State Championship games

[Athensfc]

First game of the day is over
Girls
D III Summit County Day wins 6-0 over Chippewa
D II is underway Granville 1-0 at half over Archbishop Hoban.
D I starts at 7 Walsh vs Loveland

[Athensfc]

D II Girls Hoban scores with :47 seconds to tie and send the game into overtime!!!

[Athensfc]

D II Girls Hoban scores with :47 seconds to tie and send the game into overtime!!!

Hoban wins in the 93 minute
Hoban 2
Granville 1

[Athensfc]

Walsh wins D I Girls championship 1-0 over Loveland.

Day two starts at noon today.
D I Boys St. Iggy vs Hilliard Davidson
D II Boys DeSales vs Bay
D III Boys Summit County Day vs Canfield South Range

[AthensSoccerFan]

Looks like Iggy over Davidson 4 to 0.

Just a brush with greatness type anecdote. My son has played with Ryan Lang who was Davidson's best scoring threat when they were on Blast many years back. Probably playing against him in just a few weeks at the Galaxy Showcase.

Also played against most of the Iggy seniors playing for Challenger or OP. Looking for a rematch against Gordon if he plays for OP next year. Kid is huge and a very athletic defender. Think he plays forward for Iggy. That's how HS works.

[AthensSoccerFan]

So DeSales over Bay 1 - 0. A repeat of last years score. Congrats to DeSales.

Just a little bragging rights here, but my son was the only player to score against them from the final 16 on. He beat a really good keeper from the top of the box on a very sharp angle. We used to call the kid,J.P. Baughman, the "cat man" when he was playing u13 for Classics. He could jump around the goal like a human cat...amazing saves.

[Raider6309]

How much does Athens bring back for next year?

[AthensSoccerFan]

It was a very senior heavy team... 8 senior starters. Some nice talent coming up but I suspect it will be a rebuilding season (or two) next year.

[4thgoal]

6 championship games
Pvt school goals 23
Pub. school goals 1

Div 3 especially lopsided
15-0

[AthensSoccerFan]

There is definitely an argument to be made that privates have a huge advantage in being able to recruit from a large geographic area. This year was pretty freakish. Again not saying that past trends don't favor privates but public schools can compete. Mason (ironically a super school that really has the draw area of a private), the Dublin public schools, Beaver Creek, The Olantangy Schools, they all can make good showings and beat privates if the talent crop comes through. D2 is a different matter. Hopeless there. D3 probably the same but I don't know that area as well.

What it really comes down to is where the top club players go....kids who play year round on competitive teams. OP, CUP, Club Ohio, Galaxies, TFA to name a few. For the south east district I know of a few who play club on a decent team...one from Warren, one from Chilicothe, and my son. There are some great efforts being made to correct this. Club Ohio Marrietta and now Athens, FCFC etc. but they would be considered 2nd tier teams that generally do not compete in the Ohio South State Cup. At D1 level Ohio it was basically Mason's CUP kids vs. Club Ohio's (black and patchett at Jerome) vs. Iggy's mostly Challenger with a dash of OP combo. There were also a bunch of Crew Academy players who bailed for their senior year and helped programs like Gahanna Lincoln make a good run. I don't know the north very well though.

If you want success you need to start at u-little and play in a competitive environment for many years and then get 5 or 6 of those players to form the core of a team. The privates have a much easier time doing this. Just my observations after having witnessed both the HS and club scene in Ohio for the last 7 years

[warriornation123]

There is no argument to be made that privates have a huge advantage. It is a matter of FACT that privates have a huge advantage. Year after year, privates have the ability to recruit the best teams money can buy. While it sounds reasonable to suggest that success starts at u-little, continues with playing in a competitive environment, and then hoping to develop a core of 5 to 6 players for a specific school, the reality is that doing this costs money and major commitment. Privates do not have this burden. They can shop for and recruit players from whichever areas they choose and form a team of 15-20 players, ALL of whom have played at a competitive level for many years. Public schools NEVER have his option. Private schools make up 14% of the schools in Ohio but claim nearly 60% of the state championships. And the only reason why the OHSAA does not address this obvious disparity is $$$. It is truly unfortunate that public schools (relatively speaking) never really have a chance to compete on a level playing field and the governing body for "fair" sportsmanship in Ohio chooses to ignore this for their own self-serving purposes. I have never heard a member of the OHSAA present any argument as to why the system currently used is the only/best option for promoting fairness to all schools. I won't hold my breath waiting for one in the future, either.

[Gview]

The advantage comes from Parents that have money to invest in Johnny playing high level club ball.

Why is it that everything has to be fair? Life isn't fair, what better stage to learn than to learn it at a young age, so when they grow up, they can change where they are.

And before you start with the recruiting crap, where is the proof that they recruited? If you have some turn it in to the OHSAA, otherwise it sounds as though you just whining.

The issue isn't that they (the schools) recruit, the issue is the kids have closer opportunities to play at high level. So you have more kids in one area that play at high level because of the club team. Maybe the coaching is working at CUP where most of these players play club and they know each other. Parents have $$$ or maybe they are all on scholarship. Whatever the case, we (and you) need more high club players. We used to have it in Dayton, not anymore. Only 1 maybe 2 clubs have players at that level, and they player at different schools.

[AthensSoccerFan]

It's not really recruiting like pssttt hey come over to play on my team and you'll get a scholarship and win a state championship. It's more like gravity where players clump up naturally because they want to win (and maybe get a tuition break on a good education but I'm not even sure how often that happens...probably very little actually especially for soccer...now football and basketball who knows?)

You see the same thing happen with top level club teams as far as where players end up. OP u18 under Lawrence started pulling from Classics, Club OHio, Crew Pre Academy (some were prodigal sons) and even Michigan and Northern Ohio. lol Winning teams attract players.

As far as the $$ for top club teams goes, I guess it just depends on what you circumstances are? Galaxies is very reasonable compared to some of the other ohio south clubs. Travel is expensive but my family just turned tournaments into family vacations and skipped the real one. The kids were thrilled

And don't underestimate the amount of free playing going on out there if the player is good. Clubs find ways to get them playing. Lesh had a crew of back seat boys that he drove around all the time. My son nearly fell over when he bumped into one who was playing for DeSales now. I'm guessing he is on scholarship but who knows.

Division 1 soccer is pretty level in my opinion. Iggy seems to be the perennial private and public schools like Mason, G Lincoln, Olentangies, Dublins (genarally good teams), Beavercreek and Centerville can give them a run for their money. Looking at the state finalists for the last 5 or 6 years seems to confirm this.

Division 2 is where it gets dicey because you are looking at public schools that have smaller population bases to draw from and surrounding areas (more rural) that probably don't have high level club opportunities or even a club soccer culture.

Division 3 see Div 2 but even more accentuated.

[Flock_92]

Let's keep in mind that we are talking mostly about kids here. If you have a kid that is good at soccer at the u-little age and he wants to play club and you have the money to take him to play at an elite club he is going to advance better than a kid that plays in his little local league where there are kids just there to shut mom/dad up. As he/she gets older and continues top play at this higher level and builds friendships with their teammates, then they may desire to play at the same school as their friend. In this example "recruiting" started with money and desire. I am sure there are parents that make deals with coaches or schools for tuition help or a scholarship, but not every great kid that plays with other great kids was "recruited".
Now with that being said, there should be a division between public and private. If the private school that has the better coaching, or recruits, or program, or whatever wants to play with top athletes then why expose them to lesser athletes? Form a division of top private schools and let them play each other, making each other better by playing top competition each game. Just an idea.