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East senior guard Mycle Shadie and the Dragons have two games left against Firestone. In their first meeting, Shadie hit a buzzer-beater to give East a 100-97 double-overtime victory.

Friday night the East Dragons and Firestone Falcons will meet at East High School in both teams' final City Series game of the season.  One week later, the two teams will face off again, this time in the City Series championship game.

The Dragons have already clinched the regular season percentage championship, leaving their next matchup without any real title implications, but that doesn’t mean the two teams won’t be looking to win.

“If our kids don’t come out treating it like it’s important I’ll be disappointed,” East coach Ross Fiorello said.  “We go into every game with a strategy that we think will be successful and we won’t hold anything back.”

The Dragons (15-1, 11-0) have had more success with their strategy than failure, winning 11 straight games.

Firestone has some bad memories to erase with Friday’s contest from the first time the Falcons took on East.  Firestone held a 47-33 halftime lead on its own court before the Dragons battled back and eventually took a 100-97 decision in double overtime on a halfcourt buzzer-beater by guard Mycle Shadie.

“I’ve already thought about it.  I was home on Thursday and watched the game twice,” Firestone coach Dave Milo said following the Falcons' win over Kenmore last Friday.  “It was amazing how bad we looked in that game.  If we play semi-normal we should be OK.”

Boys hoops: Tourney on horizon

This Sunday the boys basketball tournament draw will be held, and five of the seven City Series teams will be moving districts this year.  Ellet, Garfield and Kenmore will all move into Canton Division I this year, while East and Buchtel will join North at the Stow Division II district. Firestone remains in the Copley Division I district.

Now’s a good time to look back at last winter’s tournament, where Buchtel, Firestone and Kenmore all represented the City Series with at least one victory.  The Griffins beat Orange and Cleveland Benedictine to advance to the Stow Division II district championship game against Walsh Jesuit.  Buchtel fell to the Warriors in overtime.

Firestone beat City series rival Ellet and then Kent Roosevelt, before losing to Green in the District semifinals.  Finally, Kenmore defeated Canton South in the opening round, then lost to Hoban in the Canton Division II district.

Girls hoops: Tournament matchups set

Following last Sunday’s district seed meeting, brackets from throughout the state were filled out, letting everyone know the route their team will have to take in pursuit of district championships – that includes the seven City Series girls basketball teams.

Four of the seven teams will call the Medina Division I district home the last two weeks of February.  Included in that mix is an opening-round contest between third-seeded Kenmore and Garfield, in an all City Series contest.  The Cardinals defeated the Golden Rams twice in the regular season by an average of 54 points.

Rounding out the Medina District, Ellet and second-seeded Firestone both drew first-round byes.  The Orangemen should face top-seeded Wadsworth in a sectional final, if the Grizzlies can get past Copley.  If they both advance that far the Falcons could meet Kenmore in a district semifinal.

In Division II, Buchtel and North will both open their tournaments at Nordonia High School.  The Griffins face St. Martin de Porres in the first round with the winner advancing to face defending state champion Hathaway Brown.  The Vikings will await the winner of CVCA and Warrensville Heights.

Finally, Akron East will likely face top-seeded Manchester in a sectional final of the Uniontown Division II District, after the Dragons received a bye.

Swimming: Miller, Falcons get ready for postseason

This weekend the Firestone Falcons swimming team will begin its postseason run in hopes of making it to Canton and CT Branin Natatorium for the state meet.  Among those getting ready to compete is defending 200 individual medley state champion Katie Miller for the Falcons.

Miller, a junior, won the 200 IM as a sophomore with a time of 2:00.62 and hopes to repeat that performance this weekend.  Miller is also expected to try and make the state championship in the 100 M backstroke, 200 medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay.

Miller and her female teammates will take to the Ocasek Natatorium on the University of Akron’s campus on Saturday, while her male counterparts will compete on Friday.  All those that survive the sectional will advance to the district meet at Cleveland State University.