Wynford vs Willard

Royals Give Willard All They Can Handle

By: MacKenton Johnson, “Royal Times”
The Lady Royals, 16-5, looked to improve on their winning season hosting a talented and young Willard Crimson Lady Flashes, 16-3 in their last regular season game in W.R. Donnenwirth Gymnasium. The Royals were definitely at a size disadvantage to the Lady Crimson Flashes and knew that the game would be physical. Gretchen Harris was put into the starting lineup for the Lady Royals due to Alyssa Harrer being out for a temporary knee injury. The game was physical as anticipated and a very intense battle between two very talented teams. Sydney Alspach hit a buzzer beater at the end of the first quarter cutting the Flashes lead to three points, 11- 8. Willard used their size and strength and capitalized on the Royals mistakes to take 14 point lead at the half, 29-15. Senior, Meghan Harrer said, “We knew coming into the game Willard was going to be very physical, and they were the whole game. We didn’t play very well the first half, but we knew we had to play tougher and not make as many mistakes in the second half if we wanted to stay in the game and come out with a win!” The Royals came out ready to play in the second half. They increased their defensive pressure and cut the Flashes lead to 6 points by the end of the third quarter trailing, 39-33. Sadly, Wynfords strong second half surge came up on the short end and Willard ended up taking one from the Lady Royals on their home court, 53-48. Meghan Harrer was the leading scorer for the Royals with 13 points. The Lady Royals ended their regular season with a overall record of 16-6 and NCC record of 13-2, sharing the title with the Riverdale Falcons. The Lady Royals will continue their season in the tournaments next Saturday, February 22nd at 6:15 and will play the winner of New London and Western Reserve at Shelby High School. 


The Lady Royals junior varsity team, 19-2, prepared for the Crimson Flashes and their final game of season. As soon as the game started, you could feel the energy the team brought to the court. The Royals continued their aggressive defensive play and kept the Flashes on edge the entire game. Before the first half ended, Mallory Moore drained two three’s giving the Royals momentum and 15 point lead going into the third quarter. Wynford ended their season with a 46-26 victory giving junior varsity coach, Mark Kocher his 403rd victory as junior varsity coach for the Royals. Sarah Ogden was the leading scorer for the Lady Royals with 15 points. The junior varsity team ended their season with an outstanding overall record of 20-2 and 14-1 in the NCC.

Girls Basketball Senior Night

Seniors Scour Bulldogs

By: Brooke Miller, “Royal Times” 

 On February 7, 2014, the Wynford Lady Royals hosted a Friday night basketball game against the Lady Bulldogs of Crestline High School. Wynford’s junior varsity team came into the game with an 18-1 overall record determined to chalk up an easy win against the 0-19 Lady Bulldogs. The game started off with a quick turnover from the Royals within the first ten seconds of the game, but the mistake was instantly recovered with a three point shot by junior Hannah Kocher. The Royals had a sizable lead and never looked back leading 16-5 at the end of the first quarter. The majority of the Wynford starters were substituted for by the end of the second quarter due to the Royal’s solid defense. Crestline only scored seven points during the second quarter giving the Royals a sizable lead at the half, 24-12. The girls had a powerful start to the second half scoring twelve points within the first two minutes of the third quarter developing a healthy 28 point lead, 43-15. Sydney Alspach, junior, helped the team out with two consecutive three point shots in the fourth quarter. Also, in the fourth quarter the team continued to constantly steal the ball and make several layups, putting them several points ahead of the Lady Bulldogs. The Lady Royals strong offense and relentless defense ended the night for the Bulldogs keeping them under twenty points with a final score of 59-19. Top scorers for the junior varsity squad included Mallory Moore with 15, Sarah Ogden with 12, and Sydney Alspach with 11 points. The Lady Royals now hold a record of 19-1 and hope to continue their winning run. 

Also within the game included the Lady Royal’s senior night. Each senior girl got the honor to be escorted down the court by her parents while all accomplishments and future plans were announced. One thing about Beth DeLong included her future plans of attending Miami University, a top-college in Ohio. Meghan Harrer, also known as “Meghan for three,” through her high school career has scored over 150 three point shots. Brenna Quinn became known by both girls and boys coaches to have the best drop step around. KarLee Schiefer, although her career was interrupted with a knee injury, was well respected on the team and a great leader on and off the court. Last senior to be announced was Sarah Stenson, who was always described as the nicest kid by all the coaches. The seniors received presents from their fellow teammates and all got the honor to start together for the varsity game, with an exception of KarLee. 

The girls varsity team started the night tied for the lead in the NCC and an overall record of 15-4, where they played the 2-17 Lady Bulldogs. Senior, Meghan Harrer, started off the game very strong giving the Royals their first seven points of the game. During the first two minutes of the first quarter, Wynford’s quick offense forced Crestline to instantly call a timeout. The seniors definitely stepped up their game on senior night by giving the Royals the first 13 points of the game. The seniors dominated the quarter scoring all but five points making the score 29-5 by the end of the quarter. Though the first quarter was strong, the start of the second quarter was slow with several missed shots by the Royals. Scoring was held to a minimum until Sydney Alspach hit a three and set a spark for the Royals. The third quarter started out with senior, Sarah Stenson, making back to back hustle plays while Maci Cooper shot her first bucket of the night, resulting in an one and-one for the Royals. Midway through the third, Wynford increased their lead on the scoreboard 52-14; then the seniors closed the quarter with a strong 56-14 lead. Starting the fourth, Meghan Harrer continued to lead the Lady Royals with several three and two point shots. The Royals ended the night with a final score of 70-17, improving to 16-4 and the Bulldogs falling to 2-18. Meghan Harrer was easily the leading scorer of the night with 19 points, followed by junior Ellie Richmond with 13 points. The Lady Royal’s will be traveling next to Riverdale on Tuesday, February 11th, to face the very difficult Lady Falcons.

Wynford Varsity/JV Girls Basketball

Just Another Day at the “House of Thrills”

By: Hunter Miller, “Royal Times” 

On February 1st at one o'clock the Lady Royals hosted the Lady Eagles of Colonel Crawford. The Royals came into the game on top of the league with a record of 14-3. Both teams got off to a slow start, but it was Beth DeLong of the Royals with the first bucket of the game. The Lady Royals quickly became the enforcer jumping out to a 9-3 lead after multiple eagle turnovers. The Royals were slowed for the remainder of the quarter and only managed to score on Sarah Stenson's free throws. The score after the first was 11-5, Wynford. The Lady Royals started the second on a 5-0 run ,and the Eagles did not waste time before they took their first time out. The Royals worked their way to the foul line to take a 23-10 lead before the eagles hit back to back three's to cut the lead to seven. The score at the half was the Royals 29, the Eagles 20. The first possessions of the second half resulted in two three's for the Royals to Crawfords one. Brenna Quinn was a mismatch for the Royals the whole game, the eagles had nobody that could stop her in the paint. Halfway through the third quarter the Royals had a 39-27 lead. The Lady Royals were stopped for the remainder of the third with the Eagles only scoring one bucket. The score after three is 39-29 with the Royals on top. Before the fourth quarter even began the Lady Eagle's bench received a technical foul which resulted in Meghan Harrer sinking both free throws. The Royals did not waste any time before stepping up to the foul line once again, this time Brenna Quinn hit the foul shots. The Lady Royals began to pull away after a couple minutes had past in the fourth. Brenna Quinn ran the paint both offensively and defensively for basically the whole fourth quarter. Once the fourth quarter had begun there was no looking back and Royals came out on top with a 51-34 victory behind Meghan Harrer's team high 14 points. This win gave the Lady Royal's an impressive record of 15-3. The Lady Royals will head to Madison to face the Rams in a non-conference matchup this upcoming Tuesday. 

Junior Varsity Girls Continue Winning Ways 

By: Mason Johnson, “Royal Times”
In junior varsity action, the Royals were in a stalemate in the first quarter with the score 3-2 for most of the quarter but managed a five point run with one minute left making the score 7-2 at the end of quarter one. The beginning of the second quarter Coach Kocher dialed up a play to set up a three pointer for the first play of the quarter. The Royals added seven unanswered points until the Lady Eagles managed to hit a free throw making the score 14-3. The Eagles were running a press that the Royals successfully broke and Hannah Kocher ran off five straight points. The score with a minute left in the half was 23-4. Coach Hurles said, “our tenacious defense in the first half holding them to only making 2 field goals and 2 free throws set the tone for the rest of the game.” The third quarter was a rather low scoring affair with a lot of long possessions and turnovers, but the Eagles made a small comeback with a 6-0 run. The Royals were still in control bringing the score at the end of third quarter to 34-13. The Lady Eagles clawed their way back to a 13 point deficit, 36-23, with their defensive pressure with three minutes left in the fourth period. It seemed like the ball was always on the Eagles half of the floor for about a minute during this time. The Lady Eagles did manage to cut the lead to 10 with a minute left in the fourth quarter and called a quick timeout. The Lady Eagles could not overcome the large lead and control the Royals for the rest of the game with the final score of 40-28 in favor of the Lady Royals. The junior varsity Lady Royals improve to 15-1 on the season, and also take on the Madison Rams Tuesday evening.

JV and Varsity Girls Basketball

Wynford Girls Sweep the Rams 

By: Kelsey Redden
On Thursday, January 17th the Wynford girls basketball teams faced the Upper Sandusky Rams in a makeup game. In varsity girls action, the defense was a major contributor for the win over Upper, 49-30. The first half of the game kept both crowds on the edges of their seat. Halfway through the first quarter Brenna Quinn went out with an injury to the face and did not return. This caused the Royals to go deep into their lineup and caused difficulty with executing as a team but managed to generate continuity as the game progressed. The Rams took the lead 15-12 at the end quarter one. As the second quarter progressed, the Rams were able to hold on to the lead, 21-19, with less than a minute left to go in the quarter. As seconds ticked off the clock before halftime, Beth DeLong gave a huge spark to her team as she hit a three point shot putting the Royals up by one 22-21. Then Meghan Harrer sank a last second shot adding two more points to the Royals lead at halftime. This five point swing and 24-21 lead gave the Royals the momentum they needed as they headed to the locker room. The Lady Royals looked like a different team after halftime as they increased their defensive and offensive intensity. The Royals only allowed the Rams to score three points in the third quarter and six points in the fourth quarter. In the the second half, the Royals used their intensity and pulled away from the Rams ending the game with a 19 point advantage. When asked after the game about the change in the Royals defensive game in the second half Meghan Harrer said “We executed our defensive game and were patient running our offense. Also, we had to try and shut out Taylor Graboski, the Rams leading scorer.” The Royals were able to keep Taylor Graboski who is also the NCC’s leading scorer to only 8 points which was a key part to the game. The top three scorers for the Royals were Ellie Richmond with 16, Meghan Harrer with 12, and Beth DeLong with 10. The leading rebounders were sisters Meghan and Alyssa Harrer. Wynford improves their overall record to 10-3 and 7-1 in the NCC.

In junior varsity action, the Royals chalked up another win on their record improving to 12-1 overall and 8-0 in the NCC. The Royals defeated the Rams 39-31 in a close win. The first quarter was a low scoring quarter with neither team seeing double digits. Maci Cooper was the only scorer for the Royals putting her team ahead 6-2 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter saw the most points of the night by the Royals, scoring 14 and increasing their lead to six points going into the half leading 20-14. In the second half, the Royals were able to maintain their lead increasing it to eight by the end of the third quarter leading 31-23. They would keep their eight point lead as the game came to an end. The top three scorers for the Royals were Hannah Kocher and Maci Cooper with 10 and Sarah Ogden with 8. The Royals post play contributed to a major part of their success in the game totaling 29 points. The girls next game is on the road as they face Bucyrus on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in a battle of rivals.

High School Girls Basketball

Battle of the Unbeaten

By: Todd Enders, "Royal Times"

The Wynford Royals and the Riverdale Falcons went head to head in North Central Conference (NCC) play in a battle of the unbeaten. The battle between these two teams kept the "House of Thrills" tradition alive at W.R. Donnenwirth Gymnasium where the Falcons defeated the Royals, 59-57. This was an intense match up for 32 minutes. The Falcons got off to a fast start taking an 18-12 first quarter lead where they ran off the last 10 points of the first quarter. The Royals did not let this deficit affect them. The second quarter continued in fierce combat with the Royals outscoring the Falcons 19-13. The Royals put together a nine point run with the help of Ellie Richmond connecting on three 3-point field goals to end the second period with the Royals and Falcons tied at 31-31. The second half was no different than the first half with each team continuing to battle. The Royals started the third period strong, but the Falcons would not give up, leading at the end of third period 42-41. The final period was the difference in the game with the Falcons getting to the foul line 16 times and the Royals only eight.  Even though the Royals were 6 of 8 from the line, the

Falcons were able to hit 13 of 16 maintaining their lead and controlling their own destiny.  Coach Taylor-Sheldon said, "We needed to make some big shoots down the stretch, but we turned the ball over. This caused us to foul and put Riverdale at the line." The Royals were led in scoring by Ellie Richmond with 21 points. Coach Taylor-Sheldon commented on Ellie's game saying, "The biggest part of her improvement is her outside shooting and she is so much more poised making her game more balanced." Also making a major contribution to the Royals was Brenna Quinn, finishing with a 19 points and 12 rebounds. The Royals fall to 8-3 overall and 5-1 in the league. The Royals still control their own destiny in the NCC by winning out and looking forward to a rematch with the Falcons for a shot at a co-championship.

In junior varsity action, the Royals continued their winning ways by defeating the Falcons, 37-35, in overtime. This game also was a thriller in the "House of Thrills. The Royals started the game by utilizing their inside game with Sarah Ogden. Sarah contributed seven of her game high 14 points during the first period with the Royals leading 13-9. The Falcons made a run during the second period outscoring the Royals 9-6 and cutting into the Royals lead, 19-18, at intermission. The Royals struggled with the Falcons full court pressure the entire game, but it

showed most of all during the third period. The Royals only managed to score three points, while the Falcons scored seven, allowing them to take a 26-22 lead. The Royals were determined to continue their undefeated NCC record during the fourth quarter and overtime by outscoring the Falcons 15-10. The foul line was the determining factor, just like the varsity game, with the Royals hitting 7-12 and the Falcons 8-10. The only difference was the Royals coming away with the win. The junior varsity girls improve to 10-1 overall and 6-0 in the NCC. The girls are back in action Tuesday, traveling to Buckeye Central at 6:00 p.m. to take on the Bucks.

Girls Basketball

Wynford Girls Pounce on the Tigers 

By: Todd Enders

 The Lady Royals improve to 6-2 overall and 3-0 in the NCC with an impressive 57-28 victory over the Galion Tigers on Saturday. The Royals dominated the Tigers from tip-off until the final buzzer taking an early 10-0 lead before a Galion timeout. This did not slow down the Royals, as they continued to shoot well from the floor and forced numerous turnovers to take an early first quarter lead of 18-2. Continuing to disrupt the Tigers offense, the Royals poured in another 14 points offensively in the second quarter to take a 32-8 halftime lead. The second half was no different for the Royals. Creating an impressive 24 point lead, all the Lady Royals got a piece of the action. Coach Taylor said, “We did a nice job of feeding the ball into the post and kicking it back out giving our shooters a great look. We also got a lot of playing time for everyone.” The Royals were lead in scoring by senior, Meghan Harrer, with 18 points. Also finishing in double figures for the Royals were Beth DeLong with 11 and Brenna Quinn with 10. 

By: Mason Johnson 

The junior varsity Royals also took on the Tigers of Galion on Saturday. The Royals went on an early 6-0 run in the first quarter and were stopped as the Lady Tigers went on an 8-0 run to answer. At the end of the first period, the Royals managed to hang on to a 13-11 lead. The Lady Royals outscored the Tigers in the second period 13-4 to take a 26-15 lead at halftime, which they would continue to expand on throughout the second half. An aggressive Royals defense disrupted the Tigers offense in the second half allowing them to maintain a healthy double digit lead. Wynford finished the Tigers off, 48-28. Gretchen Harris lead all scorers for the Royals with 14 while Haley Kocher added 12. The Lady Royals improve to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the NCC. The Lady Royals are back in action on Saturday at Colonel Crawford with a 1:00 p.m. tip-off.

Varsity and JV Basketball

Wynford Girls Basketball Defeats Rival Bucyrus

By: MacKenton Johnson

The Lady Royals defeat their rivals the Lady Redmen on the Royal’s home court. The Royal’s varsity team improves to 2-0 in league play and showed a lot of energy allowing them to take an early four point lead at the end of the first quarter. They withstood several Redmen rallies throughout the second quarter to hold a 25-19 lead at halftime. The Royals came out in the second half and maintained the lead for the rest of the game. The final score of the game was 52-42. The leading scorer for the Lady Royals was Meghan Harrer with 18 points. The Lady Royals played well as a team and improve their record to 4-2. 


By: Lainie Wright 

The Lady Royals junior varsity also defeated the Bucyrus Redmen on Tuesday evening. They also started out quickly with Hannah Kocher scoring the first points of the game. Gretchen Harris followed with another quick field goal increasing the Royals lead to 4-0. The Royals went on to maintain their lead throughout the game; never trailing. By halftime, the Lady Royals had an eleven point lead 28-17. The two rivals battled back and forth, but the Redmen could not keep up with the Royals aggressive offense and strong defense. Sydney Alspach was 4 of 5 beyond the three point arc, and Gretchen Harris chipped in with 6 field goals both finishing with 12 points. The Lady Royals improve to 5-1 on the season. The Wynford girls are back in action at home on Saturday, December 14th against Upper Sandusky at 1 p.m.

Girls Basketball

Varsity Girls Basketball Dominates Buckeye

By: Kelsey Redden

On Friday, December 6 the varsity girls basketball team hosted Buckeye Central. Wynford lead Buckeye 19-6 at the end of quarter one, and it was the closest the two teams would be all night. The Royals dominated the Bucks from this point forward on both on offense and defense. The Royals offensively trampled the Bucks with a 43 point advantage, winning 74-31. The leading scorers for the Royals were Ellie Richmond, KarLee Schiefer, and Meghan Harrer with 16 points each. The Royals look to continue dominating their opponents facing rival Bucyrus on Tuesday, December 10th. 

JV Lady Royals Defeat Buckeye Central

By Lainie Wright 

Also on Friday, December 6th, the Lady Royals junior varsity defeated Buckeye Central. At the end of the first quarter the Royals lead the Bucks by one 11-10. The Royals dominated the Bucks throughout the rest of the game just as the varsity girls. The Royals excelled on the offensive end of the court scoring 46 points and defensively held the Bucks to only 32 points. The Royals top scorers were Sara Ogden with 12 points and Mallory Moore and Sydney Alspach with 7 points each. The next Lady Royals junior varsity game is Tuesday, December 10th against rival Bucyrus.