Dufford takes over at Johnstown

Carl Dufford thought he had left his coaching days behind.

After coaching both boys and girls basketball since 1978, in 2004 Dufford began concentrating on camp cooking and coaching on a voluntary basis. But Connie Allen had other plans.

The train of the Johnstown-Monroe High School girls basketball team asked Dufford if he was concerned in coaching at the center school in 2008.

The request came six weeks before the start of the season.

Little did the two realize that Allen was helping to take her replacement - Dufford was chosen in May to conduct the program.

"I talked to my wife, Gail, about (coaching the eighth-grade team) and she told me I should do it," Dufford said. "I had a big time working with and coaching the girls. Besides being good basketball players, they are big mass and a fun group to be around."

Allen said that see will go deal in hand with coaching at the heights school level.

"Carl coached for the preceding 3 days and he's going to love everyone up there," said Allen, who resigned in April to pass more time with her home after leading the platform for eight seasons. "He knows the back and he is large at scouting. I believe working with all of the girls before will be a vast advantage for him."

Dufford has taught government, economics and geography at the heights school since 1978 and has coached basketball at all levels. He was the head boys basketball coach at Johnstown from 1988-94 and the girls varsity assistant under Debbie Seibel from 2000-04.

"Carl is not simply a great teacher but is likewise a swell individual and we are very fortunate as a school zone to give someone of his stature who wants to take the program," said Mike Carter, the school's athletics director when Dufford was hired. "He will not only learn the kids about basketball, but also about life. We're excited about Carl taking a leading character in Johnstown athletics."

Dufford said the biggest change will be taking individuals and making them act as a team.

"I believe the biggest thing is blending everybody together," Dufford said. "In middle school, you receive a separate seventh-grade team and a separate eighth-grade team and the kids have played like that for a while. They deliver to see to fuse together with girls from all classes."

Last season, the Johnnies reached a Class III district semifinal under Allen. After finishing the regular season 4-16, Johnstown upset fourth-seeded Marion Elgin 55-47 in the 1st round of the tourney and beat Linden-McKinley 47-22 in a second-round game.

Third-seeded Bloom-Carroll then get the Johnnies 52-38 in a district semifinal.

Johnstown tied Danville for seventh in the MBC at 3-11, behind Centerburg (12-2), Utica and Loudonville (both 9-5), Northridge and Fredericktown (both 7-7) and East Knox (6-8).

"Connie did a heck of a job down the reach and had a big run in the tournament," Dufford said. "We played on the same night a lot of multiplication and I wasn't able to see them bring a lot during the regular season, but they had a full team effort during the tournament. Continuing that will be decisive for us."

Johnstown expects to take three starters. Sophomore Laiken Valentine, a 5-foot-6 guard, led the squad in scoring at 8.4 points per punt and added 4.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and two steals per contest. She made a team-leading 20 3-pointers in 76 attempts (26.3 percent).

Junior point guard Marissa Sheets (5-4) averaged 2.6 points, 2.2 assists and 1.8 steals per punt and senior forward Sarah Thomas (5-7) contributed 7.1 points and 4.3 rebounds. Coming off the bench were 5-5 sophomore guard Natalie Carpenter (5.8 points, 1.1 steals) and 6-1 sophomore forward Makenzie Spang (3.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.2 blocks).

Also expected back are senior Christine Snowden (5-5, guard/forward), junior Kourtnee Derflinger (5-8, forward) and sophomores Ashley Bush (5-7, guard), Meghan Call (5-3, guard), Arika Sayer (5-8, guard) and Taylor Thomas (5-5, guard/forward).

"We need to be more court-oriented, picking up the yard and bringing a full-court pressure," Dufford said. "Marissa Sheets and Natalie Carpenter both really will profit us from the full-court. All of the kids have been working hard and we have been very interfering with the Newark Summer League and loss to a shootout at Marietta College. It's interesting to see how things will come along."