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“Great moments are born from great opportunity, and that’s what you have here tonight. That’s what you’ve earned here tonight. One game; if we played them ten times, they might win nine. But not this game, not tonight. “
-Herb Brooks-
I could sit here and talk to you about stats, break down X’s and O’s and the difference between a zone defense, 1-3-1 defense or man to man. I could sit here and debate as to why High School Basketball needs a shot clock. Heck, I can even go into excruciating detail on how a basketball bounces differently off a hardwood floor then it does from tile. But does any of that really matter at this point in the season? No, I’d much rather tell you about the heart of the Olmsted Falls Lady Bulldogs, and what has become “The Bulldog Way”.
The Bulldog Way is when upperclassmen take underclassmen such as Paige Kohler and Mia Kalich and help develop them into the First Team SWC players that they are today. Paige and Mia may be in the 10th grade, but they play like seniors. Their teammates have supported them, loved them and helped them grow into the All Stars they are today.
The Bulldog Way is when you take a player like Mia Kalich, who has shown she can score, but when she is asked to be a lockdown defender, does every single time. Kalich’s attention to defense in a world obsessed with scoring is admirable.
The Bulldog Way is when you have a player like Paige Kohler whom is never worried about stats, rather worried only of victory. Kohler has the talent, ability and drive to score 30 a game if she so chooses. The only reason she doesn’t is because of how unselfish she is. She cares not of awards, but rather her teammates getting the praise they deserve. She is an MVP on the court and off of it too.
The Bulldog Way is when you have a player like Lauren Galaska who takes more pride in diving for loose balls then she does draining three’s. She pays more attention to playing defense and her teammates feed off of it.
The Bulldog Way is when you have a player like Grace Simon who doesn’t sulk when checking out of game. Rather, she is the first one to lead the cheers for her on court teammates. Simon is the kind of teammate you want to have in any sport. It doesn’t matter if it is table tennis or Chinese Checkers, Simon is who I want on my team.
The Bulldog Way is when you have a player like Allison Milligan. She may not be the tallest, she may not be the fastest, but she is absolute money from the foul line, hits shots in the clutch and I challenge anyone to show me a player who touches more area’s of the court then she does. Milligan is everywhere.
The Bulldog Way is when your star point guard gets two fouls in the first quarter of a Sweet Sixteen game, only for Lauren Noernberg to come in and light it up from the three-point line. Noernberg can make a thee ball one second, then moments later be seen taking a charge from someone twice her size in the paint.
The Bulldog Way is when you have a player like Sara (No H) Glover, who has the talent, work ethic, basketball IQ and drive to start for any other team in the SWC. She not only took to her role as first player off the bench, but took to it so well she earned our Sixth Woman of the Year award. Not only that, but when the Bulldogs needed a big play the most against Strongsville, it was Glover who stepped up time and time again late.
The Bulldog Way is when you see a 47-42 fourth quarter lead turn into a 48-47 deficit and not blink an eye before instantly taking the lead back, then put the game away for good. In that same game against Strongsville, the attention was on Regan Bass scoring 19 in her final game before departing for Akron. However, the Bulldog Way is when you have two players coming off the bench in Glover and Noernberg to combine for 24 and lead to victory. I’ll take a team that plays together and doesn’t care about stats, over an All Star every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
The Bulldog Way is when you have a coach who has the confidence in his players to put teams like Hoban, Laurel and Aurora on his schedule when he absolutely doesn’t have too. The same coach who had no idea it was his 100th win with the program until the parents told him. He doesn’t care about his own stats; he cares about his players and that is why they play so hard for him.
The Bulldog Way is when you play with such passion, such heart and such determination, that you take a 7-year-old little girl who could care less about basketball, and by watching you play, turn her into a hoop’s junkie. That my friend, is the Bulldog Way.
And while odds makers, experts, know it all’s and just people who like to hear themselves talk, will tell you that Notre Dame Academy is unbeatable. They will tell you that just getting this far is a victory for Olmsted Falls, perhaps that final part is true, but it’s not the Bulldog Way.
The Bulldog Way is leaving everything they have on the court, it doesn’t matter who is wearing the opposing jersey or what the score is at the end of the game they are going to give you everything they have. No lead is too big to come back from, no player is too good to shut down when it counts.
And while I don’t typically make predictions on High School sports, I’m going to break that rule this time. Simon with a three at the buzzer to win it for the Bulldogs on their Way to Dayton!
“We all have that fire, that passion, but some of us never get a chance to use it, and it just goes away. But you can, you have this opportunity, so do it! Why not? This is who you are, who you will always be! You don’t move aside for anyone until you’re ready to move, and it doesn’t matter how it looks to other people, all that matters is how it looks to you!
If this is something that you have to do, and something that you want to do, then you do it. Fighters fight!” – Little Marie from Rocky Balboa
https://keeonsports.com/player-spotlight-series-olmsted-falls-basketball-player-grace-simon/
