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Highland senior goalkeeper Matt Aberegg tells SportsInk.com he is headed to the University of Pittsburgh.
SHARON CENTER -- There are four new varsity boys basketball coaches in the Suburban League this season. Darrell Ayres (Tallmadge), Dan Brown (Cloverleaf), Tom Harrington (Highland), and Adam Pittis (Copley-Fairlawn) will give the league a different look in 2009-10. Ayers has been the JV boys coach at Tallmadge the last eight years and guided the Blue Devils to a 13-6 mark last winter. Brown was the JV boys coach at Copley-Fairlawn last season. Harrington was the JV boys coach at Brunswick and Pittis comes to Copley after two seasons as head boys coach at Harrison Central near Cadiz.
Buchtel has added at least two transfers for the coming boys basketball season. Senior Jason Pitts (East) and junior Marlon Oden (Copley) should give coach Steve White’s Griffins a shot in the arm. Pitts is a 6-foot-1 swing player with deceptive athleticism. He is a dynamite defender and was a principal player in Akron East winning the Stow Division II district title earlier this year. Coach Ross Fiorello's Orientals defeated Benedictine to win the title. Oden was in Copley’s rotation last winter and should be a welcome addition at Buchtel as well.
Ten Summit and Medina County high schools are ranked in the Plain Dealer’s preseason Top 25 girls basketball poll: 3. Twinsburg, 5. Walsh Jesuit, 6. Wadsworth, 7. Green, 11. Copley-Fairlawn, 14. Cloverleaf, 15. Hudson, 16. Archbishop Hoban, 20. Mogadore, 25. St. Vincent-St. Mary. The Suburban League has four teams in the top 15 (Wadsworth, Green, Copley, and Cloverleaf). The Northeast Ohio Conference also has four top 15 teams (Twinsburg, Brush, Strongsville, Hudson). Before the end of December, expect coach Audley McGill and Firestone to be in the P-D’s Top 25. The Falcons opened with a win at No. 14 Cloverleaf on Saturday. Division IV Mogadore has two 1,000-point scorers in Jordan Poth and Amanda Sidwell. The biggest game this week has No. 3 Twinsburg playing at No. 5 Walsh Jesuit on Wednesday. Six-foot-4 Twinsburg sophomore Malina Howard is attracting considerable attention from recruiters and opponents alike.
Highland senior goalkeeper Matt Aberegg tells me he is headed to the University of Pittsburgh. The Panthers carried just two goalkeepers on their roster in 2009 and finished 2-13-2. Aberegg, who lists at six-foot-four, played his first three years of high school soccer at St. Vincent-St. Mary before transferring to his home district and playing for the Hornets as a senior. Highland was ranked in the state poll during the season and posted a 13-3-2 mark (5-1-1 in the SL), falling in the Brunswick Division II district semifinal to Revere 3-1.