West Holmes High School

West Holmes (13-5, 10-1) moved into a tie for first place in the Ohio Cardinal Conference with a key win over OCC leading Mansfield Senior (17-2 11-1), which followed conference wins against Wooster (4-13, 3-7) and New Philadelphia (3-15, 1-9) last week.

The West Holmes wrestling team improved to 5-3 in dual meets with a 44-26 win against Clear Fork on Jan. 17.

West Holmes (9-5, 6-1) had three players in double figures led by Aveona Yoder’s season high 19 points in the final game of the Classic in the Country, beating Strasburg-Franklin (10-3, 8-0) by a score of 53-52 on Jan. 15.

West Holmes (1-9, 0-7) got down early and while they recovered to win the final three quarters, the Knights couldn’t claw their way back and fell 48-44 to Carrollton (3-10, 2-3) on Jan. 14 in the Claymont Classic.

The West Holmes girls' basketball team (8-4, 6-1) took on Lexington (6-8, 5-3) in a back-and-forth matchup on Jan. 11, with the Knights walking away with a 49-45 win led by Keegan Uhl's 13 points.

The three game skid came to a halt for the Ashland boys' basketball team (4-8, 2-5) in a 67-31 win over OCC rival West Holmes (1-8, 0-7), led by Isaac Stewart’s 15 point performance.

Make it three straight wins for the West Holmes girls’ basketball team (7-4, 5-1), with the Zalina Proper going off for 28 points to lead the Knights to a 61-29 blowout win over Madison Comprehensive (3-9, 1-7) on Jan. 6.

Zalina Proper and Allie McMillen each put up a double-double, leading the West Holmes Knights (5-4, 4-1) to a 44-37 win over Mount Vernon (2-8, 1-5) on Dec. 30.

West Holmes (6-4, 4-1) made it back-to-back wins with a 58-29 win over Zanesville (1-10, 1-4) on Jan. 4, with the girls’ basketball team led by a double-double effort for Aveona Yoder.

The West Holmes wrestling team took a 48-27 loss in a home dual meet to Indian Valley on Jan. 3, but the Knights had the advantage in head-to-head matches. The team lost 24 points due to forfeit, which led to the loss.

West Holmes wrestling is coming off one of their top performances of the season at the 52nd annual Marion Harding Classic on Dec. 29 and 30, with seven of nine grapplers placed in the event to help lead the Knights to a fifth place finish out of 37 teams.

With the new year right around the corner, it is already getting to be the second half to the winter athletic season. There are a number of big matchups down the stretch that could mean big things for conference rankings and playoff placement for local girls' basketball teams.

The West Holmes wrestling team was short on competitors with only five wrestlers involved in the Liberty Classic at Olentangy Liberty High School, but they were able to take 12th place out of 33 teams led by sophomore Louden Dixon’s win in the 144 pound class.

The West Holmes boys’ basketball team (1-4, 0-2) has struggled in the early stages of this season, and last week the Knights suffered losses to Ohio Cardinal Conference rivals New Philadelphia and Wooster for their third straight defeat.

Make it three straight for West Holmes (4-2, 3-0), as the girls’ basketball team took care of New Philadelphia (1-7, 0-2) and conference rival Wooster (1-6, 1-3) to get on a nice little winning streak.

The New Philadelphia boys’ basketball team recovered from an opening night loss with a pair of wins to get above .500, thanks to a solid week on the court by Colton Slaughter.

Allie McMillen and Briar Cline of West Holmes were exceptional from the free throw line last week, combining for 13-13 to lead the way in a 54-40 win over Ashland in girls’ basketball action.

The West Holmes boys’ basketball team (1-2, 0-1) started off the week solid with a road win over Meadowbrook (0-3, 0-2), but lost a tough battle with Madison Comprehensive (1-2, 1-0) in overtime.

The Division IV and Division V All-Ohio football teams were announced on Dec. 5 and a number athletes in the Mount Vernon News coverage area were included, including eight players from West Holmes.

The West Holmes boys’ basketball team (0-1, 0-0) traveled to River River (1-1, 0-1) for the first game of the season on Dec. 1, but despite holding a four point lead going into the fourth quarter, the Black Bears were able to come back for a 56-52 win.