Wadsworth youth quarterback Graham Blind lined up under center against Highland, poised to lead the offense down the Green Leaf Park field in Sharon Township. The Grizzlies were inside the 40-yard line and aiming for the end zone with a well-timed play call in mind.
Blind got the snap and quickly fired outside, where a receiver was gearing up for a screen. The pass was complete, and No. 87 weaved through the defense and sprinted full steam ahead for a touchdown.
Nearly everyone in the stands recognized the moment, highlighted by that player’s twin sibling going bonkers. The opposing players were dumbfounded and angry.
Wadsworth’s Jodi Johnson is the 2015-16 Gazette girls basketball MVP. (PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY RON SCHWANE)
Sure, Wadsworth scored. That wasn’t all that special, but the player hoisted into the air by coach Jim Blind on the sidelines was special.
With a ponytail tucked beneath shoulder pads, Jodi Johnson was just one of the boys and loving every second of gridiron glory.
“Obviously boys are boys, and they’re immature at that age,” she recalled Thursday. “They’re going to say stuff about me being a girl. I remember my first touchdown. The other team’s coach was like, ‘You just got beat by a girl!’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, you did!’ Some of it motivated me a lot, and I didn’t care what they had to say about me being a girl. I could play like anyone else out there.”
That little squirt with mad hops matured into one of the greatest players in Wadsworth girls basketball history. The accomplishments of the two-time first-team All-Ohioan and Gazette MVP were historic, especially when she took on legendary status while leading the Grizzlies to the Division I state title.
Gazette MVPs
Jodi Johnson (W) 2016
Jodi Johnson (W) 2015
Peyton Booth (W) 2014
Rachel Goddard (W) 2013
Rachel Goddard (W) 2012
Taylor Woods (W) 2011
Mikaela Lengal (Bru) 2010
Lindsay Tenyak (W) 2009
Chrissy Pavlik (W) 2008
Cassie Schrock (W) 2007
Cassie Schrock (W) 2006
Cassie Schrock (W) 2005
Ashley Veal (W) 2004
Amanda Fisher (W) 2003
Cara Busson (W) 2002
Cara Busson (W) 2001
Tanya Ross (Buc) 2000
Tanya Ross (Buc) 1999
Katelyn Vujas (W) 1998
Elisa Inman (W) 1997
Katelyn Vujas (W) 1996
Kelly O’Flanagan (C) 1995
Caroline McCombs (M) 1994
Jill Smith (H) 1993
Kelly Fergus (Bru) 1992
Kelly Fergus (Bru) 1991
Lisa Horwedel (C) 1990
Karen Phillips (M) 1989
Julie Ruhlin (W) 1988
Julie Ruhlin (W) 1987
Jeannie Reilly (W) 1986
Deb Berry (BR) 1985
Alyssa Spechalske (C) 1984
Tracy Haller (H) 1983
Shelly Miller (M) / Lisa Kungl (H) 1982
Toni Stabile (Bru) 1981
Lori Hein (Bru) / LuAnn Tsipis (H) 1980
Cheryl Althaus (W) 1979
Kim Alber (M) 1978
Johnson’s enduring character traits will always be mental and physical toughness, a belief with conviction that she’s never going to lose and, to the amazement of adults given her pedigree, zero hint of ego. Being a girl in a boy’s world showed her how to be a true champion because she would have been eaten alive if she had acted any differently.
One of the first Christmas presents Johnson remembered wasn’t a Barbie doll, a pink bicycle or a Disney movie. Santa Claus delivered a football, and it was on like Donkey Kong if anyone else dared mess with her prized possession. No one was going to stop her from playing catch with her father Rick.
Growing up a big fan of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and even seeing him play in the Hall of Fame Game at Canton’s Fawcett Stadium, the natural progression of suiting up entered Johnson’s young mind. Dad and twin sister/cheerleader Jenna were enthusiastic about the idea. Mom Carol needed convincing, but Jodi’s persistence won out.
“One day, I was kind of like, ‘I want to play football,’” she said. “Dad was like, ‘That’d be cool,’ and Mom was like, ‘I don’t think so,’ but my dad said, ‘Let her play because once she gets hit a few times, she won’t want to play anymore.’”
Johnson then grinned widely.
“But I ended up playing for a couple years,” she said.
Johnson played football in the fourth, fifth and sixth grades for the Wadsworth “White” and “Black” teams as a wide receiver, cornerback and safety. Teammates included future varsity athletes Graham Blind (basketball/golf), Noah Baughman (wrestling), Alec Booth (basketball), Darrin and Devon Gilkerson (wrestling) and Buzz Walker (Barberton basketball), and one of her coaches ironically was Grizzlies girls basketball coach Andrew Booth.
Johnson remembers getting hit wasn’t as painful as people hyped it to be. She remembers the camaraderie with her teammates — she’s still friends with a lot of them — and she remembers how much she loved the game before giving it up for what ended up being a stellar volleyball career.
She also remembers the pockets of resistance, those select opposing peers whose masculine pride couldn’t accept getting smoked by a girl. Their mean-spiritedness didn’t kill her. It made her stronger.
Taking charges, diving for loose balls, slamming into gymnasium walls, gettin’ buckets from awkward angles and icing a shoulder after every game against 16-, 17- and 18-year-old girls? That’s child’s play compared to tackling a running back whose only goal was to bulldoze her into next week.
“I got knocked around, but I survived,” Johnson said.
Flash forward to the 2015-16 girls basketball season and Johnson’s toughness never shined brighter because of those football values she embraced.
Johnson was the cool, confident and calculated Maya Moore to teammate Sophia Fortner’s intense, exuberant and always-talking Diana Taurasi. Johnson also was immune to pressure in the same way she still struggles to comprehend stardom and what all the fuss is about.
The high-flying 5-foot-11 shooting guard was all about efficiency, making the game look effortless while averaging 19.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 3.0 steals and 0.8 blocks. Every time Wadsworth needed a jolt in crunch time, Johnson instinctively took over with a win-at-all-costs outlook and late friend Zane Walker’s dying wish of a state championship in her mind.
Already guaranteed her second first-team All-Ohio award after becoming a Ms. Basketball finalist midway through the postseason, Johnson went from star to unworldly — at least in the eyes of autograph-seeking elementary school students — and powered the Grizzlies into the history books.
The Ashland recruit scored 25, 29, 24 and 28 points in the final wins over Magnificat, Toledo Whitmer, Reynoldsburg and Mason while shooting a combined .509 from the floor (28-for-55), .900 from the foul line (45-for-50) and .455 from 3-point range (5-for-11). She had 12 points in the first quarter against the Blue Streaks — the outcome wasn’t in doubt after that — then 11, 11 and 12 in fourth quarters against the Panthers, Raiders and Comets.
The storybook ending came in the state championship game, as Johnson had 28 points and made 10-of-11 free throws with the rowdy Wadsworth student section chanting “M-V-P, M-V-P.”
The Grizzlies upset Mason 60-51 and avenged their only loss. Their “business trip” earned them a state championship trophy they now jokingly call “Goldie.”
“She had the ability and the mental fortitude to know when we needed to play, the talent to make the play and the toughness to make that play when everyone in the gym knew she needed to make a play,” Andrew Booth said. “There’s not many kids in general — boys basketball, girls basketball, football, whatever — that can make a play when everyone knows your best player needs to make a play. That’s what she did, and that’s when you know you’re watching something special.”
“On the biggest stage, she took it to the basket, made free throws, hit big step-back threes,” Mason coach Rob Matula added. “She did everything she was supposed to do as a player of the year and the leader of that team.”
Twenty days have passed since a crying Johnson threw two No. 1s into the air and was bear-hugged by friend and teammate Olivia Chaney when the final buzzer sounded at Value City Arena. The whole weekend remains a blur and hasn’t marinated in Johnson’s mind quiet yet.
But something else has.
Then in second grade, Johnson was in the stands cheering for her idols, Cassie Schrock and Jen Uhl, when Wadsworth lost to Solon in the 2006 D-I state semifinals on the same Value City Arena floor. Interestingly, Uhl has since developed a sisterly bond with Johnson as an assistant coach.
Among all the congratulations Johnson has received since 10:17 p.m. on March 12, the starry-eyed elementary school students that light up a room when Johnson and her teammates visit melt her heart. Life comes full circle because she sees her 8-year-old self sitting cross-legged on the floor.
The awards, statistics and publicity mean nothing to Johnson in those moments. Being fortunate enough to grow up in a tight-knit community like Wadsworth — the same one that supported her faithfully from pee wee football to the state girls basketball tournament — means everything instead.
“I remember traveling down there (to Columbus in 2006) and I thought it was just the biggest deal ever,” she said. “Them little kids now, especially how they react to us, it made me think about how we all looked up to the (2006 team).
“It’s crazy to think we’ll be a part of history.”