748 winning percentage running this program.

He is 443-149 in his 20th season as the head coach, which is impressive indeed.

However take a look at these numbers.

Since the state went to four-classes for the 2007-08 season, Coach Witzel is 239-28 overall, a whopping .895 winning percentage.

He is one of those coaches that could be named COY pretty much every year.

This season he adds a second ABV plaque to the one from 2008-09.

Logan Kohrman, a 6-foot-1 senior guard, is the 2A POY for many reasons.

But most importantly his leadership role, leading by example, helped will the Breese Central Cougars back to Peoria.

Kohrman came up big all season long but he was especially “locked in” during Central's postseason run.

In his seven postseason games (6-1) he hit for over 20-points six times, including 31-points in the Cougars third place win over Hales Franciscan.

He averaged 17.8 points and 4.9 rebounds a game for the season. Kohrmann also dished out nearly two assists a game.

If you throw out a 13-point effort in a low scoring 38-34 win over Alton Marquette in the semifinals of the Pinckneyville Sectional, Kohrmann's postseason average was 25.1 points a game.

For his career he finished with 1,645-points, 484-rebounds and 172-assists, all of which are stellar stats against a strong 2A and 3A schedule of games each season.

And they were mostly accumulated in three seasons and he didn't play much varsity as a freshman.

"Logan Kohrmann made himself into a complete high school basketball player over the four years that he was in our program. Logan's abilities to shoot the basketball and play defense were a direct result of his hard work, determination and natural athleticism," said Breese Central head coach Jeremy Shubert. "Logan will go down as one of the top players to ever wear a Central basketball uniform. He played the game the way all high school players should play it! I want to wish him the best of luck at the next level. Logan Kohrmann is a remarkable young adult.

It isn't easy replacing a legend in sports but head coach Jeremy Shubert has done quite well after taking over for the retired Stan Eagleson at Breese Central.

A long time assistant to Coach Eagleson, Shubert took over the program and the success has continued.

The Cougars this season reached Peoria for the sixth time, finishing third after a win over Hales Franciscan in the third place game.

Coach Shubert's club ended up 31-5 on the season and his team played a very tough schedule that would make most teams finish well below 30-wins.

They started their season by winning the Effingham St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament with wins over three 3A programs and a 2A club, all with relative ease.

An early season loss at home to Teutopolis was avenged not once, but twice later in the year.

Okawville denied the Cougars a Mater Dei Holiday Tournament title in December, but again Breese Central responded two weeks later with a win over the Rockets at the Highland Shootout.

The ran through a tough field at the Nashville Invitational Tournament by beating 3A Mascoutah and Mater Dei along with 2A powers Nashville and Teutopolis.

The beat the Wooden Shoes 52-43 to finish 4-0 in the event.

They split two games with Columbia, another 3A team that won a regional this season, which forced them to share the Cahokia Conference championship.

Central, like Woodlawn, had the one bad weekend in February where the lost games to Columbia and crosstown rival Mater Dei.

Following the loss to the Knights, Central won their next eight games before a semifinal loss to St. Joseph-Ogden kept them out of the championship game.

They came out ready to play in the third place game, topping Hales Franciscan.

Although none of the players on this team were there, this was also a revenge game for the program as Central had lost to Hales twice previously at Peoria (2003, 2010).

EDITOR'S NOTE:
As with the previous year's, the ABV lists will be scrutinized. But as always I stand by my selections.

Most importantly these awards are about the kids and the two coaches listed.

If you, as a fan, have a comment that is disparaging to the ones chosen then send it to me. Don't post it on some message board and embarrass some young man. If you have a complaint send it here.

In other words, "Here's a Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares."

Like Harry Truman said - "The Buck Stops Here."

ABV probably make a case for several others to be on the list. But I have decided to get away from this notion that pretty much every team deserves someone here.

I shortened the list last season.

Names are listed in alphabetical order. I'm sure there will be one or two of them with misspelled names or the wrong heights or class. I can fix those later.

Woodlawn and Breese Central, with state finals appearances, get three each total as they should.

Also teams whose coaching staff provided me with information and were easy to contact get bonus points in picking the teams.

Several of the schools sent me nothing and got nothing in return.

All of the players listed below had things in common.

But the biggest one is that they nearly all played for winning teams (.500 or above).

The top criteria for ABV All-South is whether or not this individual player made a difference in his team being a winning team or one below the mark.

Scoring a lot of points on a team that wins a few games isn't going to rate well in the land of ABV.

I hope you enjoy.

Jack.

P.S. As it turned out, there were some kids I managed to overlook this past season and I added a handful of names to the Honorable Mention. Not unlike the NCAA Tournament, I allowed for a couple of play in games as the field expanded. None of the first or second teams on the lists were effected.

ABV Class 1A All-South Team
ABV Class 2A All-South Team

Player Of The Year
Ross Owens - Woodlawn.
Coach Of The Year
Shane Witzel - Woodlawn.
ABV Special Mention
Joe Eddy - Patoka.
Bryce Bainter - Steeleville.
ABV First Team
Jered Cain – Patoka – 6-foot-1 Jr.
Teddy Fifer - Metro-East Lutheran - 6-foot-1 Sr.
Noah Frederking – Okawville - 6-foot-4 Jr.
Ross Owens – Woodlawn – 6-foot-4 Sr.
Bradley Young - Christopher - 6-foot-3 So.
ABV Second Team
Austin Ballard - Woodlawn - 6-foot-3 Sr.
Brian Deterding - Waterloo Gibault - 6-foot-6 Sr.
Shane Ganz - Okawville - 6-foot-2 So.
Hunter Wheeler - Christopher - 5-foot-8 Sr.
Ryan Armstrong - Altamont - 5-foot-11 Jr.
ABV Special Mention
LaRon Anderson - Sandoval - 5-foot-8 Sr.
Brett Harris - Woodlawn - 6-foot-4 Sr.
Garrett Belcher - Patoka - 6-foot-4 Jr.
Kyle Cox - Dongola - 6-foot-1 Sr.
Trevor Davis - Waterloo Gibault - 6-foot-4 Sr.
Landon Feezel - St. Elmo-B-Town - 6-foot-5 Jr.
Drew Gibson - Effingham St. Anthony - 6-foot-3 Jr.
Eric Green – Wayne City - 5-foot-7 Jr.
Owen Gross - Steeleville - 6-foot Fr.
Nic Hagel - Steeleville - 6-foot-4 Sr.
Lane Hutson - Crab Orchard - 5-foot-9 Sr.
Jason Johnson - Metro-East Lutheran - 6-foot-5 Sr.
Dylan Miller - Waltonville - 5-foot-11 Sr.
Charles Neal – Webber Township – 6-foot-4 So.
Lance Niemerg - Dieterich - 6-foot Sr.
Chase Sutton – NCOE – 6-foot Sr.
Seth Ramsey - Gallatin County - 5-foot-11 Jr.
Kase Robinson - Grayville - 6-foot-2 Jr.
Jared Taylor – Cisne – 6-foot-1 Jr.
Nathaniel Schmittler - Edwards County - 6-foot-5 Jr.
Daniel Valentine - Mounds Meridian - 6-foot-2 Sr.
Braden Webb - Goreville - 5-foot-9 So.
Tyler Winters - Hardin County - 6-foot-1 Jr.

Player Of The Year
Logan Kohrmann - Breese Central.
Coach Of The Year
Jeremy Shubert - Breese Central.
ABV Special Mention
Randy Bishop - Lawrenceville.
Tyler Buss - Mt. Carmel.
ABV First Team
Brandt Cochran - Lawrenceville - 6-foot Sr.
Clayton Houghland - Pinckneyville - 6-foot-5 Sr.
Logan Kohrmann - Breese Central - 6-foot-1 Sr.
Brett Mette – Teutopolis – 6-foot-6 Sr.
Royce Newman - Nashville - 6-foot-7 Sr.
ABV Second Team
Shanon Boone - Alton Marquette - 5-foot-9 Sr.
Justin Carpenter - Mt. Carmel - 6-foot-8 Jr.
Mitch Hardiek - Teutopolis - 6-foot-3 Jr.
Jackson Marcotte - Mt. Carmel - 6-foot-7 So.
Chase Schneider - Breese Central - 6-foot-4 Sr.
ABV Special Mention
Collin Baumgartner - Southwestern - 6-foot-6 Jr.
Brady Bultman - Nashville - 6-foot-3 Sr.
Dakota Earnhart - Anna-Jonesboro - 6-foot-5 Sr.
Steven Fenske - Hillsboro - 6-foot-2 Jr.
Trace Gentry - Roxana - 6-foot-2 Sr.
Jeffery Gocey - Flora - 6-foot-1 Sr.
Tucker Grey - Carmi-White County - 6-foot-4 Sr.
Taylor Heil - Carterville - 6-foot-5 Jr.
David Holden - Greenville - 6-foot-4 Sr.
Zach Moore - Vienna - 6-foot-2 Sr.
Jake Parr - Anna-Jonesboro - 6-foot-1 So.
Evan Price - Gillespie - 6-foot-1 Sr.
Walker Sandschafer – Robinson – 6-foot-5 So.
Jason Schwartz - Chester - 6-foot Jr.
Jordan Shick - Lawrenceville - 6-foot-2 Sr.
Sam Simpson - Pinckneyville - 6-foot-5 Sr.
Jarad Steenbergen - Wesclin - 5-foot-10 Jr.
Jack Strieker - Breese Central - 6-foot-2 Jr.
Austin Swalls - Carterville - 6-foot-2 Sr.
Connor Toennies - Carlyle - 6-foot-4 Jr.
Josiah Wallace - Marshall - 6-foot-2 So.
Ritchie Well - Vandalia - 6-foot-1 Jr.