COPLEY: The paperwork is over.
Now comes the manual labor.
The paperwork was completed on Sunday when high school basketball coaches met during meetings throughout the state to determine pairings for the postseason.
The heavy lifting begins in a little more than two weeks when sectional play begins in all four divisions at 19 sites in Northeast Ohio. Sunday’s meetings were brief, painless affairs as most of the plotting — the actual voting to determine seeding purposes — was done online and completed on Saturday.
Area schools earning top seeds were Brunswick and Jackson (Division I), St. Vincent-St. Mary (Division II), Tuslaw (Division III) and Mogadore (Division IV).
Sectional games will be played at the sites of the higher-seeded teams. The higher-seeded teams will be the home team when the district portion of the tournament is reached at the various sites.
There appeared to be few major surprises during the meetings. Here is a rundown of how things unfolded at each site involving area teams in significant situations:
Copley Division I
The only surprise — and it was a mild one — came when second-seeded Medina declined to take a first-round bye.
The Bees will open play against North and, if victorious, will host sixth-seeded Walsh Jesuit in a sectional final. Top-seeded Brunswick, third-seeded Archbishop Hoban, fourth-seeded Hudson and sixth-seeded Walsh took first-round byes.
The most intriguing matchup came when 10th-seeded Wadsworth chose to play fifth-seeded Stow in a first-round game. The Grizzlies (4-14), whose lineup includes more sophomores than you might find on a junior-varsity team, lost twice to the Bulldogs (14-4) during the regular season and one of their victories came against seventh-seeded Firestone (12-6), but they chose to play Stow instead.
The top half of the bracket includes Brunswick and Hoban, while Medina, Walsh and fourth-seeded Hudson are in the bottom.
Brunswick coach Joe Mackey, who won the 300th game of his 20-year career a few weeks ago, wisely chose the upper half of the bracket in order to take advantage of an extra day of practice if the Blue Devils (15-4) reach the district finals. Brunswick could meet Hoban in a semifinal that will be played on March 2, while the other semifinal will not be played until March 3. That would give the Blue Devils an extra day of practice before the finals March 5.
“Hey, we’ve only got five or six guys,” Mackey said. “I have to give them as much rest as I can.”
Walsh coach John Norris said he feels his team emerged in fine shape. If all goes as planned, the Warriors will have at least eight days to prepare to play Medina.
“Not bad for a sixth-seed, huh?” he said.
Alliance Division I
Undefeated and second-seeded Copley, third-seeded Lake and fifth-seeded Ellet are all in the bottom half of the bracket, while top-seeded Warren Harding has only fourth-seeded Louisville with which to contend.
Copley also chose not to take a bye and will open play against 10th-seeded East. The winner advances to play Ellet. Lake, co-champion of the Federal League, has a first-round bye and will host either Boardman or Warren Howland, the seventh and eighth seeds, respectively.
Canton Division I Canton Civic Center
Federal League co-champ and top-seeded Jackson appears to have caught a break as second-seeded McKinley, third-seeded North Canton Hoover and fifth-seeded Wooster are mired in the bottom bracket.
The Polar Bears will host Garfield in a sectional opener and will advance to play 10th-seeded Perry by avoiding an upset. The best sectional title game could have Hoover playing host to Wooster on Feb. 27.
Canton Division I Canton Fieldhouse
State-ranked and top-seeded St. Vincent-St. Mary is in the top half of the bracket, while second-seeded Alliance, third-seeded Coventry and seventh-seeded — but dangerous — Buchtel are in the lower half.
The Irish will host 10th-seeded Field on Feb. 23 and could advance to play 11th-seeded Northwest. The best opening game has sixth-seeded Kenmore playing at fifth-seeded Canton South, with the winner moving on to likely play fourth-seeded Norton in a sectional title game.
Stow Division II
Either sixth-seeded Woodridge or 10th-seeded Revere, which open tournament play on Feb. 23 at Woodridge, will meet state-ranked and top-seeded Benedictine in a sectional championship game on Feb. 26.
It is expected that Benedictine and second-seeded Cleveland Central Catholic will meet in the district final.
Salem Division III
The top half of the bracket is top heavy with second-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas, third-seeded New Middletown Springfield and fifth-seeded Canton Central Catholic opposite of top-seeded Tuslaw. Don’t be surprised to see rivals St. Thomas Aquinas and CCC meet in a district semifinal on Feb. 29.
Barberton Division IV
Top-seeded and state-ranked Mogadore got a favorable pairing until the district semifinal, where it will probably take on third-seeded Dalton. Cleveland Heights Lutheran East, Hillsdale and Cuyahoga Heights, seeded two, four and five, respectively, are squeezed into the bottom half of the bracket.
Read the high school blog at http://www.ohio.com/preps.