From state championships to amazing individual performances, it's time to look back at the best sports stories of 2023 involving area high school teams and athletes.
1. First year of massive league realignment
A total of 13 schools in the Toledo area changed leagues since January 2021. The demise of the Three Rivers Athletic Conference led to the creation of a two-division Northern Lakes League. Clay, Findlay, Fremont Ross, and Whitmer competed in the NLL for the first fall season with the creation of Buckeye Division (bigger schools) and Cardinal Division (smaller schools). Toledo's private schools, Central Catholic, St. Francis de Sales, and St. John's Jesuit also began competition in the Detroit-based Catholic High School League.
Another former TRAC school, Lima Senior, joined the City League.
Maumee moved from the NLL to the Northern Buckeye Conference. Oak Harbor also joined the NBC, leaving the Sandusky Bay Conference
Elmwood left the NBC and joined the Blanchard Valley Conference, while Woodmore departed the NBC for the SBC.
The St. Francis and St. John's hockey programs joined the newly formed Greater Ohio Hockey League but remained members of the Northwest Hockey Conference.
All the changes led to varying levels of success. Central football won the CHSL’s powerhouse Central Division title, St. John's won the CHSL Central soccer title, Oak Harbor football won the NBC title, and Maumee's boys and girls soccer teams won NBC titles.
Findlay and Whitmer won NLL football titles in their first seasons, tying for the Buckeye title with Anthony Wayne.
“I think there’s a lot of excitement right now surrounding what we’re doing,” NLL commissioner Richard Browne said. “It’s been a lot of work. But I think at the end of the day, we’ve created an expanded league that’s going to benefit all of our member schools for several years to come.”
2. Central Catholic wins second straight state football championship
The No. 1 ranked Irish extended their remarkable winning streak to 31 games, capping the program's fifth state football championship with a 27-7 win over No. 4 ranked Columbus Bishop Watterson in the Division III state title game.
Central Catholic posted a perfect 16-0 record with playoff wins over Bowling Green, 42-7, Defiance, 41-26, Mansfield Senior, 41-10, Tiffin Columbian, 41-6, and Chardon, 35-7.
The 2023 Irish team set program records for the fewest average yards allowed per game (152 total, 41 rushing), fewest points surrendered (166 in 16 games), and largest average victory margin (29.3).
The program's last loss came in Week 1 of 2022 by a 23-20 score to Lakewood St. Edward, which just won its third straight big-school state championship.
With contributions across the board on both sides of the ball, Central was led by Davonte' Wright-Ward (all-district linebacker), Marc Nave (Kentucky commit), and Elijah Williams (Kent State commit). Marquan Braswell ( all-district running back), Jaylen Watson (all-district receiver), quarterback Terry Collins, Preston Fryzel (wide receiver), and Mike Cannings (All-Ohioan defensive lineman).
3. Perrysburg junior wrestler Marcus Blaze becomes a world champion
The generational talent won the finals of the 55-kilogram weight class in the freestyle competition at the U17 World Championships in Istanbul. Blaze, who has a 107-1 record with two Division I state titles in his high school career, also helped lead the Yellow Jackets to a runner-up team finish at the D-I state meet.
Blaze earned the opportunity to represent Team USA after winning his weight class at the U.S. Open Wrestling Championship. Blaze capped off a perfect record in the world tournament with a narrow 4-3 decision over India’s Ankush Ankush.
“It’s everything I’ve worked for, everything I’ve worked for my entire life has just been to win a world title,” Blaze said.
Perrysburg went four for four in the championship bouts at the D-I state meet with seniors Joey Blaze (165 pounds), Myles Takats (175), and Ryan Avalos (126) along with Marcus Blaze (120) capturing individual titles.
4. Anthony Wayne-Springfield softball
No. 3 AW (28-5) finished as state runner-up and finished in the No. 15 spot in USA Today's national poll and Springfield, winners of the NLL, ended at No. 18. No. 2 state-ranked Springfield (28-1) beat AW twice during the regular season (5-4 and 4-3). But the Generals spoiled the Devils' perfect season with a 7-3 win in the May 26 regional final at Clyde. AW's state runner-up finish followed that of Springfield's last year.
5. Springfield star sprinter Maira Scott
The junior won the 100-meter dash and 200-meter state titles and holds the second-fastest all-time finishes in those events: 11.41 seconds in the 100 and 23.20 seconds in the 200. Scott is the Springfield record-holder in all three sprint events, the district record-holder in the 100 and 200, and the regional record-holder in the 100.
Scott was invited to be one of 40 senior track and field athletes representing 18 states nationwide from the Class of 2024 to be part of a new Nike Elite program being launched by the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation in conjunction with USA Track & Field. She was the only Ohio athlete invited.
Scott chose Southern California over Ohio State, Michigan, Tennessee, and Texas Christian University.
“I've coached some great athletes before — state champions. I probably would put her at the top of that list,” Springfield coach Michael Campbell said. “It's been a great journey. When you have two of the fastest times ever run in the state of Ohio, you can't beat that unless you have that No. 1 person. That's always been her goal and she works hard and she aspired for that and it paid off.”
6. Perrysburg girls cross country wins second state title in past three years
The Yellow Jackets earned the state championship with a strong performance during the second mile of the race. Perrysburg, which finished with 102 points, sat in third after the opening mile before making its push in mile two.
Senior Hannah Kersten turned in an eighth-place finish (18:19.37), while junior Ava Beeks finished 10th (18:22.14). Junior Natalie Sanders took 22nd (18:39.1), senior Anna Dalton was 63rd (19:28.5), and sophomore Kaelyn Becken was 65th (19:29.5).
“It was just a remarkable day,” coach Jon Monheim said. “What they did in the middle of the race, I’ve never seen out of a team. They won the race in the second mile. They moved up collectively 50 to 60 spots in the second mile.”
Perrysburg was 18th in 2018, 12th in 2019, and seventh in 2020 before emerging with the title in 2021. They were fourth in 2022.
7. Whitmer wrestler Savannah Isaac defends titles
Isaac capped a 28-0 high school season with another state title in the 190-pound weight class. Isaac celebrated with an emphatic post-match hip toss of her coach onto the mat at the Schottenstein Center.
Isaac won by pin in the second period over Findlay sophomore Laney Oliver.
“This feels great. I thank my coaches, family, and friends,” Isaac said. “It feels pretty awesome. We showed them what we had.”
Isaac won state titles at 190 pounds last year and at 189 in 2021.
Then in June, Isaac defended her national title in the Junior Division at the U.S. Marine Corps Junior and National Championships at the Fargodome. Isaac repeated as U19 champion in the 200-pound class while representing Team Ohio. She has committed to compete for Life University in college.
8. Anthony Wayne boys golf wins state championship
The team of Logan Sutto, Myles Murphy, Ian Briars, Ted Robertson, and Michael Distefano set an Ohio State Scarlet Course 18-hole record with a 290 during the final round. The Generals' 598 overall finish landed them their first championship.
Sutto, a senior who has committed to Butler, shot a five-under-par 66 to cap off a two-day total of 70-66-136, which would have been the new OHSAA state tournament record had it not been for the effort turned in by Columbus DeSales’ Vaughn Harber's new state tournament record 135.
Briars, a senior, shot 75-76-151 to finish 12th individually, while Distefano, a sophomore, posted 81-72-153 to place 16th. Robertson (82-76-158), a junior, tied for 28th, and senior Murphy tied for 38th (160) to round out the scoring for the Generals.
“It’s just unreal,” coach Pat Phillips said. “We knew we had to put up a good score and never thought we could shoot what we did today. All five kids were loose and relaxed and got it done.”
9. St. John's Jesuit wins first state track and field team title
A historic performance in Columbus saw the Titans post six top-five finishes — including a victory in the 1,600-meter relay — on the final day of the meet.
St. John's needed at least a fourth-place finish in the 1,600 relay to earn the outright title and finished with 35 points to edge second-place Pickerington Central (29).
“This is really exciting. This is amazing,” said St. John’s Jesuit senior Tre Green, who was a member of the 1,600 relay and the third-place 800 relay. “My last go around the oval, that’s one way to end it right there. Very proud of this team, worked hard for this. Moments before the race, we knew what we had to run for, and we had to go out there, run our best race, and that’s what we did.”
Sophomore Caleb Kelly, sophomore Caleb Root, Green, and junior Joseph Taylor won the 1,600 relay in a blistering 3:13.94. Kelly earned four top-five finishes (third in the 100, fifth in the 200, and joined Taylor, Green, and Trey Miller to place third in the 800 relay).
Taylor’s fourth-place finish in the 400 (47.97) and Miller’s fifth-place showing in the long jump (22-11.5) rounded out the Titans’ placers. Taylor was fourth in the 400 last season but improved his time by nearly one second after finishing in 48.84 a year ago.
“It’s incredible. We’ve talked about this and kind of talked about what it would be like and what it takes to do this,” St. John’s Jesuit coach Steve Spenthoff said.
T10. Liberty Center football advances to state final
Playing in its first state football final in 25 years, the Tigers spilled out every last bit of energy in a 21-14 loss to top-ranked Perry in the state title game.
Coach Casey Mohler's Tigers finished 15-1 and ranked No. 2 in the state.
The run-heavy Tigers were anchored by All-Ohio lineman Landon Bockelman (6-foot-4, 265 pounds) and senior guard Seth Navarre (6-2, 230) who paved the way for backs Colton Kruse, Trenton Kruse, Waylon Rentz, and QB Landon Amstutz, whose top targets were Landen Kruse and Colton Chambers. The defense was led by Bockelman, Navarre, Zander Zeiter, Trenton Kruse, Rentz, Colton Kruse, Garrison Kruse, and Landen Kruse.
“I'm grateful for these seniors, and what this team did,” Mohler said. “The only thing we've ever asked them to do was to play as hard as they can for 48 minutes. I thought they did that today. They left everything on the field, and we just ran out of time. [Perry] made a few more plays than what we did.”
T10. St. Francis swimmer Scotty Buff sets national high school record
Buff, who signed with University of Florida, posted the record time in 100-yard butterfly of 44.97 seconds to win a state title on Feb. 26. He broke the National Federation of State High School Associations record in the 100 butterfly and had four top-three finishes overall in leading the Knights to a seventh-place finish in the team standings at the Division I state swimming finals in Canton.
Buff dominated the rest of the field in the 100 butterfly, winning by more than three seconds. His blistering time broke the OHSAA and national record by half of a second.
“I expected it, because he works so hard and he is dedicated to the sport,” St. Francis coach Brent Ransom said. “We’ve had goals since he was 12 years old. We sat down and talked one day at a swim meet and said ‘You’re going to be pretty famous soon in swimming.’ Just have to be humble and got to make sure we’re improving each year, and that’s what we’ve done each year.”
Best of the rest:
■ Toledo Christian girls basketball team advances to state title game.
■ Whiteford football extends win streak to 27 games and reaches the Michigan Division 8 state title game.
■ St John’s basketball sees an unexpected run end in state semifinals.
■ Central Catholic sprinters senior Solomon King and younger sister Nyla King combine to win five Division II state track titles.
First Published December 30, 2023, 3:30 p.m.
