GALION — For Jaime Valentine and the Galion Tigers, last week’s district championship was a long time coming.
The Tigers beat Huron in four games to secure the first district title since 2005. Given Galion’s rich tradition, the crown was long overdue.
Galion won Division II state championships in 1999 and 2000, beating Roger Bacon in the finals both years, and finished runner-up to Roger Bacon in 2001. The Tigers reached the district championship match in 2003 and 2004 before claiming its last district title in 2005.
A Galion graduate, Valentine took over the program in 2008. The Tigers reached the district semifinals in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 before finally breaking down the door last week at Seneca East High School.
“It’s always been a goal of ours (to win district),” Valentine said after the win over Huron. “And we’ve gotten so close sometimes and fell short. When I saw it was going happen I was just like, ‘wow.’ ”
Galion’s reward for winning the district title is a date with Ottawa-Glandorf, the coach’s association poll champ in Division III, in the Millbury regional semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Lake High School. The Titans beat Sherwood Fairview 3-1 in the Defiance district final and are making their first regional appearance since 2015, when they fell to Lexington in the Division II regional championship match.
Seventh-ranked Galion (24-1) captured an outright Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference championship and has won 21 straight matches dating to an Aug. 28 loss at Columbus Watterson, a Division I regional semifinalist. Taylor Keeran, Samantha Comer and Kayla Hardy were all MOAC first-team picks, while Jaden Ivy and Nicole Thomas were second-teamers and Kerrigan Myers was an honorable mention selection.
Comer has a team-best 278 kills, while Keeran has 267 kills. Hardy has a whopping 848 assists.
For the Titans, Taylor Alt leads the way with 312 kills, while Erica Annesser has 210 kills. Brianna Schimmoeller has 558 assists.
The winner of Thursday’s match will play either Liberty-Benton or Johnstown-Monroe for a regional title at 2 p.m. Saturday at Lake High School. Liberty-Benton and Johnstown-Monroe meet in Thursday’s early semifinal match.
