Hitting star Avery Brandewie snaps one of her match-high 20 kills past a Tiffin Calvert defender during the Redskins straight set win for the Division VII title. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
A decade after winning their first, coach John Rodgers and the Fort Loramie Redskins beat Tiffin Calvert in straight sets to take their second OHSAA title in volleyball.
Fairborn, OH – It had to be the longest ten years of his life.
The emotion…felt by Fort Loramie coach John Rodgers Friday afternoon following his team’s straight-set win over Tiffin Calvert (27-1) to claim the school’s second OHSAA title in volleyball…exactly ten years after they had won their first in 2014.
Loramie (27-1) completed a magical year of straight-set wins (20 of them) in characteristic fashion.
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“One thing I’ve learned with this group,” said Rodgers afterwards. “They don’t need much coaching. Just get out of their way and let them play.”
A sentiment shared by Tiffin Calvert coach Lori Rombach, who added, “We knew they were a great team – a very senior-heavy team – and it felt like that today. To me it felt like they played a pretty-much perfect match. They just didn’t make any mistakes. And I’m proud of our team because we have no seniors, and we showed a lot of grit and fight. We didn’t give up.”
And for good reason. At 27-0 entering Friday Calvert is the class of northwest Ohio small school volleyball…and showed it by quickly running out to a 9-4 lead on Loramie.
But then Loramie did what Loramie does. Out of a Rodgers timeout, the Redskins came out and immediately erased that deficit with a 10-1 run, that became a 19-3 run, and an eventual 25-17 win in the first. Before Calvert could appreciate what had happened to them, Loramie had sown the seeds of doubt. No matter how good you play…Fort Loramie is capable of playing better!
Victoria Mesher drives a kill between the block attempts from a pair of Tiffin Calvert blockers.
Victoria Mescher began the second set with a thunderous kill, but again Calvert came back to grind, despite Loramie forcing the Senecas to play their full arsenal. It wasn’t enough. Loramie again went on a 5-1 run, and then a 4-0 run to jump ahead 21-18, before scoring the final four points of the set to win 25-20.
“Seniors bring leadership to a team,” Rodgers would later say. “And I have eight seniors on this team and today they need to be recognized. This is why we won today.”
That leadership, combined with ultimate confidence and sheer skill allowed Loramie to impart some obvious mental stress on Calvert.
“Their defense was the best we’ve seen this year,” said Calvert’s Emily Miller. “I’d give it my best swing and somehow they kept digging it and putting the ball in the air. As good as they were today, their defense is what I’m going to remember.”
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Mission accomplished? Well, hardly, because Rodgers has taught his girls that its never over ’til it’s over….like Yogi Berra once famously said.
Mistake-free?
Well, never let a team up once you have them down. Loramie was guilty of missing just one serve all day long.
“Their defense is what I’m going to remember about Fort Loramie” … said a Tiffin Calvert player of the Redskins.
And after a 10-9 Loramie lead to start the third, a 3-0 Redskins run forced Tiffin to call a timeout…sensing that they needed to salvage what they could.
Champion’s efficiency, you question?
Loramie immediately went on a 7-0 run out of the timeout to go up 16-9…and eventually 20-11. Seeing their perfect season vanishing before their eyes, Tiffin again called timeout. Loramie must have used it to plan the post-game celebration. From 10-9 they finished with a flourish…a 15-8 win to take the set, match, and Division VII title, 25-17.
Some numbers that stand out…Avery Brandewie, whose 20 kills led all scorers or the match.
“That #6 is a heckuva’ player,” said Lori Rombach, smiling in a appreciation for the Loramie senior’s impact.
And between Brandewie, Jenna Barhorst, Katie Luthman and Deanna Rodeheffer, the four of them combined for 49 of the digs that mentally frustrated the Tiffin Calvert attack…that along with 111 total assists on offense. Loramie, as is their custom, was able to spread it around.
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But as good as it is to win in Loramie, a community that cherishes success and their rich legacy in both boys and girls basketball, their second win – this win – after their 2014 title over McComb was literally a cleansing moment for John Rodgers, who would comment, “I think every time we’ve lost during that time it’s been to the state champion.”
As the match drew to its conclusion he outwardly let it slip…his emotional anticipation of atoning for so many great players, and great teams, who came so very close over recent years – against New Bremen – only to come up a game short.
Up in arms…”Winning isn’t easy,” says coach John Rodgers, the beneficiary of a proud legacy of athletic success in Fort Loramie.
“I don’t know what to say except that winning isn’t easy,” said Rodgers in the post-game press conference. “Sometimes the best teams don’t get to the Final Four.
“After the first title in ’14, honestly I wasn’t expecting it that soon in my career. But that team taught me a lot about coaching, specifically that at some point the coach needs to get out of the way and let the team play. Some teams you can do that with, and some teams you can’t. This team, this year…I didn’t do much coaching,” he said with a smile.
“Out here today? Of course we did a few things – directing traffic. But for the most part what I was about to say to them in the huddle they were already saying it to each other. And that to me speaks so much about what we do off the court – in the gym, preparing for matches, watching film, my staff teaching them the game. Our kids are students of the game, and that’s something about these girls that I’m most proud of. Some of them will play in college, and some won’t. But even if they don’t their daughters are going to someday play the game because they understand it and they’re going to teach it to them.”
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“I’ve learned so much about the sport and how to work hard,” echoed senior Victoria Mescher, referring to both Rodgers and four-time champion basketball coach Carla Siegel. “It’s nice to have coaches like that who know how to lead us, and bring us to state every year.”
John Rodgers celebrates match point, and his second state win as coach of the Redskins.
Someone in the room asked about what comes next with Loramie volleyball…after losing eight seniors from this year’s champions?
“They’ll figure it out,” smiled Rodgers, whose work with instilling volleyball consistency at Loramie is nothing short of what Siegel has done with basketball.
And with that they got up to go board the bus, the trip back home…and the party. And Lord, what a party they’ll have. And they should.
They’ve earned it. Winning isn’t easy. Sometimes the best team doesn’t get to the Final Four.
Sometimes…it takes ten years!
Victory lap…Fort Loramie volleyball players accept the congratulations and appreciation from their fans.
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