Monday, February 11th
The Eagles are STATE CHAMPIONS once again! After a rough Friday night in Eagle athletics, the wrestlers saved the weekend by winning the 2019 OHSAA Dual Team State Championship in comeback fashion!
After handily defeating Dublin Coffman in the quarterfinals and Brecksville-Broadview Heights in the semis, the Eagles earned a spot in the finals against Cincinnati La Salle, who the Eagles lost to in the regular season.
Falling behind 19-0, the Eagles worked to get back into the match with a series of wins by decision and a forfeit by La Salle. The Eagles soon took a 20-19 lead with four wrestlers to go. After splitting the next two matches, the Eagles led 23-22 with Seamus O’Malley and Brian Kilbane still left to wrestle. Seamus O’Malley sealed the state championship with a fantastic pin in the first round (see video here). The Eagles ended up winning the match 29-28.
This victory puts the St. Edward state championship total at 67 and the wrestling total at 36. Talk about excellence! Way to go wrestlers! Let’s get number 37 in March!
On Friday night, the Eagles traveled to Sullivan Gym to take on the Wildcats in basketball. Unfortunately, not much went our way; missed free throws, many turnovers, and defensive miscues allowed the Wildcats to gain a comfortable lead by the second quarter. The Eagles tried to dig out of the hole in the second half, and we even cut the lead to five points with a few minutes left in the fourth. However, several clutch shots for the Wildcats put our hopes of a comeback away.
Despite the tough rivalry loss, the Eagles can take away many things from this humbling experience. The Eagles and Wildcats could meet again in the District Finals in March. In the meantime, we are not taking it easy in terms of our schedule, as two top-ten teams are gearing up to play us this weekend. The Eagles travel down to Akron to play St. Vincent-St. Mary on Friday, and then come back to the Eagle’s Nest on Saturday to host Toledo Whitmer. Hopefully, the Eagles can respond to Friday’s loss with a couple of huge wins that would give us lots of momentum heading into the playoffs.
Also on Friday Night, the Eagle Hockey team played Holy Name in the Great Lakes Hockey League Cup Semi-Finals. The Eagles fell 6-3. Surely, this tough loss will give the Eagles more motivation in the state playoffs, as Holy Name is on the same side as us in the bracket.
Make sure to show out and support the Eagles in all of our winter sports postseasons! Hopefully, we can bring back a few banners to hang from the rafters!
GO EAGLES!
~ Jack Loesch ‘19