Staff report

The past year brought plenty of highlights around the Mahoning Valley. From state championships to school records and college programs reaching new heights, plenty of accomplishments kept local fans entertained.

Here’s a look at the top stories of 2023, as decided by the Tribune Chronicle and Vindicator staff.

10. Jaleel McLaughlin makes the Broncos’ roster

Despite going undrafted in 2023’s NFL Draft, Youngstown State running back Jaleel McLaughlin found himself on an NFL roster. McLaughlin was one of the first undrafted free agents added by the Denver Broncos following the draft and was almost instantly a favorite amongst the coaching staff during training camp.

After a promising preseason, McLaughlin made it past the final cuts and onto the Broncos’ roster.

In 15 games with the Broncos so far, McLaughlin, the NCAA’s all-time leading rusher, has recorded 360 rushing yards and a touchdown. The former-YSU tailback has also been utilized a lot in the receiving game, with 142 receiving yards and two scores.

9. Individual state titles

Several Mahoning Valley student-athletes captured glory across different sports in 2023.

Back in March, a pair of Garfield wrestlers etched their names into the record books, as Keegan Sell and Hunter Andel captured titles in the Division III 190-pound and 165-pound classes, respectively.

Then, in early June, the Valley Christian 4×100 team showed that no matter who it trots out, the Eagles are among the best. For the third consecutive season, Valley Christian brought a 4×100 state title back to Youngstown. This time, the team of Jhordan Peete, Phillip Spradley, VeShun Gurley and Marquez Gibbs secured the championship. They ran a time of 43:13 to edge Anna’s time of 43.50 for the Division III crown. Valley Christian entered the race as the top seed after running a 42.88 in the preliminaries.

Also in June, Salem’s Makenna Rudy captured the gold medal in the Division II shot put event. On her final toss of the day, Rudy hurled a 41-7.75 to knock off Norton’s Morgan Hallett, who threw a 41-3.75. In her previous attempts, Rudy had hit 40-5 at her best before unleashing her final throw to reach the top of the podium.

On the Trumbull County side, Howland’s Connor Durig cleared the 6-9 mark after a pair of lightning delays to win the Division I high jump crown. He also set a school record with his jump.

Also, Maplewood’s Caleigh Richards took the 3200-meter crown with a time of 10:53, more than a half minute better than second-place finisher Rebecca Geiss of Heartland Christian.

In November, Geiss edged out Richards down the stretch for the Division III girls cross country state title. Geiss, just a sophomore, ran a time of 17:54.98. She finished 10th at the state meet as a freshman in 2022.

8. Terry Francona retires

One of baseball’s most iconic figures ended his illustrious career in October.

Guardians manager Terry Francona wrapped up a 23-year managing career that began in Philadelphia, included a pair of World Series titles in Boston and ended with 11 years in Cleveland. His first title with the Red Sox was in his first year as manager there and ended an 86-year drought for Boston.

Francona only had two losing seasons with the Guardians. In recent years, he had been slowed by various medical issues.

While his time running the dugout is over, Francona and the team did note that he will have an unspecified role with the Guardians moving forward.

7. Mike Pavlansky, Steve Arnold, Dan Yeagley step down

A trio of legendary Mahoning Valley football coaches hung up their whistles in 2023.

Back in February, Dan Yeagley decided it was time to step away from South Range after 28 seasons. He posted a 248-75 record and went out on top, as the Raiders captured their first state title with a 53-27 demolition of Ironton in the Division V game in December 2022.

After the 2023 season, Canfield’s Mike Pavlansky and Warren G. Harding’s Steve Arnold also decided it was time to exit the sidelines.

Pavlansky, whose Cardinals also won a 2022 state title with a 35-14 win over Bloom-Carroll in Division III, had been at Canfield for 23 seasons. He guided the Cards to seven league titles, 13 playoff appearances, five regional title games and two trips to the state championship. He finished with a 183-76 record.

Warren G. Harding’s Steve Arnold made the decision after serving as head coach since 2011, but his time with Raider athletics dates all the way back to 1988. Arnold guided Harding to the OHSAA postseason eight times, including the Division II regional final in 2006. He went 69-60 as a head coach.

Arnold also served as the varsity boys basketball coach at Harding for a decade beginning in 2002. On the hardwood, he guided his teams to three district championships, a regional championship and led the Raiders to the 2009 Division I Final Four.

6. Ryan Blaney wins the NASCAR Cup Series

Trumbull County native Ryan Blaney capped off an impressive 2023 racing season by capturing his first NASCAR Cup Series title in November.

Blaney, the first Ohio-born driver to win the Cup, comes from a family of racing greats. His father, Dave Blaney, made 473 Cup starts over 17 seasons and won a World of Outlaws title, while Ryan’s brother, Dale, was a sprint car champion.

Ryan certainly earned it, though it wasn’t without its stressors. The native son had to work his way past fellow contender Kyle Larson in the final handful of laps at Phoenix Raceway. After a Kyle Busch spin brought out a caution with 37 laps to go, a final round of pit stops ensued.

Blaney was second when he went onto pit road, but dropped back to sixth on the last restart. However, Blaney quickly regained ground and caught Larson down the stretch and went door-to-door with Larson before pulling in front with about 20 laps remaining and going on to victory.

Blaney, who won two of the final six playoff races, delivered Team Penske back-to-back Cup titles.

5. Youngstown State football returns to the FCS playoffs

The Youngstown State football team took another step forward towards returning to its former glory in head coach Doug Phillips’ fourth season leading the program.

The Penguins finished the season 8-5 overall and 5-3 in the rugged MVFC, returning to the FCS playoffs for the first time since 2016 and just the fourth time since the 1990s.

YSU defeated No. 5 Southern Illinois in dominant fashion during conference play, but dropped heartbreaking contests to ranked foes Northern Iowa and South Dakota, each by three points. The Penguins then defeated Duquesne at home in the first round of the playoffs, before ending the season by falling to Villanova 45-28 on the road in the second round.

The one-two punch of Tyshon King (1,038 yards) and Dra Rushton (682 yards) spearheaded YSU’s rushing attack, while quarterback Mitch Davidson set the school record for most passing yards in a season with 3,088, to go with his 24 touchdowns. Bryce Oliver was Davidson’s favorite target in an explosive receiving corps, finishing with 978 yards, while also setting the program record for most career touchdown receptions.

On defense, the Penguins’ distruptive front-seven finished 10th in the country in rushing yards allowed (102.2) and 13th in sacks (35.0 total or 2.69 per game).

4. Youngstown State men’s basketball wins the Horizon League regular season title, hosts an NIT game

Youngstown State entered the 2022-23 season with lofty expectations, and the Penguins lived up to the hype.

Posting a 24-10 overall record and 15-5 Horizon League mark, YSU captured its first regular season Horizon League title, reached the conference tournament semifinals and ended its season with a home NIT game against the Big 12’s Oklahoma State Cowboys.

The successes came largely through the transfer portal. Youngstown State lured several key contributors to the Beeghly Center over the prior two offseasons.

Dayton transfer Dwayne Cohill led the team with 18 points per game, while Northern Kentucky transfer Adrian Nelson nearly averaged a double-double with 13.5 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. Malek Green, from Canisius, scored 13.5 points per game, while Brandon Rush, from Fairleigh Dickinson, tallied 13.9 points per game. Eastern Michigan transfer Bryce McBride ran the point for YSU and scored 7.6 points per game and dished out 128 assists.

3. The Phantoms win the Clark Cup

The Youngstown Phantoms won the club’s first-ever Clark Cup Championship, taking down Fargo in a 3-0 sweep. Under first-year coach Ryan Ward, the Phantoms finished the regular season with a 38-19-5-0 record and tore through the postseason, losing just one game.

With great performances from Andrew Strathmann, Andon Cerbone, Shane Lachance, William Whitelaw and Jacob Fowler, the Phantoms overcame a slow start to win the team’s second Eastern Conference championship and first league title.

Following the championship season, the Phantoms saw a club-high six players from that roster get selected in the 2023 NHL Draft, including Whitelaw, Strathmann, Martin Misiak, Fowler, Brandon Svoboda and Matthew Perkins.

2. Springfield girls basketball makes the Final Four; Canfield and South Range softball do the same

Despite opening the season with a road loss to Crestview, the Springfield girls basketball team had one of the best seasons in school history in 2023.

The Tigers went 24-4 and culminated the season with a trip to Dayton for the Division IV state final four. Springfield beat state powers like Dalton and Buckeye Central during its postseason run before falling to Toledo Christian 59-27 in the state semifinal.

Led by then-senior Jacey Mullen, who’s now playing at Washington & Jefferson, Springfield relied on a stingy defense that gave up just 32.9 points per game.

Mullen averaged a double-double with 16.7 points and 11.4 rebounds per game to lead the team’s offense, and was supported by Jameka Brungard’s 9.4 ppg, Ava Vecchione’s 4.4 ppg, Madison Lesnak’s 6.7 ppg and Mariana Tuscano’s 6.1 ppg.

After Canfield and South Range football completed state title runs at the end of 2022, the Cardinals and Raiders softball teams each made deep postseason runs of their own in 2023.

Canfield went 24-3-2 before falling to Tallmadge 9-0 in the Division II state championship game, while South Range (27-5) fell to eventual state champion Wheelersburg 6-1 in the Division III state semifinal after defeating Champion for the regional title.

The Cardinals relied on the pitching of Buffalo-bound Malena Toth (0.70 ERA), coupled with an electric run-scoring lineup that included the likes of Jenna Triveri, Hailey Freedy, Gianna Pannunzio, Faith Morell and Leah Figueroa.

The Raiders’ pitching duo of righty Samantha Susany (1.20 ERA) and lefty Juli Stachiowicz (1.33 ERA) helped keep teams off balance, while the team leaned on its batting order that included Jamie Feren (.316), Madison Dado (.402), Keira Brogan (.400), Giada Pauline (.229), Jayli Wilt (.314), Anna Aey (.368), Gretchen Bartels (.293) and Kelly Szolek (.380).

1. Austintown Fitch softball wins a state title

Completing an unbeaten season, the Austintown Fitch softball team won its first-ever state championship, by defeating Whitehouse Anthony Wayne 6-1 in the DIvision I state final in June.

The Falcons finished 22-0-2, with the only two blemishes on their record coming in ties against Canfield.

Led by a stout defense and an explosive batting order, Fitch was a dominant force, outscoring its opponents 215-20 and recording 15 shutouts.

Georgia Tech commit Sydnie Watts proved herself to be perhaps the best pitcher in Ohio, and one of the best pitchers in the country in helping lead Fitch’s run. Watts finished the season with a 0.38 ERA and struck out 281 batters. As part of her 21-0 record, she threw seven no hitters and two perfect games.

In its regular batting rotation, the Falcons had 10 players who finished the season with at least a .350 average. Fitch’s run-scoring attack was led by YSU signee Ayla Ray at the top of the order, who led the team with a .534 average and was tied for the lead on the team with six HRs.

Caitlin Mitchell, who is now at Notre Dame College, batted .524, while Watts (.492), Abby Toth (.450), Kylie Folkwein (.467), Tina Montgomery (.444), McKenna Hogan (.397) and Morgan Roby (.423) each helped spearhead the Falcons’ offense.