The voice message said, “”You have reached Jason Hall, head football coach at Nordonia High School…”

Hall will quickly be changing that message to, “”You have reached Jason Hall, head football coach at Massillon High School…” if he hasn’t already.

On Thursday, Hall, 33, resigned as head coach at Nordonia after leading the Knights to a 10-2 record and an appearance in the Division I state semifinal game. Hall’s announcement ended weeks of speculations that he was the top candidate for the Massillon job, which became available when former coach Tom Stacy took the head coaching job at Green.

From the tone of Nordonia athletic director Rob Eckenrode’s voice, it appeared that Eckenrode may have been taken aback somewhat, considering Hall had coached Nordonia just one season. Maybe Eckenrode and the Nordonia supporters that Hall would spend more time there. But the high-profile Massillon job seemed to be too enticing for Hall to pass up.

“”I wish Jason luck,” Eckenrode said.

When asked if he thought Hall would leave, after hearing rumors that Hall was a leading candidate for the Massillon job, Eckenrode responded, “”I’d rather not comment. I need to look out for what’s best for Nordonia.”

One of the names already circulating as a possible replacement for Hall is actually a familiar name. It’s Keith Boedicker, who coached 11 seasons at Nordonia, compiled a 92-32 record and led the Knights to five appearances in the playoffs. Eckenrode declined to give any details as to any candidates or a timeline for hiring.

“”I’m not going to speculate on what’s going to happen next,” he said. “”Myself, the principal (Chuck Vrabel) and the superintendent (Wayne Blankenship) are going to get together and make the best possible decision for the school and the program.”

Telephone messages for Hall were not returned.[ep

Jason Hall was named the new football coach and assistant athletic director at Massillon on Thursday night.

He leaves Nordonia after one season.

Hall, a Columbus native, was given a three-year contract to become the 26th head coach in Massillon’s 113-year history. Hall, 33, replaces Tom Stacy, who resigned after three seasons and was hired as coach at Green. Hall, a three-time Division III All-American at Mount Union, will make $72,075 as the assistant athletic director and $13,000 as coach.

Massillon is the fourth head coaching job and third in three seasons for Hall. He began his career at Southeast and then, after two years, moved to Brush. After three years at Brush, he moved on to Nordonia.

Former Nordonia coach Keith Boedicker is believed to be a candidate to return. He had a 92-32 record and made five playoff appearances in 11 seasons.

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.

The Canton Timken boys basketball team will play Toledo Whtimer tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Rhodes Arena in a Division I regional championship game at the University of Akron.

The winner of tonight’s game advances to Columbus for the state final four at Value City Arena on the campus of Ohio State University.

Timken, 24-0 this season, is seeking its first appearance in the state final four since 1960.

Timken and Whitmer have had to wait to play this game, orginally scheduled for Saturday, due to the heavy snowfall that recently hit Northeast Ohio.

Timken has defeated Massillon Washington, Jackson, Perry and Firestone so far in the tournament.

Senior guards Johnie Davis and Christian Alston and junior forward Chaz Moore led the Trojans past the Falcons this past Thursday.

If Timken wins the regional title it will mark the fifth consecutive season the Canton district winner will qualify for the state final four. GlenOak advanced to state in 2007 and Canton McKinley advanced to state in 2004, 2005 and 2006. McKinley won state titles in 2005 and 2006.

Archbishop Hoban High School announced Monday that it has hired Scott Koenig as its new head baseball coach.

Koenig, who was an assistant coach at Firestone for the past six years, will replace former Knights coach Ted Guscoff. Guscoff, who was the head baseball coach at Hoban for five seasons, guided the Knights to the district tournament four times and the regional tournament once. He resigned from Hoban in July to take the head coaching job at Massillon.

Koenig, 46, is the president of Titan Transportation, an Akron-based trucking company. Koenig
is a 1979 graduate of Nordonia High School, where played center field for the baseball team.

“I’m excited about it,” Koenig said about getting his first head coaching job. “It’s going to be great to have my own program and institute a lot of things I learned about baseball and how to play the game. I’m looking forward to helping these kids take it to the next level.”

It’s time to take a look at what Stark County’s two-sport star Devon Torrence has been up to. Torrence, a Canton South graduate, was drafted by the Houston Astros in June. He will also play football for Ohio State University.

Torrence’s younger brother, DeVoe, is a senior running back/linebacker for Massillon. DeVoe Torrence is the Beacon Journal preseason defensive player of the year and an Ohio State recruit.

The Beacon Journal’s Marla Ridenour wrote a story about Devon Torrence’s summer of minor-league baseball and his role with the Buckeyes.

The football season starts in a month, so it’s everybody’s favorite time for predictions. Ohio High magazine predicted the 2007 state championship matchups and the winners. Two local schools, Massillon Washington and Tallmadge, were picked to advance to the state finals in their respective divisions. Here are Ohio High magazine’s predictions:

Division I finals: St. Xavier over Massillon Washington
Division II: Trotwood-Madison over Tallmadge
Division III: Dayton Chaminade-Julienne over Mentor Lake Catholic
Division IV: Youngstown Cardinal Mooney over Kettering Alter
Division V: Lima Central Catholic over Maria Stein Marion Local
Division VI: Norwalk St. Paul over Lehman Catholic

What do you think? Do you think Massillon Washington and Tallmadge will make it to the finals? Do you think any other area teams have a chance?

The football season is approaching, so I compiled a list of high school seniors from the Beacon Journal’s five-county coverage area who are listed as prospects on www.scout.com. There are several area players who are not on this list who will surely play in college. Nonetheless, this should give you some names to look for this season.

Here are the players, the positions they are being recruited at and their high schools (click on the player’s name for more information from scout.com and make sure to scroll down the player’s bio page to see which colleges have made offers):

DeVoe Torrence/running back/transfered from Canton South to Massillon Washington/committed to Ohio State University

Johnny Adams/wide receiver/Buchtel

Steve Yoak/linebacker/Archbishop Hoban

Will Fleming/safety/Archbishop Hoban

Eric Magnacca/safety/Perry

Whitney Mercilous/defensive end/Garfield

Larry Dawson/running back/North

K.J. Herring/runnning back/Massillon Washington

Jeff White/running back/Alliance

Carlin Isles/running back/Jackson

Kameron Alexander/running back/Buchtel

Dominic Surace/fullback/Twinsburg

Jordan Bell/wide receiver/Barberton

Chris Edwards/wide receiver/Wadsworth

Teddy Robb/wide receiver/Northwest

Justin Ray/offensive line/St. Thomas Aquinas

Reggie Comeaux/offensive line/Massillon Washington

Grady Spidell/offensive line/Buchtel

Kevin Dahl/linebacker/North Canton Hoover

David Whipple/safety/Canton South

Matthew Vick/safety/Perry

Steve Schott/kicker/Massillon Washington

Steve Yoak

The Beacon Journal’s Tom Gaffney reported this news item:

Archbishop Hoban is looking for a new baseball coach and St. Vincent-St. Mary
is looking for a new softball coach. Ted Guscoff has left the Knights position, citing family obligations and
travel.

Guscoff, a Canton resident, confirmed rumors that he has applied for the
vacant Massillon job and is ”very interested in it.”

McCoy, an Akron resident, compiled a 63-19 record in three seasons at
St. Vincent-St. Mary. He will remain as softball coordinator at Pinnacle
Sports.

McCoy takes over at Copley for Mike Kuthan, who resigned late in the 2007
season.