Sports

This last Wednesday, the Defiance Bulldogs track team traveled to Van Wert to compete in the first day of the WBL track meet. Some events came out with success while others did not, but the season is nearly over and the team is still kicking.

Senior Trinity Bibler believes the first day went relatively well for the Bulldogs and shared some thoughts on the meet and success of her teammates. “Our 4x8 team finished first and we had multiple events to qualify for finals on Friday. One group going to districts is our 4x8 team of Emily Wahl, Mira Horvath, Layla Briseno, and Sam Hoenburger.” Bibler thinks the group has a good chance to qualify for the state meet.

Representing the boy’s side of the team, Senior Servontre Graves shares the success of the team at the meet and the example of many athletes gaining a new personal record during said meet. “ Our 4x400 and 4x200 made the finals. Josh Horvath also made the finals in the 110m and 300m hurdles. Freshman Anthony Wilder made finals in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m along with Joey Robinson, Eli Howerton, and Nicasiso Hall.” Graves believes that quite a few of the boy’s events will qualify for districts and have success.

As both the boys and girls move onto the second day of WBL’s, the team will see who goes to districts and farther. It has been a pretty good season so far for the Bulldogs and they have the support of the school for their journey to districts and more.

The track team is starting to close out their season with the conference meet being this week. The weather lately has been changing drastically and has not been consistent.

Mr. Rittenour, boys track coach, has recently started coaching highschool again. Coach Rittenour explained, "I think the weather will definitely affect the WBL's in many ways. First off, this has been an unreasonably cool and rainy season and now it will be hot and humid. This will affect the runners because there is no chance at acclimation, or getting used to the warm temperatures, causing discomfort for the runners, especially the distance events."

Coach Rittenour continued, "The weather will also challenge multiple event athletes as they and their bodies will be under stress for the first time all season in regards to the sudden increase in heat (acclimation again) and now they will be forced to run multiple events on a hot day. The weather will also affect the sprinters as the higher temperatures will result in faster times so it will be nearly impossible to predict possibilities in regards to finishing places and times. Keeping with the sprinters, because of their increased temperatures they will be running faster and more loose, meaning that their approach steps for the long jump, high jump and pole vault will be much faster than they were all year causing many to be forced to make changes at the meet which are very difficult."

Closing up, Coach Rittenour stated, "Overall, the rising temperatures will affect the WBL track meet, and the team that responds and adapts to the heat and weather will put themselves in the best position to win."

Mr. Wahl, the head track coach, has been coaching for many years. Coach Wahl claims, "The weather changing, even though it looks like it will be sunny and warm, is not a good thing at this time. No one has really trained in the heat, and some people probably won't handle it too well. I just hope our kids handle it better than our competition does."

With the weather changing so much lately, we hope this doesn't affect our runners too much and they can still go out and run how they know how to. We know they will still run their hardest.

Last Friday, the Defiance track team had an invite at St. Mary´s. The boys placed second out of seven teams.

Junior Viktor Jurcevich is on the track team. Jurcevich said, "Although I didn't run, the boys team did really well. They pushed hard and ran their hardest to come out with a second place finish."

Cole Batt, a sophomore distance runner, ran in the 1600 and 4x800. Batt stated, "The boys team really came through this day and ran well. This meet has shown us what to expect from other teams at WBLs and that we need to push really hard these next couple weeks to come on top."

With one more meet until WBLs, we hope to see the teams work hard and push through to get great results at the conference meet.

The track team’s regular season is winding down, which means postseason meets are on the way. First up for the Bulldogs is the WBL meet which is being held at Van Wert’s home field. How’s the team preparing for these bigger meets? Stick around and find out.

Senior Elijah Valle is a part of the distance runners for the Bulldogs and has worked hard throughout the season alongside the rest of the athletes. These big meets bring great competition for all the teams attending, putting all the hard work to the test. “The team and I will prepare by practicing the way we want to perform at the meet. We will have some great competition and it will be a true testament of our abilities to perform,” stated Valle, testifying the work the team has put into their craft. Valle believes the team will be successful at their first major meet of the year.

Although senior Elijah Fortman is grouped with the distance runners of the team, he also competes in a select few sprinter events. Fortman, who was also on the cross country team, has found success throughout the year and hopes to continue this through the postseason. Fortman believes the team overall will find success, stating, “The team will have success in a few events like the 800 meter, 300 meter hurdles, 4x2 relay, 4x1 relay, 1600 meter, 4x8 relay, 3200 meter.”

The Dogs seem prepared for the WBL meet, but before they can focus fully on it, they have the Palmer Relays that are held on Defiance’s home field on Thursday, May 5. Be sure to come back the next two weeks to get the scoop on both the Palmer Relay meet and the WBL meet.

Last Tuesday, Napoleon High School hosted a freshman boys track meet, where the Bulldogs placed fourth out of eight teams.

Romeo Valle, a thrower, threw well at the meet. Valle stated, “We did really well for it just being the freshman boys. Everyone tried their hardest.”

Valle continued, “This meet will really help us for WBLs because now we know where most of the boys in our grade stand, so we can see what we need to do to better ourselves in order to beat them.”

Brady Nolan, another thrower, also had a good meet. Nolan explained, “The freshman boys did good. We have some things to fix before WBLs, but there's no doubt we will improve before then”

Nolan continued, “We will push hard these next few weeks to make sure we are ready for it.”

In the next couple of weeks, we hope to see great results as the season starts to come to an end.

The Defiance High School softball team traveled to Lima Bath yesterday afternoon, stealing a league game from the Wildcats with a 1-0 win. The team improves to 10-7 overall and catapult themselves to second place in the WBL with a 5-2 record.

The solo run for the Bulldogs was scored by Elizabeth Hoffman after a Lindsay Roth hit, and the defense secured the shutout.

The girls sit behind the 9-3 Wapakoneta Redskins in league standings. The Redskins are 5-0 against WBL opponents, which means the Bulldogs would need at least one other league team to defeat Wapakoneta in order to tie for the championship.

“I think a lot of the team has realized that we have a serious shot at winning the WBL this year, and it has become a real motivator for everyone,” said Hoffman.

Defiance is scheduled to face off against Wapakoneta on May 4th. Although the Redskins have the home field advantage, the girls are hungry to take home the win in such a monumental game, explained center fielder Marrah Elston.

In the meantime, the team must finish their final nine games off strong and prepare for the postseason.

Summer is approaching and everyone cannot wait to be relaxing outside, in the great weather without a care in the world. While the rest of us look forward to that, our hometown track team continues to work and compete against local schools, seeing who has the potential to move into districts and possibly state after the regular season.

The team sometimes has 2-3 meets throughout the week and that will exhaust the body. The team has to stay on top of their dietary needs and keep liquids in their bodies at all times so they lessen their chances at injuries. A mix between good old fashion H₂O and drinks containing electrolytes such as Gaterade, Powerade, Propel water, ect are a great way to keep the muscles of the body from cramping or worse which leads to injuries that could ruin one’s season.

The Bulldogs traveled to Elida on Monday to compete against multiple other schools. Junior Evan DeTray stated, “I think the team performed pretty well with the other schools that attended the meet.” DeTray believes the team will continue to be successful as long as they keep working hard at practice and striving to be better.

Both the girls and boys placed first against Elida and Kenton. Junior Branden Gmutza is one of the team’s throwers, setting a new personal record for his shot put throw and improved his discus distance. “I’m not sure how many we have before the season is over, but I know it’s not many. There are definitely a few of us who will go far in the postseason,” shared Gmutza about the season coming to an end and the standout athletes and events they participate in.The team will compete this Friday, April 29 at St. Mary’s home track, which leaves the Palmer Relays on Tuesday, May 5 at Defiance, being the final meet before WBLs, district, and state.

Defiance softball brought home the win last night against Lima Shawnee, defeating the Indians 8-0. The Ladydogs improve to 9-7 on the year and 4-2 in league play.

Taighen Zipfel pitched a complete game shutout, tallying six strikeouts in the win. “I think I’ve had a good season on the mound. I’ve had a lot of fun this year and I’m excited for the rest of the season,” said Zipfel.

The team continued to have success at the plate, racking up fourteen hits. Senior Marrah Elston and junior Lindsay Roth had three hits each, leading the team. Jaedan Delarber and Grayce Jones also had multiple hits on the night.

“The whole team has made a big jump since last season, especially in WBL games. We can continue to compete in this league and make a push for the title if we continue to play like we should,” explained Roth.

The girls play an important game against Lima Bath today, who are 5-1 in the WBL. This game could be the start of a push for the league championship for the team.

Defiance softball has troubled pitchers this season, averaging over five runs a game and hitting their way to an 8-7 record on the year.

“We’ve really improved on the offensive side of the field this year. Last year, a lot of us, including myself, struggled at the plate and I think we’ve done a good job hitting the ball this season,” said junior second baseman Elizabeth Hoffman. Hoffman has worked her way into the batting order this year, and currently leads the team in hits.

The team has struggled in recent games, dropping five of their last seven games. However, their morale is still high according to Ava Cullen, a freshman shortstop, whose impact has been obvious for the Ladydogs.

After a few cancellations, the girls resume play today, as they travel to Shawnee for their sixth league game of the year.

The boys track team ran last Saturday at the Napoleon Invite. They placed seventh out of the eight teams that competed.

Peyton Coressel, junior distance runner, ran in the 3200 race. Coressel stated, “The meet didn't go as planned on Saturday. Everyone had a bad day but we are coming back by working harder this week to prepare for the upcoming relay meet at Wapakoneta.”

Corresel continued, “We have a lot of young guys filling in spots and getting better every meet.

Josiah Gonzalez, sophomore distance runner, also ran in the 3200 event. Gonzalez explains, “Right now we are just working to go out and give it our all. We need to lock in during the meet so we can focus on getting our jobs done so we can see more success.”

The Defiance boys and girls track team will run again tonight at the Wapakoneta Relays. Although this meet is different from all the other meets since it is just relay events, we hope to continue to see more improvements amongst the team as the season continues.

This Tuesday our boys tennis team hosted the Ottawa Glandorf Titans. Our boys were defeated 4-1 with Glandorf's Joshua Walls and Eli Schmenk beating Boston Briseno and Aiden Brenner in singles.

Briseno fell 0-6 in both matches, and Schmenk didn't allow another match. Along with that, Walls defeated Brenner 1-6 and 2-6.

“OG was a tough opponent and we knew that going into it,” says Briseno.

The Dogs go to host Ayersville this Thursday, hoping to advance with another win on the season. “I think Ayersville will be a tough match too but our team will show up and compete,” says Junior Carter Campbell.

The Dogs are showing early signs of senior leadership and great team chemistry leading into the season and are hoping to play better and better throughout the season.

Defiance baseball improves to 5-0 after their great week full of outstanding performances. They defeated Paulding on Tuesday by a score of 8-0. They followed this win up with another against league opponent Ottawa-Glandorf by a score of 13-0.

The boys were led by outstanding performances from David Jiminez, Mark Butler, and Christain Commisso. David Jiminez led the way on the mound pitching a no-hitter through seven innings. Both Mark Butler and Christain Commisso had great nights at the plate respectively.

“This week has really boosted the teams confidence for the tough road ahead”, Stated Jimenez “I hope that we can keep this streak going throughout the season.”

The Bulldogs are off to a great start but still look to improve on the small details. “ I feel our main focus for improvement is on our fielding,” stated Christain Commisso.

Next week the Bulldogs will host three games at home. One of which will be against league opponent Kenton. The bulldogs hope to remain undefeated as the season continues throughout this next week of action.

The coed track team had a quad meet at Paulding. The teams that competed were Defiance, Paulding, Van Wert and St. Mary’s. The boys team placed third and the girls placed second.

Elijah Valle, senior distance runner, ran well. Valle stated, “The meet went well Tuesday, but there are a few things to work on. The team as a whole has talent and we are just working on improving our competitive nature.”

Valle continued, “We placed third behind one of the best teams in the WBL. The thing we are working on the most, as of right now, is competitive grit and how to push through walls.”

Josslyn Renn, sophomore runner, also ran well. Renn claims, “The girls team ran really well for it still being the beginning of the season. This week we have been working towards improving our times for our invite at the end of the week.

Continuing, Renn says, “We are pushing through to be as successful as a team as possible.”

Both boys and girls compete this Friday at the BG Bobcat Invitational. We hope to see more great results from both teams.

Track season is in full swing and the student athletes have been constantly working hard. Many events have been a success for the boys, represented by junior Peyton Coressel, and the girls, represented by sophomore Josyln Renn.

Coressel, who is also on the school's cross country team, finished sixth out of fourteen in the two mile run. Better yet, he dropped twenty seconds off of his previous time, securing himself a new personal record of 11:19.

“I think in my events I did better than I thought because of how cold the weather was, but I had faith in myself because I've run those same events for the past couple of meets and Coach trained me and the team hard enough to pull through and get some pretty good times in those weather conditions,” says Renn, giving her coach a shoutout for pushing the team to be better.

When preparing for a larger meet such as the Celina Invitational, the work doubles for the team so they can be successful. “Before a meet, the distance guys will run as much as eight miles to make sure they are loose for the meet the next day,” shared Coressel on how the preparation works for meets. Renn states that practices before meet day are fast paced and focused, the team spends time on the little things that could be the difference in speed against their opponents.

The Bulldogs look forward to continuing their successful season another week with meets coming up soon. Be sure to get every scoop from the Defiance Watchdogs and stay updated with our school and community news presented and published for students by students.

Defiance softball faced off against Findlay and Elmwood this Saturday, winning both games and moving to a strong 3-0 record to start the season.

After a barrage of cancellations for the Ladydogs, the team was finally able to hit the field this weekend. The girls swamped the Trojans, tallying twenty hits in a 15-5 victory.

Later in the day, Elmwood took the mound to begin the third game of the day. Defiance earned their only three runs in the first inning, and held Elmwood to only two runs in the remainder of the game to secure the victory.

Grayce Jones, a senior catcher, battled her way to four hits in five at bats against Findlay.

“We’re off to a great start this year. Every girl is batting great, and our pitchers have done a great job at keeping the runs low and the fielders’ jobs easy,” said Jones.

Freshman Ava Cullen played two spectacular games, leading the way against Elmwood with four hits and two clutch defensive plays to put the game away in the seventh inning.

Many of her teammates have commented on her impact on both sides of the ball, and she is a treat for the fans.

The girls resume play against Tinora at 5 p.m. in a game relocated to be played at home

The boys and girls track team had a tri-meet against Bryan and Archbold last Tuesday. The boys placed second, while the girls team placed first.

Gabbi Rittenour, sophomore distance runner, had a great race. Rittenour stated, “The first meet went very well for the conditions we were in. It was a very cold meet with high headwinds, but everyone competed well.”

Rittenour continued, “Overall, the coaches are very proud of our performance.”

Calib Brashear, junior distance runner, ran very well. Brashear explains, “Everyone ran really well. We are working on finishing this season as strong as we can and putting our all in the sport.

Brashear continued, “We want to work our hearts out for Defiance and the sport to run so people can see our team and be scared.”

Both teams run this Saturday, April 2, 2022, at Celina for an invite meet. The community can't wait to see how they progress.

While the rest of us at DHS were enjoying our time off over spring break, our track team went to Michigan for their first meet of the year and it was a success.

Representing the throwers of the track team, senior Logan Deming said, “It went well. There are still things to improve on like always but besides that it felt good to be at a track meet again.” Unfortunately the throwers only competed in the Shot Put event since Discus cannot be thrown on an inside track. Deming shared that he’s looking forward to improving his throws from last year entirely and believes that it’ll be a good year for the team.

Representing the sprinters, senior Trinity Bibler says, “I actually performed pretty well. I did better than I expected. I finished 3rd in the finals for the 60 meter dash and got a medal in that event. We did pretty good in the 4x2 and finished 4th.” Most of the runners that went to the meet ran in multiple events, and our team competed well in quite a few of them. Bibler says she is looking forward to the team becoming better as a whole and competing well at WBLs.

The team has more meets coming soon and will continue the preparations for the year. Their next competition will be Tuesday, March 29.

With the winter sports finishing up, spring sports are beginning to prepare for their 2022 seasons. The track team has been hard at work.

Junior Evan DeTray says, “The team has prepared by working hard during conditioning even when it was not fun,” sharing how much work the team has been putting in to make sure the team starts off hot and to keep the momentum going through the season. DeTray says he is looking forward to competing this year and trying to beat his personal records from previous years.

“With this year being my last season of track, I’m hoping for the rest of the team and I to perform well throughout the season and prove that all of our hard work paid off in the end,” shares senior Eli Fortman. Fortman looks forward to beating his previous records and competing against good competition.

Since the track season is slowly approaching, be sure to come back for the weekly scoop on the team and their competitions. The Bulldogs will join Celina at their home field to compete at the Celina Invitational on April 2.

The Defiance softball team is preparing for the long season ahead. They'll kick off their huge first week with six important games on the road, starting with Wauseon on Saturday, March 26. This first game against Wauseon could be important to show what's to come for the girl's season this year.

The JV team also has a very busy start to their schedule. They will play five games in their first week and hope to knock off some larger teams with their very young but hopeful group of girls.

The varsity girls have a very promising team this year. They have five returning seniors with many underclassmen coming up who are outstanding athletes and softball players.

“This year I feel our leaders have more control over the team and are doing an overall better job at motivating us than in years past,” stated junior Jaela Sepeda.

The Lady Bulldogs kick off the season at Wauseon on March 26. This is immediately followed by a big game against school rival Napoleon on March 29. These two games are vital in getting the girls to the start they need on a very long season.

This past weekend, the OHSAA wrestling tournament was held in the Schottenstein Center in Columbus. The pinnacle of high school wrestling in Ohio is Columbus and making a state run. Our very own Mason Ducat made the tournament as a freshman.

“I didn’t think I had any doubters or haters so I felt pretty good going into the tournament,” says Ducat.

Ducat fell short this year going two and out. A rough tournament for the young kid, but he is still a freshman and will have time to grow and learn from his mistakes. The possibility for a three time placer and four time qualifier is still on the table for the young guy.

“It was a cool experience and I will be there next year,” says Ducat.

This year's state tournament was a hammer: there were four of the number one nationally ranked kids in the tournament, and. All won in in great fashion.

Ohio being one of the best states for wrestling, Ducat had his work cut out for him. This was the cap of the season for him and countless others. They’ll be back next year fighting harder and looking better than last time.

All-star cheer is a sport that consists of a two minute and thirty second routine. This routine involves tumbling, stunting, jumps, a pyramid, and a dance. You compete in different levels based on team size, age of the team, and your level.

All-star cheeg started in the late 80s and became very popular in the 90s. All star cheerleading is not done through the school system but is done through a gym in a certain location. Gyms are located all throughout the United States and even in other countries.

Jeremy Hoschak, senior at Defiance, does all star cheer. Hoschak started cheering in 2015. He had just been in tumbling classes before but then the coach asked him to try out.

Hoschak stated, “I am now on my 8th and final season of allstar cheer. I have been to three different gyms and I can say they have taught me very different life lessons and helped make me who I am today. This season has been one I'll definitely never forget, because I had to switch gyms right before the season started.

Continuing, Hoschak said, “This season will be one to remember because my team has had a lot of ups and downs like many teams do, but we have persevered pretty well. We have one a few competitions and lost a few but the season isn't over yet, because this month is all about preparing for our big end of the season competition, Worlds.”

Hoschak explained, “Worlds is like the superbowl for cheerleading. My team was lucky enough to have secured a bid to the competition. A team can only attend the competition if they win a bid from another competition earlier in the season. So I am so excited and sad for these last two month of my allstar career.

Hoschak continued, “I could not have been more blessed to have found this sport because it has been a big part of my life.”

Cheerleading is changing everyday, but Hoschak is working hard everyday to have a great rest of his season.

The Defiance girls basketball team’s season has recently come to an end. The team ended with a final record of 2-20 leading to an emotional last game with the seven seniors who have finished their high school career.

Senior Kenya Medina commented, “Even though the season didn’t go how we all would have hoped, it was still a memorable year playing with my teammates and I’ll always remember this team.” Though the season might have been disappointing, the girls played hard and were supported by their hometown all the way through.

Throughout the season, the two teams the girls defeated were Kenton and Swanton. Junior Mira Horvath had a good season, being awarded second team WBL. “We started the season slow, but throughout all of the games we improved on different aspects of our game. Winning two games isn’t the best, but it was still a fun season overall," shared Horvath.

The girls are looking to work harder during the off season and hope to improve on their lower skill spots to have a better season next year. We all wish them the best and plan to be in the stands cheering them on no matter what.

Lilly Lacey and Elli Fleischman both dove in the state diving meet. Lacey, junior diver, placed 7th and Fleischman, also a junior, placed 14th.

Fleischman stated, “Making it to state was a surprise for me. My district meet was a little rocky, but my first 5 dives set me up for a close cut when it came to finals. My last three dives were hit or miss and I definitely did not hit them.”

Fleischman continued, “The strength from my first five dives carried me through the district meet and helped me with my qualifying spot for state. State was very similar. My first five dives were very good and that carried all the way up until the 8th dive.”

Continuing, Fleischman said, “My last three dives are my hardest. I did them the best I could and made it to the final round and placed 14th. I’m looking forward to improving next year and hopefully making it on the podium at districts and state.”

Lacey added, “I had a great season overall. This year I won WBLs, received the 105.7 The Bull Frickers player of the week, took third at districts, broke the school record by over twenty points, and placed seventh at state which means that I got all state honors for diving. State this year was definitely an experience that I will use to improve myself for the future.

Lacey continued, “I graciously did well enough to place seventh in the entire state of Ohio, which is pretty cool as this is only my second year of high school diving. This spring I look forward to competing through our club diving program in Napoleon and then continuing my diving career throughout my senior year of high school.”

The community is proud of these girls and can't wait to see how next year's season goes for their senior season.

This past Saturday, our Defiance Bulldogs made it to their official league tournament. With senior Dom Tracy missing, as well as a few other components, the Bulldogs ended with a fourth place finish in the end. Having four WBL second places, Alex Francis, Gavino Martinez, Treven Rittenhouse, and Spencer Thompson. Freshman Mason Ducat was the only WBL Champion for the bulldogs.

Ducat has had a great freshman season. Being ranked top 15 in the state for the 113 weight class. “It felt pretty good to win a WBL title, I’ve put a lot of hard work in, wrestling seven days a week dedicating my time and efforts all into wrestling,” says Ducat.

“Traveling to Celina was rough,” said junior Beau Hesselschwart. “I think that if we didn’t have to wake up and leave at five in the morning, some of us would have won those vital matches.”

Hesselschwart, along with Ashton Rose placed fourth in their weight classes. “I mean it’s better than I’ve done in the past, so I’m not too upset,” says Rose, a junior wrestler.

The Bulldogs will host the sectional tournament and hope to send some wrestlers off to Norwalk for the district tournament.

On February 13, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams competed in Super Bowl 56 that was held in SoFi Stadium located in Los Angeles, California. Going into the game, the Bengals were held as the underdogs, with the Rams being favored to win.

At halftime, the Rams led the Bengals by three with a score of 13-10 and both teams were playing pretty well overall. “The game kept me intrigued the entire time. It was close, so anything could happen” said Alex Francis on his thoughts when halftime hit, waiting for the next half.

The halftime show contained a few older rappers for more of a throwback show that seemed to please the audience. Dawson Hornish stated, “I’d say that was the best halftime show there has been in a while.”

The game continued to be close all the way until the end where the Rams came out with the win, resulting in a score of 23-20. The Bengals offensive line allowed Joe Burrow to get sacked seven times throughout the game, and nineteen times throughout the postseason. Many fans have gone on to blame them for costing the team the game.

With the NFL season ending, it is exciting to see what teams will do through the off-season to help them get that edge on their opponents next season.

The showdown of the year. A 8-1 team vs our 8-1 Bulldogs. This year the team had many goals regarding the WBL. This was the clash to see who would become the regular season WBL champs. Sadly our Bulldogs fell short and it was very lopsided. Celina set the tone by the beginning of the match. “I think they came out to win and they just weren’t physical enough” says senior Dom Tracy, a crucial part to this Defiance wrestling team that is currently out with a knee injury.

He was out for the past two weeks hoping to be able and come back for a state run at sectionals. The team was definitely shocked by the outcome of the match. “We’re soft,” said junior Beau Hesselschwart. “I’d love to say that we wrestled hard and we did our best but I just don’t think I saw much of that,” says Hesselschwart. The dogs have the WBL tournament this weekend hoping for a top 3 placement as a team. Many kids on the team are looking for their first WBL titles.

The season is coming to an end for most in these next couple weeks. The year long commitment of wrestling is a grind and the dogs have been in the room day in day out fighting, scratching, crawling, hungry for that WBL title and setting a tone in the league. Some are going to fail and some will succeed. All the work will show on the mat.

Tom Brady has finally retired after the 2022 NFL season. Brady played twenty of his twenty-two seasons with the New England Patriots after being drafted out of the University of Michigan. Brady retired after two years of playing in Tampa and winning one Super Bowl with them.

“I do remember Bledsoe getting hurt and him going in and then winning the Super Bowl, cementing that he would have to remain the new starter,” said Mr. Coressel about Brady’s first NFL game he played in. He was seen as the guy to beat throughout the league and just got better and better every year." Coressel believes the success of Brady over a plethora of years is enough to name Tom Brady as the greatest quarterback to ever play the game.

Local Tom Brady fanatic, Mark Jordan, shared his favorite memory of Brady’s career, saying, “The 28-3 comeback in Super Bowl LI. Only the comeback kid could do it, everyone else would've folded. Patty Mahomes couldn't do it even if he tried.” Many people expected Brady’s retirement to happen soon, but Jordan was caught by surprise by the announcement.

With the greatest quarterback in league history retiring, that opens up the competition for the next best QB, and the attention will move through the up and coming stars.

The divers will continue their season by competing at districts on February 16, 2022. Here the divers compete to move on in the tournament.

Sophomore Gabbi Rittenour is competing at districts. Rittenour explained, “This week leading to districts, we are just doing high reps of our 11 dives and we are fixing the finer details in each dive. We are also doing drill work to help us correct our dives."

Rittenour continued, “A lot of mental work is happening to help us get dives that we may have a mental block towards down the road.”

Junior WBL champion Lilly Lacey qualified for state last year. Lacey stated, “For the last month we have been hitting all of our postseason dives everyday. We always start the week off with high end reps, which consist of five to seven bases."

Lacey continued, “By the end of each week, we are normally more consistent and only have to do two or three of each of our eleven dives.”

Elli Fleschman is also diving with these two girls at districts, and we can't wait to see their amazing dives.

On January 30th, four teams competed in their Conference Championships, including the Los Angeles Rams vs. the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Cincinnati Bengals. Both games were packed full of excitement and ended in a 3 point differential.

The first game of the day was Joe Burrow and his Bengals taking on Patrick Mahomes and his Chiefs. The Chiefs had a handle on the game for quite a while, but Burrow and the Bengals came out the second half and took the game to overtime, leading to a 27-24 win for the underdogs, the Cincinnati Bengals. “Burrow proved that he was a great leader on the field by keeping his composure while being in a bad position,” stated Senior Alex Hoeffel, former Defiance Football linebacker.

The late game was Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers vs. Matthew Staford and the Rams. The Rams played a great game and just stayed on top of the 49ers defensively the entire game, resulting in a 20-17 win for the Los Angeles Rams. “Watching the game showed clearly why the Rams were favored to win the game. They played solid football and it’s hard to beat an opponent who makes few mistakes,” shares Senior Dominic Tracy, another former Defiance Football linebacker.

With the Rams and the Bengals advancing to Super Bowl LVI, we are sure to have an interesting game, with the Bengals going in as the underdogs once again. Be sure to come back in two weeks for the full scoop on the final game of the season and the local’s thoughts on it along with the infamous halftime show.

Last week the swim and dive team competed at Defiance’s conference meet, WBLs. The girls team placed fifth and the boys team finished at ninth. Both teams went up against nine other schools.

Elli Fleischman, a junior diver, competed at the dive WBLs. Fleischman explained, “WBLs for diving went good. Defiance took 1st, 3rd, and 5th.”

Fleischman continued, “All three of the Defiance divers are planning on competing at sectionals even though we’re battling some injuries. The structure of practice is changing from less drill work to more reps of our 11 dives for sectionals.”

Junior swimmer Branden Gmutza was not able to compete at WBLs, but did have a great season. Gmutza stated, “The season as a whole was definitely a tough one, especially for the guys. We only had four guys the entire season which means we had to work extra hard to get points for our team.

Gmutza then said, “We knew and expected that we weren't going to win much when it comes to our half of the team. At the same time though, we realized it was less about winning and more about just finishing for pride and honor. Next season I hope to see some more guys come out because as much as it might suck some days, the rest are a ton of fun!”

Sectionals for the divers are this Saturday, February 12, 2022. This is held at Ayersville’s pool. The community can’t wait to cheer on the girls competing.

The Bulldogs took down Lima Bath and Napoleon this weekend, improving to 12-4 and 5-1 in WBL play.

The team swiftly handled Bath, defeating them 40-28 and spoiling the schools All-Sports court celebration. As usual, Cayden Zachrich and Bradyn Shaw led the boys in scoring.

The next day, the Bulldogs traveled to the Grand Canyon to face off against the 7-7 Napoleon Wildcats. The Napoleon roster featured many of the same names as their football team, such as Tanner Rubenstein and Josh Mack. The school’s star football players seemed to be looking for revenge after August’s 7-0 loss to the Bulldogs in the Thursday night season opener.

Seniors Nick Mitchell and Mark Jordan both said they are looking forward to the opportunity to finish their senior year with another victory against Napoleon.

As the game began, Defiance was firing on all cylinders to start the quarter and promptly took a 7-0 lead. The Kirk’s Krazies student section was sure to remind the Cats of the score of their football matchup from earlier in the year. The first quarter ended 15-6.

The Wildcats began to gather some momentum, hitting two contested threes from the left wing to start the second quarter. By halftime, Defiance only held a 4 point lead.

The Dogs offense stayed cold out of the break, while the defense began to step up. However, multiple missed calls in the third, from charges called as blocks, to ignored personal fouls resulted in a 39-36 Wildcats lead heading into the fourth.

The beginning of the fourth quarter looked like a heavyweight boxing match, as both teams landed punches back and forth. A mid-quarter miss by Bradyn Shaw resulted in an offensive rebound by forward Isaac Schlatter, giving Shaw a second chance at a three-pointer to take a one-point lead, which Shaw converted. “When you’re a part of a play like that, time just seems to slow down as it happens,” said Schlatter.

The action continued when a technical foul was called on senior guard Joe Lammers after a loose ball was recovered by the Dogs, giving Napoleon two free throws and the ball. This possession, however, was wasted by an airballed three from Wildcat forward Caden Kruse. This shot was the nail in the coffin for Napoleon, as they stayed cold for the rest of the game, including another airball.

Defiance completed the comeback, pulling out a 56-50 victory. Bulldog fans nearly outnumbered Napoleon fans 2:1, especially in the student section. The immense difference in the student section helped catapult the Bulldogs into first in the NWO sports student section power rankings.

The entire community of Defiance is thrilled to see another victory over the rivals, and their matchups are always the most anticipated games of the year.

Last week the NFL Divisional Round occurred, premiering the Chiefs vs. the Bills, the Buccaneers vs. the Rams, the 49ers vs. the Packers, and the Bengals vs. the Titans. The result of these four games provides the 4 teams who will compete in their conference championships.

On Saturday, the 49ers defeated the Packers, 13-10, and the Bengals pulled out a win against the heavily favored Titans, 19-16, both being great games to watch with a three point difference in the final score. This win in the divisional round gives the Bengals a ticket to their first AFC Championship since 1988, being led by quarterback Joe Burrow in his second NFL season.

The next day, the Chiefs squeaked out a win in overtime against Josh Allen and the Bills with a final score of 42-36. Rick Weaver -- Defiance baseball coach, math teacher, and local Chiefs fan -- had some thoughts about the recent game, stating, ”I was a little nervous for the game since they had already played this year and the Bills won handily. Josh Allen is really good and I wasn't sure the [the defense] could stop him. I actually thought the Chiefs [defense] controlled their offense fairly well until the 4th qtr.” Weaver went on to say how he thought it was the best game he has ever watched and is excited for the Cincinnati game next week.

Also occurring on January 23, the Rams pulled off a win against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers tallying out to a final score of 30-27. Senior Mark Jordan, a local giant and Tom Brady fanatic, was pleased with Brady’s performance, but not the defenses’, saying, “The Bucs went into half down by a great margin. But never bet against [Tom Brady], the offense coming out after halftime was really good. They were unstoppable to say the least. But it was their defense who let them down in the end. I mean who blitzes and decides to go single coverage on Cooper Kupp, one of, if not the best receiver in the league.” Jordan continued with saying it was a foolish mistake and it cost Brady a shot at his eighth Super Bowl ring

With the Rams, Chiefs, Bengals, and the 49ers all winning in this week of the playoffs, they will continue to their conference championships where they will be sure to put it all on the line to proceed to the Super Bowl. Tune in next week to read about the results that will be covered right here with the Defiance Watchdogs.

On January 25, the girl’s and boy’s swim and dive team swam against Van Wert. This meet was the last meet for their regular season and now they are heading into conference and tournament competitions.

Unfortunately, the boys lost against Van Wert, but the girls team ended the year with a win.

Jack Kost, sophomore swimmer, ended his last regular swim meet strong. Kost stated, “The boys team has had a great season for only having four boys. We will keep pushing hard these next practices to see success once the conference meet comes around.”

“I am excited for next season already.” continued Kost.

Maria Moriera, a freshman swimmer, had a strong season. Moriera explained, “I had a great first year swimming as a high schooler. The girls team was pretty successful this season and I am super excited for next year.”

The swim conference meet is held tomorrow, Saturday, January 29. Everyone is excited to see how the teams place.

Defiance basketball squeaked out a close game against Elida this past Friday. The team improved to 10-4 on the season and 4-1 against WBL opponents.

The whole court seemed to be cold, as both teams scored under 30 points as the game finished 29-24. Defiance shot 1/18 from the three-point line, but made up for it with a 10/17 two-point outing. Defense kept the team alive, holding Elida to only 23.8% from the field

“It was a poor performance by the team, but we managed to get a good lead near the end and pulled away for good,” said center Cayden Zachrich. Zachrich led both teams in scoring with 12 points.

The Bulldog’s plans to travel to Springfield on Saturday were cut short by a COVID outbreak among the Blue Devils’ coaching staff. Only the freshman teams played, which ended in a 44-19 victory for Defiance. The freshman improve to 15-1 on the year.

Senior leader Mark Jordan says the cancellation gives the team more time to focus on upcoming games. The Dogs travel to Bath on Friday, and take on river rival Napoleon on Saturday. The team looks forward to the challenge, and plan to make the most of their opportunities.

On Tuesday, January 11, 2022, the swim and dive team had a meet against Napoleon and Bryan. Both girls and boys teams lost against both schools.

Jack Kost, sophomore swimmer, swam in six different events. Kost stated, “We are improving every week. With next week being our last meet before the conference meet, we hope to continue to see improvement and hopefully place well.”

Aubre Wolford-Garcia, freshman swimmer, swam in two events. Garcia said, “The girls team has had a fairly successful season. With WBLs approaching we are practicing as hard as ever to see improvement amongst everyone.”

The swim and dive team will have one last home meet against Van Wert on January 25, 2022. This is their last meet before WBLs, Defiance’s league meet. As the season closes out we are proud of our swim and divers and the season they have had.

The NFL Wild Card weekend has recently occurred and had quite the spread of outcomes. There were twelve teams that played over the weekend-- the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals, Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots, and the Buffalo Bills--resulting in six teams that move onto the next round.

The first two games of the Wild Card round were on January 15th, involving the Bengals vs. the Raiders and the Bills vs. the Patriots. The Bengals won with a score of 26-19, and the Bills defeated the Patriots with a whopping 30 point differential.

“Josh Allen really impressed me. He led the Bills to the best offensive performance in NFL playoffs history against another elite Bill Be alichick defense. I think the inexperience of the Patriots offense, especially Mac Jones, really sealed the deal for them this year,” stated senior Braeton Morris, local football enthusiast.

On January 16th, the next three games were the Buccaneers vs. the Eagles, 49ers vs. the Cowboys, and the Chiefs vs. the Steelers. The Buccaneers secured the win against the Eagles, along with the 49ers beating the Cowboys. The Chiefs clobbered the Steelers with a final score of 42-21.

“Big Ben had a horrible last game and ended his final season awful. He should have retired and left the Steelers last year,” shared senior and local Steelers fan Alex Hoeffel.

The final Wild Card game was played on January 17th and was between the Rams and the Cardinals. The Rams popped out a win with a score of 34 -11, sending Kyler Murry and his Cardinals home for the year.

“Based on their record, I predicted the Rams to win the game. Since I work at Jersey's Grill and Bar, I saw a lot of fans from both teams come in to watch the game. The Rams seemed to play well which resulted in defeating the Cardinals with such a cushion in the score,” said senior Hannah Fisher, local sports bar employee.

The Wild Card weekend sent six teams to the next round of the playoffs, where they will compete against each other, as well as the Tennessee Titans and Green Bay Packers, two teams who received a first round bye for having the best record. Following that round will bring the Conference Championships, then the Super Bowl with the best teams of the year facing off.

The Defiance Bulldogs basketball team defeated Archbold this Tuesday by a score of 51-41. The boys improve to 9-4 on the year.

According to head coach Bryn Lehman, the team really rose to the challenge in this game. “The guys followed the game plan almost perfectly. There are always a few broken plays where someone has to step up, and tonight was a great example of that.” Fans got a glimpse of this with senior guard Joe Lammer’s huge stepback three late in the fourth quarter, which set the dogs up five.

“The energy was crazy all night. You could really tell the student section was behind us the whole night and they wanted the win almost as much as anybody,” said Lammers.

Tuesday’s game was the first game back for Archbold’s frontman DJ Newman; the three sport athlete was the focal point of the Blue Streaks offense, putting up 14 points on nine shots. However, Newman’s scoring ability was outmatched by Bulldog center Cayden Zachrich, who led both teams in scoring with 15 points and joined Lammers with a contested three-pointer of his own in the fourth.

The team couldn’t be hotter as they head into this weekend’s matchups against Elida and Springfield. They will still be missing point guard Bradyn Shaw with a toe injury, but Lammers has stepped up in his place

The Defiance High School boy’s basketball team went 2-0 over the weekend, improving to 8-4 on the year after defeating Kenton and Fairview. The boys also moved to 3-1 in league play.

“The boys really executed the game plan as a whole this weekend. I think we’re really moving forward as a team and have really improved on our rebounding,” said forward Isaac Schlatter. The dogs outrebounded Fairview 30-23 on Saturday.

The team plays the Blue Streaks on Tuesday, who are sure to be a tough area opponent. “I think we can really prove ourselves against a good team like Archbold, a win like that without Bradyn will be a big win,” added Schlatter. Bradyn Shaw, the team’s starting point guard, suffered a broken toe in last Friday’s matchup against Kenton.

The Bulldogs are excited for the future of the season, and look to win a statement game this Tuesday.

This past Thursday, Defiance traveled to Shawnee and only lost two matches. Dominant wins were provided by senior Dominic Tracy and junior Viktor Jurcivitch, both pinning their kid while also scoring many points prior. “I wish I could have pinned my kid faster, he wasn't very good and it should have been a shorter match,” says senior Tracy. “I was down at first and the kid ended up just being in a bad position and I took advantage of that and took the win,” said Jurcivitch. Defiance heads on two different paths this weekend, one team at Perrysburgs annual tournament. Then others at a tri-match at Fairview High School.

The Defiance High School bowling team had a great Christmas break, winning two of their matches and also placing second at a tournament. The team came up with big wins against Bryan and Lincolnview. These wins help propel the program to a 7-2 record.

The team also bowled in the Bryan Golden Bear Invitational and placed second out of the ten teams that competed. These wins bring confidence to the program that has not had the right confidence in years past.

The Bulldogs will be required to continue competing at this high level after the break in order to bring home a league title. Senior Xander Valle stated, “I feel that the break from school allowed us to relax and focus on our bowling as a whole and that is why everyone bowled their best games over the break.”

These wins were helped by leadership of the seniors. Senior and captain Boston Bresino stated, “We are really proud of the team and we want others to come and help build this successful program into something great.”

The Bulldogs have multiple upcoming league events. They start the weekend by heading to Shawnee on Saturday, followed by a big match against Kenton the following week. These matches are key components in their campaign to win the WBL title. As the team prepares for the weeks ahead the captains continue to instill confidence in the rest of the team.

After Christmas break, the swim and dive team had a meet to start the year off. The girls swim team won against Springfield but lost to Bowling Green and Elida. Their record is now 3-5.

The boys team also swam at this meet. They put up a good fight but unfortunately lost to BG and Elida. However, they did beat Springfield.

Jade Busch, a senior on the girls team, swam well. Busch stated, “Even with the break, we are still continuing to improve. With our season coming closer to the end, we hope to see more improvement and end on a strong note.”

Karson Hoffman, a junior, swam well for the boys team. Hoffman claims, “The boys are doing better with there just being four of us. I thought that the meet went really well and we were all very well prepared.”

Hoffman continued, “We hope to see more improvement as the season progresses.”

The swim and dive team will continue with their meets next week. On Tuesday, they face Napoleon and Bryan for an away tri-meet. We hope for more improvement.

The Lady Dogs have had a rough season up to this point and are looking forward to turning things around soon. With the new year beginning, the team is staying hopeful for a 180 to get things going.

Representing the junior varsity team, sophomore Alexa Garcia is treated as a leader for their younger team and said, “I think we will perform pretty well especially since we have 2 WBL games.” The team takes on Shawnee, Kenton, and Anthony Wayne in their next three games coming up these following weeks.

Representing the varsity team, Kenya Medina is among the starting five and has worked hard through the season at the center position on the court. “We haven’t had the best season so far, but that doesn’t mean the work we all are putting in is going to stop. Everyone works hard at practice and getting the little things done will escalate us in skill, allowing us to close off some of these games,” shared Medina about the team’s next few games along with the remaining parts of the season.

The girls take on Anthony Wayne and Shawnee at home and then they travel to Kenton to take on the Wildcats on their home court. Will the girls come out on top? Tune into the games to cheer and support your hometown team.

This past Thursday night, the Defiance Bulldogs went to Van Wert and defeated them in great fashion.

With over half the team pinning their kid, this match was big for the Bulldogs. Following the losses from Wauseon and Saint Mary's, he team needed a nice win.

“I wrestled well and pinned the kid fast, and those are my favorite matches,” says junior Beau Hesselschwardt. Coming off an injury, Hesselschwardt fought to get back into the room and practice so he can wrestle these next couple days.

“My kid was pretty good, he got out of position, and I exploited that to get a quick two points and two back points to pick up a win in the end,” says freshman Joey Robinson. The bulldogs are onto Fricker's duals for the weekend battling the top teams in the state, competing and getting better.

Last Saturday, both swim and dive teams participated in the Napoleon Invitational. The boys team placed ninth out of fifteen teams. Competing against eighteen teams, the girls placed eighth.

Jordyn Busch, a freshman swimmer, swam for Defiance this past weekend. Busch stated, “Coming off of our last meet, we had a lot of PR's, individual and team. With that being said, most have been working hard at practice to earn those.”

Busch then explained, “I wish more kids would come to join the team, it would be a good experience. With more kids, we can also have more relays, which are super fun.”

Jack Kost is a sophomore swimmer and he also swam this past weekend. Kost said, “The boys team is trying their best to do what we can, but it is hard only having four swimmers. Us four are improving every meet and hope to continue to see improvement throughout the rest of the season."

Kost continued, “We did pretty good at the invite for the numbers we have."

The swim and dive team will continue their season after Christmas break with a tri-meet against Bowling Green and Elida. This meet will take place on January 4, 2022 at our home pool. We hope for great results after break.

The Defiance Bowling team suffered a loss against league rival Wapakoneta earlier this week. They had a great competitive match against the Redskins but came up short in the end. The Bulldogs lost by a score of 2857-2843. This loss comes as a turning point for the season and a motivation boost to defeat their remaining WBL opponents.

The Bulldogs were disappointed in their loss and plan to improve in the weeks to come. Senior Xander Valle stated, “If everyone would have bowled to the best of their abilities the outcome would have been different.”

Senior Rheese Andrews also stated, “We need to prepare better next time in order to perform at our best.

The Bulldogs have upcoming matches this week against Ottawa-Glandorf and Napoleon. They hope to pick up wins against these high profile opponents.

Carlee Smiddy is a Defiance Bulldog alumni who played basketball and softball. After joining the National Guard, Smiddy came back to her hometown and decided to help coach the junior varsity girl’s basketball team. Smiddy is now in her last couple days of coaching, with her leaving for school.

Sophomore Alexa Garcia has been coached by Smiddy this whole season and shared the following: “I feel that when Coach Carlee leaves it's going to feel weird at first especially if we get a whole different coach besides Coach B or Coach Headley because we are so used to them and it's near mid-season so I feel like we won't adapt to a new coach as easily as a team.” Garcia said one thing she’ll remember from Smiddy is how she treated her as a team captain.

Another sophomore, Sam Hohenberger, has also advanced her skills under Smiddy. Hohenberger stated, “The team is going to miss Coach Smiddy deeply when she leaves. She helped us grow as a team and has played a major role in our improvement.” Hohenberger says she will always remember how Smiddy taught the team new skills.

With coach Smiddy leaving soon, it is safe to say she will be missed by the entire girls basketball team. She was a great role model for the girls and has many that look up to her as well as appreciate her and cannot wait until she comes back.

The Defiance boy’s basketball team opened their conference play on Friday night, defeating the St. Mary’s Roughriders by a score of 48-35.

Bulldog’s center Cayden Zachrich was crucial in the team’s success, tallying a double-double and holding highly recruited Roughrider center Austin Parks to only four points on the night.

“I think the atmosphere was a big part of the win, especially the student section. They kept it loud all night long and really helped get in the opponent’s head,” said Zachrich.

The boys rode their momentum into Saturday night’s game against Bryan, holding the Golden Bears to 29 points.

Spectators were treated with many highlight plays, including a Tyler Frederick dunk, Mark Jordan’s first career varsity points, and the return of senior Joe Lammers from an ankle injury suffered over the summer.

Lammers was ecstatic to return and the guard wasted no time getting back into the swing of things. He scored 8 points in the game, including an and-one and a contested three.

“I seriously missed playing in front of the crowd, so it’s awesome to be back in front of everyone. They really do make a difference; when they get excited, everyone gets excited,” Lammer said.

The boys look to continue their hot streak this weekend, playing Van Wert and Anthony Wayne on Friday and Saturday.

Last Tuesday, the swim and dive team held their second swim meet of the season, but fell shot. Both the boy’s and girl’s teams tried their best, but unfortunately lost.

Branden Gmutza, a junior swimmer, swam well in the Shawnee meet. Gmutza explained, “One of our biggest struggles is numbers, we have a lot more girls, but we only have four guys which makes meets difficult for the boys. In order for us to maximize our points we all have to swim in two individual events and two relays.”

Gmutza continued, “Thankfully we have Logan Hartman and Jack Kost, and both of those guys are incredible swimmers. They really help our team by placing in their events. In our next meets to come, I hope to see Carson and I getting our team more points and improving on both of our times.

Adrienne Frey, a sophomore on the girls team, also swam well Tuesday. Frey stated, “We hope in the future more people would be interested in joining swim, because we all enjoy it. With such a small team, we don't usually place the highest but we have been doing good for our first two meets.”

The swim and dive team’s next meet is Saturday, December 11, 2021. This meet is an invite at Napoleon High School. We hope to continue to see improvement as the season goes on.

The Defiance Ladydogs have had a rough start to their 2021 basketball season, but they are hoping for brighter days with their next few games. They will finish up their DPT Classic tournament on Tuesday the 7th, then take on St. Mary’s on Thursday the 9th.

Senior Kenya Medina has had a disappointing start to her final year of high school basketball, but says “I really believe we as a team have improved from the losses we’ve had. It’s not the start we were looking for but we’re working to turn it around.” As the team finishes their annual tournament, they aren’t focused on St. Mary’s yet, but Medina says the team will turn their attention to them at Wednesday’s practice to prepare for their Thursday game.

Along with Medina, Emily Wahl is in the same boat. With this being her senior basketball season, her and the rest of the team are hoping for a turnaround. Wahl shared, “We’ve had an unfortunate beginning to the season, but with the improvements the team has made, I believe we will be able to change these results.”

The team is staying focused on their tournament as of now, but will soon be preparing for St. Mary’s in hopes for a change of momentum for their season.

This past Tuesday, December 1, 2021, the girls and boys swim and dive team had a home tri-meet against Ottawa-Glandorf and Lima Central Catholic. Both the girls and boys finished the meet with a 1-1 record.

Gabbi Rittenour, a sophomore diver, started the season off strong but wishes to improve further. Rittenour explained, “Some improvements I hope for next meet would be me getting higher in my jumps before my dive and more control off the board.”

Karson Hoffman, a junior swimmer, also had a great start to the season.

Hoffman stated, “I thought that the meet went really well and we were all very well prepared.

Hoffman then said, “Being the first meet there are a lot of improvements that need to be made before the next one but I have no doubt in my mind that they will be made, and Coach Smolik will be sure of it.”

The next meet will be held on Tuesday, December 7, 2021. This meet is also a home meet but this time it is against Shawnee and Springfield. With the season for the swim and dive team just starting, improvements will surely be made as the season progresses.

The Defiance Bowling team recently competed in their first match of the season this week. On Tuesday, they faced off against Tinora at their home alley. The boys won their match by a score of 2376-2163. The girls team also won by a score of 1593-1332. Both of these wins are huge improvements in the program from last year and helps the Bulldog kick off the season in a positive direction.

Boston Briseno led the boys team as the top bowler. He was able to top every Tinora bowler on their team and this led to an outstanding victory. "I was confident in the work I put in this off-season and the work I continue to do to become the best bowler I can be," stated Briseno. Xander Valle, a senior on the team, was also a huge part in helping this team win Tuesday. "I focus on going out, doing my best, and having fun while doing so," stated Valle. This is a huge swing for the bulldogs as it shows the work they have put in stands for something and have overall helped the Boys team improve.

The bowling team has an upcoming match Thursday December 2nd against Wapakoneta. This is a huge league match for the Bulldog bowlers as they try to defeat a league rival. The girls team is at Wapakoneta on December 2nd as they try to pull off an upset.

The Defiance girls basketball team’s season has kicked off these past few weeks and the team has not had the most successful start to the year. The Lady Dogs unfortunately lost to Napoleon and Wayne Trace with their first two games of the season, but they will play in their annual tournament Monday, December 6.

Junior Elizabeth Hoffman will have her third DPT tournament of her high school career on Monday. Hoffman stated that there are four teams that compete at the tournament, and they are the same four every year which include Archbold, Ayersville, Tinora, and Defiance.

“We will play Tinora in the first round of the tournament and the outcome will determine whether we continue to the next round or not,” shared Mira Horvath, another third year student.

The tournament will be held at Defiance’s home ground, but the Lady Dogs will have to take on Wapakoneta first on December 2 at home.

The Defiance Bulldogs boy’s basketball team started their season off this past weekend. The team fell to Findlay on Friday, but bounced back on Saturday to defeat Liberty Benton and move to 1-1.

The Trojans nailed fourteen triples throughout the game, and defeated the Dogs 84-61. Defiance upset Findlay to begin last year’s campaign, but failed to capitalize on this year’s matchup.

Saturday saw a stellar defensive game from Defiance junior Tyler Frederick. Frederick tallied five total blocks on the night, helping to hold the Eagles to 37 points and give the boys their first win of the year. The team was also aided by a combined 30 points from juniors Cayden Zachrich and Bradyn Shaw.

“Tyler is definitely my favorite player to watch during the games. It seems like he flies around the court and he does the dirty work that most other players are scared to do,” said avid Bulldog fan Josh Horvath.

Starting five juniors this year has helped the team develop chemistry that is not seen in many other teams. Every player seems to know exactly what the others want to do and what they are best at.

“The whole team has made some serious strides in the right direction even this season alone, and you can tell that all of the guys really enjoy playing and being with each other,” said fan favorite senior Mark Jordan.

Although they split the weekend, the team is excited for whatever is next, and is eager to improve.

On November 20th the Lady Dogs took on the school’s rivals Napoleon Wildcats at home. Unfortunately the team came out with a loss, but with the Wildcats being reigning state champs the game was a decent start.

Senior Olivia Moats has been working hard with the team through the preseason and was ready for the night, saying, “It was a weird feeling knowing this was my last time probably ever playing Napoleon and I was excited to start the season that night.”

Moats says the Bulldogs handled the pressure from the Wildcats pretty well throughout the night and kept their turnovers to a minimum.

Kenya Medina, another senior, shared her feelings before the game, stating, “I didn't actually think of it as my last time, I went into the game with the thought of it being the first game of the season.”

During the preseason scrimmages the team had been making mental mistakes throughout the games, but Medina said those mistakes did not return during the game against Napoleon, and believes they would have had an even better chance in the game if they would knock down the shots they took.

The Lady Dogs take on Wayne Trace on Tuesday, November 23, and hope to come out on top after the tough game against last year's state champions.

On November 20th the Lady Dogs took on the school’s rivals Napoleon Wildcats at home. Unfortunately the team came out with a loss, but with the Wildcats being reigning state champs the game was a decent start.

Senior Olivia Moats has been working hard with the team through the preseason and was ready for the night, saying, “It was a weird feeling knowing this was my last time probably ever playing Napoleon and I was excited to start the season that night.”

Moats says the Bulldogs handled the pressure from the Wildcats pretty well throughout the night and kept their turnovers to a minimum.

Kenya Medina, another senior, shared her feelings before the game, stating, “I didn't actually think of it as my last time, I went into the game with the thought of it being the first game of the season.”

During the preseason scrimmages the team had been making mental mistakes throughout the games, but Medina said those mistakes did not return during the game against Napoleon, and believes they would have had an even better chance in the game if they would knock down the shots they took.

The Lady Dogs take on Wayne Trace on Tuesday, November 23, and hope to come out on top after the tough game against last year's state champions.

With fall sports ending recently, Defiance High School has already transitioned into winter sports. The school's first swim meet to start this season is home on Tuesday, November 30th, 2021.

Elli Fleischman, junior at Defiance, is one of the state's top female divers.

Fleischman states, “We have been practicing everyday. We are in the pool a ton. Once a week we also meet with a sports psychologist and she has been working with us as a team on mental fitness.”

Logan Hartman, junior, is a swimmer for Defiance. Hartman claimed, “We're doing the best things we can do to prepare. We are spending lots of time in the pool, and working hard everyday to keep improving which will help us in the future at meets.”

The swim and dive team have been working hard at practicing and getting ready for the first meet at the end of this month. Defiance can’t wait to see improvement throughout the season and see great results at meets.

Last Friday saw the lady athletes at DHS participating in an intense game of flag football.

Each class was coached by football players of the same grade in two games; freshmen and sophomores played the first game, and juniors and seniors finished the night off. In between these games, the spectators were gifted with a wonderful halftime performance choreographed by cheerleaders Maddie Morton, Kyra Martinez, and Peyton Kessler.

“The cheerleaders did great remembering their chants and it looked like everyone involved had a lot of fun,” said Morton.

In the first game, the sophomores defeated the freshmen with a score of 8-7. The sophomores were successful in their two-point conversion attempt in the final minutes of the game to take the lead, then proceeded to shut down the freshmen offense to win the game.

To finish the games, the juniors defeated the seniors 7-6 due to a missed point-after attempt by the seniors at the beginning of the game. Assistant senior coach Bailey DeTray said the following about the senior’s performance: “I think the girls played very well offensively until our quarterback’s injury. The coaching staff failed to put enough emphasis on defense, and that was our biggest struggle.”

Overall, the event was a blast for all included and was a great way to raise funds for student council.

The Defiance girls basketball team has begun their first few scrimmages of the season with a few to follow later on. They took on a few teams such as Montpelier, Evergreen, Ottoville, and Rossford.

The team competed, but to no avail. “The team overall still has a lot of improving to do before the first game. These scrimmages are very good learning opportunities and really help pinpoint certain things that we need to work on. Throughout the scrimmage, we made progress but we didn't play how we should have,” shares junior Mira Horvath on their performance.

Horvath also chipped in on what she believes the team should focus a little more on including the overall confidence of the team in game, and basic fundamentals like running down the court, finishing shots, and playing hard when they have the ball.

Alongside Horvath on the court, fellow junior Kinley Maynard shared similar ideas on how the team played. “It’s a little disappointing coming out of the scrimmages with losses, but overall we just have to play together more and fix the main issues.” Maynard was disappointed with the performance of the team but isn’t letting that get her down, motivating the team to put more hard work into practices for a better turn out when the regular season comes around.

The lady dogs take on McComb on Saturday for their next scrimmage with hopes of a better turnout than the previous ones they’ve encountered.

In the sport of wrestling, everyone is a top competitor and trying to be their best. So some things wrestlers do to try and get an advantage on the next guy is dropping a weight class or two. In theory, they will be stronger than everyone else in that class; there is always the one guy that didn't diet and he is the one with a trash bag on his body and losing water weight.

Here at Defiance, the wrestling team really doesn't like cutting weight. Coach Murphy encourages wrestling where you're at. He says if you want to lose weight, we cut calories before water. Cutting water is like cutting your power. “I'm not going to lie, I've probably cut water weight every time I’ve cut down,” says Junior Beau Hesselschwardt.

“I've only had to cut water once or twice, because I listened to the coach and cut the food first,” says senior Dom Tracy. Cutting weight is a controversial subject in the sport of wrestling. Some say it's okay, and some say it's dangerous.

With the football season ending a few weeks ago, basketball practices have started. This transition brings the cheerleaders to move into their basketball season also.

Senior cheerleader Kyra Martinez cheers for both football and basketball. Martinez explained, “We are having a lot of practices to get our underclassmen ready for this season. Basketball season is a lot crazier and more stressful because of how many games we have switching from ten during football to now twenty or more for basketball.”

Martinez continued, “It is a whole different atmosphere during basketball season and we are all super excited to see how this season plays out.”

Grace Rittenour, another senior cheerleader, did not cheer football season but do cheer for basketball.

Rittenour stated, “Although I did not cheer for football, for basketball, we have been teaching and refreshing chants to the underclassmen to help them learn the chants before games start. We also have been coming up with motions and words for certain elements like our hello cheer, run through, and starting five. These elements are different from football since cheerleaders don’t do starting five and a run through cheer for football games.”

Rittenour added, “I’m excited to show everyone what we have come up with at games. It’s going to be a great season to end my high school career on.

The cheerleaders always put on a good show and are the cherry on the top for basketball games. We are all excited to see what they have put together to showcase to us this year.

Winter sports are beginning and the seniors are off to their last first practice of their career. Girls basketball seniors Emily Wahl and Olivia Moats have many emotions knowing this is their last season with the team they’ve grown with over the years.

With Wahl coming into her senior year, she is feeling a plethora of emotions, saying, “It feels strange, almost bittersweet, knowing that after six years of playing a sport, it’ll all be over in a matter of months.” Wahl will be attending college after her senior year at DHS, but believes her basketball career will not follow her into college.

Moats has played basketball for multiple years and has a love/hate relationship with her high school career coming to an end, saying, “The thought of this being my last basketball season is sad, but exciting. I can't wait to play twenty-two more games with my friends and have fun and I know I will be sad when it's over.” Along with Wahl, Moats does not plan to play basketball in college.

The girls kick off their season on Saturday November 6, 2021, taking on Montpelier and Evergreen in their first scrimmage of the season. The Lady Dogs will host Napoleon for their first official game of the season on November 20, 2021.

Wrestling is more than a sport. It is a commitment and an overall lifestyle. In Ohio, it is magnified to a level like none other. You have kids that have been wrestling since they were toddlers. You have your newcomers that start in high school and middle school. The elite of the elite usually start early, and many love the sport in its entirety. The hard practices, the running, and the diets are all a part of this great sport. A lot of the great four time NCAA champion wrestlers come from Ohio.

Take Logan Steiber as an example. A boy from the small town of Monroeville. He is a five time Ohio state champion, He also was a four time NCAA champion and only lost once in his entire highschool career.

The second guy to be a four time state champion and a three time NCAA champion is David Taylor. David Taylor attended St. Paris Graham. Taylor became a four-time OHSAA state champion with an outstanding 180-2 record and graduated with a 4.0 GPA. He received the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award in 2009 as the nation's top high school wrestler

St Paris Graham is an exceptional program; they have set a standard that many teams chase but never seem to meet. “I think other than St. Edwards, Graham is the best in Ohio,” says senior Dominic Tracy. “We’ve wrestled many great teams, but when we wrestled Graham, it was a different experience, everyone was happy if you even made it the full three periods with the kid even if you lost we were happy you could hang with the Graham kid,” says junior Beau Hesselschschwardt

Wrestling has an exceptionally large group of really elite wrestling programs. Defiance is one that is up there but still fighting to be up with the top programs. These past four years Defiance has made great strides towards that goal and with a great senior class that is coming back, Defiance is looking for a big leap towards that top position in the state.

This past Saturday was districts for both the boys and girls cross country teams. As a team, the boys placed second, resulting in the whole team qualifying for regionals. The girls team also ran well together and placed seventh at districts.

Individually for the boys, seniors Josh Horvath and Eli Fortman qualified for regionals. Calib Brashear, junior, also qualified individually for the regional race. Josh led our boys team being our number runner. Josh stated, “I felt strong during the run and feel confident going into regionals. We’ve been taking a strategic approach in the past few races to get us ready for regionals. The team is staying focused and continuing to practice hard.”

Although the girls team did not qualify, Mira Horvath, junior girls runner, qualified individually to run at regionals. Mira claims, “At districts, I felt pretty good. It was a tough race but the course was flat and the conditions were good. I’m excited to go to regionals but it’s definitely going to be a challenge. The competition is really good and I'm going to give it my all.” Mira then states, “To prepare for regionals, I am practicing hard but also doing the little things like stretching, eating well, and taking care of my body. Hopefully, I qualify for state but it will not be easy. I'll have to have the best race of my season and go in with total confidence.”

This Saturday, both Mira and the boys team will run at Tiffin to compete for regionals. This race determines who qualifies for the state meet on November 6th, 2021. As the seasons start to come to the end, we hope to see success throughout these next few weeks.

The Bulldog Bowlers begin practice and the work begins for the 2021-22 season. Returning bowlers have high hopes of winning a league title for the team. These returning seniors include Boston Briseno, Rheese Andrews, Xander Valle, and Ian Cambell. This group has carried the team throughout the four years they have been a part of the team. All of them grew as individual bowlers as the years went on.

Senior Boston Briseno is one of the big returning seniors on the team. Boston was a WBL 1st team member and is currently the best bowler on the team. Boston stated, "I am excited for this season, we have a very promising team with kids who have been bowling all four years of their high school career". Bresino has high hopes for his individual season as well. He hopes to go to the state tournament this season and place.

Another Senior many people look forward to seeing is Rheese Andrews. Rheese has been one of the top bowlers on the team and is a huge part in the team's success. Last year Rheese won WBL honorable mention. Rheese stated, ¨ I have been competing all year long in various tournaments and leagues, preparing for this moment.¨ Andrews is another bowler on the team who hopes to qualify for state this season.

The Bowling team kicks off their season with a match against Tinora on November 30th. They hope to pick up a few big wins after that with three straight matches against WBL opponents. With a strong upper class of varsity bowlers the team can achieve greatness this season including a league title.

Wrestling is arguably the most demanding sport there is. Wrestling is more than what meets the eye. It's a legal fight; when you sign up for wrestling, you get early mornings, hard practices, and long hard runs as a bonus.

This year, the Defiance Bulldogs have an experienced line up. Dom Tracy, one of the leading seniors in the group, said, “I'm pretty excited for the big tournaments and less duals,” says Tracy. During last year's season, it was a restricted year. Due to that, there were few tournaments. “I think this year we can focus more on the sport of wrestling more than the restrictions of everything,” says junior Beau Hesselschwardt.

This is the year Defiance wrestling has been waiting for. This year the Bulldogs have the WBL championship and multiple state-bound wrestlers in their vision. All of the seniors this year have been wrestling since 7th grade, some earlier than that. All these guys have been together for a while. They have also been varsity wrestlers since their freshman year. The long awaited wrestling season is only a few weeks away. Will the bulldogs stand out or stay the same? We’ll see.

October 22, 2021, the Defiance football team took on Wapakoneta at Fred Brown Stadium for the seniors’ last game of their high school career. Seniors Kam’Ron Rivera and Dominic Tracy had many emotions going into the game, and afterwards.

Three year letter winner RIvera has had a solid season for the bulldogs with the year coming to an end, “Going into the game I kinda tried to take my mind off the fact that this could be my last game for Defiance.” The game turned to be a tough loss for the bulldogs and left many seniors deep in their emotions when the clock hit zero. “After the game was over it was very sad and hit me harder than I thought it would, especially looking around and seeing everyone else crying and realizing I’ll never play for Defiance again and never have my step-dad coaching me again.”

Tracy is also a three year letter winner and he stayed in a battle for the top of the tackling leaderboard for the Bulldogs going into the last game of the season. “I was excited and ready to go, it was probably the most concentrated I have ever been for a game and I was ready to put my body on the line for my team,” said Tracy. With all sorts of emotions and expressions arising, Tracy joined the team in the locker room after the game one last time but tried to stay as positive as possible, stating, “I was exhausted and so sad that it was over. All of my life I have been playing this game and for it to end after all we have done made me very sad. But all good things must come to an end.”

With the football season concluded, and sending off the seniors to better things with memories they will never forget, the athletes move into the winter season and continue their year with various other sports.

This past Saturday, both cross country teams ran at the WBL meet in Kenton. The boys team worked together to come in first place. The girls team also ran well and finished seventh.

Leading runner for the boys, Josh Horvath, came in fourth place for the boys race. Josiah Gonzalez, the team’s number five runner, claimed, “I felt like as a team we are finally starting to get it together and everyone is doing their part. We all hated the course but we just pushed through it and won the meet even though no one there thought we could do it.”

Mira Horvath, a junior runner, led the girls team coming in twelfth place for their race. Liv Moats, senior runner on the girls team, finished second for our team coming in twenty-eighth place. Moats stated, “Our team definitely could have ran better, but given some injuries and weather conditions, we had a fairly good race and I am proud of everyone for how they ran.”

This coming weekend both teams will compete at districts which are being held at Columbus Grove. The district meet will determine which teams will run at regionals at Tiffin on October 30th. Hopefully we will continue to see more success from the teams as their seasons continue.

Along with a plethora of other winter sports on the brink of beginning, the Defiance dive team is preparing for the start of this new season. Juniors Elli Fleischman and Lily Lacey give their perspective on the off season and the 2021 season.

One time state qualifier Fleischman has been putting in a ton of work between last winter and now, saying “For me personally, I have been in the gym multiple times a week and been attending club dive practices. I am also planning to attend a dive clinic and a dive camp in November.” The COVID-19 virus took over last season, eliminating the chances for any fans to come support the divers at their meets, but the coaches and divers are in hopeful spirits for a normal season this year.

Also a one time state qualifier Lacey has had a couple injuries in recent years, saying, “After suffering a couple of injuries from the previous diving season, I have taken the high school volleyball season to recover and get ready for my junior year of diving.” Lacey had a great season last year, placing sixteenth place at the state diving meet, ending her season in a great way. Lacey hopes to keep this momentum going into this 2021 season along with adding new skills to her dive selections.

Along with the fall sports concluding, the dive team hosts Ottawa-Glandorf and Lima Central Catholic at home on November 30, 2021, for the first meet of the season.

The high school football season is coming to an end. The season began in June with early morning workouts and great memories made. Everyone on the team went through the painful workouts and hard runs throughout the summer. There were the ups and downs, there were horrible twenty-five yard ladders after every offensive session. There were hot summer days on the turf, long two days, and mentally challenging practices. “I think the thing I'll miss the most is two-a-days with my teammates, and the memories I've made with the team,” says senior Dominic Tracy.

To some, football is arguably one of the best sports ever played, you go out onto a field with your teammates and battle it out for 48 minutes. Many have played the game and many have given it their all. “I like to think that I gave every practice my all and gave all my efforts out on the field because I knew I wouldn't get this chance again,” says senior Mark Jordan.

The seniors have sacrificed four years of their lives to this game, early mornings, late bus rides home, wins and losses. They have all given it their all and have fought to the bitter end. This friday is their last game on the field together and all those years together comes to an end.

This coming Saturday, October 9th, the boys cross country team runs at the Portage Invite. This same day the girls team will be running at the Anna Rocket Invite.

Kameron Burkhart, Senior runner for the girls team, says, “This week we did mile repeats as one of our workouts, which we normally do not do as a workout.” Burkhart then claimed, “This workout will help with our endurance for this weekend's meet to hopefully help us when we are starting to feel tired while running and result in a better success for the team.”

Senior runner for the boy’s cross country team, Josh Horvath, says, “The boys team has recently been focusing on faster speed workouts. Normally, we do more longer mileage runs. These speed workouts will help us this weekend to prepare for our conference meet next weekend.”

Next Saturday, October 16th, 2021, both teams have their WBL race, Defiance’s conference meet. This meet is being held at Kenton and starts at nine in the morning. The girls teams will run first then the boys teams follow.

Along with wrestling and swimming, the girl’s basketball team has been preparing for the winter season. Senior Olivia Moats and junior Mira Horvath give their thoughts on the upcoming season and how they prepared in the offseason.

The grind has been harder than ever for the girls. Moats said, “The team has prepared during the off season by going to open gyms and lifts in the summer. We also went to Tuesday Night League in Hicksville six weeks in the summer, where we played local teams. We did one shootout tournament in Elmwood too. I have been preparing by shooting 1-3 times a week at Defiance College since the middle of July.”

Moats’ senior year is on it’s way and this will be her last time playing with the team she’s grown up with. “I am looking forward to playing one last season with my friends. The team has a pretty good friendship built up and we all get along well. I am excited to have one last year playing a sport that I have always loved to play,” she said when looking forward to her final season.

Horvath has stayed focused through the offseason while working on different skills to take her game to the next level. “I have really focused on different post moves and just getting some shots up. Lifting and ball handling is also really important and has been a focus for this upcoming season,” explains Horvath on her summer time grind. Her sophomore year was tampered with due to COVID-19 and is in hopeful spirits for a normal season this year with more fans in the stands.

With the fall season sports coming to an end within the next few weeks, the Lady Bulldogs take on Napoleon at home on November 20th.

The volleyball faced off against Bryan and Findlay this week, taking the win in five sets against Bryan and losing to Findly in four.

Against Bryan, freshman Karleigh Hoffman was awarded the player of the game. Hoffman acquired seventeen kills on sixty-eight attempts through the five sets. The freshman also scored the game winning kill to finish the fifth set 15-11.

Hoffman credits the coaches and her teammates for her great play on Monday, and says she couldn’t do it without them.

On Tuesday, the 8-4 Findlay Trojans traveled to Defiance to play the Bulldogs.

Despite the loss, the girls stayed positive throughout the match. The team felt as if they “had a new life” to them, said senior captain Madilyn Coler. Coler, along with others, attributed this burst of energy to the student section.

Due to new leadership, the volleyball student section took their performance up a notch at Tuesday’s game, and helped propel the girls to a seven point comeback in the first set.

The Ladydogs will finish their season off against Celina and Ottawa-Glandorf next Tuesday and Thursday respectively.

This past Saturday, both the girls and boys cross country team ran at the Liberty Center Extravaganza. The girls team placed sixth while the boys team placed second.

Junior Mira Horvath led the girls team coming in twenty-fifth place out of one hundred and thirty-three runners. Layla Briseno, a sophomore runner for Defiance, finished shortly behind Horvath placing twenty-seventh. Briseno states, “I wasn't very happy with my performance but I've been struggling with an injury, therefore, I was not feeling the healthiest during this race.“

Defiance senior, Josh Horvath, led the boys team placing sixth individually. The boys race had a total of one hundred and forty runners. Senior Jake Stephens claimed, “I felt the team ran very well overall. We were all pretty happy with our second place team placement.” Another senior runner for Defiance, Eli Fortman, agreed with Stephens that the team ran well.

The girls team will run next at the Anna Rocket Invite on October 9th, 2021. That same day the boys team will run at the Portage Invite. Hopefully we will continue to see great successes with both teams as their seasons continue to progress.

With fall sports coming to an end, winter sports are imminent. Wrestling is a popular sport at Defiance High School with meets such as Tri-State and the Fricker’s Dual that invite 20-30 teams. Senior Dominic Tracy and junior Beau Hesselschwardt give a few words on the season to come.

Tracy has had a few successful seasons at Defiance High School, but the hard work does not stop when school does. “Personally I have wrestled quite a few matches against great opponents, I have also gone to a week long camp after school ended last year called, ‘Jeff Jordan State Champ Camp’. I have also been in the weight room a lot prepping for this upcoming season,” Tracy shared about his year round work for the winter sport.

Tracy has been staying in shape and says, “I am really looking forward to tournaments coming back into the season because it’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had in wrestling,” to show his eagerness to get back on the mat for his senior year.

Hesselschwardt stayed lean and fit through the summer as he states, “I have prepared by going to the Jordan State Champ Camp and lifting in the off season.” The junior went through his last season in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic with his hopes high as he says, “I’m looking forward to having fans again. Hopefully this year we can get a bit of a student section going and get some noise in the stands.”

As winter sports approach, these two athletes, along with their team, will be working hard in preparation for their first match at Wapakoneta on December 2, 2021.

Athletes all around the world are competing and working harder than their partner. Everyone is looking for that one thing that can separate them from the rest of the group. One thing coaches offer is off-season training. It's the time between seasons where kids can go to the weight room or the field and master their skill or get bigger and faster.

Here at Defiance the kids haven’t adopted the mindset of the off-season. “I don't think kids want to come in and work because they're lazy and they don't have goals, most kids just join the football team to be on the team, they don't really do it to play and be the best '' says senior Kam Ron Rivera.

The Defiance Bulldogs have had a play-off dry streak for seven years. Not counting the COVID playoff rule. “I don't think it's a coincidence that most guys have been neglecting the off- season work since then,” says Senior Captain Wade Liffick.

A lot of the younger classes are going to be starting to get into that weight room and getting to work after this 2021 season. The seniors have been encouraging and pushing the younger kids to work this winter and get better. So they can start a new run for Defiance football.

Junior volleyball player Elizabeth Hoffman is leading the region in digs this season with 286 on the year, and 434 in her career.

Hoffman was last known to be ahead by 44 digs, with 230. Second place in the area belongs to Emma St. Clair from Liberty Center, who has 186.

“We are all so proud of the things she has accomplished this season, and can’t wait to see how she can finish her career,” said junior teammate Kinley Maynard.

Averaging 4.7 digs per set throughout her career, Hoffman is helping to lead the future of Defiance volleyball back to the top of the WBL.

“It’s awesome to be able to represent Defiance in this way,” said Hoffman.

The entire Defiance community is proud of Elizabeth and we wish her the best throughout the rest of her career for Defiance volleyball.

This past weekend was a successful weekend for the Defiance Bulldogs football team. Both JV and varsity teams beat the Kenton Wildcats. The varsity score was 47-14 and the JV score was 38-0. It has been fourteen years since the varsity team has beaten Kenton.

Freshman Anthony Wilder rushed for 3 touchdowns and 150+ yards, the first person to do this since Chris Fluker four years ago against Ottawa-Glandorf.

The Defense had a pretty good game, Kenton only putting two touchdowns up, one in the first drive and one in the last. “We had a great look from the scout team throughout the week. I think they executed Kenton’s offense better than Kenton did in the game,” says senior Bailey DeTray.

On the Junior Varsity side, the Defiance Bulldogs put up 38 unanswered points. The JV’s defense was lights out on Saturday and the offense couldn't be stopped. “Coach gave me a great opportunity to play middle linebacker and I had fun ,” said freshman star Carvelle Tracy.

In the spring, Mr. Gruber, Defiance junior high track coach, was announced as the girls cross country coach for the high school. Mr. Gruber has been coaching cross country and track for over 33 years. He also ran in high school.

Different coaching styles can affect the performance of any athlete. Kameron Burkhart, a senior cross country runner for the girls, says, “The workouts this year have changed since last year because our coach last year wasn't prepared by practice time. This year though Mr. Gruber is completely opposite and knows what we are running so that has definitely helped.” Burkhart also states, “Last year's workouts were very disorganized and unrealistic most of the time. So they were not effective but this year our new coach is very organized and knows which workouts will help us for future races.”

Mira Horvath, junior cross country runner, agrees with Burkhart and claims, “Workouts have definitely changed from last year. Coach Gruber definitely knows more and is more experienced than our last coach.” Horvath then adds, “The workouts from last year were not planned at all. Our last coach would either give us the easiest workout or an impossibly hard workout. Most of the time I had to tell her some workouts that we should be doing.” Horvath also said, “We have been doing pretty good as a team and have a solid five.”

The girls cross country team has had a fairly successful season so far with high team placements at their past three meets coming in 3rd at Wapakoneta Night Meet, 13th at the Tiffin Carnival, and 2nd at the Elida Invite. As their season progresses hopefully we will continue to see great results with Gruber returning as a coach.

The Defiance Golf teams will have their final outings on September 25th & 28th. With their season coming to an end, seniors Kameron Brown and Mallory Weaver share some thoughts on the success of the team.

“I would say our best match was the Springbrook invitational. At this match 3 of the 4 of us who scored that day shot in the 70's for 18 holes and it seemed like we were all pretty locked in,” Brown said regarding how the boys have done this year. With the WBL championship approaching, Brown includes that he believes they are on track for a good ending to the season as long as the team stays focused.

For the girls, Weaver says, “I would say our best invite was the Lincoln View Invitational at Willow Bend. Our team took second with two individuals placing in the top 4. Our best dual match was against Patrick Henry at Auglaize Golf Club.” Improving on their consistency is one thing Weaver thinks the girls can improve on in the off season for next year.

The 3-6 volleyball team faces off with the 2-5 Paulding Panthers for the second time this afternoon. Their first meeting took place during a summer scrimmage

The Ladydogs defeated Paulding in three sets in their first match, and the girls are hoping to turn their season around with a win tonight and on Thursday when they play Kenton.

Defiance has gotten off to a rough start this year, and are currently on a three game losing streak. Junior libero Elizabeth Hoffman believes the team is getting back on track following a collection of good practices.

Senior Grayce Jones believes the team can achieve a streak of wins in the coming weeks, including a league win against Kenton on Thursday.

The girls remain positive, despite their recent losses, and continue to fight on through the season.

Defiance Cross Country hosted the annual Early Bird invitational race this past weekend, which saw over twenty teams compete. The Defiance boys placed second as a team, finishing only behind Columbus Grove by four points.

Defiance senior Josh Horvath placed second among racers, with a time of 16:42, just three seconds behind first. Finishing twelfth overall and second for Defiance, Elijah Valle said the team missed senior and leader Eli Fortman, who was expected to help propel the team to a first place finish.

Horvath had the following to say regarding the race: “We can’t settle for second, we have to continue to improve if we want to win the league.”

The Ladydogs finished in fourth as a team, with a team average time of 23:09. Junior Mira Horvath led the team, coming in eleventh and followed by Layla Briseno at fifteenth.

The Dogs have plenty of time to recover and prepare before they travel to Wapakoneta on September 4th.

The first week of the 2021-22 school year concluded with the Bulldogs winning the 99th game in one of Ohio’s longest High School football rivalries, though both girls and boys soccer fell to the Wildcats.

After a mangled 2020 season, which saw Napoleon retain possession of the River Rock with a 28-0 victory at home, Defiance bounced back this year and the Rock returned to Palmer Drive with a 7-0 Bulldogs victory.

“Our defense stood strong when it mattered. We have to figure out the problems in the offense, but you can never complain about a win, especially in a game like this,” said senior linebacker Wade Liffick.

The game saw the Wildcats offense within five yards of the goalline four times, but the Defiance defense stood their ground and held Napoleon to a shutout, the first since 1990.

Napoleon quickly returned to the turf, as the varsity girl’s soccer team started off the Friday games. These games saw Defiance fight throughout, although the Wildcats came away with a clean sweep of the sport with a 4-0 and 4-2 victory in the respective games.

“We started the game strong, we just have to finish the same,” said junior captain Alex Chagoyan. The boys scored the game’s first goal, but would give up two scores in the final six minutes of the contest.

Alongside these games were competitions held at each school throughout the week, including pull-up and a Goodwill donation competition. Defiance took home the gold in both games, completing almost double the pull-ups and donating more than 2000 pounds that was donated by Napoleon.

As per usual, Napoleon week was a competitive one, as both sides fought for the win and showed their school spirit.

With the season just about over some of the seniors have some words to tell the upcoming seniors. These two players show how much they care about the underclass room.

Senior Defiance High School boys tennis player Andrew Frederick said, “My advice would be to just make it last while you can because the year flies by as a clique as that sounds.” Being ready for the next step and always being ready for your turn is very important.

Ryan Yeager, a senior on the Defiance High School tennis team, stated, “Enjoy your last year because it's going to be over before you know it.”

These words are very important because just when you think everything is about to turn around it will be over in a blink of an eye.

With the resignation of Coach Kline as the head football coach, the city of Defiance has been waiting to hear the announcement of the new coach. Recently, it has been announced that Travis Cooper will be the head coach for the 2021 season. Coach Cooper coached at Bryan and Wauseon in the past, and became an assistant coach at Defiance last season. This year he looks to change the program of Defiance football forever.

Many of the athletes are excited about the decision to hire coach Cooper as the football coach. Mark Jordan, who will be a senior next season stated, "I am very excited to see what Cooper will do with the team next season and I feel we have a chance as league contenders."

This is a common feeling amongst many of the football players who are on coach Cooper's team.

Already coach Cooper has made big changes, going back to the way Defiance football used to be. He has recently hired Steve Rittenour as the assistant coach and defensive coordinator. Coach Ritt did not coach at DHS last season, but has recently been re-hired and is causing much of the excitement for the team. Shane Brugler was a coach back in 2014, and he led the D-line. Brugler has recently been re-hired to be the lineman coach.

This season the Bulldogs look to excite under their new reign. They hope to beat Napoleon in their season opener at home. The athletes are now ready to endure the hard work that is necessary to have a successful season.

Defiance High School softball fell to the 16-4 Paulding Panthers with a score of 10-4

The game, the final of the girl’s regular season, saw a slow start for both teams, with the Bulldogs leading 2-1 in the first, followed by three scoreless innings, where Defiance center fielder Marrah Elston scored on a stray pitch.

Paulding quickly answered with four runs in the top of the 6th inning to take the lead, followed by a Panther dominated 7th to close the game.

“This wasn’t the way we wanted the season to end, but we have to bounce back and compete against Bath tomorrow,” said second baseman Elizabeth Hoffman. As a sophomore, Hoffman led the team in fielding percentage

The Lady Dogs will visit Bath for the second time this year and face off for the sectional championship on Friday. Elston says she hopes to continue playing into the following weeks with a win tomorrow.

The young team finished the season with a 19-5 record and showed proof of a bright future after going 7-2 in the final nine games.

Defiance Track and Field had a meet on May 6, and we are looking at the boys shot put competition. The people competing in these were Brandon Gmutza, Grant Keller, and Derrick Miller.

Miller, a junior at Defiance High School stated, “Personally, I feel as if I did okay but easily could’ve done better.” He scored 0.66 in the boys shot put relay and his final score he had was 32-06.

Keller, a senior at Defiance High School stated, “Yeah the team is practicing pretty hard to get better and better every meet. We still have some goals to meet, but we will get there.”

Keller finished with a 0.66 as well and he had a 30-01 final score in the boys shot put relay.

Defiance softball defeated Kenton last Tuesday, for the second time this season. The team is now 9-15 on the season.

The game, the first of the girls’ tournament, was a shootout last Tuesday, with a final score of 20-12.

Senior Kamiel Moss and junior Grayce Jones led the way at the plate. Moss rallied three hits in the game, and Jones racked up two triples.

The girls got off to a hot start, scoring eight runs in the first inning. This dominance did not persist, however, as Kenton took the lead in the top of the 6th inning. Defiance quickly replied and had a monster inning, scoring another seven runs, which was followed by a quick three outs in the top of the ninth to seal the victory.

Defiance has been on a roll as of late, as they are on a five game in streak and are 7-1 in their last eight games. Jones credits the success in a rise of confidence throughout the program caused by a discussion prompted by Jones herself, where the team was sure to identify their weaknesses.

In a post-game interview, Moss stated, “The team has been playing great in recent games, and we plan on riding that wave until the season is over.”

The team plays their last regular season game on Thursday, the 13th, followed by the sectional finals against Bath.

With the season coming to an end, there are two seniors that have just won the WBL championship. The two teammates have worked very hard their whole highschool career to win these games.

Senior‌ Defiance‌ High‌ ‌School‌ boys‌ ‌tennis‌ player‌ Andrew‌ Frederick‌‌ said‌, “It feels great! It was truly awesome to be able to win and go undefeated in the WBL throughout the season. Freshman year, I saw how cool it would be to be able to take home first place, but was not sure I would be able to, so ultimately this is an awesome experience and something I will remember for a long time!” Working hard gives a good outcome towards what you want to achieve.

Ryan Yeager, a senior ‌on‌ ‌the‌ ‌Defiance‌ ‌High‌ ‌School‌ ‌tennis‌ ‌team,‌ ‌stated,‌ “It feels great. I knew we had a chance but it wasn't going to be easy.”

Defiance was able to extend their winning streak to six games with two huge wins over D-1 (Division 1) state ranked teams.

The first victory came against Perrysburg by the score of 7-3.

Pitching in the game for the Bulldogs was: David Jimenez, giving up three runs over six innings, and Bradyn Shaw with an inning of work and giving up no runs.

Leading hitters were: David Jimenez, Jacob Howard, Jack Mortier, Daniel Hoffman, Bradyn Shaw, and Camden Roth.

The second win came against Findlay by the score of 4-0 and elevating Defiance’s record to 17-4.

With the season getting closer to the end, there are a few that were asked about a season update and what the record for a few and for the team This season for the Boys Tennis team is going very well.

Senior Defiance High School boys tennis player Andrew Frederick said, “The season has been going pretty well. Ryan Yeager and I played doubles for WBL matches, and we went 9-0 on the season heading into the tournament. Our only loss is to Bryan which we hope to redeem at sectionals. The team overall has had some ups and downs. We are about .500 in the WBL and have lost some pretty close matches, but it has been a pretty great season overall.” The season seems to be a lot fun for the team.

Nathan Blunt, a junior on the Defiance High School tennis team, stated, “The season this far has been going well for my doubles partner and I. We currently have a 5-3 record with one more game to go in WBL's. The seeding was announced last night and we were informed that we were ranked 3rd in the WBL for 2nd doubles. The team as a whole is doing just as expected. With a 3-5 record, we are currently tied 6th in a very top-heavy conference. We have a young team and I am excited for the years to come with the potential they have. Our 1st doubles team of Ryan & Andrew have played amazing throughout the season. Making quick work of almost every team. On the season they only have one loss against a tough Bryan team. They will definitely be favorites for winning the 1st doubles WBL tournament and I'm excited to see what they can do in our upcoming tournaments.”

An underclassman showing respect to the seniors, shows the respect that the seniors give the younger ones.

The girls softball team is managing to make a comeback late in the season. Recently they have won four out of their last five games. These wins came off of Celina and Ottawa Glandorf. These wins are huge for the program because they came against league rivals. The Bulldogs hope to continue their win streak through the rest of the season. They have games coming up against Kenton, Archbold and Paulding before the end of the season.

Recently the girls have been winning big games against big opponents. Something has sparked on the team causing them to do well. Junior Marah Elston stated, “We have learned to play better as a team…. Earlier in the season there was a lot going on and we weren't able to come together the way we are now.” Senior Kamiel Moss stated, ¨ Over the years I've played softball at Defiance these last few weeks have been some of the best for the team as well as the program.¨

This new spark that has begun in the softball program could lead them to the playoffs this season after the almost impossible chance earlier this season.

The girls next three games are important for their chance to make it to the playoffs. With a big game coming up against Kenton on Thursday, the Bulldogs need to win in order to place higher in the WBL.

As the tennis team loses a senior leader due to COVID, the team is tasked with finding an interim senior leader.

Senior Defiance High School boys tennis player Andrew Frederick said, “I feel really bad about it actually. I will miss a couple of matches and with senior year coming to an end, I'm missing some of the minimal school I have left. So all around it sucks, but there's nothing I can do about it, so I have to make the best of a bad situation.” Doing what you can is the most important thing.

Zackary Hanson, a sophomore on the Defiance High School tennis team, stated, “This season has definitely been different due to COVID, but now having to miss a few games because of being quarantined is hard. I want to be there for the team to support but I know I will have to do my part by staying back. I know that they will do their best and I will cheer them on from home.”

Being a great teammate is the only thing you can do, while showing them that you care.

The Defiance softball team has recently moved to a 4-15 record. Recently the girls have been able to pick up two nice wins against Hardin Northern and Coldwater. The girls team has been battling through the season and plan to continue to push through the adversity. Next week the girls will have important games coming up against WBL teams including Celina, Kenton, and OG.

Most recently the girls broke their losing streak against Coldwater. The girls had a rough month of April, losing twelve games in a row. The girls were able to come back from this deficit with back to back wins against Coldwater and Hardin Northern. This was a monumental victory for the girls this season. This showed their willingness to continue to fight when they had been broken down.

The next few games for the girls will be important. If they are able to beat all three league rivals, they would be able to have a higher placement in the WBL as well as a higher seeding in the tournament. Junior Marah Elston stated, “All though we have had a rough season we plan to give these last few games everything we've got.” The girls will open their first game of the week against Celina on Friday.

Defiance was able to extend their winning streak with a huge win against Fairview by the score of 2-0.

The main storyline of this game was the great pitching once again for Defiance by none other than Bradyn Shaw. Shaw, a sophomore pitched a complete game for the Bulldogs and the team was able to extend their record to 11-3.

Defiance however was not able to defeat league foe Bath, losing 3-1.

On the mound for the Bulldogs for this game were: Jacob Howard giving up 3 runs and Jayden Jerger giving up 0 runs.

Leading hitters for both games were: David Jimenez, Jacob Howard, Camden Roth, and Bradyn Shaw.

Jayden Jerger, a junior on the team, had this to say about the win “ This was a nice win for us to build off of and get us good experience against a solid team.”

Kam Ron Rivera a junior as well stated this on the loss “ We didn’t get the outcome we wanted and didn’t play our best game, but we still know we have a good team and can win big games in the future.”

As you can see these Bulldogs aren’t going to go down without a fight.

The Defiance track team had another meet coming up and just had another one this week and looked to improve from their first meeting. Track has individual competitions and team competitions as well. I wanted to look more into the meets and understand the competitions and see where everyone placed.

Payton Switzer, a senior on the track team, stated, “Last meet we had multiple PRs in the boys distance. We had PRs from Josh Horvath who ran a 40.6 in the 300 hurdles which ranks him at 16th in Ohio.” PR stands for personal record and that is very impressive to be ranked that high in Ohio.

Derrick Miller stated, “I threw a PR in the shot put by .02. Overall not the greatest day of running for the Bulldogs despite the amazing weather, but we will get better.”

The Bulldogs are looking to improve off every meet and that's the most important thing.

The Defiance track team attended an invitational in Napoleon this Saturday.

The distance crew was able to perform up to expectations according to sophomore, Calib Brashear.

Brashear later stated, “We weren’t able to score as many points as we wanted, but a lot of people on the team were able to set PRs.”

Another member of the distance team, Elijah Valle, said, “The distance team has a lot of potential in the future.” This may have been in reference to Josiah Gonzalez, a freshman on the team.

Gonzalez was able to score in both the mile and two mile in the meet on Saturday.

While the distance crew is young, they were still able to score 27 of the Bulldogs points in the meet.

The Defiance track team started the season very strongly with three top 3 finishes. Over the last two weeks the track team has started to slack in the last three meets. During the BG invite the boys team placed 7th out of 8 teams, in a tri-meet between Findlay and OG they came last, and at the Napoleon invite they placed 5th out 8 teams. The girls team placed 6th at the BG invite, last in the tri-meet against OG and Findlay, and 7th at the Napoleon invite. Hopefully Defiance can get out of this slump with a top finish at the Wapakoneta Redskin Relays on April 23.

If the boys team wants to get back on track, everyone on the team has to perform at their best. One part of the team that needs to improve is the throwing group. When asked about how they could improve, junior Derrick Miller said, “We just need to practice harder and be more consistent when it comes to the meets. If we can do those two things then hopefully we can show improvement.” If the whole team can not perform at their very best, then this team will continue to struggle.

The girls team has also been in a slump. With the team finishing either last or second to last in their last three meets, they need to improve in many different areas. When asked how the team can improve, junior Aleigha Coffman stated, “We have been practicing hard but it's just not showing up at the meets. It also hurts that one of your top sprinters in Kaitie is injured. Also it hurts that there are not many girl throwers, so we all have to be at the top of our game every meet.” With injuries and the limited amount of girls on the team, it will be hard to get out of this slump.

Hopefully both Defiance teams can start to improve with that beginning on April 23. Everyone in the Defiance community will be rooting for them.

Here at Defiance high school we take pride in our sports teams and the work they put in. The coaches who motivate and help these athletes work to be the best they can be are all special to their team as well as people around the school. Recently Defiance football coach Kevin Kline resigned from his coaching position. Coach Kline led a new legacy for the Bulldogs in the five years he coached.

Coach Kline has had many enjoyable memories as a coach at both Defiance and Bryan. “I have very much enjoyed my time coaching at Defiance. Throughout my five years of being the head coach I have made several personal connections with players that will go well beyond the game,” stated Kline. “I have several great memories. The players and coaches are what you remember the most. The two games that stand out to me the most would be beating Napoleon and a close win against Shawnee.”

Coach Kline will now have time off to focus on other events. He would still enjoy sticking around the game of football. Coach Kline stated, “I still love the game and will look for some capacity to stay involved. There are several rumors flying around but I have no immediate plans but to stay at Defiance and continue teaching. I think the football program needed a change that will hopefully lead to more wins. I am not sure what I will do next but I will always be a big fan of Defiance Sports. GO DOGS!”

Coach Kline came to Defiance from Bryan where he was previously the head coach on a very successful Golden Bears football team. Coach Kline began his coaching debut with the Bulldogs in the fall of 2016. Since then the team has had their ups and downs but they have found themselves improving under Kline's coaching. Last season the Bulldogs went 1-9 and made it to the playoffs. While in the playoffs the Bulldogs were able to pick up a great playoff win against Bay Village.

Coach Kline has given hope to the city of Defiance as he battled through his five year legacy at the school. He was able to show Defiance what they could be if they work hard and set their minds to it. Defiance High School would like to thank Coach Kline for his time he has put in here at DHS.

Defiance was able to defeat Norwalk in ten innings by the score of 1-0.

The main storyline of this game was the great pitching by both sides. Bradyn Shaw went 7 innings giving up no runs along with Jayden Jerger coming in relief throwing 3 shutout innings as well.

The Bulldogs however were unable to defeat the Rams, losing by the score of 4-1. On the hill were David Jimenez who went 6 innings giving up 3 runs and Mark Butler pitched 1 inning and gave up 1 run.

Leading hitters were: Bradyn Shaw, Camden Roth, Mark Butler, David Jimenez, and Jack Mortier.

The winning run finally came across on an errant throw down to first scoring none only than Critter Man Dan a senior on the team.

Critter Man Dan (Daniel Hoffman) had this to say about the victory and scoring the winning run “ That’s my job, so I knew I had to make the most of my situation. Honestly I’m just happy we got the win and everyone worked hard for that win. This whole week we have been doing great so we just have to keep working.”

Bradyn Shaw a sophomore on the team stated this about the Tinora game “We played hard but weren’t able to get the outcome we wanted, we need to just keep working and getting better so we can win these games down the road.”

As you can see these Bulldogs aren’t going to allow one loss to dictate and ruin their success in the future.

Defiance bested Shawnee last Friday, moving their league record to 4-0.

Junior pitcher Jacob Howard pitched a complete game, holding the #14th ranked Indians to only two runs.

Howard thinks the team has the opportunity to make a deep playoff run this spring, and their self-confidence is only rising.

The team is playing great, and everyone is riding the wave,” said sophomore Bradyn Shaw, who led the way at bat.

The Bulldogs must continue to ride the wave, as they have a tough schedule in the following games, facing Norwalk and Tinora this week.

The Defiance Bulldogs came up victorious in their efforts against Lima Central Catholic by the score of 2-0.

Defiance also defeated league opponent Van Wert by the score of 5-2. Making their record 3-0 in the WBL.

The main storyline for these games was the pitching effort by Defiance’s Bradyn Shaw and Jayden Jerger, who both threw complete games, which is the fourth in a row by Defiance’s pitchers. Bradyn Shaw not only threw a complete game but rather a complete game shutout.

Leading hitters were: Jack Mortier, Wade Liffick, Bradyn Shaw, Camden Roth, Mark Butler, Jacob Howard, and Jayden Jerger.

These wins will help this team be more successful later in the season. Wade Liffick, a junior on the team, said, “These wins will help us be where we want in the seeding for the tournament and help us in attempting to win the WBL championship.”

The man, the myth, the legend Coach Weaver stated this on the recent success of the mighty Bulldogs, “I was happy for the boys. They played a great game and came up with some big plays down the stretch. It was a big win but we still have a long way to go in the race for a league title.”

As you can see these Bulldogs just feel like they’re getting started in the terms of success.

With some mess ups in the season, having confidence is an easy way to get things out of your head. Staying positive with what you are working on is very important.

Freshman Defiance High School boys tennis player Jackson Honsberger said, “They are pretty good. I am pretty confident in my ability in tennis, my only thing I really need to improve on to become consistent with is my serves.”

Being consistent with what needs to be done is very important. If you stay locked in, anything is possible.

Nathaniel Herod, a sophmore on the Defiance High School tennis team, stated, “I feel like we are evenly matched with many of the teams we face, so every game is going to be challenging but with effort I think we can pull through.”

Both of the tennis players have the right mindset when it comes to winning more games and knowing what needs to be completed. It is important to have all the confidence, especially being in a sport.

The Bulldogs got off to a rocky start after going down 2-0 to WBL foe Saint Mary’s, but then responded with 6 runs unanswered to win 6-2 and extend their record to 2-0 in league play.

Leading the way on the mound for the Bulldogs was Jacob Howard, a junior on the team. As he pitched a complete game only surrendering two runs.

Leading hitters were: Bradyn Shaw, Mark Butler, Camden Roth, Jacob Howard, Jack Mortier and Dade Robinson.

Dade Robinson, a senior who had the big hit to tie the game in the first inning, had this to say about the win “ We got momentum back after a tough loss a couple of games ago against Pauling and fought our way to a great win with great teammates around me.”

Mark Butler, a junior who’s 2 RBIs hit gave Defiance the first lead of the game stated the following: “ We came into the game with great energy which helped us get the win.”

He also stated this about his clutch hit in the game, "I got down in the count 0-2 but he threw me a good pitch to hit which ended up giving us the lead."

As you can see these Bulldogs feel they are in the right place to be legitimate contenders.

Defiance came up victorious in their first WBL game of the year, defeating Wapakoneta by a score of 6-0.

Junior pitcher Jayden Jerger threw a complete shutout through seven innings, and Bradyn Shaw led the way at the plate with one RBI and two hits.

Jerger credited his performance to the mental aspect of his game, saying his confidence has greatly increased his ability at the mound.

Jack Mortier, the varsity 3rd baseman, stated the following in regards to the game, “We needed to bounce back and we did in a big way against Wapak.”

With this win, Defiance baseball moves to 4-1 on the season.

The track season has officially begun. Defiance have started the season very well by placing 1st in their first meet, 3rd in their second meet, and 2nd in their third meet. The team will be having their next meet on April 9 at the Bowling Green invite. Hopefully Defiance can continue their strong start to the season by having another top 3 finish.

The expectations of the track team this season is very high. When asked about the first 3 meets this season, thrower Logan Deming stated, “We have been having a very good start to the season and hopefully I can continue to improve my play so that I can help this team continue to be good.” Track is a huge team sport that needs every event to perform at their best, so let’s hope that everyone can be their best.

This season will be harder for every team because of last season being canceled due to Covid-19. When asked about how the season has been different from others, senior Aubrey Bujalski said, “Obviously everyone is a little rusty due to the fact that we have not had a season in two years, but practices and meets have been going very well. The longer the season goes on, the more normal this season will feel.”

Now that Defiance has had 3 meets and have had three top 3 finishes, hopefully they continue this streak all the way to state.

The Defiance softball team has been battling in some hard-fought games against opponents. Now with a record of 2-2 the softball team aims to capitalize on upcoming games and come up with big wins for the program. The girls have upcoming games on Thursday and Friday against Perrysburg as well as league rival, St. Marys. The Bulldogs hope to pull some wins and stretch their record to 4-2.

Recently, the girls had a double header in Findlay in which they split one game each. In the first game they were able to pick up a win in a nail biter by a score of 5-4. Aly Escamilla, a junior on the varsity team, stated, “I am very excited to be playing with the group of girls we have this year…. We have the athletes who can put in the work as well as develop a bond with the team and that is important when it comes to winning games and having fun.”

The girls team is continuing to persevere throughout all of the troubles they've had the last few seasons. This year looks as promising as ever with the girls’ tough lineup.

Coach Parish stated, “We’re off to a good start but now it's time to push through and get better game by game and day by day.”

As the tennis season begins, there are a few that are very excited to be playing this year especially after not having a season last year.

Junior Defiance High School boys tennis player Boston Briseno said, “Preparation for tennis is shaking off the dust a little bit because we didn't have a season last year and just getting back into the swing of things. Also, we do need to see where people are with varsity and JV as well. Working on stuff that needs worked on too, fixing things too, just getting better for this season to win more matches.” Much excitement has to come for the season and to be ready to work and get better at what they love.

Zackary Hanson, a sophmore on the Defiance High School tennis team, stated, “to prepare for a tennis practice as a team we usually do a few stretches and then we hit back and forth in groups. It’s a really good bonding experience because there isn’t much pressure and it’s a great warm up. To prepare for a match we stretch and get ready mentally by hyping each other up. Then we practice, serve quickly and warm up, then we are ready to begin and give it our best.”

With much passion for the sport it seems that the team as a whole is ready to win some matches and give it what they got.

The Defiance Baseball team came up with a huge 5-4 walk off victory against rival Napoleon, but came up short in their efforts a couple days later with a 7-3 loss to Paulding.

Beating Napoleon was a huge win for this team as Defiance had a 2 game losing streak against their old time rival. Aidan Kiessling, a sophomore, said, “It was a huge victory for us after the past few years and gained some momentum for our team. It wasn’t just good, it was great.”

Pitching for the Bulldogs over these games were: Bradyn Shaw, Jack Mortier, Mark Butler, Simeon Sweeney, and Jacob Howard.

And players with at least one hit were: Camden Roth (walk off hit), Bradyn Shaw, Dade Robinson, Jacob Howard, Wade Liffick, David Jimenez, Jack Mortier, and Jayden Jerger.

Even though the team came up short in its efforts against Paulding there are still some positives. Daniel Hoffman, a senior on the team, “Not everyone was out there mentally and we need to fix that, but it’s a good thing for it to happen early in the season so we can learn and build off of that game and prepare for the rest of the year. Because sometimes by losing a battle you’ll find a new way to win the war.”

As you can see this is a long baseball season with many ups and downs, Defiance is looking forward from the downs in order to go up.

The beginning of the track season is starting for Defiance and they’re already had there first meet for the season. Unfortunately they we're not able to have a track season last year but this year they are fortunate to be already having meets and being able to have things back to normal.

Junior, Trinity Bibler, stated, “Track is going pretty good, we won our meet the other day and I was first in almost all my events and I’m ready for our big meets and excited for wbls.”

Junior, Elijah Valle, stated, “I’m happy with the way track is going right now and practice has been pretty good with everybody.” The track team is confident and has a lot of excitement with how the season has already begun and hope to improve even more later down the line.

The Defiance high school softball team has recently gotten off to a great start to their 2021 season. The girls recently beat the school rivals, the Napoleon Wildcats by a score of 8-7. The Lady Bulldogs have been working hard to become the best team in the Western Buckeye League and after a tough season last year they are ready to battle.

The Bulldogs game against Napoleon was exciting to say the least. The Wildcats started the game off strong scoring in each of the first three innings. They scored four in the first, two in the second and one in the third. The wildcats played great defense throughout most of the game and held a 7-0 lead on the Bulldogs going into the sixth inning. During the sixth inning the Bulldogs were able to pick up two runs and changed the Wildcats lead to only five runs. The Lady Bulldogs then came up to bat in the bottom of the seventh and scored an amazing six runs and defeated the Wildcats by a score of 8-7.

The Lady Bulldogs showed to be promising in this game. They showed many of their fans their will to fight till the end and it paid off. Elivia Rosa, a Junior and pitcher on the softball team stated, ¨ It feels great to beat Napoleon no matter how we win, but coming back the way we did and walking the game off makes the victory feel even sweeter¨. The Lady Bulldogs move to 1-1 on the season so far and look to take on Archbold at home in their next game.

The Defiance Baseball team came up victorious against the Wauseon Indians with a score of 7-3 to win the first regular season game of the season.

Defiance also defeated Rossford in the first home game of the year by the score of 12-2.

The main storyline for these games was the great pitching efforts on both sides early (Jacob Howard, David Jiminez, and Jayden Jerger for Defiance and Connar Penrod for Wauseon) and two home runs by Camden Roth, a senior on the team, and Jayden Jerger, a junior on the team, for Defiance.

Roth explained, “I thought we played very well, we wanted to be on the field and play baseball. I think that gave us some extra motivation to play well, especially after almost 700 days in between regular season games.”

Howard, a junior on the team, said the team: “Performed very well. We have a lot of improvement to do as a whole but we play solid as a team and I feel like we can go very far this year.”

As you can see the team is right where it needs to be for greater success later down the line.

There seems to be much excitement for the upcoming boys tennis season. To get the season started right everyone has to have a great attitude.

Senior Defiance High School boys tennis player Damien Martinez said, “I am very excited about this tennis season and I am most excited about being able to play varsity this year.”

With all the excitement it seems that being ready is most important. Everyone on the team has to try their hardest, Everyone on the team including the people who may not play as much.

Riley Nadler, a junior on the Defiance High School boys tennis team, stated, “I'm very excited for the season to start and I would have to say I'm most excited for all the matches to come with this new season.”

With the season starting it seems to be very important that everyone has a great mindset going into the season so these players can play best to their ability.

The Defiance Baseball Team’s season began with a scrimmage loss against St. Francis by the score of 9-8.

Leading hitters for the game were: David Jimenez with 2 hits, 3 RBI's, Bradyn Shaw and Drew Kellermeyer both with 1 hit and 1 RBI, Camden Roth and Mark Butler both with 1 hit and 2 RBI's, and Simeon Sweeney with 1 hit to round it off.

Pitching went: Jayden Jerger with 2 innings giving up 2 earned runs, Jacob Howard going 1 inning giving up 3 earned runs, Bradyn Shaw going 1 inning giving up 1 earned run, Jack Mortier with 1.1 innings giving up 2 earned runs, and Mark Butler going 1.2 innings with no runs given up.

Jerger, a junior on the team, said, “I feel as if my hitting wasn’t the best but I put the ball in play and managed to get on base ⅔ times. It felt great to be able to pitch on a very nice day and was able to reach a goal of my own (throwing 90 mph). Not everyone had the hottest bat, but it is expected because it is the first scrimmage. We as a team are not worried at all and know that playing a team as good as St. Francis was and only losing by 1, was exceptional. We are all looking forward to the future this year and we truly believe there is potential to be something more than great.”

Bradyn Shaw, a sophomore on the team, explained, “We didn’t play the way we wanted to but we were still able to come back. And that shows the fight we have as a team that we’ll need for the future.”

The Bulldogs are ready to bounce back with their upcoming scrimmage against Coldwater this upcoming Saturday.

The Defiance Bulldogs wrestling team recently concluded their 2020-21 season this past weekend at districts in Norwalk. The Bulldogs sent two wrestlers to districts, Dominic Tracy and Treven Rittenhouse. Both of which were winning matches and competing for the spot to go to state.

Now with the conclusion of the season the Bulldogs have been working hard already preparing to take home a league, and possibly a sectional title. The Bulldogs have recently applied a ¨Chase Mentality¨ said Coach Murphy the head coach. ¨We are behind in numbers and in experience because we have such a young team …. But that doesn't mean we are behind in athletes who will work hard¨ said Murphy. The chase Mentality that the Bulldogs are using this year is very similar to the story of the Tortoise and the Hair. The Bulldogs are now behind in many aspects of Wrestling but they will continue to persevere and chase the league champions, St Marys.

Many of the Wrestlers are excited to get in the room and work to achieve this goal. Gavino Martinez a Junior this year stated ¨The year didn't go as I had planned, but we now have gained the ability to get in a weight room as well as a wrestling room and put more work in every day than other teams.¨ The Bulldogs will continue to work without taking breaks from the action, many wrestlers will be competing in tournaments such as summer folkstyle and freestyle wrestling tournaments. The excitement these new, hard working athletes are bringing to the table is amazing and it will change the wrestling program forever.

The young Bulldogs of Defiance suffered their season ending loss to Shawnee by the score of 38-56.

This season was most certainly an interesting one to say the least. Whether we're talking about limited fans, or the up and down ride towards a successful future.

And the man who led this team towards success with all this adversity was none other than first year head coach Bryn Lehman. The way he led his young team during these tough times really shows how great of a person this team has chosen to lead this proud program.

Coach Lehman himself had this to say about the season “This season was as much fun as I've had coaching. Even though there were growing pains, it was great to see guys learn and grow day by day. A major storyline has been the youth of our team, but I definitely think our seniors had a large part of our success. CJ, TJ and Connor were tremendous teammates. TJ and Connor may not have gotten as much playing time as they would have liked, but they were always positive and cheering on the team. There were definitely some awkward adjustments being that the season took place during a pandemic, but overall we only had to adjust 2 games all season and we were able to play a full schedule which was great. The guys were great about mask wearing and social distancing so we had the opportunity to play which we're grateful for!”

TJ Nafziger, a senior on the team, said, “The season was very tough at times and frustrating. But with a new head coach it went very well. He really took over in a great way. He knows how to lead the team and knows what he's doing!”

This was a difficult but rather great season for the first year head coach Bryn Lehman. Defiance Basketball chose the right man to lead the team and nothing but success is coming to this program.

There seems to be a lot of ways to score in tennis. But not everyone knows these ways. So, it was my mission to unravel this mystery.

Senior Defiance High School boys tennis player Andrew Frederick said, “The match goes point, game, set, then match. One player must win six games in a set with points in the game going 15 to 30 to 40 and then game. After the person gets six games, wins by two, they win the set and must win two of three sets to win a match.”

With all the scoring it seems like an easy concept to get a hold on.

Nathan Blunt, a junior on the Defiance High School boys tennis team, stated, “There are three sets, best two out of three wins. Each set consists of at least six games with a win by two rule. Each game goes 0, 15, 30, 40, and then the game is over unless it comes down to 40-40. In that situation, you have a deuce. You now must win two points in a row in order to win the game. Once you have six wins and you're winning by two, the set is over. You must win two out of three sets to win the match.

Scoring seems it needs to be monitored so they do not forget how much the other team has.

Now that winter sports is over, spring sports have officially begun. With spring sports starting that means track will start their practices. The track team will be preparing for their first meet against Archbold and Bryan. This meet will take place on March 30.

Track has multiple events that take place. Some of these events are 100m, 200m, 400m, 4x400 relay, 4x800 relay, shot put, discus throw, long jump, high jump, pole jumping, etc. With track having multiple events, there are many options to interview. One person we interviewed was junio Logan Deming. Logan throws shot put and discus. When asked about the preparation for their first meet, Logan stated, “We are having practice Monday through Friday's every week and will start having some practices on saturday. Other than that with the weather we have just been doing a lot of conditioning. We have finally started to get into the field activities.”

With COVID shutting down the track season last year, there were multiple people wondering if there were going to be any restrictions or any changes to track this season. When asked about Covid and if it has had any effect on track so far, Logan stated, “I think it will be different somewhat for certain events but for throwing the changes will be very minimal.”

Hopefully COVID doesn’t affect spring sports this year like it did last year.

The Defiance Bulldogs wrestlers have recently left for districts this week. Treven Rittenhouse will be competing Thursday and Friday. Dominic Tracy will be competing Friday and Saturday. Both of these wrestlers will be competing for the chance to qualify for the Division two state tournament held in Highland Ohio.

Both of the Defiance wrestlers are very excited to compete. Dom Tracy is returning for his second district tournament he said, ¨I am very excited to test my abilities at a higher level and see how far I will go. "Treven Rittenhouse is a sophomore who is competing at his very first district tournament of his career. ¨I am ready to go… I feel like I have put everything into this moment and I want to achieve the best outcome possible."

Treven Rittenhouse has so far been the only wrestler to compete. Treven won his first match by pin in three minutes. His second match he lost to a veteran wrestler from Perkins with a record of 33-2. In Trevens third match he made a swift comeback win to move on in the losers bracket. Treven will be competing tomorrow, he must win his next two matches to qualify to the state tournament.

Two divers from Defiance High School went to state this year and it was Senior diver Addi Fleischman and Sophomore diver Lilly Lacey. They both we're very excited to be competing in state and they both had solid performances.

Lacey finished in 16th place at the meet. Lacey stated, “I believe that I 100% did not have my best meet, but once I made it to the championship round I was ready to have fun and throw my dives with joy rather than extreme focus.” She looks to bounce back next year and have an even better performance as it is only her sophomore year of diving.

Fleischman finished in 10th place at the meet. Fleischman stated, “ It was definitely a tough day and I had hoped to perform a little better than what I did, but I am proud of myself nevertheless.”

They both had gone up in the ranks at the meet which seemed to be both of their goals. Fleischman went into state ranked 11th and finished 10th while Lacey went into state ranked 18th and finished 16th, both improving from their earlier rank. Lacey looks to improve on her skills next year and Fleischman has had an incredible career as a Defiance diver.

This season had many ups and downs for both bowling teams. The boys team ended the season with a record of 12-4. The girls team ended the season with a 7-10 record. The boys team would go on to place 5th in sectionals and not advance to districts. Boston Briseno was the only bowler that advanced to districts. Also the boys had to bowlers receive WBL honors which was Boston received 1st team honors and Xander Valle received 3rd team honors. The girls team placed 10th in sectionals and did not advance to districts. Savannah Roth was the only bowler that advanced to districts for the girls team. Also Savannah received 2nd team WBL honors.

All of the bowlers on the team were very upset that they weren’t able to move onto districts, especially the seniors on the team. The boy seniors consisted of Jayden Hernandez, Josh Polanco, and Dyan Smith. When asked what his thoughts of his senior season, Dylan Smith stated, “Obviously it didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to, but it still was a great season. We went 12-4 and individually I had my best season of my high school career.”

Now the teams are going to have to prepare for next season. Both teams have important bowlers returning next season. Malea Carolus, Savannah Roth, and Taylor Crigger are the main returning juniors for the girls team and Boston Briseno, Xander Valle, Aiden Santana, Ian Cambell, and Rheese Andrews are the returning juniors for the boys team. Hopefully these bowlers can help lead the teams to state next year.

The young Bulldogs of Defiance took home the Sectional Championship over the course of the last weekend in February. Winning against WBL foe Van Wert by the score of 51-30.

Unfortunately for this game we do not have stats, but to give us a game recap, a senior on the Defiance Basketball team, TJ Nafziger, states, “The first half we started off really good, but Van Wert stayed close with us. The second half came around and we really got after it with our defense. We got so confident in our defense that our offense looked amazing.”

As for the upcoming game against Lima Shawnee, Bradyn Shaw, a sophomore on the Defiance Basketball team, stated, “We need to be ready for what Shawnee brings and we really need to focus on staying together as a team!”

As you can see these Bulldogs are ready for a deep run and for more championships in the future.

With the boys Tennis season shortly approaching, many seem to be excited about the upcoming season. Many of these athletes, especially seniors that have played seem to be the most excited ones.

Senior Defiance High School boys tennis player Andrew Frederick said, “I'm very excited for the upcoming season! It will be great to finally be able to have a season since last year's got cancelled, and I see some great potential on the team for us to be pretty decent for my senior year!” It seems that they are ready for the season.

Nathan Blunt, a junior on the Defiance High School boys tennis team, stated, “I am pretty excited for the upcoming season, after not having one last year because of covid, I'm excited to get back on the court as soon as possible.”

This season sounds pretty important for the boys tennis team.

Diving districts took place on February 20th, 2021. Two girls on the diving team made it to state this year--Addi Fleischman and Lilly Lacey. Fleischman placed 5th out of the 40 girls competing. Lacey placed 8th at districts and finished on the podium.

Fleischman stated, “Some of the things I had to overcome to place well in districts was definitely the nerves. I knew going into the meet that it was going to be more competitive than how it was in the past, but I was confident in myself and my dives.”

Lacey stated, “At districts I was excited and ready to go because I knew that if I performed well I would be able to move on to state. Going into the last round I was ranked 7th and knew that I couldn't mess up in order to make it to state, but I was confident with my final dive.” Districts went very well for these two and state should be a pretty good challenge for both of them.

The bowling districts took place yesterday on February 28. Defiance had 2 bowlers competing at districts, one from the boys team and one from the girls team. Those bowlers were Boston Briseno and Savannah Roth. Unfortunately both of their seasons ended at districts but we are all still very proud of them for representing Defiance.

At districts, Boston placed 22nd out of 52 and Savannah placed 31st out of 51. When asked about his performance at districts, Boston responded by stating, “It sucks that my season ended this way because I know that I could’ve bowled a lot better. But I’m still happy that I was able to get this far and I now know what I have to do this offseason to make sure that I advance next season.” When asked about her performance at districts, Savannah stated, “I definitely could have bowled a lot better, but I’m still proud of myself for even making it this far. I just hope that next year that the whole team can advance to districts.”

With district over and both of the Defiance bowlers not advancing, this means the end of the 2020-21 bowling season. Both teams had ups and downs but at least they were able to have a season this year and were able to compete with their teammates. Now it is time to move onto spring sports.

The regular season for the Bulldogs started the weekend with a 64-51 loss to St. Mary’s, but came back strong with a 16 point come from behind win against Lima Central Catholic, defeating them 53-50.

Leading scorers for the St. Mary’s game were: Isaac Schlatter with 20 points, CJ Zachrich with 10 points, David Jimenez with 7 points, Bradyn Shaw with 6 points, Tyler Frederick with 4 points, and Joe Lammers along with Cayden Zachrich both with 2 points.

With the upcoming state tournament one would have to think adjustments may be made to prepare. TJ Nafziger, a senior on the Defiance basketball team, stated, “We need to just keep playing hard and keep the confidence that we've had this past season!”

The statline for St. Mary’s goes: Cayden Zachrich with 13 points, Bradyn Shaw with 11 points, David Jimenez with 10 points, Isaac Schlatter with 8 points, CJ Zachrich with 4 points, Ta’Marrion Davis with 3 points, and Connor Black along with Tyler Frederick sharing 2 points a piece.

Coming back from a 16 point deficit has its quirks and Bradyn Shaw, a sophomore on the Defiance basketball team, said, “Coming back was huge for our confidence and really shows us that we are never out of any game.”

As you can see the young Bulldogs are prepared for the upcoming state tournament.

With the girls basketball season over after their loss to Elida, it is crazy to think that the season is already complete. Many athletes seemed disappointed with how quickly the season came to an end.

Senior Defiance High School girls basketball player Joanna Schlatter said that, “Yes, it is crazy to think that my basketball career is already over. This season flew by. It still does not feel real that last Wednesday was really my last game, or that I won't be back for another season next year.” It sounded like a fun season for the team.

Kayden Posten, a junior on the Defiance High School girls basketball team, stated the following, “Yes I do think it’s crazy on how fast it went! It was a quick one with having COVID but with us only getting quarantined once it didn’t stop us from coming back and playing the game and taking this season for a ride. It’s onto next year now.” Juniors have one more season to show what they can prove for the upcoming season.

The 2020-21 bowling season has come to an end for the boys team. This is a result of the team placing 5th at sectionals which officially ended the season for most bowlers. The only bowler that advanced was Boston Briseno, who will be competing in districts on February 28. Hopefully Boston will be able to carry the Defiance name by advancing to state.

Now with the season being most of the team, the juniors, sophomores, and freshman can now start to prepare for next season. When asked about the team’s performance at sectionals, Boston Briseno stated, “Obviously we are all upset that we didn’t perform to our potential and that we couldn’t place in the top three to advance. I am especially upset that I didn’t do better for my senior teammates as that was their final bowling match of their high school careers. Hopefully I can make them proud by advancing to state next weekend.”

The team will now be cheering on Boston next weekend with the hope of him advancing to state. Hopefully Boston’s season doesn’t end at districts and that we all get to cheer him on at state.

The bowling season for the girls bowling team is officially over. With a 10th place finish at sectionals, their season has come to an end. The girls finished their season 7-10 and with only Savannah Roth advancing to districts, who will be competing on February 28. Savannah also was the only bowler that received WBL which she was placed on the 2nd team.

With the girls bowling team having no seniors this season, all of the bowlers that didn’t advance to districts will now be preparing for next year with some offseason work. When asked about districts, Savannah Roth stated, “I hope that I can bowl really well and advance to state, but I really wish that my teammates were with me instead.”

Now that the season is over, we can all join in with the girls bowling team by supporting Savannah at districts on February 28 and hopefully we get to see her advance to state.

The Defiance Bulldogs wrestling team recently competed at the WBL tournament at home last weekend. The Bulldogs did very well in some places but still have much room to improve. St Marys won the tournament by a margin of 32 points ahead of Celina. This is St. Mary's second WBL title in a row.

The Bulldogs placed 4 wrestlers at the league tournament including Dom Tracy, Treven Rittenhouse, Alex Francis, and Viktor Jurcevich. None of the placers were able to take home gold unfortunately. Junior Dom Tracy stated, ¨I am disappointed in the way I personally performed as well as some of the team's performance. Now it's time to get back in the room and prepare to do better at sectionals.¨

This season the Bulldogs have had many ups and downs and have had their battles with injuries, sickness, and losing members of the team. Nevertheless the team is still putting in the work in order to rebuild the program. The Bulldogs are currently in a chase of the WBL title, sectional title and state placement as long as they continue to work hard.

The Defiance Boys Basketball team was victorious in their efforts last weekend with a 46-39 win over WBL opponent Wapakoneta. This win brings the team's record to 13-7 on the season.

The leading scorers for the game were: Bradyn Shaw and Cayden Zachrich with 14 points, Isaac Schlatter with 6 points, and CJ Zachrich, Joe Lammers, David Jimenez all with 4 points.

TJ Nafziger, a senior on the basketball team, stated this about the win: “We played together as a team! We really got going in the second half and the tempo was really good!”

Bradyn Shaw, a sophomore on the team, stated this about the game: “Early on we struggled to get going but we found a groove towards the end of the game and found a way to win a tough game.”

As you can see this team is playing with great confidence and is ready to take on anyone in the near future.

With very few games left in the girls basketball season, winning is key especially with the tournament around the corner. Seeding higher can be key. Wins are very important to the girls so they get some confidence.

Senior Defiance High School girls basketball player Joanna Schlatter said that, “I thought on Tuesday we played a lot more aggressive than we have in the past. I also think we came into the game with a confidence coming from our previous win against Celina. I also thought we rebounded well and in games where we have lost that hasn't been the case.” These actions stated are very important to the game of basketball especially on the winning side of it.

Kayden Posten, a junior on the Defiance High School girls basketball team, stated the following, “The team as whole worked together very well Tuesday. We had the three E’s we use and go by every time we have a game those are Execution, Effort, Energy. We had all three of these and it helped us to pull a win against Patrick Henry.”

Knowing what has to be done is very important for the team.

Defiance swimming has had a good season so far and the season is not over yet. The only meets that the Defiance swim team has left are sectionals and then districts if they make it. For WBL’s in swim, the boys picked up 7th place and the girls placed 5th.

Defiance senior swimmer Damien Martinez stated, “ everyone has been getting better throughout the season even though we haven't broken any team records.”

Sophomore swimmer, Logan Hartman, stated, “ This is the man focus or the big jump to get over for some of us. We have overcome and I’d say it's been an overall good year.” Those who qualify for districts will move on and I assume that most of the swim team will give it there all to make it to districts.

The young Bulldogs came up short against Ottawa Glandorf 53-71, but bounced back to beat Whitmer 52-45. This weekend brought the team’s record to 12-7.

The statline for the OG game goes as follows: David Jimenez with 12 points, CJ Zachrich with 11 points, Cayden Zachrich with 8 points, TJ Nafziger and Isaac Schlatter with 6 points, Bradyn Shaw with 5 points, Joe Lammers with 3 points, and Ta’Marrion Davis with 2 points.

The Bulldogs have been on a hot streak as of late, winning five of their last six games. What has led to this? Bradyn Shaw, a sophomore on the Defiance basketball team stated, “We have just kept playing hard throughout the season and have focused on developing our game.”

The stats for the Whitmer game are: David Jimenez with 14 points, CJ Zachrich with 11 points, Joe Lammers with 7 points, Bradyn Shaw with 6 points, Ta’Marrion Davis with 5 points, Isaac Schlatter with 4 points, Cayden Zachrich with 3 points, and TJ Nafziger with 2 points.

TJ Nafziger, a senior on the Defiance Basketball team, says, “The game against Whitmer started off slow at the beginning. But then we picked it up in the second half and then when we got it going, and it was a great win for our young team with the state tournament coming up.”

As you can see these Bulldogs have endless potential.

With the upcoming WBL tournament the bulldogs are working hard to fix their errors to prepare to place high in the tournament. The bulldogs are currently tied for 3rd place in the league and hope to place top 4 in the tournament. Defiance has one returning WBL champ, Dominic Tracy. The Bulldogs also have 4 returning WBL placers including Gavino Martinez, Treven Rittenhouse, Alex Francis, and Spencer Thompson.

This season the Bulldogs have struggled with injury, sickness, and lack of members on the team. Nevertheless the wrestlers who have stuck around are still working hard to turn the program around. With the upcoming WBL tournament the Bulldogs feel it is a good way to get recognition as a team to help build the Program.

This year the Bulldogs hope to place four to five wrestlers in the tournament. Dom Tracy a junior on the team says ¨I'm excited to avenge some of the losses that I took earlier in the season¨. The Bulldogs hope to wrestle well and place high at the tournament on Saturday.

The high school swim and dive team has had a solid season so far. They have a couple of meets left and they were able to break some records this year. The last meet Defiance had was WBL’s and they got the top four spots. Addi Fleischman got four time WBL champ and she is the second person in school history to accomplish that.

Fleischman stated, “Defiance are now in the postseason, which also means districts are in three weeks.”

Districts will be at Bowling Green University. If any of the divers can make it past that, then Defiance would be on to the State Championship meet. Elli Fleischman stated, “February 24 is the last meet of the post season of diving and State would take place in Canton.”

The boy’s JV basketball team suffered a heartbreaking defeat against Napoleon last Saturday with a score of 39-37, moving the team to a 7-10 record.

6’2” freshman Ta’Marrion Davis scored a team high 12 points, followed by Antonio Lopez with 9, and Aidan Kiessling with 7.

Despite the loss, junior Mark Jordan said the team fought until the very end. Jordan also said that the loss “shows the will to win that this team has.”

Both Jordan and Lopez stated that the lack of rebounding really hurt the team’s success, a well as the mental aspect of the game.