Holmes County honors Hiland state champions

The Hiland Hawks' basketball team won on the hardwood in a breathtaking double-overtime Division VI state championship this March. On Monday, April 27, the Hawks won again, this time being honored by the Holmes County Commissioners with a proclamation touting their accomplishment.

“It’s exciting as county commissioners to see you bring home a major win,” Commissioner Dave Hall said to the seven seniors on hand to accept the honor. “What I saw was you as people and how you handled things. We’re proud of how you handled adversity, you handled struggles and you pushed through.”

Following the commissioners making a motion to accept the proclamation, Hiland head coach Mark Schlabach spoke about this group of seniors who carved their own place in the Hiland history books.

“I always hesitate to say this is my favorite group of seniors, because if I say something like that, they’ll never let me forget it,” Schlabach said. “So I won’t say that, but it is definitely one of the best groups we’ve ever had in all of the important ways.”

Those important ways included this group being a very hard-working crew, a humble group of guys who cared more about the team than individual success and had a knack for coming up big in the biggest moments.

“They’ve always been that way,” Schlabach said. “They come from hard-working families, good families. I’ve never had a parent issue with any one of these parents. They’ve been very supportive to our program and school, and I can’t say enough about them. These guys are going to be super-successful in anything they do. I know Hiland is proud of them, and we’re going to miss them.”

Included in the seniors were Ashton Schrock, Alex Miller, Caleb Yoder, Regan Shetler, CJ Yoder, Carson Weaver and Caleb Mishler.

Schrock said this group was so focused and dedicated that they never doubted they would end up playing for a title, and it was more than simply a game to them.

After thanking the commissioners, the Hiland program and the coaching staff for their tireless dedication to the players, Schrock said, “They taught us a lot, even more than just basketball. They taught us how to work hard and the discipline we learned, the teamwork and the friends we made. It’s been a blast, and winning the state championship is just the cherry on top.”

“Winning a state championship, that’s a pretty nice cherry on top,” Commissioner Eric Strouse said.

He said the memories they created will be remembered forever, as well as the other parts of life they learned along the way.

Schlabach said now that their careers are over, they must figure out how to best give back to the program that took them to the highest of heights, and he said hopefully they will return to the community to be successful citizens.

Hall said with the proclamation, the accomplishment will be recorded forever in the annals of Holmes County history, noting each individual on the team will have a personal proclamation in their name.

“You made history with what you did, and we wanted to honor you,” Hall said.