Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

The Fairland Dragons will be trying to make history as they face history.
The Dragons will be attempting to bring home the school’s first state championship trophy as they face the tradition-rich Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph Vikings at 10:45 a.m. Friday in the Division III state semifinals in the Schottenstein Center at Ohio State University.
Fairland (24-1) is making its first state tournament appearance since 1961 and the first under the four-division setup.
Fairland High School qualified in 1924 and 1926 and Proctorville Fairland in 1961.
Those three teams qualified when the state had only Class A for the larger schools and Class B for the smaller schools.
The Vikings (21-6) are making their fifth straight trip to the Final Four. But Villa Angela-St. Joseph’s success goes back even further and has even greater success.
VASJ won state championships in 1991, ’92, ’94, ’95, 2013 and ’15. The Vikings were runners up five times — 1979, ’89, ’97, ’06 and ’14 — and have 15 total Final Four appearances.
Fairland’s success this season is due to a balanced offense and a six-man rotation of all juniors.
District Co-Player of the Year 6-3 Isaiah Howell averages 15.2 points and 7.6 rebounds. The guards are slick 6-foot point guard Ty Staten and 6-foot shooter Luke Thomas with 15.5 point  and a 43 percent shooting from 3-point range.
Another key outside shooter is 6-3 Gunner Short who shoots 34 percent from 3-point range and averages 15.8 points a game to lead the team. Inside is 6-7 Kollin Van Horn who averages 11.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.5 blocks an outing.
Van Horn’s total were down somewhat from last year due to a facial injury that forced him to have surgery and miss a month of games.
VASJ was led by 6-foot-8 sophomore center Alonzo Gaffney with 24 points in the 70-51 regional final win over West Salem Northwestern on Saturday.
Also expected to start for the Vikings are 6-1 senior Will Butler, 5-10 senior Terrance Lawler, 5-9 junior Jerry Higgins and 6-4 senior Daniel McGarry.
Higgins leads the Vikings with a 16.3 scoring average while Gaffney scores at a 12.7 clip. McGarry averages 9.4 points and was second team all-district.
Higgins was named the Northeast All-District Player of the Year and the Vikings’ Babe Kwasniak was the Coach of the Year.
Also named honorable mention all-district were Lawler, Andre George and Butler.
Some of the schools most notable alumni are ex-NFL linebacker London Fletcher, Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard, Michigan and NFL quarterback Elvis Grbac, Ohio State and NBA player Clark Kellogg and brothers Mike and Bob Golic who both played in the NFL. Bob Golic was an All-Pro nose guard with the Browns.

Boys Basketball Tickets
For the OHSAA boys basketball state tournament, tickets are available now and include single-session tickets, all-session ticket books (12 games) in the Entry Level, Club Level, Terrace Level and in the Center Court Club.
Single-session ticket prices are $15 each for the Entry and Club Levels and $12 for the Terrace Level. All-session ticket books are $144 for the Entry and Club Levels or $120 for the Terrace Level.
The limited quantity Center Court Club tickets, which cost $498 per book, are located very close to the court and also give fans the opportunity to remain in the arena between games in a special hospitality area.

Boys Basketball “Four Pack” Offer
Two special “Four Pack” ticket offers will be available for the boys basketball state tournament.
The first special is for “Championship Saturday” that includes a ticket to each of the four championship games in the Terrace Level for $36.
The second special includes four tickets together in the Terrace Level for any of the 12 games for $36 (a savings of $3 per ticket).