Dave Purpura
@dp_dispatch
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High school sports reporter, Columbus Dispatch. Columbus native, University of Toledo grad. I could be anywhere in central Ohio or beyond at any given time.
Pickerington, Ohio
Joined July 2013
Beyond humbled to learn earlier today that I was named Sportswriter of the Year for our class (nationally!) as part of @GateHouse_Media's Best of Gatehouse awards. You hope for the best with any contest but never expect to get first place.
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A 🧵on some personal career news: I am excited to announce I am joining the @DispatchAlerts sports staff as of Jan. 11 to help head up their high school coverage. Big shoes to fill, big responsibilities, but looking forward to this new challenge. (1/).
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OHSAA emailed member schools this evening and confirmed it is operating as if fall sports will occur, meaning practices will begin on August 1 and they will conduct the usual tournaments in 10 fall sports.
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In an age where this country is divided on freaking everything, the widespread support for @Jerry_Snodgrass after yesterday's news is something to behold. Administrators, coaches and fans all speaking out.
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For the first time in 35 years, we have a public school boys state team champion in Division I. Beavercreek wins the title, snapping a long streak for Cincinnati St. Xavier. First public to win it since UA in 1987.
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Shouldn't have to say this but I will. Personal insults are not tolerated on my feed, whether toward me or others. Twitter, social media and the world in general have enough of that elsewhere.
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The formation of the new Ohio Catholic Athletic Conference was announced moments ago. DeSales, Hartley and Watterson will join up with five northeast Ohio Catholic schools in football only beginning in the fall of 2026, with other sports potentially following later.
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.@PCTigersGirlsBB wins the Division I state championship, 49-45 over Solon. Seventh state title in program history and first since 1999 (and obviously since the split).
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It seriously is not that hard to be quiet during the national anthem. It just isn't.
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Within the next few hours, @ThisWeekDave will be no more . but this account will remain. I'll just have a new username as I officially move over to @DispatchAlerts as of midnight. I know it's been a good 9 1/2-year run when people greet me as "ThisWeek Dave.".
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The Division I, Region 3 final between @NewAlbanyFB and @gahannafootball will be at Historic Crew Stadium, per @napls_athletics. 7 p.m. Friday. @UlreyThisWeek.
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At @hayeshighschool tonight for a special occasion. Ella Margraf, daughter of @DTownPacers girls basketball coach Erin Margraf, recently was declared cancer free after being diagnosed with Burkett's lymphoma in October. Ella was honored before the game.
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.@picknorthsoccer coach Greg Van Kannel stepped down last week after seven seasons in his second stint as Panthers coach and 11 overall. Greg went 180-32-16 overall and 60-5-3 in league play.
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.@CoffmanGirlsLax wins the Division I state final as time expires on an Ava Westmeyer goal on assist from Bailey Morris,. 13-12 is your final. Just an incredible ending.
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Perhaps overshadowed in all the celebration last night was this important stat: Jada had 11 rebounds off the bench for Central. Tigers outrebounded Solon 32-29.
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My personal thought: If/when @OHSAASports brings the @OHSAAFootball finals back to Columbus, put them at Mapfre Stadium in its post-Crew incarnation. Turf the field. 20K in the stands. Close to the interstate. Perfect site.
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I'll go faaaaar out on a limb and say this is one of the biggest victories in recent memory for a @DeSalesGirlsLax that has had several huge accomplishments the past few years. Stallions snap UA's 42-game winning streak.
Girls Lacrosse Final.DeSales: 8.Upper Arlington: 5.#GoStallions.
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My fall sports season has come to an end. Good night from Mapfre Stadium.
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.@napls_athletics AD Richie Wildenhaus just shared in an email that Eagles coach Bubba Kidwell suffered a heart attack last night. Was experiencing chest pain during the game and was transported to urgent care. Best wishes for a speedy recovery to a great guy.
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Encouraging news today for all spring sports teams from @OHSAASports. As of now, practices resume April 6 and seasons can begin April 11, the day before Easter.
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14 hours and 27 minutes and three central Ohio state champions after I walked in, good night from @CrewStadium. Final event of my 2022-23 high school season, one that was unlike any of the previous 22.
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789-4. That's @NAPLSgirlsgolf's record since the start of the 2018 season . with four state championships under their belt. It's been a pleasure covering this run so far.
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Quick and likely last walk through the current @ua_highschool on a quiet Sunday night after water polo coverage. Things will look a lot different around here not so long from now.
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Barring any breaking news (please no, everyone), hanging it up for a few days to enjoy some down time at Thanksgiving. Personally, it's my favorite holiday of them all. Have a great one and be safe, whatever your plans.
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What a night for @PNAthletics. @PHNboyssoccer, @picknorthsoccer and @picknorthvb all win league titles within an hour of each other.
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.@sfdboyssoccer's Hector Gomez was named D-II state Player of the Year last night. OSSCA teams came out a few hours after the Stallions beat Bay 4-0 in the state championship.
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Truly an amazing year for @pick_central sports.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!🏆 Pickerington Central Tigers are the OHSAA D1 Boys Track State Champions! Congrats to an amazing team & the girls as well!.💍💍💍 And that folks is why they call us #pickeRINGton.Football ✅ .Girls Basketball ✅ .Boys Track ✅.#WeAreCentral #OHSAA.
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As summer begins, thanks to all the athletes, coaches, ADs, readers, followers, whomever I need to thank for a great 2018-19 high school sports season. Fall will be here before we know it (but hopefully not too soon . ).
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Thanks again to everyone who has reached out regarding my award the other day. I'm humbled, appreciative and thankful for the chance to tell great stories.
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Feel like I should let Buick know there are many of us in the media who devote a lot of energy to covering all sports regardless of gender. I personally care every bit as much about covering women's sports as guys' sports. How it should be.
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Carson Gresock with 278 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries in the Bears' big win tonight. Two consecutive wins in this rivalry for UA.
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.@PHSNSoccer_Mens' Reece Allbaugh has been named OCC-Ohio Player of the Year. Congrats to Reece! @PNAthletics.
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All-state soccer was released last night by the OSSCA. Among the honors, @sfdboyssoccer's Cristian Gomez was named Mr. Soccer and D-II Player of the Year and @NABSOCCER's Noah Boffo was D-I Player of the Year. Eagles coach Johnny Ulry is D-I Coach of the Year.
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All-district for @GoldenBears_FB: Carson Gresock is Offensive Player of the Year and Justin Buttermore is district Coach of the Year. Also on first team: Simon Monnin (QB), Jacob Pritchett (OL), Doak Buttermore (DB), Carter Brock (LB).
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We're seven games into the season and @sfdboyssoccer still has not allowed a goal. Not. One. They've outscored their opponents 25-0.
Final .Desales: 1.Covington Catholic : 0.
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Friday's Division I, Region 3 final between @PCtigerfootball and @GoldenBears_FB will be at Westerville Central. Kickoff at 7 p.m.
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Bet all the stadiums lit up tonight look great from the air. Nice end to what surely has been a trying day for high school sports and everyone associated with them.
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In almost 19 years to the day of being a sportswriter, I've never covered a game quite like this one. What a battle. UA had just two hits and won and all three pitchers were tremendous.
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Macy Spielman scored 25 points, 15 on 3-pointers, in @ua_girlsbball's 54-39 win over Hilliard Davidson.
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@NAEagleBaseball Strikeout ends it and New Albany defeats Cincinnati Elder 6-5. Second state title, first since 2004 and first in Division I. Plenty more to come.
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It's official: @UAGirlsLax2022 vs @NAglax1 in the Division I state final at 4 p.m. Saturday at Historic Crew Stadium. Former Eagles teammates Elaina Enich and Morgan Fee Maldovan squaring off for a state title.
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Early football signings for next Wednesday starting to pour in. Five @PCtigerfootball players are signing: Kobi Asamoah (Rutgers), C.J. Doggette and Tyler Gillison (UC), Dakari Frazier (Ball State) and Sonny Styles (Ohio State). @pick_central @UlreyThisWeek.
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.@CWIndians' Lonzell Feagin advances to tomorrow's 400 final. That's 4 finals tomorrow (100, 200, 400, long jump).
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I'm not sure if this the wildest 24-hour period in Ohio high school sports in the 20 years I've been a sportswriter, but it has to be close and not one bit of it has taken place on a field.
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Great stuff!.
Locker rooms are closed. So the Eagles entered the football field from the path that leads to the baseball fields. I have to say, I think the tradition should continue beyond COVID. One of my favorite pictures of the night. if not the past 4 years.
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Looking forward to telling the story of @CWBoysHoops guard Brennan Cook, who is a year removed from surgery to remove cancer in his jaw. “I’m feeling pretty good with my life right now,” he told me earlier today.
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And now this year includes both football and girls basketball titles at @pick_central with the boys basketball team coming here next weekend.
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.@CWBoysHoops' Bilal Sow has been named OCC-Capital Division Player of the Year, the conference announced a few minutes ago. Congrats!.
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Also would be remiss if I didn't say thanks for the support last week. Extremely appreciative that my readers and followers know I enjoy telling your stories but prize being fair and objective.
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Yes, I'm already agonizing over who I'll pick next week between 12-0 New Albany and 12-0 UA. This will be a fun one to break down, predict and cover next Friday.
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.@PLSD Board of Education agenda for tomorrow's meeting includes approval of Chris Wallace as @PCTigersGirlsBB's next coach. Wallace would succeed Johnathan Hedgepeth, who resigned in June after eight successful seasons.
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In Division I, @NewAlbanyFB running back Christian Manville and linebackers Tom Bohman and Chidi Mabatah are first-team all-district. Ben Dehmer (OL) is second team. @napls_athletics @EagleBackers (more . ).
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Glad for guys like Jay Sharrett, Jeff Lomonico and Jason Roach who I've known since covering @PCtigerfootball pre-split in my first newspaper job. They've given a lot to that program and now get to enjoy a championship.
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@OlibFootball @PCtigerfootball @HartleyFootball @FootballSFD @pnfootball @NewAlbanyFB @GoldenBears_FB @hdvfootball Full schedule:
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Full Division I bracket here. Right-click on the image for full size.
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.@NewAlbanyFB:.Aug. 30 vs. Westerville South.Sept. 6 vs. Dublin Scioto.Sept. 13 at Licking Heights.Sept. 20 at Gahanna.Sept. 27 vs. Olentangy.*Oct. 4 at Canal Winchester.*Oct. 11 vs. Newark.*Oct. 18 at Big Walnut.*Oct. 25 at Franklin Heights.*Nov. 1 vs. Groveport.
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FINAL: @PCTigersHoops wins the Division I regional championship, defeating Hilliard Bradley 43-39 at Ohio Dominican. Tigers into a state semifinal next Friday.
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Leaving my final event of 2017-18. Much writing to do the next 48 hours and then things slow down for a while. Thanks everyone for the follows, likes, RTs, comments, etc all year.
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FINAL: @Stallionslax wins the Division II state championship, 13-5 over Ottawa Hills at Ohio Wesleyan. Stallions (19-3) outscored the Green Bears 11-2 after the first quarter to win their second state title and first since 2012.
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.@GoldenBears_FB has found its next coach. Justin Buttermore is coming to UA from Granville, where he spent the past two seasons after a successful 14-year run at Dresden Tri-Valley. Story coming.
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Kennedie Doup with 15 points tonight to lead @OHSgbball to a 47-37 win over Hilliard Darby in the Braves' OCC-Cardinal Division opener. Jonna Spohn and Meg Spohn each with nine points for Olentangy.
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FINAL: @CWIndiansFball 30, @NewAlbanyFB 28. Indians go to 5-1, 1-0; Eagles drop to 3-3, 0-1. Huge win for Canal Winchester.
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.@pick_central signings Wed.: @LadytigerVB's Sydney Charlton (Texas Wesleyan) and Maddie Pletcher (Texas-Tyler), Sydney Doggette (gymnastics/Alabama), Nathen Eberhardt (swimming/Cleveland State), @PCTigersGirlsBB's Madison Greene (Penn State) and Maliya Perry (Auburn) . (more).
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It's official . @napls_athletics wins the Ralph Young All-Sports Award for the OCC-Capital for the ninth time in 10 years. Final point totals were released about an hour ago.
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@MEATBAT24 His tweet is one of the dumbest I've ever seen and that is saying a lot. One title does not mean more than six. LeBron fans always eager to tear down anything Jordan accomplished. 6-0>>>>3-6.
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Congrats to the Bears! First league championship in 16 years.
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FINAL: @UAMensLacrosse wins its first state title since 2016 and 17th overall, defeating Dublin Jerome 12-10 at Historic Crew Stadium. Leo Caine with four goals to lead the way for the Bears (22-1). Recap later @ThisWeekSports.
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Congrats to all honorees! @NAglax1's Mary Carson and @UAGirlsLax2021's Camryn Callaghan are first-team selections. NA's Abby Cole, @PCTigersLax's Grace Osborn and UA's Kampbell Stone were named second-team all-state. @pick_central @UAHSAthletics @napls_athletics.
All state teams were expanded to be more inline with practices on the boys side. Updated D1.
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All-state boys volleyball teams have been released. @OlentangyVolley coach Karen Kochheiser is state Coach of the Year (@ThisWeekSports named her COTY first though!).
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FINAL: New Albany wins the 12U Little League state championship, defeating Boardman 9-8 in North Canton. Eagles on to the Great Lakes regional in suburban Indianapolis. First game will be Aug. 6, a week from Monday. @NAEaglePride @NewAlbanyOhio.
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Kennedie Doup scored a game-high 19 points, most of them coming on five 3-pointers, and Reagan Richeson and Meg Spohn each added nine last night as @OHSgbball opened with a 55-31 win over Licking Heights.
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The lacrosse family in central Ohio is expanding. @hartleyhawks will add a boys team coming this spring, the school announced this morning in a press release. Assistant AD/football coach Brad Burchfield shared the news.
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The Division I, Region 3 semifinal between @PCtigerfootball and @pnfootball will be at White Field in Newark, per OHSAA email.
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Division I state champion @stallionsVB finishes fourth in @VBMagazine's national rankings. Quite an honor! Read more here:
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Merry Christmas to all of my followers! Hopefully you're enjoying this great holiday with family or friends or wherever you want to be. Thankful for all of you.
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Big day at @napls_athletics. Congrats to @NABSOCCER and @NAGSOCCER for closing out OCC-Ohio championships with wins tonight. Quite a way to celebrate their first year in a new division. Earlier, @NAPLSgirlsgolf won its third consecutive Division I district title.
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Per @TLSportsSeth, the OHSAA's new transfer bylaw has passed. Transfers will play the first half of their sport's regular season but not the second half or tournaments. It passed 450-244.
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.@OHSAASports recognized @SFDAthletics as one of 8 schools that have qualified for Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity School Awards . .
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Here are your seeds for the Division I boys basketball district tournament. @GLHSBasketball is the top seed. @PCTigersHoops 6, @PNBasketball 7, @BravesOhs 14, @uahsmensbball 21, @CWBoysHoops 24, @CruiserBBall 33, @NewAlbanyHSBB 34. The draw is in about three hours.
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We're told a who's who of college coaches will be here, including Chris Holtmann (OSU), Bob Huggins (West Virginia) and Jeff Boals (Ohio University).
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Current @UAMensAquatics swimmers Thomas and Patrick Ray and UA grad Reed Ray all are swimming in the Tampa Bay Frogman coming up on Jan. 17. Thomas swam last year and raised about $8,000 for the Navy SEAL Foundation.
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To be kind, it is tiring when people think I or my colleagues at any level of sports media have some kind of an agenda to push. Fairness and objectivity. That's where I stand.
I'll tell you guys what, if there were no sports writers college football would be ready to start in three weeks without a hitch.
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Here is the Division I Central District bracket. Full seeds available at by choosing the division and district. Pick Central, Olentangy, Marysville, Olentangy Liberty and Big Walnut are seeds 1-5.
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.@NAGSOCCER has won the Division I regional championship, 2-0 over Olentangy Liberty at DeSales. Program history continues as the Eagles advance to their first state tournament.
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.@NABSOCCER's Kameron Kist is OCC-Ohio Player of the Year. Coach Johnny Ulry is league Coach of the Year. Teammates Jakob Bering and Derrick Harris were first-team all-league, and eight players in all earned all-league honors. @napls_athletics @EagleBackers.
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Have confirmation from both schools that @NewAlbanyFB will visit @BigWalnutEagles in Week 3 *IF* their scheduled games vs Walnut Ridge and Beechcroft, respectively, cannot be played. If that matchup comes to fruition, it's one of the best in the state next Friday.
The Columbus teachers strike has led to some Week 2 football schedule changes. @HTHS_Football @BexleyAthletics @HayesFootball19 @DTownPacers @SCPrepAthletics @WhitehallRamsFB @WYHSRams
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DeSales' Michael Cockerell and his dad, also named Michael, are the first father-son combo in program history to win state titles.
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Looking for spring athletes from the schools I cover (Canal, DeSales, Groveport, New Albany, Olentangy, both Pickeringtons and UA) who would want to chat about what you're doing to stay ready and stay in shape for your upcoming season. My DMs are open.
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