Superstitious coach expects to have fun, knock on wood

Poland's Ken Grisdalehas immersed himselfin preparing a gameplan for AkronSt. Vincent-St. Mary.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
POLAND -- The line outside the Poland High ticket office began assembling very early Monday morning. At Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, the line was sprawled across the length of the school.
The Bulldogs (23-2) play top-ranked St. V-M (22-3) at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus.
The game took just three hours to sell out -- the first state semifinal sellout in Ohio history.
"We had 2,400 tickets and the state actually called us and asked if we had any tickets left," Poland coach Ken Grisdale said. "It's nuts up here. If I didn't have a great athletic director [Myron Stallsmith], this week would be a nightmare."
There's one other problem. Grisdale is superstitious.
Paperwork: The Ohio High School Athletic Association sends state qualifying coaches a big stack of paperwork to fill out for the state tournament. The stack includes statistics, rosters, photos and a host of other things.
Grisdale wouldn't fill it out before he won the regional.
He's never scouted the Irish in person, either. He taped St. V-M's game against George Jr. Republic, and didn't watch it until after beating Akron East in the regional semifinal last Saturday.
"It's fun," Grisdale said of watching the tapes. "I like looking at what we can do and trying to see what gives you the best opportunity to win.
"It's like a chess game."
Except the Irish have five kings.
"We know we're going to have to play pretty close to perfect just to be in the game," Grisdale said.
Grisdale has tried to do most of this week's extra work -- talking to the media, meeting with athletic officials, filling out paperwork -- early in the week.
The Bulldogs leave for Columbus today. From that point on, he wants his team focused on basketball.
"We're trying to keep things as normal as possible," he said.
Rally: Poland had a pep rally this morning and will have "school" Thursday. (Let's just say that school attendance is not likely to be real high.)
"It's amazing at Poland," junior Eric Fender said. "The fans deserve a lot of credit for cheering us on all year."
Saturday's state final is already sold out. The asking price for tickets on eBay is as high as $500.
Needless to say, a Poland victory would upset thousands of people in Columbus. When Grisdale was asked about that, he smiled.
"We'd like to make a lot of people disappointed," he said.
scalzo@vindy.com