Boys basketball: Elyria, Lorain to renew storied rivalry this week

Every team has 22 games on its schedule. Sometimes one of those games just means more. That's how it is for Elyria and Lorain, who will renew their storied rivalry Saturday at Elyria High School in a game that can be heard on WEOL.com and streamed on The Chronicle-Telegram's YouTube channel. "As much as I'd like to say it's another game, clearly it's more than that," Lorain coach Matt Kielian said. "It's a rivalry, but it's more of a friendly rivalry." In recent years it's also been an incredibly close rivalry with the teams splitting their last four meetings with all four games decided by a total of 15 points. "Obviously it's a big game because they know each other," Elyria coach Brett Larrick said. "The kids play AAU together, they've known each other a long time and have grown up together. It's a game where you compete against friends, which is a little different than competing against teams you don't know that well. That adds to the competitiveness of it." Elyria comes into the game with a 3-0 record after wins at Cleveland Heights and Solon and Lorain is 0-1 heading into tonight's Greater Cleveland Conference opener at Mentor. "Everybody wants to do well in this game because everyone is watching," Kielian said. "Most years it's the game of the year up until that point. Everyone is going to leave everything they have out on the court. Each game has special moments. Each individual game every year has its own special unique place with me. I look forward to this game every year." When asked to name the most memorable game in the rivalry, Larrick, who is in his 18th year as Elyria's coach, turned his thoughts to the 2017 Division I district final at Elyria Catholic when his No. 2-seeded Pioneers upset the the top-seeded Titans 55-47 in a sold-out Coliseum. "That district final had the most on the line and most buzz. It was a great high school atmosphere," Larrick said. "The sold-out crowd, the tickets, how many fans were already there when the bus got to Elyria Catholic hours before the game ... that one kind of sticks out. But there have been so many good ones, we used to play out in Sandusky at the holiday tournament. Both of us have some great teams." Each team brings a lot of star power to the game. Elyria's Kendyll Compton is coming off of a 20-point game at Solon and Jermiah Daniels is averaging 16.3 points and leads the team with 5.3 assists and three steals a game. "We're pleased with our start," Larrick said. "We knew we had a tough stretch to start with games in 10 days and the first three being on the road. I think our guys have handled it well. We've been really proud of the effort we've gotten and how everyone's been playing their part." Lorain is expecting another big year from 2025 All-Ohio selection Jaylen Jackson, who scored a team-high 13 points in its loss to North Ridgeville at the DiFranco Classic. However, sometimes it's the players you least expect that make the biggest impact in the Elyria-Lorain game. Last season, Aven Kielian scored a season-best 18 points and also had 10 rebounds, in the Titans' 64-60 win. In the 2021-22 season, Elyria's Isaiah Johnson, who hadn't made a 3-point field goal in the Pioneers' first seven games, hit a three at the buzzer to give his team a 43-41 win. "You have a lot of fans at the game, so the kids want to play well, which is a good thing," Larrick said. "But it can also be a bad thing if you try too hard and do things that are outside of what we normally do." Not only is Lorain on the road for this year's game, it will also be playing its second game in less than 24 hours. "You try not to look past the first one but you try to make sure they recognize the importance of both games," Kielian said. "You take it one day at a time, one practice at a time." Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@choroniclet.com.