Adam Williams ’14
After an extremely disappointing end to the basketball season last year, the Eagles are looking for some redemption this year. For the first time in almost fifteen years, St. Ed’s did not bring home the Brecksville district title. With a heartbreaking loss to North Royalton, the Eagles went home empty-handed. With a new playoff system for the OHSAA in place, the road has been set for the Eagle’s journey to the Final Four.
This year, instead of having four individual district, each with 12 teams, the OHSAA set up a new district system. The Solon and Euclid district pools were combined, while the Brecksville and Midview district pools were also combined. In their annual meetings last week, the OHSAA coaches voted on the seedings for the state tournament. Once again, the Eagles were voted as the number one overall seed in the Brecksville-Midview district, and will play all of their games at Brecksville High School, except for the first game, which is at home.
Looking at the brackets, the path to the Final Four looks pretty smooth. The toughest opponent the team will face in their district is the #6 seeded Westlake Demons. This is where the new district format comes as an advantage for the Eagles. Because of the 24-team pool the team will not face a top three seeded team until the regional semi-final, where they would face off against the winner of the Grafton district, where North Royalton is the number 2 seed. The only in-state loss for the team this year-Shaker Heights-will not see St. Ed’s until the State Final Four game. The key to victory for the Eagles will be to never underestimate their opponent. With the apparent lack of competition for much of the tournament, the team will need to remain focussed on their ultimate goal-a State Championship.