August 2, 2021
By David Lee Morgan Jr
Special to Dawg Days Basketball

8th Grade Division Championship Game

Central 30
Bracket Breakers 12

With a mouth full of braces and adrenaline racing through his body, Bryan Martin wanted to take the game-winning shot.

He did, in a sense, and his team won.

As Martin stood with his Central teammates, Drew Badertscher, Joe Caudill, and Lyle Endsley, with championship medals draped across their necks, Martin’s t-shirt said it all.
It read, “All For One. One For All.”

And with that slogan emblazed across his chest, Martin and his Kidron Central team took care of business in defeating the Bracket Breakers for the 8th Grade Boys Division championship.


(Bryan Martin, Joe Caudill, Drew Badertscher, and Lyle Endley, 8th Grade Boys Division Champs.)

Jayden Wilson had a good day for the Bracket Breakers, which were the No. 3 seed, and he opened the championship game with a 3-pointer, answering Central’s 3-pointer by Drew Badertscher. Joe Caudill scored on a layup to give top-seeded Central a 12-9 lead and it was pushed to 17-9 before Jadyce Thigpen’s 3-pointed narrowed the score to 17-12. However, from there, Central dominated. Bryan Martin hit a short jumper and Lyle Endsley followed with a 3-pointer as Central went on a 13-0 run to finish with a 30-12 victory.

And the game-winning shot was a 3-pointer from Martin that seemed like he launched it from nearby Route 30. After the ball hit nothing but net, Martin bounced around the court, screaming at the top of his lungs.

“I mean, the energy man,’ Martin said, as he was trying to be interviewed. He was still on Could Nine. “I was just feeling that shot.”

David Lee Morgan Jr was a longtime Cleveland Cavaliers beat writer for the Akron Beacon Journal. His 2003 book, The Rise of a Star: LeBron James, won him critical acclaim (American Library Association, Cleveland Magazine, School Library Journal) as an author.

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