Vol. LXII, No. 3

TO INFORM, TO PERSUADE, TO INSPIRE, TO AMUSEthe

Poland Seminary High School Friday, March 4, 2016

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PSHS Speech Team sends 12 to stateBy Heather Peloza

Seminarian Copy Editor

Twelve members of the Poland Seminary High School Speech Team have qualified to the state speech tournament. The tournament is being held this weekend in Cincinnati. State qualifiers include Jacob Guy and Nadine Jones in Lincoln Doug-las debate and Jessica Weetman in dramatic inerpretation. Marina Mediati and Jacob Duran both qualified for state in humorous interpretation while David Cinco will represent PSHS in declamation. Aleczander Carbon and Noah Lee will participate in Public Forum De-bate. Dylan Gordon, Bryce Edison,Vinny Davila and Meredith Lea all qualified for state in Student Congress. Brandi Hughes will accompany the team as an alternate.

Poland Players present spring musical ‘Cyrano de Burgershack’ debuts April 14

By Tessa SniderSeminarian News Editor

The Poland Players will present their annual spring musical April 14 and 15 at 7 p.m., with a matinee performance April 17 at 2 p.m. The upcoming musical, Cyrano de Burgershack, is a parody of the classic play Cyrano de Bergerac. The musical is centered around high schoolers and features music from Katy Perry, Jimmy Eat World, Carly Rae Jepsen, Smashmouth, and many other beloved artists. The show stars Brendan Gage as Cyrano, Kate Landry as Roxanne, Seth Hammond as Christian, Krista Nolfi as DJ,, Frank Castro as Pick-les, Sydney Frost as Wanda,Victor DiTommaso as “Hot Todd”, Jessica

Weetman as Madison, Meredith Lea as Dani, Aidan McDanel as Chloe, Elise Cowles as Zoe, Connor O’Kane as Rudy, Claire Morris as Sharlene, Hailey Semchee as Skye, Marina Mediati as Nadia, Grant McCo-nnel as Garrett, San-tino Almasy as John Paul, Logan Kountz as Kelsey, Ellie Mc-Danel as Dr.’s Assis-tant, Peter Koulianos as Fencing Referee, and Richard Bailey and Ryan O’Kane as “The Frosh”.

Featured vocalists in the produc-tion include Abbey Lea, Austin Klin-gensmith, Noah Landry, and Justin

Tremonti. This is Mrs. Fon-agy’s 30th produc-tion as the director of the Poland Players. She is “very excited about this production because it gives the kids an opportunity to perform pop music they really know, and for the adults to re-live songs they know from high school.” Fonagy, as well

as the rest of the Poland Players, is very excited for the Poland Players Reunion that will be held in honor of her 30th show. The reunion will take place Sunday, April 17, after the show in the cafeteria. All Poland Players, past and present, and their families, friends, and fans are welcome to at-tend the reunion. Tickets are $30 per person which includes reserved seat-ing for the show and a dinner catered by the Elm Tree. Prom gowns and bridesmaid dress-es are still needed for the produc-tion. All sizes, styles ande colors are needed. Donations will be accepted by Fonagy who can be reached in the main administrative office at PSHS.

Among those participating in the state speech tournament in Cin-cinnati this weekend are, from left, Dylan Gordon, Vinny Davila, Bryce Edison, Noah Lee, Marina Mediati, Jacob Guy, Brandi Hughes,Jacob Duran and Nadine Jones.

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This newspaper is a publication of the Poland Seminary High School Seminarian staff. Opinions expressed in the Seminarian are those of the staff, and are not necessarily shared by the advisor or the administration. Letters should be addressed to the Seminarian, c/o PSHS, 3199 Dobbins Road, Poland, Ohio 44514. The Seminarian is printed by J&S Printing, Inc. of Birmingham, Alabama. All layout and design is done using InDesign CS4 and Adobe Pho-toshop CS4.

the Semeditor-in-chief: connor o’Kane

managing editor: cailey Barnhart

Business manager: ellie mcdanel

copy editor: heather peloza news editor: tessa snider

advisor: sue van meter

staff writers: matt duran

Jaden rogers

george rumBerg

features editor: claire morris

entertainment editor: steve massarelli

sports editor: Beau weaver

The Seminarian Editorial Policy 2015-2016

The Seminarian’s primary obligation is to inform its readers about events and issues of the school and community as well as those of national or interna-tional importance which directly or indirectly affect the school population. The Seminarian will provide a public service, a channel for student and community comments and a source of entertainment.

Opinions expressed on the editorial (Voices) pages do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints or official policies of the school administration. Signed editorials, columns, editorial cartoons and reviews reflect the views of the author and not necessarily those of The Seminarian editorial board. All unsigned editorials represent a majority opinion of the editorial board.

Despite being written off as “untal-ented” by those in charge of the league before the season started, Poland’s Academic Challenge has seen suc-cess and exceeded expectations for the year. Unbeaten and averaging over one-hundred points more per game than their opponents, it’s safe to say that they have been dominating. Led by top scorers Connor O’Kane (355 points), Chris Economus (200 points), Noah “Jefferson” Smith (165 points), and Dan Sheehan (155 points), the team has seen success that could propel them back into the first division. Also on varsity are Anthony Lefoer, Charlie Dwyer, Sam Delatore, and Jaden Rogers. Also, not to be forgotten, the junior varsity team has also been successful. With only two losses on the season, the success of the J.V. team shows that the team is strong from top to bottom. On J.V. are Anna Spagnola, Marik

Academic Challenge Team undefeatedBy Connor O’Kane

Seminarian Editor-in-Chief

Rogenski, Eric Scott, Zach Jacob-son, Emily Etheridge, and Elizabeth Becherer.

The success of both teams highlights the immense improvement of the team since last year, and foreshadows a po-

tentially successful future.The team is coached by Scott Suchora.

Practicing for their upcoming meets are, from left, Sam Delatore, Chris Economus, Charlie Dwyer and Connor O’Kane, members of this year’s un-defeated Academic Challenge Team.

NHS inducts 65 new members The Poland Seminary High School chapter of the National Honor Society held its 60th annual induction ceremony Feb. 17 in the auditorium. Sixty-five juniors and seniors were tapped for membership this year. New inductees include: Sarah Albert, Shelby Berend, Melanie Black, Layne Black, Av-ery Blasko, Rachel Boano, Sarah Burkert, Emily Cammack, Ange-la Cherol, Tony Chiaro, Andrew Comstock, Gavrielia Constantine, Elise Cowles, Kara DeToro, Marc DeGregorio, Camryn Doctor, Jor-dan Downie, Christopher Econo-mus, Jennifer Eich, David Esarco Sydney Frost, David Gessler,

Amber Green, Seth Hammond, Nora Hernon, Jacob Hockensmith, Zachary Jacobson, Jacob Jeges, Mi-chael Kluchar, Peter Koulianos, Logan Kountz, Justine Kramer, Kara Kushner, Dominic Lattanzio, David Leach, Noah Lee, Anthony Le-foer, Brendan McBride, Kyle McCree, Marina Mediati, Macy Metzger, jack Minehart, Claire Morris, Tony Murcko, Briana Musolino, Nathan Nord, Padraig O’Shaughnessy, Heather Peloza, Jillian Penman, Isabella Ricot-tilli, David Robich, Alyssa Romito, Au-drey Schweers, Paige Shoemaker, Ju-liana Sienkiewicz, Noah Smith, Tessa Snider, Rachel Stahl, Sarah Swogger, Gina Ungaro, Kasey Valentini, Mary VanSuch, Juliana Vil-lani and Amanda Wire.

The ceremony program included a welcome by current NHS president Ja-cob Guy and the roll call of new induct-ees by Joe Shields and Brian Velas-quez. Current NHS members include: Santino Almasy, Kirsten Appel, Antho-ny Audi, Matt Baker, Elizabeth Becher-er, Frank Castro, Jessica ColucciKaitlynn Dailey, Charles Dwyer, Emily Ethridge, Bryanna Fabian, Lea Fabrizi, Brendan Gage, Dylan Garver, Dante Ginnetti, Jacob Guy, Sophia Harakal, Francesca Hierro, Ju-liana Kreatsoulas, Kate Landry, Abby Lea, Mackenzie Malmer, Chelsea Mann, Abby Masluk, Steve Massarelli, Mitch McTigue, Marissa Melillo, Mari-ah Mrofchak, Jennifer Mullally, Samuel Nord, Nicole Phillips, Jaden Rogers,

Nicole Ruse, Doug Rutana, Eric Scott, Joe Shields, Evyenia Spencer, Cor-dray Sundstrom, Kristy Svetlak, Kris-ten Thompson, Brian Velasquez, and Tori Wigal. Brendan Gage, Paige Kellgren, Eric Scott, Santino Almasy, Sam Dwyer, Jake Jeges and Noah Landry enter-tained the audience with musical se-lections. Tori Wigal, Steve Massarelli, Abby Masluk, and Kate Landry spoke on the Guiding Lights of NHS--scholarship, leadership, service and character. Frank Castro and Dante Ginnetti con-ducted the candle lighting ceremony. Guy, Massarelli, Wigal, Masluk and Landry are this year’s NHS officers. Gwyn Basista is the National Honor Society advisor.

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THANK YOUTO

OUR PATRONS

Blue Patrons

White Patrons

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Beau and DiannaWeaver

Laura Rumberg

Moose and SallyAlmasy

Tom and DonnaMorris

Farewell to Seasonal Affective DisorderBy Cailey Barnhart

Seminarian Managing Editor

Luckily for us here in Poland, this winter is one of the mildest we’ve seen. We have yet to break out our skates, sleds and skis. In many oth-er areas, the residents have seen enough snow and slush for three winters!

Snow or not, 10-20% of Ameri-cans suffer from Seasonal Affec-tive Disorder. Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, is a type of de-pression that correlates with the changing of the seasons. In many cases, signs of seasonal affective disorder appear during late fall or early winter, decreasing during the sunnier, warmer days of spring and

summer. There are, however, a few cases of people with the opposite pattern, with symptoms that begin in spring or summer. In either case, symptoms may start out mild and become more severe as the season progresses. Symptoms, like other forms of depression, include sleep-lessness, feelings of worthlessness, lack of energy, loss of weight and appetite, and loss of interest in pre-viously enjoyable activities.

The specific cause of Seasonal Affective Disorder is still unknown, but researchers have noted a few factors that play a key role in the disease. The offsetting of one’s cir-

cadian cycle, or biological clock, is a major contender in the onset of win-ter-onset Seasonal Affective Disor-der. When the clocks are changed and the amount of sunlight in a day decreases, a person may develop feelings of depression. The reduc-tion of sunlight also causes a drop in serotonin and melatonin , the brain chemicals that control mood.

Three types of treatment are com-monly used to aide in the cure of Seasonal Affective Disorder: light therapy, psychotherapy, and medi-cation. During light therapy, or pho-totherapy, you sit a few feet from a special box that exposes you to

bright light. Light therapy mimics natural outdoor light and appears to cause a change in serotonin and melatonin levels. Research on light therapy is limited, but it appears to be effective for most people in reducing SAD symptoms. It also helps to simply open yourself up to the environment. Open your cur-tains and blinds, go outside and take a walk, and get some exer-cise. Studies show that the more in shape you are, the less likely you are to be depressed. Now, go out-side and soak in that sunlight, the amount of which is increasing daily!

Aries - Pay special attention to personal growth. Philo-sophical thinking will help you define yourself this year.

Taurus - This year will bring a number of new adventures. Take a few risks and redefine your image.

Gemini - You will be brought comfort this year, as well as maybe some new friends. It’s time to settle down and con-form, and possibly even find a romantic partner.

Cancer - Change is on the

horizon towards the middle of this year. A possible career advancement may bring you success.

Leo - Everyone around you will continue to see your charm and charisma this year. You may encounter someone you will fall in love with.

Virgo - This is a big year for expanse and personal growth. The year will begin with the stars in your favor, so live it up.

Libra - Your old dreams and ambitions may be ignited again,

granting further expansion with them. Stay confident and em-brace them.

Scorpio - A force to be reckoned with, you aren’t in the mood to settle for anything less than what you deserve this year. Aim for clarity and sort out any uncertainties.

Sagittarius - It seems as if you could not be more into your own interests this year. Focus on developing yourself, as well as your own pleasures and pur-suits.

Capricorn - This year spells changes in almost every aspect of your life. Your personality, interests, lovers, and friends will change this year, embrace it.

Aquarius - Love may be found in an unfamiliar place for you this year. Your expectations in the financial department will be exceeded as well.

Pisces - Your romantic life this year is a main focus of yours. It should be, at least, because this year is all about romantic opportunities for you.

What does the year hold for you?By Heather Peloza

Seminarian Copy Editor

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What to look for: Prom 2016By Claire Morris and Tessa Snider

2016 is the year of the crop top! This style is being seen all over the runway and the red carpet. This style will definitely set you apart from the crowd, though some would argue that they are not actually dresses.

Lace is everywhere this year! There are a variety of pat-terns to pick from! A style for everyone! Just be careful because lace can tear easily!

Bold floral prints are in this year. Whether you want a short silhouette or long one, bold colors will look awesome! Just try not to look like grandma’s living room curtains!

Want something out of the box? Try an illusion dress! Illusion is a sheer mesh material put on the back, the neckline, or on the body of the dress, creating the illu-sion of bare skin. Illusions have been seen constantly on the red carpet lately. Just make sure the dress fits properly… or it might not be much of an illusion if you know what I mean.

Cutouts are great for the more daring. These dresses show a little skin but can still be totally classy. Cutouts are great for the more daring. These dresses show a little skin but can still be totally classy.

Ball gowns are back! You heard me right! Go pick out the big-gest, poofiest dress and strut your stuff! Make sure not to look like a loofah, but use one to exfoliate before prom!

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Everyone knows Saint Patrick. In different shapes and forms, March 17 is renowned for being filled with green, even though Saint Patrick him-self was originally associated with the color blue. Saint Patrick’s Day, also called, “the day of luck,” was not originally about luck at all, but about Saint Patrick’s driving all of the snakes out of Ireland. The holiday was known for being about luck because Saint Patrick demonstrated the trinity with a shamrock, which the Irish thought brought good luck. The shamrock soon made its way around the world and became known as a lucky symbol, thus giving Saint Patrick himself a lucky name.

The luck o’ the Irish: St. Patrick’s DayEveryone knows St. Patrick

By Ellie McDanelSeminarian Business Manager

Have you ever stopped to wonder why “lucky” items such as four-leaf clovers and rabbit feet are consid-ered lucky? The answers may sur-prise you!

1. Four-Leaf Clovers In the early days of Ireland, the Druids suspected they could see evil spirits coming when they carried a shamrock. They thought four-leaf clovers offered magical protection, and warded off bad. It’s said that the four clovers stand for love, luck, faith and hope. The odds of finding a four-leaf clover have been calcu-lated at 10,000 to 1!

Do you know...Why lucky totems are ‘lucky’?

By Cailey BarnhartSeminarian Managing Editor

2. Horseshoes A horseshoe is usually hung above a doorway to protect the residing family and to attract good fortune. Many believe that the horseshoe should hang with the ends point-ing up, in a “U” shape, to act as a container to catch the good luck that floats by. Hanging it the opposite way brings bad luck, however, as all the good luck will fall out. Horse-shoes were also considered lucky because they were made by black-smiths, which is considered a very lucky trade.

3. Pennies Finding pennies is considered

good luck because years ago peo-ple thought that finding metal was a gift from the Gods and meant to protect you from evil. Many believe, however, that the penny must be heads-up to be good luck. This more than likely has to do with the idea of balance, and good versus evil. The heads side is viewed as good luck, the tails side bad luck. If you find a penny on the tails side, flip it over for someone else to pick up!

4. Dream Catchers Dream catchers stem from Na-tive American lore. Like a spider’s web catching insects, dream catch-ers are meant to capture nightmares and unwanted dreams. By captur-

ing the disturbing dreams, they make the owner happier, more bal-anced, and luckier.

5. Ladybugs There are various reasons lady-bugs are said to be lucky! Some be-lieve that if a ladybug lands on you, you are lucky. Others believe that if a man and a woman see a ladybug at the same time, they’ll fall in love. It’s also claimed that the darker the color red of their shell, the luckier they are!

Why is it bad luck to open umbrellas in-

doors? In eighteenth-century London, when metal-spoked waterproof umbrellas began to become a common rainy-day sight, their stiff, clumsy spring mechanism made them hazardous to open indoors. A rigidly spoked umbrella, opening suddenly in a small room, could seriously injure an adult or a child, or shatter a fragile object. Even a minor accident could pro-voke unpleasant words or a minor fight, themselves strokes of bad luck in a family or among friends. Thus, the superstition arose as a deterrent to opening an umbrella indoors.

Why is it bad luck to walk under an ladder?

This superstition really does originate 5,000 years ago in ancient Egypt. A ladder leaning against a wall forms a triangle, and Egyptians regarded this shape as sacred. To them, triangles represented the trinity of the gods, and to pass through a triangle was to desecrate them. Centuries later, followers of Jesus Christ usurped the superstition, interpreting it in light of Christ’s death. Because a ladder had rested against the crucifix, it became a symbol of wickedness, betrayal, and death. Walking under a ladder courted misfortune.

Why does a broken mir-ror bring seven years

of bad luck? In ancient Greece, it was common for people to consult “mirror seers,” who told their fortunes by analyzing their reflections. The mirror was dipped into the water and a sick person was asked to look into the glass. If his im-age appeared distorted, he was likely to die; if clear, he would live.In the first century A.D., the Romans added a caveat to the superstition. At that time, it was believed that peo-ple’s health changed in seven year cycles. A distorted image resulting from a broken mirror therefore meant seven years of ill-health and misfor-tune, rather than outright death.

Why should you throw salt over your shoulder after you

spill it? Spilling salt has been considered unlucky for thousands of years. Around 3,500 B.C., the ancient Sumerians first took to nullifying the bad luck of spilled salt by throwing a pinch of it over their left shoulders. This ritual spread to the Egyptians, the Assyrians and later, the Greeks. The supersti-tion ultimately reflects how much people prized (and still prize) salt as a seasoning for food. The ety-mology of the word “salary” shows how highly we value it.

Do you know...Why ‘bad luck’ superstitions began?

By Claire MorrisSeminarian Features Editor

entertainmentPage Six

When someone asks you “Who is your favorite band?” or “What’s your favorite song?” most can think of the answer right away. Others have many different answers or simply cannot decide who is their top artist. However, I bet no one has ever asked you “What do you listen to your music on?” In today’s technology hungry society where everyone is after the newest, fastest and shiniest piece of electronic wizardry, many just assume you just listen to your tunes on a smartphone or through your computer. That is completely fine. Websites such as Spotify, Pandora, or even YouTube allow for easy access to any artist you want and the best part is that it is usually free! These sites, along with companies that sell digital music,

How we listen to our musicBy Steve Massarelli

Seminarian Entertainment Editorlike Apple, have created a mass interconnected system where with one click you can discover a whole other genre or maybe your next favorite artist. It is also extremely easy to connect to other people who enjoy the same gnarly sound waves you do. Chat forums and websites that specialize in certain music are out there whether you like classical Bach or Norwegian death metal. The digital age has allowed for us to listen for free and to be able to discover new music. So why do we need anything else? Digital music can easily be lost, deleted or otherwise vanish into the Cloud. Do you think that in twenty or even ten years you will have the same songs on your phone? No, you probably will not. Between

phone upgrades and well, you know, life, you will not be able to constantly transfer over your music from update to update. Well, the answer is simple to this problem is simple: try something else. A good start would be vinyl. Yes, you do not have to be pro-Earth, vegan, insulted-by-everything, waste of space hipsters to enjoy vinyl. Nor do you have to be your crazy uncle who is still stuck in the 70’s. You just have to want to experience music in a different way. Vinyl has a different feel than digital music. I am not talking physically. I am talking tonally. Vinyl produces a warmth and richness to the music that digital music does not, which changes the whole musical journey. It also has some long term storage perks that digital music cannot offer.

Keeping vinyl for a long period of time is much easier than keeping digital music. Records do not have to be transferred to every new device and they do not disappear randomly into the Cloud. Basic maintenance is required: Avoid getting chewed up by the dog and do not drop down the steps. Basically the same as a smartphone. The down side to using and listening to vinyl is that they are expensive. Also depending on your collection they can take up various amounts of space. Vinyl or digital? Both have their pros and their cons. Both offer completely different musical odysseys. It all depends on what you want because music is a personal experience. Do whatever sounds best to you. Most importantly never stop listening.

While still far behind the sales of digital music, vinyl sales increased an astounding 64% from 2014 to 2015. To look at it profit-wise, that’s a jump from $145.8 million to a whopping $221.8 million. While you can still rummage through thrift stores and your parents’ old things to blow the dust off the classics, more and more current artists are joining in the vinyl game. The top selling vinyl of 2015 include newer artists like Adele, who topped the chart with 25, and Ed Sheeran’s x, but did not manage to leave out iconic groups such as Pink Floyd with The Dark Side of the Moon and Led Zeppelin, who had four albums featured in the top 40.

Another event that fell in with the

inflation of record sales was eighth annual Record Store Day. It’s held on the third Saturday of April each year to celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store. Various big name artists have re-cords specifically pressed and dis-tributed only to stores participating in the event. Dave Grohl, the 2015 Record Store Day Ambassador, gave an intimate performance at the Record Connection, an inde-pendently owned record store in Niles, Ohio.

While the comeback of the vi-nyl is relatively recent, the original rockers of the seventies and eight-ies buy the largest number of re-cords. More than 35 per cent of people who buy records are under

Vinyl makes a comebackBy Cailey Barnhart

Seminarian Managing Editor

35, 28.5% are 35-44 and 36.2% are above 44. Fifty-seven per cent of buyers claimed to purchase their records at independently owned shops, while 36% bought online.

There are numerous reasons why the sales of vinyl may have sparked up again. People love the interaction records allow them to have. From sliding it out of the sleeve, to placing the needle, to flip-ping the record halfway through, it adds physicality to the music world. Ownership is a large reason many people flock to records. A record, as opposed to a digital download, al-lows people to truly and physically own their music taste. There’s just something different about the famil-iar crackle of a record player that a

CD or iTunes download can’t recre-ate. Another reason is the nostalgia factor. Many buy records to display them, a homage to their favorite art-ists. It’s a simple way to indulge in the past. Fitting into both of these categories, 14% of record buyers ad-mitted to never actually listening to the records, but buying them purely to own them.

It is predicted that the sales of vi-nyl will continue to increase with the years to come. The future hints to-wards more limited edition releases and presses and more artists to hop on the vinyl bandwagon. While it may not catch up to digital sales, it will still continue to make a major im-pact in the world of music and music culture.

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March 24-April 4

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The 2015 NFL season is in the books. It was one of the more exciting seasons in recent memory. Here are the biggest things we learned from the 2015 season. Three years ago, Colin Kaepernick and Cam Newton both looked like the same gunslinging mobile QBs. Fast forward to 2016 and you’ll see that Colin Kaepernick isn’t as good as we thought he was but the real story here is Cam Newton. Newton entered the 2015 season having lost his main target, the terribly inefficient Kelvin Benjamin. Newton seemed like he was taking a leap of faith with Greg Olsen, Ted Ginn, Philly Brown, and rookie Devin Funchess as his receivers. Despite the uncertainty, Newton improved with this cast. Although almost equally as inefficient as Benjamin, Ginn stepped up and made big plays on many deep

shots. Newton did well in all areas this season including his deep ball. Newton thrived in the red zone, tossing touchdowns to Olsen and toying with defenses running the football. Newton made history as the first player with more than 10 rushing touchdowns and 30 passing touchdowns in a season. Newton tossed over 50 touchdowns through the year and earned the honor of league MVP. It was quite the year for wide receivers. The hype around Allen Robinson and Sammy Watkins seemed overboard given the uncertainty around each player. They both went nuts in 2016, bringing their yardage totals above 1900 yards and career touchdown totals above 15 through 2 injury riddled seasons. Larry Fitzgerald and Brandon Marshall both came back from the dead. Both the veterans put up one of their better

seasons in recent memory. It was not all roses for wide receivers this season however. Randall Cobb got exposed as a number one receiver after getting a nice payday in March. Mike Evans took a major step back and while some of it can be blamed on chemistry with a rookie QB, Evans dropped far too many balls. Last but not least, Calvin Johnson had another nice season but seemed to be on the injury report every week. It looks one of the best wide receivers of the era may be headed for an early retirement due to injuries and team play. More and more players are becoming aware of the long-term toll the game can take on them. The final takeaway from this season is that the AFC South is painfully bad. The Texans have a great defense but their offense got absolutely embarrassed in the playoffs. At least

they have a young playmaker to build around in DeAndre Hopkins but the rest of the offense is frightening. The Titans defense overachieved this season but by hiring Mike Mularkey, they are greatly hindering Mariota and the offense’s development. Tennessee seemed like a hot spot for coaching candidates given their QB talent but they oddly decided to stay in house after a losing season. The Jags did decent this season by beating up on bad teams but their defense has major holes. Of course, getting Dante Fowler back from injury will be huge, but they should continue to add more weapons. Their secondary which fielded former Auburn QB Nick Marshall at starting cornerback certainly needs work. The Colts look like they can be exciting on offense with Luck back from injury but their defense needs major work up front and at linebacker.

Biggest takeaways from NFL seasonBy Beau Weaver

Seminarian Sports Editor

Bulldogs post 18-4 mark on seasonBy Beau Weaver

Seminarian Sports Editor

The Bulldogs are putting together a very impressive campaign, fin-ishing the regular season at 18-4.

Led by Jared Burkert and Matt Baker, the Bulldogs have beaten tough opponents such as Aus-tintown-Fitch and Boardman.

The team has had major contri-butions on the glass from leading rebounders Jake Burns and Matt Baker. The two of them each aver-age just over a block per game.

The opportunistic defense has forced just over eight steals per game and just under four blocks per game.

If they can continue to make plays defensively and capitalize on offense, the team should make noise in the postseason tourna-ment.

The tournament trail began last Friday. The Bulldogs are the sec-ond seed behind Canfield at the Division II Boardman site.

The highlight of the Bulldogs’ regular season was their spectacular come-from-behind win over Canfield, resulting in the return of the Trophy to Po-land. Nick Buccieri was chosen as the WKBN Player of the Game for his 22-point performance against the Cardinals.

sportsPage Eight

Poland girls’ hoops has unprecedented season Poland Seminary High School’s girls’ basketball team has en-joyed unprededented success during the 2015-2016 season. For starters, the Lady ‘Dogs racked up 20 wins en route to a 20-2 regular-season record. Twenty wins is unprecedented. In addition, Poland defeated Canfield this year, ending a 26-game winning streak by the Car-dinals. Last, but not least, the Lady Bulldogs brought home the All American Conference champi-onship by defeating Lakeview in

the league title showdown. In tourney play, Poland handed West Branch a loss to become Sectional champs. Emily Melnek, Bella Gajdos, and Jillian Penman are the captains of this year’s team.

PSHS girls’ head basketball coach Nick Blanch coaches it up during the Sectional tournament game against West Branch. The Lady Warriors, who were the defending District champs, lost to Poland in the contest.

Members of this year’s team include juniors Emily Cammack, Joelle Abi Habib, Melnek and Pen-man, sophomores Juliana Blange-ro, Lexi Demain, Gajdos, Laiken Maurer, Alea Nicholudis and Mag-gie Sebest and freshman Sarah Bury.

PSHS swimmers set records at Districts

Although no Poland swimmers advanced to Regionals, the team set three school records at the District meet Feb. 19 Participating at Districts were swim team members Marissa Mellillo, Avery Blasko, Logan Kountz, Gina Ungaro, Erin Kilgore, Dave Robich, Dom Lat-tanzio, Colin Barrett and Nico Lattanzio. Robich set two individual records while the relay of Robich, Barrett, Dom Lattanzio and Nico Lattanzio also set a school record.

Four wrestlers advance Four members of Poland Seminary High School’s wres-tling team have advanced along the tournament trail which leads to Columbus this weekend. Advancing to Regionals, the last stop before Columbus, were Dante Ginnetti and David Esarco, who placed first at Districts, as well as Anthony Audi, who was second, and Trey Ellis, who was third.

District semi-final play saw Lakeview eliminate Poland 42-34. The loss ended a 15-game winning streak by the Lady Bulldogs. It was also their second loss to Lakeview this season. Poland’s only other season loss was to Howland. Lakeview and How-land faced off for the District championship.

With no seniors on the 2015-16 girls’ basketball team, the Lady ‘Dogs are looking forward to the opening game of the 16-17 season, only 281 days away!