Blackburn column: Maysville embodied what is right about high school sports

DAYTON — Alex Bobb went down the same way he and his Maysville teammates ascended.

By fighting like hell.

Games like Sunday's Division II state championship clash with Kettering Alter, with everything at stake, always means an unhappy ending for someone. It was the Panthers' turn this time, as the parochial power Knights' combination of extreme size and outside shooting proved too much over 32 minutes.

Bobb and his Panthers made a living off second-half comebacks at the regional. Twice they overcame a 15-point deficit in the finals against Vincent Warren. They needed Bobb to bank in a 3 at the buzzer to dispatch of quick, talented and tested Columbus Hartley in the semifinals.

This time, a 10-3 deficit in the first quarter, which grew to 48-34 entering the fourth, was a deficit that even these guys couldn't handle.

That didn't mean the Panthers didn't try like the Dickens. They finished 14-of-36 on 3-pointers — good for 39 percent — with six of those makes coming in the fourth quarter. They were within striking distance in the second half despite not attempting a free throw — Alter was 18-of-21.

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Bobb attempted 20 3s, hitting six. They hit three long balls on successive possession in the final 3:04 but couldn't get closer than 60-51. But it showed just how unfazed this group was when it came to adversity.

And that is the legacy.

Maysville's postseason epitomized scratching and clawing, just like the fanbase for which it represented. It lost to a better team, but that southeast Ohio fight will forever be the hallmark and legacy of this team. Thirty seconds of Wesley Armstead's defense or Coen Fink's undersized play in the post is all the proof one needs.

It's a group that deserves its place among the very best in Muskingum Valley League history.

John Glenn's 2015-16 state champion, led by Drew Rackley and Matt Weir, remains the MVL's gold standard, impressing more than any the league has put on the floor. Their excellence will never be disputed, but it took multiple transfers to do it.

Philo needed Darren Tigner to transfer from Tri-Valley to become the key piece of a state runner-up team in 1999 and top reserve Evan Merckle to transfer in from Miller. They were a miraculous step-back, banked-in 3 — or was it? — against Alter to claim its title. They were great in many ways, but they aren't there without the help they received from the open enrollees.

These Panthers did it with their guys.

In this day and age where teams like Richmond Heights can amass a Cleveland-area All-Star team to win a state title in Division IV, and Harvest Prep and Lutheran East can do the same in a state final clash in Division III, that isn't to be overlooked. Even Division I featured Cleveland St. Ignatius, an all-boys private school with more than 1,200 students.

Alter, arguably the top school in the Dayton area — public or private — had the sort of size many Division II colleges in Ohio would love to coax. Junior starters Charlie Uhl (6-foot-8) and Brady Connor (6-6) were taller than any Panther player. The Knights boasted six juniors 6-3 or taller — five were at least 6-5.

A fine team the Knights were. A level playing field it was not.

It speaks volumes to what coaches Dave Brown and Jared Cox built with this team. Their hometown kids from Southtown were nose-to-nose with this roster at halftime and fought back with six 3s in the fourth, but a cold stretch in the third was its death knell.

Credit to the Knights, who were far more than just a bunch of lumbering post players lacking skill and shooting. Balance made them great. With three starters back, all taller than 6-3, chances are they'll be even better next year. What they lose, they can always recoup with new enrollees. It's the value, even a perk, of private education in metros like Dayton.

This is problem not limited to basketball — it's an issue in every sport. Want to know why public schools recruit? It's simply how the game is played, like it or not. As one prominent area coach told me a few years ago, "Our teams can't win a state title without putting a team together."

I'm certain this isn't an uncommon opinion statewide.

Bemoaning the private-public separation will always be popular, especially when a public school loses. It's an argument that will never stop until the Ohio High School Athletic Association and its administrators decide to be proactive and find a solution that works for everyone. After all, not every private school is created equal — just ask schools like Rosecrans and Fisher Catholic, to name a few.

The value of private education has many layers, from major businesses seeking areas to locate to the discipline and work ethic its institutions teach. It has an important place everywhere in this country. When it comes to sports, though, the current system isn't working. Maybe the extra divisions in the next school calendar will change that.

Regardless of how Sunday's outcome went down in Dayton, this Maysville squad can go to bed at night knowing they represented the very best about high school athletics. Its guys, its way.

In that game, there are no losers.

sblackbu@gannett.com; X: @SamBlackburnTR

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Blackburn: Maysville represents what we love about high school sports