The Hartley High School wrestling team is choosing to look at the positives from the CCL tournament Feb. 11.

Sure, coach Kevin Petrella admits that with just five teams in attendance and with only his squad and St. Charles fielding complete lineups that the competition might not have been as strong as past seasons.

Despite those facts, nothing took away from the enjoyment Petrella and his wrestlers experienced after they captured what he believes is the first league title in program history.

“It was a little ugly, but we won it somehow,” Petrella said. “You feel pretty good, even if St. Charles and us were the only ones with full lineups. It was the first time we’ve ever won the CCL, and not only that, but it was the 50th anniversary of the first CCL tournament.”

The performance continued a strong regular-season finish for the Hawks, who compete in a Division II sectional tournament Friday, Feb. 17, and Saturday, Feb. 18, at Madison Plains. The top four in each weight class advance to the district tournament Feb. 24 and 25 at Heath.

Hartley also beat New Albany 39-20 and Jonathan Alder 39-25 on Feb. 8.

Mitchell Hoffman (113 pounds), Jacob Croswell (152), Jarrod Zang (170), Eric Selegue (182) and Napoleon Bell (195) all captured titles in the league meet, which was held at home.

Hartley scored 191.5 points to top defending champion Ready (180.5), St. Charles (152.5), DeSales (114) and Watterson (16.5).

Last season in a Division II sectional at Hilliard Bradley, Zang was second at 160 and Bell took fourth at 189. At district, 2011 graduate Evan Jackson was first at 215 and Zang placed fifth. Bell lost in the third round of consolation.

Zang, a senior, was a Division III state qualifier as a freshman at 160 and a Division II state qualifier as a sophomore at 160.

“There’s a lot of stuff that we still need to improve on, but we’re going to focus on what we did well (in the league tournament),” Petrella said. “The sectional we’re at will include the top two teams in Division III in West Jefferson and Amanda-Clearcreek, so we know it’ll be tough.”

•The boys basketball team seems to be back on track heading into the Division II district tournament.

After losing Joe Brown to a season-ending back injury Jan. 20, the Hawks won their next two games before falling to Watterson 36-34 on Jan. 31.

Hartley then won its next four, including 62-59 in overtime on Feb. 11 at Toledo Rogers.

“I have to give our kids a lot of credit,” coach Randy Kortokrax said. “We always talk about defense and rebounding, and the kids have done a nice job buying into that. We’ve kept the scores within reason and have had several sophomores helping us. It’s been really good.”

The same week the Hawks lost Brown, junior post player Jacob Matuska and senior Jordan Fair both returned to action. Matuska missed the first six weeks because of a torn meniscus and Fair was out the first 10 games because of ineligibility.

In their absence, sophomores Jared Brandewie, Kalil Morris, Chris Moxley and Drew Onega all began to take on key roles.

“(Matuska is) a work in process,” Kortokrax said. “We’re hoping we can get him a little more in shape each day because to beat the better teams, he’s going to have to be 85 to 90 percent. But he is a force on defense.”

•The girls basketball team opens the Division II district tournament against Amanda-Clearcreek at 2:45 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, at Pickerington North. The winner plays ninth-seeded Whitehall or Buckeye Valley in a second-round game at 2:45 p.m. Feb. 25 at Pickerington North.

If the Hawks advance to a district semifinal, they will play eighth-seeded Mifflin, 10th-seeded Independence or Sparta Highland at 8 p.m. Feb. 29 at North, with the winner advancing to a district final at 7 p.m. March 2 at North.

The Hawks are 15-5 overall after closing the regular season by beating Whitehall 48-40 on Feb. 1, losing to Ready 37-34 on Feb. 4 and beating DeSales 31-22 on Feb. 8.

DeSales and Watterson shared the CCL title at 6-2 and Hartley was third at 5-3.

“I thought we’d be anywhere from a two to a four seed,” coach Mike Lanza said. “We’ve had some times when we’ve played like a million bucks, and other times we played like a penny. We’re hoping to be able to put a tournament run together that everybody will be proud of because Hartley hasn’t been to a district title game for probably 10 or 11 years. I think we have the ability to do it.”