BACK FOR BRANDON
SOUTH CENTRE TWP. — Emotions ran high Monday evening at Vo-Tech in the Rams' first game following the tragic death of basketball player Brandon Kocher.
In a show of support, the gymnasium was at near capacity with people wearing green to honor the fallen senior who passed away in a car accident en route to school last Wednesday morning.
The emotions carried over into the court for the Rams, where they couldn't sustain anything offensively in a 58-21 loss to Midd-West.
"The score was very lopsided, but I give the boys credit for coming together less than a week after their brother died," Vo-Tech coach Ryan Golla said. "Obviously, none of these boys have ever experienced loss like this in their lifetime and to come together and show support for their teammate, I couldn't have been more proud.
"I wish the score would have been more reflective of the athleticism and effort they put in day in, day out, but there were obviously some heads just not ready to play basketball."
The Mustangs put together a pair of double-digit scoring streaks before the first quarter ended. Noah Romig led the charge, scoring nine of his game-high 13 points in the opening frame, while Garrett Leitzel added another seven.
The Rams, meanwhile, had a great deal of turnovers and couldn't get shots to fall all game long. They were held to seven or fewer points in all four quarters.
Austin Molick did have some personal success under the hoop in the middle frames, finishing with a game-high 10 points.
Golla credits much of the night's struggles to three of his starters not being mentally prepared to play without one of their best friends. Lifelong friend Troy Yurcho — who was seen crying in Golla's arms after the game — Curtis Morgan and Jacob Mitzel saw a significant cut in playing time with Golla wanting them to focus on healing more than playing.
It will take a team, maybe a community, effort for that to happen for a program that honored one of their own by wearing warm-up shirts with the honor roll student's name and No. 24 on them and sending only four kids out at tipoff. The Rams' Ben Mottern, who accounted for half of their 3-pointers on the evening, came down with it and jogged straight toward the team's bench to hand Golla the game ball.
"It was a whirlwind of emotions. Every coach treats these kids like family and Brandon was one of those special kids that I'd be proud to have as my own kid," Golla said. "Brandon was a happy kid, he was the life of the team, he was the heart of the team.
"... He was just such a fantastic kid and I can't say enough good about him. Everybody loved him and you can't replace him. You can tell that as soon as we got in the locker room, there was an emptiness in everybody tonight. His teammates loved him and it's a loss that we won't feel just for tonight or this season, but forever."
Lead up to game
Golla calls Kocher, who scored a team-high 12 points in the season opener, the team's rock. Following the tragic news, the team stuck around one another for six hours on Wednesday, focusing on anything but the sport. They did the same thing on Thursday after postponing that night's game against Juniata Christian.
Vo-Tech nearly called off Monday's game. The kids had other ideas, speaking up to play for Brandon, just one day after the school hosted his funeral services.
"They wanted to be here tonight and the mere fact that we played tonight was purely on the boys wanting to show Brandon they were going to take the court no matter the emotions they had," Golla said. "I can't reiterate how proud I am of the boys of being here tonight and going on the floor. At 16 years old, I don't know what I'd be able to do at this stage. To even suit up and play in remembrance of him, I couldn't be more proud of them."
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