Winter takes bite out of high school schedules

Many area high school sports events were played last weekend despite temperatures well below freezing. Wind chills reached minus-25 degrees Saturday, but most games on the local schedule took place. But the snow that began falling late Saturday and continued for nearly 24 hours — paired with more frigid temperatures — has put a wreck on the local sports itinerary. Every area event that was scheduled for Tuesday was postponed. There was just one basketball game scheduled Monday — North Baltimore at Sandusky girls — and it also was postponed. The Clyde boys basketball team was scheduled to host Huron on Tuesday, but that game was cancelled a little before noon. They will make it up Monday, February 2. "The biggest thing right now is to hit your stride at the right time," Clyde coach Jared Shetzer said. "With these cancellations due to weather, it will be more difficult to fine-tune things heading into the tournament. We have had an up-and-down season and our kids have been resilient. However, we had a lot of things we wanted to work on this week and haven't been able to do that." One of the biggest boys basketball games on the schedule was postponed around 11 a.m. Tuesday. Sandusky was scheduled to head to Bellevue for a massive Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division contest, but they will have to wait until Wednesday, Feb. 18. By then, the league title could already be decided. The Blue Streaks — who trail Lake leader Perkins by one game — will host Perkins on Friday while Bellevue entertains Tiffin Columbian. "Our teams are ready and want to play," Sandusky athletic director Robert Sartor said. "However, preparing for teams is a bit more difficult when we can't get in the school for practice. For example, our boys basketball team has not been able to get in the gym since their tough loss against Mansfield last Saturday. "We are getting down to crunch time. League games take precedence in scheduling. It's also a challenge finding referees available for make-up dates. Communication is key between athletic directors, school personnel and referees." Another boys basketball game postponed Tuesday was Gibsonburg at St. Mary Central Catholic in a key SBC River Division contest. Each team has one league loss, but will have to wait three weeks (Feb. 17) to do battle. "Since we played New Riegel on the 13th, we've played twice as many games as practices," SMCC coach Kyle Hammond said. "It makes it tough to make adjustments and get ready for each opponent. It is something that everyone has had to manage and work through. We are fortunate that we have an experienced and smart group that has handled it well." Monroeville at Wynford, Columbia at Vermilion, Woodmore at Danbury and Norwalk at Edison were also scratched Tuesday from the boys list. "It does get tough to find dates this late in the season that wouldn't be a back-to-back or multiple games a week," Edison AD Kristin Hayden said. "We are taking this day by day. Every decision that is made is based on keeping our opponents, our athletes, fans and workers safe. So many factors play into these decisions, but safety is always the most important when it comes to the final decision. "We have a great collaborative group of administrators and coaches here at Edison that help with this." Girls games that were pushed back from Tuesday included Hillsdale at Monroeville, Perkins at Port Clinton and Toledo Christian at Margaretta. The TC-Margaretta game was postponed Monday afternoon and rescheduled for Saturday, Feb. 14. With the Stockmaster Memorial Wrestling Tournament taking place inside Margaretta's high school gym, the game will be played at Margaretta's elementary school. "It definitely makes it a bit tougher to get everything rescheduled at this point in the season," Margaretta AD Drew Grahl said. "Obviously we want to get all of our regular season contests in prior to the start of tournament play, so a lot of times we have to be flexible and creative in doing so." Ohio high school basketball teams can schedule a maximum of 22 games in the regular season. Division IV No. 1 Bellevue was scheduled to go to Shelby in a rematch of last year's district girls final, but that game has been postponed to Tuesday, Feb. 10. It is the fourth game the Lady Red have had rescheduled — along with home games against Sandusky (Feb. 4) and Oregon Clay (Feb. 9) and a road trip to Clyde (Feb. 14). Bellevue will play four games the final week of the regular season. The Lady Red will play Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday just before the tournament begins. "You can look at it two different ways," Lady Red coach Kory Santoro said. "You can complain about it or find ways to keep moving forward and getting better. We will take the road of improving and getting better. All of our goals are still in front of us and we can get in great rhythm at the end of the season and continue that through the tournament trail." There's a legitimate concern that games the rest of this week could be in jeopardy. Wind chills are expected to be even colder Wednesday than they were Tuesday. The high temperature for Wednesday might not even reach double digits. There currently are three girls games on the schedule for Wednesday: Huron at Norwalk, Sandusky at Marion Harding and Edison at Clyde. "Obviously not having the opportunity to be in the gym due to weather, either via games or practices, just takes away days to get better," Clyde coach Brian Heck said. "With the basketball season being as long as it is, having a day or two off during the week is healthy and productive, but when you string three or four straight days off, now you're dealing with a rest-versus-rust scenario. "In our case, not having an off-season and summer together and only really being together for less than three months total, every day not being in the gym together hurts." The high temperatures for Thursday and Friday likely won't even hit 15 degrees. The Port Clinton boys basketball team is one of the few that hasn't had to postpone a game — yet. The Redskins are scheduled to be back on the court Friday at home against Huron. "Not being able to practice is certainly a challenging situation as all teams are striving to play their best basketball at the end of the season," PC coach Jared Rhode said. "That said, we will continue to control those things that we can and Mother Nature is not one of them. Our staff will watch a lot of film, stay in constant communication with our players and be prepared when the weather lets us get back in the gym. "In terms of canceling and rescheduling games, that's always a challenge at the end of season as the tournament nears. No coach wants to stack games up prior to the tournament, nor do they want their teams going into contests unprepared." What others had to say Danbury athletic director and girls basketball coach Joe Miller: "Postponing games causes all kinds of problems for both schools. Finding an open date for both schools is extremely difficult. Then trying to find basketball referees, re-scheduling game workers, and informing the fans and community members about the rescheduled dates is time consuming. Postponing games is hardest on the student-athletes. Cramming all of these games into such a short time frame puts undue stress and pressure on them physically and emotionally." Perkins athletic director Brad Watson: "Postponements are always tough, especially late in the season when you're always trying to provide an opportunity for your student-athletes to compete. It can be difficult to find make-up dates and make sure we can find officials as the season window shrinks. But, the athletic directors and assignors do a great job working together to reschedule." Vermilion athletic director Andrew Stillman: "It's tough because you just run out of time. It really depends on if it's a league game or not. We try to make up all we can, but we are limited to the specific opponent's schedule and the availability of officials on any given night." Port Clinton athletic director Rick Dominick: "It's certainly challenging. Fortunately, my coaches understand that three, possibly four games in a week may be our reality if we don't get a break with the weather."