Great weekend to be a Red Rider!!

Some great accomplishments for Red Rider athletes & Red Rider alums over the weekend. It's tournament time, and that's apparently when Red Riders shine their brightest.

Swimming
Orrville junior Madison Monheim turned in two All-Ohio performances in her 2nd consecutive trip to the state finals in Canton.  She placed 10th in the 200yd. freestyle in a personal best time of 1:55.37.  I noticed that 6 of the 9 swimmers who finished ahead of her were seniors, so I'd like to think her chances of finishing in the top 5 next year are excellent.

She also finished 12th in the 500yd. freestyle event, also in a personal best time of 5:11.46.

Congrats Madison.  Now a 3-time All-Ohioan.  I hope she's getting some attention from colleges.

Wrestling
Orrville will again send wrestlers to the state meet in Columbus this coming weekend, as seniors Trevor White (2nd) and Ronnie Lehtomaki (3rd) both punched their tickets by finishing in the top 4 of their weight classes.  Both are making their first appearance at state.  With 3-time state champ Felipe Martinez (Genoa) withdrawing from districts due to a family obligation, the 170 lb. class seems to be wide open.  Ronnie upset the #7 and #8 ranked wrestlers in the 2012 Brakeman Report to punch his ticket to Columbus, and then beat the #14 ranked wrestler for 3rd place just for good measure.

Congrats to both and to Coach Hamsher & his staff.  It's now been 6 straight years that Orrville has sent at least 1 wrestler to state.  Impressive.

In the college ranks, an Orrville grad made some noise over the weekend.  Wabash College junior Jake Strasbaugh competed in the NCAA Midwest Regional that was held at Cleveland State University.  From Wabash's article...

Strausbaugh entered the tournament as the top seed at 149 pounds. He dominated the early rounds, winning 12-3 in his opener followed by a pin at the 1:55 mark in his next match. A 7-3 victory sent him to the finals against Cameryn Brady. Strausbaugh battled throughout the contest, fighting to a 1-1 tie late in the match after trailing 1-0. Brady was able to hold on and score the final point to win 2-1. A 3-1 loss to Olivet's Gage Pederson in the "true second" bout eliminated Strausbaugh from alternate consideration. Strausbaugh finished the year with a record of 45-6. He entered the regional tied for second in the nation in total wins this season, and completes his junior year with a career mark of 131-26, placing him third on the all-time Wabash wins list behind Healy and Rhoads.

Tough way to end for Jake.  That "True Second" match is interesting.  In high school wrestling, the loser of the championship match is automatically awarded 2nd place, but in college, the loser of the championship match must face the winner of the consolation bracket to establish the "true second" finisher.  Gives hope to a wrestler who loses a match that they can still earn 2nd place, but makes it double tough on the loser of the championship match to put that loss behind them and wrestle against an opponent who has won a few matches in a row.

Girls Basketball
The Lady Riders earned a sectional championship by beating Loudonville 62-42 and have advanced to the district semifinals against Dalton on March 1st at 8pm.  That game will follow Smithville/Canton CC.  Both games will be played at Triway HS.

Orrville junior Hannah Plybon ended the season with 396 points, and with 13 in the tourney opener against Tuslaw, has surpassed the 400 point mark for the 2nd straight season.  Her current career points total is 1332 (437 for the season), which puts her in 3rd place all-time, just 36 points behind Rhonda Winters' total of 1368, and just 138 points shy of Stacie Howard's all-time record of 1470.

Boys Basketball
The Riders boys ended the season at 7-13 (for the second straight season) and will open tourney play against Chippewa on 2/29 at 6pm at Wooster High School.  If they win, they would most likely play Loudonville on Saturday night at 7:30pm.

This is a wide open district that any of 5 or 6 teams could win it, so it will come down to which team is playing the best over the next 2 weeks.  We've seen glimpses of what this team is capable of, it's just a matter of going out and executing.

I don't mean to make this a point of bragging, but I don't think an Orrville team has lost a district tournament game on the floor of the new Wooster HS.  The school opened up in 1994, so the first district held there was in 1995, and we won that district on our way to state.  In 1996, we moved up to division 2 and didn't play districts there, and I'm pretty sure we were division 2 ever since, up until 2009-10 when we dropped back down to Division 3, and we've won the last 6 tournament games on that court.

The 1995 district final win over Norwayne was held at the Canton Fieldhouse, so technically only 2 wins that year were at Wooster.  And in 2010, the district final was held at the College of Wooster. So by my count, that's still an 8-0 record in tournament games played at Wooster HS since it first held a district tournament in 1995.

Bolyard shines at UNOH
It wasn't the best season for The University of Nortwestern Ohio men's basketball team, but it was an impressively good season for their leading scorer and Orrville grad, Jake Bolyard.  Just a 7-23 record for the Racers, but Bolyard averaged a school record 22.4 points per game and was recently named 2nd Team All-Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) for his efforts.  His scoring average was 3rd best in all of NAIA Division 2, and he ranked in the top 16 of eight different offensive categories among WHAC players.

Makes you wonder what a guy has to do to make the first team?  Congrats Jake!!
College Riders
I mentioned to of our alumni excelling in college, but I'm always interested in hearing about others.  Please check out my "College Riders" section and let me know if I've left anyone out.  I just reviewed the list and had some new additions and removed some too.

Bob Knight Special
If you missed the premiere of the full 30 minute special of Coach Bob Knight coming back to Orrville, be sure to catch it.  Excellently done.  It will re-air Monday 2/27 at 6:30pm and Wednesday 2/29 at 6pm on ESPNU.

Winter Sports Tournament Update

Boys Basketball
Division 3 Wooster Bracket - Canton Region Bracket - Division 3 - All Divisions

The Orrville boys team drew the 6 seed in what appears to be a wide open district.  Orrville opens with Chippewa on 2/29 (leap day) at 6pm and if they're able to win that game, it's possible they may not face another Wayne County team the entire tournament. 

Number one seed Norwayne was just defeated by Wellington (Lorain County) in regular season play, who according to OhioBasketball.net is 17-2 on the season.  Any team from out of the area will be an unknown to area fans, but 17 wins is 17 wins.

It's also possible that no Wayne County teams will meet in the finals...something that hasn't happened since Loudonville (Ashland County) beat Manchester (Summit County) in 2004.  The only legit district finalist possibilities from Wayne County are Norwayne and Orrville.  No disrespect to Smithville, but I don't see them stringing together 3 wins over Clearview, then Hillsdale, and then probably Orrville or Loudonville to get there.

Elyria Catholic and Orrville play the toughest schedules in the district, and both will come in with losing records.  Will those tough schedules pay off?

Should be a great tournament as always, but something will be missing with Triway moving up to Division 2 and playing their district at the Fieldhouse over in Canton.

Girls Basketball
Division 3 Triway Bracket - Cuyahoga Falls Region Bracket - Division 3 - All Divisions

The Lady Riders ended the regular season 15-5 but lost 2 of their final 3.  Their 5 losses were all to good teams (twice each to West Holmes and Wooster, and once to Canton Central Catholic) so no shame in those, but somewhere along the tournament trail, they're going to meet good teams and they have to figure out how to win those games.

They open tourney play on Weds. 2/22 at 7:45 vs. Chippewa and then play Loudonville on the 25th.  I think they win both of those games handily and their first real test will be against (assuming) Dalton in the district semifinals.

The winner of the CCC/Smithville game will most likely be waiting in the district finals and the Riders would love a chance to defend their district title.

Wrestling
Garfield Heights District Pairings (Orrville Wrestlers in 106, 152, 170 & 285 weight classes).
Four Orrville wrestlers will look to advance to the state tournament this weekend in Garfield Heights.  Alex Tschiegg (106), Brad Potter (152), Trevor White (170) and Ronnie Lehtomaki (285) will all be looking to secure the 6th straight berth in the state tournament by a Rider grappler.

Results should be posted here starting Friday.

Swimming
Last but not least, OHS junior Madison Monheim made it back-to-back appearances in the state swimming meet as she qualified for the 200 yd. freestyle by finishing 4th at districts and also the 500 yd. freestyle where she finished 6th at districts.

She is seeded 12th in the 200 and 16th in the 500.  She will swim in Canton's Branin Natatorium this Thursday at 5pm (prelims) and in the finals on Friday also at 5pm.  Keep an eye on my Twitter page Thursday and Friday for results as I get them.

This is the 4th straight year that Orrville has sent at least 1 swimmer to the state meet.  Quite an accomplishment.

Here's that Bob Knight/ESPN video filmed in Orrville

Orrville never looked so good, huh?

If you missed it, here it is. Orrville's own Bob Knight, former Indiana University head basketball coach, former Texas Tech head basketball coach, current ESPN college basketball analyst and forever a Red Rider, comes back to his hometown with an ESPN camera crew to talk about growing up in Jellytown.

Click 'play' above to play the clip.  Readers who get their updates via email will probably have to click here to see the clip.

Booster Club Car Raffle Drawing is Feb. 18th

The final push is on for sales of $10 raffle tickets to benefit the Orrville Booster Club. The drawing will be held at halftime of the boys basketball game vs. Wadsworth on February 18th.  This is also senior night for winter sports athletes, so there will be plenty going on that night.

Just to review, first prize is a red (of course) 2012 Chevrolet Cruze, like the one seen here, courtesy of Serpentini Chevrolet.  It was on display during football season and is a very nice car.

Second prize is a 46" Flat Screen HDTV from Bennet's Appliance Store and 3rd prize is a recliner courtesy of Brown's Furniture.

In speaking to officers of the Booster Club, they're telling me that sales haven't been a swift as they'd have liked and only approximately a few thousand tickets have been sold.  It's hard to get a true number of tickets sold since a lot were handed out for folks to sell.

The car raffle was done in 2010 and was just sold during football home games.  The thought was that extending the sales through the basketball season would increase sales.  I think the effect was that there was no sense of urgency to buy a ticket during football season so everyone just put it off, and attendance during basketball season isn't what it is during football season so sales have been slow.

One thing is for sure, your odds may never be better to win a 2012 Chevy Cruze or a Flat screen TV or a recliner.

These are all Orrville businesses donating in the neighborhood of $20,000 worth of goods to be raffled off in support of Orrville High School athletics.  This is something that deserves to be supported or it could go away and with it, a major source of revenue.  Funds are always in need for our athletic teams for equipment & uniforms and the Booster Club exists for just that reason...to support ALL athletic teams at OHS.

I don't want to say that fans should choose one over another, but maybe instead of buying a 50/50 ticket at the next home game, you consider buying a raffle ticket or two.  Inquire about taking a stack & selling them at your place of employment and encourage your friends to buy a ticket.  Worry about what you'd do with a new car AFTER you win it.  Support the Booster Club first.

I'm in for a ticket...who else?  To buy a ticket, call or stop in to Crown Investment Services on West High Street and see Tom Brenner or see Kent Smith in the OHS Athletic Department office.  Tickets are $10 each.

Is Orrville looking to leave the OCC?

I typically don't like to dabble in speculation, but this is one of those cases where I've heard this from several different sources and right now the noise of this is just too loud to ignore.

It depends on who you talk to and what version of the story you're hearing, but the result in each case seems to be the same....Orrville is seeking to exit the Ohio Cardinal Conference and either join an existing league, or form a new one....possibly as soon as a year or two from now.

I'll review what I've heard and where I think our ENTIRE athletic program would fit the best.

For the record: The Daily Record's Aaron Dorksen wrote about this very topic in today's edition.  What you'll read below is 100% my original thoughts, research and opinions and was actually completed yesterday before Aaron's article was read.  Just don't want anyone thinking I'm reacting to his article or pulling information from the work he puts in.

Looking Back on Signing Day

Sorry for the big gap in posting. Been a busy time in life lately.

My wife & I are expecting our 3rd child in May and our other two kids are busy in their own activities. I love doing the blog, but family comes first.

That being said, there's a lot going on in the world of Orrville sports, and I'm going to try and catch up one subject at a time.

First up is a recap of college signing day.  We'll hit winter sports and a few other topics in the coming days, but now we'll focus on another great day for Red Rider Nation.