Gettin' closer

MV 42 - OH 39 - Hawks win Sectional Title - Quick Summary

Maumee Valley clinched its first Sectional title in over 10 years Friday March 2, 2012 at Eastwood High School, defeating the Ottawa Hills Green Bears 42-39. 

It was a tremendous atmosphere at Eastwood, the gym nearly filled to capacity in the first of a two game double header.  Ottawa Hills stymied the Hawks most all evening with their 2-3 zone, and the lead changed hands five times during the evening.  OH led early on the strength of their front line players, Lucas Janowicz and RJ Coil and Geoffery Beans.  In fact, the Bears outshot MV from both the three point arc and the free throw line. 

However, the Hawks used tough defense, forcing enough turnovers to give MV (an unofficial) 37-25 shot advantage.  MV took the lead down the stretch on the strength of two clutch drives by Julius Turner.  Here's the second, which made the BCSN list of top plays for the night...





And with 4:00 remaining in the game and a four point lead, the Blue and White ran the clock out - not without OH having their chances to tie - right down to the last play of the game...




...and at the end, Maumee Valley cut the nets down for a Sectional Crown. 

It was a great win for Coach Jim Robinson, who broke a long playoff win drought this evening.  It was also a rare 3-0 season sweep for the Hawks, achieving one of the more difficult goals in basketball.

Scoring for the Hawks - Jared Sturt with 11, Rick Deichert and Jon Krueger 8, Julius Turner 6, Dave Brown 5 and Dixon Stoddard 4.  Caleb Willhight also saw action on the night.

The Hawks now move to the District round at Lakota High School in Kansas, Ohio, where they face Fostoria Sectional #2 seed Tiffin Calvert out of the Midland Athletic League Tuesday March 6, at 8:00 pm.

Congratulations also to the Toledo Christian Eagles, who defeated the Gibsonburg Golden Bears 45-40 in the second game.  TC moves on to face New Riegel in Game 1 at Lakota - tip-off at 6:15pm.

Full NW Ohio playoff bracket taking shape

Here is your link for the D-IV boys NW Ohio OHSAA playoff bracket.

Should MV advance as sectional champ, their most likely opponent in the District playdown is Tiffin Calvert. 

Gibsonburg or TC will likely Face the other Sectional #1 seed New Riegel.

New Riegel clinched the 1 seed in their Section by defeating Calvert head to head on Friday.  Both teams play out of the Midland Athletic League.

Maumee Valley earns first seed in Sectional

For the second year in a row, Maumee Valley has been voted the first seed in the sectional tournament, to be held at Eastwood High School. 

The Hawks thus earn a bye in the first round of the tournament, and play the winner of #4 Ottawa Hills vs. #5 Fremont St. Joe's (5). 

In the other side of the bracket, #2 Gibsonburg faces #7 Northwood.  The winner of that game plays the winner of #3 Toledo Christian vs. #6 Cardinal Stritch. 

More on the playoffs after the full brackets come out. 

Brackets are set for Friday

Toledo Christian defeated Northwood tonight 72-36.

Cardinal Stritch defeated Bettsville 38-37

New page posted - Playoff roster and stats

I posted an updated roster for the playoffs with full season scoring stats.  Check the 'Pages' list on the left hand side of the blog.

Interesting look at the State-wide Division IV playoffs

By the Ohio High School Hoops blog  Very comprehensive.

Maumee Valley gets some love here, but mainly the predictions go by past performance. 

Hawks Playoff game also on BCSN

The Friday playoff game at Rossford HS will be televised by BCSN.  On the current schedule, the first two times the game will be shown are Saturday at 3:30am, then at 7:00pm.

BCSN's schedule changes frequently during playoff times, check the BCSN site http://www.bcsn.tv/ for updates.

Your Hawkblog Guide to the Playoffs

Yes Coach, it’s time to talk about the playoffs. Everything you need to know answered in nine questions.

Let’s get going – Playoffs 101

1. You say the playoffs start tonight, but the Hawks don’t play until Friday. What gives?   Well, Maumee Valley was voted the number one seed in their section. The one and two seeds receive byes.

2. Who will the Hawks’ opponent be?   Maumee Valley will play the winner of the Toledo Christian vs. Northwood first round game played Wednesday.

3. Where and when is the game?   Rossford High School is the scene of this game, start time is 6:15pm Friday March 4, 2011.

4. Where’s Ottawa Hills in all this?   OH is the second seed and plays Friday immediately following Maumee Valley’s game at Rossford HS. They play the winner of the Cardinal Stritch – Bettsville first round tilt.

Next up - Playoffs 102

5. So if MV wins, do we play Ottawa Hills next?  Nope, the Friday winners advance to the next round of the playoffs – the Districts at Gibsonburg. There each winner will meet one of two Sectional champs from the Port Clinton Section. Maumee Valley could face either Sandusky St. Mary’s, Danbury or Fremont St. Joe’s. The winner of that game plays for the District title – likely against Ottawa Hills.

6. How do you know this? Here is a link to the Gibsonburg District bracket, including the Sectionals.

7. What then?   The Gibsonburg District winner goes to the Regional playoffs at Bowling Green. Here is a link to all the Ohio High School District / Regional brackets. Scroll down for Division IV.

Playoffs 201

8. Who are some of the other strong teams in the Bowling Green Regional?

Here is a link to the BG regional Bracket.

The Gibsonburg District winner faces the winner of the Lima District. The Lima District features State No. 4 Columbus Grove and No. 9 Continental. Other teams to watch out of Lima include 16-4 Kalida and two 12-8 teams; Arlington and Lima Temple Christian. Kalida has a tough draw, likely facing Continental in their second round game.

On the other side of the bracket the Findlay District winner faces the Napoleon District winner. Blade D-IV No. 1 and State No. 3 ranked McComb leads this District, which also includes 18-2 Vanlue, 11-8 Van Buren, 14-6 Leipsig and 15-5 New Riegel. Overall, the Findlay district probably features the best overall balance of the four District brackets.

The Napoleon District’s two best teams are Antwerp (15-5) and Edon (14-6) out of the Hicksville Sectional. The number one and two seeds in the Bryan Sectional are Stryker at 9-11 and Pettisville at 10-10.

9. And then?   When the dust settles at BG, 48 teams will have played down to one. Final four, baby, Columbus here we come.

Hawk playoff games to be broadcast on Internet radio

The 2011 Maumee Valley boys' playoff games will be broadcast on http://www.wrscradio.com/ beginning with this Friday's 6:15pm game against the winner of the Toledo Christian-Northwood play-in.

This is a great way for out-of-town alumni, relatives and friends to follow their team.  So spread the word.  Just click on the site and follow the links to the game website. 

The games will also be archived for replay at later dates.

Quick note on playoff seeding

I have received a number of comments regarding playoff seeding and the bracket over the last few days.  I am holding off posting those comments and ask for your patience. 

I don't want a post on this subject to turn into bulletin board material.  There will be a post on this subject at a later date. 

Thanks for understanding.

MV District playoff bracket.

MV was voted first seed by the coaches in the Rossford Sectional.  That means that if they move on out of the Sectional, they would face the second seed from the Port Clinton Sectional on the way to the district final.

This is the biggest I could get this on the blog.  Here is a link.