Tag Archive for: West Branch

MERCER SHINES IN WARRIORS VICTORY

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BELOIT OH- Sydney Mercer showed her power on Tuesday night as West Branch made quick work of conference for Minerva with a sweep (25-16 25-16 25-16).

In the first set, the opening points told a story of a back and forth match. Although Minerva never led in the set, they also didn’t trail by more than 2. That was until West Branch went on a 5-0 run to push a lead to 20-14. They coasted their way through the rest of the set, scoring 5 of the next 7 points to win 25-16. Sydney Mercer has 6 kills in the set.

The second set was much of the same as the two teams traded points back and forth in the start of the set. Minerva was actually able to grab a couple of one point leads. With the set tied at 14-14 Minerva took a timeout. This plan backfired as the Warriors rattled off seven straight points out of the time out with Bailey Campbell serving. The Warriors used the momentum to win 25-16. Sydney Mercer had another 6 kill set.

The third set belonged to West Branch from the get go. Their middle blockers started to get involved on both the offensive, and defensive sides of the net. Alexa Gusset also contributed a handful of kills from the right side position. West Branch ran away with set three 25-16.

West Branch served extremely well, totaling 11 service aces as a team. Mercer led the team with 13 kills on the night. Mikalyn Fitts finished with 5 kills.

West Branch will travel to Canton South on Thursday to continue conference play.

WARRIORS CROWNED EBC CHAMPS

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BELOIT OH- Even though both teams came in to week 6 undefeated, there was no question who the better team was on Friday between West Branch and Canton South. With the EBC on the line, the Warriors routed their way to a 44-14 victory.

Brock Hillyer went 18 of 24 with 247 yards and 5 touchdowns. Nick Wilson tied the school record for receptions in a game with 7 catches for 109 yards and 4 touchdowns. Dru DeShields intercepted the Wildcats twice.

West Branch is the 3 seed in Division IV Region 13. They await the winner of East Liverpool against Gilmour Academy.

WARRIORS STAY UNDEFEATED

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BELOIT OH- West Branch was flying high into week 5 with a record of 4-0. This coming off a 2019 season where the Warriors won only 2 games. Calling it a turn around would be an understatement as the Warriors faced down their next challenge against East Liverpool. The Warriors traded blows with the Potters back and forth, but eventually found enough plays to win 34-28.

Brock Hillyer returned to the lineup going 16-25 with 208 yards and 3 TDs. Alek Wilson barreled in to the end zone to score what ended up being the game winner with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game. The Warriors ran for a total of 117 yards.

The Potters outgained the Warriors 331-313, but it wasn’t enough to prevail. The ground game was working for East Liverpool as they gained 275 yards on the ground on 40 carries. Howie Williams has 23 of those carries with 188 yards. He scored twice, once on the ground and once through the air.

West Branch now sets their sights on Canton South Friday in a game that will decide the EBC title. The Potters will close out their season next Friday at Edison.

DESHIELDS CARRIES WARRIORS PAST CARROLTON

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CARROLTON OH- Brock Hillyer couldn’t play Friday night as the West Branch quarterback, but that wouldn’t slow them down against a good Carrolton team. Dru DeShields stepped up as a back up and led West  Branch to a 37-20 victory.

DeShields gained a combined 302 yards on the night between his throwing, and running. He was also responsible for 4 Warrior touchdowns. Alek Wilison finished with 83 receiving yards and a touchdown.

West Branch remains undefeated and will host East Liverpool in week 5. The Potters are coming off of a loss to Crestview.

WARRIORS GET REVENGE ON SALEM

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BELOIT OH-

Going along with the chaos of 2020, why should the football season opener be any different? After numerous lightning delays and torrential downpours, Salem and West Branch play 2 halves of football on 2 different days, concluding on Saturday with the Warriors coming out on top 44-20. Quarterback Brock Hillyer led the Warrior attack up and down the field, spreading the ball around to the wide array of weapons at his disposal.
After trailing at halftime 14-0, the Quaker offense showed signs of life striking on the 1st play of the second half to cut it to 14-6, but the defense was unable to stop the Warrior attack.  The Quakers never got closer than 10 the rest of the way, trading blows with the Warriors until a late interception and TD to follow put the game away.
Jackson Johnson threw 2 TDs (both to Blaize Exline) and Jason Austin ran for the other Quaker score.
Salem (0-1) travels to Canton South next week, while West Branch (1-0) travels to Minerva.
*Contributed by YSN’s Jared Niederhiser

WEST BRANCH FOOTBALL COACH’S CORNER WITH KEN HARRIS (EP 1)

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BELOIT, OH- In a year surrounded by controversy, and new rules and regulations, West Branch Football Coach Ken Harris stands on the foundation that has made the Warrior program solid as oak for years.

YSN’s Matt Mowery sat down with Coach Harris ahead of “The Game” against Salem to discuss the challenges that 2020 has provided as well as try to prepare with the unknown constantly lurking.

Warrior Nation is ready for some football!  Are you?  Get there by tuning into the inaugural edition of West Branch Football Coaches Corner with Ken Harris.

Presented by

DEVILS FALL SHORT AGAINST WEST BRANCH

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BELOIT OH- Western Reserve fell in a tough match against West Branch in Monfay. They lost in four sets (15-25 25-18 20-25 22-25).

Alyvia Hughes led the Blue Devils with a double-double. She tallied 14 kills, and 17 digs. Dani Vuletich had 8 kills with 4 blocks.

The Blue Devils return to action Tuesday hosting McDonald. The game will be live on YSN.

HOT CORNER: WITH SPECIAL GUEST JUSTIN MCLEOD

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Welcome to another week inside the Hot Corner. As players begin working towards their fall season we will continue to bring you coverage of all things softball on this blog. In this edition we shine a spotlight on a familiar face. Sydney Mercer of West Branch High School, and Ohio USSSA Pride-Scarlett talks about her summer in our first spotlight interview. I’m excited to do more of these in the future. Also this week’s special guest is Justin McLeod. Softball fans may know him better as Justin’s World of Softball. He does a fantastic job covering softball at every level. The Adam Shefter of the sport we all love.

Spotlight: Sydney Mercer.

Sydney Mercer spent her summer with our friends at Ohio USSSA Pride-Scarlett. She dazzled at the plate all summer long, putting up monster numbers. In 53 games played Sydney hit .544 with 24 HR and 80 RBI. With an eye popping OPS of 1.891 Sydney strikes fear in the eye of every pitcher she comes across. Mercer is a class of 2022 that plays her high school ball at West Branch. She also plays volleyball, and basketball. Her three sport routine keeps in her in shape for achieving her goals. Sydney was kind enough to take time to talk to me about her summer season.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwsmIlbdCSI[/embedyt]

Special Guest Justin McLeod

Justin is one of the premiere people that covers softball on a national scale. He covers the sport at all levels whether it be Division III college, travel ball, or professional. Justin started doing what he does for a similar reason YSN was founded. He wanted to cover a sport he saw no one covering. He started Justin’s World of Softball in 2012. Justin has been very helpfully to me when I started this blog. He gave me great advice on contacting college SID’s in order to get some of the wonderful guests we’ve already had on the Hot Corner. I was happy to return the favor and have the man who is usually asking the questions answer them. You can visit Justin’s World of Softball at justinsworldsb.com for the latest softball news from around the country.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeZ1U2C9qB8[/embedyt]

 

WEST BRANCH GIVES LADY BULLDOGS FITS

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EAST PALESTINE, OH- The Lady Bulldogs were in action on Monday against West Branch on the tennis court.  Looking for their first victory, East Palestine fought valiantly, but the experience of the Lady Warriors was just too much.

1st singles- WB senior Abby Stephens best EP senior Christine Adam 6-1, 6-1

2nd singles WB senior Emily Algaier beat EP senior Katherine Simon 6-0, 6-0

3rd singles WB sophomore Ally Zion beat EP sophomore Alexis Schnelle 60-,6-0

1st doubles- WB seniors Makayla Randlett and Halle Cutchall beat EP seniors Ivy Burkett and Alex Siracuse 6-2, 6-2

2nd doubles- WB juniors Liana Gabrelcik and Sydney Fetters beat EP senior Hannah Felger and freshman Claire Evans 6-1,6-0

West Branch is now 4-0, while EP drops to 0-2.

WARRIORS ESCAPE TO END POLAND’S SEASON

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AUSTINTOWN OH- Saturday’s district championship game definitely lived up to the hype. Poland stormed back from an eight point fourth quarter deficit but just missed victory. West Branch took it 44-43.

The Warriors, who struggled to score in last year’s district matchup with Poland found good shots early and often, and they hit them. Their only points in the first quarter were made threes. On the other end, Kailyn Brown paced the Bulldogs in the first quarter scoring all 9 of Poland’s points. She would go on to score 13 of the Bulldog’s 16 first half points. Trailing 22-13 Jackie Grisdale got a three near the buzzer of the half to make it a 22-16 deficit at half.

That shot is all Grisdale needed to get going. In the third quarter while West Branch kept shooting well from deep, Grisdale seemed to match every bucket they made. She did a great job making sure Poland just stuck around to make a run. After three Poland felt good just being down 36-29.

The fourth quarter was gut check time for the Bulldogs. The found themselves down 41-33 with 4:00 minutes left it didn’t look too promising. Grisdale buried a three to make it 41-36. She then got fouled shooting her next three and made all shots from the line to make it 41-39. After a West Branch bucket, Poland came right back down and scored. Then Grisdale found some space underneath and tied the game up with a layup with 1:08 to go. Both teams traded an empty possession and Poland ended up with the ball with and 9.1 seconds left. West Branch made a great play to jump in front of the inbound pass that led to a fast break. Poland fouled the shooter, who hit 1 out of 2 free throws. On the insuring possession West Branch fouled Grisdale and put her at the line with 3.1 seconds left. Grisdale’s first free throw stuck on the back heel of the rim. West Branch would secure the inbound and the narrow one point victory.

Jackie Grisdale led the Bulldogs with 22 points, 19 of which came in the 2nd half. Kailyn Brown finished with 13.

Poland finished the season at 22-3.