For Friday night’s football homecoming ceremony, the basketball rivalry between Lakota West and Lakota East high schools served as the perfect backdrop.
Five former football greats from the Lakota Local School District came home to watch their alma mater play basketball just a few days after they competed for the College Football Playoff national championship in Atlanta.
Only four days after the Buckeyes’ 34-23 victory over the Fighting Irish to win the national championship, Ohio State and Notre Dame alumni were recognized before the boys’ game’s halftime.
Ben Minich and Taebron Bennie-Powell of Notre Dame were announced first, followed by Austin Siereveld, Malik Hartford, and Tegra Tshabola of Ohio State. The others went to Lakota West, but Siereveld graduated from Lakota East.
Both Siereveld and Tshabola, who were regulars earlier in the season, started on the Buckeyes offensive line in the title game.
Minich and Hartford played as defensive backups and on special teams. Bennie-Powell redshirted this season. Although he did not participate, Bukari Miles was also listed on the OSU roster.
In a contest for a spot in the Greater Miami Conference, West defeated East 54-41 in the boys’ game. After defeating Colerain 68-31 on Friday, West moved up to 12-3 overall and 8-2 in the GMC, one game behind Princeton (9-1, 11-4). East dropped to 10-5 overall and 7-3 in the league. Fairfield is tied with West at 8-2 in the league (10-5 overall) after defeating Sycamore 52-47.
Until the Firebirds made a huge run late in the fourth quarter, the bitter rivals played most of the game within a few points of one another.
With 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists, L.J. Green led the Firebirds. Lakota East senior Trey Perry, a Miami (Ohio) recruit, was regularly covered by Joshua Tyson, who scored 11 points. Perry finished with 13 points, averaging almost 22 points per game.
For West, Bryce Curry finished with three assists and ten points. Alex Dudukovich, a senior, led the squad with seven rebounds and nine points. While restricting East to 36.4 percent (16-44), West shot 58 percent (18-of-31).
Next Friday, West will perform at Princeton.
Brady Bowman, a rookie with the Thunderhawks, finished with 12 points on four three-pointers and four assists.
Earlier in the evening, the Thunderhawks (10-1, 11-5) defeated Mason (11-0, 16-1) 51-40 in the girls’ game to keep their second-place finish in the GMC. West fell to 10-7, 7-4.
Bella Sturgill and Brooke Asher led East with six rebounds and 14 points each. Addyson Johnson pulled down five rebounds and scored 13 points on a flawless 5-for-5 shooting effort. Five assists were registered by Bailey Bacher. With 14 points and 10 rebounds, Kathryn Fox of the Firebirds recorded a double-double.
On Wednesday evening, Mason goes to Lakota East.
It was exciting to honor the Lakota graduates who took part in Monday’s CFP last night!I can’t recall ever seeing six student-athletes from one district compete in the same National Championship game at two different universities. Fantastic!/F0EQgFGiC0 @LakotaEastAD#2ProudADspic.twitter.com
January 25, 2025, Scott Kaufman (@LakotaWestAD)
Once again, congratulations to Austin Siereveld, our very own National Champion! We are grateful to @LakotaWestAD for celebrating all of our Lakota champions this [email protected]/2UOcIfrI9L @EAST_HAWKS@SiereveldAustin
January 25, 2025, Jill E. Meiring (@LakotaEastAD)
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