Basketball Game Preview: Holgate Tigers vs. Montpelier Locomotives

The Holgate Tigers will venture away from home to square off against the Montpelier Locomotives at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Holgate has struggled recently with 11 losses in a row, while Montpelier will arrive with seven straight wins.

It's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 62-26, which was the final score in Holgate's tilt against Pettisville on Thursday. While losing is never fun, the Tigers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 762nd, while the Blackbirds are ranked 229th).

Meanwhile, a well-balanced attack led Montpelier over Lakewood Park Christian in every quarter on their way to victory on Tuesday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Montpelier blew Lakewood Park Christian out of the water with a 61-32 final score. The Locomotives pushed the score to 50-29 by the end of the third, a deficit the Panthers had little chance of recovering from.

Montpelier's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 8-2. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 66.7 points per game. As for Holgate, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-10.

Holgate came up short against Montpelier in their previous meeting back in January of 2024, falling 42-31. Can Holgate avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.