The defending state champion took fifth, and a player who was third at the previous week’s sectional tournament ended up with the title.
The Hawken School gridders (3-4) were clicking on all cylinders to score more points than they have in more than 20 seasons during a 63-26 home victory against Richmond Heights (0-7) on Friday night at Walton Stadium.
Solon was beyond the point of big trouble during the Comet gridders’ road test against unbeaten Greater Cleveland Conference foe Euclid on Friday night. Trouble had already come and gone, and matters only appeared to getting worse.
Solon senior Maggie Yang was competing for a third straight trip to the big dance, but she’d have to punch her ticket with a freshman partner during the Division I Northeast District tennis tournament last Thursday and Saturday in Akron.
West Geauga renowned goal scorer Nicola Ehrbar hammered away a pair of tallies to put the Lady Wolverines well on their way to a bounce-back victory in a regular-season finale against Kenston on Saturday afternoon at Howell Field.
With eight Division I teams in a high school cross-country race, there’s usually some steady competition among rival runners up front.
Game of the week: Orange at Chagrin Falls
Division IV AP No. 2-ranked Perry (7-0, 4-0) and Division III Geneva (6-1, 4-0) remain in the driver’s seat of the Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division after lopsided victories against Chagrin Falls (4-3, 3-1) and Lakeside (1-6, 1-3), respectively.
The Solon boys cross-country team only had two of the same scorers from a year ago, but that didn’t stop the Comets from defending their Greater Cleveland Conference banner on Saturday at Garfield Park in Mentor.
League newcomer Edgewood stole the girls team trophy by one point while Hawken School junior Ella Gilson three-peated her individual title during the Chagrin Valley Conference cross-country meet on Saturday at the Geauga County Fairgrounds.
Solon’s imperfections were brought to daylight by AP No. 1-ranked Mentor (6-0, 3-0) during a 41-7 home hurting in Greater Cleveland Conference play on Friday night at Stewart Field.
Three weeks into the Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division season, Division IV AP No. 2-ranked Perry (6-0), Geneva (5-1) and Chagrin Falls (4-2) remain unbeaten at 3-0 in league play.
After colliding three times in the postseason last year, Orange senior Blessing Nwaozuzu and West Geauga sophomore Rylie Hanford were at it again during last week’s Division II sectional tennis tournament at the Mayfield Racquet Club.
Solon’s double team of senior Maggie Yang and freshman Niya Fried held their seed to finish runners-up among 35 tandems from 18 schools during the Division I sectional tennis tournament last week at their home community park courts.
A 13-0 halftime deficit would have been quite a tall order for the Hawken School gridders (2-4, 1-2) to overcome last year, when they averaged 13.4 points per game.
There was just too much smoke out on the links during the Division I Northeast Ohio boys district golf tournament on Monday at the Pine Hills par-72 course in Hinckley Township.
Like they had in every game so far this season, the Kenston boys were fixing to score first when they took the opening drive into the red zone against Willoughby South on Friday night in Bainbridge Township.
Entering the match with 75 goals through 13 games, the Kenston girls soccer team sure didn’t need any help from rival Chagrin Falls during a clash on the pitch last Thursday at C.S. Harris Stadium.
Gilmour Academy (3-3) owned a 7-0 lead at the quarter mark as the host Lancers were fixing to defend their home gridiron against southern neighbor University School (4-2) on Saturday afternoon in Gates Mills.
Two years ago, the Gilmour Academy boys golf team finished third in their district, before going on to finish Division III state runner-up during the 2017 championships in Columbus.
Game of the week: Willoughby South at Kenston
Stop Trae Zimmermann.
The stiffer the competition, the more weight a title carries along with it.
Kenston owned a 28-6 lead after Division II Brush (0-5) put together a 64-yard scoring drive with 53 seconds left in the half of a Western Reserve Conference clash on Friday night at Korb Field in Lyndhurst.
After seven seasons without a shutout victory, the University School gridders (3-2) posted their second such triumph during a 35-0 road romping against Division IV Cleveland Central Catholic (0-5) on Saturday afternoon at Stefanski Stadium.
Three-game win streaks are no stranger to Chagrin Falls football (3-2, 2-0), which has strung together such runs in each of the past 20 seasons.
No team wants to take points off the board, especially not a 65-yard touchdown run by Solon 205-pound junior back Khalil Eichelberger during the Comets’ road battle against Shaker Heights on Saturday afternoon at Rupp Field.
Behind a medalist round from junior No. 3 shooter Thomas Wong, the Hawken School boys golf team secured a repeat ticket to states during the Division II Northeast District tournament on Tuesday in Ravenna.
The Chagrin Falls girls golf team left no doubt in repeating a district berth during the Division I sectional tournament on Tuesday at Tamer Win’s golf course in Cortland.
The University School boys golf team didn’t graduate any linkers from last year’s postseason team, but the Preppers had a new ringer leading them back to districts during the Division I sectional tournament on Tuesday in Concord Township.
There was only one player on the links who could hang with Gilmour Academy during the Division III boys golf sectional last Wednesday at the Pine Hills par-72 course in Hinkley Township.
Bouncing back from two tough weeks on the road, University School (2-2) returned to the dub column during a 48-9 homecoming rout against fellow Division III foe Cleveland John Hay (0-4) on Saturday afternoon at Scovil Field in Hunting Valley.
The intention of any athletic team is to continue to improve as the season progresses, but the key to success is to improve at a faster rate than one’s competition.
(Editor’s note: Tony Lange went 8-0 last week and is 24-5 overall.)
That wing-T never stood a chance.
The newcomers to the Chagrin Valley Conference were given a whacking when West Geauga (1-3) blanked winless Lakeside, 45-0, and when Division IV AP No. 2-ranked Perry (4-0) showed no mercy against Edgewood (2-2), 56-6, during league openers Friday.
High school soccer teams that don’t get scored on can’t lose – plain and simple. But the Kenston girls haven’t been too focused on not losing this season.
Solon was trailing, 29-26, in the fourth quarter, but the Comets had no choice but to punt away with 3:20 remaining of their home affair against unbeaten league foe Brunswick on Friday night at Stewart Field.
Winless through its first five matches, the University School soccer team is again flying under the radar despite the Preppers’ strength of schedule this season.
This was the year for another team in the Greater Cleveland Conference to step up and squash the league dynasty of the Solon girls tennis program, as the Lady Comets reloaded with new rackets on four of their five courts.
Second chances come with the territory in football, but one such opportunity didn’t go Orange’s way during the Lions’ home clash against a 2-0 Wickliffe team on Friday night at Lewis Black Stadium in Pepper Pike. Orange entered the evening at 0-2.
Five losses through seven games is enough to put any team down, but the Solon soccer girls know they’ve got the goods to compete with any program in the state.
Kenston might have remained unbeaten, but the Bombers (3-0) definitely had some weaknesses exposed during their home clash against West Geauga (0-3) on Friday night in Bainbridge Township.
Not too many people were putting their money on Chagrin Falls’ defense, but the Tiger gridders were lights out in their home opener against Woodridge on Friday on Saturday at C.S. Harris Stadium.
Hawken School moved the pigskin plenty, but it was the Gilmour Academy gridders (2-1) who were punching it in the end zone during a battle for the helmet on Saturday afternoon at Weber Stadium in Gates Mills.
Hawken School boys soccer was going to have a long season on defense after a 4-3 loss against Lake Catholic in a season opener on Aug. 16.
Game of the Week: Brunswick at Solon
Gilmour Academy 5-foot-7 outside hitter and defensive specialist Brooke Clair had been playing lights out for the Lady Lancers entering their home eight-team volleyball invitational on Saturday in Gates Mills.
(Editor’s note: Tony Lange went 7-0 last week and is 12-3 overall.)
