With Old Man Winter rearing his ugly head throughout Ohio and wreaking havoc with driving conditions, the same applied to the area sports scene, which was almost completely wiped out Friday night.
Only the Waynedale and Tuslaw wrestling teams were in action, as the Golden Bear grapplers were one of 17 teams who braved the weather to compete in the Marion Invitational tournament. Tuslaw wrestled at the Top Gun tourney in Alliance, which began Friday morning.
Two wrestling tournaments — Northwestern’s Husky Invite scheduled for Saturday and the Bill Dies Memorial tournament at Akron Firestone — were canceled.
Elsewhere, all of boys basketball action slated for Friday night was postponed, including Orrville at Tuslaw, with the makeup date Feb. 13. That game was originally supposed to be played at Orrville, but due to gym availability the Riders will host the Mustangs on Jan. 20 and then go to Tuslaw on Feb. 13.
Other boys games postponements and makeup dates included: Lucas at Loudonville (Feb. 3); Triway at Northwest (Feb. 13); Crestline at Central Christian (Jan. 16); Waynedale at Chippewa (Jan. 27); Hiland at East Canton (Jan. 27); Hillsdale at Rittman (Jan. 16); Dalton at Northwestern (Jan. 16); West Holmes at Ashland (Jan. 27); and Norwayne at Smithville, which has been rescheduled for Saturday.
Additionally, Saturday’s Ohio Cardinal Conference swim meet has been postponed to next Tuesday and Wednesday (Jan. 16-17) at Wooster High.
While the status of many Saturday events has yet to be determined, the Classic in the Country, celebrating its 15th year at Hiland High School, will go on with some alterations to the schedule, which will still consist of 20 games over three days.
Locally, West Holmes will tip off the CitC Saturday at 11:40 a.m. against Sheridan, while Hiland closes the first day with an 8 p.m. game against Regis (Colorado).
Saturday events include girls basketball: Smithville at Chippewa, Dalton at Norwayne, Waynedale at Hillsdale, Manchester at Triway, Mt. Vernon at Wooster, Central Christian at Crestline, Northwestern at Rittman, Orrville at Northwest, and Fairless at Tuslaw, while The College of Wooster basketball teams host Wittenberg at 2 p.m. (women) and 6 p.m. (men). Check school websites to find out if the games are still being played.