Sidelines: Bowsher hires coachesfor football, girls basketball

5/7/2009

Hills

NOT BLADE PHOTO

Bowsher has named two new head coaches for the 2009-10 school year, as Rebels assistant Wondell Hills will succeed Rob Garber as football coach and former girls basketball assistant Louis Davis will return to be the head coach.

Garber resigned shortly after the 2008 season and has returned to Central Catholic as that school s defensive coordinator. Dennis Mussery, the girls basketball coach the last two seasons, had to re-apply because he is not a Toledo Public Schools teacher, and was not rehired.

John Rice, Bowsher s boys basketball coach the last two seasons, also had to re-apply because of the TPS stipulation, but school athletic director Dave Erdman said the interview process for that job has yet to be completed.

Hills, an All-City League football player and track athlete while at the former Macomber High School in the 1980s, served as an assistant under Garber the last two seasons.

It s a blessing to get the opportunity to work with these young men and help keep them on the right track, academically and socially, Hills said. We hope to get as many kids as possible into college, and also bring back pride and respect to the Bowsher football program.

Erdman said Hills, 37, made a big impact on Bowsher s athletic committee during the interview process.

Wondell came in and asked if he could do a power-point [audio-visual] presentation and, in my opinion, he knocked em dead, Erdman said. It was very organized and together and he was well spoken.

If there s a weakness it s his lack of head coaching experience. But he s surrounding himself with a good staff. I believe he s going to relate well with the kids and get them to step up as student-athletes and as football players.

Davis, 47, is the father of former Bowsher girls basketball standout Jazlyn Davis. He previously had served five seasons as a Rebels assistant under head coach Karen Lake. The last two years he was a girls assistant at Scott. This is his first high school varsity head coaching post.

We re excited because I know Louis will be able to keep kids at Bowsher instead of going to places like Waite and Start, said Erdman, referring to last season s transfer of Rebel junior players Amanda Gregory and Tiffani Blackman, respectively.

Louis brings good basketball knowledge and, these days, you ve got to be able to get kids to come to your school.

I m just going to try to get the program back to the level it was a few years ago, when we were competing for the City League championship every year, Davis said. I m excited to be coaching at a school that has outstanding personnel and is very supportive of the athletic programs.

Basketball: Teammates, finally

Seniors Darius Glover of Waite and Brandon Ham of Libbey were neighbors a few streets apart as youngsters in South Toledo, where they attended Pickett Elementary and later Jones Junior High. But somehow, they never became basketball teammates at those schools, even though they hung out together during those years and both loved basketball.

Next year they will finally get the chance to suit up in the same uniforms, but the pair will have traveled about 600 miles to do it. The longtime friends are expected to sign letters of intent today to accept scholarships to Moberly Area Community College in Missouri.

Glover, a top sub at Waite as a junior, excelled in the City League as a senior starter, leading the Indians to a 10-1 regular-season CL finish. He averaged 18.6 points and 9.3 rebounds en route to All-CL first team, Division I all-district and All-Blade selections, as well as All-Ohio second team.

When the chance arose at Moberly, a Division I junior college program, Glover jumped on it, after his indecision cost him a scholarship at Southeastern Illinois Junior College. It also gave him a chance to team up with Ham, who was a top sub on Libbey s 24-3 Division II state runner-up team as a junior in 2007-08. He was a team leader last season at point guard, helping the Cowboys reach the D-II district final.

Owens bound

Perrysburg senior DemiMoschetti, who led the Yellow Jackets to the Division I girls basketball regional final and a 24-1 season, highlights a list of recruits who signed to play at Owens Community College.

Also joining the Express will be Jasmine Blanton of Notre Dame, Jordan Floyd of Anthony Wayne, Saige Meyer of Patrick Henry and Karrah Windau of Carey.

Moschetti averaged 13.8 points and 5.3 rebound and was All-Northern Lakes League first team, as well as All-Blade first team. Blanton, All-City League first team, averaged 11.8 points and 4.7 rebounds. Floyd, All-NLL first team, averaged 11.5 points and 5.7 rebounds.

Track & field: Lewis to Michigan State

Scott senior Shatora Lewis, the defending Division I state shot put champion, signed a letter of intent to accept a track and field scholarship offer attend to Michigan State.

Lewis, a school record holder in both the shot and discus, has a personal record shot put mark of 42-11 this season, and has won every meet in that event this year.

Tennis: NWOTL can t finish

For the second straight year the Northwest Ohio Tennis League tournament was rained out.

Three of the five championship matches were completed on Friday at Ottawa Hills before rain halted play. The matches at first and third singles were into the third set, but were rained out.

No makeup date was set because of scheduling conflicts, according to Ottawa Hills coach Jeff Harst.

We had to scrap it, he said. At this stage of the season it s almost impossible with five teams trying to find a day where we could all get together. The same thing happened last year. We did not hand out any awards.

The Northwest Ohio Tennis League was founded in 2006 and consists of schools from the Toledo Area Athletic Conference and Northwest Ohio Athletic League. The teams are Ottawa Hills, Archbold, Bryan, Maumee Valley and Wauseon.

Maumee Valley led Ottawa Hills by two points in the team standings and each had players in the finals at first and third singles. The Green Bears Evan Bechtel led the Hawks Eyad Jaara at No. 1 singles. At No. 3 singles, Ottawa Hills Nirbhay Jain was leading Maumee Valley s Daniel Shin 3-1 in the third set.

If both Ottawa Hills players won, the teams would have tied for the team title.

In the No. 2 singles title match, Maumee Valley s Karin Padda defeated OH s Joey Aubry 6-3 in the first set. Aubry had to retire due to a back injury in the second.

At No. 1 doubles, Chris Court and Jimmy Mackey of Ottawa Hills defeated Benji Delman and Zach Smiley of Maumee Valley, 6-2, 6-4.

At No. 2 doubles, Maumee Valley s Christian Fesko and Stephen Shin swept Wauseon s Andrew Saffell and John Gale, 6-0, 6-0.

Maumee Valley won the first two Northwest Ohio Tennis League titles in 2006 and 2007.

Softball: Milestone for Seel

Fostoria senior pitcher Keri Seel surpassed the 700-strikeout mark for her career.

Seel struck out 13 batters Saturday in a 13-2 win over Liberty-Benton to bring her career total to 705. She also drove in four runs.

Seel had three RBIs in the second game of the doubleheader which Fostoria won 19-2 toimprove to 15-2 overall.