CASTALIA, Ohio — A small school with great passion. Margaretta High School's boys and girls basketball teams are embarking on a state tournament run.
"I personally think knowing the girls program and then our guys, they're not afraid to put that work in," boys head coach Steve Keller said. "They're not afraid to get that hot, sweaty, really humid summer day to get those shots and get that skillset worked on and reps, and I think it's paying dividends to both programs."
Both teams are ranked No. 5 in the state in Division III and won Sandusky Bay Conference titles, each collecting 19 regular season wins.
They credit the selflessness and hard work that their programs have instilled.
"The unity that the athletic teams bring to the community, it's a huge impact on everything," girls head coach Ray Neill said. "We don't have that girl that's a 15, 20 point scorer. We have four girls who average 10 points a game, share the basketball really well and fill the stat sheet with all the little things that mean a whole lot."
The programs acknowledge the expectations they've set and plan to stick to what they know.
"It feels pretty good being ranked high, number one seed, but it's also a lot of pressure," girls senior captain Lilly Edwards said. "The past four years in high school we've been number one or two seed, so keeping that run go is pretty good."
"Again we've been successful but we don't take anything for granted," Neill said. "We're just hoping to go out and respect our next opponent and play to our highest ability."
And even more so, respect the opportunity to put their beloved school and community on the map.
"We get a lot of support from our small community and it's really nice. We get packed stands and everything," said girls senior captain Eden Palomo. "It means a lot to us and our community that we get to go out and represent Margaretta, represent Castalia every year."
"Being from Margaretta, it's been a small town and nothing real crazy ever happens around here but we're doing something pretty special right now," said boys senior Gage Bodey. "It's meant a lot and I know we've had goals of doing this earlier in the year and I'm very proud of what we've done, but job's not finished."
The girls won their district semifinal game against Upper Sandusky on Thursday and will face Colonel Crawford in the district final on Saturday. The boys will play in their sectional final against Cardinal Stritch on Friday.