Saturday, December 29, 2012
Staff report
2012 was the Year of the Dragon, which is fitting.
In the Mahoning Valley, it often looked impressive. Like when Warren’s Mario Manningham made the biggest play in the Super Bowl to help the Giants topple the Patriots. Or when Youngstown State’s football team started a season of huge expectations with a win over Pitt. Or when Mooney grad John Simon decided to return to Ohio State and helped the Buckeyes go 12-0.
But, when you look too close at a dragon, you get burned. Like when Manningham’s year ended with a torn ACL. Or when YSU’s season (essentially) ended with an 0-for-October record. Or when the Buckeyes got hit with a bowl band and spent the postseason on the sidelines.
It wasn’t all bad, though. Dennis Miller made the U.S. Open, Champion won a state softball title and Kelly Pavlik got his career back on track.
And hey, it could have been worse, like the Year of the Snake.
(What’s that? You say that’s coming in 2013? Oh.)
Before we get our bellies dirty, here are the top 10 sports stories of 2012 in the Mahoning Valley as compiled by Vindicator editors and reporters:
11The Penguins’ playoffs-or-bust season began in a big way when they defeated their first BCS conference team in the conference opener at Pittsburgh.
The 31-17 victory began a four-game winning streak that included YSU’s first win over Northern Iowa in more than a decade.
But a blowout loss at North Dakota State, followed by losses to Illinois State, Southern Illinois and South Dakota State guaranteed the Penguins would be playoff-less for the fifth straight year.
11In a story fit for a Disney movie, the 42-year-old sank a birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole of a qualifying tournament in Columbus. The ball rested on the edge of the cup, prompting Miller to walk away disgusted. But it fell in, giving him his first career Open berth in 12 tries.
Alas, the Cinderella story struck midnight at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. Miller finished 153rd.
11Manningham, a Warren Harding High graduate, made one of the biggest catches in NFL history in the final minutes of this year’s Super Bowl.
His 38-yard, over-the-shoulder, sideline-straddling reception set up the Giants’ go-ahead touchdown with 57 seconds left.
It was his last game in a Giants uniform. Manningham signed with the 49ers in the offseason and suffered a season-ending knee injury in mid-December.
11After earning his Tour card in late-2011, the Warren JFK High graduate had an up-and-down season in his first year on golf’s biggest stage. Then, in mid-October, Kokra finished second at the Frys.com Open to earn his card for 2013.
He finished 122nd on the money list with just over $750,000.
11Led by dominating pitcher Lindsay Swipas, the Golden Flashes’ softball team won their second straight Division III state title with a 2-0 win over Bloom-Carroll.
It was the fifth state softball title in school history and it capped a big year for the Valley’s softball teams; Poland (Division II) and Mathews (Division IV) also advanced to state.
11After bypassing the 2012 NFL draft, Simon became the face of Ohio State’s defense this fall, earning Big Ten defensive player of the year as the Buckeyes went 12-0 in Urban Meyer’s first season.
But the Buckeyes’ national championship hopes ended before they started as the NCAA hit the team with a one-year bowl ban in the wake of “Tattoogate.”
11For the first time since 2003, the Mahoning Valley failed to put a high school football team in the state finals as the area’s three remaining teams (Brookfield in Division IV, Ursuline in Division V and Youngstown Christian in Division VI) were defeated in the regional finals.
Still, the Warriors proved to be one of the area’s biggest stories this fall, posting their first undefeated regular season since their state championship season of 1978.
11After fighting just once in 2011, Kelly Pavlik got his career back on track in 2012 with victories over journeymen Aaron Jaco, Scott Sigmon and Will Rosinsky.
Pavlik has a chance to make 2013 even bigger, though this week his February bout against super middleweight champion Andre Ward was put off indefinitely due to Ward’s injured shoulder.
11Continuing the Valley’s strong NFL tradition, two area natives were selected in April’s draft while two others made NFL rosters.
The Broncos drafted Beaver Local’s Derek Wolfe in the second round while the Cincinnati Bengals picked Warren Harding’s Dan Herron in the sixth round. Also, Mooney graduate Ishmaa’ily Kitchen was picked up by the Browns just before the regular season started and Canfield’s Sean Baker was signed to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ practice squad in late fall.
2222While NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Dave Blaney had a solid season — the Hartford native finished 33rd in the standings — he may soon get upstaged by his son, Ryan, who earned seven top-10s on this year’s Nationwide circuit. He also posted five top-10s and one win in the Camping World Truck Series.
Honorable mention: YSU professor Chet Cooper umpires Little League World Series; Youngstown Phantoms win first USHL playoff series; Ursuline’s D’Aundray Brown makes the Cavaliers’ D-League team; Greatest Golfer of the Valley has its largest field; The Tour of the Valley bike race returns.