The Chardon Hilltoppers baseball team was riding a high after a wild game against Western Reserve Conference rivals the Kenston Bombers on April 7 when they snatched victory from the jaws of defeat by scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh to walk it off. It seemed that Chardon was be…
The Chagrin Falls Tigers girls lacrosse team was preparing to play their season opener on April 5 against the Hudson Explorers. Their previously scheduled season opener against the Hawken Hawks had been canceled due to the snowstorm that greeted Northeast Ohio on the first day of April.
After a promising start to the 2021 season Chagrin Falls Tigers baseball head coach Michael Sweeney said that that he couldn’t have asked for a better start from his team. Despite losing a handful of seniors in the lost 2020 campaign Chagrin Falls was still returning the bulk of its pitching…
Kenston Bombers head baseball coach Bob Ford didn’t deny that his team was off to a slow start in the 2021 season. The Bombers started off with a 1-3 record and it seemed that very little was going right for them. Kenston’s third loss came in walk-off fashion as Western Reserve Conference ri…
Chagrin Falls Tigers boys lacrosse coach Paul Corto said he knew that the 2021 season was going to present a unique challenge. The goal remained the same as ever which was to repeat as Division II champions, but the four-year head coach expressed that the Tigers would have their work cut out…
Lady Comets endure growing pains as they drop twin bill to Aurora
University School Preppers baseball coach Rob McNerney said that he knew that the team was going to struggle when it opened the season. The Preppers saw a handful of seniors depart in the lost year known as the 2020 season. This year’s team was going to be filled with several new faces.
After having to wait close to two years Chardon Hilltoppers softball head coach Stewart Landies said the team could not have been more ecstatic to return to the diamond. Chardon was slated to open the 2021 season against Canfield on April 2, but the third-year coach received notice that ther…
Hilltoppers go .500 first-ever Topper Baseball Classic
The Hawken boys lacrosse team welcomed the beginning of April by having almost 2 inches of snow dumped on the turf of Walton Stadium. Head coach Dan Usaj said there was no way they could get the field cleared in time for its Friday game against the Revere Minutemen so he reached out to the R…
Like all teams in the Northeast Ohio region the Solon Comets boys lacrosse team is trying to find its footing after a lost season in 2020 due to the pandemic. It has been a greater challenge for Solon as head coach David Blue stepped down forcing the program to find a replacement. Head coach…
Ever since Hawken Hawks boys lacrosse coach Dan Usaj took over for the 2018 season he has been trying to grow the program into a model of sustained success. The Hawks’ biggest hurdle in the postseason the last several years has been running into the powerhouses that are either Chagrin Valley…
Solon Comets senior point guard Marcus Steele still has vivid memories of Solon’s 2016 Division I district championship game against Greater Cleveland Conference rival Mentor at Euclid High School. He was only in the seventh grade but had a great view from the bleachers as he watched his old…
Coach Dave Millilo was at a point in his coaching career where he was ready to hang it up. After coaching lacrosse for 23 years he said it felt like it was the right time to put down his clipboard. Then he received a phone call from Chagrin Falls. Outgoing girls lacrosse coach Chris Gellin w…
After the Gilmour Lancers baseball team defeated Benedictine in the 2019 Division II Hudson regional finals to punch their ticket to the Final Four for the first time since the 2008 season the coaching staff had a tough decision to make. They needed to pick a starter for the state semifinals…
Gilmour Lancers baseball head coach John Murphy admitted he was feeling a little nervous before the season debut against the Kenston Bombers. He said he knew it was weird for him to feel that way considering he had had over 20 years of experience as an assistant coach with the Lancers and ha…
It had been 675 days since the Chardon Hilltoppers baseball team walked off the field after falling to the Gilmour Academy Lancers in the 2019 Gates Mills Division II district finals. After losing that game Chardon had high expectations for the 2020 season after returning eight seniors from …
Gilmour Lancers head baseball coach John Murphy is still at a loss for words when he tries to describe the kind of feeling it was for the team to play in its first Division II state title game in school history on June 9, 2019 against the Chaminade Julienne Eagles at Canal Park. It was a tes…
It was a beautiful day on March 13, 2020. The sun was out and the Chardon Hilltoppers softball team was in the middle of practice on the football field. They usually practiced on the football field until late March because they could not access their usual field at Munson Elementary School.
As Chardon Hilltoppers senior forward Brady Toth laced up his shoes before a Friday night clash on Feb. 9 against Western Reserve Conference rivals the Brush Arcs one of his teammates let him in on a little secret. Toth was just three points shy of eclipsing the 1,000 point mark for his care…
Orange Lions wrestling coach Adam Kriwinsky didn’t quite know what to make of sophomore Te’Andre Allen when he first joined the wrestling program during the 2020 season. Allen had just transferred from St. Ignatius and coach Kriwinsky could see that there was a lot of work that needed to be done.
Basketball has been embedded in West Geauga Wolverines senior guard Athena Hocevar’s DNA since she was a child. Her father, Brian, spent four years playing college basketball between the University of Nevada Las Vegas and Cleveland State University and hoped that his children would love spor…
When the University School Preppers boys basketball team walked off the court after suffering a four-point loss to Shaker Heights in the 2019 Solon sectional finals head coach Sean McDonnell had a lot of things to feel proud about. For one thing it was University School’s debut in Division I…
Ever since he was 6-years old, Solon Comets diver Dominic Roberto felt at home any time he stepped on a diving board. After his childhood swim instructor recommended that he go out for the American Flyers Diving Club it was just a perfect match for the 14-year-old freshman.
Catara DeJarnette can still remember tagging along with her father to her brother D.J.’s basketball practices. She didn’t just watch him practice, but also picked up a ball and began to dribble, shoot and participate in games of knockout. The Kenston junior had grown up with the sport and fe…
Right after the Gilmour Lancers boys basketball team lost to the Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin Lions on senior night they had to go into quarantine for the second time this season. The team did need some rest as it had played a ton of games in the past few weeks but now couldn’t practice togeth…
Gilmour keeps ball rolling and beats Padua to advance to Sweet Sixteen
As the final buzzer in regulation sounded Chagrin Falls Tigers hockey head coach Jim Revak ushered his team into the locker room. The Tigers were tied with the Orange Lions in the first round of the Kent Qualifying district tournament during that 2019 season.
All Hailey Weaver wanted to do as a child was spend time with her older brother Aaron. He was heavily involved in athletics with his friends and she saw that as a golden opportunity to spend more time with him by throwing herself into sports. She began her athletic career by playing softball…
Chardon’s magic runs out in double-overtime loss to Struthers
Due to the pandemic this year the high school basketball postseason was going to look a little different. Teams would be voting among themselves about which seeding number each one would receive. The higher ranked teams would get priority of which bracket they wanted to play in and also have…
As unpredictable as things have been during this high school swimming season at least all Ohio teams that competed did get to enjoy a full season. Despite the hurdles the goal was the same as ever which was to get to the annual state tournament and somehow the season reached the finish line …
Although the high school sports season has been muddled due to the ongoing pandemic, it has been a memorable year for the Chardon Hilltoppers. The Chardon football team brought home the OHSAA Division III state title to mark the school’s second football championship since the 1994 season.
Gilmour Lancers hockey head coach John Malloy clearly remembers March 8, 2020.
The Gilmour girls basketball program conquered a major hurdle when it defeated Beaumont on Feb. 24 in the district semifinals. It marked the fourth time in the past five seasons that the Lancers had made it back to the district finals. Gilmour had not made it to the regional tournament since…
The Chagrin Falls Tigers football team was eager to kick-off its 2020 season on Aug. 28 against Chagrin Valley Chagrin Conference rival Harvey. There was one small problem as longtime head coach Mark Iammarino could not be with the team as he had to stay home due to COVID restrictions.
It looked like things were coming together for the Solon Comets boys basketball team on Feb. 13 after they defeated Greater Cleveland Conference rivals the Strongsville Mustangs. The game went down to the wire and it was a great sign that the Comets pulled it out considering how much of a ba…
The Gilmour Lancers boys basketball team walked off the court after suffering a defeat to the St. Vincent-St. Mary Fighting Irish in the district semifinals last year. Head coach Dan DeCrane believed that if Gilmour had conquered the hurdle that was the Fighting Irish then his team would hav…
Throughout a season riddled with stoppages in play due to the pandemic the University School hockey team was finding its rhythm at the perfect time. The Preppers were playing some of their best hockey by compiling 6-0-1 record heading into the Cleveland Cup semifinals match against crosstown…
Gilmour falls to St. Edward in Cleveland Cup the next day
