The Swanton Bulldogs held the Delta Panthers to zero points in the second quarter and just 11 total for the first half as they picked up a 45-29 road victory in the Jungle on Friday night. Shawn McGary scored 12 points in the win while Dylan Smegelski and Wyatt Rhodes added 10 points each. Jack Mazurowski led the Panthers with 12 points in a losing cause.
Delta Panthers: 11-0-9-9 = 29 Jack Mazurowski (12), Jostin Murillo-Montaivan (4), Wyatt York (4), Gavin Cansky (3), Jagger Demaline (2), Sam Martinez (2), Jensyn Gillen (2)
Click on the link above to access photos from the game. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded and shared for NO CHARGE courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.
Taking a modest six point lead into the second quarter, the Delta Lady Panthers outscored the Swanton Lady Bulldogs 25-5 on their way to an easy 54-16 NWOAL road victory at Kevin J. McQuade Gymnasium last Thursday evening. Anna Lohnman led Delta with a game-high 19 points and McKenzie Kruger added 11. Madelyn Pellan scored six points for Swanton.
The Delta win placed their league record at 4-0. After suffering a 51-46 loss to the Toledo Central Catholic Lady Irish on Saturday night, they stand at 15-2 overall. The Lady Panthers will welcome in the Wauseon Lady Indians on Thursday, January 29th.
With the loss, Swanton moves to 0-4 in the NWOAL. Following a 34-25 Saturday victory over the Holgate Lady Tigers, their record on the season is 3-13. On Tuesday, January 27th, the Lady Bulldogs are scheduled to play the Defiance Lady Bulldogs.
Click on the link above to access photos from the game and Swanton’s youth cheerleading program. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded and shared for NO CHARGE courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.
Photo: Delta’s Olivia Mohring protects the ball from Madelyn Pelland
This past Saturday inside Spangler Arena at the Fulton County Fair Grounds, the Delta Archery Club (DAC) hosted an archery tournament with more than two dozen school districts represented from the tri-state area of Indiana, Michigan and Ohio and hundreds of archers competing at the elementary, middle school and high school level. Typically, the DAC holds their tournaments at one of the Pike-Delta-York school gymnasiums. This year they chose a much larger venue so they could accommodate the hundreds of participants as well as providing adequate seating for this very popular event.
During the competition, two archers each take aim at one of 56 bullseye targets totaling approximately 112 firing their arrows at the same time. “We get six scoring rounds in the tournament with one practice round from 10 meters and one practice round at 15 meters,” said April Brown, the club’s media director. “In each round the top score you can get is 50, therefore 300 for the tournament.
Similar to bowling, the perfect score of 300 is very difficult to achieve. “I don’t think in regular tournaments we’ve ever gotten a 300 yet, but at state tournaments and nationals we’ve seen a few 300s from other kids,” said Ms. Brown.
Indiana Schools: Churbusco, Columbia City, Indian Springs, South Whitley, Southern Wells, Whitko
Michigan Schools: Clifford H. Smart, Grand Ledge Hayes, Walles Lake, Northern
Ohio Schools: Archbold, Ayersville, Fairview, Fayette, Hicksville, Holgate, Holy trinity Catholic, Liberty Center, Mill Creek, Montpelier, Patrick Henry, Pettisville, Pike-Delta-York, Stryker, Tinora, Wauseon, West Unity
Click on the link above to access photos from the tournament. Team and individual finish places are included in the photos. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and an be downloaded for NO CHARGE courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.
Last Friday afternoon at the Swanton Sports Center, the Evergreen Viking bowlers edged the Patrick Henry Patriots 2088-2061 and the Lady Vikings were defeated by the Lady Patriots 1822-1592.
Austin Garcia rolled a two-game series score of 383 including a 220 game for Evergreen. Kolton Barnhisel tossed a match-high 392 series including a match-high 235 game for Patrick Henry.
Patrick Henry Patriots: Kolton Barnhisel (157 + 235 = 392), Quinton Colburn (158 + 201 = 359), Levi Hoops (158 + 178 = 336), Caleb Wenner (143 + 146 = 289), Charles Vaughn (118), Braesyn Baker (91), Baker Games (170 + 159 + 147 = 1585) Total = 2061
Lana Breece led the Lady Patriots with a two-game and match-high series of 313. Appollonna Roesner bowled a two-game series of 311 for the Lady Vikings.
Patrick Henry Lady Patriots: Lana Breece (146 + 169 = 313), Leah Geahlen (158 + 135 = 293), Claire Piercefield (141 + 143 = 284), Natalie Cavanaugh (133 + 132 = 255), Becca Hathaway (141 + 112 = 253), Baker Games (157 + 137 + 118 = 412) Total = 1822
Evergreen Lady Vikings: Appollonna Roesner (163 + 148 = 311), Kailyn Krouse (121 + 148 = 269), Lila baker (114 + 140 = 254), Addison Wilson (118 + 120 = 238), Leona Bucher (101), Joanna Brown (82), Baker Games (107 + 113 + 115 = 335) Total = 1590
Swanton Bulldog baseball standout Luke Marlow has signed a National Letter of Intent to continue his education and baseball career at Hocking College (Hawks) in Nelsonville, Ohio. Luke, a First-Team All NWOAL Baseball selection and Northwest Ohio District I Baseball Player of the Year in 2025, has already broken several school career records with his senior year remaining.
“A big thing for me was it was the first school to offer me so that made it personal for me,” said Luke explain his choice. “The coaches really made me feel at home, the (other) players were really nice and they are getting a brand-new field.” Reflecting back on his yet unfinished but very impressive high school career Luke said, “It’s been good. We’ve gotten better every year and this year we’re looking to do some pretty big things.”
Luke’s contributions to the 2025 Bulldogs helped the team set a school record of 19 wins which led to Head Coach Josh Siewert being named Northwest Ohio District I Baseball Player of the Year. “He came in as a freshman and totally changed our culture. It’s going to be rough knowing he’s gone after this year but he’s meant everything to this program,” said Coach Siewert speaking of Luke’s impact on Swanton baseball. “He does a little bit of everything. Hocking College has a good one coming to them.”
In the classroom, Luke plans on majoring in Criminal Justice with an eye on joining the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after graduation.
Click on the link above to access photos from the signing. Photos are in the jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded and shared for NO CHARGE courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.
Photo: Luke Marlow signs surrounded by Swanton baseball coaches Greg Chonko, Matt O’Shea, Eric Epley, Josh Siewert
In a low-scoring first half, the Swanton Lady Bulldogs trailed the North Central Lady Eagles by just four points, 16-12 as both teams struggled on offense. However, after the break, Swanton’s shooting went from cold to ice cold as they could only score five points in the second half while North Central caught fire and put up 30 more points on their side of the scoreboard and went on to defeat the Lady Bulldogs 46-17 on Tuesday night at the McQuade Gymnasium. Lexi Yeager scored eight points for Swanton and Carli LaGrange added seven. Mia Lawson led the Lady Eagles with 17 points and Mallory Grove had 10.
Swanton’s record drops to 2-11 on the season. The Lady Bulldogs will stay at home for Thursday night’s contest against NWOAL foe the Liberty Center Lady Tigers.
North Central Lady Eagles: 6-10-17-13 = 46 Mia Lawson (17), Mallory Grove (10), Tessa Reyome (7), Cailyn Meyers (4), Addyson Turner (2), Addie Burger (2), Anna Burt (2)
Click o0n the link above to access photos from the game. Photos are in the jpeg format and can be downloaded and shared for NO CHARGE courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.
The following is a Press Release from Epiphany Community Service located at 95 N. Main Street in Swanton. Epiphany Community Services is as national public health evaluation firm that works with communities to mitigate the impact of mental illness and substance use in the community. More information can be found at www.epiphanycommunityservices.com
URGENT: LOCAL SUBSTANCE USE AND MENTAL HEALTH GRANTS TERMINATED
Grants from the Substance Use and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) cancelled overnight. Nationwide SAMHSA terminated discretionary funding for mental health and substance abuse immediately, without warning, overnight. The federal government provided no transition time and no clear explanation, greatly impacting substance use and mental health services and employment in our community.
Mental health and substance use services are now disrupted, leaving community members who rely on these services at risk. Staff positions and programs are now destabilized due to this sudden and unexpected loss of funding. Communities lost critical services overnight. According to Deacon D. Dzierzawski, President of Epiphany Community Services, “A letter was sent after 10:00 PM on Tuesday evening, notifying grantees their SAMHSA grant, which focuses mental health and substance abuse prevention, intervention and treatment, was terminated. This means communities will lose effective, evidence-based programming that is critical in addressing mental illness and substance misuse. This will also lead to rising unemployment locally as the staff who supported this programming are impacted.”
The letter stated that the affected grants were terminated due to no longer being aligned with program goals and/or SAMHSA’s priorities; however, these grants addressed substance use and mental health, which are listed as priorities on SAMHSA’s website. It is imperative this funding be restored without delay. Ensuring hundreds of thousands of people do not lose their jobs and millions of people do not lose access to vital mental health and substance abuse services.
Epiphany Community Services Media Contact: Deacon D. Dzierzawski, 419-343-2849, deacon@epiphanycommunityservices.com
On behalf of the Village of Swanton and its residents and businesses, Administrator Shannon Shulters sent the following letter to local electric utility companies regarding the frequent and damaging power failures the Swanton area has been experiencing since last October and the likely potential of outages going forward:
Date: January 13, 2026 RE: Formal Opposition to Proposed Extended Power Outage Standards and Ongoing Reliability Failures Impacting the Village of Swanton to Whom It May Concern:
On behalf of the Village of Swanton, this letter serves as a formal and public statement of strong opposition to any proposal that would permit longer or more frequent power outages as an acceptable operating standard for electric utilities serving our community.
Recently, FirstEnergy — the parent company of Toledo Edison — filed a proposal with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to loosen reliability standards. This proposal would allow restored outages to take longer and would permit customers to experience outages more often, based on adjusted reliability metrics the utility has asked regulators to adopt. Background & Context According to reporting on the proposal, FirstEnergy is seeking approval to alter outage response standards — including increasing the amount of time utilities are expected to restore power (effectively permitting longer outages) and allowing for more frequent service interruptions. The company has cited challenges such as weather impacts and aging infrastructure as justification for this request.
While utilities may face operational pressures, the Village of Swanton and its residents cannot accept weaker reliability expectations — especially given what we have endured over the past several months. Swanton’s Experience Since October 10 Since October 10, Swanton has suffered from repeated substation failures and extended power outages that have severely disrupted daily life and economic activity. These outages have continued through the present and have dramatically impacted municipal operations, local businesses, and residents across all demographics. Impact on Village Infrastructure Repeated and prolonged outages have disrupted critical public infrastructure, including: • Water treatment and wastewater systems • Traffic control and public safety communications • Municipal operations that protect public health and emergency response.
These systems are foundational to resident well-being and public safety. The reliability of electric service is not optional — it is necessary to ensure basic services function without undue risk. Impact on Local Businesses, both small and large businesses within Swanton, have been negatively affected:
• Loss of revenue due to forced closures or reduced operating hours • Equipment damage and spoilage tied to unstable power conditions • Higher operational costs from emergency generators and recovery expenses. Many small businesses operate on thin margins and cannot absorb repeat financial hits caused by prolonged power interruptions.
Impact on Residents: The consequences for residents have been equally significant: • Families have incurred losses from food spoilage and property damage • Vulnerable populations, including the elderly and medically dependent, have been put at risk during outages • Winter weather and cold temperatures further compounding the hardship.
Position of the Village of Swanton: The Village of Swanton formally and unequivocally opposes any regulatory change that would relax reliability or restoration standards, effectively normalizing longer or more frequent outages. Proposals that set lower expectations for electric service reliability are incompatible with the fundamental needs of our community.
We call on the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, state representatives, and the utility companies to: 1. Reject proposals that reduce reliability standards and permit longer outages. 2. Require FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries to explain the root causes of persistent outages impacting Swanton. 3. Prioritize infrastructure improvements and investments that enhance grid resilience for all customers. 4. Engage directly with affected communities before advancing changes to utility reliability obligations.
The Village of Swanton stands with its residents and business owners in demanding dependable and safe electric service. While we recognize the operational challenges utilities may face, community health, safety, and economic stability must remain the paramount consideration in any regulatory decision. Any plan that effectively lowers the bar for reliability not only undermines public trust but places our citizens at risk — a result we cannot accept.
Respectfully,
Shannon Shulters Administrator Village of Swanton
Cc: Toledo Edison / FirstEnergy, Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, The Ohio House of Representatives and Senators, Office of the Governor Mike DeWine, Members of the Media, Village of Swanton Council Members & Mayor
At the first meeting of 2026 for the Swanton Village Council, four individuals who were successful in their bid for office in the November election, were formally sworn into office by Mayor Neil Toeppe. The four members are Patricia Pilliod (first time serving), Dave Pilliod (previous member), Deacon D. Dzierzawski (previous member) and Noah Kreuz (incumbent).
Once the Council was officially seated, their first order of business was to elect the President of the Council or President Pro Temp, who would serve as the Mayor if, for any reason, the Mayor was unavailable to conduct the Council meeting. Mr. Toeppe called for nominations from the Council and Councilman John Schmidt nominated Mr. Pilliod. Councilwoman Westhoven then nominated Mr. Dzierzawski. Before the nominations were closed, Mr. Pilliod withdrew his name from consideration. Finance Director Holden Benfield called the roll for their vote and Mr. Dzierzawski was elected unanimously.
Next, Mr. Toeppe called for Council members to establish Rules of Council for 2026. Mr. Dzierzawski recommended to hold a Special Meeting to set the Rules of Council sometime before the next regularly scheduled Council meeting on Monday, January 26th. After a brief discussion, the Council agreed to meet on Wednesday, January 21st at 6:00 PM. Following the Ohio Revised Code, the meeting proceeded under the 2025 Rules of Council.
Mayor Toeppe swears in Council members (L to R): Deacon D. Dzierzawski , Patricia Pilliod, Dave Pilliod, Noah Kreuz
On Friday afternoon, the Delta Panthers lost both matches to the Patrick Henry Patriots at the Swanton Sports Center. The Patriot boys team defeated the Panther boys’ team 1890-1623 and the Lady Patriots beat the Lady Panthers 1692-1524.
Quinton Colburn led the Patriots with a two-game series total of 387, including a match-high 209 game and Marcello Miracola rolled a two-game series score of 329 for the Panthers. Natalie Cavenaugh shot a two-game series 279 score for the Lady Patriots and Marcella Morris had a match-high series total of 295.
Patrick Henry Patriots: Quinton Colburn (209 + 178 = 387), Derrek Munding (153 + 158 = 371), Kolton Barnhisel (145), Levi Hoops (145), Charles Vaughn (139), Caleb Wenner (138), Arthur Lammers (123), Jaxon Hayes (102), Baker Games (91 + 158 + 151 = 400) Total = 1890
Delta Panthers: Marcello Miracola (155 + 174 = 329), Luca Miracola (120 + 178 = 298), Kaiden Boeliner (114), Layton Fisher (113), Gary Hockenberry (94), EJ Griewahn (80), James Cass (73). Baker Games (142 + 133 + 149 = 424) Total = 1623
Patrick Henry Lady Patriots: Natalie Cavanaugh (137 + 142 = 279), Lana Breece (168 + 105 = 273), Claire Piercefield (130 + 128 = 258), Leah Geahlen (124 + 98 = 222), Becca Hathaway (157), Alisa Alvarado (99), Baker Games (134 + 107 + 163 = 404) Total = 1692
Fulton County Ohio Media 