“We set goals for ourselves,” Braylon Cordonnier said. “Our first one was 12-0 in the league. Second one was 22-0 in the regular season, and obviously the last one was go 29-0 and be a state champ, so I think setting, putting that in stone in the first practice and getting that into our minds like, ‘Hey, we can do this,’ I think that really set a tone for the whole season.”
Russia checked off the last box and beat Willoughby Cornerstone Christian Academy 74-57 behind 22 points from Braylon Cordonnier and 21 from Dominic Francis to win the school’s first state championship in the first-ever Division VII final after the OHSAA expanded to seven divisions.
The Raiders trailed 32-31 for 16 seconds in the second quarter when Cornerstone Christian senior Quinn Kwasniak, who broke Jon Diebler’s all-time scoring record with over 3,300 points, scored 11 points as part of a 13-3 run.
“Hats off to Cornerstone Christian. That kid is something,” Russia coach Spencer Cordonnier said. “We told these guys all week long like, ‘Look, I don’t know that you guys understand. This kid doesn’t know a bad shot.’ And he got on a roll there in the second quarter and it was like, ‘Phew, how in the world are we going to adjust and try to slow him down?’”
Francis made the go-ahead jump shot with 2:05 left to play before halftime. The Raiders kept Cornerstone Christian from getting no closer than 11 points in the fourth quarter and used an 8-0 run with 1:07 left to lead by as much as 19 points.
Kwasniak finished with 38 points.
“We kind of weathered the storm,” Spencer Cordonnier said. “Halftime helped us out to eliminate some of that, and you know, we told the guys at halftime just stay the course, stay the course. They’re going to get tired, they’re going to wear down a little bit.”
Division VI
For Marion Local, it was a bittersweet end to an historic season of its own.
The Flyers fell 43-35 to Woodsfield Monroe Central in the first-ever D-VI state championship game and never led despite out-rebounding the Seminoles 22-16 and getting 13 points from 6-foot-8 senior center Austin Niekamp, a Malone University commitment.
Marion Local totaled 26 wins this season, a new school record.
“We’ve almost never been behind the whole year,” said Flyers coach Kurt Goettemoeller said. “It’s probably the weirdest season I’ve had in that regard as a coach. We played from ahead almost every single game. I don’t know if we trailed at the half at hardly any games all year, and it was a different position for our kids to be in ... maybe we struggled with that a little bit.”
Monroe Central defended Niekamp with a combination of 6-foot-4 senior Chance Allen and 6-foot-2 sophomore Corbin Farnsworth. The Seminoles succeeded holding the big man scoreless in the first quarter, forcing him to shoot 5-of-13 in the game.
“These guys trusted in the game plan,” said Seminoles coach Mason Lang. “Corbin did a great job on the Niekamp kid. Held him to it looks like 13, most of that coming in the second half. And then everybody on the back side. When you play defense against a team like that, you have to play great team defense. Some of that comes from the scout, too. Our coaches did a great job scouting, and I think that these guys going out and executing the game plan was something that made me really proud.”
Marion Local went 4-for-11 at the free throw line and turned it over 15 times.
“We turned it over. We made some defensive mistakes in the first quarter, and they made us pay,” Goettemoeller said. “And again, I really thought after that it was an even game.”
Grant Kremer also scored 11 for the Flyers.
“We were just saying stay in it, just keep going,” Austin Niekamp said. “We knew Monroe Central was a great free throw shooting team, and even if we were down, if they had missed some free throws and we made some shots we’d still be in the game.”
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