Hail the Hawks and their first 20-0

All hail the mighty Hiland Hawks. The team completed its first-ever 20-0 season Saturday night with a resounding win over Ridgewood. The amazing thing about this year's team going 20-0 is the fact that their leading scorer is a freshman and a sophomore is another major offensive threat. Of course, it helps that the freshman is a 6-4 kid who is extremely gifted with a great group of team players around him. Dylan Kaufman has wowed crowds in just about every gym the Hawks have played this year with his assortment of shots, including some eye-popping dunks. His two-handed jam against neighboring rival Garaway last weekend gave the Hawks their first lead of a hard-fought backyard brawl and brought the crowd roar to a deafening din. Hiland had rallied from a double-digit deficit to turn back the Pirates and set the stage for the final three games of the season, which the Hawks won handily.
My son Ian was a baby in his mother's arms sitting in St. John Arena at Ohio State when the Hiland Hawks won their first and only State championship in 1992, thanks to an incredible comeback in the final 10 seconds and a foul on Jr. Raber as he tried a desparation shot from just inside the halfcourt line in the semifinal game. Now a senior, Ian's got a few friends on this year's Hawks team, as he went to kindergarten at Walnut Creek with several of the Hiland kids.
The Hawks made their first trip to State back in 1962 and returned 30 years later to win it. They made it to Columbus in 1986 but came up short, and they also made three straight appearances from 1998 to 2000, legendary coach Perry Reese's swan song. He died in November of 2000 after a brief battle with cancer.
One of Reese's former players, Mark Schlabach, took over the Hawks four years ago and promptly led Hiland back to State in his second year as coach. Looking back at the great tradition of teams Hiland has had over the years, it is quite an accomplishment for this year's team to do something none of the other great teams that have played could ever do, and that is win all 20 regular season games.
Of course, as Coach Schlabach points out, people around here remember you more for what you do in the tournament much more than for what you did in the regular season. I don't care what coach says, these kids have done something special, and they deserve a lot of credit for their hallmark season, no matter how well they do in the tournament.
The Hiland boys and their coach Mark Schlabach, and the Hiland girls, and their coach Dave Schlabach (Mark's big brother), are two of the very best teams in the state of Ohio, and much of the credit for the success of these teams is due to the Schlabachs and their tremendous dedication to their kids and the fundamentals they preach, coach and teach.
Earlier this year, Dave Schlabach was honored as National High School coach of the year for his accomplishments over the past 17 years at Hiland.