The City Series baseball teams will not have a four-team playoff at the end of the regular season. One veteran City coach said there may have been the perception on the outside that the reason the league did away with the playoff system several years ago was because the district was going through financial difficulty, which forced cuts in extracurricular activities.

The district passed a levy which helped bring back those extracurricular activities that were cut. But Ellet coach John Sarver said the levy had nothing to do with the elimination of the playoff system.

Sarver said it all started a few years back when the basketball teams decided to drop the four-team playoff system and instead just play the championship game between the top two teams. That change was implemented because the basketball teams, in putting together schedules each season, had to factor in the possibility of playing in the semifinal and/or championship games. That meant coaches could only schedule 18 games (OHSAA rules allow for 20 regular season games) in case they made it to the City playoffs. But if a team didn’t make the playoffs, they would have only played 18 or 19 games during the regular season.

So the baseball teams decided to follow suit and drop the playoff system, allowing the coaches to schedule two additional games in place of the two dates they would have reserved for the playoffs.

Incidently, OHSAA rules allow 27 regular season baseball games.

When it comes to track, it’s always about who ran the fastest, jumped the highest or threw the shot or the discus the farthest. But sometimes there are stories, GREAT, INSPRATIONAL STORIES, that don’t have to do with who won.

For instance, I remember watching the local news in the fall, I think it was, and there was an amazing story about a young lady (she may have been from the Youngstown area), who was competing in the state high school cross country meet and was almost near the finish line. Then came a gruesome sight. She broke her leg on the course and fell to the ground.

But this young lady had the courage and fortitude to crawl and limp her way to the finish line, despite being in obvious pain.

It was a story of incredible self-will. This young lady needed medical help, but she didn’t want it. She was withering with pain but she wanted to finish that race, and if you watched the video, you couldn’t help but get a little emotional, knowing she was in a world of pain. But watching her will her way to that finish line, regardless of the pain she was experiencing, was breathtaking and moving.

The yound lady gave a great television interview a few days later and it was great to see she was doing well and was in good spirts. I think she even joked that all she was thinking about, when she went down, was that she wasn’t going to be able to dance at her sister’s wedding later that night.

I witnessed another incredible story, but it didn’t involve injury. A few years ago I was covering a regional track meet at Ravenna and the Copley girls were favored in this particular relay event. As the race began, Copley was right there, as expected. But during one of the exchanges, the baton was dropped and the team was out of the race.

The young lady who dropped the baton was devasted. I mean, I had never seen an athlete more distraught. What I found out later was that the young lady was only a sophomore and there were two seniors on that relay team. The sophomore felt she had blown it for the seniors because it was their last chance to make it to state.

She was on the infield of the track, as the race was still going, slumped over an emotional ball.

She just shuddered and shook as she cried.

Then, former Copley standout Carrie Dyer, who was a senior and on that relay team, ran to the young runner to comfort her.

Then the rest of the realy team followed.

To me, that was one of the most inspirational stories I had ever witnessed.

The sophomore was heartbroken. But she was heartbroken because she cared about her teammates and wanted to perform at her best so that it would help the seniors.

It didn’t happen. But when it didn’t happen, the seniors weren’t mad, bitter or upset. They showed support for their younger teammate because they loved her. And in the end, winning didn’t matter.

So, with that, I’m asking readers to post any inspirational stories you witnessed, in track or any other sport, that didn’t involve someone winning.

A story where someone overcame odds to get where they are. Or a story about teammates helping one another.

Those are the most compelling stories.

Beacon Journal sportswriter David Lee Morgan reported this item:

A familiar face will be roaming the Garfield sidelines during football games this fall.
Former longtime Rams coach Bill McGee has joined head coach Bob Sax’s staff as a volunteer assistant.

McGee retired in April 2002 after compiling a 191-83-4 record in 26 seasons and winning 16 City Series titles. His last City title was in 2001, when the Rams defeated Buchtel 7-6 and finished 8-2 overall and 7-0 in the City.

Moments after that game, McGee’s eyes filled with tears that then rolled down his face as he praised his group of ”overachievers” for playing such a great game against a formidable opponent.

McGee, the United Press International AAA Coach of the Year in 1983, when the Rams finished second in the state playoffs, taught English at Garfield before retiring. He recently had been a substitute teacher at Manchester High.

”It’s great to have a legendary coach like Coach McGee back with the program,” said Sax, who played for McGee. ”He represents so much when it comes to Garfield football and we’re privileged to have him back.”

I met new North football coach Ken Johnson Monday afternoon. Look for a feature story about Johnson to appear in the Beacon Journal sometime this week.

Johnson, who replaced Tom O’Neil, said he’s averaging about 42 to 45 players at summer conditioning workouts. Johnson said that is an increase from the past few years.

I also talked to O’Neil on Monday. He said he stepped down after 12 seasons as head coach of the Vikings football team to spend more time with his four children (ages 2 to 11).  O’Neil said he will coach boys and girls cross country this fall at North even though the Vikings did not have a team last season.

Johnson, who has been an assistant at North for the past 15 seasons, is optimistic even though the Vikings were 1-9 last season.

“We had a lot of key players injured last year,” Johnson said. “Our star running back Larry Dawson was injured pretty much the whole season. He’s back and healthy this year and our offense is basically focused around him.”

Dawson, 6-foot-2, 205 pounds, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds at the University of Akron’s football camp. Johnson said Dawson is the most highly recruited player at North in the past 15 years. Dawson has already received offers from the University of Akron, Army and Bowling Green State University, Johnson said. Dawson also carries a 3.8 grade-point average.

Johnson said Dawson reminds him of DeShawn Brown, a former standout running back at North and the University of Akron in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 

“Larry Dawson reminds me of DeShawn Brown,” Johnson said. “I think DeShawn got a lot of records here, and I’m looking for Larry to break a lot of them.”

Larry Dawson

Stow baseball coach Brian Banfield has resigned and will take the assistant principal job at his alma mater Poland Seminary High School.

Banfield guided the Bulldogs (24-6, 13-1) to their second consecutive Western Reserve Conference title this past season. He was also named WRC Coach of the Year for the second year in a row.

Banfield is a 1993 graduate of Poland Seminary, where he played baseball and football. Banfield said he will not continue his coaching career at his new job.

We received a fax from Barberton High School’s athletic office that said the school is looking for a new head baseball coach for the 2008 season, meaning Magics coach Jon Hance will not be returning next season.

I spoke to Hance and he confirmed that he will step down after eight seasons as head coach to spend more time with his family.