Publisher and Editor of Portage Sports. Field youth basketball, soccer and softball coach. Rootstown and Kent State graduate. RTs do not indicate endorsements.
Very emotional news for me to announce. Thank you to everyone who has supported the Record-Courier Sports Department. I could never thank you enough. The department will continue to do great things!
2019 High School Football Helmet Tournament!
CHAMPIONSHIP!
Vote total will be calculated 48 hours after post. Giving the title matchup two full days.
Updated bracket attached!
RT for Southeast
LIKE for Springfield
I am excited to announce my new company Portage Sports!
A sports media and marketing company that will deliver daily coverage of Portage County's high school, middle school and youth sports.
will soft launch August 1!
Amazing photos captured in the immediate moments after Rootstown's Ryan Boyle won his wrestling state championship snapped by
@RecordPub
photo editor Lisa Scalfaro. The emotions are captivating. These are images that will be framed and cherished. Great work, Lisa!!
BREAKING NEWS
Windham basketball coach Marty Hill has announced his retirement.
He coached the Bombers for 47 years, won 694 games, 13 league titles, 3 regional titles - but most importantly, was a beacon of light for thousands of kids.
He is considered a legend & rightfully so.
Congratulations to Kent Roosevelt baseball head coach Mike Haney, who is in his 20th season leading the Rough Riders, on his 250th career win on Wednesday night!
Congratulations to
@JLRSports
for being named Best Sports Writer at the Associated Press awards ceremony. An incredible accomplishment for an incredibly hard worker passionate about his coverage.
2019 High School Football Helmet Tournament!
SEMIFINALS!
Winner advances to the tournament championship.
Vote total will be calculated 24 hours after post.
Updated bracket attached!
RT for Norton
LIKE for Southeast
Introducing the 2019 High School Football Helmet Tournament!
Which helmet will win as Portage County's favorite?
Best color, best logo, best design...
Winners advance...
Totals for each matchup will be calculated after 24 hours!
First round...
RT for Field
Fav for Southeast
2019 High School Football Helmet Tournament!
SECOND ROUND!
Winners advance... with totals for each matchup calculated after 24 hours of post.
Updated bracket attached!
RT for Crestwood
Fav for Southeast
My historical records show that tonight's 23-20 win over Ravenna in The Game was the Kent Roosevelt football program's 500th all time.
What a way to hit a milestone!
Introducing the 2019 High School Football Helmet Tournament!
Which helmet will win as Portage County's favorite?
Best color, best logo, best design...
Winners advance to the next round...
Totals will be calculated after 24 hours!
First round...
RT for Coventry
Fav for Norton
2019 High School Football Helmet Tournament!
QUATERFINALS!
Winners advance... with totals for each matchup calculated after 24 hours of post.
Updated bracket attached!
RT for Ravenna
LIKE for Norton
All athletes know that the losses — especially the last loss — sting the most. To Rootstown football: Don't get stuck wondering about the what ifs, celebrate what was. Congratulations on a historic season and for taking your community on a memorable ride!
Introducing the 2019 High School Football Helmet Tournament!
Which helmet will win as Portage County's favorite?
Best color, best logo, best design...
Winners advance...
Totals for each matchup will be calculated after 24 hours!
First round...
RT for Garfield
Fav for Woodridge
Doug Mori, Mr. Mori, Coach Mori and Herr Mori. Many of us knew him in all capacities. Few educators could reach students like him and nobody told a story like him. He will be missed by all, but his impact and legacy will be felt forever.
Congratulations to Woodridge High School graduate Hunter Niswander (punter), who made his NFL debut with the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers!
Few people have impacted a school district like Cindy Fesemyer has at Southeast. She has inspired generations of Pirates and has no intentions of stopping. Full story:
@SEastPirates
@Southeastsupt
@principalSEHS
2019 High School Football Helmet Tournament!
SECOND ROUND!
Winners advance... with totals for each matchup calculated after 24 hours of post.
Updated bracket attached!
RT for Kent Roosevelt
Fav for Woodridge
The Jakacki family made history this season, becoming the only family with three 1,000-point scorers in Portage County history.
Trent Jakacki: 1,339 points
Josh Jakacki: 1,278 points
Mason Jakacki: 1,063 points
Special thank you to
@SheilaMathers3
for the photo!
I am not sure you can find a better band director than Kent Roosevelt's Dr. John Roebke! Great photo of him from the Kent State Homecoming Parade last weekend by
@LisaScalfaro
.
Congrats to Rootstown's Ryan Boyle, who is the school's newest wrestling state champion!
Boyle won his 195-pound match vs. Liberty Center's Caleb Carpenter (4-3 dec).
Boyle is the Rovers' 4th state champion.
Rootstown was 2nd in the team standings. Best finish in school history!
LUKE'S DREAM!
It was a special night at Southeast on Friday, with Lucas Neer scoring a pregame touchdown to fulfill the dream of being a football player. There was genuine love and support in the air. Read in-depth coverage in my Portage Sports Stories column on Sunday.
An image that offers all high school student-athletes a needed reminder that even though you may feel like "just a high school athlete" ... there are youngsters in your community that want to be just like you. Act and play like the role model you are seen as.
2019 High School Football Helmet Tournament!
SEMIFINALS!
Winner advances to the tournament championship to face off against Southeast.
Vote total will be calculated 24 hours after post.
Updated bracket attached!
RT for Woodridge
LIKE for Springfield
Introducing the 2019 High School Football Helmet Tournament!
Which helmet will win as Portage County's favorite?
Best color, best logo, best design...
Winners advance...
Totals for each matchup will be calculated after 24 hours!
1st round...
RT for Rootstown
Fav for Springfield
After the dedication of Rootstown's brand new all-weather track, fittingly, the 1st lap was run by 38-year track and field & cross country coach Larry Bailey.
This was a terrific tribute to Bailey, who has dedicated himself to the Rovers' athletic program for nearly four decades!
Introducing the 2019 High School Football Helmet Tournament!
Which helmet will win as Portage County's favorite?
Best color, best logo, best design...
Winners advance...
Totals for each matchup will be calculated after 24 hours!
First round...
RT for Mogadore
Fav for Windham
A special moment in Ravenna tonight as Private Chase Alexander shocked his younger brother Ethan with a surprise Homecoming before the start of the Ravens' boys basketball matchup with Cloverleaf.
Congratulations to Southeast volleyball head coach Mary Tarka, who is, remarkably, beginning her 48th year leading the Pirates' program.
She is the only coach the program has ever had, beginning in 1974!
22 league titles!
A Portage County legend — even if she doesn't want to be.
Crestwood Red Devils product Aaron Cox (6-foot-4, 250 pounds, DL) on the sideline for the Ohio State Buckeyes during Friday's Cotton Bowl victory over USC. (Photo courtesy of
@CottonBowlGame
)
Congratulations to the winners of my 9th annual All-Trench Team.
A high school football feature that shines the spotlight on the players that typically don't seek it: The offensive linemen.
Full story:
All eyes were on Lucas Neer on Friday night — and so was all the love!
The high school senior with Down syndrome fulfilled a lifelong dream of wearing his full football uniform and scoring a touchdown.
Here is the story of how it all happened:
I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of 2012 Ravenna graduate and football standout D.J. Jones, who played at the University of Akron. He was an electric runner and owns the 5th-best single-season rushing total in Portage County history (2,428 in 2011).
High school football Week 1 weather: 75 degrees and sunnny.
High school football Week 12 weather: 25 degrees and snow.
Congratulations to those that got to play in both!
My Portage Sports Stories column this week shares the story of Garfield sophomore Max May, who had a cancerous brain tumor removed in August, but never missed a cross country meet or basketball game. In the process, he inspired everyone.
Full story:
Introducing the 2019 High School Football Helmet Tournament!
Which helmet will win as Portage County's favorite?
Best color, best logo, best design...
Winners advance...
Totals for each matchup will be calculated after 24 hours!
First round...
RT for Crestwood
Fav for Waterloo
A look at how Crestwood's Mason Jakacki ranks in career assists and career steals in Ohio high school boys basketball history.
Congratulations on a remarkable career!
Congratulations to Crestwood graduate Aaron Cox — now a senior DL with the Buckeyes — who is once again a Big Ten champion!
Special thanks to
@Hammartime2
for sharing the photo!
Mogadore football was staring at a transportation crisis.
A Saturday game at Newark Catholic, but without a bus or driver for the 2-hour, 123-mile trip.
Rootstown, led by Alan Marzec, stepped forward to help their county rival.
Full story:
The Kent Roosevelt baseball team's uniforms have — easily — always been one of all-time favorites from all sports in Portage County. The font across the chest, the simplistic hat, the striped socks. Clean, classic and amazing!
Attention:
@UniWatch
Photos by
@The_Only_Derm
Legendary Kent Roosevelt football coach John Nemec’s “Coaching Tree” is a marvel in numbers, success and philosophies.
And for their continued love, respect and admiration for “Coach.”
Feature:
@rriderathletics
@KentRHSFootball
Rootstown football's win tonight is No. 12 for the season, making the Rovers the first in school history to win 12 games in a single season. 1981 Rovers finished 11-1.
#VarsityExtra
For the second straight year, it ALL comes down to this!
High School Football Week 10
The Moment of Truth!
County Division title on the line!
Who ya got?
Rootstown (9-0, 4-0) at Mogadore (8-1, 4-0)
RT for Rootstown
Fav for Mogadore
The Windham boys bball team will open its 2020-21 season on Tues. at Badger. It will mark the start of head coach Marty Hill's 45th year w/ the Bombers.
Hill's record is an astonishing 650-364, which currently ranks 8th all-time in Ohio.
I am not alone in my standing ovation!
Streetsboro senior Braden Tucker set a school record tonight for points in a game with 45, breaking Kevin Valenti's old mark of 42 set in the late 1980's.
HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL
DIVISION III ALL-OHIO
FIRST TEAM
Vaughn Dorsey, Waterloo
THIRD TEAM
Mason Jakacki, Crestwood
Austin Peterson, Garfield
HONORABLE MENTION
Trent Jakacki, Crestwood
Caleb Francis, Waterloo
2019 High School Football Helmet Tournament!
QUATERFINALS!
Winners advance... with totals for each matchup calculated after 24 hours of post.
Updated bracket attached!
RT for Woodridge
LIKE for Windham
I think no matter how old you are, some part of your heart (and hopefully all of your heart) still has a place in it that wants to make your parents proud. Even as adults. So when your father leaves a Facebook post like this on one of your columns, it still feels really special.
Field coach Beth Dyer is the 63rd coach in Ohio HS softball history to reach the 300-win milestone.
She ranks 3rd all-time in Portage County history:
1. Dave Dubinsky, Southeast, 384 (1982-2008)
2. Dave Mullenix, Rootstown, 382 (1984-2012)
Mullenix was Dyer's coach at Rootstown
Great quote from Streetsboro girls bball coach Carl Singer after Tuesday's regional semi win vs St. Vincent-St. Mary, referencing that Naomi Benson is a program-built player:
"People keep asking me where we got Naomi from, & I keep telling them that we got her from Kindergarten."
Field senior standout Alexsa Hurd finished her career w/ 39 HRs, which ranks 10th all-time in Ohio history.
Like everyone else, Hurd lost the entire 2020 season.
Hurd's 39 HRs rank 2nd all-time in Portage County history (Waterloo's Amber Cieplinski: 4th in Ohio history with 45).
Windham basketball coach Marty Hill will be entering his 43rd season in 2018-19. He currently ranks No. 9 all-time in Ohio basketball coaching history with 628 wins (628-340 overall). His incredible win total, though, does not even begin to touch on what defines him as a coach!
Chris Knopick will be named the new football head coach at Rootstown High School. He is the son of former head coach Mark Knopick. His previous assistant coaching stints include time at Parma, Kent Roosevelt and Twinsburg. He has been a teacher at KR since 2007.
Writing this pulled genuine emotions from me. TY to SE grad & USMC Micah Herndon for sharing his sensitive stories about miraculously surviving deployments to Iraq/Afghanistan.
RUNNING W/ ANGELS: Herndon carries memory of fallen comrades to Boston Marathon
Crestwood senior Trent Jakacki had four receptions for 46 yards tonight. The four catches gave Jakacki the single-season receptions record for the Red Devils with 48 (705 yards). Congratulations!
Photo:
@SheilaMathers3
Congratulations to Southeast HS graduate Jenna Fesemyer, who qualified for Team USA's National Paralympic Team today! Jenna continues to challenge herself and inspire others! She is not someone who settles, so I can't wait to see what is next! Way to go, Jenna! Proud of you!
Congratulations to Ravenna football head coach Jim Lunardi, who is now the program's ALL-TIME WINNINGEST coach. Victory No. 120 came in The Game. A historical moment captured against the biggest rival.
Rootstown invited fans attending Friday's game to wear green in support of Kristie Grubbs and many did — including many from Southeast, including the Pirates' entire coaching staff. A classy gesture that showed cross-community compassion.