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A condensed practice schedule for recent graduates began this past weekend with the teams gathering at the stadiums of the head coaches. Players are nominated by coaches and selected by the respective all-star staffs.
The game is 7 p.m. Friday at Centerville.
John Aregood returns as the game director. Each team will have approximately 45 players.
“It’s really cool and a great honor for the players,” Broering said. “You’ve got all these rivalries and the players coming together one last time for this. It’s beautiful.”
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• The Western Ohio Athletic Conference will make its debut in the fall of 2021. The 12-team affiliation is made up of all the teams that previously announced they were leaving the Cross County Conference and two current Southwestern Buckeye League members.
Dixie and Preble Shawnee of the SWBL will be joined by Ansonia, Arcanum, Bradford, Franklin Monroe, Mississinawa Valley, National Trail, Newton, Tri-County North, Tri-Village and Twin Valley South, all current CCC members, in the new WOAC.
“There’s some big schools that have a rich tradition in certain sports and some smaller schools that have tradition as well,” said former Miss Valley athletic director John Butch, a WOAC spokesman. “In the end, it may turn out to be a great fit for everybody.”
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The mostly rural and small-school WOAC will not split into divisions. There will be a nine-game football schedule with one open date. Franklin Monroe and Newton do not have football programs.
The eight-team Three Rivers Conference also will begin in the 2021-22 school year. The TRC will consist of current CCC members Bethel, Covington and Miami East. Also headed to the TRC are Lehman Catholic, Milton-Union, Northridge, Riverside and Troy Christian.
That’s the latest in a seismic shift of area affiliations. The CCC will disband. The SWBL, currently 14 teams, will be trimmed to 10. The Greater Western Ohio Conference has split with 10 former GWOC American Conference teams making up a revised Miami Valley League that will make its debut this fall.
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The GWOC, now at 10 teams, will be down to eight after Lebanon leaves in 2020 for the Eastern Cincinnati Conference. Trotwood’s GWOC membership will end after 2019-20.
• Area teams will contend for all four baseball state championships this weekend at Akron’s Canal Park. Making the final four cut by winning regional titles were Springboro (Division I), CJ (D-II), Coldwater (D-III) and Minster (D-IV).
It’s the first final four for Springboro (26-6). CJ (25-2) is the defending D-II state champ and will play in its third straight final four. Nothing unusual in the Midwest Athletic Conference advancing two reps to final fours. Coldwater (25-6) has won six state baseball titles and Minster (22-7) three.
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This is the first year for baseball’s extended season, which coincides with a move from Huntington Park in Columbus to Akron. The state semifinals are Friday and Saturday. All four titles games are scheduled for Sunday. Canal Park is home to the Cleveland Indians’ AA minor-league affiliate Akron RubberDucks.
• Bobby Jones has been named to succeed Mackenzie Perry as the boys basketball coach at Tri-Village. Jones resigned as Oxford Talawanda’s coach after last season.
Perry was not retained after two seasons at Tri-Village. Previously Bradford’s coach, Perry succeeded the ultra-successful Josh Sagester with the Patriots. Tri-Village was 8-14 last season.
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• Nick Trimbach succeeds Bobby Crawford as the Yellow Springs boys basketball coach. Crawford resigned after his third season with the Bulldogs. Yellow Springs was 5-18 last season under Crawford. Trimbach, a Cedarville grad, was a Springfield Shawnee assistant/freshman coach last season.
• Northeastern has new boys and girls basketball coaches. Darren Long succeeds Lloyd Alexander, who resigned after two seasons, as the Jets boys coach. Long previously was the boys head coach at London and Mechanicsburg.
Tab Lafollette succeeds Beth Marks, who resigned after two seasons, as the Jets girls coach. Lafollette previously was the girls coach at Mechanicsburg.
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• Alter grad Maddie Bazelak isn’t done with basketball. After completing four seasons of volleyball at Duquesne, Bazelak will play next season of basketball at Ohio University as a graduate transfer. Bazelak, a 6-foot-1 frontliner, was the D-II state basketball player of the year in leading Alter to the first of three consecutive state titles.
Her sister, Elizabeth Bazelak, is a junior on the Duquesne women’s basketball team. Their younger brother, Connor Bazelak, graduated from Alter this spring and will play football at Missouri.
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• Central State junior and Dunbar grad Juan Scott was third in the NCAA D-II 110-meter high hurdles (13.79) at Texas A&M-Kingsville. He became the Marauders’ first three-time outdoor track All-American.
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• Centerville girls basketball coach Adam Priefer was one of 12 coaches throughout the state to recently be named an Ohio High School Athletic Association Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity girls sports award winner.
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