Basketball Game Preview: Montpelier Locomotives vs. Edgerton Bulldogs

The Montpelier Locomotives will square off against the Edgerton Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

Montpelier saw some tournament action on Friday. They walked away with a 71-62 win over Cardinal Stritch. Given the Locomotives' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 353rd in Ohio, while the Cardinals are ranked 727th in Ohio), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

C.J. Fidler

Points

02/21/25 vs Cardinal Stritch	31
02/15/25 vs Ayersville	15
02/14/25 @ Gorham Fayette	30
02/11/25 vs Fairview	18
02/07/25 vs North Central	31
02/01/25 vs Antwerp	26

Montpelier's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but C.J. Fidler led the charge by going 7-for-12 from beyond the arc to rack up 31 points. The matchup was Fidler's sixth in a row with at least 15 points. Another player making a difference was Kenneth Smeltzer, who dropped a triple-double with 15 points, ten rebounds, and ten assists.

Meanwhile, Edgerton had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 23 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They took down the Panthers 58-43.

Edgerton's victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 15-8. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.3 points over those games. As for Montpelier, their win bumped their record up to 17-5.

Montpelier skirted past Edgerton 45-42 in their previous meeting back in January. Will Montpelier repeat their success, or does Edgerton have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.