20-21 League Preview: Shelby County Athletic League

The Shelby County Athletic League will once again be full of outstanding talent this season. The teams in the SCAL include Anna, Botkins, Fairlawn, Fort Loramie, Houston, Jackson Center and Russia. <strong><span style="font-family: ’arial black’, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">5 Players to Watch</span></strong> Kenzie Hoelscher, 6-0 2021, Fort Loramie Lonna Heath, 5-7 2022, Fairlawn <em>(feature photo)</em> [player_tooltip player_id="159036" first="Ella" last="Doseck"], 5-7 2021, Anna Carmen Heuker, 5-6 2022, Botkins [player_tooltip player_id="159039" first="Dana" last="Rose"], 6-0 2021, Fort Loramie <strong><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: ’arial black’, sans-serif;">5 Sleepers to Watch</span></strong> Lenna Rowland, 5-9 2022, Anna [player_tooltip player_id="216106" first="Regan" last="Clark"], 6-0 2023, Jackson Center Ashley Scott, 5-9 2021, Russia Amber Stangel, 5-5 2021, Houston Aleah Johnson, 5-11 2022, Botkins <span style="font-family: ’arial black’, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>3 Thoughts</strong></span> I could have legit named five Fort Loramie players as the Players to Watch as they are the deepest team in Ohio. They finished unbeaten last year, and had their eyes on the state championship. With COVID shutting down the tournament last year, the Redskins are focused on picking up where they left off. Other seniors on this year’s team are Corynn Heitkamp, Caitlyn Gasson, Jadyn Puthoff, Clara Gephart and Paige Eilerman. A key junior to watch was [player_tooltip player_id="159381" first="Ava" last="Sholtis"], but she is out for the year with an injury. Their depth will wear teams down and should be a major challenge. Anna also advanced to the state final four last season with a very consistent season. Senior guard [player_tooltip player_id="159036" first="Ella" last="Doseck"] has really improved her game, as she is a great floor leader, has a very good perimeter shot and can lock down her opponent. Doseck will likely have to increase her output with the graduation of their 6-2 post Lauren Barhorst and two other all-conference seniors last year. A traditionally strong program, the Rockets will have to find some players to step up this season. Three teams will have one major player who will be the major threat, and all will need players to step up. Botkins brings back junior guard Carmen Heuker a player who has really improved a lot this summer and played well at the PGH 250 Expo. Russia returns senior Ashley Scott, a hard nosed guard who is skilled and a good leader. Fairlawn also returns an outstanding junior in Lonna Heath, who I also saw this summer and her game has blossomed. She is a big threat from the perimeter. Time will tell who else steps up this season for those three teams. <span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: ’arial black’, sans-serif;"><strong>3 Games to Watch</strong></span> Fort Loramie at Anna- December 5 Minster at Fort Loramie- December 12 Russia at Botkins- December 28 <strong><span style="font-family: ’arial black’, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">2 Fun Facts</span></strong> It’s always the game everyone wants to see in the area. Two time defending state champion Minster from the MAC has their annual battle with Fort Loramie. These two teams are the last two area teams to win D4 state titles, as Fort Loramie won in 2015 and Minster won 2018 and 2019. With nobody sure what the Governor will be announcing soon, as of now this game is scheduled for December 12 at Fort Loramie. The Redskins decisively won last years game on opening weekend. Nearly half of the SCAL have claimed state titles as Anna (1981, 2011, 2013), Jackson Center (1995, 2001) and Fort Loramie (2013, 2015) are three teams in this conference who have won state championships in their history. <strong><span style="font-family: ’arial black’, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">1 League Champion</span></strong> Fort Loramie &nbsp; &nbsp;