5 Bold Predictions: Ohio Heritage Conference
The OHC was happy to see success within the conference. Greeneview made the District Finals and Cedarville made the Elite 8 in Division IV. While both teams lose guys from those teams, it’s not meaning the OHC has dropped any…
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Continue ReadingThe OHC was happy to see success within the conference. Greeneview made the District Finals and Cedarville made the Elite 8 in Division IV. While both teams lose guys from those teams, it’s not meaning the OHC has dropped any relevance with those losses. I expect the conference to continue to be competitive as well as seeing some teams continue to compete at a high level.
1- Cedarville is not going anywhere
Yes the Indians are losing 4 starters and yes 2 of those starters were some of the better scorers in the conference a year ago. But Cedarville has a lot of talent that were role players last year and now can be bigger names. Junior Drew Koning has similarities to his brother Trent who just graduated. His speed and decision making with the ball in his hands is impressive. 6-foot-8 Hayden Hanson (2022) is a mismatch and will force opponents to change their rebounding strategies. Finally, sophomore Tyler Cross Tyler Cross 6'1" | PG Cedarville | 2024 OH should have a bigger role and has a lot of skill untapped. If these role guys can fill into new roles, success isn’t going anywhere.
2- Catholic Central’s ceiling is very high
The Irish lost 6 games total a year ago…3 of the 6 were against Cedarville. Take those games away and Catholic Central likely looks like a top team last year. Fast forward to now and the top 4 returning for the Irish, and you can see why SCC is a contender. But how far can they go? The duo of Tyler Galluch (2023) and Ashton Young (2022) is tough to defend in the OHC and likely in D4 as well. I can see this group replicating what Cedarville did and making a Regional Semifinal with the group they have. The experience is what gets the edge late in the year and the Irish have it.
3- The North is an unknown
The South division was where the heavy talent was a year ago and again it looks this way for 2021. The North is hard to focus on because the talent from a year ago is down. Fairbanks (last season’s champ) lost their top 3 from that team and don’t return much talent. West Liberty-Salem always finds a way to compete and is going to contend. Northeastern made strides a year ago but loses 2 of their top 3. Needless to say, the OHC North is wide open.
4- POY is still an open race
Not much to discuss on this as the conference isn’t known to have a ton of high volume scorers to take this title. Galluch from Catholic Central, Jaden Journell (2022) from Greenon, and Myles Witt (2023) from Greeneview are probably the early favorites but it’s truly up in the air.
5- There’s some sleepers in the OHC
Greenon shouldn’t be forgotten about as they have Journell back and 2 of the top 3 players from a year ago. West Liberty-Salem always competes and this year could be no different. Greeneview lost a lot with Rhett Burtch and Cole Allen, but still have some dudes from their District Runner-Up team that could turn some heads.