Matchup #9 is Johnstown Monroe vs. Castalia Margaretta. Johnstown is a few years removed from a nice run in the tournament, but have strung together several solid seasons in a row. The Johnnies have always been an excellent defensive team, making every team work for a good shot with excellent man to man defense. New head coach Kyle Higgins will bring a new system to the school, which will be interesting to see. Three starters return this year for Johnstown, sophomore Will Taylor, senior Noah Robertson, and senior Dylan Fox, who are likely to be the Johnnies’ top three contributors. Coach Higgins will ball movement and player movement to get teams off balance defensively. Johnstown will look to make noise in the LCL this year and in Division 4 with a relatively young but hungry squad. In the early going, Johnstown opened the season with Columbus West on the road, a game in which they won handily 61-44.
Castalia Margaretta is looking for another strong campaign in 2024-25 after reaching the D3 regional final last year, but losing to state final four finisher Ottawa Glandorf. This team is led by a young star, junior Julian Washington, who has D1 offers from Charleston, Ohio, Toledo, Kent St, UNI, BGSU, Akron, and EMU thus far. This kid is as athletic as they come, coupled with a shifty game that keeps even great defenders on their heels. Junior point guard Judah Keller is another outstanding player, who is a floor general for the Polar Bears. Just last week, senior Nolan Wiley broke the school three point record with 9 in Margaretta’s win over Edison without taking a single shot in the third quarter! Steve Keller Jr. will look to improve on his teams’ current 5-0 record and keep climbing the rankings in the Sandusky Bay conference. The small school matchup between the Johnnies and the Polar Bears is an intriguing one, and you can catch the action at 3pm Saturday, December 28th at the Columbus Grand Convention Center.
