Shaun Spence - ohioHSsports.com

Check back each and every weekday for the top prep headlines from across the state. Here are a list of summaries from some of the major stories around Ohio for Thursday, June 5th:

Baseball: State Tournament Preview

Track and Field: Brother/Sister combo at Columbus DeSales

Track and Field: Toledo Bowsher girls, Eastwood boys have shots at state crowns

Softball: Mason gets another shot at state power Elyria

Baseball: Walsh Jesuit two wins away from fourth title

Don't see news from your area of the state? Post a comment below with your local paper's web address and we'll feature your prep coverage throughout the week.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Greg Avery, who did just about everything in leading Newark to its first state championship in 65 years, is the most outstanding player on the 2008 Associated Press Division I all-tournament team.

Avery, who matched a career high with 33 points in a 65-52 win over Lakewood St. Edward in the finals, totaled 49 points, 20 rebounds and five assists in the Wildcats' two games at the state tournament.

Joining him on the team was teammate Cody Dennison (30 points, 10 assists in two games), along with St. Edward's Tom Pritchard (35 points, 20 rebounds in two games) and Frankie Dobbs (15 points in the championship game); and Cincinnati St. Xavier's Walt Gibler (24 points in a loss in the semifinals).

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ray Chambers, who hit the last-second shot for the title, and Chillicothe teammate Anthony Hitchens, who passed it to him, headline the 2008 Associated Press Division II all-tournament team announced on Saturday.

Chambers and Hitchens shared the most outstanding player award in the division.

Chambers hit a layup at the buzzer off an assist from Hitchens to give Chillicothe a 70-69 overtime victory over Toledo Libbey.

Chambers had 23 points and eight rebounds and Hitchens had 24 points and eight assists in the final. They ended up with 54 points and 48 points, respectively, in the state tournament.

They were joined on the team by Mr. Basketball William Buford, who had 60 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists in two games for Libbey; teammate Julius Wells, who hit two clutch free throws with 5.1 seconds left in overtime to set the stage for Chambers' late basket; and Poland Seminary's Ben Umbel, who had 28 points in a semifinal loss.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Jake Meyer, a sub who came up big in the final, and reliable Justin Schomaeker share the award as outstanding player on the 2008 Associated Press Division III all-tournament team.

Meyer scored 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 behind the arc in a 62-44 victory over Sugarcreek Garaway in Saturday's title game.

Schomaeker had 15 points, totaling 40 for the Titans' two games at the tournament, hitting 19-of-30 shots from the field.

Joining those two Titans on the team are Garaway's Tyler Gerber, who had 31 points in two games, and Chase Stingel, who hit a 3-pointer from the left corner in the closing seconds to send the Pirates into the title game; and Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph's Klein Harper, with 10 points and 12 rebounds in a semifinal loss.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ryan VanderHorst, a sophomore who came up big in New Knoxville's championship run, is the outstanding player on the 2008 Associated Press Division IV all-tournament team.

VanderHorst was stellar in both of New Knoxville's games and had 13 points along with a game-high nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals in Saturday's 74-52 victory over Worthington Christian in the finale. He was 13-of-20 from the field in the two tournament games, scoring 29 points with 20 rebounds and 10 assists.

Joining him on the squad are teammates Brad Piehl who had 29 points and 13 rebounds in the state tournament and Austin Arnett who had 21 points.

Also on the team are Worthington Christian's Tyler Joseph with 33 points in two games and Bedford Chanel's Lamar McKnight, who scored 21 points and had eight rebounds in a semifinal loss.

The St. Edward Eagles became known for their double-digit comebacks during their run to the Division I state championship game. They did everything they could to make sure they'd need to do the same Saturday night against Newark.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, Greg Avery had a different idea.

Behind 19 first half points from their star forward, the Wildcats built a double digit lead and took a 33-25 lead into halftime in a game where St. Edward was unable to find little first half offense and senior center Tom Pritchard didn't even record an official field goal attempt until the 7:17 mark of the third quarter. The lone bright spot for the Eagles in the first half was senior guard Mike Hartnett who scored 10 points 4-of-6 shooting.

Avery finished the game with 33 points and 11 rebounds and seemed to have an answer every time St. Edward got momentum.

Examples: Tom Pritchard scores with a foul. Following the missed free throw, Avery hit a jump shot.

Want more? Frankie Dobbs hit a three. Greg Avery drove strong and got to the line where he converted two free throws.

When Tom Pritchard fouled out with 4:43 to go (8 points, 3 rebounds), the only thing keeping Newark from hoisting the trophy was the OHSAA's predilection to wait until the clock reads triple zeroes to start handing out the awards.

Despite early pressure by the Eagles, Newark extended to a 48-36 lead aafter three thanks to eight more points from Avery and Tom Pritchard being sent to the bench with his fourth foul at the 3:17 mark of the quarter.

St. Edward comes up empty for the second straight time in Columbus after losing in the state semifinals in 2007.

Dane Kopp contributed 7 points and 11 rebounds for the Wildcats. Rahlin Watson added 10.

The Eagles were paced by Frankie Dobbs' 15 points. Mike Hartnett chipped in 12 in the losing effort.

Ottawa-Glandorf jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, rolling to a 62-44 victory over Garaway in the Division III State Championship at Ohio State's Value City Arena.

The state title was the second in school history for the Titans (23-5), who captured the Division II crown in 2004. But this year's team wasn't expected to duplicate the feat. They were ranked tied for 13th in the state and were forced to beat two of the top three ranked teams in Anna and Garaway on back-to-back nights to accomplish the task.

No problem.

"I'm kinda numb right now," said Ottawa-Glandorf Head Coach Josh Leslie at a post game press conference. "I've been renting a home in Ottawa and now maybe I can buy one."

Garaway (24-4) dug themselves a hole early, turning the ball over six times in the first four minutes of the game. Ottawa-Glandorf took advantage of the miscues and jumped out to a 13-1 lead less than halfway into the first quarter.

"We tried to turn them over in transition and get them to play our style," Leslie explained. "If we get up on any team (early) we're pretty tough to beat."

The Pirates settled down to close out the session, hitting four of five shots in the final four minutes of the first and slicing the Ottawa-Glandorf lead to 18-12 after one.

The Jake Meyer show then began, as the reserve forward for Ottawa-Glandorf came off the bench to score ten quick points, including a pair of three pointers and a one-handed dunk, to push the Titans' lead back out to 30-14.

"It says alot about him," stated Leslie when asked about one of his best players coming off the bench. "He's bought into it and our rotation makes us that much better."

Meyer curtailed a 9-2 Garaway run in the final minutes of the first half with his third three pointer, this time from the left baseline with 40 seconds left to keep the Titans' lead in double-digits.

Ottawa-Glandorf shot a blistering 61-percent in the first half and caused 13 Garaway turnovers.

The ten minute haltime intermission didn't seem to cool off Meyer (21 points), who came out firing in the second half. The 6-foot-4 senior scored two quick buckets to help extend the Titans' advantage to 20 points midway through the third period. Classmate Justin Schomaeker, the star of Friday's semifinal win, also added a pair of baskets and finished with 15 points and four assists.

Despite the efforts of freshman center Paul Honigford (12 points, 12 rebounds) and senior point guard Tyler Gerber (15 points, 3 steals), Garaway wasn't able to mount a serious comeback down the stretch. A jumper by Gerber with 2:58 remaining cut the deficit to 13 points, but that would be as close as they got.

It was the second time in less than a week that Garaway hoisted the state runner-up trophy. On Monday, the Pirates' girls basketball team fell to Versailles in the Division III final. They were the only school in the state to have both teams reach the state tournament.

Tony Meyer knew Saturday afternoon would be special.

"Tony said he could drop a couple [threes], so I said 'Go ahead,'" said New Knoxville coach Dan Hegemier.

Meyer shot 4-for-6 on three-pointers, including 3-for-3 in the first quarter, as New Knoxville used the three-pointer early then attacked Worthington Christian inside in the second half on their way to capturing the Division IV state championship Saturday afternoon, 74-52, over Worthington Christian.

"When they just kept dropping for me I was like, 'I just gotta keep shooting,'" said Meyer.

The Rangers shot 7-for-12 from behind the three-point line in the first half but shot just four three-pointers in the second half en route to the school's first state championship.

The Rangers shot 5-for-6 on three-pointers in the first quarter.

But it wasn't just shooting for New Knoxville. The Rangers held Worthington Christian junior Brian Becker to just six points on 2-for-8 shooting. The Warriors shot 37.5% in the second half.

"They have five guys that flat-out understand both sides of the floor," said Warriors coach Kevin Weakley.

Worthington Christian joined the three-point contest in the second quarter, hitting four three-pointers of their own, including three by senior guard Tyler Joseph on his way to 11 points in the second quarter. The Warriors shot 5-for-10 from three in the first half, but were only able to hit on 4-for-15 in half number two, the last a meaningless make at the buzzer.

Worthington Christian was paced by Zach Joseph's 18 and Tyler Joseph's 16.

Five players scored in double figures for New Knoxville, including 16 from junior center Brad Piehl and 12 each from junior forward Caleb Allen and 12 from Meyer.

New Knoxville led 38-29 at the half before outscoring Worthington Christian 36-23 in the second half.

A crowd of 14,498 collectively held their breath as the ball hung on the rim and the buzzer pierced the deafening silence.

Ray Chambers' layup with under a second to play in overtime gave Chillicothe an improbable 70-69 victory over Toledo Libbey in the Division II State Championship at Ohio State's Value City Arena.

In a back-and-forth affair, it took an extra session and the full 36 minutes to determine a winner.

After Toledo Libbey's Julius Wells calmly sank two free thows with 5.1 seconds left to stake the Cowboys to a 69-68 lead, it was the heroics of Chambers and fellow senior standout Anthony Hitchens on the final memorable play.

Hitchens took a short inbound pass from under the Chillicothe basket and blazed his way down the court, weaving around Libbey defenders. At the Libbey free throw line, he delivered a perfect bounce pass to Chambers, whose lay-in bounced around the rim before finally dropping through the cylinder.

"It was crazy, man." said a jubilant Chambers after the game. "I just threw it up there. I thought I missed it."

The game featured two of Ohio's finest in Hitchens and Toledo Libbey's William Buford, recently named Mr. Basketball. The All-Ohioans were like prize fighters, trading haymakers until only one was left standing.

And that was Hitchens.

The electric Hitchens finished with 24 points, six rebounds, eight assists and four steals. Buford ended his high school career in style, delivering 29 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Chillicothe Head Coach Gary Kellough had nothing but praise for the two stars.

"Anthony is just a tremendous point guard," he said. "He's lightning off the dribble and he's got the ability to finish."

"And Buford, well, I'd like to have him on my team," he said with a smile. "He created so many problems for us."

Chillicothe jumped out to an early 7-4 lead, but Hitchens picked up two fouls in the first 2:30.

"I told coach don't take me out," said Hitchens. "I got two cheap ones early but I didn't want to be out of the game."

Kellough trusted his star, as Hitchens stayed in the game and remained effective. The 5-foot-9 dynamo tallied 4 points, two assists, and two steals in the first eight minutes but the Cavaliers found themselves behind on the scoreboard.

The pace quickened in the second quarter. Hitchens outran several Libbey defenders on the break and dished to forward Ray Chambers for a dunk to put Chillicothe back in the lead, but Buford responded with a driving layup seconds later and Wells hammered a two-handed dunk off a picturesque feed from Buford to spark a 7-0 Libbey run and 33-24 halftime advantage.

Lance Jones appeared to give Libbey all the momentum with 5:02 left in the third with an impressive driving dunk over a Chillicothe defender to stake the Cowboys to a 14-point lead. But a hustling Ray Chambers cut the Libbey lead to single digits at 44-35 after scooping up an offensive rebound and completing a three-point play several possessions later.

Chillicothe's comeback efforts continued and the Libbey lead dwindled to 49-45 on consecutive three pointers by Hitchens later in the quarter.

Hitchens hit two free throws to pull Chillicothe to within one at 56-55 with under four minutes remaining and then hit a pull-up jumper in the lane to put the Cavaliers in the lead for the first time since early in the first quarter.

"I thought our press energized us," Kellough said. "We were fortunate that when we got down big we were able to fight back and make some plays."

Hitchens no-look dish to Ron Smith under the basket yielded a layup and broke a 58-58 tie with just under a minute left. Ray Chambers added two free throws and Chillicothe led 62-58 heading down the stretch.

Buford wasn't ready to throw in the towel yet and drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the arc with 26.4 left to pull the Cowboys to within one at 62-61.

After Caleb Knights split a pair of free throws, Brad Sandridge stroked a 15-footer from the left wing with 2.4 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

The state title was the first in school history for Chillicothe who ended their season with a 25-2 record.

Kellough thinks its a monumental day for not only his team, but the entire community.

"It's been a long time since the city has had anything like this."

Toledo Whitmer did their best to keep things interesting, but Cody Dennison was too much for the Panthers in the second Division I semifinal of the night. Dennison scored 22 points along with 5 rebounds and 4 assists and hounded Whitmer gunner Ryne Smith on the defensive end in Newark's 63-44 win. The Wildcats will play Lakewood St. Edward in the Division I championship game Saturday night.

Whitmer, down by as many as 21 early in the third quarter, fought back to within 9 thanks to an Antwan Willis and one with 7:47 to play in the game, but Dennison, a 5'10" junior, used a mix of jump shots and drives to keep Whitmer at bay.

Newark pulled away from the Panthers in the second quarter when they outscored Whitmer 13-3 in the final 3:06 of the first half. Dennison scored 10 of his points in the frame, while senior Greg Avery (16 points, 9 rebounds) scored eight in the quarter. Newark carried a 36-22 edge into halftime.

The Wildcats' Rahlin Watson, in foul trouble early in the 1st quarter, finished with 13 points.

Early on, Newark was able to get to the rim with relative ease in the opening quarter. The Wildcats led 13-8 after one. Whitmer had closed to 9-8 with just over a minute to play, but a Will McCoy (2 points, 4 rebounds) basket and Dennison steal and driving lay up kept Newark on top.

Whitmer was paced by Willis' 16 points and 9 rebounds. Smith added 12, but shot just 4-for-12 from the field.

There couldn't have been two points sweeter to Tom Pritchard.

Battling frustration, jawing from anyone on the floor wearing blue and a raucous St. Xavier student section, Pritchard scored 26 points, the exclamation point a fast break dunk with 1:32 to play in the ballgame and a shout for Xavier's Walt Gibler upon landing.

"I wanted to throw it down," said Pritchard, "get my team some energy to finish the game."

Walt Gibler scored 24 points for St. Xavier, but it wasn't enough as the Eagles advance to play the winner of Toledo Whitmer vs. Newark in Saturday night's Division I state championship game following their 68-59 state semifinal victory.

Pritchard and the Eagles turned a 35-25 first half deficit on its head in the third quarter thanks to a 13-0 run behind the play of Pritchard (14 rebounds) and Frankie Dobbs (16 points, 5 assists) in continuing their improbable tournament run. St. Ed didn't lead in the ballgame until 2:37 to play in the third when a Tom Pritchard and-one gave them a 40-39 edge. Dobbs then hit a three ball after an X turnover coming out of a subsequent timeout to make it 43-39 St. Edward.

"It was all about attitude," said Eagles coach Eric Flannery of his team's turnaround. "It was all about intensity."

Only a Ryan Shiverdecker (9 points) three with 36 seconds in the quarter helped St. X salvage an otherwise disastrous quarter that ended with them trailing 43-42.

Brad Loesing chipped in 17 for the Bombers.

"We ran into an offensive juggernaut in the second half," said St. Xavier coach Scott Martin.

St. Xavier used a 7-0 run and a plethora of early easy looks inside to jump out to a 17-6 lead. But the Bombers were unable to score over the last 2:59 of the quarter and St. Ed closed the lead to 17-11 at the end of the first frame.

St. Edward got as close as three points at 21-18 in the second thanks to Conor Tilow's personal 5-0 run highlighted by a steal and fast break lay-up. But St. Xavier outscored the Eagles 6-0 over the final 1:46 of the half to take a 35-25 lead into the locker room. The Bombers shot 66% from the field in the first half, highlighted by Walt Gibler's perfect 4-for-4 on his way to 14 first half points.

But the second half told a different story for the Bombers.

Despite being an underdog on paper, Ottawa-Glandorf wasn't going to let records, rankings, or stats tell the story.

Justin Schomaeker scored 26 points and Jake Meyer chipped in with 13 crucial second-half tallies to lead the Titans to a 65-57 victory over Anna in the second Division III semifinal game at OSU's Value City Arena.

Anna, which entered the game boasting a 25-1 record and ranked second in the state, fell behind early and wasn't able to dig its way out of the hole.

Ottawa-Glandorf started out the game on fire, hitting five of their first eight shots and jumping out to an early 10-0 lead 3:23 into the contest. Meanwhile, Anna found the rims uninviting, missing their first ten shots and failing to score until the 3:58 mark of the first quarter.

The Rockets then settled down, hitting five of their next six shots and knotting the game at 16-16 with 5:21 remaining in the second. The Rockets got a spark from reserve forward Zach Clark, who tallied six points and two rebounds in a stint off the bench.

Ottawa-Glandorf pushed their lead back out to double digits at 31-21 with under a minute left behind 6-1 forward Tyler Schomaeker, who knocked down six of his first nine shots, and scrappy guard Taylor Pothast who parlayed three steals into points.

Schomaeker continued his torrid play into the second half, hitting a variety of jumpers and one-handers in the lane to keep the Titans with a comfortable lead. His drive and bucket with 2:48 left in the third quarter gave him 20 points on the game and extended Ottawa-Glandorf's lead to 43-30, their largest of the contest.

It appeared Anna had stolen away the momentum early in the fourth cutting the Ottawa-Glandorf advantage to 47-42. However, reserve forward Jake Meyer sank two consecutive three pointers to push the Titans' lead back to 53-44 with just under six minutes remaining.

Anna refused to fold, fighting its way back into contention. Senior guard Jade Billing nailed a three pointer at the 3:40 mark, cutting the Rockets' deficit to only three points at 55-52.

That would be as close as they would get, as Meyer hit another three-pointer with 2:35 left and put the game out of reach with a layup in the final minute.

Anna, who was making their first ever state tournament appearance, ended their best season in school history with a 25-2 record.

Ottawa Glandorf (22-5), despite never cracking the AP Top 10 this season, will play Garaway on Saturday for the Division III title.

Chase Stingel's three pointer from the corner with 0.5 seconds left gave Garaway a 50-47 victory over Villa Angela-St. Joseph in a Division III State Semifinal Friday morning in Columbus.

In a back-and-forth affair pitting the co-Ohio Division III Players of the Year, VASJ's Nate Barnes and Garaway's Tyler Gerber, it was Stingel who stole the show. The senior guard finished with a game-high 16 points (6-8 FG, 4-6 3pt).

With 5:30 to play in the game, VASJ took their first lead since early in the second quarter on a three-point play by senior guard Brian Jenkins at 45-44. The pace then slowed to a crawl, as each team went scoreless over the next four minutes.

Barnes' two free throws extended the VASJ lead to 47-44 with 1:33 remaining, but Stingel's deep three pointer on the ensuing possession hit nothing but net, deadlocking the game at 47 a piece heading into the final minute and foreshadowing things to come.

VASJ Head Coach Dave Wojciechowski decided to hold the ball for the final shot, but senior forward Ashen Ward lost his dribble out of bounds with 13.4 seconds left, turning the ball back over to Garaway for the final memorable possession.

The teams traded buckets throughout most of the opening quarter thanks to some ferocious offensive rebounding. VASJ pulled down five on the offensive glass in the first four minutes while Garaway responded with three offensive boards.

The offense picked up in the final two minutes of the first stanza. After Tyler Gerber and Ashen Ward traded 3-pointers, Stingel nailed a trey from the left wing to give Garaway a 12-9 lead. But VASJ responded quickly, as Ward dished to 6-foot-7 center Klein Harper, who flushed home a two-handed dunk to cut into the Pirates' lead as the first quarter ended.

The Vikings regained the lead 17-14 on two consecutive slams by Harper to open the second quarter. The lead didn't last long, however, as Gerber nailed a three-pointer and was fouled on the shot. His free throw completed the four-point play and the Pirates were back on top 20-17 with 4:38 to play in the first half.

Gerber staked the Pirates to a 30-25 advantage with 1:47 left with his third three-pointer of the half. An impressive drive to the basket by Garaway's 6-8 freshman Paul Honigford tacked on two more.

Ashen Ward closed out a furious final two minutes of play with his second three-pointer of the first half, cutting the VASJ deficit to 32-28 at the half.

Garaway couldn't shake VASJ, who continued to hang around thanks to Ward's stellar play. He drilled a three and hit a pull-up jumper from the right baseline to trim Garaway's lead to 38-37 midway through the third.

Junior David Gerber, younger brother of Tyler, sank a layup to push the Garaway lead to 42-39 with under 30 seconds remaining in the third. But VASJ tied the game heading to the fourth on a deep three-pointer by Barnes right before the horn sounded.

VASJ, who was making their eleventh state tournament appearance in school history, entered the game ranked seventh in the state. They close their season with a 21-5 record.

Third-ranked Garaway (24-3) will take on the winner of the Anna-Ottawa Glandorf semifinal matchup on Saturday for the Division III State Championship.

New Knoxville started fast in their Division IV semifinal matchup against Wayne Trace and never looked back. The Rangers will play Worthington Christian in the championship game Saturday afternoon following their 62-41 win over the Wayne Trace Raiders.

The Rangers were paced by Ryan VanderHorst's 16 points and 11 rebounds in a game in which the fourth quarter was merely a formality. Aaron Hockenberry led Wayne Trace with 14 points.

New Knoxville finished the first quarter on a 10-2 run, opening a 16-6 lead thanks to a 58% shooting clip in the quarter. The Rangers looked to run off every Wayne Trace miscue as the Raiders opened the game shooting a chilly 25%. Ryan VanderHorst scored 6 in the opening frame.

Wayne Trace closed to within 19-14 midway through the second, but turnovers and missed opportunities put a halt to their attempts at drawing closer by the break. New Knoxville went into the locker room leading 25-14.

Wayne Trace pulled to within 8 on an and-one by New Knoxville's Aaron Hockenberry, but a jumper just inside the 3-point line by Vanderhorst helped spark a 13-0 run to end the quarter with a 46-25 lead.

Brad Piehl added 13 points and 7 rebounds for New Knoxville while Austin Arnett chipped in 11.

Just when Chanel thought they had some momentum, Brian Hecker took it away.

In a half where Chanel did just enough to stay within striking distance of the Warriors, it appeared Jo'Vaughn Brown had given the Firebirds reason to think they could advance past Worthington Christian in the first Division IV semifinal matchup of the night when he split a double team and laid the ball in along with a foul late in the first half. A missed free throw and a 30-foot bomb at the horn from Hecker later and Chanel found themselves back in a nine point hole headed to the locker room.

Behind Hecker's 17 points and 8 rebounds and the sharpshooting of Tyler Joseph (17 points, 5 3 pointers), Worthington Christian advanced to the Division IV state championship game with a 66-58 win over Bedford St. Peter Chanel.

"I have no idea how that went in," said Hecker of the shot. "I didn't even see it go in."

Worthington Christian opened the second half on a 5-0 run to stretch the lead to double digits, where it stayed for most of the third until Brown hit a three late in the quarter to cut Chanel's deficit to eight. Chanel's Arthur Jordan did most of his damage in the third as well, scoring 8 of his 13 points. Worthington's Brady Beals split a pair of free throws for Worthington Christian to stake them to a 51-42 lead after three.

Chanel used an agressive press in the fourth and a Lamar McKnight three from the top of the key to pull within 51-47 with just under 7:00 left. But Warriors' sophomore point guard Zach Joseph made a pair of free throws and set up senior Bob Condon on a backdoor feed to push Worthington Christian's lead back out to 55-47 three minutes into the quarter. Chanel was unable to get closer than six points the rest of the way.

"Just when you thought we were going to get over the hump, we missed a shot or they made a play," said Chanel coach Bernie Tarr of his team's inability to close the gap on the Warriors.

Tyler Joseph paced the Warriors early in the game hitting on three first quarter 3-pointers as Worthington Christian led 19-13 after one.

Chanel managed to not lose much ground in the second quarter but was unable to dent the Worthington Christian lead until Brown's and-one opportunity with 4 seconds left in the half. But Hecker, just like Worthington Christian seemed to all night, found a way to keep the Firebirds just out of reach.

"You don't ever exhale," said Worthington coach Kevin Weakley. "We won't be able to exhale until Saturday night."