ROMM PHOTOGRAPHY
The Northeast District has its soccer seed meetings Sunday at Brunswick, Kent Roosevelt and Austintown Fitch High Schools.
The Northeast District soccer seeding meetings are this Sunday at Brunswick, Kent Roosevelt, Rocky River and Youngstown Austintown Fitch High Schools.
The district board shook things up this year and it made sense to do so after the OHSAA created a third division for the girls.
Districts are composed of between 10 and 14 teams.
Major changes on the boys side have Walsh Jesuit moving to Division I and Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy moving to Division II.
The Royals won the Division III state championship last November at Columbus Crew Stadium.
Highland also jumped from D-II to D-I.
In addition, many teams were shifted out of traditional brackets.
The whole outlook in Division I girls changes with defending national and state champion Walsh Jesuit now classified Division II.
The Warriors are riding a 27-match unbeaten string (24-0-3) dating to last season and have achieved a 10-0-2 mark this season largely without their ESPN Rise All-American Sandra Yu.
Yu collected 18 goals and 17 assists last year and has been limited this season by a hip injury.
Walsh Jesuit has not lost since Sept. 18, 2010.
No bracket, relatively speaking, is tougher than Kent Division II girls. Three defending district champions (Chagrin Falls, CVCA and Walsh), along with three district runners-up (Pepper Pike Orange, Revere and St. Vincent-St. Mary), are crammed into the same 11-team bracket.
“I would have loved to see them draw these lines differently,” said Bob Adamov, who guided CVCA to a Division II district title last season. “So, we have our work cut out for us. The other teams have their work cut out for them. Ultimately, we all are working to face Walsh – and that is a tall order.”
Division I Boys
Brunswick (12): Barberton, Brunswick, Cloverleaf, Copley, Cuyahoga Falls, Ellet, Firestone, Akron Garfield, Highland, Medina, Wadsworth, Wooster.
Kent (12): Aurora, Bedford, Howland, Hudson, Kenston, Nordonia, Kent Roosevelt, Solon, Stow-Munroe Falls, Twinsburg, Walsh Jesuit, Warren G. Harding.
Youngstown (11): Austintown Fitch, Boardman, Canton McKinley, GlenOak, Green, Hoover, Jackson, Lake, Perry, Canton Timken, Massillon Washington.
Division II Boys
Brunswick (12): Alliance, Canton South, Coventry, Fairless, Louisville, Manchester, Marlington, Northwest, Orrville, Springfield, Triway, Tuslaw.
Kent (12): Archbishop Hoban, Buckeye, Crestwood, CVCA, Field, Akron North, Norton, Revere, St. Vincent-St. Mary, Streetsboro, Tallmadge, Woodridge.
Youngstown (13): Canfield, Cardinal Mooney, Champion, Hubbard, LaBrae, Lakeview, Liberty, Niles McKinley, Poland Seminary, Ravenna, Salem, Southeast, West Branch.
Division III Boys
Youngstown (14): Columbiana, Crestview, East Palestine, Garrettsville Garfield, Heartland Christian School, Jackson-Milton, John F. Kennedy, Lordstown, Newton Falls, Rootstown, South Range, United, Ursuline, Waterloo.
Division I Girls
Brunswick (11): Barberton, Brunswick, Cloverleaf, Copley, Ellet, Firestone, Akron Garfield, Highland, Medina, Wadsworth, Wooster.
Kent (11): Brecksville-Broadview Heights, Cuyahoga Falls, Howland, Hudson, Kenston, Nordonia, Kent Roosevelt, Solon, Stow-Munroe Falls, Twinsburg, Warren G. Harding.
Youngstown (11): Austintown-Fitch, Boardman, Canton McKinley, GlenOak, Green, Hoover, Jackson, Lake, Louisville, Perry, Massillon Washington.
Division II Girls
Brunswick (11): Alliance, Archbishop Hoban, Canton South, Coventry, Field, Manchester, Marlington, Northwest, Norton, Tallmadge, Triway.
Kent (11): Aurora, Chagrin Falls, Crestwood, CVCA, Orange, Ravenna, Revere, St. Vincent-St. Mary, Streetsboro, Walsh Jesuit, Woodridge.
Rocky River (10): Bay, Brookside, Buckeye, Fairview, Firelands, Holy Name, Keystone, Padua, Rocky River, Vermilion.
Youngstown (10): Canfield, Cardinal Mooney, Hubbard, Lakeview, Niles McKinley, Poland Seminary, Salem, Southeast, Struthers, West Branch.
Division III Girls
Brunswick (11): Black River, Chippewa, Hillsdale, Loudonville, Mapleton, Northwestern, Norwayne, Our Lady of the Elms, Rittman, Smithville, Waynedale.
Kent (11): Badger, Bristol, Champion, Garrettsville Garfield, Girard, John F. Kennedy, LaBrae, Maplewood, Newton Falls, Pymatuning Valley, Rootstown.
Youngstown (11): Canton Central Catholic, Columbiana, Crestview, Lake Center Christian, South Range, New Middletown Springfield, St. Thomas Aquinas, United, Ursuline, Waterloo, Youngstown Christian.
Welcome back
While sophomore Leah Runkle’s 22 goals through 10 matches certainly is key in Wadsworth’s girls soccer season (9-1-0, 5-0-0) to date, first-year coach Paul Williford has shed some light on another important player in the team’s success.
Senior Jessie Gearhart has returned to the Grizzlies’ soccer team after two seasons away.
“Tonight she dominated the middle of the field, on their goal kicks and their punts, and then adding two goals was the icing on the cake,” said Williford last Thursday following a 3-1 win at Cloverleaf. “To get her to contribute on that (offensive) side of the field, as I said, it’s icing on the cake.”
Gearhart, a mainstay in Wadsworth’s district basketball championship last season, is a defensive force against the opponent’s top striker.
Williford, who took over for Ron Mendel, began as a youth coach in the Wadsworth system eight years ago. His wife, the former Tanya Craig, is the team’s lead assistant coach and tutors the Grizzlies’ goalkeepers after setting shutout records as a Wadsworth keeper from 1988-90.
The Grizzlies travel to Kent Roosevelt on Monday night (Oct. 3).
Hot streak
The state-ranked Revere boys soccer team (10-0-3) has three regular-season matches left before sectional tournament play begins.
Senior striker Colin Romisher gave the Minutemen a huge lift during a 5-match stretch to start September. Romisher had nine goals against Kent Roosevelt, Copley, Nordonia, GlenOak and Highland. He scored the only goal of the match in 1-0 wins over Nordonia and GlenOak and capped the streak with four tallies against Highland.