Buckeye Trail head boys basketball coach Drew Meister wanted to set up a holiday-style tournament for his Warriors to host this December.
There was a major stumbling block, and, for once, it wasn’t COVID-related. The holidays themselves, both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, fall on a Friday.
That didn’t do Meister any favors when trying to establish a multi-day, weekend tournament.
But thanks to some creativity and a large amount of leeway from athletics director Aaron Bates, Meister managed to come up with a quality schedule for the inaugural OVAC Classic.
“The scheduling really took some creativity and diligence, and I have to give our AD, Aaron Bates, credit because he allows his coaches to create their own schedule, which we appreciate,” Meister said.
“Because of when the holidays fell, we felt the first weekend in December was the ideal fit for us.”
The 2020 OVAC Classic is set for Friday and Saturday, December 4-5 at Buckeye Trail High School in Old Washington.
Friday’s lineup kicks off with a junior varsity matchup between the host Warriors and Caldwell at 5 p.m. That will be followed by two varsity contests featuring Linsly against Caldwell at 6:30 and Buckeye Trail squaring off against Shadyside at 8.
The next day, the Lady Warriors get into the act and take on Newcomerstown at 1 p.m., followed by a pair of junior varsity matchups: Dover v. Caldwell and Cambridge vs. Buckeye Trail.
Finally, Cambridge and Linsly face off at 5:30 p.m. before Trail ends the two-day event with a game against Dover at 7.
But first off, what sparked the idea of having this tournament. Usually these types of events you see more toward the holidays, but this seems earlier enough that it’s a kickoff.
Flexibility
While some teams are playing two games in two nights, others are coming for just one in a departure from the normal two-day setup from a regular bracketed holiday tournament.
Meister felt it best to provide some flexibility in the scheduling.
“It’s hard to find a team that is in a position to play two road games without a return commitment the following year,” Meister said. “With that in mind, we felt it was important to extend teams some flexibility to get the event off the ground with hopes of tweaking it as needed moving forward.”
While a number of teams are from the immediate Guernsey, Noble, and Muskingum county areas, Meister did reach out beyond the nearby geographic footprint to bring in other quality area teams.
“We do have a lot of geography represented, which will hopefully invite partnerships with a larger footprint to make this a first-class event,” Meister said. “More than anything though, we wanted to attract solid teams with OVAC ties to the event, and I think we nailed both of those objectives.”
One bit of good news is Kaleb Graham Productions has signed on to provide game coverage and live streaming of all the events, providing another avenue for fans to watch the game who might have otherwise not been able to.
Interesting Matchups
One thing is for certain; if Meister is looking for an early season measuring stick for his own team, he’s found it.
The Shadyside boys program is a small-school OVAC power year in and year out, so Friday’s game will be spirited.
Then the Warriors come back the following night and tangle with the Dover Tornadoes, a Division I school in basketball.
“Coaches are always jockeying for position in these events, but really, everybody showed great flexibility, and we are excited to match-up with some teams outside of our traditional schedule,” Meister said.
“When you commit to something like this as a coach, you are looking to get something out of it for your team, and, in this case, I think everyone involved wants to measure their teams against high-caliber competition.
“Anytime you match up with a program like Dover, you know they’re going to make you earn everything and our guys will be
