Sports

The Mechanicsburg High School wrestling team won its 16th straight Ohio Heritage Conference championship on Saturday with 243 points.

With the freezing cold temperatures, the snow days keeping us inside, and no Bengals football or Reds baseball currently, I am certainly starting to get cabin fever. I can only watch so much Netflix and my mind has been away from college basketball with West Virginia having a poor start to begin the season. My wife is watching Grey’s Anatomy for the 15th time, my man-cave is unused with nothing on the TV, and I now realize how spoiled I have been with recent playoff success from the Bengals. I miss heading downtown for a “win-or-go-home” game and I certainly miss having people over and ordering overpriced “Beast” pizzas and heading out to the garage at noon. With all that being said, there is a tiny bit of light peaking through, as we finally have some definite dates coming up for Spring Training:

ANNA – Lilly Weaver had 22 points as WL-S knocked off Anna, 68-50, in non-league girls basketball Thursday night.

Jonathan Alder beat Urbana, 2,856-2,624, in CBC boys bowling on Thursday.

Urbana defeated London, 2,532-2,407, in CBC boys bowling on Tuesday.

As I have stated week after week over the last few months, there is a lot to be excited about in the Queen City. The anticipation is building and the Reds are no longer expected to just surprise us with some wins, as in 2024, it is going to be expected. Sophomore slumps will happen from young players who shined last year, injuries will occur, but Reds ownership and the front office has been putting together a team with more depth than any Reds roster in my lifetime. David Bell loves being a “players-coach” and he’ll get the opportunity to make changes often throughout games with the depth of this rotation and lineup throughout 2024.

Graham defeated London, 2,509-2,260, in CBC girls bowling on Thursday.

Urbana knocked off Shawnee, 2,507-1,851, in CBC girls bowling on Monday.

After pulling out a win on Sunday against the Browns to secure Cincinnati’s first AFC North victory of the season (thanks Jeff Driskel), Cincinnati officially ends the season with a winning record of 9-8. They are the only team out of the AFC North to miss the playoffs, while the division becomes the first since 1935 to have all teams above .500.

WL-S beat Greeneview, 1,478-1,319, in OHC girls bowling on Thursday.