Sports

Things were starting to look pretty grim for the Euclid Panther football team—and also for the VASJ Vikings’ chances of earning a playoff spot this year. Both squads were mired in losing streaks with the season more than half gone.

But last weekend, both teams buckled down and rewarded their loyal fans with sorely needed victories on the road.

The Panther gridders, who had lost five straight after beating a solid Strongsville team in the season opener, edged host Shaker Heights, 20-14, on the strength of quarterback Chuck Bradford’s three touchdowns, including the winning score in overtime.

PHOTO CAPTIONS FOR VASJ FOOTBALL STORIES….   

Euclid Youth Hockey Association invites any boy or girl age 4 - 14 to come play hockey for free from 2:45 - 4:15 on Saturday, September 25, 2010.  EYHA will loan all of the gear for participants to use during the event including helmet with full face mask, padding, skates and stick.  The event will take place at C. E. Orr Ice Arena which is the big gray building across from the YMCA on Babbit Rd between downtown Euclid and Route 90.

Once upon a time, the Euclid YMCA boasted one of the largest swim teams in the Northeast Ohio Swim League. But apparently because the Euclid pool is undersized – 20 yards long, rather than the regulation 25 yards required these days – that all came to an end.

So the local Y had a very nice pool, but no competitive swim team. Then the program was revived a year or so ago – but, for some reason, the effort was abandoned. However, the Euclid YMCA once again has a swim team—well, about half of one, anyway. Because its numbers are small, the Euclid Y had to team up with the Hillcrest Y to field a full swim team. “Right now there are nine kids on the Euclid team,” reports Jacqueline (Jacque) Vogt, a John Carroll University graduate who is now the YMCA’s aquatics director. “But we are looking for more.”

The Euclid Recreation Department held its first ever kick-ball tournament on Aug. 21 as a fundraiser to raise money for Pediatric Cancer Research. Kick*It, a non-profit sister organization of Flashes of Hope, assisted the rec department with this event, where four teams helped raise over $500. Teams included youth football players, a coed softball team from the Euclid Friday night league and a team of Euclid residents who wanted to have fun on a Saturday morning and help raise money for a great cause.

The Euclid Recreation Department is looking forward to progressing with Kick*It and holding the tournament every year, making it bigger and better to raise as much money as possible. Donations can still be made by going to http://www.kick-it.org/events/support and scrolling down to Euclid Rec Kicks Cancer game tab. If you have any questions or suggestions for next year, please contact Ben Perpar at (216) 289-8114 (Opt 8).

The voice on the other end of the phone Sunday night belonged to John Storey, the veteran Villa Angela-St. Joseph football and wrestling coach, now in his second tour of duty as the Vikings’ gridiron boss. Even without seeing his face, you could sense that he was smiling and had a twinkle in his eye.

And why not?  Only a day earlier, his football squad had recorded a lopsided 45-13 victory over Tuscarawas Central Catholic on the road, boosting the Vikings’ record to 2-1.

During a recent practice session of the Villa Angela-St. Joseph football team, Phil Wellington was sitting in his car in the parking lot listening to music. He’d much rather have been out on the practice field with his teammates, but the senior running back and linebacker was nursing a knee injury.

An honors student and also a star wrestler for the Viking mat squad, he sustained the injury during a summer “open mat” wrestling practice session.

Euclid Youth Hockey Association invites any boy or girl age 4 - 15 to come play hockey for free from 2:45 - 4:15 p.m. Sept. 25. EYHA will loan all of the gear for participants to use during the event, including helmet with full face mask, padding, skates and stick. The event will take place at C. E. Orr Ice Arena which is the big gray building across from the YMCA on Babbitt Road.

Euclid resident Samantha Lisy, 14, was selected to be a member of the Lake Erie Zone Team that competed in the 2010 USA Central Zone Championship Meet in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Zone Meet showcases top swimmers who qualified with AAA National times. This event invites qualifying swimmers from nine states representing 10 local swim committees throughout USA Swimming’s Central Zone region. Participating teams include Lake Erie (Ohio), Midwestern (Nebraska), Arkansas, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri Valley, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ozark, and South Dakota. This year’s event took place Aug. 6 through 8.

Euclid played host to the Suburban Swim League (SSL) Championships, Aug. 8, as 995 swimmers and their families took over Memorial Pool and the surrounding park for the annual event. The culmination of a summer of swimming for 10 local city teams with swimmers competing in events up to age 15, the SSL Championships was a two day event split between two local community pools. The event started Saturday in Willoughby and continued Sunday at Memorial Pool. Euclid last hosted the event in 2006 as part of its rotation within the league.

Anyone staging a major baseball tournament – like the Continental Amateur Baseball Association’s High School World Series recently hosted by Euclid – has to be prepared for an occasional glitch or two. For example, the monsoon-like downpour that forced suspension of the Euclid team’s first night game after just one inning.

The lights come on for another season of Euclid Panther football August 26, as the Strongsville Mustangs invade Euclid. This season’s opener will be a Thursday evening game, in order to be televised. Coach Tom Gibbons and his staff have worked extremely hard once again to continue the great Euclid Panther football tradition. It promises to be another exciting season, as the Panthers vie for the Lake Erie League honors, and spot in the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) playoffs.

When was the last time you were excited about sharing some good news with someone regarding an unfamiliar thing or place? Maybe it was a new vacation spot or a new restaurant you stumbled upon. Maybe it was educational, cultural or even spiritual. But it was unique and refreshing. Three years ago our family had the experience of discovering some good news in Euclid. This is when we discovered two programs sponsored by the city of Euclid Recreation Department.

After starting off with a bang in the C.A.B.A. High School World Series, the Euclid squad representing American Legion Post 343 failed to survive the six-game round-robin stage and, thus, did not qualify for the double-elimination championship playoffs.

RTA will offer extra rail service for all 10 Browns home games this year. It’s easy to get to the game.

• Hop on the HealthLine, ride to Tower City, and transfer to the Waterfront Line.
• Park for free at many rail stations on the Red, Blue and Green lines.
• Ride the Red Line to Tower City, and transfer to the Waterfront Line.
• Ride the Blue and Green lines. All light-rail trains will continue on and serve the Waterfront Line. Take that to the West Third Street Station, directly across the street from a Stadium entrance.

For the 24th year in a row, Euclid will be the primary host city for the Continental Amateur Baseball Association’s (C.A.B.A.) annual classic – the High School “World Series” -- beginning July 23 at Euclid’s Memorial Park

The tournament, which in the past has showcased dozens of talented young players who later went on to fame and fortune with major league teams, will feature about 50 teams from 12 different states across the eastern and mid-west United States. Each team will play six games in a round-robin format over the first three days, with the top 16 advancing to a double-elimination playoff that will determine the overall champion.

Round-robin action will include games at 8 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m., 5 p.m., and “under the lights” at 8 p.m. at Paul Serra Field, behind Euclid City Hall. The tournament will follow a similar schedule for games played at Kurt Stanic Field, next to Euclid High School, except there will be no 8 p.m. games since the field isn’t lighted. Memorial Park Diamond No. 4 will also host round-robin games, as will ballparks at Richmond Heights, Eastlake North, Willoughby South, Mentor, Lake Catholic, Ravenna, Kenston and Kent State University.

When Ed Carpenter led the campaign to bring the Continental Amateur Baseball Association’s High School World Series to Euclid in the mid-1980s, he may not have realized that he was getting himself involved in a long-term commitment. Yet that’s the way things turned out – and 24 years later, he’s still the driving force that keeps the baseball classic returning to this city.

The Memorial Day weekend marked the highlight of Euclid Youth Soccer Organization’s (EYSO) season as the group hosted its annual Memorial Classic soccer tournament. This was the 17th year for the tournament, and with more than 40 teams from throughout Northeast Ohio and from areas up to two-hour drive time from Euclid, the EYSO tournament is the showcase event for the volunteer run soccer group that organizes a local league for children ages 5-17.

The Euclid High Panther girls’ track team captured the Lake Division crown at the Lake Erie League championship meet at Bedford Stadium May 11 - 13. Emily Sweet, Jennifer Brown, Kamari Jackson and Kayla Whitlow helped get things started with a victory in the 4x800 meter relay on the first day of the event, crossing the finish line in 9:47.48 — three seconds ahead of second-place Shaker Heights. 

With district and regional meets on the horizon, the Euclid Panthers’ boys and girls track teams are looking forward to several key “tune-up” events over the next few weeks. 

Following an April 28 home dual meet against arch-rival Mentor, the Panther athletes will be hosting their biggest home event of the season—the 58th annual Euclid Relays—on Friday May 7. The long-running and highly regarded track spectacle will feature seven boys teams and seven girls teams. Action will get under way with field events at 3:30 p.m., followed by the running events at 6 p.m.

C.E. Orr Arena, home of the Euclid Youth Hockey Association, will be decorated with four brand new, Division Championship Banners for the 2009-10 season. All four EYHA travel level teams were successful in winning division championships for the regular season. This level of success is significant, not just for Euclid, but within the entire Cleveland Suburban Hockey League. According to Hockey Director, Rick Kish, no other organization in the CSHL had the level of success that Euclid experienced this season. Two of the four teams then went on to claim Play-Off Championships and one was the Play-Off Runner-Up. Even the Panther Tracks 1 group, with the average age of 5, is technically undefeated having won their first (and only so far) scrimmage which was against Shaker Heights.
 
If you'd like to get your son or daughter involved in hockey, it's never too early or too late to start. Your child can learn to play in the Panther Tracks programs. Panther Tracks 1 is for ages 4 - 8 and Panther Tracks 2 is for ages 8 - 15. Your child doesn't know how to skate? Most didn't before they started. They can learn to skate as they go under the guidance of the dedicated coaches. Give them a few weeks and you won't believe your eyes! The travel teams are organized as Mites, for players up to age 8, Squirts, ages 9 - 10, Peewees, ages 11 - 12, and Bantams, for ages 13 - 14. 

From  John Sheridan…..CAPTIONS  FOR TRACK MEET PHOTOS