In an effort to get my arms around the past year’s high school athletics one final time, here is brief recap of the lead stories. It’s only a matter of time until the dog days of August and those steamy, two-a-day practices begin the cycle again.

Aug. 5- Wake Forest basketball coach Skip Prosser’s passing had an impact on many Ohioans, including my son.

Aug. 12- Parents hopefully can discern between mixed martial arts and the popularity of Ultimate Fighting. Schulz Martial Arts in Green is teaching it the right way.

Aug. 19- Coach Miranda Valentine and the Lake High girls’ volleyball team had set high goals for the upcoming season.

Aug. 26- After back-to-back district titles in 2004 and 2005, the Green High girls’ soccer team took aim for a return to glory.

Sept. 2- One of Green’s first youth football players, Danny Hale, is compiling a remarkable record as a college football head coach.

Sept. 9- The boys’ high school soccer teams at Walsh Jesuit and CVCA staged an early season thriller.

Sept. 16- Under-sized gridders at local high schools were taking center stage. All five Mighty Mites were juniors.

Sept. 23- The Manchester girls’ volleyball team was preparing for its annual showdown with Tusky Valley.

Sept. 30- Springfield soccer standout Mark Hamilton stayed loyal and played for the Spartans when others would have bolted.

Oct. 7- Coach Jehad Farah’s Coventry girls’ soccer team is on solid footing with 17 of its 23 players being freshmen.

Oct. 14- The Green Bulldogs had a gaping hole in their defense: senior linebacker Nick Kalenterides missed most of the season with a leg injury.

Oct. 21- School administrators, coaches, and parents should be asking hard questions about performance-enhancing drugs.

Oct. 28- Spartan marching band director Ernie Cole held the fort in spite of widespread negativity at Springfield High.

Nov. 4- An open letter to former Green High football coach Elden McVicker ask the longtime coach to forgive a mishandled situation.

Nov. 11- Coventry High alum James Harrison enjoyed one of the finest defensive efforts in the history of NFL Monday Night Football when Pittsburgh crushed Baltimore 38-7.

Nov. 18- I caught up with Barberton’s Larry Bidlingmyer to try and understand how the Magic City lost the Division II boys’ basketball district tournament.

Nov. 25- Young talent dotted area girls’ high school rosters as the 2007-08 basketball season got underway.

Dec. 2- ‘The show must go on’ for our local boys’ basketball teams, despite the absence of key personnel from the previous season.

Dec. 9- Coventry superintendent Rusty Chaboudy explained why the Comets need a new gymnasium at their high school.

Dec. 16- Green High’s win over Wadsworth and Lake High’s win over Walsh Jesuit made Dec. 8, 2007 a memorable day for our local girls’ basketball teams.

Dec. 23- The ‘Route 93 Rivalry’ between Coventry and Manchester has fallen off since the Comets joined the Portage Trail Conference for 2005-06.

Jan. 6- Local basketball boys were playing impressively at the season’s midpoint. Green’s back-to-back wins over Federal League opponents, Manchester giving Northwest its first loss, and Coventry’s win at Cuyahoga Falls were highlights.

Jan. 13- Former coach Elden McVicker and state champion pole-vaulter Kelsie Ahbe were to represent Green High at the 49th annual Dapper Dan honors banquet.

Jan. 20- Coventry boys’ basketball coach Chet Feldman is the youngest of six sons.

Jan. 27- Springfield senior wrestler Jerry Boso had his sites set on Columbus and the state tournament.

Feb. 3- A disappointing loss to Copley had the Green girls’ basketball team scrambling to still achieve its goals.

Feb. 10- The Brakeman Report had wrestling enthusiasts anxiously awaiting the start of the state tournament.

Feb. 17- Green High made the right choice when hiring Tom Stacy to take over as head football coach.

Feb. 24- Five underclassmen represented Manchester High at the Division III district wrestling meet in Maple Heights.

Mar. 2- Twenty athletes were selected on the All-Suburbanite High School boys and girls basketball teams.

Mar. 9- A Division II boys’ district title reaffirmed Hoban’s T.K. Griffith as one of the area’s finest basketball coaches.

Mar. 16- Three local women contributed to the University of Akron’s dominance in track and field.

Mar. 23- Lake High has been a good neighbor in helping Lake Center Christian School grow its Division IV athletics program.

Mar. 30- I was trying to reconcile being an AAU basketball coach.

Apr. 6- Green and Lake High Schools both were planning for the installation of artificial turf in their respective stadiums.

Apr. 13- Coventry senior soccer and track standout Alyssa Porter was selected by WAKR radio as its Student-Athlete of the Week.

Apr. 20- Fair play and fewer collisions were at the heart of a rule change in high school baseball.

Apr. 27- Eight senior members of the Springfield High baseball team inspired all of us.

May 4- Manchester won the Champions Challenge softball title in Loudonville.

May 11- Local athletes Brian “Gus” Dudek (Green), Alyssa Porter (Coventry) and Mindy King (Manchester) received scholarship awards at the WAKR Student-Athlete honors banquet.

May 18- Lake Blue Streak throwers Mike Baldwin, Mike Hammond, and Bryan Heckathorn broke the shot put relay mark at Revere.

May 25- Green and Lake softball teams will be strong contenders for the 2009 Massillon Division I district championship.

June 1- The Hoban girls lost a district track title by one point, but there was plenty of local representation at regional meets.

June 8- Superintendent Dr. Wade Lucas presented open enrollment as a revenue option for Green Local Schools.

June 15- Although Manchester lost a Division III softball regional final, the Panthers return all but two seniors.

June 22- Lake’s Brandy Gang and Green’s Brian “Gus” Dudek were chosen for Suburby Awards for 2007-08.
 
Green All-Sports  Booster Club

The Green All-Sports Booster Club is conducting a membership drive for 2008-09. Parents of high school and middle student-athletes are encouraged to join and help one of 14 standing committees achieve its goals.

For the recently completed year, the GASB Club directed more than $50,000 to cover equipment needs, awards, and tournament expenses for all of Green’s athletics programs, in addition to raising more than $650,000 for the Memorial Stadium Turf Project. The Club’s next meeting is Aug. 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the high school.
 
Kleckner Honored

The OHSAA has notified the Summit-Portage Football Officials’ Association that Dan Kleckner will receive the 2008 National Federation Officials Association “Official of the Year Award.”

 A veteran official of 35 years, Kleckner will be feted at the OHSAA Hall of Fame Banquet in Columbus this Saturday (June 28).