Opening night in high school basketball had a little bit of everything. First, blowouts. Second, a nice closely-contested game between Firelands and Keystone.

The Firelands victory was no surprise. Notice, despite a 2-19 finish last season, they were given a considerable boost in our preseason rankings. The reason is simple: There's considerable talent back for the Falcons, and they should mesh much better with coach Steve Lias, who has known them for years.

As for the blowouts, that's customary early in the season. Amherst's victory was not surprising. I went into the game expecting an extremely raw performance from Oberlin, although through the first quarter, in a close game, I thought Oberlin would win. The Comets looked polished. Will they have enough to compete and win in the Southwestern Conference? Yes, but my preseason pick is Avon Lake. The Shoremen have too much height with Mark Homenik and Mike Herrilko.

The Clearview-Vermilion game, which Vermilion won handily, was quite interesting. The reason for the blowout may be the difference between Division II and Division III programs. Clearview has talent, but Vermilion has numbers -- particularly with post players who move well. I have yet to look at the box score, but I'd assume James Washington was outnumbered inside by Derek Hoebing, Derek Barbato, Tim Clark ... you get the picture.

I spoke with New London coach Tom Howell last night after his team's 59-57 win over Edison. I expect both teams to be strong this season and at least get to the district semifinals this season. In the Firelands Conference, Western is down -- at least when it comes to coach Chris Sheldon's expectations -- so I wonder how much of a door that opens for New London to retake a conference championship or St. Paul to emerge? The first New London-St. Paul game ought to be quite interesting.