Star Beacon
March 10, 2008 01:28 am
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The rumor mill has been grinding since midway through the high school football season in regards to Lakeside High School and its conference affiliation.
Lakeside moved from the Northeastern Conference — where it had been a member since Ashtabula and Harbor consolidated in time for the 2001-02 school year — to the Premier Athletic Conference for the start of the current school year.
The move had been kicked around before and after the decision to make the jump to the PAC more than anyone wanted to read or hear.
While coach Lisa Newsome’s volleyball squad won the outright PAC title and coach Jim Hood’s boys golfers shared the conference crown with Riverside, the Dragons struggled in the two sports that grab the most attention — football (2-8) and boys basketball (8-13).
So it was no surprise rumors of Lakeside flipflopping and heading back to the NEC, which was scouring the civilized world for new members before the exit by Lakeside and put even more vigor into it after it.
First-year Lakeside athletic director Tim Neal admits he heard the same rumors, as did Ashtabula Area City Schools superintendent Joe Donatone and Lakeside principal Sylvia Atkinson, so he wanted to clear the air on the issue.
“There have been many rumors around Ashtabula County about Lakeside and its affiliation with the PAC and NEC,” the Conneaut graduate said in an email. “Mr. Donatone, Mrs. Atkinson and myself would like to make it clear that our commitment is to the PAC.”
Neal said it’s time for the high school, located in Saybrook Township, to look forward, not backward.
“I personally believe that our athletic program is in need of consistency,” he said. “We need consistency in what conference we are in, our administration and our coaching staff.”
Neal said the student-athletes, their parents and the school’s fans need to know where they stand — and that’s in the PAC.
“Only with consistency will our sports be able to transition into successful athletic programs,” he said.
And the NEC?
The search goes on, according the league secretary Dik Pavolino.
“We’re still aggressively looking,” the former longtime Harbor athletic director and baseball coach said. “We’re leaving no stone unturned in our search for additional league members.”
While it is known Lakeside officials did meet with NEC officials recently, all that conference did was reaffirm what Neal said above.
“We need a sixth league member to make things even for us again,” Pavolino said. “We’re willing to do just about anything to make it work... just about.”
While Pavolino did not say so, it is known Warren John F. Kennedy and Gilmour Academy met with NEC officials in the past and made presentations. Another private school is said to be doing the same in the very near future, though Pavolino would not confirm that.
JFK ended up playing some non-conference games with NEC members, while Gilmour Academy played all five league teams in football in non-conference games last fall and will do so again next fall. However, that marriage of convenience is not expected to be renewed after the 2008 season.
Which puts the NEC back where it doesn’t want to be — in search of another football opponent
Pavolino admitted the conference dropped the ball, so to speak, in the past when league members came and went (Jefferson and Pymatuning Valley), in Jefferson’s case it remained when it came back the second time starting with the 1987-88 and PV did not, departing after the 1998-99 school year.
“We missed the boat 15 to 20 years ago when we had schools coming and going,” he said. “And there were other schools willing to join us, but we were unwilling to talk about making accommodations for schools, St. John, for example.
“And the result of all of that is our current situation — we’re paying for decisions made back then now.”
In other words, as is usually the case, mistakes of the past are paid for in the future.
“Unfortunately, that’s exactly the case,” Pavolino said.
Dynamic Duo I
With their high school careers unfortunately coming to an end yesterday with a Division III regional championship defeat at the hands of Villa Angela-St. Joseph at Canton Fieldhouse, we can put Laker stars Steve Savel and Corey Shontz into the record books in terms of the Ashtabula County career scoring list.
With 16 points, Savel finishes as the second-leading scorer in county boys basketball history, posting 1,440 points. He finishes 14 points behind county boys leader Matt Zappitelli, an Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Famer, who scored 1,454 points for Conneaut from 1984-85 through 1987-88.
With 27 points on Sunday, Shontz finishes with 1,292 points, seventh in county history, nine behind PV’s Sean Freeman, who scored 1,301 points for the Lakers from 1986-87 through 1989-90.
Thirty-three county boys players have reached 1,000 points.
In terms of the overall boys and girls scoring list, of the 56 players to achieve Grand Player status, Savel stands ninth and Shontz 18th. The top seven scorers in county history are girls players.
Dynamic Duo II
Savel and Shontz finish as the highest-scoring duo in county boys history, posting a combined 2,732 points.
The boys record had been held by ACBF Hall of Famers Frank Zeman and Richard Scribben, who teamed for 2,546 points during their playing days at Deming High School in New Lyme. They both graduated in 1954.
Taking it a step farther, 1995 Conneaut graduates Mike Pape (1,166 points), Dan Coxon (1,065 points) and Tony Lyons (1,026 points) remain the only trio in county basketball history to top the 1,000-point mark as teammates for coach Kent Houston’s Spartans.
Overall, the combination of ACBF Hall of Famers Diane Davis and Eleanor Young of Ashtabula still lead the way, registering 2,970 points during their playing days at Ashtabula High School. Davis graduated in 1983 and Young in 1984. Next-best on the girls side are Jefferson’s “Twin Towers,” Kelly Kapferer and Bekki Hamper, who combined for 2,635 points during their days together for the Falcons. Kapferer (1,588 points) and Hamper (1,047 points) both graduated in 2000.
Team stuff
PV’s 23 wins this season place it tied with Geneva’s 1949-50 squad for second-most in county boys history. That Geneva team, led by ACBF Hall of Famers Dale Arkenburg and Don Marsh, reached the Class B state Final Four that season (there were only two divisions in those days).
The record of 24, set by the Rowe squad of1945-46, remains the high-water mark in county history.
On the girls side, the 23 wins posted in back-to-back seasons by coach Rod Holmes Jefferson teams of 1989-90 and 1990-91 lead the way.
PV’s four postseason wins this season are the most by a county team since the 1983-84 Harbor Mariners, coached by ACBF Hall of Famer Andrew Isco and led by ACBF Hall of Famer Andy Juhola.
However, the four tournament wins by the Lakers are not a school record. The 1961-62 Lakers, led by ACBF Hall of Famers Bob Hitchcock and Paul Freeman, won five postseason games.
This year’s Lakers would all but assuredly have matched that mark, but they chose to take a first-round bye and did not play a sectional semifinal game.
And finally, PV’s 44 wins the past two seasons are the most in back-to-back years in county boys history, trailing the aforementioned 46 wins by Jefferson’s girls teams of 1989-90 and 1990-91 for overall county history.
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