Now in his 20th season, Lehman watched the Golden Eagles capture their ninth Division II district title in 10 years, and their 14th overall, by defeating Canal Winchester 25-16, 15-25, 25-19, 25-15 in a district final Oct. 31 at Grace Brethren Church.

The Golden Eagles won their first district championship in 1991, Lehman's second season.

"It's always a new group of kids, a new experience. So, it's always exciting," Lehman said.

"It feels amazing," outside hitter Jazmine Reed said moments after winning the district title. "We've worked hard this season, so it feels good to win another one. This was step (No.) 1. Our next step is to win regionals."

Big Walnut's postseason run ended last Thursday as the Golden Eagles fell to Urichsville Claymont 25-21, 25-16, 27-29, 22-25, 15-10 in a regional semifinal to finish 22-4.

"It's really tough," Lehman said. "I'm proud of the girls. They battled back, won those two games, but we just couldn't quite get it done in game five, unfortunately."

Big Walnut nearly lost in three games, as it faced match point in the third game at 26-25. But opposite hitter Sammie Ebright tied the game at 26 with a kill and the Golden Eagles went on to win the game.

The Golden Eagles had the momentum after winning the fourth game, but they couldn't sustain it. Though they led 2-1 early in the fifth game, Claymont went on a 6-1 run to open a 7-3 advantage. The Mustangs would not relinquish the lead.

Big Walnut played the match without middle hitter Emma Swysgood, who was sidelined because of illness.

"She's probably our No. 1 middle (hitter), so that hurt not having her," Lehman said. "But the rest of the kids played well. Eleni (Lourgos) and (middle hitter) Kayleigh (Sutherland) had some really nice hits out there."

Big Walnut also defeated Canal Winchester in a district final last season, winning 19-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-20. The Indians, however, won 25-18, 25-22 on Sept. 19.

"The first time we played them, our kids were not in sync that day," Lehman said. "Canal played really well and we didn't. We didn't compete with them. We've really been working hard and we're focused, and we felt like we could compete with them, and we came out and did that very well (in the district final)."

The turning point occurred with Big Walnut leading 15-11 in the third game. Behind the serving of Reed, the Golden Eagles won six consecutive points for a 21-11 advantage. The Indians cut the deficit to 22-18, but would get no closer.

Big Walnut never trailed in the fourth game. It scored the first six points, two of which came on kills by Swysgood. Leading 14-9, the Golden Eagles scored seven points in a row behind the serving of outside hitter Emilie Wetzel for a 21-9 lead.

"They were pretty focused and pumped at that point, so it was a great run," Lehman said.

•The football team ended its season with a 42-10 loss to Pickerington North on Oct. 30 to finish 6-4 overall, marking its fewest victories since posting the same record in 1998.

"It's hard to send the seniors out with a game like that," junior linebacker Jacob Walaszek said. "It's depressing."

Big Walnut lost three of its final four games, missed the playoffs for the first time since 2005 and finished 15th in Division II, Region 7. The top eight teams in the region made the postseason.

"It's below our standards," Walaszek said. "It's tough. To not make the playoffs is disappointing."

Big Walnut was dominated by North, but was competitive in its other three losses: 17-0 to Olentangy on Sept. 11, 17-10 to Delaware on Oct. 9 and 27-20 to New Albany on Oct. 16. The game against Olentangy was closer than the final score may indicate, as the Golden Eagles were stopped on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line and turned over the ball at their own 22-yard line, setting up a touchdown for the Braves.

"We'd like to have one of those games back or all of those games back," Walaszek said. "We could be sitting at 8-2 or 9-1 and sitting in the playoffs."

Big Walnut also saw its streak of OCC-Capital Division championships end at three, as it finished 4-2 in the league to tie Delaware for third, behind co-champions New Albany and Olentangy Orange, both of which went 5-1. Rounding out the league were Mount Vernon (2-4), Watkins Memorial (1-5) and first-year Hilliard Bradley (0-6).

The Golden Eagles won the OCC-Capital championship outright last season after sharing the title in 2007 and '06.

Big Walnut loses 25 seniors, including 16 starters in Brad Beltram (DB/WR), Johnny Cannell (QB), Buddy Carrel (RB), Seth Dunn (LB), Cody Leitner (RB), Drew Curts (TE), Ryan Gerren (OL), Cole Hobart (DL), Zach Mathews (OL), Joe Millspaugh (DB), Bret Myers (WR), Jon Norman (LB/P), DeAngelo Rankin (OL), Skyler Schofner (OL), Zach Shryock (OL) and Jason Whitner (CB/WR).

The other seniors are Mitchell Daily (TE/LB), Johnathon Fire-wick (OL/DL), Garret Franta (OL/DL), Colton Hubbard (OL/DL), Pete Isbell (OL), Tyler Piper (OL/DL), Nathan Taylor (OL/DL), Cody Walters (WR/DB) and Jordan Whitner (RB).

Among those expected to return are six starters -- Walaszek, juniors Matt Brown (DL) and A.J. Fleak (K) and sophomores Grant Beam (DB), Garrett Dandrea (LB) and Jason Griffith (DL). Junior Brandon Magyari (DB) and sophomore Lucas Garcia (DB/RB) also saw significant playing time.

•The boys soccer team lost 2-1 (5-4 in shootout) to second-seeded Bexley in a Division II district final on Oct. 31 at Grandview to finish 13-3-3 overall.

Big Walnut, which was seeded third and defeated Watterson 1-0 in a district semifinal on Oct. 27 and Caledonia River Valley 10-0 in the second round on Oct. 22 after having a first-round bye, had won four tournament games in a shootout the previous two seasons.

"We're 4-1 in the shootout the last three years, so we can't complain," coach Charlie Brodhead said.

Junior midfielder Joel Craig scored with 2 minutes, 37 seconds left in the first half off a corner kick by freshman midfielder Shane Facemyer corner kick with 2 minutes, 37 seconds remaining in the first half.

Bexley, which defeated Kettering Alter 1-0 in double overtime in a regional semifinal last Tuesday to advance to the regional final last Saturday, tied the score in the second half on a goal by Kevin Bond. The score remained tied through the rest of regulation and two 15-minute overtimes before going to a shootout.

The game was Big Walnut's fifth consecutive appearance in a district final. The Golden Eagles won district titles in three of the previous four seasons, including last year when they reached a regional final before losing to Dayton Carroll 3-1.

"I'm sorry the guys didn't reach the goal they set out to achieve," Brodhead said. "I think everybody is disappointed. It will take time before we can look back and say it was a good year. We still have a bad taste in our mouth, but Bexley's a good team."

Big Walnut finished 4-1-1 in the OCC-Capital to finish third, behind Orange (5-0-1) and Mount Vernon (5-1) and ahead of Watkins Memorial (2-3-1), Delaware (1-4-1), Hilliard Bradley (1-5) and New Albany (1-5).

The Golden Eagles loses eight seniors in Ben Bauer (defender), Michael Bravender (defender), Kai Burgin (midfielder), Marc Cannon (forward), Ben Mason (midfielder/defender), Luke Merry (midfielder), Andrew Myers (defender) and Andrew Osburn (midfielder).

Cannon led the team with 12 goals. Mason was named second-team all-league and Bauer made honorable mention all-league.

"We'll miss the seniors, especially the leadership they brought to the table," Brodhead said.

Expected to return are Craig, Facemyer, juniors Tim Chucta (defender) and A.J. Fleak (goalie), sophomores Josh Annis (midfielder/forward), Zach Mason (midfielder) and Ryan Schmidt (forward) and freshman Austin Foor (forward).

Craig scored 11 goals and was named first-team all-district and all-league. Fleak also was named first-team all-district and all-league, and Mason scored eight goals and made second-team all-league.

"We'll still have a good balance of youth and leadership next year," Brodhead said.