2019 – 20 League Preview: Lorain County 8
The Lorain County 8 is an athletic conference spanning schools from Ashland and Lorain Counties. The high schools comprising the league include Black River, Brookside, Clearview, Columbia, Firelands, Keystone, Oberlin and Wellington. 5 Players to Watch: (schools are as…
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Continue ReadingThe Lorain County 8 is an athletic conference spanning schools from Ashland and Lorain Counties. The high schools comprising the league include Black River, Brookside, Clearview, Columbia, Firelands, Keystone, Oberlin and Wellington.
5 Players to Watch:
(schools are as of last year – unless PGH is 100% certain that a player has enrolled elsewhere)
Ally Ross – pictured above; photo credit – Morning Journal – Columbia
Jalen Gibbs – Wellington
Lexi Wright – Wellington
Brooke Rebman – Clearview
Sarah Kozik – Black River
4 Thoughts:
Jalen Gibbs and Lexi Wright are back to lead the way for the Wellington Dukes. The Dukes – fresh off of a very successful 2018-2019 season – are the league favorites entering the first year of LC8 competition. Gibbs is an explosive athlete who averaged nearly 18 PPG a season ago. Wellington may need her to produce even more offense, as they try to replace the production lost with the graduations of Alexis Lehmkuhl and Erin Frenk.
Clearview’s Ariana Vazquez and Brooke Rebman are as formidable of a duo as there is in the conference – with both girls possessing All-Ohio talent. Scoring guard Olivia Romes adds another legitimate threat offensively, which the Clippers will need if they want to move into championship contention.
Prior to last season, Keystone has had an outstanding run of girls basketball teams and players. Madi Herrington, Ciara Ramirez, Alexis Bowen and crew will do their best this winter to get their program back to where it was a few years ago – one of the most dominate teams in the area.
There are a number of other outstanding players returning for their teams throughout the Lorain County 8. This list is not limited to, but includes Victoria Jackson from Oberlin, Sarah Kozik and Lydia Wacker from Black River and Jenna Rothman from Brookside.
3 Big Games:
Margaretta @ Wellington on November 26th
Wellington @ Clearview on January 15th
Columbia @ Keystone on February 12th
2 Fun Facts:
This is the inaugural school year for the Lorain County 8. These 8 schools were all formally members of the Patriot Athletic Conference, but decided to form their own league due to travel demands and logistical concerns. Former league-mates Buckeye and Fairview joined the Great Lakes Conference and Brooklyn and Lutheran West joined the Chagrin Valley Conference.
In the past 10 seasons, 5 of the 8 schools in the new Lorain County 8 have won league championships in girls basketball. During this time, Keystone, Clearview, Columbia, Firelands and Wellington have all brought home the top crown in their leagues, while the conference title has alluded Black River, Brookside and Oberlin.
1 League Champion Prediction:
Wellington