Elyria Sports Hall of Fame: Big win led to state title for Murray Ridge

Sometimes it just takes a special moment to catapult a team toward greatness. That moment for the 2009 Murray Ridge Raiders came when they defeated the Cuyahoga Rockets — a program they had never beaten — in the sectionals of the Ohio Special Olympics state basketball tournament. "They were our nemesis," Raiders coach Bob Burkhardt said. "Year in and year out, we couldn't find a way to beat them." The victory propelled Murray Ridge to the first state championship in school history. The 2009 team will be inducted Saturday into the Elyria Sports Hall of Fame, joining Elyria High grads Doug Foor, Amanda Medvetz and Joe Norton; Elyria Catholic alums Joel Stuart and MacKenzie Tweardy; and the 1995 state champion Elyria West 4x100 relay team in the Class of 2026. Dr. Dennis Carson will receive the Distinguished Service Award. The win over Cuyahoga was called a "milestone" by Burkhardt in 2009. "When that happened, there was a noticeable boost in the players' confidence," Raiders assistant coach Leroy Keen said in a story in The Murray Ridge Courier in May 2009. "It was very gratifying to be able to beat them and move on," Burkhardt said. "We figured that they would probably statewide be our strongest competition." That didn't prove to be the case. Waiting in the state final would be Auglaize County, a team that was undefeated and the defending state champion. In fact, the Mustangs hadn't been beaten in over two years. "I think it was very commendable that our team was able to end their winning streak," Burkhardt said of the Raiders' 51-48 victory in the final. The Raiders starters were Ryan Eliason, Dameion Taylor, Charles Johnson Jr., Jon Torres and DJ Overall. The reserves included Albert Mays, Mike Kovacic, Hector Lozano, Eric Johnson, Jeff Torres, Carl Jeans, Steven Cruz and Raul Torres. Helping Burkhardt and Keen was volunteer Wendy Johnson. Burkhardt said Eliason and Jon Torres were the offensive spark plugs, while Charles Johnson and Taylor were the top defenders and rebounders. "We were able to pull together some new players that matched with some of the older players," Burkhardt said. "We never had enough height to compete with some of the other teams and some of the newer guys gave us some of that athleticism and height." The 2009 Special Olympics basketball season began in January with more than 135 teams competing across Ohio. The Raiders played 15 games during the season. The postseason, which began with the Division I North sectional at Oberlin College, was held March 7-8 and Murray Ridge defeated the Cuyahoga Rockets 61-53 in the semifinals, then beat Stark County Red 66-36 in the final. The state tournament was held at New Philadelphia High on March 27, and the Raiders opened with a 57-52 win over Wyandot County in the semifinals before their improbable win over Auglaize County. "It was a great experience," Eric Johnson said in the Murray Ridge Courier story in 2009. "All the attention is overwhelming because we're just playing a game and doing our best. I feel honored to be part of the team." Charles Johnson, who played for Murray Ridge for nearly a decade at that point, was proud of his teammates. "The games we played were very close," he said in the 2009 article. "Those other teams were really good, but our boys never gave up. They kept playing their best." According to Murray Ridge Special Olympics Habilitation Manager Shawn Hatcher, Ryan Eliason and Jon Torres were on the Division II basketball team that won a state championship in February at Ohio State University, while Charles Johnson, Jeff Torres and Lozano remain active in Special Olympics in softball. Contact Shaun Bennett at (440) 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on X.