by It’s starting to really warm up for next season, and we just began summer break. Fifteen schools from greater Cleveland participated this morning in The Independence High School Shootout. Independence Varsity Boys Coach Matt Grendel told us that he would love to see this event grow in the coming years.
Today we had 4 schools from the Cleveland West Conference (North Olmsted, Rocky River, Normandy & Lakewood) along with SWC champion Olmsted Falls & Chargrin Valley-Metro Conference Champions Fairview. Runner up in that Conference Cuyahoga Hts made the trip along with conference foe Independence as the host school. We also watched schools from Cornerstone Christian Academy, Riverside, Eastlake North, Kirtland, Manchester, Green (Canton) & West Geauga.
Independence had 5 games running in the main gym along with 4 in the field house. It was a great opportunity for teams to get work in and some to learn new systems. Today’s theme was clearly “The Future” as many of the teams were young and rebuilding or in Rocky Rivers case, reloading.
We want to focus on the 6 westside schools in Fairview, Olmsted Falls and the four teams representing the CWC. While Fairview is considered a small school, the team is always disciplined and Coach Ryan Barry has them ready to go regardless of opponent. This D-V competes with the likes of St. Ed’s and Warrensville Hts. With returning players Carter Reagan-Jr, Carter Holliiday-Jr & Cade Bejcek-So, this group is set up for several seasons.
Olmsted Falls returns as champions out of the SWC. They’ve been King more times than not over decades in the SWC. Coach DeLisio has returning Junior Keegan Smith leading the charge along with other up and coming players. This is a young squad who will make another case for top Dogs in the SWC based on its physical style of play and efforts in the paint. When the winter season tips off in the CWC, it will be interesting to see defending champions handle the heat from other schools who have improved. Lakewood coming off a CWC title, will have top teams from last season in Buckeye and Westlake hot on their tales.
Lakewood had a solid morning with just 7 players available. Coach Alex Cammock told us he was missing players today, but he was happy to get work in and thankful for this opportunity. Harper Carroll-Jr leading the charge looked strong today. The Rangers will be ready to go come December. Lakewood Gym is a great place to watch a game as it’s always electric with great fans.
Rocky River was led this morning by Coach Michael Murray. Coach Murray had his boys ready to go. Lead by Kevin O’Donnell-Jr, Grant Westerfield-Sr & Brandon Nazette-Sr the Pirates look to make a run this season. They added some depth with youth and sophomore Patrick Negrey could give them some quality minutes along with other young rising stars. River will be a tough out, come March in D-III. This team can shoot the ball with Danny Berg finding the bottom of the net more often then not.
North Olmsted, looking to improve after a rough 25-26 season, is also having a youth movement. Led by St. Edward transfer junior Matt McKee, returning starters Dom Martin-Sr, and an impressive sophomore big in Tristan Tahsin, the Eagles look to climb the standing and build for the future. Coach Matt Joseph likes his youth movement and is excited about the potential. McKee brings the Eagles size, quickness and a wingspan to the guard spot. They have multiple shooters that when they get hot, this Eagles team could do damage. It’s a matter of putting it all together.
Finally, we have another rising squad over at Normandy. The Invaders look to invade the CWC title contenders with youth and size. Coach Michael Durkin has some key pieces returning this season and is still very youthful. They will count on sophomore returner Gavin Clark with size, speed and can explode to the rim. Along with Ryan Durkin-So, twins Logan & Aaden Guadalupe can light it up when hot, the Invaders will make the CWC very completive come winter. Bay, Valley Forge, Buckeye and Westlake who did not make the trip to Independence will all be ready to go when we start CWC play in December.
That’s it for now from the sidelines…..
