Flyers start grueling stretch with Margaretta

NORWALK — Now comes the hard part. The St. Paul boys basketball team opened the season with a pair of dominant wins over an outmatched Fremont St. Joseph Central Catholic, and earlier this week at Vermilion. The Flyers coasted to a 62-21 win over the Crimson Streaks on Nov. 27, then steadily pulled away from the Division IV Sailors for a 60-40 road win on Tuesday. Up next, however, is a pair of big challenges before the Flyers open Firelands Conference play. First, St. Paul will host Margaretta (1-0) around 7:30 p.m. Saturday inside Harvey Keller Gymnasium in Norwalk. The Polar Bears played in a Div. III regional championship game last season. Now in Div. V with much of their team back from a year ago, the Bears will certainly be a top-10 ranked team in the state and regional contenders once again. Margaretta opened the season with a 67-34 win over Bellevue on Nov. 30. The Bears host SBC River Division power Tiffin Calvert on Friday before the game in Norwalk. Last season, the Bears cruised to a 73-40 win over the Flyers in St. Paul's first game of the season after a delay from the football playoffs. "We know each other well," St. Paul coach Steve Minor said. "I saw Coach (Steve) Keller's dad (Steve. Sr.) at half-court watching us at Vermilion, right where you'd expect him to be. They will be ready for us, but they will have to guard us, too." The Polar Bears are paced by 6-foot-4 junior wing Julian Washington. He had 26 points and 10 rebounds in Margaretta's season opener, and already holds NCAA Div. I college offers to Kent State, Northern Iowa, Ohio and Toledo. Also returning for Margaretta are Tyson and Tate Bailey, Judah Keller, and Nolan Wiley. "Hopefully we can make it a little tougher on them than they've had in scrimmages and games so far," Minor said. "But it's great for us to play a team that good so early. They are without a doubt a district favorite in Division V, if not more. "It's a good test at home, and we have a little time to prepare for them," he added. "So we will dig into some film and see what we can come up with." After hosting the Polar Bears, the Flyers get six days off before hosting Monroeville on Dec. 13 in the Firelands Conference opener. The next night, St. Paul heads to Div. IV Perkins. It will serve as the season opener for the Pirates, as their football team plays for the Div. IV state football championship this Saturday in Canton. Perkins went 16-8 overall last year and finished 6-4 in the SBC Lake Division — good for second place. Three of its top players are football standouts in seniors Joey Diederich, Mikey Young and Tim Boals. Diederich averaged 11.1 points and 4.4 assists per game last season. Young averaged 7.7 points and 4.5 rebounds, while Boals averaged 8.2 points and 5.8 rebounds. Through the first two games, senior Korey Frazee is averaging 17 points per game for the Flyers. Senior Nolan McCall is averaging 14.5 points and 11.5 rebounds, while junior Landon Fries adds 12.5 points per game. After its next three games, St. Paul has three straight FC games to close out the colander year at South Central (Dec. 19), vs. New London (Dec. 21) and at Mapleton (Dec. 30). Then comes another tough stretch at Tiffin Calvert (Jan. 2), vs. Western Reserve (Jan. 3) and vs. Huron (Jan. 7).