By NICK SLOAN, NJSloan212@gmail.com
For the fifth and sixth times during 2012, the Kansas City Blue Dogs can say they are champions.
The Blue Dogs eighth and ninth grade teams won the Sunflower Classic last weekend held at Shawnee Mission North and Shawnee Mission West.
The eighth-graders were led by the Zach-and-Zach combination, along with JaMarkus Dawn. Zach Cahill is an explosive guard who makes big things happen, while Missouri big man Zach Burch dominated down low in the paint.
Burch, a native of Buckner, Mo., averaged 27 points during the tournament and dominated inside the paint. Cahill provided some great defense last weekend for the Blue Dogs.
Guard Jordan Young and JaMarkus Dawn also provided some great contribution in the victory for the eighth graders.
Later on during the day on Sunday, the ninth graders claimed their second tournament championship of the season.
The ninth-grade team features local products Kendall Dale, Kalem Harrison and James McNeal. Dale is a great leader at the point guard position and can make things happen.
Harrison is one of the great all around athletes in KCK and can easily dunk despite being just a shade over 6'1.
McNeal is a dangerous scorer who can penetrate inside and drill long-range shots from the arc.
In the championship game for the ninth-graders, it was McNeal who had a 40-point game, whic led the way for the Blue Dogs.
"He's a great pure scorer," Estelle said.
The two titles push the program's all-time title amount to 108 since it began. The Blue Dogs have won six titles alone in 2012.
It's title number four for the eight-grade team, while it's the second for the ninth-graders.
-----
Disclosure: I'm a volunteer assistant coach for the program.
