Willard duo to continue careers in college

WILLARD — Two standout players who helped bring the Willard boys basketball program back to prosperity recently committed to colleges to continue their academic and athletic careers.Senior Cooper Parrott is headed to NCAA Division III powerhouse Marietta College, while teammate Terry Baldridge committed to NJCAA Division II Edison State Community College in Piqua.Parrott had an impressive senior season that saw him selected as the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association Northwest District Co-Player of the Year, which in turn earned him a spot on the All-Ohio first team in Div. III.The 6-foot-3 Parrott averaged 21 points per game during the 2019-20 regular season for the Crimson Flashes, who went 20-2 and were co-SBC Bay Division champions while earning a No. 7 ranking in the final Associated Press state poll.An All-Ohio third team selection in 2018-19, Parrott added 6.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.3 steals per game for the Flashes. The two-time Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association District 6 Player of the Year finished his high school career with 1,634 points.Parrott enters a Marietta program that has posted six consecutive seasons of 21 wins or more, which also resulted in six consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and five Ohio Athletic Conference championships. The Pioneers are one season removed from advancing to the Elite Eight."Cooper earned a great opportunity to play for one of the best basketball programs in the country," Willard coach Joe Bedingfield said. "Coach Vanderwal has built a great program at Marietta. Although Cooper had multiple schools interested at the Division II and Division III level, he chose the best program academically and athletically that fit him. Marietta really showed a lot of interest and my advice to him was go where you are wanted. I'm very happy for him."Baldridge was a third team All-Ohio and second team Northwest District selection for the Crimson Flashes. He averaged a double-double of 17.9 points and 11.1 rebounds per game.Baldridge is the all-time blocks leader at Willard with 120, which surpassed the old mark of 97 by Matt Lacy. He finished with 909 points and 551 rebounds in his career for the Flashes.Edison State competes in Region XII in NJCAA Div. II, regularly playing teams in the Midwest. ESCC is also a participating member of the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC). The Chargers went 17-13 last season."Terry earned an opportunity to play at Edison State, which will give him an opportunity to blossom and mature into a big-time player if he continues to work at his game as he has over the past three seasons," Bedingfield said. "I couldn't be more proud of these two kids and what they have done for our program and the opportunity that is ahead of them."With Parrott and Baldridge helping lead the way, Willard went 42-7 over the past two seasons, which included two league titles, two sectional titles and a district championship (2019).