The Buckeye 8 Challenge descends upon Harrison Central High School in Cadiz this weekend as four exciting matchups highlight a day’s worth of boys’ basketball.
Sponsored by the Milestone Company and Woodsfield Savings Bank, the ninth edition of the Buckeye 8 Challenge gets underway at noon with conference member St. Clairsville facing off against MVL Small School Power Meadowbrook. That’s followed by Union Local taking on West Virginia perennial small school stalwart Wheeling Central at 4 p.m., with the host Huskies taking on Caldwell at 4 p.m.
Capping the night will be the high-powered Linsly Cadets against Ohio Division I’s Battling Bees of Medina to close out the festivities at 6 p.m.
For the basketball junkies in the area, it’s certainly a bargain at only $7 for an all-day ticket.
“That’s the thing, we don’t want to charge an arm and a leg for people to get in,” said Justin Clifford, St. Clairsville’s Athletics Director and lead organizer for the Buckeye 8 Challenge. “Literally everything that’s made goes back to the kids and it’s been a pretty good event and worked out well the last nine years.”
While neither of the final two teams is a member of the Buckeye 8, that’s not by accident. Linsly is not a Buckeye 8 member, but the Cadets are a local team, with a good following and a roster usually loaded with talent.
They came over during the 2021 Buckeye 8 Challenge in a similar set-up, facing a tough Dover Tornadoes team. So, while the bulk of the matchups feature a Buckeye 8 member, it’s not a necessity that they all do. This is, at its base level, a basketball showcase.
“We started doing that a few years ago, bringing in some bigger schools and some other valley teams,” Clifford said. “Sometimes, the teams have some sort of connection to the valley like with Delaware Hayes or Hamilton Township.
“We reach out to good teams and everybody likes it. We take care of the kids, get them some merch, and things like that,” he said. “I’m proud to say that I can be somewhere during the summer or winter months and I’ll see a Buckeye 8 challenge shirt. It makes you feel good.”
St. Clairsville native Adam Vincenzo is a coach at Delaware Hayes while Shadyside’s Billy Merryman was the lead man at Hamilton, hence the local connection.
Teams and Talent
No such connection for the Bees as head coach Chris Hassinger is a native of Wadsworth.
But his team has packed quite a punch in his nine seasons.
Medina is two years removed from going 25-0 and reaching the Division I state semifinals before falling to eventual state champion Centerville, 63-49, in a state semifinal matchup. This season Medina is 3-1 with its only blemish a narrow loss to Lakewood St. Edwards. The Battling Bees are led by 6-4 junior guard Brock Beech.
One big name who area basketball fans should know—and if they don’t it’s time to come out from under a rock—is Caldwell senior Bede Lori.
Lori, who’s averaging well over 20 points per game for head coach Clint Crane’s Redksins, has already entered his final season as the state’s all-time leader in single-season free throw percentage. He then added another notch on his record belt, setting the consecutive free-throw mark back in November during a game against Buckeye Trail.
More than just a steady hand at the line, Lori is a complete player who has started since his freshman season and was named third-team all-Ohio in 2022.
The Colts, who square off against St. C. in the afternoon opener at noon, lost quite a bit of talent from last season’s team, led by the departure of all-Ohio Jake Singleton.
Only two letter winners return in Dayne Singleton and Easton Eibel. Speaking of OVAC connections, the Colts are led by former Beallsville standout Terryn Jarrett, who’s in his second season as head coach after serving as an assistant to Lou “Scooter” Tolzda, currently the head girls’ coach at Union Local.
Keeps Going Strong
One year away from its 10th edition, the Buckeye 8 Challenge has survived COVID, a venue change, and it is still going strong, providing a quality one-day showcase of basketball.
Given the “challenge” in the name, one might question why it’s not pitting, say, the Buckeye 8 against another similarly situated conference in terms of size.
When asked, Clifford said that actually was the idea.
“Originally, that was our thought,” Clifford said. “We tried to make it the Buckeye 8 against the IVC, and just play against those teams, but with league schedules, it was hard to get the schedules to line up to make it happen.
“So we went in a different route.”
The Inter Valley Conference (IVC) is just a bit west and northwest of the OVAC footprint, although conference members Buckeye Trail and Conotton Valley also call the IVC home.
With teams like Hiland and Garaway in the conference, among others, it could have made for some exciting matchups. The same could be said of bringing in Muskingum Valley schools, a conference Meadowbrook is already a part of.
But the current format obviously works, as does the challenge’s new home at Harrison Central high school.
The first years of the Buckeye 8 Challenge were spent inside the gymnasium at Ohio University Eastern. But when the new, picturesque HCHS complex was completed, the challenge switched locales.
It made sense for Clifford, then the head coach of the host Huskies.
“I think this is the third year at (Harrison Central),” Clifford said. “I was coaching there, which was one of the reasons we moved it, but now, with the OVAC being there, at least last year and this year, some of the teams playing (Saturday) potentially will be playing for an OVAC title and they can get a game in on the court, prior to the tournament.”
For more information, visit the tournament on Twitter here.
