WILLARD — Upper Sandusky has plenty of options offensively, so when its defense buckles down this year like it did late in the second quarter, the Rams are hard to stop. They closed the first half on a big run and cruised to an 83-59 victory against Willard to open the season Friday night.

WILLARD — Alexis Fogle’s 3-point shooting — in the first half, she hit three of the Upper Sandusky girls basketball team’s five 3-pointers — coupled with free throws by Fogle, Hannah McKinniss and a coast-to-coast layup by Alivia Oney kept the Rams close early.

RICHWOOD — Most of the night, Wynford did everything it needed to do on defense to perfection except get rebounds. North Union’s 12 second-chance points were enough to win a defensive battle 43-35 to open the boys basketball season Friday night.

SYCAMORE —The Mohawk girls basketball team kicked off its regular season by hosting Lakota on Thursday night in a non-conference game. The Warriors were able to hang close throughout the contest, but size played a big part in Lakota’s 38-31 victory.

CAREY — Old Fort scored the first nine points, and with offense a struggle for Carey, it was a deficit that was too much to overcome Thursday night in a 45-22 victory by the Stockaders in a nonleague girls basketball game. Laini Gillet led Old Fort (2-0) with 11 points, Jenna Clouse had 10 points, and Morgan Miller finished with 9 points.

MOUNT BLANCHARD — It’s never easy facing a defending conference champion who returns the entire team for the 2018-19 season. On Thursday, the Riverdale girls basketball team found out just how difficult that can be.

Led by Grace Metzger’s 12 points, the Upper Sandusky seventh grade girls basketball team took a 32-22 victory against Ridgedale on Thursday. Also scoring for the Rams (2-0) were Bailey Fox with 8 points, Ryleigh Haas and Erin Merriman with 4 points each, and Mazzy Shoemaker and Sophia Nichols with 2 points each.

Mohawk’s Brent Konkle and Bryce Kirian took top honors on the All-Daily Chief-Union football team as coach and player of the year, respectively. Konkle, the Northern 10 Athletic Conference’s coach of the year, led the Warriors to a perfect 10-0 regular season that included an undefeated 7-0 record in the N10.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Three Wynford Elementary School cross country runners competed in the national elementary cross country meet in Louisville, Kentucky. Drew Stanek, 9, finished 66th of 233 runners in the 9- and 10-year-old race, finishing the 3,000-meter course in 12:49. He was 25th among 101 9-year-olds.

DOLA — A 10-point fourth quarter by Hardin Northern’s Maddie Grappy helped bring her team to within two points of Riverdale’s lead with just 20 seconds left of Tuesday’s non-league contest.