Jim Schlotzhauer and his New Franklin Bulldogs have been pining all season for a district rematch against defending Class 2 State champion Salisbury. The time finally came Saturday afternoon in Glasgow. And despite an outstanding start to the game, the second-seeded Bulldogs couldn’t overcome the Panthers’ size under the basket, falling 56-42 for the second year in a row in the Class 2 District 7 championship.

The loss ends the season for New Franklin with its second-straight finish with 20 or more wins. The Bulldogs walk off the court 25-4 overall after going 24-4 a year ago. Three of this seasons’s four losses came at the hands of Salisbury.

“We just couldn’t get over the hump,” Schlotzhauer said. “I was really happy with the way our kids executed the game plan. I thought the game plan was good but not good enough to beat them.

“I thought our guys left everything on the floor today,” he continued. “We competed hard for four quarters, but the game came down to two main things: rebounds and missed shots.”

The Bulldogs were on fire right out of the gate on Saturday and rattled off seven straight points with field goals by seniors Connor Wilmsmeyer and Tanner Bishop bookending a 3-pointer by junior Rylan Hundley. Coming out of a Salisbury timeout, Panthers’ big man Mason Stapleton scored a quick bucket, but New Franklin added three more points on a jumper by Hundley and a free throw from Bishop to take a 10-2 lead midway through the first period.

But the last 2:45 belonged to Salisbury. Senior phenom Cooper Francis sank two 3-point shots in less than a minute to spearhead a 9-0 run to go ahead 13-12 after one quarter.

“I think we’ve done that both times we’ve played them,” Schlotzhauer said about his team’s fast start. “We played well for a period of time, but they were more consistent than we were.”

The Panthers’ consistency was on full display under the basket as Stapleton and fellow senior Hayden Wooldridge gobbled up rebound after rebound on both ends of the court. While Salisbury earned second and third chances, New Franklin would get one shot before sprinting to the other end. To make matters worse for New Franklin, the shots stopped falling.

Perhaps it was tired legs after playing two games to reach the finals. Perhaps it was nerves. Either way, shooting went cold for the Bulldogs. While Salisbury’s zone was undoubtedly a factor, even open looks caromed off the rim and into the hands of the Salisbury rebounders.

New Franklin senior Jake Marshall banked a 3-point shot in the opening minutes of the second quarter to tie the game, but it was the last shot before a dry spell that lasted more than four minutes. Salisbury, meanwhile, scored nine unanswered points to take a 10-point lead. 

“We had a lot of good looks that just didn’t go down,” Schlotzhauer said. “Salisbury’s zone is tough to score on, so you have to be able to knock down some threes. We only hit four on the day, so clearly that wasn’t enough to get the win.”

New Franklin inched back slightly in the final 90 seconds of the half to go into the break trailing 27-20.

Schlotzhauer said he liked his team’s defense in the first half, which gave up individual scores rather than allowing offensive plays to make baskets. He credited a new defensive scheme he calls “the junk,” which is a 1-3 chaser with sophomore Caden Schlotzhauer glued to Cooper Francis and seniors Drake Clark and Jake Marshall on the wings.

“I thought our Junk did pretty well. We didn’t want to use it until the second half. We got behind there, and we felt like we had to use it. And it was still effective in the second half. The boys really did a good job of competing. The problem is we’ve never run it before, so I think our rebounding suffered.”

A bucket by Marshall and two free throws by Clark brought the Bulldogs within two points of Salisbury’s lead in the opening minute of the third quarter. The two teams then traded punches, with Clark netting a 3-point shot to once again make it a two-point game.

That’s when Salisbury hit a 9-0 run that scored six straight points in the last two minutes of the third quarter and three more in the opening 45 seconds of the fourth to take its widest lead of the game at 11 points.

“We got it to two points four times. Stapleton just kept getting offensive rebounds,” Schlotzhauer said. “Those three, Francis, Stapleton, and Wooldridge, when they get offensive rebounds, they probably shoot 80 or 90%. You just can’t give those up. It was hard to keep those guys off the glass.”

Those three seniors would end up scoring 46 of Salisbury’s 56 total points.

The Bulldogs would come no closer than six points in the fourth quarter. Salisbury then sank seven of 14 free-throw attempts in the final 1:41 to secure their fourth straight district championship and put the Panthers well on their way to defending their state title. 

“This time of year, if you don’t shoot well, you’re going to lose, especially against the No. 1 team in the state,” Schlotzhauer said. 

New Franklin senior Drake Clark led the team with 15 points with a 3-pointer and 4-for-6 shooting from the line. He recently was honored for surpassing 1,000 career points, mostly scored in the last two seasons. Fellow senior Tanner Bishop fell just four points short of the career milestone, scoring 11 points in his final game in a Bulldogs uniform.

Marshall and Hundley each posted five points, followed by four from Wilmsmeyer and two from Caden Schlotzhauer.

New Franklin bids farewell to seven seniors: Tanner Bishop, Drake Clark, Sawyer Felten, Jake Marshall, Luke Poulsen, Drew Rhorer, and Connor Wilmsmeyer. As a group, they posted 49 wins against eight losses over the last two years, with Coach Schlotzhauer back at the helm.

“They certainly left their mark on the program,” Schlotzhauer said. “They have nothing to hang their heads about in losing to Salisbury. They beat us last year and won state. This year, they have a really good chance to make it back. It’s just unfortunate for our guys that we were in the same district again. We gave it our best shot and came up short today.”

For the Panthers, Francis led all scorers with 20 points and two 3-point baskets. Stapleton banked 15 points with a 3-pointer in the first half. Wooldridge scored 11 points.

Salisbury improved to 26-2 and was scheduled to face District 8 champion Tipton (19-9) on Tuesday night in the Class 2 state sectional after the Advertiser went to press. The winner moves on to the state quarterfinals on Saturday.