Basketball state champs to enter NHS HOF

Editor's note: This is the first of two stories profiling the 2024 NHS Athletics Hall of Fame inductees. The Norwalk High School boys basketball team began its 2013-14 season with lofty expectations, but also faced some key hurdles. Along with more consistency in closing out wins, the team needed to identify who would replace 6-foot-6 Jake Fetherolf — a dominant force who went on to score 1,000-plus points at Baldwin-Wallace University. While 6-foot-5 guard Jeff Thomas was the program's second all-time leading scorer, the only other player taller than 6-foot-2 was Kaleb Cashen, a senior who had mostly played in junior-varsity games. Also, the Truckers didn't have a lot of experience going deep in the postseason, having not won a tournament game in 2011 and failing to win a district game in 2013. Clearly, the roster pointed to a potential for greatness — but could it and would it be tapped? In the end, the answer was yes. Rocked by a regular-season loss to Ontario, the Truckers quickly adjusted and went on to make history. Now, 10 years after a stunning run that culminated in the Division II state championship trophy, the 2013-14 Truckers are the first team to enter the NHS Athletics Hall of Fame. The players and coaches from the team will be introduced before the national anthem of Saturday's non-league game vs. Willard at about 6 p.m. A buffet-style dinner and induction ceremony will follow in the NHS EPAC and Performing Arts Center. Head coach Steve Gray is also being inducted as an individual. "We were so small, and it created a lot of fair questions," Gray said of the mindset entering the historic season. "But the thing about that team is, they just understood their roles so well. They were some of the greatest competitors I ever coached, and they just fed off each other and accepted their roles." Despite those initial concerns, the Truckers opened 2013-14 with 14 straight wins. Except for a 62-59 win over Wooster High School at the Steve Smith Classic on the College of Wooster campus, none of those 14 wins came down to the final minute. Just two other games were won by single digits in that 14-0 run, which extended the program's regular season win streak to 57 straight. Then, just hours after being voted No. 1 in the AP poll, Norwalk's win streak ended in a surprising 63-61 loss at Ontario. Suddenly out of first place in the Northern Ohio League, the Truckers regrouped to reel off their next six wins by an average margin of 20 points per game. Hosting Ontario in the regular season finale, the Truckers needed the rematch win over the Warriors — who had taken over the state No. 1 ranking — to force a co-league title. As a sign of what was coming, the Truckers never looked better as they cruised to a 69-47 victory in a game they led by 30-plus points. "I was nervous right before tip-off with the sold out crowd, but once the ball went in the air, I told myself we'd win by 20-plus points," Thomas said. "Actually, I told everyone we'd win by 20 or more, and I wouldn't be happy if we didn't. We knew we'd be fine when we saw them the second time." In the sectional tournament, Norwalk easily won games over Galion (69-40) and Shelby (54-37). Next, the team steadily pulled away from Clyde (74-45) and then held off Perkins (55-45) for a third time in notching a second district championship in three seasons. With a big crowd of fans on hand for both, the Truckers won two heart-stopping regional tourney games at Bowling Green State University's Stroh Center. Norwalk outlasted Vermilion in overtime, 87-81, for the program's first-ever regional win. "For that group to be truly appreciated, we had to win a regional game," Gray said. "That's a lot of pressure to deal with." In the go-to-state game, the Truckers held off Lima Bath in the closing seconds for a 54-53 win and a trip to the state semifinals at Ohio State University in Columbus. Starter Jordan Johnson, the team's top defender, had lost confidence after allowing Vermilion's Cameron Kuhn to score 41 points two days earlier. But the 5-11 Johnson hounded future NBA player and 6-5 Bath star Taren Sullivan to 13 points on 5-of-15 shooting. "When the buzzer sounded and we got off the pile, I just took one scan of the crowd," Johnson said. "And it kind of hit us all, that we weren't little Norwalk anymore. The hard work, the ups and downs and tournament losses ... it paid off and we were going to state." The Truckers were the only team among the field of 16 across the four divisions making its first-ever appearance at state. The Cougars from Dayton's Thurgood Marshall were be Norwalk's tallest task to date. Despite Marshall's height advantage with two NCAA Div. I recruits and their teammates, the Truckers started and closed strong in the 72-64 win to reach the title game. Facing defending champion Columbus Bishop Watterson in its home city, the Truckers led almost wire-to-wire in the 65-58 victory, giving Norwalk a second state title to match its 1974 Class AA football title. Along with those first-ever regional and state champions trophies, the Truckers set program records for points scored in a season at 2,032 and wins in a season at 29. With the 2013-14 school year came OHSAA's expansion to 22 regular-season games. Norwalk's 29-1 record made the Truckers the first team in 53 years to win 29 games in a single season. The team finished ranked No. 2 in the final AP poll for a second straight season. Ben Haraway, who scored 29 points while making 15-of-19 free throws in the state title game, was named Most Outstanding Player on the 2014 AP Div. II boys state all-tournament team. He scored 49 points in the two games. He was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Jeff Thomas (38 points, 19 rebounds) and Grant Hull (25 points). Haraway's performance at the free-throw line tied a 39-year record at the state championships for most free throws over the two-game span. He was 21-of-26 in Norwalk's two wins. "We thought it was supposed to be our junior year, and it was our senior year," Haraway said. "I knew we'd win the league, but the tournament, I just wasn't sure with our lack of size. I was genuinely nervous how the season would go, and it ended with a state championship." At the Schottenstein Center, Norwalk either led or tied in 53 of the 64 minutes played in the two wins over Marshall and Watterson. In the championship game, Norwalk trailed for just 1:10 in the first quarter, and never by more than two points. After Hull passed an alley-oop slam dunk to Thomas at the 2:11 mark of the first quarter, the Truckers never trailed again. "To be honest, I didn't think this group would be able to do it, either," Hull said. "We were just a small little town with an undersized roster that I thought would be an obstacle. One of the best moments of my life." Norwalk became the only school in the 73-year history of the now-defunct NOL to win state championships in both football and basketball. The tournament run is also remembered for the loyal crowd supporting the Truckers. The state title contest saw the highest attendance in the 12-game state championships, drawing 14,642 fans despite the 10:30 a.m. tip-off time. That was also the highest-attended championship game in seven years, dating back to the 2007 Div. II title game, which featured former Norwalk foe, Mr. Basketball, and Ohio's all-time points leader in Upper Sandusky's Jon Diebler. Thomas became the first-ever Truckers' player to earn All-Ohio first-team honors, with Haraway awarded honorable mention. Johnson and Breck Turner joined Haraway, Thomas and Hull in the starting lineup. As two future college football players, Johnson and Turner were known for their tenacious defense on the court. Johnson was 8-of-9 shooting and scored 16 points in the regional win over Vermilion, while Turner grabbed nine rebounds — including the final one as the buzzer sounded — in the state title game. "I knew my place, I knew my role on that team," Turner said. "Play defense, get rebounds, and if Ben or Jeff drew a lot of pressure, they could drop it off to me for a layup or a little baseline jumper. "When the buzzer sounded and the ball is in my hands ... it's one of the best feelings in my life." As the first player off the bench, Cashen scored a key rebound putback basket at the third-quarter buzzer in the one-point win over Lima Bath in the regional title game. Other members of the team included seniors Joseph Hinckley and Garret MacFarland; juniors Matt Davidson, Seth Staley, Brandon Bleile and Ben Neuberger; sophomores Travis Cring and Jaycee Jordan; and freshman Griffin Rinner.