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Regional return on tap
Poland, Springfield have earned dates in Canton
By Dan Hiner
Winning teams need to overcome adversity throughout a season. The Poland and Springfield boys basketball teams are no exception.
The Bulldogs won the Division II Youngstown district on Saturday, beating Chaney 69-57 in overtime.
The Tigers beat Lowellville on 58-48 on Friday to claim the Div. IV Struthers district.
They will look to extend their seasons in the regional semifinal round.
The Bulldogs will play Akron Buchtel (18-7) on Wednesday at the Canton Civic Center.
Tonight, Springfield will play Greenwich South Central (21-4) at Canton Fieldhouse. The other game features Bristol (21-4), winner of the Orwell district, will play Richmond Heights (19-6) in tonight’s other semifinal.
The Bulldogs (23-2) didn’t start the season on the right foot. Poland began the year 6-2 with losses to former All-American Conference rivals Canfield and Boardman.
Seniors Braeden O’Shaughnessy and Daniel Kramer weren’t on the same page due to injuries and the Bulldogs had to fill holes in their rotation due to graduation.
“Right about the new year we found our stride,” Poland head coach Ken Grisdale said. “Boardman smacked us and it kinda was ‘We better figure out where we’re going here.’ We’ve been undefeated since then.
“We’ve been undefeated since Dec. 28,” said Grisdale, who is in his 26th season at Poland. “It started to blend — practices got better, kids understood their roles.”
While the Bulldogs started slow, the Tigers (21-5) struggled at the end of the season.
Springfield needed to make a run in the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference, which sent four teams to the Div. IV semifinals at Struthers Fieldhouse.
The Tigers started the year at 11-0 but dropped three of their final six regular season games.
“This year the conference was so tough,” Springfield guard Clay Medvec said. “Waterloo’s up there, they lost [on March 4] but they’re still up there, and the four top teams are in the top four [in the district]. It’s a hard conference.”
Poland will play in their first regional semifinal since 2015. Springfield last played in the regional round in 2012.
Greenwich South Central, the top seed in the Div. IV Willard district, survived a scare of its own in the district round. The Trojans beat Castalia Margaretta 57-53 in overtime in the semifinal before beating North Robinson Colonel Crawford.
Akron Buchtel, the top seed in the Div. II Canton district, was the only team that wasn’t challenged among the four schools.
The Griffins won all three of their district games by an average margin of 28 points. They beat Tallmadge 86-52 in the final.
Springfield and Poland overcame their struggles through coaching philosophy.
The Tigers are deep and Springfield head coach Steve French wants his players to take advantage of open shots. Springfield has multiple scoring options, and French knows anyone can have a good night.
Grisdale and the Bulldogs focused on strategy and understanding roles.
Either way it came down to execution in key situations.
“[Grisdale] told us at the beginning of the year if we’re gonna be at something, then we gotta be good at one thing — we gotta be good at executing,” O’Shaughnessy said. “Since the year’s gone on, we’ve been a great executing team.”