I gotta plug some upcoming H.S. games. If you're in Athens this weekend, there is a little bit of a fairy tale unfolding that you might want to enjoy.

My alma mater, Fairland, takes on Clay Saturday at 6 p.m., and Chesapeake plays Lucasville Valley at 8 p.m. In case you don't know, Fairland and Chesapeake are in little river towns right next to each other, and are HUUUUUUGE rivals across the board in everything. Chesapeake is a long-time basketball power in this part of the state, and Fairland has always been their little brother in boys basketball.

Well this year the tables are turned, and Fairland is having an amazing season, while Chesapeake is down a little bit (of course, for Chesapeake a down season is a #2 district seed, as opposed to #1). Fairland is extremely fortunate to be having ANY season whatsoever, as the entire athletic program was almost given the death penalty a year ago for some very stupid football recruiting violations.

If both Fairland and Chesapeake win Saturday, they'll face off in the Regional semi-final Wednesday evening at the Convo, in what will probably be the biggest game in either school's history.

Also keep an eye out for the New Philly district title game, Sugarcreek Garaway vs. Berlin Hiland. Two conference rivals and two great small school programs in Division 3. Winner advances to Athens next week.

Here's a look at the Division 3 Regionals which will come to Athens next week:

http://brackets.myohsaa.org/regionalbracket.aspx?t=6364&t...

Worthington Christian and Marion Pleasant round out the field.

Sidebar: New Philly is hosting two District title games this weekend. All four teams (Sugarcreek Garaway, Berlin Hiland, Tuscarawas Central Catholic and Malvern) are from the same conference. Garaway/Hiland face off in Division 3 and TCC/Malvern in Division 4. Each of the schools have had great success in the tournament and are all peaking this season. Malvern is the only one that hasn't made it to state.

Go Dragons. As a fellow Fairland grad, I'd love to see them win. Brings back some fond memories of the old days.
BTW, Fairland was not the little brother in the early sixties. So not always.

My brother's team went to Regionals in D3 at the Convo. One of the best basketball memories I will ever have.

An interesting matchup tonight on the girls' side has Newark meeting Reynoldsburg in a regional championship game as Newark tries to return to the state final four after making it that far last year for the first time in program history. Newark beat Pick Central in the regional semis earlier this week after losing to the Tigers twice during the regular season. They now face a Reynoldsburg team that also beat Newark twice during the regular season.

Newark made the state final four last year behind the program's all-time scoring leader Kim Royster, now playing for the IU Hoosiers. Their second-best player last year was freshman Addriene Crockwell. Crockwell began this school year at Newark but transferred to Reynoldsburg around October (lots of rumors as to why). Crockwell hit a 3 at the buzzer to beat Newark in the teams' first matchup this winter. She later led her team in scoring in the second win v. Newark later in the year.

Do they still have the marathon days in the Convo for this? I remember when I lived there as an RA (06 or 07) that they did SIX games for the price of one (11am to 9pm, tipoff every 2 hours), I think I caught 3 or 4 of them. I thought they had cut back to 4 in a day, but it was still awesome to go and watch.

Less the powers that be, Al, but more than likely the element that can derail the continuation would be Parking Services. Those short sighted buffoons can ruin 100 years of tradition in the name of avarice with no conscience whatsoever.

One other thing about the D-II Tournament:

John Glenn will be a little emotional, as longtime athletic director Dan Adams died last week after a five-month battle with colon cancer. He was only 48. Some of the more local posters on this board may remember him as the athletic director at New Lexington and prior to that the assistant AD at Alexander before he eventually returned to his alma mater at John Glenn.

Dan was also a former manager for OHIO Baseball and then later an Athletic Department employee

I read somewhere that John Glenn beat Akron SVSM on their own court earlier this year. It's possible they could meet for the State title. That would be a helluva game to see.

Because I am a dork, I would watch every high school game played in the Convo as a student in the early/mid 2000s, even when they'd play six games in a day.I had no connection or reference to any of the teams. I went in completely cold. That made it fascinating to me.

With that record and that kind of scoring, you'd think the ghost of Jay Burson was playing again.

I believe the Division IV games are also there.