The Taft Senators have won the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III Boys Basketball State Championship. It is a culmination of eight years of hard work since Head Coach Mark Mitchell took over the program. Athletic Director Anthony Booker, Principal Anthony Smith, and the entire Taft contingent obtaining the ultimate award for their efforts.

The symbolism of Mark Mitchell on top of the ladder holding the net high represents the mountain that he has climbed down on Ezzard Charles Dr. Much has been made of the infusion of talent that came as five members of the National Champion All- Ohio Purple Summer basketball program decided to play high school basketball together, Cincinnati’s own Fab Five; Orlando Berry, Adolphus Washington, Dewayne Stafford, Jermaine Freeman, and Jalean Lowe. But Mitchell’s mastery in getting the most out of young African American male’s remains understated. For many years, the Mitchell family (can’t forget Cheryl Mitchell and the sacrifice every Mitchell child makes) has been committed to the service of African American males. Mark Mitchell is about winning, don’t get me wrong, but you can win games without having the team spend the night at your house. You can win games without waking up early to meet a kid for an appointment his parents can’t get him too. You can win games without late night trips to intervene in players personal problems. But at Taft, it is FAMILY and when the TA goes up the FT comes down and it’s a rare and pretty picture of just what it is supposed to be about: individual and group commitment to a common goal. Yes, winning is important, but family is the only thing that counts at Taft and Coach Mark Mitchell is the father of that unit! You can see by his walk that family is winning!

Marquez Johnson, Rayshawn Jackson, Chris Lowe, Kadeem Palmer, Edmund Hurt, and others that contributed this championship weekend as well. Taft started the weekend with a victory over Africentric in the final four and then absolutely man handled Cleveland Central Catholic, the 2009 State Champs. By halftime of the title game the Senators were up 30 and Central Catholic had no chance! Taft’s signature pressure bust pipes mentality, the best defensive team in the state regardless of class, and constant pressure offense was its recipe for success. Taft’s only blemish was a loss to Hamilton Southeastern out of Indiana. Did I mention that the fab five were all juniors? Taft will be favored to repeat again next year!

LaSalle wins State Division I

Many in the basketball community would say that Taft should get a piece of this championship too. Mark Mitchell and Dan Fleming are best of buddies and scrimmage each other so much that when you look at the intensity of the two teams defenses, you see the face of Mitchell and Fleming. Earlier, I mentioned that Taft had the best defense regardless of class, well, ONLY La- Salle would be in the argument and their handling of perennial power Columbus Northland in the Championship game proves that it is DEFENSE that wins championships! Congratulations Coach Fleming and the entire LaSalle Lancer family.