Top Area stories of 2022

In a year of many big local sports stories, Shawnee’s historic Division II boys’ soccer state championship takes the top spot for 2022.

The Indians needed two overtimes and a penalty shootout to earn a 1–0 win over Bexley for their state championship.

Shawnee goaltender Jack Tenwalde stopped three of four Bexley penalties and Austin Miller, Caleb Miller and Sam Tenwalde fired shots past the goaltender in victory.

It is the first state soccer championship by a Lima-area school and only the third by a Northwest Ohio school. The other Northwest Ohio football champions were Ottawa Hills in Division III in 2008 and Archbold in Division III in 2018.

The #2 story in the region is a sad farewell to several of the region’s sporting legends who passed away this year – Lima’s William White, Gary Moeller and Jim Lynch, and Coldwater’s Lou Brunswick and Brian Harlamert.

A Lima Senior graduate, White was a four-year starter at cornerback for Ohio State after being a standout running back in high school. He played six years with the Detroit Lions, three years with the Kansas City Chiefs and two years with the Atlanta Falcons.

A Lima Senior graduate, Moeller was an Ohio State captain who went on to become the head coach of football for Illinois, Michigan and the Detroit Lions. His Michigan teams have won or shared three Big Ten championships.

Lynch, a Catholic graduate of Lima Central, was a first-team All-American linebacker at Notre Dame and was a starter for the Kansas City Chiefs for 11 seasons, including their win over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.

Brunswick coached baseball at Coldwater for 35 years. His teams won 750 games and five state championships. Harlamert was the coach of Coldwater Baseball for 25 years. His teams won 531 games and two state championships, and he played on two state championship teams in Coldwater High School.

Story #3 is Lima’s senior grad Xavier Simpson making his NBA debut with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Simpson, a former University of Michigan point guard, averaged 11.0 points and 7.5 rebounds in four games with the Thunder.

He currently plays for Lakeland Magic in the NBA’s G League and is hoping for a chance to return to the NBA.

Perry High School’s Brady Yingst’s dominance of the track is ranked #4 on the list of top local sports stories.

After winning the Division III cross country singles title in the fall of 2021, Yingst won the Division III 1,600-meter dash in 4:10.74 and the 3,200-meter dash in 9:14 at the state track meeting in June ,46.

His time in the 1,600-meter sprint was a Division III state competition record, and he set a Division III overall record at the event with a time of 4:09.20 earlier in the season.

The signing of St. Marys postal player Austin Parks with Ohio State is the No. 5 local story this year. The 6-10 Parks were one of four recruits the Buckeyes signed in November. He averaged 19.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks for St. Marys last season.

Lima Senior, joining the Toledo City League beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, is the No. 6 story of the year.

Lima Senior has been on the hunt for a new home in the league since the Three Rivers Athletic Conference breakup in 2021, when Findlay, Fremont Ross, Toledo Whitmer and Oregon Clay accepted an invitation to join the Northern Lakes League.

Story #7 belongs to another double winner and track record holder, Alexa Fortman of Ottawa-Glandorf. She won the girls Division II 400 meter dash in 55.74 seconds, an OG record, at the State Track Meeting and was also the state champion in the 800 meter dash in a Division II record time of 2:08, 60

The story of No. 8 is well known. Midwest Athletic Conference teams won four state championships in 2022. The MAC has had 149 team state championships since its inception in 1973.

Marion Local won the Division VI soccer state championship, the Flyers’ 13th state title in the sport. Minster was the Division IV state champion in girls’ cross country, her 15th state championship in the sport. And New Bremen won the Division IV volleyball state championship and Division VII football championship.

Winning state championships is always the goal. But consecutive runners-up titles are also a rarity.

The Ottawa-Glandorf girls soccer team and Lincolnview baseball team did so in 2022 as the Titans made state championship games in Division III soccer for the past two seasons and Lincolnview did it in Division IV baseball to make the #9 sports history year to share.

Story #10 involves a leadership change at the Lima Locos. When Matt Furuto stepped down as the team’s head coach, Chad Ehrnsberger returned to that position, which he held from 2013 to 2016.