Wengerd keeps filling roles as Hawks again reach regional final
Sam Wengerd does what he does. In Hiland disposing of a 23-2 Northside Christian in a Division IV regional semifinal tilt in Athens, Wengerd had the task of confronting 6-foot, 5-inch big man Carter Jury, who towered well above him. Wengerd has been head coach Mark Schlabach’s jack-of-all-trades in what has been an injury-filled campaign.
Someone’s got to do the dirty work.
Hiland’s Sam Wengerd should just have that imprinted on the back of his No. 13 basketball jersey.
Wengerd has become Mark Schlabach’s Swiss army knife, molding himself into whatever the Hawks’ head basketball coach needs him to be.
Last season Wengerd, as a sophomore, served as the junior varsity point guard.
This year his work began as a do-it-all guard/forward, where he usually drew the assignment of guarding the opponents’ best offensive weapon.
Then when 6-foot, 8-inch Alex Yoder went down with a knee injury late in the year, Wengerd — all maybe 6 feet of him — became Hiland’s big man in the paint.
All of that switching around of positions and retooling his talents into whatever the team needs didn’t deter the junior from his ultimate goal of simply helping the Hawks win games.
Wengerd has had to knock heads with players much taller than himself, but his drive and desire to defend and do the dirty work makes him an ideal person to plug into that role despite the height differential.
“On most nights I’ll get to defend the other team’s top scorer and try to shut them down, and I take a lot of pride in doing my best to do whatever is asked of me,” Wengerd said. “I think everyone likes to score points. I think that drives every basketball player, but for me it’s all about the team effort and team success. Everyone has a role to fill. Mine just happens to change a lot.”
On Tuesday, March 12 at the Convocation Center in Athens during the Hawks’ 52-32 Division IV regional semifinal win over Northside Christian, Wengerd did just that, matching wits and strength with 6-foot, 5-inch big man Carter Jury.
Whether it is setting picks, taking charges, defending until the end or doing his part on offense, Wengerd provides inspiration to his teammates with his effort.
“I really don’t think about any of that other stuff,” Wengerd said. “With Al being out, someone had to be the guy to step in. I’ve got a job to do, and I take the responsibility personally because my teammates are relying on me. That is my reward.”
Schlabach said of his multi-tool player, “Sam has had to play so many different roles, from point guard on JV to now playing our five (center). But the great thing about Sam is that he has slid into each of those roles selflessly, wherever we’ve needed him to be. He goes out there and battles.”
Wengerd actually battled through his own injury this winter, a high-ankle sprain that put him on the shelf for a couple of games midseason. However, he didn’t miss a beat, and while he isn’t a huge scoring threat, he has had some key scores in the recent tournament run that saw the Hawks claw their way to regionals again despite the loss of three starters this season.
Schlabach said seeing Wengerd have the success he’s experienced coming off a terrific summer program has been satisfying for the coaching staff. He even said Wengerd recognized a weakness in his game this summer and did something about it to improve himself.
“He is the most committed kid we have in the weight room,” Schlabach said. “He recognized that he needed to get stronger and made the commitment. When he got stronger, he gained confidence, and we saw his game elevate because of that.”
Schlabach said Wengerd is a lead-by-example kind of player who is quiet but goes about his game in a workmanlike way, noting that because of that hard-nosed work ethic, Wengerd can take hard coaching and a staff that pushes him and respond well.
Schlabach said Wengerd’s best ball is ahead of him. The question remains what position will that be in and what will it look like?
Time will tell, but Wengerd will most likely tackle whatever role his coaching staff asks him to play with zeal.
As for the Hawks’ effort against Northside, after Hiland allowed four easy drives early off penetration and trailed 10-8, Hiland turned the tide late in the first period when Nick Wigton canned a trey with seconds left. Then Carter Mishler snuck in and stole the inbound pass and fed Logan Hershberger, who beat the buzzer and gave the Hawks a 16-13 lead it would not relinquish.
When Alex Miller took a charge and later fed Wengerd inside for a score, the Hawks built the lead to 20-13, and Wigton’s 3-pointer at the half pushed the Hawks ahead 27-17.
The entire second half was simply Hiland going about a very workmanlike effort, maintaining and building the lead.
Northside never threatened, despite going to a late full-court press, and Hiland headed to yet another regional title tilt.
“After their first four possessions, we settled in and remembered who we were,” Schlabach said. “I thought we had really good individual defensive efforts, and our guys were amazing with the scouting reports. Guys who weren’t guarding their main guys were in perfect position help-wise so that we had great help. It was an overall team defensive effort.”
While the game appeared to be almost boring at times and Schlabach said his team was sloppy at times offensively, it was more about Hiland’s stifling defense that many teams don’t face a lot of during the regular season.
Wigton paced the Hawks with 19 points and added five rebounds, Sammy Detweiler scored 13 points to go with five assists and four boards, Wengerd scored a dozen while also giving the Hawks several second-chance scoring opportunities with offensive rebounds, and Hershberger added four points.
While the stats were similar, the biggest difference came in the sheer number of shots, where Hiland outshot Northside 44-32 and hit on five 3-pointers to Northside’s one.