The payoff has arrived for Olmsted Falls. The Bulldogs have been knocking on this door for a few years now, and they broke it wide open with a regional title win over Holland Springfield last weekend.
With the program’s first-ever state semifinal coming up on March 10 against Pickerington Central, this has been years in the making.
“I’m really happy for them, they’ve worked hard for a very long time, not just this season,” Olmsted Falls coach Jordan Eaton said. “For them to have this opportunity is pretty amazing.”
To become the first regional champion for Olmsted Falls girls basketball, it didn’t happen overnight. This isn’t the first Bulldogs team to be talented, it’s not the first to appear in a regional final. This group has been together for a long time working for this, and it’s come to fruition with a final four appearance.
“I think it’s really exciting,” Paige Kohler said. “We’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time, and we’ve been in these situations where we’ve almost made it to this point. To finally be here is just awesome, and we have that community support all around us.”
Led by Kohler at the point, Olmsted Falls is a deep and dynamic team that has played unselfishly to get here. If you ask any of the players, none of them care about scoring. With a record of 24-3, they’re rolling right now into the semifinal matchup with the Tigers of Pickerington Central.
“I think being able to travel together and being together in general every day kind of pushes that we just want to play as a group,” Alanna Tighe said. “With this group, I think it’s easy to not be selfish because everyone plays for each other. Nobody wants to do it by themselves.”
Just because it’s history, it doesn’t mean that Olmsted Falls didn’t expect to be here. The payoff is a semifinal appearance present day, but the Bulldogs have been on this journey for a while now. The success in March comes from work in the offseason and during the season to prepare for this. With a certain attitude and energy brought into practices and the time on the floor together, the Bulldogs have gelled into a team trying to win the state championship.
“It’s all about hard work and effort,” Mia Kalich said. “We’ve put a lot of work into our practices, our scouting reports. It’s all just paying off now.”
Notice the wording is “paying off”, not “paid off”. With still more basketball to be played, the Bulldogs have put it all on the line for a spot in Dayton. A state title is two wins away, and as elusive as making this far has been for the program, it feels just as great. On the state’s biggest stage, Olmsted Falls is coming to play.
“It’s been pretty exciting and surreal,” Eaton said. “I’m sure that it’ll start to feel much more serious once we get to Dayton and for our game on Friday night. It’s been awesome, the support has been overwhelming, and this has been everything that we hoped it would be.”
