Alexis Becker will play soccer at Edinboro University. Colleen Rosen will play soccer at Ursuline College. Greg McMullen will play football at Nebraska. LaTroy Lewis will play football at Tennessee. Madison Kaser will play soccer at Akron. Maria Libertin willplay soccer at Xavier. Taylor Bolender will be on the gymnastics team at Central Michigan. Make sure to click on the photo for the full image.

On Friday November 18th The Barberton Lady Magics and Norton Lady Panthers will play a preview basketball games to benefit the Stewart’s Caring Place in Fairlawn in memory of Kelly Braman Keith and the Nicole (Webel) Bodjanc Scholarship Fund,  Nov. 18 beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Stewart’s Caring Place offers counseling and support groups for individuals and families battling cancer; which Kelly was a huge advocate and inspired others fighting this disease.

Nicole graduated from Norton in 2002 where she played and coached basketball and was also a member of the band. She was a member of the Norton Apostolic Christian Church and will always be remembered for her courage.  Her fund supports a Norton Graduate that exhibits Nicole’s faith.
Admission is $5.00 for this event to watch the sixth, seventh, eighth, junior varsity and varsity girls basketball teams.
 Tentative start times:
J.V. Barberton vs. Norton   5:30
7th grade Barberton vs. Norton    6:10
6th grade Barberton vs. Norton        6:50
8th grade Barberton vs. Norton   7:30
Varsity Barberton vs. Norton 8:15

Beacon Journal sports writer George Thomas, Michael Beaven, Jonas Fortune and Jim Isabella break down this week’s top high school football games.

Akron Public schools will open STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) High School in the 2012-13 school year, which will get an influx of top students from all seven of its current high schools.

The school won’t need a nickname or mascot for its sports because none will be offered at the school itself.

“Students can play high school sports for the cluster that they come from. For example, if you would be at Garfield that’s where you would play,” said Joe Howard, director of athletics for APS.

Beacon Journal sports writer George Thomas, Michael Beaven, Jonas Fortune and Jim Isabella break down this week’s top high school football games.

The 216 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries was an impressive enough season debut for Stow senior running back Nick Mutaali. But it’s even more impressive when you consider where he has been.

Last year, Mutaali played defensive tackle.

“Sophomore year I played (offensive) guard,” he said Monday at practice.

That was before the 5-foot-11, 195-pound back committed himself to off-season workouts. He ran more than he has in the past and hasn’t stopped since the season started.

Now, he tries to squeeze in eight 100 hundred yard runs and six hills into practice at least twice a week.

“I lost 20 pounds in the off season,” Mutaali said. “All the (offensive lineman) said they wanted me to play running back because that’s what I’ve been doing since eighth grade into freshman year.”

Mutaali ran lean and mean on Friday, as he pancaked numerous North Canton Hoover defenders once he reached the secondary.

The offensive lineman: Left tackle Dan Dunn, left guard Nick Oblisk, center Jeremy Light, right guard Tim Licata And right tackle Brendan Bergh took care of most of the work, Mutaali said.

“A lot of credit goes to the guys upfront they work hard every week. It’s motivating to me because I know they give me everything they got on every play so I have to do the same for them,” Mutaali said. “When you’re not getting hit until the secondary, that means the big boys up front are doing their jobs. It makes my life a lot easy.”

The high school football preview is available on Ohio.com Here is a quick link to the stories, videos and capsules.

Marla Ridenour wrote about LaTroy Lewis and Greg McMullen of Hoban. We have features on Buchtel’s Jarrod Wilson, Field’s Patrick Boggs, North Canton Hoover’s Austin Appleby.

We have league previews of the City Series, NOC, Suburban League, Federal League and PTC.

George Thomas spent time with Tyrin Williams of Tallmadge and Aregeros Turner of Copley.

We are setting up a link to all of this that will be on the right side of this blog so that you can check back throughout the season.

Boys 110 Meter Hurdles

Elijah Beach of Canton McKinley qualifies

Sam Chester of Medina qualifies

Boys 100 Meter Dash

Devin Smith of Massillon qualifies No. 1 overall with a 10.74

Boys 800 Meter Relay

Canton McKinley qualifies

Boys 400 Meter Relay

Medina qualifies

Boys 1600 Meter Relay

North Canton Hoover

Girls 100 Meter Hurdles

Becca Maj of North Canton Hoover qualifies

Girls 100 Meter Dash

Nina Grambling of GlenOak qualifies

Kandace Thomas of GlenOak qualifies

Karli Oprian of Lake qualifies

Girls 400 Meter Relay

Canton GlenOak qualifies

Girls 300 Meter Hurdles

Taylor MacDonald of Nordonia qualifies

Girls 200 Meter Dash

Karli Oprian of Lake  qualifies

Girls 1600 Meter Relay

Green qualifies

Columbus – The following are the track results from the state meet in Columbus.  Most recent result at the top:

Girls 3200 Relay Final:

1st:  Kettering Alter (9:10.22)

2nd:  Woodridge (9:12.42)

3rd:  St. V-M (9:13.63)

Boys 3200 Relay Final:

1st:   Woodridge (7:37.43 a state, Division II and Jesse Owens Stadium records)

2nd:  St. V-M (7:47.30)

3rd:  Brookville (7:51.62)

Girls 800 Meter Relay Prelims:

St. Vincent-St. Mary qualifies

Boys 800 Meter Relay Prelims:

St. Vincent-St. Mary qualifies

 Boys 400 Meter Relay Prelims:

St. Vincent-St. Mary qualifies.

Southeast qualifies

Girls 400 Meter Relay Prelims:

Walsh Jesuit qualifies

Boys 110 Meter Hurdles Prelims:

Doran Grant, St. V-M qualifies

Boys 300 Meter Hurdles Prelims:

Ravonne Lawrence qualifies

Boys 100 Meter Dash Prelims:

Nathaniel Harris, Buchtel, qualifies No. 1 at 10.84

Boys 200 Meter Dash Prelims:

Nathaniel Harris qualifies No. 1 at 21.74

Sae’Von Fitzgerald qualifies

Girls 400 Meter Dash Prelims:

Keishawnna Burts

Girls 1600 Meter Relay Prelims

St. V-M qualifies

Boys 1600 Meter Relay Prelims

Buchtel qualifies

St. V-M qualifies

Girls Discus

Megan Tomei of St. V-M qualifies

Girls High Jump

Christina Matheny of Manchester qualifies

The proposal by the Ohio Athleic Assocation to create competitive balance for football, soccer, volleyball, baseball, softball and basketball among public and private schools failed 52-48 Tuesday. 

 The proposed bylaw would have changed how schools were assigned to post-season tourmaments using a complicated formula. In the end, it may have been too complicated, by using a number of factors including enrollment, a boundary factor and tradition.

”As most of our school administrators and coaches are aware, this change was recommended by an OHSAA Competitive Balance Committee, and we believe this would have been a fairer way to assign schools in team sports to their tournament divisions,” commissioner Dan Ross said in a news release. ‘’We also stressed to the membership that this was just a starting point for change.’’

The issue, however, may be far from dead. EP] “Our Board of Directors will have to provide direction on whether to reconvene the OHSAA Competitive Balance Committee to review other ‘competitive balance’ options, so I cannot speculate on whether or not that possibility exists,’’ Ross said.

In order for that to happen, 75 principals, including five within the individual six OHSAA districts, must sighn and be turned into the associationg between Aug. 1 and Dec. 1.

Ross said that there could be an alternative to the issue that just failed. EP] ‘’We’re also hearing that discussions to file a petition may be taking place by some member schools that are seeking to separate our tournaments totally between public schools and non-public schools. Again, whether that occurs or not, it’s too early to tell.’’