JEROMESVILLE — The coveted state championship stage used to be reserved for the Hillsdale softball team.
The Falcons have made their names known on the diamond for nearly a half-century now, having played in state championship games a total of 10 times in five different decades since the state softball tournament began in the late 1970s.
With its 17 Final Four appearances and seven titles, Hillsdale softball is without a doubt the torch-bearer for state-level success among Ashland’s 10 area high schools.
But with this Friday’s appearance in the Division VII football championship game against Marion Local — coming not long after Final Four appearances by the Hillsdale baseball program in both 2019 (state runner-up) and this past June — it’s safe to say the Falcons have spread their state wings even more.
“You always dream of being in a situation where you’re playing for a state championship,” seventh-year Hillsdale football head coach Trevor Cline said. “It’s no longer a dream — it’s actually reality — and that’s extremely cool for our program and our community in general.
“Outside of our football program, I don’t know how many people truly believed that Hillsdale football could compete for a state championship.”
Considering the state stage, it’s an unquestionably unique era for a local high school when looking at the history of Ashland-area sports.
With softball, baseball and now football combined, Hillsdale has had six Final Four appearances since the spring of 2018.
The Falcons have three state championship game appearances in a seven-year stretch (2018 softball, 2019 baseball, 2024 football). The only other area school to pull off a similar multi-sport feat over that same timeframe was Loudonville, which advanced to state title games in 1990 (football), 1991 (softball and volleyball), 1992 (girls basketball) and 1993 (softball).
Jodi Long, a 1992 Hillsdale graduate now in her ninth year as the school’s athletic director, said it’s truly a distinctive point in history at her alma mater.
Long was a three-time All-Ohioan and a member of Hillsdale’s 1992 state runner-up softball team. Her daughters, Shelbi and Sydney Long, both played for Hillsdale’s Final Four softball team in 2016, and Sydney helped lead the Falcons to state gold in 2018.
“I think it’s awesome,” said Jodi, whose husband, Kevin Long, was also a baseball star for Hillsdale before graduating in 1987. “Hillsdale’s been a softball school for a long time and I don’t say it just because I was part of it, that’s just how it is. That’s the only sport that really had any state experience.
“So having a couple (Final Four) baseball teams in recent years has been a great building experience for all these kids, and now for football to enjoy it, it’s been a fun ride.”
Like Long, Hannah Moore knows plenty about the legend of Hillsdale softball. She led the Falcons to the Final Four three times in her seven seasons as head coach from 2017 through 2024, including a state title in 2018.
She also played in the Final Four at Hillsdale on the 2007 softball team before graduating in 2009.
“In softball, we always knew we had to set our expectations at a higher standard and that’s kind of where it’s gotten with almost all the other sports now,” said Moore, who was 151-38 as a head coach at HHS before stepping away from the softball program this past summer to spend more time with her family. “Our standards can’t just be where they were last year – we’ve got to keep going higher and higher and higher.
“I think a lot of the coaches at Hillsdale have really started to buy into that. It takes a lot of work outside the season to get to what your goals and dreams are, and it takes a whole community to really buy into that, too.”
Ironically, Moore is related to Cline. His mother, Tami Cline – herself a state champ in the discus as a senior for Hillsdale in 1988 – is Moore’s cousin.
It makes for plenty of interesting chats around the holidays.
Cline was just 24 years old when he took over the Hillsdale football program in 2018. Moore was 26 when she first led the Falcons on the softball diamond in 2017.
Now both of them have coaching in the state championship game on their résumés.
“She means a lot to me, so it’s been cool hearing from her throughout this season,” said Cline, now 57-25 leading the Falcons. “We talk about how neat it is to see the success of the players and the opportunity they have (this week), and the opportunity they had with Hannah when they made the state championship (in 2018).”
“He’s the nicest guy in the world — always has been,” Moore said of Cline. “I’m really excited for him to have this experience and to lead these boys to hopefully another state championship for Hillsdale.”
One person who has a unique perspective on Hillsdale’s sports renaissance is the head coach who led the 2019 and 2024 Falcon baseball teams to the state tournament, Jason Snow.
A 1989 Loudonville graduate, he knows all about the Redbirds’ state runs. And as a former varsity head coach for baseball at Loudonville — and a former varsity girls basketball head coach at Ashland, Hillsdale and New London — Snow is well-versed on the area’s history as well.
He said the generation of athletes currently thriving at Hillsdale is helping build a foundation for something that can grow bigger and bigger as the years go by.
“I witnessed the Loudonville football team — when I was in school and after I was out — their success (making it to state). They were a dominant program back then,” Snow said. “Now I’m seeing it from another school here, and then being able to be involved with the baseball team’s state runs, it’s just good for the area.”
“You can watch the girls softball team and you can dream of (taking your own team to state),” he added, “but once you actually get there yourself, it’s like, ‘Wow!’ It’s something you want to do all the time because it’s stuff you won’t forget.”
Closing in on two decades of teaching within the Hillsdale school system, Snow said any team that advances all the way to the state stage — no matter the sport — always needs to catch a few breaks.
But he said it comes down to the players performing under pressure and he always emphasizes the fact that they might never get another chance.
At Hillsdale, it has become as much about seizing the moment as it is about building a tradition across the sports spectrum.
Three of the area’s schools have never had a team in any sport play in a state championship game. Only two — Hillsdale and Loudonville — have made five or more total title game appearances overall.
That reality isn’t lost on Cline as he leads his squad into Friday’s showdown at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.
“I definitely understand that it’s a special moment,” he said. “Our football program’s been around since 1963 and we had never won a regional championship.”
Moore agreed.
“These athletes want to make a legacy for their class and their sport. It’s just cool to see the progression,” she said.
“We have two little boys and we live in the Hillsdale school district, and we know this is going to pave the way for a lot of other kids 20 years from now. … We’re not missing this game for anything because we know how important it is for the rest of the district.”
Going For Gold
Ashland-area team to play in state championship games/matches:
- 1958 – Northwestern boys basketball (state champ)
- 1959 – Northwestern baseball (state champ)
- 1965 – Northwestern boys basketball (state champ)
- 1966 – Northwestern baseball (state champ)
- 1978 – Hillsdale softball (runner-up)
- 1979 – Hillsdale softball (state champ)
- 1981 – Loudonville volleyball (runner-up)
- 1985 – Crestview volleyball (runner-up)
- 1986 – Hillsdale softball (runner-up)
- 1990 – Loudonville football (runner-up)
- 1991 – Loudonville softball (state champ)
- 1991 – Loudonville volleyball (state champ)
- 1992 – Loudonville girls basketball (runner-up)
- 1992 – Hillsdale softball (runner-up)
- 1993 – Loudonville softball (state champ)
- 1994 – Hillsdale softball (state champ)
- 1995 – South Central baseball (runner-up)
- 1996 – Hillsdale softball (state champ)
- 1997 – Ashland softball (runner-up)
- 1997 – Loudonville softball (state champ)
- 1997 – Madison volleyball (state champ)
- 1999 – Hillsdale softball (state champ)
- 1999 – South Central volleyball (runner-up)
- 2000 – Hillsdale softball (state champ)
- 2001 – Loudonville softball (runner-up)
- 2002 – Loudonville softball (state champ)
- 2010 – Hillsdale softball (state champ)
- 2018 – Hillsdale softball (state champ)
- 2019 – Ashland boys bowling (runner-up)
- 2019 – Hillsdale baseball (runner-up)
- 2019 – Madison girls soccer (runner-up)
- 2020 – Madison girls soccer (state champ)
- 2021 – Ashland boys bowling (runner-up)
- 2024 – Hillsdale football
- list does not include championships for individual area athletes or teams competing in a non-game/match format
