Paying another visit to the variety store...
Winds of change
Steve Petros, a former standout athlete during his days at St. John High School, has made a move.
The 1985 St. John graduate was hired as head varsity girls basketball coach at Fairfield Union High School on May 1.
Petros made the move after a stellar four-year tenure at Lancaster Fisher Catholic High School, where he led the Irish to their first conference championship in 21 years in the 2006-07 season.
He and his wife, Gina, have two children — daughter Maddie and son Ray.
Previously, Petros had been varsity boys basketball coach at Granville and Groveport Madison high schools.
A caveat about his new gig: Fairfield Union’s mascot used to be the Charging Knights. However, a few years ago, it switched to the Falcons.
Why?
Do the acronym.
Follow up
An item that didn’t make the Tuesday column, “A Knight’s tale,” about baseball prodigy Jeremiah Knight, who hit three over-the-fence home runs one game recently:
His manager, Jason Cicon, related Jeremiah’s talents on the field have rubbed off on his teammates. The Pirates were 17-0 last summer in the Jefferson minor league and stood 14-0 through Tuesday.
Book it
Recent summer reading for yours truly has included the following:
n “Twelve Days of Terror: A Definitive Investigation of the 1916 New Jersey Shark Attacks,” by Richard Fernicola.
A terrific factual story, filled with intriguing details from that era, about the events that inspired JAWS.
n “Downtown Owl, A Novel,” by Chuck Klosterman.
A neat story about a small-town high school football team in non-descript Owl, North Dakota, focusing on its players, head coach, teachers in the school and the community itself.
The book on my nightstand right now is “Satchel: The Life and Times of a True American Legend.”
A terrific, indepth effort by Larry Tye on hall of famer Satchel Paige, including an insightful chunk on Bill Veeck bringing him to the Indians in the 1948 season. Paige went 6-1 with a 2.48 earned run average that season and helped the Indians win the World Series, something they haven’t managed to do since.
Next on my list, “The Year Babe Ruth hit 104 home runs: Recapping Baseball’s Greatest Slugger,” by Bill Jenkins.
Double whammy
With Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson dying on the same day Thursday, I was taken back to my days as a youngster.
Roger Wesely had THE poster of Farrah on his wall first... and I had it, too, the next day.
As far as Jackson goes, the news of his death, coupled with the ridiculous, over-the-top television coverage of Manny Ramirez’s ho-hum, going-through-the-motion at-bats with the Class AAA Albuquerque Isotopes, brings to mind a joke from a few years ago:
What do Michael Jackson and Manny Ramirez have in common?
Both wear one glove... for no apparent reason.
Movin’ on up
Former Jefferson football, basketball and baseball player Doug Fulton, whose house we came up with a back yard game called “over the fence” that I mentioned in my column that appeared in our Sunday, April 5 edition under the title, “Fun and Games,” is now an assistant principal at Potomac Falls High School in Virginia.
Fulton is a 1980 Jefferson graduate.
McCormack is the sports editor of the Star Beacon. Reach him at donmac@suite224.net.
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DON McCORMACK
Discussion
A Don McCormack column: Former Herald star on the move
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Riverside sneaks past Edgewood
Riverside wrestling coach Scott Blank learned a good deal of what he knows from Edgewood coach Greg Stolfer as a former Warrior great. Thursday, he used a bit of that knowledge to get the better of his old coach as the Beavers bested the Warriors, 31-28, at Edgewood.
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Madison rolls past Geneva
Madison recovered from coming out on the short end of a pin in the first match of the night by taking six of the next seven matches against Geneva and capped the night with pins from their last pair of grapplers in dismantling the Eagles, 49-17.
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Boys tourney returning to county
On Feb. 27, for the first time in 20 years, postseason boys basketball will return to Ashtabula County when the Division II sectional-district tournament comes to Lakeside high school.
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Dragons dump Lakers in drink
Despite the fact his girls have been through a tough season, Lakeside coach Rob Livingston spoke as though he had sensed that better things might be around the corner.
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Mustangs dominate Heralds
In their last home game of the season, the Grand Valley Mustangs rose to the occasion on Senior Night, defeating the SS. John and Paul Heralds, 59-28.
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Clark, Francis help give Falcons Liberty
Paige Clark led an attack that saw three Jefferson players reach double figures and Rachel Francis had a triple-double as the Falcons blasted visiting Liberty, 59-17, in an All-American Conference game Thursday night in Falcon Gym.
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Scholastic Statistics:
WRESTLING
NON-CONFERENCE
Riverside 31, Edgewood 28
at Edgewood -
Scholastic Schedule:
FRIDAY, FEB. 10
Boys Basketball
n Lakeside at Madison
n Conneaut at Edgewood
n Liberty at Jefferson (WFUN)
n South at Geneva
n PV at Bloomfield
n Grand Valley at Southington
n Riverside at North
n Harvey at Perry -
PV prevails
Cody Miller and Zach Campbell knew what they had to do in order for the Pymatuning Valley wrestling team to complete a come-from-behind victory over Jefferson on Wednesday at triangular match at PV.
The pair delivered exactly that and the Lakers pulled off the win, 37-36. -
Eagles bounce back
The Geneva girls didn’t have much time to regroup. But just one day after a heartbreaking defeat, they were able to knock off a strong Perry team on the road, 39-33.
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