History Lesson: Orrville's Twelve District Basketball Titles

Thought it might be fun, on the heels of another district title to revisit each.  I'm relying heavily on others memory for the ones in the early to late 80's.  Thanks to the OhioChatter gang of Orrville posters (they know who they are) for helping out with this.

Before I get to the detail of each, I think it's pretty impressive that we can boast 12 district titles and 5 regional titles, in addition to our state runner-up finish in 2010 and our 3 state titles in 1992, 1995 & 1996.  And that's just boys basketball.  I sure hope when this new gym gets built there's a plan to have banners for each sport like they do in Wooster.

It would be neat to have a banner per sport, like this...and then a banner (or two) listing all the team state championships we've won...like this. With a new gym, it's the perfect "blank template" to do this right.  Keeping them in the gym also keeps them out of the elements, so they'll age well.

If I'm getting greedy, I'd love to see the state title banners lit at all times, even when the gym is dark and not in use.  Like this. Sort of gives an "aura" of greatness.

Ok, enough dreaming (I haven't done that in a while so you'll have to forgive me).  On to the district titles...

Here & There....Summertime Reading

Hope everyone is having a great summer so far. It seems amazing, but football season is only 2 months away. Wont be long until 2-a-days begin and another season of Friday nights at Red Rider Stadium will be upon us.

Got a few items of note below so lets get to it.

OhioBasketball.net & Wooster District Talk

Wanted to point everyone to a local basketball site that is full of info, scores, standings and historical results....and have some initial discussion on upcoming tourney play as well.

Basketball: A Drop to Division 3...Good & Bad.

Well, it was made official last week, Orrville will officially be a Division III basketball school for at least the next 2 school years. If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you already knew that though, didn't you?

It appears though, that even the addition of the Red Riders, the Wooster District tournament will remain at 11 teams. Rittman was a member of the district, but lost nearly 20% of the male students from the last count, and will now be Division IV for basketball.

Here are the 11 teams and each schools count of boys. The counts were of boys in grades 9, 10 and 11 and was conducted in October 2008.

1. Triway - 220
2. Tuslaw - 216
3. Orrville - 211
4. Manchester - 202
5. Norwayne - 179
6. Chippewa - 177
7. Loudonville - 175
8. Northwestern - 173
9. Waynedale - 164
10. Hillsdale - 149
11. Smithville - 138

The range to be classified Division 3, was set from 129 to 223.

Looking back on Orrville's time in Division II, other than our first year in the Canton district (1996), there wasn't a lot of success. A few district final appearances, but some real tough losses in those games and (IMO) too many "one and done's."

We were always one of the smallest D2 teams, but felt we we on par with most teams in terms of talent. The addition of local powers Hoban, St V. and Akron Buchtel in the ast few years made it an even tougher challenge, but we never faced any of those 3 teams in the past 2 years. We had just as much trouble with NBC teams.

I think the initial reaction is that this is a positive for the program, and I wouldn't disagree with that. This will foster a rekindling of local rivalries with teams like Triway & Northwester, and fire up the old "Orrville vs. the WCAL" arguement, which is always good for newspaper sales and sells tickets. In Canton, we became an afterthough, an "also ran," and it showed in the support of both the community and the student body. Now we're one of the (perceived) big dogs again, but the pressure to win will be great...and immediate. Orrville's game against Smithville at the 2009 Smitty Classic may just be a preview of the district title game.

The con is two-fold. One is we're shrinking in terms of student population. This shouldn't be something that's welcomed with applause. This is less money to the district and a potential increased burden on the taxpayer (you & me). I don't think it's a coincidence that we, as a community, experienced our greatest run of athletic success when factories were booming and plentiful. The 80's and 90's were a booming period of industrial growth and production in Orrville, and by and large, reflected in the success of our athletic teams. I'm sure it could all be tied together (or has been already)....but I ain't the guy. I prefer unfounded generalizations. ;)

The other is the perception that will no doubt be uttered in the Wooster gym during tournament time. The perception that somehow we got the state to put us back in D3 because we couldn't cut it over in Canton. Obviously, we had our struggles over there (12 wins, 13 losses in the past 13 yrs at the Canton District), but I'd rather be a growing district and stay in Canton, than to be shrinking and having to drop a division, even if the result is a district championship.

Should we be lucky enough to see our first regional appearance since 1996, we'll most likely have to contend with the defending D3 champion, the Ironmen of Cleveland Central Catholic.....but let's get there first.

The numbers are what they are. Let's play some hoops. If only we had a gym big enough to accomodate the fans. Hmmmm. Is it too late to change the blueprints of the Multi-Purpose Facility?

Hoops: Season End & Tourney Preview

Well...another regular season is done. The 08-09 season has followed a similar script as the last several. Another season without a league title and seemingly more questions about this team than answers. Let's look at it...TOGETHER.

Final record was 13-7 (14-6 on the court, but the opener with John Marshall was forfeitted due to the use of an ineligible player) and 10-4 in the OCC, our 5th straight year with 10 league wins, but also our 6th straight year (out of 6 years in the league) without a league title.

Losses were to Mansfield Senior, @ Akron East, Mans. Madison (twice), Canton Timken and @ Lexington, and of course the forfeit.

The good news, all losses were to very solid teams. In my estimation, we played 10 games against teams I'd consider "above average," we lost 6 and won 4. The 4 wins coming against Triway, Northwestern, Senior and Lexington. I'd call the win over Senior the biggest win of the season (so far). Two of those four wins needed last second shots by Teven Mitchell.

Leading scorer was Jake Bolyard with 388 points (19.4 ppg) followed by Zach Wasson with 299 points (14.95 ppg). Wasson's 2 year point total stands at 588 or exacly 14 ppg over his first 42 games as a Red Rider.

Wasson was also the teams leading recounder, averaging nearly 8 rpg.

Canton District
Another talented district awaits the Riders, led by St Vincent-St Mary who have put together some impressive wins against D1 competition.

The #2 seed and first round Orrville opponent is 19-1 Minerva. You don't win 19 games by being overrated, but Minerva does have what I'd call somewhat of a weak schedule. I'm never "excited" to play a 19-1 team, especially with a team with a sound fundamental base as Minerva, but I think we'll hold our own against them....and just maybe pull the upset.

History, however, is not on our side. We have not won a sectional title since the 2004-05 season and are just 7-6 in the past 6 Canton Tournaments.

Here's the bracket and here's how I see the games shaking out.

Top Half of Bracket

Sectional Semifinals
NW over Fairless
Springfield over Norton
Buchtel over Coventry

Sectional Finals
St V over NW
Buchtel over Springfield

District Semifinal
St V over Buchtel

Bottom Half of Bracket

Sectional Semifinals
Orrville over Minerva
Alliance over Hoban
Canton South over Marlington

Sectional Finals
Orrville over Louisville
Alliance over Canton South

District Semifinals
Alliance over Orrville

District Final
St. V over Alliance

Minerva Preview
The Lions strike me as a terribly balanced team, led by 6'3" junior Brian Harp who averages nearly 20 ppg and 10 rpg per game. Ryker Locke (6'1" and a Junior, coaches son) leads a sold group of guards, averaging over 12 pgg and shooting 45% from 3-pt range. Josh Fick (6'1" and a Senior) is the 3rd Lion to averages double figures, chipping 10.7 ppg. Troy Summers (6'2" and a Senior, QB and team MVP for the football team) checks in with around 8 ppg.

The trio of Harp, Locke and Fick all average better than 70% from the FT line.

This is the 2nd year in a row the Riders and Lions meet in the sectional semifinals, last year Orrville won by a 72-56 score. Here's the article from that game. A lot of familiar Minerva names in that article. Their experience shows in the fact that they were 7-14 last year and are 19-1 this year.

Keys to the game....

• Orrville must not let "the other guys" beat them. I'm sure plenty of attention will be paid to Locke and Harp, but Minerva has plenty of balance and any one of 4 guys not named Brian Harp can score 10-15 points each in any given game. We should have the size and talent to defend the Lions straight up.
• It is imperative that Orrville hold any lead they get. The Riders have made a disturbing habit of giving away double digit leads this season.
• The Riders must dictate tempo. An up and down, fast paced game will favor the Riders, while a ball control, possession style game will favor the Lions.
• Orrville must limit "silly" fouls, and keep their big men out of trouble.
• In my opinion, for Orrville to win, the trio of Gant, Pirman and Hoobler must score 12-15 points combined.
• Orrville must look inside first, in the article from last years game, it said we shot 17 three's in the first half, and were tied with Minerva at the break. Only when they went inside first did they pull away. A similar strategy must be employed this time as well.
• The Riders must control the 4th quarter....if the game comes down to possessions and free throws, our chances are not good.

Final prediction.......Orrville 65-61.

Canton District & Wooster District Brackets

Well, here's how things shook out at today's tournament draw. Our Riders are a 6 seed and will face #2 seed Minerva (currently 14-1) in the opening round.

Here's the full bracket courtesy of the fabulous ohiobasketball.net.

I'll post a full tournament preview as we get closer to the end of the season.

My early thoughts...I don't mind the draw (other than the 6 seed...not a lot of respect there) and think Minerva is very beatable, but our recent track record isn't good for a whole lot of confidence. Maybe a big win over a top seed is what this program needs to build a little tournament confidence.

DIII Wooster District.
Here's the draw for the Division III Wooster District, I can't see anyone beating Smithville in a must-win situation, but that's why the games are played. Good Luck to Tyler Bates and the Smithies.

All Things Basketball

Riders on a modest win streak, OCC still in reach, and we're 1 week away from the Canton Tourney draw. Let's break it all down....TOGETHER!!

Startin' to come together, Pepper.
Are the Riders really turning a corner, or is this another illusion that will end in a disappointing loss in Canton? They've won 3 straight (albeit against 3 teams they SHOULD beat), but 2 of them came down to the wire, including another OT game at Ashland. They're certainly not putting teams away, and again gave up a double digit lead in the Ashland win.

The Riders currently sit at 8-5 (6-3 in the OCC), 1 game behind Mansfield Senior and Madison for the lead in the OCC. The Riders play both teams in the next 3 weeks and can gain at least a tie for the league title if they can finish strong.

Riders have a tough road weekend upcoming, playing at Senior on Friday and at Wooster on Saturday. Two wins would be great for momentum as well as for the district seeding meeting that will take place this Sunday Feb. 8th. The Riders also need to pile up the wins now, as their last 4 games (all home) include Madison, Lexington, Timken (state ranked) and Northwestern (state ranked).

Canton District.
As mentioned above, the seeding meeting is Sunday Feb. 8th, so teams have 1 more weekend to make an impression.

Here's how the Canton district sits after games through January 31st.

Teams listed by order of winning percentage.

Minerva Lions (14-0)
Akron Buchtel Griffins (12-2)
Akron St Vincent-St Mary Fighting Irish (11-3)
Alliance Aviators (10-3)
Louisville Leopards (9-5)
Orrville Red Riders (8-5)
Akron Springfield Spartans (7-6)
Marlington Dukes (8-7)
Norton Panthers (5-8)
Akron Hoban Knights (4-7)
Canton South Wildcats (5-9)
Fairless Falcons (3-10)
Northwest Indians (2-12)
Akron Coventry Comets (1-11)


Here's a detailed breakdown of each team and their results so far.

And here's my top 5...

5. Alliance
4. Orrville
3. Minerva
2. St V.
1. Buchtel

Not sure how the seeding will shake out, but history tells us that the NBC teams usually band together. It wouldn't surprise me to see Minerva as the #1 seed, but it's clear to me that Buchtel and St. V are 1a and 1b, respectively. The NBC bias may affect Orrville negatively, as in my opinion, they're the 4th best team in the district, but will probably end up getting leapfrogged by Louisville or Alliance.

In the end, it doesn't really matter, if you plan to advance, you're going to have to beat whoever is placed in front of you.

Wasson Watch. Zach Wasson, #33, Sophomore.

The Wasson Watch
Season Points to Date: 195

Career Points to Date: 484

Season PPG: 15.0 ppg

Career PPG: 13.82 ppg

Points from 500: 16 (Revision: Zach could get his 500th as early as this Friday at Mansfield Senior, but even though he only needs 16, getting it against the T-Y Tygers will not be easy.

Bonus Points: Zach has scored 20+ in a game 5 times, in those 5 games, Orrville only lost 1. Moral of the story...when Wasson scored 20 or more, we typically do well.

Bolyard Bulletin.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention what a fabulous season Jake Bolyard is having. He leads the OCC in points per game and steals, and is in the top 10 in rebounding and assists. Lexington's Courtney Avery may win the scoring title when the season is over, but Jake has clearly put up better all-around numbers and deserves serious consideration for OCC player of the year. Jake has one of the purest shots of anyone in the area and has really taken a big leap forward in his progression as a basketball player.

All Things Basketball

A loss to Madison, A win over Triway. And someone is closing in on 500 points. Let's break it all down....TOGETHER!!

Jekyll & Riders. What to make of the Riders so far....it's been some good, some bad. Flashes of a dangerous team, flashes of a "1 and done" team. A team that jumps to double digit leads, and then does not look too sure of how to play with a lead.

^^This is the same paragraph that was published a few weeks ago, I still think it applies.

The Riders sit at 5-4 (3-2 in the OCC), losing a close OT game to Madison (our 3rd OT game of the season) and then posting a big home win over Triway. The Triway win snapped a 3 game losing streak (our longest losing streak since 2005-06).

Riders travel to Lexington on Friday and then are home for a make-up game with Clear Fork on Saturday.

Canton District.
Here's how the Canton district sits after games through January 18th. It's about the halfway point of the season and teams are starting to sort themselves out. I think it's a five or six team race. Tourney draw date is Sunday Feb. 8th.

Teams listed by order of winning percentage.

Minerva Lions (11-0)
Alliance Aviators (8-1)
Akron Buchtel Griffins (6-2)
Akron St Vincent-St Mary Fighting Irish (8-3)
Orrville Red Riders (5-4)
Akron Springfield Spartans (5-4)
Louisville Leopards (6-5)
Marlington Dukes (6-5)
Canton South Wildcats (4-6)
Fairless Falcons (3-7)
Akron Hoban Knights (2-7)
Northwest Indians (2-8)
Norton Panthers (2-8)
Akron Coventry Comets (1-9)

Here's a detailed breakdown of each team and their results so far. I'll put this link on the right hand side of the page for quick access.

And here's my top 5...

5. Orrville
4. Alliance
3. Minerva
2. St V.
1. Buchtel

Minerva is the districts only undefeated team at 11-0, but I don't think the NBC will prepare them enough to play teams like Buchtel and St V.

Wasson Watch.

The Wasson Watch
Season Points to Date: 140

Career Points to Date: 429

Season PPG: 15.5 ppg

Career PPG: 13.8 ppg

Points from 500: 71 (projected date of 500th point....Jan 30, 2009 @ Ashland. I'm sticking with this date but Zach will have to average nearly 25 ppg over the next 3 games for it to happen....might get it on the next night at West Holmes.)

Bonus Points: Zach has also crossed 200 rebounds for his career. School record for rebounds in a career is 782 by Marcel Denson (1992-96). Marcel's school records in points and rebounds will be real tough for any player to top, he played the equivalent of a season's worth of tournament games over his OHS career, basically an additional 20+ games of stats.

Rider Hoops...Canton District...Wasson Watch

Well the holidays are over, it's been a few weeks, let's talk hoops.

Jekyll & Riders. What to make of the Riders so far....it's been some good, some bad. Flashes of a dangerous team, flashes of a "1 and done" team. A team that jumps to double digit leads, and then does not look too sure of how to play with a lead.

The Riders sit at 4-2 (3-1 in the OCC), coming off their first on-court loss over the weekend to Mansfield Senior. The Riders held a 16 point lead early, but couldn't put away the athletic Tygers, losing 64-62. 28 Orrville turnovers (not a typo) helped the Tygers in their comeback.

The Riders jump back into action at Akron East tomorrow, then host Clear Fork on Friday 1/9.

Canton District. Here's how the Canton district sits after games on January 3rd. Teams listed by order of record.

Minerva Lions (7-0)
Alliance Aviators (6-1)
Akron Buchtel Griffins (3-1)
Louisville Leopards (5-2)
Akron St Vincent-St Mary Fighting Irish (5-3)
Orrville Red Riders (4-2)
Akron Springfield Spartans (3-3)
Canton South Wildcats (3-4)
Marlington Dukes (3-4)
Akron Hoban Knights (2-4)
Fairless Falcons (2-5)
Norton Panthers (1-5)
Akron Coventry Comets (1-6)
Northwest Indians (1-6)

Here's a detailed breakdown of each team and their results so far.

And here's my top 5...

5b. Louisville
5a. Orrville
4. Alliance
3. Minerva
2. St V.
1. Buchtel

Although both Buchtel and St. V have taken some losses, each team's schedule is very tough and will do more to prepare them for March than any other team in the district.

Wasson Watch.

The Wasson Watch
Season Points to Date: 83

Career Points to Date: 372

Season PPG: 13.8 ppg

Career PPG: 13.2 ppg

Points from 500: 128 (projected date of 500th point....Jan 30, 2009 @ Ashland. I'm sticking with this date but Zach will have to have a few big games for it to happen.)

Basketball: Canton....Riders...Wasson Watch

Before I get to the crux of the post, just wanted to take a minute and thank the people who run the WQKT/Smitty Classic...namely Mike Breckenridge of WQKT, but I'm sure there were plenty of others who make it go, including the many volunteers who give their time to this event. Things are really starting to roll downhill as the classic finishes it's 4th year. Now all they need is a website to track the history of the classic and publish news on future classics.

Regardless, it's a well run classic with some real solid teams. A few buzzer beaters always helps too.

Now on to the other stuff.....

Canton District Update
Here's an updated schedule of teams in the Canton District. Overall, the NBC looks very average. Alliance is the early impressive team, but teams like Louisville have only played 1 game, plenty of games left to play.

St. V and Buchtel will be the class of the Akron teams.

My overall top 5 in the district would look like this...

5. Minerva
4. Alliance
3. Orrville
2. Buchtel
1. St. V

Check out the schedules and results here.

Riders win 2....everyone eligible (hopefully)
Nice weekend for the Riders, 2 wins, one coming in OT and one cupcake win at the Smitty. Plenty of work ahead as the Riders get deeper into OCC play. The Riders only play 2 games in the next 2 weeks, the 20th at West Holmes, who are still searching for win #1, and the 27th against Wooster, so hopefully some of the bad habits (FT shooting and turnovers) will get some additional work.

And I don't want to keep my fans waiting, here's the initial "Wasson Watch" © for the 2008-09 season.

The Wasson Watch
Season Points to Date: 51

Career Points to Date: 340

Season PPG: 17.0 ppg

Career PPG: 13.6 ppg

Points from 500: 160 (projected date of 500th point....Jan 30, 2009 @ Ashland)

Basketball: Canton District Schedules

It's never too early to look toward the Canton Fieldhouse and the Div. II district tournament. The field of teams is the same as last year, fourteen teams make up this years district, with Akron Hoban being the defending champ. Read on for more on the makeup of the district as well as a link to schedules for each team.

The district is represented by teams from four different conferences, 6 teams from the Northeastern Buckeye Conference, 3 from the Portage Trail Conference, 1 Independent, 1 from the North Coast League, 1 from the Principals Athletic Conference, 1 from the Akron City Series and 1 from the Ohio Cardinal Conference.

Finally, here is a link to the schedule of each team in the district. I will update it periodically as the season goes on. Enjoy.

Canton D2 District Schedules

In terms of strength, I don't think I'd be shocking anyone to say that St V. plays the toughest schedule, followed, in my humble opinion by Buchtel, Hoban and Louisville. I'd place Orrville 5th in terms of schedule strength.

Orrville is 1 of 5 teams in the district to NOT play a non-conference game against a district team. The other 4 being Norton, Minerva, Louisville and Akron Springfield. Louisville, however, plays 3 Federal League teams (Lake, Hoover & Glenoak) as part of their non-conference schedule.

In early season reports, there seems to be a lot of question marks coming from the NBC teams. There appears to be no clear cut favorite.....meaning another great 2 weeks of basketball is sure to take place in March.