Stokes takes a leap of faith and heads to Arizona

Press Sports Editor
sports@presspublications.com

It was a tough decision — one with both choices quite appealing — but in the end, Oak Harbor’s Ethan Stokes chose to take his talents to Arizona in an effort to increase his exposure as a basketball player gearing up for playing the game at the collegiate level.
He will be playing at Rancho Solano Preparatory School in Scottsdale, Arizona, located just outside of Phoenix.
Stokes, a 6-5 guard/forward, was named first team All-Northern Buckeye Conference in basketball and averaged 19.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game for the Rockets. He was chosen as special-mention All-Ohio.
In football, Stokes was Oak Harbor's No. 2 receiver and caught 28 catches for 509 yards and six touchdowns for Oak Harbor, which won the NBC and advanced to the Division V regional semifinals.
Stokes will be living with his father, Stone, with whom he had spent his summers growing up.
Oak Harbor basketball coach Eric Sweet talked about Stokes moving on.
“There were some rumblings about it going on,” said Sweet. “We had a sit down, and he told me that he went out to Arizona to live with his dad just before the end of the school. Some of it, I believe, had to do with the opportunity to live with his dad; he’s been with him during summers growing up From my understanding, he went there to help with recruiting so he could play Div. I college basketball. We didn’t speak deeply, it was a simple conversation. I said, ‘I’m going to miss you. But if this is what you need to do, I wish you the best of luck.’ It didn’t evolve into the bigger questions. It was just a simple conversation between him and me.”
How will the team move on from this? It is a senior-laden group led by Michael LaLonde and they should be primed to make a run at a league title this season.
“I’ve had that question asked a lot. I’m treating it like he’s graduating,” said Sweet. “In high school, you lose players; you don’t get to keep a player for their entire lifetime. I knew his run would come to an end, I just thought I had one more year with him. He scored 1,000 points; carried the program the last three years. He’s one of the most athletic individuals that I’ve been able to coach.”
Football coach, Mike May, also spoke highly of Stokes.
“Ethan was a big target for us as a wide receiver. We definitely liked to look for him in the red zone,” said May. “He was also very coachable, and we enjoyed having him on the team.
“This was a family decision, and I wish Ethan all the best. He is a great kid,” he said.
But make no mistake, if Stokes is going to play sports in college, it’s going to be as a basketball player.
Sweet talked about what Stokes has to do to become a more well-rounded basketball player.
“He has great natural length, he’s tall, athletic, he needs to get stronger, get quicker with the ball when being guarded. Division I college athletes are much stronger and quicker,” said Sweet. “He’s gotten stronger and quicker the last three years. The jump to Division I, being stronger and quicker, will help you at that level, or knock you back. He’s got the athletic ability. A college player bumping you and a high school player bumping you are two different worlds. “I support him and wish him nothing but the best. He’s one of the top-five basketball players that I’ve been able to coach. His stats and his accolades speak for themselves,” Sweet said.