On Sept. 12, the Smithville football team took down one of the Wayne County Athletic League’s preseason favorites in Dalton, 35-19, and sent a clear message across the league. Smithville is ready to contend right now as it earned its first win over its rival since 2016.
“Coach got us hyped up. We were ready to go, and we knew that we had to bring everything we had, and we came out here and did that,” said senior Mason Haines, who powered his way for 121 yards and the game’s final score. “Throughout the week, we knew we had to be all in and we had to bring it. Practice this week was great. Coach said it, we said it and it showed.”
Isaiah Lee had 153 all-purpose yards and two scores, while Brayden Beard had 55 receiving yards, including a momentum-changing grab in the first half for a score. Brady Sidle stepped in at quarterback for a sick Brock Cannon and showed out with 145 yards passing, two scores and 61 yards rushing as the defense played inspired.
But much like the famous Bill Belichick quote, ‘On to Cincinnati,’ the Smithies are now on to Waynedale.
Smithville's Will Blankenship (43) and Jonathan Hershey (10) celebrate their win over Dalton.Josh McWilliams
“We’re just going to build from this moving forward,” said Haines. “We won a good game tonight, but we still have a lot to improve on and ways to go still.”
Chippewa, Hiland lock horns
Over the past few years, the Hiland and Chippewa girls soccer teams have consistently put together deep playoff runs. For the Lady Chipps, there is little more story to the program, but the Lady Hawks have created their legacy under Conner Lee, making four trips to regionals in the past five years.
There is no surprise that Hiland and Chippewa have locked each other in each year since 2020, as for both programs, it’s a test. The Chipps currently hold a 6-0 edge in the series after a 3-0 win on Sept. 10 in Berlin.
“We have such huge respect for Hiland and the job Conner (Lee) does, year in and year out,” said Chipps coach Ruth Coney. “No matter where this game is played, it’s always a battle. This year, they are a very good team. They have a lot of weapons, a lot of really good threats and are a huge challenge for our team.”
Chipewa's Delaney Marshall, left, scores a goal with Hiland's Finley Hostetler defending during a recent game.Josh McWilliams
Bigger for Chippewa and Coney has been navigating this early stretch with a young squad and an injury to key player Delaney Marshall. They’ve done it beautifully as they enter the week of Sept. 15 at 7-1 with road wins over rival Norwayne (1-0) and Hiland.
“We’ve had some really good team wins,” said Marshall. “We lost so much from last year, but our freshmen have really stepped up. They’ve really filled in those shoes well, and in some ways, it’s like we haven’t missed a beat.”
Marshall tagged home the game’s first goal against Hiland, and sophomore Makayla Berlin knocked in the other two.
“We're a team. We love to see each other succeed, and it’s amazing to see our younger players score,” said Marshall. “We love it, and I am so happy for Makayla.”
For Lee and the Lady Hawks, they created and had their chances, earning a point-blank look late in the first half, and Italee Mullet pushing a shot a bit too high as it drew the crossbar late in the second half.
“We did things I like tonight. We played hard. We didn’t give up when we got down against a good, quality opponent,” said Lee. “Those things we will take into the next game and work on the things we need to do better.”
Playing teams like Chippewa, Hoban, Stow and Mansfield Christian are all just part of the plan for Lee as he keeps an eye on the long term. With his young team currently sitting at 5-3 to start the week of Sept. 15, he can see the progress made and the progress that still needs to be made.
“Our eyes are on the end of season, especially with us being a young team. Everything we’re doing right now is building towards that,” he said. “We’re playing good teams for that reason,e make a hard schedule because it’s good for us and tonight, we got to play a great program and one we respect so much, in Chippewa. We have to be able to compete with teams like these, if we want to make a deep run in the tournament.”
Boardman Invitational
Smithville senior Kaitlyn Carr is simply a rock star on the cross country course. On Saturday, Sept. 13, she ran the fourth-fastest time, regardless of division, with an 18:08.1 to win the Division IV race but would have won Div. II and Div. III by a good margin. She wasn’t alone as runningmate Maryn Erdman joined her inside the top 10 with a sixth-place time of 19:58.4. As a team, the Lady Smithies finished fifth at the Boardman Invitational.
Smithville's Kaitlyn Carr won the Division IV race at the Boardman Invitational.Josh McWilliams
Waynedale came in ninth, led by Piper Polen with a 21:13.8 for 15th. Freshman Ellis Dobis led Dalton with a 21:08.8 for 18th overall, and Izzy Rohrer (21:46.1, 27th overall) led Central Christian.
Norwayne (13th) and Tuslaw (15th) finished well in the Div. III race, led by Lillith Dreibelbis with a fifth-best time of 19:49.7, and Adriana Pudloski finished 21st with a time of 21:36.9.
On the boys side, Waynedale’s Jackson Varner won the Div. III race with a time of 15:54.9, and Orrville’s Owen Lacy was right behind with a second-place time of 16:14.3. The Golden Bears finished third as a team, with Norwayne taking 12th and led by Romagn Wingate with a 12th-best time of 16:49.3. In the Div. IV race, Dalton was fourth, Central Christian took 10th and Smithville was 12th with Judah Hershberger (17:23, ninth), Logan Kister (17:51.8, 13th) and Nigel Wenger (17:22.2, eighth) pacing them.
