Proud Tigers

The entire Shadyside Tiger Nation must be floating on Cloud 9. Shadyside is a community with much pride and one that supports its schools. Moreover, the Tiger partisans love their prep sports. Come Friday, it gets no better in the athletic realm than competing for a state football championship. It is just the latest chapter in a school rich in athletic tradition. The Tigers were cast in the same scenario just four years ago, bowing to Marion Local, 17-0, in the state grid finals. Now four years later, the Orange & Black are again grasping for the brass ring. That speaks volumes of their rich football tradition. Such postseason success, however, is not confined to the Tigers' football den. Jim Miller guided the Lady Tigers' hoopsters to back-to-back state tourney berths earlier this decade. In 1976 Tom Vichich led the Tiger boys' thinclads to the state track championship. That group remains the lone Eastern Ohio school to win a boys' state track title. Shadyside has a formidable foe Friday in Delphos St. John's. Regardless of the outcome, Coach Mark Holenka's Tigers will hold a cherished spot in a school quite familiar with great athletic achievements.