Norton D4 District

Dalton is very good. I would not be surprised if they "upset" Mogadore. WCAL is tough this year.

Rittman poses tough matchup problems for many teams and just curb-stomped a very good Northwestern team on the road (led by 20+ most the game, won by 18).

Regardless, Richmond Heights awaits on the other side of the bracket.
 
Could not believe it when I saw that Rittman beat Northwestern last weekend. I know they played them close the first time, but Rittman must have come a LONG way since early in the season! When I saw them in person, they had virtually zero impactful contributions from any of their guards....must have stepped up! Kudos to them and coach Staley for turning it around!
 
CasualFan24 said:
Could not believe it when I saw that Rittman beat Northwestern last weekend. I know they played them close the first time, but Rittman must have come a LONG way since early in the season! When I saw them in person, they had virtually zero impactful contributions from any of their guards....must have stepped up! Kudos to them and coach Staley for turning it around!
Click to expand...
I spoke with a Dalton fan this morning who said Rittman has some BIG kids that play pretty well. With Northwestern's big man Mellott being their key cog and only scoring 8 (or so) points against Rittman, that was the matchup they won. Sounds like they lose to mostly guard-oriented teams but can beat good teams who depend on post play. (two 3-point losses to Waynedale whose best player is a post, only lost to Northwestern by 1 then beat them by 18 with Northwestern's 2 best players being post players, while Norwayne doesn't appear to have near as much trouble with them, and they lost to a very bad Manchester team who has no post presence whatsoever)

Disclaimer: I have not seen Rittman, Dalton, or Waynedale play this year, so those are very generalized statements based on my conversation with the Dalton fan and looking at Rittman's scores. :D I could be very wrong.
 
Last edited:
thePITman said:
I spoke with a Dalton fan this morning who said Rittman has some BIG kids that play pretty well. With Northwestern's big man Mellott being their key cog and only scoring 8 (or so) points against Rittman, that was the matchup they won. Sounds like they lose to mostly guard-oriented teams but can beat good teams who depend on post play. (two 3-point losses to Waynedale whose best player is a post, only lost to Northwestern by 1 then beat them by 18 with Northwestern's 2 best players being post players, while Norwayne doesn't appear to have near as much trouble with them, and they lost to a very bad Manchester team who has no post presence whatsoever)

Disclaimer: I have not seen Rittman, Dalton, or Waynedale play this year, so those are very generalized statements based on my conversation with the Dalton fan and looking at Rittman's scores. :D I could be very wrong.
Click to expand...
Moral of the story and as they say - "Any given night in WCAL"

I've seen all 3 play in person - Dalton is a solid, fundamentally sounds team with a real rising star at point guard. Waynedale has a nice point guard/big man combo with Geiser and Higgins, but they fall asleep at the wheel sometimes if Geiser isn't getting to the basket consistently. And as I've said about Rittman, they've shocked me. They have the Seibe (?) big kid who is probably in the 6'6" range, but he has never seemed to be too much of a threat on the offensive end.....their guards must be shooting it much better and the biggest thing, the must not be turning it over as much! Good for them and good luck to all the WCAL teams in the tourney!
 
Scheibe has been on a tear lately, in his match up with Mellott on Friday he held him to 8 points while posting 27 points 15 rebounds and 6 blocks. IN a game versus Columbia station recently he went for 22 points and 25 rebounds with 6 blocks.
 
Central got a nice win over Lake Center last night (69-50). Probably the best win of the season for Central.
 
dhs22p said:
Central got a nice win over Lake Center last night (69-50). Probably the best win of the season for Central.
Click to expand...

Maybe Central Christian was sending a message to the rest of the district? This was an impressive win that should catch a lot of teams' attention. Central Christian-Dalton could be a very good sectional final.
 
HomeRun10 said:
Scheibe has been on a tear lately, in his match up with Mellott on Friday he held him to 8 points while posting 27 points 15 rebounds and 6 blocks. IN a game versus Columbia station recently he went for 22 points and 25 rebounds with 6 blocks.
Click to expand...

No question that Scheibe has been the best player in the league over the last month. He has been putting up crazy numbers during that stretch. He even had decent numbers when Norwayne blew them out. This all makes me wonder why this did not happen earlier. There is no question that Rittman is in the top half of the league right now. They were just awful at the beginning of the year. I am sure they have their sights set on a deep tournament run. Congrats to the coaches and players for getting it turned around.
 
HomeRun10 said:
Scheibe has been on a tear lately, in his match up with Mellott on Friday he held him to 8 points while posting 27 points 15 rebounds and 6 blocks. IN a game versus Columbia station recently he went for 22 points and 25 rebounds with 6 blocks.
Click to expand...
Wow - I've seen him play several times the last 2 years - didn't think he had those kind of numbers in him! Good for him! ?
 
Mogadore is peaking at the right time with 8 straight wins including 2 wins over league champions Waterloo and Streetsboro. Hoping for a Richmond Heights matchup ... but don't know what they'll do then. :-o
 
CasualFan24 said:
Could not believe it when I saw that Rittman beat Northwestern last weekend. I know they played them close the first time, but Rittman must have come a LONG way since early in the season! When I saw them in person, they had virtually zero impactful contributions from any of their guards....must have stepped up! Kudos to them and coach Staley for turning it around!
Click to expand...

I think it is funny that people think Northwestern team is really good. I watched them back in December when they beat Ashland. They would not even be considered a top 10 team in NW Ohio. Maybe I saw them on a bad night, but they would give up a 100 a night and lose by 30+ pressing and playing like that against teams in our area especially the good ones like Columbus Grove, Toledo Christian, Antwerp, Cardinal Stritch.
 
LetsGoBig said:
I think it is funny that people think Northwestern team is really good. I watched them back in December when they beat Ashland. They would not even be considered a top 10 team in NW Ohio. Maybe I saw them on a bad night, but they would give up a 100 a night and lose by 30+ pressing and playing like that against teams in our area especially the good ones like Columbus Grove, Toledo Christian, Antwerp, Cardinal Stritch.
Click to expand...

You are absolutely right with your assessment. Northwestern has a good record; largely due to a weak schedule and weak league. I have seen them buckle down and play better defense than they did against Ashland when they are in bigger games, but their effort leaves a lot to be desired on many nights. However, I think most teams consider beating a team with only 2-3 losses late in the season a good win.
 
187xovr said:
You are absolutely right with your assessment. Northwestern has a good record; largely due to a weak schedule and weak league. I have seen them buckle down and play better defense than they did against Ashland when they are in bigger games, but their effort leaves a lot to be desired on many nights. However, I think most teams consider beating a team with only 2-3 losses late in the season a good win.
Click to expand...

Well I have never seen them play but it looked like a old mans game at the Y...just jogging up the floor my son counted 7 times their big kid didn't cross halfcourt to play DEFENSE! Just don't see how that can work and beat someone decent.
 
LetsGoBig said:
Well I have never seen them play but it looked like a old mans game at the Y...just jogging up the floor my son counted 7 times their big kid didn't cross halfcourt to play DEFENSE! Just don't see how that can work and beat someone decent.
Click to expand...
I mean they did get a 2 seed so they must be pretty decent - but you are correct, they don't play a lick of defense...but they do get out and run, and the big kid is formidable and they score a lot of points usually (went over 100 the other night). And I wouldn't say its a weak league either, real solid chance of being an all WCAL Wooster D3 district, and Dalton has a pretty good shot at a district final in D4....

Also - I saw Northwestern be extremely competitive against a good (and bigger) Norwalk team last year just prior to tournament time in terms of NW Ohio teams....and this years Northwestern team is better than last years...
 
After watching Dalton last night against Cleveland Rhodes, they absolutely have the ability to win this district. They led Rhodes much of the game and battled till the end - that was a game you could chalk up as a “good loss” if there is truly such a thing. As far as this district goes, IMO Richmond Heights, Dalton or Mogadore have the only realistic chance to come out of this district with Rittman and Central Christian being dangerous matchups as well (I just don’t see those two as having enough team depth to come out)
 
1486wd said:
After watching Dalton last night against Cleveland Rhodes, they absolutely have the ability to win this district. They led Rhodes much of the game and battled till the end - that was a game you could chalk up as a “good loss” if there is truly such a thing. As far as this district goes, IMO Richmond Heights, Dalton or Mogadore have the only realistic chance to come out of this district with Rittman and Central Christian being dangerous matchups as well (I just don’t see those two as having enough team depth to come out)
Click to expand...

That was definitely a good performance by Dalton against Rhodes last night. Being close and winning games like that are two completely different things though. It will be interesting to see if Dalton can get over the hump if/when they play a heavily favored opponent in tournament play. Mogadore lost at home against Lake Center last night as well. Hard to predict what will happen when tourney play tips off this week.
 
Mogadore's loss was due to a great disparity in fouls. 2 technicals ( quite questionable by the same official) added 10+ points for LCC. Mogadore liost by 3.On a side note sitting behind the Lake Center bench...maybe it's time the " Christian " be removed from their school name. A very poor showing from coaches to players...heard this from others as well who have attended games involving them.....
 
wildcat71 said:
Mogadore's loss was due to a great disparity in fouls. 2 technicals ( quite questionable by the same official) added 10+ points for LCC. Mogadore liost by 3.On a side note sitting behind the Lake Center bench...maybe it's time the " Christian " be removed from their school name. A very poor showing from coaches to players...heard this from others as well who have attended games involving them.....
Click to expand...
Ha, to be honest, that has been my observation of Lake Center over the years as well.
 
H
1486wd said:
Ha, to be honest, that has been my observation of Lake Center over the years as well.
Click to expand...

HaHa.....I will third that one! Kids are basically climbing on our backs, grabbing, reaching, pulling arms, flopping and the coach is throwing tantrums over any call that goes against him. Man I would love to see us line up on the gridiron just once! I could be wrong, but didn't they say that they were going to field wrestling and football teams when they came into the conference? I'm going to call pinocchio on that one.

on another side note, what about the carnival rims they have in their gym, I swear those suckers are tightened up stiffer than a drum. I have never seen a ball bounce the way it does there.....scores seem to reflect this as the are quite frequently much lower than when the go on the road
 
PeterBlack said:
H


HaHa.....I will third that one! Kids are basically climbing on our backs, grabbing, reaching, pulling arms, flopping and the coach is throwing tantrums over any call that goes against him. Man I would love to see us line up on the gridiron just once! I could be wrong, but didn't they say that they were going to field wrestling and football teams when they came into the conference? I'm going to call pinocchio on that one.

on another side note, what about the carnival rims they have in their gym, I swear those suckers are tightened up stiffer than a drum. I have never seen a ball bounce the way it does there.....scores seem to reflect this as the are quite frequently much lower than when the go on the road
Click to expand...
And their fans...wow, poor sports. No National Anthem at their home games due to " religous reasons"...really??
 
And yes I know they are " mennonite " but not what they are mostly now. I had a relative teach there when the girls still wore head coverings and the boys plain clothing. But really now they are FAR from that.
 
There are times when coaches get away with acting like the Lake Center coach does (temper tantrums, trash talking opposing players, not shaking hands after the game, etc). Usually that is reserved for teams that consistently win big. Lake Center is usually just above average and continues to put up with his antics. As everyone seems to be seeing the same characteristics from that program, you have to wonder how long the district puts up with that just to get 12-14 wins every season. There was an article in the Canton Rep that made it seem like they had some homer officials on their game against Canton CC earlier this season too.
 
My predictions for tonight's games-
Lake Ridge over OD by 4
Lake Center over Hillsdale by 30
Rittman over Heights by 10
Central over CCA by 5
 
I will take......
Open Door by 5 over LRA
Lake Center names their score against Hillsdale
Rittman by 20 over Cuyahoga Heights
Central by 2 over CCA
 
When Rittman played Cuyahoga Heights 2 years ago, Rittman took up 3/4 of the gym. That year I would say it was too small, last year it was a Richmond Heights vs Open Door final and they could have played with only one side of the bleachers out. This is the one issue with having these private schools in the district, they don't bring anyone because there is no hometown feel good thing about their school. Richmond Heights will be in the final again this year and once again they bring 20 fans tops. This is why it will remain at Norton. It was supposed to be at Barberton but when Copley gave up the D1 district they took barberton and gave D4 the boot. I liked this district the best when it was at Strongsville. It then went to Garfield Heights and that was a little too big and way to far of travel for the teams south and to the west. I do agree that a change of host would be better, but as long as the private schools and Richmond heights stay in the district they won't bring anyone to change it
 
Geographically, Norton is pretty good for this district - If you want a bigger gym, why not Wadsworth? That may be too big tho.....Medina Highland maybe?

For this round...

Richmond Hts by 20
Lake Center by 12
Mogadore by 15
Dalton by 15

No great games IMO....
 
There could definitely be a problem with seating at this district next week. Some of these teams still involved will bring big crowds. As for tonight's games......

Richmond Heights by 40
Independence by 2
Mogadore by 5
Dalton by 20
 
Should be an interesting set of games tonight. Could have 3 close games or 4 blow-outs.
Richmond Heights by 20
Lake Center by 10
Mogadore by 14
Dalton by 10 (Central is always a tricky game for us)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top