The Glenville High School boys basketball team is headed to Dayton this weekend to compete for a state title against the Maysville High School Panthers out of Zanesville.
It’s the first time the Tarblooders have reached the championship game, but Head Coach Bryon Ottrix said the team has been knocking on the door, winning the division and making regional appearances in recent years.
“We’ve been on the verge of having success since 2020. That was our first appearance in the district championship,” he said. “We’ve actually been to, I think, five straight since then... This year, we were just able to get over the hump.”
The team is headed to the Division IV state title game after a blowout victory Saturday over Hawken.
Glenville’s Xavier Bickerstaff, Theodore Castro, Jahi Hobson Jr. and Amir Lessears were among the key contributors to the win, Ottrix said.
This year's team has achieved a number of firsts: They brought home their first regional championship over Warrensville-Heights to reach the final four. Then they beat Hawken in the state semi-finals to make their first appearance in the state championship.
The team's success has meant so much not only to the program but to the school itself, Ottrix said.
"We get counted out a lot, you know what I mean?” he said. “We know what's going on in our community. We know what's going on in our schools. We know everything that we lack... from a support and a resource standpoint."
About two-thirds of people who live in the Glenville neighborhood on Cleveland's East Side live in or near poverty, according to the Center for Community Solutions, a Northeast Ohio think tank.
“There’s a lot of hopelessness in our community,” the coach added. “If we’re able to do this and we’re able to show what we can achieve under these circumstances... do things the right way and show we can play at this level with everybody, I think it’s a glimpse of hope in a place that doesn’t have much.”
Win or lose, the team’s performance this year has given Glenville something to be proud of, Ottrix said.
“We can be... something that the community could come together and celebrate,” he said, “and not just always having to come together... when bad things happen.”
Glenville and Maysville's tipoff is scheduled for Friday Mar. 21 at 4:15pm.
