Looking for a good high school event to take in over the next week? Here’s a few suggestions:


February 14, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

Looking for a good high school event to take in over the next week? Here’s a few suggestions:

1

Wrestling

Fitch’s Tony Jameson begins the quest for his fourth state championship, but there’s literally dozens of other good stories as the grapplers compete in sectional tournaments around the area. Most of the area’s wrestlers are headed to Fitch High School (Division I), West Branch (Div. II) and Rootstown (Div. III). In addition to Jameson, Jerry Pasquale of Boardman, Joe Skaggs and Matt Mascioli of Jackson-Milton, and Beaver Local’s Jon Bittinger and Mitch Thompson are returning state placers who hope to be standing on top of the podium in three Saturdays. The neat thing about wrestling, of course, is that you don’t have to finish first to advance … but it helps.

2

Girls basketball

Sectional finals will be contested the remainder of this week, including — thanks to this week’s snow — a four-game, all-day session at the Division I tournament at Alliance High School on Saturday. There’s already been a couple upsets, including Struthers laying it to unbeaten Southeast Wednesday night, and there promises to be some more.

3

Boys basketball

This is the 86th year the OHSAA has been running a boys basketball and the Valley has a few shots for state final four berths: Warren Harding in Division I, Poland in Div. II, Newton Falls in Div. III, and Columbiana and Wellsville in Div. IV. Of course, in the one (loss)-and-done world of the tournament, it’s going to take some team playing its best seven (or more) times over five weeks to win the whole thing.

4 Water sports

Area swimmers and divers are one week away from the state tournament at Canton’s C.T. Branin Natatorium, one of the best venues in the country. This weekend, starting today with the diving competition, they’re at Cleveland State for the district meet. There’s 81 total individual qualifiers (some in more than one event) and 12 relays that will get wet this weekend, hoping for one of those hard-earned trips to Stark County.

5

Ice sports

You’d think hockey would be one sport that wouldn’t get postponed by the weather, but that’s exactly what happened this week in the OHSAA sectional tournament. Canfield’s team opens tournament play Saturday at 10:45 a.m. at the ice rink at Kent State University against either Chesterland West Geauga or Aurora.