In This Hamilton! Thrive Issue …

📌Daily Weather

📌Calendar of Events

📌Franklin High School Update

📌Badin Girls - Good !!

📌Bengals - Bad 😔💩

📌Cat Humor / Karen

📌Check Out Plaza One Grille

Franklin High School nearing completion: 'An absolutely beautiful space'

Franklin City Schools recently announced that the new $48 million Franklin High School will open on Monday, March 4. The Board of Education will hold a dedication ceremony and open house at the new facility located at 136 E. Sixth Street on Saturday, March 2.

"The building design was a collaboration among the board, administration, high school staff and the public, and we're excited for everyone to see how their ideas have come to life," said Superintendent Michael Sander. "It's an absolutely beautiful space that will be a wonderful learning environment for our students."

Sander said he could not imagine how beautiful the building turned out from the construction drawings. "It's unbelievable," he said.

Sander said transitioning from the current high school on East Fourth Street to the new one will involve high school students learning remotely for two weeks. Grades 9-12 will be remote from Feb. 20 through March 1. He said more transition details will be announced closer to that time.

On a recent hard-hat tour of the new high school, the first thing that people experience is the large amount of natural light through the many windows. The building has its events/extracurricular area complete with a new gym, as well as an auxiliary/practice gym.

There's a new band room that is one-third larger than the current band room and with much more room for storage, a chorus room and practice rooms. The building has a training room, a weight room, physical education and team locker rooms, a health classroom, and a large lobby area complete with new trophy cases.

Sander said new video scoreboards will be installed at each end of the new gym, a donation from the family of NBA basketball star and Franklin High School alumnus Luke Kennard. However, due to supply chain delays, the new gym will not be used until air handlers arrive and get installed. Sander said athletic events won't be held in the new gym until the start of the 2024-2025 school year.

Another feature of the gym is that the concession stand is adjacent to the school cafeteria, which is much larger than the current cafeteria. There is also a ticket office window on the west side of the building where the athletic offices are located. This way, people won't have to enter the building to purchase tickets. There is also a canopy where people can be shielded from the elements.

Also on that side of the building is the administration and guidance offices, a clinic, and a security vestibule. There are also offices for the school resource officer, a staff lounge and conference rooms. Sander said there are no keys, as everything opens with swipe cards.

The rest of the building features two floors of classrooms that include specialized career tech, science and drama classrooms. In addition, there is a courtyard inside the building walls that can be used for outdoor performances, studying, and classes.

The new building pays homage to the former Franklin High/Junior High that once stood in that place with the banding around the windows which have a difference in the brick coloring.

"Franklin's kids deserve this building, which will be the center of community pride," he said. "This is a first-class building that meets the needs of students and teachers."

A new pedestrian bridge connecting the building to the new parking lot will be rededicated to Bob Hannum, a Franklin football player who died from an injury sustained in a game with Miamisburg in 1946. Sander said a plaque will be installed on the bridge.

The new high school is the first of the district's new classroom facilities to open. The construction project was possible through voter passage of a bond issue in 2020 for the new high school, the renovation of the current high school into a middle school for grades 6-8, and three new elementary schools. The state of Ohio is paying 57% of the district's $130 million construction project.

"It's fantastic," said Katrina Hillard, the district's former assistant treasurer who has three children attending Franklin Schools. "There was a lot of work and community involvement. There are going to be a lot of happy students, people, teachers and staff. Everyone had a hand in this."

"I think its great," said Tyler Leonard, district payroll coordinator. "It's well thought out and the community deserves this. I'm glad the kids will get to experience it."

The state funding for the new Gerke, Schenck and Hunter elementary buildings is expected to be released in 2027, according to district and state officials.

The bond issue covers local initiatives such as constructing a new bus garage, moving the central office into the new high school building, installing gas and other utility lines, and the demolition of Hampton Bennett School for a new student parking lot.

Sander said once the new high school opens, the district will be tearing down some houses and the former Save-a-Lot grocery that are adjacent to the property. The district purchased the properties prior to the start of construction.

‘We’re getting there’ — Badin girls win 6th straight after 0-2 start

HAMILTON — Gracie Cosgrove was patient enough to trust her shooting abilities from behind the 3-point line Saturday night.

“The first half, I was struggling,” the Badin High School junior guard said. “I got into the locker room at halftime and said to myself, ‘It’s fine. I’m fine.’”

She went back out on the court and shredded the net the final two quarters.

Cosgrove dropped nine treys — including six in the second half — to register a game-high 31 points, Braelyn Even scored 16 points and Badin blew by St. Ursula 83-40 at Mulcahey Gym.

The Rams (6-2) are on a six-game winning streak and have beaten their last four opponents by at least 15 points. Badin, which fell to Lakota East and Cincinnati Country Day to start the season, is 6-0 against St. Ursula in the last six years.

“We’re getting there. Have we arrived? No,” said Tom Sunderman, who is in his 16th season as Badin’s head coach. “But we’re getting there. The girls are starting to buy in.”

The Rams got offensive production from junior Ashley Pate (10 points) and sophomore Lily MacGowan (13 points). Pate is in her first full season after transferring to Badin last year.

Sunderman said the focus for his program heading into the new year is to get the returning players to ease some of the younger ones into the system.

“I look at it like this — we can’t have a good season without them,” Sunderman said. “That’s what we have. We have two seniors and two juniors until Brooke Sebastian (injured) is back in another month. Then we have a lot of sophomores.

“We’ve said this all along so far that it’s going to be by committee and who’s ready that night. I think you’re starting to see some of that come along.”

Badin led 21-13 after the first quarter and 40-23 heading into the half thanks to a spark from MacGowan and Pate from the outside.

Cosgrove got into her groove by scoring 20 of her points in the second half.

“This is all-around stemming from our energy on defense,” Cosgrove said. “Defense does make offense.”

Badin had five players connect on 17 shots from 3-point range, including one from Even, who does most of her work in the paint.

“We’ve been talking about what we’ve been doing well and to just continue to do what we’ve been doing well,” said Even, a sophomore. “We started transitioning more tonight once we stopped fouling. That helped us set up the 3s, which was good.”

St. Ursula (3-5) has lost three out of its last four but came off a 61-38 win at Fenwick last Saturday. Juniors Callie Nichols and Grace O’Toole had 10 points apiece to lead the Bulldogs.

Source: Journal News

ANALYSIS: 3 takeaways from Bengals’ blowout loss to Steelers

Jake Browning had the offense moving much better than the first game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but his three interceptions prevented the Cincinnati Bengals from being able to put more points on the board.

Pittsburgh took advantage of the turnovers to score 17 of its points en route to a 34-11 win over the Bengals on Saturday at Acrisure Stadium, ending a three-game losing streak and preventing the visitors from extending their win streak to four games.

Both teams are now 8-7, but Cincinnati doesn’t have an AFC North win yet and was swept by the Steelers and Ravens this season. The Bengals travel to play defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City on Dec. 31 and host the Browns in the finale.

Here are three takeaways from the loss:

1. Pittsburgh exploits weaknesses

Cincinnati was prepared for Pittsburgh to try to run the ball up the middle, where the loss of nose guard DJ Reader would be an obvious weakness, but the Steelers were able to catch the Bengals on their heels on three plays of 44 yards or more – two for touchdowns.

Pittsburgh, using third-string quarterback Mason Rudolph in his first start since 2021, found success with a mix of explosives and a running game that accounted for 113 yards and two touchdowns.

All three of those 40-plus-yard passes went to George Pickens, the first one being for 86 yards on the second play for Pittsburgh’s offense. Pickens’ 66-yard touchdown catch came in the third quarter, right after the Bengals seemed to be picking up some momentum after a stop the first drive of the half and an 80-yard touchdown pass from Browning to Tee Higgins.

The defensive backs have struggled with explosive plays all season, especially since Cam Taylor-Britt has been out with an ankle injury the past four games. Pittsburgh targeted rookie DJ Turner but veteran Chidobe Awuzie struggled as well.

Cincinnati struggled to replace Reader but attempted to with five defensive linemen to start the game, including Josh Tupou in the middle with Zach Carter and B.J. Hill on his sides. Najee Harris ran for 78 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown with a long carry of 13 yards.

2. Browning up and down

Take away the three bad interceptions, and Browning played much better than the first time against the Steelers when the offense struggled to move the ball at all. Cincinnati converted six of 13 third downs and finished with 368 yards of offense, compared to the two third-down conversions managed in the first game with 10 attempts.

Browning finished with 335 yards passing, compared to Rudolph’s 290 yards. Two of Rudolph’s drives started in Bengals territory, thanks to interceptions.

The first interception Browning threw came in the end zone as the Bengals had a chance to at least get three points on the board after Pittsburgh had just taken the 7-0 on the second drive of the game. Browning said in his postgame press conference, which was streamed live on the team’s social media accounts, that he was just trying to throw the ball away on that one and it ended up going right to Patrick Peterson.

The second one happened at Cincinnati’s 14-yard line on a pass intended for Tyler Boyd. The Steelers scored touchdowns on both those ensuing drives. The third pick was intercepted at the Bengals’ 43-yard line and led to a field goal.

Cincinnati was playing its first game this season without Ja’Marr Chase, but Tee Higgins finished with 140 yards and a touchdown on five catches. Ten different players caught passes. The Bengals went heavy at defensive tackle and made Irv Smith Jr. a healthy scratch. Andrei Iosivas had some big plays amid his four catches for 36 yards but a 22-yard grab at the sideline was challenged and reversed. Cincinnati settled for a field goal that drive.

3. Playoff hopes take hit

It’s too early in the weekend to know how the Bengals’ playoff chances are impacted by the loss, but it’s likely they have to win their last two and get help to have a chance. They entered the weekend in the No. 6 spot coming off three straight wins, but being 0-5 in the AFC North impacts the tiebreak scenarios. For now, Cincinnati moves down to the No. 10 spot in the AFC playoff picture.

Pittsburgh moves from No. 10 to No. 9.

The Bengals had been unbeaten in December and were 11-3 in December and January games since 2021. They also had been favored going into the game, as Pittsburgh was without both its starting safeties and had a total of five safeties out or questionable.

Rudolph, the third-string quarterback behind Trubisky and injured Kenny Pickett, hadn’t won a game since 2019 – doing so twice against the Bengals, though he was benched at halftime of the second meeting for Duck Hodges. The Steelers hadn’t scored more than 26 points in a game this season and already had fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada right before the last matchup in Cincinnati.

NEXT GAME

Sunday, Dec. 31

Bengals at Chiefs, 4:25 p.m., CBS, 700, 1530, 102.7, 104.7

Source: Hamilton Journal

'Your house is the joke of the neighborhood': Grinch Karen leaves petty note on neighbor's doorstep because of their holiday decorations

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