OxfordPress.com

Just thinking about 1996 gets Kirk Martin excited. His voice falters at times. The goose bumps punch holes in his sleeves.

Anyone can dream about winning a state championship. Few can turn around at their desk and see a framed News-Sun blaring the headline "STATE CHAMPS" or turn to their right to see another photo of a state championship team.

Martin can do that anytime he wants at Cedarville University's Callan Athletic Center. He has been the head women's basketball coach for the Yellow Jackets for six seasons now, but 11 years ago, he coached the Southeastern girls basketball team to a state title.

He has the memory of that season on speed dial in his brain.

"It was 11 years ago, but it works you up as soon as you think about it," Martin says. "It was a wonderful time."

For coaches, players, teams, schools, fans, mascots who are fortunate enough to experience a state championship, it's not just a wonderful time, it's also a wonderful life.

The celebration that begins at center court, or in front of the goal, or under the net continues for a lifetime.

"The great thing about winning a state title is what happens after that," Martin says.

Starting today and continuing each Sunday until Aug. 19, the Springfield News-Sun will look back at the championship teams from its coverage area, celebrating their accomplishments and examining different aspects of the state championship experience.

Only 21 teams in the history of Clark County have won an Ohio High School Athletic Association team title.

Champaign County can also boast of 21 titles, though seven of those have been won in the last seven years by the Graham wrestling program.

In the News-Sun's Greene County coverage area, Yellow Springs has seven crowns, all in boys track, and Greeneview won a boys soccer title in 2005.

No football team in this area has ever won a state title. No baseball or softball team from Clark County has ever carried a championship trophy home from Columbus or Ashland. Seven area schools — South, Greenon, Tecumseh, Kenton Ridge, Northeastern, Mechanicsburg and Cedarville — have never won a team title.

For those teams fortunate enough to have the talent, the coaching, the luck, the dedication and all the other elements shared by state-championship caliber squads, the thrill doesn't fade.

Earlier this year, Catholic Central graduates D.J. Catrow, Brent Rohrer and Matt Calabrese — all members of the 2001 state champion Irish soccer team — threw a "Glory Days" party in Columbus. They wore their old uniforms, took out all the old memorabilia and compared stories with friends from around Ohio.

Few players can match Catrow's tale. He scored the winning goal with 91 seconds left in the title game. A DVD of that game helps him remember, but then how could he forget?

"The second you watch that game-ending goal, that same feeling comes back," Catrow says. "You feel it automatically. It's a cool thing to look back on."

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0351 or djablonski@coxohio.com.