Friday, June 22nd, 2018
Celebration central
Area teams add to title collections in 2017-18 school year
By Colin Foster
Photo by Daily Standard Staff
In the 2017-18 school year, the Midwest Athletic Conference set a record with eight state championships in one year and also had three state team runners-ups, a state individual champion in cross country and track, a state football player of the year in football and a state coach of the year in volleyball. The Celina boys bowling team won a state championship and St. Marys' Jill Schmitmeyer finished her career with a runner-up finish at state. Take a look back at a year to remember. See video at dailystandard.com/video
The Minster girls cross country team was on the run at the break of dawn in early August 2017 in preparation for the upcoming season.
The defending Division III state champions went on to successfully defend their title in November at National Trail Raceway in Hebron.
Fast-forward to June 2018, and many of those same runners stood atop the podium at Jesse Owens Stadium in Columbus after the Wildcat track and field team had captured their first state title since 2004.
Minster's cross country and track titles were the first and last won by Grand Lake area teams during the 2017-18 school year.
The Midwest Athletic Conference set a record with eight state championships in one year and also had three state team runners-up, a state individual champion in cross country and track, a state football player of the year in football and a state coach of the year in volleyball.
Also successful were the Celina boys bowling team, which brought home Division I championship and also St. Marys' Jill Schmitmeyer, who finished with silver at the state golf tournament.
History Made
A week after Minster's cross country had won, the New Bremen volleyball team made history. Led by Michigan recruit Paige Jones and state coach of the year Diana Kramer, the Cardinal volleyball team won the school's first ever state championship with a three-set sweep of St. Thomas Aquinas at the Nutter Center.
That was just the beginning of a big day in volleyball for the MAC.
Versailles and Coldwater squared off for the Division III title right after New Bremen's celebration.
The match featured 26 ties and 12 lead changes. The Tigers pulled out a 15-9 win in the fifth set to claim their second title in five years and avenge a four-set loss to the Cavs during the regular season.
Coldwater, the co-champions of the MAC with New Bremen, finished the year 28-2.
Gridiron Greatness
The MAC again made its mark at the state football championships.
Marion Local and Minster won titles in Division VI and VII to give the conference 33 football championships.
Marion Local met Kirtland last season in a rematch of the 2015 state title game. The Hornets had come from behind to beat the Flyers in 2015 by a score of 22-20.
That game was the "one had gotten away" from Marion Local. In the 2017 game, though, the Flyers blew Kirtland away.
Marion Local defeated Kirtland 34-11 in front of an audience of more than 8,000. It was Marion's sixth championship in seven seasons and 10th all-time.
Minster's title had come a day prior.
Jared Huelsman tied a Division VII title game record with three rushing touchdowns and the Wildcats delivered a 32-7 drubbing of Cuyahoga Heights.
The win was Minster's second football title in four years and third in program history.
Will Homan needed to be great this season if Fort Recovery hoped to reach the football playoffs for a fourth consecutive year.
The senior running back delivered the greatest season in Mercer County history.
Homan became Mercer County's single game, single season and career rushing leader with big efforts night in, night out against some of the state's most vaunted defenses.
He set the single game record with 420 yards in a Week 10 victory over St. Henry, which locked up the Indians' fourth straight playoff berth.
Homan was named Division VI Offensive Player of the Year, Northwest District Offensive Player of the Year and MAC Offensive Player of the Year.
Runner-up Roughrider
St. Marys golfer Jill Schmitmeyer capped her career with a runner-up finish at the Division II state tournament.
A three-time state qualifier, Schmitmeyer had placed 19th as a sophomore and fifth as a junior. She finished with a two-day total of 142 to split runner-up honors with Independence's Sophia Trombetta.
That probably won't be the last time Schmitmeyer makes headlines, either. She will continue her golf career at the University of Findlay.
'Bowl-Dogs' Win State
Celina became the first boys' state champion from the school with a win over Stow-Monroe Falls in a best-of-five series in the Division I bowling final.
It was second state title in school history for Celina, the last coming in 1991 when the Celina girls won the basketball crown.
The Bowl-Dogs earned the fourth seed in the championship round. From there, they knocked off Beavercreek 3-1 and Wadsworth 3-0 before beating Munroe Falls 3-1.
A season after having won the Division II girls bowling title, Coldwater reached the state tournament for a seventh straight year.
This trip ended with a silver.
Fairport Harding defeated the Cavaliers 3-1 in the final. It was Coldwater's second runner-up in bowling program history.
Wildcats on Top
The Minster girls basketball team won a state title for the first time since 2004.
The orange and black outscored Ottoville 16-0 in the final 4:45 of the Division 4 girls basketball championship game to win 63-48.
Courtney Prenger, Ivy Wolf, Janae Hoying and Taylor Kogge all scored in double figures for Minster in the win.
In the state semifinal, Minster knocked off top-ranked Waterford, which was coming off back-to-back final appearances.
It was the third title in four state trips for the Wildcats. They also had won in 1998 and 2004.
"Hoosiers"-esque
A week later, Minster's girls' basketball gold came which one area coach referred to as the Buckeye State's version of the film "Hoosiers," when Marion Local faced Cornerstone Christian for the Division IV basketball championship.
On that day in March, the underdog Flyers came out on top in one of the more exciting title games ever witnessed on the Ohio high school stage.
The Patriots - led by Division 4 Player of the Year Michael Bothwell - had gone up against and beaten some of the best Division I and II teams from the Cleveland area. They entered the title game having won every tournament game by double-digit margins.
Even Marion coach Kurt Goettemoeller admitted his team felt like underdogs entering the game, but the belief never wavered in his team.
The Flyers had back the core of their team after a regional final appearance a season before. Once in the postseason, Marion not only had some blowout wins but also battled through some close ones - including a one-point overtime victory over St. Henry in the district title.
They needed two overtimes to get the job done against the Patriots.
Tyler Mescher and Nathan Bruns scored 18 points apiece, with Mescher rattling home a pair of free throws at the end to give the Flyers a 52-51 double-overtime win at the Schoettenstein Center.
Marion became the fourth school to win a state basketball and football title in the same year.
Lucky No. 13
The Minster girls won the program's 13th state track and field crown.
After having won the state as an individual in cross country, Emma Watcke repeated as the 1,600-meter champion and also placed second in the 3,200. Watcke also teamed with Cassie Francis, Kaitlyn Albers and Madeline Magoto for gold in the 4x800 relay.
The Wildcats had nine All-Ohioans at the meet and finished with a two-day total of 57 points, 25 points better than runner-up Covington.
Spectacular Spring
A couple miles away from the site where Minster had celebrated, Coldwater was taking the field at Huntington Park for the Division III baseball title showdown with South Range.
Brad Giere pitched a two-hit, shutout for Coldwater in an 11-0, five-inning victory over Minford in the state semis.
In the finals, though, South Range struck early and held off Coldwater for a 3-2 victory to win its first ever state crown in baseball.
The Cavaliers were seeking their seventh state title in 20 appearances. They finished the season with a record of 27-7.
Take a look back at the
year in video.
