Holmes County commissioners honor Hiland Hawks after state title run

Ryan Zerger’s 18 points and 11 rebounds, along with Alex Miller’s 11 points, four rebounds and five steals, helped push the Hiland Hawks past Maria Stein Marion Local, 54-51, in a double-overtime championship game at University of Dayton Arena in Dayton on March 21. The win gave Hiland its fourth boys basketball state title and added another chapter to a program that has become one of Holmes County’s most recognizable athletic brands.

Holmes County commissioners brought that achievement home on April 27, when they publicly recognized the Hawks with a proclamation and honored the team’s seven seniors. The county’s salute turned a state tournament victory into a broader community moment, one that reached beyond Berlin and into the wider East Holmes area, where Hiland basketball has long carried outsized weight.

For the Hawks, the title was not a one-off run. It was Hiland’s 15th trip to the state tournament, tied for the fourth most appearances in state history, and the school’s previous boys basketball championships came in 1992, 2011 and 2012. That history gave the 2026 trophy a different feel from a single-season surge. It was the latest proof that Hiland has remained a steady contender across generations of players, coaches and families.

The double-overtime finish made the title especially memorable. A game that tight from start to finish is the kind of result people in Holmes County will keep talking about long after the final buzzer, particularly when it comes against a program like Marion Local and ends with the Hawks holding the trophy. In that sense, the commissioners’ proclamation was about more than a formal gesture. It was a public acknowledgment that the state title belongs to the county as well as the school.

By recognizing the team in a county meeting room, officials underscored how deeply school sports are woven into local identity in Holmes County. For Berlin, for East Holmes and for Hiland supporters across the county, the championship was another reminder that the Hawks’ success travels well beyond the gym and into the story the county tells about itself.