The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
FOOTBALL FINALISTS TOP 2017 STORY LIST
Mentor, Kirtland playing in Canton is No. 1 story in News-Herald staff vote
Getting to the state championship game is twice as nice when two area teams do it simultaneously.
That’s what high school sports writers from The NewsHerald voted in the annual tally for the high school story of the year.
Mentor and Kirtland both qualifying for the state football finals this fall garnered three of the five first-place votes as the NewsHerald’s high school story of the year, finishing with 43 total voting points.
That narrowly edged out the No. 2 story of the year, Gilmour’s girls basketball team winning the Division III state championship, with Coach Bob Beutel being non-renewed months afterward.
Here are the top 10 stories of the year, along with total votes and first-place votes in parentheses.
No. 1
• Mentor and Kirtland football teams both advance to the state football championship round (43, 3)
The Cardinals went on a 12-game winning streak and advanced to the Division I state championship game for the first time since 2013.
Mentor (13-2) fell to Pickerington Central, 56-28, in the championship game when Central sophomore quarterback Demeatric Crenshaw ran for 161 yards and six touchdowns on Dec. 1 at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.
The game was tied at 21 at the half, but Central got a goal-line stop at the end of the third quarter, and then dominated the game with their run offense in the second half.
First-team All-Ohioan Tadas Tatarunas threw for 196 yards and a touchdown, while Eli McDougal ran for 80 for Mentor.
“They sat down 368 days ago and said, ‘This is our goal.’ They got themselves here and did a great job,” said Mentor coach Steve Trivisonno of his team.
The next morning, Kirtland played in the state championship game for the sixth time in seven years, falling to Maria Stein Marion Local, 34-11, in the Division VI championship game in the same venue.
Kirtland held a 3-0 lead before Marion Local scored 34 unanswered points and ran away with the victory. Jake Neibecker (76 yards) and Joey Torok (54), a pair of junior AllOhioans, led Kirtland’s rushing attack.
“I want to thank my seniors for getting to this point,” LaVerde said. “I appreciate the ride they put in. They worked hard and executed all year. It’s a privilege for me to coach in Week 15. I’m very thankful for these guys.”
It was Mentor’s fourth attempt at a state championship, while Kirtland (14-1) was searching for its fourth title to go with the ones they won in 2011, 2013 and 2015.
No. 2
• Gilmour’s girls basketball team wins the Division III state championship, then Coach Bob Beutel’s contract is non-renewed (42, 1)
Behind the efforts of AllOhioan Naz Hillmon, a finalist for Ohio’s Ms. Basketball award, Gilmour defeated Versailles, 56-54, on March 18 to win the Division III state championship for the program’s first championship in the sport.
Five months later, the coach who led them to the title — Coach Bob Beutel — had his contract non-renewed.
Gilmour (24-5) battled through a minefield of games against bigger-division schools all season to prepare itself for the tournament. The Lancers defeated Columbus Africentric, 65-54, in a semifinal before withstanding a late run by Versailles to win the title.
Hillmon averaged 20 points and 17 rebounds in the two games.
In August, Beutel (694 career wins) was removed as coach. Amy Boyle, communications officer at Gilmour, said in an email that, “I can confirm that Bob Beutel will not be the coach at Gilmour for the upcoming season. However, our school policy is that we cannot comment on personnel matters.”
John Curran has taken over the Gilmour program this season.
No. 3
• VASJ’s boys basketball team wins the Division III state championship (38, 1)
With a 54-52 win over Cincinnati Roger Bacon, VASJ won the Division III state championship on March 25, the seventh state title in program history.
Playing a Who’s Who schedule throughout the season, including a game against the nation’s No. 1 team LaLumiere, the Viking were well prepared for the postseason rigors.
Noah Newlon started the fourth quarter with a pair of 3-pointers to spark the team’s final run and put the team ahead by eight points.
Jerry Higgins had 16 points, and Alonzo Gaffney followed with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
“I don’t know how good we are, but I know how tough we are,” Kwasniak said. “We’re a microcosm of the school. We’re a direct reflection of where we come from. We’re not going to back down from anyone.”
No. 4
• The OHSAA puts into effect a Competitive Balance measure (33)
With an eye on leveling the playing field between public and non-public schools, the OHSAA enacted for the first time in state history a Competitive Balance measure that shifted the landscape of many sports across the state.
The measure takes into consideration residency of student-athletes in a school district and subjects those who came from outside the school district to a multiplier, which when added to the base enrollment of a school district adjusts enrollment figures such that schools move up or down a division.
Sports effected in the first Competitive Balance measure for the 2017-18 season were football, volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball and soccer.
Said OHSAA Commissioner Dan Ross in April as the measure was about to be enacted, “We’re the flagship. I’ll tell you one thing: We’ve been hearing an awful lot of comments and a lot of things about watching us, wanting to see how this works . ... We know the system is not perfect, but what we hear from many of the public and nonpublic schools is ... the system is not perfect, but it’s a great start.”
No. 5
• Lake Catholic wrestler Kevon Freeman wins his second consecutive state championship (32)
With one of the most dominating performances in NewsHerald history, Freeman, a junior at the time, won the Division II state championship at 145 pounds to become only the second wrestler in Lake Catholic history to win two state titles (the other being Anthony Tutolo).
Freeman (46-3) went through the entire postseason without giving up an offensive point. Top-ranked Freeman blanked second-ranked Sandro Ramirez of Wauseon, 7-0, for the state title, leaping to his feet when the buzzer ended and jumping into the arms of his coaches in euphoria.
As his hand was raised in victory, he pointed to his family seated matside, who were standing and applauding their approval of the feat.
Freeman said afterward his goal was to become Lake’s first three-time state champion, a goal he is chasing this winter.
“This year was a big stepping stone for me. I learned a lot every day,” Freeman said after his second title. “I don’t want to let my teammates down, I don’t want to let my mom down, I don’t want to let my coaches down by not winning a second straight state title.
“Now I know what I have to do to continue to be a state champion.”
No. 6
• The North football team qualified for the playoffs for the first time in program history. (25)
Few, if anyone, saw this coming, especially after the Rangers started the season 1-4 and had more than a dozen players go down with season-ending injuries.
But under Coach Shawn Dodd, a North alum, the Rangers won their final five games of the season and qualified for the Division II playoffs for the first time in program history.
Paramount to North’s lateseason surge were wins over Brush and Mayfield, each of which qualified for the Division II playoffs, and a regular season-ending win over Chardon.
The Rangers fell to Bedford, 30-22, in the first round of the playoffs, but the 6-5 finish — and more importantly the ground-breaking playoff berth — set the stage for the future.
“A lot of people questioned, ‘Why are you going there? You can’t win there. You can’t get it done,’ ” said Dodd, who was named the Northeast Lakes Division II district coach of the year. “These kids are just unbelievable. You can make a book of these guys. It’s been an incredible run.”
No. 7
• Beachwood’s Leah Roter wins track state title, commits to Furman (14).
Roter hammered 3,200 meters in the Division II state track and field meet as expected to win with a 10:41.45. Her performance helped the Bison claim the state team title, and she became first girls individual-event state champion in school history. In the fall, Roter announced she would be taking her running