Russia hoping third time's the charm

The Raiders are state bound for a third consecutive year

While the University of Dayton campus was enjoying an early St. Patrick's Day celebration last Saturday, across town at Wright State University's Nutter Center there was a sea of green-clad Russia students cheering for their Raiders and a little luck in the D-VII regional championship. Turns out the Raiders didn't need any luck at all and simply did what they've been doing for a while. That is, pounding an opponent into another lopsided victory and their third consecutive berth to the state tournament. The unlucky competitor for the third time this season was the Botkins Trojans, this time by the final score of 58-30.

This Friday will be the fifth different venue
Russia has played at in six tournament games

The 28 point win was the closest contest Russia fans have witnessed this postseason. Their five previous tournament wins had margins of 39, 38, 43 and 58. In fact, head coach Spencer Cordonnier's program is playing even better on the tournament trail than their 22-game regular season schedule, when Russia's average point spread was only 25 points per game. Some folks are already even debating if the 2024-25 Raiders are the best team in Shelby County Athletic League history, or if their current 27-0 record might deserve an asterisk after OHSAA's expansion to seven divisions and a softer-than-usual SCAL. 

Let's squash that latter argument right now. The single change Russia made to their regular schedule this season was canceling a date with Ansonia, who was in rebuilding mode and finished this year with a tournament loss to the Raiders and a record of 1-22. To fill that open date, Russia added D-VI Coldwater from the mighty Midwest Athletic Conference. When the regular season ended, the Raiders had beaten six of the top seven schools from the MAC. Along the way, they also won the Piqua Holiday Tournament over two D-IV & D-VI opponents, and a marquee matchup at Ft. Loramie's MLK Classic versus D-VI Tri-Village. As for questioning the strength of the SCAL, the league did advance three of their seven teams to the regional finals in D-VI and D-VII. Case closed.

Anna flexed their SCAL muscle when the Rockets made the D-VI regional finals

Now, lets talk about that elephant in the room. This is Russia's third straight trip to the state tournament in basketball. The previous two trips ended at the state semifinals. It's also the eighth time in the previous nine sports seasons that Russia High School has qualified a boys team to an OHSAA state tournament. Yes, you read that right: 2025 basketball, 2024 cross country, 2024 baseball, 2024 basketball, 2023 golf, 2023 baseball, 2023 basketball and 2022 baseball. Each of the 11 seniors on Russia's current basketball roster have all been to multiple state tourneys. Most notable are Braylon Cordonnier making his seventh appearance and both Vince Borchers and Zeb Schulze making their sixth. Even more remarkable, Braylon will be a starter in all seven of those appearances. However, as this historic era of senior talent approaches graduation, naysayers are pointing to the seven previous state trips and just the one baseball title from 2022. Make no mistake, Raider Nation is well aware and hungry for another championship. Actually, after tasting all that success, Russia is starving for another championship.  

Arlington star Calvin Willow (#35) was an 

AAU teammate with several Russia players

The Raider's opponent in the semifinals this Friday will be the Arlington Red Devils (24-3). Arlington High School has only eight more boys than Russia High School. The Red Devils have also been to the state tournament just once before and lost in the semifinals. That was 2012 when they fell to Berlin Hiland, who later won the title over Jackson Center. Those are two schools Russia folks know well. Yep, this won't be another rematch versus Richmond Heights. This year's semifinal is what a small school state tournament game should be.

What else is in the scouting report if you're a Russia follower? Arlington has a really good head coach named Jason Vermillion. Coach Vermillion has led the program for 27 seasons and tallied 435 career wins. He also has a senior son on the team named Jase Vermillion who was 1st-Team All-Blanchard Valley Conference. Jase had 10 points in their regional final win on Saturday over Delphos St. John's. There's another Red Devil that's really tall. Like 6-foot 10-inches tall. He's a junior named Calvin Willow who won the 2024 D-III State High Jump as a sophomore. Calvin had a game high 22 points on 11-for-14 shooting in that win over the Blue Jays. Most of the Russia starters know Calvin. Calvin knows most of the Russia starters. Lets repeat it again: This year's semifinal is what a small school state tournament game should be.

In Arlington's postgame press conference on Saturday, Coach Vermillion was asked by a reporter if their state tournament berth was the proverbial icing on the cake or if he felt like they still had a job to do? The coach said after being down there in 2012, "we're going to make sure we approach this the correct way and why not try to get the game." Russia coach Spencer Cordonnier is probably thinking the same thing. Why not, after all, there's a pot of gold waiting at the end.

Division VII

State Semifinals

• Willoughby Cornerstone Christian (20-8) vs. South Webster (22-3), Friday, Ohio Dominican University, 7 p.m.

• Arlington (24-3) vs. Russia (27-0), Friday, Bowling Green State University, 8:30 p.m.

State Championship: Saturday, March 22, at University of Dayton Arena, 5:15 p.m.

The Raiders will see you at Stroh Center in Bowling Green (Picture by Cara Daugherty)