Onaway wins second straight district basketball title, regionals start Monday

As the sign in the front row of the Onaway student section stated, the 2021-2022 Cardinals were in beast mode Friday night in claiming their second straight district tournament with a win over county rival Posen, 64-45.

One beast in particular, senior Jager Mix, playing in his first district final, seemed as determined as ever, scoring 11 of Onaway’s first 15 points to give the red birds an early 13-point lead. 

From that point on, the closest Posen could get again was within nine (27-18) with two minutes left in the half. The Cards built on the lead they had in the second half and were up by as much 24 in the fourth quarter.

Jager Mix led all scoring with 25 points and became the school’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing Joe Sigsby, who had 1,148. He now has 1,162 and will build on that in Monday’s regional semifinal game against Harbor Light Christian (13-8) at Pellston. There will be one game at 7 p.m. The other semifinal game between Rudyard (21-1) and Pickford (4-17) was moved to Cedarville. 

Jager Mix, who was basking in the glory of the moment with his teammates in Indian River, praised his teammates for getting him the ball.

“I would not be able to make those shots if it was not for them getting me the ball,” said Mix. “The way we run our offense, we do it well and we do it as a team and a family.”

Bridger Peel and Austin Veal each scored 13 for Onaway. 

The win ties the all-team season win total of 21. The Cards’ record is now 21-1.

Posen head coach Chris Keller said that of the 22 games played this season, only seven were played with their full line up. 

“Between sickness and injury,” said Keller. “We finished 13-9 and I’m happy with that. Onaway played well and won. That sums it up, they played better than us and won.”

Cole Krajniak and Ethan Soik each scored 13 for Posen.