Northwest District Report: Part 1

Northwest Report:

Division I:

There is quite a mix of teams in NW Ohio in the big school division that are right in the thick of things. Teams from the Greater Buckeye Conference, Northern Lakes League, Ohio Cardinal Conference, and the Toledo City League are vying for seeding in their respective sectional/districts.

The Willard Sectional will have two teams advance and right now the top two participants would be Marion Harding (14-1) and Mansfield Sr. (13-0). The former and latter are clear-cut favorites at this point with Ashland, Freemont Ross, and Sandusky being the other participating teams.

At Liberty-Benton, there is much more parody with the likes of Perrysburg (14-1), Bowling Green (10-4), Findlay (8-7), Springfield (9-4), Lima Senior (8-7), and Anthony Wayne. Perrysburg has been solid all year led by 6-foot-4 senior Charlie Hughes and is 10-0 in conference play and has now won eight-straight since losing to Toledo Whitmer (60-57). Bowling Green has plenty of talent led by 6-foot-5 junior Chauncey Orr and Findlay, Springfield, and Senior have been up-and-down most of the year.

The other two sites will be Toledo Waite and Toledo Central Catholic. The 11 teams will draw into one or the other with two squads advancing from each site into district play.

This district will be very interesting to say the least. Toledo City League teams, Toledo St. John’s (12-2), Toledo CC (11-2), Toledo DeSales (10-4), Toledo Rogers (10-4), Toledo Whitmer (10-3), and Toledo Waite (7-7) along with Northern Lakes League’s Sylvania Southview (8-7) are all in the hunt. Also, don’t forget about Toledo Start (6-7) who just upset Toledo CC. Start is led by one of the best scorers the state has to offer in 6-foot-1 senior Anthony Henderson.

St. John’s holds a win over Toledo CC and its two losses are to Southview (62-56) and Romulus (MI) by just two points.

Dynamic backcourts:
Marion Harding is led by the backcourt of Shawn Dyer and Marvin Owens, who can both light up the scoreboard. Another tremendous duo is Chester McFadden and sophomore Leroy Alexander at Holland Springfield. Alexander scored 35 points in his last outing which was a win over Maumee.

Freshman Flavor:
Toledo St. John’s Marc Loving and Toledo Whitmer’s Nigel Hayes have burst onto scene ranked by many as two of the top 2013s in the whole state.

Division II:

Three districts will make up the D-2 Northwest District (Bowling Green, Ashland, and Ohio Northern), and the one survivor from each site will meet at Bowling Green University for regional play.

The fourth district winner will be from the Westlake District out of the Northeast, and that winner will be paired with the Ohio Northern winner in regional semi-final play.

The BG District is comprised of two sectionals (Clay HS and Swanton HS) with two winners from each sectional advancing to district play.

Two teams from the Clay HS Sectional will advance and right now it appears the three front-runners are Toledo Libbey (8-4), Rossford (10-5), and Eastwood (10-4). Libbey, who is led by mainly juniors, has played the best competition. Rossford, who play in mainly a D-1 conference, has won four-straight but not many notable wins. Eastwood has a nice record winning seven-straight, but plays in mainly a D-3 league.

The Swanton Sectional will advance two squads as well with Defiance (13-2) as the paper favorite along with Napoleon (7-7), Wauseon (9-4), and Bryan (6-6). Defiance has been solid all year with its only two setbacks coming to D-1 Lima Sr. and D-3 Archbold. The recent return of outstanding sophomore guard Anthony Kidston will really give them a nice scoring lift to the backcourt with an already formidable frontline.

Napoleon is .500, but plays very good competition in a mainly D-1 Greater Buckeye Conference. Freshman guard Jordan Lauf has been outstanding thus far. Napoleon holds a win over Wauseon and Defiance has beat Bryan. Defiance and Napoleon would be our favorites out of this sectional.

The Bowling Green District tournament could look something like this: Libbey, Rossford, Defiance, and Napoleon.

At Sandusky, unbeaten Port Clinton (13-0) is the odd-on favorite, but five other teams are over .500 including Bellevue (10-4), Clyde (9-5), Norwalk (9-5), Milan Edison (8-7), and Sandusky Perkins (7-6).

Port Clinton is unbeaten, but it is hard to gauge just how good they are with its one significant win being a two-point victory over Bellevue. The Northern Ohio League (Bellevue and Norwalk) and Sandusky Bay Conference (PC, Clyde, Edison, and Perkins) are not real strong this year, so this sectional is really hard to grasp.

Port Clinton is a senior laden bunch led by guard Cory Brown and the inside combination of Ryan Hicks (6’6) and Josh Francis (6’4). Seniors Derek Colston (6’3) and Allen Tigner (6’2) can also score the basketball, and fellow classmates Josh Graves, Robert Fravel, and Eric Reynolds provide scoring punch off the bench.

The Mansfield Senior Sectional favorite, at this point, is Lexington (13-3). Lexington’s Ohio Cardinal Conference foe Mansfield Madison (8-6) is another candidate along with Northern Ohio League squad Shelby (8-7). Madison lost to Shelby (77-65) in the season’s opener, while Madison and Lexington have split with the Minutemen owning the most recent game winning at Madison.

Lexington is led by Michigan football signee Courtney Avery, who was also a member of All-Ohio Red’s 17U AAU National Championship team.

The Ashland District could look something like this: Port Clinton, Bellevue, Lexington, and Mansfield Madison.

The Lima Senior Sectional could easily be renamed the Western Buckeye League Invitational. Celina (10-4), Van Wert (10-3), and Elida (8-5) will be the three favorites all out of the same conference. Celina has several quality wins including a win over Van Wert, while Elida owns victories over Lima CC, Lima Bath, and Van Wert. Elida’s losses were to Lima Sr., Coldwater, Liberty-Benton, Toledo DeSales, and Toledo CC. Van Wert coasted through a relatively easy early schedule, but has since lost to Celina, Elida, and Defiance as the schedule has got more challenging.

Elida is led by the sensational sophomore Reggie McAdams (6’4) and older brother Alex. Celina is fueled by Darin Waterman, Nate Bihn, and John Homan.

At Riverdale HS, Lima Bath (10-4) and Tiffin Colubian (8-6) are most likely the two favorites.

The Ohio Northern District could look something like this: Celina, Elida, Bath, and Columbian.