by Frank Aceto

Associate Sports Editor

Akron — Dennis Lawler had been through this process several times before.

Ellet High School.

Division I sectional-district tournament.

And of course, a date with Wadsworth for all the marbles.

Yes, the fifth-year head coach knows all about this legendary rivalry.

Lately, however, this dream matchup had lost a lot of its luster.

Several years ago, a Hudson-Wadsworth showdown in a district final was as automatic as a raindrop in Seattle.

From 2001 to 2003, the two powerful programs met in the Ellet district championship game three times.

Lawler, who was an assistant to Tony Whiter on those Lady Explorer teams, had fond memories of those years.

That’s because Hudson won all three contests.

Since 2003, much has changed.

The Lady Explorers, who were the state runners-up that year, lost a little bit of their swagger and were no longer the postseason juggernauts they once were.

On March 3 in a district semifinal contest at Ellet, Hudson may have started a journey down memory lane.

And Lawler is part of it once again.

The Lady Explorers scored a dramatic 67-63 victory over an old friend.

That would be the Wadsworth Lady Grizzlies.

Hudson rallied from a 35-20 deficit to defeat its former archrival, which had owned the Lady Explorers in recent years.

Perhaps some felt nostalgia in the gymnasium in Akron.

The atmosphere was absolutely intense. Both teams played at a high level and there weren’t too many empty seats.

In the end, Hudson, which looked dead in the water at one point, did something it did often during the earlier stages of the 21st century.

The Lady Explorers ended the Lady Grizzlies’ season.

And the nostalgia didn’t end there.

Hudson earned a date with top-seeded Green in a district championship game March 6. Results of that contest were not available at press time.

The Lady Explorers planned to see a familiar face, who, like Lawler, got to enjoy eliminating Wadsworth during those glory years.

That would be Green head coach Tony Whitmer, who led Hudson to a 143-39 record during his tenure as head coach.

E-mail: faceto@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-686-3914