NEWS AND NOTES

Cardinal Division Off To Good Start in Sectionals.

Six OCC-Cardinal teams will play for sectional championships this weekend after a 5-2 start in the opening round of the Division I tournament. In addition to Scioto, winners in the opening round included: Olentangy Liberty (69-39 over Delaware), Westerville North (64-41 over Cardinal Division foe Olentangy), Jerome (55-47 over Central Crossing) and Westerville Central (61-53 over Pickerington Central). Westerville South had a bye in the opening round, while Marysville lost to Newark.

The OCC-Ohio matched the Cardinal’s 5-2 record in opening round games. The Columbus City League North and South Divisions are both 2-1. The other area league records thus far are: Mid-State League – Cardinal (1-0), OCC-Central (2-5), OCC-Capital (1-3), Central Catholic League (0-1) and Out of Central District Teams (0-3).

In addition to Jerome and Scioto, Coffman beat Pickerington North (58-46) to give Dublin teams a 3-0 start in tournament play.

Second round match-ups for Cardinal teams are: Scioto (20-1)/Columbus West (5-15), Westerville North (11-10)/Westerville South (16-4), Liberty (11-10)/ Upper Arlington (15-5), Westerville Central (16-5)/Mt. Vernon (15-6) and Jerome (5-16)/Columbus Northland (20-1).

Destination: Fairgrounds Coliseum

For the second consecutive year the Central District Athletic Board has placed sectional games in school gyms which means area teams must win at least one game before playing in the Fairgrounds Coliseum.

It is a less expensive option than renting the coliseum for the entire tournament and allows the host sites to earn resources for their athletic programs. The Division I sites are: Harvest Prep, Jonathan Alder, New Albany, Olentangy Orange and Worthington Christian.

Area basketball fans are split about the charm, or lack thereof, at the Fairgrounds Coliseum, but nobody can deny the history of the place. Thousands of players and coaches have memories of games at “The Barn” over the last several decades.

Scioto Ranked In All Three Final Polls

The Irish moved up to #6 in the Ohio Associated Press Division I Poll of sportswriters and broadcasters issued for the final time this season on Monday. This marks the third consecutive year that Scioto appeared in the final poll. They finished 5th in each of the two previous final polls.

They also stayed #2 in the final Columbus Dispatch Coaches and ThisWeek Newspapers Super 7 polls. They trailed Columbus Northland, a team that also finished as AP Poll state champion.

At this point in the season, the polls are only as good as monitor on which they appear or paper upon which they’re printed.