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The year 2020 will certainly be a year to remember in many instances. Others might not want to.
Just as national headlines were filled with the COVID-19 pandemic to go along with a presidential election, the year in sports was intertwined with the pandemic, not only on the national level but also the local level.
Inside the pandemic was a number of big stories in the Grand Lake area sports scene. The Daily Standard highlights the bigger local sports stories from the year 2020.
The winter and spring sports seasons were halted due to the pandemic.
The local sports scene was halted abruptly in early and mid-March when Governor Mike DeWine halted all school activities to try and stem the rise in COVID-19 cases.
The move immediately halted the winter sports tournaments for basketball and wrestling. In Columbus, the teams preparing for the opening game of the Ohio High School Athletic Association's Division II state girls basketball tournament were pulled off the court a half-hour before tip-off. Minster, looking to win a third consecutive Division IV state title, was on the bus heading to Columbus when the call came that the tournament was cancelled. The state wrestling tournament was also cancelled, denying St. Marys twin brothers Trevor and Tyler Hisey a chance to compete in the tournament.
The spring sports season did not even get underway as the stoppage was extended through May and not lifted on extracurricular activities until June. The spring sports cancelation denied Coldwater a chance to defend its Division III state baseball title and forced the cancellations of both the ACME summer high school baseball programs - although area schools were able to play an abridged summer baseball and softball season in June and July - as well as the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League baseball season, featuring the Grand Lake Mariners.
Some track and field action also took place in the summer as longtime Celina coach Dan Otten organized two meets to allow high school, college and alumni athletes a chance to compete.
After much discussion the state allowed the fall sports season to get underway - albeit with limited attendance and moves to permit social distancing on the sidelines and benches. The Ohio High School Athletic Association trimmed the football regular season from 10 to six games and opened the postseason to all teams that wanted to take part. The postseason began in early October and concluded Nov. 22 with all other fall sports seasons concluding earlier.
The winter sports season - with continued limits on attendance at games - got underway on schedule with some schools having to pause and postpone or cancel games due to outbreaks on their teams or opponents.
The New Bremen football team celebrates winning its first-ever state football championship this past November in Massillon.
Six years ago, the New Bremen football program was in jeopardy due to low numbers and struggles to be competitive in the Midwest Athletic Conference.
Newly-hired head coach Chris Schmidt began working to improve the program, snapping two straight winless seasons with a win in his first game and improving the win total every season. The Cardinals made the playoffs for the first time since 2004 last season and this year reached the pinnacle in winning the program's first state football championship with a 31-0 win over Warren John F. Kennedy in the Division VII state final. Schmidt was rewarded by the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association in being named the Division VII State Coach of the Year
The win came just over 24 hours after the state games were moved from Fortress Obetz in suburban Columbus to Massillon's Paul Brown Tiger Stadium due to Franklin County (where Obetz is located) issuing a stay-at-home advisory from the county department of health.
The Parkway boys basketball team won its first-ever district title.
The Parkway boys basketball program has struggled off and on for the last few decades, but in 2019-20, the Panthers put everything together to reach the Division III regional final for the first time in school history.
But just before the game to decide a spot in the state final four could be played at Bowling Green State University, the OHSAA shut down the postseason, denying the Panthers a chance to play for the school's first-ever berth.
Coldwater won its seventh state football championship.
Coldwater snapped a three-season cold spell of not playing in a state football final after having played in championship games every season from 2009 to 2016, finished 12-0 and winning the Division VI state title with a 38-35 victory over New Middletown Springfield on Brady Klingshirn's 26-yard field goal as time expired. Zack McKibben came through with a long punt return to set up the winning score.
The title was the seventh for the Cavaliers program and the fifth for head coach Chip Otten.
New Bremen reached the Division IV state volleyball championship match for the fourth straight season in November. The Cardinals, which won state titles in 2017 and 2019 and were state runner-up in 2018, lost in four sets to Tiffin Calvert, the team that beat the Cardinals in the 2018 final, at the Student Activity Center at Vandalia-Butler High School.
Ryan Mikesell helped the University of Dayton to a 29-2 record.
The University of Dayton men's basketball team was having a banner 2019-20 season. The Flyers were 29-2 and riding a 20-game winning streak that included going 17-0 in the Atlantic-10 regular season and earning the top seed in the postseason tournament. Many fans felt that the team could be a contender to play in the NCAA Final Four for the first time since 1967, when Don Donoher's squad were national runners-up to UCLA. Unfortunately, first the A-10 tournament and then the NCAA tournament were cancelled due to COVID-19, denying fans a chance to see if the run could continue.
St. Henry graduate Ryan Mikesell was a key contributor to the Flyers' success in 2019-20, averaging 8.5 points per contest in starting all 31 games.
Ella Boate helped Minster finish second at state cross country.
The Minster girls cross country team, already the record-holder with 13 state championships in OHSAA history, was looking to win a fifth straight title this season as the state meet moved from National Trail Raceway to Fortress Obetz.
The Wildcats were held short of their fifth in a row as West Liberty-Salem took first place over the Wildcats by a 55-83 margin. Two Minster runners - Ella Boate and Maggie Hemmelgarn - earned All-Ohio honors by finishing in the top 20.
After winning Division IV state titles in 2018 and 2019, Minster looked for a third straight title and fifth in school history last season. The Wildcats took a rough 47-19 loss to backyard rival Fort Loramie early in the season and lost twice in January and twice more in February, but Minster, led by first team All-Ohioan Ivy Wolf and third-team All-Stater Janae Hoying, rode a five-game winning streak through the end of the regular season and to a regional title to reach the final four - with the chance to facing Fort Loramie again if both teams won their semifinals.
Unfortunately, the cancelation of the state tournaments minutes before getting underway - and hours before Minster would take the court - denied the Wildcats the chance.
Caleb Sutherin was a key contribtor to Coldwater's state bowling title.
The Coldwater bowling program continued its success at the state level in the 2019-2020 season. The Cavalier boys won their fourth OHSAA state title in school history in taking the Division II crown by sweeping Fairport Harding in the championship match. The Coldwater girls, trying for a fifth state title, lost to Bryan in four games in the Division II championship match.
Marion Local and Toledo graduate Luke Knapke is playing professionally.
Marion Local graduate Luke Knapke finished a stellar basketball career at the University of Toledo as the Rockets went 17-15 and won their opener in the Mid-American Conference tournament before the remainder of the tournament was cancelled. Knapke finished with 1,451 career points, good for 15th all-time, and is the all-time leader in blocked shots with 197.
Knapke currently plays with Hubo Limburg United in Belgium's top-tier EuroMillions League.
