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The reigning Division I OHSAA state champion Twinsburg Tigers will map out their course to defending their title this Sunday at the Akron Division I district tournament draw.
In addition to the Super Bowl being played between the New England Patriots and New York Giants, there’s another sports happening this Sunday that will have an impact on Ohio high school sports.
The OHSAA girls basketball district tournament draw will happen at various locations throughout the state and a remodeled look at the districts will be unveiled, making this a good time to take a look back at last winter’s tournament.
Schools from Summit, Medina and Portage counties had another strong showing in the 2011 tournament, as local teams accounted for 10 district finalists, four district champions and a Division I state championship.
Any recap of last year’s tournament has to start and end with the Twinsburg Tigers, who beat Shaker Heights 61-33 to win the district, survived a 45-43 thriller with Wadsworth in the regional semifinals and the previous state champion Canton McKinley Bulldogs 48-39 to become regional champions.
Eventually the Tigers ousted Kettering Fairmont 55-42 to win the state championship and finish an undefeated season.
As previously mentioned, the Grizzlies advanced to the Division I regional semifinals, by beating the Hudson Explorers 75-68 in the Akron district championship game. The final team to make the district championship game was Brunswick, who fell to Westlake 50-47 in the Medina district.
Division II featured two district championship games between SportsInk.com teams as Norton beat St. Vincent-St. Mary 38-31 in the Massillon Division II district, and Walsh Jesuit outlasted the AP state poll champion Ravenna Ravens 47-39 at Uniontown. Both the Panthers and Warriors went on to lose their respective Regional semifinal matchups to Hathaway Brown and Clyde. Hathaway Brown won the Division II state title.
Divisions III and IV saw one local team finish as district runner-up in each division. Manchester lost to Division III power Orrville 58-55 in the Wooster District championship game, and Mogadore fell to Dalton 37-34 at Norwayne High School in the Creston District.
District deck re-shuffling
This season the district tournament sites were shuffled as part of the regularly scheduled adjustments. In that reorganization, eight of last year’s local district finalists will find new homes, including three that have moved up a division and three teams that have moved from a defunct district and one which will move into a brand new district.
The Akron Division I district will be highly competitive with three district finalists starting their tournament experience at Ellet High School. Hudson remains in the district, while defending state champion Twinsburg moves in from Warrensville Heights, and Walsh Jesuit will move up from Division II.
Medina is the other Division I district housing top SportsInk.com teams, as Brunswick will welcome Wadsworth to the district.
In Division II, Massillon will no longer house a district tournament, opening up a spot for Nordonia. That move splits up Norton and St. Vincent-St. Mary, as the Irish will enter Nordonia, along with currently undefeated Woodridge. The Panthers will move to Uniontown. Lake High School is also the new home of new Division II team Manchester. Currently state-ranked Archbishop Hoban will be in Uniontown as well, after being in Massillon last winter. Ravenna moves out of Uniontown and will travel east to Austintown.
Finally, Mogadore will move up from Division IV to Division III, where they will compete in the Barberton District.
Championship Coronations
This past weekend the Portage Trail Conference County Division title race was decided with the Woodridge Bulldogs winning their first league championship since the 1999-2000 season, outright with a 54-23 win over Garrettsville Garfield. The Bulldogs have also kept their undefeated season going, winning their 15th straight game.
Wadsworth also clinched a share of its 20th Suburban League title in the last 22 years with a 41-25 win over Green. The Grizzlies beat Cloverleaf on Wednesday to clinch the championship outright.
Ravenna won its third-straight league title with Wednesay's win over Coventry
Saturday features two key games in Northeast Ohio Conference races, that will go a long way to determining the races, if not decide them entirely, with Twinsburg travelling to Solon, and Cuyahoga Falls taking on Normandy.
A week from Thursday, Firestone will take on Kenmore at Akron North High School to decide the City Series championship.
Poll Ponderings
Not much changed from the two most recent AP State Poll Rankings, with the most recent edition released last Wednesday. Twinsburg slipped from fourth to fifth in Division I, while the three Division II teams – Manchester (second), Ravenna (fourth) and Archbishop Hoban (fifth) – remained the same. All four teams went undefeated in the past week.