The Ohio Crossover Athletics Best Defensive Player Award is given to a player who exemplifies excellence on the defensive end of the court. This player through effort, hard work, and ability is able to disrupt the opposing team and take them out of their offense by shutting down his opponent one-on-one or contributing to his team's success with great help side defense. I am proud to announce that the winner of the 2017 OCA 8th Grade Boys (Smorey) Best Defensive Player Award is Jacob Sizemore from Nagel Middle School!

Jacob is an aggressive, physical player that works very hard on defense. Whether it was rebounding, blocking or altering a shot, or coming up with a timely steal, he always seemed to make a play when our team needed it the most. Jacob did a great job this season "banging" with opposing players and will fight for every ball until the whistle blows. I'm excited to see him continue to grow as a basketball player. Congratulations Jacob!