The competition for the top sports story in the area in 2015 looked a lot like the East Division of the Big Ten during football season.
It was all about Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State. And, just like on the football field, Michigan State won.
The No.1 sports story of the year locally is Lima Central Catholic’s Tyler O’Connor getting his first college start and helping Michigan State shatter Ohio State’s hopes of a second consecutive national championship.
The junior quarterback was an emergency starter in Michigan State’s biggest game of the season to that point after a shoulder injury sidelined starter Connor Cook, who O’Connor has been the No. 2 quarterback behind for the last three seasons.
He completed 7 of 12 passes for 89 yards and threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Trevon Pendleton and rushed for 25 yards on eight carries when the Spartans won 17-14 over Ohio State.
His initial moment of fame went nationwide when he appeared on ESPN, the Dan Patrick Show and other high-profile media outlets.
At No. 2 is the big year Lima Senior’s Xavier Simpson had when he was named boys basketball Division I Co-Player of the year in the state, signed to play with the University of Michigan and broke Greg Simpson’s single-game Lima Senior scoring record with 59 points against Fremont Ross.
The senior point guard, who transferred to Lima Senior from Lima Central Catholic when his dad, Quincey Simpson, became the Spartans coach, also is in his fourth year of being part of very successful teams.
Lima Central Catholic’s back-to-back trips to the boys state basketball tournament comes in at No. 3. After winning the Division III state championship in 2014, the Thunderbirds got back to Columbus despite Simpson’s transfer and faced Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph in the state championship game for a second year in a row.
Villa Angela-St. Joseph won the rematch 63-50, but LCC wondered what would have happened if starters Tre Cobbs and Jake Williams had been healthy.
A banner year for Lima Senior football is the No. 4 story. The Spartans finished 9-3 and got the school’s first playoff win since 1996.
Wide receiver Ruben Flowers, who has verbally committed to sign with the University of Pittsburgh, and linebacker Jaylin Thomas were named first-team all-Ohio.
The No. 5 story is the Lima Locos winning the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League championship.
Their title was the fourth in the history of the franchise. It was clinched with a 5-4, 10-inning victory over the Hamilton Joes in the best-of-three championship series when Billy Lipari doubled in Kyle London with the deciding run.
The No. 6 story is the closing of Hawthorne Hills golf course.
Hawthorne Hills, one of the best public golf courses in northwest Ohio and probably in the state of Ohio, was shut down by its owner Dr. Paul Scheiwiller, a Lima anesthesiologist who bought the course in 2012 with no previous experience in the golf business.
Scheiwiller, who also purchased Tamarac Golf Club in 2012, said he was losing money on Hawthorne Hills and that maintenance costs were too high.
The saga of Leipsic offensive lineman Gavin Cupp verbally committing to play football for Ohio State is the No. 7 story.
Cupp originally committed to Michigan State. But after he worked out at Ohio State’s Friday Night Lights recruiting event, MSU coach Mark Dantonio pulled his scholarship offer. After a few nervous days, Ohio State offered Cupp a scholarship and he accepted.
The No. 8 story is the sustained excellence in three sports of the girls in the senior class of 2015 at Bath High School.
During their four years in high school, Bath’s seniors won a state championship (2014 softball), reached the state semifinals in two other sports (2014 soccer, 2012 basketball) and played in three other basketball regionals, two other soccer regionals and two other softball regionals.
Similarly, Ottawa-Glandorf was state runner-up in girls basketball and girls soccer during the 2014-2015 school year.
The resignation of successful but sometimes controversial Elida football coach Jason Carpenter is the No. 9 story.
Carpenter, who had a 6-4 record this season and a 47-50 career record at Elida, agreed to resign at the end of the season after being suspended two game for what the school described as “contact with a student’s helmet” during a game.
The No. 10 story is one that seems to appear on this list every year. The Midwest Athletic Conference won more state championships in 2015. Five of them, to be exact.
Coldwater won its fourth Division V football state championship in a row and Fort Recovery won its first in Division VII. Versailles won the Division III girls basketball state championship. And Coldwater’s boys and girls won Division II state bowling championships.
The state bowling tournament also produced a first at Wapakoneta when Wapakoneta its team won that school’s first team state championship in Division I.
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