Now it really gets fun!

"Good Night from Elyria!"

With that line from our Don Vincent, the Lorain County Sports Network officially wrapped up the High School Basketball regular season on Friday Night. From here on in, the hysteria of tournament play begins!

I can't remember being more excited for a postseason to get here than I am for this one. Virtually every boys and girls district involving Lorain County teams is wide open. Wide open enough where we could have more than one team make it to the regionals. It's been a long time coming for the boys teams in our area. While we've watched the girls from Amherst and Elyria make it out of district play over the last couple of years, you have to go back five years to 2003 to find the last time a boys basketball team in Lorain County advanced to the round of 16.

Go back to that year of 2003 for a moment. Three boys teams from the county (Avon, Elyria Catholic, and Open Door) all advanced to the Sweet 16, as did Southview on the girls side. It was a magical four weeks of tournament play that took us from Lorain County all the way to the Schottenstein Center in Columbus where we watched Open Door play in the Final Four. Since then, several teams have come close to getting out of districts (most notably the boys from Elyria) but none have cut down the nets. That may change in a matter of weeks.

So let's look at the tournament field starting in Division I at Midview for what should be an absolutely fantastic district. Among the teams that will be there:

1. Elyria--the second seeded Pioneers capped off the season with an emotional senior night victory over the top seeded Brunswick Blue Devils on Friday. To me, it was a statement that the Pioneers are ready to take the final step and win the district after two straight runner up finishes.

2. Admiral King--I came away impressed with the Admirals after seeing them at the Q last week against Euclid. They have a great floor leader in Chris Kimbro and a talented big man in Adrian Casey plus a ton of speed and depth.

3. North Ridgeville--The West Shore Conference Champions have Drew McGee. Enough said.
(oh by the by, they have a lot of other guys that can beat you, too.)

4. Southview--You have to love how they bounced back from a poor performance against AK and upset Elyria on Tuesday Night. Andy Bastock will have the Saints ready for the tournament.

Waiting for those four county teams will be four juggernauts: Brunswick, Olmsted Falls, North Olmsted, and Strongsville. Uhh, yeah, I'm impressed.

In Division II at Westlake, Vermilion and Avon are the second and third seeds respectively in a field where really there is no dominant team. The Sailors are intriguing because of the return of Andy Pena. They match up awfully well with top seed Holy Name in a potential district semifinal. Avon and Keystone could also make noise at the bottom half of the bracket.

Lutheran West is back in Elyria trying to defend their Division III district crown. To get to Bowling Green and the regionals, the Longhorns will likely have to beat both Wellington and Clearview. The Clippers were beaten by Lutheran West twice during the regular season but you know John Szalay will have his bunch ready for another shot. And maybe this is the year Wellington can finally overcome years of coming so close but falling short of a district title. Tom Eibel has a balanced squad led by of Erick Saunders, Cory Kidd, and Chris Huelsman.

Oberlin will have to overcome a layoff of more than three weeks when they play at the Division IV district in Strongsville. The Phoenix are an exciting team led by Morgan Jones and Kris Robinson along with one of the brightest young coaches in the area in Kurt Russell. I loved their performance against Lutheran West a few weeks back when they rallied from 17 down in the fourth quarter despite only suiting up six. They may have to go through Open Door and Lutheran East to get a shot at Chanel, who will likely be waiting in the District Finals. Open Door has had a terrific year in their own right, led by first year coach Jason Penley and Brendan McNabb, who averages nearly 23 points per game.

On the girls side, you have to think that someone will come out of the Medina district from Lorain County. Elyria and Amherst have already guaranteed that at the very least, someone from the county will play for the title. But Admiral King comes in playing the best basketball of any team in the field. If they can overcome a bit of a layoff, their chances of at least advancing to the district championship game seem awfully good.

Keystone gets their shot at a Sectional title this weekend at St. Joseph Academy in Divison II play. Scott Terry's Wildcats finished the year as Patriot Athletic Conference champions with a sparkling 11-2 record in the conference. They'll lock up against Fairview, who were also 15-5 in the regular season.

Congratulations to Coach Larry Babics and the Columbia Lady Raiders for capturing the sectional title at the Division III tournament this week in Lagrange. Their reward in the district semifinals? A date with Regina, quite possibly the best team in the state in DIII. On the bottom half of the bracket, Oberlin and Elyria Catholic will get their shots at sectional titles Saturday in games you'll be able to hear on WOBL.

So that's how it all shapes up. Make sure you stay in touch with the progress of the tournaments and view our broadcast schedule on our brackets sections here at northcoastdailynews.com. We'll be bringing you close to 20 live games over the next seven days, ensuring you'll get more games featuring more of your favorite teams than from any other source.

To quote Don again.....It's GAME TIME!!