Braylon Cordonnier is a three-sport standout at Russia and will play college baseball at Marshall University next fall. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
A pair of multi-sport impact athletes, Russia’s Braylon Cordonnier and Fort Loramie’s Avery Brandewie are the Press Pros/Sponsors Shelby County League scholar-athlete scholarship winners for 2025.
The 2024-’25 school year marked the largest field of applicants in the history of the Press Pros/sponsors scholar-athlete award, but in the end Russia’s Braylon Cordonnier and Fort Loramie’s Avery Brandewie have been chosen as the respective recipients of the Bill Wells Scholarship Award for 2025.
The Minster Bank congratulates this year’s Press Pros scholar/athlete scholarship recipients for the Shelby County League.
Few are as well-known, or as well-respected as boys awardee Braylon Cordonnier among Division VII (it used to be IV) impact players in both basketball and baseball.
A three-year starter in basketball, the 6’3″, 200-pound Cordonnier averaged 15 points a game this past season and helped lead the Russia Raiders to their first basketball title in school history. He’s the son of Russia varsity basketball coach Spencer Cordonnier, and athletic director, Amber Cordonnier.
“He averaged 15, but he could have done 25,” said a rival coach from the area. “He’s a very unselfish player who has the knack for making big plays and big shots at big moments. On most nights he was the best player on the floor.”
But it’s in baseball where Cordonnier will seek to take his talents to the next level.
A recruit to play at Division I Marshall University next fall, he’s the first Shelby County League male athlete since Andy Hoying (Jackson Center) in a quarter century to play at college sports’ highest level (Div. I) – the highest level of Division I college sports since Tom Brandewie (Fort Loramie) played basketball at Ohio State (1989-’92). A genuine five-tool player in high school baseball, he’s expected to be an impact player at Marshall from the start after helping Russia to the OHSAA Division IV baseball title over Lincolnview in 2022.
Also talented in golf at Russia, Cordonnier graduates with a 3.96 GPA and a score of 25 on the ACT exam.
“I owe a lot to my dad,” he writes in his application essay. “Having him right there by my side and helping me to exceed his own athletic accomplishments has been indescribable. My personal growth wouldn’t have been near what it is without him assisting me day in and day out. He taught me how to be a leader.”
Bunny’s Pharmacy, in downtown Sidney, supports the Shelby County League on Press Pros.
Avery Brandewie, from Fort Loramie, becomes the fourth Redskin athlete in the past five years to win the Press Pros scholar-athlete award. A two-sport standout in both volleyball and basketball, she was a two-time state champion, in both sports), and retires from high school basketball as the all-time rebounds leader for women’s basketball at Fort Loramie.
Avery Brandewie’s critical scoring led to 16 points in the fourth quarter of Loramie’s 2024 OHSAA Division IV title win over Crestview.
A dominant contributor to coach John Rodgers’ Division VII state champs in volleyball last fall, it’s basketball where she’s been the most recognized for her growth and leadership under coach Carla Siegel.
“What can I say about Avery,” Siegel gushes. “She does the work, she’s so competitive, and she’s a leader on the court. And she’s going to be that way in life. She could play in college at either sport, but she wants to get her education and begin her professional career in dental hygiene. Obviously, she’s very focused.”
Averaging in double digits in both scoring and rebounds on most nights, her reputation as a competitor and leader on the court set her apart in Division IV basketball (previously), and this past season in Division VII.
“She plays to win,” adds a rival coach from the Shelby County League. “She may run right through and she might help you up. She’s a bulldog out there on the court.”
Brandewie graduates from Fort Loramie with a 3.92 GPA and scored 24 on the ACT, and will attend Rhodes State Community College in Lima where she will study dental hygiene.
The Division VII girls basketball Player of The Year, she credits some obstacles and hardships for helping her accomplish reward and recognition in sports.
The Hughes Law office, in Urbana, is the official presenting sponsor of OHSAA state tournament and a proud sponsor of the Shelby County League on Press Pros Magazine.
“Little did I know that a [winning] mindset would push me to be my best and to be a two-time state champion,” she writes in her applicant essay. I became a better player by learning to push through injury and obstacles. They allowed me to grow as a player and s a person.”
Recipients’ applications are ranked by panel of independent retired teachers and guidance counselors, based on grade point average, ACT/SAT score, athletic accomplishment, and personal essay.
Cordonnier and Brandewie will each receive the Press Pros Bill Wells Scholarship for Development in the amount of $2,500 to help further their scholastic and athletic pursuits this fall. And 2025 marks $140,000 dollars in scholar-athlete awards through Press Pros since the program began in 2014 – the largest such endowment of any online media source in Ohio.
The Press Pros sponsors scholar-athlete awards are made possible by the following area companies and contributing sponsors:
The Minster Bank, Keyhole Pizza (Newport), Allenbaugh Insurance (Jackson Center), Bunny’s Pharmacy (Sidney), Crale Builders (Sidney), Huffer Chiropractic (Jackson Center), Wilson Sports Medicine, 49 Degrees (Coldwater), The Spot Restaurant (Sidney), H.A. Dorsten Contractors (Minster), Ruhenkamp Boring and Trenching, Minster Dental, Logan Services (Amanda Kinsella, Vandalia), the Hughes Law Firm (Urbana), and The Bill and Dorothy Davis Foundation in central Ohio.
Wilson Health proudly sponsors your favorite area sports on Press Pros Magazine.com.