BY KYLE ZIES (’16) SPORTS EDITOR

A weekly addition of news and notes across the sports world, all in the humble eye of Kyle Zies.

Granville vs. Johnstown:

The 2015-2016 campaign has come to an end for the Aces as they fell short in their first playoff game against the rival Johnstown Johnnies. The 62-40 score doesn’t show justice to the game as the Aces held a lead in the 2^nd quarter and were seeming to give Johnstown a run for their money. Alex Meurer and Drew Dilger led the way but could not corral the play of the Johnnies and let the game slip away in the 2^nd half.

Seniors Jacob Alexander, Drew Dilger, Peyton Ley, Alex Meurer, and Trent Tackett will walk away from the game as proven and established leaders for the Aces who took over a young team and grew quickly into grizzled vets. Dilger said “It’s a tough pill to swallow but at the end of the day we are proud of what we’ve accomplished over these past four years.” Head coach Adam Teeters, will have a long offseason to rally the troops and begin growing the youth quickly for next season, one that promises to see Will Sharp and Justin Thompson, among others, to see more time on the court and step into dominant roles for the Aces.

Jackets Too Late Push:

The Columbus Blue Jackets fell face first out of the gate to a 0-8 start. Head coach Todd Richards was fired, star center Ryan Johansen was traded and the Jackets were plummeting for the basement of the standings. Not so fast. The Jackets have since gone on a run. They have put together an impressive streak of games and are beginning to crawl up the stairs of the basement prior to the February 29^th trade deadline. Sounds great, yes? Well, not so fast. There are perks to being the worst team in the league as you then have the highest percent chance (20%) of landing the top overall pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft and ultimately select center Austen Matthews, who scouts compare to the next Patrick Toews. With this winning streak, the Jackets are still twelve points out of a playoff spot, and insurmountable climb at this point in the season, and have lowered their chances of the top pick to a measly 8.5%. Columbus’ too late surge is aggravating fans but, at least you can never accuse the Jackets of tanking.

Peyton Manning:

After seemingly riding off into the sunset as arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Peyton Manning’s name has come up in controversy of a sexual assault case… thirteen years ago. Just as Peyton Manning’s seemingly perfect career comes to a story-book ending, someone had to dust off an old file to bring taint to the quarterback. The case was closed. Nothing was made of it. Manning was never found guilty of anything. Why is it that just now this has to come to light? Quit searching for attention and destroying the images of model citizens in search of popularity. Shame. Shame on you.