Mold Remediation in Ashland, OR

There are two high school football teams from the Ashland area left in the playoffs, and it's no surprise who it is.

Hillsdale and Ashland have been leading the way all season, and they will look to keep their campaign going Friday in the second round of the postseason. Both will be playing at home.

Let's look closer into both of their matchups.

Division II, Region 7: No. 5 Columbus St. Francis DeSales (9-2) at No. 4 Ashland (11-0)

There usually are not many second-round games that are seen as 50-50 matchups, however, this one feels that way. Ashland and St. Francis DeSales ended the regular season viewed as two of the top 20 teams in Division II (Ashland at No. 17; St. Francis DeSales at No. 18), according to Martin RPI. It's a 4 vs. 5 matchup too, and if you're a fan of the NBA or NHL playoffs, you would know that most of these series can go either way.

That's what we have here.

Ashland is coming off a 42-0 home win over St. Charles, and St. Francis DeSales took care of New Albany 48-28. Obviously, in a big game, whichever team can protect the ball the most and create the most turnovers has a pretty good chance of winning. Ashland has been on a tear in forcing turnovers of late, 12 total in its last three games, including three against St. Charles.

Just from watching highlights of the Stallions, they look pretty well-balanced on offense. Junior running back Jonathan Brown looks like a patient runner, who is capable of hitting the hole quickly and busting a game wide open with a long touchdown run. The Stallions appear to have some mass on their offensive line. St. Francis DeSales will be no stranger to facing elite teams, as its only two losses have come against one of the top 10-15 teams in Division I (9-2 Olentangy Berlin) and perhaps the best team in Division III (11-0 Bishop Waterson).

Ashland will have to be sharp in this one, protect quarterback Nathan Bernhard, lean on their outside playmakers to put pressure on the Stallions' defensive backs like they have all season and, if they can balance it some with running back Grayson Baith (12 carries, 82 rushing yards, 3 rushing TDs against St. Charles), then that could play out well for the Arrows.

Either way, this one should be good.

Division VII, Region 25: No. 7 Windham (10-1) at No. 2 Hillsdale (10-1)

After losing to Norwayne in the regular-season finale, which ended a undefeated season and chance of winning the Wayne County Athletic League title, Hillsdale bounced back in a 55-12 first-round home win over Fairport Harding, in a game where they were basically in cruise control the whole way.

In the second round, Hillsdale gets Windham, which got past Southern 50-35 in its first round win. Yes, Windham is 10-1, but that record is misleading. Seven of the Bombers' 10 wins were to teams that ended the season with losing records, including Fairport Harding, who the Bombers beat 41-25 during the regular season.

Southern was able to keep it close most of the way in the first round, and one can only imagine what a healthy Hillsdale team could do. The explosive plays on offense for Hillsdale should be there, and if the Falcons can tighten of their pass coverage, the Falcons should be in good position to advance.

jsimpson@gannnett.com

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Ashland University has its own version of “Shark Tank” with its ideaLabs competition.

Like the popular business reality television show, entrepreneurs (more than 20 teams of AU students) recently made presentations of their business ideas to “sharks,” judges in this case, to not only win money to help their ventures but also the opportunity to move on to regional competition in Cleveland on April 8.

Twice a year, AU students have the opportunity to pitch their business ideas: IdeaLabs is held each spring and the Loryn Ankeny Ashland Pitch takes place in the fall.

IdeaLabs is a program of AU’s Burton D. Morgan Center for Free Enterprise.

For the past 20 years, the Burton D. Morgan Foundation has supported the annual IdeaLabs competition at Ashland and prizes are available through its generosity.

Tom Sudow is the director of the Burton D. Morgan Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship.

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Because the judges were so impressed with all the business pitches, Sudow said teams that didn’t win the prizes of $2,000 for first place, $1,000 for second, $750 for third and $500 for fourth in two categories (money maker and big idea) would each be awarded $100.

The annual program is supported by a number of faculty members at AU, many of whom helped judge the competition: Dan Fox, dean of the Dauch College of Business & Economics; Ken Brubaker, associate professor of sport management and marketing; Mark Nadler, associate professor of economics; Jeffrey Russell, associate professor of economics; and Dan Sullivan, associate professor of entrepreneurship. Another judge was Jaclyn Iarocci from the Veale Foundation, a charitable northeast Ohio organization that includes a youth entrepreneurship forum that encourages high school entrepreneurs.

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Two freshmen win the top prizes, qualify for regional competition

Winning the top prizes and qualifying for the regional contest were two freshmen: Maddie Fleck in the money maker track and Bradley Schilling for the big idea category.

Fleck’s personal brand and influencer business, Maddie Fleck Golf, has had 15.51 million views between TikTok and Instagram since she started it her junior year of high school in Celina, Ohio, and now posts videos for half a dozen brands that pay her a salary to post about their brand and/or commissions from sales that come from her posts.

“Through all these brand partnerships, I have made over $11,600 to date,” said Fleck, an AU golfer who began her social media accounts to help her get recruited by college golf programs.

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Schilling’s company, Recruit Connect, is an athletic recruiting platform that equips both coaches and players with the tools to navigate the complex and exhausting recruiting process easier. It includes athlete profiles, a school search tool and an AI recruiting assistant.

Schilling said he wished something like Recruit Connect was available to him when he was searching for somewhere to play college football, which he eventually found as a defensive end at AU.

Though he hasn’t made any money on his business idea that he first envisioned growing up in Granville, Ohio, Schilling said he hopes to launch it in the next few months with several “innovative features.”

“We are able to get revenue from so many different points because we can get a subscription from a coach, we can get a subscription from a player, we can get a subscription from an entire athletic department, an entire athletic team,” Schilling said. “The avenues for revenue are really broad and there are a lot of opportunities.”

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Schilling and Fleck were among the eight students who gave presentations called stage pitches to the judges and audience. They were the finalists determined by the judges after the elevator pitches by all the teams.

For the elevator pitches, each team had a table they could decorate to represent their business. Judges and audience members, which included AU President Jon Parrish Peede, visited the tables to hear the short pitches.

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Money Maker finalists: Lucky Leap Boutique, Schneider Soccer Shots

The other two finalists for the money maker track were second-place Lucky Leap Boutique (Sarah Masuoka, Kathryn Pool and Garrett Baker) and third place Schneider Soccer Shots (Ella Schneider).

Lucky Leap Boutique makes bracelets and keychains for gymnasts that parents, other relatives and friends buy to encourage participants in gymnastic competitions.

“We are different from our competitors as we send our products to the athletes during competition,” said Masuoka, who presented without Pool and Baker, who had night classes and couldn’t attend any part of the contest.

While it’s focused on gymnastics, Masuoka, who grew up in Fairlawn, Ohio, doing gymnastics and still coaches it in Medina, Ohio, at Pinnacle Gymnastics, said Lucky Leap Boutique’s items haven’t all been gymnastic-related.

As Masuoka is an education major, the competitors didn’t have to be COBE students, but they did have to be undergraduate students. Teams could consist of one to five students and had to have a majority of the students be from AU.

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Schneider, an AU women’s soccer player, gives private soccer lessons to individuals and groups during the summer around her hometown of Granville, Ohio, with her business, Schneider Soccer Shots.

She said she would like to eventually add an app that would connect families and young soccer players to college athletes for trainings, advice and feedback.

No other teams were entered in the money maker category.

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Big Idea finalists: GlobeU, Golden Years and VolleyBack

In the Big Idea category, the fourth-place finisher, Lexi Pool, had a night class during the stage presentation portion of the contest, but was able to give an elevator pitch for her business, VolleyBack, an adjustable wooden board that rebounds volleyball hits, allowing someone to sharpen their volleyball skills without a practice partner.

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Taking third was Golden Years, a user-friendly dating app designed specifically for seniors without the hassle of complicated technology, created by Nicole Garrett and Riley Suter.

International students and AU tennis players Ana Penteado (Brazil) and Gabriel Seminario (Peru) earned second place with GlobeU, a platform meant to simplify the recruiting process between college coaches and international athletes.

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Other competitors

The rest of the Big Idea category teams giving elevator pitches were:

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Wilmington, Del., March 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) announced today that it has completed the sale of its Avoca business to Mane effective March 14, 2025. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Avoca business supplies sclareolide, a fragrance fixative, and a range of contract manufacturing capabilities from two production facilities in North Carolina and Wisconsin. The Avoca business line represents the last entity from Ashland’s previous acquisition of Pharmachem.

“The Avoca business is a strong player in the fragrance fixative space, with a dedicated team and attractive manufacturing capabilities to meet customer needs,” said Guillermo Novo, chair and chief executive officer, Ashland. “I want to thank the Avoca employees for their dedication and commitment to Ashland and to our customers. On behalf of the Ashland team, I wish them continued success as part of Mane.”

“I am pleased to announce the acquisition of the Avoca sites from Ashland, reinforcing our commitment to the production of ingredients for our industry,” said Samantha Mane, CEO of MANE.

Squire Patton Boggs is acting as legal advisor to Ashland.

About Ashland Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) is a global additives and specialty ingredients company with a conscious and proactive mindset for environmental, social and governance (ESG). The company serves customers in a wide range of consumer and industrial markets, including architectural coatings, construction, energy, food and beverage, personal care and pharmaceutical. Approximately 3,200 passionate, tenacious solvers thrive on developing practical, innovative and elegant solutions to complex problems for customers in more than 100 countries. Visit ashland.com and ashland.com/ESG to learn more.

About ManeFounded in 1871 by Victor Mane, MANE is one of the leading producers and suppliers of fragrances and flavours globally. Since inception, the company has been owned and managed by five successive generations of the Mane family.

MANE is a global group, operating 29 production facilities worldwide and more than 79 sites in more than 40 countries and employing over 8,000 collaborators. The first French company and the fifth largest fragrances and flavours producer in the world and are recognised as the fastest growing major company within the industry. In 2023, MANE generated revenues of above €1,770 million.

^™ Trademark, Ashland or its subsidiaries, registered in various countries.

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