Jackson-Milton Falls to St. John in Sectional Final

ASHTABULA, Ohio — The Jackson-Milton boys basketball season came to a disappointing end Friday night, as they fell to St. John 66-58 in a Division VII sectional final. Despite staying competitive throughout the game, a fourth-quarter surge by the Heralds proved decisive.

Jackson-Milton head coach Tom Sharp reflected on the team’s struggles, saying, “We got a little gassed, but we just caught a cold streak. The ball just wasn’t going in. Maybe we could have run some different stuff on offense, but we caught a cold stretch and it hurt us tonight.”

The Blue Jays, finishing the season with a record of 9-14, were neck-and-neck with the Eagles for the majority of the matchup. However, St. John ignited a 13-2 run to start the fourth quarter, pulling away as they outscored Jackson-Milton 22-12 in the final frame.

<p“Basketball’s a game of runs. We’ll go on runs, they’ll go on runs. It’s just who will weather the storm better,” said Jackson-Milton senior Ryen Romigh, who led all scorers with 36 points. “They came out on top on that tonight.”

The contest was tightly contested from the opening whistle, with St. John leading 12-10 at the end of the first quarter and taking a narrow 30-27 advantage into halftime. Romigh dominated the third quarter, scoring 11 of his game-high points, and helping the Blue Jays edge ahead 46-44 going into the fourth.

The game was tied at 46 until Romigh put Jackson-Milton ahead with a layup just under six and a half minutes to play. However, St. John regained control, hitting back-to-back three-pointers that sparked their decisive run.

This defeat marked the end of the season for several Blue Jays seniors, including Romigh, Vincent Fay, Jase Greco, and Ethan Kerr. In addressing the departing seniors, Sharp praised their contributions: “I just told them a little bit ago, they left the program better than they found it. They built a culture at Jackson-Milton, they built excitement at Jackson-Milton that should go on for a long time.”

Sharp continued, emphasizing the positive impact the seniors made: “Just the way that they played the game, approached practice, and their work ethic. That’s what they built — a really good culture. It was fun to be around these kids; it was a pleasure to be around them.”

This game encapsulated the rollercoaster season for Jackson-Milton, which started poorly with a 2-7 record but eventually stabilized to 9-9. Injuries, however, began to take a toll as the regular season neared its conclusion.

<p“I think it just shows the fight that our kids had,” Sharp said, reflecting on the season. “To start the season 2-7 — had key injuries — and to fight back to 9-9 at one point. It was a 7-2 stretch, beating some good teams along the way. The only team to beat Campbell in the conference. It just kinda showed what kind of kids we had.”