By Cort Reynolds
After guiding the Bluffton boys varsity basketball team to a surprise championship season, veteran Pirate mentor Todd Boblitt swept league, district and even state coaching honors.
On the heels of their record-setting campaign, Boblitt was recently voted by the state sportswriters as Ohio Div. III Coach of the Year to cap the award season with a flourish. Before that honor was bestowed, he was also named Northwest district and Northwest Conference Coach of the Year by his peers after leading the Pirates to a 7-1 league mark, a co-league title and a 21-3 overall record.
"That's an award for our staff and entire program, and it is definitely humbling," said the self-deprecating Boblitt of the state honor. "We have a staff of coaches who have been here a while and do things the right way.
"I am grateful for all the work last year's group of players and coaches did to help us earn all these accolades," he added. "It is a neat thing for our program to be recognized. I am really proud of the whole group."
Bluffton's dream season ended with a three-point loss to Wayne Trace in the district semifinals at Lima Senior, but the close defeat did not tarnish an unexpectedly great year.
The 21-3 mark was the program’s best record since winning 20 games way back in the 1936-37 season. Boblitt also guided the Pirates to the program's first NWC title since they won back-to-back league crowns in 1999 and 2000. The season was a major turnaround from the 11-13, 2-6 NWC Covid-marred campaign of 2020-21. Bluffton finished tied for seventh in the nine-team NWC last year with Allen East.
This season, after a loss at Liberty-Benton on December 4 dropped their record to 1-1, the Pirates caught fire. They reeled off a 13-game win streak that covered exactly two months before defending three-time NWC champion Columbus Grove broke the string on February 4.
But after that defeat, resilient Bluffton regrouped and won its next seven games before the 45-42 tournament loss to WT ended their season. The team was undefeated at home, going 12-0. "Liberty smacked us (51-29); it woke our guys up big time," admitted Boblitt. "Their reaction was the first indication to me that we had a special group.
"They did not want to watch the tape of the game but they did. They learned a lot from that loss, and the guys came away from it with something to prove.
"We wanted to win the league and took away from that game the knowledge that we had to be way, way better to get where we wanted to be," he said.
"The season could have gone either way after that Liberty loss, but we all left there on same page," the coach noted.
Bluffton was 6-0 in close regular season games, including a 49-48 victory over eventual co-league champion Crestview that gave the Pirates the tiebreaker in the title chase.
That tight win in the NWC opener helped set the tone for their run to the league crown. The Pirates also won 50-49 at tough Carey, 66-58 over talented Spencerville and 60-56 in the conference clincher over local rival Allen East.
What were the main reasons for the 10-win improvement over the three-point shooting oriented season of 2020-21?
"This group was our most skilled team I've had one through five, plus the top seven could all score in a variety of ways," said Boblitt. "Our shot selection and maturity improved. The players worked hard to improve...we had a game with 25 three-pointers last season (a state record).
"This year we really grew by being able to score in the paint, off drives and by posting up."
After being more of a deliberate, ball control/defensive coach in seasons past, Boblitt realized that the program needed to become more offense-oriented. "Over the years we tried to adapt to our personnel, and I realized from that standpoint we needed to be more offensive-minded and play to our strengths," he said. "We played a lot of practices with a 12-second shot clock to get our skilled guys to play faster.
"We got better attacking the paint off the dribble and in being able to score in different ways," he observed. "We became more skilled and confident.
"We won some closely-contested games and our confidence grew; we beat some good teams and started to feel we were good. Even after the Grove loss, the league was still ours to win and we ran off seven wins in a row (to clinch it). It was just a fun ride.
"We had three guys average double figures, and we were pretty versatile on offense," he summed up. "We were well-rounded and hard to defend."
Senior post Kyler Kinn blossomed into a first team all-league performer, as did sharpshooting senior guard Trenton Donley.
"Kyler was a difference-maker at both ends of the floor, especially on defense and in the lane," noted Boblitt. "He averaged a double double (13.5 ppg and 10.5 rebounds a game) and led us in blocked shots, while also altering a lot of shots. He really affected the mentality of opposing offenses.
"Kyler is 6-3 or 6-4, but he is so explosive," he noted. "He had a 360 dunk in the District 8 All-Star Game.
"This team had our lowest-scoring defense in my 16 years," he continued. "We only gave up 44 points a game and scored 70. Trenton and Trey gave us three double-digit scorers."
Donley developed into an all-around offensive threat instead of being primarily a three-point sniper.
"Trenton came a long way offensively," said Boblitt. "He hit a school-record nine three's in a game, but he also became confident attacking the basket.
"Trey drew a lot of attention from opposing defenses, which opened up the lanes for our drivers and shooters," he offered. Boblitt was named honorable mention all-league.
Some of the seeds for the successful season were sown in the summer and fall of 2021.
"We had a great off-season and pre-season," said Boblitt. "We had a good bonding experience at the Eastern Ohio basketball camp" (run by the Bob Huggins family).
He noted that it was enjoyable to coach his three-point shooting, aptly-named son Trey through a championship season. "My wife is the better shooter between us, we both played at Bluffton College but she set the three-point record there," he chuckled. "So Trey probably got his shooting more from her.
"Coaching Trey was fun, he was a good teammate and just was one of the guys, not the coach's son," he observed. "He has been watching Bluffton play closely his whole life, so it had special meaning for him.
"Winning the league meant a lot to him, you could see it in his eyes in some of the games. It was really special to coach him and have the success we did, and to win the NWC title for the first time since 2000," the coach admitted.
Boblitt grew up in Springfield (Northeastern HS) and went to Bluffton College, where he played for former long-time coach Guy Neal. He then served as an assistant coach at Findlay High School for seven years before taking over the Pirate program in 2006.
Despite losing four senior starters, the cupboard is not bare for the 2022-23 season as Bluffton will attempt to defend its league championship.
"We are losing our top three scorers and four senior starters, but point guard Carson Soper is back," Boblitt noted. "Our sixth man, (three-point marksman) freshman guard Marek Donaldson is back, as is sophomore seventh man Kaden Lora.
"All three of those guys are gym rats," he continued. "Our junior varsity was 18-1 this season, so we have some guys there who I hope will develop into pretty good players, too."
So with promising talent in the fold and coming up, and the state coach of the year back, the future remains bright for Bluffton boys basketball.
