By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

At the time, Rootstown’s final regular-season win over Rhodes came with little fanfare because of the final score (15-1) and also because it was not a league game that had any impact on the league standings or a league championship.

After review, though, the win was actually historic.

The victory was the 200th in the career of longtime coach Keith Waesch.

Waesch began his career as the head coach at Waterloo in the mid-1990’s, has coached the Rovers during two different stints — 2004 to 2007 and 2017 to present.

He is the second Rootstown coach to reach the 200-win milestone, joining Mark Knopick, who finished his career with 233 wins and also coached the program over two different stints (1983-1996 and 2008-2016).

Waesch, who was inducted into the Greater Akron Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2023, is the eighth coach in Portage County history to achieve the 200-win milestone and joined Streetsboro’s Chris Scisciani (200th win) and Kent Roosevelet’s Mike Haney (300th win) as baseball coaches to hit milestone victories this season.

The updated all-time career baseball coaching wins list now looks like this:

• Larry Wiles, Field (1968-98), 456
• Bob Merritt, Crestwood (1982-2010), 352
• Dave Clegg, Southeast (1983-2018), 319
• Mike Haney, Kent Roosevelt (2002-present), 305
• Joe Peterson, Field (2013-present), 237
• Mark Knopick, Rootstown (1983-1996 and 2008-16), 233
• Chris Scisciani, Streetsboro (2006-present), 209
• Keith Waesch, Waterloo (1995-2000) and Rootstown (2004-07 and 2017-present), 203
• John Cravens, Mogadore (1975-76 and 1990-2002), 182
• Mike Paes, Garfield (2016-present), 125

FROM ROOSEVELT TO COLUMBUS TO LOUISVILLE

Kent Roosevelt High School graduate Kayla Fischer (Class of 2018), who played collegiately at Ohio State University, is now in her third season playing professional soccer in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

Fischer was drafted by Racing Louisville FC with the 16th overall selection (second round) of the 2023 NWSL Draft and she has played all three of her professional seasons with Louisville.

She has appeared in 44 matches, with the 2025 season still ongoing, and has totaled three goals and four assists. In 10 games this year, Fischer has two goals and two assists after signing a contract extension in the off-season.

AURORA VOLLEYBALL RECORD

They say that records are meant to be broken, by the time Aurora volleyball’s Emerson Spiesz graduates next spring, she will have a record that may never be challenged. Ever.

The rising senior set the Greenmen program for career digs with 1,122 after the conclusion of the 2024 season and still has the entire 2025 season to add to that total.

Spiesz has already committed to continue her career at the University of South Carolina Upstate.

NEW COACHES IN RAVENNA

It has been an busy off-season for the Ravenna athletics, with four new coaches recently hired for the 2025-26 athletic school year.

This column introduced boys basketball head coach Justin Raheim to readers last week.

He will be joined by three additional new coaching faces for next year:

• Alaina Davis, girls soccer
• DaVante McKinney, girls basketball
• Molly Middleton, boys and girls cross country