Central Ohio High School Sports Awards: Liberty hockey wins Boys Team of the Year
The Olentangy Liberty hockey team won the Boys Team of the Year Award at Thursday’s Central Ohio High School Sports Awards, presented by Encova Insurance. The live show was produced with the support of Nationwide Children’s Sports Medicine.
Liberty got the nod over the other two finalists, the Columbus East football team and the Ready boys basketball team. East made the longest postseason run in its history last fall, driving all the way to a Division IV, Region 15 semifinal. It finished 10-2. Ready started the season with 28 straight wins and made it all the way to the state semifinals.
Liberty made history, becoming the first central Ohio hockey program to win the state title. The Patriots beat Hunting Valley University School 6-2 in the state final March 12 at Nationwide Arena, capping a 39-1-1 season. Senior forward Charlie Hughes led the way, scoring four goals. Liberty beat Upper Arlington 10-1 in the district final and then edged Cleveland St. Ignatius 4-3 in a state semifinal. The Patriots previously advanced to state in 2011, 2013 and 2017, losing in a semifinal each time. Since the tournament began in 1978, Dublin Jerome in 2019 had been the only team from the Columbus area to reach the state final.
"(Winning the state title) still hasn't sunk in," Liberty coach Kevin Alexander said. "It's been real exciting for all these guys. It's been one thing after another. It's been an absolute blast."
In all, over 300 student-athletes and 22 scholarship winners were honored during the show, which celebrates athletes from across the Columbus area. Encova Insurance donated $60,000 of the $63,000 in total scholarship money that was awarded.
Thirty students were honored as athletes of the year in their respective sports, and seven premier awards were handed out: Boys Athlete of the Year, Girls Athlete of the Year, Boys Team of the Year, Girls Team of the Year, Coach of the Year, Courage Award and School Spirit Award.
The Central Ohio High School Sports Awards show is part of the USA Today High School Sports Awards, the largest high school sports recognition program in the country.
WBNS-10TV will air a 30-minute broadcast highlighting this year’s awards show, interviews with this year’s top scholarship award winners and this year’s special guest, Brady Quinn. The show will air on Saturday, June 24, from 7-7:30 p.m. on WBNS-10TV and on 10TV.com/Watch, and be hosted by 10TV’s Dom Tiberi and The Columbus Dispatch’s Dave Purpura.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Olentangy Liberty hockey named central Ohio Boys Team of the Year
