2019 – 20 League Preview: All-American Conference – Blue Division
The All-American Conference – Blue Division is an athletic conference spanning schools from Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull Counties. The high schools comprising the league include Brookfield, Campbell Memorial, Champion, Columbiana Crestview, LaBrae, Liberty and Newton Falls. 5 Players to…
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Continue ReadingThe All-American Conference – Blue Division is an athletic conference spanning schools from Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull Counties. The high schools comprising the league include Brookfield, Campbell Memorial, Champion, Columbiana Crestview, LaBrae, Liberty and Newton Falls.
5 Players to Watch:
(schools are as of last year – unless PGH is 100% certain that a player has enrolled elsewhere)
Emma Gumont – Champion
Tanner Hoffer – Crestview
Sharda Williamson – Liberty
Allison Sembach – Newton Falls
Breeana Hutson – Newton Falls
4 Thoughts:
After a special season that ended in the “Sweet 16” of the OHSAA state tournament, Champion – pictured above; photo credit – WYTV returns a bulk of their squad and is the odds-on favorite to win the Blue Division of the All-American Conference. The Flashes will need to replace Abby White, but they do have Emma Gumont, Allison Smith and Brooke Whitt to start with.
If there is a team that will push Champion for the conference title, it will probably be Newton Falls. The traditionally strong program will return both of their all-conference players in Allison Sembach and Breeana Hutson. Look for Elizabeth Barreca to continue her strong play and form a legitimate scoring trio with Sembach and Hutson.
Sharda Williamson is the real-deal scoring the basketball. Her Liberty squad finished 7-7 in league play last year. If they want to make the jump and improve on that .500 record in the AAC, they will need Delia Watson and Nysa Gilchrist to continue to improve as all-around players – both are already double-digit scorers on a nightly basis.
In addition to the players that we already named from Champion, Newton Falls and Liberty – there are some superb kids returning with big-time varsity experience. Tanner Hoffer and Krista Perry from Crestview, Becca Litz from Brookfield and India Armour-Clark from Campbell Memorial are a few more kids to keep an eye on this winter.
3 Big Games:
Crestview @ Champion on December 14th
Champion @ Newton Falls on January 18th
Liberty @ Newton Falls on January 25th
2 Fun Facts:
Each of the 7 schools in the Blue Division of the AAC have notified conference leadership that the 2019-2020 school year will be their last as members of the league. At the conclusion of this school year, these 7 teams will be leaving for the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference.
Of the 7 schools in the conference, only Campbell Memorial did not finish with a winning record last season. As a matter of fact, the other 6 schools each won at least 15 games – with Champion (20), Newton Falls (17) and Crestview (17) leading the way.
1 League Champion Prediction:
Champion