NEWS LINE
Crestview
Facing Some Unknowns
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach John Kurtz
Crestview, the defending Firelands Conference, tips off the season
this weekend with a pair of non-conference games at home with Mansfield
Christian on Friday and Ontario on Saturday.
Coach John Kurtz says they have become a better team through the
preseason. “It seems like it's
been a long November for us, but I think it's been good.
We've scrimmaged a lot of bigger schools and I feel like that's been
good for us. I didn't feel like
early in this preseason that we were playing that well, but I think we've
worked through a few things and we look like a much better team than we did
in the beginning of November,” he said.
Kurtz says they have a lot of kids back from a team that lost in the
division III district semifinal last year, but some of them must play
different positions. “I mean
even though we bring a lot of kids back we still have people that are in
different positions than they were last year.
So, there's certainly a time of working through that and figuring out
roles and trying to figure out where you're supposed to be,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Thursday afternoon, “There's certain things that the
preseason I think really does help you get through before you get into the
season, but I also feel like when you have a more
experienced team they're quite a bit more excited about getting into the
regular season.”
Mansfield Christian returns Amarr Davis, a four year starter, and
Kurtz says they have an influx of talent too.
“They have the three kids that have transferred in and then
obviously they bring Amarr (Davis) back and (Davis) Wushinske and some kids
like that that have been playing playing for a number of years, probably
most of their high school years they have been playing varsity ball.
We saw them this summer and they do have a lot of kids that have
played against us multiple times. So,
I think they do they bring back a pretty experienced group,” said Kurtz.
Kurtz says frankly both Mansfield Christian and Ontario have a sense
of mystery to them. “We played
them there last year and they were one of our losses during the regular
season, one of the two losses, so our kids are interested in that game.
Overall, this is a tough weekend Mansfield Christian has got kids
that have transferred in and Ontario's got a new coaching staff and certain
kids that we've seen, but some of them I don't think are playing.
So, the weekend's tough to start out with two tough teams like that,
that's a real challenge for us.”
Published 12/01/23
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Madison
Must Handle it
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Chris Armstrong
Madison starts the season on the road at Shelby, the defending
champion in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference, on Friday night in
non-conference action.
Rams coach Chris Armstrong says his guys are competitors and they are
going to be ready to go. “It's
interesting, this week, obviously, we came back on Monday and had four days
to prepare and you could really feel the energy kind of ramp up as we're
getting closer and closer to Friday. So,
I really felt a noticeable difference (Wednesday) and (Thursday).
Monday was good, Tuesday was pretty good, but really felt it
(Thursday) for sure. So, I think
the guys are extremely excited. We've
got a good group of young guys and certainly with lot of room to grow.
I think they're really excited. They're
competitors, most of them play football or soccer and the rest, so they like
to compete. I think it's going
to be great to get this season started,” said Armstrong.
Armstrong says the Whippets have the elements of an outstanding team.
He says they can’t have a bunch of turnovers or it could get ugly.
“They have got size, they've got experience, they shoot it well,
they're athletic, they really can get out in transition.
Starting with Alex Bruskotter, a 6’7” wing.
They've got a lot of talent. I really respect their program. I
think coach (Greg) Gallaway does a great job.
They're going to be athletic. I
think we're really going to have to rebound the ball and take care of the
basketball. If we don't value
it, they convert that into fast break points in a hurry,” he said.
Bruskotter is 6’7”, but lots of the times he has the ball out
front and it’s difficult to get it away from him.
Armstrong says he does a lot of things very well.
“It's interesting two years ago, we really pressed quite a lot.
We gave them some trouble with our pressure early on. I
think it's safe to say it was tied at halftime and as a sophomore they put
all his hands, he brought up against our pressure and you can see he was
special, whatever a 6’5” sophomore and they put the ball in his hands to
bring it up against your pressure,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday
evening, “He really is capable of obviously handling it, distributing, he
can score a number of ways. I am
impressed that he goes to the boards as hard as he does.
So, he is just a very versatile and talented player.”
Published 12/01/23
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Mohawk
Opens With Tough One in Lucas
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Paul Dunn
Mohawk travels to Lucas for a very interesting non-league game that
serves as they opener for both schools on Saturday night.
The Warriors, runners-up last season in the Northern 10 Athletic
Conference and regional qualifiers, have been rounding into shape over the
last week, according to coach Paul Dunn.
“We've slowly, but surely, having some guys with some injuries from
football. The last scrimmage or two we've had everybody able to get on the
floor together and started to really see some cohesiveness between the
guys,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday evening, “We've got a
really large junior class using a lot of varsity minutes this year and then
just one senior in the mix with another one hurt.
So, these guys are used to each other and they know how to play
together. So, I'm excited with
what they've done so far throughout practice and preseason.”
Dunn says Lucas is outstanding led by Logan Toms and he says they are
going to a physical team. “Well,
they are a very physical team, I know that's kind of their calling card.
They're going to be physical offensively and defensively.
They play extremely hard. Coach
(Taylor) Iceman's got a good system going there and the kids, just watching
them play they, know what they're doing and they know what’s expected of
them. They don't try to do too
much. When you have got a kid
like Logan Toms kind leading the charge for you they're going to be a very,
very special team this year in my opinion with a player of his caliber,”
said Dunn.
Dunn says Lucas is going to be a tremendous challenge and they have
got to be at their best. “As
coaches we were talking over the last few years this could possibly be one
of the tougher opening games we've had recently here.
They're a team that's been to quite a few district finals and
regionals. We're going to have
to be ready to go and we told the kids that.
You can't just expect to walk onto their floor and get anything easy
especially in a game of this caliber,” he said.
Published 12/01/23
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Upper
With Big Challenge in Willard
Click
here to listen to an interview coach Jeff Winslow
Upper Sandusky hosts Willard in their traditional opening night game
in non-conference play on Friday.
Coach Jeff Winslow believes the Rams are starting to tighten up their
execution on both ends of the floor. “I
like how our kids have fell into their roles and they kind of know what
their roles are going into the first game and we fill up a little bit more
depth with a couple kids that have stood out.
Defensively, I think we've gotten a lot better with each step of the
way. Offensively, we're starting
to run our stuff a little better. So,
pretty happy with where we're at. I
just could tell the last couple days we're ready to play.
We have got to play somebody just to see, hey, where are we at and
playing Willard that's going to show you real quick where we stand.
So, they're a really good basketball team and we'll see where we at
our offensively and defensively after this game,” said Winslow.
It is game one and Winslow says the atmosphere will be different and
your never sure what to expect from most players.
“I just talked to my old JV coach, who is a head coach down south
at Waverly and it's his first year coaching at that school, he just moved
schools. He just mentioned like
this first game, you don’t know what to expect.
Your kids have looked this way through the preseason you get in game
one and the lights are on, the popcorn is popping and you don't know what
you're going to get. So, that's
the first game and we'll see what we're going to get and we’ll have to
adjust from there,” he said.
Willard, the defending Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division champion,
comes calling on Friday night.
Winslow says they have three seniors with a lot of skill.
“I mean number one (Max) Dawson, he's always the best player on the
floor every game they play, so that gives an advantage right there, but the
two Robinsons are really good. I
mean Cam Robinson, he's just a bulldog man, he's a lefty that gets to the
rim whenever he wants to get there and he's really physical and a big,
strong kid,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday evening, “Isaac
Robinson, he's a really good shooter, who's really improved over the last
few years and become a really good player for them. So,
with those three seniors that have played for three plus years for them, a
lot of them, that's a good three to work around.
Their mixing in some young guys.
Those three are, it's not just Dawson, the two Robinsons are really
good as well.”
Published 12/01/23
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Sandusky
Healthy; Ready to Go
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach DeMar Moore
Sandusky, the defending champion of the Lake Division of the Sandusky
Bay Conference, opens the season Saturday night against Elyria in one of the
games in the DiFranco Memorial Classic at Midview High School.
Coach DeMar Moore says they finally have their whole team together
and they are ready to go. “Our
guys are working really, really hard. We
have a few key players that are just coming back from injury.
So, you get those guys back and it really helps a lot.
They've been working hard, so I mean that’s all I can ask for,”
said Moore.
Moore says Saturday will kind of be hard to predict due to the lack
of consistent personnel during the preseason.
“We haven't had a scrimmage yet with our full team, so this is the
first week we've had our full team back,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Thursday evening, “It'll be really interesting to see how we respond to
the to the bright lights on Saturday night.”
The Blue Streaks have a large junior class, some of which played
roles on a team that won the division II district championship last season.
Moore says Elyria will feature a strong lineup.
He says that they try to run a lot of the same things as the Streaks.
“They're tough, they have got a kid in Jayden Crutcher, who I think
he's been offered by Youngstown State and some other D1 colleges.
So, they're a really solid team.
They're a lot like us, they like to get up and down, so it should be
a real fun game,” said Moore.
Published 12/01/23
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Calvert
Travels to O-G
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Jon Otterbacher
Some people might call Tiffin Calvert crazy, but maybe they told
Buster Douglas the same things.
The Senecas hope to take down Ottawa-Glandorf and Colin White in
their own palace as they play the Titans at O-G on Friday night.
Coach Jon Otterbacher they just have to outwork them and remain
patient. “We've been planning
and preparing for this for a while knowing the fact that we're playing
Ottawa-Glandorf, one of the best teams in the state regardless of divisions.
We've been under the impression and understanding skill wise that
they might be a little bit more athletic and skilled than us, but we're
going to have to try to outwork them and just be more patient than them and
take what we can,” said Otterbacher.
No matter what happens Friday it’s unlikely they anyone is going to
be knocked out.
Otterbacher knows they have to play with confidence because if they
don’t the game is over before it starts.
“We actually talked about it after practice (Thursday) night in our
team meeting, our huddle, and reminded them that this is one of those games
that you guys are going to remember forever.
We talked to them about the last the last time we had a game like
this was when we picked up Western Reserve two years ago.
The atmosphere of that game was unbelievable.
We're hoping to replicate it again (Friday) night,” he said.
Colin White is a division I college basketball player.
He’s a 6’7”, I’m going to play anywhere because I can kind of
guy. Otterbacher says they have
to give the Titans a number of different looks.
“He's such a dynamic player, such a gifted athlete, that he is
going to draw so much attention, especially in our game and throughout the
season. We're going to try to do
some different things and throw some different wrinkles at him, but we know
that he's still going to end up getting some of his if not all of his,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “It's really a two headed
monster too. They have another
nice guard/post who can shoot the ball probably actually better than Colin
White so it's going to be hard to stop both of them.”
Published 12/01/23
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Norwalk
Must Have Perimeter Defense
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Adam Kreischer
Norwalk is at Ashland to open the boys’ basketball campaign on
Friday night against the Arrows in non-conference play.
Coach Adam Kreischer says he feels like they are going to come out
and play well Friday. “I think
that we're finally at the point where my guys are ready for that to happen.
I could just see it this week in practice that there itching to play
a real game against somebody else that really matters.
Just really I think they're looking forward to getting out there and
competing,” he said.
Kreischer says they have some players that have experience at the
varsity level and some that do not. “I
mean we kind of have a combination of both those things this year.
We have got a couple of guys in Mason Gamble and Ben Rothhaar that
I'm pretty confident in what I'm going to get out of them (Friday) night.
Then we have a lot of other guys that I have plenty of confidence in
them also because I know what they're capable of, but you're right when the
bright lights come on it's kind of yet to be seen what those what those guys
will be like this year,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “I
think it's exciting for us to find that out.
Yeah, we kind of have a combination of both those things.
We have some guys that that have been there, done that, seen it for a
while and I'm sure we'll be more than ready to go and a lot of guys that are
itching to get after it, but yet to be seen what the performance would be
like on a varsity sage on under the bright lights.”
Ashland, out of the Ohio Cardinal Conference, is team that Kreischer
says can do a lot of things on both ends and has a strong sophomore class
that can cause problems. “They're
a quality team. They get out in
transition well, do some different things defensively and are really
difficult to score on at times in the half court.
They have got a big kid inside the (Nathan) Bernhard kid that’s
about 6’5” and is a big, strong, kid that’s not easy to move around,
really an enforcer for them. Then
the (Gabe) Baith kid. Both of
these kids are sophomores the Bernhard kid is a sophomore inside and the
Baith kid is a sophomore on the outside that's a nice point guard, strong
kid, can really shoot the basketball and they have plenty of shooters around
them as well, some other athletes that can get out and defend.
In transition if we don't back and guard the three-point line that's
where I think they could have success,” said Kreischer.
Published 12/01/23
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Norwayne
Will Play Orrville
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Brian West
Norwayne, defending tri-champion in the Wayne County Athletic League,
beings its season on Friday night at home against Orrville of the
Principal’s Athletic Conference.
Coach Brain West believes that his kids have done the things in the
preseason to be ready to go. “I
thought we had a pretty good scrimmage on Tuesday at Northwest, the boys
were pushed. Northwest likes to
come up the floor like we do and they were really physical with us, so it
was really good test for us. I
think we learned some things from that scrimmage and when we got a chance to
watch the film and review some things in practice.
We have got a long way to go obviously.
We don't want to be peaking going into game one.
After practice (Thursday) as a staff we were talking that
(Thursday’s) practice wasn't as sharp as we had hoped, but we also have to
keep thinking that we have a few boys that were mainly JV guys last year
that playing varsity minutes for the first time, so it's going to be a work
in progress, but we're excited to get going,” said West.
West says you never know for sure because games are different.
“It's going to be nice to have a lot of people in the stands, the
cheerleaders and everybody's going to be there, announcers, and probably
some media, so it's definitely different than practice it's definitely
different than scrimmage. The kids are tired of beating on each other every
day. So, I think they're going
to be excited to see somebody different across from us and it’s actually
going to matter this time. So, I
think, obviously, the intensity level is going to pick up on our end and
I’m sure Orville as well. So,
it's not a true scrimmage feel, so I think the kids are as excited as we are
as a staff,” he said.
West says Orrville may be missing a few of their players, but he says
they Red Riders are going to be a challenge.
“I know they're going to be missing a few kids that are normally
going to be in their lineup, but they have Taj Gibson, a 6’6” kid that
came out this year that that did not play last year.
So, he's going to be an issue for us inside because we're not real
big, but I think they're guards move the ball well on the perimeter.
They have got some guys that can shoot it pretty well,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Thursday evening, “We're hoping that if we can speed
them up and pressure them a little bit, hopefully we can force them into
some turnovers and get some easy buckets for us at the other end to get some
momentum early. Coach (Jim)
Frizell does a great job with his kids.
They're going to play hard, they're going to move the ball, they're
going to get up in us defensively, so it's going to be a nice test for us to
get started on the season and it gets us ready for league play.”
Published 12/01/23
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Pleasant
Features Experience
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Ben Snively
Marion Pleasant is a team that has five kids with a lot of experience
as they embark on the season this weekend with non-conference game at
Fairbanks on Friday and home with North Union on Saturday.
Coach Ben Snively says they have not had to do much teaching this
year during the preseason. “I
was really pleased with our kids this year.
We've got five seniors coming back and four of them have played
basically, a couple of them played since their freshman year, and the other
three have been sophomores and one as a junior last year.
So, we have experience, but we did improve throughout the course of
the preseason. It was a lot of
just of fine tuning for us as most of these kids already know, they've been
in the program now for a while, and they know what we're doing.
So, again we're trying to consistently get better each and every
day,” said Snively.
With it being opening week, Snively says there is no question that
his kids are ready to go. “We're
so ready we're going to probably practice for maybe an hour (Thursday)
night. I don't know that I can
practice much more. The last two
days have been great practices, so our kids are just chomping at the bit to
put those uniforms on, smell that popcorn out there, and get ready for some
live action,” he said.
Both of these teams, Fairbanks and North Union, at one time were part
of the “MOAC”, which has had number of members over the years, and
Snively says both will offer a challenge.
“We opened up with Fairbanks last year.
They actually beat us at home last year by three points.
They have a 6’5” post player, he's a pretty good player and they
got another guard that's a nice player.
So, we're going to have to be on our game right from the get go.
We have got to go to Fairbanks, that's a smaller gym, I've been there
a few times and historically we've not played great there, it'll be a
different type of atmosphere for our kids.
Again, we're looking forward to it,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Thursday afternoon, “North Union, same thing, it's kind of a local rival,
on old “MOAC” rival, about 15 minutes away.
They're coming to our place on Saturday.
They'll be ready to go to. They
have a very good player in Max Parish and a couple of nice guards.
So, these are both Central District division III teams.
So, this is a really, really big weekend for us right from the get
go. Like I said, I like our
experience and I think our kids will be ready to go.”
Published 12/01/23
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Dalton
Plays for State Title
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Broc Dial
Dalton is in position to win its first ever state football
championship on Saturday morning when they meet longtime state powerhouse
Marion Local in the division VII state title game in Canton.
Marion Local has won 13 state titles since 2000, including the last
two years.
Dalton (13-1) last week smoked Caldwell (55-7) in a semifinal in
Zanesville.
Coach Broc Dial says again the got off to a good start.
“The kids came out ready and played really well.
We were able to get a fumble the first play and got it on offense and
scored two plays later. The kids
kept doing it the rest of the game. They
executed really well and played really hard, which was good to see,” he
said.
For the first time this season, tailback Greyson Siders did not score
a touchdown, but the Bulldogs found other ways to find paydirt.
Marion Local also was impressive last week in blanking previously
unbeaten Patrick Henry (42-0) in their semifinal.
The Flyers have only allowed one score in five playoff games.
Dial says this is a team that is good everywhere, including special
teams. “Coach (Tim) Goodwin
has done a fantastic job there building a tremendous program, really special
program. When you watch the want
film first thing jumps out to me is they're very good on special teams,”
he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “They are very well coached,
execute really well on the special teams.
They do a lot of different things you really don't see at this level
that really helps set up their offense and defense.
Then obviously they're very good offensively and defensively as
well.”
Dalton is physical, but Dial says so is Marion Local, plus they are
going to be aggressive in their play calls.
“They are a very physical football team at all levels, at all
spots, whether it's special teams, offensively, defensively.
The are very aggressive in their play calling and whether it's
supposed to the offense or defense. Just
a very aggressive football team from the coaches down to the players, just
very aggressive in how they go about their business,” said Dial.
Way back at the beginning of the season Dalton lost its only game to
Kirtland, who plays for a division VI title, (14-7) and Dial believes that
prepares them for Saturday. “We
talked to our kids a little bit early in the week and just said we already
played a state championship game week one.
A few different things go different way that outcome may change.
We wanted to play Kirtland and Mogadore, so we could prepare
ourselves for these playoff runs. Hopefully,
that prepared us heading into Saturday morning,” said Dial.
Published 11/30/23
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Clear
Fork off to Good Start
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Scott Sellers
Clear Fork has started the season with three non-conference wins and
now they play two games in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference this week at
home against Galion on Thursday and at Ontario on Saturday afternoon.
Tuesday night, Lillian Weikle scored 14 points and Kylie Belcher made
two free throws with less than a minute to play and the Lady Colts (3-0)
beat Bellevue (42-41) in an excellent road win.
Coach Scott Sellers says they won a physical game.
“It was a great win. We
were excited to go up there and come out with the win.
It was a really hard fought game.
We shot eight free throws, they shot seven, so it was a physical
game. We really liked the way
they officiated it up there. It’s
not like you typically see in the girls’ side of things, they let us play.
We went in there expected to be challenged and beat up a little bit.
I think Kory (Santoro) and Bellevue probably expected the same thing
and it could have went either way and just really fortunate we came out with
the win,” he said.
Sellers says they made big plays when they had to at Bellevue and he
thought they rebounded very well. “Against
teams like that you really do have to make plays.
I think over the last two, three years we have beefed up our schedule
enough to where games like this aren't necessarily crazy for us to play
anymore. We go into these, win
or lose, we take something out of them. I
think the last couple years playing teams like Bellevue, losing by seven
last year, Mansfield Senior last year, West Holmes, some of these games
helped us turn a corner to where we get these big games, we understand
what's kind of at stake, we understand the physicality and the expectation
of how to compete and how to play. I
think it's carried forward for us into this season,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Wednesday afternoon, “Listen even Madison and
Lexington, our first two games, they're big strong, and we learned a lot
from those games. I don't think
if we don't play those two games we win (Tuesday) night because we rebounded
the ball a lot better (Tuesday) night and had we played Bellevue first game
this season I don't think we would have beat them because we wouldn't have
rebounded well enough. It's
crazy you play these games for a reason and you can really learn a lot from
them. I thanked him last night,
I thanked coach Kory (Santoro) Tuesday night.
They don't have to play us, we're a division III team, we've
historically not been the best team, but some of these teams will play us
because we'll compete with them and we're really fortunate to get these
games against teams as good as Bellevue.”
The Lady Colts host Galion (0-2) on Thursday night and play at
Ontario (0-1) on Saturday night.
Sellers says they will do what they have to do to be ready to play
them. “Once we get into the
kind of the “MOAC” schedule it's usually two games in three days or you
have a couple in a week and just the way it's set up.
So, we'll take this game, we'll get our reps, we'll do what we need
to do to prepare to play Galion. We
have got a quick turn and Saturday we got Ontario.
We have got another quick turn and we play Mansfield Senior and
Pleasant. When you get into this
time of the season, you're not necessarily planning for just one at a time. I
know a lot of coaches like to say that, but I think as a coach you have to
understand everything you have got coming up the next seven to 10 days and
plan accordingly. I'm getting
ready to walk into practice and we're going to prep for Galion, we're going
to prep a little bit for Ontario, and we're just going to start looking at
things from (Tuesday) and like hey there are the things that maybe look good
and here are the things that we can do better.
So, it prepares us for not just (Thursday), but for the weeks and the
couple of months ahead,” said Sellers.
Published 11/30/23
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Lexington
Ready to Get Started
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Scott Hamilton
There are great expectations for the Lexington Minutemen this season
and we start to figure out if they can reach those as they open the season
down the road at Clear Fork on Friday night in non-conference action.
Coach Scott Hamilton says he is confident that they will be ready to
go come Friday. “While I think
that most coaches would tell you they're going to be as comfortable as they
can be for game one. You're
still trying to figure out some things, you're defining roles when you have
as many new faces as what we do. You
just kind of get after it. You
have got to start doing those things and then continue to work on it as
season goes. You're not going to
be in peak form week one that's for sure,” he said.
Hamilton says they don’t have time to get their whole game plan in
before the opener. He says that
takes time. “I mean you might
have some continuity stuff in or your base stuff, but as the season
progresses you see things and kids advance and you notice some abilities
from your players that you might be able to tweak some things and put new
things in throughout the year. You
probably if you could say that you had half of your stuff in going into game
one, you'd probably be happy with that,” he said.
Hamilton says Clear Fork has a roster that has a bunch of
upperclassmen on it and he thinks in coach Tim Brafford’s second year,
they are going to be able to stomp their feet a little more, as Colts are
apt to do. “Well, I think
they're veteran squad. I mean
what they bring back from last year's team, there's a lot of experience on
that squad. It starts with
Vanausdale and Holz, they play very, very strong and then of course you've
got Grant Spencer, another senior, Dornbier, that’s another senior.
They've got a bunch of seniors that have played a lot of action and
then they've got a couple of new faces with some kids that played probably
more JV minutes than they did varsity last year,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Wednesday, “They've been program kids.
They've been in the system and now that Tim's (Brafford) in his
second year he's getting to do some things that he wanted to do last year.
He came in and was just kind of figuring his guys out.
So, I think they're going to be much improved they went from zero
wins one year to six wins last year. I
wouldn't be surprised if they're going to improve on that this year.”
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Clear
Fork Excited to be Tested by Lexington
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Tim Brafford
Clear Fork will host Lexington in their non-conference opener on
Friday night at Les Hauenstein Gym.
Coach Tim Brafford says they are ready for the experience.
“When the players come out you're going to get their best.
In the scrimmages, we get a pretty good game, but when it's game day
everyone comes ready to play it and brings the excitement, the crowd is in
the building, the cheerleaders are there, popcorn’s going and it's time to
play ball,” he said.
Brafford believes has a team made up of some very good shooters and
they have other skills too. “The
Colts right now are playing fantastic. We
just have some great shooters, they're intensity, and they're physicalness
of play. I just couldn't be
happier with the way that we've progressed from last year even to this year
and where we are through the preseason getting ready to go into the first
game of the year. We are pumped
up and ready to go,” said Brafford.
Lexington is the defending Ohio Cardinal Conference champion and
division II district runner-up.
Brafford says they are going to be a challenge.
“I expect them to come in fully ready to go.
Scott Hamilton does a great job coaching there at Lex and as everyone
knows I think that's sophomore class is just loaded and they've got power at
every position,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday afternoon, “It's
definitely going to be a challenge for us. I
like that we get them so early in the season.
Just really so we can see where we are because they're really the
ones that the help set the bar every year and we've got to get out there and
see if we can compete with that level of play.”
In order to win Friday night, Brafford says they have to play great
defense and compete on the boards. “We're
going to have to play great defense. We're
going to have to talk, that's one thing we've been pushing. We
need everybody rebounding. Good
Lord willing our shots will be falling.
We have some great shooters and we just hope that they get out and
go. I think that defensively
will be ready. They have a lot
of length that we're going to have to deal with with Elijah Hudson out front
and Fogle and Caudill underneath the basket.
We don't have that length, but I think we have some guys ready to
compete,” said Brafford.
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Lucas
Must be in Top Gear
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Taylor Iceman
Lucas, traditionally one of the best small school basketball programs
in this area, opens the season on Saturday night by hosting the Mohawk
Warriors of the Northern 10 Athletic Conference.
The Cubs have some seniors with a lot of basketball experience, but
coach Taylor Iceman says they need to be at their best on Saturday.
“We've got three starters back from last year that we will
certainly rely on. It's a little
different for us this year. We’ve not, as I thought back of my career
here, I don't know that we've played a team out of the gate as good as
Mohawk. So, we have got to be
ready to play and they say usually the first couple games you kind of feel
things out. You play it and you
see and you learn about what you have got to improve on and then you go get
better through film and practice. We
don't have any time to figure things out, we have got to go out and play
because we have got to play a pretty good team right out of the gate. So,
we'll learn a lot about ourselves on Saturday night,” said Iceman.
Mohawk was the runner-up in the “N10” last year and Iceman says
they hare going to be tough to handle. “We've
prepared a little bit for that. We've
never played them in the regular season, but we see them in the summertime
and then obviously we watch a lot of Colonel Crawford film the last couple
of years, so I've seen them that way and they're just a good team and
program. Coach (Paul) Dunn does
a great job with them and it's going to be interesting to see you know what
they do,” he said.
Mohawk has traditionally been a 2-3 match-up zone team, but they
played a lot of man last season. Iceman
says the need to be ready for both. “I
expect to see a lot of zone this year, but they've got some athletes and
they do want to get up and pressure you.
It'll be interesting to see you know what they do against us.
We've prepared for both. We'll
be ready to handle whatever. We
get to play Central Christian two times a year forever and they run a really
good 2-3 zone, so we do get to see quite a bit of that,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “I think our kids will be prepared
for that. They play really hard
and really aggressive and do a lot of good things.
They have got a lot of kids back from last year, so we're going to
have to be like I said focused and ready to go right out of the gate.”
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Shelby
Has to Handle Harding Pressure
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Natalie Lantz
Shelby, one of the defending champions in the Mid-Ohio Athletic
Conference, will play its first league game of the season on Thursday night
at home against Marion Harding.
They play at Galion on Saturday in conference action.
They started the season with wins over Margaretta (43-32) last
Wednesday and Upper Sandusky (44-20) on Saturday night.
Coach Natalie Lantz says she was pleased with the start.
“It's good to walk away with a couple of wins.
Definitely good competitive teams, very good, quality wins I would
say, especially kicking off the season with Margaretta, real happy with the
way we defended. There's a lot
of work to do yet, a few things we'd like to tweak defensively and
offensively. We just need to do
a better job of getting things moving and making good decisions
offensively,” she said.
However, Lantz knows there is a lot of improvement that needs to be
done. “I've seen growth just
this week at practice as well. We're
excited to play Harding, they're an athletic group.
We're excited to pick up with “MOAC” play and work towards some
goals that we have set this year,” she told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday
night, “I think the biggest thing that we need to continue to stress with
the girls is that one play at a time, next play mentality.
I'm seeing some really good things, I'm loving our depth, and
everybody's contributing in one way, shape, or form and is helping us put
together hopefully a really, really quality team here this year.”
Marion Harding (0-1) lost (50-26) to Olentangy Berlin last week.
Lantz says they Lady Presidents have solid guard play and they are
going to press the Lady Whippets a lot.
“I think they have two really, really nice guards that are able to
you know handle pressure, they're nice shooters, one’s probably a little
bit better three-point shot, but they can both drive, they can the shoot,
which makes some nice versatile players, they're aggressive defensively.
So, I mean we're going to have our work cut out for us.
We need to be able to handle their pressure, we expect full court
pressure from them, some half court traps as well.
So, I think we're ready hopefully for their pressures and we just
have to go out and execute,” said Lantz.
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Bellevue
to Face Very Good Margaretta
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Ed Rich
Bellevue, one of the contenders in the Lake Division of the Sandusky
Bay Conference, will be home for Margaretta, won of the best in the Bay
Division, on Saturday night.
Coach Ed Rich says they are prepared and ready to go for Saturday
night. “We're not in
mid-season form quite yet, but we're getting there.
I think we have got in what we need to get in. I
think we've really hit what we need to focus on.
We should be ready for Margaretta here on Saturday night,” he said.
The Lake Division is loaded with year with Sandusky, who won the
division II district last year, Perkins, Clyde, Norwalk and Tiffin
Columbian, who doesn’t start to next week.
Rich says they too can be very good.
“We definitely believe that and we think it's possible. We
have got a nice squad, a nice roster. You
know build a little momentum from last year and we bring we bring a lot of
guys back. So, we have pretty
high expectations and we start out on Saturday with a tough Margaretta
squad. So, we're getting tested
right out of the shoot and kind of hopefully see where we're at after
Saturday night,” said Rich.
When it comes to Margaretta, Rich says they are very good and have
two outstanding guards. “They
have two really dynamic guards, two sophomores, in Juda Keller and Julian
Washington, both started every game from last year as freshmen, but they've
improved a lot. We saw over the
summer and saw a little bit of film on them this season already,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Wednesday afternoon, “Those are the two guys
obviously we need to focus on the most.
They're not a big team, but they're extremely scrappy, they run their
stuff extremely well and they're a high IQ team.
So, they do a lot of good things and you have got to be sharp
defensively and sharp offensively against them or they're going to make you
pay.”
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Western
Has to Handle Vermilion Pressure
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Chris Sheldon
Western Reserve plays two games on the opening weekend as they travel
to Vermilion on Friday and host Mansfield St. Peter’s on Saturday.
Coach Chris Sheldon says they have a little good news, they are more
healthy heading into this weekend. “Well,
we've mended somewhat. There's
light at the end of the tunnel, but unfortunately we can't make up for
missed reps and missed scrimmage opportunities.
Those things are going to present obvious challenges on opening
weekend for us with some of our guys really getting their first live action
all year long,” he said.
Sheldon says he has a lot of options and that is both good and bad.
“We have got guys on Friday night that I think are going to play
some JV minutes for us, but it also could be starters before this season's
all said and done in a varsity basketball game.
That’s how a wide range of talent that we just don't know who fits
where right now, but unfortunately due to repetition and availability it's
where we're at the start of week one,” said Sheldon.
When it comes to Vermilion, Sheldon says they must handle their
pressure and also be able to gets some stops.
“They want to play a fast tempo game.
They want to pressure us into full court, give us some trapping
variations. All those things
that on opening night you find out what your guys are going to be able to
respond to that the thing. I
like is obviously we play a lot of guards. I
feel confident in some of our ball handlers, but at the end of the day we
still have got to be able to execute what we're trying to do against their
different pressure looks and get the shots we want.
Then secondarily, we can't allow live ball turnovers to lead to easy
baskets for them,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday afternoon,
“That's how teams that like to give you different pressures really try to
go on those quick 6-0, 8-0 runs that can really be a thorn in the side when
you're trying to stay in a ball game or win one.
That’s got to be key. Then
lastly, they have got a multitude of guys that have varsity experience.
We've got to be able to really try to make them earn everything at
the defensive end for us because they have got some guys that can shoot it,
they have got some guys that are athletic that can break you down off the
bounce and if we can't stay in front of anybody all night we're going to
have a hard time stopping them. Those
are probably the three biggest areas of need for us just to be successful
this weekend against them that we've got to be really good at.”
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Wooster
Must Play Good Defense
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Che Richardson
Wooster plays at Wadsworth to open the boys’ basketball season on
Friday night.
It will be Che Richardson’s first game as the Generals head coach.
He comes to Wayne County from the Canton McKinley program.
Richardson says there can be butterflies on that first game, but he
things the playerss have done a good job so far keeping their emotions in
check. “I would say our
players have done a good job controlling those emotions as far as week one
game,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday evening, “We’ve done a
good job focusing on ourselves and taking these last couple days to focus on
Wadsworth and the things that we're going to see on Friday.”
Wadsworth is led by one of the leading scorers in the state in Maxx
Bosley. Richarson says he can
light it up. “I think they
have some talent back. Thankfully
I've had a chance to coach against them at McKinley for the past two years.
They have Bosley, which he is probably one of the best scores in
Ohio. I know he had games last
year we scored 45 points. He's a
strong kid, so he's definitely going to be a challenge for us this Friday
just trying to contain him,” said Richardson.
Richardson says their goal is to make the Grizzlies work for their
points, not give them a lot of easy looks.
“Our main thing is playing team defense and playing together and
getting stops from everybody and just trying to push the ball in transition
and score in transition on this Friday.
Definitely, just trying to get stops, at least three stops in a row
multiple times in the game will help us,” he said.
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Carey
Needs to Handle Expectations
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Jamie Young
Carey, the defending champion in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference,
has a double weekend to start the season as they are at Riverdale on Friday
and host Old Fort on Saturday in non-conference play.
Coach Jamie Young believes they with a lot of experience back they
are going to be in position to play well this weekend.
“I think we're moving along pretty good.
We have got some good experience to draw from, so that's always a
positive thing. It makes things
a little bit easier. With the
football team being successful like they were we did have a shortened
preseason, but we're kind of used to that here the last four or five years.
So, I mean with our experience coming back I think we're ready to go.
We might just have to knock off some of the rust and get our
basketball legs back. I feel
pretty confident in my guys right now,” he said.
Winning the conference last year and having a lot of kids back there
are high expectations for the Blue Devils, but Young says they have some
unfinished business too. “There
are more expectations, but we always expect a lot of ourselves. I
mean as a program, as a coach and I know our players do as well, especially
this particular group. I mean
they were never happy last year with just winning the game. I
mean they weren't happy until we clinched the “N10” title at our place
against Mohawk in the last game of the year.
They were disappointed with how the season ended with the loss to
Liberty-Benton in the sectional finals.
So, I think once we get rolling here, I mean we're going to be pretty
good. I mean in terms of like
the kids mindsets will be pretty on top of it.
We just have to make sure that we focus on Friday and Riverdale,”
said Young.
Riverdale on Friday night will be improved, according to Young, he
says the Falcons will play some intensity.
“They bring back a lot of guys from last year.
We played at the beginning of the year, so they didn't have the best
season, but coach Drew (Hobensack) over there I think he's got him heading
in the right direction. It's one
of those games for us, it's a rivalry game, because it's right in our back
door,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “I mean you know
they always come play their first game of the year and they're always tough.
They always battle, they don't give up. I
mean it's kind of similar to how we play.
So, I mean I think it's going to be a battle either way and and I'm
looking forward to the opportunity.”
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Buckeye
to Face Aggressive Plymouth
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Chris Moyer
Buckeye Central will entertain Plymouth in a non-conference game to
start the season in New Washington.
Coach Chris Moyer, in his first year as the head coach of the Bucks,
says the kids want to play a game when the score counts.
“it's a long month of practice with a few scrimmages sprinkled in
there. I think the kids are
itching to get out and compete for real at this point,” he said.
Moyer says varsity basketball is a new experience for most of his
team. “There's an unknown from
a coaching staff and the kids themselves.
It's going to be for five of the seven it's the first time under the
bright lights of a varsity game. So,
we're definitely going to be looking to establish an identity in game
one,” said Moyer.
When it comes to Plymouth, Moyer says they have a battalion of
seniors and they are going to be aggressive on defense.
“They are very experienced. They
have seven, eight seniors. Coach
(Eric) Picklesimer, I coached with him for six years and I know he'll have
them ready to play,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday evening,
“They're going to be aggressive on the defensive end and that's going to
be a staple of what they do and they're going to be athletic as well.”
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Shelby
Must be Focused
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Greg Gallaway
Shelby, the defending champion in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference,
beings its season on Friday night by hosting the Madison Rams in a
non-league game.
There has been a lot of talk about how good the Whippets can be this
year with a lot of guys back from a team that lost to Lexington in a
division II district semifinal last year.
Coach Greg Gallaway calls it noise and he says they can’t pay any
attention to it. “That's that
we try to talk about, you can't control the noise and you have got to just
try to stay connected as a group. So,
that’s something that we really try to get dialed in as a team, just
staying connected with each other and really gathering thoughts with us
instead of people outside of our team. So,
it's tough, especially as a 16, 17 year old high school kid to not get
involved with that, especially with how much social media has grown.
It's going to be important for us to just stay worried about us,”
said Gallaway.
Gallaway says he has seen some good things in practice and the
players are pushing each other to become better.
He says that have to continue to work on becoming a better team on
defense. “Scrimmages are done
and we had scrimmages set up to hopefully show progression in our three or
four scrimmages that we had. We
feel that we're making the right steps, but we're still not where we want to
be and that's stuff that we're continuing to try to show more consistent
effort in practice, especially executing defensively,” he old
Swankonsports.com on Tuesday afternoon, “That's one of our big things
right now that we're trying to focus on is the team.
As far as our seniors and trying to help hold each other accountable.
That's something that we're really encouraged on right now and our
guys pushing each other at practice. So,
it's been really good to see.”
Madison lost a lot from year, including their top two scorers in
Jayden Jeffries to graduation and Seven Allen to a transfer to Lexington.
However, Gallaway says he knows they will be physical.
“We don't have any game film. Game
one is always hard in terms of prep, especially when you're just watching
scrimmages because you can't relate the two too much.
We know they lost some guys to graduation last year and to transfers,
but coach (Chris) Armstrong just does a great job with those guys every year
in getting them to play their style of play and playing hard extremely hard
and physical. So, we have got to
be ready for that Friday night,” he said.
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Inexperienced
Colonel Crawford Starts With Two
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach David Sheldon
Colonel Crawford will feature one of their least experienced teams in
recent memory as they open the season with a double weekend at home with
Crestline on Friday and at Northmor on Saturday.
Coach David Sheldon says his teams is making the right kind of
progress. “I think it's a
group that's made progress over the last two weeks.
We've had our guys for two weeks now and they've made a little
progress and that's the thing that we have got to keep doing throughout this
entire year. With the one
starter back they have bought in. Every
year we try to find roles and play to our strengths and you know we're still
feeling that out early in the preseason and it's good to have two non league
games come this weekend,” said Sheldon.
After graduating almost all of their scoring, Sheldon says they are
trying to find guys that can put the ball in the basket.
“What we're trying to see, who's going to step up.
We've had three scrimmages now and we've been able to see some
progress for some guys and the capabilities and trying to play to the
strengths of each individual on our team and bring them together as a
collective group, but that's going to be growth as we go throughout this
year,” he said.
Crestline has a new coach this year in Paul Webb.
Sheldon says the Bulldogs are going to be pretty young.
“First, they're young basketball team.
They have no seniors looking at the roster. A
brand new coach in Paul Webb, who came from a very good coach he worked
under in Tim Mergel, who was a really good coach over the years that I had
the utmost respect for. So, we
know they're going to play hard, but early in the season don't know a lot of
them other than no seniors on the roster and they're going to be well
coached. So, early in the
season we got to worry about Colonel Crawford and try to get off to a good
start,” said Sheldon.
On other hand, Sheldon says Northmor will be very experienced and
they are talented too. “It's
going to be a very good road test for us.
Northmor is picked to win their league.
They've got everybody back except one senior they lost.
It's a very, very good basketball team and I think one of the best
teams in the area. Last year,
they're in the district finals with all those kids back this is going to be
a very, very tough test for us on the road,” he told Swankopnsports.com on
Tuesday morning, “We schedule this to get us ready for later in the season
and where we need to grow before we head into league play the week after.
So, it's going to be a great road test for this group of young guys
playing varsity basketball for the first time.
We have got one starter back in Trevor Vogt and we’ll have a lot of
new faces out there. I know our
guys are going to go and compete against a very good basketball program in
Northmor Saturday night.”
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Still
a lot of Question Marks for Ashland
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Jason Hess
Ashland is a team with some talent this year, no question, but they
also have a lot of questions heading into their opener on Friday night at
home against Norwalk in non-conference play.
Coach Jason Hess says they really aren’t sure who their starters
are going to be on Friday. “I
have to be honest I don’t think you’re ever really comfortable for a
first game because it's such a different feeling than practices and
scrimmages and summer basketball, especially with our team this year.
Our two most experienced players are sophomores, so we've got a lot
of questions to be answered come Friday night.
We really just don't know what's going to happen and how things are
going to go together. I was just
talking with the assistant (Tuesday), we've got some kids that are battling
some illness and sickness and we're trying to decide who's going to be our
starting five and he says well maybe just the five kids that are healthy and
show up to school,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday afternoon,
“We'll see Friday night what comes out of it.
It's hard it's hard to say right now if you're really comfortable or
not, we're excited to get started I do know that and our kids are ready to
see some game action and see the lights turned on Friday night.
So, we are looking forward to it, but we're not sure we're confident
what we're going to get.”
Hess says confidence is a big thing with teenagers and they need to
make some early baskets on Friday. “It's
amazing, not only do kids react differently, but it's just amazing sometimes
that little thing of seeing that ball go through the basket early on in the
game and just build confidence and kind of get you rolling through the whole
night. Having a couple of bad
breaks or a couple bad bounces early on these are 15, 16 year old kids up to
18 that we're talking about and mentally that confidence is such a fragile
thing sometimes, so it's really important to get off to a good start,” he
said.
Norwalk is a team that has experience back and Hess says they have
good size and athleticism. “I
know they've got really strong junior class.
They're coaches are just super excited about their group I know from
talking to him this summer. They've
got a lot more guys coming back from a year ago than we do.
They got a good sized team, a lot of 6’3”, 6’4” guys pretty
good athletes. They should be a
team to be reckoned this year not only in their league, but also now that
they're up in division I in the sectional and so on up there in the
northwest district,” he said.
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Clyde
Needs to Stay Consistent
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Ryan Fretz
Clyde plays its first game at home on Saturday night against the
Lexington Minutemen in non-conference play.
Coach Ryan Fretz likes the progress his team has made, but he says
they must continue in the right direction.
“We're making the progressions that that we need to make.
They're not coming along as fast as I would like them to come along,
but that’s not all of it's up to me. As
we get guys coming back from injury it changes the dynamics of the team a
little bit and you have to make adjustments as these boys come back.
Something that might have worked when these boys weren't in might
work now or vice versa. We're
making those adjustments as we got Brayden back and as we got Brennen back.
I mean looking to move forward with that we've had a great week of
practice so far, we just want to make sure we can keep it up consistently as
we get closer to Saturday,” he said.
Fretz says there is always a lot of excitement surrounding the first
game of the season, but they need to take the games one at a time with the
same focus. “I mean everybody
in the state’s going to play a basketball game either Friday or Saturday
for most part and half of your teams are still going to be undefeated after
that and the other half of them are going to be looking at the 0-1 record.
I mean there's a lot of energy built up for that first game because
of the unknowns, because some guys are playing different roles.
Like I said, the unknowns that are out there that you've been working
so hard in the offseason. You
put in a lot of work over the summer,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Tuesday night, “We at Clyde we did pretty good over the summer. Had
a pretty successful summer where we saw growth and we played some
disciplined basketball and got better and this is where we make hay.
We get to go out there and finally put everything to the test.
So, that's why I think the energy is big and it's huge right now for
us. I just hope that it stays
consistent the rest of this week through the game and even after the game.
Yes, game one is always a big one, but the basketball season is a 22
game regular season and it's definitely a marathon and not a sprint to get
to March.”
With the height and perimeter skills, Fretz knows that Lexington is
going to be a big challenge for the Fliers.
“They're big and now we at Clyde right now if you look at our
roster, we're not known for having the big, tall guys.
As you're sitting here looking at Lexington, I mean you see 6’4”,
6’6” and what Elijah Hudson's probably 6’8”, 6’9” in there.
I mean they can rebound, they can bang it inside and they can knock
down shots from the outside too. Their
guard play is good, it's quick, they're agile, so they're guards can put
some pressure on you. So, they
have a lot of weapons that you have to respect.
We're looking forward to seeing them come to our gym.
We're looking forward to the challenge, it's a great first game for
us. I mean Lexington's coming
off the district championship game last year against Sandusky. They've
lost some guys, but they've done a pretty good job at just reloading.
I mean, we expect them to be a force to be reckoned with on Saturday
right,” said Fretz.
Published 11/29/23
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Northmor
Expecting Good Things
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Blade Tacket
Northmor, the preseason choice in the Knox Morrow Athletic
Conference, opens the season with two non-conference home games Friday
against Marion Elgin and Saturday versus Colonel Crawford.
Coach Blade Tacket says they are experienced and they are excited to
get the season going. “We had
a real good summer. We only lost
one senior off of our team last year that was a 15 win team.
We brought back a really strong junior class and our junior class
became seniors. So, we
brought back two really strong classes. We
had a great summer and we're really looking forward to the start of the
season this week,” he said.
Tacket says the Golden Knights have high expectations as do their
fans. He says they want to take
it one game at time. “I think
especially in the area there are some pretty high expectations.
We want to try to realize those, but don't put too much stock in them
just because we take it game at a time and worry about it a game and a time.
We had a long football season. We've
had a pretty short practice season here, so we have got a long way to go.
Coach (David) Sheldon always said it best it's a marathon not a
sprint. So, we're going to do
the best we can here to begin the year with the expectation to hit a pretty
good stride mid year and end year hopefully we’ll be lucky for another
tournament run just like we had last year.”
Tacket knows that Elgin will be a challenge for them.
He says the Comets are going to be disciplined on offense.
“They gave us a great game last year and beat us.
It was an overtime game 58-51. They
lost a couple more people than we did, but they also brought back a nice
core. Steven Castillo can really
shoot the ball. They have got a
post player that comes back that’s an energy guy on defense.
They’ve got a JV point guard that's going to step up and be a
really nice player for them,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night,
“I expect it to be a highly competitive game, just like it was last year.
They're very disciplined on offense. I
think they have got a new coach, he was their JV coach last year. I
think he's been an Elgin for a while, but it's a well coached team, well
disciplined team and they got some good pieces.
So, we're going to have our hands full, it's going to be a
competitive game.”
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River
Valley Has Good Mix
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Rodney Brown
River Valley, the runner-up last year in the Mid-Ohio Athletic
Conference, certainly has the potential to be a very good team this year
too. They open the season on
Friday night at home against Olentangy Berlin in non-league play.
Coach Rodney Brown says they have some veterans back and some new
kids that can play too. “We
have some returning guys with some experience and some young guys to go with
them in that mix. Just trying to
get the young guys to fit in and understand how we play.
It's been a good preseason. We've
had some good scrimmages, played against some really good competition and
have been pleased with how we've done,” said Brown.
Brown says playing a strong scrimmage schedule gives you a better
idea what you have and what you need to improve.
“You want to be challenged, you want to see what you need to work
on. Sometimes you want the kids
to see that, hey, you know we need to do this better,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “We need to work on this harder in
practice and not get a big head I guess.”
Olentangy Berlin is a division I school, so bigger than the Vikings,
and Brown says they have solid guard play.
“Berlin has two really, really good guards, a four year starter and
their point guards are really good, both of them had really good games
against us last year. We have to
contain them and hopefully it'll be enough to keep us in it, but those two
players are very good,” he said.
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South
Central Ready to Go
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Dallas Yost
South Central opens another new era on high school boys’ basketball
on Friday night as they are at home for Mansfield St. Peter’s in
non-conference play.
First year coach Dallas Yost, a Trojan alum, says there has been a
difference in intensity and focus in the gym this week.
“There's definitely a sense of urgency in the building.
We had our last scrimmage (Monday) night against Danbury and now we
have got three days of prep to get ready for St. Pete’s.
We haven't really been focusing on St. Pete's specifically, it's been
more about us just getting everything in that we want to have them by game
one. After our last scrimmage
(Monday) night we know we have three days of prep.
We’ve kind of turned our focus the St. Pete’s and you can feel
their urgency in the building as we're nearing game one,” he said.
Yost says they have focused on getting everything they want to
installed and he says they are confident they are in good position to play
well. “We actually got lucky
this year with an extra week of preseason.
Usually at least from my experience that I know about, we usually
start Thanksgiving week and we got an extra week of preseason, so that
helps. There is still limited
time to get everything in, especially when you got a completely new system
and you have got new coaches and you have got a bunch of you know young guys
and new varsity faces anyway they might have been in the program last year
or not at the varsity level or not contributing at the varsity level as we
have only got three letter winners back,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Tuesday night, “We're throwing a lot at them.
We're doing some different complex things defensively and offensively
that you know hopefully will surprise some of the teams.
I think they're handling it pretty well and we got everything in so
far that we want in in for game one. We'll
make some make some changes as we go throughout the year for other matchups.”
St. Peter’s has struggled in recent seasons, winning only two games
last year. Yost says they are
going to try and feature some pressure.
“Basically, I have only got one film off of them.
They run some sort of dribble drive and defensively they do ball
pressure in the half court. They're
pretty opportunistic defensively that way trying to get steals and block
shots and are aggressive in that sense.
So, we have to take care of it and handle the pressure, but I mean we
should be used to that that's our style of play.
We practice it every day in practice, so I think as long as we do
what we do and we do it well I think we should be fine,” said Yost.
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Northwestern
Ready to Surprise
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Mark Alberts Jr.
Northwestern likes being the underdog, which hasn’t happened very
much for the Huskies over the last 25 years.
They open the season on Friday night at Wooster Triway.
Veteran coach Mark Alberts, Jr. says they are going to be physical.
“I thought we really made strides during the scrimmages. I
thought that practice has been solid. The
first three weeks of practice are the absolute worst just because you're
trying to go hard all the time and maybe you're going six days a week.
You can't even get these guys much time to rest, especially guys that
came off football. So, I really
like where we’re at. You know
what, we don't have a lot of expectations from people around the area just
because of what we lost and where these guys are at.
We're definitely going to make it interesting for whoever we play as
long as we can stay healthy. It's
going to be interesting just because we're going to be physical, we're going
back to playing the brand of ball we used to play and hopefully that'll kind
of give us a leg up on our opponents,” he said.
Alberts says the Huskies this year are playing with a lot less
pressure on them than they have had over the years.
“Last year, we didn't have any expectations either.
It was one of those where it was a tough year. We
had three teams share our league, but we finished as the next team.
We were the runner up to the three teams.
It was weird because nobody expected us to even be in that spot.
They were picking us as the bottom team in the league.
So, did we have the kind of year we wanted last year? No.
It's because we went 2-6 in non-league games.
If would have been 6-2, which it very easily could have been, you're
looking at a totally different record and our attitude about would have been
totally different,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “This
year, yes, there's no expectation on us and we've had a lot of expectations
over the years. I'm really
excited because this this team coming up through when they from junior high
as they're coming always had expectations, like they could be really good
and they have never reached the level that people thought they would at the
younger age. Hopefully, they'll
just kind of take that one game at a time and hopefully try to prove some
people wrong here to start the year.”
Alberts says Triway has some good players, but it looks like they
don’t have a lot of depth. “They
have Brayden Holt, who started as a freshman and was a great player last
year and Drew Bishko, a senior. Then
they got Luke Snowbarger, who transferred from Wooster to play football and
then they have Cale Drown, who came back off of knee injury last year and
played at the end of the year is probably going to start for them and then
they have two freshmen, who are good freshmen, but they're still freshmen
and that's their six guys. So,
there's an expectation at Triway, but they lost Zach Miller and losing Zach
Miller is a lot bigger loss I think than people realize and probably the
same way with us losing Brett (Alberts).
It's going to be interesting because I think Triway has told people
that there's no film on them out there.
Whoever they scrimmaged, they asked not to send any film out on them,
so we haven't got anything on them right now,” said Alberts.
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Vermilion
With Some Things
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Kurt Habermehl
Vermilion tips-off its season on Friday night as they host Western
Reserve of the Firelands Conference.
Coach Kurt Habermehl says the Sailors will have some experience this
year, but inside they are going to be young.
“So, we do have some guys back.
We actually have six seniors, but only three of them got major
minutes on varsity last year, actually four of them got major minutes on
varsity last year. So, yeah, we
do have some experience, but some of our crucial positions, like some of our
size, is young guys,” said Habermehl.
The veteran coach says his kids have been putting in good effort, but
they are far from a finished product. “They're
working hard. I don't know if
we're necessarily where we want to be heading into Friday night, but it is
what it is. We have just got to
be ready to play when the ball rolls out we have got to be ready to go,”
he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday afternoon, “We certainly got a ways
to go and some things to figure out before we become a really good
basketball team.”
When it comes to Western Reserve, Habermehl says the Riders are going
to run their stuff well when they have the ball and play good, aggressive
defense. “Well, Chris
(Sheldon) is a heck of a coach and I know they're going to run all of their
plays to perfection, so it's going to be really up to us to make sure that
we try to get them uncomfortable so they can't do what they want to do on
the offensive end. Then
defensively, they play an aggressive man to man defense and so we're going
to have to handle their pressure and shoot the basketball well,” said
Habermehl.
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Willard
Ready to Find Out
Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Joe Bedingfield
Willard, the defending champion in the Bay Division of the Sandusky
Bay conference, opens the season on Friday night in non-conference play at
Upper Sandusky.
Coach Joe Bedingfield says they feel like they are ready to go, but
you never know for sure. “You’re
always going to want to play a little bit better.
You’re always going to want to get more stops.
Maybe make the right decision on a few more times, but I think it's
time for game week. It's time to
see because that's really the only way you really know.
Scrimmages sometimes you play at 10:00 AM, sometimes you play over
break, on Saturday, whatever, it's just not a game feel. I mean you get
pretty relaxed on some of those things.
Then Friday, we'll go over to Upper and have lights on, people in the
seats, people cheering and things and you kind of really see who's really
going to contribute, who's really going to be ready to go, because I think
there's a huge difference. I
think you really don't know who your team is until right around Christmas
time anyway. So, you just kind
of want to see who plays well in the scrimmages, but then you have to take
another step and that's what we're looking to do here week one and to you
know get started with our league play eventually,” said Bedingfield.
Bedingfield thinks they are improved in some areas, but they
certainly have things to work on like defense and team chemistry.
“In certain areas we are better.
I think in certain areas maybe a little bit lengthier, maybe could
shoot a little bit better for some of our positions, but I think what it
comes down to is team chemistry. When
you make those long runs its guys playing for each other.
I just think that's still got to be a piece that has to be developed,
that has to be developed daily. It
has to be developed organically. I
don't think you can force that. I
think it's something that the kids, your leaders have to do and they have to
play for each other. Basketball
wise, I think we could be a better team. I
think could be a better scoring team, but we still have a lot to prove
defensively and that's one thing we've been harping on our kids is at the
defensive end taking care of boxing out, contesting open shots and
rotating,” he said.
Bedingfield says the Rams offer them a lot of challenges that they
will need to be ready for come Friday. “Well,
I mean they have some experienced kids too. I
mean the Holden Daris I think Ha played for Jeff (Winslow) for four years,
he's long, tall, he gets in passing lanes.
Justin Heilman does a nice job distributing the ball, but also is
looking for his points too and driving hard.
They have a returning junior in Brock Montgomery, who's playing
really good ball offensively and can knock down some open shots and kind of
gets them going offensively,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday evening,
“Coach Winlsow just gets his teams year in and year out to play harder
than most teams that you play. Going
there is never easy, just seems like we've been doing this game since I've
been at Willard and they've been doing it even before that.
So, it's always a good test for both teams to kind of see where we're
at and I just think it'll be a challenge.
It’s game one, both teams are excited to play, and both teams
always play really hard and it should be fun game to attend.”
Published 11/28/23
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Ontario
to Face Relentless Crestview
Ontario opens up a new era of basketball as they play at Crestview
against the Cougars in a non-conference game on Saturday night.
First year coach Jerry Moton says they are bringing the right kind of
momentum and execution on both ends of the floor into game week. “I
believe the guys are getting better every day.
Every scrimmage I see improvement in their work ethic, their
attention to details defensively, and execution of the offense,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Monday afternoon, “Collectively we're getting
better.”
This year’s Warriors want to be aggressive on both ends of the
floor. Moton says they want to
be the ones that dictate the game. “We
definitely want to be the aggressor. Want
to pressure you in the whole full court and just get after you,” he said.
Crestview, although a smaller school than Ontario, is none the less
very good. The Cougars are the
defending Firelands Conference champions and the preseason choice of many to
win the league again.
Moton says Crestview is a team that is always going to play hard.
“I know they are tough team, resilient, they crash the boards
pretty hard and they fight the entire game.
Like there there's no let up in this team. They're
a very good team,” said Moton.
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Wynford
Has the Parts
Wynford, who looks like a contender in the Northern 10 Athletic
Conference this year, plays two non-conference games to open the season this
weekend as they are at Van Buren on Friday and home for Monroeville on
Saturday.
Last season, they won 13 games overall and shared fourth place in the
conference.
Coach Mike Smith says they can be better than that this year.
“We are probably the hunted instead of the hunter now.
So, I think our kids are up to the challenge hopefully.
Friday night's going to be a tough opener.
We have got to go an hour away and play a decent basketball team.
We saw them this summer a few times, played against them a couple of
times, they were good games, so I would think this is going to be a pretty
intense battle on Friday,” said Smith.
Smith says he believes they will be a very good shooting team this
year and they have the kind of size to be good on defense.
“I thought our shooting from last year, we had most of our shooting
back, we've shot the ball pretty well in scrimmages, maybe not as well as I
want us to, but again that's that comes with scrimmages, the lights aren't
on, it's not really a pressurized situation,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Monday evening, “I think our shooting, our overall length, we’re long,
we can cause some trouble defensively with our length.
You never know, I don't know, right now it's kind of up in the air to
see how we respond to things. I
expect us to, but you just never know with high school kids how that's going
to work out.”
Smith expects a test on Friday night against Van Buren and he says
that what you want early in the season.
“Last year, we went up to Monroeville the first game, so we
traveled on the road last year and we came out victorious. I
thought that kind of set the tone for our season.
Maybe we were a little unsure how good we could be and I thought you
know winning that first game was probably a good thing for us.
You always want to start 1-0, but with that being said it's a very
long season and one game doesn't define your whole season,” he said.
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Bellevue
Still Must Improve
Bellevue, always one of the best girls’ basketball teams in this
area, plays at home against a solid Clear Fork team out of the Mid-Ohio
Athletic Conference, on Tuesday night.
They opened the season with an outstanding effort in winning (55-49)
at Perrysburg on Friday.
Coach Kory Santoro says he was pleased with what they did on offense.
“Well, Perrysburg is always traditionally a really, really good
team and to open up with them is always a tough game start out with, but I
was pleased with the way we played and how we executed on offense,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “We shot the ball very, very well.
One thing I wasn't really happy
with was our turnovers and rebounding. I
just think those are two things that we need to clean up.”
Hailey Rees pumped in 26 and Kaitlyn Turinsky added 12 for the Lady
Red in their win.
Santoro says they detailed for the girls where their improvement is
needed and they understand. “We
went over it in Saturday practice and (Monday) there were points of emphasis
we stressed and things that the girls know they have to clean up,” he
said.
Clear Fork (2-0) has beaten Mansfield Madison (57-46) and Lexington
(50-41), two schools out of the Ohio Cardinal Conference, so far this
season.
Santoro says they like to play fast.
“I know their head coach Scott Sellers, he does a nice job with
that team. I know they're played
two games so far. They're up
tempo, they like they like to press, like to transition, so we have got
ready to be ready to play (Tuesday),” said Santoro.
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Old
Fort to Play Very Good Carey
Old Fort, one of the defending champions in the River Division of the
Sandusky Bay Conference, will play its first game on Saturday night at
Carey, the defending champion of the Northern 10 Athletic Conference.
It’s one of only four non-conference games on the Stockaders
schedule with 10 teams now in the River Division.
Coach Eric Hoover says they he saw a lot of good things in the
preseason, but he saw some bad too. “Sometimes
I liked it, sometimes I didn't. We
had some good scrimmages, we were kind of up and down.
We are still trying to find our way I guess with everybody kind of
fitting into to new roles or different roles.
I brought some guys back, but we lost a couple key starters too, so
just kind of seeing where everybody fits in and what's going to work for
this team and what's not. Trying
to make up for everything that that those two seniors that graduated did
provide us,” said Hoover.
Hoover says you spend a lot of time in the preseason to see what
combinations work best for the team.
“I mean you get some of it done in the summer, but it's little
different the summer. You try to
get out and play competitively in the summer, but it's hard to get everybody
there and other teams are in the same boat, so really you're just trying to
get that this fall and put it together here in this few weeks,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “People need to learn what their role
is within this group that we have and coaches need to figure out where
everybody fits best and get the right groups on the floor together and find
out who can do what for us.”
Hoover says Carey is going to be very good again this year.
He says this is going to be a big test for them.
“They're very athletic. They
were “N10” champs last year and they have a lot of guys back.
So, they're going to be tough. They
shoot the ball well, they're going to be strong and physical.
So, it's going to be certainly a big challenge right out of the
gate,” he said.
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A
New Look Mt. Vernon Opens With Centerburg
Mt. Vernon opens the season at Centerburg in non-conference play on
Friday night.
Coach Nick Coon likes the progress his young group is making.
“The first game is always kind of the great unknown with how your
kids will respond to a full stands and the game lights on and it's an
opponent that you usually haven't seen too much on besides maybe a little
bit of preseason stuff. So,
really excited to see how our kids handle that first game and all that
entails in a game night, especially at the varsity level,” he said.
As far as Centerburg is concerned, Coon says they will feature more
experience than the Jackets. He
says right now their focus is on their execution.
“They have several guys back that played in our game last year,
more guys that have varsity experience than we do.
So, we know a little bit about their personnel, but the big focus
this early in the year for us is to continue to build on the things that
we've been working on and that we've identified that can be beneficial to
our group,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday afternoon, “Then
hopefully see that in a game like situation as opposed to the scrimmage
season that we've seen so far.”
Coon says they are making slow, solid progress right now.
He says they are emphasizing team chemistry.
“I think the big thing is we've just continually gotten a little
bit better from scrimmage to scrimmage and day-to-day.
You know we probably aren't progressing as rapidly as any of us would
like, but it's not always a fast process, especially when we have so many
new faces at the varsity level. I
think this group's willing to work and get better and do it together and
that's what it takes is the willingness and the mindset to do it
together,” said Coon.
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New
London Must Rebound
New London starts the season on the road at Wellington in
non-conference play on Saturday night.
After a stint at Buckeye Central, Tom Howell, a New London grad, is
back in charge of the Wildcats.
Howell says he has seen improvement during the preseason.
“I really think so. I
mean, we've gotten better since day one.
The kids are working hard, they're buying in to what we're trying to
do. So, right now I think
they're ready and I'm ready to get these games started,” he said.
Howell had stated earlier this month that he thought the Wildcats
needed to become tougher. He
says that has happened. “At
times, yes I have. We still need
to get more tougher. We still
need to get there with some physicality, especially on the rebounding
part,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday afternoon, “I mean like you
know getting on the floor and getting after it and playing a little bit
harder that idea of toughness has come a long way since day one.”
Howell says rebounding well is something they must do when they meet
Wellington on Saturday. “They
have got one of the best players in Lorain County.
They have got a little bit of length to them.
They're not real big all around.
They're athletic, they get up and down the floor.
The one thing that concerns me is the rebounding.
Now, we have got to be able to keep them off the glass,” said
Howell.
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Big
Fourth Quarter Give Lady Colts the Win
Clear Frk outscored Madison (15-6) over the last 4:02 of the game and
beat the Lady Rams (57-46) on the opening night of the girls’ basketball
season at Les Hauenstein Gym on Wednesday night.
The Lady Colts clung to a (43-40) when they went on a (10-0) run over
the next three minutes to lead (53-40) with 1:02 to play fueled by the play
Mel Blubaugh and Lilliam Weikle. Blubaugh
scored twice and handed out a couple of assists and Weikle scored three
hoops during that stretch.
Clear Fork coach Scott Sellers says they had veteran players making
key contributions at crunch time. “That's
a good team. Madison, I thought
played really well. I think at
one point it was 43-40. We had
some kids kind of take over in the fourth that have gotten a lot of
experience with us. I know Mel (Blubaugh)
played really well down the stretch and Annika Labaki played big obviously.
We got some key minutes from some of the players that have been
around this program now two, three, four years and that's how we were able
to kind of come out with a win over a really good team,” said Sellers.
It was a game of spurts. With
the game tied at (8-8) with 3:30 left in the first quarter, Clear Fork went
on (8-0) run, keyed by basket from Weikle and threes from Blubaugh and
Annika Labaki. But, Madison got
back it by closing the quarter on an (8-2) run, with hoops from four
different players.
In the third quarter, Madison took a (30-28) lead on a goal by
freshman Aniyah Monica with 4:54 to play in the quarter, but Clear Fork took
it back with (11-0) spurt keyed by old fashion three points plays by Brinley
Barnett and Kylie Belcher to lead (39-30) with 2:49 to play in the quarter.
Madison closed it to (40-35) at the end of the quarter.
Madison coach Mike Leeper says his kids played hard and never game up
and that puts a smile on his face. “We
kept nipping they get up seven, eight I think it was and we nipped it. We
came back in we got it tied. We
never could get that lead. We
never could get a little bit of any comfort yeah, but I'm very pleased with
the effort. I just think we're
going to get better and better and I’m really crazy about my kids,” he
said.
Over the last three years, Clear Fork has seemed to be a second half
team and Sellers says he always wants them to attack, whether offense or
defense. “I think the kids are
in good shape. I think that they
believe in what we're doing. I
tell them to be aggressive to attack to shoot and we can string some buckets
together. Again, Madison's
tough, I mean they're big, they're physical and that freshman (Monica) is
really good, so hats off to them,” he said.
When they established the lead in the fourth quarter, Clear Fork
spread the floor, but still attacked. Leeper
says they didn’t react to that as well as they should have.
“They are very well coached, (Sellers) does an excellent job, their
kids execute things very well. We
came back they took a little bit of lead and they played a little bit better
situational basketball. They
held the ball, we didn't react as well to it as we should have and that's on
us as coaches. We're going to
work on that. We're getting
better. I liked our effort.
Their a very good basketball team, obviously, early in the season.
We’d like to have another opportunity to play them later on.
I'm happy with the kids effort, just not getting that “W” doesn't
help,” said Leeper.
It was Blubaugh, a junior, that controlled the ball most of the time
during that critical fourth quarter stretch.
“She's a really smart player. She's
a three sport athlete, she's All-Ohio in softball, I think she's going to
All-Ohio in soccer next year and I think she'll be All-Ohio in basketball. I
think she's that special of an athlete and a kid,” he told
Swankonsports.com after the game, “Then she had some kids around her that
really made some big plays as well. I
know Lilly (Weikle) did too. Kylie
Belcher is a kid that I hope I get every year for the rest of the time I
coach. She might not show up big
on the box score sometimes, but man she is just key to our team and I'm
really happy for the kids.”
Labaki led Clear Fork wit 16 points, Weikle had 14 and Blubaugh added
nine. Monika led Madison with 15
markers.
Clear Fork’s depth was a factor in that fourth quarter too.
Plus, Sellers says their rotation was a little smaller than he
expects it’s going to be. “There's
a couple of the kids that didn't get as many minutes as probably I thought
that they might just how the flow of the game.
Katrina Rogers is one, she might have played three or four minutes.
She came in and gave us some good minutes when she did. I
think she's going to be an eight minute player a game. I
think Avary Wine is going to be a kid that can play anywhere from 10 to 18
minutes. Just sometimes in the
flow of the game and just how physical and fast that game was they didn't
get as much time, but we were able to play ten kids in that game and eight
of them fairly substantial minutes,” said Sellers.
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Dalton
Takes on Caldwell
Dalton locks horns with Caldwell in a division VII state semifinal on
Friday night at Zanesville High School.
The Bulldogs are one of two teams covered by Swankonsports.com left
in the playoffs in any division. The
other is Canton South, winner of the Principal’s Athletic Conference, that
plays Cleveland Glenville in a division IV semifinal at Wadsworth.
Coach Broc Dial says it’s really awesome to be able to practice on
Thanksgiving Day. “We talked
(Wednesday) to our players about the great special opportunity (Thursday) to
practice on Thanksgiving and that should be our goal for all the players
every year,” he said.
Dalton (12-1) beat Danville, the winner of the Knox Morrow Athletic
Conference (31-8) last week at Dover.
Dial says again they played well on both sides of the ball.
“I thought the kids did a really good job, hats off to Danville, a
very tough team. The game was
closer than probably what the score looked like.
We got a couple scores late. I
thought we played really good defense and I thought we really did a good job
of field position and our kids kind of kept plugging away,” said Dial.
They have a tremendous running game led by tailback Greyson Siders,
the “WCAL” player of the year, and Dial says up front they have been
able to give him some lanes. “Knock
on wood, we've been able to get a hat on a hat and spring a couple runs and
just be getting all those pieces and parts of the machine working
together,” he said.
Caldwell (11-3) beat Reedsville Eastern (20-19) in their regional
final. They have beat six
schools with winning records this year.
Dial says they have a lot of weapons.
“They’re a very good team and they just won the region.
They have some really, really good athletes on their team.
They're running back, wide receiver, quarterback is a good player,”
he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday afternoon, “Defensively, they give
you a lot of different fronts, a lot of different looks, pressures, and they
run to the ball really well.”
Dail says really they do not compare favorably to any school they
have played this year. “We
really think they're really good football.
No one really comparable around here I guess so to speak.
Like I said, #1 the running back and #7 their wide receiver both are
very good football players,” said Dail.
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Lexington
Taking Steps
Lexington is the defending Ohio Cardinal Conference champion and
division II district runner-up and this season promises to be a good one
too.
Coach Scott Hamilton says they are making slow progress this month.
“Every team comes together a little bit differently and this one
it's just part of the process. We've
got a lot of new faces, a lot of young guys that we're relying on.
We’re mixing them in with some veterans.
So, I'm not discouraged, I'm positive, but at the same time it would
be nice if we were developing a little bit faster, but knowing that we still
have a little bit of time and these guys are smart basketball players, I'm
confident that everything's going to go well,” he said.
Lexington plays at Clear Fork in a non-conference game to open the
season on December 1. They host
Wooster in an their “OCC” opener on December 8.
With an extra week to prepare as compared to last year, Hamilton says
they don’t feel rushed to be ready to play.
“The football team made the playoffs and so when they were able to
get that and we still were able to get started on time and everything, so I
think a lot of coaches are realizing maybe a little bit of time off was
beneficial. Where maybe years in
the past making a playoff run you had to get right after it or even move the
start of your season back a little bit. So,
we're seeing teams that have maybe made the playoffs and are still sticking
with the December 1st December 2nd weekend to start
the season,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday afternoon, “For us
it's been nice, we've kind of taken things slow and overall like I said
we're going to be a young roster, so we've kind of taken things slow and let
the guys kind of figure each other out with the new faces that we have.
There comes a point to where you just have got to start moving
forward, put your head down and let's go to work.”
Hamilton feels the placement of their scrimmages has been important
this year. He says that gives
them the chance to address some things.
“I think you know that's where kind of spacing out where you put
your scrimmages can help you a little bit.
You see things, you see mistakes, you see errors, you see areas that
need improving. You work on it
for a few days and then you throw the kids back out there and do your next
scrimmage. So, that's kind of
where we're at we're just kind of working through some of those bumps right
now. Like I've explained to my
guys, and I've done it every year, by December 1st we're not
looking to have that finished product that we hope to have come late
February and early March. The
process takes place and we just have got to trust the process and keep
working through it,” said Hamilton.
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Buckeye
Central Very Young
Buckeye Central will likely field one of the youngest, and less
experienced, boys’ basketball teams in this area this season.
First year coach Chris Moyer says they will have a varsity team
consisting of only seven kids. “We’re
a pretty young team here. We're
seven deep at the at the varsity level here and only two of the seven have
any experience at the varsity level. So,
we're breaking in five young kids with very limited experience,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Wednesday evening, “So, we've used the preseason here
to try to get these guys up to speed number one and number two used to the
physicality and speed of varsity basketball in our scrimmages.”
Moyer says the kids are going to have to get used to that speed and
physicality at the varsity level pretty quickly.
“Especially, I think of speed, I think of us on the defensive end
and those guys getting used to being able to guard the ball at the varsity
level where not only are they physical, but the speed is significantly
different and the amount of effort that you have to put in on the defensive
end to be a good defensive team,” said Moyer.
Buckeye opens the season with Plymouth at home December 1.
Wynford comes to New Washington for the first Northern 10 Athletic
Conference game for both on December 8.
When it comes to playing hard, Moyer says that’s up to the kids,
they have to understand they have to play very hard.
“We preach as a staff we're not going to coach effort.
Effort comes from you as an individual player and that's what the
kids have to learn. To be a
varsity basketball player you have to learn the internal part of just giving
the effort to be able to compete at that level,” he said.
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Clear
Fork Working on Defense
Clear Fork is finding out here late in the preseason how good they
can be this basketball season.
Coach Tim Brafford says right now they are doing a lot of good
things. “Actually, right now,
I'm very happy with where we are. We've
installed everything we need for the season.
We'll work on some offensive plays as we go through.
We had our first scrimmage Saturday with Crenshaw and Ashland and I
was very impressed with how hard the kids played, how effective they ran the
offense, and the defensive pressure they put on the ball.
So, at this point in the season I'm thrilled,” said Brafford.
Brafford says they want to be a team that excels in the open court
and they have to be in solid shape if they want to be successful playing
that way. “What we're working
on now and we started (Monday) night is just running the entire basketball
court up and down. Not getting
comfortable in defensive rotation. One
thing that I found is difficult to do is to get high school kids to talk on
defense and it's critical and essential for us to be effective.
That's another thing that we're working on.
It's coming, but I think it's going to take a lot more line drills to
make it actually come out full force,” he said.
Clear Fork begins its season next Friday at home against Lexington in
non-conference play. Their first
Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference game with be December 7 at Galion.
Brafford says before they get to that opener they are going to be
tested and know where they stand. “One
thing that I did when I set up our scrimmage schedule is I put them late
into the preseason for a couple of reasons.
One, I wanted to know that we had our offense and defense installed,
out of bounce plays, press, press brake, we were ready to go.
Two, I wanted them to have some fun prior to going into the first
game,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday afternoon” Our first
scrimmage was this past Saturday and it was Crestview and Ashland's third
for both of them. We scrimmaged
again Tuesday. We'll scrimmage
Friday morning, we scrimmage again Monday night and next Friday we play Lex
in our first game. So, I think
we've got a good part of the season at this point.
The kids are excited, they definitely want to play someone different
than who they see in practice every day and go out and run the offense and
the defense.”
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Shelby
Faces Aggressive Margaretta
Shelby, the co-champion in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference last
year, hosts Margaretta, the winner of the Bay Division of the Sandusky Bay
Conference, Wednesday night on the opening night of the girls’ basketball
season.
Other openers on Wednesday include Madison at Clear Fork, Mt. Vernon
at Ontario, Bucyrus at Marion Pleasant and Upper Sandusky at Van Buren.
You can follow those scores on our scoreboard page at www.swankonsportshosting247.com.
Shelby coach Natalie Lantz says she feels they are improving and she
their communication has gotten better. “I
mean I think you always see a big improvement in the first couple weeks, but
I like what I've seen in our group from the scrimmages. I
feel like we're moving the ball a lot better.
We're starting to talk and defend better,” she told
Swankonsports.com on Wednesday evening, “Margaretta, they're returning on
a trip from the final four, in the state, so that I know they have a good
squad. They lost four really
think talented seniors, but I expect them to be basically picking up
momentum where they left off last year.”
Margaretta won a regional championship last season in division III,
but they graduated four outstanding seniors off that team, including Kylie
Leibacher.
However, Lantz stresses that Margaretta is still a solid team.
“I think Ray Neill is a great coach and he does a really good job.
They play aggressive they've got guards that can shoot or get to the
rim. They've got some length as
well. They're very aggressive on
the defensive end. So, I mean
we've got our work cut out for us,” said Lantz.
Lantz says when you face a team like Margaretta you can’t back
down. She says they want to
attack. “I mean you can in a
high pressure game you can you know back yourself into a corner or you can
attack it. Our goal is to attack
it. So, I think we have a good
game plan it's getting out there and executing,” she said.
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Lucas
to be Good Again
Lucas has been one the better small school basketball programs in
this area over the last more than half decade and that should continue this
year.
However, coach Taylor Iceman says they do have a different mix of
players than they have had in recent years.
“I'm excited, we've been practicing for couple weeks now.
We went over and scrimmaged Madison last Saturday.
We're starting to get after a little bit.
It was good to go against somebody different.
You sometimes get tired of going against a team that knows all your
plays and everything that you do in practice, so it was good to go against
somebody different. I'm excited,
we've got some guys back, we've got some new guys. We’ve got some guys
that haven't played varsity basketball before.
So, we have got a little bit of everything.
A little bit different group than that I've had for the last few
years. I've been really
fortunate to have a lot of experience and a lot of guys that have played a
lot of basketball. So, it's
going to be a little bit of a different group, but I'm excited about it. I
think we could have another successful year,” said Iceman.
Lucas plays its first game at home against Mohawk on December 2.
They open play in the Mid-Buckeye Conference on December 8 at Kidron
Central Christian.
Iceman says he knows what to expect from his seniors, from his
veteran players, but it will be the other players that will determine how
good the Cubs can be. “I fully
intend to lean on them a lot at the entire year, but I know what I've got in
those three guys because they started for me last year.
I told the other guys that I fully believe that a lot of our success
and failure is going to depend on our other guys, the role players, and some
guys that haven't done it before. So,
it's kind of up to them to really buy in and try and maximize their
potential and we're working at that. It's
just it's a little bit different than what we've had in years past, but I'm
excited about it because it's nice to sometimes be able to see growth and
things like that whereas in the last few years it was kind of like don't
screw it up because we had a lot of talent, we had a lot of expectations and
things like that. So, it's a
different group this year, but our expectations aren't going to change and I
honestly think we can have a really good year,” he said.
Iceman adds that he doesn’t need those guys to become superstars,
he just needs them to be as good as their talent dictates.
“I tell them all the time, Logan Toms is our best player and that
wouldn't matter what school he was at with exception of a few in the area. I
mean he’s really good. I tell
our kids, I don't need you to be Logan, fortunately for us we have one of
those. I don't need you to be
Aiden Culler, because again he's another one of our guys that’s going to
do a ton for us this year. I
know what I have got and what those guys can bring. I
just need you to be the best version of you and to be able to fulfill your
role. I don't need them to come
out and score 25 points and I'm not going to ask them to do something that
they're probably not capable of doing,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Tuesday night, “I do need them to you know take care of the ball, make
good decisions, play good defense and just play as hard as you can.
They're doing a good job of that.
I think the next part of that now is actually going out and doing it
and that kind of reaping the benefits from it.
They're probably tired of hearing me screaming and hollering and
telling them they have got to work hard, got to play hard, got to do this
and got to do that and not getting to see the good stuff.
Going out and doing all that is why we do it.
They're ready to experience a little bit of that and I'm excited
too.”
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Buckeye
Girls Making Progress
Buckeye Central has just over a week to get ready for the girls’
basketball season and they are making good progress with a young team.
They were supposed to start the season against Willard on Saturday,
but that game was pushed back due to Buckeye’s run in the volleyball
regional final.
Coach Phil Loy says they heading in the right direction.
“So far, it's been a work in progress.
We have low numbers, so this is probably the first year in school
history that I do not have a JV team that seems to be becoming the norm
unfortunately with schools in our area where kids aren't playing.
We have 11 kids and right now I only have 10 that have been
practicing consistently because we have one that's out with some health
issues,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “It's tough a lot
of days when you are practicing with eight, you're practicing with nine, you
might practice with seven, but lately now that the volleyball kids are back
we've been having ten. Things
are starting to get better as we go. The
late start hurts, but I like the direction we're heading right now.
Our goal everyday is just to keep getting better and hopefully better
things are coming.”
Loy says with a lot of girls tasting varsity action for the first
time, they just lack consistency at this point in the season.
“Well, just consistency. This
is a big change for the role that a lot of these girls that are going to
have to play. We lost five
starters. We return three
lettermen, who saw I would say some limited minutes last year.
They're all good girls. We
have some good, talented girls, but they just don't have that varsity
experience. So, this is a big
change for them to step up and play at the varsity level, so just having
that consistency is the big thing.
Everybody understanding their roles now at this level and
understanding the speed of the game is a little different going against
varsity girls than it is going against JV level girls.”
The Buckettes now open the season at Ridgedale, in non-league play,
on November 30.
Loy says they are getting better and they just have to continue to do
that as they get to next week. “Our
scrimmages, I felt like got better as we went and we became more aggressive
or more comfortable. We have got
nine more days yet to get to Ridgedale and hopefully by that time we're
getting a lot closer to where we need to be,” he said.
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Norwalk
Getting There
Norwalk has turned the corner in its progression as they get ready to
start the season next week.
Coach Adam Kreischer says the last two scrimmages they have had they
have looked pretty good and shown solid improvement.
“If we would have done this interview about a week ago today, I'd
be giving you a different story. So,
we went to Anthony Wayne last Monday and didn't play real well.
It's a long bus ride and stuff like that, but we were not very good
at either end of the floor. We
scrimmaged Western Reserve and Avon this past Wednesday I believe it was and
we looked a little better and had some good practices then on Thursday and
Friday of last week. Then Monday
we went against Upper Sandusky and Mansfield Senior up at our place and
played really well,” said Kreischer.
Kreischer says that improvement has come on both ends of the floor
and they needed that improvement in both areas.
“My thoughts early on when we spoke changed a little bit like I
said. So, we were really
struggling on both ends of floor and we were not scoring it as well as I
thought we would either. We've
really made some head way here and like I said in the past week or so.
The kids have really bought in to knowing that they had to do little
things all the time at both ends of the floor, which is helping us get
better defensively,” he told Swankponsports.com on Tuesday evening,
“We're really boxing out and rebounding the basketball, which allows us to
get out in transition, which obviously helps us score a little better.
We're doing nice job running our sets in our different offenses.
So, yeah we've we're progressing really at both ends of the floor
right now.”
The Truckers start the season next Friday at Ashland in non-league
plays. December 8 at defending
champion Sandusky marks their opener in the Sandusky Bay Conference Lake
Division.
The last part of the preseason can be a little of a grind, but
Kreischer says they really aren’t experiencing that at Norwalk.
“I felt that in past years through coaching, maybe even a little
bit last year at times, but I just think we've had a real nice natural
progression this year to be honest with you. I
don't feel like my kids are feeling that way right now and I'm certainly not
feeling that way either. I think
that we're enjoying the time together and the chance to really hone in and
improve and continue to work hard to get better each day, so that we're more
ready for that first game when the season starts,” he said.
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Mt.
Vernon Building
Mt. Vernon is in sort of a rebuilding mode in the Jackets last year
in the Ohio Cardinal Conference.
Coach Nick Coon says the preseason has been pretty much what you
would expect it to be. “We've
definitely had our ups and downs in the preseason so far.
We've had a challenging scrimmage schedule done on purpose to see a
lot of things. We have a lot of
uncertainty with our group and how they're going to respond at the varsity
level. So, we thought it was
necessary to throw them into the fire early and see how they respond to
that. At times we've responded
really well and other times we've had a lot of frustrations, but I think
that's all part of the growth process. We're
trying to just get a little bit better each day and keep moving forward,”
said Coon.
Coon says they have only three guys with any varsity minutes on their
resume. “We graduated seven
seniors, so we only have three guys back that that played any extensive
varsity minutes at all last year and even with those three they're in
completely different roles than what they played last year.
So, we're kind of learning on the fly as coaches and as players and
just as a collective group of what we can do well at the varsity level
together and things we have got to stay away from that maybe were good
things we did in the past and just kind of figure out what's best for our
group going forward this year,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday
afternoon, “It takes time and we understand that as coaches and getting
that across to young people as frustration is okay at times and working
through that leads to getting better if you attack it with the right
mindset.”
The Jackets open the season on December 1 at Centerburg.
Their first “OCC” game is at home December 8 against New
Philadelphia.
Coon says right now they are trying to figure out who should be on
the floor together. “It's not
always your five most talented players play the best together.
It's important that each guy figures out what their role is that is
best for their team and sometimes that's making an individual sacrifice for
the betterment of the group. We're working through those things right now.
We'd obviously like to improve at a rapid pace, but sometimes it's a
slow process. We're sticking
together so far and trying to just progress together as much as possible,”
he said.
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Wooster
Trying to be a Team
Wooster is emphasizing the concepts on teamwork as they prepare for
the high school boys’ basketball season, which begins next week.
Che Richardson, in his first year with the Generals, says they are
trying to put in a workable system and he likes the direction that they are
headed. “I’d say it’s a
lot of potential. We’re just
trying to buy into our system and the things that we want to do this season.
The things that we think will be successful.
We're just trying to figure it out right now and put it all together.
So, I would say right now if I had to give us a grade, I would say
we're probably sitting at C +, B-, so I'm liking what I've seen so far,”
said Richardson.
Richardson says each player has to know his role and embrace it for
the Generals to be successful. “Right
now, we're just trying to build the togetherness piece.
How to place everybody together and see that puzzle and how we play
together to benefit the entire program and the entire varsity team this
year,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday afternoon, “Right now, it's
togetherness, just the little things, like picking up your teammate off the
floor and just being cohesive and a together unit.”
Their first game is December 1 against Wadsworth in non-conference
play. They open play in the Ohio
Cardinal Conference at Lexington on December 8.
Chemistry can be a tricky thing to build, but Richardson says that is
going to be a very important key for them this season.
“That's been a big piece of just trying to build this chemistry and
just trying to get guys to buy into it. It's
more than just the two hours that you're on the floor.
It's all about what you're doing after you leave practice and being
able to sit in the locker room together and little things like that that I
think build the team camaraderie,” he said.
Published 11/22/23
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Shelby
Has Great Chemistry
Shelby is the defending champion in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference
and have the look of a team that going to be very good again this year.
Making it to the regional semifinal in football, the Whippets
didn’t have all of their kids in practice until last week.
Coach Greg Gallaway says they are used to that at Shelby and they
will deal with it. “Yeah, a
little bit shorter. Obviously,
we want our football team to have as much success and play as long as they
can in the fall and when we get our guys back we'll start working with them.
So, we had a little bit of delayed start compared to other schools
but it's okay, we're used to that here.
We just try to get our guys ready to go,” said Gallaway.
Shelby begins its season at home against Madison in non-conference
play on December 1. Their first
conference game will be the following Thursday, December 7, at Marion
Harding.
Gallaway says the extra week in the preseason this year is helpful
for the Whippets. “It helps
us. We got done playing on a
Friday and we got the majority of our guys back that following Wednesday and
we end up scrimmaging that Saturday. So,
just having three practices with like a full roster and then going to
scrimmage was a little bit difficult, but we're back in the routine with
practices and scrimmages. That
extra week was able to help us before we get ready for December 1st,”
he said.
So far, the team has had great chemistry, according to Gallaway.
“We have got we got eight seniors and that's really helped with
that process. We’ve got a
group that's just really connected and I think on and off the floor they
genuinely like being around each other, which is really important as far as
our chemistry goes. So, even
with the delayed start I think part of that transition being smooth has been
the eight seniors we have got and how close they are together,” he said.
Among those eight seniors is Wright State signee Alex Brushkotter and
second team all-MOAC picks Casey Lantz and Issaiah Ramsey.
Plus, Gallaway says they don’t have to do much teaching to do.
“We're very fortunate and those eight seniors, they're great kids,
they put a lot of time into basketball and within the offseason.
There it's not as much reteaching for us in the preseason, it's
getting our guys back into basketball shape and getting them with the flow
of you just transition back to the court,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Monday Afternoon, “We're fortunate to have eight seniors keeping our guys
accountable through our program from freshman up.”
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Mansfield
Senior Getting in Shape
Mansfield Senior has the talent to be a factor again in the Ohio
Cardinal Conference.
Their season beings on December 8 at home against Ashland in an
“OCC” game.
Coach Marquis Sykes says they have a bunch of experience this season
and they have some very good talent too.
“Very much experienced. We
lost one senior last year in Chunky Haney and he certainly will be missed
his offensive production and his ball pressure will be missed, but
definitely have a core group of guys that have and some tournament
experience and some regular season experience and have been around for a
while and feel like they're pretty talented bunch,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “Expectations are pretty high as always
and we feel like we can have a pretty good season as long as guys stick to
the script and take care of business and do the things that we ask them to
do.”
Sykes says they have had two looks against other teams in scrimmages
this month and he kind of likes what he sees at this point.
“We've had a couple of scrimmages so far.
We got a bit of a late start with our football group going to three
rounds in the football playoffs. All
in all, I like our energy and effort. Certainly,
have got to work on the execution part and some of the fine details of the
game. We certainly have got to
get in better physical condition, but all in all at this point of the season
we're okay with where we're at right now,” said Sykes.
Mansfield Senior, of course, plays at an up tempo game with the ball
and likes to feature pressure on defense.
Sykes says they need to be in better shape if they are going to do
that stuff. “We need it, we
certainly need it, so we're going to take full advantage and make sure our
guys are where we need them to be in order to play at the speed and the pace
that we that we'd like for him to play at,” he said.
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Colonel
Crawford Looks Ready
Colonel Crawford tips off the girls’ basketball season at home on
Wednesday night as they host the Northmor Lady Golden Knights in a
non-conference game.
Coach Zac Bauer says they have made good progress during the
preseason as they approach the opener. “When
we talked to our team (Monday) night after practice about being ready for
the opportunity that Wednesday is going to bring and about the growth that
we've made from our first practice through our scrimmages and we've seen
that in some film study that we've done on ourselves and we've seen that in
some of the shooting drills that we've done and the numbers that we're
starting to rack up in those. We've
got such a great group of kids that work so hard, they push themselves, they
push each other and when you have that kind of environment in practice you
will improve.”
Bauer says he likes the fact that the players are excited for that
first game. “It's good that
the preseason is as long as it is to get them ready and to get the kids, the
players themselves, to a point where they're confident in themselves and
they know they're ready. I like
to hear that from a team,” he said.
The Lady Eagles won this opener a year ago and Bauer says they better
be ready for Northmor to play with some intensity.
“I know Northmor has some players back from their team last year.
They played some younger players on the team last year.
So, a year of varsity experience for those younger kids always helps.
Their physical and they get after you on the defensive end and
they're going to come into our place and play really hard,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Monday evening, “One thing we talked about was, we
kind of shocked the world last year by winning that first game because we
lost 1,000 point scorer and maybe were not seen as ready to win that game.
We've got to be ready for them to come into our place with the same
mentality. Come on our home
floor and spoil our home opener.”
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Wynford
Eager to Play
Wynford was supposed to start the girls’ basketball season this
week, but instead will play its first game next Thursday against East Knox.
Veteran coach Amy Taylor-Sheldon says there have been some ups and
downs. “Well, we have a
combination of eight freshmen and five everyone else.
So, we have certainly are getting our rollercoaster of what is
experience and what is that inexperience, but I feel like we're closer to
meshing as a team every day,” she said.
Taylor-Sheldon says they have made good progress with what is a young
group of players. “I think
part of it is getting solid scrimmages and we had a great summer together in
June. I think that with our
scrimmages and just time getting the reps together this year.
We have a JV team, so that makes a big difference as well.
So, we feel like we've made a lot of progress, but I'm sure everyone
is itching to play,” she said.
Last year, Wynford did not have a JV team and that made it difficult
to practice. Taylor-Sheldon says
unfortunately that’s a trend across the state.
“It was difficult every day to practice, absolutely.
I'll be interested this is a greater phenomenon all the time it makes
me sad to be honest, but I also know that there's more things for kids to do
than ever, there's a lot of more things that are in competition to play
during what is a long, physical season for girls,” she told
Swankonsports.com on Monday evening, “There's kind of a divide there that
I hope, but it doesn't seem like that's going to change.
(Berlin) Hiland High School, who I would say is the most successful
girls basketball team and the State of Ohio, does not have a JV team.
So, I think that that will be something to consider moving forward
whether it's junior high, high school, what that looks like I don't know.”
Amy says this is a team that plays with a lot of energy and has
developed skills too. “I don't
not sure that we know that yet. I
would tell you that we have high energy. I
think we're very eager. I think
that so far when we've been up, we've been really up, and when we're down,
we have been really down. So, I
think that's probably indicative of our lack of experience, but I think it
will be a really fun team to watch. Even
with young kids, we have a pretty good balance of inside and outside.
Some kids I think will surprise people as three point shooters
because they've worked on their game and then some post players, who are
freshmen, that are fast in transition and hopefully we'll make an immediate
impact,” said Taylor-Sheldon.
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Norwayne
With Depth
Norwayne, the defending co-champion in the Wayne County Athletic
League, will return this year with another strong team that’s going to
compete for that title again.
Coach Brain West says they have some starters back and this season
the Bobcats are going to be deep. “We
actually have quite a few kids that are back that are returning letter
winners. We have two starters,
actually three starters back. Our
leading scorer in Braden West, my son, led us last year, as far as returners,
with 10 points a game, Parker Metsker will move to the point guard this
year, he'll be a two year starter and Trey Bayless is a senior, he'll be a
two year starter for us,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday afternoon,
“I think our depth is going to be something, will probably be eight or
nine deep, we haven't been that deep in years past and possibly going into
ten players deep. So, we have
more depth than we've had probably since I've been here in my 17 years.
We have quite a bit of experience coming back, so we're excited for
the season.”
The Bobcats have looked pretty good in the preseason so far,
according to West. “We've had
two pretty good scrimmages. We
had North Ridgeville and Buckeye down on Friday night and those are some
bigger schools. North
Ridgeville's got a nice player that's going to Lake Erie on a full ride.
So, we've been challenged in our preseason scrimmages and I thought
our kids have responded and we’ve played hard and we played aggressive.
We're trying to get up the floor like we did last year, so I think
our depth is helping us with that as well,” he said.
West says they are going to have similar goals to what they always
do, but this year they are a division II school.
“Goals are pretty high every year for our program, which is
fortunate for us, I guess good and bad at times.
We're going to sit down probably (Monday) night and set some team
goals as a group. Obviously,
winning the league is going to be number one.
We are division II this year, hopefully for a year, we are just four
over, so we're one of the smallest schools in division II.
So, that's going to be a challenge for us in the tournament moving up
a division, but I think our kids are ready for the challenge and they've
played some pretty high level games over the years, so I don't think the
stage would be too big for us,” said West.
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Calvert
Should be Good
Tiffin Calvert, who shared the title in the River Division of the
Sandusky Bay Conference last season, will be big and experienced this year
and that is usually a good thing.
Coach Jon Otterbacher says they have a lot of experience on the
roster. “We're going to return
four starters and six letter winners, so we're going to have plenty of depth
that's played a lot of games and a lot of minutes last year,” he said.
Otterbacher says they have shown the improvement he wanted to see
during the preseason this month. “Our
first scrimmage we were a little rough.
The other two teams had a couple scrimmages previously and then we
played really well this weekend,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday
night, “It's just getting back on the court and getting the familiarity
back with each other and we just continue to build and get better and work
hard together.”
Calvert opens the season in a very tough place as they are at Ottawa-Glandorf,
last season’s division III state runner up with Ohio State recruit Colin
White. Their first River
Division game is December 5 at home against Fremont St. Joe.
Otterbacher says he believes they are going to strong on the
defensive end. “I would say
teamwork, defense and rebounding. We're
going to be pretty big for especially for small school with two 6’3”
kids and two 6’5” kids. So,
we'll have plenty of length in order to slow the other team down and
hopefully any missed shot we get either offensively or defensively,” said
Otterbacher.
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Perkins
Has to Play Pirate Football
Unbeaten Sandusky Perkins, the “SBC” Lake champ, plays defending
state champion Cleveland Glenville on Friday night at Elyria High School in
a regional final in division IV.
Perkins (12-0) beat West Holmes, the “OCC” runner-up, (38-21) in
a semifinal last week in Marion.
They shutout the high scoring Knights in the second half and coach
Jalen Santoro says they made some halftime adjustments.
“We got off to a fast start there earlier in the game.
We got the kick there that bounced our way it wasn't a called onside
kick, but it bounced off one of their frontline guys and obviously when that
happens that's the way to start the game off.
So, we go in the halftime in a close game.
I think all our kids are pretty composed knowing that we're doing the
things on both sides of the ball we just need to crack a few little details
there and at halftime we did that,” said Santoro.
Glenville (10-3) smoked “MOAC” co-champ Shelby (50-14) in their
semifinal.
Santoro says the Tarblooders have big time talent, but at the same
time they are still a high school football team.
“Yeah, for sure it's a different animal.
It's a team that has guys going to power five schools that are
committed power five schools all across the board, so they’ve done a good
job getting some talent over there at Glenville and their defending state
champs for a reason,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday afternoon,
“We have got to do a good job of being us.
Again at the end of the day it's a high school football team and
that's the way we're treating it. You
have to go out and be prepared and ready to do what you do.”
Santoro says they have to get great pursuit and when they get there,
they have to get the ball carrier to the ground.
“One thing you have got to do is you have to make sure you get guys
to the ball. You have got to
make sure you can do what you want schematically to put people in positions
to be in the right spot to make plays, but at the end of the day you got to
make the plays and that's the crucial part to it.
It's a running back who's fast and can take it the distance and big
enough to run you over, so you have got to do a good job of gang tackling
him. Again, we have just got to
play Pirate football and get 11 hats to the ball and play together.
So, obviously it’s a tall task at hand, but I think our kids are
ready for the challenge,” said Santoro.
For the first time this year, Perkins likely isn’t the favorite.
Santoro says their goal is to win the state championship and this is
another step. “I think that's
kind of been our mentality all along. We
knew we wanted to get to this point, so that we've talked about all
throughout the season up to this point that if we want to go do what we want
to do and win the whole thing you have got to go through Grenville. If
have got beat the man, you have to beat the man.
So, now we have got the opportunity to do that and the opportunities
here, so again it's something that we talked about for a long time.
The week of preparations is in the books now, so now it's time to
strap it up and play the game,” said Santoro.
Published 11/17/23
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Ontario
Wants to Feature Pressure
It’s a new era of Ontario basketball as Jerry Moton takes over as
boys’ basketball coach of the Warriors.
He says so far, he likes what he sees.
“It has been very encouraging, very positive, the kids buying in,
they're starting to understand the way we're going to play, the concepts and
the intensity that you have to bring every single day to practice and
games,” he said.
Moton says this edition of the Warriors is going to force the issue
as much as they can. “We're
going to be intense, there's going to be a lot of pressure, we're not
sitting back, we're pressuring. What
we want to do is make you uncomfortable in every aspect of the game.
We want you shooting with tired legs.
We want to be the team that is the most in shape,” said Moton.
Ontario begins the season on December 2 at Crestview in a
non-conference game. Their
opener in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference will be at home against River
Valley on December 7.
If you are going to be up tempo, you need to be in top shape.
Moton says that’s not something that just started this month with
the Warriors. “Not even just
November, you create athletes in the off season.
So, during the offseason we had a great buy in.
We were getting like 15 to 20 guys just coming for conditioning and
we would condition like sometimes two or three times a day and these kids
just kept showing up and kept showing up. I'm
so very proud of this program and the direction that it is headed,” said
Moton.
Moton, a Mansfield Senior graduate, will be taking on his first
varsity assignment. He says he
is ready for the challenge of making the Warriors better.
“It's every aspect. Basketball
is my realm. It's what I love to
do and I love the coach and I love this team,” he told Swankonsports.com
on Thursday afternoon. “Nothing is perfect, but if you do it over and over
and over it can become a permanent
fixture, muscle memory. So,
there's a lot to work on. I just
can't say one thing, we can get better in every aspect of the game,” he
said.
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Western
Dealing with Adversity
Western Reserve is normally one of the best teams in the Firelands
Conference, and they still could be, but right now they are dealing with a
ton of injuries.
Coach Chris Sheldon says their practice sessions have looked more
like an episode of “General Hospital” minus Genie Francis.
“Well, what we've seen is more medical tents, doctors’
appointments, and our trainer than I have the guys we were anticipating
unfortunately. We're off to a
little bit of a slow start with a lot of injuries that have piled up and
that's limiting our ability for install, to making progress, to really,
truly gaining any traction that you really need to get done in the month of
November. With all that said,
the guys we do have they're trying to get better each and every day and
they're really taken to what our coaches are asking of them,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Thursday evening, “It's just right now we need more
time and we need to heal as best we can if we're going to be ready in two
weeks from now. We knew coming
into the year we were going to be young.
We just didn't anticipate six of our top eight having to be
sophomores. That's sort of where
we're at right now, but that group is hungry, they really like the game of
basketball, but there's a reason why most varsity basketball teams aren't
consisted of a lot of sophomores and right now we're going through that that
learning process.”
The Riders open the season on December 1 against Vermilion.
They play Mansfield St. Peter’s the next day.
Sheldon says they have had to make some adjustments to their game
plans because they just can’t do some things.
“We definitely had to adjust and mainly just because we're not
physically capable of doing some of the things we were hoping to do and
because of our mental basketball IQ, we don't pick up and make reads quick
enough on a lot of things offensively yet, so you can't throw too much at
them. You have got to figure out
a couple base packages that you think you can really try to improve on and
get better at. So, it just makes
the whole process that much slower. That's
just the hand we're are dealt with right now and where we're at.
I'd rather try to be good at a couple things than try to do way too
much and not be good at anything. That's
just where we're at right now at the end of week two,” said Sheldon.
Sheldon says this month their scrimmages they have are vital to them.
“It's the only time we get truly a look at varsity action in terms
of being guarded by varsity players, being sped up by varsity players,
trying to be able to execute against guys that are physically bigger than
you, which is what we're going to go through night in and night out.
We don't have a true post player right now and so we're playing
basically all guards and that that creates a whole other set of
circumstances both offensively and defensively.
We just have to go through those experiences to help us learn and to
help us grow and the more we can do that against the other varsity teams the
better off we're going to be able to try to speed up the process,” he
said.
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Lexington
Girls’ Promising
Lexington Lady Lex has some potential to become a good basketball
team, but they have a lot of learning to do as the season approaches.
First year coach Gabby Stover says the players have a good work ethic
and they can be a solid team. “My
thoughts are pretty promising so far. I
have got a lot of hard workers. We're
pretty young and so we definitely have a lot of improvement that can be made
but pretty promising group as far as work ethic and just overall morality.
So, pretty happy with how it's been so far,” said Stover.
Lexington scrimmaged against Upper Sandusky and Marion Pleasant on
Thursday.
Stover says they learn some things in every scrimmage that they have
had so far. “I think it's good
for us to kind of go out and play some teams that we don't normally see and
get shown that maybe we need to come back in and work on some new things and
work even harder than we did previously and that's always a good thing,”
she said.
Lady Lex opens the season the day after Thanksgiving against Clear
Fork, of the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference.
They play their first “OCC” game at home December 2 against
traditional power West Holmes.
Stover says the biggest thing they have improve is their decision
making when they have the ball. She
says they have to know when to push the tempo.
“I would say the biggest thing for us is it’s just going to take
clean shots and be a clean cut team. Right
now, we're pretty heavy in transition and I love a good transition team, but
for us there's going to be a time and a place for it and we got to learn the
difference between when we need to push when we need to slow down and get
through our sets,” she told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “For
us, I just have got to distinguish and get them to understand when it's time
for us to kind of lay back and get through stuff and when it's time to put
the pedal to the metal and go.”
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Highland
Making Progress
Highland is one of three schools in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference
to have new boys’ basketball coaches this season.
Ontario and Galion are the others.
Rayn Stover, no relation to the football coach Ty Stover, is the new
head coach at Highland. He was
at Galion last year.
Stover says the process of getting to know new players has gone well.
“It's been going pretty good. We
are trying to get some guys motivated to play. I
think we have got a lot of interest. The
first two weeks have been real solid and we have got a couple of scrimmages
coming up so we'll see how we do,” said Stover.
With the group he has this year, Stover says they have some
potential, and they just need to figure out how they all go together.
“We have got a lot of pieces we have got to put together.
A good group of guys, we play physical, we just have got to get the
right rotation in there at the right time,” he said.
Stover says the scrimmages that they have are an important tool to
see what there players can do and how they fit in.
“That way we can know what guys we can put in what situations and
who can handle the ball, who can shoot it, who our best defenders are.
It gives us more things to tweak leading into our first game,” said
Stover.
They open the season by hosting Fredericktown on December 1.
They travel to Marion Pleasant for their league opener on December 7.
Stover says before that time they need to find out who can play and
who can’t play at the varsity level. “It's
a big jump even from freshman to JV and JV to varsity.
The varsity game nowadays is so much faster than it used to be,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “A lot of kids, especially the
younger kids, they've have got to be able to match that level of quickness
and physicality at the varsity level.”
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Dalton
Not in Awe
It’s Dalton against Danville in a division VII regional final
Friday night at Dover High School.
Dalton won the Wayne County Athletic League this year and Danville
captured the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference.
Last week the Bulldogs (11-1) beat Norwalk St. Paul (48-28) in a
semifinal game as tailback Greyson Siders scored four touchdowns and the
Dalton defense scored three times.
Coach Broc Dial says they made enough plays.
“St. Paul had a really great game plan and played really physical.
It was a physical game. Our
kids made a lot of plays and were able to touch it out there in the second
half,” said Dial.
On the other hand, Danville (13-0) outscored Lowellville (41-21) in
their semi last week.
Dail says they are very good and remind them somewhat of themselves.
“A very good football team, very well coached, physical, remind us
a lot of us on their offense. Defensively,
playing a 3-3 and see the ball really well, tackle well, just a really good
football team,” he said.
When it comes to defense, Dial says really it is the same keys as
always that will put them in position to contain the Blue Devils.
“I think it's the same thing as every week.
We need to get lined up, read our keys, and pursue to the football.
If we do those things they will help us play good defense,” he
said.
Dalton advanced to the division VI regional semifinals last season
before losing to Kirkland, they lost to Warren JFK in the regional semifinal
in division VII in 2021 and to JFK in their third round in 2020.
With their past success, Dial says they feel comfortable playing in
games of this magnitude. “I
think it's a testament to our kids and our community,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Wednesday evening, “Football's been important at
Dalton and in the last few years we've had some successful teams and our
kids expect to be here and you could definitely tell that throughout the
week of practice.”
Published 11/16/23
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Clear
Fork Has to be Ready to go
The girls’ basketball season starts next week and Clear Fork will
need to start the season running.
Coach Scott Sellers says they have all of their kids and he likes
what they have shown in the preseason. “We're
starting to come together as a team. We
open a week from now against Madison. We
have got three scrimmages in. We
have got everybody back. I think
(Wednesday’s) practice 13, so we certainly got our sights set on the
beginning of the season and I like where we're at,” he said.
Sellers he has a team that is always going to give effort, will play
defense in the full court and has the ability to make shots.
“I think we'll play extremely hard, that's kind of been our calling
card the last several years. I
mean it's easy to say that, but we have a group that that we believe has
bought into that. The senior
class has had one coach their entire career, so this is four years now with
this coaching staff, this program. I
think they know what to expect,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday
afternoon, “I think we'll play incredibly hard and we'll play incredibly
fast as well. We have got a
bunch of guards, we don't have a lot of size and really we haven't for the
last couple years. So, to kind
of counter that we like to pick up full court, we like to run when we can.
Against man, we'll try to attack the basket and kick out threes and
take it in there and against zones we have got certain shooters on the floor
that we like to get them spots. So, for us it's about space offensively,
playing with pace, and playing hard defensively.”
Clear Fork begins the season next Wednesday, the day before
Thanksgiving, against Madison, and that fill be followed by a stretch of
games against some pretty good teams.
Sellers says they better be ready.
“We will find out where we stand. We
have Madison, we have Lex and we have Bellevue all within the first five or
six days. We have got conference
games with Galion and Ontario and then it's Mansfield Senior and what I
believe is going to be a really good Pleasant team.
So, I think within the first couple weeks we get in seven games, so
we need to be ready I'll tell you that because the level of competition that
we're playing will force us to be ready,” said Sellers.
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Crestview
Needs to Handle Expectations
Crestview is likely the favorite to repeat as Firelands Conference
champions this season and the Cougars have to be able to handle that
pressure.
Coach John Kurtz says a benefit heading into this year is that his
kids where able to get into the gym a lot more in the fall than they have is
some previous years. “Well, we
probably didn't have as many football players this year as we have
typically, so our kids have been in the gym and got to have open gym and
work on some stuff that we typically maybe don't get everybody in during
football, but this year it's worked out a little better for us.
So, we've got a little bit more time in than we typically would,”
said Kurtz.
The Cougars begin the season with a double weekend at home with
Mansfield Christian and Ontario on December 1 and 2.
Their first Firelands Conference game is December 8 as they host
South Central.
Kurtz says due to the calendar there is a extra week of practice when
compared to last season and he says coaches will put that to go use.
“I mean I think it's a good thing other than the fact that you know
after so many days of practice your kids are ready to play a game,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday afternoon, “It does for the coaches it
gives you a little bit more time to maybe work on some things that you feel
like are a point of emphasis for you and maybe get some of your younger kids
a little bit more on the same page.”
Now, there has been a lot of talk around the conference about how
good Crestview can be this season. Kurtz
says the players have to be able to handle that pressure.
“I mean we've been pretty blunt with our kids about that
expectations can be good and bad. Expectations
can put a lot of pressure on you and if you're not ready for that you know
it could hurt you. The
expectations to meet you can't factor in injuries and all the different
things. Yeah, that's kind of a
tough thing to navigate sometimes with high school kids,” he said.
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High
Expectations at Wynford
Wynford is going to be one of the favorites in the Northern 10
Athletic Conference this season.
They had a good year last year and coach Mike Smith says they bring a
lot of kids back from that squad. “I
have four starters back from last year's group that won 13 games, so I would
call us a veteran group. One guy
off the bench that played a lot for us and we brought up probably two or
three JV kids from last year, so I would say mostly veterans with a little
bit of mix of some younger kids. I
do have all juniors and seniors though, there's no sophomores or freshmen,
so I would say probably pretty much veteran group this year,” said Smith.
The Royals open the season at Van Buren on December 1.
Their first “N10” is December 8 at Buckeye Central.
Smith says so far the preseason has been very good.
“It's been very good so far. So,
anything we do we don't really have to explain a whole lot after year three
our kids have really bought into what we're doing and any drill we do, any
offense we run, it's pretty much in grained in them by now.
It's been really good to see that happen over the last three years. I
think we're obviously headed in the right direction over the last three
years,” he said.
This is Smith’s third year as the Royals head coach.
He is also a Wynford grad.
Smith says there are high expectations at Wynford this year and he
has told his kids that this month. “High
school kids you never know. I
really like what we're doing though as a group. We
have great leadership. I have
two or three guys that have played almost three or four years now,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday afternoon, “I told him at the
beginning of this season you know you're the hunted now.
We're not the hunter anymore, so we're going to have to match that
and hopefully were ready to do that.”
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Upper
more Experienced, Physical
Upper Sandusky is expecting a better season this year as the Rams are
more experienced and they are more physical than they were a year ago.
Coach Jeff Winslow says they have matured a lot over the off season
and that is going to help them this winter.
“We are really kind of young, but it is a veteran group because
with some things that happened last year with injuries and whatnot, we
played a lot of younger guys maybe I planned on being on the JV team were
varsity players and now all those guys that have a tear of experience and
growth and things under the belt. So,
all the guys we have got coming back pretty much did see varsity time last
year. What's really nice is when
you walk into the gym, we don't look like a bunch of JV players we got some
guys that have really grown and hit the weight room hard and I think
athletically and physically will be able to compete better this year with
the guys we have coming back,” said Winslow.
Winslow says he likes what he sees from his players this month.
He says they are going to be able to compete better because they are
more physical. “It's been a
good group, they've worked really hard and so far this season it's just a
night and day difference with our ability to play physically and just more
physically imposing. We were
always the skinniest, smallest team on the court it seemed last year and
this year I think it's going to be the other way around,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Wednesday evening, “We're going to have some solid
athletes out there with some size that and some skill too.
So, I really like this group. Again,
we’re still playing three juniors and a sophomore with a couple seniors
mixed in, so it's still a little young, but they're all back.
I'm excited to be able to compete with some guys that are just
physically bigger, stronger, faster than they were a year ago.”
In the preseason here, Winslow says they have not had to do as much
teaching because the players know where they are supposed to be and what
they need to do. “It's not so
much review, I mean they've been through our system for a while and they
know what's going on, so you’re kind of building each day starting from
day one instead of starting back at scratch.
So, they have got a lot of experience with them and that that leads
to us being able to put some more things in and add some things and just
keep getting better,” he said.
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Plymouth
Working on Chemistry
Plymouth has a team with a lot of upperclassmen and right now they
are working on developing some team chemistry that is going to help them win
games.
Coach Eric Picklesimer says they have a lot of seniors, but they have
some younger kids too. “Well,
we have eight seniors on the roster, which has created a lot of competition
in the gym which we didn't have last year a lot.
So, with the eight seniors, they're not necessarily all of our
varsity experienced, so they're getting a lot of experience in practice
these last few days and they're picking up really well.
The younger guys are coming in and really competing with them.
So, we have got good competition in the gym right now and so that's
something we you know we're proud of,” said Picklesimer.
Plymouth opens the season on December 1 against Buckeye Central, but
before that they have a number of scrimmages.
Picklesimer says those are important to them.
“Scrimmages open up a lot of weaknesses and they show a lot of
strengths. A lot of things we do
in practice you're just competing with the same guys over and over.
So, that scrimmage creates an environment of something new, something
different, something we haven't seen and everyone gets a hands on
experience. So, they're
definitely valuable,” he said.
Most of all in this preseason, Picklesimer says they are working on
creating some chemistry on the team. “Well,
I could give you several areas we need some improvement on absolutely, but
one thing that sticks out we're trying to create a better team atmosphere in
the gym and that's something that's a bit of a challenge for our guys,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday afternoon, “I don't think it's
something that they have been really that been part of a lot.
So, we're trying to get that leadership and that team atmosphere and
that's something we're all trying to get better at for sure.”
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Columbian
Ready for TCC
Tiffin Columbian faces unbeaten Toledo Central Catholic in a regional
final in division III on Friday night at Clyde High School.
The Tornadoes (11-2) blanked Medina Buckeye (35-0) in a semifinal
last week.
Coach Judd Lutz says they are playing their best football right now.
“We're training in the right direction and that's something we
pride ourselves on is constantly you know trying to evolve, try new things
if we feel like there's an area of weakness or something we need to work on
and we want to play our best football at the end of the year. It
felt like we played a really good game holistically last week.
We're far from perfect. We
had two turnovers in the first half, which we have not done in quite some
time on the offensive side of the ball, but the defense consistently got
stops and got off the field and that was good to see.
That's not something we've done you know enough this season, but we
feel like that side of the ball is starting to come around here the last
couple weeks with some small changes making a big impact,” he said.
TCC (12-0) hammered Mansfeld Senior (41-10) last week in their
quarterfinal. They have scored
no fewer than 28 points in any game this season and they have scored at last
six times in their last six games. They
have three shutouts this season and another three games when they have
allowed on one score.
Lutz says the Fighting Irish have no weaknesses.
“It's an excellent conglomerate of talent.
They have great players on both sides of the ball and on special
teams and they have tremendous amount of depth at a lot of those positions.
So, there's no person or thing you can just key on and even if you
really try to its hard to get done. For
example, they're outstanding rushing team.
They have a big physical offensive line, that’s sound.
They have got two backs that run in different ways that are both
outstanding and a quarterback who could run as well. So,
it's easier said than done to just say we have got to stop the run and if we
do that we're going to be successful,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Tuesday afternoon, “It's really hard to do when they're really, really
good at it and have really good players to do it.
So, on offensive side of the ball they've been tremendous at imposing
their will on most teams, but also have the speed and athleticism to be
explosive on the perimeter. Defensively,
same thing they can sit in some base defense and stop teams, but also get
after it and pressure the quarterback and make negative plays in the run
game. So, it's going to be an
outstanding effort on our part to get it done.”
The Irish won the division II state title last season and then
dropped to division III this year.
Most football fans would call TCC the favorite in this game, but Lutz
says they are going to go in and play with confidence.
“Not that we circled this match up because it was a long time
coming, but we anticipated having a good team this year and people you know
when they dropped down into our region had some people talking to me about,
man what a matchup that would be or man that would be a tough game, but I
knew it would it'd be a long way down the road and we both have to win a lot
of games for that matchup to occur, but here we are.
So, it's definitely a great team, but we feel like we've been
prepared. No offense to the
opponents they played, they played an outstanding schedule as well, but we
played three teams who are in the elite eight and still playing right now,
two in our division and one in division IV. So,
we're no stranger to resistance and playing really good teams, so it's
another one of those challenges and I think our kids are up for it, I know
our coaches are,” said Lutz.
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Sandusky
Reloading
Sandusky last season won the Lake Division of the Sandusky Bay
Conference and reached the regional semifinals on division II and this
season it looks like they are poised to have another very good season.
However, coach DeMar Moore says they are going to be short on
experience early in the season. “We
have a younger group actually. We
have got two guys that started last year back and then we have got two guys
that that came off the bench for us last year, but other than that we're
inexperienced, we don't have much varsity experience,” said Moore.
Moore says the kids are doing a lot of good things and especially
likes the attitude that they are showing when the are in practice or in
scrimmages. “I'm very, very
pleased where we are right now. The
group we have, they're very coachable, they play really hard and they want
to get better, so anything we tell them like they're willing to try and
willing to do it. They're very
easy to coach, which is a good thing,” he said.
With some very good players graduated, Moore says they are trying to
figure out who plays where and what players should be on the floor.
“It's funny you said that. We
had a scrimmage (Tuesday) night on the bus ride back I was talking to one of
my assistants and I said we have all the pieces to the puzzle we just have
to figure out how to put it together,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Tuesday night, “We have we have a really, really good junior class.
We have got two seniors, nine juniors and one sophomore.”
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Galion
Working on the Defensive End
Galion has a new basketball coach this year in Tyler Sanders, who
comes over from Crestline to take over the Tigers program.
Sanders says they have identified a couple of areas where they know
they need to get better. “It's
just been a little bit different. It’s
been up and down and you have a few hiccups along the road, but we're just
working on setting that standard and getting everybody to come along with
it. For the most part, I think
we've done pretty good. From
a basketball standpoint coming in we had two glaring problems and that was
defense and rebounding. I think
we're getting the defense corrected and working on the rebounding.
So, I think once we get those two things corrected, we could be a
pretty decent basketball team,” said Sanders.
Galion has a couple of second team all league performers back this
year in Cooper Kent and Elijah Chafin. Sanders
says they are going to be able to put the ball in the basket.
“We are returning a couple of seniors, one that’s already scored
1,000 points, and one that's real close and some really nice role players
that can really shoot the basketball. I
think that is the kind of the good part everybody knows their role coming
into the season and it’s kind of been their role as they have progressed
through their years in high school,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday
afternoon,” Everybody kind of knows their responsibility coming in and
what they have got to do to be successful.
So, I have no worries about scoring the basketball this season. I
think that this team can really shoot the basketball, but the defense and
the rebounding, like I said, was the glaring problem that we are working on
correcting.”
Galion opens the season on December 7 against Clear Fork in a
Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference game.
Sanders says he already sees some good things on the defensive end.
“I think that the thing that we saw in our first scrimmage and
talking to an opposing coach where we both agreed on it kids play a lot
harder when the ball goes through the hoop.
So, I think that's a good combination that we can have in our kids
really starting to play hard on the defensive end and starting to rebound.
I think when they're man make shots, I think about just going to get
them to play that much harder. So,
I'm really excited about the way that they're progressing and stuff and we
are just going to keep harping on it,” he said.
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New
Philadelphia Trying to Figure Things Out
New Philadelphia will be assembling a cast this year from little
experience at the varsity level.
Coach Zach Ross says they only three kids back from their team from a
year ago, but he likes the energy he sees in practice.
“We're definitely less experienced.
We’ve got three returning letterman Colten Slaughter, Owen
Schoelles and Owen Miller, but everybody's kind of been in a new spot.
We're moving from the role player role to trying to find our group as
leaders and we're incorporating some freshmen and some sophomores and
juniors, so we are kind of all over the board still figuring out lineups.
We definitely have got a young group.
It's definitely a high energy group that we have right now, so
practices have been fun and competitive and just there's been a lot of good
culture time in the gym right now with us,” said Ross.
Ross says right now they are trying to figure out what players fit
where and how they can best make the team better.
“My assistant coach Kyle Sundheimer told me (Tuesday), he said we
got a really complicated puzzle coach and we got to figure it out and that's
exactly what we're doing right now. Our
guys are buying in and they're working hard.
We are in the middle of two days this week, going before school and
after school and we're just working hard and we're figuring out these
pieces. If you got any answers
on how to put that puzzle fits together, we'll take suggestions also,” he
said.
The Quakers, like a lot of other teams, are involved in a series of
scrimmages and Ross says hopefully that we make them better.
“Those are similar to games right now and it's difficult because
you're still trying to figure out lineups, so you're moving in and out, and
you're figuring out how you're going to sub and what positions different
guys are going to play if they're going to have to play a big and a wing or
just one or the other and learning different actions that we're going to run
from different spots and then also being able to guard from those different
spots,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “It starts in our
practice. We're really just
trying to drill in and build those daily habits that help us succeed when it
does come time for the lights to come on and you have got some people on the
bleachers and scrimmage time on an early Saturday morning or Wednesday night
whenever it may be. Really the
habits that we want to see start showing up in the scrimmages because I
don't think anybody has a scrimmage after that first couple and you're like
oh we're complete we're ready to go, so I think it's constantly
reevaluating, reassessing what we have and what ways we can get better.”
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Colonel
Crawford Will be Physical
Colonel Crawford, one of the traditional small school basketball
powers, will be less experienced this year than they have been in a long
time.
Veteran coach David Sheldon says they return only one starter from a
team that won a division IV district title last year.
“Well, it's early, we just got our football players in all together
last Friday with getting to the second round of the playoffs we gave him
some time off and we just got them in. We're
a work in progress. We're a very
young basketball team with losing four starters from last year and four
seniors that averaged 45.6 points per game, those four seniors.
So, we're sort of putting the pieces together and it’s a young team
that we got to keep progressing day by day during the preseason,” he said.
Sheldon says they really only have one kid returning that played a
lot for them last year. He says
they are trying to find out how the other pieces fit together as they are
working in the preseason. “We
return one starter Trevor Vogt, who averaged just over seven points a game
and then we have two kids back that came off the bench last year in Ryan
McMichael, a senior, and then Payne DeGray, a sophomore, but everybody else
played JV basketball the year before,” he told Swankpnsports.com on Monday
afternoon, “The good thing is we got together in June before they got off
to football and started to see what we could piece together.
Then we didn't see him until last week all of our guys for the most
part played football, which is great, they had great success.
We have just got a lot of work to do to be honest as we're early in
the preseason.”
The Eagle football team finished as the Northern 10 Athletic
Conference runner-up and advanced to the division VI regional quarterfinal.
Sheldon says they are going to be physical, but they must work hard
on sharpening their basketball skills. “We
have got a physical basketball team, that's the one thing about this
basketball team is they're a physical one.
Every night we're going to have to guard night in and night out.
The thing is we're doing so much skill work right now offensively,
just getting the ball back in their hands, shots, ball handling, everything,
breaking down the fundamentals since we don't open until the first week in
December. It's nice, we don't
open Thanksgiving week like years past, we have got another extra week of
preseason with the long football run that we made,” said Sheldon.
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Clyde
Developing Some Players
Clyde has some talent when it comes to basketball players and if they
can get healthy they have a good chance to be really good.
Right now, coach Ryan Fretz says they are trying to develop the
muscles they need for basketball. “I
like the effort up to this point. We
have a lot of work to do to get in shape.
We've got all of our guys, except for one, play football, so they're
coming off of football season. We're
taking the shoulder pads off because that's one of the things we always talk
about is take the pads off and loosen up those shoulders, so we can shoot.
Our shots are typically flat during the first couple of weeks after
we get our boys, but then we just put them through shooting drills and
eventually they end up finding their shot.
It looked pretty good (Monday) at practice.
We're looking as quick as can be.
We're pretty athletic,” he said.
Fretz they are dealing with injuries and again this season they just
aren’t very tall overall. “There
are two things that kind of holding us back.
Number one is we've got some injuries.
We have got Brennan Wilson, who's still sitting there with the broken
collarbone, who could be back here you know sometime here before the end of
the month. Then Brayden Olson is
nursing his foot from a from a football injury.
Mason Flewelling tore his ACL in the Tiffin Columbian football game.
So, we've got three varsity guys that were going to get ample minutes
that are sitting along the sidelines during practice.
Then the second thing is we're similar to where we were last year, we
lack size. We've got Cayden
Perkins, who's about 6’1”, 6’2” and then we have a sophomore Chase
Castle, who sits close to 6’6” maybe, he’s a big body guy, but he
played freshman and a little bit of the JV for us last year.
So, he's got some development to do there.
Our three you know starters out, our three experienced guys have been
sitting out for the last week and half,” said Fretz.
One positive thing the injuries have done is allow the Fliers to
develop some other players and this will eventually allow them to be a
better team, according to Fretz. “So
far, it's allowed some of our younger guys, guys that aren't Brennan and
Brayden Olson to step up and lead in other ways and that's what I'm
extremely happy about. We've got
guys that aren't really talking, that aren't known to be your leading
talkers, like Ben Wott, who's now a point guard and demanding the ball on
offense and running the offense for us and he's talking out there. Kam
Shortridge has impressed the coaching staff a lot. I
mean I know he's coming off of a great football season where he was a leader
for our football team and he's picked up right there for us on the
basketball court,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday evening, “Then
Cedric Messer is coming off of the football field and picking up right where
he's left off with his leadership and talking.
So, even though we're down three guys, we've got three guys that have
really picked it up for us and you're just seeing them grow and it gives
younger guys a chance to get better to when we do get our full squad back
this year, we're just that much better.”
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New
London Girls with Big Goals
New London is primed and ready to go for the girls’ basketball
season, which begins next week.
Coach Eric Mitchell says they return almost everybody from a team
that finished second in the Firelands Conference last season.
“We lost one kid who decided not to come back out, but we did gain
a junior, she played her freshman year and she came back, but she's one that
can help. I mean we've set the
expectations pretty high and the girls know that because after the season we
had we hope to build on the momentum that we had there at the latter part of
the season last year,” he said.
Mitchell says the learning curve with this year’s team should be
pretty minimal because for most of them it’s just a review.
“We’ve had ups and downs, you can tell it's early.
Every single girl on my team is involved in a fall sport, so you
don't get a lot of that time in the fall, but the nice thing is they come in
and they're ahead of schedule because they know what we're running.
We don't have to review as much,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Monday afternoon, “We can just get into running a lot of the sets that we
want to run and a lot of offensive and defensive stuff that we are kind of
taking from last year into this year. We
have got another scrimmage, we've had two of them, we have five total this
year. We'll have one with
Colonel Crawford, then Wynford/Old Fort and then finish up with Margaretta
before the real season gets going.”
New London opens the season the day after Thanksgiving against Wayne
County Athletic Legue power Smithville.
Their first Firelands Conference game is the next day against
Monroeville.
Mitchell says he wants his players to be tested.
“My non conference, I really tried to go out and get some really
high quality teams as well as the scrimmages.
We played a good Keystone team and a Cloverleaf team, so two bigger
schools, started off down at Ashland with them and Wooster Triway.
So, that's what I want to do.
I say to the girls these are the teams that we want to see because it
lets us gauge where we are and where we need to get to if we're going to
continue to grow upon the success we had last year,’ said Mitchell.
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Perkins
Must Have Pursuit
Sandusky Perkins takes on West Holmes in a division IV regional
semifinal on Friday night at Marion Harding Stadium.
Perkins survived a scare last week to beat St. Mary’s Memorial
(28-21) in a quarterfinal game.
Coach Jalen Santoro says they had to make adjustments in order to
defend the Roughriders run game. “They
came out and we knew they could pose some threats running the ball and
eating some clock and that's exactly what they did.
So, going into halftime there they were four of four on fourth down
and they had 21-14 lead at halftime. The
time of possession was actually 19 minutes to five them.
We had to come in and make some adjustments with our defense and we
did that the best we could take away their right hand after halftime.
Our defense came out the second half and held them underneath 70
yards for the total of the half. Our
offense got two quick scores on the board.
At the end of the game our defense had some big stops.
So, obviously it wasn't pretty but at this point in the year you’re
just trying to get a win and advance and get another week of football,”
said Santoro.
Perkins (10-1) is the outright champion of the Lake Division of the
Sandusky Bay Conference. West
Holmes (10-2) was the runner up in the Ohio Cardinal Conference.
The Knights beat Galion (22-19) last week on a tipped TD pass with 19
seconds remaining.
Santoro says they have an explosive offense and a defense that gets
to the football. “They have
some really explosive players. They
have got a quarterback who can run and pass and he does you know everything
pretty well, so you have got to make sure you keep your eyes on him in the
pass game because he has the threat take off and run.
So, obviously between the receivers that they have that are very good
and make some big plays out there on the catch you have got to make sure
you're trying to keep them at bay as much as possible,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Thursday afternoon, “At the end of the day it comes
down to making sure you're tackling and getting of blocks and doing a little
things right. This week it's
been a lot of mental prepping to make sure we're ready for what they do.
Defensively, they have some players that make some plays.
They have some players on the defensive line that are really good.
Any game you turn on this year on the film they're rarely getting
blocked. So, it's very important
to win the trenches. You can
stress that every week, but I think even more so important this with what
they want to do on offense and defense.”
West Holmes quarterback Morgan Smith is among the state leaders in
points scored this season. He
accounted for eight TD’s in game this year against Lexington.
Santoro says their defense must have great pursuit.
“Everything starts their quarterback whether it's run or pass.
Then once he gets rid of the ball pretty quick sometimes you got to
make sure that you're pursuing to the football and make sure you're getting
people around the ball and gang tackle when you can.
So, they put him in a great spots.
He does a great job of making the right reads and playing mistake
free football. So, again it just
kind of comes down to making sure that we're in the right spots, we're ready
pre-snap. The big thing, like I
said, is just getting off blocks and pursuing the football,” he said.
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Ashland
With Solid Younger Group
Ashland has some younger talent with which to build a good basketball
team this winter.
Coach Jason Hess says he has been happy with the way things have been
going so far this preseason. “Well,
it's been kind of nice actually, it's a little unchartered territory for us,
usually we're dealing with kids coming in with injuries from various
situations and this year with the little bit bigger gap between football and
basketball season it's been nice to have all our guys healthy right from the
beginning. So, we're excited
about this bunch of kids that we've got.
We've got a good core group of kids that were extremely committed in
the offseason and really put some time into basketball.
We're still a little inexperienced.
We're going to be playing some youngsters this year.
It’s looking like four sophomores probably at the varsity level.
It's four guys that have earned the right to be varsity basketball
players. We've got a nice group
of seniors and juniors to go with them.
So, we're definitely excited about the potential of this group, but
potential doesn't win games and that's what we've kind of been talking to
our guys about staying the course and working hard and getting better and
competing every day,” said Hess.
Hess says they have some kids that have varsity experience and those
players have grown and matured since last year.
“Three of them got a little bit of varsity time last year and you
can tell a big difference between them a year ago at this time coming in as
freshmen and just out of the 8th grade basketball experience wise versus
having a little bit of varsity experience under their belt.
Just a lot more confidence maturity wise.
They have filled out physically and they're just playing a lot better
basketball. So, it's exciting to
be able to have the opportunity just to watch these kids continue to grow
and see what the future holds here for Ashland Arrows with a good group of
sophomores and young talent,” he said.
Hess says they are working this month on what offense and defense
will work best for the talent that they have.
“We had summer basketball and I have talked before about how
important summer could be with trying new things, but you really don't know
until you turn on those lights. We’ve
got scrimmages like everybody else does and those are good tests, but
they're not quite the same. So,
right now it's a matter of trying to put some different things in, some
different wrinkles. Unfortunately,
we're not like the college level when we recruit our players and say hey we
can run the same system every year and I can go get another kid that does X,
Y and Z because that's what I need for my system,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Thursday afternoon, “We've got to make wrinkles and
changes to fit our personnel each year and that's kind of what we're trying
to do right now is decide hey what's best for the group of kids.
We've got to get the kids to be able to buy into that and learn that
and then hopefully when games come around in December, we guessed right on a
couple things and what we're doing is working.
If you get in the middle of December and it's not working then you're
starting over and that's not a good feeling.”
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Mohawk
off to Good Start
Mohawk, the runner-up in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference last
season, has some pieces back to put together another solid team this year.
Coach Paul Dunn says they have some kids that have played basketball
at the varsity level. “We
graduated three seniors that played a lot, but we've got a lot of experience
coming back honestly. We have
two seniors that got a lot of playing time, one especially in Brayden
Chester, and then a junior class that’s well seasoned for their age and
they've played a lot of basketball together. Two
of our top six or seven guys are still coming back from injury, so we're
still kind of working the kinks out trying to get some guys in some spots
they're probably not overly comfortable with, but we're working our way
towards hopefully a product that's going to be ready to go on December
2nd,” said Dunn.
The way the calendar falls this year there is an extra week for
basketball teams to prepare for the season, which begins the first week of
December.
Dunn says that’s a good thing.
“It's nice and unfortunately our team didn't make the playoffs this
year in football, but it's just nice to for the kids to not feel like
they're rushed in some sense to get there.
As a coach, not to feel that anxiety of getting our kids on the floor
sooner rather than later even if they're just a few days out of football.
So, it gives our kids the time that they need.
I think as a coach it gives us some more time to make sure that we're
taking our time and put stuff in correctly and not trying to rush through
things,” he said.
Dunn says a real key to November is making sure the kids are in
basketball shape before the season starts.
“I'm sure every coach loves that Friday, Saturday kind of a quick
start there going into the weekend and give your kids a day on Sunday to
kind of catch their breath and maybe ice down a little bit because those
first two days are hard on the kids for sure,” he told Swankonsports.com
on Thursday night, “It's long practices and getting those legs back in
shape. Trying to get some
muscles that for some kids haven't been used for a while, especially if you
don't do football, if you're doing golf or cross country, you're not using
those quick switch mussels for a while.
So, you're using muscles haven’t been used, so these kids
definitely need to get back in shape and it's a slow process, but we're
working our way towards it one day at a time.”
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Northwestern
Going to be Intense
Northwestern is going to be a different team than even they thought
this winter and they might be pretty good too.
Veteran coach Mark Alberts Jr. says they have an influx this season
of talent that will make the Huskies a better team.
“We have nine seniors that came out for our team this year and we
have got a sophomore, that's 10 guys I have got on the varsity, definitely a
little bit of surprise. We had
three guys come out I didn't know we're going to come out and we're really
happy they came out because the other six seniors I have are returners from
last year, five of them letterman and three starters.
So, these other guys that came out are big and they're strong,
they're athletic kids. We're
going to be a little bit more interesting I think that a lot of people
thought this year,” said Alberts.
Alberts says this season has really been fun so far for him and he
thinks the team too. He says
they are going to be aggressive on defense.
“This year has been weird because I don't have a son playing for me
here and in the last eight out of the last nine years I have and now I'm out
there just kind of trying to help these guys fit in and it's a lot of
fun,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “These guys are
working really hard. Honestly, I
didn't know what to expect and I'm really, really pleasantly surprised.
You might be shocked, but we're actually focusing a lot on defense
and we're playing real physical and tough and pressuring.
I think teams are going to find out when they play us, they're going
to know they played us.”
The Huskies play at Wooster Triway to open the season on December 1.
Their first game in the Wayne County Athletic League will be at
Waynedale on December 8.
Alberts says if you are going to play that kind of style you have to
be in shape. He says they are
doing that though drill work. “We're
doing a lot of stuff just these like drills and we don't do a lot of extra
running, but we just make practice really intense, really hard.
We do a lot of pressing during practice and making these guys pick up
full court constantly and here in about two weeks, three weeks, as we get
ready for that first game against Triway, hopefully they're going to be
ready to go,” he said.
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St.
Paul to Play Fundamental, Explosive Dalton
Norwalk St. Paul takes on Dalton on Friday night at Ashland High
School’s Community Stadium in a regional semifinal in division VII.
The Flyers (8-4) advanced with a (20-14) win at Malvern last week.
Coach John Livengood says they were tremendous on defense and pretty
efficient on offense. “Malvern
has a really explosive offense, wide open, a lot of four wide, five wide
sets, they throw the ball 20, 30 times a game.
That was a big challenge for our defense.
I think our kids really came out and played great defensively.
We were able to get good pressure on the quarterback. I
think we had six sacks, an interception and held them under 50 percent pass
completions. So, I was really
pleased with the way our secondary and overall defense played.
Offensively, we ran the ball decent.
We had a nice 18 play drive to open the game and were running the
ball well in spurts, but where things opened up for us was with some passing
game. Drew Kuhnle did a nice job
in hitting some key passes for us for touchdowns.
It was just a great overall performance.
Malvern is an outstanding football team and we're happy to walk out
of there with the win,” said Livengood.
Dalton (10-1), the outright champ of the Wayne County Athletic
League, eliminated Lucas (35-10) last week. Greyson Siders had four TD runs.
Livengood says they have an explosive running back and they are very
good up front. “The number one
thing that stands out is Greyson Siders their tailback.
He's a big strong kid, he runs hard and he's an explosive athlete.
They're quarterback has got good speed and he throws the ball
well,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday afternoon, “Up front
they've got really good size. Grayson
Lehman is someone that really stands. He's
6’3”, 290 and he's playing guard, he's got the quickness of a guard too
and he's equally as dominating on the defensive side of the ball.
A big kid that moves well and he's got a high motor.
They are really well coached football team.
You can see their great fundamentals on both sides of the football,
especially on the line of scrimmage.”
Livengood says the Bulldogs are very fundamentally sound up front.
“Their kids up front, again they've got good size, but that doesn't
always mean anything. It's the
fact they've got really good fundamentals, they finish blocks, they're very
aggressive blocking and the same thing defensively.
They're got high motors, they get off the ball and they run to the
ball. So, very good football
players on both sides of the line of scrimmage and great skill kids to match
it,” he said.
Livengood says to win Friday they have to find a way to win up front
and just do a lot of things very well. “We
have got to control line of scrimmage, that's the thing.
It's a battle up front. We're
giving up a lot of size to some kids that that also have the same type of
fundamentals that we really work hard on.
So, we're going to have to find a way.
I tell our kids hold your point and win this game inch by inch.
You take it one play at a time. So,
we've got to control that line of scrimmage, we've got to take care of the
football, we've got to play great defense, we’ve got to swarm to the
football because they've got some really explosive athletes and not let them
get loose and we've got to play great special teams,” said Livengood.
Published 11/09/23
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Dalton
Has to Fly
Dalton locks horns with Norwalk St. Paul in a division VII regional
semifinal on Friday night at Community Stadium in Ashland.
After spotting Lucas a two score lead, Dalton rallied to beat the
Cubs (35-10) in the quarterfinals last week.
Coach Broc Dial says they executed a lot of things well.
“Lucas came out with a good game plan.
They are a tough football team and our kids responded really well and
we were able to execute do some really nice things,” said Dial.
Tailback Greyson Siders ran for four scores last week.
St. Paul outlasted Malvern (20-14) in their game last week.
Dial says the Flyers are good all over.
“We really think they're good at all three levels.
They are very aggressive coming at you every snap, whether it's on
offense or defense, just a tough hard nosed football team,” he said.
St. Paul does not waste anytime when they get to the line of
scrimmage in snapping the ball. Dial
says they must be ready for that. “This
week we've talked a lot about we have got to get ready, we have got to play
and there's really not a lot of time to think and go play football,” he
said.
Dial says he wants his kids to react quickly and play aggressively.
“I think number one we got to do a really good job communicating
whether it's on offense or defense or special teams.
Number two, I think we have got to just make a decision go 100 miles
an hour,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday evening, “Coaches talk
about hitting and those types of things, I think that's really what it comes
down to. They create effort just
making a decision a good 100 miles an hour.
The last thing is we have to show great discipline for four
quarters.”
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Madison
Trying to Put Things Together
Madison will have a new look when the hits the basketball floor this
year and they are going to spend this month trying to assemble the parts.
Coach Chris Armstrong says it exciting to him to put the puzzle
together. “It's always
exciting to get started. We've
got a really, I feel like a really high quality group, really high character
kids, they work. They are a
fairly quiet bunch in a way. Every
group has got its personality and sometimes you've got guys that are a
little more boisterous, but these guys are little quieter, but really bright
kids, high character kids and so far it's been a lot of fun to coach, so
we're excited about the group,” he said.
With their leading scorer from last year lost to graduation,
Armstrong says they are trying to find where their players stand and what
they can contribute. “That's
probably one of the most exciting things about coaching is putting that
puzzle together. Finding the
guy’s strengths and certainly over the summer you get a feel for that, the
previous season, but you lose a guy like Jaden Jeffries who averaged a
little more than 23 points a game and could score inside and outside was a
really good teammate,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night,
“You've got a new group and you discover how much they have grown.
Some of these guys have really gotten better over the summer, gotten
stronger physically, matured a little bit emotionally.
So, starting to put that together is just a lot of fun.
So, we're really going to be experimental early on, try out several
different actions, different offensive concepts and defensive concepts to
really see where this group can excel. So,
just trying to find every little edge you can and really kind of develop
that as you go.”
Seven Allen, who was the Rams second leading scorer last year as a
freshman, has transferred to Lexington.
However, Armstrong says they have found a number of kids who have
improved their games. “We're
excited we've got a guard back who played with us as a freshman and
sophomore then really focused on soccer his junior year and didn't play in
Degan Herr. He is a senior, so
he's a nice point guard, good ball handler, does a lot of things well, kind
of a pass first guy. Guys like
Cam Kuhn have grown and got stronger and better, more skilled. Owen
Wigton has really developed as a scorer.
So, I like our group, I think we've got a chance to develop, but
again we've got to find where we're strong and really lean into that,”
said Armstrong.
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Willard
Finding More Pieces
Willard, the defending champion in the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay
Division, we have talent back and they are looking to add more.
The Flashes return Max Dawson, Isaac and Cam Robinson and coach Joe
Bedingfield says they are going to have more depth this season.
“I mean we have a couple new guys that are going to join our
returning guys. We have five
seniors this year, three of which were starters from last year's
championship team. So, I mean
we're looking to fill a few holes. We
didn't play a lot of kids last year. I
think that's going to change a little bit. I
think we'll be able to build a little bit more depth, which is going to help
with our new rules in Ohio and the foul situation that could come into play.
I think you're going to need to play a few more than maybe we did
last year. It's nice to have
some of those options. The kids
are working hard and I think chemistry would be good and we're trying to get
better each day,” he said.
With good chemistry you win more games and Bedingfield says they are
trying to build that. “I think
I learned that a little bit more later in coaching and when I was with Brett
Seidel I think he did such a good job building chemistry with kids, and
other good coaches did too, but it really stood out to me when I was with
him. You realize it is a lot
more about the kids and then playing for each other and their community.
I think if you can get them to feel that they're part of something
that's bigger than themselves and they play for each other like they're a
little bit more than friends their almost brothers then they go out and
they'll do anything for your team. I
think that's a huge part. They
like each other, they don't mind who is getting the points and things of
that nature. Sometimes you can
control that and help that as a coach, sometimes it doesn't go as planned.
I do think it's a little underrated in terms of building that kind of
bunker mentality of who you're going to put in that bunker with you,” said
Bedingfield.
With three very good players back, Bedingfield says they are trying
to fit in the pieces that go around them.
“I think the scrimmages help because it's a little bit like an
extension of the summer. You're
going to see did they work on the things that you pointed out to them in the
summer when you're playing some other type of scrimmages that you did or did
they just not pick up a ball since the last time you told them what to do.
Kids will kind of separate themselves and put them on different
teams. I think the scrimmages
kind of help you see who can't play sometimes. You
want to see who can play, but you also want to let them know that maybe
they're not ready for varsity yet, but the JV's could be a good learning
experience for some kids,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night,
“Some kids need to wait their turn. I
think that's an unwritten rule. We'll
talk a little bit about that. Last
year, we had Brayden Thompson, he played JV as a junior, started on a senior
team who won a league title. I
couldn't be happier for him because he kept showing up and I think that's
what you don't see a lot anymore in high school sports is kids that will
just wait their turn and not have to play varsity right away and just keep
developing and buying their time and being patient and good things happen.
When that happens boy does that feel good for not only that kid and
that family, but also just your program in general.”
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River
Valley Back at it
River Valley, the runner-up last year in the Mid-Ohio Athletic
Conference, will have some kids to form another solid team this year.
With a little less than week under their belts, coach Rodney Brown
says it feels good to start preparing for the season.
“It’s always nice to get back in the gym with everybody.
The kids are playing hard and trying to get back into the groove a
little bit. We had a lot of
football players. So, we're just
trying to get things going and get some chemistry going and getting ready
for our first scrimmage on Friday night,” said Brown.
Brown says they have some guys back to help form their team this
year. “We'll be experienced, I
mean we lost some key contributors from last year, but we have a lot of guys
that played a lot of minutes. We
have two starters back and the sixth man who will move into a starting role.
So, we have got a lot of experience.
We should be sort of seasoned I guess,” he said.
With scrimmages and practices, Brown says they are going to initiate
those younger players to varsity basketball and what it’s all about.
“We’ve got guys filling into different spots trying to replace
the guys that we lost. We're
just hoping that those puzzle pieces fit together nicely, quickly as
possible,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “Those young
guys that were bringing up from JV can just fit in and realize how we play
and the toughness that we try to play with.”
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New
London Needs to Get Tougher
Tom Howell is back as the boys’ basketball coach at New London and
the Wildcats are tying to get their program back to being competitive.
Howell says right now they are working hard.
“We've been you know working pretty hard.
A lot of kids play fall sports, which is good.
We have got some work to do to get to where we want to be, but I
can't complain, they're working pretty hard right now,” he said.
Howell says there are clearly some things they have to improve if
they are going to make progress as a basketball team.
“Taking care of the basketball, putting the ball in the basket.
We can have trouble scoring at times.
Consistency on both ends of the floor and physicality a little bit.
I mean, we have got to get a little tougher right now, that's what
we've been focusing on here the last couple days.
So, that's where we're heading,” said Howell.
Scrimmages are starting this weekend for boys’ teams and Howell
says that will be an important tool for them.
“We're going to Seneca East on Friday and that's going to be a good
test to see where we're at with some of the things I just mentioned that we
need to really focus on,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday
afternoon, “It's going to be a good test and it's going to tell us what
way we need to go a little bit further or harder and to see where we're
really at.”
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Shelby
Wants to Play its Game
Shelby plays defending state champion Cleveland Glenville in a
division IV regional semifinal at Elyria High School on Friday night.
Last week, they outscored Van Wert (36-6) in the second half and
thumped the Cougars (71-41) in a quarterfinal game.
Sophomore quarterback Brayden DeVito threw for 425 yards and four
TD’s and ran for more than 100 more and a couple scores.
This season, the Whippets have been a second half team many times and
coach Robert Mahaney says they were able to do that again last week.
“I thought our execution offensively was awesome.
I thought our kids had a great week of preparation and stayed process
driven and did the things that they needed to and it showed on Friday night.
We were kind of like the team we've been all year, we're able to go
into halftime and calm down and kind of have a really good third quarter.
That's kind of been our trademark this year.
Just a team that is able to come out of halftime really take
advantage of the momentum and get things going our way.
I thought our kids did a great job with that scoring right out of
half and getting stop and getting another score and kind of putting things
back and letting our defense kind of pin their ears back and have fun and
playing fast. I thought our kids
did that and to credit to our kids they stay process driven and do a great
job of executing well when it matters most,” said Mahaney.
Shelby had more than 660 total yards against Van Wert.
Glenville (9-3) waxed Napoleon (44-7) last week to advance.
Mahaney says the Tarblooders have a number of gifted athletes.
He adds the formations they run are similar to other schools they
have played this season. “I
mean you're talking about the defending state champs and a team with really,
really good football players with you know 10 different kids with D-one
offers and all that kind of stuff. For
us there are some similarities, things that we can point to.
They play a 4-2 box, which we see in a lot of this year, they play
man coverage, which we've seen a lot this year.
Offensively, they run schemes that we've seen all year.
I think at the end of the day, they have some talent, but we just
have got to continue to do what we do and say process driven and take care
of ourselves and play Shelby Whippet football,” he said.
Glenville also has two state runners-up, and four semifinal
appearances to its credit. They
have produced many great football players, including Heisman Trophy winner
Troy Smith and Ted Ginn, Jr., the son of their coach Ted Sr.
However, Mahaney emphasizes they aren’t playing the Glenville
Tradition, they are playing the 2023 team.
“You can kind of see on film in my opinion, you can see the teams
when they're playing Glenville you get to see how teams react differently.
Teams that are in awe and the teams that go there to compete.
We want to be a team that goes to compete.
It's huge honor, it's a huge credit to our kids, that we're playing
in week 13 and so we want to take that opportunity and run with it.
To stay process driven, to continue to get better, to continue to
play for the guys in our locker room, and to continue to do all of those
kind of things,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “We get a
chance Friday night to extend our season.
To go out there and play four more quarters as a football team and
hopefully find a way to keep this season alive and keep our team going for
one more week. I think our kids
are excited for that opportunity. Our
preparation through two days has been awesome and I'm excited to see our
kids go out and compete.”
Published 11/08/23
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Northmor
Faces Balanced Garaway
Northmor plays the number one seed in their region in Sugarcreek
Garaway in a regional semifinal in division VI on Friday night at Heath High
School.
They took apart Gloster Trimble (31-6) in a quarterfinal last week.
They held the Tomcats to only 95 yards rushing.
Coach Scott Armrose says again they played a complete game.
“In all phases of the game we executed very well. I
think our coaches put a good plan together and our kids were able to go out
and execute. We played a good
physical game and things turned the way we wanted them to,” he said.
Northmor (10-2) plays Garaway (12-0) on Friday night.
The Pirates hammered East Knox (49-7) last week.
They have won 30 regular season games in a row.
Armrose says Garaway is balanced and they have a lot of weapons on
offense. “They're a whole
different kind of challenge than we've seen the last couple weeks.
They're very balanced on offense, they can run and they throw and
they have got a lot of guys can make plays.
A little running back, not real big, but awfully powerful for his
size and he's got a lot of speed and he does the running,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Tuesday evening, “Then a quarterback that's athletic,
he can scramble, but he scrambles to throw and they have a 1,000 yard
receiver on their team that that makes a lot of big plays, so offensively
they're an incredible challenge.”
To defend the Pirates, Armrose says they have to be fundamental and
make Garway uncomfortable. “It's
stuff we haven't worked on for a couple weeks because we faced teams with a
limited passing game, but it's something we've done very well all season.
We play a tough zone defense and we have guys that do a good job of
adjusting to formations and getting to spots.
We do a really good job of rushing the passer.
So, those are two things that we have to do on Friday night.
We need to rush the passer and we need to get to our spots and drop
to our zones and force turnovers,” said Armrose.
In the same way, Armrose says Garaway is going to try and get
pressure on their pass game. “They
are a 3-4 defense and they will stunt and they'll bring a lot of pressure
off the edge. They have very
athletic outside linebackers, that's the strength of their defense.
They mix up which one of those guys that they'll blitz off the edge,
so they keep you off balance that way. They're
really very athletic in the secondary, so they've got a lot of team speed on
defense,” he said.
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Clear
Fork Expecting Very Good Season
Clear Fork expects a dramatic improvement this basketball season as
the Colts are loaded with kids that can shoot the basketball.
Coach Tim Brafford, in his second season as head coach, says with a
full off season under their belts, the team will be well prepared for the
year to start. “Actually, we
are very, very optimistic and very happy with what I see.
Last year, I got hired late, at the end of April, and we missed out
on a lot of summer things that are normally available like scrimmages,
shootouts, things like that. This
year we took full advantage of them. We
scrimmaged 37 different teams, just in the month of June.
Our kids have put a lot of time in in the gym and I am looking
forward to a fun and a great season with these young men,” he said.
They host Lexington in their first game at home on December 1.
They play at Galion on December 8 in their first game in the Mid-Ohio
Athletic Conference.
Brafford says they will have a lot of seniors on the roster that can
contribute this year. “We have
a very senior heavy team. We
have seven seniors coming in, just two juniors, and we have five sophomores
and our freshman class is just loaded with talent, probably the best class
we've had come through in a while as far as from one to I think we have
13,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday afternoon, “I think that we're
going to make some noise this year. I
hope maybe at the freshman, JV and a senior level.
We have Jaden Beachy in for point guard and Segno Ault will be moving
up to varsity this year. Logan
Richmond is going to be coming up to varsity. Collin
Johnson will be coming up to varsity and of course we have four returning
lettermen, so it should be a good mix.”
Brafford believes they will have a number of players this year that
can shoot and it will be his job to get the right kids on the floor at the
right time. “We’re trying to
find out which five play the best together. Who
are our better players coming off the bench.
The difficulty I have as a coach, and it's a good one, we have quite
a few kids that are great shooters. So,
figuring out who's going to be the best all around player and the best five
to put on the floor any given time is like a good situation to be in.
We'll be playing all of our varsity kids just about every night.
We'll be going through an eight man rotation at least, so everyone's
going to see plenty of court time,” said Brafford.
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High
Expectations For Crawford
Colonel Crawford, coming off a third place finish in the tough
Northern 10 Athletic Conference last year, is excited to find out how good
they can be this season.
Coach Zac Bauer says the players really want to play some basketball.
“I've been really happy with what I've seen out of our kids.
We've got good numbers out and our girls were eager to get back to
it. The more I talked to them
leading up to our first practice the more excited they seemed.
We've never had a problem with kids going hard in practice, but I
think this year they're more comfortable with the terminology that we use
and kind of the expectations of the way things go.
It's carried over and things seem to be running smoother now than
they were last year at this time after 10 practices just because of the
familiarities there.”
When it comes to how good they can be, Bauer says the team has high
expectations. “There are a lot
of variables that go into that, but we've talked about that as a team and
our biggest thing as a team this year is can we live up to the standards
that we set for ourselves? Our
players have talked to me and I've kind of talked to them too and they have
high expectations for themselves and so I told them
we're going to hold you to a high standard and practice and they've
held themselves to a pretty high standard for the first ten days and that's
what we're going to continue to do,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday
evening, “We're going to see how high our ceiling can go because we do
have kids that work really hard and they get along well and they play well
as a team. So, potential wise
it's hard to put a definite answer on that, but we have high expectations
for ourselves and that's what we want to try to live up to.”
This season the Lady Eagles have a lot of players back that played
significant roles. Bauer says
right now they are trying to determine the players that will make the
varsity roster. “For us with
having so many kids back. We
kind of know who our top few are just based off of last year.
The good thing for us right now is to see who else can contribute to
that group and how we can get them the most time possible, whether that be
at the varsity level only, whether that be at the JV level only or whether
that be a combination of the two. When
you start looking at a combination of the two, how many quarters a night do
they play one way or the other and that's something that we're going to try
to figure out here in the next two weeks is how can those middle of the
ground players can be utilized the best,” said Bauer.
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Bellevue
Can be Good Again
Bellevue, with four starters back, can be a factor again in the race
in the Lake Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference this winter.
Coach Ed Rich says he has all of his guys in camp and so far it has
been a very good preseason for the Redmen.
“We got them back on Friday. We
got to start at a normal time. I
want to say it's definitely the first time since I've been at Bellevue that
we were able to start on time with our guys, so that was kind of nice.
We've had really had four good days of practice.
I've been extremely happy with the way we've been getting after it
and the things they remember and everything like that, so yeah I'll take
these first four days for sure,” said Rich.
Bellevue starts the season on December 2 when they host the
Margaretta Polar Bears in non-conference play.
Their first “SBC” Lake Division game is December 8 at Clyde.
Rich says they did lose a couple of key players to graduation, but
they have a lot of other kids back. “We
have got experience back. I have
six juniors, five seniors and a freshman who will be playing varsity for me
this year. We lose Tyler Ray,
who graduated, he was senior, which is a big loss, but we got guys back.
We lost Degan Horn, so we only had two seniors, even though those two
seniors are huge to our program, but we think we'll be okay,” he said.
Rich says they have a lot of pieces and now they are working to find
out how they all fit together. “That’s
what we're doing with some of our guys. Some
of our guys are new to the varsity level, but we do return four of those
guys who are back for us that started multiple games for us last year, so
that helps a lot,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday evening, “We're
trying to figure out ways to play together and play together to our
strengths and do things and try to keep going.
We've got a couple good seasons in a row and we like to keep that
going here this year and we think it's definitely possible.”
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South
Central Wants to Run
South Central is going to be a basketball team that really wants to
force the tempo and try and get some easy baskets this year.
First year coach Dallas Yost says he likes what he sees from the
players so far. “The kids are
really working their butts off. I
mean they have been working their butts off since I took the job back in
April. We had a tough offseason
program. Five days a week we
were doing stuff all offseason. We
gave them every opportunity to get in the weight room and get in the gym and
it's kind of translating quickly here to start the season.
We were missing some guys there to start.
The first couple of days we had some guys in and out, but these last
few days have been really good and the guys are working really hard.
They're buying into our new system.
We have got a lot of new coaches.
We have got coach (Pat) Durham still on the staff, so he's retained
from the old staff, but everyone else is new.
We have got a lot of new ideas and a new system that we're playing
and they're buying into it quickly. So,
it's been a really good start I think,” said Yost.
Yost says this year they want to run the floor as much as possible.
“We do want to push the tempo offensively and we're going to do
some different things defensively as well to try to keep the other offenses
out of rhythm and keep them on their toes a bit.
So, we are pushing the pace and they're getting better at that.
I told the kids most coaches tell you not to play in a hurry, but
they try to play fast, but I literally want them playing in a hurry and to
become comfortable with being in a hurry basically and hopefully that kind
of surprises some teams,” he said.
Yost says if they are going to be able to run this style they have
got to be in good shape and they are going to make sure that’s the case.
“The kids have soon realized that. I
mean the kids that were with us for our fall program, we didn't do much
conditioning over the summer and spring, but in our fall program the guys
that didn't play football and they were going through those conditioning
workouts all fall. Some of our
football guys and that kind of thing are kind of getting a little reality
check with the conditioning. If
we are going to play that type of style that's one thing we have got to be
is in really good shape and not just in good shape and in better shape than
any than every other team we play because that'll be an advantage that
hopefully we can gain,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday evening,
“We've been hitting hard conditioning.
I block out about 20, 25 minutes other of every practice where it's
just conditioning. At first the
guys, it stinks to go through and I told them it's only going to be the
first couple weeks. I think
they're buying into it though. I
mean doesn't mean they're really enjoying it, but they know, they understand
that that's part of the process. It's
going to be a fun brand of basketball that we're going to play.
It's just we have got to get through this these first couple weeks of
conditioning here and I think they're handling it pretty well.”
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Tiffin
to Face Physical Medina Buckeye
Tiffin Columbian faces Medina Buckeye in a division III regional
semifinal on Friday night at Bellevue High School.
They advanced with a (55-35) win over Ontario last week.
Coach Judd Lutz says the three straight scores they got to start the
game were crucial for them. “I
think we're starting the game out getting up to a 20-0 lead.
We knew that we had a really good team we were going against and they
were going to battle back and they did.
It was right there as a two score, three score game looking forward
the whole time. Our offense did
a great job get momentum back every time they went down and maybe got a
score, I think we would respond with one ourselves darn near every time.
The defense got enough stops and made things hard on them.
We did a lot of things really well.
They have got great playmakers and they got loose a couple times.
We found a way to get a win and that really is all that matters at
this point in the game.”
Running back Damien Brockington scored six touchdowns for the
Tornadoes.
Columbian (10-2) plays Medina Buckeye (10-2) on Friday.
The Bucks beat Norton (49-47) last week.
Lutz says they are physical and kind of play and old fashion kind of
football. “They are a really
interesting team in that they change personnel a good amount.
They play with tight ends and fullbacks a great deal, which as a
former fullback myself, is very endearing to see.
They play a style of play that's really in your face physical at the
point of attack, which you don't always see kind of at our level of high
school and size, a lot teams are spread oriented and play with two backs or
tight end a little bit, but not nearly as much as they've shown,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Monday afternoon, “It's physical at the point of
attack on offense and then that kind of mirrors itself on defense.
They’re really good at what they do, sound, and play some base, but
also can get after it was blitzing. It's
going to be a great game and they're playing really, really good football
right now and have some great players and they're riding some really good
momentum.”
Lutz says they are going to be physical too and play with the proper
technique when they meet Buckeye on Friday.
“Pad level is going to be key, creating and generating some
knockback on both sides of the ball with your feet and pad level.
At this point, you're not putting in a great amount of leg strength
to all of a sudden get super strong. Hopefully,
you have done a lot of work in the weight room up to this point to get
yourself in position to do that. Pad
level is going to be key, continuing to move your feet, drive your feet when
you're a stalemate kind of situation and creating some angles when you have
it. Getting off those blocks or
sustaining those blocks is going to be key in the trenches and I think
really going to play a crucial role in this game,” he said.
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Lexington
Has Potential
Lexington won the Ohio Cardinal Conference boys’ basketball
championship last season and advanced to the division II district final, but
this season they will have a different mix.
Coach Scott Hamilton says they are excited to find what they have
this year. “Right now, I think
it's all about our potential. We're
starting to get in the gym a little bit and we'll see how it goes.
We graduated five seniors that gave us a lot of quality minutes.
So, we've got some young guys that are kind of battling for some
spots. We're excited to see what
we're made of right now and then where we're going to be in a couple of
weeks,” he said.
Seven Allen, who was a major contributor on the football field this
fall, transferred from Madison over the summer.
Hamilton says they need to find the best way to get him involved on
the basketball floor. “I think
it's one of those things, he's a new face for us.
We're obviously aware of what he was able to accomplish over there at
Madison. So, we're excited to
get him in the gym and see what he's able to do.
I've always tried to take the guys that we have and put them in good
positions and use their skill sets in the best way possible to fit us and
make us successful. He's just
another one of those pieces that we're going to be looking at in the next
couple of weeks,” said Hamilton.
With the loss to graduation they experienced since last year,
Hamilton says November will be important in finding out who fits where.
“I mean my big player inside Baden Forup is gone, Hudson Moore,
another solid four year guy for me, probably arguably my best defender is
gone, then at the point guard spot I had A.J. Young and Al Depperschmidt,
that both gave me solid minutes off and on defensively and offensively,”
he told Swankonsports.com on Monday afternoon, “Those are all positions
that are going to have to really be filled.
Some of them I don't think we're going to fill their shoes, but we've
got to find a way. Even the guys
that are coming back that are sophomores, they're going to go be going up
against 18 year old guys and they're still 15, 16 years old.
So, we'll have some things to figure out with that, but we're excited
here at Lexington, there's no question about that.”
Allen is a sophomore and so is Brayden Fogle, who started last year
for Lexington and was one of the most athletic kids in the area.
The Minuteman begin their season at Clear Fork, in non-conference
play, on December 1. Their first
“OCC” game with will be December 8 against the Wooster Generals.
Hamilton says this month they also need to find what style of play
best suits them. “If you've
got a real strong perimeter, you've got to go with that.
If you've got a real strong inside play and defense.
It's just one of those things, I think you do have to tweak it a
little bit. I mean every coach
has got certain things that they want to do, there's no question about it,
but you have to tweak it to your personnel and adjust it a little bit and
that's what we're going to find out in the month of November,” he said.
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Again
it’s up Front for Carey
Carey takes on Columbus Grove in a division VI regional semifinal on
Friday night at Fostoria High School.
Last week, they limited run first Columbia to only 72 total yards in
stuffing them (48-0) in a quarterfinal match-up.
Coach Jonathan Mershman says their play in the trenches was the
difference. “I thought our
front seven on both sides of the ball played extremely well in that game.
We came out with a really good intensity and energy that I'm hoping
we can come out this week with,” said Mershman.
The Blue Devils (10-2 this year) have now won 11 playoff games in the
last four years, including the state championship in 2021.
Columbus Grove (10-2) hammered Black River (34-6) last week.
They have also won 11 playoff games in the last four seasons.
They finished as runners-up to Marion Local last year in division VI.
Mershman says the Bulldogs are a very strong running team.
“They have got a really good running back and a really good running
game and on defense they're sound on defense and they fly around and make
tackles,” he said.
Mershman says they have seen a lot of very good teams this fall, but
in his opinion, Columbus Grove may be the best so far.
“Well, we played two very good teams right off the rip and
Hopewell-Loudon, who is still undefeated and still playing and Galion in
week two who took an exit last week, but played a really tough game and lost
22-19,” he told Swankosports.com on Monday night, “Those two teams are
really, really good and now Columbus Grove, yeah, I would say it probably is
the best team we played to date.”
With the way Carey runs its offense and their strength on defense,
Mershman says again they have to win at the point of attack.
“We have a physical up front and our front seven on both sides of
the ball have to own the line of scrimmage,” he said.
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Willard
Girls Figuring Things Out
The Willard Lady Flashes are attempting to return to their glory
under the leadership on a new coach.
Alanna Bedingfield, an All-Ohio player at Willard, has now taken the
reins as head coach.
She says this week they are really going to get down to preparing for
the season, which begins in three weeks.
“Well, honestly, we had them a little bit this summer and we've
been working really hard on developing our fundamental skills and learning
the new offense. To tell you the
truth, we had five girls missing last week for FFA trips and for Washington
D.C. So, we had two practices
before they all left and then we kind of had seven girls, we only have 12
girls total and five were missing the better part of last week,” she told
Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “Returning (Monday) and having all 12
girls back was good and we're starting to see some meshing there and
learning some new things and there's a lot still to work on but we're
getting there.”
They open the season November 27 against Upper Sandusky.
Their first Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division game is against the
Vermilion Lady Sailors on December 2.
With a new coach there is a new system and Bedingfield says they are
working on getting used to each other, her and the girls.
“I mean it's a new coach, it's a new offense, it's a new system and
it's going to be a lot of learning for them.
It's also a lot of learning for me to figure out what they can do and
how to get the best out of them that I can,” she said.
Part of the preseason with any team is trying to figure out how all
of the pieces go together. Bedingfield
says they are going to be working hard to determine who goes where.
“It's not really the same team as last year. I
know we only lost a couple seniors, but it's a different team.
A couple girls didn't go out that were on the team last year and so
it's definitely a different look, a different team.
We're trying to figure out how they can all work together.
It's a puzzle and we have some people that can play multiple
positions and we're just trying to figure out you know what's the best
position to put them in to help us to be successful,” said Bedingfield.
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Norwalk
can Score
Norwalk is a boys’ basketball team that’s going to be able to
score this year, the key is how well are they going to be able to stop
others from scoring.
Coach Adam Kreischer, in his second year at the helm, says they have
a lot of kids that can get in the scorebook.
“I think so, our natural abilities offensively this year could be
really good. We have a lot of
kids that can put the ball in the basket, so we're going to have that going
for us early on. A lot of what I
do predicates on the defensive end and I think we've got some work to do
there, but if we can sit down and guard people and rebound the basketball we
have a chance to be pretty good. We
are long and we can score the basketball,” he said.
Kreischer says they have a number of kids back that played at the
varsity level last season. “It’s
kind of a mix of youth and experience. We
have Mason Gamble back and Ben Rothhaar back, we have Dalton Chapin back, so
that's two starters and another player that played quite a bit for us last
year, but we do have some youth joining us with Isaiah Wells and Landon
Ferkel, who both got a little bit of time here and there last year,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Monday afternoon, “Landon being a freshman last
year and Isaiah being a sophomore. Then
Jordan Parriott also got some minutes for us early in the season last year,
not so much late, again another freshman that'll be a sophomore this year
stepping into that role. Then
another one that had just a great summer for us was Garrett Demuth and he'll
be a junior this year. He was
another one that got some varsity action early as a sophomore last year, but
not so much late in the season. If
Garrett steps into the role that I think he could this year.
Like I said, he had a great summer.”
Yes, they have some varsity experience on the roster, but Kreischer
says really they are still a younger ballclub.
“it's just a real mix this year for us of some experience from guys
who have been playing for a while and then some youth and some kids that
that that are not super experienced. We
do just have one senior, so Dalton Chapin is our one senior, so we overall
are pretty young,” he said.
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Lucas
Must Control Trenches
Lucas meets Dalton, the Wayne County Athletic League champion, at
Orrville Red Rider Stadium on Friday night in a division VII regional
quarterfinal.
Last week, the Cubs (8-3) dumped another team out of the “WCAL”
in Hillsdale (28-14) in their first playoff game.
Coach Scott Spitler says they were able to win at the point of
attack. “I thought we came out
and we controlled the line of scrimmage offensively and defensively for the
whole game. When we can do that
good things are going to happen for us and they did.
We were able to get out of there with the victory and move on to week
12,” he said.
Dalton (9-1) rocked Conotton Valley (54-12) in the opening round.
Spitler says they score a lot points and don’t give up much because
they are so good in the trenches. “I
think it starts for them on the offensive and defensive lines.
They have got great size and athleticism.
Offensively, they move people, do a nice job of getting off the ball
and blocking to the whistle. Defensively,
their defensive line does a nice job of controlling their gaps and freeing
up their linebackers to do their job,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Thursday night, “They've got great team speed at all of the skilled
positions both offensively and defensively.
A veteran team, several of these guys were sophomores when we played
them in ‘21 and now they're seniors. You
could tell they're just a very well disciplined, well coached, physical
football team and it's going to be a tremendous challenge for our guys.”
Dalton beat Lucas in a playoff game two years ago.
Spitler this edition of the Bulldogs is more balanced.
“I think their systems are the same as they were in ’21. I think
they're more balanced as a team, especially offensively this year.
In ‘21 they were led by you two tremendous athletes and while they
don't have just two individuals, I think collectively as a group offensively
that they're more balanced and dangerous in what they can do.
The quarterback is a great athlete and does a great job of running
their offense and being a threat both running and passing and then like I
said they're sideline to sideline players defensively,” said Spitler.
Spitler says in many ways, the keys are the same as they always are,
win up front. “For us it's
always how well we play in the trenches on both sides of the ball and this
week would be no different. We've
worked all week with our kids about this is going to be one of those
heavyweight bout type battles. They're
going to land punches and we've got to land our punches and keep moving
forward and staying disciplined and playing to our game plan.
If we do things the right way hopefully, we'll be there in the fourth
quarter to have a chance to get out with a win,” he said.
Published 11/03/23
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Crawford
Meets Talented Ottawa Hills
Colonel Crawford will be at home for Ottawa Hills in a regional
quarterfinal in division VI on Friday night.
They hung on to beat Seneca East, a Northern 10 Athletic Conference
rival, (24-16) in the opening round last week.
Coach Jake Bruner says they did enough to win.
“I told our guys when you play an opponent for the second time it's
always tougher. Our expectation
was just to win the game and that's what we did.
We just want to win by one more point the other team.
So, at the end of the day, we liked how we played the first half and
it did get a little dicey there at the end, but give credit to Seneca East,
thy have got some good players as well some good coaches,” he said.
Crawford (10-1) hosts Ottawa Hills (10-1) on Friday night.
The Green Bears walloped Margaretta (42-7) in their first playoff
game.
Bruner says they have a lot talent.
“They've had about three really good seasons in a row.
They just have a very talented team with a lot of speed on their
team. They do have some size.
They have got some really good linebackers.
They obviously just terrorized their league this year.
They’re 10-1, their only loss is to a Michigan team that's a from a
small school in Michigan,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday
afternoon, “They play really, fast they throw the ball well, they run the
ball well, and very physical on defense.
They just do a great job with really 30 kids on the roster.
They play about 14 kids on Friday night and they just do a great job.
Their kids are very veteran, they have a lot of experience back and
obviously they a lot of talent, so it's going to be a big task for us.”
Bruner says they can’t let Ottawa Hills with all of their speed to
get to the perimeter and they must tackle well.
“I mean we have got to control them and at the same time they throw
well. The quarterback can run
and throw it. They have got a
really fast running back. We
have got to limit the big plays and we have got to tackle well here on
Friday night, hopefully being in North Robinson will help us a little bit.
Hopefully we can move the ball as well and keep their offense off the
field,” said Bruner.
The Crawford coach says it’s good to be home too.
“We've been here before. It's
going to be a big challenge here, but we're happy to do it at home.
Last year, we had to go on the road to Carey, so we're privileged to
be able to play here at Colonel Crawford,” he said.
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Perkins
Faces Run Happy St. Mary’s Memorial
Sandusky Perkins, the winner of the Lake Division of the Sandusky Bay
Conference, will host St. Mary’s Memorial Friday night in a regional
quarterfinal in division IV.
Perkins (9-1) hammered Vermilion (44-6) last week in their playoff
opener.
Coach Jalen Santoro says they accomplished what they wanted.
“We came out and had a hot start.
Basically, it’s just about going out there and executing and making
sure we're doing what we do as far as our base offense and base defense and
running that correctly and doing those things well and I thought we did
that. So, I mean we're able to
get a lot of guys some minutes last week there, which is nice to see our
younger guys go out and execute at a high level against a varsity team as
well. All in all, it was a good
Friday night and we got all healthy,” he said.
Memorial beat Wauseon (42-14) last week.
Santoro says this is a power run team.
“They’re going to run the football quite a bit.
You look at the two offenses, the offense that we run and the offense
they run and it's you know pretty much a polar opposite.
So, they're going to go out there and they're going to pound the
rock. They're going to be in
their big personnel and their going to have two of their running backs in
the backfield and they’re going to be under center and they're pound the
rock and that's what they do. That’s
what they have done all year long and whether they're winning by 30, losing
by 30, tie ball game, two-minute drill, they are going to run the ball,”
he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday afternoon, “You have got to do a
great job playing physical up front, you have got to do a great job at not
getting lost with the eye candy, the motions, and doing your 1 11th
on defense. It's
going to be a task, it’s not something that you see every day or every
week at this day and age. It's
an offense that's an old school offense.
We've been preaching to our kids this week it's not really and
offense that they run, it's a style of playing and the lifestyle they live
by. So, they're going to do what
they do and they do it really well. So,
we have to be ready to go up front and make sure playing physical
football.”
Santoro says they saw a little bit of this with Bay Division champ
Edison, but still this is different. “Edison
ran the triple option more than what these guys do, but I mean similar
formations. There are some
similarities in their games. St
Mary’s is their own beast. Like
I said, they do things a little bit differently.
They are very good at what they do.
So, those kids kind of run their offense from sixth grade, seventh
grade on up. So, they know it
very well, like the back of their hand and they're very good at doing it,”
he said.
On defense, Santoro says Roughriders also have a different approach.
“They run a 4-2-5, it’s a little different than a traditional
4-2-5. They bring a good amount
of pressure and they get into 3-3 packages a little bit.
Overall, they send some pressure.
That's one of the things we have to make sure we stop.
They’re aggressive up front and they shoot gaps very well and
inside the box their pretty good tacklers.
We have got to make sure we're prepared up front for a bunch of
different stunts and blitzes and a few different alignments up front.
So, if we take care of that and we play sound football, communicating
up front, that'll be a big goal this week and the big test for us,” said
Santoro.
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It’s
Carey Against Columbia
Carey
entertains Columbia in a division VI regional quarterfinal on Friday night.
The Blue Devils (9-2) last week ended season for Crestview, out of
the Firelands Conference, (29-6) on Friday.
Coach Jonathan Mershman says they played pretty well in getting that
win. “It was a solid victory
for us. They came out fired up,
both Crestview and ourselves, both came in.
It was a great hitting game throughout the whole game and I thought
our boys played really well,” he said.
Columbia (10-1) also beat a team out of the Firelands Conference in
Mapleton (56-14) in their opening round game.
Mershman says the Raiders will feature a lot of motion in the
backfield, but their intension is to run the football.
“Offensively, they have got a great running back, a great running
attack. They're going to do a
lot of motions to confuse your eyes, so you have got to have eye discipline
and watch your keys and trust them,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday
evening, “We have got to be solid on defense.
On offense we have got to be able to move the ball.
We have got to be able to rush the ball.”
Carey has been successful this season in running the football up the
gut. Mershman says Columbia is
going to try to clog up the middle of the field.
“They're usually typically in a 5-2 look and with that they'll
pinch hard and they're going to give us everything they can up the middle
and try to force the us outside,” he said.
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Loudonville
Optimistic Right Now
Loudonville, the defending champion in the Mid-Buckeye Conference,
expects with a lot of experience back expects to have an excellent girls’
basketball season.
However, coach Tyler Bates says there have been some rocky patches in
the first week of the preseason. “The
girls are working hard, I'm really proud of them.
We've had some competitive practices and we've had some ugly
practices that need to get better if we're going to win some games this year
and reach our goals. All in all,
I think the kids are working hard. Hopefully,
once we get into scrimmages and start to maybe get on film and get exposed a
little bit we can fix some of those things that maybe aren't the best right
now and turn those weaknesses into strengths,” said Bates.
Bates says they have a lot of experience back from last year and he
says certainly the potential is there of the Lady Birds.
“We've got a lot of experience coming back. I
think we've got nine letter winners coming back.
Some girls that have played in some really big games for us, so
that's pretty exciting. We have
a solid group of 10 girls that really lifted and worked out together for the
whole preseason to just kind of get into basketball shape,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “They were shooting on the gun,
things like that. When you have
experienced kids that are bought and it really means a lot to them I think
that's something that can give you some hope and could be a cause for
excitement.”
Loudonville will scrimmage against Canal Fulton Northwest and
Streetsboro, both bigger schools, next week.
They open their season against Medina Buckeye the day after
Thanksgiving.
Bates says he is anxious to see how good they can be this year.
“We know, obviously, it takes a lot of luck and we’ve got to jell
together and everyone's has got to sacrifice, but we're cautiously
optimistic right now and looking forward to see how it looks when we're
playing five on five against someone else,” he said.
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Shelby
Must Make Explosive Plays
Shelby, the co-champion of the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference, will
host the Van Wert Cougars in a division IV regional quarterfinal on Friday
night.
They advanced with a (40-0) clocking of Cleveland Central Catholic
last week.
Coach Robert Mahaney says they were very good on both offense and
defense last week. “I thought
our kids did a great job of coming out and executing the game plan
offensively and defensively. I
thought defensively to get a shutout and in 2023 to get it in back-to-back
weeks. Our kids are playing
really well defensively and doing a really good job and we have to continue
to do that. Offensively, we have
got to continue to make plays and continue to get better up front.
If we can do those things then we have a really great opportunity
this Friday,” he said.
Van Wert has a history of beating teams from this area in the
playoffs. They got Sandusky
Perkins last season, Clyde and Port Clinton in 2021 and Bellevue and Shelby
in 2020 on their way to a state title.
Shelby (9-2) entertains Van Wert on Friday.
The Cougars beat River Valley (48-30) last week, kind of coasting in
the second half.
Mahaney says they do a lot of different things on offense.
“I think they're extremely well coached.
They do things really well offensively.
They will spread you out with their quarterback and throw the quick
screens and take shots over the top. I
think what they do offensively is awesome to watch.
I think defensively they challenge in coverage, they fly around and
get to the football and they're extremely physical team,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “They're battle tested, they play a
really good conference. These
kids win playoff games, they've been a part of that.
Their seniors were freshmen on a championship team and a team that
was a regional finalist last year. I
mean they expect to get into the playoffs and they expect to win games and
so we have got to be ready to play a team like that.”
Mahaney says as usual the Cougars have playmakers.
“I mean you look at their quarterback this year, he's got almost
2,000 yards passing and 1,400 yards rushing. I
mean he's a really good athlete. He
was a really good running back for them last year.
Now he's taking over that position and done tremendously well.
So, he's going to get his touches, he's going to get his chances to
make plays. We have just have
got to try to limit the amount of big plays that they make.
We talked about it a lot through the year, but we want to win the
explosive play battle. I think
that'll be the big testament to the win Friday night because their offense
can create explosive plays and we try to create explosive plays offensively.
So, I think whoever can win that battle has a great chance to win
Friday night,” said Mahaney.
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Columbian
Has to be Balanced
Tiffin Columbian hosts Ontario in a division III regional
quarterfinal on Friday night.
The Tornadoes (9-2), runner-up in the Lake Division of the Sandusky
Bay Conference, belted Ashland (49-21) in their playoff opener last week.
Columbian seized a big early lead and coach Judd Lutz says they
played well on both sides of the ball. “We
had some success early. Offensively,
really moved the ball well, found ways to score early and often and
defensively you know didn't give up big plays, kept everything in front of
us from the most part and then made some key stops on third down and got the
ball back to our offense and kept the momentum and found ourselves on the
better side of at it the end,” he said.
Ontario (10-1), co-champ of the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference, beat
Lutheran West (31-22) in their first round game.
Lutz says they have a lot of weapons on offense.
“You probably need to start the conversation with them on offense.
They have scored a lot of points consistently every game all season
long. No one's really been able
to neutralize them or find the ability to keep out of the end zone
consistently. A lot of that has
to do with a great offensive line, good running back play, guys in the
perimeter making plays, but obviously a really, really good quarterback,”
he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday afternoon, “He can throw it, he can
run it and if you don't contain him, you're going to have a long night.
So, offensively they've scored a bunch of points, but then I don't
think their defense gets enough credit. I
think they're really good in a lot of ways on defense.
Being sound and stout against the run, but also limiting some big
plays in the pass game for the most part throughout the season.
So, that's why they've obviously found ways to win 10 games.”
Columbian has more than 2,000 yards both running and passing this
year and Lutz says they have to maintain that balance against Ontario.
“I think stay balanced. This
time of year with weather changing, it sounds like it's going to be a dry
Friday and the elements not crazy bad where you have to just milk and run
the ball or something crazy. So,
I think staying balanced being able to have success running the ball to open
up the pass game and vice versa. Probably
have some early success passing a little bit in order to open up some runs.
So, kind of remaining balance throughout the course of the game is
going to be important so that they can't just pin the ears back defensively
come out after the quarterback and do some of those things,” he said.
When it comes to defending Ontario quarterback Bodpeg Miller, Lutz
says they have to show him a lot of looks.
“I think you have got to have a plan and then several plans.
You can't just do one thing or else you know a good offensive play
caller is going to figure out what you're doing consistently and then attack
a weakness. You have to account
for the quarterback and how you do that whether it's rushing with really
good pass lanes, whether it's spying him with different guys, or a guy or a
group of guys. It's easy to just
say you spy this quarterback, but if that kid ain't fast enough to get him
then you're just wasting somebody. So,
there's not many people fast enough to just spy him one-on-one in my
opinion. You have got to have
good integrity and some pass rush lanes or flush him to a certain area and
get a guy there ready for him in some aspects.
He's a great player, he's going to make plays, you just hope to limit
them and make sure that they're not for points,” said Lutz.
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Madison
Embracing Underdogs Role
Madison takes on unbeaten Rocky River in a division II girls’
soccer regional final at Bowling Green High School on Saturday afternoon.
On Tuesday night, Madison got two first half goals from Jada Neal and
another from Nevaeh Lewis and beat Lima Shawnee (3-0) to advance in the snow
in Tiffin.
Acting coach Jordan Monica says they wanted to get our early.
“Especially, with the crazy weather, I said it could come down to
one goal because, well obviously, we have never played in snow like that, so
I wasn't quite sure how our cleats were going to handle it, it was pretty
icy out there,” she told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “We were
slipping and sliding and so were they. So,
we didn't know if we'd be able to get a ton of goals, so we said just get
out there, get going fast, and then hopefully we could overcome that.”
Madison (13-4-4) has hit its stride during the postseason.
The Lady Rams beat Rocky River in the state semifinals back in 2019.
Rocky River (21-0-0) smoked Maumee (8-0) in their regional semifinal
on Tuesday. In four tournament
matches, they have outscored their opponents (33-1) coming in.
Monica says the Lady Pirates are loaded, but she believes their tough
schedule has prepared them well. “They
are undefeated. They have quite
a few girls committed to go to D1 schools.
So, really it comes down to us just playing our best soccer, which we
have seen throughout this year playing Walsh Jesuit, playing Clear Fork,
playing Ontario. So, we're just
going to have to come out and do our best,” said Monica.
Monica has confidence in her kids.
“We can do it, I believe in our team.
We've been the underdogs all season and I said there's nothing new.
We'll be just fine as long as we come out with our heads on straight
and ready to play,” she said.
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Buckeye
Central Adjusting
Buckeye Central has been one of the dominate girls’ basketball
programs in North Central Ohio over the last decade and it will be
interesting to see if they can continue that success.
They have a new coach, but a very good one in former boys’ coach
Phil Loy, who replaces Abram Kaple.
Loy says they certainly have some potential, but a lot to replace as
well. “We lost a lot last
year. We lost five starters,
return three other letterman, who are all back.
I think though that this group of girls, added with what we have with
the JV's, could be a decent team. Who
knows if we'll be as strong as we've been in the past because we've been
really good in the past, but I think we could be competitive in all of our
games and it should be a good year for us,” he said.
Loy says with the volleyball team in the regional semifinals on
Thursday practice has been a challenge.
“It's especially tough right now because our volleyball team is in
the regional, so I'm missing you know a handful of girls yet and few of them
are key players for us. So,
right now I'm only working with seven sometimes eight girls and practices
can be tough when you can't go five on five or even four on four half the
time, but I think it should be an interesting year for us,” said Loy.
Now, Loy says they have to get creative to get some things
accomplished here early in the preseason.
“You try to do a lot of three on three stuff, you try to break down
the offense or your transition to just one side of the court, so you can
just kind of go live three on three with some things.
You throw in assistant coach here and there if you need to to get
10,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday afternoon, “There's
sometimes we're hoping some of the girls who are still around alumni come
back in and you might get a body here or a body there and you try to piece
things together. Right now, it's
a lot of working one-on-one type things two on two you know and like I said
before breaking down things three on three or four on four or adding
coaches.”
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Dalton
Has to Win First Down
Dalton, the Wayne County Athletic League champ, plays Lucas in a
division VII regional quarterfinal at Orrville High School on Friday night.
The Bulldogs (9-1) opened the playoffs with a (54-12) destruction of
Conotton Valley last week.
Coach Broc Dial says they were able to get a lot of kids involved.
“The playoffs are special, especially football. Conotton Valley
came out and those kids played really hard, there's only 16 of them.
We were able to play a lot of kids, got a lot of playoff experience
and did a lot of good things,” he said.
Dalton beat Lucas (42-23) in a playoff game in 2021.
Dial says the Cubs are doing a lot of the same things.
“They are still running the double wing, a lot of unbalanced looks.
Similar offense to when we played them in 2021.
Defensively, they play several different fronts, they're playing even
from the last few weeks and played odd front early year.
Just an aggressive hardnosed, well coached football team,” said
Dial.
Lucas (8-3) beat Hillsdale, also the “WCAL”, (28-14) in their
playoff opener last week.
Dial says you can’t get nosey and get out of position against Lucas
or you will get burned. “We've
talked a lot this week that that's really a disciplined offense, so you have
to play discipline defense,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night,
“You have got to be where you're supposed to be every snap.
That's what they're looking for, those little creases and seams.
You have got to play really disciplined defense and be we're supposed
to be every snap.”
On defense, Dial says they have to put Lucas in spots where they
can’t necessarily do the things they want to do.
“We talked about we have got to win first down and if we can put
them in second and third and long, it'll be good for our defense,” he
said.
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Norwayne
Has to Remain Disciplined
Norwayne, runner-up in the Wayne County Athletic League, Friday night
will entertain Lorain Clearview in division V regional quarterfinal.
In their playoff opener, the Bobcats (10-1) outscored Youngstown
Liberty (56-33) last Friday.
Coach Adam Indorf says they played better as the game went along.
“I thought we did fairly well.
A lot of big plays were where they gained their points, broken plays
and their athletes were athletes and made some action and made some things
happen and we weren't able to stop it. It
took us a little bit to get our offense clicking, but I think once we did,
little tweaks here and there at halftime, and we were able to put some
points up,” he said.
Clearview (9-2) beat Burton Berkshire (33-12) in their first playoff
game.
Indorf says they have an offense that makes a lot of playground sort
of plays in the pass game. “They're
going to be a solid team. They
have an athletic quarterback. He
can scramble and when they get in the scramble drill, he does a tremendous
job with him and his receivers making some plays.
We’re just going to have to be disciplined in everything we do,
disciplined in coverage, disciplined in communication and that piece,” he
told Swankonports.com on Wednesday evening, “We're going to try to dial up
some pressures and make some things happen, but understand that that once he
starts to scramble those receivers are going to do a tremendous job in
trying to get open. There are
athletes in the backfield, athletes on the perimeter, that we have to
account for.”
When they have the ball, Indorf says they need to take advantage of
what the defense is giving them. “Defensively
for them, it’s a 4-4. We're
going to have to make sure that we are figuring out how we can formation
some things and figure out what plays are going to work for us and just take
what the defense has given us and be consistent in the pass and run game and
do our best,” he said.
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Ontario
to Take on Aggressive Tiffin Columbian
Ontario, the co-champion of the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference, travels
to Tiffin Columbian to lock horns with the Tornadoes in a regional
quarterfinal in division III on Friday night.
The Warriors (10-1) advanced with a (31-22) win over Lutheran West
last week.
Coach Aaron Eckert says they couldn’t put the Longhorns away, but
they were able to keep them at arm’s length.
“In the first quarter, we get the ball and go score and then they
go for it on their own 29 and we get a stop and if we score there, we
probably put the game away pretty early.
But, they get a pick and the next play they go down and get a 91 yard
touchdown. So, we go from a game
where we're in the driver seat to where we’re in a ball game and they've
got confidence and we have got to fight, claw, our way back.
So, we came out the second half and then did a lot of good things
eventually held them. They had
four big plays, one on special teams, but really kind of shut their offense
down in the second half so that they really couldn't get back within that
one score range to tie the game,” said Eckert.
Tiffin Columbian (9-2) took out Ashland (49-21) last week to open the
playoffs.
Eckert says they are diverse and explosive on offense.
“The first thing that you see when you look at Tiffin Columbian is
how dynamic their offense is. I
believe in division III and they have the second best offense in all of
division III. They're averaging
just over 40 points a game. It
starts with their quarterback, the Akron commit, the (Brayden) Roggow kid. Then
they have got three really receivers and then the tailback has 30 touchdowns
on the year. So, they're dynamic
on offense and it looks like they've done a good job of putting their kids
in positions to make good plays and a big offensive line.
So, that's the first thing jumps off the tape at you,” he said.
Roggow leads the “SBC” Lake in passing and Damien Brockington in
rushing with 1,882 yards and 30 scores.
Ontario’s defense has been very good this year in posting four
shutouts during the regular season.
Eckert says they just have to play their game and when they have the
ball, don’t give it right back to Tiffin.
“I think you just have to make them work for things.
It looks like when they have played teams, they've definitely taking
advantage with what the other team does against them.
They've been able to throw it and run it.
So, you just kind of have to do what you do and continue to play
football. I think our defense
has been pretty good this year. So,
we're looking forward to the challenge,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Tuesday afternoon, “Again trying remain balanced on offense I think also
helps. We can't go out there and
go three and out and give the ball right back to them when we get stops.
We've have got to play Ontario Warrior football and see what happens on
Friday.”
If there has been a bit of a weakness for the Tornadoes this year
they have allowed some points. Eckert
says they are going to take chances on defense.
“It looks like defensively they are going to try to pressure.
They're looking to get turnovers it looks like so they can get more
possessions on offense. That may
not be their philosophy, but just looks like they're willing to take some
chances and they're willing to gamble a little bit and they're willing to
get after the quarterback. When
you do that, you give up something else.
Like anything you do offensively or defensively.
So, they're not a bad defense by any means.
They're just been one that's been aggressive all year and they've
been got a couple of times. So,
it'll be interesting how they attack us.
Will they put more guys in the box or will they respect the throw
game. So, looking forward to
that chess match on Friday night,” said Eckert.
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Lexington
Feels Good
Lexington tangles with St. Mary’s Memorial on Wednesday night in a
division II regional semifinal at Clyde High School.
The Minutemen (15-3-1) beat Norwalk (2-0) last week to earn another
district title.
Coach Pete Them says they were really able to control the game.
“There was kind of that unknown.
We had some common opponents, but we knew Norwalk was going to be
tough and they were going to come play as hard.
I thought the boys did a nice job of kind of controlling the pace and
controlling the game. Fortunately,
for us we were able to put the ball in the back of the a couple of times. That
really obviously was the deciding factor.
I think the fact that we could just control the game, control the
tempo and basically we're kind of able to control the ball and that was that
was huge for us, especially after kind of an emotional win over Ontario in
district semis,” he said.
St. Mary’s Memorial (18-2-1) beat Celina (1-0) in their district
final, avenging a regular season loss.
Them says they are very good on both ends of the pitch.
“Typically, we would have a common opponent in Lima Shawnee, but
that was scratched this year due to some weather and the field was
unplayable. The common opponent
would be Ontario. Actually, they
came to Ontario late in the season and Ontario got them 1-0.
So, we've watched the game film a little bit and kind of seen some
things. I've talked to the
Shawnee coach a little bit here and there, and they're a good squad,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “They play hard and they have 18
wins, two losses. They don't
give up a ton of goals, they score a bunch, so it's going to be a tough
match. Any game at the regional
level is a tough game. St.
Mary's plays hard, they have some great kids, some great athletes and so
we've got to be aware of a few of their key components and just kind of keep
everybody in check. If we do
what we do and we play our game, I like our chances, I think we have got a
good shot.”
Lexington has been to the regional level in six straight years, plus,
Them says they play a very challenging regular season schedule.
“I think that was something we talked about (Monday) actually at
practice a little bit. I can't
exactly remember the last time St. Mary's has been to a regional and the
expectation for us and the way we've competed over the last seven, eight,
nine years at this level and especially our regular season matches we go out
and play some of the top ranked, not only division two opponents, but in the
State of Ohio, just all divisions. I
mean this in the nicest way, they're not better than anybody we haven't seen
already this year. So, for us
it's can we be disciplined, can we convert our chances, can we do what we
need to do and just stay focused on the goal.
Just you know make sure that we take care of things and kind of just
be ourselves and go out and play the game and see what happens,” said
Them.
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Clear
Fork Has Building Blocks
Clear Fork finished just a game back in the Mid-Ohio Athletic
Conference standings last year and the Lady Colts made it to the district
final in division III. They
again have a lot of potential this season.
Coach Scott Sellers believes they will field an athletic team.
“We're excited for the season to start.
We have got I think six letterman back.
We had a really good summer. We
had some kids you know since the season was out in the spring, summer, and
fall. We have a lot of kids that
play soccer. I found out
(Tuesday) I think five or six of them just made an all district team.
So, we're going to be athletic again.
We have got a lot of names that people know back with Annika Labaki
and Kylie Belcher and some of the kids that are going on their fourth year
of lettering for us. So, really
excited to have everyone back in the gym this week,” said Sellers.
Sellers says this preseason they want work on being tough and
building on what they are good at doing.
“I think at the beginning of the year it's about instilling some
toughness and getting in basketball shape.
We play three weeks from (Wednesday).
It's hard to believe we already are playing in three weeks against
Lexington then we have two days and we have Madison.
I think for us to keep building on our strength, which is our man
defense. We do like to push the
pace a little bit. Then it's
just figuring out who we are as a team.
We lost four seniors. They
were all top nine in the rotation. So,
it's an opportunity for some of the younger kids that are back to really
make a name for themselves. From
what I’ve seen this summer and who we competed against I'm really
optimistic for what we have this year,” he said.
Their first scrimmage is this weekend and Sellers says they want to
find our who fits in where. “What's
nice is we have a core group of three or four kids that played a lot of
minutes last year. We'll find
two or three more this year that give us minutes.
I think a lot of the successful teams around that I've seen anyway
they'll have a couple sophomores, a couple juniors, a couple seniors.
We have been fortunate enough to have one or two freshmen a year gets
solid minutes. By the end of
last year Brinley Barnett was starting for us as a freshman,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Tuesday afternoon, “I wouldn't say she came out of
nowhere, but she had such a good second half of the season that was a nice
bonus. Now, we're looking
forward to her being that leader and even better this year.
You have five scrimmages, we use four of them, that's why you have
the scrimmages to not necessarily win them all, but to see what you have for
the season that comes. We have a
lot of games early, I think by first week of December we're playing six or
seven games, so we're really front loaded.”
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Galion
Has to Score
Galion will be at West Holmes on Friday night to play the Knights in
a division IV regional quarterfinal.
Last week, the Tigers (8-3) smoked Oberlin Firelands (36-6) in a
first round game.
Coach Matt Dick says it was a solid overall performance.
“We played great defense, ran the ball well, Braxton (Prosser) I
think went 6-8 and I think his two misses were dropped passes.
So, it was a pretty clean night and we were able to rest him a little
bit, get that turf toe healed a little bit better.
We were happy to get injury free out of there,” he said.
West Holmes (9-2) played one of the wilder games in the state last
week when they outscored Bryan (70-50) to win their opening playoff game.
Dick says they have an explosive offense led by quarterback Morgan
Smith. “They're another high
powered offense. We've seen a
lot of very, very high powered offenses this year.
They remind me of a mix of kind of Shelby and River Valley.
I like their quarterback iso. They
throw to the (Kyle) Maltarich kid in a million different ways.
He's as good as any receiver as we have seen all year,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Tuesday evening, “They're just really, really
explosive. If their quarterback
is on they're going to score a bunch of points.
I think our advantage would probably be running the ball and ball
control, but the key is scoring with them.
If you're not going to score 28, 35 points you have a hard time beat
West Holmes. So, you're going to
find a way to score and hold them down as best we can.”
Yes, they want to slow West Holmes down, but to have chance to win,
Dick says on offense you have to find things that are going to work.
“I'd love to go three yards of cloud of dust and just pick our way
down the field and eat up a whole quarter, but the West Holmes defense looks
really, really good at times. I
know they gave up 50, but it's not like I could just turn on the film and go
hey this is what they're giving up. Bryan
did a lot of different things well and the hats off to their kids, they
played well. Anybody that's
played West Holmes. They've had
some high scoring games and they’ve had some low scoring games.
I do not think that West Homles’ defense is a weak link or anything
like. It's hard to score on
them. The key is to try to find
advantage whether you're out formation them or maybe get a match up like,
but we're going to have to try to find ways to get any advantage we can
because they're a good football team.”
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Highland
is Seasoned
Highland has another tough assignment this week as they must travel
to the Lake Erie shore to face the Oak Harbor Rockets in a division V
regional quarterfinal on Friday night.
They produced one of the biggest upsets in the state in the first
round when Kolton Stover connected with Dane Nauman on an 82-yard screen
pass for a score with 1:37 left and the Scots stopped Liberty-Benton at the
goal line to preserve a (21-17) win.
Coach Ty Stover says that was thrilling, but it’s time to get back
to work. “It was great for
them to get the job done, really for a whole program.
They came right back in this week ready to get to work.
So happy from last week, but it's time to move on and focus on week
12,” he said.
It is certainly another tough opponent for the Scots (6-5) this week
as they meet Oak Harbor. The
Rockets (11-0) blasted Otsego (49-20) last week.
Stover says they are very good on both sides of the ball.
“They're scoring in the 40s and they've got five shutouts on
defense. They can do it all to
be honest with you. They have
got some really nice skilled guys on offense. They have got a young man
there that’s a senior wide receiver that plays just about every position
on their offense. He's their
number one, we know that,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night,
“Defensively, your going to look at a 4-2-5 and real stout in the box.
In the back half, they will show us a couple different coverages that
will have to take advantage of. We
have got our hands full. I think
we say that every week. The kids
will be ready to go, prepared and hopefully just ready to play as hard as
they can on Friday night.”
In the second round there are still four Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference
teams in the tournament. Stover
believes the schedule they have played has prepared them well for Friday
night. “We like to call it seasoned.
We're seasoned and hopefully that once again it will benefit us on
Friday up in Oak Harbor. We know
that we have got to be within that range there in the fourth quarter and
then hopefully that stuff that we've been battle tested that we've learned
lessons off of will help us get the job done,” said Stover.
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Madison
Playing Well Heading into Regional
Madison makes its fifth regional appearance in the last six years as
the Lady Rams take on Lima Shawnee in a division II regional semifinal on
Tuesday night at Tiffin Columbian High School.
Madison (12-4-4) has won five its last seven matches and acting coach
Jordan Monica says they are coming together as a team.
“We have figured out where certain people need to play and we've
come together as a team. I think
our senior group has really had the willingness of not wanting to lose.
I think that was instilled in them their freshman year from Taylor
Huff, Kari Eckenwiler, Phyllis Stanfield, Ashleigh Bechtel and all those
girls really taught them, especially coming in a tournament time what needs
to be done and that it's not a given and they just wanted to earn it and
they wanted to prove everybody wrong,” said Monica.
On Saturday, Madison shutout Ontario (2-0) to win the district title.
Monica says they were very solid on defense and she believes the
caliper of teams they played during the regular season got them ready.
“We played outstanding defensively.
Going into that game, we talked about if they never score, they could
never win. So, I think that was
the mindset of everybody on that field.
We can't let them score and I think they just all came to play,”
she told Swankonsports.com on Monday evening, “I think it also comes down
to our schedule of play all year. We
play a lot of the top teams in the state, so I think that helps us get ready
for that tournament run instead of scoring tons of goals during the season
having those close games really helped us out come to these close games in
tournament.”
Lima Shawnee (9-4-6) beat Celina (2-1) in overtime in their district
final. They beat Madison in a
regional semifinal in 2021, the last time Madison qualified for the
regionals.
Monica says they have some speed in their forwards and it will be a
tough challenge. “We were
talking (Monday) with the girls. They
kind of seem like a team like us that has gotten better as the years going
on, maybe has jelled as the year has gone on.
We do know they have some speed up top.
So, I said we just have to play them how tough we played Ontario and
Clear Fork. Just be able to
break down their defense and pass through their flat back four and hopefully
we come out on top. I think it
will be quite a match, we seem to be evenly matched,” she said.
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St.
Paul’s Defense Will be Stressed
Norwalk St. Paul, coming off a tremendous performance last week,
travels to Malvern of a division VII regional quarterfinal on Friday night.
Last week, the Flyers (7-4) destroyed Toronto (56-20) in a first
round game. Josh Poccos ran 189
yards and four touchdowns. St.
Paul had 390 yards rushing as a team.
Coach John Livengood says they got off to a good start and then road
that momentum to a big win. “The
kids came out and played well. Toronto's
a very good football team, have got good size, good skilled athletes and
they’ve got good coaches. I
mean they do they do a nice job down there.
I was a little worried about the length of the trip.
We didn't play very well at Fort Loramie when we had a trip like that
earlier this year, but I think our kids really learned from that and had the
right mindset. We came out that
opening drive and scored. We got
a three and out on defense and put together a nice scoring drive again.
It happened the third time around, they went for it around the
midfield on fourth down and we were able to get a stop and got up 21-0 early
in the first quarter. So, things
kind of rolled from there,” said Livengood.
Poccos and Ben Berger both have over 1,000 yards rushing this year.
Berger has 1,092 and 17 touchdowns in limited action due to injury.
Malvern (10-1) beat Southern (35-20) in their opening round game.
Livengood says they are going to have the personnel to throw the ball
all around the field. “They're
a really good throwing team. They
remind me a lot of Edon we've played the last three years both in the
playoffs and the regular season. They
remind me a lot of that. They
have really good receivers, good, quick kids, a nice big quarterback that
does a great job. It's going to
make it tough to defend the way they have got athletes all over the
field,” he said.
Livengood says they have shown a lot of improvement on defense.
He says they must be very fundamentally sound on that side of the
ball or they are going to get burned. “We've
have got to do a lot better job than, I'm using Edon as an analogy.
When we played Edon last year, we had a lot of blown coverages and
missed assignments. I think as
coaches, we need to simplify things and make sure that our kids are ready to
go and know what's going on and where they're supposed to be.
That's the key for us,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday
afternoon, “Again, as I mentioned earlier several times this year the
improvement we've made in our secondary and the improvement we made along
the defensive line has really helped us out as a team. Defensively, it's
been the biggest part of our improvement throughout the season.”
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Northmor
Faces Another Running Team
Northmor will be home again for another playoff game Friday night as
they host Gloster Trimble in a division VI regional quarterfinal.
Trailing (22-14) at the half, the Golden Knights (9-2) put up 23
unanswered points in the third quarter and went on to pound Coal Grove
(44-22) in a first round game.
Coach Scott Armrose says they came out in the third quarter focused
on what they needed to do. “We
knew we put ourselves in a situation where we had to get things going.
We started the third quarter out with an onside kick, a quick score,
and a two point conversion to tie the game up and really at that point we
didn't look back for the rest of the game,” he said.
Running back Paul Cramer scored three times in the third quarter.
Quarterback A.J. Bauer passed for 235 yards on the night.
Armose says they were able to get the crowd going in the third
quarter. “Our crowd was
energized. We had a really nice
crowd. Coal Grove really took
the air out of our crowd with just really long drives and sucking the clock
down. It just got everybody
down, everybody was quiet and there was no energy on our sideline, there was
no energy in the crowd. Once we
got things going, we got those guys behind us, the momentum really started
getting our way,” said Armrose.
The Trimble Tomcats (6-4) smoked Marion Elgin (37-6) on Friday night
in their playoff opener.
Armrose says again they will be facing a running team, but Trimble
passes the ball much better. “It’s
another one of these teams from down south that likes to run football.
They're very similar to Coal Grove in the fact that they're 90
percent run, but at the same time they have the ability to throw the
ball,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday evening, “They have a
quarterback that's really athletic and can throw it.
They'll run, run, run and then surprise you with a play action pass.
When they’re in situations where they have to throw the ball,
they're able to spread the field out and do it.”
Northmor has thrown ball well all year, but Armrose says Trimble has
shown the ability to get to the quarterback.
“They have showed multiple fronts on defense, but their base
defense is a 4-3 cover two. They
stand their ends up against passing teams, so they get more pass rush.
They rush the passer very well and do a nice job filling from the
secondary to stop the run,” he said.
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Wynford
Must Limit Mistakes
Wynford will be tested on the road again this week as they travel to
Bluffton for a division VI regional quarterfinal on Friday night.
They had an exciting win last week, as Kaiden Blair stopped a Tinora
ball carrier at the one tard line in overtime, forcing a fumble, and helping
to preserve a (31-28) win in a first round game.
Coach Cyle Skidmore says their kids just wanted it more.
“Tinora played a really good football game.
Those kids are extremely physical.
They're obviously well coached. I
thought they were very disciplined. They
did a lot of good things. We
made a lot of mistakes also on both sides of the ball.
That game came right down to the very last play.
I told the kids that all week, and all the other coaches told the
kids, that they're going to start fast and they're going to have to finish
fast and I thought they get did a really good job with that,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “We didn't let up at all.
Our kids played a very, very hard football game.
Tinora is a physical team. They're
very physical up front, so we had to match the intensity and do things like
that when it came down to the trenches.
We were able to do that with the run game that we had during that
game. I thought it was awesome
that a kid that we didn't have kicking extra points or anything all year, or
field goals, he came in and he was four for four and he made the
game-winning field goal for us.”
Wynford (7-4) is at Bluffton (10-1) on Friday night.
The Pirates walloped Paulding (63-6) in their playoff opener.
This season they have six times scored more than 40 points and they
have posted seven shutouts.
Skidmore says they are fast and explosive on offense.
“It pops right up the scores that they've had each and every game.
I mean they've done a great job on the offensive side of the ball
getting the ball to their explosive athletes.
On film, they're very, very explosive, very quick.
They have a very talented running back, he’ll find a seam.
They run a lot of inside zone and a lot of jet and they do a great
job getting in space. If they
get out, it's going to be hard to get to them and tackle them because
they're extremely fast. Another
thing, they're big upfront. Their
offense line is pretty big. their defense line is pretty big,” he said.
Skidmore says the Pirates just don’t make mistakes and that means
they can’t afford too either. “Overall,
they're just a very talented football team and they don't make a lot of
mistakes. I'm pretty sure their
quarterback has zero interceptions on the year.
They don't make mistakes. In
the films they don't fumble it, like there are like no fumbles.
So, it's like wow they're explosive, they're big, and they don't make
a lot of mistakes. We've been
telling our kids that all week they don't make mistakes.
We have to match that. We
have to do that too. We can't
make those little mistakes or have a false start like we did against Tinora.
We just can't do that stuff, no personal fouls, nothing stupid, we
can't have that,” said Skidmore.
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Shelby
Girls Have Great Potential
Shelby, the defending co-champion in the Mid-Ohio Athletic
Conference, has the talent to have another excellent girls’ basketball
season.
Veteran coach Natalie Lantz says they have some pretty high goals
they would like to accomplish this year.
“I think the girls have some lofty goals, but I think there's
certainly some goals that are within reach, but they also know that it comes
down to each and every day at practice and how hard we work to make
ourselves and our teammates better. Then
little by little doing our jobs once we finally get a chance to take the
court in game situations. So, I
really liked these first three days that we've had. I
think they've done a fantastic job. They're
working really hard and they they'd like to fight for another “MOAC”
title and push for the sectional and district title as well.
I like their goals. I
think they're achievable, but we've got a lot of work to do,” she said.
Lantz says they have four seniors on their roster, only two that
played last season when they went (20-6) for the year.
“I really like who we have back and a lot of it is girls that have
gotten some experience over the last year or two.
We will actually have four seniors, unfortunately only two of them
saw time last year. Mal Gundrum
got her knee one week into practice last year, so she was out as a junior.
We had looked for Mal to probably be one of our top players.
I mean she's just a great athlete, great vocal leader on the court.
So, Mal will be joining us back this year, which gives us player
number three. Then our fourth
senior this year will be Maggie Bogner, who has not played since middle
school. She got her knee as a
freshman and hasn't played since, but Maggie has a lot of just natural
intuitive play, especially at the point and guard positions.
So, we're really excited to get Maggie back on the court with us.
I think she's going to bring some versatility and some just
confidence at the point guard spot for us.
So, four seniors you know, two with good experience from last year in
Lexi Booker and Sarah Reiser,” said Lantz.
Lantz says they also have some underclassmen, led by first team
all-league selection Eve Schwemley. “We
have a slew of juniors that got really good time for us last year, including
Eve Schwemley, Sophia Long, Serena Ramsey, Charlie Niese and unfortunately
with Trinity Baker, she has a lot of guard experience for us and backup
point guard behind Demi Hipp, got her knee in July.
So, she'll be sitting and helping us coach and cheering on her team
from the bench this year. I'm
just hoping she recovers. We're
working through different things, but really, really like who we have back
and what their capability is,” she told Swankonsports.com on Monday night,
“They've all grown. It's just
neat within other varsity sports they just become more and more confident as
they get older. Also in that
group, you have Lexi Mohn and you have Alyssa Niese.
So, we have a lot of veteran play back this year that have experience
at the varsity level. I think
that's a really good group to start with and then we have some younger kids
both in the freshman sophomore class that are really going to push us at
practice, which I really like,” said Lantz.
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Huron
Takes on Topped Seeded Liberty Center
Huron has a big challenge on Friday night as they visit Liberty
Center to take on the top seeded Tigers in division V regional quarterfinal.
The Tigers (8-3) advanced last week by taking out the Genoa Comets
(28-21) in a home game.
Coach Sam Hohler says their play in the second half was the
difference last Friday. “When
we played Genoa the first time around they kind of took control of the game
in the second half and we weren't able to finish them off,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Monday afternoon, “This time, we flipped the script
on them a little bit. We felt
like we outplayed played them in the second half and that was a big key to
our success the other night.”
Beu Harkleroad was again huge for the Tigers.
He had two touchdown receptions plus two critical interceptions in
the game.
Liberty Center (11-0) smoked Elmwood (56-14) in their first playoff
game.
Hohler says they have very good players all over the field.
“They're very athletic. They've
got a little bit of everything. They
have got some good size lineman, they've got some excellent skilled kids and
they play terrific defense. So,
for us to go out there and have a shot at winning, we're going to have to
play a really good game and hope for some breaks to go our way as well,”
said Hohler.
Hohler says they need a very good start and they have to take this
game into the second half with outcome in question.
“We're hoping for the same thing, we want to have a good start and
give ourselves a chance,” he said.
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Shelby
to Face Aggressive Cleveland CC
Shelby, the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference co-champion, hosts Clevland
Central Catholic on in a first round playoff game in division IV on Friday
night.
The Whippets (8-2), #4 in the final Swankonsports.com football
coaches poll in the large school division, blanked Marion Pleasant (23-0)
last week to earn a share of the title with Ontario.
Coach Robert Mahaney says their defense was outstanding.
“I mean defensively it was our best game of the season.
I thought our kids did a tremendous job of coming out and executing
the game plan defensively and doing what they needed to against a Pleasant
team that does tons of stuff offensively.
I think it's a credit to our kids and our defensive coaches and they
did a great job. I thought
offensively at times we didn’t execute at a high level, but defensively
for four quarters we played extremely well and we're able to get our first
shutout in a long time,” he said.
It was the Whippets first shutout since they blitzed Willard (63-0)
on the third week of the 2018 season.
Cleveland Central Catholic (4-6) lost (45-0) to rival Cleveland Villa
Angela St. Joseph last week.
Mahaney says the Ironmen have speed on both sides of the ball.
“They have some running backs that are very good and they can take
small gains and make them into big plays.
So, we have got to make sure we're in there.
They like to get the ball out quick in the passing game, so we have
got to be able to defend that,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday
night, “Defensively, they like to fly around.
I would say it’s more about speed rather than having big bodies in
there. I mean they fly around
and get to the football. They'll
bring six, seven guys at times and we have got to make sure up front that
we're sound and trust our rules. Again,
as always, try to execute a high level.”
Mahaney says they have to execute better than they have at times this
year. He says they can’t get
themselves into down and distance problems.
“We’ve talked all week about just trying to be process driven to
do things the right way. We have
got to make sure that our negative plays or our bad plays we don't get five
yards behind the sticks or 10 yards behind the sticks.
We have got to continue to move the ball forward rather than going
backwards. We've had a bad
tendency at times when we get stagnant offensively of having penalties or
having big minus plays. We've
been fortunate enough to make that up at times, but now that we're in the
playoffs we have to make sure we clean everything up and try to execute the
best we can and try and do everything we can to find a way to win and keep
this season alive,” said Mahaney.
Published 10/27/23
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Hillsdale
Has to Limit Mistakes
Hillsdale entertains the Lucas Cubs Friday night in a first round
playoff game in division VII.
It’s the second meeting of the season between the two teams.
Hillsdale won (21-17) in a week two game also played at Hillsdale.
The Falcons (8-2) have won their last four, including a (20-13) win
over Rittman last Friday in Wayne County Athletic League play.
It was (13-6) Rittman at the half, but coach Trevor Cline says they
took control in the second half. “After
the first half when we were sort of getting in our own way when we got out
of our own way and started executing the second half we played well against
Rittman. Rittman is a quality
team. They've had a lot of
success this year and it was a physical game for us, but we were able to
come out on top,” he said.
Lucas (7-3) has won seven of its last eight and last Friday they
smoked Arlington (30-0) on their home field.
Cline says the Cubs are very disciplined and they are going to be
physical. “Again, this year
they’re just a very well coached team.
From watching them on film they come off as a very disciplined team.
I know they have a lot of older guys on their team playing key roles,
so they have experience. I know
their quarterback now has ten games of being a varsity quarterback. I
know last year he played a different position, but at the varsity level, now
he's got a lot of experience at the varsity level as a quarterback,” he
told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “He's done a really nice job.
I think up front they have a good line that's physical, so we have
got to be able to match that physicality and also be the team that makes the
least amount of mistakes. With
both programs being very similar and like to control the game by running the
ball, we just have got to make sure that we master physicality and we're the
more disciplined team.”
Logan Toms returned a punt 87 yards for a score for Lucas in the
first meeting.
Cline says they can’t afford mistakes in the kicking game.
“He's one of their very good athletes and in the first game against
them we ended up allowing him to
have a huge momentum play by returning a punt for a touchdown.
If it wasn't for us having a drive at the end of the game that would
have been the deciding factor for the game was his punt return.
So, we've been focusing on special teams throughout the week and
making sure that going into this game (Friday) that we eliminate any mental
breakdowns or any mistakes such as that so that we can control the momentum
of the game when we’re on special teams,” said Cline.
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Crestview
Takes on Carey
Crestview will be at Carey for a first round playoff game in division
VI on Friday night.
It will be the third meeting between the programs in the playoffs in
the last four years. Carey won
in 2021, they won the division VI state championship that year, and 2020 by
the same score of (42-14).
Crestview coach Steve Haverdill says there is no question the
programs know each other pretty well. “I
think this is going to be the fifth time we've played since 2018, this will
be the third time in the playoffs. They're
a very good football program, very traditional rich, similar to us.
They've had our number for the last couple of years.
This year's team they look very good on all three phases and big and
fast and so we've got a great challenge ahead of us,” he said.
Crestview (4-6) lost (28-18) to Mapleton in Firelands Conference play
last week.
Carey (8-2), #5 in the final Swankonsports.com football coaches poll
in the small school division, ran the table in the Northern 10 Athletic
Conference, winning the title outright with a (55-6) whipping of Seneca East
last week.
They don’t have any players with outstanding numbers, but have a
lot of talented players that handle the ball.
Haverdill says they want to force you to stop the run.
“They're get in that Maryland “I” and they're going to try and
run down your throats and every so often they'll you know try to sprinkle in
some stuff to have a little fun. It's
almost like they get bored at times because they're beating teams so bad
that they're going to start throwing some stuff around and do some trick
plays and things like that. Theoretically
they can just sit back and they're going to try and run it down your throats
and set everything else up that way. So,
we have got to be able to stop the run and try to control the up front in
the trenches,” said Haverdill.
Carey has allowed only five scores in the last month, including a
(27-7) win over once beaten Colonel Crawford.
Haverdill says their players are in the right spot.
“They read extremely well and they're very gap sound in their 3-4.
I mean there's times they'll put two lineman up there even and guys
are roaming and they get to where they need to get to.
They're very fast, explosive, they tackle very well and they're very
physical,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday afternoon, “They read
well, so when its run they're swarming to the football, when it's pass
they're in their areas and their zone areas or if they're playing man
they're right on that hip and they got guys rushing and so you don't have
much time to throw. So, they're
very, very aggressive and a very good unit.”
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Wynford
Has to Play Hard
Wynford makes the trip to Defiance Tinora for a first round playoff
game in division VI on Friday night.
Last week, the Royals (6-4) hammered Upper Sandusky (46-18) in a
Northern 10 Athletic Conference game.
They have won five of their last six games and coach Cyle Skidmore
says he thinks they are starting to peak.
“I think our kids are doing a tremendous job each and every day.
It's been that way for a while now.
We're playing our best football.
Our kids are doing a great job getting better, listening to the
coaches, learning from each and every game that we have played and just
continue to do things right and have the put the program in the right
direction. I think our kids are
going to be prepared for this game. I
think they're ready to go. I
think up to this point they've been doing everything right.
I think our coaches have done a tremendous job preparing our kids and
I think overall everyone is just excited in the Wynford community for this
football game,” he said.
Tinora (7-3) has outscored its last three opponents 129-0 and carry a
five game winning streak.
Skidmore says the Rams play hard on every play.
“I think they have got a rich history over there when it comes to
football. They have a good
tradition, a good culture, another good program, good community.
I have a little history with them, a little experience with Tinora.
Actually, my senior year, I'm with a Wynford grad, we made it to the
third round playoffs we met up with Defiance Tinora at Ohio Northern
football stadium and they beat us 17-0,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Thursday night, “Those kids played hard then and you turn the tape on now
those kids play extremely hard. I've
been saying that all week telling our kids, putting it in their head, these
kids play hard and we have to do our job each and every play.
We have to match their level of intensity, their level of play and we
have to get after from start to finish.”
Skidmore says this is the kind of team that is never out of a game
because they are explosive. “We're
playing good teams from here on out. There's
no off weeks. These teams are
going to have the ability to have explosive plays, they have athletes and
they have good players. They
could get down a couple scores, but they could come back within a couple of
plays. It only takes a couple of
plays from a couple of good athletes to make a big difference in a game.
They have the ability to do that.
They have a really good quarterback, he's able to run the ball and
he's able to throw the ball on the perimeter and he does some special
things. They have good receivers
and a really good running back. Our
kids have to be prepared (Friday) they have to be ready to go,” said
Skidmore.
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Seneca
East Gets Crawford Again
Seneca East gets a chance at revenge in the same season as they
travel to North Robinson on Friday night to face the Colonel Crawford Eagles
in a first round playoff game in division VI.
Crawford won the first meeting (29-14) in a Northern 10 Athletic
Conference game on September 15.
Coach Ed Phillips says they look forward to the opportunity.
“It's different, it's a little weird in football doing it.
It’s the first time I've ever done it, but it's exciting.
A lot of times you go in, I don't want to say blind, but not knowing
that team till that week. So,
there's excitement that this brings. It’s
kind of a chance to… you get another shot at somebody because usually you
have got to wait 365 days get that extra shot and we get this year, which is
pretty cool,” said Phillips.
The Tigers (5-5) were hammered last week (55-6) by “N10” champion
Carey.
Crawford (9-1) smoked Buckeye Central (45-6) in a conference game.
Phillips says the Eagles are just good all over.
“They run the ball really well and they're just really sound and
fundamental on defense. They are
also explosive in their passing game. They
move guys around and they have got a lot of guys make plays.
So, they're just a really solid program,” he said.
Seneca East actually won the second half (14-0) last time they played
and Phillips hopes they can build on that for Friday night.
“In the second half last time we got some stops on defense and we
moved the ball pretty consistently on offense,” he told Swankonsports.com
on Thursday night, “That's where we're going to be for all four quarters
this time. That half gives us
some excitement something to build on I think for (Friday) night.”
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Northmor
Plays Big Coal Grove
Northmor welcomes Coal Grove on Friday night for a first round
playoff game in division VI.
The Golden Knights (8-2) have won their won their last five games,
including a (34-7) victory over Loudonville in Knox Morrow Athletic
Conference play last Friday.
Coach Scott Armrose says again they played well in all three phases.
“We played well on both sides of the ball.
We played really good defense again and really good special teams.
We were able to score early to get a big lead and then kept rolling
on,” he said.
Armrose says in the last month they he has changed his philosophy on
how to start games. “The last
five weeks we've had great first quarters.
We're able to score multiple times.
Usually, I'm a coach that defers his choice the second half, but last
four weeks we've been taking the football and start with the ball.
We get a good start and then stop and another score, so really put a
team in a disadvantage when you get off to a quick start and we've been able
to do that here the last few weeks,” said Armrose.
Coal Grove (4-6) has lost its last five, including (23-16) to Rock
Hill last week.
However, Armrose cautions not to under estimate the Hornets.
“There a 4-6 team, but the teams that they've lost to are really
good football teams, so they play a really high level of competition.
Their league is tuff and includes a team like Ironton, who's going to
compete for division V state championship this year, so they've lost a
really good football teams,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday
evening, “They're really big and strong up front and they do a nice job
blocking for three running backs that are able to get things done, one in
particular has got tremendous speed. So,
they are a very challenging football team for us.”
Armose says their kids in the trenches will be called to have good
game on Friday night. “They've
done a great job here the last few weeks.
We played really good football up front with our defensive line and
linebackers. This is a whole
different challenge, we haven't seen a team with size like this since we
played Danville. So, hopefully
that experience is going to help us for this and hopefully we've learned and
we're able to get things done,” said Armrose.
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Norwayne
Has to Be Disciplined
Norwayne, the runner-up in the Wayne County Athletic League, plays
host to Youngstown Liberty in a first round division V playoff game on
Friday night.
Last week, the Bobcats (9-1), #3 in the final Swankonsports.com
football coaches poll in the small school division, beat Smithville (4-17)
in “WCAL” game last Friday.
Coach Adam Indorf says they faced some weather issues, but did a good
job. “I think we came out and
played fairly well. Weather
hindered us a little bit. The
first time all season we saw a little bit of a little bit of rain and then
we're on natural grass where we're on turf most of the time and that impeded
us a little bit and we got a little bit of a slower start, but then got it
cranked up and got after it and finished well,” said Indorf.
Liberty (5-5) brings a three game winning streak into the game after
a (67-21) blow out of Campbell Memorial last week.
Indorf says they have some athletes and they will have to be
disciplined. “They're going to
be athletic. They have some
athletes on the field. For us
defensively, we're going to have to play really disciplined and make sure
we're trying to have a run fits, be discipline up front, keep an eye on the
quarterback and the running back and read their options and then rally to
the football defensively,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday evening,
“Offensively, know what font they're in if they switch up fronts, we saw a
few variations, know what front they're in and make sure our blocking
assignments are going to be good and then just take what the defense is
going to give us.”
Indorf says they will have to be ready for some surprises.
“That's the part of our defense just being disciplined in your
reads, resetting every play and making sure that you're doing the same thing
and being solid and everything that you do,” he said.
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Ontario
Hosts Lutheran West
Ontario, the co-champion of the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference, plays
host to Lutheran West in a division III first round playoff game on Friday
night.
The Warriors (9-1) earned that co-title with a (34-20) win at
Highland last week. Chase Studer
ran for 89 yards and a score in the win.
Coach Aaron Eckert says they kind of took control in the second half.
“Things didn’t get any easier for us week 10 going down to
Highland played a really good Highland football team with Dane Nauman,
Stover and Reichenbach. So, it
was a good win for us, happy to kind of get out of there.
The conditions, and we're playing on turf actually last week, but
hats off to Highland, they did a pretty good job and they took the lead
briefly in the second quarter. We
battled back before halftime to get a score and then in the second half came
out and took care of business,” said Eckert.
Lutheran West (7-3) comes in on a four game winning streak.
The Longhorns smoked Chagrin Falls (34-7) last week.
Eckert says they are loaded with athletes.
“I mean the Longhorns are super athletic and that's the first thing
that jumps off the page at you. They're
led by their quarterback Jalany Theodore, #15, kind of a dual threat kid,
left-handed. Then they have a
kind of a plethora of backs they play and then all four of them are pretty
good, starting with Daquarius Bradley. Up
front they've got some size up front, they're probably bigger than us, which
isn't anything new for us, but bigger than us and do a good job getting off
the ball,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday afternoon, “They have
some different personnel packages. Defensively,
they like to call cause some chaos. There
a 3-4 defense that kind of flies around, plays all man coverage, and looking
to get after your quarterback.”
Eckert says they kind of saw this kind of defense when they blanked
Marion Harding (34-0) in conference play earlier in the seasion.
“I'd say the closest thing they remind me to is probably Marion
Harding, just from a from a defensive standpoint.
Marion Harding was a 3-4 and just like these guys they played all man
coverage like these guys do and they're good athletes.
So, that would be the biggest comparison, the most likely comparison
for us defensively to these guys,” he said.
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Lexington
Must Play Well in All Phases
Lexington makes the short trip to rival Mansfield Senior to play a
division III first round playoff game on Friday night.
The Minutemen (5-5) earned a playoff spot by beating Ashland (24-14)
in Ohio Cardinal Conference play last week.
Coach Andrew Saris says their kids were up to a tremendous challenge.
“It was fun for our kids you know the last two weeks to take on
that challenge and to come away with a win versus a good Ashland team
that’s well coached. I said all week, I thought they were quality kids,
quality coaches and for our kids to come away with a win against them was
huge and then give us the opportunity to make the playoffs,” he said.
Lex actually had to win two in a row, they beat Madison (31-21) the
week before, to make the postseason.
Saris says they need to continue to make consistent plays in all
three phases of the game. “Hopefully
the concept of playing all three phases together, I thought we did that last
week. I thought our offense
complemented our defense well and then our special teams came through and
made some huge plays. So, it was
exciting to see all those phases coming together like that.
There were definitely still some breakdowns and some mistakes that we
see on film and we continue to try to correct those and get better every
week,” said Saris.
Mansfield Senior (8-2), #2 in the final Swankonsports.com football
coaches poll in the large school division, hammered rival Madison (34-0)
last week to secure the outright title in the “OCC”.
They haven’t been scored on in eight quarters.
Saris says the Tygers make big plays on offense and on defense they
are going to be extremely aggressive. “They
swept the “OCC”. They're
very a talented team. They do a
nice job offensively. You have
got to keep that quarterback in the pocket and force him to throw, but he
tucks that ball he runs well and then they have got athletes on the outside
who can make big plays. The idea
of the scramble drill I just think, that the receivers do a great job of
finding where that quarterback is and getting to him and he does a nice job
getting in space. Then they do a
good enough job in the run game that you can't just take everybody
out-of-the-box and try to stop those receivers,” he told Swankonsports.com
on Wednesday evening, “Defensively, again it's always about they're going
to be extremely aggressive. They
are going to try and get up in your face and they'll press you at times.
Our kids just have to be able to make the plays in space and try to
take that aggression actually making it an advantage for us.”
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Lexington
Meets Norwalk in Districts
Lexington faces Norwalk in a boys’ soccer district final at Shelby
High School on Thursday night.
The winner gets a berth in the regional tournament, something the
Minutemen (14-3-1) are used to.
Ironically, Lexington and Norwalk play a district volleyball final at
Seneca East.
They beat rival Ontario (1-0) in a semifinal match on Monday.
Coach Pete Them says they had to battle some adversity to reach the
final. “I mean playing Ontario
it's always going to be a dog fight. They've
grown tremendously through the season. Coach
(Steven) Armstrong did a nice job over there and for us it was just kind of
keeping things normal playing the way we do and just trying to match their
level and their intensity For
us, we had an unfortunate injury, so we kind of had to regroup there with
little time for preparation and so the guys did a nice job on the fly kind
of adjusting to some new positions and kind of a different formation a
little bit. Kind of getting over
that hurdle a little bit. Just a
heck of a game, especially when you're playing one of your rivals in kind of
a local game. It's just
everything you expect at that level for sure,” he said.
Norwalk (12-7) beat Mansfield Senior (1-0) on Monday in the other
semifinal.
Them says the Truckers will be hungry for success.
“They have a couple of great athletes.
The kid that wears #7, he's got 30 some goals on the season and he's
a pretty good player. We haven't
seen Norwalk in a couple years, but they've always been in the district
semis and they finally kind of poked their head through this year after kind
of being on the outside knocking on the door.
So, they're going to come hungry,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Wednesday night, “I saw a couple interviews where the boys are aware of
what we've done over the last couple of years and aware of what the history
of their program is and not being in a district final for a few years.
So, they're excited about being there.
So, for us it's just come out and match that intensity, come out and
play our game and make sure we do what we do and just be ready for the
moment. We played a lot of tough
teams this season and so I don't think it's going to be a skill or talent
difference it is just going to be who shows up (Thursday) night and who
plays the hardest.”
Lexington lost in the regional last year, the state semifinal the
year before and the regional in 2020.
Them says they have been tournament successful, but they must be at
their best on Thursday. “I
mean we have 13 seniors in the program this year and I can't even tell you
how many of them are two, three and four year guys, letter winners and
they've been around for a long time. They've
come through this program and they've won at the district level and they've
won at the regional level. So,
they're hungry, they know what it means, they know what it takes.
So, it's just trying to keep them focused if you will and kind of
motivated. It's a long season
and sometimes those days off in between games can drag on.
We've been there, but we have still got to show up every night and we
have got to play our game and take care of business,” said Them.
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Ashland
Can’t Give up Big Play
Ashland takes the bus to Tiffin Columbian for a division III first
round playoff game on Friday night against the Tornadoes.
The Arrows (5-5) lost (24-14) to Lexington in Ohio Cardinal
Conference play last week.
Coach Scott Valentine says they didn’t play well in the kicking
game and their offense couldn’t finish off drives.
“It was one of those games. I
mean you get into weather and you're not sure how things are going to go.
We gave up a couple big plays on special teams to them and they took
advantage of them. Then just
couldn't get enough going to get the job done.
So, give credit to them and everything, but it's one of those things
that we need to be able to finish the game,” said Valentine.
Columbian (8-2), #5 in the final Swankonsports.com football coaches
poll in the large school division, finished as runners-up in the Lake
Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference.
They lost the division title game (55-28) to Sandusky Perkins last
week.
Valentine says they are going to have to play very well to have a
chance at the upset. “They're
a very good football team, very well coached. They're a senior oriented
team. They have got a lot of
seniors on their team that play and have been playing for them for a while.
So, a good football team, one of those teams that you're going to
have to play a real good game against them to give yourself a chance to be
successful,” he said.
Tiffin has amassed more than 4,000 total yards this season and is
equally proficient in the run and pass game.
Valentine says they have to great tacklers and they can’t let
Tiffin get big plays. “I think
like we've been doing, trying to be number one be great tacklers in space
and then getting off blocks,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday
night, “I think our coaching staff has put together a good game plan and
just going out and executing that and not give up big plays like a lot of
teams we played this year they've gotten a lot of big plays.
So, those are going to be important things for us to do
defensively.”
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Galion
Has to be Physical
Galion is at home for Oberlin Firelands on Friday night in a first
round playoff game in division IV.
The Tigers (7-3) ended their regular season on an up note with a
(34-0) win over Marion Harding in Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference action.
Gabe Ivy finished with 185 yards and a score for the Tigers.
Coach Matt Dick says they were able to run the ball well.
“We ran the ball well, got out of their injury free, scored I think
the first three or four possessions. It was a nice night, our kids played
hard and it was nice to be able to rest some of our guys and get a little
healthier this week,” he said.
Firelands (6-4) carries a three game winning streak into the game
after a (27-0) win over Wellington.
Dick describes them as a physical run team.
“They're big and their physical and rundown hill.
They probably run wedge more than any other team I've seen on film
this year. They're really trying
to smash it down your throat. So,
if we can play well up front, especially on the defensive line I think that
that's really a key for competing with them.
I do think they run the ball well,” said Dick.
Dick says the Falcons can be hard to run against.
“They run a 3-4 defense, kind of reminds me of some old school
Clear Fork defenses from about 10 years ago.
They have the big outside linebacker, stand up, rush the quarterback.
Makes for hard running and we're run football team.
So, we're have to match their physicality and I think maybe some
spread formation might be a little better this week.
I'm excited to see how we match up physically with them,” said
Dick.
Dick says honestly it can be difficult to judge the athleticism of
Firelands. “They are a little
bit outside of what we know. They're
opponents they play, I don't have a real strong opinion one way or the other
on them. So, I really don't know
how fast they are or how big are they because I don’t know the opponent
they are playing,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “If we
have those common opponents it kind of gives you a little bit better gauge.
This is kind of an unknown and that makes it exciting.
At the end of the day, if we could play low, we could play fast, we
have a chance to play some pretty good football.”
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Carey
has to stop Run
Carey, the Northern 10 Athletic Conference champion, plays host to
Crestview, of the Firelands Conference, on Friday night a division VI first
round playoff game.
It was a destruction of Seneca East (55-6) that gave the Blue Devils
an undisputed title in the “N10”.
Coach Jonathan Mershman says they were not interested in sharing.
“I mean Friday night we took care of business and got that outright
title in the “N10” and now we're looking forward to playing Crestview at
home,” he said.
Carey won the state title in 2021 and Mershman says they understand
that the playoffs are different. “I
mean it's win or go home and you have got to play your best every week and
it’s six straight weeks of playing your best,” he said.
Carey (8-2), #5 in the final Swankonsports.com football coaches poll
in the small school division, entertains Crestview (4-6) on Friday night.
The Cougars are coming off a (28-18) loss to Mapleton in a Firelands
Conference game.
The Blue Devils beat Crestview (42-14) on their way to that state
title in 2021 and by the same score in a playoff game in 2020.
Mershman sys they need to stop the Crestview run game.
“Well, they're going to give us a bunch of different fronts on
defense and they're going to throw everything but the kitchen sink at us.
Offensively, they want to run the ball and if you can't stop the run
then it's going to be a long night,” said Mershman.
Liam Kuhn leads the “FC” in passing yards this season, but
Mershman says that is due mostly to their play action game.
“They have got a quarterback that’s got over 1,200 yards
throwing. They have got a really
good receiver, #23,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night, “We
have got to make sure we can stop the pass, but again it comes down to that
play action pass, so if you can't stop the run, that play action pass looks
real good.”
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Huron
Must Play 48 Minutes
Huron is at home for Genoa on Friday night in a first round playoff
game in division V.
The Tigers lost the Bay Division title game (35-7) to Edison last
week.
Coach Sam Hohler says they couldn’t make the big plays at the key
time that they need to make. “Well
first off, Edison has a terrific football team.
The conditions were tough, muddy field and all.
They had some terrific running backs, quarterback who makes great
decisions and they were able to make the big plays and we simply weren't,”
he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday afternoon, “It wasn't for lack of
effort, we had a couple opportunities to score, got down close and just
couldn't put it in. So,
frustrating for us, playing for league championship and we fell short, but
excited for playoffs, we got a home game against Genoa this week and looking
forward to that.”
Huron (7-3) hosts Genoa (7-3) on Friday night.
They played week three and Genoa rallied in the second half to win
(21-20) in a non-conference game.
Hohler says they have some gamebreakers.
“We've played twice in the last couple of years.
They have a terrific quarterback, he can run, he can throw, they've
got some very good playmakers, and they play solid defense.
We played them earlier this year and lost a very close game at home
by one point. We've had a couple
of great contests with them the last few years, so this one shouldn't be any
different,’ said Hohler.
Hohler says on Friday night they have to play 48 good minutes of good
football if they are going to win. “The
key for us is to play a full game. We
played them earlier in the year and we had a great first half and in the
second half they kind of took it to us.
So, we're hoping to put four quarters together and find a way to get
by these guys,” he said.
Published 10/26/23
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New
Philly Has to Control Tempo
New Philadelphia, the 16th seed in their division III
region, will travel to unbeaten Youngstown Ursuline for a first round game
on Friday night.
Last week, the Quakers (6-4) lost to arch rival Dover (20-13) to
close the regular season.
Coach Mike Johnson says they had their chances to win.
“It was a tough loss, but it was a hard fought game.
It's one of those where they made a couple more plays than us, made a
play on special teams with a big return.
We had a couple of chances there at the end to tie it up and we
didn’t make the play. So,
unfortunately the outcome wasn't what we wanted, but hopefully we are
learning from it, we're getting better, and here we are week 11, playoff
time,” he said.
Ursuline (10-0) has scored at least 32 points in every game they have
played this season, including a (35-16) win over rival Youngstown Cardinal
Mooney last week.
Johnson says they have a lot of big time athletes that return from a
(10-3) tean they had last year. He
says Ursuline tries to play at a fast tempo.
“They have got a lot of really good skilled guys.
A lot of their production from last year is back and they had a heck
of a good year. They've been
solid all year so far. So, we're
going to have to try to slow down a quarterback who's a heck of an athlete,
great runner, throws it really, really good with the ball in his hands, good
at throwing the ball downfield,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday
afternoon, “We're going to limit him and the running back is an explosive
player. They go fast, so one of
the big things they do is they just go so fast.
So, we're going to have to try to keep ball out of their hands a
little bit and make some plays on offense to try to slow them down on
defense.”
Johnson says a big key for them on defense to get lined up correctly
before the play starts. “I
mean the defensively, they go so fast when they're on offense, it's to make
sure we're lined up and to ensure that we take care of the play that's being
run. Don't have a whole lot of
time to dwell on the previous play, you don't have a whole lot of time to
worry about the next one because there's always another play coming.
So, they do a great job of going fast, so it comes down to our guys
on defense being set up being ready to go,” said Johnson.
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Improvement
the Focus for Dalton
Dalton, the winner of the Wayne County Athletic League, and the top
seed in their division VII region will play at home on Friday night against
Conotton Valley in a first round game.
After winning the showdown with Norwayne (34-29) on week nine, Dalton
(8-1), #1 in the final Swankonsports.com football coaches poll in the small
school division, put away the undisputed league title with a (47-0) smoking
last week of Chippewa.
Coach Broc Dial says they had a business like attitude.
“I thought our kids played really well, especially defensively and
special teams. We're able to
play a lot of players last week,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday
evening, “It’s one of our goals every year to win the league.
It's good to check mark that off and now head into the second season,
the postseason, just working on getting better this week.”
Conotton Valley (4-6) made the playoffs despite losses in four their
last five games.
Dial says they have to work hard to prepare for Friday.
“They're small in numbers on their roster.
They’re 4-6 on the season. The
kids play hard. They have got
some good athletes in the back end. We
just have to prepare this week and come out and ready to play and play 48
minutes to Pup football,” said Dial.
Dail says they must not be over confident.
“We talked to our players about our goal this week, every day to
get better and go play our best game on Friday and really just focus on
getting better and controlling things we control and just getting better,”
he said.
Ontario
Playing With Confidence
Ontario plays at Lexington against Lady Lex in a girls’ soccer
division II district semifinal match on Wednesday night.
The Lady Warriors (14-2-2) are outright champions of the Mid-Ohio
Athletic Conference and ranked number seven in the state by Ohio Soccer
Coaches Association.
Coach Larry Atkinson says he is confident they are playing well
headed into the match. “I mean
we're healthy. We had a couple
of injuries early on, but I think we're back full strength, 100% everybody's
healthy. We’ve been pretty
good the last few games,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday evening,
“We had a tough game with (Berlin Center) Western Reserve towards the end
of the year that we tied them, but to us that was a win because they were a
quality program. They probably
had the best goalkeeper we've seen all year.
The kids have worked hard in practice this week, so I think we're
ready to go.”
Lexington (9-4-4) lost to Ontario in a non-conference match (2-1)
back on August 19.
Hover, Lady Lex beat Ontario (2-1) in a district final last year and
Atkinson says many of the same players will be on the pitch for Lexington on
Wednesday night. “They’ve
got a quality program. Buck
(Morton) has done a great job. They've
got a lot of returning lettermen that played last year when they beat us in
the district final. So, it's
going to be a battle. It's just
going to come down to who makes mistakes and who takes advantage of the
mistakes that the other team makes,” he said.
As good as the Lady Warriors have been this year, Atkinson reminds
that they are still a young team. He
says they have to get rid of those butterflies early on.
“Hopefully, we can continue to play how we have played. I
think the nerves are going to be kind of high early on because we're still
pretty young. We use a lot of
sophomores and some freshmen, but I think our senior leadership out on the
field is going to is going to help us on the defensive end.
I think just the girls confidence in each other I think is going to
help us this year,” said Atkinson.
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Columbian
Has to Find Some Room
Tiffin Columbian will be at home for the Ashland Arrows on Friday
night in a first round playoff game in division III.
Columbian (8-2), #5 in the final Swankonsports.com football coaches
poll in the large school division, lost (55-28) to Sandusky Perkins in the
championship game in the Lake Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference.
Coach Judd Lutz says they didn’t take advantage of their
opportunities on either side of the ball.
“I thought we had a great week of preparation.
We knew we had a great team and a great challenge in front of us
needing to make plays at winning time and we didn't do that to be honest
with you. We had more than our
fair chances on third down and fourth down, but our defense couldn't get off
the field and credit to them for executing.
Then offensively, we did a lot of things right, had opportunities
where we executed and scored points and a handful that we didn't.
So, you know frustrated by some of that, but at the same point win or
lose, you have got turn the page really quickly to the playoff picture and
so that's we're excited about next,” said Lutz.
Ashland (5-5) fell (24-14) to Lexington in an Ohio Cardinal
Conference game on Friday night.
Lutz says the Arrows are outstanding on defense and that has shown in
a (14-6) loss to Mansfeld Senior, a (20-6) loss to West Holmes and (34-0)
win over Wooster. “I see a
really talented team. They're
outstanding on defense and that kind of shows itself in a lot of their
results very rarely getting you know manhandled and that side of the ball.
They have been able to keep scores close.
Not all 5-5 teams are equal and that is definitely the case with
these guys. They are very, very
good team and have a lot of weapons on offense and when they're good they're
really good,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “We have to be
prepared for them playing at a high level and not dependent on them not
executing. We have got to make
things happen in order to find a way to win and excited for the
challenge.”
Lutz says to make explosive plays against Ashland they have to look
for cut back lanes that could be available.
“I think it's taking advantage of some space when it is there.
Like against most teams really blocking at the point of attack,
denying them and sometimes taking advantage of some leverage when it is
there. At times, they're really,
really fast and when you're really, really fast you can over pursue at
times, so there's some possibilities for some cutbacks or seams on some
sides of things. So, you have
got to break some tackles at the point of attack, you got to block them in
space and make those things happen,” he said.
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St.
Paul to Meet Big, Athletic Toronto
Norwalk St. Paul, the outright Firelands Conference champion, will be
at Toronto in a division VII first round playoff game on Friday night.
Last Friday, Ben Burger ran for 260 yards a four scores, and returned
an inception for another score as the Flyers (5-5) demolished arch rival
Monroeville (41-14) in the conference title game.
Coach John Livengood is really proud of how the kids have come
together after a rough start. “Our
kids have continued to improve throughout the season.
It was a tough start to the season, starting off 0-3 with some really
tough competition, but probably a little bit more important than that was
the fact that we got pretty banged up had a lot of injuries,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Tuesday afternoon, “We're starting to finally get
those guys back practicing and playing it and we were able to dress all 44
of our kids on Friday night this past Friday.
So, it was a good to get some kids back healthy and contribute. I
think our kids are just getting better and better at football we're playing
our best football right now.”
Toronto (9-1) has athletes and Livengood says they are huge in the
trenches, much bigger than St. Paul. “They
have good skilled kids. They run
a wide open offense, spread offense. Their
skilled kids are fast and they're huge up front.
They're 6’7”, 250 at left tackle, 6’5”, 260 at right tackle,
225 at both guards and 245 at center. So,
they're big up front and some of those same guys playing on the defensive
line. They’ve got guys that
can fly around, they're big and fast,” said Livengood.
Livengood, a hall of fame coach, says they have played teams of this
ilk before, such as Tiffin Calvert, the runner up in the River Division of
the Sandusky Bay Conference. “They're
similar to maybe Fort Loramie size wise, you know a lot of bigger skilled
kids, that sort of thing. Tiffin
Calvert as well size wise. So, a lot of similarities there and the style of
offense they play is kind of similar to Calvert, but it's not so much run
oriented, but a lot of bubbles and screens and dumping the ball off out the
flats quite a bit and then letting their athletes go out and play,” he
said.
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Bellevue
With More Confidence
Bellevue plays host to Napoleon in a division IV first round playoff
game on Friday night.
The Redmen (5-5) won their second straight game by blanking Vermilion
(20-0) in a game in the Bay Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference on
Friday night.
Hall of fame coach Ed Nasonti says the younger kids that have been
forced into the lineup due to injuries are starting to figure out varsity
football. “I think a lot of
the young kids that we've got on the field are getting the feel for it and
kind of getting in the groove playing with a little bit more confidence.
Like I told you before, we went through that four week stretch where
we played some pretty good football teams and we just tried to stay positive
with our kids. We knew if we
played decent football, we could possibly win those last two games and get a
home playoff game, which is what happened for us,” said Nasonti.
Napoleon also (5-5) has won five of its last six games and has been
able to turn their season around.
Nasonti believes the Wildcats are a good football team.
“They played for their league championship last week in week 10
against Sylvania Southview. They
were in a dog fight and ended up getting beat 20-14, but they have some nice
players. They have really good
size, they have a six foot six 300 pound nose guard,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Tuesday night, “They have an all conference wide
receiver and defensive back that they like to get the ball to and put him in
good spots on defense to make plays. They
have good size across their offensive and defensive lines.
So, I think they're a very worthy of opponent going into week one of
the playoffs, so we're going to play good football.”
Nasonti says the Redmen have a lot to get ready for on both sides of
the ball this week. “They run
some spread offense. They also
mix in a little wing-t stuff. I
would say that they are a multiple offense.
Defensively they run an odd front, they'll blitz some outside
linebackers, they'll change up their coverages in the secondary and will
give you some cover three zone and they'll sometimes they'll man you too.
So, a lot of things to prepare for this week,” he said.
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Western
Faces Physical Black River
Western Reserve plays host to Black River in a division VI playoff
game on Friday night.
After losing three of their previous four games, Western got back on
track and hammered Northwood (48-0) last week in a non-conference game.
Coach Ty Stevenson says they played with more intensity.
“I felt like our energy was a little better than it had been a week
before. I thought we got after a
little bit harder early on. We're
able to get some scores early and get to a comfortable lead and got it over
with quickly and we're able to get to this playoff game this week,” he
said.
Injury wise, Stevenson says they are in pretty good shape headed into
the postseason. “We're not too
bad. We lost a couple guys early
in the year, mid season, with some knee stuff and those guys are still out,
but other than that we're pretty okay health wise. I
think we're kind of rounding in shape a little bit and hopefully will be
okay,” he said.
Black River (7-3) won perhaps it biggest game last week in handing
Columbia its only loss of the season so far (24-20) last Friday.
Stevenson says they will be a big challenge for his team.
“A huge win for them on Friday night against Colombia.
It was a really good game to watch on film.
It was kind of one of those mud games.
They're big up front and Black River has been a been a perennial
football school forever. So,
they're big and strong and physical and they like to run the ball.
They have got a big quarterback who can also throw it.
They play physical on defense. It's
going to be a really good challenge, so hopefully we're up to that and it'll
should be a good game Friday night,” said Stevenson.
Rider running back Connor Dawson has put up some huge numbers this
fall with 2,334 yards and 36 touchdowns.
However, Stevenson says the Pirates are pretty good defending the
run. “Well, Colombia's a
really good running team as well and they were able to hold them to a few
scores on Friday night, so there'll be a big challenge because again just
like offensively, defensively they're big and their mic backer #34 is
physical and he plays downhill and reads things well and flies in the
football,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday afternoon, “They got
some guys that really can cover. That
will help take away your pass game. Like
I said, they're big up front and their linebackers move really well.
So, I would say that probably the strength of their team might be the
linebackers, but that defensive line those db’s are pretty good as
well.”
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Fredericktown
to Face Athletic, Experienced Archbold
Fredericktown has made the division V playoffs and will visit
Archbold for a first round game on Friday night.
The Freddies (5-5) vaulted themselves into the postseason with a
(32-14) win over rival Centerburg in a Knox Morrow Athletic Conference game
last week.
Coach William Hartley says they won the turnover battle and that won
them the game. “The kids were
really excited to play. That is
a trophy game where we have a trophy that goes back and forth between the
two schools and of course they beat us last year.
The kids really bought in and took ownership of bringing the trophy
home back to Fredericktown. They
were really excited and took advantage of that.
Played really good defense all night.
In the wet conditions we were able to generate four turnovers, three
interceptions and a fumble recovery. Then
we didn't turn it over once. The
kids did a really good job false security as far as we are concerned.
I think that was probably the difference in the game that we were
able to capitalize off those turnovers and we were able to keep the slate
clean for ourselves. So, it was
a really good night, a very good way, very positive way t finish out the
regular season,” said Hartley.
Archbold (9-1) smoked a division IV playoff team in Bryan (42-21)
last week.
The Blue Streaks have earned their 17th playoff appearance
and Hartley says they are really talented again this year.
“I mean it's a very, very good program that’s got a very long
history of success and it doesn't seem like there's any different this year.
A very experienced group, they don't have any sophomores starting on offense
or defense, they’re all juniors and seniors.
They're very big up front and they're big kids that move well, both
on the offensive and defensive line,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday
afternoon, “They have some nice athletic playmakers and quarterback seems
pretty poised. He does a good
job of surveying the field and he's able to sit back there and pass with a
lot of comfort because they do have a big line.
It seems like on the film there's not many teams have been able to
get pressure on the quarterback. They
have got some playmakers that they do a nice job of moving them around,
putting them in different positions to get them to the ball, pretty
creative.”
The bus trip for the Freddies will not be a short one, but Hartley
says they have some things figured out.
“We've been working on the logistics of that.
The one nice thing is last year in the same situation we went to
Eastwood, which is just to the pretty much the same distance, it's just to
the east of Bowling Green, Archbold is just to the west of Bowling Green.
So, it's going to be similar and a lot of kids made the trip last
year. I think as a staff you
know we've kind of got the routine down a little bit this year as far as
we're going to stop at on the way up there and when the team should eat.
Another nice thing is we don't have school, we're not in session on
Friday, so there shouldn’t be any interference in the school day.
I mean it's going to be a tough challenge for us obviously we are the
lower seed, but it doesn't help having to go two and half plus hours,” he
said.
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Perkins
Has to be Focused
Sandusky Perkins, the top seed, and outright champion of the Sandusky
Bay Conference Lake Division, plays host to Vermilion, out of the Bay
Division, in a first round game in division IV on Friday night.
Last week, they pounded Tiffin Columbian (55-28) in the Lake Division
championship game.
Coach Jalen Santoro says they came out and did things well and
followed the game plan. “We
came out and I felt we got off to a hot start there.
Our defense came out there and got two three and outs, which is huge
when you're playing offense like Tiffin Colombian.
It gets the momentum going in the right direction and gets your
energy going in the right direction and builds confidence early in the game.
That was a big start for us. Then
we had a longer, sustained drive there was a 18 play, eight minute drive
right before halftime. That was
obviously big as well to take a two score lead going to half, knowing we
were get the ball back out of half. We
felt confident with what we could do up front and running the football and
we kind of made sure we're trying to kind of take the wind out of their
sails as much as possible respecting their offense a little bit and their
big play ability,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday afternoon, “We
wanted to make sure that we went out driving the football and eat some clock
when we could. When you can do
that and then those drives result points too, that’s the best case
scenario. So, I was happy with
the way we played. I was happy
with the kids and how they came out executed the game plan and totally came
out healthy as well so.”
Isaac Bunts had 240 yards rushing and three touchdowns for the
Pirates in that win over Tiffin.
Perkins (9-0), #1 in the final Swankonsports.com football coaches
poll in the large school division, entertains Vermilion (3-7) on Friday
night. The Sailors lost (20-0)
to Bellevue in a Bay Division game last week.
Santoro says it will be important for them to keep their focus.
“Right now, we have to make sure we're really focused making sure
we're taking care of ourselves here, taking care of the football.
When you look at a team like Vermillion you have got to make sure
that obviously in any game I mean it was important, especially this time of
year in the playoffs you have got to jump on the team early.
So, we have got to make sure we have a good week of practice here,”
said Santoro.
Santoro says they must contain the Vermilion quarterback.
“Vermilion has a quarterback that makes some plays and is a good
athlete. So, we have got to make
sure we do our due diligence and make sure we're containing them and knowing
what he's doing and make sure we're keying him as much as possible.
So, it kind of starts with good week of practice here and then with
mental prep and make sure we're ready for Friday night,” he said.
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Clear
Fork Faces Madison in Districts
Clear Fork plays Madison in a division II girls’ soccer district
semifinal on Wednesday night at Lexington High School.
The winner will play either Ontario or Lexington in a district final
on Saturday.
Clear Fork (12-3-3) was the runner-up, to Ontario, in the Mid-Ohio
Athletic Conference. Madison
(10-4-4) is the co-champ, with Wooster, in the Ohio Cardinal Conference.
Lady Colts coach Brittany Bechtel says she believes they are playing
some pretty good soccer right now. “I
feel like we're playing really well and we're executing.
It’s always a rollercoaster ride up and down.
We've played some really, really tough competition towards the end of
the season here to kind of sort through some things.
We've had a little injury here and there and we're getting healthy.
So, we're healthy and the girls seem to be connected and they're
self-disciplined in practice, they're still working hard.
The weather (Monday) was nice to have.
Sometimes when it gets super cold and nasty outside the mental aspect
of things can kick in. Like do I
really want to keep doing this? (Monday) was just really refreshing to be
out there training and a beautiful day, which makes you feel like you were
starting your season all over again, it was kind of weird,” said Bechtel.
Clear Fork beat Madison (2-1) way back on August 11 in the opening
match of the regular season on Brinley Barnett’s header with less than 10
seconds to play in the game.
Bechtel says they know they are in for a very tough game.
“It was game one and they are a great team, a great program.
We know that and we also know that that game was won in the last nine
seconds. So, coming off of that
high also can be something that very aware the kind of battle we're about to
go through on Wednesday. The
girls have been training all summer for these games and all fall and sorting
things out and continuing to grow and get better.
The only thing now is it gets to be put to the test.
So, I know they're excited. These
are the games that you've trained all four.
We get to find out how it falls.
We know it's going to be a good game no matter how you look at it,”
she said.
Bechtel says in games like this you have a little luck, but it really
comes down to execution. “I
know in the tournament runs that we've made through the years that I've
coached and we look back through it being like wow if I had to going back
through that whole again the stress and also looking at what goals go in or
goals that you saved or whatever it be that that found the right success
through the tournament,” she told Swankonsports.com on Monday night,
“You have got to have a little luck along the way.
A little luck offensively or defensively in the game.
We also say the way you train and the way you work and the way you
play is also what builds that luck at the same time.
So, it'll be an exciting game Wednesday.”
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Lucas
Has to Win up Front
Lucas gets a rematch with Hillsdale on Friday night in the first
round of the division VII football playoffs.
After a (30-0) win over Arlington last week, the Cubs have won seven
of their last eight games.
Coach Scott Spitler says they want to be peaking heading into the
postseason and he believes they are almost there.
“I think we've really grown as the season has gone on.
When you're independent you don’t have a league championship to
play for anything like that. So,
the mindset is earning the opportunity to get in the postseason and then be
playing your best football when you get there and I think we're heading in
the right direction towards doing that.”
Lucas (7-3) is at Hillsdale (8-2) on Friday night.
The Falcons beat Lucas (21-17) on week two when quarterback Jack
Fickes scored with 1:57 to play. Fickes
ran for 120 yards and three touchdowns that night.
Spiter says Fickes is the engine that runs the Falcons offense.
“They have just improved every week since we played in week two.
They're very well coached, coach (Trevor) Cline does a great job and
we have tremendous respect for their staff.
They play sound defense and we've had trouble moving the ball on them
because they're disciplined, they read their keys really well and they
tackle well,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday night, “Offensively,
everything runs through Jack Fickes, he's a dangerous weapon that can put it
in the end zone anytime he touches the ball.
When he's the guy running the ship, as far as the captain of their
offense, he's touching it on every play.
So, he just stresses you so much and then they've got great skill at
their running back position, the wide receiver position.
So, they're playing a lot of young kids and then they've grown up now
and playing really good football.”
Fickes has run for 401 yards and 10 scores.
He has thrown for 952 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Spitler says as is usually the case, they have to control the point
of attack if they are going to win the game.
“We have to have a good night up front.
Both teams are very similar. They
do it a different way than us, but we both want to run the ball and play
good defense. It's going to come
down to who can control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
So, our offensive and defensive lines have got to have a great game
for us,” he said.
Published 10/24/23
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Colonel
Crawford Faces Explosive Seneca East
Colonel Crawford plays Seneca East, a team they beat in play in the
Northern 10 Athletic Conference this year, in a first round playoff game in
division VI on Friday night in North Robinson.
The Eagles (9-1) smoked Buckeye Central (45-6) in a “N10” game on
Friday. They haven’t lost
since conference champion Carey beat them (27-7) on September 22.
Coach Jake Bruner says they hope they are at their best as the
postseason begins. “Well, I
hope so, I mean when you get to this point you want to be on your best.
We’re all playing to survive another week.
So, I think we're coming along, but we have got to perform on Friday
night as well,” he said.
Seneca East (5-5) at one point had won four of five, but they have
been soundly beaten the last two weeks by Wynford (66-34) and Carey (55-6)
in “N10” play.
Bruner says this is a team with an exceptional athlete at quarterback
in Blake Foos and they scare you on offense.
“Well, obviously give credit to Carey and Wynford, they're both
pretty hot right now, both playing really good football.
Seneca East is a as a team very similar to us.
They have got some experience back at different levels, but then they
have got some young guys in there. They've
shown some progress throughout the year,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Monday night, “When you have a quarterback like the (Blake) Foos kid.
He's just dynamic in everything he does. I
think he's got 2,800 yards between running and throwing.
The (Taylor) Young kid at receiver and running back has 54 catches
and leads our league in receptions. So,
they're just a really, really, really good offensive team.
They’re well coached and their coaches have been through this.
They were in a final four (in 2018).
We know we're going to get their best effort on Friday night when
they come down North Robinson.”
When they played on September 15, Colonel Crawford won (29-14) again
in North Robinson. It was (29-0)
at the half.
Bruner says they aren’t taking anything for granted.
“I think our kids have a lot of respect for their athletes and
their kids. The game was a game
that was kind of back and forth early and then it kind of went our way and
then the second half they just did a good job controlling the ball.
So, I think they know that we’re really up against a really good
opponent. If we don't play well,
we're going to get beat. These
guys have been in the playoffs. They’ve
been through this before and they're good football team that’s well
coached. Their kids play
extremely hard. Seneca East always has nice looking kids, they're big,
they're physical and they always have athletes.
So, we know that we've got our hands full on Friday night,” said
Bruner.
Published 10/24/23
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Clyde
Excited to be in the Playoffs
Clyde travels to Rocky River for a first round playoff game in
division IV on Friday night.
The Fliers (5-5) broke a four game losing streak with a (45-14)
whipping of Norwalk in an “SBC” Lake game on Friday.
Coach Ryan
Carter says they played well in the face of more adversity.
“I felt like we got off to a very good start.
Went three and out and got a very good drive put together early on
and really built some confidence. It's
been one of those things this year, but in the first quarter we lost our
tailback, Chancy Miracle, he couldn’t play the rest of the night and our
starting wide receiver and safety in the first quarter as well in Brayden
Olson, he didn't play for the rest of the night either.
Those guys are already backing up guys that have already been
hurt,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday afternoon, “It was just one
of those things where it was next man up.
It's been that mentality for us all year.
We really had some young kids step in and play well. I'm
not sure how many guys were going to get back for this week, but that's kind
of been our theme all year. I
was proud of our kids for getting that week 10 victory. I
thought we really played inspired football.
We got to go on the road to a very good Rocky River team, but we're
excited to be in the playoffs. We're
excited to be playing again this week and not turning our stuff in.”
Clyde seems to have similar luck to park ranger Roy Sullivan, who was
hit seven times by lightning.
Carter says they are coaching their kids to have a positive response.
“I really haven't seen (any luck) yet through ten weeks as far as
health wise goes. It is what it
is. Our kids are battling and
I've been very proud of our staff for continuing to work extremely hard and
trying to get our kids ready to go each week.
It's been a battle, it's been tough, it's been a bunch of events for
us the entire year, but we're trying to have a positive response in order to
get the outcome we want,” he said.
Rocky River (9-1) owns a seven game win streak and was the winner of
the Great Lakes West Conference.
Carter says they have a lot of weapons.
“They have only lost one game and that was to Perkins and obviously
we know what Perkins has. They
put up points against Perkins, so very good, explosive offense, very good
left tackle, very good quarterback, who can throw it and run it, running
backs all over the place, wide receivers, they're very skilled offensively. They
have got guys that get after you defensively.
You turn the film on and they play with a tremendous amount of
confidence. You see them play
and you watch them on film and they expect to win, they expect to win by a
lot, and they expect to score a bunch. So,
we're going to have our hands full, but like I said, our kids are excited to
be practicing (Monday). We're
going to go out there and put together a good plan and see where we end up
on Friday,” said Carter.
Published 10/24/23
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Highland
Plays Very Good Liberty-Benton
Highland takes the bus to Hancock County to meet the Liberty-Benton
Eagles on Friday night in a division V first round playoff game.
Last week, the Fighting Scots lost (34-20) to Mid-Ohio Athletic
Conference co-champ Ontario.
Coach Ty Stover says he feels they turned in a solid effort last week
against the Warriors. “I think
we've put a few weeks together here of playing pretty good football to be
really honest with you. Our
defense is shaping up. Actually,
we're finally getting in somewhat of a groove right now and our offense
continues to do what they need to do,” he told Swankonsports.com on Monday
night, “Once again, it's a play or two here that we have left out there
and it put us in a little bit of a pickle.
Just happy so far as far as the kids, and the effort, and just want
to keep trying to get better and we're happy that we're in week 11 and got
an opportunity.”
Of course, Highland has last year’s division V player of the year
in running back Dane Nauman. This
year he has over 1,400 yards and 17 TD’s this year.
Highland (5-5) plays Liberty-Benton (9-1) on Friday night.
The Eagles are the winners of the Blanchard Valley Conference this
season.
Stover says they
are very impressive on offense. “They're
pretty dynamic on offense to be honest with you.
They are spread, we won’t see a tight end, but you'll see an
“H” back, an athletic quarterback, two real skilled guys at running
back, probably the most impressive part is their front five.
They're front five get after it.
So, we will have our hands full once again.
Just like in the in the league every week we faced the dynamic
offense and we're back at again this week,” he said.
When it comes to
personnel and offensive philosophy, Stover says Liberty-Benton is really
pretty similar to Ontario, the team they just played.
“I was just talking to coaches (Monday) night there.
We have finally landed a team style wise that's similar to the team
we just played. I think they
remind me a lot of Ontario. We
were going through a couple weeks there where it was like, okay we're going
to face a spread team, then we face some double tights, you know what I
mean, it's a totally different monster offensively.
This week we're going to have something similar as far as skill wise
and spread wise and it's going to be nice to see if the boys can dial in a
little bit cleaner and make some plays,” said Stover.
Published 10/24/23
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A
Win Would be Big Plus for Lucas
Lucas puts out the welcome mat for Arlington in the Cubs final
regular season game at Bob Wine Field on Friday night.
A win and the Cubs have a chance to earn a home playoff game for the
first two rounds of the division VII playoffs.
Last week, they demolished Fort Loramie (34-7) on Friday night.
Coach Scott Spitler says they won up front.
“I thought we did a nice job in all three phases, especially up
front in the trenches with their offensive and defensive lines.
We were able to control the game in the trenches and usually when we
can do that it's going to be a good night for us,” he said.
Lucas (6-3) hosts Arlington (6-3) out of the Blanchard Valley
Conference. The Red Devils beat
Van Buren (28-6) in “BVC” game last week.
Spitler says this is another team, like them, that likes to run the
ball. “It’s a very similar
mindset that we have. They want
to run the football like we do. They
do it out of an option package, triple option, veer option.
So, it might be one of those quick high school football games with
two teams that want to control the line of scrimmage and run the football.
They're extremely talented. They
have got great speed and athleticism at their skilled positions and nice
size and up front in the trenches on both sides of the ball,” he told
Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “We're expecting a physical battle.
This will be the third time we've played them and they've gotten us
the last two times we've played them in tight ballgames.
So, we've got a tremendous challenge and we want to finish strong on
senior night in the regular season.”
Spitler says they would really like to beat these guys and if they do
there are some other pluses too. “We
have a lot to play for Friday night. First
and foremost, we want our seniors to get a victory on their last regular
season home game. Then we want
to be able to earn the right to host a playoff game at Bob Wine.
Then just the opportunity to maybe get off the snide and get one
against them because like I said we haven't got a victory against them the
last two times. So, we
understand that we've got a challenge and we want to make sure we take care
of business at home on Friday night,” said Spitler.
Published 10/20/23
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Huron
Must Limit Big Plays
Huron makes the short trip to Edison Friday night for a game in the
Bay Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference.
At stake is the outright division championship.
Both teams are unbeaten in division play heading into Friday night.
Huron coach Sam Hohler says they couldn’t ask for a better
opportunity. “It's our
neighbor, big time rival, both having great seasons and getting the
opportunity to play for a league championship, it doesn't get much better
than that,” he said.
Edison (8-1,3-0), #3 in the Swankonsports.com coaches poll in the
small school division, has scored at least 28 points in all of their wins.
Hohler says they have to be very disciplined to be able to contain
the Chargers run based offense. “Traditionally
they run the triple option and they have some terrific athletes to pull it
off,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday afternoon, “A couple of
their kids are returning starters. They're
big time playmakers, so for us to have discipline to be where we're supposed
to be and not give up the big play we'll be huge.”
Edison quarterback Marcus Medina has thrown 12 TD passes and run for
another 12 this year.
Hohler says he is a gamebreaker.
“He's tough to pick corral. He's
a terrific decision maker at quarterback and then again when he's out in the
open he's very dangerous,” he said.
Hohler says they hope to be able to stretch the Edison defense and
make some plays on the perimeter. “They've
got some terrific linebackers that really get to the ball in a bad mood.
So, it'll be tough sledding for us.
Hopefully, the weather cooperates and we can get them out in space
and do our damage that way,” said Hohler.
Published 10/20/23
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