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Champion seeking another regional appearance

The Champion Golden Flashes have one thing on their mind — getting back to regional play.

The Golden Flashes went 14-3-2 last season and won the Kent District title before being bounced by Mapleton in a Division III, Region 9 Semifinal.

“Luckily for me, a lot of these girls lead this team the way I would hope,” Champion coach Stephanie Tice said. “I have a pretty young team and most of them haven’t played at this level. Having that senior and junior leadership that can lead this team and these girls. I start three freshmen, so it’s tough sometimes.”

This year, the Golden Flashes went 12-4-1 against some tough competition. Their four losses were against Poland, Boardman, Lakeview and John F. Kennedy which made sectional bracket finals.

“We weren’t too worried about having a few more losses in order to prepare ourselves for the playoffs. I was willing to take a lower seed if that meant getting more tough games on our schedule,” Tice said. “This has been a really cool experience for my girls. The entire season has been great but we are focused on our next task.”

Champion’s next task is at first-seeded Southeast in a Division III Kent District semifinal, tonight at 7 p.m. Tice believes the fourth-seeded Golden Flashes plays its own game they can compete with anybody.

“I preach to the girls all the time the team that does the basics well wins the game,” Tice said. “If we just do all the basics liking passing, running and moving, we can compete with absolutely anybody. This team knows what the expectations are and they know there are no plays off.”

In Champion’s last game, it defeated Newton Falls 2-1 which wasn’t the first time it play the Tigers this year.

Tice said winning tournament games won’t happen from behind and she knows the team won’t let that happen.

“We played them twice,” she said. “We beat them 5-0 the first time and tied 4-4 the second time. We know that we couldn’t play them like that second game ever again. When we play from behind, it’s hard to win any game.”

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