Sidelines: Devier named football coach at Woodmore
3/18/2010Britton Devier was hired last week as football coach at Woodmore.
Devier spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach at Patrick Henry and had also been an assistant at Otsego.
“It's an exciting time,” Devier said. “The cupboard is definitely not bare. To be honest, my goal is to make the playoffs next season.”
Last fall, Patrick Henry reached the state semifinals. In each of Devier's two seasons at PH, the team went 10-0 during the regular season.
Devier, who played center at Ada High School, also was an assistant under Dan Cocke at Otsego (2005) when the Knights earned a playoff berth.
Devier served under longtime successful coach Bill Inselmann at Patrick Henry.
“I was lucky enough to work under two future hall of famers,” Devier said. “It certainly gives you a baseline where to start and things to fall back on.”
Woodmore finished 4-6 overall and 3-3 in the Suburban Lakes League last season under Lou Bosh, who was 54-67 in 12 seasons.
Bosh led the Wildcats to one state playoff appearance (2001). Woodmore has not won an SLL title since 1997.
Northwest Ohio was well represented in the Ohio High School Athletic Association all-star hockey game Sunday at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
Three players from area schools scored goals to lead the South-West team to a 7-3 win over the North-East team in the annual senior all-star game.
St. Francis de Sales senior David Torchia tallied a natural hat trick. Torchia scored three straight times in the second and third periods to give his team a 7-0 lead.
Torchia scored an even strength goal at the 7:16 mark of the second on an assist from Whitmer's Cody Rutkowski. Torchia then scored at 2:31 into the third as Rutkowski and St. Francis teammate Jake Payette earned the assists. Torchia lit the lamp a third time just 5:27 later on assists from Payette and Kyle Knox of St. John's Jesuit.
The Titans' George Wilkinson scored on a penalty shot late in the first period.
Bowling Green's Joey Harris opened the scoring 3:33 into the game with an unassisted, even strength goal.
Rutkowski gave the South-West team a 3-0 lead early in the second period on assists from Wilkinson and Ben Lopez of Perrysburg.
St. Francis goalie Jeff Davis played the first period and stopped all five shots he faced.
The South-West team was outshot 40-39 and the North-East team closed out the game with three unanswered goals.
The Port Clinton boys basketball team has earned the school's first trip to a regional tournament in 67 years.
Information given to the Blade last week was incorrect and said the Redskins had never reached a regional. The school played in regionals in 1935, 1937 and 1943.
Port Clinton, ranked No. 4 in the final Division II state coaches poll, played in the school's first district in 27 years last week, defeating Mansfield Madison 47-40. It then defeated Bellevue 48-41 Saturday to win the title.
Port Clinton (23-0) takes on Defiance in a regional semifinal at Bowling Green State University at 8 p.m.
The Redskins finished with the first perfect regular season (20-0) in school history and won their first Sandusky Bay Conference title since 2003.
Senior post players Josh Francis and Ryan Hicks stepped up in the district championship. Hicks had 12 points and 15 rebounds, while Francis had 13 points and nine rebounds.
The Redskins next face No. 7-ranked Defiance (21-2), who defeated Libbey 48-33 for a district title.
Cardinal Stritch is looking for a girls basketball coach after Gary Lemle stepped down last week.
Lemle, who was 89-63 in seven seasons with the Cardinals, resigned for personal reasons. Stritch finished 6-14 overall, 6-6 in the Toledo Area Athletic Conference this season.
Lemle was named TAAC coach of the year in 2004 and 2008. His teams won league titles in 2004, 2005 and 2008.
In his first season, Lemle led Cardinal Stritch to its first appearance in a regional final in 25 years. That team set a school record for most wins in a season (21-4), losing in the final to Smithville. Lemle was named Ohio Division III coach of the year.
Liberty-Benton, the top-ranked Division III girls team, is hoping to go one step further in the postseason than it did last year.
The Eagles (25-0) have qualified again for the state semifinals and will play Smithville (25-1) at 3 p.m. today.
Liberty-Benton lost to eventual state champion South Euclid Regina in the state semifinals last year. This season, Regina was forced to forfeit out of the tournament when an investigation by the OHSAA determined that ineligible foreign exchange students played on the team.
Last season, the Eagles entered the postseason ranked fourth in the final state poll but bowed out with a 23-2 record.
Amanda Hyde, a 5-foot-10 senior guard who was district player of the year, is one of four starters that led L-B to the state semis last year.
Other returning starters are seniors Catelen Ramsey and Amber Petersen, and junior Ashley Snider.
Contact Mark Monroe at:mmonroe@theblade.comor 419-724-6354.